Reader’s Links for April 18th, 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

68 Replies to “Reader’s Links for April 18th, 2023”

  1. “The only way out is through.”

    An oblique statement presented as a profound statement does not make it profound, but rather raises the suspicion that the writer is being evasive even if he is not. In fairness, this may be attributed to style, or the ambition to sound smart, but the statement as it hangs dangles on nothing more than a question mark. It is common to see mid-level writers default to the abstraction like the statement above–the oblique–when real substance evades them. It also serves as a defensive technique.

    Or maybe your facility with words and the way you deploy it can be attributed to mere playfulness. Yours truly is most guilty of this. But it is great and fun so long as it is also occasionally accompanied by serious, direct language that cannot be misconstrued, and as ET says, does not fall into the rhetoric that rings like you are trying to speak the language of your target so to present yourself as one of them. –Preaching to the choir. Well, this choir is constantly moving forward through the muck. Its ear is well tuned to things that ring wrong. Sacrificing a little cleverness for more substance, sparing what sounds like a professional, government-sponsored hack trying to “speak our language”, while slipping in statements that may, down the line, be construed as inciteful or “hateful” by the thought cops, is the way to go. You clearly enjoy dancing down this line even though it is not you who may pay the price. It will be the rest of this community that loses itself if we are not careful in our Big Brother Age. And make no mistake, all of this wrangling over words and community has a very tangible benefit. Many of the people here are among our society’s minority who went without mRNA injections, and leaned on each other while Dear Leader was vilifying us. Those who did get some shots quickly came around. Our real-world sharing of opinions and information may have actually saved a few lives and prevented injury.

    Most commenters at VTB move from device to device carrying the same name. Kojo, you change your name but keep the same absurd, sarcastic ironic banner, as you put it. Very unusual, but whatever floats your boat. This does not make you a troll, but you must agree that it could make one suspicious of you at a time when our own government has told us outright that it intends to pursue and persecute honest Canadians airing honest opinions while propagating its own informational lies, inversions and deceptions. Remember when you were busted for dealing pot when you were 19, and you were suspicious so asked the buyer if he was an undercover cop, and he denied it? The case was thrown out for entrapment. I’m no lawyer, but how is your Liberal badge not serving the same purpose as a police badge? “They all saw who I was, your Honor, I showed my badge with every word I said.”

    You could be a rising star for all I know. God knows we need all the good, smart people we can get, so I hope I’m wrong about you. But you have burst from stage right in the finest VTB costume and shrill rhetorical make-up. I hope you don’t exit stage Left, dropping the mask as you go with a greasy grin to collect your greasy pay cheque.

    P.S. – Your writing style reminds me of Norse Radish.

    • I make money from renting office space to proctologists. The butt-hurt market is very hot, right now.
      From the above word salad, it is plain that
      1) you cannot read and comprehend simple statements in simple English.
      2) That’s quite the obsessive detail you’ve imagined. Obsess much?
      3) Some kind of gaslight-strawman reference to an leftist hate ikon?
      I don’t consume media, influencers and blog stuff is generally cancer.
      I consume E/O observation, raw intelligence summaries, humint, overhead imagery, transcripts, studies, state, and NGO reports, raw data/meta data.
      You know who these…’content creators’ ( my dog creates content outside ) are. I do not, nor will I bother to find out.
      4) You’re either kamila harris, or the somali knock-off chatGPT.
      But which one?
      In closing:
      The clock is running. Nobody can stop it. Few will survive. The predator is your state. It’s going to consume many millions, or more.
      Afterwards, we’ll install a nice plaque, some where, memorializing the mountain of corpses.
      Plain English. Clear message. Keep voting. I like the noises this thing is making, and the gene pool filter needs cleaning.

      • Perfect blah-blah, Bojo. Lol. Clean-up in aisle 5, Vlad. (or just leave it there to stink for a while.)

          • To be clear, we can be certain of very little these days, but every volley of observation I have offered this commenter has done nothing to dispel my suspicions. Put another way, each volley has drawn from him only greater levels of invective, and nothing resembling sincerity. If he were a genuine person he would have responded with more honest outrage by now, eager to disprove me. However his odd outrage serves obfuscation more than any interest in serving the community.

            • You people have ZERO sense of humor, and are really projecting hard, and overthinking this.
              So, johnny. Busted for drug dealing? I’ve never experienced a scenario such as that. Sounds like the voice of experience.
              Thanks for the keks. Haven’t laughed this hard since johnny’s last feverish screed.
              The troll is you, pal.

    • The Deep Ecologists are busy trying to become the greatest mass murders in history. The end result of these attacks on the food supply is going to be food and water wars during mass starvation events that makes Stalin’s murderous actions in Ukraine look small.

      • This is not about the Ecology – it is the beginning of artificial scarcity in the food supply.

        People who spend all their time just trying to get enough food for their families don’t have the luxury of trying to find out what the elites are doing.

        That is the point of all the climate change stuff, why cars are going to be electric so only the elite can afford a car, and if you scrape enough together, they will control when/if you may charge it, where you may drive it.

        That was the point of the COVID lockdowns – to not only harm the economy, but destroy all small businesses and advantage huge corporations: this is the lesson they had learned from Hungary and Poland vs Czechoslovakia: in Hungary and Poland, there still were some tiny businesses and farms – and politically dissidents had a chance to find work, or, at least, room and board in exchange for work, there. In Czechoslovakia, that did not exist – the government 100% controlled employment, so political dissidents like my father were forced into the Uranium mines, even though they were not prisoners…it was the only work permitted them.

        So, closing the smaller stores while Amazon took over their marketshare was that part of the picture.

        These and many more things (remember lumber prices?) are just different manifestations of the same drive to impoverish the populace and reduce our ability to see what the elites are doing, much less do anything about it.

        • Deep Ecologists are the ones who want to limit the human race to 500 million. They are creating artificial shortages of food to reduce the population. Zeke Emanuel the brother of Rahm Emanuel is one. He wants people to die on their 65th birthday.

          Google the term and read what the talk about on their websites.

  2. Jagmeet Singh, leader of the NDP Party, needs to pull the plug on the liberal oppressors NOW. For the love of God, man up, stop the murderous regime in Ottawa.

    The top “Public Health” Officer of Canada, Theresa Tam, has listed climate change, white supremacy, capitalism, racism and colonialism as systematic drivers of negative health.

    How many nurses, healthcare workers, and Doctors are no longer allowed to practice because this government deemed anyone who was not on board with their left lunacy as unacceptable?

    Three point two million Canadians are on waiting lists. How many will die? How many Canadians are now vaccine injured? How many funerals has this government of lunatics paid for as a result of peoplekind dying from the injections? How many Canadians would be alive today IF they had been allowed proper treatments?

    The biggest threat to Canadians is this Liberal government.

  3. Lone Woman Swarmed and Brutally Attacked by Dozens of Teens in Chicago (Video)
    By Margaret Flavin Apr. 18, 2023 7:45 am329 Comments
    TruthGettrGabParlerTelegramShareTweet

    The Gateway Pundit reported on hundreds of teens rioting in the streets near Millennium Park Saturday night.

    The teens smashed car windows, fired guns, and attacked citizens during the violent spree.

    But don’t worry! Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson is on it! His “inspiring’ leadership wants to focus, not on the violence perpetrated by hundreds of teens last weekend but making sure we don’t ‘demonize’ the thugs.

    Could we, perhaps, demonize the dozens of teens who surrounded a helpless woman, trying to enter her home, cornered in her doorway by a mob of the rampaging youths? The thugs, that Johnson is worried will be demonized, then drag the woman to the ground and begin brutally attacking her

    https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/04/lone-woman-swarmed-and-brutally-attacked-by-dozens-of-teens-in-chicago-video/

    • WaPo -APRIL 18 2023 – Tucker Carlson and Elon Musk team up on misleading Fox viewers

      Perhaps the best context in which to consider Tucker Carlson’s televised interview with Twitter owner-slash-car-and-rocket-guy Elon Musk was how energetically the Fox News host set up his audience for a major revelation about their shared political enemies.

      The subject at hand was artificial intelligence, AI.

      “The problem with AI is that it might control your brain through words,” Carlson said as he introduced a segment of the Musk interview. “And this is the application that we need to worry about now, particularly going into the next presidential election. The Democratic Party, as usual, was ahead of the curve on this. They’ve been thinking about how to harness AI for political power.”

      More on that, he said, after the commercial break. So the break ended and Carlson told viewers that AI is “being used by politicians to control what you think, to end your independent judgment and erase democracy on the eve of a presidential election.”

      Cut to the interview with Musk.

      “What’s happening is they’re training the AI to lie,” Musk said. “It’s bad.”

      “Yes!” Carlson replied. “To lie. That’s exactly right. And to withhold information.”

      “To lie and … to either comment on some things and not comment on other things,” Musk said. “But not to say what the data actually demands that it say.”

      Then there was a weird riff about some joke Musk stole from his friend but … that was it. That was the conversation.

      For the uninitiated, what Musk and Carlson were talking about was a safeguard built into ChatGPT, the popular AI conversation tool. Ask it to opine on certain things and it will demur, using language explaining that is coded not to do so. It also has a predilection for heavy-handed articulations of the importance of remaining inoffensive and inclusive.

      When the tool emerged a few months ago, there was a flurry of interest and, in a very human way, a probing of its limits. Users discovered, for example, that the tool’s prohibitions against being offensive meant it would opt for nuclear annihilation rather than use a racial slur. This obviously ludicrous result was touted by some on the right — including Musk, who is working on a competing product — to mock the tool and the “woke” moral code that was built into it.

      But notice that there’s nothing about Democrats trying to throw the 2024 election. That’s all Carlson layering his own reflexes and terrors onto the thing, showing that it’s not only artificial intelligences that are unable to break free from bizarre, crippling intellectual constraints. Carlson took Musk’s modest (and themselves not apolitical) criticisms and turned them into part of the left’s grand plan to subsume the nation, as he does with everything.

      That context is important for another accusation offered by Musk.

      Carlson mentioned Musk’s purchase of Twitter last year. Upon taking control of the social media platform, Carlson prompted, Musk was “shocked to find out that various intel agencies were affecting its operations.”

      “The degree to which various government agencies had effectively had full access to everything that was going on in Twitter blew my mind,” Musk replied. “I was not aware of that.”

      “Would that include people’s [direct messages]?” Carlson asked, using the common shorthand “DM.”

      “Yes, because the DMs are unencrypted,” Musk replied. “So one of the first, you know, one of the things that we’re about to release, its ability to encrypt your DMs.”

      “That’s pretty heavy-duty, though, because a lot of well-known people, reporters talking to their sources, government officials, the richest people in the world, they’re DMing each other,” Carlson replied. “And the assumption — it obviously was incorrect, but was that that’s private. But that was being read by various governments?”

      “Uh, yeah, that seems to be — yes,” Musk replied.

      Let’s begin with Carlson’s assumption about the security of Twitter DMs. There probably were people who engaged in discussions over DM that they understood to be private but believed to be secure, conflating those two things in a way that they shouldn’t have. Perhaps some were world leaders or reporters, both of whom should know better. But this is not a failing of Twitter, as such. It’s a failing of those who made the assumption.

      Information that travels over the internet is generally observable. Online retailers and secure communications platforms use encryption — digital obfuscation, if you will — to keep particular things from being observed. The most secure form of this encryption is end-to-end: when my message to you is encrypted on my device and unencrypted by you on yours, regardless of how or when it gets to you. Even if it’s sitting on Twitter’s (or anyone else’s) server waiting for you to pick it up, no one there can read what it says. But, as of now, that’s not how Twitter messages work.

      (Incidentally, Musk’s mention that Twitter is working on end-to-end encryption, as sought by privacy advocates for years, isn’t itself new. The company has been working on an implementation since well before he assumed ownership of the company.)

      Governments do legitimately dislike end-to-end encryption! They want messages sitting unencrypted on servers — not so they can come in and rifle around willy-nilly, but because they at times need to use those messages as evidence. If @hitman_1093457 and @client_290384 are DMing about an assassination plot, the FBI would like to subpoena Twitter for those communications and then be able to read them. If the two users had end-to-end encryption, the Feds have to gain access to one of their phones, a much more intrusive and risky step.

      There are laws that govern how federal law enforcement can seek information from companies such as Twitter, including a mechanism for Twitter’s costs to be reimbursed. Twitter had traditionally provided public information on such requests (in the aggregate, not specifically) but hasn’t updated those metrics since Musk took over.

      But notice that this is not how Carlson and Musk frame the conversation.

      Once Musk gained control of Twitter, he began providing sympathetic writers with internal documents so they could craft narratives exposing the ways in which pre-Musk Twitter was complicit with the government and the left in nefarious ways.

      These were the “Twitter Files,” various presentations made on Twitter itself using cherry-picked and often misrepresented information.

      One such presentation made an accusation similar to what Carlson was getting at: that the government paid Twitter millions of dollars to censor user information. That was how Musk presented that particular “Twitter File,” the seventh in the series, though this wasn’t true. The right-wing author of the thread focused on government interactions with social media companies in 2020 aimed at uprooting 2016-style misinformation efforts. His thread suggested through an aggregation of carefully presented documents that the government aimed to censor political speech.

      The author also pointedly noted that Twitter had received more than $3 million in federal funding, hinting that it was pay-to-play for censorship. The insinuations were quickly debunked. The funding was, in reality, reimbursement to Twitter for compliance with the government’s subpoenaed data requests, as allowed under the law.

      The government’s effort — as part of the Trump administration, remember — did not obviously extend beyond curtailing foreign interference and other illegalities. But the narrative, boosted by Musk, took hold. And then was presented back to Musk by Carlson.

      Notice that Musk doesn’t say that government actors were granted full, unlimited access to Twitter communications in the way that Carlson hints. His responses to Carlson comport fully with a scenario in which the government subpoenas Twitter for information and gets access to it in compliance with federal law. Or perhaps doesn’t! In Twitter’s most recent data on government requests, 3 in 10 were denied.

      Maybe Musk didn’t understand that relationship between law enforcement and Twitter before buying the company, as he appears not to have understood other aspects of the company. Perhaps he was one of those rich people who assumed that because DMs were private they were secure — something he, a tech guy, should not have assumed, but who knows.

      It’s certainly possible that there was illicit access from some government entity to Twitter’s data stores, perhaps in an ongoing fashion. But Carlson is suggesting (and Musk isn’t rejecting) an apparent symbiosis, in keeping with the misrepresented Twitter Files #7.

      It is useful for Musk to have people think that he is creating a new Twitter that’s centered on free speech and protection of individual communications. That was his value proposition in buying it, after all. And it is apparently endlessly useful to Carlson to present a scenario to his viewers in which he and they are the last bastions of American patriotism fending off government intrusions large and small and the robot-assisted machinations of the political left.

      In each case, something is being sold to the audience. In Musk’s case, it’s a safe, bold, right-wing-empathetic Twitter. In Carlson’s, it’s the revelation of a dystopic America that must be tracked through vigilant observation each weekday at 8 p.m.

      In neither case is the hype obviously a fair presentation of reality.

      https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/04/18/twitter-elon-musk-tucker-carlson-ai/

    • the conservative tree house –Mark Levin Reveals J6 Committee Subpoenaed His Private Emails

      This is one of those little sidebar stories that will likely not gain much attention but should.
      We need more information, obviously, but in the big picture it appears the January 6th Committee used their self-granted subpoena power to gain the personal emails of radio and Fox News host Mark Levin.

      A congressional committee capable of gaining the private communication of an American citizen, without the target knowing the emails were provided is alarming. The immediate question is how was it done, and what provider turned over the content?

      The Fourth Amendment specifies, “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.” Who granted the warrant, how was it granted? Or was the demand to the provider an outcome of a national security letter, or FISA approach?

      Having been targeted by these J6 subpoenas myself, I am very interested in how the corrupt and manipulated mechanics of this privacy intrusion worked.

      How was the committee able to gain access without Mark Levin’s knowledge?

      We already know the U.S. government has been weaponized, and we need to know the details of how they carried out this operation. Hopefully Levin will give more details soon.

      https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2023/04/18/mark-levin-reveals-j6-committee-subpoenaed-his-private-emails/#comments

    • Twitter removes policy against deadnaming transgender people

      SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Twitter has quietly removed a policy against the “targeted misgendering or deadnaming of transgender individuals,” raising concerns that the Elon Musk-owned platform is becoming less safe for marginalized groups.

      Twitter enacted the policy against deadnaming, or using a transgender person’s name before they transitioned, as well as purposefully using the wrong gender for someone as a form of harassment, in 2018.

      On Monday, Twitter also said it will only put warning labels on some tweets that are “potentially” in violation of its rules against hateful conduct. Previously, the tweets were removed.

      It was in this policy update that Twitter appears to have deleted the line against deadnaming from its rules.

      “Twitter’s decision to covertly roll back its longtime policy is the latest example of just how unsafe the company is for users and advertisers alike,” said Sarah Kate Ellis, the president and CEO of the advocacy group GLAAD. “This decision to roll back LGBTQ safety pulls Twitter even more out of step with TikTok, Pinterest, and Meta, which all maintain similar policies to protect their transgender users at a time when anti-transgender rhetoric online is leading to real world discrimination and violence.”

      Twitter did immediately respond to a message for comment Tuesday.

      https://apnews.com/article/twitter-elon-musk-transgender-deadnaming-hateful-conduct-ae1b7285bb906e04b26ff9751ec0c2ce

  4. On Monday, disgraced biological male swimmer Lia Thomas announced support for a new Joe Biden Department of “Education” (DOE) rule which would override state laws protecting female sports and allow cheaters like him to continue stealing female glory.

    Former NCAA champion female swimmer ( and woman) Riley Gaines, immediately spoke out against Biden’s actions.

    Politico reported that earlier this month, the DOE proposed changing Title IX to bar schools from adopting or enforcing policies that categorically bar “transgender” students from participating on teams consistent with their so-called gender identity.

    Nineteen states currently have laws on the books banning biological males from competing in female sports. This new rule would allow cheaters like Thomas to continue participating in women’s sports

    https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/04/cheating-pervert-lia-thomas-gloats-after-biden-regime-proposes-new-rule-which-will-destroy-womens-sports-champion-swimmer-riley-gaines-rips-apart-thomas-and-biden-video/

  5. Illinois State Senator Defends Violent, Rioting Teens in Chicago: “It’s a Mass Protest”
    By Margaret Flavin Apr. 18, 2023 8:20 am107 Comments

    Looks like we have returned to the “mostly peaceful” mantra used by leftists to excuse violent, destructive behavior in their Democrat controlled havens.

    Illinois State Senator Robert Peters, who represents part of Chicago, wants everyone to understand that it was just a “mass protest.”

    Mobbing and beating a lone woman in a doorway? Just a protest.

    Damaging cars, businesses and terrorizing the city? Just a protest.

    Since I’m a glutton for punishment and I’m sure I’m gonna get the most unhinged, crime weirdo replies but: I would look at the behavior of young people as a political act and statement,” Peters wrote on Twitter. “It’s a mass protest against poverty and segregation. Rest in peace to my mentions.”

    https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/04/illinois-state-senator-defends-violent-rioting-teens-in-chicago-its-a-mass-protest/

  6. Nancy Pelosi Pays $7,500 Settlement to Illinois Man Who Sued Over Getting Too Many Fundraising Text Messages
    By Mike LaChance Apr. 18, 2023 7:15 am76 Comments

    Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has paid $7,500 to an Illinois man who sued because he was tired of getting so many fundraising text messages.

    This sets an interesting precedent. Can anyone sue politicians on this basis?

    If that’s the case, we’re going to see a lot more lawsuits like this one.

    Breitbart News reports

    https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/04/nancy-pelosi-pays-7500-settlement-to-illinois-man-who-sued-over-getting-too-many-fundraising-text-messages/

  7. KenoshaKyle Rittenhouse Countersues Gaige Grosskreutz, the Guy Who Attacked Him with Skateboard and Who’s Now Suing Him
    By Joe Hoft Apr. 18, 2023 8:45 am0 Comments

    Kyle Rittenhouse is known as an American who protects himself. He saved his own life and now he is protecting himself again.

    Kyle Rittenhouse made the news in a big way in 2020 after defending himself and the property of others against BLM protesters in Racine, Wisconsin. The young lad shot and killed two BLM protesters who attempted to kill him and nearly blew off the arm of another.

    Rittenhouse was found not guilty on all counts of any crimes for his actions in a court of law in Wisconsin a year later. His actions were clearly in self-defense.

    Rittenhouse’s innocence was short-lived. In February, the father of one of the BLM attackers sued Rittenhouse for wrongful death. John Huber, is the father of Anthony Huber, who was killed during looting, rioting, and vandalism by Black Lives Matter protesters in Kenosha, Wisconsin in 2020.

    Anthony Huber was killed when he attacked then-17-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse during the riots.

    Huber was shot dead when he tried to beat Kyle Rittenhouse to death with a skateboard.

    https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/04/kyle-rittenhouse-countersues-gaige-grosskreutz-the-guy-who-attacked-him-with-skateboard-and-whos-now-suing-him/

    • the gateway pundit – More Discussion About the Leaked Intelligence Documents

      […]This is a point I failed to mention in previous posts — i.e., ticketed permission. Let me use another more mundane example to explain. The NRA (aka National Rifle Association) has a website for instructors (nrainstructors.org). Only people who are NRA certified instructors can access that site. The NRA has a variety of categories for instructor certification, such as Basic Pistol, Basic Rifle, Concealed Carry Weapon, and Personal Protection Outside the Home. If you only are certified as a Basic Pistol instructor then you cannot access any of the training material for the other disciplines.

      The same sort of system applies to folks with a TOP SECRET clearance. You may have a TS, SCI clearance, which Jack Texeira reportedly had, but that does not grant you full, unfettered access to all intelligence posted on the TS server.

      https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/04/more-discussion-about-the-leaked-intelligence-documents/

    • ther hill – House unanimously approves resolution condemning Russia for downing US drone

      The House unanimously approved a resolution on Monday that condemns Russia for downing a U.S. Air Force drone over the Black Sea last month.

      The resolution — which spans two pages — passed in a 410-0 vote. It specifically “condemns the reckless actions of the Russian military” and “reaffirms the United States will not be deterred from operating U.S. drones in international airspace in the Black Sea region due to Russia’s reckless behavior.”

      The chamber held a vote on the measure just over one month after officials confirmed that a Russian fighter jet intercepted a U.S. Air Force drone in international airspace, forcing it down into the Black Sea.

      The incident sparked concerns of a potential escalation of tensions between the U.S. and Russia. Secretary of State Antony Blinken called the downing a “reckless and unsafe action.” National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said that while it is “not uncommon for Russian intercepts of non-Russian aircraft over the Black Sea,” the U.S. Air Force drone “was operating in international airspace over international waters and posed a threat to nobody, and it was an unsafe and unprofessional intercept.”

      “Russia continues to act in an irresponsible and reckless manner on the world stage. Now, the Russian military has directly interfered with a United States Air Force drone acting lawfully in international airspace,” Rep. Brandon Williams (R-N.Y.), the sponsor of the resolution, said in a statement Monday.

      “This resolution categorically condemns the Russian military’s actions and expresses that any attempt by the Russians to recover our drone is a threat to U.S. national security,” he added.

      The House has passed a number of pieces of legislation cracking down on Moscow since the conflict between Russia and Ukraine broke out in February 2022.

      The downing of the U.S. Air Force drone last month marked the first publicly known case of a Russian warplane damaging a U.S. aircraft on purpose since the conflict between the two countries began.

      https://thehill.com/homenews/house/3956014-house-unanimously-approves-resolution-condemning-russia-for-downing-us-drone/

    • DEUTSHCE PRAVDA – Von der Leyen says EU needs China policy shift

      … but should not cut ties with Peking.

    • CBC – How journalists got to the alleged Pentagon leaker before police

      When the FBI moved in to arrest the 21-year-old suspect behind a leak of classified Pentagon documents, the New York Times’s Haley Willis was already at Jack Teixeira’s house.

      She breaks down how her team got there first and what they uncovered along the way.

    • 2. -Documents show a relationship between terrorists and the Saudi Intelligence service formed by U.S. CIA officers through a group called the “Safari Club”, a secret alliance of nations the CIA uses to conduct unlawful operations.

      https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Ft_Qo9yWYAA9-zN?format=jpg&name=large

      https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Ft_Qo9vXoAIWF4H?format=jpg&name=large

      https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Ft_Qo9uXgAAMoJD?format=jpg&name=large

      https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Ft_Qo9yXoAEScDG?format=jpg&name=large

    • 3. The CIA assigned officers to find ways to blame the FBI for the attacks. The CIA tried to hide that they were aware of the relationship between the hijackers and AQ because they were “running a false flag operation”

      https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Ft_T4nxXgAITsWf?format=jpg&name=large

      https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Ft_T4nhXoAId-Oa?format=jpg&name=large

      https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Ft_T4njXoAEtPK0?format=jpg&name=large

      https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Ft_T4nhX0AIRguP?format=jpg&name=large

    • 4. – UBL station was allegedly tasked with building informants inside of AQ, but it was ran in a way that would make that nearly impossible, possibly because analysts secretly already had men on the ground and were not disclosing it as part of a hidden operation, even within the CIA. Despite outcry from agents at the station and an awareness of the danger, a “stop” was not authorized to prevent the hijackers from entering the country. FBI command ordered agents to “stand down” in their investigation of the hijackers.

      https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Ft_X_1DWAAA249t?format=jpg&name=large

      https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Ft_X_1BX0AEt_7e?format=jpg&name=large

      https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Ft_X_1MWcAAfsvL?format=jpg&name=large

      https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Ft_X_0_XgAIEFdt?format=jpg&name=large

    • 5. – CIA officers and FBI leadership involved in the investigations repeatedly blocked FBI investigators from accessing critical information. The CIA also hid the fact the hijackers had been allowed into the US in 2000 on CIA orders because they were “attempting to recruit them as intelligence sources”

      https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Ft_qc9YWAAEmpyT?format=jpg&name=large

      https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Ft_qc9aXgAUuQgv?format=jpg&name=large

      https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Ft_qc9XXgAAg6c9?format=jpg&name=large

      https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Ft_qc9VXsAEtUpj?format=jpg&name=large

    • 6. – “The attempt to recruit Al-Hazmi and Al-Mindhar was an operation directed by the CIA”
      “The CIA used their relationship with the Saudi intelligence services to conduct an operation on U.S. soil”
      “FBI agents testifying before the joint inquiry into the 9/11 attacks were instructed not to reveal the full extent of the Saudi government involvement with Al-Qaeda”

      https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Ft_raKdWwAAyB3n?format=jpg&name=large

      SOURCE:

      https://www.floridabulldog.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Canestraro-Declaration-dated-20-July-2021.pdf

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

      Declassified Guantanamo Court Filing Suggests Some 9/11 Hijackers Were Possibly CIA Assets, Ex-FBI Agents Accuse Agency of Obstructing Investigations

      https://wltreport.com/2023/04/17/declassified-guantanamo-court-filing-suggests-some-9-11-hijackers-were-possibly-cia-assets-ex-fbi-agents-accuse-agency-of-obstructing-investigations/

    • CNN – US warns Russia not to touch American nuclear technology at Ukrainian nuclear plant

      The US has sensitive nuclear technology at a nuclear power plant inside Ukraine and is warning Russia not to touch it, according to a letter the US Department of Energy sent to Russia’s state-owned nuclear energy firm Rosatom last month.

      In the letter, which was reviewed by CNN and is dated March 17, 2023, the director of the Energy Department’s Office of Nonproliferation Policy, Andrea Ferkile, tells Rosatom’s director general that the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in Enerhodar “contains US-origin nuclear technical data that is export-controlled by the United States Government.”

      Goods, software and technology are subject to US export controls when it is possible for them to be used in a way that undermines US national security interests.

      The Energy Department letter comes as Russian forces continue to control the plant, which is the largest nuclear power station in Europe and sits in a part of the Zaporizhzhia region that Russia occupied after its invasion of Ukraine last February. The plant has frequently been disconnected from Ukraine’s power grid due to intense Russian shelling in the area, raising fears across Europe of a nuclear accident.

      While the plant is still physically operated by Ukrainian staff, Rosatom manages it. The Energy Department warned Rosatom in the letter that it is “unlawful” for any Russian citizens or entities to handle the US technology.

      CNN has reached out to Rosatom for comment.

      “It is unlawful under United States law for non-authorized persons, including, but not limited to, Russian citizens and Russian entities,” the letter says, “such as Rosatom and its subsidiaries, to knowingly and willfully access, possess, control, export, store, seize, review, re-export, ship, transfer, copy, manipulate such technology or technical data, or direct, or authorize others to do the same, without such Russian entities becoming authorized recipients by the Secretary of the US Department of Energy.”

      It is not clear whether Rosatom has responded to the letter. The Energy Department’s National Nuclear Security Administration told CNN in a statement that the letter is authentic.

      The letters were first reported by the news outlet RBC Ukraine.

      “The Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration can confirm that the letter is legitimate,” said Shayela Hassan, the deputy director of public affairs for the National Nuclear Security Administration.

      She added: “The Secretary of Energy has the statutory responsibility for authorizing the transfer of unclassified civilian nuclear technology and assistance to foreign atomic energy activities. DOE does not comment on regulatory activities.”

      Another letter from Ferkile to the Energy Department’s Inspector General, reviewed by CNN and dated October 24, 2022, outlines the technology the US has exported to Ukraine for use in the Zaporizhzhia plant and reiterates that the department has “no record of any current authorization to transfer this technology and technical data to any Russian national or entity.”

      The Energy Department’s Office of Nuclear Energy has been public about the US’ support for the plant, and stated on its website in June 2021 that “the United States helped implement new maintenance procedures and operations at the reactor that should ultimately strengthen energy security” in Ukraine.

      https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/18/politics/us-warns-russia-zaporizhzhia-nuclear-plant/index.html
      =========================

      patrick lancaster – Frontline Nuclear Disaster imminent At Power Plant If Attacks Continue.

      Warning a Major Nuclear disaster (5 times the size of Chernobyl) is Imminent If the attacks on the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant do not stop.

      The Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Station is in the Zaporizhzhia Region Of what is internationally recognized as part of Ukraine but by Russian law part of Russia and is the largest nuclear power plant in Europe and among the 10 largest in the world.

      It is under the control of Russia since early 2022. It was built by the Soviet Union near the city of Enerhodar, on the southern shore of the Kakhovka Reservoir on the Dnieper river. It hold 6 of what was the 15 reactors that powered a large part of Ukraine (from 20-60%).

      Now the reactors are mainly out of service due to THE REGULAR ATTACKS BY THE UKRAINIAN FORCES ON THE PLANT ITSELF and the city.

      In the report I traval to Enerhodar and show you the real situation inside the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Station, at the nearby Russian army military positions and see Ukrainian positions.

      We also have an indepth look at the situation in the city itself showing the attacks on the civilian areas aswell as on the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Station.

    • CNN – Can Ukraine retake land from Russia? Hear NATO chief’s prediction

      ( 8 min 43 )

      Jens Stoltenberg joins CNN’s Christiane Amanpour

  8. Southwest Airlines Resumes Flights After Nationwide Grounding Due to “Technical Issues”
    By Cullen Linebarger Apr. 18, 2023 10:45 am23 Comments

    This is what happens when you have a secretary more concerned about making traffic less racist rather than doing his job.

    All Southwest Airlines were shut down this morning due to supposed technical issues. There have been no further details on what caused these technical issues.

    This comes just months after Southwest cancelled thousands of flights over Christmas due to the scheduling system being overwhelmed.

    https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/04/__trashed-90__trashed/

  9. Horror: 18 People Arrested in New York State for Trafficking the Same Child for Over 7 Years
    By Margaret Flavin Apr. 18, 2023 10:00 am183 Comments

    The Yates County New York District Attorney announced that 18 people have been indicted on sex trafficking and rape charges involving the same minor over a seven year period. Five of the individuals have already

    ?????????????
    @8102ops
    ·
    Follow
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    Horsehead, New York
    18 people arrested in connection with child sex trafficking the same child that’s under 13 for 7-YEARS!! So this tells you what age she was when they used and threatening her with a rifle since she was a little child. She was taken to numerous

    Yates County District Attorney Todd Casella shared the following with 18 News:

    In October of 2022, the New York State Police received information that a minor female child was subjected to a sexual assault. Through extensive investigation conducted by the New York State Police Bureau of Criminal Investigation stationed at SP Horseheads, and with the assistance from the New York State Police Computer Crime Unit, the Yates County District Attorney’s Office, and the Yates County Department of Social Services, information was developed concerning allegations of sexual abuse occurring over several years and the abuse is alleged to have occurred in various locations in Yates and the southern tier. Eighteen (18) individuals have been arrested and suspects from numerous regions of New York State, and one as far as the State of Florida, have been charged. Several of the defendants are awaiting court proceedings, while a number of other individuals have already plead guilty by Superior Court Informations.

    Due to the age of the victim, the nature of the crimes, and the pending status of numerous court proceedings, no further information will be released at this time.

    Todd J. Casella – Yates County District Attorney

    Casella held a brief press conference in Penn Yan on Monday and shared. “In my ten years as a criminal prosecutor, I have not seen a case like this.”

    https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/04/horror-18-people-arrested-in-new-york-state-for-trafficking-the-same-child-for-over-7-years/

  10. Pro-Life Pregnancy Center Attacked by Pro-Abortion Group Who Left Blasphemous Message About God
    By Jack Davis, The Western Journal Apr. 18, 2023 9:45 am102 Comments

    A pro-life pregnancy center in Bowling Green, Ohio, was vandalized Saturday, with the message “abort God” painted on the building.

    Graffiti scrawled on the wall of HerChoice, with is also called the Bowling Green Pregnancy Center, also included the name of “Jane’s Revenge,” a pro-abortion group, according to Fox News.

    The Counter Extremism Project refers to Jane’s Revenge as “a militant pro-abortion rights group” and noted it had been linked to violence at four pro-life pregnancy centers.

    In addition to the group’s name, vandals scrawled “liars,” “fake clinic,” and “fund abortion” on the building.

    Rochelle Sikora, the executive director of HerChoice, told Fox, “Saturday morning on April 15th, an individual claiming to be part of ‘Jane’s Revenge’ used spray paint to deface the east wall of HerChoice.”

    https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/04/pro-life-pregnancy-center-attacked-pro-abortion-group-left-blasphemous-message-god/

  11. Tennessee Rep. Justin Jones Attempts to Bring Child Size Casket Inside House Chamber (VIDEO)
    By Anthony Scott Apr. 18, 2023 9:05

    Representative Justin Jones, who was previously expelled from the Tennessee House of Representatives, attempted to bring a child size casket inside of Tennessee’s house chamber.

    The theatric stunt occurred on Monday afternoon, when Jones walked in the State Capitol with a child size casket. Once the Sergeant of Arms took notice, he denied Jones from entering inside of the chamber with the casket.

    Jones tasteless protest occurred on the same day hundreds of protestors stood on the Capitol’s step to protest for tighter gun legislation.

    WATCH:

    https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/04/tennessee-rep-justin-jones-attempts-to-bring-child-size-casket-inside-house-chamber-video/

  12. APRIL 18 2023 – FDA authorizes second bivalent COVID booster for older adults

    The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday authorized a second dose of Omicron-targeting COVID-19 vaccines for older adults as well as those with a weak immune system.

    The agency also said the updated shots from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna would become the new primary COVID vaccine, and withdrew its emergency-use authorization for the older messenger RNA vaccines that target only the original version of coronavirus.

    People aged 65 years and older can now receive a second dose of updated booster four months after the first, while immunocompromised people can get an additional shot of the updated vaccine after two months, the agency said.

    FDA’s decision comes a day before the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) panel of expert advisers’ meeting on updating COVID-19 vaccination guidelines.

    The CDC would have to recommend the second Omicron-tailored shots from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna for them to become widely available.

    The FDA authorized the bivalent COVID boosters in August that target the BA.4 and BA.5 Omicron subvariants, along with the original strain of the coronavirus.

    Only around 17% of the U.S. population has received the bivalent boosters, but among people aged 65 years and older, the uptake is higher, about 42.6% of them have received their first shot of the updated vaccines. The authorization withdrawal for Moderna Inc and Pfizer-BioNTech’s older vaccines, comes at a time when the FDA plans to shift to an annual COVID booster campaign with an updated strain, similar to the way Americans get their flu shots.

    The FDA also said it will hold another meeting of its advisers in June to discuss the strain composition of the COVID-19 vaccines for the fall season, with mRNA vaccine manufacturers expected to update their shots once the specific strains are selected.

    https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/fda-withdraws-authorization-older-covid-vaccines-by-moderna-pfizer-2023-04-18/

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

    APRIL 18 2023 – AstraZeneca confident new COVID antibody protects against known variants

    BARCELONA, April 18 (Reuters) – AstraZeneca is confident that its new version of COVID-19 antibody treatmentcould protect immunocompromised patients against all known virus variants, its vaccines head said.

    Laboratory studies show the antibody, called AZD3152, neutralizes all known variants of COVID-19 and AstraZeneca has support from regulators to make the treatment available by the end of this year, Iskra Reic said in an interview on Tuesday.

    AstraZeneca plans, pending more positive data and regulatory approval, to make the antibody available by the end of 2023.

    These types of therapies are most needed for people with compromised immune systems, either because of underlying conditions or because they are undergoing immune suppressing treatments. They account for nearly 2% of the global population.

    In January, the U.S. health regulator withdrew its emergency use authorization for AstraZeneca’s original COVID-19 antibody cocktail Evusheld, as new dominant variants made it obsolete.

    The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) decision resonated with concerns raised by Europe’s health regulator.

    AstraZeneca’s AZD3152, it new COVID-19 antibody, was acquired through a $157 million deal last year with British biotech start-up RQ Bio.

    The British drugmaker will likely make future investments like its current partnerships with RQ Bio but did not have any deals to announce, said Reic, a longtime AstraZeneca executive who has led the company’s vaccines and immune therapies unit since it was formed in late 2021, during the pandemic.

    Last year, the unit made $4.8 billion in revenues. However, demand for COVID-19 vaccines have dramatically declined with competition from mRNA vaccines and given many countries already have an oversupply of COVID-19 shots.

    https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/astrazeneca-confident-new-covid-antibody-protects-against-known-variants-2023-04-18/

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

    the hill – FDA: Original Covid Vax NO LONGER AUTHORIZED In US; Single Bivalent Booster Recommended

  13. If it weren’t for Elon Musk, we’d be approaching totalitarianism: Shellenberger

    ‘Twitter Files’ co-reporter Michael Shellenberger argues the government’s access to Twitter data and efforts to censor individuals on the platform is ‘very disturbing.’

    • DEUTSCHE PRAVDA – Duisburg: Several people stabbed in fitness studio

      At least four people were seriously injured in a stabbing attack at a gym in Duisburg. A police operation is underway in the city, with a suspect on the run.

      An attacker seriously injured at least four people at a fitness center in the old town of the western German city of Duisburg on Tuesday evening, police said on Twitter.

      Authorities confirmed that an operation led by police from the nearby city of Essen was under way and advised citizens to avoid the area.

      Police searching for suspect

      “There is still no arrest,” a spokesman for the Essen police told dpa news agency.

      A “stabbing or cutting weapon” was used in the attack, the police said. The injured were taken to a hospital, it added.

      According to information from Germany’s Bild newspaper, police suspect the perpetrator went on a rampage and is still on the run. The motive behind the attack is still unclear.

      Police tweeted that “three of the victims have life-threatening injuries” with one other victim also suffering serious harm from the attack.

      DW correspondent Joscha Weber, who is on the ground in Duisberg, said a police spokesman told him that they are searching for “at least one suspect.” The SEK tactical police unit is involved in the search operation.

      Weber said the streets were “calm” as the city center was blocked off. He noted that the police were searching even beyond the Duisburg city limits to find the perpetrator.

      The police set up a media contact point for the press in front of the city hall in Duisburg. Witnesses who were at the crime scene are now being questioned.

      https://www.dw.com/en/duisburg-several-people-stabbed-in-fitness-studio/a-65365131

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

      Die mutmaßlichen Opfer sollen zwischen 20 und 30 Jahre alt sein.

  14. THE TIMES – UK – Chinese businessman with Tory links ‘hosted secret police station’

    Food delivery firm’s headquarters in Croydon is alleged to have a controversial second role as a “service station for police and overseas Chinese affairs”

    A Chinese businessman linked to a “secret police station” in London has organised Tory fundraising dinners and been photographed with party leaders, The Times can reveal.
    Ruiyou Lin, 40, runs a takeaway ordering platform in Croydon from an office address which hosts an alleged overseas Chinese police station.

    The businessman has attended Chinese Communist Party (CCP) political conferences in China. He has also held roles in several organisations in Britain with links to the party department responsible for overseeing the United Front strategy of using Chinese nationals living abroad to push its interests.

    At the same time, Lin developed contacts in the Conservative Party in Britain, serving as vice-chairman of a constituency Chinese group and rubbing shoulders with the former prime ministers Boris Johnson and Theresa May. He has denied working for China and said he had no interest in British or Chinese politics but attended events to meet potential investors.

    Authorities in the West have expressed growing concern about China’s attempts to influence domestic politics in foreign nations. On Monday US prosecutors arrested two men in New York for allegedly operating a secret police station in Manhattan.

    In Britain, Ken McCallum, the director-general of MI5, has repeatedly warned of the growing threat from Beijing as it attempts to influence and subvert politics, and to control and intimidate members of the Chinese diaspora.

    McCallum said the Chinese authorities were willing to play “the long game in cultivating contacts to manipulate opinion in China’s favour”, targeting prominent politicians as well as those such as local councillors who are at the beginning of their careers in public life.

    MORE :

    https://archive.ph/KmddH#selection-1471.0-1504.0

  15. Soros-Funded St Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner’s Team No-Shows Murder Trial Allowing Murderer to Go Free
    By Joe Hoft Apr. 18, 2023 12:50 pm202 Comments

    There’s something very, very wrong with this individual who’s allowed to destroy the rule of law in St. Louis. Why is she allowed to carry on?

    Yesterday, in a murder case in St. Louis, Kim Gartner’s prosecutors never showed up. As a result, the killer was allowed to walk free.

    St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner could be held in contempt of court after a prosecutor in her office no-showed a murder trial Monday morning.

    Judge Scott Millikan sent a notice to Gardner’s office asking her to appear before him on the morning of April 24 “to show cause why you should not be adjudged in contempt of this court.”
    If Gardner fails to appear or show cause, then Judge Millikan could levy a fine against the city’s chief prosecutor, put her in jail, or both.

    An assistant circuit attorney was supposed to appear for the trial of Jonathon Jones, who was charged with first-degree murder and armed criminal action for the Sept. 6, 2021, shooting death of Brandon Scott near the Gateway Arch.

    Jones and his public defender, attorney Cecilia Appleberry, were in court at 9 a.m. Monday for the scheduled start of a jury trial. When no one from the circuit attorney’s office appeared, Appleberry filed a motion to dismiss the case outright. The trial has delayed a week while Judge Millikan requests an audience with Gardner.

    This latest blemish on Gardner’s public image comes just days after a prosecutor in her office abruptly resigned. Natalia Ogurkiewicz was the prosecutor in the Daniel Riley case. He’s the man accused in the tragic crash which caused Janae Edmondson to lose both her legs

    https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/04/soros-backed-st-louis-circuit-attorney-kim-gardner-no-shows-murder-trial-allowing-murderer-to-go-free/

  16. UN Wants to Decriminalize Sex Between Minors and Adults

    The United Nations discreetly issued a report in March encouraging members of the UN to decriminalize sex between minors and adults.

    The report is titled “The 8 March Principles for a Human Rights-Based Approach to Criminal Law Proscribing Conduct Associated with Sex Reproduction, Drug Use, HIV, Homelessness and Poverty.”

    On page 22 of the report, the UN states, “With respect to the enforcement of criminal law, any prescribed minimum age of consent to sex must be applied in a non-discriminatory manner. Enforcement may not be linked to the sex/gender of participants or age of consent to marriage.”

    https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/04/un-wants-to-decriminalize-sex-between-minors-and-adults/

  17. Is He Even Literate?’ Fox News Host Slams ‘Biased’ Judge in Dominion Case as ‘Small Potatoes’ Running ‘Clown Show’
    By Caleb HoweApr 16th, 2023, 10:53 pm

    On his radio show on Thursday, Fox News host Mark Levin attacked the judge presiding over the Dominion lawsuit against the network as a “biased” and “small potatoes” figure who is not up to the task and should “step aside.”

    On Thursday’s The Mark Levin Show on Westwood One, the host brought up a Mediaite article from last week about a comment from Delaware Superior Court Judge Eric Davis, who sarcastically took a swipe at Fox’s Maria Bartiromo.

    “She’s clearly neutral,” said Davis.

    The wisecrack didn’t land so he had to spell it out when asked about it.

    “She’s clearly neutral. I’m being sarcastic,” he explained. “Clearly not neutral.”

    After referencing the Mediaite article, Levin went after the judge for it, saying “maybe he hasn’t even heard about

    https://12ft.io/proxy?q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.mediaite.com%2Fradio%2Fis-he-even-literate-fox-news-host-slams-biased-judge-in-dominion-case-as-small-potatoes-running-clown-show%2F

  18. Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness and Response: International Agreement, 17 Apr 2023

    ( 18 min )

    Andrew Bridgen MP speaks in the debate on the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) pandemic prevention and preparedness treaty and accompanying amendments to the international health regulations, to raise his objections to signing up to treaties that would empower the WHO’s director-general to impose sweeping, legally binding directives on member states overriding UK sovereignty.