Epoch Times – Americans who are not willing or able to get the Pfizer or Moderna COVID-19 vaccines should get Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 shot, according to the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The CDC’s vaccine advisory panel recently recommended the agency make clear that the Pfizer and Moderna jabs, both of which utilize messenger RNA technology, are preferred over the J&J one. Dr. Rochelle Walensky, the CDC’s director, accepted the recommendation.
White House to Unvaccinated: ‘You’re looking at a Winter of Severe Illness and Death”
Epoch Times – White House COVID-19 response coordinator Jeff Zients predicts a winter of severe illness and death for Americans who decide to not take the vaccination for the CCP virus, which causes the disease COVID-19.
“For the unvaccinated: you’re looking at a winter of severe illness and death,” said Zients during a White House COVID-19 update Friday. “For yourselves, your families and the hospitals you may soon overwhelm.”
The grim message from the White House comes a day after a panel of advisers to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) unanimously voted to recommend the agency tell the public that the Moderna and Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines are preferred to the jab from Johnson & Johnson (J&J).
“Any vaccination is better than no vaccination,” said CDC director Dr. Rochelle Walensky of the J&J jab after endorsing the panel’s recommendation.
Additionally, Pfizer-BioNTech announced Friday they will add a third vaccine dose to ongoing clinical trials on children as young as six months as two doses do not produce a robust immune response in kids 2 to 5 years old.
Manchin Announces He Won’t Support Biden’s ‘Build Back Better’ Legislation
Epoch Times – Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) said on Dec. 19 that he won’t support President Joe Biden’s sweeping social and climate spending package, often dubbed “Build Back Better,” which might imperil the House-approved version of the legislation and put the remainder of Biden’s agenda in jeopardy.
The Senate left for its Christmas break on Dec. 18 without voting on the measure. Biden himself said the bill won’t be approved in 2021.
“I cannot vote to continue with this piece of legislation,” Manchin told “Fox News Sunday.” “I can’t get there.”
Manchin has been a key holdout on the legislation, worth nearly $1.9 trillion, which could only be approved by Senate Democrats via budget reconciliation. The process only requires 51 votes, meaning that if Manchin and all Senate Republicans vote ‘no’ on the measure, it will fail.
“This is a ‘no’ on this legislation. I have tried everything I know to do. And the president has worked diligently,” Manchin said on Dec. 18, also noting that Biden has “been wonderful to work with. He knows I’ve had concerns and the problems I’ve had.”
Omicron Forces Wave of Closures Nationwide as White House Warns ‘Winter of Death’ Coming
South African officials say Omicron hospitalization rate is one-tenth that of Delta
Epoch Times – The Omicron variant of the virus that causes COVID-19 has sparked a wave of closures across the United States in recent days, including schools and businesses, as the White House is warning of a “winter of severe illness and death” for individuals who are unvaccinated.
“For the unvaccinated, you’re looking at a winter of severe illness and death for yourselves, your families, and the hospitals you may soon overwhelm,” White House COVID-19 coordinator Jeff Zients said during a briefing. He then encouraged people to get vaccinated or receive boosters if they’re eligible.
So far, few Omicron-related deaths have been officially confirmed worldwide, and it’s not clear if any have been reported in the United States. The United Kingdom reported the first known death with Omicron, while the UK Health Security Agency, in a Dec. 18 update, reported seven deaths so far, although scant details have been provided.
Now, across the United States, in a growing number of municipalities, schools are again starting to shift to remote learning, events are being canceled, and restaurants are shuttering their doors due to Omicron.
Harvard University, Stanford University, and Cornell University—which all have exceptionally high vaccination rates—and others have announced they would shut their campuses due to a spike in cases over the past week. Cornell shut down its Ithaca, New York, campus and moved to “alert level red.”
Cornell officials reported some 900 COVID-19 cases in the past week—with many being the Omicron variant. The school has a 99 percent vaccination rate.
“Virtually every case of the Omicron variant to date has been found in fully vaccinated students, a portion of whom had also received a booster shot,” Vice President for University Relations Joel Malina said in a statement.
Entire hospital in England wards are at risk of shutdown over vaccine mandate row
RT – The refusal of medical personnel to comply with the government’s vaccine mandate could result in entire hospital units being shut down, according to a top NHS official. The jab will become obligatory for health workers in April.
In “one representative example,” some 40 midwives at one hospital trust in England are refusing to get vaccinated against Covid-19, Chris Hopson, chief executive of NHS Providers, has revealed. The maternity ward may be closed if the refuseniks are fired and no replacements can be found in time.
“Those staff, given their skills and their expertise, are not easily redeployed but they’re also extremely difficult to replace,” the official said, as quoted by The Guardian.
He didn’t name the trust involved, but acknowledged that it was representative of cases where resistance to the vaccine mandate was bringing the availability of patient service into question.
If sufficient numbers of unvaccinated staff in a particular service in a particular location choose not to get vaccinated, the viability and/or safety of that service could be at risk.
Maternity units are particularly vulnerable due to the continued shortage of trained midwives in England, with some 2,000 to 2,500 full-time job vacancies estimated to be vacant, the newspaper pointed out.
The government announced the introduction of vaccine mandates in September, with April 1 set as the immunization deadline for medical and support staff who have face-to-face interactions with hospital patients. Health Secretary Sajid Javid told MPs last week that there were around 94,000 unvaccinated NHS workers, with the number dropping by 55,000 since the mandate was adopted.
Heart inflammation cases emerge among 5- to 11-year-old kids after COVID-19 shot: CDC
Fox – The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday it received reports of eight cases of a heart inflammation called myocarditis in children ages 5 to 11 who had been vaccinated against COVID-19 with Pfizer-BioNTech.
The agency said there had been over 7 million vaccine doses in the 5-11 age group at the time it examined the data, with 5.1 million first doses and 2 million second doses.
The cases had “a mild clinical course,” the CDC said, as reported by Reuters.
The cases were reported in the U.S. Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) and presented by the CDC to a panel of its expert advisers.
In November, the CDC provided an update after discovering rare cases of myocarditis and pericarditis in relation to the COVID-19 vaccine. Pericarditis is inflammation of the outer lining of the heart.
Pfizer Says Its Low-Dose Vaccine Doesn’t Work in Kids Aged 2–5
Epoch Times – A low dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine didn’t produce a significant immune response among children between the ages of 2 and 5, the two firms said on Friday.
Amid clinical trials that are ongoing, the two drugmakers tested 3 micrograms of the vaccine in kids aged 6 months to less than 5 years of age. Children between 6 months and 2 years produced an immune response comparable to individuals aged 16 to 25 years after two adult doses of the mRNA vaccine (30 micrograms), the companies said.
However, the vaccine didn’t produce a significant immune response after the same low-dose regimen in children between the ages of 2 and 4, according to the companies. Pfizer and BioNTech said they will change their plans and will test three doses of their COVID-19 vaccine on children in that age group rather than the usual two doses.
Should the three-dose study prove successful, the companies said they will apply for an emergency use authorization from the Food and Drug Administration sometime in the first half of 2022.
Moderna’s COVID-19 Vaccine 4 Times More Likely to Cause Heart Inflammation Than Pfizer’s: Study
But absolute number of heart inflammation cases was low, authors said
Epoch Times – Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine is up to four times more likely to cause heart inflammation—myocarditis or myopericarditis—than Pfizer-BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine, a study published Dec. 16 in the British Medical Journal suggests.
“Vaccination with [Moderna’s vaccine] was associated with a significantly increased risk of myocarditis or myopericarditis in the Danish population,” and the rate was “threefold to fourfold higher” with the Moderna vaccine compared to the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, authors said in the study, which spanned almost 85 percent of Danes, or 4.9 million people aged 12 and older.
The increased risk of myocarditis or myopericarditis with the Moderna vaccine was “primarily driven by an increased risk among individuals aged 12–39 years,” the researchers from Denmark’s Statens Serum Institute said.
The population-based cohort study also corroborated previous studies and reports such as those from Israel and the United States that say there’s an increased risk of myocarditis or myopericarditis with taking the mRNA-based Moderna or Pfizer vaccines.
Claim Alleging Injury or Death From a COVID-19 Countermeasure to Be Compensated
More than 4,000 other claims await decision by the U.S. government compensation program
Epoch Times – For the first time amid the pandemic, the U.S. government compensation program will pay out one of the 4,751 claims alleging injuries or death arising from the administration of a covered countermeasure used to diagnose, treat, or prevent COVID-19.
Countermeasures may include emergency authorized or federally approved vaccines, drugs, and medical devices that the Food and Drug Administration allows for use during a public health emergency.
“One COVID-19 claim has been determined eligible for compensation and is pending a review of eligible expenses,” the Countermeasures Injury Compensation Program (CICP) reported.
No additional information on the eligible claim was available. However, David Bowman, Public Affairs Specialist at the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) told The Epoch Times via email that the CICP was “working to process claims as expeditiously as possible.”
The compensation program is run by the HRSA, an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
Unintended Consequences of mRNA Shots
Mercola – “Worse Than the Disease: Reviewing Some Possible Unintended Consequences of mRNA Vaccines Against COVID-19,” by Stephanie Seneff, Ph.D., and Dr. Greg Nigh, is one of the most comprehensive descriptions of the many possible unintended consequences of the mRNA gene transfer technologies incorrectly referred to as “COVID vaccines”
As of December 3, 2021, the U.S. Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) has logged 19,886 COVID jab related deaths. Pfizer — the only company that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has granted full licensing for an as-yet unavailable COVID shot — accounts for 13,268 of them
Calculations suggest VAERS COVID-related reports are underreported by a factor of 41. That means that in the U.S. alone, the actual death toll may be closer to 374,576. Including international deaths reported to VAERS would put the death toll at 815,326
Key side effects that are now being reported in massive numbers include miscarriages, heart attacks, myopericarditis, thrombocytopenia (low platelet count), shingles, Bell’s palsy and a variety of permanent disabilities, many of which involve neurological dysfunction
The side effects we now see being reported were entirely predictable based on the known science detailed in Seneff’s and Nigh’s paper
What the VAERS Data Tell Us About COVID Jab Safety
Mercola -The U.S. Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) is among the best adverse event data collection systems in the world, but it’s antiquated and difficult to use. Still, it’s a good way to detect safety signals that weren’t detected during premarket testing or clinical trials
There are unmistakable, unprecedented safety signals in VAERS for the COVID shots. While the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention claim no deaths can be attributed to the COVID jabs, it’s impossible to discount 8,986 deaths in the U.S. territories alone, reported as of November 26, 2021
The estimated underreporting factor for COVID jab injuries in VAERS is between 31 and 100, so the actual death toll in the U.S. could be anywhere from 278,500 to 898,600
There’s a strong safety signal for female reproductive issues and for heart inflammation (myocarditis) in young men and boys. VAERS data show an inverse relationship between myocarditis and age, with youths being more frequently affected than older men
VAERS data are being deleted without explanation. Each week, about 100 or so reports are routinely deleted, so there are now thousands of inexplicably missing reports
Brazilian Ministry of Health suffers cyberattack and COVID-19 vaccination data vanishes
Hackers claimed to have copied and deleted 50TB worth of data from internal systems.
ZD Net – Websites under Brazil’s Ministry of Health (MoH) have suffered a major ransomware attack that resulted in the unavailability of COVID-19 vaccination data of millions of citizens.
Following that attack that took place at around 1 am today, all of MoH’s websites, including ConecteSUS, which tracks the trajectory of citizens in the public healthcare system, became unavailable. This includes the COVID-19 digital vaccination certificate, which is available via the ConecteSUS app.
According to a message left by the Lapsus$ Group, which has claimed responsibility for the attack, some 50TB worth of data has been extracted from the MoH’s systems and subsequently deleted. “Contact us if you want the data returned”, the message said, alongside contact details for the authors of the attack.
Just before 7 am, the images with the message left by the hackers were removed, but the websites remained unavailable.
Following the attack, Brazilian health minister Marcelo Queiroga said his department holds a backup of the data allegedly copied and erased from the national health service’s databases. The National Data Protection Authority (ANPD) said it is following up on the case.
Huge new study reveals extent of vaccine failure – Analysis
Vaccinated lose chance to gain vastly superior natural immunity
Frontline News – It’s always reassuring to know that those controlling our lives are doing so only according to the latest scientific advances, guided by the best possible data, and informed by the most up-to-date statistics.
That’s why this new study from December 5, 2021, is so exciting. It analyzes data culled from around six million people – almost an entire country of people, namely, Israel. And the study was authored by a number of top scientists, including two people who are right at the top of the Israeli government’s COVID totem pole. One is Dr. Sharon Alroy-Preis, the director of Public Health Services; the other is Prof. Nachman Ash, former COVID Commissar of Israel and currently the director-general of the Israeli Health Ministry.
The study focuses on two months – August and September of 2021 – and is titled, “Protection and waning of natural and hybrid COVID-19 immunity.” It divides people into five categories: those who have recovered from a bout of COVID and have not been vaccinated; those who have been double-vaxxed; those who have had a booster shot; and also so-called hybrid groups – those who have recovered and were subsequently vaccinated (as per Israeli government policy, which is, currently, to receive one dose only following infection), and those who were vaccinated and subsequently contracted COVID (so-called breakthrough cases).
Efforts to Stop Biden’s Vaccine Mandate for Private Businesses Reach US Supreme Court
3 companies and 1 red-state attorney general are asking the highest U.S. court to stay Biden’s sweeping mandate
Epoch Times – Three companies and Missouri’s attorney general are asking the U.S. Supreme Court (SCOTUS) to stay the Biden administration’s vaccine mandate for private businesses with 100 or more employees.
The three companies—Phillips Manufacturing & Tower Company, Sixarp, and Oberg Industries—filed an emergency application (pdf) for an injunction on Dec. 17, saying that the Biden administration is pursuing unlimited federal executive power in the vaccine mandate for private businesses.
“There is no dispute among the parties about the common desire to end the scourge of the COVID-19 pandemic,” the application reads. “The arguments advanced by the Executive Branch admit to no cognizable limits on federal executive power.
“Frustrated with a minority of Americans’ medical choices, the Executive Branch has attempted to control and surveil the vaccination schedules of enormous swaths of the country’s population.”
The three companies, which all have more than 100 employees, would have to implement the vaccine mandate if it’s not stopped by the courts. The mandate will also jeopardize the companies’ already struggling recruitment efforts, the three applicants stated in the application.
Eric Schmitt, attorney general of Missouri, also asked SCOTUS to stay the Biden administration’s sweeping vaccine mandate.
“This was always destined to go to the nation’s highest court and I’ll continue to fight back against this breathtaking overreach,” he wrote in a Twitter post.
Can Ivermectin Help Prevent COVID-19 Deaths?
Epoch Times – When it comes to the treatment of COVID-19, many Western nations have been hobbled by the politicization of medicine. Throughout 2020, media and many public health experts warned against the use of hydroxychloroquine, despite the fact that many practicing doctors were praising its ability to save patients. Many of them were silenced through online censorship. Some even lost their jobs for the “sin” of publicly sharing their successes with the drug.
Another decades-old antiparasitic drug that offers great hope is ivermectin, but it too is being hushed up by mainstream media. Trial Site News1 tells the story of a 77-year-old Indian couple, both of whom became ill with COVID-19. One successfully recuperated following treatment with hydroxychloroquine. The other with ivermectin.
While ivermectin certainly appears to be a useful strategy, which is why I am covering it, please understand it is not my primary recommendation. You need vitamin D for a wide variety of functions in your body in addition to optimizing your immune response. Although ivermectin is a relatively safe drug, it is still an unnatural synthetic chemical that can have side effects. Vitamin D is something your body absolutely requires for optimal health, which is why I would encourage you to focus on vitamin D first.
COVID-19 Outbreak Reported on Royal Caribbean Cruise Despite Fully Vaccinated Adult Passengers
Epoch Times – Forty-eight people who were onboard the Royal Caribbean Symphony of the Seas cruise ship tested positive for COVID-19, the illnesses caused by the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, although Royal Caribbean requires everyone aged 12 and older to show proof of vaccination in order to board their ships.
The cruise operator said Sunday that each person who tested positive for the virus immediately went into quarantine. Another six people who had tested positive disembarked the ship when it docked in Florida and were taken home, the company said.
Passengers who tested positive for COVID-19 had mild symptoms or were asymptomatic, Royal Caribbean spokeswoman Lyan Sierra-Carro confirmed to local media.
“We were notified by the (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) that a guest on board our (December) 4th cruise tested positive and it was identified as Omicron,” Sierra-Caro added in a statement to outlets. “They (the CDC) asked us to notify guests on the sailing, the one that ended today, and the current one.”
It’s not clear if there were any children under the age of 12 onboard the ship. The Epoch Times has contacted Royal Caribbean for comment.
According to a statement published on Royal Caribbean’s website, guests who are aged 12 and older have to show proof they’ve been vaccinated for COVID-19 in order to embark on the cruise.
Fentanyl Overdoses Become Leading Cause of Death in 18- to 45-Year-Olds
Epoch Times – Fentanyl-related drug overdoses in 2020 became the top killer in adults aged 18 to 45—overtaking suicide, vehicle accidents, and gun violence, according to an analysis of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data by nonprofit group Families Against Fentanyl.
Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that’s 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine, highly addictive, and deadly. Buyers may be unaware that the drugs they buy contain illicit fentanyl, a 2 milligram dose of which can be fatal.
The substance is most often manufactured in Mexico using chemicals supplied from China and trafficked across the southern border by Mexican drug cartels. Fentanyl is mixed with other narcotics to increase potency as well as pressed into counterfeit pain pills that are made to look like blue Oxycodone prescription pills and are commonly known as “Mexican oxys.”
Families Against Fentanyl is advocating for the U.S. government to designate fentanyl and its analogs as a weapon of mass destruction under federal statute.
The statute defines “weapon of mass destruction,” in part, as “any weapon that is designed or intended to cause death or serious bodily injury through the release, dissemination, or impact of toxin or poisonous chemicals, or their precursors.”
More than 100,000 Americans, a record amount, died of drug overdoses in the 12-month period ending in April, according to CDC data. Fentanyl was involved in almost two-thirds of those deaths.
During 2020, as lockdowns became prolonged and widespread as a response to the pandemic, overdose fatalities accelerated.
“This represents a worsening of the drug overdose epidemic in the United States,” the CDC stated in an emergency health advisory issued more than a year ago, on Dec. 17, 2020.
An analysis by the Well Being Trust in May 2020 estimated a possible 75,000 additional “deaths of despair,” including suicide as well as drug and alcohol abuse over the ensuing several years, due to the shutdown measures.
CNN Shuts Down Offices as COVID-19 Cases Rise: Memo
Epoch Times – CNN is closing all its offices in the United States as COVID-19 cases have recently increased across the country, the cable station announced on Dec. 18.
Only employees who must work onsite will be allowed access to the offices and must remain masked regardless of vaccination status, CNN President Jeff Zucker in a memo to workers.
“We are doing this out of an abundance of caution,” Zucker said, according to Reuters. “And it will also protect those who will be in the office by minimizing the number of people who are there.”
The directive was confirmed by CNN commentator Brian Stelter in a Twitter post.
“Like other major media companies, CNN is making changes due to the new Covid surge,” Stelter quoted the memo as saying. The directive “essentially” means CNN is going “back to 2020 protocols” around COVID-19, Stelter said.
Earlier this year, CNN executives issued a rule requiring proof of vaccination for in-the-field and office workers, meaning the company likely has an exceptionally high vaccination rate. Over the summer, the network fired three employees for coming back to work without having received the vaccine, while Zucker at the time asserted that his company has a “zero-tolerance policy” over vaccines.
The Omicron variant, meanwhile, has prompted businesses, schools, and venues to shut down—although data is still being gathered to determine whether the variant causes more symptoms than the Delta variant. South African health ministry officials said on Dec. 17 that based on government data, the number of Omicron variant patients in the hospital is one-tenth that of Delta patients during its initial phase.
Court Fight Over Dead People on Voter Lists Heats Up in Michigan
Epoch TImes – How many dead people should remain on Michigan voter rolls? The answer may be determined by a federal judge.
The Public Interest Legal Foundation (PILF) on Nov. 3 sued Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, a Democrat, for allegedly failing to remove from the state’s voter rolls the names of 26,000 registered voters who have either died or moved away.
According to PILF President J. Christian Adams, the failure to remove the names “creates an opportunity for fraud.”
The lawsuit also alleges that 334 people registered to vote after they died, with 15 of those registrations occurring in 2020.
Benson’s office said they do not comment on pending litigation.
However, Tracy Wimmer, a spokesperson for Benson, told Fox News, “Michigan maintains its voter registration list in accordance with all state and federal laws.”
“As we’ve seen throughout the past year, meritless lawsuits serve as press releases for those seeking to further election misinformation and undermine American democracy,” Wimmer said.
The office of the Michigan Attorney General filed a response to PILF’s complaint and a motion to dismiss the case on December 13, 2021.
In the reply, Benson denies any failures to perform list maintenance activities required by federal law.
Texas Governor Confirms Border Wall Construction Has Officially Started
Epoch Times – Texas has officially started building its own state-funded border wall, confirmed Gov. Greg Abbott on Friday.
“Texas has officially started building its own border wall,” he wrote Friday, while asserting that President Joe Biden’s immigration policies allow for an “open border” since he took office in January.
Biden, the Republican governor added, also “refuses to enforce laws passed by Congress to secure the border and enforce immigration laws” and that “Texas is stepping up to do the federal government’s job.”
A reporter with Fox News captured images of the first Texas-commissioned border wall panels going up in Starr County, Texas, located in the Rio Grande Valley.
Earlier this year, amid near-record numbers of illegal immigrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border, Abbott announced that he would try to secure funding for the state to construct its own border barrier after Biden signed an executive order that scrapped federal construction of the wall.
Texas’s wall construction, which would not obtain federal funding, has been favored by Abbott as a means of cracking down on illegal immigration and drug trafficking. In June, the governor started a private donation campaign that has raised about $54 million.
Parents Erupt at California School Board Meeting Over Alleged ‘Coaching’ of Students Into LGBTQ Club
Epoch Times – A mixed crowd of more than 150 people packed a recent school board meeting in Salinas, Calif., as frustrated parents clashed with supporters of two teachers accused of subverting parents and recruiting middle school students into a Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA) club.
Jessica Konen, one of about 30 people who spoke during an extended public comment period, told the board that school staff indoctrinated her child and usurped her parental authority.
Konen blasted the board and accused teachers and staff of coaching her gender dysphoric daughter through the Equality Club, an LGBTQ+ support group now called the You Be You (UBU) Club at Buena Vista Middle School.
“I stand here today in front of all of you because I am outraged. Is this really barely coming to light? Are you guys serious?” she said. “How could you even allow this? How could you even have this meeting to question it? How dare you let these teachers come in and act as if they have done nothing wrong? A mistake? How long of a mistake?”
Konen went public with her story after controversy erupted over an audio recording leaked to “Irreversible Damage” author Abigail Shrier and The Epoch Times that revealed two teachers at a California Teachers Association (CTA) conference dismissing parents’ concerns about homosexual and transgender indoctrination at school.
The two seventh-grade teachers from Buena Vista Middle School in Salinas, Calif., were recorded coaching other teachers how to hide the nature of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, or Questioning (LGBTQ+) Clubs, also known as GSA clubs, from parents. They led a workshop called “How we run a ‘GSA’ in Conservative Communities” at the CTA’s “2021 LGBTQ+ Issues Conference, Beyond the Binary: Identity & Imagining Possibilities” in Palm Springs, Calif., from Oct. 29 to 31.
Spreckels Union School District (SUSD) has since suspended the teachers with pay pending the outcome of an independent third-party investigation.
Epoch Times – Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) has expressed regret for attending an award show affiliated with the Communist Party USA last week.
The Democratic senator said in a Friday phone interview with the Hartford Courant, “My understanding was that this ceremony was strictly a labor event.’’
He explained that had been invited by local labor unions to honor three community members receiving awards.
“If I had known the details, I wouldn’t have gone. … Let me just say very emphatically, I’m a Democrat and a strong believer in American capitalism. I have been consistently a Democrat and a strong supporter and believer in American capitalism,” he said.
States Face Shortage of Snowplow Drivers as Winter Storms Approach
Epoch Times – A nationwide shortage of plow drivers is causing several state transportation departments to rethink their snow removal operations and recruitment efforts.
Transportation officials say factors causing the shortage include more drivers approaching retirement age, difficulty in filling vacancies, long hours, comparatively low wages, and competition from the private sector offering better pay.
Washington state Department of Transportation (DOT) spokeswoman Barbara LaBoe said the department was short by nearly 300 permanent Commercial Driver License (CDL) holding snowplow drivers in October 2021, with much of it due to retirements.
Through big recruitment efforts, however, that number was reduced to around 177 in December.
“We continue to aggressively recruit, but we’re still below what we normally would have,” LaBoe said. “This is a nationwide shortage of these workers.”
In 2020, the Washington department implemented hiring freezes to address “revenues concerns” during the pandemic. To offset the shortage of snowplow drivers, the department hired temporary operators, LaBoe said.
Nicholas Sandmann Reaches Settlement With NBC
Epoch Times – Nicholas Sandmann has announced that he’s reached a settlement with NBCUniversal after more than two years since he filed a defamation lawsuit against the media company.
“At this time I would like to release that NBC and I have reached a settlement. The terms are confidential,” the 19-year-old Kentucky teen wrote on Twitter.
The two parties agreed to dismiss the case “with prejudice and in its entirety,” without a judgment from the court, according to documents (pdf) filed on Dec. 17 in the U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of Kentucky.
The suit’s dismissal “with prejudice” signifies that Sandmann can’t refile the same claim again in that court.
NBC was among several media outlets sued by Sandmann for defamation after media reports claimed that he and other students harassed a Native American man, Nathan Phillips, at an incident in Washington on Jan. 18, 2019. At the time, Sandmann, who was a student of Covington Catholic High School, was attending the anti-abortion March for Life rally in Washington with other students.
Former Harvard Chemistry Chair Admits to Taking Tens of Thousands of Dollars From China
Epoch Times – The former chair of Harvard University’s Chemistry Department accused of hiding Chinese ties has admitted to taking tens of thousands of dollars from China, video footage presented in federal court on Dec. 17 shows.
The footage, shot during an interrogation by federal investigators of nanoscientist Charles Lieber, was played for jurors on the fourth day of the trial regarding Lieber’s alleged false statements about China funding.
The 62-year-old Harvard professor had maintained that he didn’t take payments from a Chinese university, except for compensation of his travel costs to China. But he shifted his story quickly after FBI agents Robert Plumb and Kara Spice presented him with copies of evidence, including a bilingual contract he signed with the Wuhan University of Technology (WUT) in 2011.
“That’s pretty damning,” Lieber, dressed in a blue jacket, told the agents at the campus police station during a three-hour interrogation, which took place on the day of Lieber’s arrest nearly two years ago, local media outlets reported. “Now that you bring it up, yes, I do remember.”
The five-year agreement described Lieber as a “strategic scientist” at the Chinese school, which entitled him to $50,000 per month with approximately $158,000 in living expenses. It also alluded to his future involvement with China’s Thousand Talents Plan, a state-run program to solicit top scientific and specialized experts from around the world.
Later in the interview, FBI agents showed Lieber an email that he had written asking Wuhan University to pay half of his salary in cash and to deposit the other half into a Chinese bank account.
“I can’t even believe I did this,” Lieber said in response, according to local media reports. “It’s my mistake, and obviously I made a mistake.”
NFL, in Major Shift, to Test Vaccinated Players Less Frequently
Epoch Times – The NFL loosened its COVID-19 protocols over the weekend as the league was forced to postpone several games due to a rise in cases, according to memos that were distributed to teams on Saturday.
The NFL and NFL Player’s Association (NFLPA) said the league would partake in a “more targeted testing plan” for COVID-19, the illness caused by the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus.
“The NFL and NFLPA have been engaged with our medical advisors to address the emergence of the new Omicron variant and how to stop the spread to ensure we keep everyone safe and complete the remainder of the season responsibly,” said the NFL and NFLPA a joint statement.
“The intensive protocols implemented last week and the rescheduling of three games were designed to stop the transmission of the virus and play this week’s games safely,” according to the statement. “After this weekend’s games, we have agreed to put into place a new set of protocols, which will include a more targeted testing plan, more flexibility for players to attend meetings virtually and also a high-risk player opt-out for the remainder of the season.”
Under the league’s original COVID-19 rules, vaccinated personnel and players had to be tested for the virus every week. The new rule announced this weekend eliminates the requirement, which allows players and staff to be screened for COVID-19 symptoms and be tested less frequently.
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