News Round-Up: Germany's Vice Chancellor Demands Online Censorship, Ireland Gives Legal Status To 72 Genders and Plants Absorbing More CO2 Than Previously Thought
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:
Germany: Vice Chancellor Habeck demands online censorship.
UK: some hope for the Covid vaccine injured.
Ireland has a new hate crime law giving legal status to 72 genders.
Plants absorb 31% more CO2 than previously thought.
UN report: 'trans' athletes take away women's opportunities in sport.
Germany: Vice Chancellor Habeck Demands Online Censorship
German Vice Chancellor and a top politician of the German Green Party, Robert Habeck, believes that Europe definitely needs to do something about social media because if it goes 'unregulated', in other words if countries do not intervene with censorship policies, it could destabilise society.
According to Habeck, who is also currently the Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Action and State Vice Chancellor, 'unregulated social media is no longer acceptable' and therefore should be subject to stricter state intervention, writes Eugyppius. We cannot, as liberal democracies, allow billionaires who support Donald Trump in the US to define discourse in Europe with their idea of communication, or with Chinese technology – which is itself banned or regulated in China,” Habeck said. This message could be easily interpreted implicitly as a call to take a cue from the Chinese dictatorial regime on freedom of expression. Habeck continued: “/.../ polarisation is not just a buzzword about the state of society, but in my view, it is a political mandate to look closely at how polarisation arises. And if – and this is the second point about polarisation that we need to talk about – if it is deliberately used to destabilise society, and at least we have to admit the thought in this day and age, then we have every reason to resist it politically and to continue this defensive democracy across social media as well,” he said, adding that a strict application of the DSA, the Digital Services Act, is the least Germany needs.
The German constitutional scholar Josef Franz Lindner pointed out that Habeck has thus openly joined the ranks of censorship advocates. More broadly, it shows that the politician's home party, the Greens, is developing into an authoritarian prohibitionist party. Indeed, if the provisions of the DSA banning illegal online content are widely applied to any opinion and if enough people are forced to remain silent, the 'monstrous opposition' may disappear and lead to a totalitarian dream where 'consensus' prevails in any political decision. A similar view has been lately expressed by a number of Western political figures.
UK: some hope for the Covid vaccine injured
Covid vaccine compensation could be given to thousands left 'disabled' by the AstraZeneca jab, The Daily Mail writes. UK Health Secretary Wes Streeting is considering plans to set up a programme for those suffering from life-changing conditions as a result of the Covid jab. In the UK, more than 15,000 people are claiming compensation for damage caused by the Covid vaccine, but only 188 have been told they are entitled to a payout. According to a group representing vaccine-injured people in the UK, the compensation scheme is no longer working as it should be. And now it seems that the government is finally acknowledging it as well as admitting serious potential harms linked to Covid vaccines.
So far the figures show the majority of successful claims relate to the AstraZeneca jab with fewer than five in connection to Pfizer and Moderna. Those awarded so far include for conditions such as stroke, heart attack, dangerous blood clots, inflammation of the spinal cord, excessive swelling of the vaccinated limb, and facial paralysis. The VDPS awards a one-off £120,000 (€142,800) tax-free payment to people who have been severely injured, and to the families of those who have died, as a result of vaccination against certain diseases including Covid. In order to qualify, individuals have to be deemed 60 per cent disabled.
Ireland has a new hate crime law giving legal status to 72 genders
The Criminal Justice (Hate Offences) Act was signed into law by Irish President Michael D. Higgins on October 29. This follows the Irish parliament, the Dáil, passing the Criminal Justice (Incitement to Violence or Hatred and Hate Offences) Bill by a majority of 78 to 52 votes, The European Conservative writes. Among five bills rushed through the Dáil in under six hours on the evening of October 23—a process that normally takes several weeks—the contentious legislation defines gender as: 'the gender of a person or the gender which a person expresses as the person’s preferred gender or with which the person identifies and includes transgender and a gender other than those of male and female.'
As the bill was debated in the Seanad (Senate/upper house), Senator Sharon Keogan read out the 72 genders that have now gained legal standing, needing 25 minutes to complete the jargon-heavy list.
The passage of the bill into law follows Justice Minister Helen McEntee’s confirmation last month that she was not proceeding with plans to introduce new hate speech laws but would proceed with the hate crime element of the legislation. McEntee said she wanted to “remove the incitement to violence or hatred provisions entirely from this bill so that we can progress this important element of legislation and send a very clear message that hatred and violence are not tolerated in our society.”
Speaking earlier, McEntee said that she “absolutely believes” that the Dáil will in the future consider introducing hate speech laws.
Plants absorb 31% more CO2 than previously thought
A new assessment by scientists reveals that plants worldwide are absorbing about 31% more carbon dioxide than previously believed, SciTechDaily reports. Published in the journal Nature, this research is expected to enhance Earth system models used to forecast climate trends and underscores the critical role of natural carbon sequestration in mitigating greenhouse gas emissions. The amount of CO2 removed from the atmosphere via photosynthesis from land plants is known as Terrestrial Gross Primary Production, or GPP. It represents the largest carbon exchange between land and atmosphere on the planet. GPP is typically cited in petagrams of carbon per year. One petagram equals 1 billion metric tons, which is roughly the amount of CO2 emitted each year from 238 million gas-powered passenger vehicles.
A team of scientists led by Cornell University, with support from the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory, used new models and measurements to assess GPP from the land at 157 petagrams of carbon per year, up from an estimate of 120 petagrams established 40 years ago and currently used in most estimates of Earth’s carbon cycle.
UN report: 'trans' atheletes take away women's opportunities in sport
A report from the United Nations revealed how female athletes have recently lost a huge number of medals because they have been forced to compete with male opponents who claim to be transgender, i.e. women. The UN study titled 'Violence against women and girls in sports' states that 'policies implemented by international federations and national governing bodies' had allowed athletes born male to compete in women's sporting categories. The study argues the obvious – athletes born male have gender specific attributes, such as higher strength, which are advantageous in certain sports and result in the 'loss of fair opportunity' for biologically female competitors.
While sports federations insist that men claiming to be women must take drugs to suppress testosterone levels when competing in women's events, these do not eliminate the benefits already gained and do not achieve the desired goal. The drugs can also be detrimental to the health of so-called transwomen themselves.
There is no general regulation explicitly allowing so-called trans women to compete with women, but there is no prohibition against it either, and it is a fairly generally tolerated practice. However, this tendency to replace women's sport with mixed sport has predictably resulted in women athletes losing out on opportunities and medals by competing with men. By 2024, more than 600 female athletes have lost more than 890 medals in around 400 competitions in a total of 29 sports to men who call themselves women.
According to Reem Alsalem, the author of the study, there are also other areas of concern in women's sports. For example, social stereotypes, sexism, limited access to training facilities, and scarce subsidies. Alsalem therefore believes that by allowing men who identify as women to compete in women's competitions, women's security, fairness, and dignity in sport will be further diminished. The author called on the UN to do more to protect women and girls in sports.
Germany on the brink of Re-Nazification with immoral dictatorial dogma. "Jab or be imprisoned" seems to be their latest threat to FREDOM!.
In the beginning (2019) we believed that our Governments, the media, Big Pharma and the Medical Profession were on our side trying to improve our lives and our wellbeing. Few are brave enough to tell the truth, unlike the majority of cowardly and mercenary medics (My local MD included).
In 2021 I asked, "Would any sane thinking person accept an unproven experimental (Gene Editing) solution being injected into their bodies"? 'Safe & Effective' it certainly wasn't!
An injectable solution suspiciously created within a few months of the man-made disease - Covid? A fact that suggested to the cynical amongst us to ask "Did they create and have the jab ready before they released the disease"?
A solution that the greedy and mercenary manufacturers refuse to accept the slightest responsibility or LIABILITY for damage their crap solutions cause?
Nah! People can't be that stupid and trusting of corrupt Governments and Big pharma - could they?
Apparently, 75% of the planet did. Many died, many were seriously injured - permanently. The lucky ones got jabbed from a 'dodgy batch' and may have got away with a damaged Natural Immunity or/and a shorter LIFE EXPECTANCY! Unbelievable?
Dodgy Batches are only possible because the manufacturers have no Quality Control as a reward from their close friends at the 'policing authority' (FDA) have a financial interest in the Gravy Train continuing.
Unjabbed Mick (UK) We'll all live longer by avoiding medicines and injections from corrupt dictators!
When I started hearing white privilege, settlor, etc. rhetoric from my then high schooler, I was completely confused. The concepts seemed untethered from the historical reality of Europe with all those who escaped its impoverishment, 'progroms,' and endless wars to wash up unceremoniously on US shores where many encountered brutal conditions. As Camille Paglia quipped such people think history started with the printing press. Yet, it is still surreal to see the Irish flagellate themselves for slavery when in the great famines they were reduced to cannibalism. I think I read of W.E.B. Dubois being astonished at their poverty. Marx did say he was turning Hegel's theory on society upside down. Now that we have incorporated so much of Marx and Neo-Marxist concepts into society perhaps that is why everything seems upside down or inside out.