News Round-Up: Canadian Military Members Go to Court over Vaccine Mandates, Biden Doesn't Consider US Supreme Court “Normal”, and the King's Climate Clock
Every week, the editorial team of Freedom Research compiles a round-up of news that caught our eye, or what felt like under-reported aspects of news deserving more attention.
Over the past week, the following topics attracted our attention:
Members of the Canadian Armed Forces demand hundreds of millions from the country's military and political leaders who forced vaccines on them
Six years to save the world, according to the climate clock set off by King Charles and the Mayor of London
US President Joe Biden says US Supreme Court is not “normal”
French no longer want immigrants
New York's fight with pizza ovens to save the climate
Canadian servicemen who suffered because of vaccine mandates claim hundreds of millions from military leaders
Around 330 current or former members of the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) affected by the Covid-19 vaccine mandates have filed a class-action lawsuit against senior military officials and responsible politicians, seeking around $500 million in damages, writes The Epoch Times.
According to a lawsuit filed in the Canadian Federal Court on 21 June, the CAF forced an untested product, a gene therapy, on its employees by falsely calling it a vaccine. At the same time, false information was provided about the safety and efficacy of the drug and, if refused, dismissal from service was on the cards.
The vaccine mandate was introduced in the Canadian military in autumn 2021, resulting in hundreds of soldiers leaving the service. Those who did not leave voluntarily were removed under the "unsuitable for further service" clause. This is a dishonourable discharge, which is applied to soldiers who have had what are called personal weaknesses or other problems that are not considered appropriate for a soldier. By such a discharge, the serviceman loses not only his job and income, but also the pension and other benefits earned as a soldier. Vaccination as a condition of service was abolished in November 2022, although the requirement for an initial vaccination course as a prerequisite for operational duties remained.
The lawsuit was filed against the Chief of the Defence Staff General Wayne Eyre, Vice Chief of the Defence Staff Lieutenant-General Frances Allen, the Minister of National Defence Anita Anand, former Deputy Minister of National Defence Jody Thomas, and others.
King Charles and the Mayor of London set the climate clock ticking
King Charles and London Mayor Sadiq Khan launched a climate clock in London on Wednesday, warning that the world has just a few short years left to act to limit global warming.
The clock was started by the King and the Mayor as part of the Climate Innovation Forum at the Guildhall in the City of London. The clock is designed to warn that the world has just six years and 24 days to limit global warming from the moment it is launched. So, according to the logic of the Clock, things will be remarkably bad if no action has been undertaken by then to limit global warming to the 1.5°C target set by the 2015 Paris Agreement.
Similar predictions have been made before. For example, climate activist Greta Thunberg posted on Twitter on 21 June 2018 that "a top climate scientist is warning that climate change will wipe out all of humanity unless we stop using fossil fuels over the next five years".
She was referring to the words of James Anderson, professor of atmospheric chemistry at Harvard University, who said back then that reducing carbon emissions at the current rate would not be enough to save humanity from doom. Anderson recommended that the whole world should take extreme measures to phase out fossil fuels within the next five years – i.e. by 2023.
Although both Thunberg's post and the article itself have now been deleted and are available only in the internet archive, we can see that in Anderson's view the time for action is over and there is hence no need for a new clock. Nonetheless, the new climate clock is now ticking, showing also how much of the energy consumed on Earth comes from renewable sources – currently 12.5%.
Biden does not consider the US Supreme Court “normal”
The US Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that a person's race can no longer be taken into account for university admissions in the future. The criterion has long benefited blacks and Latinos, who have been given preference over white Americans in university admissions in the name of diversity. By a vote of 6-3, it was decided that this should no longer be done.
"Eliminating racial discrimination means eliminating all of it," wrote Chief Justice John G. Roberts in the majority opinion.
While the Republicans welcomed the decision, the Democrats, led by President Joe Biden, were very critical. "I strongly, strongly disagree with the Court's decision," Biden commented. He said that universities should still be able to use race as an admission criterion to ensure equal opportunities. "We cannot let this decision be the last word," he said. Biden did not hold back in his assessment of the Supreme Court. "This is not a normal court," he said.
We can only imagine the media scandal that would be unleashed if, instead of Biden, Donald Trump, for example, were in the presidency today and allowed himself to make similar remarks about the highest court in the country.
Majority of French say there are too many immigrants
According to a poll conducted by the French newspaper Le Figaro, three quarters of French citizens think there are too many immigrants in the country. Five years ago, 63% of French people thought so, but the latest poll shows an increase of 11 percentage points, with 74% of French people now saying the same.
This is the view of 97% of supporters of the right-wing National Alliance and 91% of right-center Republicans. Surprisingly, 68% of supporters of President Emmanuel Macron's Renaissance movement also see immigration as a problem. Last year, France received a record 600,000 foreigners under Macron's rule.
Similarly, a majority of Socialist and Green voters now see too many immigrants – by 52% and 51% respectively. Only left-wing Jean-Luc Mélenchon voters remain overwhelmingly pro-immigration, with only 44% saying there are too many immigrants.
According to the same poll, 79% of French people want asylum applications to be decided before immigrants are allowed to enter French territory. 74% think that Parliament should set immigration quotas every year and 72% think the immigration policy should be decided by referendum. 68% of French people would also like to see the country made less socially attractive to immigrants.
The issue is also relevant this week because of the resurgence of large-scale and violent riots in immigrant neighbourhoods in Paris and other cities, with attacks on police and police stations and the burning of cars. The riots erupted after the shooting of a 17-year-old Algerian-born Nahel M. by the police, as he had raced away from a police traffic stop in Paris. Nahel, who did not have a driver's license, endangered a cyclist and a pedestrian while driving and sped away from the police officers who stopped him. Nahel had a long criminal record – despite his young age, he had already been involved in criminal mischief on 15 occasions and had been prosecuted for disobeying police officers five times in the last two years.
New York City fights pizza-ovens for climate
New York's Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has drawn up new rules that would oblige eateries that use the old-fashioned cooking method, i.e. live fire, to reduce carbon emissions by up to 75%, reports The New York Post. The rules would mainly affect New York City's historic landmark pizza restaurants, which cook pizzas in coal or wood-fired ovens for achieving delicious results.
Under the new rules, restaurants with stoves installed before May 2016 would have to start using expensive emission control equipment and air filters costing tens of thousands of dollars. Maintenance costs would amount on top of that.
Restaurant owners oppose the plan not just for the extra costs, but also for concerns of quality. "If you f—k around with the temperature in the oven you change the taste. That pipe, that chimney, it’s that size to create the perfect updraft, keeps the temp perfect, it’s an art as much as a science. You take away the char, the thing that makes the pizza taste great, you kill it," said one restaurant owner. "And for what? You really think that you’re changing the environment with these eight or nine pizza ovens?!" he added.
The scheme also seems strange to customers. "I’m all for responsible environmental practice but tell Al Gore to take one less private jet or something. Give me a break!" a customer commented.
In total, the new rule would affect about 100 New York restaurants.