Reader’s Links for April 3, 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

63 Replies to “Reader’s Links for April 3, 2021”

    • Their parole is:
      Frieden, Freiheit, keine Diktatur.
      Peace, Freedom, no dictatorship.

  1. France heads wearily into a 3rd COVID lockdown as infections surge
    https://www.cbsnews.com/news/france-covid-19-3rd-wave-lockdown-infections-surge-hospitals-full/

    The french version of lockdown is a bit confusing:

    https://www.france24.com/en/europe/20210322-lockdown-confusion-france-s-new-covid-19-rules-raise-questions-satisfy-few
    The new measures also limit the freedom to take a walk or practise sport to a radius of 10km from one’s home and with no time limit between 6am and 7pm, up from the one-hour/one-kilometre limit that largely characterised previous lockdowns. For a sense of scale it bears noting that, from the centre of Paris, a 10km radius stretches far beyond the city limits in every direction.
    Castex initially announced that the same “attestation” regime would apply for those outings as it did during previous lockdowns – requiring joggers, dog-walkers and others to fill out and sign a document stating the time and reason for leaving home before each and every outing. But that requirement was quickly scrapped on Saturday after the Interior Ministry weathered ridicule over the baffling complexity of its two-page printable permission slip, which provided check boxes alongside no fewer than 15 authorised reasons for outings, each described in very technical language. Permission slips remain required for other outings, but the 10km stroll now only necessitates identification with proof of address.

  2. “April Fool: Authorities probe prank party invite in Belgium | ANC” ANC 24/7 – April 1, 2021

    • “Belgian Police Clash With Crowds At Non-Existent Music Festival | NBC News NOW”
      NBC News – April 2, 2021

  3. “Ilse Koch was brought before the General Military Government Court for the Trial of War Criminals in 1947.”
    ..

    “Two years after her conviction, her sentence was reduced to four years by General Lucius D. Clay, the interim military governor of the American Zone in Germany. According to Clay, the reduction came since “there was no convincing evidence that she had selected inmates for extermination in order to secure tattooed skins, or that she possessed any articles made of human skin.”

    “The court maintained that perhaps the items had been made of goatskin after all, and she was released. However, the General stated: “I hold no sympathy for Ilse Koch. She was a woman of depraved character and ill repute. She had done many things reprehensible and punishable, undoubtedly, under German law. We were not trying her for those things. We were trying her as a war criminal on specific charges.”
    https://allthatsinteresting.com/ilse-koch/2

    How very different is Socialist Judgement: It would have been a Hate Crime.

  4. #RussianCourt #Twitter #WION
    A Russian court has fined Twitter $116,800 for failure to delete content | World News | WION

  5. United States: Biden administration effort to undo trumps legacy | World News | WION

  6. ORDERS ARE CLEAR! Philippines says Beijing ‘militia’ swarm has spread in disputed waters.

  7. Myanmar Coup: India condemns use of violence in Myanmar | Latest World English News | WION News

  8. PHILIPPINE ALLIES ARE ANGRY!! US, Japan and Indonesia to tackle China’s Aggression!

  9. Here’s Why Andaman & Nicobar Islands Hold Key To India’s Maritime Security & Trade |Defence Dispatch
    115,487 views
    •Premiered Apr 1, 2021

  10. US-China tensions surge as Beijing hits out at historic diplomatic visit to Taiwan.

  11. This speculator looks at the IMF’s SDR being kicked into higher gear. This is a very important aspect of our pandemic. The incredible level of sovereign debt being created will exacerbate domestic indebtedness by allowing countries to take these IMF instruments as needed. However since the SDR is a derivative basket of the world’s main fiat currencies it has no intrinsic value, so will result in more printing. It seems to me that, while it is unclear if these things must be repaid, the net effect will be more currency debasement if not an outright sovereign debt trap. Personally, I believe the SDR must have a mechanism of claim against a borrowing country which will result in the transfer of a country’s natural resouces ownership to the globalist entity.

    https://youtu.be/4N5Me8hsDJ4

  12. For the first time Black community disagrees with Biden’s policy and tells him to roll it back
    1,276 views
    •Apr 3, 2021

  13. – When their numbers grow, they win! –

    IOWA CITY — Students and teachers will not have to report to school on the Muslim holiday Eid al-Fitr next year after the Iowa City school board agreed to recognize it as a holiday on the school calendar.

    The decision to give all students the day off school on Eid al-Fitr next year, which falls on May 3, 2022, was made after student Reem Kirja spent three years advocating for it.

    https://www.thegazette.com/subject/news/education/no-school-for-iowa-city-students-on-muslim-holiday-eid-al-fitr-2022-20210324

  14. ‘ABSOLUTELY INSANE’: Torba Blasts Facebook’s Plan To Partner With Government On Vaccine-Verified Facebook Profiles

    Zuckerberg indicates vaccine profile frames may be artificially boosted in the algorithm to influence more people to get the vaccine

    Gab CEO Andrew Torba blasted Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s decision to partner with the CDC and HHS to introduce Covid vaccine profile photo frames that will apparently be boosted in the newsfeed algorithm once applied as “totally insane” this week.

    Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg said the measure is being introduced because “People are more likely to get vaccinated if they see friends, family and people they trust doing it too.”

    “If we’re going to stop Covid, we need everyone who’s eligible to get vaccinated,” Zuckerberg said in a Facebook post. “People are more likely to get vaccinated if they see friends, family and people they trust doing it too. So we’re launching new Covid vaccine profile frame that you can add to your profile pic, partnering with the CDC and US Department of Health and Human Services to launch new Covid vaccine profile frames.”

    Zuckerberg described the new program in glowing terms, stating, “It lets you easily show your support and tell people that you’ve been vaccinated. And we’ll show you in News Feed your friends who have put up this profile frame.”

    “I’ll update mine after I get vaccinated, which I plan to do as soon as I’m eligible. I hope everyone else does the same!” Zuckerberg wrote.

    The announcement, like most political declarations from Facebook’s remarkably unpopular CEO, drew widespread criticism from multiple sectors.

    Andrew Torba, the CEO of burgeoning free speech social media platform Gab, blasted Zuckerberg’s decision, calling it “totally insane.”

    https://nationalfile.com/absolutely-insane-torba-blasts-facebooks-plan-to-partner-with-government-on-vaccine-verified-facebook-profiles/

  15. Google is testing its controversial new ad targeting tech in millions of browsers. Here’s what we know.

    Today, Google launched an “origin trial” of Federated Learning of Cohorts (aka FLoC), its experimental new technology for targeting ads. A switch has silently been flipped in millions of instances of Google Chrome: those browsers will begin sorting their users into groups based on behavior, then sharing group labels with third-party trackers and advertisers around the web. A random set of users have been selected for the trial, and they can currently only opt out by disabling third-party cookies.

    Although Google announced this was coming, the company has been sparse with details about the trial until now. We’ve pored over blog posts, mailing lists, draft web standards, and Chromium’s source code to figure out exactly what’s going on.

    EFF has already written that FLoC is a terrible idea. Google’s launch of this trial—without notice to the individuals who will be part of the test, much less their consent—is a concrete breach of user trust in service of a technology that should not exist.

    Below we describe how this trial will work, and some of the most important technical details we’ve learned so far.

    FLoC is supposed to replace cookies. In the trial, it will supplement them.
    Google designed FLoC to help advertisers target ads once third-party cookies go away. During the trial, trackers will be able to collect FLoC IDs in addition to third-party cookies.

    That means all the trackers who currently monitor your behavior across a fraction of the web using cookies will now receive your FLoC cohort ID as well. The cohort ID is a direct reflection of your behavior across the web. This could supplement the behavioral profiles that many trackers already maintain.

    The trial will affect up to 5% of Chrome users worldwide.
    We’ve been told that the trial is currently deployed to 0.5% of Chrome users in some regions—for now, that means Australia, Brazil, Canada, India, Indonesia, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, the Philippines, and the U.S. Users in eligible regions will be chosen completely at random, regardless of most ad and privacy settings. Only users who have turned off third-party cookies in Chrome will be opted out by default.

    Furthermore, the team behind FLoC has requested that Google bump up the sample to 5% of users, so that ad tech companies can better train models using the new data. If that request is granted, tens or hundreds of millions more users will be enrolled in the trial.

    Users have been enrolled in the trial automatically. There is no dedicated opt-out (yet).
    As described above, a random portion of Chrome users will be enrolled in the trial without notice, much less consent. Those users will not be asked to opt in. In the current version of Chrome, users can only opt out of the trial by turning off all third-party cookies.

    Future versions of Chrome will add dedicated controls for Google’s “privacy sandbox,” including FLoC. But it’s not clear when these settings will go live, and in the meantime, users wishing to turn off FLoC must turn off third-party cookies as well.

    Turning off third-party cookies is not a bad idea in general. After all, cookies are at the heart of the privacy problems that Google says it wants to address. But turning them off altogether is a crude countermeasure, and it breaks many conveniences (like single sign-on) that web users rely on. Many privacy-conscious users of Chrome employ more targeted tools, including extensions like Privacy Badger, to prevent cookie-based tracking. Unfortunately, Chrome extensions cannot yet control whether a user exposes a FLoC ID.

    Websites aren’t being asked to opt in, either.
    FLoC calculates a label based on your browsing history. For the trial, Google will default to using every website that serves ads—which is the majority of sites on the web. Sites can opt out of being included in FLoC calculations by sending an HTTP header, but some hosting providers don’t give their customers direct control of headers. Many site owners may not be aware of the trial at all.

    This is an issue because it means that sites lose some control over how their visitors’ data is processed. Right now, a site administrator has to make a conscious decision to include code from an advertiser on their page. Sites can, at least in theory, choose to partner with advertisers based on their privacy policies. But now, information about a user’s visit to that site will be wrapped up in their FLoC ID, which will be made widely available (more on that in the next section). Even if a website has a strong privacy policy and relationships with responsible advertisers, a visit there may affect how trackers see you in other contexts.

    Each user’s FLoC ID—the label that reflects their past week’s browsing history—will be available to any website or tracker who wants it.
    Anyone can sign up for Chrome’s origin trial. After that, it can access FLoC IDs for users who have been chosen for the trial whenever it can run JavaScript. This includes the vast ecosystem of nameless advertisers to whom your browser connects whenever you visit most ad-serving sites. If you’re part of the trial, dozens of companies may be able to gather your FLoC ID from each site you visit.

    There will be over 33,000 possible cohorts.
    One of the most important portions of the FLoC specification left undefined is exactly how many cohorts there are. Google ran a preliminary experiment with 8-bit cohort IDs, which meant there were just 256 possible groups. This limited the amount of information trackers could learn from a user’s cohort ID.

    However, an examination of the latest version of Chrome reveals that the live version of FLoC uses 50-bit cohort identifiers. The cohorts are then batched together into 33,872 total cohorts, over 100 times more than in Google’s first experiment. Google has said that it will ensure “thousands” of people are grouped into each cohort, so nobody can be identified using their cohort alone. But cohort IDs will still expose lots of new information—around 15 bits—and will give fingerprinters a massive leg up.

    The trial will likely last until July.
    Any tracker, advertiser, or other third party can sign up through Google’s Origin Trial portal to begin collecting FLoCs from users. The page currently indicates that the trial may last until July 13. Google has also made it clear that the exact details of the technology—including how cohorts are calculated—will be subject to change, and we could see several iterations of the FLoC grouping algorithm between now and then.

    Google plans to audit FLoC for correlations with “sensitive categories.” It’s still missing the bigger picture.
    Google has pledged to make sure that cohorts aren’t too tightly correlated with “sensitive categories” like race, sexuality, or medical conditions. In order to monitor this, Google plans to collect data about which sites are visited by users in each cohort. It has released a whitepaper describing its approach.

    We’re glad to see a specific proposal, but the whitepaper sidesteps the most pressing issues. The question Google should address is “can you target people in vulnerable groups;” the whitepaper reduces this to “can you target people who visited a specific site.” This is a dangerous oversimplification. Rather than working on the hard problem, Google has chosen to focus on an easier version that it believes it can solve. Meanwhile, it’s failed to address FLoC’s worst potential harms.

    During the trial, any user who has turned on “Chrome Sync” (letting Google collect their browsing history), and who has not disabled any of several default sharing settings, will now share their cohort ID attached to their browsing history with Google.

    Google will then check to see if each user visited any sites that it considers part of a “sensitive category.” For example, WebMD might be labelled in the “medical” category, or PornHub in the “adult” category. If too many users in one cohort have visited a particular kind of “sensitive” site, Google will block that cohort. Any users that are part of “sensitive” cohorts will be placed into an “empty” cohort instead. Of course, trackers will still be able to see that said users are part of the “empty” cohort, revealing that they were originally classified as some kind of “sensitive.”

    For the origin trial, Google is relying on its massive cache of personalized browsing data to perform the audit. In the future, Google plans to use other privacy-preserving technology to do the same thing without knowing individuals’ browsing history.

    Regardless of how Google does it, this plan won’t solve the bigger issues with FLoC, discrimination, and predatory targeting. The proposal rests on the assumption that people in “sensitive categories” will visit specific “sensitive” websites, and that people who aren’t in those groups will not visit said sites. But behavior correlates with demographics in unintuitive ways. It’s highly likely that certain demographics are going to visit a different subset of the web than other demographics are, and that such behavior will not be captured by Google’s “sensitive sites” framing.

    For example, people with depression may exhibit similar browsing behaviors, but not necessarily via something as explicit and direct as, for example, visiting “depression.org.” Meanwhile, tracking companies are well-equipped to gather traffic from millions of users, link it to data about demographics or behavior, and decode which cohorts are linked to which sensitive traits. Google’s website-based system, as proposed, has no way of stopping that.

    As we said before, “Google can choose to dismantle the old scaffolding for surveillance without replacing it with something new and uniquely harmful.” Google has failed to address the harms of FLoC, or even to convince us that they can be addressed. Instead, it’s running a test that will share new data about millions of unsuspecting users. This is another step in the wrong direction.

    https://noqreport.com/2021/04/02/google-is-testing-its-controversial-new-ad-targeting-tech-in-millions-of-browsers-heres-what-we-know/

  16. Germany: COVID sceptics rally against restrictions in Stuttgart

    Supporters of the Querdenken movement staged a protest against the extended COVID-19 lockdown in Stuttgart on Saturday.

    Demonstrators were seen holding banners reading ‘No mandatory vaccination.’

    The rally comes as Germany is facing a third wave of coronavirus infections, with a partial lockdown being in place at least until the second part of April.

  17. Himalayas becoming ‘new South China Sea’ as entire villages secretly built on enemy turf.

  18. twitter @disclosetv

    YouTube is deleting close to 8,000 dislikes per video (on average) released on the official White House channel, according to data collected by https://81m.org

    https://twitter.com/disclosetv/status/1378320721315774469

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

    JUST IN – Personal data (phone numbers and emails) of 500+ million #Facebook users has been posted online in a hacking forum.

    https://twitter.com/disclosetv/status/1378379617145389057

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

    Personal data of 533 million Facebook users leaked online

    Facebook has suffered another data leak, which could be its biggest one yet.

    According to Business Insider, the personal information of 533 million Faceook users has been posted in a low-level hacking forum. The personal information includes phone numbers, Facebook IDs, full names, locations, birthdates, and email addresses. Over 32 million from the U.S, 11 million from the U.K, and 6 million from India are affected.

    Alon Gal, CTO of cybercrime intelligence firm Hudson Rock, told Insider that cybercriminals could use these information to impersonate or scam users into providing login credentials. The leaked data was apparently discovered in January when someone posted in the same forum about an automated bot that could deliver phone numbers of Facebook users for a price. Motherboard verified the data to be legitimate.

    While Facebook has not commented on the matter, Gal claims that there is nothing much the social media firm can do to help affected users except to warn them of possible phishing schemes or fraud.

    Facebook suffered a series of data breaches in the past three years. The company had a major security breach in September 2018 when its engineering team discovered hackers had access to personal data of over 29 million users. In December 2018, Facebook suffered another data breach as a Photo API bug exposed up to 6.8 million users’ photos to third party apps.

    Three months later, Kerbs on Security reported that Facebook stored the passwords of million of users in plain text for years. Facebook confirmed the issue and said there’s no evidence that the passwords were exposed outside of the company.

    https://www.hardwarezone.com.sg/tech-news-personal-data-533-million-facebook-users-leaked-online

    • zero hedge – YouTube Deleted 2.5 Million ‘Dislikes’ From Biden White House Videos, Data Indicates

      YouTube has deleted about 2.5 million ‘dislikes’ from videos on the official White House channel of President Joe Biden, according to data collected and posted online by a researcher who wished to remain anonymous. YouTube recently announced that it’s testing a new page design that hides the dislike count.

      The Google-owned video platform allows users to give videos either a thumb up (like) or thumb down (dislike). For at least two years, it’s had a policy to remove likes and dislikes it considers spam.

      “We have policies and systems in place to ensure that the engagement on YouTube is authentic, and remove any fraudulent metrics,” a YouTube spokesperson told The Epoch Times via email, but when asked, wouldn’t go into details on what criteria it uses to make these calls.

      The White House videos have seen these kinds of interventions on an ongoing basis, but it appears it’s only the dislikes that are disappearing.

      The channel has posted more than 300 videos that have garnered nearly 3.7 million dislikes of which nearly 2.5 million were removed, according to data posted on the website 81m.org. The author of the website started to track the engagement on January 26 and has published all the data as well as the methodology used to collect it, but wouldn’t comment on his or her identity when asked via email.

      YouTube is deleting close to 8,000 dislikes per video on average. Not a single like was removed, the data indicates.

      Even after the interventions, the videos have nearly six times more dislikes than likes on average, the data shows. Without intervention the ratio would be over 17 dislikes for every like.

      Posts on social media indicate that some supporters of former President Donald Trump make a point of disliking the Biden White House videos. The videos often get thousands of dislikes shortly after popping online, only for a large portion of the dislikes being deleted later.

      In some cases, batches of dislikes would be removed about once an hour, keeping the dislike count around the same number. In other cases, a large portion of dislikes would be chopped down at once, the data indicates.

      The website 81m.org lists results of the same analysis for several other YouTube channels with large followings. None of them exhibited dislike removals of this magnitude.

      Videos of PewDiePie, one of the most popular channels on the platform, do show some like and dislike removals, but never more than a few dozen per video, based on a review of the data for the past more than two dozen videos on the channel.

      YouTube recently announced testing of a design that still includes the dislike button, but no longer shows the number of dislikes.

      “This is a test for a small group of users and is a response to creator feedback that the visible count may impact their wellbeing,” a spokesperson said via email.

      YouTube and its owner, Google, have long faced accusations of political bias. The companies have said their products are developed and run as politically neutral, but employee accounts and leaked internal materials indicate the companies are infusing their politics into their products.

      According to research psychologist Robert Epstein, Google shifted millions of votes in the Nov. 3 election by skewing its search results and other tools, compared to competitors.

      “Google search results were strongly biased in favor of liberals and Democrats. This was not true on Bing or Yahoo,” Epstein told Fox News’ Tucker Carlson, referring to data from more than 700 voters who worked with him to monitor what results they were receiving from channels such as search results, reminders, search suggestions, and newsfeeds ahead of the election.

      Google previously rejected Epstein’s research results.

      https://www.zerohedge.com/political/youtube-deleted-25-million-dislikes-biden-white-house-videos-data-indicates

  19. CBC – 2 doctors on how to deal with Canada’s coronavirus 3rd wave

    Infectious disease specialists Dr. Lynora Saxinger and Dr. Zain Chagla discuss the latest restrictions in several provinces and how they’re feeling about where we are in the third wave.

  20. Egypt gears up for Arab-kitsch pharaohs’ ‘Golden Parade’

    The mummified remains of 22 Egyptian pharaohs, including the most powerful ancient queen, are to be paraded through the streets of Cairo Saturday, in a procession to a new resting place.

    Under the watchful eyes of security forces, the mummies will be moved seven kilometres (four miles) across the capital from the iconic Egyptian Museum, where most have resided undisturbed for over a century, to the new National Museum of Egyptian Civilisation.

    Dubbed the Pharaohs’ Golden Parade, the 18 kings and four queens will travel in order, oldest first, each aboard a separate float decorated in ancient Egyptian style.

    The interior ministry said both pedestrians and vehicles would be barred from Tahrir Square, site of the current museum, and other sections of the parade route, ahead of the 6:00 pm (1600 GMT) start.

    “The whole world will be watching,” said Egyptian archaeologist and former antiquities minister Zahi Hawass, who will commentate as the event unfolds live on state television.

    “This is an important 40 minutes in the life of the city of Cairo.”

    Seqenenre Tao II, “the Brave”, who reigned over southern Egypt some 1,600 years before Christ, will be on the first chariot, while Ramses IX, who reigned in the 12th century BC, will be at the rear.

    Ramses II and Queen Hatshepsut, the most powerful female pharaoh, will also make the journey.

    Emblazoned with the name of their allotted sovereign, the gold-coloured carriages will be fitted with shock absorbers for the trip, to ensure none of the precious cargos are accidentally disturbed.

    – ‘Raises emotions’ –

    Discovered near Luxor from 1881 onwards, most of the mummies have lain in the Egyptian Museum since the early 1900s.

    Fascinating new details of the pharaohs’ lives are still emerging.

    A recent high-tech study of Seqenenre Tao II, involving CT scans and 3D images of his hands and long-studied skull fractures, indicated that he was likely killed in a post-battle execution ceremony.

    For their procession through Cairo’s streets, the mummies will be in special containers filled with nitrogen, under conditions similar to their regular display cases.

    The mummies will be showcased individually at the National Museum of Egyptian Civilisation, in an environment redolent of underground tombs.

    They will be signposted by a brief biography and, in some cases, copies of CT scans.

    Upon arrival, they will occupy “slightly upgraded cases,” said Salima Ikram, professor of Egyptology at the American University in Cairo.

    “The temperature and humidity control will be even better than it was in the old museum,” added Ikram, a mummification specialist.

    The mummies’ re-housing “marks the end of much work to improve their conservation and exhibition,” said UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay.

    “This raises emotions that go much further than the mere relocation of a collection — we will see the history of Egyptian civilisation unfold before our eyes,” she added.

    – ‘Curse of the Pharaoh’ –

    The National Museum of Egyptian Civilisation was completed in 2010, and Hawass said he had planned to open it in 2012. But the process was delayed by the Arab Spring revolution of 2011 and subsequent turmoil.

    The new museum opened its doors to limited exhibits from 2017 and will open fully on Sunday, before the mummies go on display to the general public from April 18.

    In the coming months, the country is due to inaugurate another new showcase, the Grand Egyptian Museum, near the Giza pyramids.

    It too will house pharaonic collections, including the celebrated treasure of Tutankhamun.

    Discovered in 1922, the tomb of the young ruler, who took the throne briefly in the 14th century BC, contained treasures including gold and ivory.

    A so-called “curse of the pharaoh” emerged in the wake of Tutankhamun’s unearthing in 1922-23.

    A key funder of the dig, Lord Carnarvon, died of blood poisoning months after the tomb was opened, while an early visitor likewise died abruptly in 1923.

    With the planned parade coming only days after several disasters struck Egypt, some have inevitably speculated on social media about a new curse provoked by the latest move.

    Recent days have seen a deadly rail collision and a building collapse in Cairo, while global headlines were dominated by the struggle to refloat the giant container ship MV Ever Given which blocked the Suez Canal for almost a week.

    https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20210403-egypt-gears-up-for-pharaohs-golden-parade

    • Remember how I keep saying Western Civ is dead, think on that while watching this video.

      • Maybe I’m really thick but I don’t get the connection between arrest of Noko spy and Western civ: please elucidate!

  21. SKY News – AstraZeneca vaccine: Regulator says Oxford COVID-19 jab is safe after seven UK deaths

    Thirty people, who have had the Oxford vaccine in the UK, have developed blood clots, the medicines regulator has said.

    The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) confirmed that of those 30 people, seven had died as of 24 March.

    The UK regulator said there is currently no evidence to suggest a causal link between blood clots and the Oxford jab, and that the benefits continue to outweigh any risk.

    + comments on the YT page

    • europravda – UK regulator says AstraZeneca vaccine safe despite 7 clot deaths

      UK medicines agency confirms seven deaths from rare blood clots from 18m people who received the AstraZeneca vaccine but says benefits still far outweigh risks.

    • sky news Australia – Netherlands halts AstraZeneca vaccines for people under 60

      The Netherlands has temporarily suspended people under the age of 60 from receiving the AstraZeneca vaccine jab after the death of a young woman.

      Health authorities reported five cases of extensive thrombosis in women between 25 and 60 years old developed soon after the jab.

      Almost 10,000 scheduled appointments have now been cancelled and AstraZeneca says it is working with Dutch authorities but still believes the benefits of the vaccine outweigh the risks.

    • “Mozambique is a majority Christian country, with Muslims comprising around a fifth of its population.

      A religious movement, Ansar al-Sunna, first appeared in 2015 in the north of the country, formed by followers of radical Kenyan cleric Aboud Rogo Mohammed who has been linked to the 1998 US embassy bombings.

      The group attracted disaffected young men who resented a lack of opportunities in an area of rich natural resources.

      It started building mosques and religious schools, becoming more and more popular with locals.

      But in 2017, the group starting launching attacks and became known locally as al-Shabab, although they do not have any known connection to Somalia’s jihadist rebels of that name”

      https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9412117/Fears-British-Irish-workers-caught-Mozambique-bloodbath.html

  22. Iowa Governor Signs Bill Into Law Letting Residents Buy, Carry Guns Without Permits
    By Lorenz Duchamps
    April 3, 2021 Updated: April 3, 2021
    biggersmaller Print

    Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds signed legislation into law on Friday lifting some restrictions to buy or carry a handgun in the state for law-abiding citizens.

    The NRA-backed legislation named “House File 756” will take effect on July 1 and eliminates the requirement for law-abiding Iowans to obtain a permit to purchase a handgun from private non-licensed sources. Additionally, to carry a weapon, people will no longer need to have a permit as well.

    Individuals will still have to follow federal law and go through an instant background check to buy from licensed sellers each time they purchase a gun.

    People who fail to commit to the new law will be charged with a Class D felony, which is punishable by up to five years in prison. It will become a felony if a person sells, rents, or loans a firearm to someone the seller “knows or reasonably should know” isn’t legally allowed to get a gun or is intoxicated.

    https://www.theepochtimes.com/mkt_breakingnews/gov-reynolds-signs-bill-into-law-letting-residents-buy-carry-guns-without-permits_3760934.html?&utm_source=newsnoe&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=breaking-2021-04-03-1&mktids=e5155ca7abee400dbf49d7932619d002

  23. Reports: Democrats ‘Splintering’ Over Voter Rights Bill, May Drop HR1 Elections Overhaul
    Emily Zanotti
    4-5 minutes

    Democrats see the HR 1, “For the People Act” as a landmark legislative achievement, but their tenuous coalition of moderates and progressives, necessary to pass the massive elections overhaul through the Senate, is slowly falling apart, according to a new report from the New York Times, and may spell disaster for the bill.

    The bill, which passed the House on a purely partisan vote, would make sweeping changes to federal elections, forcing states to offer automatic and same-day voter registration and online voter registration. It would allow 16- and 17-year-olds to “pre-register” to vote, would eliminate the practice of purging voter rolls of inactive and out-of-state voters, and would restore voting rights to felons who have completed their prison term.

    It would also do away with so-called “dark money,” force states to create independent commissions to outline Congressional districts, would force public financing for campaigns, compel those running for president to make public their income tax returns, demand consideration for D.C. statehood, and update the Federal Election Commission with additional members, among other notable reforms.

    https://www.dailywire.com/news/reports-democrats-splintering-over-voter-rights-bill-may-drop-hr1-elections-overhaul

  24. Trump Calls For Boycotting Major League Baseball After They Cave To ‘Radical Left Democrats’
    Ryan Saavedra
    3-4 minutes

    Former President Donald Trump called for people to boycott Major League Baseball (MLB) on Friday night after the league caved to pressure from leftists to cancel the All Star Game, which was scheduled to take place in Atlanta, after Georgia passed a law to tighten up voting security around the state.

    Trump’s statement comes after MLB Commissioner Robert D. Manfred, Jr. announced earlier in the day that the league was moving both All-Star Game and MLB Draft to a new host city following a misleading pressure campaign from leftists about the state’s new laws.

    “Baseball is already losing tremendous numbers of fans, and now they leave Atlanta with their All-Star Game because they are afraid of the Radical Left Democrats who do not want voter I.D., which is desperately needed, to have anything to do with our elections,” Trump said in a statement. “Boycott baseball and all of the woke companies that are interfering with Free and Fair Elections. Are you listening Coke, Delta, and all!”

  25. WATCH: Black Americans Debunk Liberal Talking Point That Voter ID Is ‘Racist’: ‘They’re Ignorant’
    Amanda Prestigiacomo
    3-4 minutes

    As Democrats continue to push back against GOP efforts to require identification for voters, claiming such a standard is “racist,” on-the-street reporting from 2016 by Ami Horowitz has again become relevant.

    Horowitz took to the streets of Berkeley, California, to ask white liberals about their views on voter ID, and, to no surprise, they all said the requirement was racist. Some of the reasons they gave as to why included black Americans’ apparent lack of access to the Internet, lack of access to the DMV, and a general lack of knowledge about how to access identification.

    “These type of people don’t live in areas with easy access to DMVs and other places where they can get identification,” one man argued.

    https://www.dailywire.com/news/watch-black-americans-debunk-liberal-talking-point-that-voter-id-is-racist-theyre-ignorant?itm_source=parsely-api?utm_source=cnemail&utm_medium=email&utm_content=040321-news&utm_campaign=position2

  26. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis Delivers On Promise, Bans ‘Vaccine Passports’ With Executive Order
    Ian Haworth
    4-5 minutes

    After vowing earlier this week to issue an executive order banning “vaccine passports” in Florida, Governor Ron DeSantis delivered on this promise on Friday.

    “Today I issued an executive order prohibiting the use of so-called COVID-19 vaccine passports. The Legislature is working on making permanent these protections for Floridians and I look forward to signing them into law soon,” the governor wrote on Twitter.

    https://www.dailywire.com/news/florida-gov-ron-desantis-delivers-on-promise-bans-vaccine-passports-with-executive-order?itm_source=parsely-api?utm_source=cnemail&utm_medium=email&utm_content=040321-news&utm_campaign=position3

  27. Attacker who killed Capitol Policeman was Follower of Islam and Louis Farrakhan

    NBC – KFOR | Apr 3, 2021 | News | 28
    Attacker who killed Capitol Policeman was Follower of Islam and Louis Farrakhan

    Noah Green, identified as suspect who drove car into Capitol barrier and attacked police with a knife. Green is said to be a follower of Islam and Louis Farrakhan.

    (EFE).- The 25-year-old man fatally shot by police Friday after ramming his car into two officers outside the US Capitol posted online in the weeks ahead of the attack about “terrible afflictions” he blamed on “government agencies of the United States of America.”

    Noah Green, whose actions resulted in the death of Capitol Police officer William Evans, was a 2019 graduate of Christopher Newport University in Newport News, Virginia.

    In a series of posts on Facebook and Instagram, he wrote of various personal setbacks and described Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan as “Jesus, the Messiah.”

    Green credited Farrakhan with having saved him “after the terrible afflictions I have suffered presumably by the CIA and FBI, government agencies of the United States of America.”

    “I have suffered multiple home break ins, food poisonings, assaults, unauthorized operations in the hospital, mind control,” he wrote.

    Much more about Green can be seen at Heavy.com. and at Fox News.

    https://www.gopusa.com/?p=108452?omhide=true

  28. Fearful of virus or losing power, Biden ‘passport’ plan is coming

    Chad Groening, Billy Davis, One News Now | Apr 3, 2021 | Fresh Ink | 11
    Fearful of virus or losing power, Biden ‘passport’ plan is coming

    (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

    The virus-weary American public learned this week the Biden administration is planning a “vaccine passport” system to prove they received the coronavirus vaccine but that plan is being called a desperate attempt to maintain control of the population at the same time Americans are cautiously moving on with their lives.

    The announcement is no political trial balloon to gauge public reaction: The Washington Post reported that five officials from the Biden administration confirmed the White House is overseeing efforts by federal agencies to coordinate with private companies to implement a policy that would free Americans to travel, and to possibly to go to work, if they get jabbed.

    The announcement did not go over well in Washington, D.C, where Rep. Jeff Duncan (R-SC) tweeted a photo of the U.S. Constitution. “Here’s my ‘vaccine passport,’” he wrote.

    “Is there anything more Orwellian,” wrote Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark), “than a ‘vaccine passport’ that Americans would need to travel within America?”

    https://www.gopusa.com/?p=108384?omhide=true

  29. Americans Must Never Throw in the Towel

    David Limbaugh | Apr 3, 2021 | Commentary | 4
    Americans Must Never Throw in the Towel

    As we survey our rotting cultural and political landscape, it is tempting, from a worldly perspective, to lose hope for our way of life and our nation. As Christians, we have a greater Hope, one that transcends these worldly problems.

    We must always train our focus on Jesus Christ, especially during this holiest of weeks, but let’s not in the meantime abandon our earthly duties — our responsibilities to family, friends, country and values.

    While we must guard against making politics and patriotism our idols, we don’t have to accept the notion that worshiping God requires neglecting what is true, great and good in our earthly lives. A spiritual war is raging before our eyes, and we must suit up against it — unless our lives on this side of eternity are utterly pointless. I’ll never believe God placed us on Earth to be indifferent to life here, to surrender the reins to forces of evil because a better world awaits us. Our Founding Fathers certainly didn’t believe that either.

    But to properly and competently fight for our values, we must do more than just mouth the observation that we’re in a spiritual war. We must embrace it in our very souls, because it is true as any concrete reality we can verify with our five senses. We must embrace it because we are going to need other-worldly courage to face the whirlwind forces of evil and untruth that have possessed our culture; that have brainwashed half our nation; and that threaten to finally destroy America as we know and love it, and as it was founded — a land of unsurpassed religious and political liberty.

    Warriors of evil are cleverly disguised as warriors for truth, justice, harmony and love, their immoral causes masked as noble. They stir unrest and provoke disharmony in our society in the name of peace and unity. They actively sour race and gender relations while pretending to heal us. They promote hate in the cause of eradicating it. And they silence and suppress all opposing views and “unwoke” behavior in their self-appointed yet deceitful role as guardians of an enlightened culture.

    https://www.gopusa.com/?p=108380?omhide=true

  30. (Richard: In case anyone had questions about which side in the Middle East Biden suppoerts.)

    Biden Moving Missile Defense Systems Out of Saudi Arabia
    Jewish Press News Desk
    3-4 minutes

    Photo Credit: US State Department photo by Ron Przysucha – Public Domain via Wikipedia
    Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman,

    Saudi Arabia must be feeling pretty naked right now against the Houthis and Iran.

    The Wall Street Journal reports that President Biden has directed the Pentagon to begin removing some of the US’s military resources out of of the Middle East, and specifically out of Saudi Arabia. The WSJ says that the US already removed three Patriot antimissile batteries out of the region, including one at the Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia, but the move was unreported until now. It is also reducing forces in the region.

    Also diverted away from the region is the permanent aircraft carrier presence and surveillance systems. There will be a “carrier gap” in the region for at least a short period.

    https://www.jewishpress.com/news/us-news/biden-moving-missile-defense-systems-out-of-saudi-arabia/2021/04/02/

  31. The 10 Radical New Rules That Are Changing America
    Victor Davis Hanson
    6-7 minutes

    Commentary

    There are 10 new ideas that are changing America, maybe permanently.

    1. Money is a construct. It can be created from thin air. Annual deficits and aggregate national debt no longer matter much.

    Prior presidents ran up huge annual deficits, but at least there were some concessions that the money was real and had to be paid back. Not now. As we near $30 trillion in national debt and 110 percent of annual GDP, our elites either believe permanent zero interest rates make the cascading obligation irrelevant, or the larger the debt, the more likely we will be forced to address needed income redistribution.

    2. Laws are not necessarily binding anymore. Joe Biden took an oath to “take care that the laws be faithfully executed.” But he has willfully rendered federal immigration laws null and void. Some rioters are prosecuted for violating federal laws, others not so much. Arrests, prosecutions, and trials are all fluid. Ideology governs when a law is still considered a law.

    Crime rates do not necessarily matter. If someone is carjacked, assaulted, or shot, it can be understood to be as much the victim’s fault as the perpetrator’s. Either the victim was too lax, uncaring, and insensitive, or he provoked his attacker. How useful the crime is to the larger agendas of the left determines whether a victim is really a victim, and the victimizer really a victimizer.

    https://www.theepochtimes.com/the-10-radical-new-rules-that-are-changing-america_3757962.html?&utm_source=sharenewsnoe&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=breaking-2021-04-01-2