Reader’s Links for April 25, 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

40 Replies to “Reader’s Links for April 25, 2022”

  1. – THEY REALLY… but REALLY… want us VAXXED (or maybe TAXED) –

    ** Being with unvaccinated people increases COVID-19 risk for those who are vaccinated, study finds **

    While remaining unvaccinated against COVID-19 is often framed as a personal choice, those who spurn the vaccines raise the risk of infection for those around them, a new study suggests.

    The research published Monday in the Canadian Medical Association Journal found that vaccinated people who mix with those who are not vaccinated have a significantly greater chance of being infected than those who stick with people who have received the shot.

    In contrast, unvaccinated people’s risk of contracting COVID-19 drops when they spend time with people who are vaccinated, because they serve as a buffer to transmission, according to the mathematical model used in the study.

    More: https://t.co/DxQAFxZvSs

    • ctv – Being with unvaccinated people increases COVID-19 risk for those who are vaccinated: modelling study

      While remaining unvaccinated against COVID-19 is often framed as a personal choice, those who spurn the vaccines raise the risk of infection for those around them, a new study suggests.

      The research published Monday in the Canadian Medical Association Journal found that vaccinated people who mix with those who are not vaccinated have a significantly greater chance of being infected than those who stick with people who have received the shot.

      In contrast, unvaccinated people’s risk of contracting COVID-19 drops when they spend time with people who are vaccinated, because they serve as a buffer to transmission, according to the mathematical model used in the study.

      Co-author David Fisman, of the University of Toronto’s Dalla Lana school of public health, said the message of the study is that the choice to get vaccinated can’t be thought of as merely personal.

      “You may like to drive your car 200 kilometres an hour and think that’s fun, but we don’t allow you to do that on a highway partly because you can kill and injure yourself, but also because you’re creating risk for those around you,” he said in a recent interview.

      Fisman said the idea for study came a few months ago amid the debate around vaccine passports and vaccine mandates.

      “We thought what was missing from that conversation was, what are the rights of vaccinated people to be protected from unvaccinated people?” he said.

      The conclusion, he said, is that “public health is something you actually have to do collectively.”

      “What we kind of concluded is that the decision to not be vaccinated — you can’t really regard it as a self-regarding risk (because) you’re creating risk for other people around you by interacting with them,” he said.

      The researchers used a mathematical model to estimate how many infections would occur in a population, depending on how much mixing occurred between vaccinated and unvaccinated people. It found that when people mixed with people of a similar vaccination status, infection rates among vaccinated people decreased from 15 per cent to 10 per cent, and they increased from 62 per cent to 79 per cent among those who were not vaccinated.

      Fisman said that in real life, people tend to spend the most time with people who are similar to them. So, he said, even if vaccinated people are most likely to spend time with others who have received shots, they’re disproportionately impacted when they spend time with those who haven’t.

      He said the arrival of more contagious COVID-19 variants, such as Omicron, have impacted both vaccine effectiveness and public faith in vaccination. But he said that even when vaccine efficacy was lowered to 40 per cent in the model and the reproductive rate was increased to account for a more contagious variant the overall conclusions were the same.

      He said the study actually underplays the importance of vaccines in one way because it doesn’t take into account how they vastly cut the chances of death and hospitalization.

      Fisman said the results, from a purely “utilitarian” perspective, provide justification for the implementation of public health measures such as vaccine passports and vaccine mandates.

      However, he acknowledges that a simple mathematical model doesn’t fully reflect the real world or the diverse factors that must be taken into account when setting public health policy, including political considerations and public anger.

      https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/coronavirus/being-with-unvaccinated-people-increases-covid-19-risk-for-those-who-are-vaccinated-modelling-study-1.5874632

    • Feds invest $6.7 million on research platform looking at impact of COVID-19 on youth

      The federal government is investing $6.7 million on a Canada-wide research platform to better understand the impact of COVID-19 on children.

      Federal Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos told reporters today in Montreal the platform will involve researchers at 16 Canadian institutions.

      “This platform will support research teams in pediatric hospitals across the country and will facilitate the transfer and use of information to ensure better coordination of research results,” said Duclos.

      He said it will allow researchers in pediatric centres across the country to monitor COVID-19 infections, vaccination, and the social impact of the disease on children and youth.

      The project will be led by Dr. Caroline Quach, a pediatric infectious diseases specialist at Montreal’s Ste-Justine children’s hospital.

      The platform is called POPCORN, which stands for Pediatric Outcomes Improvement through Coordination of Research Networks.

      Duclos said the POPCORN platform will also be used for researchers to share information about other pandemics or health-care emergencies.

      https://montreal.ctvnews.ca/researchers-join-forces-to-better-understand-covid-19-s-impact-on-children-1.5875239

      =========================================
      CBC – Children’s hospitals seeing high admissions, staff shortages amid 6th COVID-19 wave

    • city news – Mixing with unvaccinated people ups COVID infection risks, study finds

      You are more at risk of contracting COVID-19 if you are mingling with unvaccinated people.

  2. Exclusive: NY Democrats Quietly Dismantle ‘1 Male, 1 Female’ Rule

    “Decaudin successfully got the NY State Democratic Party to dismantle the ‘one male, one female’ rule… A rule which the women’s suffrage movement fought to put into place.”

    Emilia Decaudin, 94th AD for Yorktown (Westchester County), introduced an amendment to the NY State Democratic Committee by-laws, in order to remove all sex-based language from party rules. The 20-year-old student, who identifies as a transwoman, is a senior at the City College of New York, and is the youngest-ever member of the Democratic State Committee.

    […]

    + PIC

    https://thevelvetchronicle.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Screenshot-emilia-decaudin-1.jpeg

    https://thevelvetchronicle.com/ny-democrats-quietly-dismantle-1-male-1-female-rule/

  3. Twitter suspends far-right Wilders’ account over tweets at Pakistani PM
    https://nltimes.nl/2022/04/25/twitter-suspends-far-right-wilders-account-tweets-pakistani-pm
    Twitter suspended the account of PVV leader Geert Wilders, he confirmed after reports from right-wing websites De Dagelijkse Standaard and NieuwNieuws and tweets about it from several PVV parliamentarians.
    Wilders said that Twitter has “temporarily restricted” his account because of tweets he posted. In particular, a tweet addressed to Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in which Wilders spoke about death threats he receives from Muslims in Pakistan.
    Wilders said that if he deletes specific tweets, he will get his account back within 12 hours. However, he appealed to Twitter because he said the social media company first said that his tweet did not violate the rules but later changed its mind. His account will therefore be suspended until Twitter rules on the appeal.
    It is not clear when Twitter will make a ruling. Wilders hoped it would be within two days, but it is already taking longer.
    Wilders’ last tweet was on Wednesday, April 20. Twitter could not be reached for comment.

    • The Telegraph – ‘Russia has already failed’, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken says on Ukraine visit

    • the guardian – ‘Russia is failing’ in its war aims says US secretary of state Antony Blinken

    • DEUTSCHE PRAVDA – Alexander Vindman on Ukraine: ‘Germany’s position is irrational’

    • DEUTSCHE PRAVDA – Blinken optimistic about Ukraine’s chances, as Russia strikes railways

    • SWISS STANDPOINT – The war propaganda changes its shape

      […]

      https://www.schweizer-standpunkt.ch/news-detailansicht-en-international/the-war-propaganda-changes-its-shape.html

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

      CBC – How Canada’s military is combating Russian disinformation

      Rosemary Barton Live speaks with the Commander of Canada’s Joint Operations Command, Vice-Admiral Bob Auchterlonie, about his concerns overseeing Canada’s troops in Poland, and what he is monitoring on the ground and online.

      • The Swiss are the top analysts of global propaganda today.
        Others are as good, but their work is goal-driven – to shape govt strategy. Like the Rand Corp or SSG for the U.S. govt.

        Swiss propaganda research is ecumenical: a neutral discipline that’s cold and hard-hitting.

        None of this stuff is clean: it’s like bioweapons research. Some design them, others work on detecting and countering them.

    • CNN – thousands of impounded luxury cars at port parking lot

      …. an enormous parking lot in the Belgian port of Zeebrugge where customs officials have impounded thousands of luxury cars parked by sanctions on Russia.

    • europravda – Pentagon chief: Ukraine can win the war with the right equipment

      Lloyd Austin says that Ukraine can triumph against the Russian invasion provided it gets “the right equipment” and “the right support”.

    • WaPo – U.S. wants Russian military ‘weakened’ from Ukraine invasion, Austin says

      IN POLAND, NEAR THE BORDER WITH UKRAINE — The United States hopes the war in Ukraine will result in a “weakened” Russia that no longer has the capacity to invade its neighbors, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Monday — a sharpening of rhetoric toward Moscow as the conflict stretches into its third month.

      “We want to see Russia weakened to the degree that it can’t do the kinds of things that it has done in invading Ukraine,” Austin said.

      Austin was in Poland, answering questions from reporters after a brief trip Sunday with Secretary of State Antony Blinken to Kiev, where the pair met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and other Ukrainian officials.

      The defense secretary was asked how he defined “America’s goals for success” in Ukraine. He first said Washington wants to see “Ukraine remain a sovereign country, a democratic country, able to protect its sovereign territory.”

      Then, he said, the United States hopes Russia will be “weakened” by the war. “It has already lost a lot of military capability and a lot of its troops, quite frankly, and we want to see them not have the capability to very quickly reproduce that capability,” Austin said.

      Austin said the United States hopes “to see the international community more united, especially NATO.” He cited the sanctions imposed on Russia by the United States and its allies as an example of how the war in Ukraine has made the security alliance more unified.

      Speaking in a hangar in Poland filled with crates of humanitarian aid, including diapers, destined for Ukraine, the top Biden administration officials announced more than $700 million in new military aid to Ukraine and other countries, and said the United States intends to resume diplomatic operations in Ukraine this week. Blinken said diplomats will begin by making day trips from Poland to Lviv, in western Ukraine, ahead of the U.S. Embassy in Kiev reopening its doors, probably in the coming weeks.

      “We will have American diplomats back in Ukraine starting next week,” Blinken said. “They’ll then start the process of looking at how we actually reopen the embassy itself in Kiev” — a process that could last “a couple of weeks.”

      “We’re doing it deliberately, we’re doing it carefully, we’re doing it with the security of our personnel foremost in mind — but we’re doing it,” he said.

      President Biden on Monday announced his intention to nominate Bridget Brink to serve as the next U.S. ambassador to Ukraine. Blinken said Brink, who is serving as U.S. ambassador to Slovakia, is “deeply experienced in the region” and “will be a very strong representative for the United States in Ukraine.”

      Ukraine has not had a U.S. ambassador since 2019, when President Donald Trump removed Marie Yovanovitch from the position — a move that was scrutinized during Trump’s first impeachment inquiry.

      Blinken and Austin said their visit to the Ukrainian capital, which Russian forces were unable to capture despite an attempt in the initial weeks of the war, highlighted the failure of Putin’s aims in Ukraine.

      “The strategy that we’ve put in place — massive support for Ukraine, massive pressure against Russia, solidarity with more than 30 countries engaged in these efforts — is having real results,” Blinken said. “And we’re seeing that when it comes to Russia’s war aims, Russia is failing, Ukraine is succeeding.”

      Blinken said Russia’s main goal was “to totally subjugate Ukraine, to take away its sovereignty, to take away its independence.” From Washington’s point of view, Moscow has “failed” in that objective. Instead, Blinken said, the sanctions imposed on Russia by the United States and its allies have hurt its economy, while the Russian military is “dramatically underperforming.”

      Blinken argued that another of Russia’s goals — “to divide the West and NATO,” which the Kremlin says it views as a threat to its security — has also failed. Instead, the war in Ukraine has prompted Finland and Sweden, two traditionally neutral states near Russia, to consider joining the security alliance.

      “We don’t know how the rest of this war will unfold, but we do know that a sovereign, independent Ukraine will be around a lot longer than Vladimir Putin is on the scene, and our support for Ukraine going forward will continue … until we see final success,” Blinken said.

      https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/04/25/russia-weakened-lloyd-austin-ukraine-visit/

    • Russia warns ‘serious’ nuclear war risks should not be underestimated

      LVIV — Russia told the world not to underestimate the considerable risks of nuclear war that it said it wanted to reduce and warned that conventional Western weapons were legitimate targets in Ukraine, where battles raged in the east.

      “The risks now are considerable,” foreign minister Sergei Lavrov told Russia’s state television according to a transcript of an interview on the ministry’s website.

      “I would not want to elevate those risks artificially. Many would like that. The danger is serious, real. And we must not underestimate it.”

      Lavrov had been asked about the importance of avoiding World War Three and whether the current situation was comparable to the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, a low point in U.S-Soviet relations.

      Russia had lost its “last hope to scare the world off supporting Ukraine,” Ukraine’s foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba wrote on Twitter after Lavrov’s interview. “This only means Moscow senses defeat.”

      During a visit to Kiev, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin promised more military aid for Ukraine.

      But Moscow’s ambassador to Washington told the United States to halt shipments, warning Western weapons were inflaming the conflict.

      Lavrov said: “NATO, in essence, is engaged in a war with Russia through a proxy and is arming that proxy. War means war.”

      Russia’s two-month-old invasion of Ukraine, the biggest attack on a European state since 1945, has left thousands dead or injured, reduced towns and cities to rubble, and forced over 5 million people to flee abroad.

      Moscow calls its actions a “special operation” to disarm Ukraine and protect it from fascists. Ukraine and the West says this a false pretext for an unprovoked war of aggression by President Vladimir Putin.

      Russia has yet to capture any of the biggest cities. Its forces were forced to pull back from the outskirts of Kiev in the face of stiff resistance.

      “It is obvious that every day – and especially today, when the third month of our resistance has begun – that everyone in Ukraine is concerned with peace, about when it all be over,” President Volodymyr Zelensky said late on Monday.

      “There is no simple answer to that at this time.”

      The U.S. State Department on Monday used an emergency declaration to approve the potential sale of $165 million worth of ammunition to Ukraine. The Pentagon said the package could include artillery ammunition for howitzers, tanks and grenade launchers.

      The United States is due to host an expected gathering of more than 40 countries this week for Ukraine-related defense talks that will focus on arming Kiev, U.S. officials said.

      Britain said all tariffs on goods coming into the country from Ukraine under an existing free trade deal will be axed and it would send new ambulances, fire engines, medical supplies and funding for health experts to help the emergency services.

      Putin on Monday said the West had failed to divide Russian society and accused it of inciting Kyiv to plan attacks on Russian journalists, in comments dismissed by Ukraine’s security service.

      NORMAL LIFE RETURNING IN KIEV

      Just weeks ago, the capital Kiev was a frontline city under curfew and bombardment, with tens of thousands of troops on its northern outskirts and residents sheltering from artillery in its metro stations.

      Today, the nearest Russian soldiers are hundreds of miles away, and normal life is coming back to the capital, with Western leaders visiting and diplomats returning.

      Blinken said U.S. diplomats would first come to the western city of Lviv and should be back in Kiev within weeks. Bridget Brink, now U.S. ambassador in Slovakia, will be the envoy.

      But away from the capital, war rages on in Ukraine’s east and south where Russia last week launched a massive offensive.

      Russia’s defense ministry said its missiles destroyed six facilities powering the railways that were used to deliver foreign weapons to Ukrainian forces in the eastern Donbas region. Reuters could not verify the report.

      Russian forces were continuing on Monday to bomb and shell the vast Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol where fighters are hunkered down in a city ravaged by a siege and bombardment, Ukrainian presidential aide Oleksiy Arestovych said.

      Moscow said it was opening a humanitarian corridor to let civilians out of the plant but Kiev said no agreement had been reached and appealed to the United Nations for help in reaching one as “initiator and guarantor.”

      Russia’s defense ministry said Ukraine had undermined evacuation efforts and that nobody had left the steel works via the humanitarian corridors on Monday.

      Russia’s deputy U.N. Ambassador Dmitry Polyanskiy told reporters a ceasefire was not a good option and would only allow Ukrainian forces to regroup, though it was not his decision.

      Ukraine’s general staff also reported Russian shelling of its second-biggest city, Kharkiv, in the northeast as well as towns and villages to the south, but said that assaults on three settlements were repelled.

      https://financialpost.com/pmn/business-pmn/russia-warns-serious-nuclear-war-risks-should-not-be-underestimated

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