Reader’s Links for April 14th, 2023

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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 April 14th, 2023”

  3. 11:00

    Jokes abound on this Happy Friday. Rotten to their punchlines. True North:

  5. europravda – Black Sea Conference: Ukraine calls on allies to toughen Russian sanctions

    Ukraine has called on its allies to harden Russian sanctions at a conference in Bucharest and suggests the idea of a ‘NATO Black Sea’.

  7. APRIL 13 2023 – ctv news – At least 19 million COVID-19 vaccine doses in Canada set to expire by end of the year

    At least 19 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines are set to expire by the end of the year in Canada, according to data received by The Canadian Press.

    The federal central inventory currently has 18.5 million doses in stock, with 16.8 million of those bearing 2023 expiry dates, the Public Health Agency of Canada said.

    There are more than eight million additional doses in provincial and territorial stockpiles, according to data provided by ministries and departments of health across the country.

    Those numbers show morethan two million of the provincial and territorial doses will expire by the end of the year.

    However, that’s likely an underestimate because Ontario, New Brunswick and P.E.I. did not disclose the proportion of their doses that would expire by year-end. Ontario alone has 4.8 million COVID-19 vaccine doses in its supply.

    “The Government of Canada, along with provinces and territories, will continue efforts to optimize its COVID-19 vaccine supply management and further reduce COVID-19 vaccine surpluses and wastage,” a spokesperson for the Public Health Agency of Canada said in an email.

    Some of those doses, for example, could be used in COVID-19 vaccine campaigns if the National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI) recommends further booster shots “based on evolving scientific evidence.”

    Other potential options could include donating surplus COVID-19 vaccine doses to developing nations or extending the expiry date on some doses if they’re still effective, the Public Health Agency of Canada said.

    A fall booster shot campaign for the general population is “likely,” said Dr. Matthew Miller, director of the DeGroote Institute for Infectious Disease Research at McMaster University.

    NACI’s current spring recommendations are targetedatmore vulnerable groups.They include booster shotsfor people age 65 and older, as well as others at high risk of severe illness, if it’s been six months or more since their last shot or a COVID-19 infection.

    About 6.7 million of the doses in the federal inventory are bivalent COVID-19 vaccines, which specifically target the Omicron variant and are recommended for booster shots. Data from the provinces and territories show that a large portion of their vaccine supplies are bivalent doses.

    A supply of non-bivalent vaccines is still needed for people getting vaccinated for the first time (primary series of shots) and for children under five years of age, health officials across the country say. More than 80 per cent of Canadians have completed their primary series of COVID-19 vaccination.

    Canada also “stands ready” to donate surplus COVID-19 doses to developing countries, Global Affairs Canada said in an email to The Canadian Press.

    But it acknowledges that many lower-income countries either aren’t asking for COVID-19 vaccines as much as they were earlier in the pandemic, or theydon’t have the ability to get the shots into people’s arms.

    “The global landscape has shifted from a period of limited supply to one where vaccine supply currently exceeds demand and administration capacity,” Global Affairs Canada said.

    “The current challenge is therefore not supply, but delivery, distribution and demand in country.”

    Plus, the clock is ticking for donating doses as the expiry dates approach.

    “Recipient countries typically request vaccines with at least six months of shelf life, which is considered to be a reasonable timeline that allows for planning rollout,” said a spokesperson for GAVI, the global vaccine alliance that helps oversee COVID-19 vaccine donations, in an email.

    So far, Canada has donated more than 25 million doses that have been shipped to 30 countries, the GAVI spokesperson said.

    Another potential option to minimize vaccine wastage is expiry date extensions by vaccine manufacturers that are approved by Health Canada.

    That has already happened in P.E.I., said Morgan Martin, a spokesperson for the province’s Department of Health and Wellness.

    “The vaccines in our current inventory have varying expiry dates, and are updated if and when the manufacturer is granted an extended expiry date,” she said in an email.

    “For example, the current Pfizer infant and Pfizer pediatric vaccine expiry dates were extended and now do not expire until 2024.”

    To determine if a vaccine is still effective beyond the original expiry date, manufacturers do “stability testing,” said Mina Tadrous, an assistant professor of pharmacy at the University of Toronto.

    “A manufacturer basically lets something age and then tests it in a certain environment,” Tadrous said. Those tests take factors such as refrigeration into account when determining if there are circumstances where the expiry date can be extended.

    Because COVID-19 vaccines were new products made in response to an urgent pandemic, there was no way to know how long they can actually last so they were given “really tight” expiry dates, he said.

    As time passes, researchers can see how long and under what conditions vaccine and drug formulations last, Tadrous said — and expiry dates could be revised in consultation with Health Canada.

    Despite efforts to use as much of the COVID-19 vaccine supply as possible before it expires, there’s going to be waste, both Tadrous and Miller said.

    But that’s not surprising given the complexities of trying to protect people and predict vaccine uptake during a pandemic, they said.

    “From a domestic standpoint, we would far rather have the problem of having too many vaccines than too few,” Miller said.

    https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/coronavirus/at-least-19-million-covid-19-vaccine-doses-in-canada-set-to-expire-by-end-of-the-year-1.6353588

    ======================
    twitter @betterworld_24

    19 Million COVID vaccine doses in Canada set to expire by end of the year

    + 31 sec video

    https://twitter.com/betterworld_24/status/1646586606256619521

  8. reuters – North Korea says it tested new solid-fuel ICBM, warns of ‘extreme’ horror

    North Korea announced on Friday it had tested a new solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), a development set to “radically promote” its forces, which experts said would facilitate missile launches with little warning.

    Leader Kim Jong Un guided Thursday’s test, and warned it would make enemies “experience a clearer security crisis, and constantly strike extreme uneasiness and horror into them by taking fatal and offensive counter-actions until they abandon their senseless thinking and reckless acts”, North Korean state media said.

    Analysts said it was the North’s first use of solid propellants in an intermediate-range or intercontinental ballistic missile, a key task to deploying missiles faster during a war.

    South Korea’s defence ministry said North Korea was still developing the weapon, and that it needed more time and effort to master the technology, indicating that Pyongyang might carry out more tests.

    North Korean state media outlet KCNA released photos of Kim watching the launch, accompanied by his wife, sister and daughter, and the missile covered in camouflage nets on a mobile launcher. A state media video showed the Hwasong-18 missile blasting off from a launch tube, creating a cloud of smoke.

    The development of the Hwasong-18 will “extensively reform the strategic deterrence components of the DPRK, radically promote the effectiveness of its nuclear counterattack posture and bring about a change in the practicality of its offensive military strategy,” KCNA said, using the initials of the country’s official name.

    South Korea and the U.S. air forces staged drills hours after the report, involving American B-52H bombers that joined F-35A, F-15 and F-16 fighter jets, Seoul’s defence ministry said.

    “By deploying U.S. strategic assets with increased frequency and intensity, the two countries will continue demonstrating our strong alliance’s will that we will never tolerate any nuclear attack from North Korea,” the ministry said in a statement.

    North Korea has criticised recent U.S.-South Korean joint military exercises as escalating tensions, and has stepped up weapons tests in the past months.

    Japan also conducted separate air drills with two U.S. B-52 bomber jets on Friday, accompanied by four U.S. F-35 fighters and four Japanese F-15 fighters, Tokyo’s defence ministry said. It marked a second consecutive day of a Japan-U.S. joint air mission over the Sea of Japan.

    Japan asked the United Nations Security Council to convene an emergency meeting on North Korea’s ballistic missile launches, top government spokesperson Hirokazu Matsuno told a Friday press conference.

    Most of North Korea’s largest ballistic missiles use liquid fuel, which requires them to be loaded with propellant at their launch site – a time-consuming and dangerous process.

    “For any country that operates large-scale, missile based nuclear forces, solid-propellant missiles are an incredibly desirable capability because they don’t need to be fuelled immediately prior to use,” said Ankit Panda, a senior fellow at the U.S.-based Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. “These capabilities are much more responsive in a time of crisis.”

    North Korea will most likely keep some liquid-fuel systems, complicating the calculations of the U.S. and its allies during a conflict, Panda said.

    Vann Van Diepen, a former U.S. government weapons expert who now works with the 38 North project, said solid-fuel missiles are easier and safer to operate, and require less logistical support – making them harder to detect and more survivable than liquids.

    North Korea first displayed what could be a new solid-fuel ICBM during a military parade in February after testing a high-thrust solid-fuel engine in December.

    Analysts said the U.S. could determine between a solid- or liquid-fuelled launch with early warning satellites that can detect differences in the infrared data produced by various missile types.

    The latest launch came days after Kim called for strengthening war deterrence in a “more practical and offensive” manner to counter what North Korea called moves of aggression by the United States.

    The missile, fired from near Pyongyang, flew about 1,000 km (620 miles) before landing in waters east of North Korea, officials said. North Korea said the test posed no threats to its neighbouring countries.

    A South Korean military official said the missile’s maximum altitude was lower than 6,000 km, the apogee of some of last year’s record-breaking tests.

    “North Korea could have opted to focus on collecting data necessary to check its features at different stages than going full speed at the first launch,” said Kim Dong-yup, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies. “As it was a test that did not demonstrate its normal flight pattern, North Korea will likely conduct some more tests.”

    https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/north-korea-says-it-tested-new-solid-fuel-icbm-thursday-kcna-2023-04-13/

  11. 8:26 Michelle Rempel Garner explains how algorithms on social media platforms are limiting Canadian free speech and information access:

  13. (Richard: Nullification is an iffy proposition, yes the Constitution says all non enumerated rights are reserved for the States and the People. But the States being able to nullify Federal Laws is iffy. )

    ESSAY: State Legislatures Have the Power to Resist Federal Tyranny
    By Joe Hoft Apr. 14, 2023 9:45 am14 Comments

    STATE LEGISLATURES HAVE THE POWER TO RESIST FEDERAL TYRANNY

    Guest post by J. Christopher Alexander from LACAG

    America’s Founders fought a bloody revolution in order to escape the “absolute despotism” to which they had been reduced under the hereditary monarchy of the British government, a system that Thomas Paine said “laid the world in blood and ashes.” After that revolution was won, the Founders’ singular focus was to create a republic that would safeguard individual freedom and state sovereignty by vesting only limited, specifically enumerated powers in a federal government. The Constitution’s first ten amendments (the Bill of Rights), Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution, as well as the Ninth and Tenth Amendments establish clear limitations on the power of the federal government and make clear that all power not specifically delegated to the federal government remains with the people, and the individual states.

    Under our constitutional system, federal power is the exception, not the rule. As James Madison, the “Father of the Constitution”, wrote in Federalist Number 45, “The powers delegated by the proposed Constitution to the Federal government are few and defined. Those which are to remain in the State governments are numerous and indefinite.” An observer of the massive, often unchallenged federal overreach occurring in 2023 America who knew nothing about our Constitution or history would be surprised to learn this fact.

    Our Founders were jealous guardians of state sovereignty and individual freedom, because they knew too well the dangers of an unrestrained government. The Constitution, the writings of the Founders, and the notes from the ratification conventions establish that every State that ratified the Constitution knew it was doing so with the assurance that it was retaining the vast bulk of its sovereignty, with full authority to nullify any federal law the State believed was outside the scope of its delegated authority. Without this assurance, the Constitution would never have been ratified.

    In arguing for ratification of the Constitution, Alexander Hamilton wrote in Federalist Number 33 that any law passed by Congress that was not enacted “pursuant to its constituted powers, will be merely acts of usurpation and will deserve to be treated as such.” (Emphasis mine). Thomas Jefferson wrote in 1791 that “A nullification is the rightful remedy whenever the government violates the Constitution.”

    Importantly, sovereign states have both the constitutional right and duty to determine for themselves whether any federal action exceeds its constitutional authority. As Jefferson said in the Kentucky Resolutions which nullified the federal Alien and Sedition Acts, “the government created by this compact was not made the exclusive or final judge of the extent of the powers delegated to itself; since that would have made its discretion, and not the Constitution, the measure of its powers.”(Emphasis mine).

    Our Founders knew that the federal government is never going to voluntarily limit its own power, and it was up to vigilant state governments and active citizens to do so. Beginning with the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions in 1798, and for 100 years thereafter, States did
    just that, routinely rejecting unlawful federal encroachment through formal nullification resolutions and citizen resistance. More recently, through a practice called anti-commandeering, state governments have simply refused to assist the federal government in the administration or enforcement of disfavored federal programs or regulatory schemes within their borders. From the Fugitive Slave Act to the Alien and Sedition Acts to alcohol prohibition to marijuana laws to Real ID, states have effectively nullified federal intrusion in practice and effect either through formal nullification or by simply refusing to cooperate by way of the anti-commandeering doctrine.

    The US Supreme Court has repeatedly affirmed the anti-commandeering doctrine as a legitimate expression of State sovereignty, holding that the federal government may not compel states to act in such cases, even when the federal action itself is constitutional. In Federalist Number 46, Madison calls this perfectly legal practice the “refusal to cooperate with officers of the Union.” Equally important, the Court has held that the federal government may not condition substantial federal funding on a State’s non-participation in such programs or schemes.

    State Legislatures across the Country have all the power they need to protect citizens from federal usurpation of their sovereignty that has become the rule rather than the exception to the rule. They are, in fact, the last line of defense against it. It is high time for decisive legislative action that puts the liberty of the people before personal or political self-interest. With the encouragement of active citizens, the Louisiana legislature must give the back of its hand to the federal government, and to any international organization with which it may be colluding, the next time it pokes its heavy, bloated head inside our sovereign tent. The days of reflexive compliance with federal tyranny must end.

    https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/04/essay-state-legislatures-have-the-power-to-resist-federal-tyranny/

  14. Judge Hands Alvin Bragg a Major Defeat in His Lawsuit Against Jim Jordan – Legal Expert Mocks Bragg
    By Cullen Linebarger Apr. 14, 2023 9:15 am176 Comments

    On Tuesday, The Gateway Pundit’s Cristina Laila reported that Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg filed a lawsuit against House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan in an effort to block Congress from ‘interfering’ in his case against President Donald Trump.

    The lawsuit, which was filed in the Southern District of New York, accuses Jordan of a “brazen and unconstitutional attack” on his criminal case against Trump.

    Bragg’s lawsuit seeks to bar Jordan’s committee from enforcing a subpoena issued to Hillary Clinton lawyer Mark Pomerantz last week. Jordan previously summoned Pomerantz for a closed-door deposition on April 20, according to the subpoena reviewed by Laila.

    Pomerantz was a former senior prosecutor on the Manhattan DA’s team investigating Trump. He resigned in protest after Bragg initially ended the investigation into Trump.

    https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/04/judge-hands-alvin-bragg-a-major-defeat-in-his-lawsuit-against-jim-jordan-legal-expert-mocks-bragg/

  15. Biden’s Broken Border: New Study Shows Illegal Immigration Costs American Taxpayers at Least $151 Billion Each Year
    By Margaret Flavin Apr. 14, 2023 9:00 am96 Comments

    The economic impact of illegal immigration is catastrophic for the American taxpayer. According to a new study from the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), illegal immigration costs American taxpayers at least $151 billion each year.

    The study assess things like education, welfare, medical costs and justice enforcement at both the federal and state level to arrive at the staggering sum. Individual American taxpayers are paying almost $1,200 per year EACH to finance the illegal crisis.

    Border communities, besieged by Biden’s broken border policies and abandoned by the federal government, are facing an even greater burden.

    To complicate matters, FAIR reports that the current administration has reduced access to data that exposes the depths of Biden’s failure, “We have also encountered cases where the current administration has revoked or restricted documents published by previous administrations in order to reduce the visibility of data which shines a negative light on their immigration policy agenda.

    https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/04/bidens-broken-border-new-study-shows-illegal-immigration-costs-american-taxpayers-at-least-151-billion-each-year/

  18. the telegraph UK –Rishi Sunak says no women have a penis and pledges to protect single-sex spaces

    In interview with the ConservativeHome website, Prime Minister says biological sex is ‘vitally important’

    Rishi Sunak distanced himself from Sir Keir Starmer by saying no women have a penis as he vowed that female-only spaces must be “protected”.

    The Prime Minister said he takes a “different view” to the Labour leader, who last week said some women did have male genitalia.

    In an interview with the ConservativeHome website, the Prime Minister said biological sex was “vitally important”.

    He also called on the NHS to hire more private health firms in a bid to reduce waiting lists, and refused to promise that small boats would stop crossing the Channel by the time of the next election.

    Last week Mr Sunak said he wanted to rewrite the Equality Act to make it easier for venues to bar trans people from women-only spaces such as changing rooms and lavatories.

    The Government is considering making it clear in the legislation that “sex” means “biological sex” and not the gender a person identifies as. This could help female sports exclude trans people.

    The Prime Minister said it was right to show “compassion and understanding”’ to those questioning their gender identity, but stressed that this should not result in lifting protections for women-only spaces.

    “As a general operating principle for me, biological sex is vitally, fundamentally important to these questions – we can’t forget that – and that’s why we need to make sure, particularly when it comes to women’s health, women’s sports and women’s spaces, that we are protecting those rights,” he said.

    Last week, Sir Keir said the overwhelming majority of women did not have male genitalia but that some did. “For 99.9 per cent of women, it is completely biological… and of course they haven’t got a penis,” he said.

    The Labour leader’s comments suggested he believes that one in a thousand women do have male genitalia, equating to more than 34,000 people in the UK.

    Asked about his remarks, Mr Sunak said he had a “slightly different view”. Questioned on whether he believed that 100 per cent of women do not have a penis, he replied: “Yes, of course.

    “The first thing to say is, we should always have compassion and understanding and tolerance for those who are thinking about their gender. But when it comes to these issues of protecting women’s rights and women’s spaces, the issue of biological sex is fundamentally important.”

    The Prime Minister also suggested there should be a greater role for the private sector in the NHS as official figures showed an estimated 7.22 million people were waiting to start routine hospital treatment at the end of February – the highest number since records began in 2007.

    Asked whether European systems offered better outcomes, he said the NHS was the country’s “number one public service priority”.

    “Our job is to make sure we’re trusted with it,” he said. “We are making real progress. Cutting the waiting list is one of my priorities. There’s lots of different ways we are doing that but it’s about doing things differently, it’s about reform, it’s about using the private sector more, the independent sector.

    “That’s something that we, actually, should be very comfortable with. Ultimately, if a patient is still getting the care they need, free at the point of use, we shouldn’t be so hung up on who is providing it. We should be using the independent sector to provide choice, to provide competition, drive up quality.”

    Asked whether the small boats situation would be solved by the next election, Mr Sunak said: “I’ve always said that this is not something that is easy – it is a complicated problem where there’s no single, simple solution that will fix it. And I’ve also said that it won’t happen overnight.”

    Mr Sunak, who faced questions about his role in ousting Boris Johnson, said the party must move on from the turmoil of the past 12 months and that “coming together, focusing on delivering for people” was “the best way to win the next election”.

    He said he was a “low-tax Conservative” but again said tax cuts would have to wait until the economy and public finances were on a more stable footing. “We’ve got to get inflation down first, get borrowing under control and then we’ve got the sound fundamentals to cut taxes,” he added.

    Mr Sunak also said the UK was a “foreign policy superpower” in its own right, following Emmanuel Macron’s comments about Europe’s response to China and the US.

    Mr Macron, the French president, had used an interview with Politico and Les Echos to say the European Union should become a “third superpower” and avoid getting dragged into a clash between China and the US over Taiwan.

    But the Prime Minister said: “We don’t need to be part of the EU to be a foreign policy superpower – we are a foreign policy superpower.”

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2023/04/13/rishi-sunak-women-penis-safe-spaces/
    ==========================
    twitter @ReduxxMag

    UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was questioned on what percentage of women “haven’t got a penis” during an interview with ConservativeHome’s Paul Goodman today.

    Sunak agreed with a figure of “100%” as opposed to the “99%” stated by Keir Starmer, the leader of the Labour Party.

    https://twitter.com/ReduxxMag/status/1646591939569917954

    ===============
    Rishi Sunak says ‘100%’ of women do not have a penis

    • james o’keefe ‘Rapists in our Rooms’ Insider Footage Shows Inmate Distressed Over Transgender Assaults on Women

      Footage inside Washington State’s Correctional Center for Women shows a distressed inmate sounding off about the prison’s transgender friendly policy. As a result of the policy violent male offenders are put in positions where they can take advantage of female inmate including in the same cell.