Cuomo changes course, allows elderly inmates to receive coronavirus vaccine

New York is facing a lawsuit on behalf of prisoners at Rikers Island who were denied the vaccine

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced this week that the state's oldest inmates are now eligible for the coronavirus vaccine.

The state Corrections Department said Thursday it is preparing to vaccinate the 1,075 people in custody who are 65 and older.

An announcement by Corrections spokesperson Thomas Mailey reversed a previous policy that allowed vaccines for prison staff but not for prisoners, according to Gothamist.

New York is currently vaccinating those in Phase 1a and 1b: health care workers; residents of congregate care facilities; frontline workers, such as police, teachers and grocery store employees; and people who are 65 and older. Beginning Feb. 15, people with underlying health conditions that put them at greater risk will also be eligible for vaccination.

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The state is currently facing a lawsuit on behalf of two men at Rikers Island who are under the age of 65 and have been denied the vaccine. They say they should be eligible because they are housed in a congregate setting.

Asked at his Friday press briefing why prisons were not lumped in with other congregate settings, such as nursing homes, Cuomo said: "I don’t know the specific definition of 'congregate.'"

He said the state was treating those inside prisons the same as the general population. "We are doing 65-plus and medically frail. It’s the same set of rules for both."

Since the start of the pandemic, over 5,000 New York prisoners have contracted COVID-19 and 31 have died.

A group of public defenders and advocacy groups said Friday that the governor’s order did little to right the injustice they saw in denying any incarcerated person a vaccine.

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"Today’s announcement that New York will begin moving toward offering the vaccine to elderly people in prison who have been eligible for the vaccine now for weeks has little to do with the patently illegal and immoral practice challenged in court today," they said in a statement posted by the New York Civil Liberties Union.

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"COVID-19 is a danger for incarcerated people of all ages because of the unique risks that the [prison] setting creates. That danger is borne overwhelmingly by people of color. Every single person incarcerated in New York state needs access to the vaccine."

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/cuomo-elderly-inmates-receive-coronavirus-vaccine

Polish Police Disrupts Fake Medicines Trafficking Ring

Polish police announced Wednesday the arrest of 13 people and seizure of hundreds of thousands of counterfeit and stolen pharmaceuticals it says were the product of an international organized crime ring of Polish and French nationals, according to a statement by the Central Police Investigation Bureau (CBŚP).

medicationsSeized counterfeit pharmaceuticals. (Photo: Polish police)Authorities estimate that over the past three years the group may have imported around a half a ton of active substances to Poland from Asia, which it then shipped to various countries to be manufactured into counterfeit medicine.

The joint operation with Italian and French law enforcement agencies secured a broad range of fake and stolen medicine including drugs used to treat cancer, anabolic steroids, psychotropic drugs and 15kg of “active substances and other semi-finished products” worth at least 25 million Polish zloty (US$6.7 million). The European Anti Fraud Office (OLAF) coordinated the multinational action.

“Today at #WorldCancerDay OLAF stands together in fighting one of leading causes of death in the #EU,” OLAF said on Twitter. “Making sure (EU) market is protected from #pharmaceutical#fraud is one of our roles & we are committed to securing citizens’ #Health.”

Besides medicinal products, police also seized fake documents, firearms, various quantities of illegal drugs, several luxury vehicles and a large quantity of cash.

OLAF added that the result of such crime were “tens of millions of counterfeit pharmaceutical products, mimicking some of the best-known brands in the world,” which then found their way back to the Polish market or were sold to consumers all over Europe and the U.S. via online stores.

The gang, as the investigation revealed, had also stolen considerable quantities of genuine pharmaceutical products from production plants, which were then sold illegally. The profits were allegedly used to buy a number of properties, several of which were seized by police, according to the statement.

“Helping to shut down criminal gangs such as this one, which not only steal money from citizens and legitimate businesses but also pose a real threat to people’s lives by peddling their fake medicines, is a very satisfying part of OLAF’s investigation and coordination work,” the agency’s Director-General, Ville Itälä, said.

The detained suspects, according to OLAF, could face charges of “endangering public health through the production, storage, and sale of fake medicinal products, as well as illegally importing active substances and finished medicinal products and laundering money from criminal activities.”

https://www.occrp.org/en/daily/13806-polish-police-disrupts-fake-medicines-trafficking-ring

Mike Rowe: Americans Are Realizing "The Price Of Safety Is Devastating"

More than a year after the coronavirus arrived in the United States, American are "starting to understand the importance of balance again," Mike Rowe told "The Story" Friday.

Fox News' Michael Quinlan reports on the 'Dirty Jobs' host's reality check for all Americans:

"Several months ago, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said no measure, no matter how draconian, could be deemed unwise if it saves but a single life," the "Six Degrees with Mike Rowe" host told Martha MacCallum.

"I got a lot of flak when he said that, because I said, 'That is a safety-first way of thinking', and deep down we're not a safety-first society."

"Now we're starting to see the price of safety is devastating," Rowe added.

"What is happening right now in the energy industry is really the thing that I think we ought to be focused on, because there feels to me, and feels to a lot of people I talk to on a day-to-day basis, like a concerted effort to wage a kind of war against energy. It's not a war we can win, especially with regard to fossil fuels and all of the jobs that are wrapped up in that industry. I don't mean to sound like an apologist, but I know of no greater investor in alternative energy than the fossil fuel industry."

MacCallum brought the discussion back to the issue of safety, saying, "We're a country that was built on risk-taking. We want to take wise risks, we don't want to be reckless, but that element of being strong and fighting through is something that I think is such an American value.

"Risk is the only four-letter word that matters," Rowe agreed.

"It impacts and informs every decision we make, from driving a car to walking around without a mask or wearing one mask or two masks."

"We're starting to see," Rowe concluded, "if you elevate the business of staying alive to the very, very top of all things, then the only thing you'll ever do is stay alive. You won't go anywhere. You won't try anything or build anything."

https://www.zerohedge.com/covid-19/mike-rowe-americans-are-realizing-price-safety-devastating

Democratic Bill To Target Social Media Giants Over Failure To Police Threats

Democratic Sen. Mark Warner (VA) is set to introduce a bill which would make it easier for social media users to sue tech giants for failing to police posts, photos and videos which threaten abuse, discrimination, harassment, the loss of life or other irreparable harm, according to the Washington Post.

Warner's bill is the latest attack on Section 230, a decades-old federal rule which shields social media companies from liability over what their users post as long as they don't act as publishers - an angle Republican lawmakers have used to claim no longer applies due to editorial discrimination and censorship of conservatives.

Democrats, meanwhile, say Section 230 allows tech companies to skirt responsibility for policing hate speech, election disinformation and other 'dangerous content' according to the report.

Yet, while Republicans seek to strip tech giants of their Section 230 protections, Warner's bill maintains its core provisions - and would instead open an "easier legal pathway" for users to sue over failures to police content that they claim caused personal harm.

"How can we continue to give this get-out-of-jail card to these platforms that constantly do nothing to address the foreseeable, obvious and repeated misuse of their products and services to cause harm? That was kind of our operating premise," said Warner.

Ultimately, it would be up to a judge to decide the merits of these claims; the bill mostly opens the door for Web users to argue their cases without running as much risk of having them dismissed early. Facebook, Google, Twitter and other social media sites stand to lose these highly coveted federal protections under Warner’s bill only in the case of abusive paid content, such as online advertisements, that seek to defraud or scam customers.

“You shouldn’t get immunity from this advertising content that’s providing you revenue,” said Warner, who is introducing the measure along with Democratic Sens. Amy Klobuchar (Minn.) and Mazie Hirono (Hawaii). -Washington Post

Warner's bill comes after a mob of mostly Trump-supporters 'stormed' the US Capitol on Jan. 6 to protest the counting of the Electoral College votes for Joe Biden - many of whom coordinated over social media. And as WaPo frames it, the ordeal raises questions "about the extent to which Facebook, Google and Twitter, and a vast web of lesser-known forums, are properly policing their sites and services."

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/democratic-bill-target-social-media-giants-over-failure-police-threats

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