The murder rate in the USA increased by 9% last year, and just five neighborhoods in Chicago were responsible for a third of the increase. Baltimore also showed an increased murder rate, but other major cities such as Los Angeles and Washington D.C. experienced a decline in the number of murders.
In other news, Italy rescued more than 250 migrants last night in the Mediterranean.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to Charles Low, Dean, Dora, JD, KS, Reader from Chicago, 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.
Euro Crash: The Single Currency Plummeted on Christmas Day Against the Dollar
FLASH crash hits Euro as the EU’s currency plummeted by up to three per cent on Christmas Day in a suspected computer-driven sell-off, analysts revealed.
The single currency dropped dramatically in just a few minutes, Bloomberg claimed.
Dramatic market news would normally cause such a drop but that was certainly not the case on Christmas Day, analysts are pointing the finger at computer-driven trading.
Qi Gao, a Hong Kong-based foreign currency strategist for Scotiabank, supported the theory and told the Financial Times that the sell-off had been driven by “algo [algorithmic] trading”.
The currency hit the lowest point since mid July.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Amazon and Google Employees Busted in Asian Sex Trafficking Sting
Several Seattle employees of both Google and Amazon were busted after using their corporate accounts to send emails to local brothels and pimps looking to purchase services from sex workers trafficked from Asia, according to emails obtained by Newsweek.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Can the US Survive an EMP Attack?
While there’s no question that a nuclear strike on the Continental US would be utterly devastating, it’s not the only way a rogue state like North Korea could kill millions of American civilians in one fell swoop.
| — Hat tip: Charles Low | [Return to headlines] |
Conservatives Get Canceled, Liberals Quit Laughing: How Trump’s Election Killed Comedy
National Public Radio host Jesse Thorn announced this year that his now 6-year-old child, who was born a biological male, is transgender and will be raised as a girl named Grace.
Some on the left praised Mr. Thorn for his openness and tolerance. Conservative comedian Owen Benjamin had different words for it: child abuse.
Mr. Benjamin said as much while performing at a college campus. In one of his routines, he quipped that he would have been labeled a girl as a child because he liked to weave and hated sports. Once puberty hit, he was clearly male because he wanted to have sex with women.
Within days, the University of Connecticut canceled Mr. Benjamin’s scheduled appearance, costing him a $7,500 paycheck. His manager and agent both dropped him. Comedy clubs canceled his appearances, and the comedian, who had been performing at nearly 20 colleges a year, suddenly had nothing on his schedule.
“I just got massacred,” Mr. Benjamin said of the backlash. “I had people telling me that I was bullying a transgender child. I was actually bullying an adult that was committing child abuse. If anything, I am the only one standing up for the child.”
Conservatives who work in comedy say his experience is not unusual. In an industry that has historically tilted left, they have been ridiculed for their views. But since the election of Donald Trump, they have become pariahs.
“Comedy is dead, except for calling Donald Trump a Nazi,” said Rodney Lee Conover, a right-leaning comedian who got his start writing jokes for Rush Limbaugh.
The tectonic shift left is not just in comedy clubs’ brick walls but in our living rooms. Johnny Carson’s middle-of-the-road political comedy has been replaced with Stephen Colbert (host of CBS’ “The Late Show”), John Oliver (host of HBO’s “Last Week Tonight”), Trevor Noah (host of Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show”) and others bashing all things conservative on a nightly basis.
Jimmy Kimmel has turned his late-night program on ABC into a seminar on health care. Although his rants have been judged as inaccurate and misleading, it doesn’t stop them from being shared across social media, where they become gospel for many Americans.
Mr. Kimmel revealed that some of his pro-Obamacare monologues were based on talking points provided by Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer, New York Democrat.
Mr. Kimmel told CBS’ “60 Minutes” in October that he has no problem losing Republican viewers over his political commentary. The interview occurred shortly after he abandoned another monologue to call for stricter gun control. At the heart of the comedy is Mr. Trump, who is on pace to become the most ridiculed president ever, according to the Center for Media and Public Affairs at George Mason University.
During his first 100 days in office, Mr. Trump was the subject of 1,060 jokes by late-night comedians — twice that of George W. Bush during his entire first year. Mr. Trump should easily shatter the full-year record for jokes, set by Bill Clinton in 1998 — the year of the Monica Lewinski scandal.
But the jokes go beyond Mr. Trump to include those who might have voted for him.
Samantha Bee was forced to issue an apology in March after mocking a Conservative Political Action Conference attendee for having “Nazi hair.” The target of her haircut joke had undergone radiation treatment for stage 4 brain cancer. “There are no jokes anymore,” Mr. Conover said. “It’s just complete anger and rage.”
Steve McGrew nearly fell victim to the rage this year. The stand-up had always avoided politics in his act. But in March, he released a song parody mocking the left’s reaction to Hillary Clinton’s defeat. The song, “Friends in Safe Spaces,” featured Mr. McGrew playing “Liberal Larry,” a caricature of leftist stereotypes.
Released on social media, the song became a viral hit and was featured on Fox News. The MGM Grand in Las Vegas, where Mr. McGrew is a regular performer, was flooded with calls and emails demanding his firing. Some of those calls even came from friends in the industry.
MGM refused to bow to the pressure, but two smaller comedy clubs said they didn’t want Mr. McGrew back.
“I was not prepared for the backlash,” Mr. McGrew said. “I’ve felt it before as a conservative comic, but it was not nearly as bad until Trump got elected. I’ve been called a racist, Nazi, hate monger — and people are trying to interfere with my livelihood.”…
| — Hat tip: Dora | [Return to headlines] |
DC Police Issue Lookout for 20-Year-Old After They Say Man Stabbed in Union Station
WASHINGTON (ABC7) — A man has been stabbed in Union Station in DC and now police say they are searching for a suspect.
Police say the man who was stabbed is conscious and breathing.
Authorities have now issued a lookout for a 20-year-old black man who they say was wearing a jacket, blue pants and a white hat.
| — Hat tip: Dean | [Return to headlines] |
Dredging Turtle Bay, Another Swamp Just Begging to be Drained
By Jed Babbin
President Trump will need to act seriously on what he and Amb. Haley said last week.
There is never enough time or space to mock the United Nations adequately. Almost since the moment it was created the UN’s principal purpose has been to provide a forum for the dictators, despots, rogues, and terrorists to bash the United States, to vote to condemn America or Israel — or both — without fear of even the most modest reprisal.
After last week, that may change because President Trump and Ambassador Nikki Haley have threatened to cut foreign aid to those nations that voted against us last week. They may also cut our annual funding of the UN. It’s high time for us to do so.
| — Hat tip: KS | [Return to headlines] |
Hezbollah Scandal Perfect Timing for Trump Administration
Did an investigative report give US officials the smoking gun after a year of rhetoric?
An explosive and controversial report alleging the Obama administration soft-peddled investigations into Hezbollah’s drugs and weapons trade due to the desire to get the Iran deal done is making waves in Washington. It could have major ramifications for the region as well, particularly because the Trump administration has Hezbollah in its crosshairs.
Politico published on December 18 a major investigative report by Josh Meyer titled “The secret backstory of how Obama let Hezbollah off the hook.” Now US Attorney General Jeff Sessions has given the go-ahead to the Justice Department to look at the accusations. Former Obama administration members have critiqued the report.
| — Hat tip: KS | [Return to headlines] |
Man Stabbed Through Mail Slot With Butcher Knife
An Inkster man was stabbed with a large butcher knife through the mail slot at his home on Saturday, Dec. 23, state police say.
The victim was attempting to hold the door shut while the suspect was trying get inside, according to police.
Police say the suspect, who has been arrested, stabbed the victim in the lower left side of his back. The victim was treated and is expected to survive.
The incident occurred in the 4300 block of Harriett in Inkster.
No charges or motive have been announced and police say the investigation is ongoing.
| — Hat tip: Dean | [Return to headlines] |
Millionaire Heiress Crusades Against Freedom to Spend Your Own Money
In response to the tax bill which will lead to a lot more money in her pocket, Abigail Disney, heiress to the Walt Disney Company fortune, said she would be donating that tax break to a worthy cause of her choosing.
No, wait. That’s not it at all. She got in front of a camera and made a video complaining that other wealthy people and corporations won’t be forced to keep handing over quite as much of their money to the government now…
I wouldn’t put so much stock into what one misguided person with a soapbox has to say, except that her view is obviously echoed by so many. And it’s worse than not being an economically sound position. It’s a violent and immoral one too.
Because Disney, and others like her, are trying to frame themselves as the good guys, the ones looking out for the poor and weak in our society. But if that were the case, they would be content with giving away their own wealth and promoting worthy causes. Think of how many people she could influence with a Now This video aimed at feeding hungry children or providing low-cost health care to the destitute.
But that’s not good enough for her. It’s not good enough unless other people are forced, under violence or the threat of violence, to pay for the things that she thinks are the most important.
And judging by the general attitude of almost everyone I encounter in person or online, this is a pervasive idea: people must team up and force other people to do the right thing — the right thing as defined by their team.
Disney says in the video, “if democracy is just a bunch of people advocating for their own self-interest, instead of the interest of the greater good, then we’re not a democracy, we’re anarchy.”
She is using the words “democracy” and “anarchy,” but I do not think she knows what they mean. Democracy IS just a bunch of people advocating for their own self-interest. It is two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner. It is might makes right.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
One Third of a U.S. Spike in Homicides Comes From 5 Chicago Neighborhoods
Murders in the U.S. rose nearly 9% last year, and one-third of that increase came from just a few neighborhoods in Chicago, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of the FBI’s annual 2016 publication, Crime in the United States.
While violent crime (homicide, rape, assault, and robbery) also rose nationwide from 2015 to 2016 — over 4% — the data show the increase was not uniform, but rather concentrated in cities like Chicago and Baltimore.
Los Angeles and Washington, D.C., meanwhile, saw “meaningful declines in violence [that] have been sustained since the 1990s.”
Interestingly, the paper’s neighborhood-by-neighborhood analysis claimed that areas where homicides spiked had a “lighter street presence by police following officers’ high-profile killings of young black men.”
A Pew Research Center poll from January 2017 showed that an overwhelming number of police officers say widespread protests following high-profile killings of black suspects have made police less willing to conduct basic police work, such as stopping and questioning suspicious people in high-crime neighborhoods, and using an appropriate level of force to diffuse a situation.
In Baltimore, violent crime rates were going down until 2015, when police officers “pulled back from a more proactive approach” following widespread city riots after the death of Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old black man who suffered a severe spinal injury while being transported in a police van on April 1, 2015, and died one week later.
Gray had a long criminal record and was arrested for possession of an illegal knife after running from a bike patrol officer who made eye contact with him. State Attorney Marilyn Mosby filed charges against the six officers involved. Each officer was either acquitted or had charges dropped…
| — Hat tip: Dora | [Return to headlines] |
Son of Legendary Washington Post Publisher Commits Suicide Like His Father
by Joseph Curl
A son of Katherine Graham, the legendary former Washington Post publisher, killed himself in a suicide reminiscent of his father’s more than 50 years ago, according to a news report Monday.
William Graham, 69, died December 20 at his home in Los Angeles. According to an obituary in The Washington Post, “The cause was a self-inflicted gunshot wound, said his brother Donald E. Graham, a former Post publisher and chief executive.”
“William’s death came just two days before the Washington, DC, premiere of the movie ‘The Post,’ which recounts the paper’s 1971 efforts to publish the infamous ‘Pentagon Papers’ and features Oscar winner Meryl Streep as his late mom,” the New York Post reported.
“His father, Philip Graham, also committed suicide at age 48 by shooting himself with a 28-gauge shotgun in 1963, days after being released from a psychiatric hospital following six weeks of treatment.”…
| — Hat tip: Dora | [Return to headlines] |
Target of Anti-Trump Dossier Discovers Who Gave Document to BuzzFeed
By Rowan Scarborough
Attorneys for a Russian entrepreneur say they have discovered the source who provided BuzzFeed with the infamous Trump dossier whose unverified charges were embraced by the FBI. They are not disclosing the identity for now.
BuzzFeed took the momentous step on Jan. 10, 2017, of posting the entire 35 pages, including salacious charges about President Trump and “golden showers” in a Moscow hotel. The posting propelled a document seen only by Washington insiders into worldwide public exposure.
Aleksej Gubarev, chief of XBT holdings and its Webzilla web hosting firm, is suing BuzzFeed for libel in U.S. District Court in Florida.
The dossier, orchestrated by Democrats and the firm Fusion GPS and written by former British spy Christopher Steele, accused Mr. Gubarev of hacking Democratic Party computers under pressure from Russian intelligence.
As part of pre-trial discovery, Mr. Gubarev’s attorneys had asked a judge to compel BuzzFeed to name its source.
All Trump people accused in the dossier have denied the charges of Russian collusion and have labeled the document fiction.
[More at the URL]
| — Hat tip: Dora | [Return to headlines] |
The Obama-Hezbollah Conspiracy Could Shake the “Deep State” And Latin America
Politico published an explosive investigative report which alleges that the Obama Administration politically interfered to obstruct a far-reaching criminal justice operation against Hezbollah in order to facilitate the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran.
The exposé is extensive and covers a wide array of purported activities over a ten-year period all across the US, Latin America, West Africa, Europe, and the Mideast, though the point of this analysis isn’t to summarize what’s contained in the report or to judge its veracity, but to interpret the significance of it being made public at this point in time. The codename given to the investigation into Hezbollah’s global economic network was “Operation Cassandra”, and it alleges to have discovered the mechanics behind the group’s self-sustaining financial ecosystem, some of which supposedly dealt with organized criminal activities such as drug trafficking and money laundering.
Politico’s bombshell wasn’t just the alleged facts that it uncovered, but the claims from some of the operation’s participants that the Obama Administration was undermining their work because it feared that taking action against Hezbollah would endanger Washington’s efforts to clinch the 2015 nuclear deal with the group’s patrons in Tehran. If true, then this would represent a major split within the American “deep state”, or permanent military, intelligence, and diplomatic bureaucracies, because it suggests that the State Department and possibly even the CIA were conspiring to subvert the law enforcement duties of the FBI and DEA on behalf of the President.
[Comment: The State Dept is an organ of deep state elitists — seeking to fulfill bankster goals of a NWO. It does not represent the Rupublic of the USA.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Washington Post Heir William Graham Commits Suicide
- William W. Graham committed suicide on December 20 at the age of 69
- His Washington Post publisher father Phil Graham killed himself back in 1963
- Graham’s mother Katharine then served as publisher for the next two decades
- His death came days after a Meryl Streep film was released about his mother
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Police have removed a candle-lit memorial that a white nationalist group created to honor an Australian woman killed in Minneapolis by a Somali officer in July.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
Brexit News: Economist Says EU Regulations Impact the Poor the Most
Mr Wellings, deputy research director at the Institute of Economic Affairs, said poorer Brits are hit hardest by European Union regulations and are forced to buy “expensive” EU produced goods.
Speaking exclusively to Express.co.uk, Mr Wellings said: “The EU is hugely dependent on the UK economy as a destination for its exports.
“And that’s actually probably the biggest cost of being in the EU that British consumers are forced to buy expensive EU produced goods rather than buying cheaper goods from the rest of the world.
“And it impacts particularly enormously on poor families who can’t buy cheaper food from places like Australia and South America. So it’s a really deeply immoral system.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
‘Creeping Revolution’ EU’s Plot for Greater Integration Will See Creation of ‘EU Identity’
A MOVEMENT within the European Union (EU) is attempting to encourage people to adopt a “second identity” as Europhiles ratchet up plans for a “United States of Europe”.
The term used by ex-European Parliament president Martin Schulz to describe the entire bloc, has been adopted by a German group which is calling for all EU nationals to see themselves as Europeans, while calling for an end to nationalism.
Pulse of Europe wants the EU to grow stronger and remain united, rather than breaking apart as more and more people become disenchanted with the bourgeoisie in Brussels.
Founder of the group, Austrian writer Robert Menasse, believes there will be a Europhile revolution.
The 44-year-old lawyer said: “It is fair to say that the EU is a creeping revolution, and just because it is creeping doesn’t mean it isn’t a revolution.
“Because, for the first time in history, a city is producing the framework for a whole continent — that has never happened before. This has been progressing in small steps for half a century, and that is a creeping revolution.”…
| — Hat tip: Dora | [Return to headlines] |
Czech President Milos Zeman: Warrior for Truth
“If you want the unspoken truth, Islamic migration is not possible to integrate, and it is not capable of being assimilated into European culture. “ — Miloš Zeman, President of the Czech Republic.
“This country is ours. And this country is not and can not be for all.” — Miloš Zeman.
“In my opinion, much of the guilt lies on the current leadership of the European Union, which is totally incompetent, bureaucratic, causing the alienation of European citizens from European institutions… We do not need censorship, we do not need an ideological police, we do not need a new press and information office if we are to continue living in a free and democratic society…” — Miloš Zaman, 2016.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
English Intellectuals and Their Loathing of England
Self-hatred is neither attractive nor constructive. It is not only insincere but unjustified
The British, Dalrymple writes,
are fortunate enough to be the inheritors of a tradition as great as (though not necessarily greater than) any. Why reject it?
He writes from India, where he says
it is far easier to find genuine and knowledgeable admirers of British culture than it is among Britain’s own political class. This is the saddest commentary on the condition of England.
In Great Britain, says Dalrymple, you find
officially-sponsored indifference or hostility to anything which might be considered part of the European and British cultural and religious heritage.
This is combined with
a tender regard for any non-European and non-British cultural heritage.
For example,
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
EU Exploits Brexit to Vassalize Other Nations
Globalists aim to regulate regulations!
An EU agreement with Britain on relations after Brexit could serve as a model for ties with other countries that want to be as close as possible to the bloc but are not yet ready to join, such as Ukraine and Turkey, Germany’s foreign minister said.
Britain secured the go-ahead from Brussels to start talks on its future relationship with the EU earlier this month, with London saying it aspires to a closer relationship as a former member than that of any other third country.
In an interview with the Funke newspaper group published on Tuesday, German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel said such a deal could offer a solution to the puzzle of how the bloc of 27 can manage its ties with two other large non-members.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Netherlands: Four Terrorism Suspects Arrested in Rotterdam
The police arrested four men in Rotterdam on Sunday evening on suspicion of involvement in terrorism, the Public Prosecutor said in a statement on Tuesday. The suspects are three Dutch men and one Swedish man.
A foreign police service informed the Dutch authorities about the 29-year-old Swede’s possible involvement in terrorism. He arrived in the Netherlands on a plane from Stockholm on Sunday afternoon. The police kept an eye on him, and arrested him with the three Dutch men early in the evening.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Norway Said Set to Cut Funding for Pro-BDS Palestinian NGOs
[…]
Quoting a statement from the Norwegian government, Hadashot TV news reported Monday that the decision reflects Oslo’s support for Israeli-Palestinian dialogue and cooperation, as well as its opposition to boycotts of Israel.
“This is an additional and vital step for damaging boycott organizations,” Strategic Affairs Minister Gilad Erdan told the TV channel. “We will continue to work consistently to expose European funding for Palestinian organizations that delegitimize [Israel].”
Norway’s decision comes just days after fellow Scandinavian country Denmark said it will revoke funding from several Palestinian NGOs and tighten aid criteria for others after they were found to be tied to anti-Israel activities…
| — Hat tip: Dora | [Return to headlines] |
One Step Closer to a Bad Idea: A European Union Army
Bureaucrats in Brussels have long yearned to control the armed forces of the European Union’s member states, with the ultimate goal of creating an EU Army. The United Kingdom has largely stymied these efforts, rightfully seeing them as infringing on national sovereignty and creating a competitor to NATO.
Now, however, with the UK leaving the EU, euro federalists believe the time is right to push forward plans for creating a European defense force outside of nation-state control.
Should that effort succeed, unelected EU officials would decide whether or not to send “their” troops into combat. The decision to deploy force with potentially lethal consequences for some service members is one of the most sacred duties of any government. The idea that unelected, unaccountable, unremovable bureaucrats could send a spouse, child, or friend into harm’s way should give many in Europe pause.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Poland Objects to EU Attacks on Its “National Sovereignty”
Zsolt Semjen, deputy prime minister of Hungary, and the leader of that nation’s Christian Democrat Party, objected to the European Union’s recent move to dictate to Poland. He called the move “unprecedented and astounding,” added that it “seriously damages Poland’s sovereignty.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Report: EU Planning Own Olympic Team to Weaken National Pride
Superstate plotting unified team for anniversary of Hitler’s Berlin games
European Union officials are reportedly trying to form an EU Olympic team for the 100th anniversary of the 1936 Berlin games that will devalue European national sovereignty.
Bill Etheridge, a representative of UKIP in EU Parliament, broke the news to the Daily Express, revealing that covert discussions are being held amongst EU officials ‘behind closed doors.’
“There have been quite a lot of conversations about it among other MEPs and it was being taken quite seriously by some of them,” he said. “They were using the word solidarity, which tends to be code for an even closer union.”
“It speaks to their plan to create a ‘United States’ of Europe.”
“I’m almost certain there was some jealousy at Britain’s success in 2012 and 2016 and they want a piece of our success,” Etheridge went on. “It’s a crazy EU effort to destroy national identity.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Spain’s King Urges Catalan Lawmakers to Avoid ‘Confrontation’
Spain’s King Felipe VI in a Christmas speech on Sunday urged Catalan lawmakers to respect their region’s diversity and avoid another confrontation over independence.
| — Hat tip: Charles Low | [Return to headlines] |
Areas of Bradford, England, are No Go Zones for certain ethnic groups and the city is “heading toward disaster,” councillors have warned, citing attacks on a synagogue and white businesses in ‘Asian’ areas.
Bradford Council’s Corporate Overview and Scrutiny Committee chairman Arshad Hussain slammed ethnic segregation and failed integration, and blamed political correctness for making the situation worse.
Too many people are “scared to speak up in case they caused offence,” he warned, adding there are “many areas of this city” where people were afraid to go depending on their ethnicity — i.e. No Go Zones.
The Casey Review, published a year ago, called on communities to integrate, slamming “regressive religious and cultural ideologies,” and highlighting self-censorship out of fear of being “labelled racist”.
Just last month, Dame Louise Casey, the author, spoke out again, saying integration had failed and claiming political correctness has aided Muslim extremists.
Councilor Hussain argued that divisions were getting worse in Bradford, describing shocking attacks on white-owned businesses.
“Community relations in this city were a lot better 25 years ago. Are we really achieving what we are supposed to be achieving? I don’t think so. Last month on Bonfire Night in my ward, three pubs were stoned by Asian youths,” he said.
The Red Lion and Round Thorn pubs, in the West of the city, were among those targeted on the 5th of November, according to the Telegraph and Argus.
“These were the only white businesses in the area. No Asian businesses were attacked. They were targeted because they were white,” he added…
“I am really cheesed off with things like this. There are so many areas in this city where white people are scared to go into. Likewise, there are other areas where Asian people are scared to go into.”
He continued: “There has been a huge increase in Islamophobia and anti-Semitism. Hate crime has risen threefold but the majority still is not reported. The biggest challenge for you is to acknowledge there is a problem, rather than being in denial and then work accordingly.”
Conservative councillor Simon Cooke agreed, highlighting attacks on Jewish people.
“At a recent event at the synagogue, there were armed police posted outside. Is that an example of community cohesion that a Jewish event needed police protection? I think we are kidding ourselves.” he said.
“I represent thousands of people who never come into Bradford and I am only five miles up the road. They say they don’t feel safe. That’s the reality. And I am sure there are people who live in Girlington who would prefer not to come to Cullingworth and I don’t like that.
“The perception of what Bradford is like is the problem. Mention danger drivers and who comes to mind? And integration. Both sides don’t want to integrate.”
Labour Councilor Vanda Greenwood added that young women were too afraid to come to the city.
[Links at URL]
| — Hat tip: Dora | [Return to headlines] |
Where European Populism Will be Strongest in 2018
While the establishment may breathe a sigh of relief looking back at political developments and events in Europe — which was spared some of the supposedly “worst-case scenarios” including a Marine le Pen presidency, a Merkel loss and a Geert Wilders victory — in 2017, any victory laps will have to be indefinitely postponed because as Goldman writes in its “Top of Mind” peek at 2018, Europe’s nationalist and populist tide was just resting, and as Pascal Lamy, the former Chief of Staff to the President of the European Commission admitted earlier this year, “Euroskeptic politicians are largely following the pulse of domestic sentiment. The fact is that the public is less enthusiastic about Europe than it once was.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
by Wretchard
Christmases have marked the inner passage of history, recording the parts that leave no physical trace working like a bellwether of civilization’s hopes and fears. In the first year of the Great War, the truce of 1914 served as a kind of looking back, a goodbye to all that, a phantom limb, a brief pause before the combatants plunged into implacable hatred. Soldiers on the Western front climbed out into No Man’s Land from force of habit. “There were joint burial ceremonies and prisoner swaps, while several meetings ended in carol-singing.” In short it was everything sacred that they were about to profane…
Perhaps it’s no accident that life has again found a way.
The “first Christmas in Mosul since ISIS were driven out of shattered Iraqi city” was covered extensively by the press. The occasion itself was unpreposessing yet it was as if journalists sensed it was fraught with symbolic and emotional power they could not ignore:
“Christians celebrated Christmas in Iraq’s second city of Mosul for the first time in four years today — and hymns and cries of joy flooded the church.
The seasonal event marked the end of jihadist rule in the city and the Mass opened with the Iraqi national anthem as women wailed with emotion…”…
.as CS Lewis once adventured, Christmas is not an idealized memory of childhood but of something glimpsed in childhood:
“These things—the beauty, the memory of our own past—are good images of what we really desire; but if they are mistaken for the thing itself they turn into dumb idols, breaking the hearts of their worshipers. For they are not the thing itself; they are only the scent of a flower we have not found, the echo of a tune we have not heard, news from a country we have never yet visited.”…
[Read the rest]
| — Hat tip: Dora | [Return to headlines] |
India and Pakistan Clash at the Border Again
NEW DELHI: Indian security forces hit back at Pakistan, hard, overnight Monday, killing three Pakistani soldiers across the LoC in Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir (PoK), and separately, neutralising a wanted Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) terrorist in J&K’s Pulwama district.
In retaliation for a ceasefire violation on Saturday+ , the Indian Army undertook an operation very reminiscent of last year’s surgical strikes. They crossed over to PoK early Tuesday, to Rakhchikri in the Rawlakot sector, and killed three Pakistani troops while also wounding one, agencies reported…
[see map at URL]
| — Hat tip: Dora | [Return to headlines] |
Italy Rescues More Than 250 Migrants in Mediterranean
ROME — More than 250 migrants were rescued in the central Mediterranean during the night between Monday and Tuesday, Italy’s Coast Guard said.
A statement said the migrants, in one large rubber dinghy and two small boats, were rescued in three missions by two ships, one from a non-governmental organisation.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Southern Poverty Law Center’s ‘Hate Tracker’ Picks up #Christmas as Trending Hashtag
The Southern Poverty Law Center is tracking the hashtags #Christmas, #MerryChristmas, #Jesus, and #ChristmasEve, as part of “trends in a community of far-right Twitter users.”
According to the SPLC, its “hate tracker” tracks accounts that represent a “range of extremists,” from “conspiratorial fringes of mainstream conservatism to outright white supremacists.”
The hate tracker notes that #Christmas is the second highest trending hashtag it tracked on Christmas Eve, with @whitehouse and @potus being among the four top Twitter handles mentioned with the hashtag.
[Comment: SPLC proving itself to be more irrelevant…and showcases its anti-Christian bias.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Star Wars for the Splitting Soul of America
The last episode of the successful movie — Star Wars — is actually a lot less about the stars in space and much more about culture and class. Most importantly, it reflects the dangerously growing disenfranchisement of the race-and-gender obsessed liberal upper class and everyone else.
The movie finally came out, the money started flowing and eventually the reviews arrived. The result? On the primary review sites Metacritic and Rotten Tomatoes the critics loved it, the public did not, which left many wondering why.
Some explanations came out already: the good results are scientific, the bad ones are there because of internet trolls. Nope, there’s nothing scientific about subjective opinions, even if they (allegedly) represent the majority of those who express them. Science is, or should be, objective.
Trolls, more trolls, and finally, Russian interference.
That’s the cue to solving the enigma of the different ratings: the standard profile of the movie critic is a liberal arts graduate, easily identifiable by the verbosity of his writing and by the fact that he is easily impressed by cheap virtue-signalling elements like token ethnic minority leading characters and a strong female lead. As the movie panders (not even that much to be fair) to his ideological preferences, he gives high scores based on diversity and equality. The average-movie goer probably doesn’t care too much about politics. In a country where a “decisive’’ election like the last one, turnout is 55%, the biggest party by far is the one of those who stay at home. In comparison, in Europe important electoral dates easily get an 80% turnout.
So if the audience isn’t into politics, they might not care about the significance of a strong and independent woman outmanoeuvring a straight white male, the evil of mankind, in a duel with lightsabers to eradicate toxic masculinity4).The non-politically biased movie goer wants a nice plot with unpredictable twists, satisfactory fight scenes, and some throwbacks to past episodes; and he didn’t get that. The plot falls flat.
Then there’s the other side of the political spectrum, the underclass who are simply fed up with the increasingly totalitarian tendencies of identity politics by the “liberal” Left and their constant attempts to shove their political beliefs down everyone’s throat. The new fad of the liberal elite, diversity, is being rejected like a bad transplant by the public. Nonetheless, it’s being pursued relentlessly and obnoxiously. The politicization of sports is already causing a haemorrhage of viewers for the NFL (the US football organization). Entertainment is also not immune to these attempts. The calls for the “diversification” of cast actors are regular.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
In Moscow, a migrant (a native of Kyrgyzstan) was arrested for developing weapons of mass destruction
https://lenta.ru/news/2017/12/26/migrant/
we have a visa-free regime with these beasts.
trouble, trouble:
https://www.timesofisrael.com/iran-pledged-all-its-might-to-hamas-for-jerusalem-battle-terror-group-says/
http://www.newsweek.com/iran-arabs-muslims-must-defend-jerusalem-741725
female terrorist networks:
http://www.dw.com/en/german-authorities-target-islamist-womens-network/a-41939883
Holy smokes, Deutsche Welle reporting on Islamist women, too. I had it on my no-go sites list for its unashamed government propaganda. Things must be really serious.
Abigail Disney reminds me of the apocryphal story of John D. Rockefeller who when told he should share his wealth with the world consulted experts about the world population and then had a check cut for the man’s share of his fortune – about a dollar.
Bad news from St. Petersburg.
http://www.fontanka.ru/2017/12/27/120/
In the storage room of the store “Perekrestok” in Kalinin Square there was an explosion on the evening of December 27. Three victims were taken by first aid.
There’s a brief report on the bombing in The Daily Mail.
Yesterday I monitored the Russian social network VKontakte search for the word “kafir” – I wanted to find out what the Muslims have in mind. And I came across a remarkable note:
“…a collection of hadeeth Muslim (rahimuhuLah) is banned in the territory of the Russian Federation, calling non-Muslims kafirs a sign of extremeism. Proceeding from all this, to the deepest regret much can not be published here.”
Our government has long withdrawn from dialogue with the public. But on this record, I can conclude that the extremist sentiments of Muslims are suppressed.
Seeing how the West is dealing with Islamists, I’m not ready to criticize Putin’s methods, harsh as I might otherwise find them to be.
Singapore and Israel seem to manage to keep a handle on things using lower levels of brutality, so it can be done. But there are many more examples of countries that do a worse job of it than Russia.
In the ~20% range of Muslim population, the only place from which we don’t hear of any hassles is Mauritius. I’d very much like to know what their magic is.
“More than 250 migrants were rescued in the central Mediterranean during the night between Monday and Tuesday, Italy’s Coast Guard said.”
I have to say, I strongly disliked the former prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, but the lefty-greens, and fake (con)servatives (like Merkill), make your bona fide buffoons look sympathetic.
And why do I have these weird associations when I hear the name of the current Italian prime suspect, I mean prime minister, Gentiloni?