Reader’s Links for March 29, 2021

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

75 Replies to “Reader’s Links for March 29, 2021”

  1. Red and green, red and green,
    the prettiest colours we ever did see…

    I showed the video of the holocaust-survivor woman making her observations last week to my Israeli friend. I thought her words would help him to see.

    “Propaganda!” he said.

    Well, everyone sees things their own way, don’t they? And just because someone’s observations harmonize with one’s own does not make that little echo chamber more right. However I always find it remarkable how it is possible for people to see things so very differently. I guess this is what makes us snowflakes, and why to some people red and green are the prettiest colours they ever did see.

    Imagine how such tolerance, open mindedness and true diversity of opinion thrived under the banner of the Stars and Stripes for so long.

    The green in the red:

    https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/17202/erdogan-turkey-islamic-superpower

    • The best answer I can give is it depends on the rank of the commanding officer and how closely DC or the soon to me named political officers are watching. The last I heard the majority of the MCOs and enlisted can be trusted but I don’t know for how long.

  2. Electric cars carry their fair share of toxicity in more ways than one. The rare-earth metals sector is dominated by Red China who does not hesitate to rape the earth for them. They also require much more copper and silver to produce. They have not been around long enough to see how consumers enjoy their repair cycles and related expenses. Further, internal-combustion engines continue to become more efficient with technological advances. This fact is never mentioned. Imagine if the electrical orthodoxy were confronted by a new technology that propelled a vehicle hundreds of kilometers and a single liter of magic liquid? This liquid would be gasoline and it would make all those heavy, toxic, expensive, commie-made batteries look sick.

    On the market:
    https://palisadesradio.ca/

  3. “Matt Hancock Grilled By Tory MP’s Over Vaccine Effects Data Collection Failures”
    We Got A Problem – March 25, 2021

  4. I keep paper files, they never disappear. I copy e-mails and put them in a file. I am in a bit of a quandary where to file one of my latest e-mails. Should I file it under:
    Horse Pucky
    Puffed up Media and Political Princesses
    Do as I say, not as I do
    Fancy Dancers
    Life is Complicated ignorant peasant

    I sent e-mail to MP asking to say NO to their up coming pay raise.

    E-mail from NDP MP

    Thank you for your e-mail.
    In terms of referenced pay raise, this is not something that I ever voted for. The legislation that deals with sessional allowances and additional salaries was put in place in 2000 under the then Chrétien Liberal Government enshrined in the Parliament Of Canada Act; this was put in place way before I was elected in 2008. it was a direct result from major settlements negotiated in the private sector which took place under the guidance of an independent body and is not within the authority of the Board of Internal Economy. Rather, the adjustment is mandated by the provisions of the Parliament of Canada Act (section 55.1 and 67.1) and must therefore, be implemented, unless the relevant provisions of the Parliament of Canada Act are amended.

    The Conservatives governed for 10 years and the Liberals for 5.5 years and neither one of them have attempted to review the act of bringing legislation forward to amend it. I can assure you that New Democrats would certainly be willing to consider legislation that would amend the current Parliament of Canada Act which automatically gives MPs a raise every year should the government table such legislation.
    Sincerely,
    Carol Hughes

    • I sent another e-mail to MP because I am an ignorant peasant who does not understand why a MP can not stand up and say “ Canadian people are struggling, many people have lost their jobs, COVID has taken a horrific toll on people and I for one believe it would be a slap in the face to the electorate, if any politician were to take a pay raise this year.”

      My return e-mail
      I said “You are telling me, as an individual member of parliament , you cannot or will not say no to a pay raise.”

      Today’s e-mail from MP

      You are correct. As noted earlier, the adjustment is mandated by the provisions of the Parliament of Canada Act, and is applied automatically to all Members of Parliament at the start of the new fiscal year. It is not an issue I can decide on or can vote on.

      As noted earlier the New Democrats would be willing to consider legislation that would amend the current Parliament of Canada Act which automatically gives MPs a raise every year if the sitting government decides to table it.

      I will file them under “Life is complicated ignorant peasant”, with note to self, stay home, pay taxes to support compassionate MPs salary, and shut the hell up.

  5. Govt of Norway Indicted for Crimes Against Humanity Over ‘Planned False Pandemic’

    Various investigators conduct investigations, in collaboration with lawyers and advocates. The 2nd Nuremberg Tribunal is a fact. Its act has been in preparation for months now.

    This is under the leadership of German lawyer Dr. Reiner Fuellmich, who is currently filing a class action. What is a class action? A class action, also called a representative action or group claim, is a form of jurisprudence in which a large group of people collectively bring a claim before the court or in which a certain class of defendants is prosecuted.
    And now good news from Norway:

    A group of researchers from Norway have filed a lawsuit against the corona policy.
    The Norwegian government is being sued for crimes against humanity.
    A report on this has been sent to the Ålesund police station.
    A copy of the report is currently being sent to the International Criminal Court and then released on the Internet.
    You can see the Norwegian version of the report, sent to the police, translated below.
    You can download the official document (in Norwegian) here.

    https://www.thelibertybeacon.com/govt-of-norway-indicted-for-crimes-against-humanity-over-planned-false-pandemic/

  6. DUBAI (Reuters) – China and Iran, both subject to U.S. sanctions, signed a 25-year cooperation agreement on Saturday to strengthen their long-standing economic and political alliance.

    “Relations between the two countries have now reached the level of strategic partnership and China seeks to comprehensively improve relations with Iran,” Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi was quoted by Iran’s state media as telling his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif.

    “Our relations with Iran will not be affected by the current situation, but will be permanent and strategic,” Wang said ahead of the televised signing ceremony.

    Wang also met Ali Larijani, a senior adviser to Iran’s supreme leader, who said: “Iran decides independently on its relations with other countries and is not like some countries that change their position with one phone call.”

    The accord brings Iran into China’s Belt and Road Initiative, a multi-trillion-dollar infrastructure scheme intended to stretch from East Asia to Europe.

    https://www.reuters.com/article/us-iran-china/iran-and-china-sign-25-year-cooperation-agreement-idUSKBN2BJ0AD?il=0&utm_source=reddit.com

  7. WHO says COVID-19 probably passed from bats to humans through another animal: AP

    A joint WHO-China study on the origins of COVID-19 says that the virus was probably transmitted from bats to humans through another animal, and that a lab leak was “extremely unlikely” as a cause, the Associated Press reported

    The reported findings match what WHO officials have said in the past about their conclusions following a Jan-Feb visit to China.

    Many questions remain unanswered, and the team proposed further research in every area except the lab leak hypothesis, the Associated Press reported, citing a draft copy it had obtained.

    WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreysus acknowledged receipt of the report from the independent experts but declined to give details, telling a Geneva news briefing: “All hypotheses are on the table and warrant complete and further studies.”

    The 400-page report, drawn up by the team which carried out a mission to the central Chinese city of Wuhan where the virus was first encountered in late 2019, is to be issued on Tuesday after diplomats from WHO’s 194 member states are briefed on its findings, Tedros said.

    Germany’s international development minister Gerd Mueller, speaking to the same briefing after holding talks with Tedros, welcomed China’s cooperation with the probe.

    The United States expects the WHO-led investigation to require further study of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, perhaps including a return visit to China, a senior U.S. official told reporters last week. He hoped it would be “based on science”.

    The probe was plagued by delays, concern over access and bickering between Beijing and Washington, which under former U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration accused China of hiding the extent of the initial outbreak.

    https://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/7/48/408041/Life–Style/Health/WHO-says-COVID-probably-passed-from-bats-to-humans.aspx

    ======================================================
    Beijing denies U.S. claims that China helped write WHO report

    • WHO report says animals likely source of COVID

      A joint World Health Organization-China study on the origins of COVID-19 says that transmission from bats to humans through another animal is the most likely scenario and that a lab leak is “extremely unlikely,” according to a draft copy obtained by The Associated Press.

    • “Extremely unlikely” COVID-19 originated from Wuhan lab: WHO report

      Investigators from the WHO’s expert mission to Wuhan have ruled out a lab leak as the cause for the COVID-19 pandemic.

      Instead, they have concluded that the virus likely first passed to humans from bats, via another animal.

  8. Blinken backs Philippines as hundreds of China vessels crowd disputed reef | South China Sea | WION
    5,826 views
    •Mar 29, 2021

  9. Putin describes minor side effects after COVID-19 vaccine

    Russian President Vladimir Putin described what followed his COVID-19 vaccine shot, which he received behind closed doors, in footage from Moscow released on Sunday.

    “For the first five hours really nothing, then when I lifted my hand – I had [an injection] in my left hand – I did not feel pain, no, only some kind of discomfort. Now if I press on this place, I still feel it a little. But these are all the side effects,” the Russian leader described.

    • New York Rolls Out COVID-19 Vaccine Passport App | NBC New York

      New York hopes to use the COVID “passport” to fast-track the reopening of stadiums, theaters and businesses in accordance with state health guidelines.

    • CBC -Why some Toronto COVID-19 vaccine clinics are low on patients

      With a surge in COVID-19 vaccine supply, mass vaccination sites are staffed and ready.

      But Toronto seems to be scrambling to get people to sign up for shots.

    • global news – COVID-19: As variants rise, Canada looks to boost vaccine rates

      Theresa Tam warning measures need to be stronger and sustained longer to control the variants.

      As part of a ramp-up in the vaccine rollout, 1.2 million Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines are arriving in the country Sunday.

      But health officials, including nurses, are warning that with the spread of variants, even those vaccinated cannot let their guard down.

    • global news -UK study examines safety of mixing vaccines

      The U.K. was the first Western nation to start a mass vaccination campaign and now it’s testing a mix and match strategy for inoculations.

      There are 820 participants in the trial who will get an AstraZeneca primer, followed by a Pfizer-BioNTech booster, while others will get the opposite and some could get two of the same shot, the current standard practice.

      Some health experts say the results could bolster the fight against the pandemic.

      Crystal Goomansingh reports on how the trial could not only bolster the vaccine strategy but also potentially lead to enhanced immunity.

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZDyLYKq0aU

    • Toronto city news – Why Toronto seniors might not be getting their Covid-19 vaccines

      With more mass vaccination clinics opening in Toronto Monday, the Mayor and staff continue to urge those 70 and over to get their shot.

      Tina Yazdani has more on why thousands of vials might be going unused.

    • ctv news – Virus hunters: This team is trying to stop the next pandemic

      Bat ecologist Phillip Alviola says his team can determine if other coronaviruses have the potential to infect humans.

    • ctv news – “Spectacularly inaccurate”: Jason Kenney attacks Ottawa’s pandemic modelling

      Jason Kenney attacked Ottawa’s pandemic modelling today, Dr. Abdu Sharkawy and Dr. Jasmine Pawa explain how modelling actually works.

    • Fox News – Steve Hilton blasts ‘unprecedented’ Democratic push for ‘vaccine passports’

      ‘The Next Revolution’ host calls Biden’s push for ‘vaccine passport’ standard an ‘unprecedented, undemocratic power grab.’

    • channel 4 – Covid rates in central Europe are among the highest in the world as third wave hits

      More than thirty million people have now received their first dose of a vaccine. But in Europe around twenty thousand people a week are dying with Covid – and rates in central Europe are now among the highest in the world.

      Yet vaccination efforts have been woefully slow to get off the ground.

    • MSNBC – Majority Approves Of Biden’s Coronavirus Vaccine Response

      President Biden gets high marks for his handling of coronavirus vaccine response, according to new numbers from ABC News/Ipsos.

    • A Walmart Pharmacist Explains How Walmart is Making the COVID Vaccine Accessible to Their Customers.

      Jane, a pharmacist at a Walmart in Texas, is working tirelessly to get her customers vaccinated against COVID-19.

    • CDC Director Rochelle Walensky emotional plea to America “Impending Doom” ” Right Now I’m Scared

      CDC Director Rochelle Walensky: “I’m going to reflect on the recurring feeling I have of impending doom.

      We have so much to look forward to, so much promise and potential of where we are, and so much reason for hope, but right now, I’m scared…

      We have come such a long way…just please hold on a little while longer.

      I so badly want to be done.

      I know you all so badly want to be done.

      We are just almost there, just not quite yet.

      “We do not have the luxury of inaction.

      For the health of our country we must work together now to prevent a 4th surge.

    • P.E.I. suspends use of AstraZeneca vaccine among young people

      Prince Edward Island has suspended the use of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine for those aged 18 to 29 who had appointments for shots in pharmacies.

      Health officials said in a brief statement the appointments are on hold pending further information expected today from Health Canada and the National Advisory Committee on Immunization.

      Prince Edward Island announced on March 9 that it would offer the AstraZeneca vaccine to people aged 18 to 29 who work in gas stations and convenience or grocery stores.

      The move was a response to COVID-19 outbreaks on the Island that were concentrated among young people.

      The province said it had received 2,000 doses of the vaccine and they had been distributed to pharmacies across the province to give to the young workers.

      Canadian health officials first recommended the Astra-Zeneca vaccine for those under 65, but on March 16 it adjusted its advice to say that it could also be given to seniors.

      In early March, Denmark and other European countries suspended the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine after reports of blood clots in some people.

      https://www.680news.com/2021/03/29/prince-edward-island-suspends-use-of-astrazeneca-vaccine-among-young-people-canada/

    • WaPo- Vaccine passports’ are on the way, but developing them won’t be easy

      White House-led effort tries to corral more than a dozen initiatives

      The Biden administration and private companies are working to develop a standard way of handling credentials — often referred to as “vaccine passports” — that would allow Americans to prove they have been vaccinated against the novel coronavirus as businesses try to reopen.

      The effort has gained momentum amid President Biden’s pledge that the nation will start to regain normalcy this summer and with a growing number of companies — from cruise lines to sports teams — saying they will require proof of vaccination before opening their doors again.

      The administration’s initiative has been driven largely by arms of the Department of Health and Human Services, including an office devoted to health information technology, said five officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the effort. The White House this month took on a bigger role coordinating government agencies involved in the work, led by coronavirus coordinator Jeff Zients, with a goal of announcing updates in coming days, said one official.

      The White House declined to answer questions about the passport initiative, instead pointing to public statements that Zients and other officials made this month.

      “Our role is to help ensure that any solutions in this area should be simple, free, open source, accessible to people both digitally and on paper, and designed from the start to protect people’s privacy,” Zients said at a March 12 briefing.

      The initiative has emerged as an early test of the Biden administration, with officials working to coordinate across dozens of agencies and a variety of experts, including military officials helping administer vaccines and health officials engaging in international vaccine efforts.

      The passports are expected to be free and available through applications for smartphones, which could display a scannable code similar to an airline boarding pass. Americans without smartphone access should be able to print out the passports, developers have said.

      Other countries are racing ahead with their own passport plans, with the European Union pledging to release digital certificates that would allow for summer travel.

      U.S. officials say they are grappling with an array of challenges, including data privacy and health-care equity. They want to make sure all Americans will be able to get credentials that prove they have been vaccinated, but also want to set up systems that are not easily hacked or passports that cannot be counterfeited, given that forgeries are already starting to appear.

      One of the most significant hurdles facing federal officials: the sheer number of passport initiatives underway, with the Biden administration this month identifying at least 17, according to slides obtained by The Washington Post.

      Those initiatives — such as a World Health Organization-led global effort and a digital pass devised by IBM that is being tested in New York state — are rapidly moving forward, even as the White House deliberates about how best to track the shots and avoid the perception of a government mandate to be vaccinated.

      One of the teams working on vaccine passports is the Vaccination Credential Initiative, a coalition endeavoring to standardize how data in vaccination records is tracked.

      “The busboy, the janitor, the waiter that works at a restaurant, wants to be surrounded by employees that are going back to work safely — and wants to have the patrons ideally be safe as well,” said Brian Anderson, a physician at Mitre, a nonprofit company that runs federally funded research centers, who is helping lead the initiative. “Creating an environment for those vulnerable populations to get back to work safely — and to know that the people coming back to their business are ‘safe,’ and vaccinated — would be a great scenario.”

      Anderson’s team is aiming to release its free software standards in April, hoping developers will use them to help build digital vaccine records that allow people to show they have been inoculated. The Vaccination Credential Initiative includes the Mayo Clinic, Microsoft and more than 225 other organizations, many of which have pledged to use the code when administering shots.

      Biden administration officials privately acknowledge the high stakes of the effort.

      Proof of vaccination “may be a critical driver for restoring baseline population health and promoting safe return to social, commercial, and leisure activities,” according to the March 2 slides prepared by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology and obtained by The Post. But officials at the session — attended by more than 150 staff from the health, defense, homeland security and other departments, and even far-flung agencies such as NASA — warned of the “confusing array” of efforts underway to create credentials.

      “A chaotic and ineffective vaccine credential approach could hamper our pandemic response by undercutting health safety measures, slowing economic recovery, and undermining public trust and confidence,” one slide reads.

      Micky Tripathi, whom Biden tapped as the national coordinator for health IT, recently said federal officials are concerned with a variety of health-tech challenges, including protecting the credentials against fraud, ensuring data security and making certain that low-income populations aren’t squeezed out.

      “How do we make sure that whatever is available is accessible to everyone so no one is left behind or feeling like they can’t participate in the return of their day-to-day activities?” Tripathi asked at a virtual meeting hosted by the Health IT Leadership Roundtable on March 11.

      Tripathi told the group he didn’t like the term “vaccine passports,” adding that “passports are something that are issued by governments. … I think of them as vaccine credentials or certificates.” Tripathi did not respond to a request for comment.

      The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which is participating in the WHO’s effort to create “digital vaccination certificates,” also is preparing to help advise on the passport rollout. The health agency says it is expecting to play a role in determining which organizations will credential and issue the certificates, in addition to informing the public, according to CDC documents reviewed by The Post.

      The Biden administration has promised to release more information about its efforts. Asked by Hawaii Gov. David Ige (D) on Tuesday about the state of the passport initiative, Zients told governors he would provide a more detailed briefing this week, according to two people on the call, speaking on the condition of anonymity to describe the private conversation.

      Federal officials defended the pace of the project.

      Taking time to get the credentialing project right “is very, very important because this has a high likelihood of being either built wrong, used wrong or a bureaucratic mess,” said one official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss the effort. The official said some of the considerations include how to adjust for the spread of variants, how booster shots would be tracked and even questions about how long immunity lasts after getting a shot. There’s “a lot to think through,” the official said.

      “Many people see this as a key aspect to getting things closer to normal,” said Kristen McGovern, a partner at health-care consultancy Sirona Strategies and former chief of staff at the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT. But the technical challenges are significant and given that so many separate efforts are underway, “it would be an almost herculean task to come up with a single standard” for all the vaccine credentials to follow, McGovern said.

    • There is evidence vaccine passports could motivate skeptical Americans to get shots. Several vaccine-hesitant participants at a recent focus group of Trump voters led by pollster Frank Luntz suggested their desire to see family, go on vacation and resume other aspects of daily life outpaced fear of the shots, particularly if travel companies and others moved to require proof of vaccination.

      “We love to travel. We love to take cruises. I would get it to travel,” said Debbie of Georgia, who like others in the focus group was identified only by her first name.

      Some attendees dissented and warned that requiring a credential would backfire.
      “I would change my travel plans,” said a man identified as Patrick of Tennessee.

      Public health and ethics experts agreed that the Biden administration needed to strike a careful balance: Encourage shots and support the private-sector initiatives but don’t put too much federal emphasis on the looming passports.

      “If it became a government mandate, it would go down a dark road very quickly,” said Brian C. Castrucci, who leads the Bethesda, Md.-based de Beaumont Foundation, a public health group funding Luntz’s research into why some Americans are balking at the vaccine. “It becomes a credential. It becomes a ‘needing your papers,’ if you will. That could be dangerous — and it could turn off people.”

      “It has to be that everyone can get it, and it’s their choice, as it were,” said Ezekiel Emanuel, a University of Pennsylvania bioethics expert who co-authored a Journal of the American Medical Association article last year about the ethics of such certificates and advised Biden’s transition team on the coronavirus. “The one thing I am concerned is that some people won’t be able to get vaccinated for a variety of reasons.”

      Emanuel added that the passports will be an element of global travel — not just domestic policy. Key aviation and travel associations on March 22 called on the White House to finalize its vaccine credential plan by May, saying it was essential for the safe resumption of international travel.

      Donald Rucker, who led the health IT office during the Trump administration, said myriad technical issues await the rollout of vaccine credentials, including how they are tracked, whether they are enforced and who pulls together the initial records of which Americans have gotten shots.

      Rucker said keeping vaccine credentials could help officials better understand coronavirus vaccination, including possible long-term side effects, if the data is connected with the health information exchanges that states maintain.

      “The tracking of vaccinations is not just simply for vaccine passports,” Rucker said. “The tracking of vaccinations is a broader issue of ‘we’re giving a novel biologic agent to the entire country,’ more or less.”

      https://archive.is/nyxyf#selection-2119.0-2141.213

    • German officials warn third wave of COVID could be worst one yet

      Angela Merkel expressed her dissatisfaction with how local authorities handle the pandemic.

      Germany’s Minister of Health warns its health system is reaching ‘breaking point’ in April

    • UN: Finances for vaccines delaying recovery

      The United Nations says the world has entered a “turning point” in the COVID-19 crisis, with financing for vaccinations in least-developed countries delaying the global recovery.

    • CNBC – Biden: Asking all governors, local leaders to reinstate mask mandate

      He is asking all governors to reinstate their mask mandates and urged citizens to continue to wear masks.

    • ctv news – Quebec suspends use of AstraZeneca vaccine for people under 55

      QUEBEC CITY — Quebec has paused its use of the AstraZeneca vaccine to inoculate people under 55 “as a precautionary measure,” according to a Monday public health announcement.

      In a statement, the ministry said it made the decision based on recommendations from Quebec and national health advisory boards.

      “Very rare cases have occurred within weeks of receiving AstraZeneca vaccine in some European countries, the majority in women under 55 years of age,” read the release.

      “However, it is not possible to determine at this stage whether the events are related to the person’s gender.”

      So far, 111,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine have been administered in Quebec. There have been no recorded cases of blood clotting among people who have receive the vaccine in Canada.

      […]
      https://montreal.ctvnews.ca/quebec-suspends-use-of-astrazeneca-vaccine-for-people-under-55-1.5366839

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

      CBC- Quebec suspends giving doses of AstraZeneca to those under 55, though no issues reported in Canada

      […]Quebec said it is suspending the use of AstraZeneca, also known as Covishield, pending an investigation into whether the vaccine is linked to the very small number of blood clots that have been reported among Europeans who received a dose.

      The type of blood clots being investigated are called cerebral venous sinus thrombosis.

      […]The ministry did not detail how many people under the age of 55 have received the vaccine, but it’s thought to be mainly health-care workers.

      So far, only people older than 60 in the general public are eligible to be vaccinated.

      In its statement, the ministry said the suspension could affect some vaccination appointments, though its overall timeline remains unchanged.

      https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/astrazeneca-quebec-suspended-1.5968451

  10. Massive blaze breaks out at Indonesian oil refinery

    A massive blaze breaks out at one of Indonesia’s biggest oil refineries, seriously injuring at least five people and forcing the evacuation of about 1,000 local residents.

    • CBC – UN chief criticizes countries for vaccine hoarding, export restrictions

      In an exclusive interview with CBC News chief political correspondent Rosemary Barton, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres warns that the growing vaccine nationalism taking place by some countries puts the whole planet at risk and threatens to undermine the health of all people.

      Guterres also says an urgent, co-ordinated global vaccination plan is essential to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.

      + comments on the YT page

  11. Indonesia church suicide bombers were newlyweds: Police

    Both suspects were killed instantly when they rode a motorbike into the compound of the church, setting off an improvised explosive device known as a pressure-cooker bomb, police said

    Two suicide bombers who blew themselves up at an Indonesian cathedral on Palm Sunday were newlyweds who belonged to a pro-Islamic State extremist group, police said Monday, as they raided the couple’s home.

    About 20 people were wounded in the powerful explosion outside the church in Makassar city on Sulawesi island while worshippers celebrated the start of Holy Week.

    Both suspects were killed instantly when they rode a motorbike into the compound of the church, setting off an improvised explosive device known as a pressure-cooker bomb, police said.

    On Monday, Indonesian authorities said the pair had been married for about six months and that the man was in his mid-twenties. They were identified only by their initials.

    “The investigation is ongoing including looking at whether there were others involved,” National Police spokesman Argo Yuwono said.

    Counter-terror units raided the couple’s home and other locations in Makassar, a port city of about 1.5 million, as well as in the capital Jakarta, as they searched for bombs, weapons and other evidence, police said.

    A local resident said the male suspect was a street food seller who lived in a rented home near his parents’ residence.

    “As a kid he was nice… But as he grew older he didn’t really socialise around here,” Nuraini, who like many Indonesians goes by one name, told AFP.

    Police said the couple were members of Jamaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD), a Muslim extremist group blamed for series of attacks, including 2018 suicide bombings in Indonesia’s second-biggest city Surabaya.

    On Monday, officials said 15 people remained in hospital, although the extent of their wounds remained unclear. Four had been discharged, they added.

    Sunday’s explosion at the main Catholic cathedral in Makassar happened just after congregants finished celebrating Palm Sunday, the first day of Holy Week, which commemorates Jesus’s entry into Jerusalem.

    It comes a week before Easter.

    JAD was also implicated in a 2019 cathedral suicide bombing in the Philippines committed by a married Indonesian couple.

    That attack killed worshippers and security forces.

    Indonesia, the world’s biggest Muslim majority nation, has long struggled with attacks by Muslim extremists, including the 2002 Bali bombings which killed more than 200, mostly foreign tourists.

    https://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/2/9/408012/World/International/Indonesia-church-suicide-bombers-were-newlyweds-Po.aspx

  12. Ever given ship moves again | Suez Canal reopens | Breaking News | Latest World English News

  13. Blinken backs Philippines as hundreds of China vessels crowd disputed reef | South China Sea | WION

  14. ctv news – ‘Deeply sorry’: Scholastic pulls children’s book for ‘passive racism’

    The author and publisher of a children’s book have stopped its distribution and apologized after admitting the 2010 graphic novel perpetuates ‘passive racism.’

  15. Putin hits ‘bullseye’ with new hypersonic missiles capable of reaching US within minutes.

  16. ‘It’s going to destroy our country,’ Trump blasts Biden on unprecedented border crisis

  17. Biden: A Captive to His Handlers – Frontpagemag
    Lloyd Billingsley
    5-7 minutes

    Profiles in presidential puppetry.

    “The perception of you that got you elected as a moral, decent man is the reason a lot of immigrants are coming to this country and are trusting you with unaccompanied minors.”

    That was PBS White House correspondent Yamiche Alcindor at Joe Biden’s March 25 press conference. The event was really a worship service, conducted by house hagiographers and lacking only mandatory timed applause. Still, the proceedings did prove informative in a different way.

    Biden needed a cheat sheet and marked photos of approved reporters. The Delaware Democrat is utterly captive to his handlers, a condition previously showcased by America’s 32nd president.

    https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2021/03/lloyd-lloyd-billingsley/

  18. The Biden Administration is Determined to Undo Trump’s Most Important Achievement – Frontpagemag
    Hugh Fitzgerald
    14-17 minutes

    A disturbing glance at Biden’s boosting of Palestinian oppressive, jihadist institutions.

    The Biden Administration is determined to undo the most important achievement of the Trump administration, that is, its support for Israel’s rights under the Palestine Mandate and U.N. Resolution 242, and for the Abraham Accords, and its refusal to any longer tolerate the PPalestinian Authority’s Pay-For-Slay Program, or the antisemitism in its schoolbooks. “Internal Biden memo said to back 2-state solution along 1967 lines,” by Jacob Magid, Times of Israel, March 17, 2021:

    https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2021/03/biden-administration-determined-undo-trumps-most-hugh-fitzgerald/

  19. Biden administration plans for unified vaccine passport scheme called ‘un-American’ by critics
    Ariel Zilber, Agencies
    7-9 minutes

    The Biden administration and private firms are reportedly developing a ‘vaccine passport’ that will allow Americans to return to pre-pandemic activities like travel and shopping by showing proof they’ve been inoculated against COVID-19.

    The ‘vaccine passport’ is considered key to meeting the administration’s goal of emerging from the lockdown and returning to a semblance of normalcy this summer.

    It will in all likelihood be available for free through smartphones.

    Vaccinated Americans will be able to flash a scannable code while those who do not have phones could print out a code on a piece of paper, according to The Washington Post.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9412921/Biden-administration-working-unified-vaccine-passport-scheme-critics-call-American.html

  20. Biden administration guts Homeland Security Advisory Council
    Daniel Lippman
    5-6 minutes

    Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, left, appear with President Joe Biden during a virtual meeting. | Andrew Harnik/AP Photo

    The Biden administration has fired 32 members of the Homeland Security Advisory Council, according to a letter to members of the council obtained by POLITICO.

    A letter sent Friday by DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas told members that he has ended the “terms of current HSAC members effective March 26, 2021.”

    https://www.politico.com/news/2021/03/26/biden-guts-homeland-security-advisory-council-478156

  21. Supreme Court Rejects Judicial Watch’s Final Attempt to Depose Hillary Clinton About Her Emails

    The Supreme Court of the United States on Monday declined a conservative legal group’s request to revisit whether Hillary Clinton should be required to answer questions about her use of a private email server during her tenure as secretary of state.

    In an unsigned order issued without comment, the justices declined to take up Judicial Watch’s petition stemming from the organization’s lawsuit over the government’s response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request. The group had sought to depose Clinton and one of her top aides, Cheryl Mills, over electronic communications in connection with the 2012 attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya.

    more :

    https://lawandcrime.com/supreme-court/supreme-court-rejects-judicial-watchs-final-attempt-to-depose-hillary-clinton-about-her-emails/

  22. China Grabbing Whitsun Reef: ‘Sudetenland’ in Slow Motion
    Gordon G. Chang
    6-8 minutes

    About 220 Chinese fishing vessels, almost certainly part of China’s maritime militia, are now crowding around Whitsun Reef in the Spratly chain in the South China Sea in another attempt to break apart the Philippines. Pictured: An aerial view of part of the Spratly chain, on April 21, 2017. (Photo by Ted Aljibe/AFP via Getty Images)

    About 220 Chinese fishing vessels, almost certainly part of China’s maritime militia, are now crowding around Whitsun Reef in the Spratly chain in the South China Sea in another attempt to break apart the Philippines.

    Whitsun is where the United States and the region should confront an increasingly expansionist China. The failure of the Obama administration to defend the Philippines in early 2012, in a confrontation similar to today’s, emboldened China’s regime to adopt an even more aggressive posture in its peripheral waters.

    https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/17215/china-whitsun-reef

    (Richard: Gordan is right but with Biden in office we won’t do anything besides run our mouth, the US is going to set out the first 2 or 3 years of the coming war)</em)

  23. US, China, Russia and Thucydides Trap
    Amir Taheri
    7-9 minutes

    It is bad policy, to say the least, to pick a fight with China and Russia at the same time, two rival powers that are deeply suspicious of each other. (Image source: iStock)

    When Joe Biden started his presidency with the slogan “diplomacy is back!” some wondered what that meant in terms of a coherent foreign policy. Diplomacy, as every sixth-grader knows, is one of the many means needed to implement a policy. On its own, it is either an academic conceit or another name for charade. In the past week or so we have observed diplomacy, as practiced by the new administration, both as a conceit and a charade.

    As a conceit, it appeared in the headline-catching slogan “America is back in the Paris Climate Accord” launched by Washington. Now, however, we know that the “return” is so full of “ifs and buts” that even the French, initially applauding loudly, are beginning to wonder whether they have been sold a bill of goods. Another example was furnished by the tedious scrimmage over the “nuclear deal” with the mullahs in Tehran.

    President Biden had hinted at a quick return to the path traced by his former boss Barack Obama. Based on that assumption, British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab imagined a scenario that would lead to defanging the mullahs with a lasting solution to the 42-year old “Iran problem.” Now, however, we know that Raab may have jumped the gun as the Biden team are still wondering what to do about a deal that Robert Malley, the diplomat in charge of the dossier, has described as defective.

    https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/17213/us-china-russia-thucydides-trap

  24. Biden Administration Responds to Reports on Development of Vaccine Passports
    By Zachary Stieber
    March 29, 2021 Updated: March 29, 2021
    biggersmaller Print

    President Joe Biden’s administration is not creating COVID-19 vaccine passports but officials are working with private companies to set guidelines for the systems, which people can use to show proof they’ve been vaccinated, the White House said Monday.

    The administration will “provide guidance” on the effort to develop vaccine passports and similar systems, White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters in Washington.

    “There is currently an interagency process that is looking at many of the questions around vaccine verification, and that issue will touch many agencies, as verification is an issue that will potentially touch many areas of society. That’s guidance we’ll provide. A determination or development of vaccine passport or whatever you want to call it will be driven by the private sector. Ours will more be focused on guidelines that can be used as a basis and there are a couple of key principles that we are working from,” she added.

    https://www.theepochtimes.com/mkt_breakingnews/biden-administration-responds-to-reports-on-development-of-vaccine-passports_3753379.html?&utm_source=newsnoe&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=breaking-2021-03-29-2&mktids=145ebecd6c93e4ad7f61e4180a4c0055

    (Richard: No they aren’t going to make it a law (which would be declared unconstitutional and cause political headaches) they are going to let the big co companies set their policies that no one that hasn’t been vaccinated can come into their store.Of course this police wouldn’t apply to minority groups)

  25. Former Clinton Adviser: Mandatory Vaccine Passport Could Lead to ‘End of Human Liberty in the West’
    By Jack Phillips
    March 29, 2021 Updated: March 29, 2021
    biggersmaller Print

    Former Clinton adviser Naomi Wolf said that mandatory COVID-19 vaccine passports that have been proposed in recent days would be the “end of human liberty in the West if this plan unfolds as planned.”

    “‘Vaccine passport’ sounds like a fine thing if you don’t understand what those platforms can do. I’m [the] CEO of a tech company, I understand what this platform does,” Wolf, who’s also an author, told Fox News on March 28. “It is not about the vaccine, it’s not about the virus, it’s about your data. Once this rolls out, you don’t have a choice about being part of the system.

    “What people have to understand is that any other functionality can be loaded onto that platform with no problem at all.”

    Wolf said such data can be “merged with your Paypal account, with your digital currency,” adding that “Microsoft is already talking about merging it with payment plans.”

    https://www.theepochtimes.com/mkt_breakingnews/ex-clinton-adviser-mandatory-vaccine-passport-could-lead-to-end-of-human-liberty-in-the-west_3753627.html?&utm_source=newsnoe&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=breaking-2021-03-29-2&mktids=145ebecd6c93e4ad7f61e4180a4c0055

  26. New York City Ends Qualified Immunity For Police Officers, Becoming 1st In Nation To Do So
    CBSNewYork Team
    2 minutes

    NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — The New York City Council voted Thursday to end qualified immunity for police officers.

    The decades-old protection has prevented officers from being sued or liable for misconduct.

    New York is now the first city in the country to end qualified. The measure was passed as part of a package of police reform bills.

    Critics argued scrapping the protection will make officers less aggressive in fighting crime, if they have to worry about lawsuits.

    City Council Speaker Corey Johnson, however, said it “has been used to deny justice to victims of police abuse for decades.”

    https://newyork.cbslocal.com/2021/03/26/qualified-immunity-new-york/?fbclid=IwAR1FKibC8fVAykGzXgVgR3j6OH9NqkmrWNBsQ9lZQLZbUq_Fi0db6l2J3ZE

  27. Piece by algerian-french marxist-islamist Houria Bouteldja on the beheading of Samuel Paty. Of course, cracking down on islamists is compared to nazi razzias, and the “official narrative” about Paty is a tool to pit white and black against one another.

    France: A Sacred Union against Terrorism or against Muslims?
    https://contendingmodernities.nd.edu/global-currents/france-a-sacred-union/
    [..]
    In this context, the nationwide homage to Samuel Paty, the teacher beheaded by a young radicalized Muslim, takes on the air of a national High Mass intended to unify the French people around the Jupiter-like figure of Macron. There is accordingly nothing innocent about this quasi-religious tribute to the murdered teacher. The secular national (sacred?) unity orchestrated around this crime (reminiscent of the unity forged in the aftermath of the terrorist attack against Charlie Hebdo) amounts to a reining in of critical public contestation of the official interpretation of the crime. The official narrative attributes terrorist attacks to those labeled “Islamist fanatics” who supposedly dislike the French way of life and democracy, and seek to impose Sharia law—and is combined with a hunt for Muslims that materializes in the dissolution of the charitable organization BarakaCity, in the threats to dissolve the CCIF (an organization that supports the struggle against Islamophobia), in minutes of silence observed in all schools and in the singling out of children who refuse to observe them (to this day, 400 children have been singled out and 150 complaints have been filed against children accusing them of justifying terrorism), in the muzzling of anti-racist and anti-imperialist organizations. Although comparisons have their limitations, historians of World War II remind us that, prior to the deportation of Jews and French collaborators by the Vichy regime, the first targets of state-perpetrated repression were Jewish humanitarian organizations and the anti-racist movement that was denouncing anti-Semitism and mobilizing against it. This parallel is as eloquent as it is frightening.
    The main aim of the establishment becomes clear: to foreclose the emergence of other interpretations of the tragic murder. To use all means possible to prevent the meeting of the two angers (white anger and the anger of racialized populations) and the possibility of their convergence. These must be separated and partitioned. These two components of working classes must be pitted against one another, because, if united, they would pose a threat to the governing classes.
    [..]

    She is known for this book:
    https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/658098/whites-jews-and-us-by-houria-bouteldja-foreword-by-cornel-west-translated-by-rachel-valinsky/

  28. Gov. DeSantis to Take Executive Emergency Action Against Vaccine Passports
    By Samuel Allegri
    March 29, 2021 Updated: March 29, 2021
    biggersmaller Print

    Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said in a press conference on Monday that he will be taking emergency executive action shortly against the concept of Americans needing a vaccine passport to be able to travel domestically and internationally.

    “We’re not supportive of that. I think it’s something that people have certain freedoms and individual liberties to make decisions for themselves,” the governor said.

    https://www.theepochtimes.com/mkt_breakingnews/gov-desantis-to-take-executive-emergency-action-against-vaccine-passports_3753968.html?&utm_source=newsnoe&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=breaking-2021-03-29-3&mktids=e2341bc241d0a5bf8df6407c9409c4cf

  29. WARNING: Here’s who’s REALLY behind ‘spooky, right-wing’ extremism
    BlazeTV Staff
    2 minutes

    Over the past year, the left has tried to paint conservatives as “spooky, right-wing” extremists who want to destroy the nation. But true conservatives know that’s not true. However, there is a dangerous global movement that fits this “spooky” definition — masquerading as “right-wing” — and it’s gaining momentum. It’s called Traditionalism, with a capital “T.”

    This week on “The Glenn Beck Podcast,” author and award-winning expert on the radical right Professor Benjamin Teitelbaum joined Glenn to define Traditionalism and explain why it’s exactly how the left wants to paint conservatives — but that couldn’t be further from the truth.

    Teitelbaum said Traditionalism is the “most transformative political movement of the early 21st century” in his book, “War for Eternity,” which Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Glenn Greenwald called “an indispensable text” for understanding “the most profound and tumultuous political shifts defining societies on every continent.” It’s a bizarre story, involving Steve Bannon, Hinduism, Hitler, mysticism, Aleksandr Dugin, the Constitution, and tons and tons of money.

    https://www.theblaze.com/shows/glenn-beck-podcast/professor-benjamin-teitelbaum?rebelltitem=1#rebelltitem1

  30. 9+
    Putin has an interesting strategy to keep China within his grip
    7,255 views
    •Mar 29, 2021