Author Archives: stuartbramhall

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About stuartbramhall

Retired child and adolescent psychiatrist and American expatriate in New Zealand. In 2002, I made the difficult decision to close my 25-year Seattle practice after 15 years of covert FBI harassment. I describe the unrelenting phone harassment, illegal break-ins and six attempts on my life in my 2010 book The Most Revolutionary Act: Memoir of an American Refugee.

Etruscan Sports and Spectacles

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Episode 18 Etruscan Sports and Spectables

The Mysterious Etruscans

Dr Steven L Tuck (2016)

Film Review

All Etruscan sporting events were part of religious rituals. As games were common at funerals, archeologists commonly find decaying viewing stands in front of Etruscan tombs. Occasionally athletic events were used to celebrate military victories.

The “blood sacrifice” common to Etruscan funeral games* was a precursor to Roman gladitorial contests.

The Etruscans also engaged in equestrian sports, especially chariot races as part of funeral games. Only men participated and they rode bareback. There were no judges because the winners were clear.

Funeral games could also include running races (some in armor), wrestling, boxing long jump (with hand weights to extend the length of the jump), shotput, javelin, discus. Unlike the Greeks, the Etruscans rarely competed in the nude. Like modern WWE (Worldwide Wrestling Entertainment), in Etruscan wrestling it was common to pick up your opponent and through him to the ground.

Boxing, to the accompaniment of a flute, was the more popular sport (especially at funeral games) because it produced blood.*

Etruscan games, which were more a spectator sport than Greek games, allowed non-elites to participate. In fact, Etruscans often purchased slaves to perform in athletic events.

*The Leuukonians, who migrated from the Anatolian peninsula and invaded Greece’s southern Italian colonies in the 5th century BC, were the first to introduce gladiatorial contests to funeral games. Over time, they became an important feature in Roman funerals and expanded to become mass public spectacles.

**The blood had to seep into the tomb to neutralize demons that might block the deceased entrance to the afterlife.

Film can be viewed free with a library card at Kanopy.

https://www.kanopy.com/en/pukeariki/watch/video/239710/239643

Pro-Israel Congressmen Confronted Over Israel’s History Of Propping-Up Hamas

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Zero Hedge

 “For years, Netanyahu propped up Hamas. Now it’s blown up in our faces.”

So read an op-ed headline in The Times of Israel by Israeli journalist and political correspondent Tal Schneider on October 8, one day after Hamas’s deadly incursion.

“The premier’s policy of treating the terror group as a partner, at the expense of Abbas and Palestinian statehood, has resulted in wounds that will take Israel years to heal from,” she said.

Schneider was far from the only one to draw attention to this sordid history as the Israel government rushed to declare war on Hamas and begin their slaughter in Gaza.

“Since he took office as prime minister a second time,” wrote Dmitry Shumsky for Israel’s Haaretz on October 11, “Netanyahu developed and advanced a destructive, warped political doctrine that held that strengthening Hamas at the expense of the Palestinian Authority would be good for Israel.”

While statements like these – and the fact that they’re made so matter-of-factly in top Israeli newspapers – may come as a major surprise to many American news consumers who hadn’t followed the Israel-Palestine conflict closely prior to October 7, Israel’s role in propping up Hamas has been reported for years by the likes of UPI (“Israel gave major to aid to Hamas“), The Wall Street Journal (“How Israel Helped to Spawn Hamas“), and others.

The policy has also been repeatedly elucidated by Israel officials, including Finance Minister Bezelal Smotrich and, reportedly, Netanyahu himself, as documented in depth by writers Scott Horton and Connor Freeman.

In light of this, journalist Liam Cosgrove ventured to Capitol Hill recently with a couple queries for pro-Israel Congressmen: First and foremost, are they even aware of this basic historical fact? And second, shouldn’t it have a bearing on their decision to send billions of dollars to the very government that helped strengthen Hamas in the first place?

These should have been pretty straightforward questions (to which one would hope the answers would be “yes” and “yes”). However, as seen in the video above, they were treated as anything but by staunchly “pro-Israel” congressmen Dan Crenshaw, Byron Donalds, August Pfluger, and Juan Ciscomani.

The evasiveness displayed by Crenshaw (R-TX), a member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, stands out as particularly noteworthy. Besides telling Fox News that it’s “crazy” to be concerned about Palestinian civilians “caught in the crossfire” of Israel’s bombardment because “they support Hamas!” and “want a terrorist government,” Crenshaw has said of the October 7 attack:

By the very nature of funding and training this proxy force for decades, it’s clearly Iran’s fault. So whether Iran has direct involvement in this particular operation is another question. But Iran created Hamas. . . . So it’s, it’s— they are one and the same, effectively. Doesn’t mean they always operate exactly in unison, but they are one and the same, because they’ve been funding and training them for decades.

“Are you aware that Benjamin Netanyahu and the Israeli government were funding and propping up Hamas…?” Cosgrove asked him.

Despite agreeing to take a question seconds earlier, Crenshaw cut him off before he could finish and refused to answer.

“Are you familiar with that? That they were propping up Hamas and funding them, prior to October 7th?” Cosgrove repeated as Crenshaw climbed into the passenger side of a pickup truck and shut the door in his face.

Ciscomani (R-AZ), a member of the House Abraham Accords Caucus, was similarly unwilling to comment. He initially seemed taken aback by the question and asked Cosgrove to repeat.

“I’m not gonna give you a comment on that,” he replied after hearing it again.

Donalds and Pfluger were more willing to engage, but pleaded ignorance while reavowing their support for Israel.

Donalds (R-FL) said during an interview on November 18 that “to argue for ceasefires” or “the plight of the Palestinian people when the political group that they elected and keep in power fomented and executed a heinous terrorist attack” is “ridiculous.”

“Are you familiar with the reports that Benjamin Netanyahu, over the years, has been actively funding Hamas?” asked Cosgrove.

“No, I’m not aware of the report,” Donalds said.

Cosgrove explained that the reports (plural) have been published in papers like Haaretz and The Time of Israel, while Donalds said he “doesn’t do hot takes” and needs to “read it” before commenting.

“Shouldn’t you have read that before sending 14 billion dollars of American taxpayer money over there?” asked Cosgove.

“To support our greatest ally in the region when they were attacked?” replied Donalds. “We would always do that.”

Pfluger, too, said that he had “not seen that report.” When Cosgrove noted that Netanyahu is openly being criticized in Israeli papers for the policy, the Republican lawmaker replied that he hadn’t “seen a credible report on that.”

[…]

Via https://www.zerohedge.com/political/watch-pro-israel-congressmen-confronted-over-israels-history-propping-hamas

 

Audi hits brakes on EV rollout as enthusiasm wanes

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image

Paul Homewood

Audi will hit the brakes on its rollout of electric car models as consumer enthusiasm wanes in the face of high prices compared to petrol models.

Gernot Döllner, the boss of the Volkswagen-owned brand, said that he wants to avoid flooding dealerships and factories with the vehicles as sales slow.

“The advantage of EVs (electric vehicles) is becoming visible to consumers step by step,” Mr Döllner told Bloomberg News.

Official forecasts for electric car take-up in the UK were slashed by almost half last month. Sales of new battery-powered cars were expected to grow steadily until they accounted for 67pc of the market by 2027, under a prediction issued in March.

But that figure has now been revised down to just 38pc by the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), which said the take-up of EVs has been slowing.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2023/12/18/audi-hits-brakes-ev-electric-cars-rollout/

Via https://notalotofpeopleknowthat.wordpress.com/2023/12/19/audi-hits-brakes-on-ev-rollout-as-enthusiasm-wanes/

Australian Government Trying to Sneak Through Digital Identity Bill Over Christmas

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The Expose

“Labor’s Digital Identity Bill 2023 was introduced to the Senate last week, without any fanfare, by the Minister for Finance, Katy Gallagher,” he said in a Facebook post on 13 December 2023.

“The Digital ID Bill 2023 and the Digital ID (Transitional and Consequential Provisions) Bill 2023 was immediately referred to the Senate’s Economics Legislation Committee, for inquiry and report by 28 February 2024.

“Once passed, the scheme will be up and running by July 2024.”

The government has invited the public to submit their objections to the bill, the closing date is 19 January 2024, when families are focused on Christmas and the New Year.

“Apart from the introduction of a digital currency, I can think of no other issue more crucial when it comes to human freedom than the worldwide push for a Digital Identity system,” Mr. Andrew said.

“It is crucial that the Committee receives a tidal wave of submissions and feedback opposing the introduction of these bills, otherwise their passage through parliament will become a fait accompli.”

Urging the public to make a submission, Mr. Andrew said: “I know it’s Christmas and everyone is burnt out politically for the year, but this issue is vitally important … Don’t let them succeed! … Tell the Senate Standing Committee on Economics to reject the Digital ID Bill 2023.”

As well as a submission to the Senate Standing Committees on Economics which can be made HERE, Mr. Andrew shared the link to a petition.

“The Albanese Labor Government has just lobbed a dystopian grenade in our laps – the Digital ID Bill 2023. And nobody asked for it,” the petition on Citizen Go states.  “This is not about meeting public demand; it’s about bowing to globalist pressures.”

“Since 2015, Canberra, at the behest of the United Nations (UN), the World Economic Forum (WEF), and other globalist elite institutions, has been crafting a digital identity system.  Now, the Senate — via its Standing Committee on Economics — is holding an inquiry into this Digital ID Bill, and they want to hear from YOU.

“We must take this opportunity to tell the Senate to reject the bill!”

The petition lists “just 10 reasons” why the bill needs to be rejected including the incorporation of facial recognition and biometrics into digital IDs, paving the way for a social credit system which controls access to services based on behaviour and the bills don’t give an option to get out of the digital ID system – once you’re in, you’re locked into this digital prison for life.

You can read and, if you are an Australian, sign the petition HERE.

[…]

Via https://expose-news.com/2023/12/17/australian-government-digital-id-bill/

US Escalation in the Red Sea – A Lose/Lose Proposition

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Russell Bentley – Sputnik

The latest escalation in world military affairs, the situation in the Red Sea and Yemen, has the real potential to eclipse both the war in Ukraine and the invasion of Gaza, both in terms of military and economic impact, on a global scale.

The hubris and abject idiocy of US plans to open yet another conflict that they cannot hope to win, and that cannot lead to anything but the destruction of the world economy can only be described as criminally insane.

In a recent letter to “Dear America”, the Houthi leaders wrote, “A desperate plea for reflection. The consequences are dire, and the responsibility lies with the guardians of the American dream. Beware, for the path you tread upon carries weighty consequences, reverberating across oceans and continents. Choose wisely…” The choice is between demanding an end to the Gaza humanitarian tragedy or escalating the conflict into a war that will have global consequences. The US has already announced its intention to choose the latter. It is a choice for which the American people, if they allow it to happen, will suffer gravely.

The US and UK have moved at least 24 combat ships into the seas off the coast of Yemen, ostensibly “to protect global shipping lanes”. This is a lie. The Houthis have clearly stated that, one, that they are only targeting ships serving Israeli interests, and that all other shipping is under no threat, and two, that they are willing to cease all military operations against Israeli shipping as soon as Israel stops its attacks on Gaza and the West Bank.

It is ONLY Israeli shipping that is under threat, and it is ONLY Israeli shipping that US and UK naval forces are deployed to protect. But by escalating the situation in the Red Sea, they are putting at risk ALL shipping passing through the Red Sea and Suez Canal, which accounts for 12% of all global trade and 30% of all container shipping, as well as about 8% of world trade in both oil and LNG, for a total annual value of over a trillion US dollars.

As things stand now, only Israel-linked shipping is at risk, and even that risk can be completely eliminated by the cessation of Israeli attacks on Gaza and the West Bank. But if the US attacks Yemen, the Houthis will respond, and they do have the capability to sink US Navy ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden. And once that happens, the Red Sea becomes an active war zone, and then, all bets are off, along with all shipping in the Red Sea, and 12% of all global trade. Think about it…

The economies of the EU nations are already in serious decline. The US national debt stands at over $33 TRILLION, and the era of the US dollar’s reserve currency status in global trade is closing fast. A 12% overnight decline in global trade would almost certainly lead these economies into economic depression equivalent to the Great Depression of almost 100 years ago. As I have said many times before, economic war and military war are two sides of the same coin. The Houthis have a major economic advantage based on their geography to influence and even threaten global economic activity, and have proven their ability and willingness to use it. And it is by no means certain that the Western armada assembled along the Yemeni coast can even defeat the Houthis militarily without unacceptable and unsustainable losses.

According to Fabian Hinz, a research fellow at the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies, the Houthis are known to possess two types of larger anti-ship ballistic missiles: The Asef, which has a 450km range, and the Tankil,which has a range of 500km. These missiles can travel at speeds up to Mach 5, and carry warheads of between 300 to 500 kg. (By comparison, Chinese anti-ship missiles with 600 kg warheads have been dubbed “Aircraft Carrier Killers”.) The range of these missiles allows the Houthis to cover not only the southern third of the Red Sea, but all of the Gulf of Aden and much of the Arabian Sea as well. With the exception of the USS Indianapolis and the USCG ships in the Gulf of Oman, all of the US/UK naval ships in the graphic above are already within range of Houthi missiles.

After almost ten years of civil war against the Yemeni government backed by the US and a Saudi-led coalition, the Houthis remain an undefeated and powerful fighting force, still in control of about 20% of Yemen, in the northern and western parts along the Red Sea. Though a recent ceasefire was brokered by China and based on Saudi – Iranian rapprochement, the situation in Yemen remains volatile, exacerbated by Israel’s recent attacks on Gaza and the West Bank. With the US threatened escalation, the global military and economic risks increase by orders of magnitude.

The Houthis demands are clear and precise: Stop the attacks on Palestinians, and the threats to Israeli shipping will cease. Escalate, and the Houthi response will be asymmetrical and world-changing. To any who might scoff at the idea of a rebel army in an impoverished 3rd world country being able to take on the US military, I would simply remind them of the fact that the US has failed to achieve any meaningful victory in any of the wars it has started over the last 30 years.
The choice is clear – either end the Palestinian tragedy, or unleash a global catastrophe of unimaginable proportions. The US government has announced its ill-advised decision to choose the latter option. It is up to all good people in the world, and US citizens in particular, to prevent this global and suicidal miscalculation from taking place, or suffer the consequences.

 

EU Countries Destroy 4 Billion Euros Worth of Covid Vaccines

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EU countries purchased 1.5 billion COVID-19 vaccines — but millions of those went unused | Lou Benoist/AFP via Getty Images
By Carlo Martuscelli and Hanne Cokelaere

Politico

At least 215 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines purchased by EU countries at the height of the pandemic have since been thrown away at an estimated cost to the taxpayer of €4 billion, an analysis by POLITICO reveals. And that’s almost certainly an underestimate.

Since the first coronavirus vaccines were approved in late 2020, EU countries have collectively taken delivery of 1.5 billion doses (more than three for every person in Europe). Many of these now lie in landfills across the Continent.

Calculations based on available data show that EU countries have discarded an average of 0.7 jabs for every member of their population. Top of the scale is Estonia, which binned more than one dose per inhabitant, followed closely by Germany, which also threw away the largest raw volume of jabs.

If this average waste rate is projected across the rest of the EU, it would equal more than 312 million destroyed vaccines.

It’s not easy to discover how many vaccines have been thrown out. Governments, including the EU’s second-most populous country France, are reluctant to reveal the scale of the waste.

POLITICO’s calculations are based on numbers from 19 European countries — 15 that supplied us with direct figures, and four where volumes were reported in local media. Some figures date from as recently as this month; the oldest come from December 2022.

The passage of time means the figures we received are conservative, with the real number of discarded vaccines likely much higher.

Germany, for example, provided its waste figures to POLITICO in June; at the time it had another 120 million vaccines sitting in storage. Vaccine-makers have also since introduced newer versions that are adapted to the latest coronavirus variants, making older jabs obsolete and more likely to be discarded.

POLITICO estimates the value of the 215 million wasted vaccines at more than €4 billion, based on vaccine prices reported in the media (they have not been made public). For countries that only reported the total number of vaccines destroyed, without breaking it down by vaccine type, POLITICO used a weighted average price of €19.39 calculated from data given by countries that provided a breakdown.

Again, this figure is almost certainly a minimum. But even €4 billion is a considerable sum, equal to a large infrastructure project or to the annual health care spending of Croatia.

[…]

Via https://www.politico.eu/article/europe-bonfire-covid-vaccines-coronavirus-waste-europe-analysis/

Korean Peer-Reviewed Studies into Health Consequences of Covid Vaccine

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Forced vaccinations and public health law – Prof. Dorit Rubinstein Reiss
Dr Guy Hatchard

The Korean National Health Insurance Service tabulates health data of the whole population, including vaccination status, which allows researchers to compare the ongoing health outcomes of the vaccinated with the unvaccinated. Precisely the information our government is hiding from independent researchers and public scrutiny—comparative data, which we have been requesting they release.

So what have they found in Korea? Researchers have released a preprint paper entitled “Hematologic abnormalities after COVID-19 vaccination: A large Korean population-based cohort study“. Haematologic diseases are diseases of the blood and blood forming organs. The researchers randomly selected half of the population of Seoul (around 4.2 million people) aged 20 and above and identified people who had received treatment for a range of blood disorders. They excluded people who had a history of blood disorders prior to the study period and then compared the rate of development of blood disorders among the vaccinated and unvaccinated over a three month period.

The researchers concluded:

“This study demonstrated the haematologic adverse events associated with COVID-19 vaccination using real-world data. The cumulative incidence rate of nutritional anaemia, aplastic anaemia, and coagulation defects significantly and constantly increased for 3 months after the COVID-19 vaccination compared to the non-vaccinated group.”

Aplastic anaemia is a rare but serious blood condition that occurs when your bone marrow cannot make enough new blood cells for your body to work normally. There is no known cure at this point in time.

Nutritional anaemia refers to anaemia that can be directly attributed to nutritional disorders or deficiencies. Examples include Iron deficiency anaemia and pernicious anaemia.

Coagulations disorders are conditions that affect the blood’s clotting activities. Haemophilia, Von Willebrand disease, clotting factor deficiencies, hypercoagulable states and deep venous thrombosis are all coagulations disorders.

Another study from Korea entitled “The spectrum of non-fatal immune-related adverse events following COVID-19 vaccination: The population-based cohort study in Seoul, South Korea” analysed official health data for Seoul residents between 2020 and 2021 and examined the cumulative incidence rates of non-fatal health outcomes among the vaccinated group which included 1,748,136 individuals compared to the non-vaccinated group which included 289,579 individuals.

The study compared these cumulative incidence rates of non-fatal conditions in the following areas:

  • Gynecological ( including endometriosis, and menstrual disorders [polymenorrhagia, menorrhagia, abnormal cycle length, oligomenorrhea, and amenorrhea])
  • Haematological (including bruises confined to non-tender and yellow-coloured especially on extremities)
  • Dermatological (including herpes zoster, alopecia, and warts)
  • Ophthalmological (including visual impairment, and glaucoma)Otological (including tinnitus, inner ear, middle ear, and outer ear disease)
  • Dental problems (including periodontal disease)

Subjects with a history of these illnesses were excluded from the analysis.

The researchers concluded:

“The cumulative incidence rates of these conditions at three months following COVID-19 vaccination were significantly higher in vaccinated subjects than in non-vaccinated subjects, except for endometriosis.”

A third study of the same official Korean health data, which we have already reported, found higher incidence of eight musculoskeletal conditions among the vaccinated when compared to the unvaccinated including:

  • Plantar Fasciitis (foot/heel fibrous tissue inflammation)
  • Achilles tendinitis (pain in the back of the leg near the heel)
  • Bursitis (inflammation that increases friction between tissues in the body)
  • Rotator Cuff Syndrome (pain affecting the shoulder)
  • HIVD (upper back herniated disk)
  • Spondylosis (chronic neck wear and pain)
  • Adhesive Capsulitis (inflammation of the shoulder)
  • De-Quervain Tenosynovitis (wrist inflammation).

The researchers concluded:

“Individuals who received COVID-19 vaccines, either mRNA, viral vector, or mixing and matching, were found to be more likely to be diagnosed with inflammatory musculoskeletal disorders compared to those who did not. Our results provide detailed information on the adverse reactions after COVID-19 vaccination. This information will be useful in clarifying adverse reactions to COVID-19 vaccines and educating people about the potential risk of inflammatory musculoskeletal disorders based on their vaccination status.”

I don’t really need to explain much about these results do I? They speak for themselves. These studies analysed the rates of some specific health outcomes for millions of people following Covid vaccination. The researchers concluded that a very wide range of concerning health conditions are initiated over extended periods as a result of Covid vaccination.

Medsafe, the media, and the New Zealand government are telling us that COVID-19 vaccines are safe and effective, but they are not publishing any comparable data. A computer systems developer working at the Ministry of Health noticed that death rates among vaccinated populations were unusually high and blew the whistle. He has been arrested and charged with ‘dishonestly accessing health data’ (his job actually).

Who do you believe? The researchers in Korea who have published analysis of millions of post vaccination health records officially made available by their government or our government who are still refusing to make health records available whilst insisting that COVID-19 vaccination is safe and effective?

In the words of rapper DertySesh (warning: a lot of words begin with ‘f’), who publishes provocative social commentary on X and is unafraid to say how he feels, ‘we don’t want bland reports from the media that someone has been arrested for vaccine disinformation, we want to know if the data he published is real or not?’ One of our data correspondents, Terry Anderson, sums it up as follows:

Terry picks just one week, number 25 of 2022 ending 19th June. In that week 858 people died (the 3rd highest of the year). The MoH tells us there were 61 Covid deaths in that week, made up of around 46 who died with Covid as the underlying cause and 15 where Covid contributed. That means at least 797 people died of something other than Covid. Over the previous five years from 2017 to 2021, an average of 701 people died. Even allowing for a small population increase (around 2%), excluding Covid there appear to be at least 82 excess unexplained deaths in this one June 2022 week alone, 12% above the long term average.

If 82 people died in a train accident the nation would agonise over it for years. Every effort would be made to make sure it never happened again. As we have discussed and documented repeatedly, it is not just one week, there has been an unexplained level of excess death occurring week in week out for three years, at least 6,500 New Zealand deaths in total since the vaccine rollout began. To put it in perspective, that is more than twice the 2,700 New Zealanders who died in Gallipoli, whose heroics and sacrifice we commemorate to this day. The whistleblower is right, excess deaths are completely and absolutely off the scale.

The Korean studies of official health data confirm the chief suspect: COVID-19 vaccination. You would think the newly elected government would be crawling all over the New Zealand health data, enlisting the help of those who are untainted by any association with the prior Covid policy formation and assessment, desperately trying to get to the bottom of what has happened and staunch the flow of injury and death.

In fact, our government, the Ministry of Health, and the media seem to be incapable of facing the facts. Through the arrest and public denouncement of a whistleblower, they have shown themselves to be cowards, afraid to face up to the consequences of past decisions. Unbelievably, they are continuing to push the COVID-19 vaccine on the population against all evidence.

A headline in the New York Times today reads “There Are Politicians Who Lie More Than Is Strictly Necessary”. Once found out, the cover-up begins and then one lie leads to another. Eventually, any erstwhile friend can be abandoned to save your skin. In our case, the health and longevity of New Zealanders has become a political pawn that is being sacrificed to save Parliament and civil servants from public humiliation and disgrace.

The actual effect of the government policy of continued heavy vaccine promotion in the face of concerning data on adverse effects is frightening. It has completely distorted public perceptions and understanding. We have ended up living in an illogical and untenable world governed by propaganda rather than fact.

[…]

Via https://hatchardreport.media/korean-studies-indicate-what-our-government-is-hiding/

Resolution In Congress Calls For End To Assange Case As Extradition Nears

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A resolution in support of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was introduced in the United States House of Representatives on December 13.

Cosponsored by eight representatives, it states that “regular journalistic activities are protected under the First Amendment,” and the U.S. government should “drop all charges against and attempts to extradite Julian Assange.”

The resolution [PDF] introduced by six Republican and two Democratic representatives marks the second time that representatives have used the legislature to try and mobilize support for Assange and freedom of the press. (One was previously sponsored in 2020 by Republican Representatives Thomas Massie and Justin Amash and Democratic Representative Tulsi Gabbard.)

For over four and a half years, Assange has been jailed at His Majesty’s Prison Belmarsh. The facility is a high-security prison typically reserved for individuals accused or convicted of violent offenses.

Assange faces 17 charges of violating the Espionage Act and one count that alleges conspiracy to commit a computer crime. Each charge criminalizes Assange for publishing classified documents from the U.S. in 2010 and 2011.

A paltry number of representatives and senators in the U.S. Congress have shown interest in the Justice Department’s unprecedented prosecution of Assange. Fewer have raised their voice to oppose the political case against him.

Yet as Chip Gibbons covered for The Dissenter, there have been several letters issued to demand that President Joe Biden and Attorney General Merrick Garland drop the charges.

Republican Representative Paul Gosar sponsored the House resolution, and Republican Representatives Eric Burlison, Jeff Duncan, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Anna Paulina Luna, and Massie signed on as cosponsors.

Democratic Representatives Jim McGovern and Ilhan Omar both signed on as cosponsors as well.

The list of cosponsors is missing many of the representatives, who previously backed letters demanding that Biden and Garland end the prosecution.

“In 2010,” the resolution recalls, “WikiLeaks, a media organization established by Julian Assange, published a cache of hundreds of thousands of pieces of information including Guantanamo Bay detainee assessment briefs, State Department cables, rules of engagement files, and other United States military reports.”

“The disclosure of this information promoted public transparency through the exposure of the hiring of child prostitutes by Defense Department contractors, friendly fire incidents, human rights abuses, civilian killings, and United States use of psychological warfare,” it adds.

Where it references “child prostitutes,” the resolution is referring to a published cable that revealed that U.S. military contractor DynCorp had trained police in Afghanistan who had paid for “dancing boys.”

The reference to “psychological warfare” is unclear, however, it may be referring to military incident reports from Iraq. Those reports that became known as the Iraq War Logs contained details of “friendly fire incidents,” “human rights abuses,” and “civilian killings,” including by Iraqi security forces that were trained by the U.S. military.

Where the resolution mentions the computer crime offense under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA), it notes that U.S. Army whistleblower Chelsea Manning “already had access to the mentioned computer, that the purported breaching of the Defense Department computers was impossible, and that there was no proof Mr. Assange had any contact with said intelligence analyst.”

The fact that the “purported breaching of the Defense Department computers was impossible” was affirmed by the testimony of Patrick Eller, a digital forensic expert who worked at U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command. He was a defense witness in the extradition trial that unfolded in September 2020.

As far as the lack of evidence that Assange communicated with Manning, there are chat logs that appear in the indictment against the WikiLeaks founder. However, it has never been proven by any military prosecutor or British prosecutor that Assange was in fact using the account that the Justice Department claims was associated with him.

The resolution acknowledges the unprecedented Espionage Act charges and how Assange could serve a lengthy sentence that would amount to a “death sentence,” especially since he is 52 years old.

It further recognizes, “The successful prosecution of Mr. Assange under the Espionage Act would set a precedent allowing the United States to prosecute and imprison journalists for First Amendment protected activities, including the obtainment and publication of information, something that occurs on a regular basis.”

The broad support of human rights, press freedom, and privacy rights advocates and organizations are noted in the resolution, along with the vast political support in Australia among “70 senators and members of Parliament.”

Australia is described as a “a critical United States ally and Mr. Assange’s native country,” and the country’s support for allowing Assange to return home is treated as crucial to bringing the case to an end.

The resolution concludes by stating that the U.S. government should abandon its effort to extradite Assange and put him on trial. It should also allow Assange to return home to Australia “if he so desires.”

Whether the resolution will pass in the House or not, the resolution shows the potential for making the Assange case a political issue for President Joe Biden. In a year where Biden will be campaigning for re-election, that may prove to be crucial in freeing Assange.

[…]

Via https://thedissenter.org/us-congress-resolution-urges-end-assange-case/

2030s to see “severe cold and food shortages” as grand solar minimum takes over, warn solar researchers

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2030s to see “severe cold and food shortages” as grand solar minimum takes over, warn solar researchers

Dr Eddy Betterman

An expert in energy particles and solar flares once warned that between the years of 2020 and 2053, the world would enter a Grand Solar Minimum, resulting in extreme cold – not warming like the media claims – as well as widespread food shortages.

Valentina Zharkova, a prominent Ukrainian solar researcher with an extensive academic background, has pegged the 2030s as being the years when such calamities are most likely to hit. Interestingly, Zharkova’s 2000 prediction that things would probably kick off in 2020 proved true when the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) appeared out of nowhere.

While the COVID “pandemic” did not result in much colder temperatures on planet earth, it did create worldwide food shortages and supply chain problems as well as lockdowns and the first introduction into “The New Normal,” as they were calling it, which several countries have already made permanent.

Things will never be the same again for anyone in the post-COVID age, one reason being that COVID is never going away. They will continue to harp on about the latest “variants” and “subvariants” until kingdom come, and the World Health Organization (WHO) is right now mapping out a Pandemic Treaty for global enslavement that will persist until the end of the world.

The worst is yet to come

In a 2019 interview with award-winning Canadian journalist Stuart McNish, Zharkova warned with great seriousness that ever since 2015, solar activity has been decreasing in a way that has only ever been seen during a Grand Solar Minimum, the last of which occurred during the Maunder Minimum 400 years ago.

Citing research from NASA and the NOAA, Zharkova says the data and evidence is there, it is just that nobody with official status is talking about it. And this is only just the beginning of this Grand Solar Minimum period, the worst of which is yet to come.

“Between cycle 25 and 11 years of cycle 26 [the least active cycle], and between cycle 26 and 27, will be the coldest period on Earth, and we will feel it through a lack of vegetation,” she explained.

In other words, from the second half of this current decade through the early 2050s, the earth will experience exceptionally cold weather; all sorts of extreme weather events, earthquakes in various places; and volcanic eruptions. And in Zharkova’s views, the early 2030s will see the worst of it.

The climate is certainly changing, as is the entire solar system. In recent years, the sun’s activity has changed dramatically, this being the biggest factor in climate change – not eating meat and driving cars like the globalists claim.

The sun’s activity is the primary driver of the earth’s climate, not carbon dioxide, is another way of putting it.

“The question is why they are not warning us about what is truly on the horizon, as they are likely well aware of it,” writes Christer Ericsson for Free West Media. “Even more concerning is why they are misleading the world’s governments and people into believing that the threat is warmth. Potential answers to these questions are unsettling.”

John L. Casey’s book “Cold Sun,” published in 2011, as well as “Dark Winter,” published in 2014, both also warn about these very same calamities soon to come.

“This is why the Global Satanists have enacted their plan to depopulate the planet (Clot Shot) by 2025 (Deagel Report),” one commenter at Free West Media noted. “Easier to quell a small population revolt and lower demand on limited food supplies.”

[…]

Via https://dreddymd.com/2023/12/18/2030-severe-cold-food-shortages-solar-researchers/

The Etruscan Banquet

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Episode 17 The Etruscan Banquet

The Mysterious Etruscans

Dr Steven L Tuck (2016)

Film Review

The Etruscan banquet was a rare formal occasion organized by elites to reinforce their social ties and their hierarchical positions. The earliest known banquets date bake to Nimrod in lower Babylonia. One banquet Assyrian conquerors hosted to celebrate a military victory hosted 69,000 guests.

Mediterranean banquets were smaller and limited to the elites. The most common Greek banquet was the symposium, which was actually a drinking party where only wine (without food) was served. With Greek banquets invited guests were exclusively male while females provided entertainment.

At Etruscan banquets, in contrast, male and female couples lounged on the same couches. This willingness to allow women to drink wine and dine with men was the main reason Greeks regarded Etruscans as barbarians. Sometimes Etruscan women hosted banquets or occasionally wealthy non-aristocratic traders. The latter was also unheard of in Greece.

According to grave frescoes (depicting meat being hung prior to butchering), Etruscans enjoyed hare, dear, birds and beef at their banquets, along with ruit, eggs and olives. They were waited on by slaves and musicians (mainly flautists).

Etruscan grave frescoes are painted in the Greek-style, with large blocks of color, sexes distinguished by complexion (men’s faces were white and women’s red)  and faces depicted in profile with full frontal bodies and eyes. Slaves are always much smaller to depict their lower status. Dancer depicted in Etruscan grave frescoes are modeled on the Greek followers of Dionysus.

At Assyrian banquets, only the king was allowed to recline. At Greek banquets, only the richest men recline. In the Etruscan cities, women and middle class guests reclained on dining couches.

Film can be viewed free with a library card on Kanopy.

https://www.kanopy.com/en/pukeariki/video/239710/239645