Open mike 30/12/2021

Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, December 30th, 2021 - 73 comments
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Open mike is your post.

For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose.

The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy).

Step up to the mike …

73 comments on “Open mike 30/12/2021 ”

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  1. Jenny how to get there 1
    30 December 2021 at 6:54 am

    What if Assad had stepped down in 2011?

    March 2021 marked ten years since the start of the popular revolution in Syria that began with the Arab Spring and the longing of the Syrian people for a brighter future denied them under the brutal dictatorship of the Assad regime.

    By the end of 2011 the Syrian dictator, Bashar Assad, with the support of his allies Iran and Russia, were engaged in a genocidal counter-revolution against the Syrian people.

    As we move into 2022 the genocide conducted by Bashar Assad and his foreign allies against the Syrian people still continuing. I wanted to mark the passing of this milestone by sharing the following video.



  2. The Chairman 2
    30 December 2021 at 7:14 am

    Good morning everyone.

    I'm not a doctor, nor do I have any medical training.

    Nonetheless, I've spent some time looking into a number of experienced, international, frontline doctors using alternatives to treat Covid 19.

    Doctors, of which, have been claiming great success.

    I've gather together a substantial amount of interesting and helpful info which I intend to share with you all via a series of posts.

    To begin with, I would like to share a short (35min) Zoom discussion between an Australian politician and an experienced, frontline American doctor discussing the benefits of early treatment of Covid 19.

    In this discussion you will learn about the treatments he has found to be so incredibly successful.

    Moreover, how a number of them are easily obtainable (here in NZ) over the counter. Additionally, what to ask your doctor for if you or your loved ones unfortunately become infected and fall ill.

    You will learn (just like any illness) how early intervention/treatment is essential to quicker and better outcomes.

    You will hear how the results of these better outcomes have saved many lives.

    https://www.bitchute.com/video/5RwZOawv6HYe/

    • Tricledrown 2.1
      30 December 2021 at 7:56 am

      Allowing this post of a dodgyDoctor who has been warned for spreading covid misinformation is morally reprehensible.

      • weka 2.1.1
        30 December 2021 at 10:12 am

        please fix email address

      • The Chairman 2.1.2
        30 December 2021 at 4:03 pm

        Alternatively, suggesting suppressing potentially life saving info is not only morally reprehensible, it's outrageously disgusting.

        One mans so called dodgy doctor is another mans life saving practitioner.

        This doctor has saved lives and has the case studies along with patient testimonies to prove it.

        • weka 2.1.2.1
          30 December 2021 at 5:21 pm

          and has the case studies

          Please link to these (and if they're in other information, a cut and paste too please).

          • Bill 2.1.2.1.1
            30 December 2021 at 5:34 pm

            Seems that if you're genuinely interested it'll cost you about 12 bucks to access that.

            https://www.amazon.com/Overcoming-COVID-19-Darkness-Successfully-Patients-ebook/dp/B09MTRCYVR

            • weka 2.1.2.1.1.1
              30 December 2021 at 6:06 pm

              that's nice. But this is a political blog with a robust debate ethic, and if someone wants to claim during a public health crisis that a doctor has case studies on alternative treatments, then they can put up the evidence. If it's true, I'll actually be interested to look at them.

              • weka …
                30 December 2021 at 6:20 pm

                To clarify. I've seen this dynamic in alternative health circles a lot, over many years. People say there is evidence eg case studies, but it turns out they read an article saying there were case studies, they didn't actually read any. But the FB rumour mill quickly becomes about how this doctor is doing all these amazing things. This is a very common dynamic and it's a big part of why alternative health communities have such poor science and medical literacy and why they have such a bad reputation regarding false information.

                If Tyson and Fareed have solid case studies they can put some of them online, in an accessible form, for free. I have no problem with people needing to make a living and selling an ebook to do that, but if they've got all the evidence behind a paywall it's a big red flag. The onus is on The Chairman here to put up the actual evidence.

                (and that ebook hasn't been published yet).

                • The Chairman …
                  30 December 2021 at 6:42 pm

                  To clarify. I've seen this dynamic in alternative health circles a lot, over many years. People say there is evidence eg case studies, but it turns out they read an article saying there were case studies, they didn't actually read any

                  Yes, I hear you and totally agree. However I would like to point out that in this instance it comes direct from the horse's mouth, opposed to being totally online hearsay.

          • The Chairman 2.1.2.1.2
            30 December 2021 at 6:25 pm

            I was alluding to the case studies along with the patient testimonies the doctor referred to in the initial link above (at around 28.27 in) which he offered to submit to the Australian MP.

            • weka 2.1.2.1.2.1
              30 December 2021 at 6:28 pm

              So the doctor says he has case studies but you haven't actually seen them and they're not in the public domain?

              • The Chairman …
                30 December 2021 at 7:01 pm

                That's correct, I haven't personally seen these studies but I am aware they have been published in a book (as shown above) and also offered to the Australian MP as shown via my initial link. So I don't doubt there existence.

                Furthermore, I doubt a doctor would offer and publish case studies that didn't actually back his amazing claim. But I totally understand why people would want to see them.

                I can offer another doctors published (in a medical journal) work on the same subject – early treatment. He also claims to have had great success.

                • Bill …
                  30 December 2021 at 7:04 pm

                  I've no idea why people should receive early treatment when we all know people are just bio-hazards – disease vectors.

                  Far better to isolate the vector and then just see what happens. If they become non-hazardous, then all good.

    • Shanreagh 2.2
      30 December 2021 at 9:40 am

      Were you aware of the reputation of Bitchute, The Chairman? I am really surprised that anyone, esp here on TS, would quote from such a poor source. Also astounded that you feel that the question of Ivermectin needs further discussion. Perhaps you could also source some material on whether patches worn on the soles of one's feet could be good to treat Covid. /s

      https://www.adl.org/blog/bitchute-a-hotbed-of-hate

      From media bias fact check https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/bitchute/

      • Overall, we rate BitChute extreme right and Questionable based on the promotion of conspiracy theories, propaganda, hate speech, poor sourcing, fake news, and a lack of transparency. This source is not credible for accurate information and may be offensive to some (most).
      • RedLogix 2.2.1
        30 December 2021 at 9:49 am

        Were you aware of the reputation of Bitchute, The Chairman? I am really surprised that anyone, esp here on TS, would quote from such a poor source

        Your logic is fairly wobbly here. There is vile and objectionable material to be found all over the entire internet – does this automatically disqualify everything on it?

        Nor is Bitshute a 'publisher' in the conventional sense of the word. It's an open platform that people use when they can't be bothered with the censorship they encounter elsewhere. As a result there will be a wildly mixed mass of material that you get to apply your own critical discrimination to, without some faceless entity having pre-done the job for you.

        • Shanreagh 2.2.1.1
          30 December 2021 at 10:07 am

          True…but then although I do read the stuff the people put up here, my experience has been reading through, for most of this year, the anti vaxx stuff put up on another MB. My conclusion was that if the person putting up the views needed to find a home on Bitchute then most likely it was because they had failed to find a home on more reputable sites. Put it this way in all my searching through anti vax or Covid treatment links I have yet to find a link on Bitchute to research that you find published in The Lancet or by the NHI.

          I know the stuff about the publisher aspect……Bitchute does have a reputation to get over if it is in the market for rational research.

          My view is probably snobbish as well…..I am sure that the readers on TS know how to find the likes of Bitchute and arguments for and against the Ivermectin issue.
          The almost breathless ‘Look what I have found’ is a bit of a red flag for me as a skeptic from way back (if it sounds too good to be true then it probably is’).

          “In this discussion you will learn about the treatments he has found to be so incredibly successful.

          Moreover, how a number of them are easily obtainable (here in NZ) over the counter. Additionally, what to ask your doctor for if you or your loved ones unfortunately become infected and fall ill.

          You will learn (just like any illness) how early intervention/treatment is essential to quicker and better outcomes.

          You will hear how the results of these better outcomes have saved many lives.”

          Wow!

          • RedLogix 2.2.1.1.1
            30 December 2021 at 10:42 am

            Note that I carefully confined myself to your original claim that 'if it's on Bitshute then it must be junk'. Whether or not the linked video makes sense or not is a separate discussion that's over to you and anyone else who watches it.

          • weka 2.2.1.1.2
            30 December 2021 at 10:52 am

            I'll keep an eye on it. It's not really a good idea here to post a video in lieu of an argument. People can get away with it once or twice, but there is a limit.

            • RedLogix 2.2.1.1.2.1
              30 December 2021 at 11:28 am

              As far as I can see The Chairman clearly stated his own position over multiple paras and then used the video as a supporting reference.

              • weka …
                30 December 2021 at 1:11 pm

                I agree, which is why I didn’t mod. But he also said he’s going to do more of these and I think there’s a limit in on using TS to drop social media type comments. If he explains what’s in the video people can discuss it.

        • Rosemary McDonald 2.2.1.2
          30 December 2021 at 10:30 am

          Nor is Bitshute a 'publisher' in the conventional sense of the word.

          No. But the British Medical Journal is.

          You might remember back to the 2nd November 2021 when this august publication put up this…Covid-19: Researcher blows the whistle on data integrity issues in Pfizer’s vaccine trial .

          This should have been a loud wake up call for all of those folk who are idling under the illusion that the Pfizer Product is safe and effective because Pfizer did proper research and stuff…and the all powerful FDA were closely monitoring the quality of that research and stuff…

          However, and y'all can check, the MSM uptake of this powerful bit of work was practically zero until…this.…

          Open letter from The BMJ to Mark Zuckerberg

          Dear Mark Zuckerberg,

          We are Fiona Godlee and Kamran Abbasi, editors of The BMJ, one of the world’s oldest and most influential general medical journals. We are writing to raise serious concerns about the “fact checking” being undertaken by third party providers on behalf of Facebook/Meta.

          In September, a former employee of Ventavia, a contract research company helping carry out the main Pfizer covid-19 vaccine trial, began providing The BMJ with dozens of internal company documents, photos, audio recordings, and emails. These materials revealed a host of poor clinical trial research practices occurring at Ventavia that could impact data integrity and patient safety. We also discovered that, despite receiving a direct complaint about these problems over a year ago, the FDA did not inspect Ventavia’s trial sites.

          The BMJ commissioned an investigative reporter to write up the story for our journal. The article was published on 2 November, following legal review, external peer review and subject to The BMJ’s usual high level editorial oversight and review.[1]

          But from November 10, readers began reporting a variety of problems when trying to share our article. Some reported being unable to share it. Many others reported having their posts flagged with a warning about “Missing context … Independent fact-checkers say this information could mislead people.” Those trying to post the article were informed by Facebook that people who repeatedly share “false information” might have their posts moved lower in Facebook’s News Feed. Group administrators where the article was shared received messages from Facebook informing them that such posts were “partly false.”

          Readers were directed to a “fact check” performed by a Facebook contractor named Lead Stories.[2]

          We find the “fact check” performed by Lead Stories to be inaccurate, incompetent and irresponsible.

          Well, blow me down with a feather if that wee missive didn't provoke a response…but not predominantly from MSM…who seem a little wary of facts that don't fully support the "safe and effective" narrative.

          • RedLogix 2.2.1.2.1
            30 December 2021 at 10:39 am

            And to add to this censorship story there are now a legion of medical researchers who are reporting that 'reputable' journals are openly censoring articles on content grounds alone. In other words if the journal editor doesn't agree with the conclusions they either get told to re-write it to suit or it doesn't get published.

            These are researchers with long and successful publishing records, many cites, and strong peer reviews – and now they're silenced.

            Think about this for a moment. It essentially means that because we cannot know which papers have been 'doctored' to meet editors requirements – the entire field of published medical literature should now be really thrown in the bin as unverifiable and untrustworthy.

            • Rosemary McDonald 2.2.1.2.1.1
              30 December 2021 at 10:53 am

              the entire field of published medical literature should now be really thrown in the bin as unverifiable and untrustworthy.

              This has been a problem since…ages…https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1383755/ 2006

              The trouble with medical journals

              Yet medical journals often contain poor science. Basic scientists who work in biology and chemistry are regularly scornful of the, mostly, applied science that appears in medical journals. The journals have, for example, published many reports of treatments applied to single cases and to series of cases, which rarely allow confident conclusions because of the absence of controls. Journals have also been part of what might be called an `unscientific' method of encouraging treatments that seem to make anatomic, physiological, or biochemical sense, without insisting that they be properly evaluated in practice.​

              The history of medicine is littered with treatments that seemed to make sense but which ultimately did more harm than good. Sir Arbuthnot Lane, who was mercilessly parodied in George Bernard Shaw's The Doctor's Dilemma, removed the colons of Londoners who were severely fatigued and rich enough to meet his high fees. The operation was supposedly removing toxins. A tenth of his patients were killed by the operation. I belong to a generation who had their tonsils removed to no benefit. While my wife, when having our first child in 1982, was given an enema and had her pubic hair shaved—procedures which are unpleasant and of no benefit.

              Medicine itself probably deserves most criticism for its unscientific behaviour but journals are the major link between science and practice. In recent year, journals have been severely criticized for publishing studies that are scientifically weak (in that their conclusions are not supported by their methods and data) and irrelevant to practitioners (and so patients).

              • RedLogix …
                30 December 2021 at 11:21 am

                Agreed. Poor quality science has been a recognised problem for a while now – especially in the medical and social science fields. Poorly designed experiments and trials, non-rigorous handling of data, an over-reliance of statistical packages to produce results without the deep understanding necessary to apply them correctly – are at least three big causes of non-useful papers.

                In particular it’s very easy to design a trial, inadvertently or otherwise, that fails to pick up a signal and reports ‘no useful effect’. As an analogy, imagine you were building a radio receiver from a handful of electronic components – there will be a myriad ways to get it wrong and only one way to make it work. Yet if the receiver you build does not hear any signals, this does not mean there are no transmitters out there. Similarly a medical trial that reports ‘no result’ demands we scrutinise it very carefully to determine if it was capable of delivering any result.

                This doesn’t mean that all research is bunk, but that extracting meaningful information from it is hard. Much harder than most people like to imagine.

                But these technical issues aside, my point relates to blatant censorship and content altering on the part of journal editors. If this continues unchecked it renders their journal untrustworthy and everything it ever published worthless.

                • Hetzer …
                  30 December 2021 at 4:46 pm

                  Thats true enough RL.

                  And also to add to the mix, my experience generally, was we got the results we paid for. And i could also add that quite a few kiwi medical experts that pop up in the MSM, that many would recognise here, conducted trials where we all knew what the results would be . I saw the payments and the international travel etc.

            • swordfish 2.2.1.2.1.2
              30 December 2021 at 4:11 pm

              .

              Mirrors the increasing rejection of journalistic norms in the mainstream media.

          • Cricklewood 2.2.1.2.2
            30 December 2021 at 10:42 am

            The fact that msm and big Social media platforms actively suppress and ignore these issues actually entrenches people in their positions.

            Its foolish, for the better of everybody these things need to be publically acknowledged and debated.

            • Rosemary McDonald 2.2.1.2.2.1
              30 December 2021 at 11:04 am

              …actually entrenches people in their positions.

              And some of us more moderate vaccine hesitant folk have been warning about this issue. I remember posting here on TS during the 2019 measles epidemic when a local leading light in vaccines stated categorically that measles killed one case in a thousand, when the actual UK pre vaccine rate was 2 in ten thousand. Case in point was the massive pile on I received here with an accusation, that still sticks that I am anti-vax. I aid then that it was just this response that drove folk down holes.

              There is a small minority who have responded to this systematic censorship by MSM and social media by diving down some seriously deep and smelly rabbit holes.

      • The Chairman 2.2.2
        30 December 2021 at 7:32 pm

        I stand with RedLogix on this. Thanks Red.

        Nor is Bitshute a 'publisher' in the conventional sense of the word. It's an open platform that people use when they can't be bothered with the censorship they encounter elsewhere. As a result there will be a wildly mixed mass of material that you get to apply your own critical discrimination to, without some faceless entity having pre-done the job for you.

      • Blade 2.2.3
        30 December 2021 at 8:07 pm

        They may be the next YT, minus the censorship.

    • joe90 2.3
      30 December 2021 at 10:30 am

      Craig Kelly and one of the demon sperm quacks?

      Bless.

      /

      • The Chairman 2.3.1
        30 December 2021 at 8:02 pm

        Interesting isn't, Joe?

        It seems we now live in a time that when any doctor (regardless of how credible they are) goes against the great narrative they are automatically labelled a quack.

  3. Blade 3
    30 December 2021 at 7:46 am

    I watched the news with a number of people last night. One story was about the Auckland Airport Bookshop being made aware they were selling Conspiracy magazines with anti vaxx stories. The reporter held one of these magazines up and gave an example of what conspiracy's they contained. The bookstore when confronted by the news team regarding the magazines, said they didn't check the content ( why should they?); apologised profusely, and said the magazines had been removed from the shelves.

    Two observations: the import of that news item was lost on the people watching it with me.

    And, the reporter forgot to add the magazines mentioned usually provide links to source information for most articles.

    I observed a similar trend when I posted a video clip on this blog with contentious content.

    • Pat 3.1
      30 December 2021 at 7:56 am

      Did they take them outside and burn them?

      • Blade 3.1.1
        30 December 2021 at 8:00 am

        I think that will be a New Year special.

        • Pat 3.1.1.1
          30 December 2021 at 8:04 am

          If theyd done it in November they could have combined it with Guy Fawkes

          • Blade 3.1.1.1.1
            30 December 2021 at 8:15 am

            We are talking about TV news! They could have also combined it with Maori language week and had reporters dancing around a bonfire crying out '' e hoa, e hoa…ahi, ahi. Kapai.

            • CAnker the pig fucker 3.1.1.1.1.1
              30 December 2021 at 9:31 am
              • I had a similar response to you Blade.
              • I can understand the need to suppress certain information in a pandemic, because we need to have people on board with vaccinations. But tv one news out there shaming the poor shop owners who would fear cancelation is apalling journalism. And of course there will likely be the Streisand effect from this story. Plus helping to fuel division with anti vaxers feeling targeted.
              • stupid, mindless unethical journalism
            • CAnker the pig fucker 3.1.1.1.1.2
              30 December 2021 at 9:31 am
              • I had a similar response to you Blade.
              • I can understand the need to suppress certain information in a pandemic, because we need to have people on board with vaccinations. But tv one news out there shaming the poor shop owners who would fear cancelation is appalling journalism. And of course there will likely be the Streisand effect from this story. Plus helping to fuel division with anti vaxers feeling targeted.
              • stupid, mindless unethical journalism
      • alwyn 3.1.2
        30 December 2021 at 3:20 pm

        Perhaps the owner of the bookstall should have, instead of apologising, accused the TV crew of indulging regularly in the practice they were complaining about.

        Then he should have taken to the TV camera with a sledgehammer. If the TV station weren't cheapskates they might have been able to flatten $20,000+ worth of camera and they wouldn't be bothered again.

    • Psycho Milt 3.2
      30 December 2021 at 9:13 am

      I saw that piece and couldn't believe what I was seeing, it was like something out of the Cultural Revolution. The righteous thinkers publicly shame a business owner for selling magazines containing views not endorsed by public officials. The owner immediately kowtows to the righteous thinkers, well aware of the risk that public opprobrium exposes them to.

      • Pete 3.2.1
        30 December 2021 at 9:30 am

        If a magazine arrived with an article outlining how to assassinate politicians would a similar item on TV news be seen to be righteous thinkers publicly shaming a business owner for selling magazines containing views not endorsed by public officials?

        • CAnker the pig fucker 3.2.1.1
          30 December 2021 at 9:51 am
          • But assassinating politicians is a criminal offence and possibly if a how to magazine was being sold in a shop, it would met the threshold of current hate speech laws ie inciting violence.

          I think your example is false equivalence Pete.

          • Shanreagh 3.2.1.1.1
            30 December 2021 at 9:59 am

            I am not sure that the argument is false equivalence…..many orgs do not provide alternative anti vaxx views as a public service, a sort of moral gesture. I think there are arguments for and against. If the argument was for an investigative type look at the latest in ant vaxx views eg Some thing like the Loopy article from David Farrier

            https://www.webworm.co/p/loopy

            as against uncritically repeating the 5G, magnets, people 'gonna die' from the vaccine in less than 5 years, then I think there is an argument and I am not so sure.

          • Pete 3.2.1.1.2
            30 December 2021 at 10:35 am

            I appreciate that perspective. Is publishing a "How I would …" or a "How to…" a criminal offence.

        • Shanreagh 3.2.1.2
          30 December 2021 at 9:51 am

          Yes where do you draw the line? So anti vaxx messages with a potential to kill compared with anti establishment assassination conspiracy messages with a potential to kill……… Though with many anti vaxxers not flying the market would be much smaller.

          The idea that most airport bookshops have a wide range of quality books and mags is an interesting one though. Apart from the excellent book shop at Wgtn airport, and admittedly I have not been there for almost a year, many airport bookshops seem to specialise in the lurid covered, shock, horror books & expose type mags. Such a book and mag snob I am I will grant you that.

        • Psycho Milt 3.2.1.3
          30 December 2021 at 1:57 pm

          Incitement to violence is illegal, with good reason. Publishing opinions that many people vehemently disagree with is not illegal, also with good reason.

      • Dennis Frank 3.2.2
        30 December 2021 at 9:31 am

        Yeah I noticed that dimension too. I'm ambivalent though. I met Jonathan Eisen, the publisher of Uncensored, had a conversation with him & our mutual buddy Bill Watson. Both those guys being yank immigrants turned kiwis long ago.

        Jon Eisen published an excellent book called Suppressed Inventions back in the '90s. Being an afficionado of alt history alongside being a voracious reader of history since I was a child, I knew that suppression of alternative narratives had always been a fundamental part of mass psychology. The book also covered cancer cures suppressed by the establishment in the early 20th century. The establishment doesn't care how many folk testify to their miracle cures – they're so addicted to their favourite line of bullshit that they'll happily suppress those folk.

        Otoh I only ever bought a couple of copies of Uncensored. Jon functioned as editor as well as publisher & he's just too uncritical for me. I don't mind them featuring narratives from the minority of covid deniers at all. However when they promote disinformation that can be proven so via evidence it crosses the moral line. So I have no problem with govt censorship.

        Devil's in the detail – he works both sides of the divide. Govt uses bureaucrats who can't tell the difference between right and wrong. Minority is mostly lacking in scientific training, quoting evidence from experts who have strayed beyond their actual field of expertise & are merely showboating.

        The truth will out – but it's out there somewhere. Competing claims in the media may or may not point the way to it.

      • RedLogix 3.2.3
        30 December 2021 at 10:07 am

        I saw that piece and couldn't believe what I was seeing, it was like something out of the Cultural Revolution.

        Yup. We're seeing segments of our media completely lose any sense of professionalism here. These are bell-weather moments PM and we have to speak out against them.

        • Gezza 3.2.3.1
          30 December 2021 at 2:53 pm

          (A minor point you may wish to note for future reference.)

          "Bellwether

          Noun

          A bellwether is a leader or an indicator of trends. The term derives from the Middle English bellewether and refers to the practice of placing a bell around the neck of a castrated ram (a wether) leading a flock of sheep. … Bellwether stocks therefore serve as short-term guides."

          …Wikipedia

      • Cricklewood 3.2.4
        30 December 2021 at 10:45 am

        Unbelievable… almost as bad as Stuff breathlessly outing that exec working the council… and they wonder why they cop abuse…

    • Puckish Rogue 3.3
      30 December 2021 at 10:18 am

      I'm not sure what the big deal is, Lauren Southern banned, Don Brash banned, Jordan Petersons book pulled from shelves (Mein Kampf was still available) and plenty, not all of course, on this site were thinking its marvellous

      This is just a natural progression

      Obey your betters peasants

  5. joe90 5
    30 December 2021 at 9:21 am

    Pegasus, the best spyware a despot can get.

    WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Polish Sen. Krzysztof Brejza’s mobile phone was hacked with sophisticated spyware nearly three dozen times in 2019 when he was running the opposition’s campaign against the right-wing populist government in parliamentary elections, an internet watchdog found.

    Text messages stolen from Brejza’s phone — then doctored in a smear campaign — were aired by state-controlled TV in the heat of that race, which the ruling party narrowly won. With the hacking revelation, Brejza now questions whether the election was fair.

    It’s the third finding by the University of Toronto’s nonprofit Citizen Lab that a Polish opposition figure was hacked with Pegasus spyware from the Israeli hacking tools firm NSO Group. Brejza’s phone was digitally broken in to 33 times from April 26, 2019, to Oct. 23, 2019, said Citizen Lab researchers, who have been tracking government abuses of NSO malware for years.

    https://apnews.com/article/technology-business-middle-east-elections-europe-c16b2b811e482db8fbc0bbc37c00c5ab

    • Gezza 5.1
      30 December 2021 at 10:34 am

      I often watch the Freeview Al Jazeera channel, mainly for their up-to-the-minute hourly & 1/2 hourly global news bulletins, but also for some of their documentaries & regular current affairs items. Some of their Middle East reporters got hacked a year or two ago with Pegasus; the attacks were traced back to the UAE (I think by Citizen Lab).

      In a documentary looking at the hacked phones & how they were discovered they also looked into the background of the 3 NSO founders. They were all employed originally by the Israeli Secret Service, IIRC. They were suspected of operating as an unofficial commercial arm of Mossad.

      According to several reports, software created by NSO Group was used in targeted attacks against human rights activists and journalists in various countries, was used in state espionage against Pakistan, and played a role in the murder of Saudi dissident Jamal Khashoggi by agents of the Saudi government.

      In October 2019, instant messaging company WhatsApp and its parent company Meta Platforms (then known as Facebook) sued NSO and Q Cyber Technologies under the US Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA). NSO claims that it provides authorized governments with technology that helps them combat terror and crime.

      The Pegasus spyware is classified as a weapon by Israel and any export of the technology must be approved by the government.
      …
      On 3 November 2021 the United States added the NSO Group to its Entity List, for acting “contrary to the foreign policy and national security interests of the US” and it effectively bans the sale of hardware and software to the company. On 23 November 2021, NSO Group were sued by Apple, Inc. for their activities in relation to Apple products.

      https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/NSO_Group

  6. weka 6
    30 December 2021 at 11:19 am

    It's a tense time, and lots of stuff is flying around. I'm going to ask that if people want to post videos, they make the time to explain what is in the video. If it's on a hot topic, then more detail is required. This is especially important if using the video to make a point. It's not enough to post a video and expect others to spend 30 or 60 mins watching in order to understand what you mean.

    Obviously humour, music and pukeko videos are exempt from this.

  7. Dennis Frank 7
    30 December 2021 at 12:23 pm

    Looks like Europe is in on the pivot away from Asia, so the USA are no longer alone.

    Electric cars have gone mainstream in Europe – they accounted for nearly a fifth of all car purchases in the UK last month. Yet one piece has been missing up to now: European batteries. That is now changing.

    On Tuesday night, Northvolt, a startup, produced its first lithium ion battery cell at a plant in northern Sweden. It is the first of a series of new factories that investors hope will allow Europe to carve out a big proportion of the electric vehicle market – and weaken the stranglehold built up by manufacturers in China, Japan and Korea.

    The Northvolt Ett site will be the first European-owned plant to produce at so-called gigafactory scale. Gigafactories are generally considered to be those capable of producing enough batteries each year to provide about 15 gigawatt hours (GWh) of cumulative storage.

    https://www.theguardian.com/business/2021/dec/29/northvolt-rolls-out-europes-first-gigafactory-era-car-battery

    And "according to Benchmark Mineral Intelligence (BMI)… there are 25 gigafactories planned for the continent by 2030… as the industry races to keep up with soaring demand for electric cars. Nine of those are owned by Asian manufacturers, which control most of the global supply.

    Better amend that to a partial pivot away then! Yank capitalists are funding the Swedes too:

    Despite its startup status, Northvolt has gained heavyweight financial backing from Volkswagen, the world’s biggest car producer, and the investment bank Goldman Sachs. Its $2.75bn (£2.1bn) funding round in June valued it at $12bn.

    Talk about hands across the water! Who said globalism was dead?

    The startup already boasts contracts worth $30bn with big European companies including the carmakers BMW, Volkswagen, Volvo Cars and Polestar, the truck manufacturer Scania, and the energy storage firm Fluence. Carmakers are belatedly ramping up electric vehicle production to meet tightening emissions targets as well as the challenge from their US rival, Tesla, which has built its own battery and car plant in Berlin.

    • Subliminal 8.1
      30 December 2021 at 4:51 pm

      I would say that nuclear capability already in place for the Dutch, who are trained in deployment as well as Germans, I think, is already enough. There can be no reason to station nuclear capability in Europe except as a threat against Russia. Both Sweden and Finland are now on the invitation list. Ukraine and the crazies that run the place now are a clear red line for Russia. Any NATO base there means missiles flying to Moscow will take a matter of a few minutes. The red line in your map is still far more than provoked the Cuban missile crisis. Russia has plainly stated that Ukraine in NATO is unacceptable. Anyone who cant understand the reasons why has lost the capacity to think critically. Pretending that they should just suck it up wont work and neither will refusing to talk. Theses are not options and never should be when a country expresses concerns about their security

      • joe90 8.1.1
        30 December 2021 at 8:48 pm

        The red line in your map is still far more than provoked the Cuban missile crisis.

        Cuba is 145ks from the US border but sure, Russia is surrounded by the US nukes at Büchel, 1300ks from the Russian enclave at Kaliningrad Oblast, and Aviano, 1500ks from Kaliningrad Oblast.

        Kaliningrad Oblast is a further 500ks from the Russian border.

  9. Puckish Rogue 9
    30 December 2021 at 2:26 pm

    https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/new-zealand-news-ross-taylor-announces-international-retirement-1294816

    The Boss leaves on his own terms.

    How good is he, averages 43 against Australia (against overall average of 45) with the second highest test score against Australia (290) is how good he is but thats not the mark of the man

    This is:

    https://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/cricket-how-ross-taylor-coped-with-losing-the-captaincy/7XNUETYMG75AHJD3LS26GV33KE/

    Scores over 200 runs in the test and wins the test and gets stripped of the captaincy, he could have gone off and made a bundle as a freelance T20 player but instead he regrouped, regained his love of the game and came back and supported his captains.
    https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/martin-crowe-on-ross-taylor-s-road-to-loving-the-game-again-702923

    From a 'dirty slogger' to a NZ great.

    He can, eventually, put his feet up, enjoy a wine or two (or three) and maybe go out and encourage the next generation of Polynesian players to emulate, or better, his own outstanding record.

    But whatever he does hes earned it.

  10. Stuart Munro 10
    30 December 2021 at 3:42 pm

    So, 2021is staggering to a close.

    Did it meet your expectations?

    What would you like to see in 2022?

    What would you not like to see?

    What do you expect?

  11. Puckish Rogue 11
    30 December 2021 at 3:52 pm

    https://www.stuff.co.nz/travel/experiences/cycling-holidays/127410428/why-the-south-islands-bike-trails-have-the-edge

    Reason number 2046 why the South Island is, was and always will be superior to the North Island

    I'm not saying the South Island should split from the North but I won't disagree with anyone else that thinks it angel