Free Republic

SEATTLE, WA — In an effort to smooth things over with the Jewish community after baristas voiced support for Hamas, coffee giant Starbucks has begun to give Jewish customers a little something extra by placing a yellow star sticker on their coffee cups. "We value our Jewish customers and want everyone to know exactly who they are," said Starbucks spokesperson Dan Spivey. "We don't want any of our customers to feel alienated or discriminated against, so we're placing these yellow stars on the cups of our Jewish customers to make sure they are fully recognized." Jewish groups had called for...

California is finally lifting its mask mandate for individuals in healthcare settings, per updated guidance from the California Department of Public Health (CDPH). The department announced the changes last week, citing the end of the Golden State’s coronavirus State of Emergency, which wrapped up roughly three years after the start of the pandemic.

Lawmakers in Germany are reportedly considering instituting mask mandates every year during the winter months, likening the move to requirements for winter tyres on automobiles. A report from the German newspaper Welt am Sonntag has claimed that the Social Democrat-led ‘traffic light’ coalition government is making preparations to pass legislation requiring German citizens to wear masks in public from October to Easter annually to supposedly stem the spread of respiratory diseases such as the Chinese coronavirus.

Israel unveiled a plan on Saturday to allow people who have been vaccinated against the coronavirus to attend cultural events, fly abroad and go to health clubs and restaurants. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced the plan at a news conference on Saturday night, saying those who have been vaccinated will be able to download the “green badge” in the coming days. “The green badge is gradually opening up the country,” Netanyahu said... ... On Sunday, retail stores, shopping malls, gyms, some middle school grades and other public services for limited crowd sizes are set to start back up. Netanyahu said...

“It’s not law, she’s going to phone the police over a policy.”... British supermarket Morrisons called the police on a disabled man who was medically exempt from wearing a face mask after attempting to make him wear a yellow sticker. Yes, really. The clip shows the man involved in a confrontation with a security guard and staff as they try to make him wear the sticker. The man calls them out by asking how a sticker could stop the spread of coronavirus. When he refuses to wear the sticker, he is asked to leave the store as staff claim they...

Tourists visiting Thailand will soon be tracked with a new “Smart Band” for COVID contact tracing, according to a recent report from The Pattaya News, a trusted news source in South East Asia. The measure was recently approved by Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-O’Cha, and the development is being overseen by Thailand’s Ministry of Digital Economy and Society. The agency will be collaborating with multiple Thailand-based startup companies on the new device and its operation. This month, foreign tourists were authorized to enter Thailand for the first time since the pandemic began under the Special Tourist Visa program. The incoming...

Plymouth State University, namely VP Marlin Collingwood and Director Katie Caron are attempting to band University students like cattle with the stated intent of broadcasting everyone's COVID test status. I don't know where they are getting the funding for all this testing and the wrist bands, but this is a ridiculous waste of what might be possible public funding. Collingwood and Caron are attempting to implement a weekly COVID test, as a condition of continued school attendance. Their letter, recently sent out to the student body, is shown below. Unfortunately, I could not locate information on their website to link...

The European Union’s top court ruled Tuesday that EU countries must identify products made in Israeli settlements on their labels, in a decision welcomed by rights groups but likely to spark anger in Israel. The European Court of Justice said that “foodstuffs originating in the territories occupied by the State of Israel must bear the indication of their territory of origin.” The Luxembourg-based court said when products come from an Israeli settlement, their labeling must provide an “indication of that provenance” so that consumers can make “informed choices” when they shop. The EU has consistently spoken out against Israeli settlement...

Foreign Minister Villy Søvndal is calling for a produce labelling system for all produce emanating from Israeli settlements which are, as he says ‘illegal under international law’. “This is a move that will clearly show consumers that this produce has been produced under conditions that not only the Danish government, but also the European governments have rejected. Then it is up to consumers whether they are prepared to buy the produce,” Søvndal says. In practice, the labelling system will be an option for supermarkets that will be able to choose whether to introduce it or not – rather like the...

The United States on Friday issued a strong condemnation of the reported proposal of a new law in Iran that, if passed, would require non-Muslims to visually distinguish themselves from other Iranians by wearing colored bands on their clothing. US State Department Spokesman Sean McCormack said any such measure would be "despicable" and carry "clear echoes of Germany under Hitler." A new dress-code law reportedly passed in Iran this past week mandates the government to make sure that religious minorities - Christians, Jews and Zoroastrians - will have to adopt distinct color schemes to make them identifiable in public, the...

Human rights groups are raising alarms over a new law passed by the Iranian parliament that would require the country's Jews and Christians to wear coloured badges to identify them and other religious minorities as non-Muslims. "This is reminiscent of the Holocaust," said Rabbi Marvin Hier, the dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles. "Iran is moving closer and closer to the ideology of the Nazis." Iranian expatriates living in Canada yesterday confirmed reports that the Iranian parliament, called the Islamic Majlis, passed a law this week setting a dress code for all Iranians, requiring them to wear...