Under a new program, the first tranche of “refugees” from Africa has been brought into France. The program will fly in 3,000 Africans directly from their home countries. 19 migrants from Sudan have arrived, and are being housed temporarily in a monastery in Alsace.
In other news, according to a new poll, Europeans’ greatest concern is immigration, and the percentage of people who say that (39%) has doubled since the last poll.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to Charles Low, Dean, Dora, JD, RA, Reader from Chicago, RW, Srdja Trifkovic, SS, 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.
Final Reading on US GDP for Third Quarter: 3.2% Growth
The U.S. economy grew at its fastest pace in more than two years in the third quarter, powered by robust business spending, and is poised for what could be a modest lift next year from sweeping tax cuts passed by Congress this week.
Gross domestic product expanded at a 3.2 percent annual rate last quarter, the Commerce Department said in its third GDP estimate on Thursday. While that was slightly down from the 3.3 percent rate reported last month, it was the quickest pace since the first quarter of 2015 and was a pickup from the second quarter’s 3.1 percent rate.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
AG Sessions Orders Examination of Bundy Case After Mistrial Over Prosecution Bungling
Attorney General Jeff Sessions stepped into the Bundy prosecution after Wednesday’s mistrial, ordering a third-party examination of the case in light of the latest government snafu.
“The attorney general takes this issue very seriously and has personally directed that an expert in the [Justice Department’s] discovery obligations be deployed to examine the case and advise as to the next steps,” said Ian D. Prior, the department’s principal deputy director of public affairs, in a late Wednesday statement.
The decision to intervene came after Chief U.S. District Court Judge Gloria Navarro declared a mistrial over the government’s “willful failure to disclose information” to the defense, saying it would have been “impossible” for the four co-defendants to receive a fair trial.
“Failure to turn over such evidence violates due process,” Judge Navarro said in the courtroom, the Arizona Republic reported. “A fair trial at this point is impossible.”
Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, his sons Ammon and Ryan Bundy, and Ryan Payne of Montana have been charged with 15 felony counts stemming from the 2014 armed standoff with the Bureau of Land Management at the Bundy ranch near Bunkerville.
| — Hat tip: Dora | [Return to headlines] |
Fake UPS Deliverymen Shoot Man After Knocking on Door in Astoria, Queens
ASTORIA, Queens (WABC) — A neighborhood in Queens is on edge after two men claiming to be UPS deliverymen with a holiday package shot a man at his home Thursday morning.
People who live in the the building on 24th Street, between 20th Avenue and 21st Avenue, in Astoria heard a gunshot and cries for help just after 10 a.m. They immediately called police.
Neighbors said the attackers were apparently buzzing all of the apartments in their building, and apparently someone let them in. The men then knocked on several doors before getting to the victim’s first floor apartment.
The men started kicking the door, and 53-year-old Mohibul Islam opened it. His young son saw it all happen.
“He thought it was the UPS guy because he had a box and he had the uniform and everything,” the son said. “So he pushed my dad, he came into our house and locked door.”
The boy said the men then pulled a gun out of the box and shot his dad in the leg.
The men took off, and Islam was rushed to the hospital.
“That’s scary because that’s like the last person that you’d suspect,” said one neighbor.
Police spent several hours Thursday collecting evidence, reviewing surveillance, and interviewing witnesses as the search for those two gunmen continues.
Investigators said they have not yet been able to determine a motive for the violent ambush.
| — Hat tip: Dean | [Return to headlines] |
Is Your Phone Listening to Your Every Word or Watching You Through the Camera?
How thousands of people are convinced ‘coincidence’ adverts are anything but.
We were sitting in a rooftop restaurant, 30 storeys up, overlooking the Empire State building in New York, when my daughter confessed that she thought she was being spied on by a professional network of cyberspooks.
‘Look at this,’ said Lois, presenting me with her smartphone, where an advert for a snazzy little instamatic camera was displayed. It had popped up a few seconds earlier, when she’d logged on to Instagram.
She met my quizzical ‘so what?’ face with exasperation.
‘What were we talking about? Just now? In the street, down there?’ she said.
Sure enough, we’d been window shopping before our lunch reservation, and spotted a little gadget shop. I remembered Lois had commented on the instamatic cameras on display (dropping a few hints for her forthcoming 21st birthday, I suspected).
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Rand Paul Calls for Investigation Into Obama Loyalists Who ‘Colluded’ Against Trump
Senator Rand Paul has called for an investigation into senior Obama officials who could have actively tried to prevent Donald Trump being elected.
Paul sent out the call via Twitter:
Time to investigate high ranking Obama government officials who might have colluded to prevent the election of @realDonaldTrump! This could be WORSE than Watergate!
-— Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) December 21, 2017
Paul’s comments come in the wake of further revelations that members of Robert Mueller’s investigative team looking into the Russian collusion conspiracy theory are virulently anti-Trump.
It is now public knowledge that FBI official Peter Strozk, a leading supervisor on the Russia investigation since the Summer of 2016, as well as a leader of the investigation into Clinton’s use of a private email server, sent anti-Trump and pro-Hillary Clinton text messages.
As Infowars has reported, Strozk discussed an “insurance policy” in case Donald Trump won the presidential election, in an exchange with lawyer Lisa Page, and almost certainly with Deputy FBI Director Andy McCabe.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
In gleeful tweets, officials Mari Loijens and Manuel Santamaria from the Silicon Valley Community Foundation (SVCF) — America’s largest community foundation, with assets of over $8 billion — documented their attendance at a December 9 banquet organized by the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) in San Francisco.
CAIR is a notorious organization. While it claims to be a civil rights group, it has consistently promoted hatred against women, Jews, homosexuals and even other Muslims belonging to minority sects.
This sordid history of hate, however, has not concerned SVCF. Loijens and Santamaria attended CAIR’s banquet to accept the “Empowering American Muslims” award from CAIR for SVCF’s “bold defense of and support for their American Muslim grantees in the face of Islamophobic attacks.” Loijens tweeted after the CAIR banquet: “Thank you, CAIR-SFBA for all you do to help our community come together and build bridges.”
What exactly, then, were these “Islamophobic attacks”?
Since 2008, SVCF has donated over $330,000 to CAIR and Islamic Relief (IR). Both organizations have been designated as terrorist organizations by the United Arab Emirates, a pious Muslim country.
In 2009, CAIR was listed by the U.S. government as an unindicted co-conspirator in a scheme that provided funding to the terror group Hamas.
The Middle East Forum contacted SVCF in 2016 to explain that far from building bridges or empowering Muslims, these donations support fringe Islamists whose regressive views — on everything from homosexuality to women’s rights — create divisions in the American Muslim community and disempower ordinary, mainstream Muslims…
| — Hat tip: Dora | [Return to headlines] |
Trump Targeted by the Deep Roots of the Deep State
Talk of a “deep state” or “shadow presidency” at work against President Trump surfaced before he was even inaugurated. And it continues. On Tuesday, Rep. Jim Jordan said he believes a powerful plan had been in place to prevent Mr. Trump from reaching the White House, citing the ongoing Russia collusion investigation and other factors.
“They were putting together a plan to stop Donald Trump . I think it’s amazing that the Democrats were against him, the Republican establishment was against him and the mainstream press — and now I believe the FBI and Justice Department were against him. Everything points to the fact that there was an orchestrated plan to try to prevent Donald Trump from being the next president of the United States,” the Ohio Republican told Fox News,
The deep state has deep roots. Prior to Election Day in 2016, media reports were already pondering the existence of a secretive foe. Even before Mr. Trump took the presidential oath on Jan. 20, political commentator Bill Moyers suggested that Hillary Clinton stage her own inaugural address — advising Democrats to “prepare by joining together as a movement and creating the constituency of what will be, in effect, a shadow government — one that will serve to track and respond to every single bad action undertaken by the Trump administration and its monolithic Congress.”
There was more in those uneasy days.
“Barack Obama is preparing for his third term,” noted GQ magazine in a commentary published on Inauguration Day.
“Democrats are eager for Barack Obama to play the role of shadow president, offering direction to Americans who feel they lost their political compass the day Mr. Trump was elected,” advised ABC News — in this case, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation News.
“Former President Obama is waging war against the Trump administration through his generously funded agitation outfit, Organizing for Action, to defend his monumentally destructive record of failure and violent polarization. It is a chilling reminder that the increasingly aggressive, in-your-face Left in this country is on the march,” warned investigative reporter Matthew Vadum in a story titled “Obama’s Shadow Presidency,” published in FrontPage Magazine on Feb. 15.
“The soft coup against the Trump administration continues. A soft coup is a coordinated effort to delegitimize or undermine a lawfully elected official,” said Chris Farrell, director of investigations for Judicial Watch, also in mid-February. “Soft coups include actions by senior government officials refusing to carry out their roles and critical tasks, or otherwise acting in opposition to the letter or spirit of law to diminish or remove de facto power from those who otherwise would legally wield it.”
Trump’s Success is His Best Armor
President Trump is being lauded by allies for his success in the economic sector, in national security and defense, and through his court appointments. Rush Limbaughcalls these gains “transformational and phenomenal” for the nation, predicting that such victories could send Democrats into a funk — “born of the reality that they have been unable to stop Trump from the implementation of his agenda,” the talk radio host told his 10 million listeners on Tuesday.
“But look at the forces arrayed against this president — you look at the projection of power the left has put together and used against this administration — and then you measure what this administration got done. I would be hard-pressed for you to name any other president who could pull off as much of what Trump has pulled off with this kind of opposition. No previous president has known this kind of opposition,” he continued.
“No previous president has been targeted for destruction by what we call the deep state, the administrative, unelected bureaucracy of this country — staffed by career leftists, socialists, liberals, you name it — working in consort with simpaticos in the drive-by media. There isn’t a single president in our lifetimes you could name who could have withstood and overcome and triumphed on so much against this kind of opposition,” Mr. Limbaugh said.
It’s Still Merry
Pollsters don’t stop polling during the holidays. Monmouth University reveals in a new survey that nine out of 10 Americans celebrate Christmas, 5 percent celebrate Hanukkah and 3 percent celebrate Kwanzaa.
“The poll also finds that 67 percent of the public tends to use ‘Merry Christmas’ as their usual greeting during this time of year. Another 25 percent say ‘Happy Holidays.’ Because everything is political in this day and age, there is a bit of a partisan divide. Republicans (87 percent) are more likely than independents (61 percent) and Democrats (58 percent) to use ‘Merry Christmas,’ while Democrats (34 percent) and independents (29 percent) are much more likely than Republicans (9 percent) to use ‘Happy Holidays’,” the poll analysis reports.
“With apologies to Mark Twain, reports of the death of ‘Merry Christmas’ have been greatly exaggerated,” observes Patrick Murray, director of the independent Monmouth University Polling Institute…
| — Hat tip: Dora | [Return to headlines] |
Article 7: European Union Launches Full Frontal Assault on Poland
European Commission First Vice-president Frans Timmermans has confirmed the EU executive is seeking to impose unprecedented sanctions on conservative Poland.
The 56-year-old insisted that use of Article 7 against Poland — which could see the country stripped of its EU voting rights but still subject to the bloc’s decrees — is a necessary response to the conservative Law and Justice Party government’s attempts to reform what it sees as a corrupt judicial system.
Timmermans alleges these reforms represent a “serious breach of the rule of law”.
“This is not just about the situation in Poland, this about the EU as a whole, about who we are. An issue with the rule of law in one member-state is of concern to all member-states,” the bureaucrat declared, making his position on the EU’s right to interfere in domestic matters perfectly clear.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Catalan Separatists Claim Election Victory Over Spanish Government
The Catalonian independence movement looks set to secure a big victory in a key election for the region’s push to secede from Spain.
The Spanish government called a snap parliamentary election in the region after Catalonian leaders held a banned independence referendum. Left-wing parties ERC and CUP are on track to win 70 seats, an absolute majority in the 135-member parliament. Centrist pro-unity party Ciudadanos received the most votes, but fell short of being able to form an administration.
Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy expected to increase Madrid’s control and shut down any attempts to break away from the country. The surprising outcome could now instead legitimize the referendum.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
EU Threaten Catalonia With Separatism if They Press Ahead With Independence From Spain
THE EUROPEAN Commission have re-iterated their threat to remove Catalan from the Brussels bloc if they press ahead with independence.
Catalonians have been taking part in an extraordinary vote after direct rule was introduced in the region following a referendum on independence in October that the Spanish Government called “illegal”.
The results of the election revealed the Pro-independence parties Together for Catalonia, Republican Left of Catalonia and Popular Unity have won a large majority in the 135 seat Parliament.
However, the European Union have given their backing to the Madrid Government following the poll and have essentially condemned the independence movement.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
George Soros’s Romanian Ghosts
Capital Research Center has exposed liberal billionaire George Soros’s funding of left-wing movements and organizations in the United States, including Occupy Wall Street, Black Lives Matter, and the communist-connected Color of Change. But the billionaire’s goals have always been bigger than one country. In fact, in 2017, the U.S. only received 15 percent of his Open Society Foundations’ (OSF) dedicated funding—the rest went to foreign countries and global projects.
Soros has given particular focus to exporting political unrest to the former communist countries of Eastern Europe, including his native Hungary. In fewer than 25 years, OSF has poured $1.6 billion into the region for “democratic development.”
But why would the organization spend such a sum on countries that are already democratic?
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Huge Weapons Cache Seized From Swiss Man Suspected of Selling Arms to Austria
A 61-year-old Swiss man suspected of selling arms illegally to Austria has been arrested by police in St Gallen.
| — Hat tip: Charles Low | [Return to headlines] |
Hungary Veto Sets Scene for EU Battle on Poland
Hungary and the Czech Republic have backed Poland in its dispute with the EU, as the war on rule of law moved to a larger theatre.
Hungary promised to veto EU sanctions on Poland after the European Commission triggered a punitive process over Polish judicial reforms on Wednesday (20 December).
“We shall defend Poland in the face of an unfair, fabricated political procedure,” Hungary’s deputy prime minister Zsolt Semjen said the same day.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Woman Dies After Being Stabbed to Death in Aldi Supermarket in Yorkshire
A man has been arrested on suspicion of murder after a woman was stabbed to death in an Aldi supermarket in front of horrified shoppers.
The 44-year-old was held following the attack on a 30-year-old woman at the store in Skipton, North Yorkshire, at around 3.27pm this afternoon.
Shoppers and staff members bravely detained the suspect before police arrived. A woman who was in the store and asked to remain anonymous said she had “never been so scared in my life”.
The witness said she heard “loads of screams” then saw the woman lying on the floor and the man pinned down as “everyone screamed and ran up and down” the supermarket.
She said: “I just saw the aftermath, I was so scared I ran off. All the staff were racing about not knowing what to do.”
Police vans arrived on scene within minutes, she added. Paramedics also rushed to the store but the woman died despite their efforts to save her.
North Yorkshire Police said the incident was not terror-related or believed to be a hate crime.
The man was initially arrested on suspicion of attempted murder but the force has now launched a murder inquiry. The victim’s family has been told and they are being supported by officers.
A police spokesman said: “We are not in a position to identify the victim at this stage, and we urge people respect her family’s privacy and to avoid speculation and rumour on social media…
| — Hat tip: Dean | [Return to headlines] |
by Srdja Trifkovic
On December 20 the European Commission (EC) took the unprecedented step of activating Article 7.1 of the Lisbon Treaty against Poland. The EC accuses the Law and Justice (PiS) government in Warsaw of “putting fundamental democratic rights at risk” by enacting 13 laws to reform the country’s judiciary which make it easier to replace the nation’s top judges. Brussels claims that those laws would enable the government to pack the entire justice system structure, and especially the key Constitutional Tribunal, with political appointees.
Clause 7.1 allows the EU to punish member states which fail to uphold “human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law, and respect for human rights.” This does not mean that the “nuclear option” will be duly applied and Poland’s voting rights within the EU automatically suspended, but the procedure may be initiated if in the next three months the government in Warsaw does not act to reverse its alleged “serious and persistent” violations of EU values.
Even then such outcome is not preordained. The decision on sanctions has to be unanimous, and Hungary (which has its own problems with Brussels) has already promised to veto it. Eight weeks ago, Hungary’s prime minister Viktor Orbán — who supports the creation of a “migrant-free zone” in Central Europe — rejected changes to the EU asylum system which would force all 28 member states to accept “asylum seekers” against the will of their people. In addition, Orbán is the EU’s bête noire because of his determined steps to close George Soros’s various outfits in Hungary, including his university in Budapest.
Poland’s prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki—who took over from Beata Szydlo on December 11—is adamant that the program of judiciary reforms will go ahead as planned, and that it is wholly within Poland’s sovereign rights to see it completed. Standing up to the EC is popular in Poland, which like its other three Visegrad Group partners (Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia) resists demands from Brussels to accept mandatory migrant quotas for resettlement…
| — Hat tip: Srdja Trifkovic | [Return to headlines] |
These Countries Voted With US as UN Condemns Trump’s Recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s Capital
Haley to the UN: Your Jerusalem vote will be remembered
The U.S. ambassador to the U.N. says America’s goodwill should not be disrespected.
The United Nations General Assembly overwhelmingly voted to declare President Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital “null and void” on Thursday.
The assembly voted 128 to 9 with 35 abstentions. The resolution was co-sponsored by Turkey and Yemen.
The vote, while a victory for Palestinians, was significantly lower than supporters had hoped for. U.S. ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley warned that the vote would “make a difference on how Americans look at the U.N. and on how we look at countries who disrespect us in the U.N., and this vote will be remembered.”…
| — Hat tip: Dean | [Return to headlines] |
UN Resolution Against US Jerusalem Move Passes 128-9
The UN passes a voted to [sic] adopt a resolution rejecting US recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
One hundred and twenty eight countries voted in favor of the motion and nine voted against.
Thirty-five countries abstained.
[Note: Which 28 countries were that smart?]
| — Hat tip: Dora | [Return to headlines] |
Do the Math: The ‘Contribution’ of China and India to the Paris Agreement is Worthless
A common argument against the Paris agreement has been that the “pledges” to cut emissions are only that: promises, targets, hopes. There is no way to enforce them, or even to verify them in many cases.
Another common argument, highlighted in Trump’s speech but made since long before, is that even if the pledges were met the deal would be useless. According to this view, China, India et al are not even putting up with the charade of trying to reduce emissions. Their emission targets are what you’d expect if their economies and energy systems continued their historical experience; in other words, their “target” is equivalent to doing nothing. Most hilariously, Pakistan’s INDC simply stated its emissions would peak at some point.
(Proponents of the agreement have usually countered this argument by putting their hands on their ears and ceaselessly screaming “I HEAR NOTHING”)
In this article I take a quick look at historical emissions and economy data from China and India. As in other articles, data on emissions comes from the BP Energy Review and data on GDP growth comes from the World Bank; this Dropbox folder contains both the data and my calculations.
The TL; DR version is that, indeed, both countries submitted pledges that implied simply continuing the previous economic and energy trajectory; there is no extra decarbonization of their economies, compared with what they were already doing in 1990, 1995, etc. In the last section I delve on the implications of this fact for climate communications.
(That said, both China and India include a reforestation target. The impact of reforestation is definitely not captured by statistics on emissions, as these are derived from statistics on fossil fuel consumption. Growing forest cover has been a reality in developed countries for many decades. But I don’t know enough about the world’s forests to judge what would have been the “normal” reforestation in both countries, with no additional effort on their side, so I’ll leave it at that.)
[…]
NOTE: See Links at URL
| — Hat tip: Dora | [Return to headlines] |
“Mental Health Issues”: Muslim Who Rammed 18 People With Car Has ‘No Link to Terror’
The new convenient excuse that allows us all to ignore reality.
The Muslim man who rammed a car into 18 people in Melbourne, Australia had “mental health issues,” an explanation that conveniently brushes aside any need to examine whether his belief system played a role in the attack.
Numerous people as well as a toddler suffered serious injuries when the man deliberately drove his vehicle into a crowd of Christmas shoppers outside Melbourne’s iconic Flinders Street station earlier today.
People were flung in the air after being hit by the vehicle, which was traveling at around around 60 miles per hour (100 kph).
The attacker, a 32-year-old Afghan immigrant, was arrested by police after a scuffle.
Another man carrying a bag of knives who was filming the incident was also arrested, although police have indicated he had no connection to the attack.
Within a few hours, authorities announced that the driver of the vehicle had “mental health issues,” a history of drug use and that there was “no evidence of a link to terrorism.”
The rapidity of the clarification is interesting given that leftists routinely complain about white people being shielded from associations with terrorism because of their skin color.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Australia Police Say Don’t Suspect Terrorism After Car Plows Into Pedestrians
MELBOURNE (Reuters) — An Australian man of Afghan descent with a history of mental health issues drove a car into Christmas shoppers in the city of Melbourne on Thursday, injuring 19 people, but police said they did not believe the attack was terror-related.
[Comment: Mental illness and terrorism are not mutually exclusive.]
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
A 15-year-old boy is in hospital with life-threatening injuries after being struck in the head with a metal pole in Melbourne’s southeast.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
More than a dozen pedestrians, including a toddler, have been injured after a car ploughed into rush hour crowds at Melbourne’s busy Flinders Street at 4.41pm Thursday.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
Car Rams Into Pedestrians in Melbourne; up to 19 Injured
SYDNEY — Australian police said there is no evidence of a terrorist link to a car ramming attack Thursday in central Melbourne that left 19 people injured.
Police said the driver was a 32-year-old Australian citizen of Afghan decent who has a history of drug use and mental health issues. The man was known to police for historical minor assault and traffic offenses.
“We don’t at this time have any evidence or any intelligence to indicate there’s a connection with terrorism,” said Victoria state police acting commissioner Shane Patton.
The streets outside the city’s iconic Flinders Street railway station were crowded with Christmas shoppers late Thursday afternoon when a white Suzuki SUV ran a red light and sped up to slam into pedestrians crossing the road before crashing into a traffic barrier.
While police had earlier said 14 people had been injured, Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews confirmed that 19 people had been taken to hospitals. The four listed in critical condition are believed to include a preschool-aged child, Australian media reported.
Andrews described the incident as “an act of evil and an act of cowardice, perpetrated against innocent bystanders.”
Witnesses described a horrific scene…
| — Hat tip: Dean | [Return to headlines] |
The shocking moment police restrained an irate man who appeared to be abusing the driver of a car which ploughed into pedestrians in Melbourne’s CBD has been caught on camera.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
The man arrested after filming as a car ploughed through crowds outside Melbourne’s Flinders Street train station has been charged with weapons and drug offences.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
Melbourne Flinders St Incident: Witnesses Describe Chaos as Car Struck Pedestrians
IT was 15 seconds of horror where people were “being thrown like rag dolls”.
Witnesses described the chaos of seeing people “flying into the air” while others dodged the car and ran for their lives.
Then two final loud thuds.
One last person was hit and then the car hit the tram stop bringing the ordeal to an end.
But a trail of destruction was left on the streets.
Melburnians united in the middle of Flinders St to help the injured on one of the city’s busiest crossings filled with more than 100 Christmas shoppers, workers, and tourists.
Lachlan Read said when he first heard thumping noises, he thought it was a tram.
“But when I turned around there was no tram — it was car just hitting people,” the 20-year-old said…
| — Hat tip: RW | [Return to headlines] |
A judge has praised an ‘inspirational’ woman at the centre of a 60 Minutes defamation case for her ‘tremendous resilience and spirit’ after a NSW jury accepted her story of forced marriage.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
Police Identify 32-Year-Old Man as Alleged Melbourne Driver
The man allegedly behind the wheel of the vehicle that ploughed into pedestrians in Melbourne’s CBD has been identified.
The incident unfolded on Flinders Street shortly after 4.30pm as a white 4WD mowed down pedestrians, injuring 19, with four critical including a four-year-old boy and an 83-year-old man.
Victoria Police identified the driver as a 32-year-old Australian citizen of Afghan descent. Police confirmed he was the sole person in the car.
He was previously known to police with a history of drug use and assault matters.
The 32-year-old also has a history of mental health issues and police believe he has been receiving treatment for his mental illness.
He is one of the 19 hospitalised and is in a stable condition, remaining under police guard.
Another male, aged 24, who police believe was not related to the incident, was also arrested at the scene.
According to police, he was seen filming the incident with his mobile phone and was in possession of a bag containing three knives.
Fifteen people are in a stable condition in hospital and four are in a critical condition…
| — Hat tip: RA | [Return to headlines] |
This is the horrific moment a white SUV allegedly driven by an Afghan immigrant drug addict ‘deliberately’ rams into a crowd of shoppers in Melbourne’s city centre on Thursday afternoon.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
An injured off-duty police officer has been hailed a hero for arresting a rampaging driver in Melbourne’s city centre during the afternoon peak hour rush on Thursday afternoon.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
Majority Party in Troubled Nation Plans to Seize Private Land
Cyril Ramaphosa, the new leader of South Africa’ s dominant African National Congress (ANC) party, has promised a “ radical economic transformation” for the country, including the possibility of seizing land without compensation.
“ This conference has resolved that the expropriation of land without compensation should be among the mechanisms available to government to effect to land reform and redistribution,” he declared.
He added that any redistribution must be done in a way that is “ sustainable.”
Where does socialism inevitably lead? Find out in “ The Politically Incorrect Guide to Socialism” from the WND Superstore.
A considerable portion of land in South Africa is owned by white farmers, though their status is hardly privileged. White farmers have been under siege, suffering a murder rate 20 times the international average.
Being a farmer in South Africa is more dangerous than being a police officer. The South African government has been noticeably reticent to stop the killings, and South African President Jacob Zuma has even been filmed singing the revolutionary song “ Kill The Boer.”
As WND contributor Ilana Mercer observed, the notorious Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe was actually pressured into his disastrous policy of confiscating white land by his people.
A similar situation may be developing in South Africa, as the ANC is increasingly being pushed from the left by Julius Malema, a former youth leader in the ANC. His Economic Freedom Fighters party has become a powerful pressure group arguing for confiscation of white lands and the imposition of full-blown socialism.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Aussies Sending Hundreds of ‘Mentally Ill’ Muslim Migrants to U.S.
The 32-year-old Afghan migrant who plowed his SUV into a sidewalk full of Christmas shoppers in Melbourne, Australia, Thursday, has a lot in common with the more than 1,200 unwanted refugees Australia is sending to the U.S. under what President Trump has called a “ dumb deal” negotiated by his predecessor, Barack Obama.
The carnage Thursday was caused by a maneuver that was “ deliberate” but not necessarily tied to terrorism, Australian police said in the aftermath of the attack, which injured 18 and left a preschool boy fighting for his life in the hospital with traumatic head injuries.
Not only was the attacker Afghan (and, therefore, likely Muslim), but he has a history of mental health issues, said Australia’ s chief of state police.
The suspect, whose name has not been released, is an Australian citizen of Afghan descent who used a technique, car ramming, that has been repeatedly recommended by the Islamic State over the last two years.
What should be disconcerting to every American, and what’ s not being reported by the establishment media, is that the U.S. has agreed to take up to 1,250 rejected Muslim asylum-seekers off of Australia’ s hands, most of them from Afghanistan and Pakistan along with stateless Rohingya Muslims from Burma and Bangladesh.
The deal was negotiated by the Obama administration, and Trump reluctantly agreed to honor it, calling it “ dumb” in a tweet just weeks before taking office.
But here’ s the bombshell. The head of Human Rights Watch Australia, Elaine Pearson, recently admitted to the New York Times that the mental health of these American-bound refugees has in many cases deteriorated due to their prolonged incarceration on two remote islands, Manus and Nauru, offshore from Australia.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
EU Citizens’ Fear of Mass Migration and Terrorism Has More Than Doubled
Voters across the EU agree terrorism and immigration are the most important issues facing the bloc — far ahead of the economy, unemployment, or climate change.
Immigration is the EU’s greatest concern at 39 per cent with terrorism just a little behind at 38 per cent, according to the latest Eurobarometer poll.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
France Brings First of 3,000 Migrants Directly From Africa Under New Migrant Plan
France has begun a new initiative to bring in 3,000 migrants directly from Africa, as 19 Sundanese migrants arrived on Monday who will be temporarily housed in a monastery in Alsace.
On Tuesday 25 migrants from Niger arrived in the country, followed by another group of African migrants on Wednesday. The flights will continue over the next two years, primarily from Chad and Niger, until the target of 3,000 is reached Die Welt reports.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Five medical doctors and four pro-migrant activists have been indicted on charges relating to the issue of fake medical certificates to asylum seekers to keep them in France.
The fake certificates are alleged to have cost French taxpayers 3.9 million euros in total. Along with the five doctors, the presidents of two pro-migrant humanitarian organisations, as well as two more middlemen, have been brought up on charges of assisting criminals gangs, fraud, and breaches of trust, Le Figaro reports.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Germany: Left-Wing Politician Bemoans Lack of Police Action Against Migrant Criminals
Left-wing Green Party politician Peter Seifert has complained of a lack of action by German police against migrant criminals, increasing the popularity of the anti-mass migration Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.
In a letter to a local newspaper, Seifert, who serves on the city council in Balingen, wrote a personal account of his experiences with a violent drunken asylum seeker, Die Welt reports.
[Comment: This article is interesting in light of the article “What Was the Role of the Intelligence Services in the Berlin Christmas Market Attack” which appeared in Gates of Vienna.]
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Jewish Resettlement Contractor in Court Against Trump’s Latest Refugee Restrictions
That would be the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society one of the nine federal contractors*** that monopolize all refugee resettlement in America.
They have been the most litigious of the nine while they receive more than $20 million a year directly from the US Treasury to place refugees in US cities. HIAS has also been the leader of the contractors’ political agitation campaign against the President.
they are closing some of those offices because the paying client (aka refugee) numbers have dropped (especially those on the Iran to Austria express that HIAS liked so much).
Here is the news about today’s court case from The Times of Israel:
A federal court in Seattle will hear an argument brought by Jewish groups challenging the latest Trump administration ban on refugees.
One of the two challenges being heard, Jewish Family Service v. Trump, has been brought by HIAS, the Jewish immigration advocacy group, on behalf of its partners, Jewish Family Service of Seattle and Jewish Family Services of Silicon Valley. The second case is ACLU of WA v. Trump.
The cases will be heard Thursday morning in the US District Court in the city.
The new set of restrictions on refugees include a minimum 90-day suspension of admission of refugees from 11 countries, nine of which are predominantly Muslim, and a suspension of the so-called follow-to-join process, which reunites family members with refugees already in the United States.
[….]
“The global refugee crisis has reached record high proportions, yet the Trump administration has set a record low ceiling for refugees that may be resettled to the United States,” HIAS President Mark Hetfield said in a statement announcing the suit.
There is no legal question about whether the President can set the number of refugees to be admitted to the US (Refugee Act of 1980 gives him that power), so why [is] the number issue […] relevant to the case involving restrictions on certain countries
[?] [Is] this all about whacking Trump (again) through the media as they take a major hit to their pocketbooks[?]
Will the feds give them money anyway?…
Right after 9/11 when President Bush lowered the refugee numbers dramatically (less than 30,000 for 2 straight years), we have been told that the contractors, hysterical about the hit a reduction in paying clients would be to their budgets, were able to get funding for doing very little from the federal government. We will be watching for any news of that happening and will be raising the red flag if we get wind of it!
***For new readers, these are the nine federal resettlement contractors that are paid by you, the taxpayer, to place refugees in your towns and cities. There will be no serious reform of the US Refugee Admissions Program as long as they are paid by the head to place refugees and as long as they are effectively Leftwing community agitators as well:
- Church World Service (CWS)
- Ethiopian Community Development Council (ECDC) (secular)
- Episcopal Migration Ministries (EMM)
- Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS)
- International Rescue Committee (IRC) (secular)
- US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (USCRI) (secular)
- Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services (LIRS)
- United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB)
- World Relief Corporation (WR)
| — Hat tip: Dora | [Return to headlines] |
Leftist Students Rip Down ‘Racist’ Kate Steinle Memorial Posters
Conservative students continue mourning the death of Kate Steinle, the woman murdered by an illegal alien given sanctuary in San Francisco, and leftist students continue to be triggered by her memory.
Earlier this month, University of California-San Diego student Gregory Lu hung up 150 posters of Steinle around campus with the caption, “She had dreams too.” Days later, he was notified by the Office for the Prevention of Harassment & Discrimination requesting a meeting after it received an “online incident report.” Lu believes this is an attempt at intimidating conservative students.
UC-San Diego College Democrats called the posters “racist propaganda” against “the undocumented community.” On Facebook the group wrote:…
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Supreme Court Grants Reprieve to Trump on DACA Documents
The Supreme Court said Wednesday that the Trump administration doesn’t have to turn over a massive load of documents relating to the decision to phase out the Obama-era DACA deportation amnesty, and delivered another spanking to a California court that’s repeatedly ruled against President Trump.
In an unsigned opinion, the justices said the judge was too hasty in ordering the documents to be turned over to anti-Trump activists who are suing to try to derail the DACA phaseout.
“The district court may not compel the government to disclose any document that the government believes is privileged without first providing the government with the opportunity to argue the issue,” the high court said in the opinion.
A number of organizations across the country sued after the Trump administration in early September said it was phasing out the DACA program, which President Barack Obama created by executive action in 2012, and which is protecting nearly 700,000 illegal immigrant Dreamers.
As part of the lawsuit, the groups demanded to know what materials then-acting Homeland Security Secretary Elaine Duke was looking at when she made the decision. The request also included materials her advisors were looking at when they gave her their own opinions…
| — Hat tip: Dora | [Return to headlines] |
German School Relocates Christmas Party After Muslim Student Complains
She was offended by the singing of Christian carols
A school in Germany has re-located its annual Christmas party after a single complaint from a Muslim student.
The school, located in Lüneburg, announced that it would re-locate the event “out of consideration for those of other faiths.”
Attendance of the party, which had previously been compulsory for both students and teachers, will now be voluntary.
The decision was made after a Muslim student complained about “the singing of Christian Christmas carols” because they were “not compatible” with her religion.
Many students were furious at the move, with one commenting, “Something is being made a problem where none was before.”
However, student spokeswoman Thurka Parathaman said the outcome was correct because students of other faiths had to be taken into consideration.
This serves as yet another reminder of how Europe’s Christian heritage is being slowly eroded as the continent undergoes an influx of mainly Muslim migrants.
A Christmas tree in the Italian city of Bolzano was recently removed from the town hall after fears that it could “hurt the feelings” of or “offend” Muslims.
“Respect for every religion should not be confused with the removal of the traditional symbols on which our society is founded,” remarked local politician Allesandro Urzì in response to the incident.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Report on College Courses Exposes Universities as Nut Houses
Students enrolled in Indiana University’s “Gender Studies” can take a course called “We’re All A Little Crazy: Gender, Madness, & Popular Culture.” But the purveyors of this tax-funded lunacy seem more than just a “little” crazy.
In fact, a new report looking at courses offered at colleges and universities across America shows that institutions of alleged “higher learning” have officially become insane asylums — and the most deranged of the lunatics have seized total control. The whole system has gone stark, raving mad, helping to explain why the overgrown children graduating with hundreds of thousands of dollars in student debt can’t even figure out what gender they are, much less find a job.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
The Politicization of Everything
From Halloween costumes to food, from sports to music to interpersonal relationships, it seems there’s nothing politics hasn’t touched these days. Rather than unify us, like King Midas’s “golden touch,” politics corrupts everything it touches, such that it renders those things incapable of bringing us the joys for which they are intended…
the latest aspect of our lives that the touch of politics has ruined—specifically, the politics of identity. Halloween is a recent example: Remember how we weren’t supposed to let our daughters dress up as Moana, because racism or cultural appropriation or… something?
Or what about the women in Portland who made tacos in their food truck so authentically delicious that they were boycotted and forced to shutter for similarly ridiculous reasons? The drama surrounding various National Football League players’ refusal to stand for the national anthem is yet another glaring example of politics coloring a once-enjoyable pastime, and not for the better.
Finally, and perhaps worst of all, the highly fraught politics of gender now seems to touch every interaction between the sexes, with our social media feeds full of loaded headlines like “If You Can’t Find a Spouse Who Supports Your Career, Stay Single,” and “Husbands Create 7 Extra Hours of Housework for their Wives.”…
NOTE: The writer forgot bathrooms. And religion. And school indoctrination. And so on…[see links at URL]
| — Hat tip: Dora | [Return to headlines] |
So instead of inducing a complete lockdown and checking the illegals already in and deporting those who have no right to be here and hence sort of dealing with the situation, they are now going to give them the comfort of being over here within just a few hours? French, I believe a new “Viva la Revolución” really is overdue these days, when will you wake up?!
3,000 Africans will be flown in to Europe.
“Europe WILL be diverse!” – Frans Timmermans
I looked up this frans timmer or Timur or Tamerlane
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q94syUDDhxA
and found that he is talking the ideas of a devil. Where did they get this empty devilish rhetoric. If we are not attacked by Tamerlane we create our own.
godless Europe we will all burn when you replaced God with allah and the pirate.
Direct flights?
So the insane Left is doubling down on ‘magic dirt’ theory?
Sad to see a once great nation and people euthanize themselves.
Any chance of the flights being hijacked and redirected to Uganda?
2017 was depressing. Can we find some liberation news in 2018, please?
“The program will fly in 3,000 Africans directly from their home countries. 19 migrants from Sudan have arrived, and are being housed temporarily in a monastery in Alsace.”
What could possibly go wrong?!?
When will the time come where those who facilitated this travesty finally pay the piper?
In a “monastery” no less!!! Gimme a flipping, freaking break!
“If You Can’t Find a Spouse Who Supports Your Career, Stay Single,” and “Husbands Create 7 Extra Hours of Housework for their Wives.”…
Even as the good men create “7 Extra Hours” of ecstasy for their deserving wives.
All the same, no need to mention such irrelevant facts when it comes to these man-haters.