Reader’s Links for December 11, 2020

Each day at just after midnight Eastern, a post like this one is created for contributors and readers of this site to upload news links and video links on the issues that concern this site. Most notably, Islam and its effects on Classical Civilization, and various forms of leftism from Soviet era communism, to postmodernism and all the flavours of galloping statism and totalitarianism such as Nazism and Fascism which are increasingly snuffing out the classical liberalism which created our near, miraculous civilization the West has been building since the time of Socrates.

This document was written around the time this site was created, for those who wish to understand what this site is about. And while our understanding of the world and events has grown since then, the basic ideas remain sound and true to the purpose.

So please post all links, thoughts and ideas that you feel will benefit the readers of this site to the comments under this post each day. And thank you all for your contributions.

This is the new Samizdat. We must use it while we can.

About Eeyore

Canadian artist and counter-jihad and freedom of speech activist as well as devout Schrödinger's catholic

110 Replies to “Reader’s Links for December 11, 2020”

  1. Arizona Republicans to File Election Appeal to US Supreme Court
    By Jack Phillips
    December 11, 2020 Updated: December 11, 2020
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    Arizona’s Republican Party said Friday that it would appeal its election integrity case to the U.S. Supreme Court, coming days after it was rejected by the state Supreme Court.

    “Our case is going to the Supreme Court of the United States,” GOP Chair Kelli Ward said Friday in a video posted on Twitter. “We are filing, and hopefully, we will be accepted with an expedited [push] behind us.”

    Ward noted that the case is only the third election-related lawsuit that has been filed with the Supreme Court, including Rep. Mike Kelly’s (R-Pa.) petition to overturn Pennsylvania’s results as well as Texas’ lawsuit against Pennsylvania, Georgia, Wisconsin, and Michigan.

    https://www.theepochtimes.com/arizona-republicans-file-election-appeal-to-us-supreme-court_3614741.html?utm_source=newsnoe&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=breaking-2020-12-11-3

  2. Georgia State Senators File Supreme Court Brief to Support Texas’ Lawsuit Against Georgia
    By Jack Phillips
    December 11, 2020 Updated: December 11, 2020
    Print

    About two-dozen members and members-elect of the Georgia state House and Senate filed an amici curiae brief supporting Texas’ Supreme Court lawsuit against Georgia, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan.

    In a brief (pdf) filed with the court late on Thursday, Georgia state Sens. William Ligon, Greg Dolezal, Brandon Beach, Brandon Jones as well as many more Republican members of the Legislature signed on to support Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s suit that argued the four states made unconstitutional changes to their election laws.

    “In the months before the November 3, 2020 election, and without notice to or permission from the State legislature, Georgia election officials committed acts that were contrary to Georgia statutory law,” the senators wrote via their lawyers. “These acts described below usurped the plenary power granted by the U. S. Constitution to the Georgia legislature to prescribe the manner of elections held for federal officials in Georgia.”

    https://www.theepochtimes.com/georgia-state-senators-file-supreme-court-brief-to-support-texas-lawsuit-against-georgia_3614696.html?utm_source=newsnoe&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=breaking-2020-12-11-3

  3. BBC – Covid: China asks cabin crew to wear nappies to reduce virus risk

    China’s aviation regulator has recommended cabin crew wear disposable nappies and avoid using the toilet to cut the risk of Covid-19 infection.

    The advice on nappies is in a section on personal protective equipment in new guidelines for airlines.

    The regulator said the recommendation applied to charter flights to high-risk Covid-19 destinations.

    Globally, airlines and airports have been making big changes to how they operate to get passengers flying again.

    The Civil Aviation Administration of China laid out its advice in a new 49-page set of guidelines for airlines to prevent the spread of coronavirus.

    The recommendation on nappies applies to charter flights to and from places where infections exceed 500 in every one million people.

    It comes on top of the advice for cabin crew to wear medical masks, disposable gloves, caps, goggles, disposable protective clothing and shoe coverings.

    Flight crew are also advised to wear a range of protective gear, but not nappies.

    The global aviation industry has been struggling to rebound from the pandemic’s debilitating impact on travel.

    New measures being put in place for flights differ by country. Some require airlines to leave at least one seat empty between passengers, others have made masks mandatory for the duration of flights.

    https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-55269969

  4. the guardian – WHO accused of conspiring with Italy to remove damning Covid report

    Exclusive: document intended to help prevent future deaths allegedly pulled from website after request

    The World Health Organization has been accused of conspiring with the Italian health ministry to remove a report revealing the country’s mismanagement at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic – the publication of which was intended to prevent future deaths.

    Italy was the first European country to become engulfed by the pandemic. The report, produced by the WHO scientist Francesco Zambon and 10 colleagues across Europe, was funded by Kuwait’s government with the objective of providing information to countries yet to be hit.

    Called An Unprecedented Challenge: Italy’s First Response to Covid-19, the document was published on the WHO website on 13 May before being taken down the next day, as first reported by the Guardian in August. The 102-page report said Italy’s pandemic plan had not been updated since 2006 and that, due to being unprepared, the initial response from hospitals was “improvised, chaotic and creative”. It took time for formal guidance to become available, the report added.

    The document was allegedly removed at the request of Ranieri Guerra, the WHO’s assistant director general for strategic initiatives. Guerra was the director general for preventive health at the Italian health ministry between 2014 and late 2017, and was therefore responsible for updating the pandemic plan as per new guidelines laid out by the WHO and European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC). Guerra is among the scientists on the Italian government’s Covid-19 taskforce.

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/dec/11/who-accused-conspiring-italy-remove-damning-covid-report

    ========================================
    PDF – An Unprecedented Challenge: Italy’s First Response to Covid-19

    ( 102 pages )

    https://www.dors.it/documentazione/testo/202005/COVID-19-Italy-response.pdf

  5. ERIC ZEMMOUR

    twitter @_samsonico_

    «Je n’appelle plus ça du terrorisme mais le djihad!

    Ils appliquent les règles coraniques!

    Avec SamuelPaty, ils ont appliqué la charia…»

    https://twitter.com/_samsonico_/status/1337477433939910659

    ============================================
    Éric Zemmour : « La question c’est celle du nombre c’est-à-dire qu’il faut arrêter l’immigration. L’arrêter totalement »

    https://twitter.com/CNEWS/status/1337468563913924609

    ==========================================
    Éric Zemmour ; “Je pense que les mouvements de population sont une arme de guerre, nous sommes en guerre.

    Et il faut répondre par des actes de guerre en utilisant notre armée pour expulser tous ces migrants.”

    https://twitter.com/Fr_Conservateur/status/1337465640186224642

    ===================================================

  6. New York Dem Congressman Calls for Blacklist of People Who Disagree With Him

    This article is authored by Mitch Nemeth

    The list of Democrats who want to put you on a list continues to grow.

    The latest is New York Congressman Tom Suozzi (D), a Congressman you’ve likely never heard of before. Representative Suozzi represents Long Island, and if you support one particular provision of the Trump tax cuts, he wants you on a list.

    Congressman Suozzi’s insane calls are alarming and yet expected. Given that members of Suozzi’s party have also called for lists of “Trump sycophants,” this is just the latest iteration in a long-standing effort to expunge conservatives from polite society. Suozzi said the following “We have to get organized and start holding these elected officials who are consciously undermining our state to account.” According to the New York Post, Suozzi’s sense of urgency was inspired by a story about Goldman Sachs potentially abandoning the hostile state of New York “for a friendlier tax code.”

    A paywalled article on Politico revealed that by “holding these elected officials” to account, he means putting them on a list. A screenshot of the relevant portion of that article is below:

    https://bongino.com/new-york-dem-congressman-calls-for-blacklist-of-people-who-disagree-with-him/

  7. After Obama Judge Tried To Take Down Michael Flynn – Senator Cotton Just Called For Sullivan’s Impeachment

    When new evidence emerged the Michael Flynn had been set up, the DOJ tried to drop the case. But we all watched in shock as an Obama-appointed judge, Emmett Sullivan, refused to end the trial.

    He blocked the Feds from ending the case—and made unprecedented moves in the apparent hope to still prosecute and punish Flynn.

    https://thepatriotjournal.com/obama-judge-flynn-cotton-impeach/?utm_source=gjwhg&utm_medium=email

  8. Republicans Take Drastic Measures In Georgia Senate Races – They Just Recruited Over 4,000 Poll Watchers To Secure The Ballot
    By Adam Casalino|December 10, 2020

    We’ve said this many times in recent weeks, but it bears repeating. The Georgia runoff races to be held next month will decide the fate of the Senate, and possibly the country.

    Democrats are pouring millions into these races, hoping their far-left candidates take these Republican seats.

    https://thepatriotjournal.com/georgia-senate-race-measure-poll-watcher/?utm_source=gjwhg&utm_medium=email

  9. US Strikes Shabaab in Somalia After Withdrawal Announcement
    https://www.thedefensepost.com/2020/12/11/us-strikes-shabaab-somalia/

    “The United States on Thursday carried out two air strikes in Somalia against what it said were explosives experts for the Al Shabaab militant group after the announcement of a plan to withdraw most US forces from the country.

    The strikes were carried out in the area of Jilib in the country’s south against the group that “remains a dangerous franchise of Al Qaeda,” the US military said in a statement.

    “The initial assessment indicates the strike killed terrorists who were known to play important roles in producing explosives for Al Shabaab,” it said, adding that it appeared so far that no civilians were wounded or killed.

    US Major General Dagvin Anderson, special operations commander for Africa, said the strikes also sent a message linked to the withdrawal.

    “This strike should demonstrate to any enemy that we stand by our partners and will vigorously defend both ourselves and our partners during this repositioning and future operations,” he said in the statement.

    The Pentagon announced on December 4 that outgoing President Donald Trump had ordered the removal of most US military and security personnel from Somalia by early 2021…”

  10. Car Bomb Kills 16 Including 3 Turkish Personnel in NE Syria: Monitor
    https://www.thedefensepost.com/2020/12/11/car-bomb-kills-16-syria/

    “A car bomb killed 16 people including two civilians and three Turkish personnel Thursday at a checkpoint in the Turkish-held border town of Ras al-Ain in northeast Syria, a war monitor said.

    The other 11 killed were local security forces or members of a Turkish-backed faction manning the checkpoint, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

    Twelve more were wounded, it said.

    Turkey said two of its gendarmes had been killed and a further eight wounded.

    Turkish forces and their Syrian proxies last year seized a 120-kilometer (75-mile) stretch of land inside the Syrian border from Kurdish forces, running from Ras al-Ain to Tal Abyad.

    Such bombings are common in Ras al-Ain…”

  11. France Gives Ethical Nod To ‘Augmented Soldiers’
    https://www.thedefensepost.com/2020/12/11/france-augmented-soldiers/

    “A French military’s ethics committee has given the country’s armed forces the go-ahead to begin research on developing “augmented soldiers” for improved battlefield performance.

    A report released earlier this week cited research on implants that could “improve cerebral capacity,” assisting soldiers in distinguishing enemies from allies, according to the BBC.

    Additional enhancements may include medical treatments to improve soldiers’ physical capacities and resistance to stress…”

  12. Iran Moving Key Facility at Nuclear Site Underground, Report Shows
    https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/2675226/iran-moving-key-facility-nuclear-site-underground-report-shows

    “In July, an explosion rocked a key Iranian nuclear facility. Iran called it sabotage and vowed to rebuild a destroyed building underground. Iran is now turning that promise into a reality, new satellite images show, reported the New York Times.

    The mysterious July explosion that destroyed a centrifuge assembly hall at Iran’s main nuclear fuel enrichment facility in Natanz was deemed by the Iranian authorities to be enemy sabotage, and provoked a defiant response: The wrecked building would be rebuilt in “the heart of the mountains,” the head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization said.

    Progress on that pledge, which could shield the facility from an aerial assault or other threats, has been unclear to outside observers. But new satellite imagery is now shedding light on the Iranian plans.

    The Visual Investigations team of The New York Times has tracked construction at the site using the new imagery. For the first time, new tunnel entrances for underground construction are visible under a ridge in the mountain foothills south of the Natanz facility, about 140 miles south of Tehran.

    The Times worked with Jeffrey Lewis, an arms control expert at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey in California, to interpret the new image.

    “The new facility is likely to be a far more secure location for centrifuge assembly — it is located far from a road and the ridge offers significant overburden that would protect the facility from air attack,” Lewis stated in written comments.

    The July explosion was not the only recent incident that appeared to have exposed major gaps in Iran’s security of its nuclear program, which the country insists is limited to peaceful purposes. In late November, a brazen daylight attack killed Iran’s top nuclear scientist, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh.

    Iran has blamed Israel and the United States for the Natanz explosion and Fakhrizadeh’s assassination, which were both considered serious setbacks to Iran’s nuclear program.

    Lewis described the clues that underground construction was underway at the site in Natanz.

    “There are what appear to be two tunnel entrances on either side of a large ridge, with a pile of spoil from excavation nearby. The space between the two entrances is large enough to accommodate a facility about the same size as the centrifuge assembly building that was destroyed this summer and that Iran indicated it was rebuilding in the mountains.”

    Looking at satellite images taken over several months allows for tracking changes. Even something as simple and inconspicuous as a pile of dirt is a clue.

    “The major clue is the pile of spoil from the excavation that was not present in July,” Lewis said. “Iran also regraded a pair of roads on each side of the ridge leading to what appear to be tunnel entrances.”

    Allison Puccioni, an imagery analyst affiliated with the Center for International Security and Cooperation at Stanford University, pointed out other telltale signs of excavations near the debris pile.

    In comments provided to the Times, Puccioni said that between the debris pile and excavation site, the imagery showed “trails of excavated earth, lighter in color than the existing hard-packed road.”

    A flurry of activity in Natanz captured by satellites in recent months includes the building of new roads and additional excavations, which started after the explosion.

    Researchers from AllSource Analysis and the Institute for Science and International Security have previously identified the area and said that additional tunnels are being constructed, suggesting work on an even larger underground complex is underway.

    The destroyed building was built in 2012 and had been used to assemble centrifuges, the machines that enrich uranium needed for peaceful purposes — and when enriched to higher levels, for bombs. The 2015 nuclear agreement between Iran and world powers halted high level enrichment, but Iran started amassing enriched uranium again after President Trump left the accord two years ago.

    After the July explosion, the International Atomic Energy Agency, which monitors Iran’s compliance with the accord, confirmed that there had been no nuclear materials at that specific building.

    In response to Fakhrizadeh’s assassination, Iran enacted a law last week to immediately ramp up uranium enrichment and bar international inspectors by February if US sanctions are not lifted. The law also calls for the installment of advanced centrifuges at its nuclear facilities, including in Natanz.

    The New York Times”

  13. Austria rules primary school headscarf ban ‘unconstitutional’
    https://www.thelocal.at/20201211/austria-rules-primary-school-headscarf-ban-unconstitutional

    “Austria’s constitutional court struck down a law introduced last year which banned the headscarf in primary schools, saying the measure was unconstitutional and discriminatory.
    In a statement explaining the decision, the court said the law “contravened the principle of equality in relation to freedom of religion, belief and conscience”…”

  14. Unexpected Moments at the Georgia Hearing; Why Hunter Biden Would Be a Perfect Target of the CCP?

  15. Supreme Court Rejects Texas Election Lawsuit
    By Janita Kan
    December 11, 2020 Updated: December 11, 2020
    Print

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday rejected Texas’s bid to challenge the 2020 election results in four battleground states.

    In an order, the justices denied Texas’s request to sue Pennsylvania, Georgia, Michigan, and Wisconsin, opining that the Lone Star State lacked legal standing—or capability—to sue under the Constitution because it has not shown a valid interest to intervene in how other states handle their elections.

    “Texas has not demonstrated a judicially cognizable interest in the manner in which another State conducts its elections,” the order (pdf) read. “All other pending motions are dismissed as moot.”

    Justice Samuel Alito issued a separate statement to say he would have granted Texas’s request to sue, but not the preliminary injunction, as he believes the Supreme Court is obligated to take up any case that falls within its “original jurisdiction,” meaning the court has the power to hear a case for the first time as opposed to reviewing a lower court’s decision. Justice Clarence Thomas joined Alito in his statement.

    https://www.theepochtimes.com/supreme-court-rejects-texas-election-lawsuit_3615058.html?utm_source=newsnoe&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=breaking-2020-12-11-5

  16. Texas Lawmaker Announces ‘Texit’ Bill That Would Allow Lone Star State to Leave the Union

    Don’t mess with Texas.

    States
    Texas Lawmaker Announces ‘Texit’ Bill That Would Allow Lone Star State to Leave the Union

    Don’t mess with Texas.

    Published 1 day ago

    on Dec 10, 2020

    By Shane Trejo

    Share Tweet Flip Print

    A Texas state representative is working on legislation that would allow Texans to vote on a Brexit-style referendum to leave the Union and become a stand-alone nation.

    Republican state representative Kyle Biedermann of Fredericksburg announced in a social media post on Tuesday that he is crafting a ‘Texit’ bill that would put secession on the ballot in Texas.

    “The federal government is out of control and does not represent the values of Texans. That is why I am committing to file legislation this session that will allow a referendum to give Texans a vote for the State of Texas to reassert its status as an independent nation,” Biedermann wrote.

    Trending: SELLOUTS: GOP Establishment Defends Democrat Cheating, Attacks Texas Election Lawsuit

    While Biedermann’s idea may be unconventional in this day and age, his legislation seems to be congruent with the plain text of the Texas state constitution.

    https://bigleaguepolitics.com/texas-lawmaker-announces-texit-bill-that-would-allow-lone-star-state-to-leave-the-union/

  17. BREITBART – Armenians Storm Capital Demanding PM Resign After Azerbaijan Victory Parade

    Anti-government demonstrations once again took place in Armenia’s capital, Yerevan, on Friday demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan after Azerbaijan held a victory parade to celebrate its seizure of the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region.

    […]Demonstrations have taken place on an almost daily basis over the past two weeks after Pashinyan, who came to power in 2018 following similar social unrest, ignored their demand for his resignation by midday Tuesday. Protesters have tried various methods of disruption, including blocking the streets and storming the country’s parliament building.

    Among those calling for Pashinyan’s resignation are the Armenian Apostolic Church and three of the country’s former presidents. Addressing MP’s in parliament this week, he spoke of the need for political stability and warned that “voices of different groups mustn’t be mistaken for the people’s voice.”

    https://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2020/12/11/armenians-storm-capital-demanding-pm-resign-after-azerbaijan-victory-parade/