Reader’s Links for December 30, 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

48 Replies to “Reader’s Links for December 30, 2021”

  1. Some useful articles. As I spent quite some time editing the for posting here but was blocked by the firewall on multiple occasions, I am not willing to do so again. But the 3rd is new so it is below.

    My better half will be home soon sans hair and not happy but alive and functional. Thank you to those who commented, and I did pass it on.

    https://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/how-triumphalism-squandered-americas-cold-war-victory/

    https://joannenova.com.au/2021/12/what-if-vitamin-a-could-stop-70-of-severe-case-of-covid/

    https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/the-turn-liel-leibovitz

    Navigate to News section
    The Turn
    When I saw the left give up everything I believe in, I changed politically. You can, too.
    BY
    LIEL LEIBOVITZ
    DECEMBER 08, 2021
    For many years—most of my politically cognizant life, in fact—I felt secure in my politics. Truth and justice, I believed, leaned leftward. If you were some version of a decent human being, you cared about those less fortunate than you, which meant that you supported a whole host of measures designed to even the playing field a little. Sometimes, these measures had unintended consequences (see under: Stalin, Josef), but that wasn’t reason enough to despair of the long march to equality. Besides, there was hardly an alternative: On the other end of the political transom lurked despicable creeps, right-wing orcs who either cared for nothing but their own petty financial interests or, worse, pined for benighted isms that preached prejudice and hate. We were on the right side of history. We were the people. We were the ones giving peace a chance. And, no matter the present, we were always the future.

    This belief carried me through high school, and a brief stint in a socialist youth movement. It accelerated me in college, sending me anywhere from joint marches with Palestinians to a two-week hunger strike in Jerusalem trying (and failing) to lower tuition for underprivileged students. It pulled me to New York, to Columbia University, to more left-wing politics and activism and raging against Republicans whose agenda, especially in the 2000s, seemed like nothing more than greed and war.

    And it wasn’t just an ideology, some abstract set of convictions that were accessible only through cracking open dusty old books. It was the animating spirit of life itself: The dinner parties I attended on the Upper West Side required dismissive comments on President Bush just as much as they did a bit of wine to make the evening bright, and there was no faster or surer way to signal to a new acquaintance that you were a kindred spirit than praising the latest Times editorial. It wasn’t performative, exactly. At least, it felt real enough, the reverent rites of a good group of people protecting itself against the bad guys.

    I embraced my people, and my people embraced me. They gave me everything I had always imagined I wanted: a Ph.D. from an Ivy League university; a professorship at NYU, complete with a roomy office overlooking Washington Square Park; book deals; columns in smart little publications; invitations to the sort of soirees where you could find yourself seated next to Salman Rushdie or Susan Sontag or any number of the men and women you grew up reading and admiring. The list goes on. Life was good. I was grateful.

    And then came The Turn. If you’ve lived through it yourself, you know that The Turn doesn’t happen overnight, that it isn’t easily distilled into one dramatic breakdown moment, that it happens hazily and over time—first a twitch, then a few more, stretching into a gnawing discomfort and then, eventually, a sense of panic.

    You may be among the increasing numbers of people going through The Turn right now. Having lived through the turmoil of the last half decade—through the years of MAGA and antifa and rampant identity politics and, most dramatically, the global turmoil caused by COVID-19—more and more of us feel absolutely and irreparably politically homeless. Instinctively, we looked to the Democratic Party, the only home we and our parents and their parents before them had ever known or seriously considered. But what we saw there—and in the newspapers we used to read, and in the schools whose admission letters once made us so proud—was terrifying. However we tried to explain what was happening on “the left,” it was hard to convince ourselves that it was right, or that it was something we still truly believed in. That is what The Turn is about.

    You might be living through The Turn if you ever found yourself feeling like free speech should stay free even if it offended some group or individual but now can’t admit it at dinner with friends because you are afraid of being thought a bigot. You are living through The Turn if you have questions about public health policies—including the effects of lockdowns and school closures on the poor and most vulnerable in our society—but can’t ask them out loud because you know you’ll be labeled an anti-vaxxer. You are living through The Turn if you think that burning down towns and looting stores isn’t the best way to promote social justice, but feel you can’t say so because you know you’ll be called a white supremacist. You are living through The Turn if you seethed watching a terrorist organization attack the world’s only Jewish state, but seethed silently because your colleagues were all on Twitter and Facebook sharing celebrity memes about ending Israeli apartheid while having little interest in American kids dying on the streets because of failed policies. If you’ve felt yourself unable to speak your mind, if you have a queasy feeling that your friends might disown you if you shared your most intimately held concerns, if you are feeling a bit breathless and a bit hopeless and entirely unsure what on earth is going on, I am sorry to inform you that The Turn is upon you.

    The Turn hit me just a beat before it did you, so I know just how awful it feels. It’s been years now, but I still remember the time a dear friend and mentor took me to lunch and warned me, sternly and without any of the warmth you’d extend to someone you truly loved, to watch what I said about Israel. I still remember how confusing and painful it felt to know that my beliefs—beliefs, mind you, that, until very recently, were so obvious and banal and widely held on the left that they were hardly considered beliefs at all—now labeled me an outcast. The Turn brings with it the sort of pain most of us don’t feel as adults; you’d have to go all the way back to junior high, maybe, to recall a stabbing sensation quite as deep and confounding as watching your friends all turn on you and decide that you’re not worthy of their affection any more. It’s the kind of primal rejection that is devastating precisely because it forces you to rethink everything, not only your convictions about the world but also your idea of yourself, your values, and your priorities. We all want to be embraced. We all want the men and women we consider most swell to approve of us and confirm that we, too, are good and great. We all want the love and the laurels; The Turn takes both away.

    But, having been there before, I have one important thing to tell you: If the left is going to make it “right wing” to simply be decent, then it’s OK to be right.

    Why? Because, after 225 long and fruitful years of this terminology, “right” and “left” are now empty categories, meaning little more than “the blue team” and “the green team” in your summer camp’s color war. You don’t get to be “against the rich” if the richest people in the country fund your party in order to preserve their government-sponsored monopolies. You are not “a supporter of free speech” if you oppose free speech for people who disagree with you. You are not “for the people” if you pit most of them against each other based on the color of their skin, or force them out of their jobs because of personal choices related to their bodies. You are not “serious about economic inequality” when you happily order from Amazon without caring much for the devastating impact your purchases have on the small businesses that increasingly are either subjugated by Jeff Bezos’ behemoth or crushed by it altogether. You are not “for science” if you refuse to consider hypotheses that don’t conform to your political convictions and then try to ban critical thought and inquiry from the internet. You are not an “anti-racist” if you label—and sort!—people by race. You are not “against conformism” when you scare people out of voicing dissenting opinions.

    When “the left” becomes the party of wealthy elites and state security agencies who preach racial division, state censorship, contempt for ordinary citizens and for the U.S. Constitution, and telling people what to do and think at every turn, then that’s the side you are on, if you are “on the left”—those are the policies and beliefs you stand for and have to defend. It doesn’t matter what good people “on the left” believed and did 60 or 70 years ago. Those people are dead now, mostly. They don’t define “the left” anymore than Abraham Lincoln defines the modern-day Republican Party or Jimi Hendrix defines Nickelback.

    So look at the list of things supported by the left and ask yourself: Is that me? If the answer is yes, great. You’ve found a home. If the answer is no, don’t let yourself be defined by an empty word. Get out. And once you’re out, don’t let anyone else define you, either. Not being a left-wing racist or police state fan doesn’t make you a white supremacist or a Trump worshipper, either. Only small children, machines, and religious fanatics think in binaries.

    Which isn’t to diminish the anger, hurt, and confusion you’re feeling just now. But it’s worth understanding that your story has a happy ending. The freedom you feel on the other side is so real it’s physical, like emerging from a long stretch underwater and taking that first deep breath in the cool afternoon air. None of it makes the lost friends or the lost career opportunities any less painful; but there’s no more potent source of renewable energy than liberty, and your capacity to reinvent—yourself, your group, your life—is greater than you realize.

    So welcome to the right side, friend, and join us in laughing at all the idiotic name-calling that is applied, with increasing hysteria, to try and stop more and more normal Americans from joining our ranks. Fascists? Conspiracy theorists? Anti-science racist TERFs? Whatever. We have a better word to describe ourselves: free.

    • Thanks Will. What wonderful news your wife is getting home. We await her back at VTB and her feisty attitude in the new year!

      This article is a truck load of words to tell us what we already know, but it’s always nice to see a PhD flush their letters for a little common sense. Overly dramatic, she is, but better to find the hard edge of reality later, than never.

      • She looks very punk and has already threatened to have some tattoos and body piercings unless we shut up. I offered a topless dress to go with them but had to duck and run, literally.
        BTW I was Left and card-carrying member of the federal socialist party and she was Green, so the article applied to both of us and it happened to both of us without the other realising it. Only when she found out that I had resigned did she tell me that she had.

        Goodbye and thank you!

        • Thank you very much Will for keeping Michelle’s lamp lit for us!

          She has always been a very valued member of this community.

    • Thank you Will, I am so happy to hear the good news. I wish you and Michele a very Happy NEW Year.

    • Hi Will, I can relate to your words as I used to be a socialist in outlook “Why should they have the good stuff and I don’t?” as a child we were pretty poor, holes in patched clothes and hand me downs. eventually I figured out that college and Higher Ed were the way out. Now I see the attitude of the Left and the Right (idiots mainly on the Left, but not always) and the MSM lies about DJT etc. Fully MAGA and 2024 now – and I’m in the UK. free 🙂

  2. No idea about this site but it makes a potentially interesting point applicable now. As any influenza can be lethal to those with already compromised lungs (TB/smoking/miner’s lung etc) I think that it is the young and healthy who died at whom the article aims.
    https://www.naturalnews.com/2021-12-29-only-vaccinated-died-1918-spanish-flu.html

    REVELATION: Only the “vaccinated” died during the 1918 Spanish Flu
    Wednesday, December 29, 2021 by: Ethan Huff

    Everything you thought you knew about the infamous “Spanish Flu” outbreak of 1918 is probably wrong.

    It turns out that one of the most well-known pandemics from recent history was actually caused by the “vaccines” that were supposedly introduced to stop it – much like how the Wuhan coronavirus (Covid-19) “vaccines” of today are spreading more covid.

    Dr. Sal Martingano, FICPA, explains that mass vaccination during the Spanish Flu is what actually caused people to die. In fact, the only people who ended up dying during the ordeal were those who got jabbed.

    In her book Vaccination Condemned, Dr. Eleanor McBean, Ph.D., N.D., explains how she is an “unvaccinated survivor” of the 1918 Spanish Flu. She continues to urge people to revisit the historical event with a new lens, which she helps readers to do in her book.

    McBean actually wrote a second book called Vaccination … The Silent Killer that expounds upon the revelations contained in her first book. The evidence she provides points to the vaccines, and not the flu itself (if there ever even was one…) as the true culprit that resulted in tens of millions of deaths.

    “McBean’s coverage of the 1918 ‘Spanish Flu,’ as a reporter and an unvaccinated survivor, requires that the historical basis of the event needs to be revisited, not as a ‘conspiracy theory’ but with evidence that will ‘set your hair on fire,’” writes Dr. Martingano.

    “McBean provides evidence that not only were the historical events of the 1918 ‘Spanish Flu’ compromised, but also those of the Polio and Swine Flu epidemics.”

    The first case of Spanish Flu occurred at a military base in Kansas where vaccine experiments were taking place
    Because Spain remained neutral during both the first and second world wars and did not censor its press like was occurring elsewhere, it would become the first country in the world to report a flu epidemic in 1918.

    This would explain why Spain ended up being scapegoated for what would later be called the “Spanish Flu.” However, it turns out that that first real case of the deadly disease actually occurred in Kansas at a military base where vaccine experiments were taking place.

    In preparation for World War I, military servicemen at Fort Riley, where numerous prior vaccines had been developed, conducted a massive vaccination experiment. This would lead to “patient zero” appearing in the United States rather than Spain.

    If history was honest, it would actually be called the 1918 United States Military Flu. However, thanks to prolific influence from the likes of the Rockefeller family and other Big Pharma globalists, the blame got shifted to Spain.

    “The fledgling pharmaceutical industry, sponsored by the ‘Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research,’ had something they never had before – a large supply of human test subjects,” explains Martingano.

    “Supplied by the U.S. military’s first draft, the test pool of subjects ballooned to over 6 million men.”

    There was no Spanish Flu: it was bacterial meningitis caused by vaccines
    It would take until long after the war for autopsies to show that the millions of people who died from the “Spanish Flu” actually died from vaccine-induced bacterial meningitis. (RELATED: The polio outbreaks of the past were similarly caused by man-made chemicals rather than an airborne disease.)

    “It was caused by random dosages of an experimental ‘bacterial meningitis vaccine,’ which to this day mimics flu-like symptoms,” Martingano explains. “The massive, multiple assaults with additional vaccines on the unprepared immune systems of soldiers and civilians created a ‘killing field.’”

    Interestingly, the only people who were not affected by the so-called Spanish Flu were those who avoided taking the injections. Those people, including McBean, would go on to live normal lives and even tell all about what they witnessed at that horrific time.

    While it all started out with mostly soldiers getting the injections, a massive leftover cache of the shots would eventually be given to civilians. This resulted in mass death on a wide scale among the American civilian population.

    “Fearing that soldiers coming home would spread diseases to their families, the U.S. government pushed the largest vaccine ‘fear’ campaign in history,” Martingano writes.

    “They used the human population as a research and development lab to field test experimental vaccines … Tens of millions of civilians died in the same manner as did the soldiers.”

    Just like today, the doctors of that day mostly ignored what they were witnessing occur as a result of the mass injection campaign. Instead of stopping it in order to save lives, they actually proceeded to intensify the jab drive, resulting in many more deaths.

    “Seven men dropped dead in a doctor’s office after being vaccinated,” McBean writes in her book about the propaganda that was being spread at the time. “Letters were sent to their families that they had been killed in action.”

    In total, WWI soldiers from the U.S. were given anywhere from 14-25 untested, experimental injections, all within just a few days of one another. This triggered a cascade of intensified diseases all at once, which the medical system blamed on the “Spanish Flu.”

    “The doctors called it a new disease and proceeded to suppress the symptoms with additional drugs or vaccines,” Martingano further explains.

    This sobering account of what really happened during the so-called Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918 explains a lot about what the world is currently facing with the latest fraudulent plandemic episode called “covid.” It was all a lie back then, and is still a lie today.

    .

  3. The Hill reports that Joe Rogan will have to cancel his spring show in Vancouver, discovering that the Iron Curtain misplaced since the fall of the Soviet Union has now been discovered on the 49th parallel between Canada and the U.S. in the form of paisley drapes. The Hill cannot help but get its own disinformation shots in while playing pretend journalism:

    https://thehill.com/changing-america/enrichment/arts-culture/587588-joe-rogans-sold-out-show-cancelled-after-covid-19

  4. Shocking cancellation of the annual World Junior Hockey Championship tournament. I wonder if antigen tests or high-cycle PCR’s were involved in this high crime? It is the closest thing to religion remaining in this pitiful country:

    https://youtu.be/N7LWTlno1OE

  5. NEWSWEEK – Netherlands Announces Plan To Give People Up to Six Doses of COVID Vaccine

    Hugo de Jonge, health minister of The Netherlands, has indicated the country could be preparing another three coronavirus booster vaccines.

    De Jonge wrote a letter to his country’s parliament Wednesday suggesting the Netherlands should consider additional rounds of booster vaccines to fight new variants, with two of these in 2022 and another shot in 2023.

    The letter also said that the Netherlands has enough booster vaccines for its current booster campaign.

    In the letter, De Jonge wrote: “Certainly because only half of a regular vaccine is needed for a booster dose of Moderna, we now have sufficient vaccines for the current booster campaign and there is ample basis for possible extra booster rounds in the second quarter and the autumn of 2022 and in 2023.

    The Netherlands has bought vaccine stock in bulk in order to avoid shortages.

    The country has ordered nearly 6 million additional vaccines alongside the 12 million already bought from Pfizer/Biontech.

    There is already an agreement in place with Pfizer/Biontech for at least another 17.5 million doses before 2023. It is unclear who will be eligible for these booster coronavirus vaccine shots in 2022 and 2023.

    Pfizer/Biontech is working on a vaccine adapted to the current Omicron variant.

    Pfizer/Biontech has indicated it needs at least 100 days to develop, approve and scale up production for a modified vaccine. Delivery is expected in April at the earliest.

    On December 29 people born in 1983 and 1984 were invited by the Municipal Public Health Services to get their booster shots. The following day, those born between 1985 and 1986 were told they could schedule theirs.

    The Netherlands’ government website has also highlighted the current data on vaccine uptake in the country.

    As of December 26, 89 percent of people aged 18 or over had received at least one vaccine dose. A total of 85.9 percent of those who are aged 18 and over are fully vaccinated.

    Only 20 percent of the aged 18 or over population has been fully vaccinated and received a booster vaccine, however, not all age groups are currently able to schedule their booster appointment.

    As of December 29, the Netherlands had a seven-day average of 12,390 confirmed coronavirus cases.

    On December 29, 51 COVID-19 patients were reported dead, a day-on-day decrease of 24. A total of 20,852 people have died within 28 days of a COVID-19 infection in the Netherlands since the reporting of deaths started.

    https://www.newsweek.com/netherlands-vaccination-booster-coronavirus-covid-shot-1664296

    • DEUTSCHE PRAVDA – WHO warns of a “tsunami” of infections

      Surging COVID-19 infections are worrying governments around the globe. France has posted a record number of infections, more 200,000 in a single day.

      Italy, Ireland and Portugal have also announced record numbers of new cases.

      Officials say the skyrocketing infection rates are being driven by the highly contagious omicron variant.

      While countries are still grappling with rising case numbers, health authorities are also under pressure to reduce the isolation requirements for people infected, or in contact with a positive case.

      The US recently shortened its quarantine period, and Germany’s health minister says he’s considering a similar move.

    • ===========================
      PI NEWS – Die Angst vor den Spaziergängern wächst

      Bewegung an der frischen Luft ist gerade im Winter gut für das Immunsystem. Aber offenbar nicht gut für die derzeit Regierenden. Denn sie setzen ihren Repressionsapparat immer häufiger und immer aggressiver gegen Bürger ein, die etwas für ihr körperliches und seelisches Immunsystem tun wollen, indem sie sich in mittlerweile vielen, zahlenmäßig kaum noch zu überblickenden Groß- und Kleinstädten wie auch ländlichen Gemeinden an bestimmten Abenden auf den Straßen ihres jeweiligen Wohnorts treffen, um gemeinsam ein Zeichen gegen Panikmache und Pläne für eine Impfpflicht zu setzen. Das würde in aller Regel völlig friedlich verlaufen, gäbe es nicht massive Polizeieinsätze, um diese Spaziergänge zu verhindern oder zu zerschlagen.

      Das wegen der millionenfach versagenden Impfwirkung und den nicht mehr zu unterschlagenen Schäden der experimentellen Gentherapien sehr begründet in Angst geratene Machtkartell will damit den wachsenden Bürgerprotest im Keim ersticken. Das wird allerdings schon deshalb nicht gelingen, weil sich immer mehr Menschen in Deutschland nicht über ARD, ZDF und die fast allesamt auf konforme Linie gebrachten Presserzeugnisse informieren, sondern alternative Medien und Quellen für ihre Meinungsbildung heranziehen.

      Die für viele von ihnen schockierende erste Begegnung mit repressiver Staatsmacht führt bei vielen Bürgern zu einer Politisierung und auch Radikalisierung, die längerfristig das hypernervöse Machtkartell weit stärker gefährden wird als noch so viele Spaziergänge und Demonstrationen ohne Polizeigewalt.

      Schon bald kann es übrigens Spaziergänge nicht nur gegen die Corona-Maßnahmen, sondern auch gegen die sozialen Folgen von Inflation und rapide ansteigenden Energiekosten geben, auch gegen den NATO-Kurs im Ukraine-Konflikt sind friedliche Bürgeraktionen möglich. Unwahrscheinlich sind hingegen Volkskundgebungen zur Unterstützung des Inflationskurses der EZB, zur Unterstützung hoher Energie- und Nahrungspreise, zu Aufrüstung und zur weiteren westlichen Einkreisung Russlands.

      Wenn sich der Widerstand und Protest der Bürger auf diese Themen ausweiten wird, kann auch der gesammelte Polizeiapparat, der gerade bei Hundertausenden in bösen Verruf gerät, nicht mehr viel ausrichten. Die Angst vor den Spaziergängern zwischen Flensburg und Konstanz, zwischen Aachen und Görlitz ist die Angst der Herrschenden vor denen, die keine Schlafschafe mehr sind.

      https://www.pi-news.net/2021/12/die-angst-vor-den-spaziergaengern-waechst/

      BILD – Sechs Tage, sieben Städte: Eine Corona-Reise durch Demo-Deutschland

    • Germany: Hundreds of COVID vaxx sceptics march through Stuttgart’s inner city

      Hundreds of COVID vaccination sceptics marched through the streets decrying the measures and possible vaccine mandates aimed at curbing the spread of the virus, in Stuttgart on Wednesday.

      A group marching at the head of the protest held up a banner reading ‘We are the red line’ referring to a statement made by Chancellor Olaf Scholz who said there is no red line in the fight against the pandemic.

      The protest was observed by police in vans.

      In the last few days, there have been increased protests against COVID-19 restrictions and mandatory vaccinations in several German cities, some of them leading to clashes with the police.

      The newly-elected German government has recently announced plans to implement a nationwide COVID-19 vaccination mandate, which includes obligatory vaccines for health workers from March onwards.

    • GERMANY – MUNICH – DEC 29 2021 – München: Nicht angemeldete Kundgebung gegen Corona-Maßnahmen

      Gegner der Impfpflicht demonstrieren am Mittwoch Abend in München und Stuttgart. Teilnehmer sprechen teils von „Faschismus“, weil sie mit den Auflagen der Behörden nicht einverstanden sind. Circa 5.000 waren gekommen.

      Geldbußen von bis zu 3.000 Euro wurden angedroht.

    • GERMANY – MUNICH – DEC 29 2021 – Tausende demonstrieren in München gegen Corona-Beschränkungen

    • GERMANY – MUNICH – DEC 29 2021 – MÜNCHEN: Lage eskaliert! 1000 Polizisten im Einsatz! Impfgegner und Coronaleugner im Kampfmodus!

      Trotz eines Versammlungsverbots haben in München am Mittwochabend laut Polizei etwa 5.000 Menschen gegen die Corona-Auflagen protestiert.

    • BILD – „RKI-Präsident Lothar Wieler wäre bei mir nicht mehr Behördenchef!“

      Vor bis zu 6000 Corona-Intensivpatienten haben die Experten Anfang Dezember gewarnt. Horror-Prognosen, die zum Glück nicht eingetroffen sind.

      ==============================================
      Michael Müller 2 days ago

      Die beste Studie, die ich bis jetzt zum Thema Pandemie gefunden habe ist das Märchen "Des Kaisers neue Kleider". Scheint ein wahrer Experte geschrieben zu haben.

      ———————————————————-
      Reinhard Ankenbauer 2 days ago

      Statt die Schulen zu schließen wäre es vielleicht sinnvoller, Robert's Kochstudio zu schließen!
      ================================================

    • DEUTSCHE PRAVDA – Vaccine hesitant Germans emigrate

      With every wave of COVID-19 illnesses in Germany comes a new backlash from those strongly opposed to the health-measures taken in response — Including vaccination.
      Protests and refusal to wear a mask in public-places are the actions they most commonly take.

      Some, however, have gone to more extreme measures.

    • CBC- Canadians growing desperate amid COVID-19 testing crunch

      Canadians are growing desperate for COVID-19 tests, and experts are warning of inequity and inaccuracy in case counts, as provinces continue to report testing backlogs and soaring infections.

    • CBC – Do not give into ‘Omicron despair,’ health writer says

      Despite a surge in cases of COVID-19, health reporter Andre Picard says now is not the time to give into ‘Omicron despair,’ and that people should look at the positives — like upped immunity and new medical advancements saving lives.

    • global news – Majority of Canadians are not using the COVID Alert app

      Across the country soaring COVID-19 cases have forced many public officials to give up on contact tracing.

      Instead, Canadians are being asked to warn people they’ve been in contact with to isolate and monitor for symptoms.

      But there’s another tool available: the federal government’s COVID Alert app.

      But the app never seemed to find its footing as part of the anti-COVID-19 arsenal Canadians were prepared to adopt.

      Though more than 6.7 million of the 30 million smartphones in Canada have the app installed, new data obtained by Global News shows that its use has declined significantly through 2021.

      + comments on the YT page

    • Pfizer Partnered With China’s Vaccine Passport Platform, Admits Being ‘Proud To Stand With China Leaders.’

      Pfizer Inc partnered with a Chinese Communist Party payment platform which has been used to implement “vaccine passports” in China since the outbreak of COVID-19. The company said it was “proud to stand with China leaders.”

      The pharmaceutical giant – whose U.S. lobbying efforts hit an all-time high in the past year – expressed its pride for the brutal, communist regime in the following tweet from June 6th, 2018:
      —————————————————

      https://twitter.com/pfizer/status/1004446584107618306

      ———————————————————–

      “We are proud to stand with China leaders & @Alipay to introduce new, digital solutions to improve disease education and vaccine access-creating a brighter future for Chinese children,” the tweet reads.

      “We are honored to be a partner in China’s ‘Internet + Vaccination’ initiative,” reads an accompanying graphic, quoting Pfizer’s China General Manager Wu Kun.

      The message also revealed the firm’s partnership with Alipay, a Chinese online payment platform originally founded as an offshoot of the Chinese Communist Party-linked company Alibaba.

      Alibaba has also been involved in the “research, production, and repair of weapons and equipment for the People’s Liberation Army (PLA)” and has a “deep record of cooperation and collaboration” with China’s “state security bureaucracy,” according to Assistant Secretary for International Security and Nonproliferation at the U.S. State Department Christopher Ford.

      The State Department has also flagged the company as a “tool” of the Chinese Communist Party, aiding in its build-up of “technology-facilitated surveillance and social control.”

      Despite these ties, Pfizer partnered with the platform in 2018, as outlined in the company’s annual review:

      “We’re using the Alipay platform, which has over 700 million active users in China, to provide much needed education about disease and vaccinations. Additionally, to help China reach its ambitious 2030 goals to reduce infant mortality, we are exploring the use of the platform for mobile payments to improve convenience in Chinese Point of Vaccination centers, as well as options for installment payments that may reduce the financial burden for low income families.”

      The unearthing of the partnership between Alipay and Pfizer, which occurred a year prior to the onset of COVID-19, also follows China relying on the platform to institute vaccine passports. As The New York Times explains:
      “After users fill in a form on Alipay with personal details, the software generates a QR code in one of three colors. A green code enables its holder to move about unrestricted. Someone with a yellow code may be asked to stay home for seven days. Red means a two-week quarantine.

      In Hangzhou, it has become nearly impossible to get around without showing your Alipay code. Propaganda-style banners remind everyone of the rules: “Green code, travel freely. Red or yellow, report immediately.”

      Alibaba was recently penalized by the CCP for failing to adhere to recent laws requiring the company to put the regime’s interests ahead of its duty to report critical cybersecurity vulnerabilities to the world.

      https://thenationalpulse.com/2021/12/29/pfizer-partnered-with-alipay-praised-ccp/

    • COVID-19 benefits to remain off limit for vaccine mandate layoffs: minister

      The federal minister in charge of aid to the unemployed says jobless Canadians who refuse to get vaccinated may find themselves blocked from benefits so long as public health concerns remain top of mind.

      The Liberals have tacked conditions onto a suite of benefit payments, saying workers who lose work or hours because they have refused to get vaccinated are not qualified.

      The rules don’t apply to those who have a medical exemption.

      Employment Minister Carla Qualtrough says the decision was part economic to make sure workplaces weren’t shut down because of an outbreak, and also to encourage more eligible Canadians to get a shot.

      In an interview with The Canadian Press, Qualtrough says the rules are likely to stay in place so long as public health remains a top policy priority.

      The government’s latest round of benefits for hard-hit workers is scheduled to last until early May, though the Liberals have the power to extend aid until the summer if necessary.

      “As long as the collective public health of Canadians is jeopardized, and our economy is thereby threatened, we’re going to have to keep public health policy top of mind in our employment and labour and economic decision making,” Qualtrough said.

      “And I don’t know how long that will be.”

      Qualtrough started as employment minister shortly after the October 2019 federal election, coming into the file at a time when the country had a historically low unemployment rate.

      The pandemic changed everything starting in March and April 2020 when the first wave shut down much of the economy. Three million jobs were lost over those two months, while almost as many had their hours cut.

      By May, the unemployment rate hit a historic high of 13.7 per cent as the government shut down the employment insurance system in favour of pandemic benefits like the Canada Emergency Response Benefit and its successor, the Canada Recovery Benefit.

      Federal aid was revamped again in December. It’s now more targeted at the hardest-hit sectors, and includes a $300-a-week benefit for workers who are subject to a lockdown.

      The legislation that created the benefit says a lockdown is when a public health authority has ordered non-essential businesses closed and non-essential workers to stay home. The wording of the law, however, allows cabinet to decide what region is in lockdown to qualify for the aid.

      Qualtrough said the latest pivot in pandemic aid was conceived in the fall when the Liberals looked to create an insurance policy against whatever twist the pandemic threw next at the country.

      “We knew we had to make sure that if something like Omicron happened, that we still needed a tool to help Canadians who either would lose their jobs or would face reduced hours,” she said.

      “But we knew the economy in September of 2021 looked very different than it did in September of 2020. So we couldn’t just continue with broad measures that maybe would disincentivize work, or wouldn’t encourage maximum labour force participation.”

      Last month, the unemployment rate hit six per cent, or 0.3 percentage points above the level recorded just before the pandemic in February 2020. And the share of working-age Canadians with a job hit its highest point ever.

      Looking back to the start of the pandemic, Qualtrough said the government wanted to target spending at jobless workers rather than provide income-support to everyone in the country, some of whom, like seniors, were still getting their usual benefits despite the downturn.

      As the employment minister overseeing the best and worst labour markets, Qualtrough says she has been frustrated by the limits in the government’s toolkit to help hard-hit workers.

      She pointed to outdated systems that need upgrading as one example, and rules in the system that meant some people weren’t covered by all the moves the government made.

      “There were people who did not benefit in the way that they would have had we gone down the … wide, but less deep model of helping everybody,” she said.

      “I don’t think I would change it. I think we made the best decision for the people who were the most impacted, certainly at the time.”

      https://globalnews.ca/news/8480714/covid-19-benefits-vaccine-mandate-layoffs/

    • Israel: First shipment of Pfizer COVID-fighting pill arrives in country

      Israel received its first shipment of the Pfizer’s COVID-fighting Paxlovid pill at Ben-Gurion International Airport in Lod on Thursday.

      Israel is the second country after the US to receive the pills, which are designed to treat severe cases of COVID.

      A deal has been signed for over 100,000 doses, with the first shipment containing 20,000.

      The pills showed 90 percent efficacy in curbing deaths and hospitalisations for high risk patients in clinical trials conducted by Pfizer.

    • Quebec – Health Issues – CURFEW

      Starting from December 31, 2021: a curfew will be in effect between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. and certain health measures will be tightened throughout Québec

      […]Offenders are liable to fines ranging from $1 000 to $6 000 if they are unable to adequately justify why they are outside the home.

      Young people 14 years of age and over are subject to a $500 fine.

      […]To enable individuals who are travelling during the curfew because of their work to readily demonstrate that such travel is legitimate, employers are asked to complete the Employer Attestation Concerning Travel During the Curfew Decreed by the Gouvernement du Québec.

      download the attestation :

      https://cdn-contenu.quebec.ca/cdn-contenu/sante/documents/Problemes_de_sante/covid-19/Attestation_Deplacement_Couvre-feuANG_VF2022.docx?1640899798

      https://www.quebec.ca/en/health/health-issues/a-z/2019-coronavirus/measures-in-force/curfew

      ===================================
      Montreal Gazette – Quebec reinstates curfew, closes dining rooms, bans private gatherings as cases soar

      The new COVID restrictions take effect New Year’s Eve. “The situation is extreme,” Premier François Legault said when explaining new rules.

      […]Quebec continues to grapple with surging COVID-19 cases fuelled by the Omicron variant

      […]“Our experts tell us there’s a risk we won’t be able to treat all those who need it in the coming weeks,”

      […]we know there’s a minority who don’t respect the rules.”

      […]Places of worship will also need to close other than for funerals

      […]Quebec also announced plans to widen the use of vaccine passports, such as in stores

      […] There are currently 12,500 health-care employees absent from work, which is why the province recently announced it may bring staff who’ve come into contact with or contracted COVID-19 out of isolation .

      […]projections released on Thursday suggest Quebec could see anywhere between 1,600 and 2,100 hospitalizations within the next three weeks, and the number of people requiring intensive care could climb to between 300 and 375.

      “This (data) is really what permits us to clearly see and clearly read the situation,” Legault said Thursday.

      https://montrealgazette.com/news/local-news/quebec-will-reinstate-curfew-as-omicron-cases-soar-report-says

  6. twitter @disclosetv

    JUST IN – Robert Koch Institute report released today states that 95.58% of the Omicron cases in Germany are fully vaccinated (28% of those had a “booster”), 4.42% are unvaccinated.

    https://twitter.com/disclosetv/status/1476583826344267777

    ————————-
    Source (Welt):

    Im neuen #RKI-Wochenbericht fehlt die übliche tabellarische Übersicht zur Impfeffektivität. Dafür gibt es die folgenden Impfstatus-Infos zu 4206 von insgesamt #Omikron-Fällen:

    – 4020, ergo 95,58 % vollständig Geimpfte (1137 davon geboostert)
    – 186 Ungeimpfte (4,42 %)

    https://twitter.com/Tim_Roehn/status/1476575806969335812

    https://www.rki.de/DE/Content/InfAZ/N/Neuartiges_Coronavirus/Situationsberichte/Wochenbericht/Wochenbericht_2021-12-30.pdf

  7. […]Giuffre has long accused Dershowitz of having sex with her when she was as young as 16.

    BBC platforms Alan Dershowitz on Ghislaine Maxwell trial outcome

  8. DAILY MAIL – The mystery of Maxwell’s millions: Sex-trafficker socialite claimed she had ‘just’ £2.6m to her name when she was arrested last year despite being wired £22m by Epstein – amid claims she transferred wealth to tech CEO husband

    Forensic accountants believe Ghislaine Maxwell had a net worth of £15million ($20.2million) in 2015

    But she claimed this was down to just £2.6million by the time she was arrested in New Hampshire in 2020

    Maxwell reportedly transferred £15million to her husband Scott Borgerson after they secretly married

    She also allegedly bought and sold multiple mansions and high-value homes between 2015 and 2020

    […]Justice finally caught up with Ghislaine Maxwell at this 156-acre ranch in New Hampshire called Tuckedaway, which she reportedly bought in secret using one of her aliases before her arrest in 2020

    […]Ghislaine Maxwell sold her house on the Upper East Side of NYC . She disposed of the five-storey, 7,000-square-foot townhouse banking $15million. Maxwell also reportedly transferred £15million to her husband Scott Borgerson after they married in a move that could protect the majority of her wealth from being claimed by alleged victims of Jeffrey Epstein

    […]The British socialite also hid at a $3 million mansion, which is surrounded by trees and at the end of a long private road in Manchester By The Sea

    +PICS

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10355847/The-mystery-Maxwells-millions-Socialite-claimed-just-2-6m-name.html

    ===================================================
    DAILY MAIL – BBC admits interview with guest pundit Alan Dershowitz about Maxwell verdict was a mistake and says it should have told audience he was Epstein’s lawyer and is accused of sex assault by Virginia Giuffre

    Alan Dershowitz told BBC the Maxwell trial ‘weakened’ case against Duke of York

    BBC slammed for not mentioning Dershowitz is also accused by Virginia Giuffre

    Duke’s lawyers to try to have Virginia Giuffre’s lawsuit thrown out next month

    Experts say even that would not remove stigma on him because of Epstein

    Prince Andrew and Dershowitz both deny all the allegations made against them

    […]The BBC today accepted he was ‘not a suitable person to interview as an impartial analyst’ and it ‘did not make the relevant background clear to our audience’.

    It comes after one MP said ‘the BBC should not give a platform to people accused of child sexual abuse’ and condemned Mr Dershowitz for ‘trying to silence victims’.

    A BBC spokesman said: ‘The interview with Alan Dershowitz after the Ghislaine Maxwell verdict did not meet the BBC’s editorial standards, as Mr Dershowitz was not a suitable person to interview as an impartial analyst, and we did not make the relevant background clear to our audience. We will look into how this happened.’

    Ms Giuffre previously alleged that she was lent out to Mr Dershowitz for sex while she was underage, but he vehemently denies this and has said he has never met her.

    ===================================================
    DAILY MAIL – Lawyer Alan Dershowitz who represented Jeffrey Epstein and was accused of rape by Virginia Giuffre says SHE could now face sex crime charges

    Alan Dershowitz told Fox News Epstein accuser Virginia Giuffre could be charged with sex crimes

    He referred to court testimony of woman who said Giuffre ‘brought her to Epstein as an under-age girl for money’

    Harvard professor was accused of rape by Giuffre and was sued for defamation

    Dershowitz denies her claims against him and has launched a countersuit

    Came after Dershowitz told BBC that Ghislaine Maxwell’s trial ‘weakened’ Guiffre’s civil case against Duke of York

    BBC slammed for not mentioning Dershowitz is also accused by Virginia Giuffre

    […]But on Fox News last night, Dershowitz said that Giuffre, who was trafficked by Epstein as a 17-year-old, could be tried for ‘facilitating sex’ between Epstein and a minor later on.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10355351/Epstein-lawyer-Alan-Dershowitz-says-Virginia-Giuffre-face-sex-crime-charges.html

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

    from the 28:14 mark :

    • zero hedge – Prosecutors Quietly Dropped Case Against Epstein Jail Guards During Ghislaine Maxwell Trial

      While Ghislaine Maxwell stood trial for her part in Jeffrey Epstein’s underage sex-trafficking operation, federal prosecutors quietly dropped their case against two jail guards who allegedly ‘slept on the job’ while the wealthy pedophile killed himself – or was murdered, depending on who you believe, or whether one has common sense.

      On December 13, federal prosecutors in Manhattan signed a nolle prosequi, a document indicating to the judge that they wish to drop the case, according to Insider. The filing didn’t appear on the court’s public docket until Thursday, more than two weeks later, and one day after Maxwell was convicted for sex-trafficking girls to Epstein to be sexually abused.

      The guards, Tova Noel and Michael Thomas, were arrested charged in November 2019. According to the original complaint, they two had fallen asleep, browsed news feeds, and shopped for motorcycles and furniture (with unexpected income, perhaps?), instead of performing their rounds at the Metropolitan Correctional Center. They were also charged with falsifying documents and conspiracy to defraud the US.

      Did we mention that prison surveillance footage of the alleged suicide disappeared? Yes, we did.

      Did we mention that Epstein had reportedly been in ‘good spirits’ right before his suicide – meeting with his lawyers for up to 12 hours a day to discuss his case? Yes, we did.

      Epstein, or a homeless guy in an Epstein mask, was found dead in his cell on the morning of August 10, 2019. While the NY City head coroner ruled it a suicide, Epstein’s brother hired a private coroner who ruled that the financier’s broken neck bones were more consistent with a homicide.

      Noel and Thomas pleaded not guilty to the charges against them for falsifying records. In May this year, they entered a deferred prosecution agreement where prosecutors agreed not to bring the guards’ case to trial until after they finished cooperating with an investigation into the circumstances of Epstein’s death with the Justice Department’s Office of the Inspector General. The OIG has yet to release a report in connection with the investigation.

      A public status conference for the case against Noel and Thomas had been scheduled for December 16, but was canceled on December 15 without explanation, or scheduling of a future meeting. -Insider

      According to the December 13 filing, Noel and Thomas had complied with the terms of their non-prosecution agreement and completed community service.

      https://www.zerohedge.com/covid-19/prosecutors-quietly-dropped-case-against-epstein-jail-guards-during-ghislaine-maxwell

  9. Hmmm the only grocery store I have not been thrown out of is closed.

    Notice due to low-risk exposure of Covid we will be closed until January 8th. Need to thoroughly clean store and test employees. It was just a matter of time – co tact tracing, taking temperatures, only so many allowed – fear fear fear.