Reader’s Links for January 1st, 2023

Here is a link to the VladTepesBlog social media Mastodon Pod. Please feel free to check it out and sign up for an account if you are sufficiently annoyed with Twitter and Facebook to try something new.

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

33 Replies to “Reader’s Links for January 1st, 2023”

  1. Democrat Gov. Hochul Legalizes Composting Human Remains in New York
    By Cassandra Fairbanks
    Published January 1, 2023 at 7:30am
    Comment

    Democrat Governor Kathy Hochul signed legislation on Saturday that legalizes human composting.
    New York is now the sixth state in the nation that has legalized the practice.

    Advertisement

    The bill was introduced by Democrat State Assembly Member Amy Paulin and Democrat State Sen. Leroy Comrie. It states that “Natural Organic Reduction accelerates the process of biological decomposition in an above-ground container, naturally converting human remains to soil. The method will provide New Yorkers with the option of choosing an environmentally sustainable and cost-effective alternative to burial and cremation. Natural Organic Reduction was legalized in Washington State in 2019 and is currently going through legislative efforts in other states.”

    The process takes 60 days and works by placing a person’s remains in a vessel and filling it with a mix of wood chips, alfalfa, and straw.

    https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/01/democrat-gov-hochul-legalizes-composting-human-remains-new-york/

  2. What motivated the Pacific Northwest substation attacks?
    Dec. 30, 2022 at 6:00 am Updated Dec. 31, 2022 at 4:59 pm
    By Hal Bernton and Sydney Brownstone
    Seattle Times staff reporters
    SPANAWAY, Pierce County — Shortly after 5 a.m. on Christmas Day, Kathryn Henkel and her family were rousted by an unfamiliar quiet, a signal something was wrong.

    The big-screen television in their living room, normally on through the night, cut off. So did the refrigerator — and the oxygen concentrator that helps her mother-in-law breathe.

    The next lot over, a Puget Sound Energy electrical substation was dark. The constant hum of power had ceased.

    “There was nothing. No movement or people,” Henkel recalled.

    The substation near Spanaway was one of four tucked into forested neighborhoods in east Pierce County struck by sabotage on Sunday, which left more than 30,000 customers at least briefly without power, according to new information from Puget Sound Energy and Tacoma Power.

    These attacks followed six others in November — four in Washington and two in Oregon — that have once again stoked concerns about the security of the region’s grid as local law enforcement officials and the FBI try to determine who is responsible, and the motives behind the destruction.

    All of the Pierce County attacks came under the cover of darkness within an area stretching about 14 miles driving distance from north to south.

    ADVERTISING
    The first was on a PSE substation about 2:40 a.m., and shut off power to 7,689 customers for two and half hours, according to a company statement.

    Neighbors and law enforcement have given different accounts of the timing of the next two attacks at Tacoma Power substations less than 3 miles apart. They may have unfolded in rapid succession beginning about 5 a.m. More than 7,000 customers lost power, with most regaining electricity by the next morning, according to Tacoma Power.

    The last attack, which sparked a fire, targeted another PSE substation near Kapowsin about 7:20 p.m., as power company officials already had swarmed into east Pierce County. That knocked out power to 15,000 customers, with most restored in about an hour, but 500 had to wait for 16 hours, according to PSE.

    Sgt. Darren Moss, a spokesperson for the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department, says the Sunday incidents could be the work of one person or group.

    “We can’t confirm that. But obviously, we are going to look at it that way. Four of them in one day. On Christmas Day. That screams, ‘I want to make a point.’ What point do they want to make? I don’t know,” he said.

    Attractive target
    These are the latest in a string of attacks on the grid during the past decade that have highlighted the vulnerability of the U.S. power grid. One unresolved 2013 rifle attack on a substation in California, marked a “turning point for the U.S. electrical power sector,” prompting utilities to reevaluate their security.

    ADVERTISING
    It also led to a new national standard that called for increased protections, according to a 2018 Congressional Research Service report. That report said security “remains a work in progress.”

    In recent years, several federal cases have highlighted the continued attraction of the grid to extremists.

    In 2019, Stephen Plato McRae, in a federal plea agreement, was sentenced to 8 years in prison after admitting to shooting at a Utah substation in September 2016. He also admitted to earlier attacks in Utah and Nevada. McRae “engaged in this conduct in an effort to target producers of fossil fuel to bring attention to global climate change,” according to a 2021 federal court decision denying a request for sentence reduction.

    An August 2021 federal indictment alleged five men — who communicated via a message board used by neo-Nazis — planned to destroy substations in the Pacific Northwest as part of a plan to create “general chaos,” and undertake assassinations in an effort to form a white ethno-state. Two of the men have entered guilty pleas, while three are still awaiting trial, according to federal court records.

    In February, three men from Indiana, Texas and Wisconsin pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to provide material support to terrorists, as part of a plot to further white supremacist ideology by attacking regional power substations.

    Then, late in the year, came new high-profile attacks, with elusive motives.

    ADVERTISING
    On Dec. 3, two North Carolina substations were attacked by gunfire, cutting out power to about 45,000 people. Days later, North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, alongside Duke Energy and Moore County officials, offered up to $75,000 in rewards for people with information on the attacks.

    In the Northwest, one of the November targets was an Oregon substation operated by the Bonneville Power Administration, a major marketer of hydroelectric and nuclear power to the Northwest and California. On Thanksgiving morning, two people cut through a fence, then “used firearms to shoot up and disable numerous pieces of equipment and cause significant damage,” according to an internal agency email cited in a Dec. 8 news report by Oregon Public Broadcasting and Seattle’s KUOW.

    The memo obtained by the news stations also referred to “several attacks on various substations” in Western Washington, “including setting the control houses on fire, forced entry and sabotage of intricate electrical control systems, causing short circuits by tossing chains across the overhead busywork, and ballistic attack with small caliber firearms.”

    Witnesses recount Christmas Day
    So far, law enforcement officials have not released details on how the Christmas Day attacks in Pierce County may have been carried out, descriptions of the damage, or their cost to repair.

    Tacoma Power, in a written statement, said that as federal authorities have issued warnings and alerts, “we have evolved and increased our security measures … and will continue to do so.”

    PSE, in a written statement, said the 2013 California incident highlighted the importance of security, and that it continues to invest in extensive monitoring and protection measures.

    Sponsored
    Gary Moore, who lives across from the Puget Sound Energy substation near Kapowsin, said he did not hear any gunshots or noise that Sunday evening. He and his wife were having a Christmas visit with a friend when, through a front window, they noticed power company and first responder vehicles driving past and parking at the substation.

    Across the road, he could see “blue arcing flames” shooting up from some of the equipment in the center of the substation. The fire lasted about a half-hour before being put out.

    On Wednesday, the fence that surrounds the substation near some scruffy forest had a cut, since stitched back together, that may have offered a point of entry to the hazardous electrical equipment.

    “I’m still amazed that they got out of there alive,” Moore said.

    There are different accounts of what may have happened as the power went off at the station in Spanaway.

    Henkel, along with her husband Tom, said they did not hear gunshots before the power going out about 5 a.m. And Moss, the Pierce County sheriff’s spokesperson, said gunfire had not been reported to the department during the attacks.

    ADVERTISING
    Yet three other Spanaway area residents, one of whom asked not to be identified, said they heard what sounded like someone shooting.

    Eva Robinett, who lives less than a mile from the Spanaway substation, said she was lying in bed when the power went out. She heard her bedroom fan turn off, and then six pops ring out not long after. Her husband was getting up early to prepare a 14-pound Christmas prime rib.

    “And then my husband goes, ‘Are those gunshots?’” she said.

    Robinett posted about hearing what seemed to be gunshots on the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department Facebook page.

    Christopher Langley and his family live less than a mile away from the substation. His children were up about 5 a.m. to look for presents under their Christmas tree when they lost power. “And then we heard a whole round of gunshots go off,” said Langley, who also posted his account to the Sheriff’s Department page. He estimated there were five to seven rounds.

    For Kathryn Henkel, the substation outage was a nerve-wracking blow. She had planned to cook a turkey dinner for her extended family of 12 who all live in the house.

    Without power, those plans were shelved.

    As the hours wore on, she worried about her mother-in-law, who, without electricity, was rapidly using up stockpiled bottles of oxygen. By late afternoon, she thought she would have to take her mother to a hospital emergency room to make sure she had a continued supply of oxygen.

    She seethed as she pondered the actions of the unknown perpetrator of the attack.

    “We made the best of it. We ate McDonald’s for dinner,” she said. “But I was beyond livid that I possibly was going to have to put my mother-in-law in the hospital when she wasn’t even sick on Christmas.”

    https://12ft.io/proxy?q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.seattletimes.com%2Fseattle-news%2Fwhat-motivated-the-pacific-northwest-substation-attacks%2F

  3. Socialist-Marxist Leadership Sweeps Across South America as 2023 Begins – With the Help of the Pro-China Biden Regime
    By Jim Hoft
    Published January 1, 2023 at 9:00am
    0 Comments

    Former president and convicted felon and Socialist Luis Inacio Lula da Silva will be sworn in as Brazil’s president Sunday at 3 PM.

    And with his Socialist party back in power South America will be entrenched with Socialism and far-left leaders. Only Ecuador and Uraguay will not be led by far-left socialists.

    Joe Biden’s “National Security Adviser” and Russiagate conspirator Jake Sullivan visited Brasilía in early December and invited the convicted criminal, Communist, and purported election fraudster Lula da Silva to visit Washington.

    https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/01/socialist-marxist-leadership-sweeps-across-south-america-2023-begins-help-pro-china-biden-regime/

    • Bolsonaro Cheered by Fans in Orlando, Lula by Communists in Brasilia – WATCH LIVE
      By Richard Abelson
      Published January 1, 2023 at 12:30pm
      52 Comments

      Parting Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has arrived in Florida while the incoming leftist successor Lula da Silva is set be inaugurated today. Vice-President Hamilton Mourão disappointed Bolsonaro backers by attacking the President.

      Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was inaugurated as President of Brazil at 3:05 pm local time today, dashing the hopes of millions of Brazilians who protested for two months night and day in rain and shine, hoping to avert a Communist coup in the largest South American country.

      https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/01/bolsonaro-cheered-fans-orlando-lula-communists-brasilia/

  4. Durham Police Respond to Eight Sudden Deaths on Christmas Day
    By Jim Hoft
    Published January 1, 2023 at 10:50am
    294 Comments

    The Durham Police Department has confirmed that eight sudden deaths were among the 329 reported events they received on Christmas Day in Durham, England.

    According to BBC, none of the deaths are believed to be suspicious.

    These fatalities are being described as extremely frightening in a video that is currently circulating online, claiming that usually, the average sudden death is less than 1 per week.

    So first of all, tragic news, Christmas day, there were eight sudden deaths in county Durham,” a man said in a video. “Eight sudden deaths on Christmas day.”

    “There are extremely ridiculous amount of people that are just dying suddenly. But somebody’s [requested] a freedom of information request in (FOIA). They want to know how many people. So this is on the government’s website. And they want to know police supply the number of fatalities resulting in sudden deaths during the last five years. So what is how many people normally on an average year die suddenly

    https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/01/durham-police-respond-eight-sudden-deaths-christmas-day/

  5. Last Failsafe to Fix 2020 Election at Supreme Court – Brunson v. Adams
    By Greg Hunter On December 31, 2022 In

    Loy Brunson and his three brothers have a case before the Supreme Court right now that could be both groundbreaking and earth shaking. Many on both sides of the aisle think the case is frivolous and meritless, but the Brunson brothers disagree. Their case is 22-380 and titled Brunson v. Alma S. Adams. The case centers around the 2020 Election and charges by 100 members of Congress who wanted to investigate fraud provided for in the Constitution. By voting not to investigate, members of Congress broke their oath, according to the Brunson Supreme Court case. That’s the legal action in a nutshell. Brunson says his case has national security implications because enemies of the United States, both foreign and domestic, are in the process of destroying the country and the U.S. Constitution as a result of the 2020 Election. Is this way of thinking over the top? Brunson says, “No, it is not over the top, and I think the Supreme Court judges are probably aware of how urgent this is and that we are at a tipping point. This is like the last failsafe at the U.S. Supreme Court with this case. The timing is unbelievable that we have been able to bring it and have it at this time. So, it’s a do or die. We have had conversations with many people, and they say they have given up hope until they saw this case. . . . The bottom line is the court has the power to do it. . . . It could be a 9 to 0 vote because it is not political . . . The justices could defend this by saying this has nothing to do with partisan politics. It has everything to do with taking our oaths

    https://usawatchdog.com/last-failsafe-to-fix-2020-election-at-supreme-court-brunson-v-adams/

  6. New Year 2023
    Light overcomes darkness.

    There is light in the darkness, TOC friends. Don’t be daunted by the storm clouds, lightning, and noise. The arc of history bends toward the light, and we here in these living generations are witness to history’s great show.

    Why is this so? Because we’re the ones who are here. We are only inadequate to the moment if we choose to be. Regular correspondents know where I think the choice about that lies. Our sufficiency is not of ourselves. But if we look for it in the right place, it is always far more than we need.

    There will be much more in the coming days. Fear not. Light overcomes darkness. See you in 2023.

    Happy and Blessed New Year from The Optimistic Conservative.

    https://theoptimisticconservative.wordpress.com/2022/12/31/new-year-2023/#more-7700

  7. Government by Gimmick Won’t Last
    By J.B. Shurk
    The system’s too powerful! You can’t beat a “big brother” police State! The globalists control all the money and have all the leverage! I’ve heard every reason under the sun why individual liberty will continue to lose out to the rapidly advancing technocratic surveillance structure extinguishing Western freedoms today. I say, “So what?” The bigger they come, the harder they fall.

    Our whole human story is a repeating pattern in which power accumulates, empires emerge, power corrupts, divisions grow, and empires come crashing down. Anyone who thinks an international oligarchy of corporate behemoths, central banks, and Intelligence Community spy chiefs will succeed where the Egyptian, Greek, Roman, Carolingian, Byzantine, Ottoman, Yuan, Ming, and British empires all failed makes the mistake of giving today’s power brokers more credit than they deserve. International oligarchies commanding unbeatable militaries and hoarding unparalleled wealth are nothing new. The “unbeatable” are always beaten.

    When we are overwhelmed by those who choose to torment us, we tend to unfairly

    https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2022/12/government_by_gimmick_wont_last.html

  8. Kary Mullis, the brilliant scientist who discovered the Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) test and stated that it was a research tool and could NEVER be used to diagnose a disease in a human being and won the Nobel Prize for his work, also expressed disagreement with the scientific evidence supporting climate change and ozone depletion.

    “Climate change and HIV/AIDS theories were promoted as a form of racketeering by environmentalists, government agencies, and scientists attempting to preserve their careers and earn money
    2023
    Climate Clowns
    Harari habitual horse pucky
    Fauci’s Fake Flu
    Finicky Freeland’s Finale
    Biden’s banjax
    Trudeau tachycardia
    Clueless Klaus Schwab
    PCR methinks not
    It’s over

    • DAILY MAIL –Thousands of soldiers from Ukraine’s Azov regiment gather to watch a Viking longboat burn at ceremony in memory of their fallen comrades

      Soldiers gathered in Rivne to watch a replica Drakkar ship go up in flames

      Thousands watched on as part of the tribute to the soldiers killed by Russia

      The imagery harks back to when Ukraine’s territory was controlled by Vikings

      ———————

      Thousands of Ukraine’s Azov soldiers have performed a traditional viking longboat burning ceremony to honour their fallen comrades killed by Russian troops.

      The battalion, whose final stand fiercely defending the Azovstal steel plant in the Siege of Mariupol drew praise from around the world, gathered in the Rivne region of Ukraine for the touching tribute.

      […]The group derives their name from the Sea of Azov and war formed in 2014 as a nationalist militia that has been fighting against separatist groups in eastern Ukraine.

      The group’s logo features a Wolfsangel, one of the original symbols used by the Nazi 2nd SS Panzer Division Das Reich in WWII.

      https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11576251/Thousands-Ukraines-Azov-soldiers-burn-Viking-longboat-honour-comrades.html?ito=social-twitter_mailonline

  9. Elon Musk: Fauci Files to Drop Later This Week – 2023 Is About to Get Interesting!
    By Jim Hoft
    Published January 1, 2023 at 7:20pm
    67 Comments

    In early December, Elon Musk released the Twitter Files, Part 4 report on the company’s discussions on the censoring and banning of United States President Donald Trump.

    Part 4 of the release included part 2 of the internal discussions leading up to the ‘removal of Trump’

    President Trump was ultimately banned from Twitter on January 8, 2021.

    Hours later Twitter owner Elon Musk announced his next topic in the Twitter Files series.

    Elon Musk announced he was going to expose Dr. Tony Fauci and the suppression and suspension of any Fauci critics.

    TRENDING: Happy New Year 2023 – Let Faith, Hope and Courage Drive Our Efforts

    Elon posted this in December, “My pronouns are Prosecute/Fauci.”

    https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/01/elon-musk-fauci-files-drop-later-week-2023-get-interesting/

  10. Democrat Senator Amy Klobuchar Calls For Regulations on Social Media Companies For “Misinformation, Disinformation” (VIDEO)
    By Cristina Laila
    Published January 1, 2023 at 7:02pm
    193 Comments

    Democrats always want to silence (or kill) their opposition.

    Democrat Senator Amy Klobuchar (MN) on Sunday called for regulations on social media companies for “misinformation” and “disinformation.”

    Translation: Amy Klobuchar and the Democrat tyrants in Washington want to control the narrative online and silence conservatives.

    NBC’s “Meet the Press” host Chuck Todd teed up the question and encouraged Klobuchar to censor Americans.

    https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/01/democrat-senator-amy-klobuchar-calls-regulations-social-media-companies-misinformation-disinformation-video/

  11. Message From Heaven? Historic Rains in San Francisco Cause Mudslides and Sewer Geysers to Explode, Cleansing Feces-Ridden City (VIDEO)
    By Cullen Linebarger
    Published January 1, 2023 at 6:40pm
    186 Comments

    over 99% of cases, flooding inevitably leads to panic over property damage, potential spread of disease, and even death. But for the nation’s filthiest and most amoral city, it counts as a long-overdue and essential bath.

    The People’s Republic of San Francisco was pounded with over five inches of rain on New Year’s Eve, causing severe flooding across the city. Cars across the city were submerged under the toxic floodwater washing away feces, needles, and homeless tents from the streets and sidewalks.

    The flooding proved so overwhelming that it caused sewer geysers to burst in the middle of the roads. A local resident tweeted a video showing multiple ones exploding in one small area.

    https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/01/message-heaven-historic-rains-san-francisco-cause-mudslides-sewer-geysers-explode-cleansing-feces-ridden-city-video/

  12. Incoming Republican Rep. Anna Paulina Luna Says House Member Threatened Her for Not Supporting Kevin McCarthy (VIDEO)
    By Jim Hoft
    Published January 1, 2023 at 6:20pm
    348 Comments

    Incoming Republican lawmaker Anna Paulina Luna from Florida is not a Kevin McCarthy supporter.

    Rep-Elect Paulina Luna told Steve Bannon on Friday that she received a threatening call from a member of Congress because she would not commit to endorsing McCarthy for House Speaker.

    Vote for Kevin, or else!

    Newsweek reported:

    https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/01/incoming-republican-rep-anna-paulina-luna-says-house-member-threatened-not-supporting-kevin-mccarthy-video/