Comment: USA Today reported yesterday:

Stranded Southwest passengers across the country are struggling with a second day of mass flight cancellations by the nation's largest domestic airline.

The U.S. airports with the the heaviest flight cancellations for departures and arrivals Sunday are all big Southwest "hubs," even if the airline doesn't refer to them as such: Denver, Baltimore, Dallas Love Field, Las Vegas and Chicago Midway.

Southwest's Sunday cancellation are on top of 808 cancellations on Saturday, or nearly one in four flights. This during a busy travel weekend given a federal holiday on Monday.

© Dawn Gilbertson, USA TODAYThe Southwest Airlines rebooking line at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport on Sunday, Oct. 10. Southwest Airlines has canceled more than 1,000 Sunday flights across the country after canceling 800 on Saturday.

Southwest has not commented on speculation about other possible causes, including opposition to a vaccine mandate the airline announced a week ago following the federal vaccine mandate announced in mid-September by President Joe Biden.

"Southwest Airlines must join our industry peers in complying with the federal government's COVID-19 vaccination directive," Southwest CEO Gary Kelly said on Oct. 4.

Casey Murray, president of the Southwest Airlines Pilots Association (SWAPA) blamed the flight woes on staffing and a "poorly run operation." He said the rate of pilots calling in sick has not spiked this weekend. He said nearly three out of four pilots working Saturday had trips rerouted due to the flight woes.

The fall travel troubles for Southwest follow a rough summer for the airline's operation. The airline's executives have repeatedly said their top priority is getting Southwest's operation back on track. The airline is hiring thousands of workers to help with a staffing shortage.

For more, check out the following Tweets:



Our current take: the Southwest snafu IS about mandatory vaccines. But the Jacksonville airport situation is not so clear. We heard directly from an ATC employee there that it was more to do with a single positive case that required "disinfection" of the entire tower area. Which would mean flights were cancelled there for ANOTHER reason stemming from government fecklessness and tyranny.

It seems that 'staff shortages' has become the go-to excuse for the havoc wrought by 19+ months of lockdowns, vaccine mandates and company mismanagement. In recent weeks we've seen everything from shipping, to fuel deliveries and farming has blamed the growing backlog and shortages blamed on 'staff shortages', only for it to come out later that this was either only partly true or the result of a much graver problem:

• Shipping workers warn lockdowns causing 'global transport systems COLLAPSE'
• UK farmers face cull of 150,000 pigs after lockdown creates backlog of 'disastrous' proportions
• China suffering power shortages, limits factories working hours, situation expected to worsen entering winter

And for more on the entirely avoidable and government-made, crisis, check out SOTT radio's: NewsReal: Is The Government Hyping Shortages? And is 'Vaccination Shedding' Really a Thing?

Comment: LA firefighters are turning up the heat on this smoldering issue:

The notice (pdf), filed Oct. 7, said the 871 firefighters are seeking $ 2.5 million each in damages. Kevin McBride, attorney for the firefighters, wrote:

"The claims will be filed in Superior Court as an unlimited civil case in accordance with the California Code of Civil Procedure."

Los Angeles City Council in August issued an ordinance (pdf) requiring all city employees to have received a second dose of a two-dose COVID-19 vaccine, or a single dose of the COVID-19 vaccine by the 5th October, unless there is a medical or religious exemption. According to the ordinance:

"The goal of the city is to have a vaccinated workforce. As such, employees will not have the option to 'opt out' and be subject to weekly testing."

The mayor's office announced that exempt and unvaccinated employees would still need to be tested regularly for COVID-19.

McBride said in the notice of intent, citing orders given to Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD) firefighters, that those who are not exempt or fully vaccinated by the "strict deadline" of October 20 will be sent home. for five days without pay, and if they still decide not to get vaccinated after another five days, their employment will be terminated.

The attorney wrote that the vaccination order is "manifestly unlawful conduct," citing several reasons, including: interference with labor rights; inflict emotional distress; violation of constitutional privacy rights; and violation of the protection of human subjects in the act of medical experimentation.

The plaintiffs are members of the United Firefighters of Los Angeles (UFLAC). The union stated its position in an October 4 newsletter,

"[T]The city cannot impose any consequences relevant to the October 5 deadline 'to be vaccinated against COVID-19, adding that the city ordinance' does not provide for any consequences, and any planned discipline must first be negotiated with UFLAC.

"Additionally, the city has not provided any notice to UFLAC that it intends to discipline employees for failing to meet the October 5 deadline."

The city has 45 days to evaluate the document, after which the lawsuit will be filed immediately.

Los Angeles city attorney Mike Feuer said in a statement to KTLA:

"The US Supreme Court and courts across the country have upheld the vaccine mandates ... I am confident we will prevail."

Those who intend to sue the city comprise about one in four of the city's firefighters. According to the Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD) website, it has 3,435 firefighters.

See also:

• L.A. County sheriff defies vaccine mandate on pragmatic grounds: 'Politicized' order would cost him up to 10% of workforce
• Los Angeles County to roll out new vaccine mandate
• Some healthcare workers are refusing COVID-19 Vaccine
• 'Rules for Thee' dept: Members of Congress & staffs exempt from Biden's federal vaccine mandate

Comment: See also: RNA Vaccines, Obedience and Eugenics

And check out SOTT radio's:

• NewsReal: Climate Disaster Plans and Vaccine War Games: Government to the Rescue!
• NewsReal: Governments Everywhere Mandate Vaccines! But Will People Resist?

UPDATE: From RT:

Finland halts Moderna vaccinations for young men over heart inflammation concerns

Finland has decided it will pause rolling out Moderna's Covid-19 vaccine to men born in 1991 and later due to concerns about the rare side effect of heart inflammation post-inoculation, following Nordic nations Sweden and Denmark.

Speaking at a news conference on Thursday, the director of Finland's National Institute for Health and Welfare, Mika Salminen, announced Helsinki's halt on offering Moderna's Spikevax jab to its younger male population.

"A Nordic study involving Finland, Sweden, Norway and Denmark found that men under the age of 30 who received Moderna Spikevax had a slightly higher risk than others of developing myocarditis," he explained.

Salminen said that while the heart inflammation often went away on its own in a few days, he recommended instead that this demographic be inoculated with Pfizer-BioNTech's vaccine, marketed as Comirnaty.

The director also said young male Finns who have had their first dose of Spikevax would receive Comirnaty for their second. He insisted it was still important to get the second dose to get maximum protection against the virus.

UDPATE: Via Medical Express:

Iceland halts Moderna jabs over heart-inflammation fears

Iceland on Friday suspended the Moderna anti-COVID vaccine, citing the slight increased risks of cardiac inflammation, going further than its Nordic neighbours which simply limited use of the jabs.

"As the supply of Pfizer vaccine is sufficient in the territory ... the chief epidemiologist has decided not to use the Moderna vaccine in Iceland," said a statement published on the website of the Health Directorate.

This decision owed to "the increased incidence of myocarditis and pericarditis after vaccination with the Moderna vaccine, as well as with vaccination using Pfizer/BioNTech," the chief epidemiologist said in a statement.

For the past two months, Iceland has been administering an additional dose "almost exclusively" of the Moderna vaccine to Icelanders vaccinated with Janssen, a single-dose serum marketed by America's Johnson & Johnson, as well as to elderly and immunocompromised people who received two doses of another vaccine.

This will not affect the vaccination campaign in the island of 370,000 inhabitants, where 88 percent of the population over 12 years old is already fully vaccinated.

[...]

Comment: This weather event actually affected the whole country. After forming in the Mediterranean Sea off Italy's northwest, it proceeded to scour peninsular Italy from top to bottom:


From Floodlist on Oct 5:

Staggering amounts of rain fell in northern Italy on 04 October 2021, causing floods and landslides in Liguria and Piedmont Regions. Liguria's environment agency reported a record 181 mm of rainfall in just 1 hour and over 900 mm in 24 hours.

Severe weather was reported across northern and central areas of Italy on 04 October. Red Alerts (highest level) were issued for the regions of Liguria, Piedmont and Lombardy.

The worst of the flooding struck in Liguria Region and in particular the province and city of Savona. In a statement during the evening of 04 October, President of Liguria Giovanni Toti, said "At the moment almost all emergency situations are concentrated in the Savona area, in the Bormida valley and in the hinterland of Genoa in the Stura valley."

The president said the situation was critical and could worsen, especially given the extreme levels of rainfall. As much as 604 mm of rain fell in 12 hours in Rossiglione and 540 mm in 12 hours in Savona, Toti said.

The region's environment agency, Agenzia Regionale Protezione Ambiente Ligure (ARPAL) reported 1 hour rainfall totals of 145.2 mm in Cairo Montenotte, 178.2 mm in Urbe and 181 mm in Vicomorasso, which is a new national record. Furthermore figures from ARPAL show the station at Rossiglione recorded more than 900 mm of rain in 24 hours.

© ARPALOver 900 mm of rain fell in Rossiglione, Liguria, Italy in 24 hours

Several rivers broke their banks in the region. The Erro flooded areas of Pontinvrea; the Bormida river overflowed in Cairo Montenotte; and the Letimbro caused flooding in the city of Savona.

Comment: Let it be noted that Sen. Paul IS a medical doctor, specializing in ophthalmology.