(FREE) PAINE IN THE MORNING: 10 things you need to know this Wednesday – February 2, 2022

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Johns Hopkins Study: Lockdowns Had ‘Little To No Effect On COVID-19 Mortality’ But Had ‘Devastating’ Effects On Society – A new working paper from Johns Hopkins University’s “Studies in Applied Economics” institute claims that COVID-19 lockdowns imposed by a variety of governments worldwide had “little to no effect” on COVID-19 mortality. The study, conducted by three professors from around the world, also found that lockdowns “imposed enormous economic and social costs” and are “ill-founded and should be rejected as a pandemic policy instrument.”

According to the study released this week, lockdowns were defined “as the imposition of at least one compulsory, non-pharmaceutical intervention (NPI). NPIs are any government mandate that directly restrict peoples’ possibilities, such as policies that limit internal movement, close schools and businesses, and ban international travel.” – READ MORE

Canada Police: ‘All Options on the Table’ to End Peaceful Trucker Protests – Ottawa Police Chief Peter Sloly told reporters on Monday that “all options are on the table,” including “enforcement,” to end an ongoing protest led by truckers in the Canadian capital against the country’s onerous anti-coronavirus mandates that Sloly himself admitted had led to no injuries or violence.

“It could have led to significant and severe injuries, and it could have led to the loss of life. None of that has occurred over the last four days,” Sloly said, according to Canada’s CTV, while asserting that police would act by any means necessary to end the event. – READ MORE

Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine could be available for children under 5 as soon as next month: report – Pfizer and BioNTech plan to submit a request for emergency use authorization for their COVID-19 vaccine in children six months to 5 years old as soon as Tuesday, which could set the vaccine up to be approved for young children in the coming weeks, the Washington Post reports.

The companies began a clinical trial last year to examine the effects of two doses of 3-microgram shots in children younger than 5. – READ MORE

Boston Mayor Hints at Keeping Mask, Vaccine Mandates Through Next Winter – Boston mayor Michelle Wu (D.) declined Tuesday to say when she would lift the city’s mask and vaccine mandates and hinted that she may keep the mandates through “next fall, next winter.”

A journalist asked Wu whether she had “any plans to roll back mask mandates or vaccine mandates in the near future,” pointing out that cities are reporting that “we’re a lot better off, we have vaccines, people aren’t getting as sick, the number of hospitalizations are going down.” – READ MORE

Denver dropping mask or proof of vaccine requirement: Omicron has ‘run out of fuel’ –Denver’s mask or proof of vaccine requirement to enter businesses is set to expire this week as health officials in Colorado say the omicron coronavirus variant has “run out of fuel within our community.”

The development comes as residents in the capital of Colorado have reached a 78% vaccination rate, Denver Mayor Michael Hancock announced Monday, adding that “this virus is something we are going to have to manage and learn to live with.” – READ MORE

Hershey Company begins firing unvaccinated employees – The Hershey Company has begun terminating employees who opted not to receive the COVID-19 vaccination.

Alongside their termination, employees are asked to sign a nine-page confidentiality agreement that would waive their rights to sue the company or talk about their experiences with the company. – READ MORE

Upstate NY DA drops last of five criminal probes into Cuomo but implores legislature to change sex offense law – A district attorney in upstate New York dropped the last of five criminal probes into former Gov. Andrew Cuomo over allegations of sexual misconduct and implored the state legislature to change the sexual harassment statutes.

Oswego County District Attorney Gregory Oakes released a statement Monday explaining that while there is “not a sufficient legal basis to bring criminal charges” against Cuomo for allegedly touching Virginia Limmiatis inappropriately at a public event, the decision is not a reflection of Limmiatis’ reliability. – READ MORE

Report: Joe Biden’s ATF Has Stockpiled over 900M Records of Gun Purchases – A report by the Washington Free Beacon says the Biden Administration’s Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, (ATF) has a database detailing well over 900 million firearm purchases by Americans.

According to the January 31, 2022, report, “The ATF disclosed to lawmakers that it manages a database of 920,664,765 firearm purchase records, including both digital and hard copy versions of these transactions.” – READ MORE

Labor Insanity: There Are Now A Record 4.6 Million More Job Openings Than Unemployed Workers – After several months of speculation that the US labor market had finally reached its absolute peak with the number of job openings drifint around 10-11 million, today the BLS restarted the debate whether we have seen the worst of the labor shortage when it reported that one month after what last month was the biggest drop since the start of the pandemic (since revised to a more modest number), in December the number of job openings once again jumped, rising by 150K to a near record 10.925 million, smashing expectations of a decline to 10.3 million and just below the July all time high of 11.1 million. – READ MORE

‘Enough of this bulls**t!’: Spunky older woman blocks ‘a**hole’ shoplifter, yanks off his ski mask, and curses him out — before he departs store empty​-handed – A spunky and salty-tongued older woman is becoming a bit of a folk heroine since video has been circulating of her confronting and stopping a suspected shoplifter in a Canadian Walmart over the weekend.

Global News reported that Saturday morning’s incident at the store in Campbell River — about four hours northwest of Vancouver, British Columbia — began when a man followed the suspected shoplifter heading for the store exit. – READ MORE