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Blue Cross Blue Shield forced to pay $12 million to Catholic worker fired for refusing COVID shots

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From LifeSiteNews

By Calvin Freiburger

A jury ruled that Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan committed religious discrimination against 30-year IT specialist and Catholic Lisa Domski when it denied her a religious accommodation from the company’s COVID shot mandate.

A former IT specialist for Blue Cross Blue Shield has been awarded $12 million in damages and lost wages for her lawsuit over being fired for refusing the COVID-19 shot, in a major victory for religious liberty.

Newsweek reports that the insurance company fired 30-year employee Lisa Domski in 2021 after she sought a religious exemption to their jab mandate and was turned down. The insurer reportedly questioned the sincerity of her religious objections as a Catholic, but denied religious discrimination in the trial. 

Domski further maintained that the rationale behind mandating the shot didn’t apply in her case, as 75% of her work was remote before the pandemic and had shifted to fully remote during it, meaning she could not possibly have endangered others even if the shot did prevent transmission, which has since been admitted to not be the case.

“Our forefathers fought and died for the freedom for each American to practice his or her own religion,” declared her attorney Jon Marko. “Neither the government nor a corporation has a right to force an individual to choose between his or her career and conscience. Lisa refused to renounce her faith and beliefs and was wrongfully terminated from the only job she had ever known. The jury’s verdict today tells [Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan] that religious discrimination has no place in America and affirms each person’s right to religious freedom.”

In response, the company said it was “disappointed” in the jury verdict and would be “reviewing its legal options and will determine its path forward in the coming days.”

Many religious and pro-life Americans like Lisa Domski have a moral objection to using medical products whose existence is owed in some way to abortion.

According to a detailed overview by the pro-life Charlotte Lozier Institute, Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson all used aborted fetal cells during their vaccines’ testing phase; and Johnson & Johnson also used the cells during the design and development and production phases. The American Association for the Advancement of Science’s journal Science has admitted the same, and even the left-wing fact-checking outlet Snopes acknowledges the statement “that such cell lines were used in the development of COVID-19 vaccines is accurate.”

Moral qualms are just one of the reasons for the ongoing controversy, next to a large body of evidence identifying significant risks to the COVID shots, which were developed and reviewed in a fraction of the time vaccines usually take under the first Trump administration’s Operation Warp Speed initiative.

The federal Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) reports 38,068 deaths, 218,646 hospitalizations, 22,002 heart attacks, and 28,706 myocarditis and pericarditis cases as of October 25, among other ailments. U.S. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) researchers have recognized a “high verification rate of reports of myocarditis to VAERS after mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccination,” leading to the conclusion that “under-reporting is more likely” than over-reporting.

All eyes are currently on former President Donald Trump, who last week won his campaign to return to the White House and whose team has given mixed signals as to the prospects of reconsidering the shots for which he has long taken credit. At the very least, Trump has consistently opposed mandating them and is expected to fill more federal judicial vacancies with jurists favorably inclined to the rights of employees in similar lawsuits.

Meanwhile, some hope that legal action can succeed in bringing accountability on the issue by legally targeting the companies for misrepresentation rather than their products directly. In Florida, an ongoing grand jury investigation into the shots’ manufacturers is slated to release a highly anticipated report on the injections, and a lawsuit by the state of Kansas has been filed accusing Pfizer of fraud for calling the shots “safe and effective.”

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COVID-19

Freedom Convoy’s Tamara Lich shares heartfelt letter from children: ‘God will be by your side’

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From LifeSiteNews

By Anthony Murdoch

Ahead of the announcement of the verdict from her trial in Canada, the Freedom Convoy co-leader posted on X the ‘beautiful letter’ from a 4-year-old and 8-year-old.

With a few weeks until a verdict is released, Freedom Convoy leader Tamara Lich shared a heartwarming letter she received from a child, who told her to “keep fighting” for everyone and that “God will protect” her from the “enemy.”

Lich shared an image of the letter Thursday on X, writing, “Feels like a good day to share this beautiful letter I received from some very wise children.”

The letter, which was handwritten and sent to Lich by 4-year-old Zavier and 8-year-old Alanis, has the title “God loves You.”

“Thank you for fighting for everyones FREEDOM. God will be by your side and God will protect you from the enemy,” the letter reads.

“With God everything is possible. Stay strong we are praying for you every step of the journey.”

Lich was arrested on February 17, 2022, in Ottawa. Co-leader Chris Barber was arrested the same day.

Lich and Barber’s trial concluded in September 2024, more than a year after it began. It was originally scheduled to last 16 days.

As reported by LifeSiteNews, Lich and Barber’s verdict will be announced on March 12.

They both face a possible 10-year prison sentence. LifeSiteNews reported extensively on their trial.

As reported by LifeSiteNews, Lich recently spelled out how much the Canadian government has spent prosecuting her and Barber for their role in the protests. She said at least $5 million in “taxpayer dollars” has been spent thus far, with her and Barber’s legal costs being above $750,000.

In early 2022, the Freedom Convoy saw thousands of Canadians from coast to coast come to Ottawa to demand an end to COVID mandates in all forms. Despite the peaceful nature of the protest, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government enacted the never-before-used Emergencies Act (EA) on February 14, 2022.

During the clear-out of protesters after the EA was put in place, one protester, an elderly lady, was trampled by a police horse and one conservative female reporter was beaten by police and shot with a tear gas canister.

Trudeau revoked the EA on February 23.

The EA controversially allowed the government to freeze the bank accounts of protesters, conscript tow truck drivers, and arrest people for participating in assemblies the government deemed illegal.

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COVID-19

Red Deer Freedom Convoy protestor Pat King given 3 months of house arrest

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From LifeSiteNews

By Clare Marie Merkowsky

Ontario Superior Court Justice Charles Hackland ruled that Pat King must serve three months of house arrest and dedicate 100 hours to community service for his participation in the 2022 Freedom Convoy

Freedom Convoy participant Pat King has been given a 3-month conditional sentence for his role in the 2022 Freedom Convoy protest against COVID mandates.  

On February 19, Ontario Superior Court Justice Charles Hackland ruled that King must serve three additional months of house arrest and dedicate 100 hours to community service for his role in the Freedom Convoy. King’s sentence would have been 12 months, but the court gave him credit for time served prior to his trial. 

“In the court’s opinion, there is a social harm to unduly elevating the sentencing rules of denunciation and deterrence in the context of political protests to result in punitive sentences at the top of the sentencing range,” Hackland wrote, explaining why he did not opt to sentence King to a whopping 10-year prison sentence, as the Crown prosecutors had advocated for.

“The risk is that an overly severe sentence of imprisonment in the context of legitimate, constitutionally protected activity can have the effect of creating a chill or fear of participation in political expression,” he continued. 

In November, King was found guilty of two counts of disobeying a court order, one count of mischief, one count of counselling others to commit mischief, as well as one count of counselling others to obstruct police.   

King’s charges are in relation to his role in the 2022 Freedom Convoy which featured thousands of Canadians camping out in downtown Ottawa to call for an end to the COVID regulations and vaccine mandates in place at the time.  

Despite the peaceful nature of the protest, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government enacted the Emergencies Act on February 14, 2022, to put an end to the popular convoy. Trudeau revoked the EA on February 23, but only after using the powers granted by the legislation to freeze the bank accounts of protesters, conscript tow truck drivers, and arrest people for participating in the assembly.  

The two main Freedom Convoy leaders, Tamara Lich and Chris Barber, are still awaiting their verdicts for their involvement in the 2022 protests. Like King, if convicted, they face a maximum prison sentence of 10 years.

While some of the most notable people involved in the protest, like Lich and Barber, face a slew of charges that come with potentially harsh sentences, other protesters charged for participating have seen their charges dropped.

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