Reader’s Links for January 12, 2022

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

67 Replies to “Reader’s Links for January 12, 2022”

  1. bloomberg – Repeat Booster Shots Spur European Warning on Immune-System Risks

    European Union regulators warned that frequent Covid-19 booster shots could adversely affect the immune system and may not be feasible.

    Repeat booster doses every four months could eventually weaken the immune system and tire out people, according to the European Medicines Agency. Instead, countries should leave more time between booster programs and tie them to the onset of the cold season in each hemisphere, following the blueprint set out by influenza vaccination strategies, the agency said.

    The advice comes as some countries consider the possibility of offering people second booster shots in a bid to provide further protection against surging omicron infections. Earlier this month Israel became the first nation to start administering a second booster, or fourth shot, to those over 60. The U.K. has said that boosters are providing good levels of protection and there is no need for a second booster shot at the moment, but will review data as it evolves.

    Boosters “can be done once, or maybe twice, but it’s not something that we can think should be repeated constantly,” Marco Cavaleri, the EMA head of biological health threats and vaccines strategy, said at a press briefing on Tuesday. “We need to think about how we can transition from the current pandemic setting to a more endemic setting.”

    The EU regulator also said at the briefing that oral and intravenous antivirals, such as Paxlovid and Remdesivir, maintain their efficacy against omicron.

    The agency said that April is the soonest it could approve a new vaccine targeting a specific variant, as the process takes about three to four months. Some of the world’s largest vaccine-makers have said they are looking at producing vaccines that could target new variants.

    https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/repeat-booster-shots-spur-european-warning-on-immune-system-risks-1.1706083

    • twitter @libsoftiktok

      This is Belgium’s health minister.

      + PIC

      https://twitter.com/libsoftiktok/status/1480787961645916161

      =============================================
      twitter @TheLastRefuge2

      In addition to vaccination, multiple booster shots now required in order to retain your ability to work in Australia.

      No Booster = You’re Fired.

      Who didn’t see this coming? Here’s your freedom…oops sorry no…more jabs in arms required.

      Victoria: here are your VACCINE ORDERS – what will you do?

      + VIDEO

      https://twitter.com/TheLastRefuge2/status/1481077713595244545

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

    • ‘The vaccinated are getting tired’: N.B. premier on Quebec’s tax

      N.B. Premier Blaine Higgs discusses whether his province will impose a tax on unvaccinated adults without a medical exemption like Quebec.

      • – Will the vaxx-tax spread throughout Canada? –
        (Reminder: All Premiers did meet with Justin on Monday or Tuesday.)

        ** Majority of Canadians support healthcare fines for unvaccinated: poll **

        Just over 60 per cent of Canadians recently polled are on board with the implementation of fines for the unvaccinated, such as a healthcare tax, similar to the one Québec Premier François Legault announced on Tuesday.

        A new poll published on Wednesday by Maru Public Opinion, in which just over 1,500 people were surveyed, indicates that most Canadians agree the unvaccinated should be penalized in some form.

        The survey’s results show that four in ten (38 per cent) of Canadians admit to knowing someone in their family or circle of friends who has contracted the COVID-19 virus in the last 10 days.

        “Based on the latest sounding, those most likely to know someone who has recently acquired COVID (38 per cent) hail from Ontario (42 per cent), followed by those living in Manitoba/Saskatchewan (39 per cent), Québec (38 per cent), Atlantic Canada (36 per cent), Alberta (34 per cent), and British Columbia (31 per cent).”

        https://montreal.citynews.ca/2022/01/12/canada-poll-unvaccinated-fines/

    • Cross border truckers face vaccine mandate

      Canada’s trucking industry says unvaccinated drivers could quit, when a vaccine mandate for those crossing the border comes into effect Saturday.

      One food prof says this couldn’t come at a worse time for Canadian grocery bills.

    • DEUTSCHE PRAVDA – Omicron infection rates skyrocket in Israel

      Israel’s health ministry on Monday reported that infections had reached new daily highs. The ministry said there had been 21,501 new cases in the past 24 hours.

      Its believed the figures could be higher, but Israel has eased up on testing.

      Around 61 percent of the country has been fully vaccinated with booster jabs.

      The country has also introduced fourth jabs to eligible groups of its population including those who work in healthcare and people with compromised immune sytems, among others.

      • twitter thread – @GalG_

        A Tale of The Most & First Vaccinated Country – In the World

        1/ Hi followers from around the world, I feel that we need to take a moment and explain to you what is happening in Israel today.

        Everything is so fast & crazy, but as we’ve said many times, ISRAEL is a trailer now in many ways, and if you want time to prepare

        – read carefully

        https://twitter.com/GalG____/status/1480835205686509568

      • zero hedge – “Doomed To Fail” – Top Immunologist Blasts Global COVID Response Driven By “False Propaganda”

        Professor Ehud Qimron, head of the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at Tel Aviv University and one of the leading Israeli immunologists, has written an open letter sharply criticizing the Israeli – and indeed global – management of the coronavirus pandemic.

        Original letter in Hebrew: N12 News (January 6, 2022)

        https://www.mako.co.il/news-columns/2022_q1/Article-dfd99ca599e2e71026.htm

        translated by Google/SPR.

        See also: Professor Qimron’s prediction from August 2020: “History will judge the hysteria” (INN).

        https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/285341

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

        Ministry of Health, it’s time to admit failure

        In the end, the truth will always be revealed, and the truth about the coronavirus policy is beginning to be revealed. When the destructive concepts collapse one by one, there is nothing left but to tell the experts who led the management of the pandemic – we told you so.

        Two years late, you finally realize that a respiratory virus cannot be defeated and that any such attempt is doomed to fail. You do not admit it, because you have admitted almost no mistake in the last two years, but in retrospect it is clear that you have failed miserably in almost all of your actions, and even the media is already having a hard time covering your shame.

        You refused to admit that the infection comes in waves that fade by themselves, despite years of observations and scientific knowledge. You insisted on attributing every decline of a wave solely to your actions, and so through false propaganda “you overcame the plague.” And again you defeated it, and again and again and again.

        You refused to admit that mass testing is ineffective, despite your own contingency plans explicitly stating so (“Pandemic Influenza Health System Preparedness Plan, 2007”, p. 26).

        You refused to admit that recovery is more protective than a vaccine, despite previous knowledge and observations showing that non-recovered vaccinated people are more likely to be infected than recovered people. You refused to admit that the vaccinated are contagious despite the observations. Based on this, you hoped to achieve herd immunity by vaccination — and you failed in that as well.

        You insisted on ignoring the fact that the disease is dozens of times more dangerous for risk groups and older adults, than for young people who are not in risk groups, despite the knowledge that came from China as early as 2020.

        You refused to adopt the “Barrington Declaration”, signed by more than 60,000 scientists and medical professionals, or other common sense programs. You chose to ridicule, slander, distort and discredit them. Instead of the right programs and people, you have chosen professionals who lack relevant training for pandemic management (physicists as chief government advisers, veterinarians, security officers, media personnel, and so on).

        You have not set up an effective system for reporting side effects from the vaccines and reports on side effects have even been deleted from your Facebook page. Doctors avoid linking side effects to the vaccine, lest you persecute them as you did to some of their colleagues. You have ignored many reports of changes in menstrual intensity and menstrual cycle times. You hid data that allows for objective and proper research (for example, you removed the data on passengers at Ben Gurion Airport). Instead, you chose to publish non-objective articles together with senior Pfizer executives on the effectiveness and safety of vaccines.

        Irreversible damage to trust
        However, from the heights of your hubris, you have also ignored the fact that in the end the truth will be revealed. And it begins to be revealed. The truth is that you have brought the public’s trust in you to an unprecedented low, and you have eroded your status as a source of authority. The truth is that you have burned hundreds of billions of shekels to no avail – for publishing intimidation, for ineffective tests, for destructive lockdowns and for disrupting the routine of life in the last two years.

        You have destroyed the education of our children and their future. You made children feel guilty, scared, smoke, drink, get addicted, drop out, and quarrel, as school principals around the country attest. You have harmed livelihoods, the economy, human rights, mental health and physical health.

        You slandered colleagues who did not surrender to you, you turned the people against each other, divided society and polarized the discourse. You branded, without any scientific basis, people who chose not to get vaccinated as enemies of the public and as spreaders of disease. You promote, in an unprecedented way, a draconian policy of discrimination, denial of rights and selection of people, including children, for their medical choice. A selection that lacks any epidemiological justification.

        When you compare the destructive policies you are pursuing with the sane policies of some other countries — you can clearly see that the destruction you have caused has only added victims beyond the vulnerable to the virus. The economy you ruined, the unemployed you caused, and the children whose education you destroyed — they are the surplus victims as a result of your own actions only.

        There is currently no medical emergency, but you have been cultivating such a condition for two years now because of lust for power, budgets and control. The only emergency now is that you still set policies and hold huge budgets for propaganda and psychological engineering instead of directing them to strengthen the health care system.

        This emergency must stop!

        Professor Udi Qimron, Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University

        https://www.zerohedge.com/covid-19/doomed-fail-top-immunologist-blasts-global-covid-response-driven-false-propaganda

    • FRANCE PRAVDA – Brazil’s Bolsonaro downplays Omicron

      President Jair Bolsonaro on Wednesday downplayed the Omicron coronavirus variant amid a surge in hard-hit Brazil, ruling out new containment measures as he defended the pursuit of herd immunity through widespread infection.

      In the country with the world’s second-highest Covid-19 death toll, Bolsonaro said the arrival of the Omicron variant posed little threat, even as experts warn of growing pressure on hospitals.

      “Omicron has not killed anyone,” the coronavirus-skeptic president said after municipal authorities in the state of Goias announced the country’s first death due to the new variant.

      “The person who died in Goias already had serious problems, notably with the lungs,” which is what killed them, Bolsonaro told the Gazeta Brazil news outlet.

      Experts say the variant is already the most widespread in Brazil.

      Bolsonaro cited provisional evidence of Omicron being more contagious but less deadly than some earlier variants.

      “Some even say it is a vaccinating virus. Some smart and serious people, not aligned to the pharmaceutical industry, say Omicron is welcome and could herald the end the pandemic,” the far-right president added.

      Herd immunity

      He insisted that the Brazilian economy could not afford another lockdown, and defended the controversial approach of allowing people to get infected for so-called herd immunity against the virus to take root.

      “Herd immunity is a reality. A person immunized with the virus has a lot more antibodies than a vaccinated person,” Bolsonaro insisted.

      “Me, for example, I am not vaccinated and I am very well.”

      Bolsonaro recovered from a coronavirus infection in July 2020, has said he will not get vaccinated, and has opposed health passes given to vaccinated people to access certain places as a breach of freedom.

      In October, a Brazilian Senate commission approved a damning report that recommends criminal charges, including for crimes against humanity, be brought against the president for his Covid policies.

      He has had social media posts deleted numerous times for spreading misinformation and inciting people to violate social distancing and mask-wearing policies.

      Bolsonaro has suggested vaccines could turn people into “crocodiles,” and has endorsed the use of anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine as a treatment, despite scientific studies showing it does not work.

      Covid-19 has claimed more than 620,000 lives in Brazil, a toll second only to the United States.

      The health ministry said Tuesday the country had registered more than 70,700 new cases in 24 hours — a rate eight times higher than two weeks earlier.

      At the deadliest peak of the pandemic last year, hospitals were pushed to the brink of collapse in many areas and the daily death toll at one point exceeded 4,000.

      The vast country of 213 million people was slow to start its vaccination campaign under a president who had minimized Covid-19 as a “little flu.”

      https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20220112-brazil-s-bolsonaro-downplays-omicron

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

      bloomberg – Omicron a ‘Welcome’ Variant Says Brazil’s Bolsonaro Amid Surge

      Strain has caused global infections to jump to new heights

      Bolsonaro has doubled down on defiant stance on pandemic

      Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro said the omicron strain that’s causing a surge in Covid cases at home and abroad could be called a “vaccine virus” and is a “welcome” variant.

      “Some studious and serious people — and not linked to pharmaceutical companies — say that omicron is welcome and can in fact signal the end of the pandemic,” Bolsonaro said Wednesday in an interview with Gazeta Brasil website.

      Bolsonaro has stood out globally for his defiant stance in the face of the pandemic, repeatedly dubbing it “a little flu” despite the more than 600,000 Brazilians who have died from the virus in the past two years. The president, who is up for re-election this year, has been digging in to his position against vaccines. He vowed to not allow his daughter to receive the shot and promised to continue to fight against lockdowns, even as omicron makes landfall in the country, causing cases to surge past 70,000 a day. For most of December, daily infections rarely surpassed the 10,000 mark.

      What We Know About the Omicron Variant Now: QuickTake

      But while hospitalizations have ticked higher in Brazil in recent weeks, so far there hasn’t been an onslaught of patients seeking intensive care units like in mid-2021, before vaccines were widely available. It’s a similar pattern to that seen in countries from Argentina to South Africa and Denmark, and one that has fueled a change to how some nations approach the pandemic.

      Despite the seemingly more mild effects of the variant, medical experts warn it could still overburden hospitals and health systems because of how quickly it spreads. Omicron has become the dominant variant in many places, including the U.K., U.S., and Brazil.

      https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-01-12/omicron-a-welcome-variant-says-brazil-s-bolsonaro-amid-surge

      • Go to hell Justine the party is over and now it is time for many global madmen to be arrested – Crimes against humanity.

    • DAILY MAIL – The reality of Zero Covid in Communist China: Social media videos show ‘quarantine camps’ where pregnant women and children are confined to tiny cells amid reports of mass detentions in the dead of night

      Residents have been transferred to quarantine camps in China, insiders say
      The camps have rows of cramped metal boxes with a wooden bed and toilet
      20million people in China are under strict lockdown rules ahead of Olympics

      Sprawling quarantine camps with rows upon rows of cramped metal boxes to house people suspected of having Covid-19 have sprung up in China, social media videos show.

      The Communist country is attempt to eradicate the virus despite warnings that the more infectious Omicron variant makes a Zero Covid strategy impossible, even with the draconian measures used by Beijing.

      There are now a total of 20million people confined to their homes in China after the cities of Anyang and Yuzhou joined the 13million in Xi’an under quarantine and banned from leaving their home even to buy food.

      more:

      https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10392071/Reality-Zero-Covid-China-quarantine-camps-confine-residents-cells-videos-show.html

    • AUSTRALIA – Qld Covid-19 update: unvaccinated ‘nine times more likely’ to end up in hospital

    • Australians face $1,000 fine in NSW if they fail to register positive rapid antigen results

    • Unvaccinated NHS Doctor Explains Challenging Sajid Javid On Compulsory Covid Jabs

      Unvaccinated consultant Dr James confronted Sajid Javid at a Hospital saying he didn’t support the mandatory vaccine programme for NHS staff.

      Dr James explains what led to his decision.

      Broadcast on 12/01/22

    • Quebec Wants a Tax on the Unvaccinated??

      The Francois Legault government is responsible for the death of thousands of elderly Quebecers in nursing homes. Now it wants to force the unvaccinated to pay for its abysmal management of the pandemic and the health care system.

    • Germany: Scholz speaks out in favour of vaccination mandate for all adults

      German Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) spoke out in favour of the rapid introduction of mandatory vaccination for all adults in his first government statement in Berlin on Wednesday.

      “There is no decision that you make for yourself. And that is why a vaccination mandate is right,” said Scholz at the German parliament.

      “For our whole country, for our own friends, for the neighbours, the fact that someone could be infected has a consequence,” he continued.

      The Chancellor pointed out that the number of infections in Germany is currently not as high as in other countries, but thanks to the Omicron variant, Germany would soon also face much higher numbers.

      At the beginning of the government declaration, the AfD (Alternative for Germany) disrupted Scholz’s opening speech with a poster campaign, which is normally forbidden in the Bundestag. The posters said “Freedom instead of division” as a protest against mandatory vaccination.

      Bundestag President Baerbel Bas threatened the AfD MPs with expulsion, whereupon the posters disappeared again.

      SOT, Olaf Scholz, German Chancellor (German): “It is clear and we know that very well, we will see the infection process that we have in other countries with more infections because of the omicron variant. It has already been mentioned today, we have last recorded around 80,000 infections today and that’s why we have to assume that higher numbers, as we see them elsewhere, will also be recorded here. A reason to continue on this path. And a reason I want to say at this point why I am in favour – supported by many others, as I have seen in the political arena, but also supported by the heads of government of the states – that we introduce a vaccination mandate in Germany.”

      SOT, Olaf Scholz, German Chancellor (German): “We decide with everything that we decide not only about ourselves and not only for ourselves. Because of the fact that in Germany not as many are vaccinated as we hoped at the beginning of the vaccination campaign when we were still struggling to ensure that as many as possible could get a vaccination at all. The fact that we didn’t get high enough (vaccination numbers) also has consequences. Consequences that are related to the measures that I have just described. But also consequences that mean, for example, that we have made funds available so that hospitals can postpone operations so that there are enough beds available for corona infected people.”

      SOT, Olaf Scholz, German Chancellor (German): “And that’s why there is no decision where someone says ‘it doesn’t concern me, I decide for myself, I don’t vaccinate and that has no consequences for others’. But, for our whole country, for our own friends, for the neighbours, the fact that someone could be infected has a consequence, for example, the many resources that we spend on the hospitals so that they have space for the infected, for example, that others have to endure that their operations are postponed because we have made room for corona infected people. There is no decision that you make for yourself. And that is why a vaccination mandate is right.”

      SOT, Olaf Scholz, German Chancellor (German): “This is a serious threat to security in Europe. The deployment of troops on the Ukrainian border must worry us. And it is also very, very worrying for me personally. Something happened with the annexation of Crimea. Namely, a conquered security, one that we have conquered politically together in Europe, that security can only be achieved together, has been lost, because a fundamental constant has always been part of it: the common declaration that borders in Europe are no longer shifted, that the territorial integrity of the states remains unaffected. And we have to return to this situation. We will do that. Embedded in the European Union and in NATO, together with our American allies we will ensure that all these dialogue formats are used again to ensure that we reach the necessary progress for security in Europe again.”

      SOT, Olaf Scholz, German Chancellor (German): “And we are actively ensuring that there are again opportunities to revive the Normandy conversation format between the countries that initiated this to overcome the crisis in Ukraine.”

    • WHO – TEDROS – Omicron “dangerous virus, particularly to unvaccinated”

      He insisted that the “overwhelming majority of people admitted to hospitals around the world are unvaccinated.”

      But let’s be clear. While omicron causes less severe diseases than delta, it remains a dangerous virus, particularly for those who are unvaccinated.”

      While vaccines remain very effective at preventing severe diseases and death. They do not fully prevent transmission.

      More transmission means more hospitalizations, more deaths, more people off work, including teachers and health workers, and more risk of another variant emerging that’s even more transmissible and more deadly than omicron.”

    • Trucker vaccine mandates ‘balancing’ supply chain and safety: Ng

      International Trade Minister Mary Ng discusses the vaccine mandate coming into place for truckers crossing the Canada-U.S. border.

  2. An observation of when youtube changed from ‘truth and live’ to ‘lie or die’.
    https://youtu.be/Ln1qbgZz_TQ

    Reminds me of Feudal Allah, Corporate Communism and Aristocratic Sexualism. Lying to live off the backs of their believers.

    Another round of, seek and you will find those people not gaming you but want you truly vaccinated.

  3. Certain batches of Covid-19 nasal swabs distributed to the U.S. military have been tainted with a deadly bacteria that causes necrotizing fasciitis, a flesh-eating disease that quickly destroys tissue under the skin and often results in death unless IV antibiotics are administered before the onset of necrosis, said Captain Jacob Downing, a medical doctor and infectious disease expert at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Medical Research (WRAIR.)
    https://adinakutnicki.com/tag/poison-laced-covid-swabs-to-military/

  4. @disclosetv

    JUST IN – Germany doesn’t rule out shutting down Telegram in the country if the messaging app continues to “violate German law” – Interior Minister

    https://twitter.com/disclosetv/status/1481218862360182789

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

    NEW – 80 fact-checking organizations worldwide accuse YouTube of aiding “disinformation” in an open letter.

    They demand a “structured collaboration” to superimpose their counter-content on videos to “provide context.”

    https://twitter.com/disclosetv/status/1481207065255477250

    ============================================
    An open letter to YouTube’s CEO from the world’s fact-checkers
    Published on 12 January 2022

    Ms. Susan Wojcicki,

    It’s been almost two years since the Covid-19 pandemic started. The world has seen time and time again how destructive disinformation and misinformation can be for social harmony, democracy, and public health; too many lives and livelihoods have been ruined, and far too many people have lost loved ones to disinformation. As an international network of fact-checking organisations, we monitor how lies spread online — and everyday, we see that YouTube is one of the major conduits of online disinformation and misinformation worldwide. This is a significant concern among our global fact-checking community.

    What we do not see is much effort by YouTube to implement policies that address the problem. On the contrary, YouTube is allowing its platform to be weaponised by unscrupulous actors to manipulate and exploit others, and to organise and fundraise themselves. Current measures are proving insufficient. That is why we urge you to take effective action against disinformation and misinformation, and to elaborate a roadmap of policy and product interventions to improve the information ecosystem – and to do so with the world’s independent, non-partisan fact-checking organisations.

    In the last year we have seen conspiracy groups thriving and collaborating across borders, including an international movement that started in Germany, jumped to Spain and spread through Latin America, all on YouTube. Meanwhile, millions of other users were watching videos in Greek and Arabic that encouraged them to boycott vaccinations or treat their Covid-19 infections with bogus cures. Beyond Covid-19, YouTube videos have been promoting false cures for cancer for years.

    In Brazil, the platform has been used to amplify hate speech against vulnerable groups, reaching tens of thousands of users. Elections are not safe either. In the Philippines, false content with over 2 million views denying human rights abuses and corruption during the Martial law years are being used to burnish the reputation of the late dictator’s son, one of the candidates in the 2022 elections. In Taiwan, the last election was marred by unsubstantiated accusations of fraud.

    The whole world witnessed the consequences of disinformation when a violent mob assaulted the US Capitol. From the eve of the US presidential election to the day after, YouTube videos supporting the “fraud” narrative were watched more than 33 million times.

    The examples are too many to count. Many of those videos and channels remain online today, and they all went under the radar of YouTube’s policies, especially in non-English speaking countries and the Global South. We are glad that the company has made some moves to try to address this problem lately, but based on what we see daily on the platform, we think these efforts are not working – nor has YouTube produced any quality data to prove their effectiveness.

    Your company platform has so far framed discussions about disinformation as a false dichotomy of deleting or not deleting content. By doing this, YouTube is avoiding the possibility of doing what has been proven to work: our experience as fact-checkers together with academic evidence tells us that surfacing fact-checked information is more effective than deleting content. It also preserves freedom of expression while acknowledging the need for additional information to mitigate the risks of harm to life, health, safety and democratic processes. And given that a large proportion of views on YouTube come from its own recommendation algorithm, YouTube should also make sure it does not actively promote disinformation to its users or recommend content coming from unreliable channels.

    With all this in mind, we propose some solutions that would make a great deal of difference in reducing the dissemination of disinformation and misinformation on YouTube.

    A commitment to meaningful transparency about disinformation on the platform: YouTube should support independent research about the origins of the different misinformation campaigns, their reach and impact, and the most effective ways to debunk false information. It should also publish its full moderation policy regarding disinformation and misinformation, including the use of artificial intelligence and which data powers it.

    Beyond removing content for legal compliance, YouTube’s focus should be on providing context and offering debunks, clearly superimposed on videos or as additional video content. That only can come from entering into a meaningful and structured collaboration taking the responsibility and systematically investing in independent fact-checking efforts around the world that are working to solve these issues.

    Acting against repeat offenders that produce content that is constantly flagged as disinformation and misinformation, particularly those monetising that content on and outside the platform, notably by preventing its recommendation algorithms from promoting content from such sources of misinformation.

    Extend current and future efforts against disinformation and misinformation in languages different from English, and providing country- and language-specific data, as well as transcription services that work in any language.

    We hope you will consider implementing these ideas for the public good and to make YouTube a platform that truly does its best to prevent disinformation and misinformation being weaponised against its users and society at large. We are ready and able to help YouTube. We wish to meet with you to discuss these matters and find ways forward on a collaboration and look forward to your response to this offer.

    Africa Check (Senegal, Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa) / Animal Político – El Sabueso (Mexico) / Aos Fatos (Brazil) / Bolivia Verifica (Bolivia) / BOOM (India, Myanmar and Bangladesh) / Check Your Fact (USA) / Code for Africa – PesaCheck (Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Côte d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Mali, Niger, Nigeria Senegal, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda and Zimbabwe) / Colombiacheck (Colombia) / CORRECTIV (Germany) / Cotejo.info (Venezuela) / Chequeado (Argentina) / Delfi Lithuania (Lithuania) / Demagog Association (Poland) / Do?ruluk Pay? (Turkey) / Dubawa (Nigeria, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Liberia and The Gambia) / Ecuador Chequea (Ecuador) / Ellinika Hoaxes (Greece) / Fact Crescendo (India) / Fact-Check Ghana / FactCheck.org (USA) / FactSpace West Africa / Facta (Italy) / FactcheckNI (UK) / Factly (India) / Factual.ro (Romania) /FactWatch (Bangladesh) / Fakenews.pl (Poland) / Faktist.no (Norway) / Faktograf.hr (Croatia) / Faktoje (Albania) / Fast Check CL (Chile) / Fatabyyano (Middle East and North Africa) / Full Fact (UK) / GRASS – FactCheck Georgia / India Today Group (India) / Istinomer (Serbia) / Istinomjer (Bosnia i Herzegovina) / Hibrid.info (Kosovo) / Knack Magazine (Belgium) / La Silla Vacía (Colombia) / Lead Stories (USA) / Les Surligneurs (France) / Logically (UK) / Lupa (Brazil) / Maldita.es (Spain) / MediaWise (USA) / Mongolian Fact-checking Center (Mongolia) / MyGoPen (Taiwan) / Myth Detector (Georgia) / NewsMobile (India) / Newschecker (India and South Asia) / Newtral (Spain) / Observador – Fact Check (Portugal) / Open Fact-checking (Italy) / OSTRO (Slovenia) / Pagella Politica (Italy) Poligrafo (Portugal) / PolitiFact (USA) / Pravda (Poland) / Rappler (Philippines) / Raskrinkavanje (Bosnia i Herzegovina) / Re:Check/Re:Baltica (Latvia) / RMIT ABC Fact Check (Australia) Rumor Scanner (Bangladesh) / Science Feedback (France) / StopFake (Ukraine) / Taiwan FactCheck Center (Taiwan) / Tempo (Indonesia) / Teyit (Turkey) / The Healthy Indian Project/THIP Media (India) / The Journal FactCheck (Ireland) / The Logical Indian (Indian) / The Quint (India) / The Washington Post Fact-checker (USA) / The Whistle (Israel) / Univision – elDetector (USA) / VERA Files (Philippines) / Verificat (Spain) / Vishvas News (India) / Vistinomer (North Macedonia) / VoxCheck (Ukraine) / 15min (Lithuania)

    https://africacheck.org/fact-checks/blog/open-letter-youtubes-ceo-worlds-fact-checkers

    • bloomberg – Germany Raises Prospect of Shutting Telegram Over Hate Threats

      Germany raised the prospect of closing down the Telegram messaging service over concerns about its use as a platform for extremist groups.

      The country could seek to block the service if the government reaches the conclusion that it breeches national and European Union law.

      “A shutdown would be very serious and clearly the last resort,” Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said in an interview with German weekly Die Zeit. Before such a step, all other options would have to be exhausted, but “we can’t exclude this per se,” the SPD politician said.

      Talks about possible measures against Telegram are ongoing, an Interior Ministry spokesman said on Wednesday, adding that it wasn’t clear what legal and technical procedures would be necessary to switch off Telegram.

      The messaging service has come under increased criticism AS RIGHT-WING EXTREMISTS TURN TO THE PLATFORM TO ORGANIZE DEMONSTRATIONS AGAINTST THE GOVERNMENT’S PANDEMIC POLICIES, some of which have turned violent. Authorities are investigating alleged death threats made over Telegram against Manuela Schwesig, the state premier of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerani

      https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-01-12/germany-raises-prospect-of-shutting-telegram-over-hate-threats

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

      GERMANY JAN 10 2022 – Violent right-wing extremists in Karlsruhe

    • Bulgaria: Police push back “Green Pass” protesters trying to storm parliament

      Several hundred protesters were stopped by a large police force from storming the Parliament in Sofia on Wednesday, with people injured on both sides.

      Opponents of the COVID-19 vaccine policy gathered on the parliament’s forecourt carrying Bulgarian national flags and national symbols as the country battles with the Omicron surge. Police officers could be seen standing between the crowd and the entrance to parliament pushing back the protesters. Scuffles broke out and many demonstrators were detained.

      The rally was organised by the ultra-nationalist Revival Party. Currently, Bulgarians must wear masks indoors and on public transport and show a health passport – which is given to those fully vaccinated, recovered or negatively tested – to enter restaurants, cafés, shopping centres or gyms.

    • It’s imperative that alternative platforms are monitored by intelligence agencies. The inherent risks are too grave.

      Shin Bet thwarted Iranian attempt to recruit Israelis as spies

      The Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) has arrested five Israelis who had been recruited by an Iranian intelligence agent to whom they sent photographs and other information, the agency revealed on Tuesday.

      The investigation was carried out by the Shin Bet and Israel Police after it was suspected that a number of Israeli citizens were in contact with an Iranian intelligence agent known as Rambud Namdar, who recruited the Israelis to carry out missions within the country.

      The suspects, four women and one man from central Israel met Namdar, who said he was a Jew living in Iran, on Facebook. According to the agency, Rambud requested from all suspects that instead of being in contact on Facebook, they would talk on WhatsApp, where he also video chatted…

      Namdar never showed his face to the women, claiming the camera on his phone was broken. While some of the women suspected he was an Iranian intelligence officer, they continued to speak with him and agreed to carry out requests he made in exchange for money, the agency said.

      One of the suspects, along with her husband, had been in contact with Namdar for several years. The 40-year-old resident of Holon suspected that he was acting on behalf of Iranian authorities as an intelligence agent.

      Nevertheless, she took secret pictures of the US embassy in Tel Aviv, pictures inside the Interior and Social Affairs and Social Services ministries buildings in the city, and also gave him information on security arrangements and pictures of a mall….

      Not only did Namdar ask her to gather intelligence on senior defense establishment officers, she was also asked to tell her son, who was about to be drafted into the IDF, to serve in Military Intelligence…

      Another suspect, a 57-year-old resident of Beit Shemesh, was in contact with Namdar for more than four years. She carried out various requests, including telling her son to serve in the Intelligence Corps, and to pass along military documents belonging to her son as well as photos and videos from her son’s enlistment ceremony….

      She received a total of $5,000 for the various tasks she carried out for Namdar.

      A 47-year-old resident of Kfar Saba was also arrested on suspicion of having transferred money from Namdar on two different occasions. The funds were received through a relative who came from Iran to visit Israel, as well as during a meeting with one of Namdar’s emissaries in Turkey.

      A 50-year-old resident of Jerusalem was the fifth person arrested in the case. She was in contact with Namdar for about a year and a half until her arrest. The agency said that she received 1,240 Australian dollars in exchange for various business ventures and charity projects in which she participated…

      https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/article-692312

    • It’s not only Telegram, WhatsApp, and Gab.

      GnasherJew @GnasherJew

      Fauda Palestine is an anarchist group who encourages extreme violence against Jews. They released a video promising to “cast terror into the heart of every child and adult”. This group gives instructions on how to make Molotov Cocktails and get materials for explosive devices!

      Additionally, Fauda Palestine shares information on how to carry out a successful fatal stabbing operation against the “Zionist” enemy, including getting the right knife and finding the target!

      Some of the files Fauda Palestine published online contained metadata and we ID various social media accounts linked to members. We believe most of the group members reside in the Hebron area or Fawwar camp.

      Please appeal to @Twitter, @Meta (Facebook), @instagram and @telegram to remove these accounts. Thank you.

      https://twitter.com/GnasherJew/status/1481221875187556353

      Click through to see “potentially sensitive content”
      ~ eww, yech ~

    • I got some links, notably a Forbes one, that claims this is not the case. The matter remains unsettled to me.

  5. Brad Johnson has a series of four brief videos on the situation in Ukraine. He’s nailed it.

    Russia’s position is not posturing: it’s not Putin this-or-that; it’s Russian-Russians. They absolutely, positively believe that having NATO on their borders is an existential threat.

    Look at the map. Look at the history of invasions of their territory over the last centuries.

    If NATO or the MIC goes sneaky – like playing around in Transnistria, messing with headchoppers hither and yon – Ukraine will be zapped up to the Dnieper River. Non-negotiable. That’s majority Russian-speaking and that’s it. From Kiev on west, let it marinate in Cold War resentment.

    If we get cute, if something happens that costs lots of Russian lives, we’re looking at all out war on mainland Europe. I hope there are enough grownups on our side to make this clear.

    Brad doesn’t mention this, but it’s worth keeping in mind. The foreign ministers representing Russia sent to jaw-jaw in nice European hotels aren’t in the operational loop. It’s all fluff.

    Putin’s assault on Ukraine: Part I
    https://intelreform.org/putins-assault-on-ukraine-part-i/
    [links to the rest at the site]

    • Kyiv Post
      A New Yalta – Putin’s Obsession

      The dominant discourse of the Russian establishment is nourished by the idea of a threatened Russia claiming the right to have its borders protected by a buffer of sovereign states…

      The thing is, Russia is under threat: enemies proliferate within and without. Inside the country, “foreign agents” are popping up everywhere, in the pages of a newspaper, in surveys carried out by a sociological institute, and even in individuals….

      Outside the country, the “collective West” – we, dominated by the United States – are searching for any pretext to snatch from Russia its legitimate supremacy over its post-Soviet neighborhood.…

      Russian mentality stuck in Cold War era, “backyard leader” role

      So, Russia is under threat. The arrogant West is determined not to recognize the legitimate interests which, associated with Russia’s status as a great power, entitle it to control the post-Soviet space.

      This stance feeds into the dominant discourse of the Russian establishment that is, one way or another, engaged in foreign affairs. It is taken for granted that Russia has the right to have its borders protected by a buffer of sovereign states which, in turn, cannot have the right to emancipate themselves from Russia.

      Putin wants return to post-WWII era borders & influence

      Moscow is now demanding legal guarantees of NATO’s non-expansion to the east, in keeping with a line of reasoning rooted in the sharing out of spheres of influence agreed upon in Yalta in 1945 by the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and the United States….

      While Stalin’s obsession in 1945 was with Poland, for Putin, now, it is Ukraine….

      The reader who changes Poland for Ukraine and Soviet Union for Russia will have the key to interpreting what the Kremlin has been pursuing since the Ukrainian people decided to take a different path in 2014 after the mass-based movement known as Euromaidan…

      In fact, Putin’s obsession with Ukraine dates back to before the Maidan protests and feeds on his theory that Russia and Ukraine are one and the same people, invoking essentialist arguments as hard data on a par with the law of gravity or the number pi.

      Kremlin twists truth, reality of events

      The Kremlin tale juggles words and reality in claims where the principle of truth is totally irrelevant….

      The Ukrainian president comes from a Russian Jewish family but, in Moscow’s view, the Russian-speaking secessionists in Donbas are patriots who, fighting against fascism, are threatened with genocide, which is why Russia is obliged to deploy its troops all along the border with its neighbor.

      Similarly, Moscow, which has, in fact, agreed to become China’s “little brother”, is constantly complaining that the EU does not treat it as an equal when, in reality, Russia’s future citizens have it drummed into their heads from the cradle that their country is special, and the bottom line is that nobody really understands it.…

      https://www.kyivpost.com/article/opinion/op-ed/a-new-yalta-putin-s-obsession.html

  6. It would be great if everyone knew someone who worked in the cardiac ward. My source tells me there is an uptick and 9 out 10 with heart problems and strokes are younger and vaccinated.

    Bring on the World Court Case, Crimes against humanity naming Melinda and Bill Gates, Dazack, Fauci, Tedros, Albert Bourla, CEO Pfizer, Stephane Bancel CEO Moderna, Pascal Soriot CEO Astra Zeneca, Alex Gorsky CEO Johnson and Johnson, Dr. Rajiv Shaw President Rockefeller foundation, Klaus Schwab, young global leaders……..

  7. Quebec Dictator Legault Imposing TAX on the Unvaccinated? Viva Frei Vlawg
    Viva Frei – January 11, 2022

  8. How agriculture led Indonesia’s defense minister to talk normalization with Israel

    Agricultural cooperation has played a big role in a recent warming of ties between Israel and Indonesia, with Indonesian Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto leading the charge from Jakarta.

    A recent series of meetings, statements and reports in the last few months of 2021 indicate that Israel and Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim state, have grown closer.

    The two countries do not have formal diplomatic relations, but they cooperate in trade and tourism, and the Foreign Ministry maintains a Facebook page in Indonesian.

    In the 1970s and ’80s, Indonesia bought arms from Israel, and Indonesian soldiers have trained in the Jewish state. In 1993, then-prime minister Yitzhak Rabin met then-Indonesian president Suharto in Jakarta.

    In 2016, then-deputy foreign minister Tzipi Hotovely – now ambassador to the UK – said Israel was in constant contact with the Oceania multi-island nation and hoped to establish official ties.

    Jakarta was in talks with the Trump administration in December 2020 to normalize ties with Jerusalem, and the US International Development Finance Corporation offered to double its investment in Indonesia, but to no avail…

    […because the election was stolen and the Enemy manipulates the strings of a puppet Potus.]

    https://www.jpost.com/international/article-692184

  9. When we finally rid ourselves of the majority of Canadian politicians , they should consider farming as their next job. They already have the skill of planting the seed and they are expert at spreading fertilizer.

    They should start a rigid exercise program, farming is physical work, there will be no more sitting on their asses. gates can sell them his farm land- – he will no doubt be in prison or hung for his crimes.

    • I don’t want any of those guys touching my food. Maybe the compromise is they can BE fertilizer?

  10. Biden Admin Delays Trial of Alleged Iranian Spy for Third Time

    The Biden administration has for the third time delayed the trial of an accused Iranian spy, renewing concerns that the high-profile case is being used as a bargaining chip in nuclear negotiations with Tehran…

    “The defendant complained of medical issues that he claims make it difficult for him to assist in the preparation of his defense, so he has asked for more time and we have not objected…

    “This was the motion publicly filed by his standby counsel.”

    No date has been set yet for the trial to commence, according to the spokesman. Afrasiabi’s counsel requested that the case be rescheduled for April 20, according to a court filing.

    https://freebeacon.com/biden-administration/biden-admin-delays-trial-of-alleged-iranian-spy-for-third-time/

  11. “Powerful passports” – score for # of countries the citizen can enter visa-free. Japan and Singapore are tops.

    “Erol Yayboke, director of the Project on Fragility and Mobility at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, says the research clearly shows that people in poorer nations experiencing fragility – places from where escape is often the only option for survival, especially in the presence of active conflict – have the fewest pathways for regular and orderly movement.

    Meanwhile, Dr Christian H Kaelin, Chairman of Henley & Partners and the inventor of the passport index concept, believes opening up migration channels is essential for post-pandemic recovery.

    He states: ‘Passports and visas are among the most important instruments impacting social inequality worldwide as they determine opportunities for global mobility.

    ‘The borders within which we happen to be born, and the documents we are entitled to hold, are no less arbitrary than our skin colour.

    ‘Wealthier states need to encourage positive inward migration to help redistribute and rebalance human and material resources worldwide, including improving the size and quality of their own workforces.’

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/travel_news/article-10389931/Japan-Singapore-powerful-passports-world-UK-USA-sixth.html

    + comments +

  12. The Pacific Coast of Russia, Flying over Vladivostok and the Far East in 4K video

    SUBSCRIBE
    The Wild Wild West of Russia has to be its mysterious Far East. So, here is some great 4K drone footage from our trip to Primorsky Krai which is basically the part of Russia that borders both North Korea, China and the Pacific Ocean. Get ready Cowboy to trade in your steed for a cutter or kayak to take on the waves of the sea that infinitely crash against sky high cliffs. Many lighthouses and bridges dot the landscape as otherwise people would be completely stuck by the rough terrain. Every lighthouse is like a lone star at night.

    There are many national parks around and opportunities for jeeping through the countryside or just hoofing it on foot up to ancient peaks. This is a true mountaineering adventure zone. Be it land or sea the area around Vladivostok has it all as the capital of the nation’s Far East.