Protesters rally near derailed train with NATO hardware
RT | December 3, 2022
A group of Greek protesters gathered near a train carrying NATO equipment that derailed on Friday. The demonstrators were rallying against the presence of US military bases in Greece and the involvement of Western countries in the Ukraine conflict.
The train went off the tracks near the port of Alexandroupolis in northeastern Greece. According to local media, it was heading to the Balkan and Baltic states as part of NATO’s campaign to ramp up defenses against Russia.
It was transporting tanks, armored vehicles, and a number of containers.
The accident happened when the train was moving at a slow speed, and a wheel on one car leaned to the side due to the heavy cargo and slipped off the track, local media reported. Following the accident, cranes and other equipment were moved in to salvage the military hardware. There have been no reports of any injuries or damage to the equipment.
According to footage posted to social media, roughly a dozen people held a protest close to the train. The participants cried out a slogan: “Alexandroupolis is the port of the people, not the stronghold of the imperialists.”
“No participation in the war in Ukraine“ and “let the military bases and the Americans get out,” they said.
In May of this year, Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias claimed that the port of Alexandroupolis would play a crucial role in supporting the US military presence in the country. Moreover, amid the Ukraine conflict, the city has become a key hub for US forces, who have been using it to deliver war material. In August, The New York Times reported, citing unnamed US officials, that the equipment was meant solely for use by American units on NATO territory, and not for Ukraine.
The new demonstration comes after this past spring Greek railway workers refused to transport US and NATO armored vehicles from Alexandroupolis to the borders of Ukraine, with several activists throwing red paint on the Western equipment.
Macron wants more Twitter censorship to stop people saying “crazy things” about vaccines, pandemics, and war
By Cindy Harper | Reclaim The Net | December 2, 2022
French President Emmanuel Macron criticized Twitter’s owner Elon Musk for relaxing content censorship policies on the platform, arguing that content on Twitter needs more regulation. Macron made the comments in an appearance on ABC News ahead of his visit to The White House.
Macron said that democracies are under “very strong pressure” from forces like social media where users can say “crazy things about a vaccine, a pandemic, the war.”
This week, Musk said he would relax content moderation policies surrounding topics like the coronavirus.
Good Morning America and ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos said, “He’s making it worse, isn’t he?”
“I think this is a big issue,” Macron responded. “I think it deserves to be largely engaged. What I push very much for, want, is exactly the opposite – more regulation.”
Macron further argued that speech in a democracy has to be “based on respect and political order.”
The French President added: “You can demonstrate, you can have free speech, you can write what you want – but there is responsibilities and limits. The limits is you cannot go in the streets and have racist speech, or antisemitic speech, you cannot put at risk the life of someone else. Violence is never legitimate in democracy.”
Macron also criticized former US President Donald Trump, whose Twitter account was recently restored after an almost two-year ban after the January 6, 2021, riot at the US capitol.
“When in one of the biggest democracies and oldest democracies in the world, you can have a leader and supporters deciding on purpose to refuse the results because this is the one they didn’t want to see, this is just the beginning of the end of the democracy,” Macron said.
Earlier this week, regulators in the European Union warned Musk that Twitter could be banned in the region or face fines if it does not enforce content censorship policies. Musk was also warned about the arbitrary reinstatement of previously banned accounts. The new owner said he would grant “general amnesty” to banned accounts that had not broken the law or spammed.
New Zealand admits it has direct access to Facebook takedown portal where it can flag content for censorship
By Tom Parker | Reclaim The Net | December 2, 2022
New Zealand’s government has officially admitted that it has partner access to Facebook’s controversial content takedown portal.
This portal is designed specifically for government agencies to flag content to Facebook for censorship. According to The Intercept, which reported on the portal in October, government partners can also use the portal to “report disinformation directly” to Facebook.
And in a recent response to a New Zealand Official Information Act (OIA) request, which asked whether the government has partner access to Facebook’s takedown portal, the New Zealand government confirmed that the Department of Internal Affairs has access. While this was the only government department that was confirmed to have access to the portal, the OIA response also said “we cannot advise if any other government agency has access to the takedown portal.”
We obtained a copy of the OIA response for you here.
The OIA response didn’t detail how much content had been censored via this Facebook takedown portal. However, other reports on similar types of backdoor content takedown arrangements between governments and Big Tech have shown that governments regularly use them to target legal content such as parody accounts, accounts questioning the effectiveness of Covid vaccines, and so-called election misinformation.”
Publicly, the New Zealand government has endorsed the censorship of legal content with Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern saying “disinformation” should be regulated like guns, bombs, and nuclear weapons. Big Tech companies have also agreed to a censorship pact in the country where they suppress “misinformation” and “harmful content.”
Most other governments haven’t admitted that they have access to these portals. However, last year The White House did admit that the United States (US) Surgeon General’s Office is flagging posts for Facebook to censor.
The Intercept’s report on this Facebook content takedown portal claimed that several other United States (US) government agencies have access to the portal, including the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
Documents released as part of 2021 lawsuits suggest that the California Secretary of State’s Office of Elections Cybersecurity (OEC) also has access to the Facebook takedown portal and a similar type of portal on Twitter.
Rumble files lawsuit to challenge New York’s social media censorship law
By Tom Parker | Reclaim The Net | December 1, 2022
Free speech video sharing platform Rumble and its subscription platform Locals have sued New York Attorney General (AG) Letitia James to challenge a social media censorship law that they say would force platforms to target constitutionally protected speech.
Rumble and Locals are being represented by the free speech nonprofit Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) and are joined in the lawsuit by constitutional law professor Eugene Volokh, the co-founder of the Volokh Conspiracy legal blog.
We obtained a copy of the lawsuit for you here.
“The law is titled ‘Social media networks; hateful conduct prohibited,’ but it actually targets speech the state doesn’t like — even if that speech is fully protected by the First Amendment,” FIRE said in a statement.
The law forces a wide variety of internet platforms to publish a policy detailing how they’ll respond to posts that are deemed to “vilify, humiliate, or incite violence” based on protected classes such as religion, gender, or race.
It also requires platforms to create a way for visitors to complain about “hateful content” and requires them to respond to complaints directly. Platforms that refuse to comply can be investigated by the AG’s office, subpoenaed, and fined up to $1,000 per violation.
It comes into force on Saturday, December 3, 2022.
As is often the case with censorship laws, this Social Media Networks; Hateful Conduct Prohibited law doesn’t define “vilify,” “humiliate,” or “incite.”
Rumble suggested that this means it would “cover constitutionally protected speech like jokes, satire, political debates, and other online commentary.”
FIRE noted that the law’s scope is “entirely subjective” and suggested that it could target a wide range of First Amendment-protected speech such as “a comedian’s blog entry ‘vilifying’ men by mocking gender stereotypes” and most comments on almost any website “that could be considered by someone, somewhere, at some point in time, as ‘humiliating’ or ‘vilifying’ a group based on protected class status like religion, gender, or race.”
FIRE added: “Bloggers, commenters, websites, and apps around the country are ensnared by the New York law due to its broad definition of ‘social media networks’ as for-profit ‘service providers’ that ‘enable users to share any content.’ This vague wording means that the law can impact virtually any revenue-generating website that allows comments or posts and is accessible to New Yorkers — but no government entity can legally compel blogs or other internet platforms to adopt its broad definition of ‘hateful conduct.’”
“New York politicians are slapping a speech-police badge on my chest because I run a blog,” Volokh said. “I started the blog to share interesting and important legal stories, not to police readers’ speech at the government’s behest.”
Rumble Chairman and CEO Chris Pavlovski added: “New York’s law would open the door for the suppression of protected speech based on the complaints of activists and bullies. Rumble will always celebrate freedom and support creative independence, so I’m delighted to work with FIRE to help protect lawful online expression.”
This law is one of several attempts by New York to encroach on the First Amendment and push for the censorship of constitutionally protected speech. Other laws and proposals from the state have pushed to ban the sharing of violent crime videos online, ban gendered language in law, and allow officials to sue platforms that are suspected of “contributing” to the “knowing or reckless” spread of “misinformation.
US federal government pays $5M for software to turn citizens into online “misinformation” responders
By Dan Frieth | Reclaim The Net | December 2, 2022
Journalism group Hacks/Hackers was awarded $5 million by the National Science Foundation (NSF) to develop software that would encourage ordinary Americans to warn their friends and family about misinformation in their online speech. Users of the software would confront alleged misinformation by replying with text recommended by the software.
Hacks/Hackers has been tasked with developing the “Analysis and Response Toolkit for Trust (ARTT), a suite of expert-informed resources that are intended to provide guidance and encouragement to individuals and communities as they address contentious or difficult topics online,” the NSF group said in an October 24 article.
According to a video demonstration of the software, the tool will tell users if a social media post is “harmful” and, if it is, it “suggests relevant responses through tailored response examples or templates” that users can copy and paste as responses.
“Every day there are motivated citizens, like librarians, health communicators, and amateur volunteers, who engage with the misinformation that is posted by their peers and make efforts to share reliable information to empower their communities,” the video said.
Another video by ARTT claimed that social media efforts to fight misinformation are not as effective in influencing users’ views as efforts made by friends.
“That’s why we want to focus on these peer connections when it comes to having these conversations online … Instead of coming to you from the platform, it’s actually coming to you from a friend,” the video said.
The group led by Hacks/Hackers is also working on Wikipedia tools, which will determine those that are a “credible source” on Covid vaccines and prevent sources that are not credible from being cited on Wikipedia.
The list of credible sources has started to be organized, with outlets like the Washington Post, The New York Times, and The Guardian classified as “reliable,” and outlets like The Federalist and The Daily Wire classified as “unreliable” or “conspiracy.”
Secret Service Has Hunter Biden Gun Docs They Denied Possessing
Samizdat – 02.12.2022
Hunter Biden, son of the incumbent US president, is infamous for his involvement in many scandals, including substance abuse, commercial sex, infidelity, tax fraud and, probably, corruption at the highest level. Yet he always got away. However, the “gun incident” may change this.
The Secret Service admitted the existence of documents connected to Hunter Biden’s alleged illegal ownership of a gun, even though they previously denied possessing the files.
According to media reports, representatives of the Secret Service approached a firearms shop owner where Hunter Biden had illegally bought a gun, and demanded the paperwork connected to this transaction. The gun shop owner refused to comply, suspecting that the Secret Service officers wanted to hide Hunter’s ownership of the firearm.
This incident did not go unnoticed. Conservative activist group Judicial Watch sued the government agency for all materials concerning Hunter Biden`s ownership of a gun. The government watchdog group also highlighted the oddity of the Secret Service changing its stance on the case several times.
Tom Fitton, Judicial Watch President, marks the fact that “The Secret Service’s changing story on records raises additional questions about its role in the Hunter Biden gun incident.”
The gun incident Tom Fitton is referring to occurred in year 2018. Hunter Biden’s former sister-in-law, who became his lover, took his gun from a cupboard and threw it in a garbage can. She claims that her lover was mentally unstable at that moment and she was afraid for her life. Later she tried to retrieve the gun, but it was already at the police disposal. Approximately at this time, Secret Service officers approached the gun shop owner with demands to dispose of the paperwork, framing Hunter Biden.
When law enforcement started to wonder about the origins of the gun, it was suspected that Hunter Biden had lied in order to buy it. He answered in the negative when asked about past substance abuse and substance addiction. But five years ago he was fired from the US Navy due to a positive test for cocaine and he admits in his memoires that he continued to abuse substances at least up to 2018.
Intentional misrepresentation of information while buying firearms is a criminal offense according to US law. Yet he was not charged.
In April 2021 the Secret Service responded to a watchdog request, promising to provide necessary documents on this case. However, a year later in October 2022 this governmental organization stated that the previous response was a mistake and that it doesn’t have any records relevant to the “Hunter Biden’s Gun Incident.”
Hunter Biden is currently in the crosshairs for being allegedly involved in many murky affairs but always gets away.
For instance, Hunter was connected to some companies that were accused of corruption. The most notorious case is his membership in the board of Ukraine’s Burisma Group. His father then-Vice-President Joe Biden pressured then-president of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko to fire top prosecutor, who was investigating Burisma activities.
However, the gun incident may reverse the momentum. According to results of the November midterms, Republicans received a majority in House of Representatives. They have already promised to launch a full-scale investigation on Hunter Biden’s activities. What is more important federal agents think that they have enough evidence to criminally charge Hunter Biden for illegal gun ownership.
Israel and US hold drills targeted at Iran
RT | December 2, 2022
The Israeli military has conducted joint training operations with the United States, holding a series of air drills to simulate strikes on Iran just days after West Jerusalem pressed US officials to accelerate their “operational plans” against Tehran.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) detailed the drills in a statement on Wednesday, saying they practiced “various scenarios in the face of regional threats” while singling out the Islamic Republic by name.
“These exercises are a key component of our two militaries’ increasing strategic cooperation in response to shared concerns in the Middle East, particularly those posed by Iran,” the IDF said.
Four Israeli F-35 fighter jets and four American F-15s took part in the war games, which “simulated a long-range operational scenario and long-distance flights,” the IDF added, noting that a US KC-135 tanker aircraft also refueled a number of Israeli F-16s during the exercise.
The drills follow a visit to the US capital last month by IDF Chief of Staff Aviv Kochavi, who called on American officials to develop new “operational plans” to take on the Iranian military. The two sides also discussed their “commitment to ensuring that Iran never acquires a nuclear weapon,” despite Tehran’s repeated insistence that it is not pursuing the bomb.
Israel has carried out a number of drills specifically targeting Tehran in recent months, including an exercise over the Mediterranean Sea earlier this year which reportedly simulated strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities. Another similar drill focused on nuclear sites was also conducted last June, involving more than 100 aircraft which practiced long-distance strikes.
While this week’s war games saw midair refueling operations with an American tanker, the Jerusalem Post previously reported that Israel had developed capabilities allowing it to reach Iran without the need to refuel along the way. The outlet suggested the air force had upgraded its US-made F-35 jets to accomplish that feat, but offered few details on the supposed improvements.
Ukraine war doubled Jewish migration to Israel
MEMO | December 2, 2022
An official Israeli report has revealed that the number of Jewish immigrants to Israel has doubled over 2022 following the Russian-Ukrainian war.
“The number of immigrants to Israel in 2022 has reached some 70,000, which is double the number of immigrants the country hosted last year,” the report read, according to Safa.
The study pointed out that the “majority of the Jewish immigrants were fleeing the escalating war in Ukraine,” adding that the immigrants were also “exploiting the Israeli government’s efforts to bring home all Jews in warring countries.”
“Fifty-four per cent of the immigrants this year arrived from Russia, 21 per cent arrived from Ukraine, five per cent from the United States, and four others from France,” the report read.
It pointed out that 22,000 of the Jewish immigrants were “recruited by the Israeli army over the last decade, 15,000 of whom had no families.”
Over the last decade, the Israeli army received a total of 6,440 doctors and 22,400 engineers, most of whom came from the former Soviet Union, according to official data.
Parallel society: Ukrainian children in German schools
Free West Media | December 2, 2022
Around one million Ukrainians have left their homeland due to the war in recent months and sought refuge in Germany. Among the refugees are tens of thousands of children who are now going to school in Germany. But there are simply too many and the problems are mounting.
Educators responsible for foreign children have given up telling the success story of an integration that doesn’t exist.
So-called “bridging classes” have been set up everywhere for Ukrainian schoolchildren, in which German language skills are taught more intensively. But to no avail – further support and integration have overwhelmed German teaching staff, the chairman of the Bavarian Philologists’ Association, Michael Schwägerl, had to admit.
“We are experts in our subjects. As a rule, however, we are not interpreters for Ukrainian or Russian, we are not trauma experts either, and our time allotment does not allow us to provide psychosocial support in individual cases.” They need additional staff for practically everything.
And there are massive problems: “The bridging classes are not normal German learning classes,” emphasized Dorothee Missy, who is a bridging class teacher at the grammar school in Mering near Augsburg. Lack of motivation, demarcation, aggression, disrespect, breaking the rules and other discipline problems as a reaction to the stressful situation are commonplace. “We also have a great deal of heterogeneity in terms of performance, motivation and willingness to perform.”
In addition, the refugees often keep to themselves even months later. More than half of the teachers (54 percent) rate the integration of the Ukrainian children and young people in the respective school as rather bad, 22 percent even as clearly bad. In addition, four-fifths of the refugees also take part, at least in part, in Ukrainian online courses which is not conducive to integration into a German environment.
The goal is to prepare the Ukrainian students for regular German schooling. But they are still a world away from achieving their goal.
Philologist boss Schwägerl said there was very little hope that it would happen on a large scale by the end of the current school year as planned. He expected that only a low single-digit percentage would switch to the Bavarian regular school system in the fall. Ukrainian parallel societies will therefore also remain in schools for the time being.
No hope of affording integration
Germany’s decline, which was heralded by the red-green “traffic-light” coalition, is now reflected not only in fresh bad news every day, but also in sober economic indicators that the Federal Statistical Office can no longer hide.
German exports to non-EU countries fell by 1,6 percent in October compared to the previous month, hospitality sales in September fell by 0,9 percent compared to the previous month, and building permits fell by a significant 8,1 percent compared to the same month last year. The number of corporate bankruptcies rose by a massive 34 percent in September compared to the same month last year, while 40 percent are expected for November.
Only one parameter is constantly increasing: the producer prices in October were a gigantic 34,5 percent higher than in the same month last year. Because companies are only passing the price explosion on to consumers in bits and pieces, the big surprise is yet to come in supermarkets.
Officially, the inflation rate is 10,4 percent, which sounds moderate, but it is also due to the so-called “shopping basket” used to calculate inflation. The “shopping basket” is full of products and services that do not reflect the real life of ordinary people.
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From the Archives
A sample of vaccine and injectable medication tragedies during my lifetime
This is what happens when you demand speedy production in an era of politicized regulation
By Meryl Nass, MD | February 12, 2022
All these tragedies have been due to failures of testing or failures in manufacturing processes. Most occurred before vaccine manufacturers were given virtually complete protection from liability in 1987.
With the duration of patent exclusivity determining how much new products earn, products are rushed to market as quickly as possible, most using a shortened path for FDA review. Recalls and market removals of approved products are much more common than they used to be. We can only expect more of these disasters in the future, especially if the products are mandated for everyone. … continue
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