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Firefighters Say Florida County’s Vaccine Mandate Causing Rifts Among First Responders That Compromise Public Safety

Firefighters Say Florida County’s Vaccine Mandate Causing Rifts Among First Responders That Compromise Public Safety

By Nanette Holt of The Epoch Times

Firefighter, paramedic, dispatcher, and EMT morale in Florida’s fifth most-populous…

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Firefighters Say Florida County's Vaccine Mandate Causing Rifts Among First Responders That Compromise Public Safety

By Nanette Holt of The Epoch Times

Firefighter, paramedic, dispatcher, and EMT morale in Florida’s fifth most-populous county is so low due to a vaccine mandate that public safety is being compromised, first responders say.

About 500 of the men and women who fight fires and rush to medical 911 calls are receiving written reprimands in their employment files for refusing to take the vaccine for the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, commonly known as the novel coronavirus.

Many say they fear the vaccine because they’ve responded to daily calls to the homes of people who’ve been seriously harmed or died shortly after the injection, says a spokesman for the group, firefighter Jason Wheat. Others object because they feel they should have a right to choose what to put in their bodies or have religious objections.

The resulting infighting over who’s been vaccinated and who hasn’t is causing so much strife within the department that many first responders are distracted, stressed, and unable to work well as a team, Wheat said. The Epoch Times spoke with another firefighter, a lieutenant, and a firefighter who is married to another firefighter. All described intense pressure at work that has brought about exhaustion, depression, family troubles, harassment, and a frightening lack of cooperation and teamwork. Two expressed dismay about three recent suicides among department workers. They blamed the stress that has plagued the department since the pandemic began.

Orange County Fire Rescue spokeswoman Lisa McDonald declined to comment.

Orange County firemen use a hose to fill protective barriers with water in front of the booking and release center at the Orange County Jail July 15, 2011 in Orlando, Florida  (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

Wheat and 42 colleagues are suing Orange County. An attorney for the group filed a motion on Oct. 1 asking for an emergency injunction to block the county from requiring employees to submit to unwanted vaccinations. Employees say they were at first told that they’d be fired if they didn’t take the vaccines. Later, the county changed the plan to issuing written reprimands, employees said. The department would not have been able to provide services properly if there was a sudden loss of 500 employees, about 38 percent of the department, the firefighter said.

The lawsuit filed by employees challenges an executive order by Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings. The order required employees, including those in the Fire and Rescue Department, to receive at least one shot by the end of last month. Attorneys for the county have declined to comment on the matter because litigation is pending.

The conflict between Orange County and first responders further escalated on Oct. 19, when a fire battalion chief, one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, was fired for refusing to discipline department employees listed as unvaccinated.

Stephen Davis “was terminated on the grounds of failure to follow a direct order,” confirmed Orange County Fire Rescue spokeswoman Lisa McDonald. “The insubordination was the result of his refusal to issue disciplinary action on Oct. 5.”

Davis was hired in April of 2007 and promoted to Battalion Chief in 2018, she said, declining to comment further.

Davis has said he refused to issue written reprimands to people under his command because the vaccine requirement is unlawful. Some employees on the list for disciplinary action had already submitted religious exemptions that were approved, he said. Supervisors told him the employee records would be rectified later.

His firing caused department morale to sink even lower, said Wheat, a 17-year veteran and Florida’s 2019 Firefighter of the Year.

“It’s the lowest I’ve ever seen it,” he says. Others in the department echoed his assessment.

Unvaccinated workers officially are required to be tested for COVID-19 once a week, he said. But sometimes, they’re forced to test a second time. And the tests often are past their expiration date, he and others told The Epoch Times.

Vaccinated workers make slurs about the “dirty unvaccinated,” Wheat said.

The tension between the vaccinated and unvaccinated grows daily, fire and rescue employees said. As a result, the number of firefighters calling in sick is up, which forces colleagues to work extra-long shifts that leave them exhausted. Some are quitting and taking jobs elsewhere.

“The people of Orange County are being hurt,” Wheat said. Fire and rescue workers “are fighting with each other, not concentrating on their jobs. Safety is a problem.

“We love this job so much because we want to help people. But when you’re distracted, it’s not good for the public.”

Fear of disciplinary action or job loss is causing extreme anxiety among the first responders, several department employees said. Some colleagues have called Wheat in tears, expressing anger, alarm, sadness, and frustration.

“We’re with the people on our shift more than our families,” said Wheat, 43. “It’s a shame. This has destroyed our department.”

Some have told him the strain has destroyed their marriages.

“I’ve been getting a lot of hate mail from citizens saying, ‘Go get the vaccine — stop being a punk!’ and lots of worse words than that.”

But “I don’t need it,” he said.

He discovered he had the virus 16 months ago when he went in for pre-surgery testing. Tests show he has antibodies now.

“But we’re not for or against the vaccine. It’s about freedom of choice. If we’re of sound mind, we should be able to decide what we put in our bodies.”

Firefighters, paramedics, and EMTs do have good reasons to fear the vaccine, he said.

After President Joe Biden encouraged employers to mandate vaccines, first responders raced daily to 911 calls from people who had just had the shot and believed it had hurt them. Strokes, seizures, fainting, serious illness, heart palpitations, blood clots, and enlarged hearts were only some of the problems that seemed, to him and his colleagues, to be the result of a vaccination. A first responder provided The Epoch Times transcripts of notes describing the deaths of two patients who had just had the vaccine and had no other known health conditions.

In September, Wheat created the nonprofit Operation Freedom of Choice. Now, representatives of 15 fire departments and unions in Florida meet weekly to discuss the latest on vaccine mandates and how their colleagues are holding up under the pressure.

Taking up their fight is Rachel Rodriguez, a West Palm Beach attorney representing Wheat and the 42 others against Orange County.

She says the lawsuit shouldn’t be seen as partisan.

“The issue here is lawlessness, force, and tyranny,” she said. “I feel really privileged to work on this case because, my goodness, our republic is in trouble. I’m honored to be working with people who are standing up” for what they believe is right.

Rodriguez is upset that her clients worked through the pandemic, responding to calls in person when many other county workers carried out their duties working remotely from the safety of their homes. Those same first responders, who had been lauded as heroes, now have to worry about how written reprimands will affect their employment.

Orange County Fire Rescue serves more than one million residents and responded to 124,000 calls in the past fiscal year when many seeking help were experiencing serious symptoms of COVID-19.

Rodriguez questions why Orange County is still under a state of emergency, a condition Florida law allows for up to 42 days. The state of emergency that allowed Mayor Demings to issue the vaccine mandate should have expired Sept. 7, she says.

The mayor has said publicly that employees won’t be fired for not taking the vaccine.

“But my clients don’t have assurance of that,” she says. “This is lawlessness versus rule of law and order.”

One Orange County commissioner asked during a public meeting if liability for wrongful death could be imposed on unvaccinated workers of Orange County Fire Rescue for exposing “an innocent person…to something deadly.”

Rodriguez is working with a loosely affiliated group of allied attorneys around the country who are sharing files and strategies. The group was organized by fellow Florida attorney Jeff Childers, of Gainesville, who turned over his corporate law practice to other lawyers so he could focus solely on what he calls “freedom cases.” He’s been taking on and assisting in those cases without requiring a promise to pay. And he and other attorneys in the group have been helping with cases like Rodriguez’s and others around the country

Also jumping into the fray is Florida’s Attorney General Ashley Moody, who asked the Circuit Court in Orange County Wednesday for permission to file an amicus brief in the case. An amicus brief is filed to show support for one side in a case and to present additional information, such as how others will be affected by the issues addressed in the case.

“These local politicians are abusing their authority and trying to ruin the careers of so many of our courageous firefighters,” Moody said in a news release.

In a further show of support from the state, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and other state officials held a news conference with the chief fired for insubordination and others from Orange County.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis receives a signed helmet from Brandon Webb, Battalion Chief, Special Operations Division Miami-Dade County Fire Rescue during an event to give out bonuses to first responders held at the Grand Beach Hotel Surfside on August 10, 2021 in Surfside, Florida. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

“Your right to earn a living should not be contingent upon COVID shots,” DeSantis said. “When the vaccines first came out, we worked very hard to provide it, particularly to our elderly, but we said from Day One: we will make it available for all, but we will mandate it on none, because ultimately we want individuals to make the determinations about what is right for them.

“I want a state in which people are able to maintain their livelihoods, earn a living, and provide for their families. And if the federal government or big corporations are hurting people, then we have a responsibility to step up and lead.”

Later that day at a press briefing, Orange County Mayor Demings struck back, accusing the Governor of using firefighters to create “political theater.” The mayor’s wife is U.S. Rep. Val Demings (D), a former Orlando police chief, who is challenging Florida’s Senator Marco Rubio, a Republican. The mayor’s son, Antonio Demings, works for Orange County Fire Rescue, as the chief of safety and wellness.

“If you ask me what is my response to the Governor or anyone else,” Mayor Demings said, “I say these simple words: bring it on.”

Tyler Durden Mon, 10/25/2021 - 11:04

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International

Beloved mall retailer files Chapter 7 bankruptcy, will liquidate

The struggling chain has given up the fight and will close hundreds of stores around the world.

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It has been a brutal period for several popular retailers. The fallout from the covid pandemic and a challenging economic environment have pushed numerous chains into bankruptcy with Tuesday Morning, Christmas Tree Shops, and Bed Bath & Beyond all moving from Chapter 11 to Chapter 7 bankruptcy liquidation.

In all three of those cases, the companies faced clear financial pressures that led to inventory problems and vendors demanding faster, or even upfront payment. That creates a sort of inevitability.

Related: Beloved retailer finds life after bankruptcy, new famous owner

When a retailer faces financial pressure it sets off a cycle where vendors become wary of selling them items. That leads to barren shelves and no ability for the chain to sell its way out of its financial problems. 

Once that happens bankruptcy generally becomes the only option. Sometimes that means a Chapter 11 filing which gives the company a chance to negotiate with its creditors. In some cases, deals can be worked out where vendors extend longer terms or even forgive some debts, and banks offer an extension of loan terms.

In other cases, new funding can be secured which assuages vendor concerns or the company might be taken over by its vendors. Sometimes, as was the case with David's Bridal, a new owner steps in, adds new money, and makes deals with creditors in order to give the company a new lease on life.

It's rare that a retailer moves directly into Chapter 7 bankruptcy and decides to liquidate without trying to find a new source of funding.

Mall traffic has varied depending upon the type of mall.

Image source: Getty Images

The Body Shop has bad news for customers  

The Body Shop has been in a very public fight for survival. Fears began when the company closed half of its locations in the United Kingdom. That was followed by a bankruptcy-style filing in Canada and an abrupt closure of its U.S. stores on March 4.

"The Canadian subsidiary of the global beauty and cosmetics brand announced it has started restructuring proceedings by filing a Notice of Intention (NOI) to Make a Proposal pursuant to the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act (Canada). In the same release, the company said that, as of March 1, 2024, The Body Shop US Limited has ceased operations," Chain Store Age reported.

A message on the company's U.S. website shared a simple message that does not appear to be the entire story.

"We're currently undergoing planned maintenance, but don't worry we're due to be back online soon."

That same message is still on the company's website, but a new filing makes it clear that the site is not down for maintenance, it's down for good.

The Body Shop files for Chapter 7 bankruptcy

While the future appeared bleak for The Body Shop, fans of the brand held out hope that a savior would step in. That's not going to be the case. 

The Body Shop filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in the United States.

"The US arm of the ethical cosmetics group has ceased trading at its 50 outlets. On Saturday (March 9), it filed for Chapter 7 insolvency, under which assets are sold off to clear debts, putting about 400 jobs at risk including those in a distribution center that still holds millions of dollars worth of stock," The Guardian reported.

After its closure in the United States, the survival of the brand remains very much in doubt. About half of the chain's stores in the United Kingdom remain open along with its Australian stores. 

The future of those stores remains very much in doubt and the chain has shared that it needs new funding in order for them to continue operating.

The Body Shop did not respond to a request for comment from TheStreet.   

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Government

Are Voters Recoiling Against Disorder?

Are Voters Recoiling Against Disorder?

Authored by Michael Barone via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

The headlines coming out of the Super…

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Are Voters Recoiling Against Disorder?

Authored by Michael Barone via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

The headlines coming out of the Super Tuesday primaries have got it right. Barring cataclysmic changes, Donald Trump and Joe Biden will be the Republican and Democratic nominees for president in 2024.

(Left) President Joe Biden delivers remarks on canceling student debt at Culver City Julian Dixon Library in Culver City, Calif., on Feb. 21, 2024. (Right) Republican presidential candidate and former U.S. President Donald Trump stands on stage during a campaign event at Big League Dreams Las Vegas in Las Vegas, Nev., on Jan. 27, 2024. (Mario Tama/Getty Images; David Becker/Getty Images)

With Nikki Haley’s withdrawal, there will be no more significantly contested primaries or caucuses—the earliest both parties’ races have been over since something like the current primary-dominated system was put in place in 1972.

The primary results have spotlighted some of both nominees’ weaknesses.

Donald Trump lost high-income, high-educated constituencies, including the entire metro area—aka the Swamp. Many but by no means all Haley votes there were cast by Biden Democrats. Mr. Trump can’t afford to lose too many of the others in target states like Pennsylvania and Michigan.

Majorities and large minorities of voters in overwhelmingly Latino counties in Texas’s Rio Grande Valley and some in Houston voted against Joe Biden, and even more against Senate nominee Rep. Colin Allred (D-Texas).

Returns from Hispanic precincts in New Hampshire and Massachusetts show the same thing. Mr. Biden can’t afford to lose too many Latino votes in target states like Arizona and Georgia.

When Mr. Trump rode down that escalator in 2015, commentators assumed he’d repel Latinos. Instead, Latino voters nationally, and especially the closest eyewitnesses of Biden’s open-border policy, have been trending heavily Republican.

High-income liberal Democrats may sport lawn signs proclaiming, “In this house, we believe ... no human is illegal.” The logical consequence of that belief is an open border. But modest-income folks in border counties know that flows of illegal immigrants result in disorder, disease, and crime.

There is plenty of impatience with increased disorder in election returns below the presidential level. Consider Los Angeles County, America’s largest county, with nearly 10 million people, more people than 40 of the 50 states. It voted 71 percent for Mr. Biden in 2020.

Current returns show county District Attorney George Gascon winning only 21 percent of the vote in the nonpartisan primary. He’ll apparently face Republican Nathan Hochman, a critic of his liberal policies, in November.

Gascon, elected after the May 2020 death of counterfeit-passing suspect George Floyd in Minneapolis, is one of many county prosecutors supported by billionaire George Soros. His policies include not charging juveniles as adults, not seeking higher penalties for gang membership or use of firearms, and bringing fewer misdemeanor cases.

The predictable result has been increased car thefts, burglaries, and personal robberies. Some 120 assistant district attorneys have left the office, and there’s a backlog of 10,000 unprosecuted cases.

More than a dozen other Soros-backed and similarly liberal prosecutors have faced strong opposition or have left office.

St. Louis prosecutor Kim Gardner resigned last May amid lawsuits seeking her removal, Milwaukee’s John Chisholm retired in January, and Baltimore’s Marilyn Mosby was defeated in July 2022 and convicted of perjury in September 2023. Last November, Loudoun County, Virginia, voters (62 percent Biden) ousted liberal Buta Biberaj, who declined to prosecute a transgender student for assault, and in June 2022 voters in San Francisco (85 percent Biden) recalled famed radical Chesa Boudin.

Similarly, this Tuesday, voters in San Francisco passed ballot measures strengthening police powers and requiring treatment of drug-addicted welfare recipients.

In retrospect, it appears the Floyd video, appearing after three months of COVID-19 confinement, sparked a frenzied, even crazed reaction, especially among the highly educated and articulate. One fatal incident was seen as proof that America’s “systemic racism” was worse than ever and that police forces should be defunded and perhaps abolished.

2020 was “the year America went crazy,” I wrote in January 2021, a year in which police funding was actually cut by Democrats in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, and Denver. A year in which young New York Times (NYT) staffers claimed they were endangered by the publication of Sen. Tom Cotton’s (R-Ark.) opinion article advocating calling in military forces if necessary to stop rioting, as had been done in Detroit in 1967 and Los Angeles in 1992. A craven NYT publisher even fired the editorial page editor for running the article.

Evidence of visible and tangible discontent with increasing violence and its consequences—barren and locked shelves in Manhattan chain drugstores, skyrocketing carjackings in Washington, D.C.—is as unmistakable in polls and election results as it is in daily life in large metropolitan areas. Maybe 2024 will turn out to be the year even liberal America stopped acting crazy.

Chaos and disorder work against incumbents, as they did in 1968 when Democrats saw their party’s popular vote fall from 61 percent to 43 percent.

Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times or ZeroHedge.

Tyler Durden Sat, 03/09/2024 - 23:20

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Government

Veterans Affairs Kept COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate In Place Without Evidence

Veterans Affairs Kept COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate In Place Without Evidence

Authored by Zachary Stieber via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

The…

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Veterans Affairs Kept COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate In Place Without Evidence

Authored by Zachary Stieber via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) reviewed no data when deciding in 2023 to keep its COVID-19 vaccine mandate in place.

Doses of a COVID-19 vaccine in Washington in a file image. (Jacquelyn Martin/Pool/AFP via Getty Images)

VA Secretary Denis McDonough said on May 1, 2023, that the end of many other federal mandates “will not impact current policies at the Department of Veterans Affairs.”

He said the mandate was remaining for VA health care personnel “to ensure the safety of veterans and our colleagues.”

Mr. McDonough did not cite any studies or other data. A VA spokesperson declined to provide any data that was reviewed when deciding not to rescind the mandate. The Epoch Times submitted a Freedom of Information Act for “all documents outlining which data was relied upon when establishing the mandate when deciding to keep the mandate in place.”

The agency searched for such data and did not find any.

The VA does not even attempt to justify its policies with science, because it can’t,” Leslie Manookian, president and founder of the Health Freedom Defense Fund, told The Epoch Times.

“The VA just trusts that the process and cost of challenging its unfounded policies is so onerous, most people are dissuaded from even trying,” she added.

The VA’s mandate remains in place to this day.

The VA’s website claims that vaccines “help protect you from getting severe illness” and “offer good protection against most COVID-19 variants,” pointing in part to observational data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that estimate the vaccines provide poor protection against symptomatic infection and transient shielding against hospitalization.

There have also been increasing concerns among outside scientists about confirmed side effects like heart inflammation—the VA hid a safety signal it detected for the inflammation—and possible side effects such as tinnitus, which shift the benefit-risk calculus.

President Joe Biden imposed a slate of COVID-19 vaccine mandates in 2021. The VA was the first federal agency to implement a mandate.

President Biden rescinded the mandates in May 2023, citing a drop in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations. His administration maintains the choice to require vaccines was the right one and saved lives.

“Our administration’s vaccination requirements helped ensure the safety of workers in critical workforces including those in the healthcare and education sectors, protecting themselves and the populations they serve, and strengthening their ability to provide services without disruptions to operations,” the White House said.

Some experts said requiring vaccination meant many younger people were forced to get a vaccine despite the risks potentially outweighing the benefits, leaving fewer doses for older adults.

By mandating the vaccines to younger people and those with natural immunity from having had COVID, older people in the U.S. and other countries did not have access to them, and many people might have died because of that,” Martin Kulldorff, a professor of medicine on leave from Harvard Medical School, told The Epoch Times previously.

The VA was one of just a handful of agencies to keep its mandate in place following the removal of many federal mandates.

“At this time, the vaccine requirement will remain in effect for VA health care personnel, including VA psychologists, pharmacists, social workers, nursing assistants, physical therapists, respiratory therapists, peer specialists, medical support assistants, engineers, housekeepers, and other clinical, administrative, and infrastructure support employees,” Mr. McDonough wrote to VA employees at the time.

This also includes VA volunteers and contractors. Effectively, this means that any Veterans Health Administration (VHA) employee, volunteer, or contractor who works in VHA facilities, visits VHA facilities, or provides direct care to those we serve will still be subject to the vaccine requirement at this time,” he said. “We continue to monitor and discuss this requirement, and we will provide more information about the vaccination requirements for VA health care employees soon. As always, we will process requests for vaccination exceptions in accordance with applicable laws, regulations, and policies.”

The version of the shots cleared in the fall of 2022, and available through the fall of 2023, did not have any clinical trial data supporting them.

A new version was approved in the fall of 2023 because there were indications that the shots not only offered temporary protection but also that the level of protection was lower than what was observed during earlier stages of the pandemic.

Ms. Manookian, whose group has challenged several of the federal mandates, said that the mandate “illustrates the dangers of the administrative state and how these federal agencies have become a law unto themselves.”

Tyler Durden Sat, 03/09/2024 - 22:10

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