Reader’s Links for February 18, 2021

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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

122 Replies to “Reader’s Links for February 18, 2021”

  4. Amos Yee, argues for the freedom for consentual sex with children..

    If you believe Homosexuality is normal, then copulation without a reproductive purpose and the correct tools, becomes A Special Identity through which glory shines. Paintings define the artists. To take, rather than give; to get high rather than feel low, denial of pain through the excitement of pride. To love death more than they love life. To get into the mind, body or soul of another as your own.

    This, is to enter a memory-reliant society. To check, for Class and Preference. And Amos invites infants to begin their sex-lessons early. Ignoring the greater mind, that is the subconcience. Millions of years of evolution ignored. Where islam, Communism and LGBTQ+ are but shadows of unhappy beings, envious of the Light extinguished from them, and praised as human successes.

    Taking away sex, from the intent of reproduction and an icing to love, to claim that physical sex itself, is ‘making love.’

    This gateway from honesty, is to manipulation. A way to seduce and hook a person – because many higher functioning animals wait for their baby to come out to then carry on their next duty of care; or the lower forms of animals – just fight to abandon their genes anywhere they can. Either strategy is programed for survival. And now there’s the playing with images and senses, repressed mind games, that will either welcome or resent a new child coming into the world: as an angel of god, or envied competitor for moma’s affections. There is huge amount of animal instinct and a childhood’s absence of affection at work, when pretend-mating.

    Amos Yee, ignores the human mind, the complex emotional interaction between people, and sees ‘Freedom of Sex’ like going to the bathroom and washing your hands afterwards. An attitude, detached from reality, due a willfulness of righteousness. To prove his point. For losing insight – of the consciousness paining him all of his life – he finds security in a Faith. One that comes, from the conversion of a Believer. To forget a past life. To demand to be Forgiven, rather than cry out in repentance in order to forgive. To have riden a Saviour and became that Saviour. Pedophiles are just like us. Love heals all. Only a Believer knows the Truth. Seeing through a gap in their blinkers.

    Anyway, forewarned, enjoy the debate:
    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=WdjmA7AohE4&feature=emb_title

    • Children need affection with attention to gain self-esteem and confidence.

      They don’t need sex from a relative. That destroys their self-confidence and introduces a buried resentment that becomes Pride and their hiding into intellectualism.

      Sure, they then get high powered jobs, into the media, and as book-read religious leaders, but their high-jinxes at home are not covered by their plastic of virtue. Even if by law it is to constantly praise them and give them each a holy month. Their misery and violent outrage is plain for all to see.

    • If you believe Homosexuality is normal, then copulation without a reproductive purpose and the correct tools, becomes A Special Identity through which glory shines.

      without
      the
      correct
      TOOLS……

  7. Berlin police swoop in raids on organized crime gangs (DW, Feb 18, 2021)
    https://www.dw.com/en/berlin-police-swoop-in-raids-on-organized-crime-gangs/a-56610157

    “Police in Berlin have arrested two people after carrying out raids across the city in a crackdown on inter-gang warfare and illicit drugs and weapons.

    Hundreds of officers conducted raids in more than 20 locations across Berlin on Thursday morning after clashes between rival gangs in the German capital last autumn.

    The police said the search related to drugs and weapons, but also violent “clan clashes” in November 2020.

    The violence was between “members of a family of Arab origin and Russian nationals of Chechen background,” police tweeted.

    “Investigators are currently enforcing arrest warrants and over 20 search warrants for organized trade of drugs and weapons. Two suspects have been arrested,” prosecutors tweeted.

    Some 500 officers, including those from tactical units, were understood to have been involved in the raid, which also related to “investigations by the tax office.” As well as searches in various Berlin districts, there were also raids in the surrounding state of Brandenburg.

    Who were the targets of the raids?
    Police were reported to be targeting the “Remmo clan,” a family of Arab origin notorious for ties to organized crime. Its members have been linked to major museum heists in Berlin and Dresden in recent years.

    A member of the family was arrested in December over the theft of jewels from the “Green Vault” museum in Dresden. Three other suspects were arrested a month earlier.

    The clan was also implicated in an audacious museum robbery in the heart of Berlin, which saw a 100-kilogram (220-pound) gold coin taken by thieves.”

    • Good old muzzle internecine warfare….. ?
      I remember driving with my parents, through Germany to Italy in the ‘60s. It was seemingly peaceful and we stayed on nice bed and breakfast pensions.
      My dad was driving an ancient green Vauxhall(now GM), we passed jackbooted uniform highway motorcyclists who saluted us. Then a huge black Mercedes sped past…

  8. Dutch Counter-Terror Office Concerned over Erdogan Influence on Radical Islamists (breitbart, Feb 18. 2020)
    https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2021/02/18/dutch-counter-terror-office-concerned-erdogan-influence-radical-islamists/

    “The Dutch counter-terror office has expressed concern over alleged links between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and radical Islamists of Turkish descent.

    An internal memo by the National Coordinator for Counter-Terrorism and Security (NCTV) reported by Dutch media claims the Turkish president could be behind a deliberate Islamisation strategy which is influencing the Netherlands, noting links between Turkish-Dutch organisations and jihadist groups.

    The NCTV also linked comments made by President Erdogan in the aftermath of the New Zealand Christchurch mosque shooting in 2019 and a terrorist attack on a tram in Utrecht that took place just a day after his speech, in which he placed the mosque attack “in a context of war between Muslims and Christians”, according to broadcaster NOS.

    Critics have claimed that the analysis is incorrect, including, in the case of the Utrecht terror attack, that the assailant, Gökmen T., had called Erdogan a “dog of America” and was a disciple of an Islamist cleric whose movement is at odds with to Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) party.

    Dutch Minister of Justice Ferdinand Grapperhaus said the leaked memo is not a complete assessment. The government was still waiting for input from agencies, including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and other security services.

    In recent years, the Netherlands has had a rocky relationship with Erdogan’s Turkey, going back to 2017. The Dutch had banned several Turkish ministers from campaigning to the local Turkish community before a Turkish referendum that year.

    Erdogan later criticised the Dutch at a rally in Istanbul saying they were “Nazi remnants, they are fascists”.

    Just days after the two ministers were banned, thousands took to the streets of Rotterdam and Amsterdam. Rioting broke out in Rotterdam when protesters attacked police.

    Last year, tensions between the two countries escalated again when President Erdogan announced he would be filing a lawsuit against member of parliament Geert Wilders over a cartoon the Dutch firebrand shared on Twitter which depicted Erdogan with a bomb for a turban.”

  9. Killings surge in Syria camp housing Islamic State families (abcnews, Feb 18, 2021)
    https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/killings-surge-syria-camp-housing-islamic-state-families-75965009

    “The deaths stacked up: a policeman shot dead with a pistol equipped with a silencer, a local official gunned down, his son wounded, an Iraqi man beheaded. In total, 20 men and women were killed last month in the sprawling camp in northeastern Syria housing families of the Islamic State group.

    The slayings in al-Hol camp — nearly triple the deaths in previous months — are largely believed to have been carried out by IS militants punishing perceived enemies and intimidating anyone who wavers from their extremist line, say Syrian Kurdish officials who run the camp but say they struggle to keep it under control.

    The jump in violence has heightened calls for countries to repatriate their citizens languishing in the camp, home to some 62,000 people. Those repatriations have slowed dramatically because of the coronavirus epidemic, officials say. If left there, the thousands of children in the camp risk being radicalized, local and U.N. officials warn.

    “Al-Hol will be the womb that will give birth to new generations of extremists,” said Abdullah Suleiman Ali, a Syrian researcher who focuses on jihadi groups.

    It has been nearly two years since the U.S.-led coalition captured the last sliver of territory held by the Islamic State group, ending their self-declared caliphate that covered large parts of Iraq and Syria. The brutal war took several years and left U.S.-allied Kurdish authorities in control of eastern and northeast Syria, with a small presence of several hundred American forces still deployed there.

    Since then, remaining IS militants have gone underground in the Syrian-Iraqi border region, continuing an insurgency. Though attacks in Syria are lower than they were in late 2019, IS sleeper cells continue to strike Syrian government troops, forces of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces and civilian administrators.

    Al-Hol houses the wives, widows, children and other family members of IS militants — more than 80% of its 62,000 residents are women and children. The majority are Iraqis and Syrians, but it includes some 10,000 people from 57 other countries, housed in a highly secured separate area known as the Annex. Many of them remain die-hard IS supporters.

    The camp has long been chaotic, with the hardcore militants among its population enforcing their will on others and seeking to prevent them from cooperating with Kurdish authorities guarding it.

    IS cells in Syria are in contact with residents of the camp and support them, said a senior Kurdish official Badran Cia Kurd. “Anyone who tries to reveal these contacts or stops dealing with Daesh is subjected to death,” he said, using the Arabic acronym for IS.

    The U.S.-backed SDF tweeted last week that, backed by air surveillance from the coalition, they detained an IS family smuggler in the area of Hadadia near the camp.

    “There are several reasons behind the increase of crime including attempts by Daesh members to impose their ideology in the camp against civilians who reject it,” said Ali, the researcher.

    Of the 20 killings at al-Hol in January, at least five of the dead were female residents of the camp, according to the Rojava Information Center, an activist collective that tracks news in areas controlled by the SDF. All the victims were Syrian or Iraqi citizens, including a member of the local police force, and most were killed in their tents or shelters at night, RIC said.

    Most of the victims were shot in the back of their heads at close range, according to RIC and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based opposition war monitor.

    On Jan. 9, a gunman killed a policeman in the camp using a silencer-equipped pistol, then as other police chased him, he threw a hand grenade that seriously wounded the patrol commander, the Observatory said. The same day, an official with a local council dealing with Syrian civilians in the camp was shot to death and his son critically wounded.

    In another case, an Iraqi camp resident was decapitated, his head found some distance from his body, RIC reported. It is believed he was killed on suspicion he was cooperating with authorities.

    Kurdish security officials did not respond for questions from The Associated Press about the situation.

    The immediate cause for the jump in killings was not known. In November, Kurdish authorities began an amnesty program for the 25,000 Syrian citizens in the camp, allowing them to leave. Some speculate that, since those taking amnesty must register and work with authorities, the program may have prompted slayings to keep residents in line. Many Syrians fear leaving the camp because they may face revenge attacks in their hometowns from those who suffered under IS rule.

    Whatever the cause, the bloodshed points to the IS strength within the camp. The local civilian Kurdish authority known as the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria warned in late January that some sides are trying to revive IS and the authority cannot face this crisis on its own.

    IS supporters in the camp carry out trials against residents suspected of opposing them and kill defendants, and authorities have uncovered several IS cells inside, it said. “Contacts are ongoing between the camp and Daesh commanders outside who direct their members inside,” it said.

    Some 27,000 non-Syrian children are stranded in al-Hol, including some 19,000 Iraqi children and 8,000 from other countries. On Jan. 30, U.N. counterterrorism chief Vladimir Voronkov urged home countries to repatriate the children, warning that they are at risk of radicalization.

    The coronavirus pandemic has brought a drop in the already slow process of repatriation. Many countries have been reluctant to bring back their citizens, though France repatriated seven children in January and Britain one child in September.

    Iraq has taken back very few. Repatriation by other countries dropped in 2020 to only 200 children, from 685 in 2019, according to Save the Children.

    “These new figures show that before the outbreak of the virus, things were finally starting to move in the right direction,” said Save the Children’s Syria Response Director Sonia Khush.”

      • Moreso. Even communist executioners like the Nazi ones were sickened in the end…a fact gleaned from the Katyn Wood and similar massacres and any study of Einsatzgruppen., But I am yet to hear of any muslim murderer showing genuine remorse.

  10. Liberal press concealed China’s mass murder of members of Buddhist group
    By Hans Bader February 17, 2021

    https://libertyunyielding.com/2021/02/17/liberal-press-concealed-chinas-mass-murder-of-members-of-buddhist-group/
    In the 1930s, The New York Times concealed the “terror famine,” in which the Russian communist dictator Joseph Stalin deliberately starved to death at least three million Ukrainians. The Times denied any famine was occurring, and its correspondent, Walter Duranty, wrote glowing reports about bountiful harvests, while receiving expensive gifts from the Russian government. (The Times has refused to return the Pulitzer prize it received for Duranty’s deceitful coverage, despite admitting that his articles denying the famine constituted “some of the worst reporting to appear in this newspaper.”)

    In this century, the New York Times and Washington Post concealed mass murder committed by China’s communist regime against a peaceful Buddhist group known as Falun Gong. Thousands of Falun Gong members have been tortured to death or had their organs forcibly extracted before they were killed. Caylan Ford chronicles this in an essay at Arc Digital titled, “Why Did Liberal Elites Ignore a 21st-Century Genocide?”

  11. Rush Limbaugh: Happy Warrior – Liberty Unyielding
    J.E. Dyer
    9-11 minutes

    Rush Limbaugh: Happy Warrior

    Rush Limbaugh Show video

    Editorial staffs at larger conservative media outlets have probably been preparing for this day for a year, since the announcement just about this time in 2020 that Rush Limbaugh had been diagnosed with Stage 4 lung cancer – in most cases a certain death sentence.

    Perhaps one of the most characteristic things about the quintessential talk radio host, whom we all thought of as “Rush,” is what he did with the next 11-odd months. He had to continue cancer treatment, which is debilitating under any circumstances, and very much so when fighting cancer in an advanced state of progression. But he also labored to keep doing his weekday broadcast for all the days he possibly could, sounding at all times alert, in charge, and happy to be there.

    I never listened to Rush as assiduously as many of his fans did. But I did listen more in 2020, partly because he was a cheerful, trenchant presence at a difficult time. Looking back on it, I would even say that’s the main thing I remember about him. He was never ugly-spoken, spiteful, discouraging. His brand was good cheer.

    https://libertyunyielding.com/2021/02/18/rush-limbaugh-happy-warrior/

  12. Cancer hospital shares the “known unknowns.”
    https://www.mskcc.org/coronavirus/what-people-cancer-should-know-about-covid-19-vaccines
    The vaccine protects you from getting sick, but we still don’t know if people can carry and spread the virus after getting vaccinated.
    If you’ve already had the vaccine, then we recommend you wait six weeks for any routine breast screenings, including mammography and breast MRI.
    There are ongoing studies to learn more about how people with weakened immune systems respond to the vaccine.

    • phooey
      They excluded people living with these conditions from the rushed, meagre testing. Autoimmune system disorders, ditto.
      We’ll know more after the Nation-State of the Lab Rats releases its info.

  17. Fakestinians, with help of UN( United Nazis) and EU( Hitlers 4th( thousand year) Reich, stealing Jewish land in Israel:
    “The PA Is Winning in Area C – Prof. Hillel Frisch
    The PA is consolidating its control over Area C of the West Bank. According to the Oslo Accords, Area C was to remain under exclusive Israeli jurisdiction until a final-status agreement. A report by Regavim documents illegal encroachment on state land by the PA over the past decade. In 2009, the majority of built-up space in Area C was populated by Jews (47,000 dunams compared to 46,000 for the Palestinians). By 2019, after a 10-year settlement push directed by the PA, most of the built-up space is Palestinian (79,000 dunams compared to 57,000 inhabited by Jews).
    Behind the PA’s successful settlement drive stands an array of EU and UN institutions that both finance the project and provide much of the planning.
    The writer is a professor of political and Middle East studies at Bar-Ilan University and a senior research associate at its BESA Center. (BESA Center for Strategic Studies-Bar-Ilan University)”

    • Regavim does good work. So does Im Tirtzu.

      The war of the West and their Muslim allies against the Jews goes UN-abated.

  18. Iran’s Latest Measures Put US Return Into JCPOA at Risk, German Foreign Minister Says (sputniknews, Feb 18, 2021)
    https://sputniknews.com/world/202102181082117448-irans-latest-measures-put-us-return-into-jcpoa-at-risk-german-foreign-minister-says/

    “Earlier this week, the US urged Iran to reverse the decision to limit inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

    Iran’s latest measures threaten Washington’s return to the nuclear deal, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said on Thursday.

    “The more pressure is applied, the more difficult it gets to find a political solution…Talks are being significantly complicated at the moment because Iran obviously does not seek de-escalation but escalation – and this is playing with fire,” Maas said, as quoted by Reuters.
    This comes after Tehran reaffirmed its intention earlier this week to limit the implementation of the Additional Protocol during inspections of its nuclear sites from 21 February if the European countries do not resolve the issue of US economic sanctions.

    Washington has urged Tehran to reconsider its decision.

    “Iran should reverse these steps and refrain from taking others that would impact the IAEA assurances, on which… the entire world relies,” US Department of State spokesperson Ned Price said.

    DETAILS TO FOLLOW”

  19. SPAIN – Protesters, police clash in Barcelona as thousands take to streets over rapper’s arrest

    • Thousands of protesters took over Barcelona’s streets on Tuesday evening to demand the release of rapper Pablo Hasél, arrested by Spanish police, after being given a jail sentence on charges of glorifying terrorism and insulting the monarchy in his songs.

      There were some clashes between protesters and riot police, with video showing garbage bins on fire, looted shops, and objects thrown at officers trying to disperse the crowd, sometimes using batons and foam projectiles.

      Hasél was convicted over lyrics and tweets that included references to the Basque separatist paramilitary group ETA, compared Spanish judges to Nazis, and called former king Juan Carlos a mafia boss.

      =======================================
      the guardian – Free speech protests erupt in Spain after rapper’s arrest

      Protesters marched and clashed with police in several Spanish cities on Tuesday night after the arrest of Pablo Rivadulla, known as Pablo Hasél, for glorifying terrorism and insulting royalty and the police in his lyrics and on social media.
      Hasél had barricaded himself in Lleida university to highlight ‘a hugely serious attack’ on freedom, and his arrest has fuelled debate about freedom of speech in Spain and the country’s so-called ‘gag law’

    • Spain is rocked by unrest over jailed Pablo Hasel

      Protesters in Barcelona set fires and blocked streets in the second night of furious demonstrations? against the arrest of rapper PabloHasel?, who was sentenced for insulting Spain?’s king and glorifying terrorism.

      As night fell over Barcelona on Wednesday, crowds of protesters rolled makeshift barricades down the central Via Laietana, before setting them on fire.

      The sound of breaking glass could be heard in videos filmed by onlookers, along with the crack of police weapons in nearby streets.

  21. WION Dispatch: UK, France, Germany to hold talks with US on Iran deal | Antony Blinken | World News

  25. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, first woman and African to lead WTO, vows to reenergize the trade body

    Nigeria’s Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala says she plans to reenergize the World Trade Organization as the institution’s new director-general. “I think the WTO is too important to allow it to be slowed down, paralyzed and moribund the way it was being made to be – not fit for purpose,” Okonjo-Iweala says during an interview with AFP at her home near the US capital. “That’s not right.”

  28. Tramschutter Gökmen Tanis steekt bewaarder in De Schie neer

    De Utrechtse tramschutter Gökmen Tanis heeft woensdagmiddag een bewaarder in de Rotterdamse gevangenis De Schie in gezicht en nek gestoken. Het personeelslid raakte lichtgewond. De bewaarder is in het ziekenhuis aan zijn verwondingen behandeld, bevestigt een woordvoerder van de gevangenis.
    De actie had plaats op afdeling A3, de afdeling in de Schie waar terroristen zitten. Het wapen heeft hij vermoedelijk zelf gefabriceerd. De aanleiding voor de steekpartij is onduidelijk.

    De 39-jarige Tanis opende op 18 maart 2019 het vuur in een Utrechtse tram. Vier mensen overleden, zes personen raakten gewond. Tanis werd vorig jaar veroordeeld tot levenslang. Hij ging niet in hoger beroep.

    Tanis werd verdedigd door de Rotterdamse advocaat André Seebregts, die aan hem was toegewezen. De advocaat werd tijdens de zaak bespuugd door de verdachte. Hij is nu niet meer zijn advocaat.

    Gökmen Tanis is na zijn daad in een strafcel geplaatst. De directie van De Schie heeft aangifte gedaan. Justitie is een onderzoek naar de toedracht van het voorval gestart.

    Hij heeft levenslang, maar kan na 25 jaar een verzoek tot vrijlating indienen. Bij zijn verzoek tot vrijlating zal elke daad worden meegewogen.

    De Schie in Rotterdam is naast Vught en Zwolle de gevangenis met een terroristenafdeling. Op de Rotterdamse afdeling is plaats voor veertien plekken.

    https://www.rijnmond.nl/nieuws/204068/Tramschutter-Gokmen-T-steekt-bewaarder-in-De-Schie-neer

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

    Tramschutter Gökmen Tanis steekt bewaarder in De Schie neer

    De Utrechtse tramschutter Gökmen Tanis heeft woensdagmiddag een bewaarder in de Rotterdamse gevangenis De Schie in gezicht en nek gestoken. Het personeelslid raakte lichtgewond. De bewaarder is in het ziekenhuis aan zijn verwondingen behandeld, bevestigt een woordvoerder van de gevangenis.

  31. CBC – Hunting for coronavirus variants in Canada

    A group of scientists are on the hunt for coronavirus variants in Canada.

    They tell Adrienne Arsenault about what they’ve found and why a Canadian variant of concern isn’t out of the question.

    • CBC -How vaccines can keep up with coronavirus variants

      New coronavirus variants won’t necessarily mean new vaccines or vaccine boosters are needed.

      And if adjustments are needed, they would take less time to develop than the original vaccines.

    • CBC – Officials call for extended lockdown in Toronto, Peel Region

      The top doctors in Toronto and neighbouring Peel Region are calling on the provincial government to keep a stay-at-home order in place for another two weeks out of growing concern about COVID-19 variants.

    • Our Chat With Dr. Theresa Tam About COVID-19 and the Variants

      Mel is joined by Canada’s Chief Public Health Officer, Dr. Theresa Tam to talk about the possibility of a third wave due to the variants spreading across Canada, the concern of the vaccine being able to outpace the spread of the COVID-19 variants, the release of new COVID-19 numbers tomorrow, and more.

    • WaPo- The complicated path to equitable vaccine distribution

      Minority communities are being vaccinated at disproportionately low rates, according to early data released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

      The Post’s Akilah Johnson explains the challenges the Biden administration faces to distribute the vaccine to low-income, vulnerable communities equitably.

    • global news – Coronavirus: Fears new variants can combine, creating hybrid mutations

      Scientists are learning about these new variants in real-time and though there is much uncertainty, some evidence is emerging that two of them have combined to form a mutated hybrid.

      It’s not known if this hybrid poses a bigger threat, but as Eric Sorensen reports, it is a sign the virus is keeping a step ahead of us.

      There is still lots of uncertainty about how the variants impact children and are transmitted inside schools.

      Students in parts of Ontario have recently returned to classrooms, and in Alberta, school has been in session for weeks and now nine of them are reporting a variant first discovered in the U.K.

      Heather Yourex-West looks at what it could mean in the weeks ahead.

      • This is happening. The virus outsmarts us; we win the Darwin.

        Give one of two doses to some percentage of the population, the virus adjusts and – presto! – a more robust strain of virus.

    • Vatican employees could lose their jobs for refusing COVID vaccine

      ROME – The Vatican has taken a hard line against employees who refuse to be vaccinated for COVID-19, warning they risk losing their jobs.

      According to a decree by Cardinal Giuseppe Bertello, whose role as President of the Pontifical Commission for Vatican City State makes him the territory’s top administrator, employees who refuse the vaccine “without proven health reasons” face penalties that can include “the interruption of the work relationship.”

      more :

      https://www.cbsnews.com/news/vatican-covid-vaccine-mandatory-employees/

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

      reuters – No jab, no job: Vatican gets tough with COVID anti-vaxxers

      […]Pope Francis is a big supporter of vaccines to stem the spread of the coronavirus.

      “It is an ethical choice because you are gambling with your health, with your life, but you are also gambling with the lives of others,” he said in an interview with an Italian television station last month.

      The Vatican has made a COVID-19 vaccination obligatory for journalists accompanying Pope Francis on his trip to Iraq next month.

      […]There have been fewer than 30 cases of coronavirus in the Vatican City, most of them among the Swiss Guard, who live in a communal barracks.

      https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-vaccine-vatican/no-jab-no-job-vatican-gets-tough-with-covid-anti-vaxxers-idUSKBN2AI1IC

      ===============================================
      Vatican imposes harsh sanctions on employees who refuse to be vaccinated

    • BILD – Corona kam doch aus einem Labor in Wuhan!“

      Prof. Roland Wiesendanger trug dafür insgesamt 600 Hinweise zusammen

      Seit Beginn der Corona-Pandemie gibt es zwei grundsätzliche Thesen zum Ursprung des Virus. Sie lauten: Das Virus ist von Fledermäusen auf Menschen übertragen worden. Und: Das Virus wurde in einem Labor in Wuhan künstlich hergestellt und freigesetzt.

      Kürzlich kam eine Untersuchung der Weltgesundheitsorganisation WHO zu dem Schluss, es sei wahrscheinlicher, dass eine Übertragung von Fledermäusen über Zwischenwirte, eine sogenannte Zoonose der Ursprung der Corona-Pandemie sei.

      Der Hamburger Nanowissenschaftler Prof. Roland Wiesendanger (59) hat Indizien aus den Jahren 2019 und 2020 zusammengetragen und ist danach sicher: „Die Hinweise zum Virus selbst und zahlreiche Veröffentlichungen in Fachzeitschriften, u.a. in sozialen Medien zeigen, dass Corona ein Laborunfall war. Corona kam doch aus einem Labor in Wuhan!“

      Wie kommt gerade ein Nanowissenschaftler dazu, sich in einer Studie mit dem Ursprung von SARS-CoV-2 zu befassen? Prof. Wiesendanger zu BILD: „Die wissenschaftliche Neugier hat mich ebenso dazu gebracht wie ein Pflichtgefühl. Als Wissenschaftler muss ich nach dem Ursprung all des Leidens fragen, den das SARS-CoV-2-Virus verursacht hat.“

      „Im Gegensatz zu früheren Coronaviren-bedingten Epidemien wie SARS und MERS konnte bis heute, d. h. weit über ein Jahr nach Ausbruch der gegenwärtigen Pandemie, kein Zwischenwirtstier identifiziert werden, welches die Übertragung von SARS-CoV-2-Erregern von Fledermäusen auf den Menschen ermöglicht haben könnte“, so Prof. Wiesendanger.

      „Die Zoonose-Theorie als mögliche Erklärung für die Pandemie besitzt daher keine fundierte wissenschaftliche Grundlage.“

      Für ein Virus aus dem Labor spräche, dass die SARS-CoV-2-Viren erstaunlich gut an menschliche Zellrezeptoren ankoppeln und in menschliche Zellen eindringen können. Zwei besondere Eigenschaften machten dies möglich. „Beide zusammen waren bislang bei Coronaviren nicht bekannt und weisen auf einen nicht-natürlichen Ursprung des SARS-CoV-2-Erregers hin“, so der Wissenschaftler.

      Weiter führt Prof. Wiesendanger an, dass Fledermäuse nicht auf dem Fischmarkt im Zentrum der Stadt Wuhan angeboten wurden, der oft als Epizentrum genannt wird.

      Aber: „Im virologischen Institut der Stadt Wuhan gibt es eine der weltweit größten Sammlungen von Fledermauserregern, welche von weit entfernten Höhlen in südchinesischen Provinzen stammen. Es ist extrem unwahrscheinlich, dass sich Fledermäuse aus dieser Entfernung von nahezu 2000 km auf natürliche Weise auf den Weg nach Wuhan begeben haben, um dann in unmittelbarer Nähe dieses virologischen Instituts eine weltweite Pandemie auszulösen“, argumentiert er.

      Neben anderen Indizien habe es sich auch eine junge Wissenschaftlerin des virologischen Instituts in Wuhan als Erste infiziert.

      Insgesamt führt Prof. Wiesendanger in der Studie 60 Nachweise für seine Theorie an. Der Forscher zu BILD: „Ich habe nur die schwerwiegenden Indizien in die Studie aufgenommen, die nach wissenschaftlichen Kriterien verwertbar sind. Insgesamt habe ich jedoch rund 600 Hinweise gesammelt.“

      Extrem hohe Wahrscheinlichkeit für Laborunfall

      Prof. Wiesendanger rechnet damit, dass es in den kommenden Wochen und Monaten weitere Studien und Untersuchungen zum Ursprung von SARS-CoV-2 veröffentlicht werden.

      Eine spannende Untersuchung, die seiner These eine Zahl hinzufügt, kommt von Dr. Stephen Quay aus den USA. Demnach beträgt die Wahrscheinlichkeit, dass Corona aus einem Labor kam, 99,8 Prozent.

      Der Virologe Prof. Bernhard Fleckenstein von der Uni Erlangen ordnet die Studienergebnisse von Prof. Wiesendanger kritisch ein: „Der Physiker kann keinen konkreten Sequenzbeweis vorlegen. Hunderte anderer Wissenschaftler haben diese Stelle nicht gefunden. Deshalb ist das alles nur Theorie und nicht überzeugend.“

      Prof. Fleckenstein beruft sich mit seiner Kritik auf die Studien-Ergebnisse einer Kommission der Weltgesundheitsorganisation: „Die WHO hat vor Ort den Fall untersucht und hält es für sehr unwahrscheinlich, dass ein chinesisches Institut in die Sache involviert war. Es gibt niemanden auf der Welt, dem mehr Infos zu dem Fall vorliegen können, als dieser WHO-Kommission. Darauf sollte man sich verlassen.“

      https://www.bild.de/ratgeber/gesundheit/gesundheit/professor-sicher-corona-kam-doch-aus-einem-labor-in-wuhan-75430738.bild.html

    • the daily caller – Wuhan Lab Eligible To Receive US Taxpayer Funding Through 2024, NIH Confirms

      The Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) is authorized to receive taxpayer funding for animal research through January 2024, according to the National Institute of Health.

      The WIV received $600,000 in taxpayer funds between 2014 and 2019 through the nonprofit group EcoHealth Alliance to study bat-based coronaviruses.

      The president of EcoHealth Alliance, Peter Daszak, was the sole U.S. member in the World Health Organization delegation that investigated the origins of COVID-19 in China.

      Daszak said the White House should blindly accept the WHO’s determination that it’s highly unlikely that COVID-19 could have unintentionally leaked from the WIV.

      The Wuhan Institute of Virology is authorized to receive taxpayer funding for animal research until January 2024, the National Institute of Health told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

      The WIV is at the center of widespread speculation that COVID-19 could have entered the human population in China due to an accidental lab leak. Researchers at the lab were studying bat-based coronaviruses prior to the outbreak, a project partially backed by $600,000 in U.S. taxpayer funds routed to the lab through the nonprofit group EcoHealth Alliance.

      The president of EcoHealth Alliance, Peter Daszak, was the sole U.S. member of the World Health Organization delegation that investigated the origins of the pandemic on the ground in China in January and February. While the WHO delegation has yet to release a report on their findings, Daszak said the White House should blindly accept their conclusion that it’s highly unlikely the virus could have leaked from the WIV.

      Daszak also said American intelligence, which indicates researchers at the WIV became infected with COVID-like symptoms before the first known cases in December 2019, shouldn’t be trusted.

      EcoHealth Alliance’s work researching bat-based coronaviruses in China was funded by a $3.7 million grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in 2014, according to The Wall Street Journal.

      The grant was terminated by the National Institutes of Health in April amid criticism over EcoHealth Alliance’s relationship with the WIV. The NIH said in a letter the nonprofit’s work in China did not align with “program goals and agency priorities.”

      The NIH told EcoHealth Alliance in July it would restore the grant if it met certain conditions, one of which was to arrange for an independent team to investigate the WIV to determine if it had possession of the SARS-COV-2 virus prior to the first known cases in December 2019.

      “I’m not trained as a private detective,” Daszak said. “It’s not really my job to do that.”

      However, the WIV still has an active Foreign Assurance on file with the NIH Office of Laboratory Animal Welfare, which enables it to continue receiving taxpayer funds to engage in animal research, according to the NIH Office of Laboratory Animal Welfare.

      A NIH spokeswoman told the Daily Caller News Foundation that the WIV’s Foreign Assurance was approved on Jan. 9, 2019, and is currently set to expire on Jan. 31, 2024.

      The spokeswoman did not confirm whether the WIV is currently receiving direct or indirect taxpayer funding for research activities involving animals. EcoHealth Alliance’s last known subgrant to the WIV was in May 2019, according to USASpending.Gov.

      https://dailycaller.com/2021/02/16/wuhan-lab-eligible-taxpayer-funding/

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

      Wuhan Lab to Receive US Taxpayer Funding to Conduct Bat Research Until 2024?

      https://www.ibtimes.sg/wuhan-lab-receive-us-taxpayer-funding-conduct-bat-research-until-2024-55636

    • Biden to pledge US$4 billion to COVAX vaccine program at G7 meeting Friday

      The Biden administration will pledge US$4 billion to a coronavirus vaccination program for poorer countries in hopes of prying loose bigger donations from other governments, U.S. officials said on Thursday.

      U.S. President Joe Biden will use his first meeting with leaders of Group of Seven advanced economies on Friday to announce an immediate $2 billion donation to the COVAX program co-led by the World Health Organization, officials said. COVAX aims to ensure a fair supply of coronavirus vaccines around the world.

      The United States will provide the remaining $2 billion over the next two years as other nations fulfill and make their own pledges, the officials said.

      “We want to turn this into a way to translate $2 billion into several billion dollars, up to at least $15 billion,” said one of the officials, estimating the total amount needed for the global vaccination drive.

      The U.S. funding has already been approved by Congress.

      Biden’s action is a sharp departure from his predecessor Donald Trump’s threat to withdraw from the WHO, which he accused of being too close to China, where the novel coronavirus emerged in late 2019.

      COVAX aims to deliver at least 2 billion vaccine doses by the end of 2021 to cover 20% of the most vulnerable people in poor and middle-income countries. The program is at risk of failing, mainly due to a lack of funds.

      The head of the Gavi vaccine alliance, which co-leads the program, has also said COVAX needs greater political support, as wealthier nations strike fresh deals with developers to secure limited supplies.

      The incoming head of the World Trade Organization and others have underscored the urgent need to jump-start vaccinations across Africa and in other regions that are lagging behind.

      The U.S. officials said the donations would not interfere with Biden’s promise to have enough vaccines available for all Americans who want them by the end of July.

      “When we have a sufficient supply it is our intention to consider donating surplus vaccines, absolutely,” said one official.

      https://www.ctvnews.ca/world/biden-to-pledge-us-4-billion-to-covax-vaccine-program-at-g7-meeting-friday-1.5315069

      ==========================================
      Biden To Announce $4 Billion For Global COVID-19 Vaccine Effort

      Biden is set on Friday to announce a total of $4 billion in contributions to COVAX, the vaccine alliance trying to distribute COVID-19 vaccines to 92 low- and middle-income countries, a senior administration official told reporters.

      Biden will make the announcement during a virtual meeting of G-7 leaders about the pandemic.

      The funding for the program — which is co-run by the World Health Organization — includes an initial contribution of $2 billion that Congress appropriated in December. That funding should go out by the end of the month, the official said. In addition, Biden will pledge another $2 billion through 2021 and 2022. The first $500 million of that pledge will be available “rather quickly” to help spur other donations, the official said.

      “This pandemic is not going to end unless we end it globally,” the official told reporters, noting the risk of new coronavirus variants developing and spreading.

      The official said the funding would not affect the program to vaccinate U.S. residents, noting the government is on track to have a large enough supply of vaccine— 600 million doses— for domestic needs by the end of July. If there are vaccines left over from the domestic program, the Biden administration plans to look for ways to donate that to the COVAX program, but no decisions on that have yet been made.

      Biden on Friday will urge G-7 and G-20 partners, and others, to put forward their own contributions to COVAX to help expand the supply and distribution for vaccines, the official said. The vaccine alliance GAVI, which helps lead COVAX, said in November that more than $2 billion had been pledged to buy vaccines, but at least $5 billion more was needed.

      The U.S. contribution of $4 billion “gets us a lot closer to the GAVI target,” which aims to vaccinate 20% of the people living in the 92 countries, the official said. But the Biden administration believes that as much as $15 billion is needed from international donors to expand vaccine supply and boost distribution.

      Globally, there have been roughly 110 million cases of the coronavirus. Some 2.43 million people have died from the virus.

      https://www.npr.org/2021/02/18/969145224/biden-to-announce-4-billion-for-global-covid-19-vaccine-effort

  33. ‘Iran should return to nuclear deal’, tells Angela Merkel to Hassan Rouhani | Middle-East | Top News

  34. US charges 3 North Korean hackers over $1.3 billion cryptocurrency attacks| Latest World News| WION

  36. India-China Ladakh Standoff: China Begin Disengagement At Pangong Tso Lake| India First (Full Video)

  38. Conservatives call on Canadian government to declare China’s persecution of Uighurs a genocide

    Canada’s Conservatives are calling for the House of Commons to formally declare crimes against minority Muslims in China a genocide.

    The party is tabling a motion on Thursday that calls on Canada to take the same stand against China’s treatment of Uighur Muslims as other countries have already done.

    The move is the latest by the Tories to ratchet up pressure on the Liberal government to move beyond calls for an international investigation and to take action in response to the situation faced by Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang province.

    China has been accused of using forced birth control to limit Uighur births and detention camps to indoctrinate the mostly-Muslim minority into mainstream Chinese

  39. Jill and Joe are healing America with their very public display of affection
    3,328 views
    •Feb 18, 2021

  41. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9265489/Plan-statue-lesbian-pirates-Devon-beauty-spot-triggers-uproar.html

    Just when you think that anymore and you will be sick, this kind of woke garbage crops up. Female role players? Lesbians??? They were pirates and a criminal woman is often more evil and dangerous than a male one. WTG Calico Jack!
    These leftards have been studying the muslim tack on how to warp and rewrite history. Next? Christine Columba?

    • “Read was born in England in 1685. She began dressing as a boy at a young age, at first at her mother’s urging in order to receive inheritance money and then as a teenager in order to join the British military.

      She then married and upon her husband’s death moved to the West Indies around 1715. In 1720 she met Jack Rackham and joined his crew, dressing as a man alongside Anne Bonny.

      Her time as a pirate was successful but short lived, as she, Bonny and Rackham were arrested in November 1720. Although Rackham was swiftly executed, both Read and Bonny claimed to be pregnant and received delayed sentences. Read died of a fever in April 1721, likely due to complications from the pregnancy” – wiki

  43. #US #WHO #AntonyBlinken
    Antony Blinken says US will pay $200 million in WHO contribution | COVID-19 Outbreak | World News

  44. Greitens: Biden & Harris don’t care enough to fight the fight that needs to be fought for our kids.

  45. Claim: Migrant Husband Used French Wife to Bring ‘Real’ Family to Europe (breitbart, Feb 18, 2021)
    https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2021/02/18/woman-claims-african-man-used-her-citizenship-bring-real-family-france/

    “A 36-year-old French woman claims that her abusive migrant husband used her in an attempt to obtain French citizenship so he could abandon her and her children and bring his African wife and family to France.

    The woman, named Catherine, left her now ex-husband four years ago after discovering the Senegalese man had tried to use her to obtain citizenship and that he led a double-life, having a Senegalese wife and children, it is alleged.

    “I had two daughters with him, who are 13 and 10 years old. This is a man I met on the Internet. He lived in Africa, in Dakar. I fell in love. He wanted me to marry him in Senegal. I went there, and we got married,” Catherine told broadcaster Europe1.

    The couple lived with Catherine’s parents, to begin with, and according to the 36-year-old, her husband became verbally and physically abusive privately but put on an act when her parents were present.

    “It’s very demeaning to feel used. I felt betrayed. His goal was to obtain French citizenship to bring over his wife and children who were in Senegal. I didn’t know until after I left him. I knew he would send money there every month, but he told me it was for his mother. It was a huge amount of money,” she said.

    “He never managed to get his wife and children to come to France because I always refused to start the process for him to obtain French citizenship. I had doubts because he was always asking for it. And my family told me not to… When I refused, he became a demon,” she added.

    Sham marriages to help migrants who could not otherwise legally stay in the country have been seen across many countries in Europe.

    In 2019, the German-based NGO “Mission Lifeline” actually suggested that citizens marry asylum seekers to help them remain in Germany.

    “You’re not married yet? Maybe you could fall in love with someone who doesn’t have the right to stay here? Could happen, right? Stay open,” the group wrote on social media.

    That same year in France, a city project manager in Villepinte was accused of arranging sham marriages for migrants and was thought to be involved in at least a dozen such fake marriages.”

  46. Finnish Border Guard Bust Middle Eastern Illegal Migrant Network (breitbart, Feb 18, 2021)
    https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2021/02/18/finnish-border-guard-bust-middle-eastern-illegal-migrant-network/

    “The Border Guard in Finland revealed a major operation against a network suspected of aiding illegal migration by Middle Eastern migrants.

    The Finnish Border Guard say they apprehended several suspects and made seizures and raids of various homes in the city of Lahti.

    According to a report from Finland’s public broadcaster Yle, the members of the network are believed to have helped facilitate illegal migration into the county over the last year.

    However, investigators did not detail how many people were arrested, noting only that the number was fewer than ten. They also did not comment on the nationality of those detained, but confirmed all the suspects have permanent residency in Finland and that the migrants smuggled into Finland were primarily from the Middle East.

    The migrants believed to have entered the country at several different locations, including the land border in south-east Finland and by air to the Helsinki area.

    Investigation Director Antti Leskela said the smuggling of illegals was not related to forced human trafficking, saying: “Of course, in such a situation, it is taken into account, but from the point of view of the investigation, there is no real reason to suspect human trafficking.”

    The raids come just weeks after it was revealed that Finland saw a record number of people seeking help over human trafficking issues in 2020, most of which involved trafficking victims forced to work in various industries.

    Terhi Tafari, a senior advisor at the anti-trafficking centre, claimed that potentially thousands of people had been brought to Finland for forced labour.

    In recent months, several other migrant trafficking networks have been dismantled, including a large network in France that was believed to have played a major part in illegal crossings across the English Channel last year.”

  47. NATO boosts Iraq mission with thousands of personnel (abcnews, Feb 18, 2021)
    https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/nato-boosts-iraq-mission-thousands-personnel-75975278

    “NATO is planning to scale up its mission training Iraq’s security forces with thousands of new personnel as the military alliance seeks to help keep the Islamic State group at bay, Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Thursday.

    “The size of our mission will increase from 500 personnel to around 4,000. And training activities will now include more Iraqi security institutions, and areas beyond Baghdad,” Stoltenberg told reporters after chairing a meeting of NATO defense ministers.

    NATO’s training mission was launched in 2018 to help the conflict-ravaged country develop new academies and military schools for its armed forces. It was initially confined to the capital, Baghdad, and in neighboring Jordan.

    The mission was temporarily suspended last year after a U.S. drone strike killed Iran’s top general at Baghdad airport, angering the Iraqi government.

    Stoltenberg said he had spoken with Iraqi leaders and that “everything will be done in full consultation with the Iraqi authorities.” He also underlined that increases in troop numbers would be gradual.

    “We will increase the geographical presence of the NATO training mission, beyond the greater Baghdad area, but again, step by step,” Stoltenberg said. The mission was led by Canada for two years, but Denmark is now taking control.

    Unlike the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq, NATO’s training effort does not involve combat operations…”

  48. Texas Power Crisis Puts Keystone XL Cancelation in Perspective
    By Terri Wu
    February 18, 2021 Updated: February 18, 2021
    biggersmaller Print

    Rolling blackouts in Texas have put the importance of oil pipelines into perspective, according to business executives.

    Ryan Palazzo, a former chief operating officer of a pipeline construction company and a resident of Houston, Texas, received text messages on Feb. 15 about rolling blackouts to protect the electricity grid which was strained by record low temperatures. Millions have been affected since.

    “It’s not because there’s not enough natural gas. It’s because of the switch to renewables. They’re not able to, in the short term, keep the grid stable. It’s unfortunate, but energy is essential to everything that we do,” said Palazzo, who was laid off in November, right after the election.

    Following the cancellation of the Atlantic Coast natural gas pipeline in July 2020, the owner of his company had a strong sense that the Keystone XL (KXL) project would be canceled as well and decided to downsize, according to Palazzo.

    https://www.theepochtimes.com/texas-power-crisis-puts-keystone-xl-cancelation-in-perspective_3699890.html?utm_source=newsnoe&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=breaking-2021-02-18-1

  49. The Oregon Department of Education (ODE) recently encouraged teachers to register for training that encourages “ethnomathematics” and argues, among other things, that White supremacy manifests itself in the focus on finding the right answer.

    An ODE newsletter sent last week advertises a Feb. 21 “Pathway to Math Equity Micro-Course,” which is designed for middle school teachers to make use of a toolkit for “dismantling racism in mathematics.” The event website identifies the event as a partnership between California’s San Mateo County Office of Education, The Education Trust-West and others.

    Part of the toolkit includes a list of ways “white supremacy culture” allegedly “infiltrates math classrooms.” Those include “the focus is on getting the ‘right’ answer,” students being “required to ‘show their work,’” and other alleged manifestations.

    “The concept of mathematics being purely objective is unequivocally false, and teaching it is even much less so,” the document for the “Equitable Math” toolkit reads. “Upholding the idea that there are always right and wrong answers perpetuate objectivity as well as fear of open conflict.”

    The ODE, led by Colt Gill, confirmed the letter to Fox News. ODE Communications Director Marc Siegel also defended the “Equitable Math” educational program, saying it “helps educators learn key tools for engagement, develop strategies to improve equitable outcomes for Black, Latinx, and multilingual students, and join communities of practice.”

    An associated “Dismantling Racism” workbook, linked within the toolkit, similarly identifies “objectivity” — described as “the belief that there is such a thing as being objective or ‘neutral’” — as a characteristic of White supremacy.

    https://nypost.com/2021/02/12/adding-wokeness-oregon-promotes-teacher-program-to-subtract-racism-in-mathematics/

  50. VIDEO – French Canadian TV broadcaster ‘TVA’ visits a Covid floor at Verdun Hospital in Montreal.

    Staff says they had 37 patients during the Christmas to New Year period. Now, only three patients.

    So much for overflowing C-19 units and exhausted staff. Had the TV station not visited, we would never have known.

    Meanwhile, all types of surgeries and life-saving treatments are on standby.

    https://www.journaldemontreal.com/2021/02/18/pandemie-une-visite-a-lhopital-qui-en-dit-long