President Donald Trump signed an executive order today designed to cut down on the number of federal regulations. Mr. Trump says that for every new regulation that is imposed, two must be eliminated.
In other Trump-related news, according to the latest polls, 57% of the American people agree with the president’s cutoff of immigration from seven Muslim-majority countries. 33% are undecided in their opinion, while only 10% are opposed.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to Diana West, JD, Nick, Reader from Chicago, Vlad Tepes, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.
Notice to tipsters: Please don’t submit extensive excerpts from articles that have been posted behind a subscription firewall, or are otherwise under copyright protection.
Caveat: Articles in the news feed are posted “as is”. Gates of Vienna cannot vouch for the authenticity or accuracy of the contents of any individual item posted here. We check each entry to make sure it is relatively interesting, not patently offensive, and at least superficially plausible. The link to the original is included with each item’s title. Further research and verification are left to the reader.
A $500 Bn Pot of Gold: How Boston Consulting and Google Pushed Modi to End the Era of Cash
Boston Consulting Group (BCG), the omnipresent US-consulting company, and Google, the global data miner, issued a joint report in July 2016 on the “$500 bn Pot of Gold”, which is the Indian digital payment market. Even though the authors deny it, the report gives much reason to suspect that the authors knew that something radical was imminent from the Indian government. The report is remarkably honest about the aims of the whole exercise…
The refreshing thing about this report is that BCB and Google skip all the talk about financial inclusion, helping the poor and all that. The frankness must have to do with their intended audience, which is not the general public, but rather payment services providers and the government. The results of the large survey among merchants and consumers that they commissioned make it plain that those merchants and consumers who do not yet rely on digital payments are not longing for a chance to do so. The survey indicated they are completely happy with using cash and think the requirements for digital payment are too complicated for them.
The study authors leave no room for doubt, that the digitalization drive is all about business and nothing else. One chapter-header reads, “India Digital Payments — A $500 Pot of Gold” and the authors calculate that the projected $500 bn of digital payments a year translates into $5 bn in revenue. Google would not be Google, if the giant data miner did not have some ideas to make the pot even a little bigger. “Mine customer data to build additional revenue streams” is their advice to payment services providers. BCG and Google promise that mining customer data will help them to get consumers to buy more. “Payments will drive consumption — and not the other way around” is an insight they want to drive home.
The “asks from regulators and government” which BCG and Google list in their report are not part of a non-existent chapter on helping the poor or helping India develop, but part of the chapter “Grabbing the opportunity — the winning agenda”. In other words, the government is urged to help Visa and Google to grab the pot of gold.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
At the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Joseph Stiglitz the Nobel Prize-winning economist argued in favor of phasing out currency and moving toward a digital economy.
The view expressed by Stiglitz is similar to that of former IMF chief economist Kenneth Rogoff who has been arguing for many years that there is an urgent need to remove cash from the economy. It is held that cash provides support to the shadow economy and permits tax evasion. Some estimates suggest this could be up to $700 billion in the US.
The Governor of the Bank of England — Mark Carney — has expressed similar views in support of the removal of cash.
Yet another justification for its removal is that in times of economic shocks, which push the economy into recession, the run for cash exacerbates the downturn — i.e., it becomes a factor contributing to economic instability by facilitating a cash-induced savings surge rather than an increase in demand.
Other arguments go further, including the position that in the modern world most transactions can be settled by means of electronic funds transfer. Money in the modern world is an abstraction, or so it is held.
But is it true that money is an abstraction?…
What is important to note, however, is that the problem in this case is not the existence of cash but rather the artificial creation of additional money by the commercial banks through fractional reserve lending — mostly with the support of governments. Cash doesn’t cause crises — central bank-enabled fractional reserve lending does.
[Comment: Globalist seek ever more control over the public.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
A “Color Revolution” Is Under Way in America
A Russian joke goes like this: “Question: why can there be no color revolution in the United States? Answer: because there are no US Embassies in the United States.”
Funny, maybe, but factually wrong: I believe that a color revolution is being attempted in the USA right now.
Politico seems to feel the same way. See their recent cover:
While I did predict that “The USA are about to face the worst crisis of their history” as far back as October of last year, a month before the elections, I have to admit that I am surprised and amazed at the magnitude of struggle which we see taking place before our eyes. It is now clear that the Neocons did declare war on Trump and some, like Paul Craig Roberts, believe that Trump has now returned them the favor. I sure hope that he is right.
Let’s look at one telling example:
US intelligence agencies are now investigating their own boss! Yes, according to recent reports, the FBI, CIA, National Security Agency and Treasury Department are now investigating the telephone conversations between General Flynn and the Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyk. According to Wikipedia, General Flynn is the former
Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency
Joint Functional Component Command for Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Chair of the Military Intelligence Board
Assistant Director of National Intelligence
Senior intelligence officer for the Joint Special Operations Command.
He is also Trump’s National Security Advisor. In other words, his security clearance is stratospherically high and he will soon become the boss of all the US intelligence services. And yet, these very same intelligence services are investigating him for his contacts with the Russian Ambassador. That is absolutely amazing. Even in the bad old Soviet Union, the putatively almighty KGB did not have the right to investigate a member of the Communist Party Central Committee without a special authorization of the Politburo (a big mistake, in my opinion, but never mind that). That roughly means that the top 500 members of the Soviet state could not be investigated by the KGB at all. Furthermore, such was the subordination of the KGB to the Party that for common criminal matters the KGB was barred from investigating any member of the entire Soviet Nomenklatura, roughly 3 million people (and even bigger mistake!).
But in the case of Flynn, several US security agencies can decide to investigate a man who by all standards ought to be considered at least in the top 5 US officials and who clearly has the trust of the new President. And that does not elicit any outrage, apparently.
By the same logic, the three letter agencies might as well investigate Trump for his telephone conversations with Vladimir Putin.
Which, come to think of it, they might well do it soon…
This is all absolutely crazy because this is evidence that the US intelligence community as gone rogue and is now taking its orders from the Neocons and their deep state and not from the President and that these agencies are now acting against the interests of the new President…
Make no mistake, such protest are no more spontaneous than the ones in the Ukraine. Somebody is paying for all this, somebody is organizing it all. And they are using their full bag of tricks. One more example:…
My purpose in listing all the examples above is to suggest the following: far from having accepted defeat, the Neocons and the US deep state have decided, as they always do, to double-down and they are now embarking on a full-scale “color revolution” which will only end with the impeachment, overthrowal or death of Donald Trump.
One of the most amazing features of this color revolution against Trump is the fact that those behind it don’t give a damn about the damage that their war against Trump does to the institution of the President of the United States and, really, to the United States as a whole. That damage is, indeed, immense and the bottom line is this: President Trump is in immense danger of being overthrown and his only hope for survival is to strike back hard and fast…
The forces which are currently trying to impeach, overthrow or murder President Trump are a clear and present danger to the United States as a country and to the US Federal Republic. They are, to use a Russian word, a type of “non-system” opposition which does not want to accept the outcome of the elections and which by rejecting this outcome essentially oppose the entire political system.
I am not a US citizen (I could, but I refuse that citizenship on principle because I refuse to take the required oath of allegiance) and the only loyalty I owe the USA is the one of a guest: never to deliberately harm it in any way and to obey its laws. And yet it turns my stomach to see how easy it has been to turn millions of Americans against their own country. I write a lot about russophobia on this blog, but I also see a deep-seated “Americanophobia” or “USophobia” in the words and actions who today say that Trump is not their President. To them, they micro-identity as a “liberal” or as a “gay” or as “African-American” means more than the very basic fundamental principles upon which this country has been built. When I see these crowds of Trump-bashers I see pure, seething hatred not of the AngloZionist Empire, or of a plutocracy masquerading as a democracy, but a hatred of what I would call the “simple America” or the “daily America” — the simple people amongst whom I have now lived for many years and learned to respect and appreciate and whom the Clinton-bots only think of as “deplorables”.
[Comment: Soros is most likely the one funding all these “protests”.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Donald Trump Executive Order: For Every New Federal Regulation, Two Others Cut
President Donald Trump signed another executive order on Monday that would slash federal regulations.
Trump explained during the signing ceremony at the White House that for every new regulation that would be created, two other regulations would have to be cut.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Federal Reserve Staffer Fined for Mining Bitcoins at Work
A former employee of the Federal Reserve Board of Directors has been fined $5,000 and put on probation after being caught mining bitcoins on a server owned by the US central bank.
The Fed’s Office of the Inspector General said todaythat Nicholas Berthaume, who previously worked as a communications analyst for the board before being fired in light of the incident, had been placed on 12 months of probation after accepting a plea deal on 27th January. He plead guilty to one count of unlawful conversion of government property, a misdemeanor.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
‘Focus on ISIS, Not Starting WWIII’: Trump Blasts Senators McCain & Graham
The latest targets of US President Donald Trump’s ire are fellow Republican Senators John McCain & Lindsey Graham, who Trump says should focus on important issues “instead of always looking to start World War III.”
[Comment: Trump nails it again.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Shutting Down the Liberal Leech
Have you ever noticed how liberals always think that everyone else’s money is theirs?
Liberal CEOs of companies like Starbucks aren’t content with contributing some of their own massive salaries to the political causes they like; they have to use their shareholders’ money, too.
The Starbucks CEO said that backing the redefinition of marriage to suit the whims of the 2% of Americans who are gay wasn’t an economic decision. He admitted that even though it hurt the company, he’d decided that the morality he liked should be backed.
A responsible CEO wouldn’t declare that people he disagree with about redefining marriage shouldn’t buy Starbucks stock, because his job is to increase shareholder value. Further, a responsible CEO wouldn’t throw the company he runs into the middle of a highly controversial moral issue because he knows that both the shareholders and the company’s customers aren’t of one mind on the issue.
Of course, by hurting his own company to help his causes, he earns accolades from liberals who aren’t impacted if Starbucks loses money. As a result, when other liberals talk about how overpaid executives are, they don’t talk about the ones who misuse their authority to advance liberal causes.
Imagine if a marriage backer had done something similar. Oh, wait — we don’t need to. The CEO of Mozilla was forced to resign because he gave his own money, not the company’s, to support a proposition defending marriage — a proposition that went to an overwhelming victory, garnering massive voter support.
That CEO made no public statement linking the company he led to a particular political stance, unlike the Starbucks CEO, yet liberals lionize the Starbucks CEO for effectively expropriating value from his shareholders while they condemn the Mozilla CEO for his private beliefs.
Liberal CEOs are just following the lead of their brethren in government.
The behavior of liberal CEOs is just a further example of liberals declaring themselves “caring” by using other people’s money. Liberals think raising taxes on other people so they can hire more government workers and even trickle down a few dollars to the poor makes them philanthropists.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The United States is on the Precipice of Widespread Civil Unrest
It doesn’t take much of a trigger to push extremely large crowds of very angry protesters into committing acts of rioting and violence. And rioting and violence can ultimately lead to widespread civil unrest and calls for “revolution”. The election of Donald Trump was perhaps the single most galvanizing moment for the radical left in modern American history, and we have already seen that a single move by Trump can literally cause protests to erupt from coast to coast within 48 hours. On Friday, Trump signed an executive order that banned refugees from Syria indefinitely and that placed a 90 day ban on travel to the United States for citizens of Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. Within hours, protesters began to storm major airports, and by Sunday very large crowds were taking to the streets all over the country…
From Seattle to Newark, Houston to Boston, hundreds jammed airport terminals — lawyers, immigration advocates, ordinary citizens compelled to the front lines, many refusing to leave until those who had been detained by U.S. Customs had been freed or had obtained legal counsel.
On Sunday, the movement caught fire and demonstrations and rallies erupted in communities across the U.S. from city halls to airports to parks. In the nation’s capital, the site of the march that drew a crushing 500,000 people Jan. 21, Pennsylvania Avenue was shut down Sunday as thousands trekked from the White House to the U.S. Capitol. An energized crowd stopped outside Trump’s showcase hotel along the avenue to shake fists and chant “shame.”
You can see some really good pictures of the protests going on around the nation right here.
As I was going through articles about these protests today, I remember one woman holding up a sign that said “Remove Trump By Any Means Necessary”.
It doesn’t take much imagination to figure out what she was suggesting.
Visions of violence are dancing in the heads of these very frustrated people, and they are being egged on by top members of Congress such as Chuck Schumer…
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Times Journo Calls for Assassination of President Trump
Times columnist and author India Knight has called for the assassination of U.S. President, Donald J. Trump
During a days-long invective against the newly inaugurated President, on Twitter in which Knight called Mr Trump a “moron”, “mad”, “needy”, and an “arse”, among other things, before telling him to “shut up”, she mused “the assassination is taking such a long time.”
[Comment: India Knight is the daughter of Andrew Knight, Chairman of News International which is owned by Rupert Murdoch who owns Fox. ]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Trump Strikes Deal With Lockheed, Asks “Where Was the Outrage When Jobs Were Fleeing”
President Trump is not done with his morning tweet-storm…
Where was all the outrage from Democrats and the opposition party (the media) when our jobs were fleeing our country?
– — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 30, 2017
[…]
Trump: “I noticed Chuck Schumer yesterday with fake tears” over immigration ban/refugees; “I’m gonna ask him who is his acting coach”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Trump Foiled Soros’ Master Plan to Impose New World Order — Hedge Fund Manager
President Donald Trump came to power just in time to prevent billionaire George Soros and Bill and Hillary Clinton achieve a Trans Pacific free trade deal hidden from the public, Wall Street hedge fund manager and financial analyst Mitch Feierstein told Sputnik.
“George Soros and Clinton Inc. were nearly able to declare ‘Mission Accomplished’ on their vision of establishing an opaque ‘New World Order’,” Feierstein, a hedge fund manager who has spent 38 years working in the New York, Tokyo and London global financial markets, said on Tuesday.
On Monday, Trump announced that he was scrapping the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) that his predecessor President Barack Obama had sought to complete during his eight years in office.
“Forget Soros’s New World Order for now because a new sheriff, Donald Trump, the 45th US President arrived on in Washington promising to drain the swamp. TPP is a now history and it will be interesting to see who is naked at low tide,” Feierstein noted.
The top-secret TPP free trade agreement was one of the worst trade deals ever crafted by Washington’s pay-to-play culture of corruption, Feierstein stated.
“How could any rational individual or sovereign be supportive of a secret ‘trade deal’ with zero transparency and legal language drafted by multi-national corporations?” he asked.
The TPP was deliberately crafted to ensure a form of “globalization” so that these same corporations who designed the “rules” could operate in the dark with total impunity while stripping member nations of their sovereignty and denying consumers of all their rights and protections, Feierstein explained.
“TPP was Obama’s ‘Crown Jewel’ achievement after 35 years of failed neoliberalism funded by oligarchs for the benefit of oligarchies,” he observed.
[Comment: 100% correct.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Video: Anti-Trump Rioter Knocks Out Trump Supporter at Portland Airport
Other “protesters” celebrate vicious attack
The incident took place during demonstrations against Trump’s travel ban on individuals from terror-linked countries.
The clip shows anti-Trump protesters pushing and shoving their way into the airport aggressively as they yell “peace! peace!”
A confrontation then quickly arises before one of the anti-Trump radicals punches a man from behind, knocking him out cold. The footage appears to show two anti-Trump protesters taking a swing at the same victim.
While some of the anti-Trump protesters appear shocked at the violence and denounce it, others are heard quite clearly celebrating the attack.
“That’s how you talk to a Nazi! That’s right!” screams one, before gloating, “Your boy got knocked out!”
“Don’t lose the propaganda war!” shouts another, presumably aware that the attack makes anti-Trump demonstrators look bad.
“Wooo! Hunt the Nazis!” screams another man in celebration of the vicious assault.
“That’s right Nazi boy! Where’s your f***ing fuhrer now bitch!” yells another.
To add insult to injury, the demonstrators then began chanting “peaceful protest!” as the victim lay prostrate on the floor of the airport.
[Comment: Indocrination is complete. Their minds are now mush as Yuri Bezmenov talked about in his interview with G. Edward Griffith.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Wikileaks’ Julian Assange Will Only Come Out of Hiding if US Promises Immunity
JULIAN Assange has said he will only turn himself over to the US authorities if they agree to drop the case against him and Wikileaks first.
The WikiLeaks founder, who has been holed up inside the Ecuadorian Embassy in London for more than four years, had vowed to turn himself in if military whistleblower Chelsea Manning was released.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
The loner student accused of killing six Muslim men as they prayed at a Quebec mosque was pictured arriving at court on Monday to face charges for their murders.
Alexandre Bissonnette is accused of slaughtering the men and injuring five others by opening fire on them as they attended evening prayers at the Quebec City Islamic Cultural Center on Sunday.
The 27-year-old student was described by classmates as a pro-Trump loner who did not fit in well at Laval University where is studying anthropology and political sciences. But neighbors of the family home in the affluent Quebec suburb of Cap Rouge were stunned to learn Bissonnette, described as a ‘typical boy-next-door’, was being accused of the shooting.
He was arrested on Sunday night after phoning police himself from his Mitsubishi where investigators allegedly found two rifles and an AK-47.
Bissonnette was charged with six counts of murder, five of attempted murder and is likely to have more charges brought against him, police said on Monday.
Originally police believed two gunmen had carried out the attack and took Moroccan-Canadian Mohamed el Khadir into custody. He is now being treated as a witness and no one is else is wanted in connection with the attack…
| — Hat tip: Vlad Tepes | [Return to headlines] |
Quebec Mosque Shooting: Suspects Not Known to Police
According to Radio-Canada and LCN, the two suspects in Sunday’s terror attacks on a mosque in Quebec City are Alexandre Bissonnette and Mohamed Khadir.
One of the suspects was arrested at the scene, while a second called 911 himself and was arrested around 9 p.m., just over an hour after the first 911 calls came in at 7:55 p.m., police said Monday morning during a news conference involving the Sûreté du Québec, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Quebec City police and Montreal police.
The suspects, men in their late 20s and early 30s, were not known to police and the investigation into a possible motive continues, said superintendent Martin Plante of the RCMP’s C Division.
| — Hat tip: Nick | [Return to headlines] |
The Trump Presidency Will Cost Canadians
Trump puts America first; Trudeau puts Canada last
There is no dispute Canadian people as a whole are politically further to the left than Americans. There are of course conservatives who would not only like to see Justin Trudeau gone but replaced by a Trump-like successor. There is very little chance the latter will happen, at least in the foreseeable future.
After Obama left the White House, Trudeau became one of, if not the most prominent, Western globalist. Trudeau has sent billions of dollars to foreign countries to help with their infrastructure or to help them fight “climate change.” He has also sent a lot of Canadian dollars to the UN and UN agencies. His recent “selfie tour” across Canada showed he has little interest in helping the middle class, the people he’s always talking about helping. The rest of the world’s population, especially those living in third-world countries are more important than Canadians are.
During the 2015 election campaign, Trudeau and the Liberals ran on a platform of running $10 billion yearly deficits for two or three years before balancing the books by 2019-20. How that has changed.
A report by the government’s own Finance Department predicts the budget will not be balanced until 2050-51. 2050-51! A baby born in Canada this year will not see a balanced budget until they are in their mid-30s. And the accumulated debt by mid-century is estimated to exceed $1.5 trillion. Congratulations, Justin! Canada has finally arrived at discussing government debt in trillions rather than billions. The whopping increase in spending and ballooning deficits that will run for another 34 years do not faze the immature prime minister. He just keeps spending and spending and spending.
And Trudeau just loves the United Nations. After all the world body spends most of its time bashing Israel so what’s not to love? Since coming to office, Trudeau has had one goal in mind and no it’s not helping the middle class or other Canadians. The prime minister wants Canada to have a seat on the UN’s Security Council and is willing to pay any price to get it. And of course the price will be paid by ordinary Canadians.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
White university student Alexandre Bissonnette has been named as the sole suspect accused of killing six men at a Quebec City mosque.
Bissonnette, 27, was arrested alongside Moroccan-Canadian Mohamed el Khadir on Sunday night after six men were shot dead at the Quebec City Islamic Cultural Center during evening prayers.
On Monday afternoon, Sûreté du Québec, the investigating police force, confirmed one of the men was no longer facing charges.
A source later told Reuters police were looking at Bissonnette as a ‘lone wolf’…
A classmate told DailyMail.com that Bissonnette was pro-Donald Trump and that they had engaged in political arguments about the president.
‘Based on the conversations that I had with him during the American presidential campaign, it’s true he is pro-Trump,’ the student, who asked to remain anonymous, said.
He added that he Bissonnette had ‘never demonstrated’ a violent side but that he didn’t ‘fit in’ among peers. Fellow students said Bissonnette didn’t ‘fit in well’ at the university where he is studying political sciences and anthropology
Fellow students said Bissonnette didn’t ‘fit in well’ at the university where he is studying political sciences and anthropology
‘Yes, he was conservative in the political sense but despite the profound differences between us, he never showed or suggested that political violence or terrorism was something he was capable of.
‘He didn’t fit in well at university.’
[Comment: Smells fishy. ]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Brussels’ Final Batte: ‘If One More Country Leaves the EU it Will be Finished’
If one more Brexit-like event takes place, the European Union may cease to exist, Jim Mellon, chairman of the Burnbrae Group and renowned investor who correctly forecast the last economic recession, told Sputnik
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
EU Chief Brexit Negotiator: Donald Trump and Steven Bannon ‘Pose Existential Threat’ To EU
The European Parliament’s chief Brexit negotiator, Guy Verhofstadt, lists President Donald Trump and his chief strategist Steve Bannon as “one of the main three existential threats facing the European Union.” Verhofstadt views Trump and his populist policy advisers as an even greater threat to the EU than Brexit itself.
[Comment: I agree with this. The UK is getting leverage in its Brexit efforts by having an ally in Trump. The current period with the EU reminds me of the Soviet Union in the early 1980s. In ten years, the EU empire will join the Soviet Union in the dustbin of history.]
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Le Pen Favorite to Win First Round of French Presidential Vote
Marine Le Pen is one course to win the first round of voting in this year’s French presidential elections, a shock poll has revealed.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Malta: Qormi Confectioner Holds Thief Until Police Arrive on the Scene
A man who tried to rob a confectionery in Qormi got more than he bargained for yesterday after the shop’s owner held him until police made it to the scene.
The attempted robbery happened on St Edward Street at around 9.30pm, police said, when a man wearing a hoodie walked into the confectionery and ordered an 18-year-old shop assistant to hand him money.
But the shop’s owner, a 33-year-old from Marsascala, had other plans. He managed to subdue the thief and kept hold of him while neighbours called an off-duty policeman and prison guard, who both live nearby, for help.
The three held the aggressor until Qormi police and members of the Rapid Intervention Unit came to the scene.
Nobody was hurt in the incident. Police say their investigations are ongoing.
[The Rapid Intervention Unit!]
| — Hat tip: Nick | [Return to headlines] |
Muslim Face Veil Ban on Austrian Ruling Coalition Action Plan
A ban on all Muslim face veils in public places is part of new measures agreed by Austria’s ruling coalition partners, and is due to be implemented before the next parliamentary vote in 2018.
The ban is a part of the ‘integration law’ included in the coalition’s new action plan, which was negotiated by the representatives of the center-left Social Democratic Party (SPO) and the conservative People’s Party (OVP), which together form the ruling centrist coalition.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Soros-Funded NGOs Aiming to Bring Down Hungarian Govt — Foreign Minister to RT
The activities of organizations funded by US billionaire investor George Soros in Hungary are “anti-democratic,” as they want to undermine the government in Budapest, the foreign minister of Hungary told RT.
Soros “would like this government to fail, he would like to kind of fire this government because he doesn’t like our approach, doesn’t like our policies,” Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto told RT’s Sophie Shevardnadze.
“We find it very anti-democratic if someone from abroad would like to influence Hungarian voters on whom to vote for,” he asserted.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
‘Spiderman’ Burglar in French Court Over Picasso Heist
A burglar notorious for his acrobatic heists went on trial in Paris on Monday over the 2010 theft of five masterpieces, which have been estimated to be worth more than €100 million and are still missing.
Vjeran Tomic, a Serbian national known as “Spiderman”, is facing 14 charges related to the robbery of paintings by Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Georges Braque, Fernand Léger and Amedeo Modigliani.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Suspect in Brussels and Paris Terror Attacks Charged in France
Mohamed Abrini has been formally charged with his alleged involvement in the 2015 Paris terror attacks that killed 130 people. His lawyers criticized the French court case as Abrini is already facing charges Belgium.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Switzerland Keen to Talk Trade With Post-Brexit Britain
Switzerland’s economy minister said on Sunday he wants to have “background” talks with Britain so that a trade deal can be in place as soon as the UK leaves the European Union.
“My objective is clear. Not one day should pass after Britain’s exit (from the EU) without new regulations in place,” Johann Schneider-Ammann told the Blick daily.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Pakistan: 115 Acquitted After Burning Christians’ Homes
A court in Pakistan on Saturday cited lack of evidence to acquit all 115 suspects in the burning of more than 150 houses of Christians in 2013 over alleged blasphemy of the Prophet Muhammad.
| — Hat tip: Nick | [Return to headlines] |
“Legal Challenge” To Trump’s Executive Order a Hoax
The much-vaunted “legal challenge” to U.S. President Donald Trump’s Executive Order halting immigration from seven Muslim nations is a hoax and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is continuing to enforce the prohibition on travel from those countries.
An official statement from the DHS published on its website announced that all of “President Trump’s Executive Orders remain in place-prohibited travel will remain prohibited, and the U.S. government retains its right to revoke visas at any time if required for national security or public safety.”
The DHS statement said that “President Trump’s Executive Order affects a minor portion of international travelers, and is a first step towards reestablishing control over America’s borders and national security.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Busted: Police Smash People Trafficking Ring Who Smuggled Migrants in Van Across Europe
A CRIMINAL gang that smuggled migrants packed into vans across the border with France for almost £1,000 each has been smashed by police following an undercover sting.
Italian officers revealed the operation saw the dismantling of a major people smuggling network, which was believed to be responsible for trafficking hundreds of people across Europe.
More than 30 arrest warrants for human trafficking had been issued after a two-year investigation that documented dozens of smuggling incidents and 62 clandestine voyages.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Germany: Only 11% of “Asylum” Applications Are “Syrians”
Only 11 percent of the 430,000 “asylum” applications currently being processed by the German Federal Office for Migration (BAMF) relate to “Syrians,” and Third World invaders are still pouring into Germany at the rate of over 11,000 per month, the new head of that organization has admitted.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Germany Chaos: Mass Brawl Between Teenage Migrants Sparks Major Police Operation
TEENAGE migrants left one person injured after two gangs sparked a mass brawl outside a major shopping centre.
Around 40 youths are believe to have been involved in the incident, after violence erupted at the side entrance of the Rheingalerie in Ludwigshafen on Saturday evening at about 7.20pm.
The mass brawl saw at least one person injured, who was not believed to have been involved in the riots.
However the suspects fled the scene before police officers could arrive.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Idaho Bill Would Withhold Money if Sanctuary Cities Adopted
BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Legislation introduced Monday would withhold taxpayer money from Idaho cities and counties if they stopped enforcing federal immigration laws and adopted “sanctuary city” policies.
The proposal comes just days after President Donald Trump signed an executive action to crack down on immigrant-protecting sanctuary cities by cutting federal dollars. While several big cities, such as New York and San Francisco, have formal policies in place, Idaho has none.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Malta: Illegal Travel From Italy Discovered With Suspension of Schengen Arrangements
A Nigerian mother who came to Malta from Italy to seek a job has been handed a suspended jail sentence for using false travel documents.
Nigerian-born Peace Edet, 41, with a Nigerian passport and an Italian ID card, allegedly left her kids behind in Italy where she was residing, so as to take up ajob here for a while and then eventually return to Italy, the court was told.
The prosecution explained that this was not the woman’s first irregular entry, having allegedly travelled to Malta with false documents on earlier occasions. This time she was unlucky owing to stricter border controls following the suspension of the Schengen Agreement, the prosecution stressed.
| — Hat tip: Nick | [Return to headlines] |
Malta: Man Accused of Trafficking After Being Found in Possession of Three Ecstasy Pills
A 25-year-old migrant has been remanded in custody after he was found in possession of three Ecstasy pills and was accused of trafficking.
Ahmed Ali Salah Lawan, 25, who lives at the Marsa Open Centre, was arrested yesterday in Paceville after being found in possession of the pills.
| — Hat tip: Nick | [Return to headlines] |
Most Support Temporary Ban on Newcomers From Terrorist Havens — Rasmussen Reports
Most voters approve of President Trump’s temporary halt to refugees and visitors from several Middle Eastern and African countries until the government can do a better job of keeping out individuals who are terrorist threats.
A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey finds that 57% of Likely U.S. Voters favor a temporary ban on refugees from Syria, Iraq, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen until the federal government approves its ability to screen out potential terrorists from coming here. Thirty-three percent (33%) are opposed, while 10% are undecided.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Obama-Appointed Judge vs. Trump’s Immigration Changes
These leftist temper tantrums are becoming a regular thing in the week-and-a-half-old Trump era. When President Trump honors a campaign promise he made to the American people, on cue the Left explodes in a fireball of anger and hatred, much of it underwritten by radical billionaire George Soros.
The Hungarian-born billionaire two dozen times over is a radical open-borders advocate committed to dissolving national boundaries. He has said Communist China’s system of government is superior to our own and that the United States is the number one obstacle to world peace. In the U.S. he has financed the violent, politically destabilizing Occupy Wall Street and Black Lives Matter movements. He also funds many of the groups that participated in the various anti-Trump women’s marches across America on Jan. 21…
Apparently a number of federal judges issued injunctions pertaining to Trump’s executive order but the judicial officer receiving heavy media attention is Obama appointee U.S. District Court Judge Ann M. Donnelly. She sits on the bench in the Eastern District of New York, which encompasses three of the five New York City boroughs-Brooklyn, Queens, and Staten Island-along with Nassau and Suffolk counties on Long Island.
Donnelly, whom the U.S. Senate confirmed to her present post in October 2015, seems to be a member in good standing of the left-wing legal establishment.
Among the ideological red flags is the fact that Donnelly was a fellow in 2008 at the American College of Trial Lawyers, a group that “places judges on pedestals, holding them up as philosopher-kings.” When nominated to the federal bench, Donnelly received a rating of “unanimously qualified” from the American Bar Association which was long ago taken over by the Left.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden’s Border Controls Likely to be Extended Again, Minister Says
Controls at the southern borders of Sweden introduced during the height of the refugee crisis are likely to be extended yet again, over a year after the temporary measures were first introduced.
The controls at ports in the south of Sweden and on the Swedish side of the Öresund Bridge to Denmark were brought in during the autumn of 2015, a year where the Swedes received a record 163,000 asylum applications.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
The Left Goes All in on Open Borders
“No borders. No nations. F**k deportations!”
That was the rallying cry of protesters demonstrating at San Francisco International Airport Saturday against President Donald Trump restricting immigration from seven Muslim-majority nations.
[Comment: Would not be surprised to find Soros funding all of this…]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Trump Defends Refugee Order: “Nothing Nice About Searching for Terrorists”
“Study The World”
President Trump took to Twitter Monday to defend his temporary migrant ban from 7 countries known to host radical Islamic terrorists who have stated their intention to use the refugee crisis to gain entry to the US.
Trump noted that the problems with the travel chaos at some airports are not because of fallout from the ban, but rather due to a Delta computer outage:…
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
by Diana West
President Trump’s executive action on immigration is a terrific shock to international socialism, whose sinews, including “free” trade, mass immigration/open borders, Globalism First, have come to undergird the American Way. In such a Marxian system, borders, the nation-state, America First, are not just anathema, they are “reactionary” relics, and effectively defunct. Or supposed to be.
In other words, no president is ever supposed to not only say but act on the following:…
| — Hat tip: Diana West | [Return to headlines] |
Dutch Doctor Drugged a Patient’s Coffee, Asked Family to Hold Her Down as She Fought Not to Die
A Dutch woman doctor who drugged an elderly woman and then asked her family to hold her down as she fought desperately not to be killed did not break the law, according to medical experts citing the country’s euthanasia legislation.
The shocking case was referred to the so-called Regional Review Committee in the Netherlands which admitted that while the case involved some irregularities that merited a reprimand, the female doctor had effectively acted in good faith.
[Comment: The word doctor should be in quotations.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
“Mr. Trump says that for every new regulation that is imposed, two must be eliminated.” If this is true, it’s ridiculously simplistic.
Yes, ideally fewer regulations, but precise numbers in this way can’t be realistic.
Why not? The general concept is that for every new one, find two to get rid of. Whole teams can be working on finding ones to get rid of: the two parts of the process don’t have to be very closely connected.
Every Western country is over regulated to the point of clogging the wheels of government, so where does one begin to dismantle such an imposition?
At least this is a start in the dismantling process, so who really cares about numbers at this point.
It’s about selective enforcement – they pass so many laws that everyone will be violating one at one point or another.
This allows the leviathan state to arbitrarily and randomly pick and choose who will be singled out for arrest and punishment. It’s a terrific means of keeping the sheep in line.
If you want a real hoot, go read the book, “In the Jaws of the Dragon,” wherein the author foolishly tries to argue that China is the only great nation that does this and that it never happens, and never could happen in the West.
Thanks for the tip, but I think I’d be wasting my time with that book. […]
Nemesis-
You would be wasting your time with that book. That’s why I mentioned it.
I also gave it a 1-star review on Amazon.com.
Great point.
Speaking of China, Steve Jobs used his only meeting with President Obama to say that Apple built its new glass plants in China rather than the US because of US govt caused added costs and regulatory delays, NOT because of labor costs.
On a cashless society: Even fiat money gives the owner some value so always demand cash and do not settle for little figures on a screen or paper that can be so easily removed by the system. Remember too that in times of crisis cash is King!
>> in times of crisis cash is King!
That depends on the form of the cash. Money only has value if the seller is willing to accept it as payment for a good or a service. In a true crisis, even gold can have less value than life sustaining substances or deeds.
Yes true DeriKirk, but then a piece of paper with some numbers and a pretty picture on it is worth exactly what, and only to the beholder of such pretty paper.
Give me coins made to the value of the metal within them or silverback dollars guaranteed by the producer as to its redeemable worth over fiat paper money or that fantastic plastic any day.
If you took a pile of greenback dollars to the Federal Reserve to be redeemed for their printed value what do you believe they would give you in return, if anything?
I learned that the hard way during superstorm Sandy.
When electronics go down cash is the only way to make a transaction.
Vendors wouldn’t even take checks because they couldn’t feed them through their electronic check checkers…
Me too, but at another time!
Excellent advice Nemesis! The young have yet to learn that.
My wife still has money in Norway where they have already phased out bank books, and are moving quickly to a cash-less society. She is terrified and plans to get her money to Canada a.s.a.p..
As she says: “What proof do I really have that I have any money there? Just some electronic printout!” Moreover, you actually need to make an appointment with the bank to withdraw cash.
Terrifying.
I’ve been trying to educate my young’uns for years now – I think I am slowly whittling them down.
The real cashless society (or after society) will look like a bit different: food, clean drink and most likely bullets will be the new money.
And shelter: real estate.
Well if you have bullets and a gun, these things is easy to achieve.
Some good news from Canada.
A NANOS poll from a couple of days go shows that
Trudeau’s Liberal Party is below 40 % in popularity and decreasing. Those phoney town hall meetings were a bomb.
The Conservative Party is rising to 30%. They elect a permanent leader in May.
The socialist New Democrat Party is still flat lining at 16%. In over 80 years they’ve never formed a federal government.
Trudeau should realize that the year long honeymoon is over and that there is a slow-growing “awake” happening among Canadians.
Dream on. Women and immigrants will overwhelmingly vote for Pretty Boy and his slick gang. Canadians are media-hypnotized zombies in all but a two provinces (AB & SK). I live in (N)DiPperville in AB.
“Houston, we have a problem here–with women”, and I agree with you, for some ridiculous reason they did vote for ‘meathead’, and women are still responsible for leftist wins in Europe, Austria e.g..
However…
Who is running (ruining) Alberta? Not to mention, who did Calgarians vote in as mayor–and re-elect! Right about SK though.
In the last AB election, the voters were NOT voting FOR the Dippers; they were voting AGAINST the old Party of Perpetual Entitlement. Of course, my riding is a permanent orange (which should give you a clue), but this is nothing new. The opposition should get their act together.
I do know that, but the stone cold hard fact is still that they voted for Notley–they didn’t have to.
I worked in southern Alberta for 26 years, met and liked Ralph, but Albertans are sure voting in some wrong people since I left and moved west.
And no, Kristy is far from perfect!
Unfortunately, I have to agree with you! 🙁
When watching american anti-trump emotional protestors, it always reminds me of the WWII air radio chatter that can be found on the internet. For example here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MF5_hvE4WEA
You have to admit that the guys fighting and dying in WWII are – compared to today’s liberal emotional standards – unbelievably calm.
I believe that you couldn’t find a greater contrast. One group lives through war, and is calm, reasonable, and doesn’t show off. The other group lives through an era of full material coverage, never having to worry about food and shelter, or lack of peace and all… and what do they do?
I have always wondered if this passage of the Bible has some relevance on this topic:
“And I say unto you, That many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven. But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
…The chidren of the kingdom of heaven? Why would they be cast out?
Maybe there really is something so wrong with the human nature that we the people cannot be brought up in a trouble-free world, because if we do – our minds twist into corruption?
There is a reason why these young people are known as “Generation Snowflake” … they have melt-downs in the slightest bit of heat. They take forever to grow up – and probably never will. I can compare myself – a boomer – and realize that I had responsibilities at the age of eighteen that will make the snowflakes evaporate … in their supposed adulthood.
Well, boomers plunged into the Progressive effort to make it impossible for subsequent generations to live meaningful lives, to build lasting families, to raise and teach children of their own. So don’t blame the kids. Not that I’m blaming you personally, or anyone really. The social organism goes through its life cycle. People suffer.
I do not take it personally, Garr. Even as a boomer, I was forever an outsider looking in. Culturally, I am at least a generation older than my historical age peers. I have a great deal of sympathy for the generations harmed by the selfish profligacy of the boomers, while despairing at their cowardice and denial in the face of the threat. People learn … or perish.
Deri-
Spiritually you sound closer to Gen Xers such as myself.
We were declared outsiders from day one, and it seems as though that’s how it will always be for us.
This passage refers to the fact that after the Jews denied Jesus as Lord and killed him, God punished his own children (Israelis) for this. He adopted the Gentiles in (that’s why it says so about many coming and joining the original famous figures in the Old Testament history) and threw the Jews out to weep and gnash their teeth in darkness. The Gentiles received thw Light, while the Jews were cast into Darkness. He made them foreigners for millenia. He transferred the primary worship rights to the Gentiles instead of the Israelis until the fullness of Gentiles comes in.
Ok, in that case is it not the same with the ancient Jews as it is with SJW’s of today? Self righteous over the top – even though they had been provided with goods many times the “world’s average”?
I am after the pattern here 🙂 Cheers
I know where you are coming from in your comment, but you should take on board that ‘calmness’ in the height of battle is a learned thing and not a given.
Stress affects many people in many different ways, it can be difficult to control and to overcome, and can have long term ill affects on those who cannot control it.
Obama is now an Antipresident.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antipope
Actually, I think he always has been; always for the rise of islam, and anything to get America more hated and further in debt.
“At the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Joseph Stiglitz the Nobel Prize-winning economist argued in favor of phasing out currency and moving toward a digital economy.”
Must have been glum faces all around at that Globalist chitchat WEF Davos. Soros and co just lost out big with TPP taking a nose dive. Abolishing cash might be the consolation prize. The fact people can be controlled easier in a cashless society never entered their heads.
Right on! In a cashless society they’ve got us completely and know everything about us–even our toasters, washing machines and TV’s are snitching on us!
Diana West’s article on ‘Clarity causing Chaos is apt’. Have we ever witnessed such vitriol, such putrid vomitus coming from the Left and the Islamic world in response to Trump’s challenge to their hitherto smug Reign of Terror over us?
Naturally the Scum in Chief Obama has charged back into the fray. I hope Mossad knows where he lives.
Bye, Bye Refugees. Read how Trump defeated Obama and Clinton, “KEK: The Rise of Donald Trump” (released 1-7-2017)
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01MZ7QSIE
Regulations are necessary when they are passed to leash the banks or prevent corporations from dumping toxins in the water or protecting workers from unsafe conditions; however, it seems that for the past many years the legislature is competing with each other in a contest of frivolous and punitive pursuits.
I remember buying a disposable lighter years ago and not being able to spark it. The clerk told me they were changed so toddlers couldn’t light them. I had to push, press and fight with the lighter. I’ve heard of people who can’t open up their prescription bottles because they were designed to be child-proof in homes with no kids, and then there are approved light bulbs that shatter if dropped but they give out an approved glow. I’ve lost count of so many new ones, as well as the steep price increases in licenses such as a fishing license, and the eye-popping fines should you be caught without one.
Think of the time and effort spent on their ridiculous and overreaching goals, and the monitoring of them, as they tie the ribbon to the tail of the elephant in the room, which is the lack of good-paying jobs and wars without end.
Regulations are there because someone says “there ought to be …”, and politicians want to be seen as of [public] service, so as to justify their ego-pumped existences.
When you beseech Satan, he stands at the ready. Did I mention that there is a price?
Swedish Ronie Berggren talks with Laura Welch – Canadian conservative who works as an English teacher in South Korea and is supporting Donald Trump – about her homeland Canada’s relationship with Donald Trump and the dear Canadian Muslims,
http://usapol.blogspot.com/2017/01/podd-316-kanadas-relation-till-donald.html