Reader’s Links for February 9th, 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

50 Replies to “Reader’s Links for February 9th, 2023”

  1. “Allah, Allah!” shouted his minion, Doug, as he ran breathless into the room. “Someone has been stealing your treasure!”

    Allah was finishing his pork and beans. His head rose up from his plate, his eyes burning with hate. His voice thundered, “Who has found a way to do this?” The walls shook when he spoke. Doug cowered. “What infidel could be so clever to steal my gold?”

    “Some guy found some arcane law loophole on the books somewhere. Every time you threaten his life his country has to give him a thousand bucks.” Doug’s voice quivered in fear. “He’s up to a half-million dollars and counting!”

    Allah looked sadly back down to his plate. What a world, he thought, when his stockpile of hatred could be drained in such a way. “Maybe we should put the Koran out in digital format?”

    (At one point this mining mogul controlled the most gold assets in the Islamic world. Ironic, and a very good interview. I like his regal accent and regal hair.)
    51:14

    • IF Canada survives until the next election, Canadians MUST make sure the Liberal Party and the New Democratic/Dole Party lose party status. They are not worthy.

  2. HUNTER LAPTOP EXCLUSIVE: US Attorneys Were Suspiciously Hired on Same Day Hunter Was Asked to Use His “Influence” to End Ukraine Investigation into Burisma – One Year Later Joe Biden Shut It Down
    By Joe Hoft
    Published February 9, 2023 at 8:00am
    0 Comments

    Hunter Biden was given a task. He was asked to help Burisma, the firm he was a Board member of, to use his “influence” to end an investigation in Ukraine of the company. Joe Biden handled it a little more than a year later.

    On Wednesday The Gateway Pundit reported on an email from Hunter Biden’s business partners in Ukraine. This email was found on Hunter Biden’s laptop computer, but not analyzed before our report on Wednesday. The email included a request from Burisma officials asking Hunter to use his “influence” to end an ongoing investigation of the company in Ukraine.

    As TGP reported, the entire situation was later exposed by Joe Biden boasting in front of a camera.

    In his own words, with cameras rolling, Joe Biden described how he threatened the Ukrainian President and warned that the Obama administration would pull $1 billion in U.S. loan guarantees, sending the former Soviet republic toward insolvency, if Ukraine didn’t immediately fire the prosecutor investigating Burmisa Holdings.

    https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/02/hunter-biden-laptop-exclusive-request-hunter-use-influence-end-ukraine-investigation-year-joe/

  3. FEB 092023 – NYT – Steve Bannon’s Podcast Is Top Misinformation Spreader, Study Says

    A large podcast study found that Mr. Bannon’s “War Room” had more falsehoods and unsubstantiated claims than other political talk shows.

    When Stephen K. Bannon, the White House strategist turned podcaster, was explaining the latest Covid-19 developments in 2021, he passed the microphone to a special guest: Clay Clark, an evangelist and anti-vaccine activist.

    For nearly 10 minutes, Mr. Clark rattled off one false and misleading statement after another. Covid is “100 percent treatable” with hydroxychloroquine and other drugs. (No.) Covid vaccines are filled with fetal tissue. (False.) Concentration camps are coming. (Nope.) Bill Gates owns a demonic patent for a cryptocurrency that is injected into your body. (Where to begin?)

    “There are no conspiracies, but there are no coincidences,” Mr. Bannon concluded minutes later, in what has become his show’s catchphrase.

    Mr. Bannon has spent the past few years parlaying his stint as the chief strategist for former President Donald J. Trump into a prominent role as a right-wing personality. His hourlong “War Room” podcast episodes are released at least twice daily, even as Mr. Bannon faces various legal challenges, including a guilty verdict last year for contempt of Congress and accusations from Manhattan prosecutors that he defrauded conservative donors.

    In a study released on Thursday by the Brookings Institution, Mr. Bannon’s show was crowned the top peddler of false, misleading and unsubstantiated statements among political podcasts.

    Researchers at Brookings downloaded and transcribed 36,603 podcast episodes from 79 political talk shows that had been released before Jan. 22, 2022. When researchers compared the shows’ transcripts against a list of keywords and common falsehoods identified by fact checkers, they found that nearly 20 percent of Mr. Bannon’s “War Room” episodes contained a false, misleading or unsubstantiated statement, more than shows by other conservatives like Glenn Beck and Charlie Kirk.

    Overall, about 70 percent of the podcasts reviewed had shared at least one false or misleading claim, the researchers found. Conservative podcasters were 11 times as likely as liberal podcasters to share a claim that fact checkers could refute.

    Mr. Kirk, a conservative activist and the founder of Turning Points USA, ranked second, with 17 percent of his episodes containing an unsubstantiated or false claim. “The Rush Limbaugh Show” (which ended when Mr. Limbaugh died in 2021) and “The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show” shared third place, while “The Michael Savage Show” ranked fourth.

    Valerie Wirtschafter, a senior data analyst at Brookings who led the research, said some falsehoods and errors were expected to slip through on talk shows, where conversations were typically recorded live. “But what does stand out, particularly for a show like Bannon’s ‘War Room’ and a few others, is just how frequently this type of content appears,” she said.

    Mr. Bannon said in an interview that the Brookings report was a “badge of honor,” adding that “War Room” was a leader in vaccine skepticism, election fraud claims and other topics commonly flagged as misinformation by fact checkers.

    “What they call disinformation or misinformation we consider the truth,” he said. “And time is proving us out.”

    The findings underscore the vital role that Apple, Google and a constellation of podcast apps play in connecting disinformation peddlers to their audiences. Researchers sourced shows from Apple Podcast’s list of the 100 most popular political talk shows and added several more that Apple’s algorithm recommended. Joe Rogan, who hosts “The Joe Rogan Experience,” has also been criticized for sharing misinformation about Covid-19 and vaccines, but his show was not included in the analysis because it is distributed only by Spotify.

    Big Tech companies have taken a largely hands-off approach to podcast content — and avoiding the kind of scrutiny that has dogged social networks for years. The companies say they have little responsibility for podcast content because they are effectively search engines connecting listeners to shows but never hosting content.

    The companies have policies that ban hateful language or content that might incite violence, but researchers said those policies were vague and poorly enforced, allowing false content to spread.

    Apple’s and Google’s software connects listeners with podcasts using an algorithm that surfaces recommended shows. Ivy Choi, a spokeswoman for Google, said the company did not recommend shows through its algorithm if they contained “harmful misinformation,” including Mr. Bannon’s “War Room.” A spokesman for Apple declined to comment.

    Some liberal podcasters or their guests also shared false or unsubstantiated statements, including statements by Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York about child poverty or immigration, which fact checkers rated “false” or “mostly false.”

    But Dr. Wirtschafter said conservative shows far outpaced liberal ones in sharing misleading information. Many podcast hosts, she said, leveraged fears over the pandemic to captivate anxious Americans. A roster of anti-vaccination activists and armchair experts pushed baseless theories about the coronavirus and Covid-19 vaccines. They said Covid could be treated or cured using ivermectin or hydroxychloroquine, two existing drugs, despite evidence that they were not effective.

    “What we wind up with is everybody is a health expert all because they saw some study,” Dr. Wirtschafter said.

    Mr. Bannon, for example, frequently prodded for evidence in interviews with guests, conveying an apparent search for truth. But, as clips of these interviews show, he often gave his guests the final word, seldom endorsed opposing views and rarely cautioned his audience to wait for more information.

    “Maybe there is some nuance or debate in the conversation,” Dr. Wirtschafter said, but Mr. Bannon leaves listeners with the clear impression that officials and institutions “are totally lying to you,” she added.

    “I would agree with that characterization of the world,” Natalie Winters, a co-host and executive editor of “War Room,” said in an interview. She added that the show’s goal was to “go up against the mainstream narratives, to provide the counterpoint to it.”

    Mr. Bannon appeared confused in one episode after Steve Kirsch, a technology mogul and founder of the Vaccine Safety Research Foundation, an anti-vaccine group, said it wasn’t known what was inside the vaccine.

    “Give us your evidence for that,” Mr. Bannon said.

    “We’re not allowed to ask the pharmacist for a vial or even a squirt and then send it to a lab and have it analyzed for what’s actually inside those vials,” he said, asking whether the vaccine contained mercury or other harmful chemicals.

    Vaccine manufacturers and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention provide detailed lists of the vaccine’s ingredients.

    Mr. Bannon was a prominent voice in the Stop the Steal movement, a coalition of election deniers and Trump supporters who pushed falsehoods and conspiracy theories about the 2020 presidential election in a bid to overturn the results.

    In one episode from 2020, Mr. Bannon ticked off a long list of conspiracy theories about election fraud.

    Mr. Bannon also presaged the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, saying on his podcast: “All hell is going to break loose tomorrow.”

    When “War Room” touched on conservative lightning rods like abortion, the show sometimes drifted into conspiracy theories and echoed QAnon, the online movement claiming that “global elites” engage in child sex trafficking and other crimes.

    Liz Yore, a lawyer and podcaster who has shared conspiracy theories about the pandemic, said the global elites supported abortion so they could research extending their own lives using fetal tissue. Ms. Yore’s claims appeared to be based on research that used aborted fetal tissue and stem cells to study infectious diseases and cancer in mice.

    Ms. Winters said fringe voices on “War Room” represented 0.001 percent of the show.

    “You can give everyone a voice,” she said. “Just because it’s printed or said on the show, it doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re endorsing it.”

    https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/09/technology/podcasts-steve-bannon-war-room-misinformation.html

    • WSJ – EU Warns Twitter Over Incomplete Content-Moderation Report

      The report is a dress rehearsal for the EU’s new social-media law

      Elon Musk’s Twitter Inc. submitted an incomplete report to the European Union about how it is policing its online posts, EU officials said, drawing regulators’ ire just months before the bloc gets the power to fine companies for insufficient content moderation under a new social-media law.

      Twitter’s report, published Thursday as part of a voluntary code of conduct Twitter and other companies signed last year, lacked quantitative data about how it is tackling what the EU defines as intentionally false or misleading information, the officials said. Regulators plan to warn Twitter that it must do better to comply, one of the officials added.

      “I am disappointed to see that [the] Twitter report lags behind others, and I expect a more serious commitment to their obligations stemming from the Code,” said Vera Jourova, a vice president of the European Commission, the EU’s executive arm.

      Twitter didn’t respond to a request for comment.

      Twitter is among more than three dozen companies, including Alphabet Inc.’s Google, ByteDance Ltd.’s TikTok and Meta Platforms Inc. that agreed last year to a code of conduct regarding so-called disinformation, which requires them to file periodic reports on their progress. The code is in many ways a dress rehearsal for the legally binding requirements that will apply to very large social-media companies later this year under the EU’s new Digital Services Act—which includes a requirement to swiftly remove content that is illegal in Europe and detailed reporting to regulators.

      Twitter is expected to be designated in coming weeks among the companies that are subject to the law’s most stringent requirements. Repeated failure to comply exposes companies to fines of up to 6% of their annual global revenue.

      Thursday’s warning comes just weeks after a top EU official told Mr. Musk that Twitter has only a few months to be fully compliant with the DSA. Mr. Musk has previously said that he intends to comply with the EU’s new rules.

      Officials in Europe raised questions last year about how Twitter could comply with the new EU law after widespread layoffs and departures left the company’s Brussels office empty and thinned the ranks of staffers responsible for content moderation.

      EU officials on Thursday said that it was too early to talk about DSA compliance, but added that, at least in its initial assessment, Twitter hadn’t taken the voluntary code of conduct seriously enough and would have to do better.

      Twitter’s report weighed in at 79 pages, far shorter than TikTok’s 164 pages, Meta’s 168 pages and Google’s 241 pages. The company also skipped much of a section in the report template on how it is helping support fact checkers, marking it as “not applicable.”

      https://www.wsj.com/articles/eu-warns-twitter-over-incomplete-content-moderation-report-11675944148

      ‘The time of the Wild West is over,’ EU’s Vera Jourová warns Elon Musk’s Twitter from Davos


    • EU’s media act steps up fight for press freedom! Vera Jourová debates media market in Germany!

      With press freedom at risk in several member states, the European Commission is taking action. A new initiative would apply to journalists, media outlets and other media service providers. “A war doesn’t start with weapons. A war starts with propaganda, with disinformation, and state controlled press,” Belgian parliamentarian Katia Segers told DW.

      The European Commission has now decided to tackle these problems head on with the European Media Freedom Act (EMFA), a major legal package to protect journalists and editorial independence, uphold press freedom and ultimately safeguard democracy in the European Union.

      The EMFA, which is being launched on Friday, is a parting shot from Brussels to member states that have undermined their domestic media through surveillance, co-option and propaganda.

      In her 2021 State of the European Union speech, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen stressed the importance of stopping “those who threaten media freedom” in the EU.

      “Media companies cannot be treated as just another business. Their independence is essential. Europe needs a law that safeguards this independence,” she said.

      Along those lines, media service providers will also have to ensure transparency of ownership. Under the EMFA they will be obliged declare who their shareholders are, a measure aimed at strengthening editorial independence.

      Protecting journalists

      According to Reporters Without Borders (RSF), press freedom in the European Union is “caught between two extremes.” A free press flourishes in some EU nations like Norway, Denmark and Sweden, but faces serious risks in others such as Poland, Hungary and Greece.

      Upon a hearing about the Greek spyware scandal in the European Parliament in Brussels last week, Greek journalists Thanasis Koukakis, Stavros Malichoudis and Eliza Triantafillou testified that they have become targets of state-sanctioned surveillance because of their work.

      Meanwhile in Hungary and Poland, independent media outlets have experienced crackdowns by government authorities seeking to regulate their ownership and rein in media pluralism.

      While Poland’s state-owned oil company Orlen has taken over some of the country’s media outlets, like regional newspaper Polska Press, Hungary’s national media regulator, the Media Council, has silenced independent radio stations including Tilos Radio by refusing to renew its frequency license.

      The Commission’s EMFA is intended to address these threats, inlcuding to safeguard journalists and their families against the use of spyware and threats from authoritarian regimes.

      Following the money

      It will also ensure that any funding provided to public service media is “adequate and stable,” and will roll out new regulations for state advertising in media.

      “It needs to be known what the money’s for,” European Commissioner for Values and Transparency Vera Jourova, told Czech Radio last week. “We do not want states, as is already the practice in some cases, to publically finance some media outlets that then write nice articles about them.”

      RSF has also called on the European Commission to ensure that no member state “benefits from European solidarity” if it tramples on media freedom.

      “The EMFA should include respect for media pluralism and independence among the conditionality criteria for the provision of European funds to Member States, in order to better respond to the serious and repeated press freedom violations in some of them,” RSF said in a statement.

      Addressing disinformation

      Another critical element of upholding media freedom and increasing media trust in Europe is tackling disinformation.

      “Democracies cannot stand idly while authoritarian regimes unload their propaganda on Europe,” RSF secretary-general Christophe Deloire said in a statement.

      The EU should develop a framework that “does not favor propaganda at the expense of free and independent media,” rather one “that promotes freedom of expression, pluralism and reliability of information at the national level,” he added.

      Under the EMFA, the Commission has proposed setting up a new European Board for Media Services, comprised of national media authorities. Besides monitoring how national regulatory decisions affect the overall European media landscape, a key task of this board will be to tackle disinformation by ensuring information on online media paltforms, in line with the EU code of practice on disinformation.

    • twitter @kylenabecker

      Coincidence theorists, please stop believing there’s a connection b/w James O’Keefe being forced into paid leave just days after @Project_Veritas dropped the most devastating undercover videos in the history of the Internet on Pfizer.

      They’re totally unrelated!

      https://twitter.com/kylenabecker/status/1623690264006082568

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

      James O’Keefe Is on Paid Leave From Project Veritas

      James O’Keefe, the founder and chairman of Project Veritas, has taken a paid leave from the conservative nonprofit media organization as its board considers whether to remove him from his leadership position, according to current and former employees of the organization.

      An internal message sent to Project Veritas employees by the organization’s executive director, Daniel Strack, said that O’Keefe would be taking “a few weeks of well-deserved PTO.” An image of the message was shared by a source familiar with the organization’s internal operations, and its authenticity was confirmed by a current employee. When reached for comment on his personal cell phone, O’Keefe said nothing in response and did not respond to follow-up calls and text messages. Through a Project Veritas spokesman, Strack later released a statement on behalf of the organization. “Like all newsrooms at this stage, the Project Veritas Board of Directors and Management are constantly evaluating what the best path forward is for the organization,” the statement read in part. It did not directly address questions about O’Keefe’s employment status. “There are 65+ employees at Project Veritas dedicated to continuing the mission to expose corruption, dishonesty, waste, fraud, and other misconduct in both public and private institutions,” the statement read. “To our supporters: We hear you, we care about you, and we will never give up.”
      ===============================
      Daniel Strack

      Executive Director at Project Veritas | Former Goldman Sachs Managing Director

      https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniel-strack

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

      O’Keefe is his organization’s guiding ideological force and onscreen face, but his status as its day-to-day manager has become uncertain amid reports of internal turmoil, lawsuits from former employees, leaks about its internal workings, and a federal investigation into its conduct in purchasing a diary stolen from Ashley Biden, the president’s daughter. Strack’s internal message to employees made reference to what he called “a distracting time” and said that a board meeting had been held to discuss “the health of the organization” and that while “we have not come up with final solutions yet we have made a few immediate decisions.” The message said two top Project Veritas executives, including the nonprofit’s chief financial officer, had been “reinstated.” Multiple sources said that the pair had recently been fired by O’Keefe.

      A meeting of the Project Veritas board is scheduled for Friday, when O’Keefe’s potential removal is set to be discussed, according to one source familiar with the matter. The source said that Project Veritas was currently divided between a group of employees who are perceived to be loyal to O’Keefe, including his communications adviser, R.C. Maxwell, and the board, which has been dissatisfied with what it perceives as O’Keefe’s mismanagement. Matthew Tyrmand, a conservative journalist who serves on Project Veritas’ board, said he was about to walk into a meeting and could not talk when reached on his cell phone on Wednesday. When asked specifically if O’Keefe was being ousted, he replied: “I just said I was walking into a meeting and this was not the appropriate time. What don’t you understand about that?” He did not respond to subsequent phone calls. Two other board members did not respond to phone messages.

      As rumors of O’Keefe’s potential ouster circulated among his friends and enemies on Wednesday, his usually pugnacious Twitter and Instagram accounts were silent. Project Veritas continued to promote the organization’s latest stings, including a series of hidden-camera videos that captured a Pfizer scientist discussing what Project Veritas described as dangerous gain-of-function research related to COVID vaccines. (“Pfizer has not conducted gain of function or directed evolution research,” the pharmaceutical company responded in a statement after the videos appeared.) One video in the series culminated with a physical altercation between O’Keefe and the Pfizer employee. In another video, posted in late January, O’Keefe accosted an investigative reporter for the New York Times, Adam Goldman, whose byline has appeared on multiple stories about the Biden-diary case. “Look how scared he is,” O’Keefe says in the videos, as Goldman holds up an iPhone to record their interaction.

      “I’m an investigative reporter, unlike you, you’re a government stooge,” O’Keefe says and tauntingly calls Goldman a “punk” and a “Fed-boy!” (From Goldman’s side of the camera, O’Keefe looks even more hostile.)

      Even as O’Keefe continued his confrontational act, long-standing infighting at the Project Veritas headquarters in Mamaroneck was coming to a head. Over the dozen years since he founded the nonprofit in a carriage house behind his parents’ home in suburban Westwood, New Jersey, the group has grown from a shoestring YouTube prank operation into a large, ideologically driven news organization with an annual operating budget of more than $20 million. But former employees describe O’Keefe as an erratic and often angry boss. According to a letter dated February 6, which was circulated by Project Veritas staff who were critical of O’Keefe’s management, he “berated” and fired the organization’s CFO, Tom O’Hara, and its chief strategy officer, Barry Hinckley. Hinckley later wrote a message to the staff saying he had “stood up to a bully” and had lost his job as a result. The letter included an 11-page list of testimonials from anonymous current employees, describing O’Keefe, in the words of one, as a “power drunk tyrant.”

      Even many of O’Keefe’s enemies wondered, however, if his organization could survive without him as its leader. “Quite frankly, he’s the company,” one former employee said.

      https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2023/02/james-okeefe-project-veritas-paid-leave.html

    • Katie Hopkins: GB News cont…. I have the playbook by which the system takes down Neil Oliver

      • the guardian – Jewish group and MPs urge GB News to stop indulging conspiracy theories

        Fears antisemitic tropes are being spread after host Neil Oliver discusses plan to impose ‘one-world government’

        The UK’s leading Jewish organisation and a group of MPs have called on GB News and the media regulator Ofcom to tackle the broadcaster’s indulgence of conspiracy theories, warning that some recent segments and guests risked spreading ideas linked to antisemitism.

        The criticism comes as the channel faces increasing scrutiny over its mix of serious news with programmes that delve heavily into conspiracies about areas including Covid vaccines and a plot to create a world government.

        The decision by the Board of Deputies of British Jews and the all-party parliamentary group against antisemitism to speak out follows a recent edition of the weekly GB News show hosted by Neil Oliver, the broadcaster and historian.

        Oliver, who delivers trademark monologues to camera, used the show last Saturday to discuss what he called a “silent war” by generations of politicians to take “total control of the people” and impose a “one-world government”.

        The idea seemingly echoes a noted conspiracy theory document called Silent Weapons for Quiet Wars, supposedly a secret manual for world government found by chance in 1986. This has a long section on the role of the Rothschild banking dynasty, a common antisemitic trope.

        On the same show, one of Oliver’s guests was a man called William Keyte, introduced as a “constitutional expert”, who is a supporter of a fringe campaign group called the New Chartist Movement.

        Keyte’s focus is on the supposed primacy of common law over parliament, which has no crossover with antisemitic ideas.

        However, the New Chartist Movement website contains articles written by other members and contributors that contain antisemitic-linked ideas. It also features pieces written by David Icke, the TV presenter-turned conspiracy theorist who has claimed that a shadowy cabal controls the world, a familiar antisemitic argument.

        Other articles on the New Chartist website include one arguing that the “corporate and banking Deep State, completely supported by the Zionist state of Israel” plans to take control of UK politics, another antisemitic notion. Another argues that the “House of Rothschild” has a pivotal role in world affairs.

        Keyte has contributed an interview to another conspiracy theory website. While his video is about the common law, other parts of the site include conspiracies about Covid and the 5G network, plus a video with antisemitic overtones about the “illuminati” and the Bilderberg group.

        Keyte told the Guardian his interest was in constitutional law. He said: “It seems a shame that rather than focus on the important issues I raised in the interview with Neil in which so many people appear to be interested, you seem to be embarking on a piece about antisemitism. I do not condone antisemitism, but nor do I support the use of the subject to detract from other important issues.”

        A spokesperson for the Board of Deputies of British Jews said: “It is highly concerning that GB News continues to air a show which embraces all manner of conspiracy theories. Somewhat inevitably, some of those invited on to this show represent organisations that promote antisemitic conspiracy theories. If the channel will not act, we expect that Ofcom will.”

        Nicola Richards, the Conservative MP who co-chairs the all-party group against antisemitism, said: “Media diversity is incredibly important but not at the expense of professional standards. These developments should be of concern to GB News editors, owners, and producers and I hope they will be carefully reviewing them. With any public platform, there is a responsibility not to open the door to conspiratorial antisemitism or other misinformation.

        “No doubt Ofcom will be keeping a close eye on developments at GB News but let’s hope that the channel will get its house in order.”

        Ofcom is understood to be looking into whether it should investigate Oliver’s show on Saturday after a complaint. The watchdog is looking into two complaints about another conspiracy theory-heavy GB News show, hosted by Mark Steyn.

        Steyn, who has cast doubt on the safety of Covid vaccines, quit the channel this week after GB News sought to make him personally responsible for paying any Ofcom fines.

        A GB News spokesperson said: “GB News abhors racism and hate in all its forms and would never allow it on the channel.”

        https://www.theguardian.com/media/2023/feb/08/jewish-groups-urge-gb-news-to-stop-indulging-conspiracy-theories

        =====================================
        https://www.steynonline.com/13238/the-mark-steyn-show-is-back
        ======================================

    • FRANCE – PR4VD4- Fake anti-Ukraine ads target the US, Germany and Poland

      The Observers team at France 24 have conducted an investigation since November 2022, where they’ve spotted a variety of fake anti-Ukraine ads throughout the globe, product of Russian misinformation and propaganda.

  4. twitter @disclosetv

    NEW – Public broadcasters of Canada, Germany, Switzerland, and Belgium aim to build a “fact-based digital space” for citizens — citing disinformation, hate, violence, propaganda, and defamation on social networks as reasons.

    https://twitter.com/disclosetv/status/1623657303495909383

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

    ZDF und internationale Partner starten Forschungsprojekt für offenen Dialog im Netz

    Das ZDF will gemeinsam mit öffentlich-rechtlichen Rundfunkanstalten aus Kanada (CBC), der Schweiz (SRG SSR) und Belgien (RTBF) online-basierte Lösungen entwickeln, um bürgerliches Engagement und den demokratischen Diskurs im digitalen Raum abseits von Hasskommentaren und zunehmender Desinformation zu ermöglichen.

    Das internationale Forschungsprojekt “Public Spaces Incubator” soll innovative Bausteine für offene und respektvoll geführte Online-Diskussionen entwickeln und testen. Im Zentrum stehen die Interessen der Nutzerinnen und Nutzer. Kommerzielle Aspekte spielen keine Rolle.

    ZDF-Intendant Dr. Norbert Himmler: “Die Demokratie lebt von einem offenen und fairen Dialog in der Gesellschaft. Das dürfen wir nicht den amerikanischen Großplattformen überlassen. Das Projekt ‘Public Spaces Incubator’ soll Wege aufzeigen, wie der öffentlich-rechtliche Rundfunk unabhängige und faktenbasierte Kommunikationsräume in der digitalen Welt aufbauen kann. Unser gemeinsames Ziel ist es, der Zunahme von Hass, Gewalt, Propaganda und Diffamierung in den sozialen Medien mit einer öffentlich-rechtlichen Alternative zu begegnen.”

    Das Forschungsprojekt führen die vier Rundfunkhäuser in Zusammenarbeit mit der gemeinnützigen Organisation New_ Public durch, die über weitreichende Erfahrungen und Expertise in nicht-profitorientierte digitaler Kommunikation verfügt. Mitgründer Eli Pariser ist in Deutschland als Autor des Buchs „The Filter Bubble: Wie wir im Internet entmündigt werden“ bekannt. Pariser und Co-Gründerin Deepti Doshi konzipieren mit dem New_ Public-Team disziplinübergreifend digitale Räume zur Stärkung des demokratischen bürgerlichen Miteinanders.

    […]Über CBC/Radio-Canada
    CBC/Radio-Canada ist die öffentlich-rechtliche Rundfunkanstalt Kanadas. Ihr Auftrag ist es, die Bevölkerung zu informieren, aufzuklären und zu unterhalten.

    Dadurch spielt CBC/Radio-Canada eine zentrale Rolle bei der Stärkung der kanadischen Kultur.

    Als vertrauenswürdige Nachrichtenquelle bietet CBC/Radio-Canada eine einzigartige kanadische Perspektive – sei es auf Nachrichten, aktuelle Themen oder das Weltgeschehen.

    Das unverwechselbare Unterhaltungsprogramm zieht Zuschauerinnen und Zuschauer aus dem ganzen Land in den Bann. CBC/Radio-Canada ist national und regional verwurzelt und bietet vielfältige Inhalte in Englisch, Französisch und acht einheimische Sprachen.

    Über Radio Canada International (RCI) werden auch Inhalte auf Spanisch, Arabisch, Chinesisch, Punjabi und Tagalog sowie in den beiden Amtssprachen Englisch und Französisch angeboten. CBC/Radio-Canada treibt den Medienwandel voran, um die Bedürfnisse der Kanadier in einer digitalisierten Welt zu erfüllen.

    MORE :

    https://presseportal.zdf.de/pressemitteilung/zdf-und-internationale-partner-starten-forschungsprojekt-fuer-offenen-dialog-im-netz

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

    Public broadcasters collaborate to reclaim online public spaces with creation of “Public Spaces Incubator”

    “This partnership of four of the world’s leading public broadcasters underlines our collective and common purpose to address one of the most threatening phenomena of our time — unfettered online abuse. Online spaces that are free from disinformation, misinformation, harassment and abuse are near extinction. The social media environment has splintered into so many echo chambers that exclude diversity of opinion, discourage debate and silence dissent. Now is the time for public service media like CBC/Radio-Canada to play a role in reversing this trend.

    “Together, we want to step up, discover and experiment with new ways of engaging our respective populations, connecting our communities and facilitating bridge-building dialogue that will strengthen our civic and democratic life.”

    — Catherine Tait, President and CEO, CBC/Radio-Canada
    8th February 2023

    […]

    https://www.publicmediaalliance.org/public-broadcasters-create-public-spaces-incubator/

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

    CBC Media Centre

    PUBLIC BROADCASTERS COLLABORATE TO RECLAIM ONLINE PUBLIC SPACES WITH CREATION OF “PUBLIC SPACES INCUBATOR”

    Feb 08, 2023

    CBC/Radio-Canada partners with Belgian, German and Swiss public broadcasters to develop solutions to address increasingly toxic, polarized and unsafe online discourse

    […]

    https://www.cbc.ca/mediacentre/press-release/public-broadcasters-collaborate-to-reclaim-online-public-spaces-with-creati

  5. twitter @disclosetv

    NEW – WHO’s Tedros says we “must prepare” for a potential H5N1 human bird flu pandemic.

    + 2 min video

    https://twitter.com/disclosetv/status/1623627525590073345
    ==========================

    MORE – WHO is engaging manufacturers “to make sure that if needed supplies of vaccines and antivirals will be available for global use,” Tedros added in his remarks today.

    https://twitter.com/disclosetv/status/1623630504044945411

    ==================
    WHO – H5N1 Bird Flu Infection Warning – Don’t assume bird flu risk to humans will remain low!

    WHO: Don’t assume bird flu risk to humans will remain low.

    The recent spillover of bird flu to mammals has led the World Health Organization to warn that while the risk to humans currently remains low, it cannot be assumed that this will remain the case.

    WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Wednesday that cases of avian influenza in minks, otters, foxes and sea lions reported in recent weeks need to be monitored closely. “For the moment, the WHO assesses the risk to humans as low,” he said. Tedros pointed to the fact that since the emergence of H5N1 in 1996 there has only been “rare and non-sustained” transmission to and between humans.

    “But we cannot assume that will remain the case and we must prepare for any change in the status quo,” he said.

    In October, the H5N1 virus was detected in a mink farm outbreak in Spain’s Galicia region. While investigations found mink-to-mink transmission may have taken place at the farm, all staff there tested negative for the virus.

    Worldwide, four people were infected by the avian flu virus (H5N1) last year, one of whom died, said Christian Lindmeier, WHO spokesperson, in emailed comments.

    Avian flu poses an ongoing threat to human health due to its potential to cause a future pandemic and therefore strong disease surveillance remains critical, he said.

    “Surveillance in animals is important to catch any changes in the virus that have implications for human health,” the spokesperson said.

    On Wednesday, Tedros called on countries to strengthen their surveillance of areas where humans and animals interact.

    The WHO is also working to ensure that if the worst happens, supplies of vaccines and antivirals are available. Tedros said the WHO was continuing to engage with manufacturers on this issue

    • EU leaders greet Zelensky with clapping, Orbán doesn’t

      On arriving at the meeting, the twenty-seven greeted Volodymyr Zelensky, who, according to the footage, received applause from almost everyone, with Viktor Orbán being one of the very few exceptions (Romanian President Klaus Iohannis was all smiles, and didn’t clap, although according to Transtelex this could be due to his notoriously slow reaction time, as the Romanian press regularly refers to him as a man of delayed reactions.)

      Zelensky was positioned almost exactly in front of the Hungarian Prime Minister for the group photo.

      Some of the topics of the summit include EU measures in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. EU foreign policy, including sanctions, is decided by unanimity. As it prepares to join the EU, Ukraine will need the joint support of the 27 member states on several occasions in the future.

      One of the obstacles to this could be the country’s minority law adopted in December, with which neither the Romanian government, nor the Hungarian, is satisfied.

    • global news – “We will target Putin’s propagandists” European leaders tell Ukraine’s Zelensky

      Zelenskyy closed his rare trip abroad with a news conference alongside European Council’s Charles Michel and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in Brussels, Belgium on Thursday.

      Von der Leyen said that the European Union “will target Putin’s propagandists because their lies are poisoning the public space in Russia and abroad. You [Zelensky] were insisting on that – we hear you, and we will follow up and we’re going after them,” she said.

      Earlier in the day, Zelenskyy said Ukraine is moving closer to joining the European Union.

      “We are moving closer to the European Union. Ukraine will be a member of the European Union,” he said in an address to the European Parliament in Brussels, describing his country as “a Ukraine that is winning.”

    • WaPo –Ukraine’s rocket campaign reliant on U.S. precision targeting, officials say

      Ukrainian officials say that they almost never launch HIMARS rounds without detailed coordinates provided by U.S. military personnel situated elsewhere in Europe

      KYIV, Ukraine — Ukrainian officials said they require coordinates provided or confirmed by the United States and its allies for the vast majority of strikes using its advanced U.S.-provided rocket systems, a previously undisclosed practice that reveals a deeper and more operationally active role for the Pentagon in the war.

      The disclosure, confirmed by three senior Ukrainian officials and a senior U.S. official, comes after months of Kyiv’s forces pounding Russian targets — including headquarters, ammunition depots and barracks — on Ukrainian soil with the U.S.-provided High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, or HIMARS, and other similar precision-guided weapons such as the M270 multiple-launch rocket system.

      One senior Ukrainian official said Ukrainian forces almost never launch the advanced weapons without specific coordinates provided by U.S. military personnel from a base elsewhere in Europe. Ukrainian officials say this process should give Washington confidence about providing Kyiv with longer-range weapons.

      A senior U.S. official — who, like others, spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue — acknowledged the key American role in the campaign and said the targeting assistance served to ensure accuracy and conserve limited stores of ammunition for maximum effectiveness. The official said Ukraine does not seek approval from the United States on what to strike and routinely targets Russian forces on their own with other weapons. The United States provides coordinates and precise targeting information solely in an advisory role, the official said.

      The GPS-guided strikes have driven back Moscow’s forces on the battlefield and been celebrated as a key factor in Kyiv’s underdog attempt to stave off the nearly year-old Russian assault. When Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visited the White House in December, he gave President Biden a military medal that had been approved for meritorious service by the commander of a Ukrainian HIMARS unit.

      The issue is sensitive for the U.S. government, which has cast itself as a nonbelligerent friend to the government in Kyiv as it fights for its sovereignty and survival. The Kremlin has repeatedly accused the United States and its NATO allies of fighting a proxy war in Ukraine.

      Senior Pentagon officials declined for days to answer questions about whether and how they provide coordinates for the strikes, citing concerns about operational security. They instead provided a statement highlighting the limitations of American involvement.

      “We have long acknowledged that we share intelligence with Ukraine to assist them in defending their country against Russian aggression, and we have optimized over time how we share information to be able to support their requests and their targeting processes at improved speed and scale,” Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder, a Pentagon spokesman, said in the statement. “The Ukrainians are responsible for finding targets, prioritizing them and then ultimately deciding which ones to engage. The U.S. does not approve targets, nor are we involved in the selection or engagement of targets.”

      The senior Ukrainian official described the targeting process, generally: Ukrainian military personnel identify targets they want to hit, and in which location, and that information is then sent up to senior commanders, who then relay the request to U.S. partners for more accurate coordinates. The Americans do not always provide the requested coordinates, the official said, in which case the Ukrainian troops do not fire.

      Ukraine could carry out strikes without U.S. help, but because Kyiv doesn’t want to waste valuable ammunition and miss, it usually chooses not to strike without U.S. confirmation, the official said, adding that there are no complaints about the process.

      For months now, the Ukrainian government has been lobbying Washington for longer-range precision weapons.

      Kyiv possesses HIMARS launchers and a similar weapon, the M270 multiple-launch rocket system, each of which fire a U.S.-made rocket that can travel up to 50 miles.

      Ukrainian officials also have sought the Army Tactical Missile System, or ATACMS, a munition that can be fired from the same launcher and travel up to 185 miles. Biden administration officials have declined to provide that weapon, which is in limited supply and seen by senior U.S. officials as an escalation that could provoke Russia and drag the United States directly into the war.

      Kyiv has pledged that it would not use the longer-range missile to strike across the border inside Russia.

      The senior Ukrainian official contended that the Ukrainian military would face the same limitations it does now with conventional HIMARS rounds if it received ATACMS, with Ukraine still dependent on U.S. targeting coordinates.

      “You’re controlling every shot anyway, so when you say, ‘We’re afraid that you’re going to use it for some other purposes,’ well, we can’t do it even if we want to,” the senior Ukrainian official said.

      The senior U.S. official disputed the characterization. It is “not true,” the U.S. official said, that “Ukrainians run targets by us for approval.”

      Ukrainian military officials have said that Russian forces have moved back their ammunition stocks out of HIMARS range, which has led to a steep decline in the daily bombardment of Ukrainian cities and soldiers but also reduced Kyiv’s ability to target Moscow’s arsenal. With ATACMS, the Ukrainians probably would target Russian military installations in Crimea, which Russia invaded and annexed illegally in 2014.

      The United States also recently approved the purchase and delivery of another GPS-guided munition, the ground-launched small-diameter bomb, or GLSDB, that can travel more than 90 miles and be launched from HIMARS and similar launchers. The round was initially designed to be fired from aircraft but has been repurposed.

      The head of the Ukrainian military’s missile forces and artillery training, Maj. Gen. Andriy Malinovsky, told The Washington Post in an interview in October that Ukraine’s Western allies had confirmed coordinates for targets ahead of the Kharkiv counteroffensive.

      The partners had worked out a process, he said, with Ukraine receiving precise coordinates to ensure they wouldn’t miss their mark with multiple-launch rocket artillery systems as the rapid counteroffensive caught Russian forces unprepared. The targeting information also provided a workaround for when Russian signal-jamming prevented aerial drone reconnaissance on the battlefield, Malinovsky said.

      “According to our maps and software, a point will have one set of coordinates,” Malinovsky said. “But when we give this target to partners for analysis, the coordinates are different. Why? Because the Americans and NATO countries have access to military satellites.

      “We’re all basically always online,” he added. “They immediately get us the coordinates and we then fire the MLRS right away.”

      A third Ukrainian official confirmed that targeting all goes through an American installation on NATO soil and described the process as “very fast.” The Post is withholding the name of the base at the request of U.S. officials who cited security concerns.

      https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/02/09/ukraine-himars-rocket-artillery-russia/

  6. China Spy Balloon That Biden Allowed to Float Over Military Installations Was Capable of Collecting Communications Signals
    By Cristina Laila
    Published February 9, 2023 at 10:45am
    111 Comments

    The China spy balloon that Joe Biden allowed to traverse across the continental US had the capability of collecting communications signals.

    A China spy balloon floated across US airspace for 7 days straight with Joe Biden’s full approval.

    The high-altitude surveillance balloon was spotted over the Aleutian Islands two Saturdays ago.

    Biden initially refused to shoot down the balloon and allowed it to soar over military installations and nuclear silos.

    The Pentagon finally shot down the balloon as it soared over the Atlantic Ocean.

    https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/02/china-spy-balloon-biden-allowed-float-military-installations-capable-collecting-communications-signals/

  7. Here We Go: WHO Director General Dr. Tedros Says We “Must Prepare” for Potential H5N1 Human Bird Flu Pandemic (VIDEO)
    By Jim Hoft
    Published February 9, 2023 at 10:30am
    283 Comments

    As COVID-19 winds down, the World Health Organization (WHO) has issued another warning that countries should prepare for the possibility of another pandemic caused by H5N1.

    This comes after cases of the virus strain jumping from birds to mammals were reported.

    Over the past few weeks, there have been several reports of mammals, including minks, otters, foxes, and sea lions, having been infected with H5N1 avian influenza,” said WHO’s Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus in a media briefing on global health issues Tuesday.

    “H5N1 has spread widely in wild birds and poultry for 25 years, but the recent spillover to mammals needs to be monitored closely. For the moment, WHO assesses the risk to humans as low,” he added.
    According to Tedros, they have only seen “rare and non-sustained transmission of H5N1 to and between humans” since H5N1 first emerged in 1996.

    “But we cannot assume that will remain the case, and we must prepare for any change in the status quo. As always, people are advised not to touch or collect dead or sick wild animals, but to report them to the local authorities,” he continued.

    https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/02/go-director-general-dr-tedros-says-must-prepare-h5n1-human-bird-flu-pandemic-video/

  8. North Korea Announces Efforts to Increase its Preparedness for War
    By Joe Hoft
    Published February 9, 2023 at 9:30am
    131 Comments

    According to reports, North Korea is preparing for war.

    Two days ago in North Korea, leader Kim Jong-un ordered his military to better prepare for war.

    The South China Morning Post reported on Tuesday:

    North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has ordered his military to expand its combat exercises and strengthen war preparedness as he looks to escalate an already provocative run in weapons demonstrations in the face of deepening tensions with its neighbours and Washington.
    The South China Morning Post reported on Tuesday:

    North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has ordered his military to expand its combat exercises and strengthen war preparedness as he looks to escalate an already provocative run in weapons demonstrations in the face of deepening tensions with its neighbours and Washington.

    Kim presided over a meeting of the ruling Workers’ Party’s Central Military Commission on Monday and encouraged the armed forces to perform “ever-victorious feats” and display “matchless military strength” to open a new phase in development, the country’s official Korean Central News Agency reported on Tuesday.

    The commission’s members discussed a series of tasks aimed at inducing “great change” in the military, including “constantly expanding and intensifying the operation and combat drills” and “more strictly perfecting the preparedness for war,” the agency said.

    Most Americans can remember how President Trump kept the “rocket man” in check and how President Trump’s actions led to an attempted peace deal with the small nation north of the DMZ.

    https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/02/north-korea-announces-efforts-increase-preparedness-war/

    • North Korea’s Kim Jong Un shows off largest nuclear arsenal yet, with daughter at his side

      North Korea showcased what state-run media said was its largest-ever number of nuclear missiles during a nighttime military parade on Wednesday.

      Leader Kim Jong Un oversaw the military showcase with his young daughter by his side, who is seen as playing a possible future role in the hereditary dictatorship.

      Footage released by state-run media KRT of Wednesday’s parade showed as many as 11 Hwasong-17s, North Korea’s largest ICBM. Alongside them were what some analysts say could be a prototype or mockup of new solid-fuel ICBM canister launchers.

      The parade in Pyongyang marked the 75th anniversary of the founding of its army, KRT said.

      North Korea’s claims of an expanded nuclear arsenal have not been verified by an independent organization like the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

  9. HERE IT COMES: German State-Sponsored Media Building Worldwide Project Against “Increasing Disinformation”
    By ProTrumpNews Staff
    Published February 9, 2023 at 9:15am
    218 Comments

    Is censorship going global?

    The German state-sponsored news outlet ZDF is working with state-sponsored news outlets from Canada, Switzerland, and Belgium to “develop online-based solutions to enable civic engagement and democratic discourse in digital space away from hate comments and increasing disinformation.”

    Together with public broadcasters from Canada (CBC), Switzerland (SRG SSR) and Belgium (RTBF), ZDF wants to develop online-based solutions to enable civic engagement and democratic discourse in digital space away from hate comments and increasing disinformation .

    The international research project “Public Spaces Incubator” aims to develop and test innovative building blocks for open and respectful online discussions. The focus is on the interests of the users. Commercial aspects are irrelevant.

    https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/02/comes-german-state-sponsored-media-building-worldwide-project-increasing-disinformation/

  10. Fit and Healthy People are Dropping Down with Heart Issues” – Fed-Up Aussie Journalist Says He’s ‘Done with COVID Vaccines’ on Live TV (VIDEO)
    By Jim Hoft
    Published February 9, 2023 at 9:00am
    341 Comments

    During Wednesday’s episode of Nine Network’s breakfast program Today, fully vaccinated Stefanovic said that the shot could lead to “heart issues.”

    “As you know, I’m not a glowing ambassador for more than two shots. I’ve just decided that I’ve had covert a couple of times, and I’m done with the vaccines,” Stefanovic said.

    Stefanovic was part of an advertisement for Australia’s vaccination campaign.

    Watch the video below:

    https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/02/fit-healthy-people-dropping-heart-issues-fed-aussie-journalist-says-done-covid-vaccines-live-tv-video/

    • Australia has LOST its mind pushes 5th vaccine for population | Redacted with Clayton Morris

      Australia is set to roll out a fifth Covid vaccine dose.

      The health minister says that the country has ordered an additional 10 million doses even though nearly 20% of the country’s vaccine stocks have been trashed for lack of demand.

      But is it effective? New research shows that the bivalent boosters are less effective against XBB.1.5 just three months after vaccination.

    • CNN – CDC adds Covid-19 shots to list of routine vaccines for kids and adults

      Covid-19 shots are included in new schedules of routinely recommended vaccines released by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday. The immunization schedules summarize current vaccine recommendations for children, adolescents and adults, but do not set vaccine requirements for schools or workplaces.

      Key changes to the schedules, published in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report on Thursday, include the addition of Covid-19 primary vaccine series and recommendations on booster dose vaccination; updated guidance on influenza and pneumococcal vaccines; and new vaccines for measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) and for hepatitis B.

      The schedule also recommends additional doses of MMR vaccine during a mumps outbreak and administering inactivated poliovirus vaccine in adults who are at an increased risk for exposure to the virus.

      The proposed changes were recommended by the CDC’s vaccine advisers, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices or ACIP, and signed off on by the CDC, which worked with physicians, nurses and pharmacists on the recommendation.

      The biggest change, the report’s authors told CNN, is incorporating Covid-19 vaccines into both schedules.

      “This means COVID-19 vaccine is now presented as any other routinely recommended vaccine and is no longer presented in a special “call out” box as in previous years. This, in a sense, helps ‘normalize’ this vaccine and sends a powerful message to both healthcare providers and the general public that everyone ages 6 months and older should stay up to date with recommended COVID-19 vaccines (including a booster, when eligible), just as they would with any other routinely recommended vaccine,” Dr. Neil Murthy and Dr. A. Patricia Wodi said in a statement.

      However, including Covid-19 vaccines on the routine schedule does not mean vaccination will be required by schools. School-entry vaccination requirements are determined by state or local jurisdictions, and not by CDC.

      The new recommendations also add the use of PCV15, a pneumococcal conjugate vaccine used to treat bacterial infection recently approved for use in children. Either PCV13 or the higher valent PCV15 may now be used based on the specific pediatric population.

      The authors of the report include information on what to do in an outbreak of mumps. This comes amid the end of the measles outbreak in Columbus, Ohio, where all children infected were not fully vaccinated. The recommendations stated that an additional booster of the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine is warranted in the case of a mumps outbreak.

      “The vaccine for measles does not need a booster,” said Dr. William Schaffner, a professor in the Division of Infectious Diseases at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, as he says the initial vaccine provides strong protection for life. “Mumps vaccine, however, does wane in its protection. And so if there’s a mumps outbreak, then we would use MMR.”

      Similarly, the new recommendations provide clear guidance on the use of an additional poliovirus vaccine if new cases emerge, such as in New York City last year.

      “There were lots of questions about whether an additional dose of polio vaccine was appropriate, and this just opens the door for the use of another dose of inactivated virus, that is injectable polio vaccine, in those circumstances where, for example, a local health department in concert with the CDC might recommend that,” said Schaffner, who is a member of CDC’s vaccine advisory committee.

      Public health experts emphasize the importance of annual vaccinations as coverage among children has declined in recent years. In the 2021-2022 school year, vaccination coverage for kindergarteners fell to 93% for required vaccines – dropping below the overall target of 95% that was set as an objective by the US Department of Health and Human Services in the Healthy People project.

      This dip in vaccination coverage has been attributed to health care disruptions related to the Covid-19 pandemic, experts say, and health care providers are working hard to get back to and surpass pre-pandemic levels.

      “Why is that a matter of concern? Because it opens up opportunities for these viruses and other germs to be reintroduced into the United States, and to cause outbreaks of disease. The recently concluded measles outbreak in Ohio is an example, the introduction of the poliovirus into New York is an example, and we need to keep our guard up,” said Schaffner.

      Health care professionals urge families to make sure children are up to date with their vaccines.

      “Vaccines are essential for the health of our whole society, including children and adolescents,” said Dr. Sean O’Leary, chairman of the American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Infectious Diseases and a vaccine adviser to the CDC. “We all have a responsibility to ensure everyone can access vaccinations, both for their individual health as well as to prevent the spread of illnesses. These schedules provide a roadmap parents and pediatricians can follow to help children get the vaccines they need so their immune systems will be ready to recognize and resist diseases.”

      https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/09/health/vaccine-recommendations-wellness/index.html

    • Trans-Human Looking Freak-show is Australia’s next Ambassador for Gender Equality, Idk Don’t Ask

  11. (Richard: The sane people are starting to push back. The left in their usual arrogance and stupidity are attacking their political opponents by trying to label them evil. The more the left lies about the same people the closer we come to a kinetic civil war )

    Montana bill would let students misgender classmates
    Opponents of the proposal argue it will increase bullying of children who are already struggling for acceptance.

    Montana schools would not be able to punish students who purposely misgender or deadname their transgender peers under a Republican-backed legislative proposal that opponents argue will increase bullying of children who are already struggling for acceptance.

    The proposal, co-sponsored by more than two dozen GOP lawmakers, would declare that it’s not discrimination to use a transgender classmate’s legal name or refer to them by their birth gender. Schools would be prevented from adopting policies to punish students who do so.

    comes amid a wave of legislation this year in Montana and other conservative states seeking to limit or ban gender-affirming medical care for transgender youth. Montana’s Senate passed a ban on gender-affirming medical care or surgery for minors on Wednesday.

    But the proposal on misgendering and deadnaming is apparently the only existing legislation of its kind in the country this year, said Olivia Hunt, policy director for the National Center for Transgender Equity.

    “This would make Montana unique in enshrining the right to be bigoted toward or the right to bully trans children in the state code,” Hunt said.

    The proposal would not apply to teachers, but some states are considering bills that would protect teachers’ rights to refer to students by their birth names and gender.

    https://www.nbcnews.com/nbc-out/out-news/montana-bill-let-students-misgender-classmates-rcna69892

  12. reuters – Britons face 20,000 digital pound cap under Bank of England plan

    LONDON, Feb 7 (Reuters) – Britons would be limited to 20,000 digital pounds ($24,000) each if the country goes ahead with a digital currency, Bank of England Deputy Governor Jon Cunliffe said on Tuesday.

    Britain’s government said on Monday that it and the BoE were pressing on with work on a possible digital pound that was likely to enter circulation in the second half of this decade and be held in a “wallet” provided by banks, although no final decision has been made.

    “We propose a limit of between 10,000 pounds and 20,000 pounds per individual as the appropriate balance between managing risks and supporting wide usability of the digital pound,” Cunliffe said in a speech.

    A limit of 10,000 pounds would mean that three quarters of people could receive their pay in digital pounds as well as holding pre-existing balances in the same account, while a 20,000 pound limit would allow almost everyone to use digital pounds for day-to-day transactions, Cunliffe said.

    Money above the cap would be “swept” into a customer’s commercial bank account given that a digital pound would not be a means for storing wealth, he told members of UK Finance, a banking industry body.

    “At the other end, you could say I need a little wallet full of internet cash to buy things on Amazon,” Cunliffe added.

    Central banks across the world are studying digital currencies, with the European Union due to publish a draft law in May setting out a legal framework for a potential digital euro.

    The law would need to be approved by EU states and the European Parliament, although it will be the European Central Bank that decides this autumn on whether to proceed with a digital euro.

    Burkhard Balz, executive board member of Germany’s Bundesbank, told a conference on Tuesday that a key aspect to be decided is whether a digital euro would have legal tender status, meaning it could be used to settle a debt in court.

    Cunliffe said a digital pound would have the same legal status as cash.

    https://www.reuters.com/markets/currencies/consumers-face-20000-pound-limit-digital-pound-bank-england-says-2023-02-07/

  13. (Richard: The targeted political assassination has started. Remember how Brad Johnson said that ANTIFA searches the social media for suicidal types that agree with ANTIFA’s goals? They then recruite the individual, scrub their social media history, then train the individual for a suicide mission.

    In these cases the mission was to murder Republican politicians. I don’t know if the dead man murdered both people but either way these murders fit the profile for ANTIFA attacks. With the social media scrubbing the similarity of the attacks may be the only evidence we find of ANTIFA actioon.

    It looks like we are starting into the really rough portion of our journey towards freedom.)

    One Week After Slaying of NJ Council Member, Second Council Member Murdered
    By Margaret Flavin
    Published February 9, 2023 at 12:00pm
    Comment

    Last week, The Gateway Pundit reported on the slaying of NJ GOP councilwoman Eunice Dwumfour.

    Dwumfour, 30, was found deceased in her car with multiple gunshot wounds in Sayreville, the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office said.

    One week later, the Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office reported that New Jersey municipal council member Russell Heller was found shot dead in his car.

    The New York Post reports:

    Russell Heller, 51, was found dead just after 7 a.m. in the Somerset parking lot of PSE&G, the local energy company where the Milford Republican worked

    Cops quickly IDed a former employee, Gary Curtis, 58, as a suspect — and found him dead in his car from a suspected self-inflicted gunshot around three and a half hours after the slaying.

    The councilman’s murder came exactly a week after Sayreville Councilwoman Dwumfour — also a Republican — was gunned down in her SUV outside her home about 15 miles away. Her murder remains unsolved.

    Authorities have not linked the crimes, and the Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office insisted that Heller’s murder appeared to be “an isolated incident.”

    PSE&G released a statement following the news.

    https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/02/one-week-slaying-nj-council-member-second-council-member-murdered/

  14. Democrat Rep. Angie Craig Assaulted at Her DC Apartment Building in Random Attack
    By Cristina Laila
    Published February 9, 2023 at 12:30pm
    Comment

    Meanwhile in the Democrat hellhole of DC…

    Democrat Rep. Angie Craig (MN) was assaulted in her DC apartment building on Thursday morning and was left bruised and shaken.

    The Congresswoman’s office said the attack was not politically motivated and appeared to be random.

    “This morning around 7:15 am, Rep. Craig was assaulted in the elevator of her apartment building in Washington DC. Rep. Craig defended herself from the attacker and suffered bruising, but otherwise is physically okay,” Craig’s office said.

    https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/02/democrat-rep-angie-craig-assaulted-dc-apartment-building-random-attack/

  15. German politicians and military chiefs suggest return of conscription
    Berlin government attempts to pour cold water over prominent voices seeking to reverse Merkel-era phase out

    Germany’s new defence minister, Boris Pistorius, visiting soldiers at a military training area in Altengrabow inJanuary.
    Philip Oltermann in Berlin
    @philipoltermann
    Thu 9 Feb 2023 03.44 EST
    Political and military figures in Germany have suggested a return of compulsory military service after the new defence minister described the 2011 phase-out of general conscription as a “mistake” that had contributed to alienating the general public from civic institutions.

    The German parliamentary commissioner for the armed forces, Eva Högl of the centre-left SPD, on Wednesday urged the government to ask itself whether some form of obligatory civic service was required to address staff shortages in the German army’s ranks.

    “We definitely need more personnel in the Bundeswehr,” Högl told the Augsburger Allgemeine newspaper.

    The chief of the German navy, Jan Christian

    https://12ft.io/proxy?q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fworld%2F2023%2Ffeb%2F09%2Fgerman-politicians-and-military-chiefs-suggest-return-of-conscription

  16. ‘I Have Never Seen Anything Like This’: Jim Jordan Details FBI Whistleblower Concerns

    At today’s House Weaponization of the Federal Government hearing, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) spoke about the claims of FBI whistleblowers.

  17. JUST IN: Grassley Carefully Details Claims Of ‘Potential Criminal Conduct By Hunter And James Biden’

  18. Biden’s Clown Show Military: U-2 Pilot Took “Legendary” Selfie With China Spy Balloon as Military Cowered Below
    By Kristinn Taylor
    Published February 9, 2023 at 1:55pm
    19 Comments

    As China’s spy balloon traversed the United States from Alaska to South Carolina at 60,000 feet last week collecting signals intel, Joe Biden–on the advice of his military leaders–refused to order the shooting down of the balloon until it had completed its spy mission and was headed out to sea. Instead, the military sent planes to observe the spy balloon while cowering below, shutting down movements and communications

    CNN reports one U-2 pilot took a selfie with the balloon, a self-own that has shamefully achieved “legendary status” within the Biden Pentagon (excerpt)

    Once it was over US territory, officials have argued that the benefits of gathering additional intelligence on the balloon as it passed over far outweighed the risk of shooting it down over land.

    The US sent up U-2 spy planes to track the balloon’s progress, according to US officials

    https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/02/bidens-clown-show-military-u-2-pilot-took-legendary-selfie-china-spy-balloon-military-cowered/

  19. Report: How The GOP Establishment Is Plotting To Stop Trump In 2024 – “2016 All Over Again”
    By ProTrumpNews Staff
    Published February 9, 2023 at 1:05pm
    424 Comments

    The RINOs are scared of Donald Trump once again winning the GOP nomination.

    A new report highlights their strategy.
    Part of it: they are trying to get some candidates to bow out to increase the chances of one candidate winning.

    Politico reported:

    https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/02/2016-report-shows-gop-establishment-plotting-stop-trump-2024/

  20. PROJECT VERITAS – Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla Relies On Aggressive Security Tactics To Escape Questioning By Veritas

    • Whistleblowers LEAK bombshell vaccine evidence and they are FURIOUS

      Did Pfizer and BionTech falsify key data when testing vaccines?

      That is the finding of investigative journalist Sonia Elijah who’s written extensively on this Pfizer and BioNTech coverup.

      She speaks to us about this and why the FDA allows this.