Daily Archives: September 8, 2021

When a pro-vaccine passport argument is about restoring freedom and not about public health, what does that tell you about the argument?

A World Economic Forum (WEF) Agenda blog post suggests that by framing vaccine passports as a way of restoring freedom, it will divide and conquer the opposition.

In this context [Australia], introducing vaccine passports can be framed as restoring freedom to those who are vaccinated.With this framing, opposition to passports will be divided between two groups WEF Agenda, September, 2021

In the context of Australia,framing the vaccine passport argument as a way of restoring freedom to those who are vaccinated will divide the opposition into two groups, writes Australian economist and professor at the University of Queensland John Quigginin the WEF Agenda blog.

Update, September 7, 2021: The WEF has now removed the article in question from the Agendablog. The story can still be found on The Conversation here.

By lumping the opposition into those who oppose public health mandates and resist vaccination pushes, the article oversimplifies the opposition and omits several key counterarguments,along with the WHOs warning that COVID vaccine passports may actually increase the risk of disease spread.

While vaccine passports will be seen by some as a way to increase freedom, for those without a passport they would constitute a denial of liberties that others are being granted Ada Lovelace Institute, February, 2021

In making the case, the article understandably equates arguments against vaccine passports as being against the vaccines themselves.

While there is much overlap between the two, a person can simultaneously be pro-vaccine as a personal choice, but fervently against vaccine passports.

The WEF article on pro-vaccine passport framing omits several key oppositional arguments, such as:

The extent to which each vaccine prevents transmission of SARS-CoV-2 to susceptible individuals remains to be assessed World Health Organization, August, 2021

The articles argument in favor of vaccine passports is about framing them as restoring freedom to divide the opposition.

What does that have to do with public health at all?

Again, vaccine passportscarry a whole set of separate ethical and medical issues, many of whichare different from the issues of vaccines alone.

Freedom is what is fundamentally at stake with vaccine passports (i.e. freedom of choice, freedom to participate in society, etc.), and the articles argument is predicated on the idea that its OK to take away the freedom of millions of people to choose.

But those who oppose vaccine passports say it was never OK to take away that freedom in the first place, and the opposition is made up of much more than hardcore anti-vaxers.

This division makes it even less likely that effective opposition will emerge WEF Agenda, September, 2021

Whats more, the WEF contributor believes that once divided, the opposition will be less effective.

To confuse things, some people may switch between one argument and the other depending on the audience, he writes.

This division makes it even less likely that effective opposition will emerge.

He may be right here, in that there are so many arguments against vaccine passports that they could confuse the messaging and cause further division.

Or, he could be wrong, in that there are so many arguments against vaccine passports that they become impossible to ignore.

Protesters might make some noise, but in practice the biggest hurdle for vaccine passports will likely be the administrative failures that have plagued every aspect of Australias response WEF Agenda, September, 2021

Most people just want their freedom back, and they see two paths they can take.

For some, the quick and easy path is to do what the government says and wait for their freedom to be given back.

For others, it means taking to the streets totake their freedom back.

The WEF Agenda contributor writes that the biggest obstacle to vaccine passports wont be the people who risk arrest protesting the Australian government, but rather failures on the part of the administration.

Protesters might make some noise, but in practice the biggest hurdle for vaccine passports will likely be the administrative failures that have plagued every aspect of Australias response, writes Quiggin.

Theres going to be a vaccinated economy, and you get to participate in that if you are vaccinated Dan Andrews, Premier of Victoria, Australia

Now that Australian premiers are threatening to block anyone who isnt vaccinated from participating in society, there is even more pressure on the Australian people to get in line, which may or may not prove Quiggin to be right about the effects of framing.

However, no amount of framing can change the fact that the COVID shots have never been proven to prevent transmission and that people dont like being coerced into getting medical treatment in exchange for a carrot-on-a-stick promise of freedom that is always just out of reach.

Were going to move to situation where, to protect the health system, were going to lockout people who are not vaccinated and can be Dan Andrews, Premier of Victoria, Australia

NEW Australian Premier Dan Andrews plans to "lockout" unvaccinated citizens, only vaccinated will be able to participate in the economy in the future.pic.twitter.com/G0aghDIU7I

Disclose.tv (@disclosetv) September 7, 2021

Ahealth pass raises a distinct set of risks because of current scientific uncertaintiesregarding COVID-19 vaccines World Health Organization, August, 2021

Recently,the World Health Organization (WHO)published a 99-pageguide book for governments to follow with their vaccine passport rollouts.

The guidance report, funded in-part by the Gates and Rockefeller foundations, warns that due to scientific uncertainties surrounding the COVID-19 jabs, Use of a DDCC:VS [Digital Documentation of COVID-19 Certificates: Vaccination Status] as a health pass based solely on individual vaccination status may increase the risk of disease spread.

In other words, the WHO acknowledges that COVID vaccine passports may increase the risk of disease spread because the jabs themselves have never been proven to prevent transmission.

According to the report, Use of a DDCC:VS asa health pass raises a distinct set of risks because of current scientific uncertaintiesregarding COVID-19 vaccines.

While COVID-19 vaccines have demonstrated efficacy and effectiveness in preventing severe disease and death,the extent to which each vaccine prevents transmission of SARS-CoV-2 to susceptible individuals remains to be assessed.

How long each vaccine confers protectionagainst severe disease and against infection,and how well each protects against current and future variantsof SARS-CoV-2needs to be regularly assessed.

There are still critical unknowns regarding the efficacy of vaccination in reducing transmission and limited availability of vaccines World Health Organization, January, 2021

The WHO has been repeating the same message all year.

In January, 2021 the WHO put out an announcement saying that vaccine passports for international travel werent justified because, There are still critical unknowns regarding the efficacy of vaccination in reducing transmission and limited availability of vaccines.

That remains true today.

What is the point of a vaccine passport if vaccinated individuals arestill getting sick and spreading the viruswhile those who have recovered from COVID-19 will most likelyproduce antibodiesfor the rest of their lives?

The WHO guide book for government vaccine rollouts acknowledges:

Once again omitting the above, the WEF contributor says that the vaccine passport argument is a matter of framing.

However, the UK-based Ada Lovelace Institute think tank concluded in February, 2021 that any current rollout of a digital was passport was not justified for several reasons, including a lack of evidence on preventing transmission and that vaccine passports risk normalizing health surveillance.

Those reasons remain valid today.

The expert group came to the view that, at present, vaccination status does not offer clear or conclusive evidence about any individuals risk to others via transmission [] therefore any roll out of a digital passport is not currently justified Ada Lovelace Institute Interim Report, February, 2021

The expert group came to the view that, at present, vaccination status does not offer clear or conclusive evidence about any individuals risk to others via transmission,the Ada Lovelace Institute interim report reads.

Without that, it cannot be a robust basis for risk-based decision making, and therefore any roll out of a digital passport is not currently justified.

The interim report went on to say, It is likely that SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19) will become endemic, like seasonal flu and other infectious disease-causing pathogens (or even better contained, like measles, or even eliminated), at which point it will no longer require the emergency and intrusive measures justified by its present transmissibility and fatality.

Accepting this as a reasonable scientific expectation for the near future, raises concerns about the longevity of emergency apparatus, and that such infrastructure once built will not be stripped back.

There were particular concerns in the expert group that digital identity systems could be introduced as part of an emergency infrastructure, but used for different or expanded purposes Ada Lovelace Institute Interim Report, February, 2021

Here we see one of the many arguments against vaccine passports that the article does not address the risk of a growing surveillance and police state that is given never ending emergency powers that trample all over the rights of citizens.

The WHO is aware of this as well, saying in the guide book thatthe very introduction of vaccine passports will most likely make people even more hesitant to take the jab.

According to the WHO, the introduction of vaccine passports may also increase vaccine hesitancy because ofprivacy and otherconcerns thatthe vaccination record could be linked to personal data and be used for functions other than those originally intended(e.g. surveillance of individual health status), or be used by unintended third parties (e.g. immigration, commercial entities, researchers).

We find that the introduction of vaccine passports will likely lower inclination to accept a COVID-19 vaccine once baseline vaccination intent has been adjusted for. Notably, this decrease is larger if passports were required for domestic use rather than for facilitating international travel Survey for publication in the Lancets EClinicalMedicine

This backs up a study to be published in The Lancets EClinicalMedicine journal that states:

We find that the introduction of vaccine passports will likely lower inclination to accept a COVID-19 vaccine once baseline vaccination intent has been adjusted for.

Notably, this decrease is larger if passports were required for domestic use rather than for facilitating international travel.

Despite all the warnings (including its own), the WHO still went ahead and published 99 pages to guide governments in their vaccine passport rollouts.

Its not going to be safe for people who are not vaccinated to be roaming around the place spreading the virus. Thats what theyll be doing Dan Andrews, Premier of Victoria, Australia

By not acknowledging most of the key oppositional arguments to vaccine passports, the article says that its just a matter of framing.

The argument assumes that freedom isnt a fundamental human right, that the government can hold freedom hostage indefinitely during an emergency, and that its perfectly acceptable that people must be coerced into taking a medical procedure in order to win back their freedom.

And there are plenty of people in Australia and the rest of the world who are willing to go along with that.

But how can you frame any argument for vaccine passports as being valid that doesnt take into account the freedom of choice, the fact that COVID vaccines dont prevent transmission, and the glaring evidence that vaccine passports will lead to a two-tiered society under a system of social credit fueled by digital identity schemes that monitor and police your every move?

Theres going to be a vaccinated economy, and you get to participate in that if you are vaccinated Dan Andrews, Premier of Victoria, Australia

The WEF contributor highlighted the anti-vaccine passport sentiment sweeping across Europe as an example where vaccine passports have been framed as restricting the freedom of the unvaccinated to do things for which the passport is now required.

Therefore, Resistance has been expressed primarily in these terms.

When it comes to Australia, the restoring freedom framing proposal to divide and conquer the opposition may or may not work out.

But this type of messaging inadvertently serves as a warning to the rest of the world about what happens to citizens when they allow their government to control just about every aspect of their lives, including what they do with their own bodies.

As Victoria Premier Dan Andrews said, Theres going to be a vaccinated economy, and you get to participate in that if you are vaccinated.

COVID vaccine passports may increase the risk of disease spread: Gates, Rockefeller funded WHO guide book

COVID passport mandates are fueling authoritarian social credit systems, digital identity schemes

Citizens all over the world are rising up against vaccine passports, lockdowns

COVID vaccine passports threaten fundamental rights of citizens who opt-out

Australians risk arrest in their fight for freedom against vaccine passports, lockdowns

COVID vaccine passport rollouts not currently justified, risk normalizing health surveillance: UK think tank report

WHO says govts shouldnt use COVID passports for international travel as public & private sectors prep rollouts

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Framing vaccine passports as restoring freedom will divide & conquer opposition: WEF Age... - The Sociable

Former New York Governor George Pataki, a Catholic, applauded the Diocese of Brooklyn for challenging former Gov. Andrew Cuomo in court last year over his emergency order to restrict the sizes of public gatherings, including worship services. (Photo: Marc Nozell via Wikimedia Commons)

WINDSOR TERRACE George Pataki says people often ask if he is relieved that the COVID-19 pandemic did not happen during his three terms as governor of New York State, from 1995 to 2006.

I answer the exact opposite, said Pataki, who was governor on Sept. 11, 2001, when terrorists attacked the World Trade Center.

When things are going well, anyone can do the job, he said. But when things are going badly thats when, if you believe in your philosophy and your capabilities, you want to be a part of the fray.

I dont miss the office, he insisted. I love being home and with my family and doing things in the private sector. But I do miss the ability to make important decisions in times of crisis like during the COVID crisis.

Pataki made his personal state of the state comments in a telephone interview on Aug. 26, a few days after Gov. Andrew Cuomo resigned amid sexual harassment allegations.

Cuomos departure coincided with ongoing investigations into an alleged cover-up of COVID-19 deaths in nursing homes, as well as reports that he used state resources to prepare a memoir for which a publisher agreed to pay $5 million.

Kathy Hochul, then the lieutenant governor, took the oath of office to replace Cuomo, a fellow Democrat. Pataki said he did not know Hochul, and had only visited with her once. Still, he expressed relief that she had taken charge of the states government.

I think Andrew Cuomo ran a very authoritarian, ineffective government that governed through intimidation and control and provided misinformation on so many issues, Pataki said. Having him removed and having Kathy Hochul come in is a very, very positive step.

Pataki applauded the Diocese of Brooklyn for challenging Cuomo in court last year over his order to limit the sizes of public gatherings, including worship services, in so-called hot zones of COVID-19 infections.

The diocese, under the leadership of Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio, argued that it had enacted safety protocols and, therefore, the governors order restricted religious freedom. The U.S. Supreme Court agreed in late November 2020, ruling 5-4 in favor of the diocese.

Pataki said he had kept track of the lawsuit as it moved through the judicial system.

What the governor did was wrong and virtually punitive towards the Catholic Church and religion in New York State, Pataki said. I was hoping for the outcome that we finally got that, ultimately, the United States Supreme Court said his actions were unconstitutional.

He said he welcomed new leadership in Albany to reverse the pandemics damage to New York and its economy and to respond to spikes in violent crime, high taxes, and attacks on religious freedom all challenges he worked to address as governor.

Top Priorities

Pataki added that New York needs a change in direction.

So, he said, I would hope that Governor Hochul will not just look to be a new governor, but to put in place new policies whether its criminal justice or dealing with health issues, or opening up the government so people get true information.

He commended Hochul for releasing updated data on the nursing home deaths, thereby taking the first step in her pledge to govern with transparency.

But, he added, I find it incredible that over a year later, the state government still kept the numbers of people who died from COVID a secret. This is something that, if its not criminal, it certainly should result in any and everybody involved being fired and removed from state government.

Pataki also said he was alarmed to see people leave the state, and New York City in particular, because of high taxes and crime.

When I took office, we were the most dangerous state in America, he said. When I left, we were the safest large state and fourth safest state in America because we changed all the policies and directions in Albany. Now theyre in the process of changing them back.

An example, he said, is the no-cash bail law that has resulted in felons being arrested and released two hours later. Consequently, Pataki said, crime is skyrocketing.

Obviously, its a catastrophe for the victims, he said, but its highly destructive for us as a society. The most important thing the government does is provide for the safety of its people.

If I was Gov. Hochul, that would be one of my top priorities.

Not the Whims of One Person

Pataki also urged lawmakers to never again pass legislation giving the governor unlimited power via executive orders.

He said executive orders are important, and he issued well over 100 of them, especially in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks. But, he noted, the Legislature erred with a law giving Cuomo additional executive power, saying he basically can do anything he wants for an unlimited period of time.

The consequences, he said, are a delayed reopening of businesses shuttered by the pandemic and unfair constraints on religious freedom. He said decisions regarding public safety should be based on science and not the whims of one person.

Steady Hand

Pataki is the most recent Republican to serve as governor and the last governor to complete each of his terms without scandal and early resignations. Today, he is a senior partner in a Manhattan law firm, but he resides with his family in Garrison, N.Y.

Brian Browne, a political science professor at St. Johns University, said Patakis terms as governor overlapped stretches of economic growth, including the dot-com boom.

Before Pataki, Browne said, the last New York governor to serve three terms was Mario Cuomo, whom Pataki unseated in 1994.

The elder Cuomo, Browne explained, was a prominent Democrat and a popular national figure. Patakis election victory, therefore, made him a giant killer.

But Patakis defining moment was the 9/11 aftermath, when his steady hand helped rebuild lower Manhattan, according to Browne.

Pataki campaigned to be president in 2016 but withdrew before the primary. On Aug. 26, he asserted he has no plans to run for any office.

I think, Browne said, history will be kind to George Pataki, particularly for what he accomplished as governor and what he accomplished politically, just getting elected three times in New York State.

Read more:

Former Governor Pataki on Cuomo, Religious Freedom, and NY's Need For a 'Change in Direction' - The Tablet Catholic Newspaper

With three goals and two assists in a pair of games to open the 2021 season for the Lycoming College womens soccer team, junior Bella Green earned her first career MAC Freedom Offensive Player of the Week award.

Green, a South Williamsport graduate, opened the year with a two-goal, two-assist effort as the Warriors ran past Gwynedd Mercy, 8-0, on Saturday. She assisted on two goals in the first 11 minutes before adding a goal later in the first half and one late in the second.

Freshman Ali Koval made a splash in her first week playing libero for the Lycoming College volleyball team, averaging more than seven digs per set to earn the MAC Freedoms Defensive Player of the Week award.

Koval a North Penn-Mansfield graduate who leads the MAC Freedom with 7.08 digs per set had at least 17 digs in each of the teams four matches during its opening week. Koval opened her career with 17 digs, an assist and two aces against Manhattanville before helping the team to its first win of the year with a 17-dig, one-ace effort in a sweep of La Roche on Friday.

She capped the weekend with a pair more sterling efforts, as she posted 33 digs and added a kill against Penn State-Mont Alto before notching 18 digs and an assist in a 3-0 win over Notre Dame (Md.), the defending CSAC champions.

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Local roundup: South grad Green earns MAC Freedom Offensive Player of the Week nod - Williamsport Sun-Gazette

Richard La Gravenese wrote and directed the famous American drama film Freedom Writers, which was released in 2007. The plot of the film is based on a 1999 book called The Freedom Writers Diary, written by a teacher named Erin Gruwell for her students and later compiled into real-time diary entries depicting their school life and what they learned in their English class at Woodrow Wilson Classical High School.

Not only that! Freedom Writers also includes some of the elements from a popular DC television show called City at Peace. The films title refers to multiracial civil rights activists who challenged a 1961 Supreme Court decision requiring interstate bus desegregation. Tracey Durning, a journalist, presented the basic idea for the film.

Who is also driving the creation of a documentary series about Erin Gruwell for ABCs Primetime Live news program. Tracey worked on the movie project as a co-executive producer, and it was dedicated to the memory of Armand Jones. The latter was slain shortly after the production of Freedom Writers.

The movie includes few famous faces as its cast, which is another reason for making it a great hit! And many appeared for the movie and have also got good acclaim in their acting career and have made a good fan base among the audiences as well. The entire list of cast members for Freedom Writers includes:

Keeping an eye on the movies aggregators, Freedom Writer has successfully made a good impression before many major movie aggregators, and its claimed to be one among the movie with a good number of positive response comments.One of the movie aggregators, Rotten Tomatoes, has rated 70 percent as positive reviews out of 126. Another movie aggregator, Metacritic, has given the film a weighted average score of 64 out of 100, indicating that it is a positive film. With looking at such positive acclaim, we would recommend you to stream the movie!

Original post:

Freedom Writers (2007): New on Netflix USA and Is it Worth Streaming? - Gizmo Story

Under Delta level 2, if you're in a public facility it's now mandatory to scan in and wear a mask and if you're touching things like museum exhibitions then you should be hand sanitising regularly.

"We've set a cap of 734 people in the museum at any given time just to help people manage that space between their bubbles," Te Papa CEO Courtney Johnston said.

But not everyone's happy.

"It's unfair that a museum, a sport centre and other venues can have an unlimited amount of people, with the same rules we are under - yet we are only allowed 50," restaurant, bar and club owner Jordan Mills told Newshub.

The 50 person limit applies to conferences as well.

Conference centre owner Paul Retimanu, from Manaaki Management, said many bookings have been cancelled as a result.

"And at 50, I don't feel confident they are all going to come straight back," he said.

Many businesses are now hoping alert level 1 is around the corner, as level 2 is more about the punters than the profit.

"We are worrying about businesses' survival, certainly worried about profitability, cash flow and all those things," Wellington Chamber of Commerce CEO Simon Arcus said.

Original post:

COVID-19: Thousands of Kiwis enjoy freedom of Delta alert level 2, but businesses hope level 1 is around the corner - Newshub