News Round-Up: Censoring Books in the US, Gang Violence on the Rise in Sweden and Mr Bean, the EV enemy
News Round-Up: Censoring Books in the US, Gang Violence on the Rise in Sweden and Mr Bean, the EV enemy
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:
Amazon files: The US government pressured a major online retailer to implement censorship.
UK report blames actor Rowan Atkinson for poor sales of electric cars.
Farmers protests: European Union promises some easing of climate policies.
Sweden struggling with gang violence: daily bomb blasts.
Poland's new government wants to bring transgender people into military service.
Amazon files: the US government pressured a major online retailer to implement censorship
Documents subpoenaed by the United States House Judiciary Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government show that the US government has in recent years sought to dictate what books can be sold, in addition to restricting free speech on social media. According to Republican Jim Jordan, the chairman of the Select Committee, Amazon, one of the world's largest online retailers, was subject to censorship requests from President Joe Biden's White House. The leaked correspondence shows that Biden administration official Andy Slavitt – the same man who demanded Facebook to censor truthful Covid posts and even at least one meme – also pressured Amazon, controlled by billionaire Jeff Bezos. On March 2, 2021, Slavitt sent an email to the company demanding a contact person with whom officials could talk about the 'misinformation', 'disinformation' and propaganda being spread through Amazon. The White House had run keyword searches on the website on controversial subjects, such as "vaccine", and were not satisfied with the results. Officials did not like the fact that the results included, for example, books that were critical of vaccines or even specifically questioned the efficacy and safety of Covid vaccines.
In any case, Amazon initially tried to resist pressure from the White House to avoid censorship. The correspondence shows, among other things, their fear that hiding such information would be 'too visible' to the public and they would come under criticism from conservative-oriented media outlets. Amazon also believed that their business was quite different from social media, which the Biden administration also pressured to censor on Covid issues at the same time. They saw it as their duty to provide their “customers with access to a variety of viewpoints.” In an email that circulated within the company before the meeting with the officials, there was a question that could be interpreted as an expression of surprise: “Is the [Biden] Admin asking us to remove books?”
Amazon's representatives felt pressure from the government and agreed to meet with officials. While the company's initial position was that they should take no action, their position changed after talking to the White House. As of 9 March 2021, Amazon implemented a new policy on books questioning the effectiveness of vaccines – they could no longer be promoted. In addition, the visibility of some of the books that Biden officials did not like was drastically reduced. “That’s right. Amazon caved to the pressure from the Biden White House to censor speech,” Jordan concluded.
UK report blames actor Rowan Atkinson for poor sales of electric cars
A report recently presented to the House of Lords in the UK Parliament claims that renowned British comedy actor Rowan Atkinson is at least partly to blame for people not buying enough electric cars, reports The Telegraph. The UK plans to ban the sale of new internal combustion cars in 2035. The ban was due to come into force earlier, in 2030, but last September Prime Minister Rishi Sunak postponed the deadline, saying it was in step with continental European powers such as Germany, France and Spain. Nonetheless, the ban, due to come into force in 11 years, was expected to boost sales of electric cars in the hope of policymakers, but has not done so.
“One of the most damaging articles was a comment piece written by Rowan Atkinson in The Guardian,” the Green Alliance, an organisation describing itself as an environmental think tank, claimed in the report. Atkinson, who has portrayed characters such as the famous Mr Bean and amused audiences in many other TV series and films, is also a well-known car enthusiast. He also holds degrees in electrical and electronic engineering, with a subsequent Master’s in control systems. In his opinion piece in The Guardian from June last year, he explained that he used to be a big fan of electric cars, but now feels a little duped. "When you start to drill into the facts, electric motoring doesn’t seem to be quite the environmental panacea it is claimed to be," Atkinson reasoned. According to him, the emissions from electric cars are of course zero during operation, which is a good thing, but the production of an electric car produces 70% more greenhouse gases than the production of an internal combustion engine car. "The problem lies with the lithium-ion batteries fitted currently to nearly all electric vehicles: they’re absurdly heavy, huge amounts of energy are required to make them, and they are estimated to last only upwards of 10 years. It seems a perverse choice of hardware with which to lead the automobile’s fight against the climate crisis,” he wrote.
Of course, the report did not focus solely on Atkinson. The 128-page document explained that the preference for electric cars is also hampered by, for example, their higher prices and insufficient charging infrastructure.
Farmers protests: European Union promises some easing of climate policies
Major protests by European farmers have put national governments and the European Commission under pressure and, at least in part, appear to have forced a change in policy, reports The Telegraph. While the reasons for the protests vary from country to country, they all have one main problem – European Union (EU) and national policies are driving up production costs and farmers can no longer make ends meet. In the case of the EU, it is the 'Net Zero' policy that is being opposed, which would see nitrogen, methane and other greenhouse gases from agriculture cut by a third in order to achieve an overall 90% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2040. The EU plan also calls for a halving of pesticide use in agriculture and a 20% cut in fertiliser use by 2030. At the same time, the EU wants to increase 'organic' production to a quarter and take more land out of agricultural use. This would mean a major loss of efficiency, higher costs and a significant reduction in output.
On Tuesday, however, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen promised to drop a proposal to reduce the use of pesticides. She also abandoned a plan to urge EU citizens to eat less meat.
Sweden struggling with gang violence: daily bomb blasts
Sweden has been hit by a major wave of gang violence, with explosions linked to power struggles between criminal groups occurring almost daily so far in February. People have been forced to flee their homes in the middle of the night, and explosions have scattered apartment windows and blown off doors.
Here is a brief overview of recent events based on Swedish media.
On the 1st of February, a hand grenade was discovered in an apartment building in the Gränby district of Uppsala, 70 kilometres north of Stockholm. As it was discovered before it exploded, a police bomb squad was able to defuse it by controlled detonation. However, while the grenade was being dealt with, residents within a radius of one kilometre were ordered to stay indoors.
On the night of the 2nd of February, a bomb exploded in Sundbyberg, ten kilometres north-west of Stockholm. Several apartments were damaged in the large explosion, which shattered windows and blew out a door.
A day later, an explosion at a hairdressing salon in the Vällingby industrial area, about 8 kilometres west of Sundbyberg, severely damaged a door and windows. No one was injured.
On the evening of February 4, an explosive device detonated in the stairwell of an apartment building in the Andersberg district of Gävle, 170 kilometres north of Stockholm. The stairwell was damaged and the door of one of the apartments was destroyed. The attack was allegedly linked to a power struggle in the area's drug market. After the explosion, residents in the area were not allowed to leave their homes for a day.
The following night an explosion occurred in an apartment building in Handen, 22 kilometres south of Stockholm. No one was injured in the explosion, but the house was damaged again and the windows of the apartments were shattered.
However, at four o'clock on the morning of February 6, police received a report of an explosion in a residential area in the municipality of Finninge, Strägnäs. A police bomb squad arrived and 20 people had to evacuate their homes in the middle of the night. There was no serious damage to the building, but residents were given crisis assistance.
Such gang violence and organised crime in Sweden is directly linked to large-scale immigration. For example, in the current wave of violence, four of these explosions are believed to be linked to a criminal group known as Foxtrot, which is mainly involved in drug trafficking. It is led by Rawa Majid of Kurdish origin. Foxtrot typically targets young people with an immigrant background to join their drug dealing operations.
Against a background of such violence, the Swedish police are seeking rights for themselves that at first glance may even seem a little comical. The police want the right to check on gang youths just in case, and one way of identifying young people who need to be checked is to look at the way they dress. Examples include young people wearing fake Gucci caps – the current favourite hat style among young gang members. Of course, this is just one example, and in fact, the government wants to give the police the right to make searches in certain high-risk areas even when no crime has been committed, based on risk profiles. Authorisation for searches would be given for up to two weeks in areas where a heightened risk of gun violence is noticed – for example, in neighbourhoods with a recent history of shooting. Opponents of the proposal point out that since a large proportion of gang members are first or second generation immigrants, profiling suspects on the basis of race and ethnicity would be discriminatory.
The problems of uncontrolled immigration in Sweden, and the labelling of citizens who highlight the problems as spreading misinformation, etc., were also discussed in a recent analysis we published.
Poland's new government wants to bring transgender people into military service
The new left-liberal government of the Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, who replaced the conservatives after the last Polish elections, is looking for ways to include transgender people in military service, Remix News reports. If until now, the Polish army has not sought to recruit men or women who identify as transgender, Polish defence ministry officials have now confirmed that they are seriously looking into the issue.
Until now, those experiencing gender confusion have been classified as being unfit for service because of 'disease or defect', but the Ministry of Defence is currently analysing how to change the situation. “We want to assure that we take the issue of restricted access to military service for transgender and intersex persons seriously and are analyzing the possibility of amending the regulations in this regard," the ministry said in a reply to an inquiry by Polish newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza.