by Patrick ➕follow (61) 💰tip ignore
« First « Previous Comments 41 - 80 of 206 Next » Last » Search these comments
Protestors Gather at New York City Hall to Oppose Vaccine Passport
BY ENRICO TRIGOSO August 10, 2021
A crowd of New Yorkers from many different walks of life gathered in front of City Hall on Monday to protest against the vaccine pass mandate recently announced by Mayor Bill de Blasio.
I wonder if hackers could save us? Could coordinated hacks of critical infrastructure and key corporations databases shut them down? And then ransom their data for action of legislators passing a law that bans vaccine mandates?
Issue: August 13, 2021
Mayors of two French cities tell police to stand down on vaccine passport enforcement
The pushback is escalating.
France’s COVID passport revolt is just beginning
August 12, 2021 | 9:02 am
Written by:
Jonathan Miller
Three weeks ago, 100,000 demonstrators turned out on the streets of France to protest President Emmanuel Macron’s hastily passed law to require vaccination passports to get on a train, eat at a restaurant or visit a shopping center. A week later, the number had more than doubled. Last Saturday, it doubled again. One police union estimated that close to 500,000 had turned out, although as usual the Interior Ministry claimed a much lower number. Enormous demonstrations were staged not just in Paris but in more than 150 cities and towns across France, as well as in the overseas territories of Guadeloupe and Réunion.
All this in the middle of the sacred summer holiday season. On the current trajectory, one million could be on the streets by September. With eight months to go before the first round of the presidential election, Macron and his ministers have kindled a national revolt. It could be as prolonged and divisive as the revolt of the gilets jaunes, which only stopped in March last year after the first wave of COVID.
Ministers are still pouring petrol on the flames. This week, the health minister dismissed protesters as ‘a magma of anti-vax, anti-science and anti-state’ activists. With the connivance of a tame media, officials have painted protesters as dangerous, ultra right-wing extremists.
On Monday, a protester who on Saturday was photographed carrying a sign denouncing, inter alia, Macron, Klaus Schwab, Bernard Henri-Lévy and George Soros was described as anti-Semitic by the interior minister, an allegation instantly and uncritically repeated by BFMTV, Macron’s ever-loyal news channel. By nightfall she was in a police cell.
Anyone outside of France can be forgiven for misreading the mood here. The deliberate demonization of protesters is enthusiastically relayed by foreign journalists parroting the lines fed to them by Elysée flacks. The Sunday Times of London called protesters ‘far right and gilets jaunes’.
Yet as scores of videos available on social media show, these are not archetypal tinfoil hat-wearing anti-vaxxers, though a tiny handful might be. Indeed, many of them have been vaccinated. (After a slow start, roughly 80 percent of French people over 50 have had two shots.) Nor are many wearing yellow gilets. They say they’re protesting ‘liberticide’ — the progressive elimination of freedom in the cause of fighting an epidemic that’s being exploited in the service of Macron’s reelection campaign. They’re objecting to compulsion and endless official intrusions into everyday life, and they quake at talk of a third, fourth or even annual or biannual vaccination against the endless mutation of variants.
The demonstrators are young and old. They include uniformed firefighters, families, teachers, Catholics, leftists, nationalists, nurses and restaurant owners. Many are pushing strollers. They’re not black-clad anarchists or rustics. They’re overwhelmingly middle-class and peaceful. Many say it’s the first demonstration they’ve ever attended. They don’t like Macron, who they believe is dividing the French by pitting the young and the fed-up against the baby boomers, his natural constituents.
I’ve lived in France, on and off, for 20 years. I’m unable to recall such a petulant mood. Ten days ago, the newly appointed prefect of my department declared it compulsory to wear masks inside and outside. The edict is being totally ignored.
On Monday night in Paris, police raided restaurants and were issuing €135 ($159) fines to diners without COVID passes. At railway stations, officials are checking every traveler and issuing blue bracelets to authorize them to board trains. Hideous wire cages are being erected around some terraces to stop evasion of checks. Business at restaurants and cafés is duly collapsing. Naturally, the restaurants at the National Assembly and Senate are exempt from all of this.
Eighteen months ago, France turned into a republic of absurdities as it became illegal to leave the house without a signed declaration and supermarkets were forbidden to sell ‘non-essential’ socks. (For a time, the sale of face masks was restricted, then face masks became compulsory.) The country was subjected to a 7 p.m. curfew, earlier than the Germans imposed during the occupation.
Today, the dirigismes are becoming even more sinister and provocative. Hospitals are hiring hundreds of security guards to scan health passports before admitting visitors and even patients, even as many mutinous health care workers are threatened with the sack for refusing passports themselves. Police are checking cafés as real crime runs rampant. Masked officers have also been filmed interrogating restaurant-goers, telling customers to present their phones so that their health status can be inspected.
While today small businesses are threatened with fines of €45,000 ($53,000) and their owners with a year in prison for failing to check the vaccination status of their customers, the future looks even worse. Most provocative is the government’s plan to extend the vaccine passport to those over the age of 12 from the end of next month. And it’s been reported that some health officials wish to vaccinate those as young as five. It’s estimated that fewer than 20 children have died in France with COVID since March last year, and many of them had comorbidities.
Macron has no children, having married a woman 25 years his senior. It’s fair to suppose he has absolutely no idea how provocative his latest moves will prove. He apparently believes this authoritarianism, showing strength in the war on the virus, will get him reelected. It might. Political opposition to the president remains fractured and weak. Few mainstream politicians have put their heads above the parapet to support the demonstrators.
In a July vote passing the passport law, Macron’s majority three times rejected amendments to exclude the possibility that a passe sanitaire would be required to vote in France. Surely such a measure would be impossible? Perhaps, but it’s an indication of the mood here that many don’t think so, especially after the constitutional council of superannuated politicians waived through the vaccine passports with nary a murmur.
It’s a little remarked feature of the president’s crackdown that the one group he will depend on to enforce his new law has been specifically excluded from complying with it. The police, whose armories have been freshly replenished with tear gas and rubber bullets, are exempt. Demonstrations so far have been peaceful. A month from now that may no longer be true.
Colorado Rally Says ‘No’ to Mandated COVID-19 Vaccines
BY ALLAN STEIN August 14, 2021
More than 250 people from all over Colorado gathered Friday outside UCHealth of the Rockies in Loveland to protest against mandatory COVID-19 vaccines for health care workers.
@JoshuaR37145445
1h
Replying to @MartinKulldorff @CDCgov
A retrospective analysis by Italy's Ministry of Health found that 14% of Italy's first 14,000 reported "Covid deaths" found a causal relationship between the virus and death. Imagine if that were true in the USA.
A retrospective analysis by Italy's Ministry of Health found that 14% of Italy's first 14,000 reported "Covid deaths" found a causal relationship between the virus and death.
Macron's head should be in a basket, next to that of his health minister.
https://summit.news/2021/08/16/businesses-are-refusing-to-enforce-frances-vaccine-passport
Anecdotal evidence detailed by former Google software engineer Mike Hearn strongly suggests that most restaurants, cafes and other businesses in France are not enforcing the country’s controversial vaccine passport system.
As we highlighted last week, on the first day the new program was in place, police were visibly patrolling bars and cafes demanding customers show proof they’ve had the jab.
However, this seems to have largely been a bluff as just days later, businesses and venues have become very lax at checking people’s papers despite the threat of large fines.
“I decided to do a simple experiment to find out: always present an expired test even though I had a valid negative one, and see what happens,” writes Hearn.
“Over a four day stay I was required to show a valid pass exactly zero times; that includes at the airports in both directions. Compliance is absolutely min viable and often lower.”
“At small businesses enforcement was non-existent: sometimes the pass requirement was ignored entirely, other times we were asked “do you have a pass” and our answer wasn’t checked. One restaurant had come up with a clever way to detect police stings without requiring customers to actually present a pass. As expected, enforcement was stricter by larger firms, however even there we saw the following:
– Test certificates being checked once and then swapped for a token that doesn’t expire.
– Expired tests being accepted.
– People accepting paper test certificates without scanning them.
– Scanning tests and then not looking at the screen to see the results.
– Accepting QR codes that failed to scan.”
Hearn also reveals how mask mandates in theme parks and other venues are also not being followed, despite signs everywhere ordering people to cover their faces, while social distancing is also a “forgotten memory.”
Images showing empty cafes and bars on the first day the system was introduced may have spooked venues into taking a hands off approach.
In passing the law but failing to ensure that it is enforced, France is following the same model as Israel, where the point of introducing the system wasn’t really to enforce it, but merely as a means of bullying young people into getting the vaccine.
As we highlighted last week, despite the odious and draconian nature of the vaccine passport system, President Macron asserted that the it was actually introduced to protect people’s “freedom,” which is like saying putting you in prison is for your own safety.
Elizabeth Tervet
@Interiakreep
33m
Replying to @RWMaloneMD
twitter.com/BristolBlues32/s…
This isn't hesitance, this is FUCK YOUR VACCINES.
"This Has Gotta Stop"
This has gotta stop
Enough is enough
I can't take this BS any longer
It's gone far enough
If you wanna claim my soul
You'll have to come and break down this door
I knew that something was going on wrong
When you started laying down the law
I can't move my hands
I break out in sweat
I wanna cry
Can't take it anymore
This has gotta stop
Enough is enough
I can't take this BS any longer
It's gone far enough
If you wanna claim my soul
You'll have to come and break down this door
I've been around
Long long time
Seen it all
And I'm used to being free
I know who I am
Try to do what's right
So lock me up and throw away the key
This has gotta stop
Enough is enough
I can't take this BS any longer
It's gone far enough
If you wanna claim my soul
You'll have to come and break down this door
Thinkin' of my kids
What's left for them
And then what's coming down the road
The light in the tunnel
Could be the southbound train
Lord, please help them with their load
This has gotta stop
Enough is enough
I can't take this BS any longer
It's gone far enough
If you wanna claim my soul
You'll have to come and break down this door
This has gotta stop
Enough is enough
I can't take this BS any longer
It's gone far enough
If you wanna claim my soul
You'll have to come and break down this door
(This door)
(This door)
(This door)
(Break down this door)
(This door)
(This door)
(This door)
(Break down this door)
Anti-vaccine protesters storm ITN headquarters
France: Protests Against Covid-19 Vaccine Health Pass Continue For Sixth Consecutive Weekend
Police, protesters clash as thousands march against COVID curbs in Berlin
Thousands of protesters gathered in Berlin on Saturday to demonstrate against government leaders considering restrictions on unvaccinated individuals.
Tens of thousands of people in Germany and France protested against COVID-19-related restrictions and vaccine passports over the weekend, saying the restrictions infringe on their rights.
German police had banned nine planned demonstrations for Aug. 28, including one from the Stuttgart-based Querdenker movement, the most visible anti-lockdown movement in Germany. A court ruled in favor of allowing one event, planned for 500 people, on Aug. 28 and 29.
More than 2,000 police officers were stationed around the city to respond to those who showed up despite the protest bans. At one Aug. 28 protest in Mitte, Germany, German media reported that police used pepper spray to disperse a crowd. The crowd eventually thinned as it began to rain.
Demonstrators in Dusseldorf held banners that read, “Stop police arbitrariness,” “Protect the fundamental right to demonstrate,” and “Repel attacks on freedom of assembly,” German media outlet Deutsche Welle reported. The state of North Rhine-Westphalia is planning an assembly law that its critics say limits their ability to protest. The state government said that the proposed law is needed to prevent demonstrations from turning violent.
BREAKING – Germany: Massive police violence reported in Berlin during today’s peaceful anti-COV_ID protest pic.twitter.com/kYGwJCyhIC
— Mr. Wolf (@mole_cola) August 28, 2021
Jérôme Fourquet, a veteran political analyst, warned last week that the protest movement is potentially far more dangerous to France than the Yellow Vests. Their anger was directed at the president and his government, but this time ‘it is a confrontation between citizens and incidents could be more numerous and less controlled.’
Fourquet’s bleak depiction of the state of the nation is echoed by the writer and former advisor to Nicolas Sarkozy, Maxime Tandonnet. He described the division not just as generational but also one of class. ‘It’s a constant in the history of France,’ he noted, ‘that those who are the first to rise up in the defense of liberty…are in the general the young and the less fortunate.’
What worries Tandonnet specifically is that those who are most in favor of the passport are ‘bien pensants’ who don’t conceal their contempt for those participating in the demonstrations each Saturday. The disdain is mutual, says Tandonnet. ‘Rarely in recent history have the French hated each other as much as they do today…the situation is terribly volatile and explosive.’
The COVID passport has been a success in that it has achieved Macron’s objective of boosting vaccine uptake among the most reluctant. But at what cost to society? The young will not forget the way they have been bullied and threatened by their president, and nor are they likely to forget the selfishness of the 68ers who are as spoiled now as they were half a century ago.
Macron’s vaccine passport is uniting French anti-fascists and nationalists
A troubling fissure is emerging between the generations in France
August 2, 2021 | 12:01 pm
Two weeks ago, according to the government, approximately 114,000 marched; and last week it was 161,000. To break the 200,000 mark is an indication of how the protest movement is growing.
Related Stories
Natural immunity is stronger than vaccination, study suggests
The demonstrators come from all cross-sections of society, and are overwhelmingly passive. The march I witnessed in Paris on Saturday featured an impressive array of fancy dress, dozens of children, a lot of dancing, and scores of placards relaying various messages, none of which were complimentary to President Macron.
What was also notable was the low-key police presence. I saw none of the riot squad, only the regular Paris police, some of whom chatted happily to the demonstrators as they filed past.
Unfortunately the coverage in much of the British media has reflected none of this spirit. The headline on the Sky News website on Sunday morning was ‘Vaccine passport critics clash with police in Paris.’ Underneath was a brief video clip of a few angry demonstrators confronting riot police at the Place de la Bastille.
Rasta Redpill
@RastaRedpill
Aug 29
London cops are using attack dogs against anti-vaccine passport protesters.
Eyes Wide Open
@justforfuntoo2
Aug 29
Replying to @RastaRedpill
That makes me so sad. Dogs are amazing when trained to help innocent people.
Papabear
@Papabear_steve
Aug 30
Cops too...
Aug 31st, 2021 8:53 am
It's nice to have Europeans protest tyranny for a change!
Protesters have packed into central London in a demonstration against the government’s ongoing plans to introduce so-called vaccine passports. Though largely ignored by the media, “thousands” of people reportedly took part.
The protest march kicked off at Hyde Park on Saturday afternoon and set off across Vauxhall Bridge and toward Clapham Common. London’s Metropolitan Police reported road blockages and bus delays along the route, and officers remained in close proximity to the marchers at all times.
Video footage showed a dense crowd of people in attendance. Some waved religious banners, some held placards opposing vaccination full stop, and others demanded the government drop its plans to require patrons of certain venues be vaccinated against Covid-19.
Medical freedom protest underway in London. We must not accept medical segregation in any civilised society., #mybodymychoice#londonprotest#august28#NoVaccinePassportsAnywhere#NoMedicalApartheidpic.twitter.com/Mt4VGhR5rQ
— Gillian McKeith (@GillianMcKeith) August 28, 2021
🔴LIVE: Medical Freedom Protest | LondonWatch now: https://t.co/YnamURzgeA#LondonProtest#AntiVaxPassport#MedicalFreedom#LIVE#Livestream#London#Freedom#Protest#Police#VaccinePassportpic.twitter.com/i0NdcUXHrC
— Subject Access (@SubjectAccesss) August 28, 2021
#londonprotest on the move #together#NoVaccinePassportsAnywherepic.twitter.com/vBEyf81glT
— Alan D Miller (@alanvibe) August 28, 2021
it is our moral responsibility to kill off everybody that pushed this vaccine
I'm unable to verify for myself, but supposedly the truckies have begun the blockade in Lostrailia. If true, my thoughts are with those brave truckies, especially now that Aus has a law to do whatever they want to your digital devices...
https://twitter.com/Not_the_Bee/status/1432077923960463362
Rasta Redpill
@RastaRedpill
Aug 29
London cops are using attack dogs against anti-vaccine passport protesters.
Eyes Wide Open
@justforfuntoo2
Aug 29
Replying to @RastaRedpill
That makes me so sad. Dogs are amazing when trained to help innocent people.
Papabear
@Papabear_steve
Aug 30
Cops too...
Nasty video.
If the French don’t revolt, then they really are as cucked and a bunch of pussies as we always thought they were.
« First « Previous Comments 41 - 80 of 206 Next » Last » Search these comments
patrick.net
An Antidote to Corporate Media
1,246,436 comments by 14,880 users - HANrongli, Misc, Waitup online now