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Friday, September 10, 2021

Wake-Up Call: Biden Orders Vaxx Mandates

Daily Mail Screenshot 9/10/21

As a substantial percentage of Americans continue to remain unvaccinated against Covid-19 despite months of entreaties and incentives, leading to hospitals filling up again, some to the breaking point, and deaths going back up to more than 1,000 a day as the delta variant surges, President Biden yesterday ordered new vaccine mandates that cover as many as 100 million Americans. Speaking from the White House, Biden said, "We’ve been patient. But our patience is wearing thin, and your refusal has cost all of us." Vaccination will be required for executive branch employees and those who do business with the federal government, as well as workers at health facilities that receive federal Medicare or Medicaid. Private companies with more than 100 employees must either require their workers to be vaccinated or be tested weekly. Biden also doubled fines for passengers who refuse to wear masks on planes, and said the government will work to increase the supply of Covid tests. Some Republican officeholders blasted the new mandates, as did some union leaders, and suggested there would be legal challenges.




The Justice Department sued Texas over its new law that bans abortion after just six weeks and is enforced by allowing private citizens to sue abortion providers and anyone involved in facilitating abortions, such as someone who drives a woman to a clinic, for at least $10,000. Attorney General Merrick Garland said at a news conference, "The act is clearly unconstitutional under long-standing Supreme Court precedent," with the lawsuit reading, "It is settled constitutional law that 'a State may not prohibit any woman from making the ultimate decision to terminate her pregnancy before viability.'" Garland also said the law deputizes citizens to serve as, quote, "bounty hunters." The lawsuit seeks an immediate injunction to bar enforcement of the law.


➤SOME 200 FOREIGNERS, INCLUDING AMERICANS, FLY OUT OF AFGHANISTAN: About 200 foreigners, among them some Americans, flew out of the Kabul airport in Afghanistan yesterday on a Qatar Airways commercial flight to Doha. The flight, the first such departure since the U.S. evacuation effort ended, was done with the cooperation of the Taliban. A U.S. State Department spokesman said 10 U.S. citizens and 11 green card-holders were on the flight, which also reportedly included, among others, Germans, Hungarians and Canadians. A Qatari envoy said another 200 passengers will fly out today.


➤THE KIDS ARE NOT ALRIGHT: Two Florida middle schoolers were plotting to carry out a school shooting and will be charged with conspiracy to commit a mass shooting, Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno said in a press briefing Thursday. A teacher at Harns Marsh Middle School in Lehigh Acres was tipped off by students Wednesday about a possible concealed weapon and alerted school administrators and a school resource officer. Marceno said the two students, a 13-year-old and a 14-year-old, were, quote, "extensively studying" the 1999 Columbine High School shooting and trying to learn how to make pipe bombs. 


Searches of their homes turned up, quote, "disturbing evidence, including a gun and several knives," according to the sheriff. Authorities knew of the two students, as deputies had visited their homes nearly 80 times combined. Both met the criteria for an evaluation at a mental health facility.

➤BIDEN, FORMER PRESIDENTS TO MARK 20TH ANNIVERSARY OF 9/11: President Biden and some former presidents will attend public events marking the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on Saturday. Biden and First Lady Jill Biden will travel to all three sites of the attacks, New York City, the Pentagon and Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama will attend the remembrance ceremony in New York. Former President George W. Bush, who was president when the attacks took place, and former First Lady Laura Bush will travel to Shanksville, and he will give keynote remarks in a ceremony open to the families of those killed on United Flight 93.

➤KLOBUCHAR REVEALS SHE HAD BREAST CANCER: Senator Amy Klobuchar announced yesterday that she'd been diagnosed with breast cancer and treated earlier this year. The 61-year-old Minnesota Democrat said the Stage 1A cancer was detected during a routine mammogram, after which she had a lumpectomy and underwent radiation. Klobuchar said the treatment "went well," telling ABC News, "Now [doctors] tell me that my chances of getting cancer again are the same as any other person, which is great."

➤FBI RECORDS SHOW MAN OFFERED TO KILL KOBE BRYANT'S RAPE ACUSER IN 2003: The FBI released documents last week that revealed a man offered to kill the late Kobe Bryant's rape accuser in 2003 to make the case go away. The man, who wasn't identified in the documents, made the unsolicited offer to Bryant to get rid of the accuser for $3 million. News outlets have identified him as Patrick Graber, a bodybuilder who was living in suburban Los Angeles. After bodyguards for Bryant, then with the L.A. Lakers, got a package with a letter describing the plan, they gave it to the L.A. County Sheriff's Department, who arrested Graber along with the FBI. He pled no contest and was sentenced to three years in prison, and then was deported to his native Switzerland after his release. The criminal case against Bryant was dismissed after the accuser said she didn't want to testify. She filed a civil suit against Bryant, which was settled out of court.

➤SMART SUNGLASSES RAISE PRIVACY CONCERNS:  Privacy concerns are being raised after Facebook and the maker of Ray-Bans teamed up on smart sunglasses. Facebook announced its Ray-Ban Stories sunglasses yesterday, which let users take photos and record videos, presenting them as a way to do things like record video of your kids while playing them without having to hold your phone. Facebook says it included privacy protections, such as having an LED light in the glasses that goes on when the wearer is taking a photo or video, and only being able to record up to 30 seconds of video at a time. But journalists who tried out the glasses cited potential privacy concerns, such as being able to cover the LED light so it couldn't be seen when taking photos and videos, and the light being difficult to see at a distance. A BuzzFeed writer called them "barely perceptible spy glasses." Facebook told the Wall Street Journal it consulted with privacy groups and experts as it created the glasses. The National Consumers League was one of them, but a vice president for the organization, John Breyault, told the Journal some of the things they suggested, like having the camera stop working if the light was hidden or making changes to the design so it's clear the glasses aren't normal Ray-Bans weren't done.

➤DIVORCE FILINGS ARE UP: According to figures from the Superior Court of California, divorce filings are up significantly in Los Angeles over the last five months, as compared with the same period in 2020. And some lawyers and relationship experts say that divorce filings in New York and other states are also on the rise. According to a recent survey by “breakup coach” Lee Wilson, Twenty-one percent of respondents answered that the pandemic had harmed their marriage, a 10 percent increase from a survey asking the same question the year before.

➤STUDY FINDS REMOTE EMPLOYEES SPEND 25% LESS TIME COLLABORATING: A study of Microsoft employees conducted by the University of California found that remote workers spend 25 percent less time collaborating with colleagues in comparison with the time spent pre-pandemic. Researchers also found that employees spent less time collaborating, had fewer real-time conversations and decreased the number of hours spent in meetings. Instead, more time was spent communicating via email and instant messages.

➤HOUSEPARTY IS SHUTTING DOWN: Housparty is shutting down. The company announced that the video chat app that Epic Games integrated with its Fortnite gameplay experience has been removed from app stores and will officially retire in October.

Tampa Bay Times 9/10/21
🏈TAMPA BAY TOPS DALLAS 31-29 TO KICK OFF NFL SEASON: The reigning Super Bowl champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers defeated the Dallas Cowboys 31-29 to kick off the NFL season last night in Tampa. The Buccaneers won it on a 36-yard field goal by Ryan Succop with two seconds left, after being down one point. Bucs quarterback Tom Brady went 32 of 50 for 379 yards and four touchdowns, with two interceptions. Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott threw for 403 yards and three touchdowns, returning after a severe ankle that ended his 2020 season after five games.


🎾UNSEEDED TEENS RADUCANU, FERNANDEZ TO PLAY IN U.S. OPEN FINAL: Unseeded teenagers Emma Raducanu of Britain, who's 18, and 19-year-old Leylah Fernandez of Canada will play each other for the U.S. Open women's championship Saturday after winning their semifinal matches in big upsets yesterday. Fernandez downed second-seed Aryna Sabalenka 7-6 (3), 4-6, 6-4, and Raducanu beat 17th-seeded Maria Sakkari in straight sets. The men's semifinals are today.

 
🏈RAVENS' PETERS, EDWARDS BOTH TEAR ACL IN PRACTICE: Baltimore Ravens cornerback Marcus Peters and running back Gus Edwards both suffered season-ending torn ACLs in practice yesterday, ESPN reported. Edwards was injured just a few plays after Peters, and head coach John Harbaugh ended the practice after that. Another Raven, running back J.K. Dobbins, tore his ACL in the preseason finale on August 28th. Baltimore will open its season against the Las Vegas Raiders on Monday Night Football.

🏈STEELERS' WATT AGREES TO FOUR-YEAR, $112 MILLION EXTENSION: Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker T.J. Watt has agreed to a four-year, $112 million extension, according to media reports Thursday. That will pay Watt an average of $28 million per year, making him the highest-paid defensive player in the NFL. According to ESPN, Watt overruled his agents, who thought they could get more money, going into the office of Steelers president Art Rooney II and telling him they had a deal.

⚾MLB, RED SOX DENY RENFROE'S CLAIM TOLD TO STOP TESTING FOR COVID AMID OUTBREAK: MLB and the Boston Red Sox yesterday both denied a claim by Boston outfielder Hunter Renfroe that MLB told the Red Sox to stop testing for Covid-19 amid the team's recent outbreak that affected nine players. Renfroe made the claim in an interview on New England sports radio station WEEI, saying, "[M]LB has basically told us to stop testing and just treat the symptoms. We're like, 'No. We're gonna figure out what's going and try to keep this thing under control.'" A spokesman for MLB told The Boston Globe Renfroe is, quote, "completely wrong and inaccurate."
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