Reader’s Links for May 15th, 2024

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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.

For those interested, please check out https://vladtepesblog.substack.com/ as an another avenue of expression.

About Eeyore

Canadian artist and counter-jihad and freedom of speech activist as well as devout Schrödinger's catholic

40 Replies to “Reader’s Links for May 15th, 2024”

  7. Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico was shot as he walked among a crowd after a government meeting outside Bratislava in what the country’s Interior Ministry called an “assassination attempt.”

    Fico had emerged from a government meeting some 150 kilometers northeast of the Slovak capital on May 15 when it appears a lone gunman shot him.

    Witnesses said four or five gunshots were heard.

    https://www.rferl.org/a/slovakia-fico-shot-bratislava/32948591.html

  8. Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico has been shot and wounded and is in a life-threatening condition.

    Mr Fico was shot as he greeted crowds in front of a cultural community centre in the town of Handlova, where a government meeting had been held.

    Several shots were heard, before his security detail bundled him into a nearby car.

    The Slovak leader has been taken to hospital and his alleged assailant detained by police.

    “A crowd was waiting outside [the cultural centre] and one of them started shooting,” said journalist Juraj Bury, who was inside the building at the time of the attack at about 14:30 (12:30 GMT) in Handlova, about 180km (112 miles) north-east of the capital Bratislava.

    https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cg6761ggxz1o

    • Shooter’s name Cintula. 71 year old writer and member of progressive left opposition party.

  10. PRAGUE (AP) — Slovakia’s populist Prime Minister Robert Fico is in life-threatening condition after being wounded in a shooting after a political event Wednesday afternoon, according to his Facebook profile.

    Reports on TA3, a Slovakian TV station, said that Fico, 59, was hit in the stomach after four shots were fired outside the House of Culture in the town of Handlova, some 150 kilometers (93 miles) northeast of the capital, where the leader was meeting with supporters. A suspect has been detained, it said.

    A message posted to Fico’s Facebook account said that the leader “has been shot multiple times and is currently in life-threatening condition. At this moment he is transported by helicopter to Banská Bystrica, because it would take too long to get to Bratislava due to the necessity of an acute procedure. The next few hours will decide.”

    https://apnews.com/article/slovakia-prime-minister-shooting-robert-fico-handlova-bdaaf0bba01035a700145a67d871a482

  15. Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico has been shot and wounded in the abdomen after a government meeting, Slovak media reports say.

    Fico is in a life-threatening condition, the Slovak government office said in an emailed statement, adding that he was being transported by a helicopter to Banska Bystrica hospital.

    Reports on TA3, a Slovakian TV station, said that Fico was hit in the stomach after four shots were fired outside the House of Culture in the town of Handlova.

    https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/8630308/slovak-pm-fico-shot-and-wounded-after-govt-meeting/

    Note: a photo from the scene post shooting

  16. UPDATE 1605 BST: Fico arrives at Banská Bystrica hospital

    Getty now has a series of images from the Slovak Prime Minister’s arrival at Banská Bystrica hospital. When we heard from the Prime Minister’s office earlier they said he was being medevac’d to Banská Bystrica rather than the capital Bratislava because he needed surgery urgently. Fico is shielded from view on an emergency gurney after being removed from a helicopter, and is surrounded by paramedics and bodyguards.

    https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2024/05/15/slovakian-prime-minister-robert-fico-shot-suspect-arrested/

  17. The Woke Jihad

    The union of radical leftism and jihadism on display across American campuses is a marriage born of necessity—and of love. The necessity is reciprocal. Three-plus years after the George Floyd revolution, the left had found itself adrift…

    For their part, the jihadists needed the American left for tactical purposes: to propagandize for their cause and fit anti-Semitic terrorists – alongside gays, the transgendered, and African Americans- into the intersectional left’s pantheon of victims.

    The first thing to understand about any left-wing protest movement is that its nominal cause is irrelevant. Black Lives Matter isn’t about saving black lives. Trans activism isn’t about protecting trans children. And intersectionality isn’t about the suffering of the diverse disaffected.

    Never were, never will be. Underneath their particular brands, social-justice movements are assorted fronts in a radical war against the good. And so it is for the “pro-Palestinian” encampments.

    https://www.commentary.org/articles/abe-greenwald/woke-jihad/

    ~D I A L E C T I C S~

  18. (Richard: Once is happenstance, Twice is coincidence, Three times is enemy action. This is three bridge incidents in a very short time.)

    BREAKING: Barge Collides with Galveston Bridge, Causing Partial Collapse and Oil Spill (VIDEO)
    by Cristina Laila May. 15, 2024 1:00 pm0 Comments

    A barge collided with the Pelican Island Bridge in Galveston, Texas on Wednesday morning.
    The collision resulted in a partial collapse and oil spill.
    No injuries have been reported so far.
    It is unclear what caused the collision.
    Fox 26 Houston reported:
    The Pelican Island Bridge is shut down to traffic after it was struck by a barge on Wednesday morning, officials say.
    The bridge connects Pelican Island to Galveston, and Pelican Island is currently inaccessible by vehicle.
    Galveston officials say there were no reports of injuries in the collision that occurred around 10 a.m.
    SkyFOX video from the scene shows that debris from the bridge, including a section of the railroad tracks, fell onto the barge.
    Galveston officials say the collision resulted in an oil spill in the bay. The U.S. Coast Guard is responding to determine the extent of the spill and initiate the containment and cleanup process.
    https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2024/05/developing-galveston-bridge-collapses-after-barge/

      • 2022
        Rutgers Report Finds Increase in Anti-Hindu Disinformation

        “[D]etails how white supremacist and 4chan genocidal Pepe memes about Hindus are being shared prolifically within extremist Islamist web networks on messaging service Telegram and elsewhere.

        Researchers at the Rutgers NC Lab used artificial intelligence to better understand the development of a disguised and coded language pattern shared on social networks.

        According to their analysis of 1 million tweets, Iranian trolls disseminated anti-Hindu stereotypes to fuel division as part of an influence campaign to accuse Hindus of perpetrating a genocide against minorities in India.

        https://www.rutgers.edu/news/rutgers-report-finds-increase-anti-hindu-disinformation

        Links to Network Contagion Library, download reports:
        https://millercenter.rutgers.edu/library/?topic=ncri

      • CHY-na

        anta Ahmed @MissDiagnosis
        Remarkable insight in the role #China is playing in subverting the #Israel #Hamas conflict to undermine the United States, Israel and the international order “as the U.S. moves to ‘revitalize’ the Palestinian Authority, in pursuit of a diplomatic solution that, in the U.S. administration’s view, will pave the way for a two-state solution,

        China is acting as the forum of last resort for subverting these very efforts which it claims to champion, by brokering a summit to negotiate the absorption of #Hamas into the Pal Authority” via @DanLinnaeus

        https://twitter.com/MissDiagnosis/status/1790715378860978210

    • Stu@ thestustustudio

      Gen-Z for Change, formerly known as Tik-Tok for Biden, sent over 100,000 emails to college administrators last week calling for divestment.

      This is done using Apple Shortcuts and likely may be picked up as Spam. However, they are currently targeting the following universities but want to expand it other campuses…

      https://twitter.com/thestustustudio/status/1790404431596466183

    • Stu @thestustustudio
      Activists feel this is an “A.I. enabled genocide” and that Palestine is a testing ground to train the artificial intelligence to commit more genocides.

      “Sundar Pichai and Thomas Kurian, say their names, CEO Sundar Pichai and Thomas Kurian, CEO of Google Cloud, it doesn’t matter they do, it doesn’t matter how much money they bring in, it doesn’t matter what new gadgets they put out, it doesn’t matter what new innovations they do, their names will be synonymous with genocide for the rest of their lives and the rest of eternity.”

      https://twitter.com/thestustustudio/status/1790443041276248166

    • dan linnaeus@DanLinnaeus

      NEWS & ANALYSIS | Chinese Foreign Ministry Press
      Conference on May 13, 2024 on Palestinian Statehood: How China Leverages the Palestinian Issue.

      https://mfa.gov.cn/eng/xwfw_665399/s2510_665401/202405/t20240513_11303894.html

      NEWS: Following the May 10 Tenth Emergency Special Session (initiated by Qatar in 1997), which recognized Palestine as a sovereign with enhanced privileges in an unprecedented UNGA vote that sidestepped the Security Council, the Chinese Foreign Ministry held a press conference on May 13, 2024.…

      ANALYSIS: China’s historical support for the PLO and its current strategic objectives can be brought into view through a careful examination of Wang Wenbi’s press conference statements, which may be used to effectively highlight the continuity and evolution of China’s policy towards Palestine, and the geo-strategic agenda the Palestinian issue serves.

      • Subversion of International Norms via the Legitimization of Palestinian Statehood

      • Critique of the Use of Veto Power and Undermining the U.S.

      • Subversive Leverage of Support for International Legal Principles and Established Peace Frameworks

      • Mobilization of International Will through Building International Consensus and Call for Global Action

      • Summary and Geo-Strategic Implications

      https://twitter.com/DanLinnaeus/status/1790535120471965864

  19. Mexico is stopping nearly three times as many migrants now, helping keep U.S. border crossings down
    Biden administration officials say the increased help from Mexico in slowing migration is proof their relationship with Mexico is more productive than Trump’s approach.

    Mexico is stopping nearly three times as many migrants who have crossed its southern border as it was a year ago, a trend that U.S. officials say has helped blunt the surge in crossings of the U.S. border usually seen at this time of year.

    Biden administration officials also point to the increased help from Mexico in slowing migration as proof that their relationship with their southern neighbors is more effective than the Trump administration’s.

    Former President Donald Trump has derided President Joe Biden’s record and claimed that his administration was more successful at controlling the border.

    Early last year, Mexico interdicted roughly 100,000 migrants at its southern border or inside Mexico per month, while the U.S. was apprehending over 193,000 migrants monthly at the U.S.-Mexico border. This year, more migrants are being stopped inside Mexico than in the U.S., with over 280,000 being interdicted in Mexico and 189,000 in the U.S. in March, according to figures obtained by NBC News.

    The Mexican government doesn’t publicly share its migrant interdiction numbers like the U.S. does.

    The high numbers of migrants stopped in Mexico show how chaotic the U.S. border could become if Mexico cannot sustain its interdiction efforts. Another spike in border crossings could hurt Biden in the coming election.

    https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/immigration/mexico-stopping-three-times-as-many-migrants-as-last-year-rcna146821

    Biden is openly bragging about bribing Mexico

  20. A Palestinian columnist writing in Arabic in a Qatari newspaper declared this week: “We do not want a ceasefire, we want ongoing war. Victory is at hand.”

    Palestinian journalist Samir Al-Barghouti, writing in the Qatari daily Al-Watan, as translated by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), made the case for war to continue as a means to highlight the Palestinian cause.

    Al-Barghouti argued that the world had forgotten about the Palestinians until the October 7 terror attack, but now — thanks to the spectacular violence, and to protests in the west, the “free world” is united behind the Palestinians:

    https://www.breitbart.com/middle-east/2024/05/14/palestinian-columnist-we-do-not-want-a-ceasefire-we-want-ongoing-war/

  21. Anti-2A Judge Sentences Man To 10 Years For 50 Rounds Of Ammo & Building His Own Guns

    • The technological advances of computer controlled milling machines and 3D printers have destroyed any chance of gun control stopping anyone from acquiring firearms, the wanna be dictators are having trouble accepting the new reality.

  23. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg (D), the prosecutor linked to billionaire George Soros who is currently prosecuting former President Donald Trump on 34 felony counts, has offered plea deals to six of the nine migrants accused of attacking two New York Police Department (NYPD) officers in January.

    On January 27, a mob of Venezuelan migrants were caught on surveillance and police body cam footage attacking a pair of NYPD officers outside of a taxpayer-funded migrant shelter in midtown Manhattan.

    Nine migrants have since been charged with the attack. According to a report from the New York Post, Bragg’s office has offered plea deals to six of the migrants.

    https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2024/05/15/alvin-bragg-offers-plea-deals-migrants-accused-attacking-nyc-cops-prosecutes-trump/

  24. ‘Disgusting display’: University students need to ‘pay more attention’ to the news

    Filmmaker Ami Horowitz has called out the “disgusting display” made by university graduates who referenced the lynching of a Jewish man in Ramallah.

    Footage shows graduates at a US university holding up hands smeared with red paint at their graduation ceremony.

    “These students need to pay attention a little more to the news,” Mr Horowitz told Sky News host Rita Panahi.

    “Even the United Nations has recanted and finally said okay we were lying for a long time about this war in Gaza and they finally came to terms and reduced the number of civilian casualties by 50 per cent.”

  25. Eitan Fischberger@EFischberger
    BREAKING: A new report published by the @ncri_io
    found that the anti-Israel protest movement – which has been blocking/occupying public spaces since October 2023 – is linked to the Chinese government and aims to exacerbate societal tensions and destabilize American institutions

    “Key Takeaways”
    https://twitter.com/EFischberger/status/1790727047553097970
    ……..
    No kidding!
    I see a LOT of Chinese foreign students front and center around here. Passionate displays of outrage. Why would they care so much?

  26. I got this from one of the violinist in the family:
    Exclusive :Top Musicians Urge Concertgebouw To Readmit Israeli Quartet

    Almost a hundred musicians have rallied overnight to petition the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam to reverse its ban on two concerts this week by the Jerusalem Quartet. The concerts were called off ‘to gurantee the safety of employees, visitors and musicians.’

    Outraged musicians have acccused the Dutch administrators of capitulating to mob rule.

    We present the petition below with the initial rush of signatories. They include some well-known artists. If you support their appeal, do share this post on social media and add your name in the comments slot.

    Watch for updates during the course of today.

    https://slippedisc.com/2024/05/exclusive-top-musicians-urge-concertgebouw-to-readmit-israeli-quartet/

  27. Read more: https://www.ammoland.com/2024/05/understanding-the-connection-between-1st-2nd-amendments/#ixzz8aL535cQH
    Under Creative Commons License: Attribution
    Follow us: @Ammoland on Twitter | Ammoland on Facebook
    Upholding Liberty: Understanding the Connection Between 1st & 2nd Amendments ~ VIDEO
    Ammoland Inc. Posted on May 14, 2024 by Tred Law
    Follow Mark Smith at The Four Boxes Diner and stay up to date with breaking Second Amendment events.

    In a recent address to the audience at Franciscan University in Steubenville, Ohio, Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito emphasized the burgeoning threats to the First Amendment—our cherished right to free speech. This discourse, though focused on the First Amendment, resonates profoundly with another fundamental cornerstone of American liberty: the Second Amendment.
    As an advocate for constitutional rights and a firm believer in the sanctity of the Bill of Rights, I find Justice Alito’s insights particularly alarming and a call to vigilance for all supporters of the Second Amendment. The crux of his warning lies in the growing disdain for free speech, especially in academic circles, which traditionally have been bastions of free expression.

    This decline is not just an academic issue but a beacon of what could transpire with our right to bear arms if we’re not careful.
    Much like its First Amendment counterpart, the Second Amendment protects individual liberties against government overreach. Historically, courts have attempted to apply various levels of scrutiny—strict, intermediate, and rational basis—to determine if the government’s need to regulate a right is justified enough to override constitutional protections. This method, however, poses a significant risk as it essentially allows courts the leeway to determine which rights can be diluted in favor of governmental interests.

    Let’s break this down: if the First Amendment can be circumvented under the guise of protecting public interest, what stops the government from doing the same with the Second Amendment? The answer is nothing but our vigilance and insistence on strict adherence to constitutional texts.
    Justice Alito’s speech sheds light on a critical issue: the manipulation of judicial standards like ‘tiers of scrutiny’ to potentially weaken our rights.
    The recent movements against free speech are indicative of a broader trend that could affect all rights, including our right to keep and bear arms. It’s essential to recognize that any erosion of these rights, whether through judicial activism or legislative overreach, is an erosion of the very foundations of American democracy.
    As Second Amendment advocates, our duty extends beyond protecting just the right to bear arms. We must uphold all constitutional rights with the utmost respect and precision. This starts with understanding the interconnectedness of these rights. The erosion of one right invariably weakens others.

    Today, it is the First Amendment under siege; tomorrow, it could very well be the Second.

    So what is the Take Away?

    Justice Alito’s warnings are not just about the present but a foresight into what could become a broader dismantling of constitutional safeguards. As proud and informed citizens, we must stand vigilant against any efforts that undermine our rights. The battle for the Second Amendment is not just about guns—it’s about maintaining the integrity of our entire Bill of Rights. Let us heed Justice Alito’s cautionary tale and reaffirm our commitment to defending the liberties enshrined in our Constitution.

    I urge you to engage, discuss, and educate others about the importance of every amendment and the role they play in safeguarding our freedoms. Remember, the strength of our rights lies in our understanding and our unwavering resolve to protect them.

  28. Read more: https://www.nssf.org/articles/president-ronald-reagan-gave-us-the-answer-for-rejecting-gun-control/#ixzz8aL74WR1O
    Under Creative Commons License: Attribution
    Follow us: @Ammoland on Twitter | Ammoland on Facebook
    President Ronald Reagan Gave Us The Answer For Rejecting Gun Control
    Ammoland Inc. Posted on May 14, 2024 by F Riehl, Editor in Chief
    Opinion
    By Mark Oliva
    President Joe Biden said it again. Given another term, he’ll do gun control.

    This time, he’s grotesquely dismissive of the high price of freedom that has been paid with the lives of those who fought and died to preserve American independence. Thomas Jefferson, the author of the Bill of Rights, famously wrote “The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.”

    President Biden told the “Smartless” podcast, according to Breitbart, that he will “make sure that we do something about gun violence in this country” should he be elected for a second term, adding, “this — the [tree of] liberty is watered with the blood of patriots, I mean, that’s a bunch of crap.”

    President Biden specifically took aim at re-enacting the failed 1994 Assault Weapons Ban, that even the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention admitted had no effect on crime reduction. He reiterated his disproven claims about “cannon control” and again placed himself as the pre-eminent Second Amendment authority, despite the U.S. Supreme Court clearly establishing the Second Amendment as a right of individual Americans.

    It’s a mantra that would be easy to dismiss if it weren’t for all the gun control he’s already implemented by bypassing Congress and abusing his executive authority to attack the firearm industry.
    Punishing Second Amendment Freedom
    He targets “rogue” gun dealers, when even his own Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) officials published data showing they’re not the problem. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ Volume Three of the National Firearms Commerce and Trafficking Assessment show just 0.1 percent of all federal firearms licensees were implicated in allegedly illegal firearm trafficking between 2017 and 2021.
    President Biden’s Commerce Department published a punishing Interim Final Rule through the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) and slapped on new firearm export restrictions that have the intent of hobbling U.S. firearm manufacturers and exporters. The administration grasped at straws to justify it for national security reasons but it also belies ATF data. The ATF’s National Firearm Commerce and Trafficking Assessment shows less than one percent of legally exported firearms are ever traced in connection with a crime taking place in a foreign country.

    Recently, Everytown for Gun Safety’s President John Feinblatt boasted of his gun control organization’s collusion with the White House’s office of Gun Violence Prevention, staffed by his former employee Rob Wilcox, and the City of Chicago to bring a frivolous and harassing lawsuit against Glock. The handgun maker is renowned for their product’s reliability and Feinblatt and others are upset because Glock refuses to change their handgun designs because criminals illegally alter them by affixing auto-sears – what ATF calls “machinegun conversion devices (MCD) -that are illegal to import, make, possess and install on a firearm. A dozen Democrat state attorneys general are threatening to sue, as is Hawaii.
    The goal is to overturn the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA), the law that prohibits frivolous lawsuits against the firearm industry for the harm caused by remote third parties. To more easily understand that, “remote third parties” is legal-speak for criminals. Feinblatt, President Biden and the Congressional gun control cabal want to return to the days of the late 1990’s and early 2000’s when unscrupulous trial lawyers in shiny suits in concert with gun control groups paraded a series of failing lawsuits to drain firearm manufacturers of funds with claims that were never successful.
    That wasn’t the point, though. Disgraced former New York Gov. Anderw Cuomo served as the Housing and Urban Development Secretary under President Bill Clinton and infamously threatened the firearm industry with “death by a thousand cuts.” The objective was to bring the industry to its knees and force through court-ordered settlements gun control measures rejected by Congress or ratchet up the cost of litigation and shutter the industry through bankruptcy. Nothing changed.
    Look to Another American President
    It’s time to reject this mentality. There was a time in this nation when Americans shrugged off the collective blame that society shoulders responsibility for the ills that plague us and focused instead on holding criminals accountable. Instead of listening to the 46th President of the United States, America should recall the words of the 40th President.

    “We must reject the idea that every time a law’s broken, society is guilty rather than the lawbreaker,” President Ronald Reagan said. “It is time to restore the American precept that each individual is accountable for his actions.”

    President Reagan delivered those remarks to the Republican National Convention in Miami in 1968. Those words are as fitting today as they were over a half century ago.
    President Biden, with the help of gun control cronies, wants to shift the blame for criminals misusing firearms to snatch that Constitutionally-protected right from every American. Together, they’re doing it through executive fiat, judicial abuse and regulatory overreach. They’ve gone so far as to create an office within The White House that is structured to do that, staffed by former gun control lobbyists.
    The notion that others are to blame for an individual’s failings and crimes is as juvenile as the toddler’s “the devil made me do it” excuse. Laws are enacted to protect society. They give society the tools by which to hold individuals accountable when they don’t respect the rights of others or the consequences of their actions. When President Biden and his gun control factions talk of repealing PLCAA, enacting unconstitutional restrictions through the rulemaking process instead of working through Congress – the representatives of “We, the People,” they are abrogating their responsibility to protect the very people they’ve been entrusted to govern. They break the social contract with Americans to shift the blame for crime from the criminal to those who had no part or responsibility for that crime.
    This isn’t how Americans want to be governed. Weaponizing government – including the courts to cast the blame for criminal misbehavior on an industry or the rest of society – is anything but accountability. It gives the criminal a free pass. It punishes the innocent and negates rights that belong to law-abiding Americans.
    This isn’t what the Founding Fathers envisioned. Americans must not tolerate a chief executive who crassly dismisses the hard-fought liberties that have been secured by patriots with their lives. Americans must not surrender their liberties to carry the collective blame when individuals break the law. Stripping Americans of their Second Amendment rights doesn’t make the country safer. It emboldens criminals and makes citizens wards of an Orwellian government.