Reader’s Links for May 10th, 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

59 Replies to “Reader’s Links for May 10th, 2022”

    • Nonprofit Watchdog Uncovers $350 Million In Secret Payments To Fauci, Collins, Others At NIH

      An estimated $350 million in undisclosed royalties were paid to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and hundreds of its scientists, including the agency’s recently departed director, Dr. Francis Collins, and Dr. Anthony Fauci, according to a nonprofit government watchdog.

      “We estimate that up to $350 million in royalties from third parties were paid to NIH scientists during the fiscal years between 2010 and 2020,” Open the Books CEO Adam Andrzejewski told reporters in a telephone news conference on May 9.

      “We draw that conclusion because, in the first five years, there has been $134 million that we have been able to quantify of top-line numbers that flowed from third-party payers, meaning pharmaceutical companies or other payers, to NIH scientists.”

      The first five years, from 2010 to 2014, constitute 40 percent of the total, he said.

      “We now know that there are 1,675 scientists that received payments during that period, at least one payment. In fiscal year 2014, for instance, $36 million was paid out and that is on average $21,100 per scientist,” Andrzejewski said.

      “We also find that during this period, leadership at NIH was involved in receiving third-party payments. For instance, Francis Collins, the immediate past director of NIH, received 14 payments. Dr. Anthony Fauci received 23 payments and his deputy, Clifford Lane, received eight payments.”

      Collins resigned as NIH director in December 2021 after 12 years of leading the world’s largest public health agency. Fauci is the longtime head of NIH’s National Institute for Allergies and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), as well as chief medical adviser to President Joe Biden. Lane is the deputy director of NIAID, under Fauci.

      The top five NIH employees measured in terms of the number of royalty payments that they received while on the government payroll, according to a fact sheet published by Open the Books, include Robert Gallo, National Cancer Institute, 271 payments; Ira Pastan, National Cancer Institute, 250 payments; Mikulas Popovic, National Cancer Institute, 191 payments; Flossie Wong-Staal, National Cancer Institute, 190 payments; and Mangalasseril Sarngadharan, National Cancer Institute, 188 payments.

      Only Pastan continues to be employed by NIH, according to Open the Books.

      “When an NIH employee makes a discovery in their official capacity, the NIH owns the rights to any resulting patent. These patents are then licensed for commercial use to companies that could use them to bring products to market,” the fact sheet reads.

      “Employees are listed as inventors on the patents and receive a share of the royalties obtained through any licensing, or ‘technology transfer,’ of their inventions. Essentially, taxpayer money funding NIH research benefits researchers employed by NIH because they are listed as patent inventors and therefore receive royalty payments from licensees.”

      An NIH spokesman didn’t respond by press time to a request for comment.

      Andrzejewski told reporters that the Associated Press reported extensively on the NIH royalty payments in 2005, including specific details about who got how much from which payers for what work, that the agency is denying to Open the Books in 2022.

      “At that time, we knew there were 918 scientists, and each year, they were receiving approximately $9 million, on average with each scientist receiving $9,700. But today, the numbers are a lot larger with the United States still in a declared national health emergency. It’s quite obvious the stakes in health care are a lot larger,” Andrzejewski said.

      He said the files Open the Books is receiving—300 pages of line-by-line data—are “heavily redacted.”

      “These are not the files the AP received in 2005 where everything was disclosed—the scientist’s name, the name of the third-party payer, the amount of the royalty paid by the payer to the scientist,” Andrzejewski said. “Today, NIH is producing a heavily redacted database; we don’t know the payment amount to the scientist, and we don’t know the name of the third-party payer, all of that is being redacted.”

      Federal officials are allowed to redact information from responses to FOIA requests if the release of the data would harm a firm’s commercial privilege.

      The undisclosed royalty payments are inherent conflicts of interest, Andrzejewski said.

      “We believe there is an unholy conflict of interest inherent at NIH,” he said. “Consider the fact that each year, NIH doles out $32 billion in grants to approximately 56,000 grantees. Now we know that over an 11-year period, there is going to be approximately $350 million flowing the other way from third-party payers, many of which receive NIH grants, and those payments are flowing back to NIH scientists and leadership.”

      Fauci and Lane told AP that they agreed there was an appearance of a conflict of interest in getting the royalties, with Fauci saying that he contributed his royalties to charity. Lane didn’t do that, according to Andrzejewski.

      The governing ethics financial disclosure form in the past defined the royalty payments as income recipients received from NIH, which meant the recipients weren’t required to list their payments on the form.

      But Andrzejewski said NIH has refused to respond to his request for clarification on the disclosure issue.

      “If they are not, none of these payments are receiving any scrutiny whatsoever and to the extent that a company making payments to either leadership or scientists, while also receiving grants … then that just on its face is a conflict of interest,” he said.

      Open the Books is a Chicago-based nonprofit government watchdog that uses the federal and state freedom of information laws to obtain and then post on the internet trillions of dollars in spending at all levels of government.

      The nonprofit filed a federal Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) suit seeking documentation of all payments by outside firms to NIH and/or current and former NIH employees.

      NIH declined to respond to the FOIA, so Open the Books is taking the agency to court, suing it for noncompliance with the FOIA. Open the Books is represented in federal court in the case by another nonprofit government watchdog, Judicial Watch.

      https://www.zerohedge.com/political/nonprofit-watchdog-uncovers-350-million-secret-payments-fauci-collins-others-nih

  1. REUTERS – EXCLUSIVE Germany, Qatar at odds over terms in talks on LNG supply deal -sources

    LONDON, May 9 (Reuters) – Germany and Qatar have hit difficulties in talks over long-term liquefied natural gas (LNG) supply deals amid differences over key conditions, including the duration of any contract, three people familiar with the discussions told Reuters.

    Germany, which aims to cut its carbon emissions by 88% by 2040, is reluctant to commit to Qatar’s conditions to sign deals of at least 20 years to secure the massive LNG volumes it needs to reduce its dependence on Russian gas, the people said.

    Qatar, the world’s largest LNG supplier, is also specifying terms such as a destination clause that would prevent Berlin from rerouting the gas to other areas in Europe, a condition which the European Union opposes.

    The tough talks between Qatar Energy and German utilities highlight the challenges the EU faces in its ambition to diversify away from Russian gas as the German government struggles to balance any deal with its carbon reduction targets.

    Germany consumes around 100 billion cubic meters (bcm) of natural gas annually, with around 55% of that coming from Russia and smaller volumes piped from Netherlands and Norway.

    It has backed the construction of two LNG terminals and has rented four floating storage and regasification units (FSRUs) as a stop-gap measure.

    What it needs now is the actual LNG.

    “The issue of LNG contract length potentially putting Germany’s decarbonisation targets at risk is part of the ongoing discussions with Qatar,” one of the people said, adding Germany was also competing with other nations for LNG from Qatar.

    Another source said that securing LNG supplies form Qatar “is not expected to happen soon”.

    Qatar’s government communication office declined to comment on ongoing negotiations. Germany’s Economy Minister was not immediately available for comment.

    Qatar is also firm on oil-indexation, linking the contracts to oil price, which represents the pricing structure of their alternative sales into Asia, while the Germans are seeking linkage to the Dutch TTF benchmark, Felix Booth, head of LNG at energy intelligence firm Vortexa, said.

    “Qatar is in the driving seat in these discussions, with a new project underway, strong interest in their volumes and a long history as a reliable supplier,” Booth said.

    “To secure this supply, it is expected that the German team will need to accept a traditional oil linked pricing structure. Leaving the European buyer with significant financial exposure compared to the European hub prices,” he added.

    QUID PRO QUO

    German Economy Minister Robert Habeck in March visited Qatar, along with officials from German utilities RWE and Uniper, to discuss procuring additional volumes but no deal has been agreed so far.

    RWE, Germany’s largest power producer, in 2016 struck a deal with Qatargas, a unit of Qatar Energy, under which up to 1.1 million tonnes of liquefied natural gas will be delivered to Northwestern Europe annually by the end of 2023.

    RWE declined to comment on the talks. Uniper also declined to comment, saying only that its ties with Qatar go back a long way and that it hoped to be able to build on that relationship.

    German gas companies will be back to Qatar in May to resume talks, two separate people familiar with the process said.

    They said that Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, will visit Germany in the second half of May to sign a partnership agreement between the two countries.

    However, this does not mean that long-term LNG deals will be concluded, as the partnership is aimed at paving the way to significantly ramp up long term Qatari LNG deliveries to Germany, they added.

    Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund, the QIA, has around $20 billion invested in Germany, with stakes in Volkswagen and Deutsche Bank .

    Germany hopes for a possible two-way partnership with Qatar where German companies such as Siemens Energy and others could help Doha with its attempts to put into action a sustainability plan it launched late last year.

    “There needs to be a gentlemen’s agreement between the Qataris and German companies, that LNG should only be the first step in a longer collaboration between the two countries,” said one of the people, a German industry source.

    https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/exclusive-germany-qatar-odds-over-terms-talks-lng-supply-deal-sources-2022-05-09/
    ==================================

    yahoo -bbc – Scottish Power boss urges £1,000 bill cut for 10 million

    The boss of Scottish Power has warned that millions of customers face an horrific winter unless there is a major government intervention in energy firms.

    Keith Anderson, chief executive of Scottish Power, told the BBC that another expected rise in energy bills in October to between £2,500 and £3,000 a year could see huge losses for suppliers and many customers unable to pay their bills.

    He warned regulator Ofgem that setting the new price cap too low could risk suppliers collapsing or the foreign owned firms leaving the market.

    Chancellor Rishi Sunak told the BBC: “Where we can make a difference, particularly for those who really need our help, that’s what we’re going to do.”

    Mr Anderson has put some flesh on the bones of a plan he first mentioned in a frank exchange with a committee of MPs three weeks ago.

    He has called for ten million households to have their energy bills reduced by £1,000 this October.

    He said the government’s plan to give each household £200 towards their energy bill – a sum that will need to be paid back – would not be enough.

    “We need to be realistic about the gravity of the situation – around 40% of UK households, potentially 10 million homes, could be in fuel poverty this winter,” Mr Anderson explained.

    ‘Tariff reduction’
    The price cap is set to be increased again in October.

    To date, the government has said it will offer extra relief of £150 in April via the council tax system in England, and in October customers in England, Scotland and Wales will receive a £200 rebate on their energy bills.

    They will have to repay this at £40 a year for five years, starting in April 2023.

    However, Mr Anderson said a £10bn tariff reduction fund could be paid for by adding £40 annually to all household energy bills for the next decade. He said this would be the most effective to avoid fuel poverty for the most vulnerable.

    Mr Anderson said that such a fund would directly tackle the biggest cause of the cost of living crisis in a way that other measures – such as the recent 5p cut to fuel duty or a possible cut to the frequency of MOT testing – do not.

    Households on pre-payment meters and those in receipt of benefits would be eligible for the discount.

    Gerard Barwick lives in Newcastle with his partner and their granddaughter. He’s a DJ, but lost his business during the pandemic.

    At the moment they’re relying on a single wage to pay their bills, and April has been particularly tough.

    “We used to be able to afford the odd night out. Now we can’t afford to do anything,” said Mr Barwick, who is receiving help from the charity National Energy Action.

    “We’ve cut back on putting the heating on, we’re not using as much electricity, we’re cutting back on meals. But there’s only so much you can cut back on,” he said.

    “We’re really worried about our bills right now. Come October, we might have to find another £1,000.

    “We’re already looking at an empty purse, and you can’t pull any more money out of an empty purse,” he said.

    Warning to Ofgem
    Mr Anderson also said more energy companies could collapse if their customers were unable to pay their bills.

    Scottish Power is owned by Spanish firm Iberdrola and Mr Anderson fears that foreign owned energy suppliers – including EDF, Eon and his own – might struggle to persuade their parent companies to continue to subsidise loss-making UK subsidiaries and exit the UK market.

    Scottish Power is also concerned that energy companies will sustain further big losses if Ofgem sets the new energy price cap – due to take effect in October – too low.

    Wholesale gas prices have fallen sharply since the all time records set in March.

    However, many energy companies bought the gas they will supply this winter at prices much higher than current levels.

    If Ofgem does not recognise this when it sets the new cap, some firms will have to sell at a significant loss threatening them with further distress or collapse which would further destabilise the market, according to Scottish Power.

    “We need to find a way to help those that need it in time for winter in a way that doesn’t exacerbate the issues we’ve already seen in the industry with supplier failures and very real concerns about billpayers running up unsustainable debts,” Mr Anderson continued.

    Energy suppliers concede that further government support would help them as well as their customers.

    Meanwhile, government officials privately say that it is hard to distinguish between genuine potential financial distress for the energy companies and intense lobbying.

    Ofgem responded that it is “too soon” to predict the level of the price cap from October. However, it said that new measures earlier this year will allow it in “exceptional circumstances”, to update the price cap more frequently than once every six months, to “ensure that the price cap continues to reflect the true cost of supplying energy”.

    Chancellor Rishi Sunak said people will have to wait until the autumn for any further help with their energy bills.

    Speaking at an event promoting small businesses in Norwich, Mr Sunak told the BBC the government “stands ready to do more as the situation requires it” but said the Treasury would need to wait for “better clarity on what energy prices will be in the autumn”.

    https://sports.yahoo.com/millions-face-winter-bill-increases-230140583.html
    ======================================================
    the guardian – October will be ‘horrific’ for poorest, says Scottish Power chief on energy price increase

    • europravda – The G7 wants us to stop using Russian oil. Is fermented fuel the answer?

      Wheat husks, pulped sugar beets and onion peelings could help curb Europe’s energy crisis, as farmers brew up biogas from agricultural waste.

    • europravda – Copenhagen’s weirdly tall benches are a warning about climate change

      These benches are 1 metre higher than they should be and the sea-level in Denmark soon could be too.

    • the gateway pundit – Concerning Videos, Images and Words from the Ukrainian Front

      There are a collection of videos, images and words scattered around various social media channels that paint a horrific picture of a Ukraine headed for defeat. While one must always consider the possibility that the Russians staged these videos and images, it is unlikely.

      https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2022/05/ukraine-abandoning-military-units/

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

      CBC – ‘Putin’s war is a failure’, says Joly after visiting Ukraine

      … his invasion ‘is a failure.’

    • CBC – What security planning went into Trudeau’s trip to Ukraine?

      Former Joint Task Force 2 commander Steve Day joins Power & Politics to discuss security measures for a trip like Trudeau’s recent official visit to Ukraine.


    • Several missile strikes were hit infrastructure facilities in Odessa last night

      One of the affected objects is the Riviera shopping center,used by the UAF as a warehouse for foreign weapons and ammunition.

      It looks like tax money of the West(NATO) were turned into dust

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

      CBC – Ukrainian officials say Odesa hit with 7 Russian missiles

      The Ukrainian military says Russian forces fired seven missiles from the air at Odesa, hitting a shopping centre and a warehouse. One person was killed and five were wounded.

    • DEUTSCHE PRAVDA – Buildings lay in ruins in Odesa after missile attacks

      Russian forces fired seven missiles on Monday night air towards the port city of Odesa in southern Ukraine.

      A shopping center and a warehouse were hit

    • NEW YORK TIMES – The U.S. intelligence chief says Putin is preparing for a prolonged conflict.

      The U.S. director of national intelligence said on Tuesday that Russia’s goals in the war remained expansive, including the creation of a land bridge across Ukraine’s Black Sea coast, but that the Kremlin would struggle to achieve those gains without building up its military with a large-scale mobilization or draft.

      The official, Avril D. Haines, told the Senate Armed Services Committee that the next month or two of fighting will be significant as President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia tries to reinvigorate his military campaign. But she said that even if Russia were successful in taking the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine, it would not end the war.

      “We assess President Putin is preparing for a prolonged conflict in Ukraine during which he still intends to achieve goals beyond the Donbas,” Ms. Haines said.

      Ms. Haines said American intelligence agencies did not believe that Moscow could exert control over Donbas and the buffer zone Russia wants to establish — across Ukraine’s Black Sea Coast all the way to the Transnistria region of Moldova — in the coming weeks. But she said the Russian leader was pursuing a longer-term aim.

      “Putin most likely also judges that Russia has a greater ability and willingness to endure challenges than his adversaries,” Ms. Haines said. “And he is probably counting on U.S. and E.U. resolve to weaken as food shortages, inflation and energy prices get worse.”

      Lt. Gen. Scott D. Berrier, the director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, told the Senate committee that neither side was winning.

      “The Russians aren’t winning, and the Ukrainians aren’t winning, and we’re at a bit of a stalemate here,” General Berrier said.

      That stalemate, he said, could last for a while. Under questioning from Senator Tom Cotton, Republican of Arkansas, General Berrier said Ukraine was better able to generate additional combat power. But if Russia declares a full-scale war, and widespread conscription of its population, it could bring thousands more soldiers into the fight, General Berrier said.

      Ms. Haines said that with both Ukraine and Russia believing they can make military progress, a diplomatic solution did not seem viable in the short term.

      “The reality that Putin faces a mismatch between his ambitions and Russia’s current conventional military capabilities likely means the next few months could see us moving along a more unpredictable and potentially escalatory trajectory,” Ms. Haines said.

      Current trends, she said, increase the possibility that Mr. Putin will impose martial law, reorient industrial production or take escalatory military actions, which she suggested could include more nuclear threats.

      If he believes such threats are being ignored, Ms. Haines said, he could authorize a major nuclear exercise, although the United States continues to believe that there is not an imminent threat that Mr. Putin would authorize the use of a nuclear weapon.

      Washington, she said, “will remain vigilant and monitoring every aspect of Russia’s strategic nuclear forces.”

      https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/10/us/avril-haines-putin-russia-ukraine-war.html

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

      Senator Roger Wicker, R-Miss., questions Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines and Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lt. Gen. Scott Berrier at a May 10 Senate Armed Services Committee hearing.

    • DEUTSCHE PRAVDA – German Foreign Minister Baerbock in Ukraine

      German Foreign Minister Baerbock and her Ukrainian counterpart, Dmytro Kuleba, hold a joint press conference in Kiev (broadcast delayed for security reasons).

      Baerbock’s visit to Kyiv is the first trip there by a member of the Berlin government

    • itv news – On the frontline with a Ukrainian artillery unit as it targets Russian forces

      ITV News Senior International Correspondent John Irvine and his team, Mike Field, Lutfi Abu-Aun, Martin Flynn and Andriy Glushko, were given exclusive access to a Ukrainian artillery unit on the frontline of the war, as it targets Russian forces near the Ukrainian city of Izyum.

      Every ferocious bellow from the Ukrainian army howitzer was an attack on the Russians and an assault on the senses of the gun crew and those of us watching them work.

      The muzzle flash, the roar, the earth shaking and the dust – all of it happened in a split second. Then, after a slick reload, the gun fired in anger once more.

      We were with an artillery unit on the eastern front. These days you can’t get much closer to the war than this.

      Street fights on this vast agricultural landscape are few and far between. Here the war has evolved into an artillery battle.

    • In Ukraine, there are 20 million tons of grain in storage. We are now trying to figure out how to get them out of the country. It will lower prices worldwide – Biden

    • BBC – Finland expected to begin process of joining Nato this week –

      The move will redraw Europe’s security map dramatically and will be seen in Moscow as a hostile act.

    • WEF – Leaders Rally for a ‘Great Reset’ to Achieve Global Goals

      […]Pekka Haavisto, Foreign Minister of Finland, said that while European countries value transatlantic cooperation and share many values – Europe needs to “work with China on the big global issues, to find a global solution”.

      The summit was designed around the five pillars of the Great Reset: Better Business, Catalysing Cooperation, Harnessing Technology, Liveable Planet and Shared Prosperity.

      https://www.weforum.org/press/2020/09/leaders-rally-for-a-great-reset-to-achieve-global-goals/

      Pekka Haavisto,- Finland foreign minister gives timeline on NATO membership application

    • CNBC – A window of opportunity for Finland, Sweden to join NATO with Putin preoccupied, ex-NATO chief says

    • Jumped-up bedu smuggler, a tribe that STILL buys, sells, and employs humans as slaves.

      THAT’S worthy of civilized German diplomacy. Unlike Tsar Poo-tin.
      Who uses the “N” word and that hurts your tender feelers. Better the shahada than come to terms with the Bear who walks like a Man.[*]

      Christian Europe is self-ethnic cleansing. Lunatics murdering their own gene line. .
      _______
      [*]I’ve been told it’s an old expression in Russian, used by those who lived in the western region, beyond the Pale.

      Beware the Bear who walks like a Man.

    • europravda – Ukrainian ambassador: EU countries should be ready for ‘economic sacrifices’ to stop Russia

      Vsevolod Chentsov says he’s disappointed with Hungary for blocking the EU ban on Russian oil.

    • bloomberg – Draghi Says Ukraine War to Bring ‘Drastic’ Change to Europe

      Italian PM speaks to reporters at start of meeting with Biden
      Draghi is first EU leader to visit Washington since invasion

      Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi said Russian’s invasion of Ukraine has strengthened his country’s ties with the US, and he warned the war will bring “drastic” change to Europe.

      Speaking at the White House at the start of a meeting Tuesday with President Joe Biden, Draghi said that Russian President Vladimir Putin wouldn’t succeed at damaging the US alliance with Europe.

      “If Putin ever thought he could divide us, he failed,” Draghi said. Biden told Draghi that he’s been one of the US’s closest allies in confronting Russian President Vladimir Putin.

      Since Russia’s invasion, Draghi has called for stronger European Union coordination on defense and foreign policy, and said tha the bloc should rethink its treaties in light of recent events.

      Biden and Draghi met to to discuss the war in Ukraine and to coordinate their response to Russia’s invasion. It’s the first visit to Washington by an EU leader since combat broke out on Feb. 24.

      Despite Italy’s reliance on Russian energy, Draghi has pushed for the European Union to sanction Russian oil imports. He has also backed sending heavy weapons to Ukraine despite resistance in his broad coalition government.

      The US and the EU in March announced a plan to supply least 15 billion cubic meters of liquefied natural gas to the bloc this year to support its cutoff of Russian energy.

      Italy and the US also have cooperated on the seizure of Russian oligarchs’ assets.

      Italy has frozen about 1 billion euros of assets including yachts and villas with the help of US intelligence, according to people familiar with the matter. They asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the matter.

      Last week, Italian authorities ordered the Scheherazade superyacht held in a Tuscan port, saying it’s linked to top levels of the Russian government that are the subject of EU sanctions.

      Draghi’s meeting with Biden seals Italy’s shift to a pro-Atlantic foreign policy that began when the former European Central Bank head was appointed prime minister in 2021 and accelerated with the start of the war in Ukraine.

      In recent months, Draghi, 74, has been unwinding the business ties built by previous governments with China and Russia.

      Draghi and Biden last met in person in October at a Group of 20 meeting in Rome. They’re both scheduled to attend the Group of Seven and NATO summits in June.

      Draghi will meet Wednesday with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi at the U.S. Capitol, before receiving the Atlantic Council’s distinguished leadership award evening.

      https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-05-10/draghi-says-ukraine-war-to-bring-drastic-change-to-europe

    • Blunt on Getting Additional Aid to Ukraine: “The Number One Element Is Speed”

      At the weekly Republican leadership press conference today, U.S. Senator Roy Blunt (Mo.) discussed the latest on Congress’s negotiations on an additional aid package for Ukraine.

      Blunt also stressed the importance of providing non-military aid to Ukraine to help alleviate disruptions in agriculture production caused by Putin’s invasion.

    • Portman Speaks With Nominee To Be US Ambassador To Ukraine About Need To Send Weapons To Country

      Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH) questions Bridget Brink, the nominee to be US Ambassador to Ukraine, about aid for the country during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on Tuesday.

    • CNN – Pentagon: ‘We don’t have a clear picture’ on what Putin will do next

      John Kirby discusses the increasing concerns from US officials on Putin’s next steps in Ukraine

    • CNN – Ukrainian officials alarmed by discovery of Russian pontoon bridge

      Ukrainian officials are raising the alarm about a Russian pontoon bridge in the country’s Lugansk region.

    • the guardian – Putin preparing for prolonged war in Ukraine, says top US intelligence official

      The United States believes that Vladimir Putin is preparing for a long conflict in Ukraine and a Russian victory in the Donbas in the east of the country might not end the war, the US director of national intelligence has said.

      Speaking at a Senate hearing, Avril Haines added that the Russian president was counting on the Western resolve to weaken over time and as the conflict continued, there was concern about how it would develop in the coming months.

      US intelligence chief warns of nuclear risk if Putin perceives ‘existential threat’

    • May 10, 2022: Senator Cotton Q&A During Senate Armed Services Committee Hearing

    • twitter @greg_price1

      Pelosi: “When you’re home thinking about [what $40 billion to Ukraine] is all about, just think about ‘when I was hungry, you fed me’ from the Gospel of Matthew.

      + 23 sec video

      https://twitter.com/greg_price11/status/1524193428975853568

      ========================================
      U.S. House sets vote on $40 billion Ukraine aid package

      Nancy Pelosi on Tuesday promoted a $40 billion military and humanitarian aid package set to pass through Congress to help Ukrainians.

  2. twitter @disclosetv

    NEW – EU Commission is expected to publish the draft law on “chat control” tomorrow. Lawmakers seek AI-based checks of all message content & images directly on users’ devices.

    Critics say this is an attack on the digital privacy of correspondence and leads to mass surveillance.

    https://twitter.com/disclosetv/status/1524022831188688905

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

    CHAT CONTROL: EU COMMISSION PRESENTS MASS SURVEILLANCE PLAN ON MAY 11

    Next week on Wednesday (May 11), the EU Commission will present an EU draft law on mandatory chat control to the public for the first time. Similar to Apple’s highly controversial “SpyPhone” plans, the Commission wants to oblige all providers of email, chat and messaging services to search for suspicious messages in a fully automated way and forward them to the police in the fight against “child pornography”. This will require them to monitor and scan the communications of citizens en masse – even if they are still securely encrypted end-to-end so far.

    Next week on Wednesday (May 11), the EU Commission will present an EU draft law on mandatory chat control to the public for the first time. Similar to Apple’s highly controversial “SpyPhone” plans, the Commission wants to oblige all providers of email, chat and messaging services to search for suspicious messages in a fully automated way and forward them to the police in the fight against “child pornography”. This will require them to monitor and scan the communications of citizens en masse – even if they are still securely encrypted end-to-end so far.

    MEP and civil rights activist Dr. Patrick Breyer (Pirate Party) comments:

    “This spying attack on our private messages and photos by error-prone algorithms is a giant step towards a Chinese-style surveillance state. Will the next step be for the post office to open and scan all letters? Organized child porn rings don’t use email or messenger services, but darknet forums. With its plans to break secure encryption, the EU Commission is putting the overall security of our private communications and public networks, trade secrets and state secrets at risk to please short-term surveillance desires. Opening the door to foreign intelligence services and hackers is completely irresponsible. To stop chat control, the net community must go to the barricades as!”

    In March, 35 organisations worldwide, including the German Lawyers Association, Digitale Gesellschaft, and the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), had warned against the EU’s chat control law.

    In an expert opinion, a former ECJ judge pointed out last year that the warrantless interception of private communications violates the case law of the European Court of Justice. According to a poll 72% of citizens oppose the indiscriminate scanning of their private communications. The German government coalition agreement states on the topic on chat control: “We reject measures to scan private communications.”

    https://european-pirateparty.eu/chatcontrol-commission-presents-mass-surveillance-plan-may-11
    ===========================

    CHAT CONTROL: LEAKED COMMISSION PAPER EU MASS SURVEILLANCE PLANS

    A newly-revealed Opinion of a European Commission review board about their own colleagues’ upcoming proposal for a ‘Legislation to effectively tackle child sexual abuse’ shows strong concerns with the legislative proposal. Leaked by French media outlet Contexte, and dated 15 February 2022, the Opinion confirms the fears EDRi and 39 other civil society groups recently raised about the proposal which could destroy the integrity of private online communications across the EU, and set a dangerous precedent for the world.

    “Reservations”. “Significant shortcomings”. “Efficiency and proportionality […] not sufficiently demonstrated.” “Options […] are not presented in a sufficiently open, complete and balanced manner.”

    It might sound like we are talking about an inquiry into a dodgy business deal or some sort of murky political scandal. But in fact, what the above sentences refer to is a newly-revealed Opinion of a European Commission review board about their own colleagues’ upcoming proposal for a ‘Legislation to effectively tackle child sexual abuse’. The proposal, which was only recently postponed to 27 April 2022, is now to be further delayed to May 2022 according to POLITICO. The proposal focuses on curbing the online spread of child sexual abuse material.

    MEP and civil rights activist Patrick Breyer (Pirate Party) comments:

    “The Regulatory Scrutiny Committee exposes the abysses of chat control, namely the fact that the blanket mass surveillance of intimate communications and images violates our fundamental rights according to the European Court of Justice. The fact that the project was finally given the green light can only be explained by massive pressure from the very top. Only a public outcry against chat control can stop Ursula von der Leyen now!”

    In meetings, the staff of Commissioner for Home Affairs Ylva Johansson, who leads the file, reassured EDRi that the new law would not contain requirements for generalised scanning, and further that it would not touch encryption. But the results of the ‘Regulatory Scrutiny Board’ (RSB) who conducted the internal review tell a very different story:

    “The report [on the Legislation to effectively tackle child sexual abuse] is not sufficiently clear on how the options that include the detection of new child sexual abuse material or grooming would respect the [EU] prohibition of general monitoring obligations.”

    “In view of the assertion […] about the limitations of available technologies that exist for the use in encrypted communications […] the report should be clearer about the practical feasibility of the policy options and provide reassurance about the effective application.”

    “The report should clarify how the options that include an obligation to detect new child sexual abuse material or grooming would respect privacy requirements, in particular the prohibition of general monitoring obligations.”

    It follows that the current draft of the legislation, prepared by Commissioner Johansson and her team in DG HOME, contains rules which would force online communications service providers to conduct the generalised monitoring of people’s private communications – even those that are encrypted. Furthermore, the opinion notes the illegality of general monitoring under EU law, meaning that if it goes forward, the proposed law could potentially be taken down by the Court of Justice.

    Moreover, the opinion indicates that the draft law would also require this generalised monitoring to be done not just for material that has been assessed by authorities to ensure that it is unlawful, but also to search for “unknown” images as well as so-called evidence of “grooming” using notoriously unreliable AI-based tools. We’ve all seen pictures being automatically flagged on social media because an AI tool wrongly thought that the picture contained nudity, and have all suffered the frustration of an important email automatically going into your spam folder.

    These consequences are bad enough – but now, imagine if the consequence is not just a lost e-mail, but rather a report to the police accusing you of disseminating illegal child sexual abuse material or grooming a child. The inevitable result of such technologies would be unthinkable for those that are wrongly accused.

    https://european-pirateparty.eu/chat-control-leaked-commission-paper-eu-mass-surveillance-plans/
    ============================

    Chat Control

    The End of the Privacy of Digital Correspondence

    The EU wants to oblige providers to search all private chats, messages, and emails automatically for suspicious content – generally and indiscriminately. The stated aim: To prosecute child pornography. The result: Mass surveillance by means of fully automated real-time messaging and chat control and the end of secrecy of digital correspondence.

    MORE :
    https://www.patrick-breyer.de/en/posts/messaging-and-chat-control/

    • Mislav Kolakusic EU is creating a system to transform the EU into an undemocratic structure

      “The current EU leadership is creating a new EU electoral system designed for a small political cartel that has nothing to do with citizens.

      Unfortunately, there are growing efforts to transform the EU into a highly centralized, controlled and undemocratic political structure.

    • MAY 10 2022 – twitter @mislavkolakusic

      The C-19 pandemic has proven to us that a large number of countries in EU and in the world are led by sociopaths and psychopaths.

      Now these same people in the EU want to make our medical data available to the pharma. industry and thus do even more damage to the health, safety and freedom.

      + 2 min 14 video

      https://twitter.com/mislavkolakusic/status/1524012213517885440

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

      MAY 07 2022 – COVID Mandates are Extended in Europe.

  3. CBC – 7 cases of severe hepatitis reported at Toronto’s SickKids hospital

    One of Canada’s largest children’s hospitals is reporting seven cases of severe acute hepatitis identified in recent months, which may be part of an unexplained outbreak impacting youth in multiple countries.

  4. ‘On the one hand, Covid can kill people and, on the other hand, the vaccine can kill people too’

  5. BBC Radio Presenter discusses the side effects she’s experienced since receiving her Covid jab

  6. ‘So many people don’t report it, or don’t know how to’

    BBC Radio Presenter, Jules Serkin, discusses how she was impacted but the Covid vaccine and how others can report the effects of their job.

  7. The Caroline Glick Show:
    Harvard stands with the terrorists. Who do the Jews stand with?

    Following the Harvard Crimson’s adoption of the BDS movement and its goal of Israel’s annihilation, and in the face of a new act of barbarous jihad by ax-wielding Palestinian terrorists, in the week’s Mideast News Hour, Caroline Glick talks with professor Avi Bell of Bar-Ilan University and Dan Diker of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs. They discuss the escalation of the political war against Israel, what stands behind it, and what Israel and Diaspora Jewry must do to fight back effectively.

  8. Apropos of the Lufthansa incident, a coversation with Caroline Glick and Benjamin Weinthal, Jerusalem Post correspondent between in Berlin 2002-2016.

    The New Germany, Same as the Old Germany?

  9. Moroccan Group Attacks Jewish Community for Celebrating Israel’s Independence Day

    Last Thursday, the Moroccan Jewish community of some 2,000 members, in collaboration with the World Zionist Organization, held a prayer service, a holiday meal, and a musical performance in Marrakech to celebrate Israel’s Independence Day. At least one group didn’t like it. According to The New Arab, an organization calling itself the National Action Group for Palestine, on Monday held an “urgent” press conference to “shed light on the dangerous and unprecedented developments of the Zionist infiltration of the country,” and condemn Morocco’s “escalating normalization with Israel.”

    On December 22, 2020, Morocco and Israel signed a joint declaration pledging to quickly begin direct flights, promote economic cooperation, reopen liaison offices, and move toward “full diplomatic, peaceful and friendly relations.”

    Incidentally, before 1948, Morocco had a Jewish population of between 250,000 and 350,000, constituting about 10% of the overall population.

    Several anti-Zionist activists took the stage at the press conference in the group’s headquarters in the capital Rabat and warned against Israel’s attempts to blur the lines between Judaism and Zionism…

    A group of about 100 members of the Moroccan Jewish community sang Hebrew Israeli songs, blew a shofar, and sang Hatikvah on Independence Day. Neria Meir, head of WZO’s Department of Zionist Activities in the Diaspora, said the event was nothing less than “a miracle….”

    On Sunday, the Moroccan National Action Group for Palestine hit the streets of Rabat to commemorate Nakba Day––the Arab inverse of Israel’s Day of Independence, marking the 1948 victory of some 600 thousand Jews over a million local Arab and the armies of seven invading Arab countries.

    https://www.jewishpress.com/news/israel/moroccan-group-attacks-jewish-community-for-celebrating-israels-independence-day/2022/05/10/

    Jolly “Abraham Accords” ~ just don’t turn your back.