Reader’s Links for July 2, 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

39 Replies to “Reader’s Links for July 2, 2021”

  1. – BIG PHARMA wins, smaller Pharma loses –

    Up to 5million British holidaymakers could be BARRED from Europe because they were given Indian-made versions of AstraZeneca Covid jab

    EMA does not recognise the Covishield AstraZeneca vaccine produced in India
    This could cause issue for vaccinated Britons eagerly hoping to travel abroad
    Still a theoretical issue as so few European nations are on the ‘green’ travel list

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9747505/Up-5million-British-holidaymakers-BARRED-Europe.html

    • Perhaps the media should start running the numbers of people who have died from vaccines.

      Today the CDC reported the new numbers, which I believe are severely underreported.

      Adverse reactions 441,931

      Deaths 6,985

      Serious injuries 34,065

    • When you police gear:
      Every criminal is clear.
      When you police fear:
      Hustlers appear.

  2. https://breakingdefense.com/2021/06/socom-to-test-anti-aging-pill-next-year/

    M. I am very suspicious of this and see it as more help to the elderly fools running defence as opposed to an attempt to actually catch up to the Chinese genetic tampering.

    SOCOM To Test Anti-Aging Pill Next Year

    “These efforts are not about creating physical traits that don’t already exist naturally. This is about enhancing the mission readiness of our forces by improving performance characteristics that typically decline with age,” Cmdr. Tim Hawkins, SOCOM spokesperson, said.

    By Theresa Hitchens
    on June 29, 2021 at 12:53 PM

    SOCOM’s Human Performance Program includes innovating capabilities for physical training, injury mitigation and performance nutrition.

    WASHINGTON: Special Operations Command expects to move into clinical trials next year of a pill that may inhibit or reduce some of the degenerative affects of aging and injury — part of a broader Pentagon push for “improved human performance.”

    The pill “has the potential, if it is successful, to truly delay aging, truly prevent onset of injury — which is just amazingly game changing,” Lisa Sanders, director of science and technology for Special Operations Forces, acquisition, technology & logistics (SOF AT&L), said Friday.

    “We have completed pre-clinical safety and dosing studies in anticipation of follow-on performance testing in fiscal year 2022,” Navy Cmdr. Tim Hawkins, a SOCOM spokesperson, said.

    SOCOM is using Other Transaction Authority (OTA) funds to partner with private biotech laboratory Metro International Biotech, LLC (MetroBiotech) in the pill’s development, which is based on what is called a “human performance small molecule,” he explained.

    “These efforts are not about creating physical traits that don’t already exist naturally. This is about enhancing the mission readiness of our forces by improving performance characteristics that typically decline with age,” Hawkins said. “Essentially, we are working with leading industry partners and clinical research institutions to develop a nutraceutical, in the form of a pill that is suitable for a variety of uses by both civilians and military members, whose resulting benefits may include improved human performance – like increased endurance and faster recovery from injury.”

    Hawkins said SOCOM “has spent $2.8 million on this effort” since its launch in 2018.

    A “small molecule” in biology is a low molecular weight organic compound, many of which regulate biological processes and often form the basis for drugs, i.e. ‘pharmaceuticals.’ A ‘nutraceutical,’ by contrast, is “a food containing health-giving additives and having medicinal benefit,” according to the Oxford Dictionary — in essence a dietary supplement.

    But in the case of the SOCOM program, the pill in question is the result of biotechnology.

    MetroBiotech did not respond to a request for comment. However, its website explains that the firm has developed a number of proprietary precursor compounds for “nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+)” which “is critically important to the function of all living cells.”

    The website explains that “reduced levels of NAD+ are linked to aging and numerous diseases, including mitochondrial dysfunction, inflammation and a variety of associated diseases. These levels decline as humans age and remain depleted during disease states. Preclinical evidence suggests disease- and age-related functional decline can be mitigated by boosting NAD+, which supports the Metro International Biotech hypothesis that maintaining optimal NAD+ levels may allow humans to lead longer and healthier lives.”

    Sanders told the Defense One Defense Tech Summit that SOCOM’s ability to use OTAs and Middle Tier Acquisition authorities has helped the command “explore things in this burgeoning sector of biotechnology.” Those authorities have allowed SOCOM to enter into partnerships with industry, research institutes and labs to spur commercial research that could result in health benefits for the troops, she explained.

    SOCOM has “stayed out of long-term genetic engineering — that makes people very very uncomfortable,” Sanders said, “but there’s a huge commercial marketplace for things that can avoid injury, that can slow down aging, that can improve sleep.”

    Indeed, SOCOM has been working to bolster its relationships with small businesses and innovative companies involved in emerging tech, including biotech and artificial intelligence. Its innovation arm, SOFWERX, launched a campaign in May to speed contracting with non-traditional DoD suppliers.

  3. sky news australia – Vaccine apathy: Australians don’t generally have ‘sufficient fear of the virus’

    Founder and Executive Creative Director at DPR & Co Richard Ralphsmith says “Australians don’t generally have sufficient fear of the virus” because our lived experience hasn’t been as dire as other countries – leading to vaccine apathy.

    “If you’re going to warn people against the risk of taking the AstraZeneca vaccine because of the risk of blood clots, then you may as well warn them not to walk out their front door,” he told Sky News host Gary Hardgrave.

    • sky news australia – Medical experts may have degrees but ‘they haven’t graduated from the school of common sense’

      Sky News host Cory Bernardi says Australia’s “pathetic premiers” hide behind health bureaucrats when shutting down borders “on a whim” and says medical experts “haven’t graduated from the school of common sense” despite holding degrees in medicine.

      “We, you and me, are being treated like mushrooms; we’re kept in the dark, fed a pile of manure by these weak leaders and their human political shield,” he said.

      • He misses the point: the Left have taken over medicine in Oz and have been in control for 20 years. Common sense is NOT in the leftist lexicon as it is not political. Bureaucrats, almost always leftists anyway and spineless by definition, will toe the party line or lose their position and the wonderful public service benefits. Those on the frontline, self employed or staff will lose their registration if they step outside, either verbally or physically, the totalitarian marxist lunacy “guidelines”.
        It is not about common sense it is about the lunatic Left and its effect upon the west.
        We really must rid ourselves of this disease by removing its vectors from positions of power and the bureaucracy..

    • CNBC – J&J Covid vaccine should work against delta variant, says former FDA chief Scott Gottlieb

      Johnson & Johnson said its Covid vaccine showed promising signs of protecting against the delta variant of Covid-19 in a small laboratory study.

      The company said the vaccine triggered a strong immune response in blood samples taken from eight vaccinated people.

      J&J reported the findings in a news release, not a peer-reviewed study.

      Dr. Scott Gottlieb, member of the boards of Pfizer and biotech company Illumina and former FDA commissioner, joined “Squawk Box” on Friday to discuss.

      • bloomberg – Johnson & Johnson Says One-Shot Vaccine Neutralizes Delta Varian

        Johnson & Johnson said that its single-shot coronavirus vaccine neutralizes the fast-spreading delta variant and provides durable protection against infection more broadly.

        The company said in a statement Thursday that recipients of its vaccine produced strong neutralizing antibodies over the course of at least eight months against all variants including delta, which was first seen in India and has been spreading around the globe.

        Delta is expected to become the dominant strain in the U.S. in the coming weeks, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

        The J&J shot provides less protection initially than messenger RNA vaccines from Pfizer Inc. and Moderna Inc., and experts have been discussing whether some people may need booster shots to keep the virus at bay long-term.

        “We’re extremely happy, actually, and confident there’s no need for the booster at the moment and we’re protected against different strains,” said Johan Van Hoof, J&J’s global head of infectious diseases and vaccines, in an interview.

    • global news – Justin receives Moderna COVID-19 vaccine for 2nd dose

      Trudeau received the vaccine at a Rexall pharmacy in Ottawa and told the pharmacist that his wife, Sophie Gregoire-Trudeau, had received hers on Thursday but had “a bit of a tough night’s sleep.”

      He added he had experienced some mild side effects after his first dose of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine in April.

      As of June 25, the last date for which federal data is available, 75.3 per cent of Canadians over the age of 12 have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, which represents roughly 66.6 per cent of the total population in the country.

      -------------------------------------------------------------------------
      Rick Pederson 4 min ago

      Any chance of a serious adverse reaction

      ----------------------------------------------------------------------

    • Chechnya Threatens Tough Measures For Those Refusing COVID-19 Vaccination

      There are fears that people could be refused emergency care or their children could be barred from schools or kindergartens if they don’t comply.

    • Germany vows no more lockdowns for vaccinated people

      Germany’s health minister Jens Spahn says people who are vaccinated against Covid will not have to go into full lockdown again and will enjoy more freedoms than unvaccinated people in case of another virus resurgence.

    • After the Delta variant, here is the Epsilon – Biotech

      After the Delta variant, now widespread in a hundred countries, Epsilon presents itself with a baggage of mutations that made it enter the group of variants of the SarsCoV2 virus that cause concern, the so-called Voc (Variants of concern). The mutations are detected by research coordinated by biochemist Matthew McCallum, of the University of Washington in Seattle, and published in the journal Science.

      Identified for the first time in California, the Epsilon variant is still not very widespread in Europe and there are only two cases detected in Italy according to the international bank Gisaid, which collects the genetic sequences of the viruses.

      The study published in Science wants to underline the importance of sequencing as one of the most important weapons to counteract the circulation of the virus. The analysis coordinated by McCallum is based on the analysis of 57 samples, he observed three mutations that make it resistant to antibodies and which are found on the Spike protein, the claw that the virus uses to enter cells.

      The data indicate that, with its three mutations, the Epsilon variant is resistant to both antibodies generated by messenger RNA vaccines and those generated by SarsCoV2 virus infection. The published observations are based on the analysis of plasma collected from 15 people vaccinated with two doses of Moderna, from 33 vaccinated with two doses of Pfizer-BioNtech and from 9 who had been infected with SarsCoV2.

      Reported at the beginning of 2021 in California, in May the Epsilon variant was widespread in 34 other countries and according to the Gisaid data band for the last four weeks it is now present in 44 countries, from the United States to South Korea, India and to Japan. In Europe, cases were found in Denmark (37 cases), Germany (10), Ireland and France (7), the Netherlands and Spain (5), Switzerland (4), Norway (3), Sweden, Finland and Italy (2) , Belgium (1).

      https://www.italy24news.com/News/106239.html
      ================================================
      Epsilon variant, 2 cases in Italy: it is more resistant to antibodies

      In addition to the Delta variant, which is keeping Europe apprehensive, and the Kappa, whose cases are increasing in Italy, there is another Covid variant to keep under control: it is the Epsilon variant, identified for the first time in California and still not very widespread in the Old Continent (there are only two cases detected in Italy according to the international bank Gisaid).

      Research on the Epsilon variant: what emerged

      Research coordinated by biochemist Matthew McCallum, of the University of Washington in Seattle, and published in the journal ‘Science’, has highlighted three different mutations that make it resistant to antibodies and which are found on the Spike protein.

      With these three mutations, the Epsilon variant would be resistant to both antibodies generated by messenger RNA vaccines both a those generated by the SarsCoV2 virus infection.

      The observations published in ‘Science’ are based on the analysis of plasma taken from 15 people vaccinated with two doses of Moderna vaccine, from 33 people vaccinated with two doses of Pfizer-BioNtech vaccine and from 9 people who had been infected with SarsCoV2 .

      Epsilon variant: where cases have been detected in the world

      Reported in early 2021 in California, the Epsilon variant was widespread in others in May 34 countries.

      According to Gisaid data for the last four weeks, as reported by ‘Il Messaggero’, the Epsilon variant is now present in 44 countries, from the United States to South Korea, India and Japan.

      Specifically, in Europe, cases were found in Denmark (37 cases), Germany (10), Ireland and France (7), the Netherlands and Spain (5), Switzerland (4), Norway (3), Sweden, Finland and Italy (2), Belgium (1).

      https://www.italy24news.com/News/106365.html
      =============================================

      “If we don’t want to see an epsilon variant, we have to vaccinate the whole planet”- Dr. Chris Labos

    • FRANCE – Mandatory vaccine for French health workers: A law in preparation

      Pressure is mounting to require all carers to be vaccinated against Covid-19, with a government source saying a bill is in the pipeline, although such a measure is not easy to implement.

  4. CBC – Queen Victoria statue toppled by protestors at Manitoba Legislature

    Two prominent statues were forcibly taken down in Manitoba yesterday, while thousands of people were out protesting residential schools.

    • BBC – Statues of British queens toppled in Canada

      As anger in Canada grows over the deaths of indigenous children at residential schools, a prominent statue of Queen Victoria has been torn down by protesters.

      The protesters cheered as the statue at the legislature in Manitoba’s capital Winnipeg was toppled on Thursday.

      A smaller statue of UK monarch Queen Elizabeth II was also upended nearby.

      The toppling came on Canada Day, which marks the country’s founding by British colonies.

  5. New Study Links “Acute Chest Pain” In Male Soldiers To mRNA Vaccines

    More research has been published highlighting more problematic side effects linked to COVID-19 shots. Last week, we published our latest update on rare cases of heart inflammation that have been linked to the mRNA COVID jabs, including the jabs from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna. After a hurried secret meeting with its advisory board on vaccine safety, the FDA reluctantly release a warning asking patients experiencing these symptoms to seek help immediately.

    https://www.newsletter.zerohedge.com/click.html?x=a62e&lc=tOJ&mc=c&s=v4md&u=v&z=Y4eHNt7&

  6. GoV – France: Black knife-wielding man shot dead by police

    ERMONT, Dep. Val d’Oise, June 30th, 2021: A scene in Ermont, a small town in the Val d’Oise department northwest of Paris. At the Eaubonne train station, a man with a knife drawn tries to get close to a group of children. A young man and a woman try to protect the children when two police officers arrive. As a result, the apparently communication-resistant man is shot.

    The 36-year-old first threatened travelers at the train station and then a group of eleven children with their companions outside the stop.

    Among the hundreds of thousands of young men smuggled into Europe by the European governments, there is a large percentage of people with mental health problems, experiences of violence, etc. These people can no longer be reached by the host societies, which are no longer able to act. Sometimes the road to amok is short. Governments have lost all sense of responsibility; the citizens are sheep to be slaughtered.

    https://gatesofvienna.net/2021/07/knife-wielding-culture-enricher-shot-dead-by-police-in-val-doise/#comments

  7. CBC – Federal government’s move to take Speaker to court raises questions that divide experts

    Experts disagree over whether federal government can override powers of Parliament

    The Liberal government is taking the Speaker of the House of Commons to court to get a judge’s confirmation that it has the legal authority to withhold documents requested by members of Parliament sitting on a Commons committee.

    It’s a complex, technical case involving legal precedents dating back to the 1600s. Here are some answers to key questions about this remarkable clash.

    What is this fight about?

    In March, opposition MPs on the Special Committee on Canada-China Relations passed a motion directing the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) to deliver all documents relating to the transfer of samples of the Ebola and Henipah viruses from the National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg to the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China.

    It also asked for all documents related to the lab’s dismissal of scientists Xiangguo Qiu and her biologist husband, Keding Cheng. The pair were escorted off the premises in 2019 and were officially fired in January of this year.

    The motion called for the documents to be handed to the parliamentary law clerk, who would confidentially review them and redact anything he felt would compromise national security. Subsequent committee motions in May and June also demanded the production of the documents.

    The Liberal government instead provided the unredacted documents to the all-party National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians (NSICOP), whose members have top security clearance. NSICOP was established by the Liberal government in 2018 to review national security and intelligence activities.

    Speaker Anthony Rota ruled that sending the documents to NSICOP was not acceptable since it’s a relatively new body and not a standing committee of Parliament.

    Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole reacted by introducing a motion in the House of Commons — which passed — calling on PHAC president Iain Stewart to deliver the documents and to appear before the Speaker to be reprimanded. That admonishment happened last week — the first time that’s happened since 1913 — but it did not lead to the delivery of the documents.

    Why won’t the Liberal government simply hand over the documents?

    According to the federal government’s filing with the Federal Court, Stewart reached out to Attorney General David Lametti the day before his appearance in the House to say he “believed that sensitive or potentially injurious information” would be disclosed if his agency followed the order.

    The court filing said the attorney general, citing the Canada Evidence Act, did not authorize the release of “some information contained in some of the documents covered by the notice” because to do so “would be injurious to international relations or national defence or national security.”

    Central to the Liberal’s argument is the fact that once the documents are in the hands of MPs, parliamentary privilege would allow them to release the contents by, for example, reading them out in the House of Commons. Parliamentary privilege gives MPs immunity from prosecution over what they say in the House of Commons, even if national security is compromised.

    Mel Cappe, a former clerk of the Privy Council, told CBC News that allowing MPs to have access to intelligence or national security documents without adequate restrictions would harm Canada’s ability to share intelligence with allies such as those in the Five Eyes group, which includes the U.S., U.K., Canada, Australia and New Zealand..

    “Our Five Eyes cousins are not going to share intelligence with us. This is not cost-free. If they go down that road, they are causing a problem we’ve never had,” Cappe said.

    Other experts disagree. Steve Chaplin, former senior parliamentary counsel for the House of Commons, told CBC News that elected officials do not leak national security documents because they know they could be in government one day and would not want to set that precedent.

    He also said that assuming opposition MPs would deliberately release such information amounts to suggesting that “members of the opposition have an interest in causing damage to Canada’s national security.”

    Does the government have the power to ignore a request from Parliament?

    The federal government is seeking confirmation that it can use Section 38 of the Canada Evidence Act to prevent the release of the documents, effectively trumping Parliament. That section of the law says that the attorney general can personally prohibit the disclosure of information to protect national security, or in relation to a foreign entity.

    The attorney general was given that authority with the passing of the the 2001 Anti-Terrorism Act after the Sept. 11 attacks.

    That power has only been used once before — by Lametti, in 2019 — and in that case it did not involve interfering with Parliament’s supremacy. It was confined to preventing the release of details about a Canadian Security Intelligence Service operation on the Chinese embassy in Ottawa in a case of a man accused of attempting to leak secrets to China.

    Kent Roach, a professor of law at the University of Toronto, told CBC News that the Canada Evidence Act does have the power to trump Parliament’s legal authority.

    “Even if the federal court says, ‘Look we’ve weighed the interests and we think that Parliament should get more,’ the attorney general can issue a certificate saying this will not be disclosed because it relates to national security or foreign relations,” he said.

    Cappe agreed, saying that the powers of Parliament and the Evidence Act are not in conflict.

    “If the Parliament of Canada wants to exercise its supremacy and change the Canada Evidence Act, they can do that, but they haven’t chosen to do that,” he said.

    “Instead they think they have a high horse. They actually have a little pony and it doesn’t stand very high.”

    Does Parliament have the power to compel the government to act?
    Chaplin disagrees with Cappe and Roach. He said the law is very clear: Parliament’s powers are supreme under the Westminster system and only Parliament can decide how the law applies to its institutions.

    “Parliamentary privilege is constitutional and the privileges and the whole Westminster system of government, where the government is accountable to Parliament for everything that it does, is part of that system,” he said.

    Chaplin said that the federal government has the power to prevent the release of documents that are evidence in a court case — not to interfere with the powers of Parliament.

    He and others who take this position point to Article 9 of the Bill of Rights of 1689 that states “the freedom of speech and debates or proceedings in Parliament ought not to be impeached or questioned in any court or place out of Parliament.”

    Chaplin also pointed to a Supreme Court of Canada ruling in 2005 which cited Article 9 in ruling that“the House of Commons is not subject to the control of Her Majesty’s Courts.”

    “It’s not up to the courts to decide how the laws apply to Parliament,” he said. “It’s not the court’s business to step into it, and for the government to ask the courts to do it violates the Bill of Rights of 1689.”

    Paul Daly, chair in administrative law and governance at the University of Ottawa, said that while a law passed in 1689 may not seem relevant today, Canada’s Constitution follows the U.K. model when it comes to deciding which arms of the state prevail.

    “The preamble to the Canadian Constitution says it’s a constitution similar in principle to the United Kingdom and the privileges of Parliament and the provincial legislatures form part of the Constitution of Canada,” he said.

    So what happens now?

    The application filed with the Federal Court by the attorney general named Speaker Rota as the respondent. Rota’s office indicated in an email to MPs that he will mount a vigorous defence of Parliament’s powers before the court.

    “As Speaker of the House of Commons and guardian of its parliamentary privileges, I will oppose the Attorney General’s application and take the position that the Federal Court has no jurisdiction to restrict the House’s power to request documents,” Rota said in the email.

    Yan Campagnolo, an associate law professor at the University of Ottawa who studies constitutional law, said that the Federal Court is likely to kick the whole thing back to the politicians to sort out.

    “In principle, the courts would not order the government to produce the documents sought by the House of Commons and, conversely, they would not declare that the government is justified in refusing to produce these documents based on a provision in the Canada Evidence Act,” he said.

    “The court will likely decline to rule on whether the documents should be produced. It will be up to the House of Commons and the government to find a reasonable compromise.”

    Both Campagnolo and Chaplin said that under the Constitution, the government enjoys its authority because of the confidence conferred on it by the House of Commons.

    If the court does kick this matter back to Parliament, the opposition can withdraw that confidence, bring the government down and let voters decide if the government has abused its powers.

    Roach said a case like this could easily remain in the courts until the fall. If that happens, it could conclude very close to an expected fall election.

    https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/rota-lametti-parliament-federal-court-1.6086721

  8. Associated Pravda -Trump ally in Pennsylvania raises 2020 election audit plan

    HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Following in the footsteps of Arizona’s Senate Republicans, Pennsylvania’s Republican-controlled Senate is considering an investigation into how last year’s presidential election was conducted, a quest fueled by former President Donald Trump’s baseless claims that fraud was behind his loss in the battleground state.

    Any Senate-issued subpoenas for an Arizona-style “election audit” will face strident opposition from Democrats, legal questions and almost certainly challenges in Pennsylvania’s courts, as battles over election laws rage through swing states and Congress, spurred on by Trump’s falsehoods.

    Senate Republicans have been mostly silent about their internal deliberations.

    Sen. Doug Mastriano, a rising force in Pennsylvania’s ultra-conservative circles who has talked of his desire to bring an Arizona-style audit to Pennsylvania, led a private briefing Wednesday for Republican senators on his plan.

    In Arizona, the state Senate used its subpoena power to take possession of more than 2 million ballots and the machines that counted them, along with computer data.

    Mastriano also solicited legal advice from a Philadelphia-based law firm about the Senate Republican caucus using private money to finance consultants and lawyers. The law firm’s response letter, dated Tuesday, was obtained by The Associated Press.

    In the letter, the law firm discussed the legality of using money from a private, nonprofit organization “to pay expenses for vendors, including a consultant and counsel” as part of an “oversight investigation” of the 2020 election led by the low-profile committee that Mastriano chairs.

    “While we cannot predict how the Pennsylvania Supreme Court would decide the issue, in our opinion, to a reasonable degree of legal certainty, Pennsylvania law does not prohibit the Caucus or Committee from accepting or benefiting from such financial support,” lawyer Bruce S. Marks wrote.

    The letter said “the purpose of the investigation is to develop legislation which will enhance voter participation and election integrity.”

    Mastriano did not return phone calls. In a phone call Friday, Marks — who did legal work for the Trump campaign after the 2020 election — confirmed he wrote the letter, but otherwise declined comment.

    Mastriano, who chairs the Senate Intergovernmental Operations Committee, could theoretically issue subpoenas to counties with a majority vote of his committee. The Democratic bastions of Philadelphia and Allegheny County, home to Pittsburgh, could be prime targets.

    Voting machines, ballots and other election records could be demanded. The process could cost millions of dollars.

    Mastriano, who has helped spread Trump’s baseless conspiracy theories about widespread fraud in the election, traveled to Arizona in June to see the audit there firsthand.

    “We’ll bring the information back to the Senate leadership, we’ll back-brief them on the way ahead and then hopefully we can come up with an approach here to make sure every person in Pennsylvania can rest assured they have one vote and it counts,” Mastriano told a radio host from WEEO-FM last month.

    Spurred on by Trump’s baseless claims about fraud, Republican consideration of an election audit in Pennsylvania comes as Trump supporters have pushed for audits and reviews of ballots in political battlegrounds in a bid to turn up evidence that Biden’s victory was illegitimate.

    No county election board, prosecutor or state official has raised a concern over any sort of widespread election fraud in November’s election in Pennsylvania, a crucial state that Democrat Joe Biden won by more than 80,000 votes, or just over 1 percentage point.

    Trump’s efforts to overturn Biden’s victory has been roundly rejected by courts at every level, including by judges appointed by the former president. Trump’s attorney general has also said there was no widespread fraud in the U.S. that would have changed the results of the election.

    Sen. Camera Bartolotta, R-Washington, said she tuned in for part of Mastriano’s presentation Wednesday.

    “I don’t know the ins and outs. I don’t know who’s going to pay for an audit. I don’t know how extensive it might be,” Bartolotta said. “I do know that there are millions of Pennsylvanians who have questions and concerns and there is a lack of trust.”

    She said she was not sure what the next step might be. But, she said, she wanted to ensure the cost is not borne by state taxpayers.

    “I want to be absolutely certain that anything we’re doing — if anything gets done — is done in a legal way and is constitutional,” Bartolotta said.

    Critics say an election audit is duplicative, given the legal requirements for each county and the state to review election results for accuracy and investigate any discrepancies. Democrats, meanwhile, blame Trump and Republicans for spreading lies about the election that have sown distrust among voters.

    The official rules of Pennsylvania’s Senate grants its committees broad authority to issue subpoenas to “any public agency” in the state.

    Senate Minority Leader Jay Costa, D-Allegheny, said he was unaware of a Senate Republican plan, but questioned whether Mastriano’s committee had authority over the subject matter of elections to legally issue such subpoenas. Traditionally, a different Senate committee has handled election issues.

    Senate Democrats can challenge the subpoenas in the state Senate and in court, Costa said.

    https://toronto.citynews.ca/2021/07/02/trump-ally-in-pennsylvania-raises-2020-election-audit-plan/

  9. WINNIPEG, Canada: Demonstrators toppled statues of Queen Victoria and Queen Elizabeth in Winnipeg this afternoon during rallies honoring the children discovered in unmarked graves on the sites of former residential schools over the past month.

    Note: at the time, there were also many White boys being raped by priests.The damned vow of chastity. Priests were mistreating young Whites in their care. But these survivors aren’t toppling statues.

    https://twitter.com/i/status/1410753619431919618

  10. These are the Jewish victims of the Surfside building collapse

    “The Champlain Towers South building collapse is a national tragedy, one that has claimed nearly 20 lives so far and left over 140 still missing in the rubble as of Thursday.

    Among other groups, it struck a unique nexus of the American Jewish community in South Florida, home to a mix of Latin American immigrants, Israelis and retirees from the Northeast. The town of Surfside, the site of the collapse, is at least a third Jewish, with a large Orthodox population.

    Several of the victims identified were part of this Jewish community. We’ve gathered information here on those we could confirm as Jewish.…

    Leon Oliwkowicz, 80, and Christina Beatriz Elvira, 74, a Venezuelan Jewish couple that recently moved to Florida, were among the first victims of the Chaplain Towers disaster to be identified…

    Frank Kleiman… a child of Cuban Jewish emigres, was raised in Puerto Rico and had strong ties to the United States. His mother, Nancy Kress Levin, also lived in the building. And his brother, Jay, was visiting from Puerto Rico. They, too, are among the missing…

    The Kleimans’ mother Nancy Kress Levin had fled the Cuban Revolution in 1959. She and her husband first settled in Puerto Rico. In the 1980s, Levin moved as a single mom with her two sons to Surfside and lived in Champlain Towers, then a new building popular with Hispanic Jews who had arrived mostly from Cuba.

    Moises Rodan… was involved in the Venezuelan Jewish community in the Miami area…

    Andres Levine was supposed to be married in August. The 26-year-old, who worked in finance, had moved to Florida from Venezuela about seven years ago in search of better work opportunities… “Venezuela is the kind of country where these things could happen – but not here.”

    https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/309131