Gates of Vienna News Feed 12/24/2017

France is deploying 97,000 policemen and soldiers to keep the country safe over Christmas. The added security personnel will focus on the protection of Christmas markets, shopping centers, churches, and tourist attractions.

In other news, two heterosexual men in Ireland have gotten married so that one of them will avoid paying estate tax when he inherits the other’s house.

To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.

Thanks to Charles Low, Dean, DH, Dora, KS, MC, Reader from Chicago, SS, ST, 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.

Financial Crisis
» Julian Assange Urges Donors to Use Cryptocurrencies to Thwart Government
 
USA
» Associated Press and Washington Amazon Post Circle the Wagons Around Dirty Andy McCabe
» Explosion Destroys Vacant Rural Colorado Gas Station
» Into the Fray — Obama: Worse Than Chamberlain?
» Pennsylvania Gunman Targeted Police Officers, Authorities Say
» Questions Remain After Schmidt Suddenly Steps Down From Alphabet
» Two More ISIS Terror Convictions in America
» Who Are the Journalists That Fusion GPS Paid to Promote the Trump Dossier Story?
 
Canada
» P.M. Trudeau Apologizes
 
Europe and the EU
» Europe: The Islamization of Christmas
» France Deploys 97,000 Security Personnel to Keep Christmas Safe
» Geert Wilders Plans to Conquer Netherlands Through Municipal Elections
» Germany: Angela Merkel Facing New Year Nightmare With One Week to Form Government
» Ireland: Beating the Taxman
» UK: An Oxford Quad Falls Silent Amid Tariq Ramadan Rape Allegations
» War Like Situation Moving Closer to the Center of Sweden’s Capital.
 
North Africa
» After Friday Prayers, 100’s of Muslims Assault Christian Church in Egypt
 
Israel and the Palestinians
» Canada Attending Nikki Haley’s ‘Friendship’ Party After Jerusalem Vote at the UN
» Guatemala to Move Embassy to Jerusalem
 
Far East
» Tiananmen Square Protest Death Toll ‘Was 10,000’
 
Australia — Pacific
» Mother of Melbourne Rampage Driver Lashes Out at Reporters as Her Son, 32, Appears in Court Charged With 18 Counts of Attempted Murder for ‘Running Down Pedestrians’
» Parents Accuse High School of ‘Indoctrinating’ Their Children After Teachers Gave Them Assignments on Changing the Australian Flag and Criticising President Trump
» ‘There Was a Lot of Talk About Religious Beliefs’: Workmate Says Flinders Street Accused Told Colleagues ‘They Needed to Believe in Allah’ As He Claims He’s Been Aggressive Before and Would ‘Blow Up’ While Working
 
Sub-Saharan Africa
» An Open Letter to the ANC From a South African Jew
 
Immigration
» ‘Go to Other Countries’: Sweden Finance Minister Says Refugee Integration Capacity Stretched
» Italy Says EU Will Take 10,000 Stranded Refugees From Libya in 2018
» The Islamic Invasion: Not Judaism — Leftism
» ‘This Will Not Help Europe!” Kurz Blames Rupturing EU on “Failed” Migrant Quotas
 
General
» Walter Williams on Communism and Fascism
 

Julian Assange Urges Donors to Use Cryptocurrencies to Thwart Government

Julian Assange, founder of Wikileaks and international exile, has urged donors to contribute to the online publication by using cryptocurrencies in order to skirt the financial ‘blockade’ by national governments. His foundation will now accept payments in Bitcoin, Litecoin, Monero and ZCash.

The exiled Assange has become something of a public cheerleader for Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies following a number of tweets expressing his general approval of the decentralized digital currency model in opposition to governmental controls.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

Associated Press and Washington Amazon Post Circle the Wagons Around Dirty Andy McCabe

The hard left progressives who run old media outlets like the AP and WaPo are running scared. Bit by bit, the corpus of the greatest scandal in American history is being exhumed and brought into full view.

As a central figure in the affair, FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe has yet to testify in a public venue about his various conflicts of interest and his untoward actions to protect Hillary Clinton and attack Donald Trump.

The media is currently using two themes to protect McCabe, one more ludicrous than the other, as we shall see.

Theme 1: By naming names, Trump is tarring the whole FBI and DOJ The kooks at the Washington Amazon Post — and their readers — are pushing this particular theme. In short, that naming a few sleazy actors — and their actions — in the DOJ and the FBI under the Obama administration somehow is an attack on both institutions…

Theme 2: McCabe is Innocent! Unfairly Tarnished! As Pure as the Driven Snow!

In an unbylined (surprise) editorial disguised as a news article, the Associated #FakeNews Press goes all-in on this theme (“Trump tweets falsehoods about wife of retiring FBI Deputy Director McCabe”).

[Scroll down to see A TIMELINE OF TREASON: How the DNC and FBI Leadership Tried to Fix a Presidential Election. It will be updated]

           — Hat tip: Dora [Return to headlines]
 

Explosion Destroys Vacant Rural Colorado Gas Station

The fire happened at around 2:30 a.m.

KUSA — One person was taken to the hospital and a vacant gas station was destroyed after a tanker loaded with crude oil caught fire and exploded early Sunday morning in rural Weld County.

The fire was first reported at County Road 129 and Highway 14 just after 2:30 a.m., the Weld County Sheriff’s Office said.

Thirty firefighters were called to the scene and were able to finish mopping up the blaze at around 9:30 a.m.

People on the south end of nearby New Raymer, Colorado were evacuated due to the fire, but have since been allowed to return home.

The person who was injured was taken to a hospital in Greeley. While his or her condition was not released, the Weld County Sheriff’s Office says it is stable.

What caused the tanker to explode in the first place remains under investigation…

           — Hat tip: Dean [Return to headlines]
 

Into the Fray — Obama: Worse Than Chamberlain?

by Dr. Martin Sherman

“Iran will become a nuclear power. The only mystery over how that will happen is whether Obama was inept or whether he deliberately sought to make the theocracy…strategic power.”- Victor Davis Hanson

In its determination to secure a nuclear deal with Iran, the Obama administration derailed an ambitious law enforcement campaign targeting drug trafficking by the Iranian-backed terrorist group Hezbollah, even as it was funneling cocaine into the United States…Meanwhile, Hezbollah — in league with Iran — continues to undermine U.S. interests in Iraq, Syria and throughout wide swaths of Latin America and Africa, including providing weapons and training to anti-American Shiite militias — Josh Meyer, The secret backstory of how Obama let Hezbollah off the hook, Politico, Dec. 18, 2017.

It is becoming clear that the liberal President Obama…in complete contradiction of his saintly statements, effectively gave a green light to an entire web of ongoing crimes, based on his perception — ridiculous in itself — that it was in America’s national interest to do so—Prof. Abraham Ben-Zvi, No moral backbone Dec. 19, 2019,

The really chilling aspect of the Obama incumbency is that it is genuinely difficult to diagnose whether the abysmal results we see represent a crushing failure of his policies or a calculated success; whether they are the product of chronic ineptitude or purposeful foresight; whether they reflect myopic misunderstanding, moronic incompetence or malicious intent. — Into the Fray: Will the West Withstand The Obama Presidency?, Nov. 28, 2013.[…]

[Very impressive article, well worth reading in full]

           — Hat tip: MC [Return to headlines]
 

Pennsylvania Gunman Targeted Police Officers, Authorities Say

Authorities in Harrisburg, Pa., were wondering Friday what drove a 51-year-old man to go on an afternoon shooting spree in which he apparently targeted police officers.

Police eventually shot and killed the gunman, whom authorities later identified as Ahmed Aminamin El-Mofty.

One Pennsylvania state trooper was shot during the spree, but she was expected to make a full recovery, authorities said.

The suspect had chased the trooper during one of three shootings that began at around 4 p.m., PennLive reported.

By around 7 p.m., the suspect was dead.

Ed Marsico, Dauphin County district attorney, said police were deliberately targeted, and that El-Mofty was slain as he fired at officers while carrying two rifles and a shotgun, PennLive.com reported…

           — Hat tip: ST [Return to headlines]
 

Questions Remain After Schmidt Suddenly Steps Down From Alphabet

The week leading up to Christmas has proven explosive for various aspects of the technological world. […] Eric Schmidt, Executive Chairman of Alphabet’s board of directors, stepped down without naming a successor. The announcement has raised a storm of questions as to the motive behind the decision, and speculation as to Schmidt’s future…

The New York Post writes that the timing of Schmidt’s sudden move — along with the fact that Alphabet waited three days to disclose that Schmidt had told the company he was stepping down, according to a filing — had raised questions. Some have speculated that the powerhouse was linked to sordid allegations similar to those leveled at Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein earlier this year. However, nothing of that nature has been revealed thus far, leaving open a storm of questions as to the cause of his sudden removal. The New York Post wrote that a source close to Schmidt said the move would: “Allow him to have a more “hands-on role” in developing artificial intelligence for defense.”

Schmidt gained notoriety during his tenure at Google and Alphabet for his involvement in politics as well as technology. He was a regular figure amongst the Hillary Clinton Presidential campaign, even going so far as to donate the use of a private Google jet for the campaign’s use. Press reports on the relationship between Schmidt and Clinton’s campaign referred to his role in Clinton’s campaign as “crucial.” Quartz wrote that Schmidt created a start-up, which was described as: “The stealthy, Eric Schmidt-backed startup that’s working to put Hillary Clinton in the White House.” Emails published last year by Wikileaks reveal that Schmidt’s support for the Clinton campaign dated as far back as 2015. The emails illustrate a close relationship between Schmidt and Clinton insiders, notably Bill Clinton and John Podesta, the Clinton campaign’s Chief of Staff.

One very early email exchange dating from 2014 shows Schmidt extending advice to Clinton campaign insiders on the best way to structure the entire campaign from the ground up…

Schmidt’s involvement in Democrat Party politics did not end with his instrumental role the Clinton campaign. He has been a regular speaker at Clinton Global Initiative events. […]

           — Hat tip: Dora [Return to headlines]
 

Two More ISIS Terror Convictions in America

Two men were handed down lengthy sentences for terror offences this week. Lionel Williams, 27, from Sussex, Virginia and Akhror Saidakhmetov, of Brooklyn, were sentenced to 20 years and 15 years respectively.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

Who Are the Journalists That Fusion GPS Paid to Promote the Trump Dossier Story?

In early October, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Rep. Devin Nunes, signed off on a subpoena for the bank records of Fusion GPS, the shady lobbying firm that was behind the development of the Trump dossier while simultaneously taking substantial amounts of money from Russians associated with Vladimir Putin to lobby for the repeal of the Magnitsky Act. The main purpose was to find out who funded the Trump dossier. By early November, however, it became clear that there was another purpose as well. Nunes was trying to find out if Fusion GPS paid journalists to push the Trump dossier story.

The idea is not farfetched. We have an example on the front page today of a journalist being paid to speak before a far left group about how to frame issues for the media. We know that Politico alumni Glenn Thrush and Maggie Haberman collaborated with the Clinton campaign. Thrush ran his articles past the campaign for approval and Haberman was reputed by the campaign to be available to “tee up” stories for them. We know that Fusion GPS organized a briefing by Christopher Steele for members of the media.

Fusion GPS had been successful in convincing the presiding judge, Democrat donor and Obama nominee Tanya Chutkan, to keep just about everything under seal. But, for reasons we don’t know, she was removed from the case last week and a fairly tough trial judge, Richard Leon, assigned the case. Now things are beginning to appear in the public record that shed more light on what is happening. This, for instance, is some of the billing data released today:

[See URL for image list of billing data and a mention of Yahoo].

The Perkins Coie payments are the pass through from the Clinton campaign. The redacted names are of three journalists. Those names are significant:

[Again, an image]

I have to give it to Fusion GPS and the Clinton campaign. They paid for an unverifiable dossier on Trump…a dossier assembled by a guy who used paid intermediaries to interview the sources. They brought in tame and bought media outlets to brief them on the dossier, they were able to get the dossier into the hands of the FBI which apparently used it as the basis for a FISA warrant on Carter Page, the tame and bought media wrote about the allegations and the Clinton campaign were able to hit the issue that had been “teed up” out of the park. This was a thing of beauty. Right up until it spun out of control. Which it did because no one thought Trump would win.

           — Hat tip: Dora [Return to headlines]
 

P.M. Trudeau Apologizes

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has apologized for his actions after the federal ethics watchdog found he violated some provisions of the Conflict of Interest Act when he vacationed on a private island owned by the Aga Khan last Christmas season and took a private helicopter to get there.

He also promised to check with the ethics commissioner before booking holidays.

“I’m sorry I didn’t, and in the future I will be clearing all my family vacations with the commissioner,” he told reporters on Wednesday.

Trudeau and his family stayed at the Aga Khan’s home on Bell Island in the Bahamas from Dec. 26, 2016 to Jan. 4. Trudeau had publicly confirmed they were taken there by the Aga Khan’s private helicopter…

After investigating the prime minister for the better part of a year, outgoing Ethics Commissioner Mary Dawson released her decision on Wednesday.

She found that besides the post-Christmas trip, Trudeau had also accepted a vacation on the island for himself and his family in December 2014, and his wife Sophie Grégoire Trudeau set up a trip to the island in March 2016 with a friend of hers and their children.

“When Mr. Trudeau, as prime minister, accepted the gifts of hospitality from the Aga Khan and the use of his private island in March and December 2016, there were ongoing official dealings with the Aga Khan, and the Aga Khan Foundation Canada was registered to lobby his office,” Dawson’s office said.

“Therefore, the vacations accepted by Mr. Trudeau or his family could reasonably be seen to have been given to influence Mr. Trudeau in his capacity as prime minister.”

She also found Trudeau contravened the part of the act when he didn’t recuse himself from private meetings with the spiritual leader in May 2016 about a $15-million grant to the endowment fund of the Aga Khan’s Global Centre for Pluralism.

           — Hat tip: Dora [Return to headlines]
 

Europe: The Islamization of Christmas

The re-theologizing of Christmas is based on the false premise that the Jesus of the Bible is the Jesus (Isa) of the Koran. This religious fusion, sometimes referred to as “Chrislam,” is gaining ground in a West that has become biblically illiterate.

A school in Lüneburg postponed a Christmas party after a Muslim student complained that the singing of Christmas carols during school was incompatible with Islam. Alexander Gauland, the leader of the anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD), said the school’s action was “an unbearable, involuntary submission to Islam” and amounted to a “cowardly injustice” toward non-Muslim children.

“The word ‘Christmas,’ a symbol of our faith and our culture, does not discriminate against anyone. Striking the emblems of Christmas does not guarantee anyone’s respect, does not produce a welcoming and inclusive school and society, but fosters intolerance towards our culture, our customs, our laws and our traditions. We firmly believe that our traditions must be respected.” — Milan politician Samuele Piscina.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

France Deploys 97,000 Security Personnel to Keep Christmas Safe

France has deployed 97,000 police and soldiers to protect people from potential terror attacks during Christmas.

The country’s interior ministry said the measure comes in “the context of a still-elevated terrorist threat.” Personnel will primarily focus on Christmas markets, shopping centers, religious buildings and popular tourist sites.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

Geert Wilders Plans to Conquer Netherlands Through Municipal Elections

It has taken him a long time, but Geert Wilders’ PVV party (Party for Freedom) plans to participate in 30 municipalities during next year’s municipal elections. That’s a significant improvement for the PVV. Back in 2014, they only participated in two municipalities.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

Germany: Angela Merkel Facing New Year Nightmare With One Week to Form Government

ANGELA Merkel has given herself just one week to bring Germany in from the brink of political uncertainty amid chaos on the continent.

The German Chancellor has been desperately attempting to strike a deal with former European Parliament President Martin Schulz — who currently leads her biggest rival in the Bundestag, the Social Democratic party (SPD).

The grand coalition of Germany’s two biggest parties would save Ms Merkel from having to lead with a minority Government — a feat which has never been attempted in the history of the Bundestag.

However, while the SPD have opened up to talks with Mrs Merkel’s CDU on January 7, the two have given themselves the minute deadline of mid-January to broker a deal.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

Ireland: Beating the Taxman

Two Irish men have married in Dublin to avoid paying €50,000 in inheritance tax on a house.

Best friends Matt Murphy and Michael O’Sullivan are both heterosexual, but decided to get married when they discovered how much tax would have to be paid on the house Murphy, 83, intended to leave in his will to O’Sullivan, 58, who is his carer.

“I’ve known Matty for 30 years. We became very friendly after my second relationship broke up,” O’Sullivan, a father of three, told the Irish Mirror.

“I have been bringing Matt out in my car to various parties and all that kind of thing. He became friends with all my friends, they all loved him.”

Each man went through some tough times, with O’Sullivan becoming homeless and Murphy suffering from giant cell arteritis, which affects the optic nerve.

“I stayed over with him for a while and eventually Matt said ‘Why don’t you come and stay here?’ I would go over and stay with him the odd time but never full time.”

Murphy could not afford to pay O’Sullivan as a carer. “Eventually Matt said the only way he could pay me was to leave me the house. He said he would give me the house so I have somewhere to live when he goes.”

However, O’Sullivan knew that would mean a huge tax bill and the house would have to be sold to pay it. He said Murphy “was chatting a friend down the country in Cashel, Co Tipperary, and she jokingly said we should get married.

“Then one night he turned around and said it to me and I said I would marry him.”…

O’Sullivan was previously married to a woman. It is Murphy’s first marriage.

During the wedding ceremony O’Sullivan spoke of his husband’s great kindness, the Irish Times reported, while Murphy sang Willie Nelson’s Let the World Go By: “With someone like you, a pal good and true / I’d like to leave it all behind and go and find / A place that’s known to God alone.”

O’Sullivan said after the ceremony: “I love Matt and he loves me, as friends.”

           — Hat tip: Dora [Return to headlines]
 

UK: An Oxford Quad Falls Silent Amid Tariq Ramadan Rape Allegations

In the city of dreaming spires, a new £11 million building offers clues as to why the prestigious university waited over two weeks to act on accusations of rape and sexual assault against one of its professors

In the shadows of one of Oxford’s newest buildings — a shimmering, stainless-steel structure that looks out of place in a city known for its dreaming spires — lies an uneasy silence.

At St Antony’s college, everyone is running scared, heads down and refusing to talk. Inside, on the college quad that is usually the epicentre of student life, there is a marked reluctance to engage. The gleaming new building is home to the university’s Middle East Centre, where Tariq Ramadan usually tutors and supervises students.

After the first of a string of damning rape and sexual assault allegations made against the Islamic scholar, students at Oxford were told they would continue to be tutored by him — although they were allowed to request another faculty member to be in the room if they wished.

Eugene Rogan, the director of the Middle East Centre, also defended Mr Ramadan, telling students that the accusations were “just another way for Europeans to gang up against a prominent Muslim intellectual”.

But as the accusations mounted, the university finally caved into pressure.

This week, it issued a statement announcing that Mr Ramadan, professor of Islamic studies at Oxford, would be taking a leave of absence “by mutual agreement and with immediate effect”.

Mr Ramadan, who is the grandson of the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, said on his Facebook page that he welcomed Oxford’s handling of the situation. He has denied all the allegations and filed a counter-claim for libel.

           — Hat tip: Dora [Return to headlines]
 

War Like Situation Moving Closer to the Center of Sweden’s Capital.

Lise Tamm, head of Sweden’s national unit against organized crime, remarked in an interview to Swedish radio that the situation in the Stockholm suburb of Rinkeby is so serious, that it can be compared with a war zone. She added:

“When the police work there, they operate like how the military would operate.”

Tamm compared the situation in the capital’s suburbs to the conflicts in Colombia and El Salvador, and thinks their conflicts with guerrillas could bring ideas for handling the growing problems capital’s outskirts:

“How did they do it in Colombia with deporting the Farc guerrillas, how did they do it in El Salvador when the war ended? How have they done it in other parts of the world where they have had such great problems for many, many years? Is there any solution? You have to think outside the box,” said Lise Tamm according to Sweden’s state television, Sveriges Radio.

           — Hat tip: Dora [Return to headlines]
 

After Friday Prayers, 100’s of Muslims Assault Christian Church in Egypt

Hundreds of Muslim demonstrators attacked an unlicensed church south of Cairo, wounding three people, an Egyptian Coptic Christian diocese said Saturday, in the latest assault on members of the country’s Christian minority.

           — Hat tip: Charles Low [Return to headlines]
 

Canada Attending Nikki Haley’s ‘Friendship’ Party After Jerusalem Vote at the UN

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley is throwing a party for all the countries who didn’t vote against the United States on its controversial bid to recognize Jerusalem as the capital city of Israel — and Canada plans to attend.

On Thursday an overwhelming number of member states voted “yes” to the resolution, despite threats from U.S. President Donald Trump that he would cut their U.S. funding.

The resolution reaffirmed the United Nations’ long-held stance that Jerusalem’s final status must be decided in negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.

After the vote, Haley tweeted a photo naming the 65 nations that either voted no, were absent or abstained, like Canada. She said: “We appreciate these countries for not falling to the irresponsible ways of the UN.”

She later sent invitations to the group for a Jan. 3 reception to “thank you for your friendship to the United States.”

Canada’s ambassador to the UN, Marc-André Blanchard, told Chris Hall, host of CBC Radio’s The House, that he received an invite and plans on attending.

“I will attend with great pleasure,” he said…

Ahead of the vote, Haley sent a letter to UN delegates that the U.S. would be taking note of everyone’s votes.

“As you consider your vote, I want you to know that the president and U.S. take this vote personally,” she said.

Trump then throttled the tension, telling reporters he would rescind sending aid to countries who opposed him.

“For all these nations, they take our money and then vote against us. They take hundreds of millions of dollars, even billions of dollars and then they vote against us,” he said. “We’ll save a lot. We don’t care.”

Blanchard said Canada abstained because the resolution didn’t advance the prospects for peace, not because of Trump’s threats.

           — Hat tip: Dora [Return to headlines]
 

Guatemala to Move Embassy to Jerusalem

GUATEMALA CITY — Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales said on Sunday he had given instructions to move the Central American country’s embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, a few days after his government backed the United States in a row over the city’s status.

In a short post on his official Facebook account, Morales said he decided to move the embassy from Tel Aviv after talking to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday.

           — Hat tip: Dora [Return to headlines]
 

Tiananmen Square Protest Death Toll ‘Was 10,000’

The Chinese army crackdown on the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests killed at least 10,000 people, according to newly-released UK documents.

The figure was given in a secret diplomatic cable from then British ambassador to China, Alan Donald.

The original source was a friend of a member of China’s State Council, the envoy says.

Previous estimates of the deaths in the pro-democracy protests ranged from several hundred to more than 1,000.

China’s statement at the end of June 1989 said that 200 civilians and several dozen security personnel had died in Beijing following the suppression of “counter-revolutionary riots” on 4 June 1989…

“Students linked arms but were mown down including soldiers. APCs then ran over bodies time and time again to make ‘pie’ and remains collected by bulldozer. Remains incinerated and then hosed down drains.

“Four wounded girl students begged for their lives but were bayoneted.”…

[compared to socialism, perhaps Islam IS a religion of peace]

           — Hat tip: MC [Return to headlines]
 

Mother of Melbourne Rampage Driver Lashes Out at Reporters as Her Son, 32, Appears in Court Charged With 18 Counts of Attempted Murder for ‘Running Down Pedestrians’

The mother of the man accused of mowing down 18 pedestrians outside Melbourne’s Flinders Street Station has violently lashed out at reporters as she arrived at court for her son’s charges.

           — Hat tip: SS [Return to headlines]
 

Parents Accuse High School of ‘Indoctrinating’ Their Children After Teachers Gave Them Assignments on Changing the Australian Flag and Criticising President Trump

A Brisbane high school has been accused of ‘indoctrinating’ students by asking them to complete assignments on changing the Australian flag and criticising US President Donald Trump.

           — Hat tip: SS [Return to headlines]
 

‘There Was a Lot of Talk About Religious Beliefs’: Workmate Says Flinders Street Accused Told Colleagues ‘They Needed to Believe in Allah’ As He Claims He’s Been Aggressive Before and Would ‘Blow Up’ While Working

The driver accused of mowing down pedestrians in Melbourne on Thursday ‘forced’ his religion on colleagues and would ‘blow up’ in anger, according to a former workmate.

           — Hat tip: SS [Return to headlines]
 

An Open Letter to the ANC From a South African Jew

Dear ANC delegate,

I have never voted for you but I have respected you. I have spoken with pride about the lofty goals that you set yourself as a liberation movement. I have been awed by your capacity to forgive many of the injustices of the past, often to your own detriment. Something that you have done with grace and dignity.

You have birthed leaders that stand alongside the greatest statesmen ever born and who will always be remembered as people who left this world a better place than how they found it.

Indeed, the ANC was largely responsible for making South Africa a shining light of tolerance, understanding and forgiveness.

But you have lost your way. And in doing so you will stand on the wrong side of history…

           — Hat tip: KS [Return to headlines]
 

‘Go to Other Countries’: Sweden Finance Minister Says Refugee Integration Capacity Stretched

Sweden has exhausted its resources to take in more asylum seekers after the 2015 refugee influx, the country’s finance minister has said, suggesting that migrants and refugees will have better luck elsewhere in the EU.

“Integration is not working properly. It didn’t work before the autumn of 2015 either, but for me it is obvious that we cannot have a larger asylum reception than we are able to integrate,” Magdalena Andersson told the Dagens Nyheter.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

Italy Says EU Will Take 10,000 Stranded Refugees From Libya in 2018

Up to 10,000 people stranded in refugee camps and detention centers in Libya could be relocated to Europe in 2018, the Italian government said on Sunday.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

The Islamic Invasion: Not Judaism — Leftism

Guest post by NITZAKHON

Over a year ago I was watching a video about the relentless tide of Islamic invaders flooding into Europe in particular, and by extension (albeit unspoken) into America too, thanks to the 1965 immigration treason to change America’s demographics, e.g., How the Left Wins Elections by Transforming Nations.

Don’t forget, more recently, Imperius Barackus Rex and his openly taking sides with America’s enemies, e.g., Obama’s Friends and Enemies, including the Muslim Brotherhood and its long-term plan to take down the west.

Anyway, I’m watching horrific scene after horrific scene, and wondering where the survival instinct has gone. And up pops a woman, Barbara Spectre, who announces that the flood of Islamic immigration into Europe is necessary and good. She also said that Jews need to be at the front of this, leading and facilitating this intentional demographic and cultural change.

Reaction and Action

My reaction was instantaneous: I. Blew. Up. I haven’t been that white-hot livid in a long time. G-d bless my blood pressure. Thankfully I was alone at the time; I was screaming at the computer “Don’t you understand this will make them hate us?”

And I was right. Her sound-bite speech has been prominently displayed in multiple videos on anti-Semitic sites, among others Jews who are also supportive of this human tide. This implies, if not outright states, that this invasion’s origin is derived from Jews as a function of Judaism. This idea is sadly helped by George Soros, who approaches the level of evil of a typical James Bond megalomaniacal villain, being Jewish by birth (though I would state absolutely not by ethics). Many of those videos, and articles too, were sent to me by people I’ve written after reading varied anti-Semitic things on their sites/blogs, and all show Jews supporting the Islamic invasion. That support is cited as evidence that “all Jews” are evil conspiracy members wanting to replace white people with brown ones: hence, “Jews will not replace us”. But people who believe this are people who, in general, don’t already like Jews and see — confirmation bias — what they want to see.

But let me delve to the heart of those videos and articles, and the conclusion arrived at by those with that anti-Jew predisposition. Given seeing these videos and reading these articles that land on the fertile soil of people who already don’t like us, let me state that the conclusion “Jews want to replace whites” is understandable; wrong, but understandable. And let me also give credit to the few with whom I’ve been able to actually have a discussion — a notable if small subset — and observe that after the exchanges I’d like to think I made at least a little progress in implanting the idea that the true variable is not religion but rather politics. Coincidentally, in the course of a few google searches as I wrote this, I stumbled upon this American Thinker article, That Barbara Spectre Video, which made an essential point: delving further into the true variable at work here (bolding added):…

           — Hat tip: DH [Return to headlines]
 

‘This Will Not Help Europe!” Kurz Blames Rupturing EU on “Failed” Migrant Quotas

THE new Austrian Chancellor has blamed the ruptures within the European Union on the “failed” migrant quotas.

Sebastian Kurz, who heads a right-wing coalition government with the far-right Freedom Party is strongly against the view that migrants who come to a European Union country should be distributed across the member states under a quota system.

Mr Kurz told the German daily Bild am Sonntag: “Forcing states to take refugees doesn’t take Europe any further. The discussion makes no sense.

“If we continue this way we will divide the European Union and the Member States will decide on their own how many people they will welcome.”

He added that quotas were meaningless because migrants who want to come to Europe do not want to go to Bulgaria or Hungary, but to Germany, Austria or Sweden”.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

Walter Williams on Communism and Fascism

Before the question, how about a few statistics? The 20th century was mankind’s most brutal century. Roughly 16 million people lost their lives during World War I; about 60 million died during World War II. Wars during the 20th century cost an estimated 71 million to 116 million lives.

The number of war dead pales in comparison with the number of people who lost their lives at the hands of their own governments. The late professor Rudolph J. Rummel of the University of Hawaii documented this tragedy in his book “Death by Government: Genocide and Mass Murder Since 1900.” Some of the statistics found in the book have been updated at http://tinyurl.com/y96tqhrl.

The People’s Republic of China tops the list, with 76 million lives lost at the hands of the government from 1949 to 1987. The Soviet Union follows, with 62 million lives lost from 1917 to 1987. Adolf Hitler’s Nazi German government killed 21 million people between 1933 and 1945. Then there are lesser murdering regimes, such as Nationalist China, Japan, Turkey, Vietnam and Mexico. According to Rummel’s research, the 20th century saw 262 million people’s lives lost at the hands of their own governments.

Hitler’s atrocities are widely recognized, publicized and condemned. World War II’s conquering nations’ condemnation included denazification and bringing Holocaust perpetrators to trial and punishing them through lengthy sentences and execution. Similar measures were taken to punish Japan’s murderers.

But what about the greatest murderers in mankind’s history — the Soviet Union’s Josef Stalin and China’s Mao Zedong? Some leftists saw these communists as heroes. W.E.B. Du Bois, writing in the National Guardian in 1953, said, “Stalin was a great man; few other men of the 20th century approach his stature. … The highest proof of his greatness (was that) he knew the common man, felt his problems, followed his fate.” Walter Duranty called Stalin “the greatest living statesman” and “a quiet, unobtrusive man.” There was even leftist admiration for Hitler and fellow fascist Benito Mussolini. When Hitler came to power in January 1933, George Bernard Shaw described him as “a very remarkable man, a very able man.” President Franklin Roosevelt called the fascist Mussolini “admirable,” and he was “deeply impressed by what he (had) accomplished.”

In 1972, John Kenneth Galbraith visited Communist China and praised Mao and the Chinese economic system. Michel Oksenberg, President Jimmy Carter’s China expert, complained, “America (is) doomed to decay until radical, even revolutionary, change fundamentally alters the institutions and values.” He urged us to “borrow ideas and solutions” from China. Harvard University professor John K. Fairbank believed that America could learn much from the Cultural Revolution, saying, “Americans may find in China’s collective life today an ingredient of personal moral concern for one’s neighbor that has a lesson for us all.” By the way, an estimated 2 million people died during China’s Cultural Revolution. More recent praise for murdering tyrants came from Anita Dunn, President Barack Obama’s acting communications director in 2009, who said, “Two of my favorite political philosophers (are) Mao Zedong and Mother Teresa.”…

Now the question: Why are leftists soft on communism? The reason leftists give communists, the world’s most horrible murderers, a pass is that they sympathize with the chief goal of communism: restricting personal liberty. In the U.S., the call is for government control over our lives through regulations and taxation. Unfortunately, it matters little whether the Democrats or Republicans have the political power. The march toward greater government control is unabated. It just happens at a quicker pace with Democrats in charge.

           — Hat tip: Dora [Return to headlines]
 

5 thoughts on “Gates of Vienna News Feed 12/24/2017

  1. “France is deploying 97,000 policemen and soldiers to keep the country safe over Christmas.”

    This is NOT supposed to be a state of war?

  2. Feldman’s right about the ANC and its anti-semitism. Yet, he seems to forget that this racist organization literally sings about murdering white people…simply because they are whit. And they aim to seize lands owned by whites. It’s a black version of Apartheid and is despicable. South Africa has become a criminal state.

    • Racism and calls for genocide are A-OK when one is not white.

      This is because the cultural Marxists have successfully indoctrinated non-whites into believing that the mysterious force of ‘whiteness’ is the source of all evil in the world and all troubles in their lives.

  3. Canada abstaining in the UN vote condemning the United States is really just Canada being unable to take a stand on anything so they have to soft peddle part time drama/ski instructor Trudeau’s anti-Israel stance.

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