Gates of Vienna News Feed 12/28/2017

Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that yesterday’s detonation of an explosive device inside a St. Petersburg supermarket was a terrorist attack. He ordered the country’s security services to “kill the bandits” if it becomes necessary.

In other news, a fire in an apartment building in the Bronx killed at least twelve people. The cause of the blaze is so far undetermined.

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

Thanks to Charles Low, Dean, Dora, JD, Reader from Chicago, SS, Upananda Brahmachari, Vlad Tepes, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.

Notice to tipsters: Please don’t submit extensive excerpts from articles that have been posted behind a subscription firewall, or are otherwise under copyright protection.

Caveat: Articles in the news feed are posted “as is”. Gates of Vienna cannot vouch for the authenticity or accuracy of the contents of any individual item posted here. We check each entry to make sure it is relatively interesting, not patently offensive, and at least superficially plausible. The link to the original is included with each item’s title. Further research and verification are left to the reader.

USA
» Ann Coulter: Happy Kwanzaa! The Holiday Brought to You by the FBI
» At Least 12 Dead in Bronx Fire
» Did the FBI Conspire to Stop Trump?
» Illinois: Muslim Trucker Made “No Attempt to Stop” Before Crashing Into Seven Vehicles Killing 4
» Missouri Lawmaker Says Proposal to Ban Foreign Law Not ‘Anti-Muslim’
» Nestle Has Been Bottling and Selling Water it Has No Right to in Drought-Stricken California, State Says
» Prof Urges ‘Abolition of White Democracy’ During Lecture
» Prosecutor Helping Robert Mueller Boasts of ‘Legal Resistance’ To Trump
» US ISP to 1 Million Internet Subscribers: If You Are Accused of Piracy, You May Lose the Ability to Control Your Smart Thermostat
» Violent Carjacker Let Out of Prison Early, Carjacks Again & Again, Escapes Prosecution
 
Canada
» Trudeau Government to Give 10-Year Grants to First Nations, With Less Reporting on How Money is Spent
» U.S., Canada Endure Record Cold Christmas to New Year’s Period
 
Europe and the EU
» English Bishop Attacks Pro-Trump Christians
» Flu Cases in Switzerland Reach Epidemic Level
» Intelligence of Norwegians and Danes on the Wane, Say Researchers
» Italy Dissolves Parliament for March Election
» New Year’s Eve Security Boosted in Britain After Manchester and London Terror
» Open Letter Urges Boycott of Austrian Cabinet and Its Right-Wing FPO Members
» Prince Charles Lauds Harry for Accepting Globalist Consensus on Climate Change
» Report: Muslim Brotherhood Involved in UK Terror Attacks
» Spain Will Watch Over AirBnB to Thwart Future Terrorist Attacks
» Switzerland: Missing Valais Man ‘Froze to Death’
» United States of Europe Dream in Tatters— EU Panic at Shock New Poll
 
Russia
» Alleged St .Petersburg Terrorist Caught on CCTV (Video)
» Putin Says St. Petersburg Bomb Blast Was Terrorism, Tells FSB to “Kill the Bandits, “ if Necessary
» Russia Will Retaliate After U.S. Supplies Lethal Weapons to Ukraine
 
South Asia
» Attack Kolkata, Bangalore, Delhi for Victory in Kashmir, Says Al Qaeda Commander
 
Far East
» Social Network Profile to Become Official ID in China
 
Australia — Pacific
» ‘African’ Thugs Linked to Menace to Society Gang Terrorise Family Meeting Spot ‘Smashing and Destroying’ Homes and a Community Centre in Melbourne
» Far-Right Racists Stalk and Secretly Film Muslim Women Before Posting the Footage Online and Branding Them ‘Garbage Bags’ Because They Wear Hijabs
» ‘It’s Just Evil’: Church Overlooking Sydney Harbour Forced to Cancel Their Popular New Year’s Eve Fireworks Party Over Terror Fears — Because They Can’t Afford the $10,000 Bill for Security and Bollards to Stop an Attack
» Shocking Moment a Gang of African Youths Surround Two Cars in a Deserted Parking Lot Before Bashing a Woman and Stealing One of the Vehicles — as a Man, 22, Is Arrested Over the Attack
» Smashed Glass, Trashed Furniture and Discarded Bongs: Inside the Community Centre Terrorised by Apex-Linked ‘Menace to Society’ — As Police Finally Admit Melbourne Has a Problem With African Gang Crime
» Sydney Braced for New Year’s Eve Terror: Undercover Cops Mingling With Crowds, Officers Carrying Machine Guns and Trucks Blocking Roads to Protect Revellers From Car Attacks
» Victoria Police Insist They Don’t Have an African Gang Problem Despite the Blight of Apex, An Officer Being Kicked in the Face and 100 ‘South Sudanese’ Youths Trashing an AirBnB
 
Latin America
» Guatemala and Honduras Sided With Trump on Jerusalem. Here’s Why.
 
Immigration
» Arrest Made After Asylum Seeker Run Over Outside Illegal Calais Migrant Camp
» EU Army’s First Deployment? Austria Calls for Military-Backed ‘Safe Zones’ In Migrant Origin Countries
» LA Fashion District Company and 2 Owners Plead Guilty in Money Laundering Scheme
» Prosecutor Says Terror Links Not Found in Immigrant Shooting
 
Culture Wars
» Biology Professor Says “Chromosomes Don’t Determine Sex”
» Latest Lunacy From the Swedish Government
» Southern Poverty Law Center Designates #Christmas as a Sign of Far-Right Extremism on Its “Hate Tracker”
 
General
» Three New War Crimes Recognized by International Criminal Court (ICC)
 

Ann Coulter: Happy Kwanzaa! The Holiday Brought to You by the FBI

Kwanzaa, celebrated exclusively by white liberals, is a fake holiday invented in 1966 by black radical/FBI stooge Ron Karenga — aka Dr. Maulana Karenga, founder of United Slaves, the violent nationalist rival to the Black Panthers. Liberals have become so mesmerized by multicultural gibberish that they have forgotten the real history of Kwanzaa and Karenga’s United Slaves.

In what was ultimately a foolish gambit, during the madness of the ‘60s, the FBI encouraged the most extreme black nationalist organizations in order to discredit and split the left. The more preposterous the group, the better. (It’s the same function MSNBC and CNN serve today.)

By that criterion, Karenga’s United Slaves was perfect.

Despite modern perceptions that blend all the black activists of the ‘60s, the Black Panthers did not hate whites. Although some of their most high-profile leaders were drug dealers and murderers, they did not seek armed revolution.

Those were the precepts of Karenga’s United Slaves. The United Slaves were proto-fascists, walking around in dashikis, gunning down Black Panthers and adopting invented “African” names. (I will not be shooting any Black Panthers this week because I am Kwanza-reform, and we are not that observant.)

It’s as if David Duke invented a holiday called “Anglika,” which he based on the philosophy of “Mein Kampf” — and clueless public school teachers began celebrating the made-up, racist holiday.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

At Least 12 Dead in Bronx Fire

(CNN) At least 12 people, including a child, were killed in a fire Thursday night at an apartment building in the Bronx, one of New York City’s boroughs, officials said. The cause of the blaze is under investigation.

           — Hat tip: Vlad Tepes [Return to headlines]
 

Did the FBI Conspire to Stop Trump?

The original question the FBI investigation of the Trump campaign was to answer was a simple one: Did he do it?

Did Trump, or officials with his knowledge, collude with Vladimir Putin’s Russia to hack the emails of John Podesta and the DNC, and leak the contents to damage Hillary Clinton and elect Donald Trump?

A year and a half into the investigation, and, still, no “collusion” has been found. Yet the investigation goes on, at the demand of the never-Trump media and Beltway establishment.

Hence, and understandably, suspicions have arisen.

Are the investigators after the truth, or are they after Trump?

Set aside the Trump-Putin conspiracy theory momentarily, and consider a rival explanation for what is going down here:

That, from the outset, Director James Comey and an FBI camarilla were determined to stop Trump and elect Hillary Clinton. Having failed, they conspired to break Trump’s presidency, overturn his mandate and bring him down.

Essential to any such project was first to block any indictment of Hillary for transmitting national security secrets over her private email server. That first objective was achieved 18 months ago.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Illinois: Muslim Trucker Made “No Attempt to Stop” Before Crashing Into Seven Vehicles Killing 4

Police spokesman Calvin Dye Jr. says 53-year-old Mohamed Yussuf Jama of Greeley was driving the tractor-trailer when it crashed into vehicles that had slowed or stopped in a construction zone near Hamel on Nov. 21.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Missouri Lawmaker Says Proposal to Ban Foreign Law Not ‘Anti-Muslim’

A measure barring the use of foreign laws in Missouri courts is being filed in the state legislature for the upcoming session. Under the bill, any court ruling based on a foreign law would be unenforceable.

           — Hat tip: Charles Low [Return to headlines]
 

Nestle Has Been Bottling and Selling Water it Has No Right to in Drought-Stricken California, State Says

Nestlé has been bottling and selling water that it does not have the legal right to use, officials in California have concluded.

Fights over water are a constant in California, exacerbated when drought years make the supply especially scarce. Since 2015, officials with the State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) had received numerous complaints that Nestlé was claiming water from the San Bernardino National Forest to which it had no right and then selling it under its Arrowhead brand.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Prof Urges ‘Abolition of White Democracy’ During Lecture

A professor recently encouraged students to break the law in order to “destroy” the system of “white democracy,” saying the American flag doesn’t even represent about half of them.

Video footage obtained by The Red Elephants purports to show Diablo Valley College professor Albert Ponce lecturing on “white supremacy in the USA,” at one point suggesting that not all students should get up for the Pledge of Allegiance.

“And there were people here, the indigenous people, who were part — who paid a price, a very heavy price, for this project that is unfolding of white supremacy,” the professor said in one part of the lecture.

Ponce argued that Americans “exist in a white supremacist, patriarchal, heteronormative, capitalist system,” and that citizens should be violating laws that they believe perpetuate those conditions.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Prosecutor Helping Robert Mueller Boasts of ‘Legal Resistance’ To Trump

New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, who is reportedly assisting special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, boasted of his successful resistance to the Trump administration in a Tuesday Medium post.

Schneiderman, who could play an essential role in the disposition of Mueller’s investigation, has effectively branded as a public anti-Trump litigator during the president’s first year, in keeping with the history of hostility between the two men.

Tuesday’s Medium post accompanied a profile of Schneiderman in The New York Times, which noted that the AG lodged 100 legal or administrative challenges to administration policies during Trump’s first year in office.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

US ISP to 1 Million Internet Subscribers: If You Are Accused of Piracy, You May Lose the Ability to Control Your Smart Thermostat

Armstrong Zoom, a northeastern US ISP with about a million subscribers, has sent its customers warnings that they have been accused of copyright infringement, and that subsequent accusations would lead to having their network connections slowed to the point of uselessness, which could impair their ability to control their internet-connected thermostats.

In the regions in which Armstrong Zoom operates, a malfunctioning thermostat in winter could result in frozen pipes, floods, and death of pets and even people.

Note that the punishments Armstrong Zoom is threatening have no due process, and the customers are considered guilty without even the chance to prove themselves innocent.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Violent Carjacker Let Out of Prison Early, Carjacks Again & Again, Escapes Prosecution

A violent, serial carjacker was let out of prison early in Memphis, Tennessee and allowed to commit multiple additional carjackings with a firearm without facing any prosecution, according to a report from local news affiliate WREG.

Ray Burns, who Cooper-Young neighborhood surveillance network chief Jason Wentworth described as a “one man crime wave,” has allegedly been busted for carjacking, prostitution, larceny and driving without a license.

According to WREG, Burns was arrested once again on Christmas day for allegedly committing another carjacking and kidnapping.

His victims want to know why he was let out of prison and allowed to avoid prosecution but the state has not been forthcoming.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Trudeau Government to Give 10-Year Grants to First Nations, With Less Reporting on How Money is Spent

First Nations with good financial track records will no longer be required to account to Ottawa for every dollar of federal money they spend on things such as health-care, education and social services under a new program being proposed by the Trudeau government.

The plan to guarantee long-term funding with a minimum of bureaucratic oversight for 100 First Nations communities by April, 2019 is the first concrete step in what Jane Philpott, the Minister of Indigenous Services, says will be a new fiscal relationship with Canada’s Indigenous people.

It is also a significant shift from the policies of former Conservative prime minister Stephen Harper who raised the ire of chiefs by passing legislation that required First Nations to submit their audited consolidated financial statements and information about salaries and expenses to the government for posting on the Indigenous Affairs website. The Liberal government repealed that law shortly after taking office in 2015.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

U.S., Canada Endure Record Cold Christmas to New Year’s Period

The Arctic blast is so severe in Canada that only those above the age of 24 have ever experienced something of this magnitude during the period between Christmas and New Years. Air temperatures from Nunavut to Ontario have plunged well below zero Fahrenheit, with wind chills colder than minus-40 degrees Fahrenheit.

The cold is so dangerous that it’s caused authorities in Canada, a winter-hardened country with a significant presence in the Arctic, to cancel outdoor ice skating for fear of frostbite. Residents of some of the coldest areas in Alberta and Saskatchewan have reported cracking glass windows due to the bitterly cold air temperatures.

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

English Bishop Attacks Pro-Trump Christians

The Bishop of Liverpool has attacked Christians who support President Donald J. Trump and “a system which builds walls instead of bridges”.

Paul Bayes, a senior figure in the Church of England, also appeared to argue that backing “rightwing populism” could be incompatible with biblical teaching.

His intervention comes just days after the Archbishop of Canterbury, who leads the church, used his Christmas address to target so-called “tyrannical and populist” world leaders — widely perceived as a dig at Mr. Trump.

[Comment: Top figures at CoE have drifted far from Christianity into Socialism. CoE is hemorrhaging attendees because those at the top listen to their own itching ears instead of following apostolic Christianity.]

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Flu Cases in Switzerland Reach Epidemic Level

In the first online news article: Switzerland is in the grip of a flu epidemic after the number of cases of the viral infection increased in all parts of the country in the week before Christmas.

           — Hat tip: Charles Low [Return to headlines]
 

Intelligence of Norwegians and Danes on the Wane, Say Researchers

In the first online news article: Intelligence levels have fallen in all Scandinavian countries, including Norway and Denmark, according to an analysis.

           — Hat tip: Charles Low [Return to headlines]
 

Italy Dissolves Parliament for March Election

Italy’s President Sergio Mattarella has dissolved parliament, to pave the way for a general election on 4 March.

The government met shortly after Mr Mattarella’s decree was announced, and confirmed the election date.

The ruling centre-left Democratic Party (PD) faces a strong challenge from anti-establishment Five Star (M5S) and right-wing Forza Italia, who want tough measures to curb immigration.

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

New Year’s Eve Security Boosted in Britain After Manchester and London Terror

SECURITY at New Year’s Eve celebrations around Britain will be strengthened in the wake terror attacks in Manchester and London.

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

Open Letter Urges Boycott of Austrian Cabinet and Its Right-Wing FPO Members

An international call to boycott Austria’s new cabinet, especially its far-right ministers, has been published in Le Monde. Signatories include France’s Bernard Kouchner and Canada’s ex-premier Kim Campbell.

[Comment: Well, if lefties don’t like the Austrian government, then the Austrian government is on the correct track.]

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

Prince Charles Lauds Harry for Accepting Globalist Consensus on Climate Change

Prince Charles, heir to the throne of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, has praised his younger son Prince Harry for endorsing the received wisdom on climate change.

Charles has often received scornful condemnation from the liberal elite when he has campaigned for less fashionable causes, such as the preservation of Britain’s architectural heritage and the promotion of traditional town planning, but gained a measure of acceptance for his wholehearted embrace of the globalist consensus on carbon emissions — winning plaudits for a 2008 speech to the European Parliament in which he described a climate change “Doomsday Clock” ticking “ever closer to midnight”.

In an interview with Harry on a special edition of the Today programme on BBC Radio 4, the king-in-waiting confirmed that climate change was now his signature cause when asked what single issue he would be focusing on most in the coming year.

“There’s a whole lot of things I’ve tried to focus on over all these years I felt needed attention. Not everybody else did, but maybe now, some years later, they are beginning to realise that what I was trying to say may not have been quite as dotty as they thought,” he opined.

[Comment: Globalists push the GW lie so they can get a “blank cheque” from the public to do whatever they want to “save the enviroment”.]

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Report: Muslim Brotherhood Involved in UK Terror Attacks

The Muslim Brotherhood was involved in recent terrorist attacks in London, according to a document sent from Egypt to the UK, Egypt Today reported. The article does not give further details but lists a series of terror-related incidents in which it claims the Brotherhood is involved.

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

Spain Will Watch Over AirBnB to Thwart Future Terrorist Attacks

In the first online paragraph of this online news article: Spanish authorities plan to keep a watchful eye on vehicle rental and accommodation portals such as Airbnb in the aftermath of the twin attack by jihadists in Catalonia last August

           — Hat tip: Charles Low [Return to headlines]
 

Switzerland: Missing Valais Man ‘Froze to Death’

In the first online news article: A young man who went missing from Vétroz in the canton of Valais following a work party on Saturday has been found dead.

           — Hat tip: Charles Low [Return to headlines]
 

United States of Europe Dream in Tatters— EU Panic at Shock New Poll

MARTIN Schulz’s dream of a United States of Europe is crumbling before his eyes after a shock poll revealed low support for the controversial super-bloc.

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

Alleged St .Petersburg Terrorist Caught on CCTV (Video)

A CCTV camera has captured a suspect in the investigation into Wednesday’s blast in Russia’s St. Petersburg. The incident left 13 people injured and was called a terrorist attack by the Russian leader.

The video purportedly shows a man carrying a rucksack entering the store which was later rocked by an explosion, according to Russian online newspaper Fontanka. In the footage published on Thursday, the man is seen leaving his rucksack in a storage locker at 6:16pm local time (3:16 GMT), just half an hour before the explosion tore through the busy supermarket. The suspect’s face is not clearly seen in the footage and his head is covered by a hood. Less than 30 seconds later he left the shop carrying nothing on his back.

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

Putin Says St. Petersburg Bomb Blast Was Terrorism, Tells FSB to “Kill the Bandits, “ if Necessary

Speaking at an awards ceremony in the Kremlin on December 28 for veterans of Russia’s Syria campaign, Russian President Vladimir Putin said a bomb blast in a St. Petersburg supermarket the previous day was an act of terrorism.

“You know that yesterday in St. Petersburg a terrorist act was carried out,” Putin told the attendees.

The Russian president told those attending the ceremony that the Federal Security Service (FSB) had also prevented “another attempted terrorist act.”

A Kremlin spokesman told Reuters that the thwarted attack Putin referenced was the one earlier this month that targeted St. Petersburg’s Kazan Cathedral.

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

Russia Will Retaliate After U.S. Supplies Lethal Weapons to Ukraine

Last week, the Trump administration agreed to send lethal defensive weapons to Ukraine. The order, packaged by the State Department as an affirmation of Ukraine’s right to defend itself against Russian-backed aggression, was greeted on Capitol Hill as a logical step in confronting what many lawmakers view as Vladimir Putin’s expansionist foreign policy.

[Comment: This is a mistake. Trump is helping to advance the globalist agenda in this situtation.]

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Attack Kolkata, Bangalore, Delhi for Victory in Kashmir, Says Al Qaeda Commander

Massacring Hindu Kafirs in Indian cities and Hindu congregations are key to Jihadi victory in Kashmir: Al-Qaeda and allied.

OWB | New Delhi | Dec 27, 2017:: A senior al Qaeda commander has said “the key to victory in Jammu and Kashmir lies in waging war on Indian cities” in a video which was released on online jihadist forums on Tuesday night.

“India is already using 600,000 troops just to hold on to Kashmir. If it is attacked in Kolkata, Bangalore and New Delhi, it will come to its senses and release its grip on Kashmir,” claimed Usama Mahmoud, the group’s second-in-command in the Indian subcontinent, reported+ The Indian Express.

Mahmoud said the jihadi movement should be strengthened in the region. Muslims in the whole region should stand behind the Kashmiri people, he said.

           — Hat tip: Upananda Brahmachari [Return to headlines]
 

Social Network Profile to Become Official ID in China

China’s largest social media network, WeChat, is set to become an official electronic personal identification system in the country, with a WeChat ID pilot program launched in Guangzhou’s Nansha District.

On Monday, the authorities in the southern province of Guangzhou announced that its citizens will soon be able to identify themselves through WeChat (‘Weixin’ in China), Xinhua reported. The virtual ID card will be as valid as a paper identification issued by the Chinese state, it added.

It will provide access to online and offline government services and other things that require authentication such as hotel registration and ticketing. The move is aimed at preventing online identity theft, thanks to facial recognition technology used to verify applicants before providing them with online IDs.

The ID cards are available in “lightweight” format when a simple proof of identity is needed and in “upgraded” format for more complicated cases, including those requiring business registration.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

‘African’ Thugs Linked to Menace to Society Gang Terrorise Family Meeting Spot ‘Smashing and Destroying’ Homes and a Community Centre in Melbourne

‘African’ youth have trashed a new Melbourne housing estate’s community centre and now use it to take drugs and peddle ice, with furniture smashed and rubbish and graffiti everywhere.

           — Hat tip: SS [Return to headlines]
 

Far-Right Racists Stalk and Secretly Film Muslim Women Before Posting the Footage Online and Branding Them ‘Garbage Bags’ Because They Wear Hijabs

Far-right nationalists from the Victorian city of Geelong are secretly filming Muslim women in hijabs before posting the footage online and branding them as ‘garbage bags’.

           — Hat tip: SS [Return to headlines]
 

‘It’s Just Evil’: Church Overlooking Sydney Harbour Forced to Cancel Their Popular New Year’s Eve Fireworks Party Over Terror Fears — Because They Can’t Afford the $10,000 Bill for Security and Bollards to Stop an Attack

St Aidan’s Anglican Church, with its panoramic view of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, has been forced to cancel an annual New Year’s Eve street party over terrorist attack fears.

           — Hat tip: SS [Return to headlines]
 

Shocking Moment a Gang of African Youths Surround Two Cars in a Deserted Parking Lot Before Bashing a Woman and Stealing One of the Vehicles — as a Man, 22, Is Arrested Over the Attack

Police are hunting four men of African appearance after an alleged violent robbery in which a woman was bashed and a car was stolen.

           — Hat tip: SS [Return to headlines]
 

Smashed Glass, Trashed Furniture and Discarded Bongs: Inside the Community Centre Terrorised by Apex-Linked ‘Menace to Society’ — As Police Finally Admit Melbourne Has a Problem With African Gang Crime

‘African’ youth have trashed a new Melbourne housing estate’s community centre and now use it to take drugs and peddle ice, with furniture smashed and rubbish and graffiti everywhere.

           — Hat tip: SS [Return to headlines]
 

Sydney Braced for New Year’s Eve Terror: Undercover Cops Mingling With Crowds, Officers Carrying Machine Guns and Trucks Blocking Roads to Protect Revellers From Car Attacks

Sydney is set for a full-scale tactical surveillance takeover as the NSW Government and police force get ready to confront terror on New Year’s Eve.

           — Hat tip: SS [Return to headlines]
 

Victoria Police Insist They Don’t Have an African Gang Problem Despite the Blight of Apex, An Officer Being Kicked in the Face and 100 ‘South Sudanese’ Youths Trashing an AirBnB

Victoria Police insist they don’t have an African gang problem after an officer was kicked in the face at a shopping mall and 100 youths of Sudanese appearance trashed an AirBnB house.

           — Hat tip: SS [Return to headlines]
 

Guatemala and Honduras Sided With Trump on Jerusalem. Here’s Why.

By Joshua Partlow

MEXICO CITY — Amid the roar of condemnation over the Trump administration’s stance on Jerusalem, there were bleats of support from far-flung corners of the world.

In the vote at the United Nations last week on whether to condemn the decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, Micronesia sided with the United States along with an archipelago of geopolitically obscure outposts: the Marshall Islands, Togo, Nauru, Palau. And then there was a pair of allies closer to home — Guatemala and Honduras, the only two countries in Latin America to support the U.S. move.

Guatemala followed up its U.N. vote by announcing this week that it would follow Trump’s lead and move its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, a decision that has caused a backlash in the region and beyond. Jordan’s foreign minister described it as an “absurd provocation.” Bolivian President Evo Morales, a veteran critic of the United States, wrote Monday on Twitter that Guatemala had “sold its dignity to the empire to not lose the crumbs from USAID.”

After the vote on Jerusalem, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, invited those countries who didn’t condemn Washington to come to a reception to thank them for their “ friendship to the United States.”

Guatemala and Honduras have a lot to lose by upsetting the Trump administration, as the crackdown on illegal immigration has raised the prospect of more deportations, and regional trade and foreign aid have been called into question. But analysts see their actions last week as more than just attempts to curry favor with Washington. Both countries have long-standing ties to Israel and are facing domestic challenges that are helped by aligning with conservatives in the United States and Israel.

Guatemalan President James Morales, a former television comedian and an evangelical Christian, relies on the support of his country’s influential evangelical community, which has consistently advocated for Israel’s right to have Jerusalem as its capital, considering it a biblical issue as much as a political one…

[Return to headlines]
 

Arrest Made After Asylum Seeker Run Over Outside Illegal Calais Migrant Camp

A French man in his fifties was arrested earlier this week and has been charged with fleeing the scene of an accident after his vehicle hit a 22-year-old Iraqi asylum seeker near the Grande-Synthe migrant camp in Dunkirk, South-West of Calais.

The driver of the vehicle was arrested on Sunday evening and then formally charged on Wednesday while the 22-year-old asylum seeker remains in critical condition in hospital, Le Monde reports.

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

EU Army’s First Deployment? Austria Calls for Military-Backed ‘Safe Zones’ In Migrant Origin Countries

Newly elected Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz has urged the European Union (EU) to create safe zones within migrant-origin countries and deploy member states’ armed forces to stop the flow of migrants.

Chancellor Kurz, who has been vocal about solving the migrant crisis for many months and has previously called for the closure of the Mediterranean migrant route, also reaffirmed his stance against the redistribution of migrants from countries like Italy and Greece, Deutsche Welle reports.

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

LA Fashion District Company and 2 Owners Plead Guilty in Money Laundering Scheme

LOS ANGELES — In a case stemming from an investigation into Fashion District businesses using “Black Market Peso Exchange” schemes to launder narcotics proceeds for international drug cartels, an import-export textile business and two executives have pleaded guilty to federal money laundering and tax charges.

Pacific Eurotex Corp. and its owners — Morad “Ben” Neman and Hersel Neman — pleaded guilty yesterday to federal charges in an indictment that accused them of using the business to receive bulk cash that they knew or believed to be the proceeds of narcotics trafficking.

The investigation into Pacific Eurotex was conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and IRS — Criminal Investigation.

The defendants admitted in court documents that they failed to report to federal authorities the receipt of this bulk cash, and that they “structured” frequent deposits of the cash, in amounts less than $10,000, to avoid a bank reporting requirement that would have drawn the scrutiny of law enforcement.

The Nemans also pleaded guilty to conspiring to defraud the United States by maintaining two sets of business records in order to conceal income for tax purposes.

A Black Market Peso Exchange scheme is designed to assist drug traffickers who have United States currency that they want to send to a foreign country, such as Mexico, and convert into pesos. As part of the scheme, a broker finds business owners in the foreign country who buy goods from U.S. companies and who need dollars to pay for those goods. The broker arranges for the illegally obtained dollars to be delivered to the United States-based vendors, such as Pacific Eurotex, and these illegally obtained dollars are used to pay for the goods purchased by the foreign customers. Once the goods are shipped to the foreign country and sold by the foreign business, the pesos are turned over to the broker, who then pays the drug trafficker in the local currency of the foreign country, thus completing the laundering of the illegally obtained dollars.

[Read the rest]

           — Hat tip: Dora [Return to headlines]
 

Prosecutor Says Terror Links Not Found in Immigrant Shooting

An Egyptian immigrant who wounded a Pennsylvania state trooper and fired at other police officers before being killed has not been connected with any organized terror group or terrorist activity, a prosecutor said Thursday.

Friends and relatives of Ahmed Aminamin El-Mofty have described him as depressed over a lack of family contact and money problems, Dauphin County District Attorney Ed Marsico said.

“At this point in time there is no known nexus to any organized terrorist group or terrorist activity,” Marsico said.

El-Mofty is believed to have acted alone when he began firing from his vehicle on Dec. 22 in downtown Harrisburg, a few blocks from the State Capitol building. He then fired several shots at a marked Capitol Police vehicle. No one was injured in the initial shootings, which generated a large police response.

El-Mofty reappeared about a half-hour later near a train station, several blocks away from where he had begun firing.

That’s when El-Mofty encountered and shot the trooper, who suffered a relatively minor head wound from a bullet fragment, Marisco said. Two bullet holes were found in the headrest and one in a sun visor of the trooper’s marked cruiser…

           — Hat tip: Dean [Return to headlines]
 

Biology Professor Says “Chromosomes Don’t Determine Sex”

A San Jose State University biology professor recently accused a Texas state legislator of being “bigoted” for tweeting that there are only two genders.

“In case you forgot how many genders there are,” Republican State Representative Briscoe Caintweeted on December 21, attaching a picture of the XX and XY chromosomes.

Describing herself as a geneticist, Rachael French replied to the tweet with an extended harangue in which she impugned Cain’s motives and derided his understanding of biology.

“Hey geneticist here. You’ve disingenuously and for bigoted purposes oversimplified a complex phenomenon,” she wrote. “A few notes: 1) Sex and gender aren’t the same thing. 2) Chromosomes don’t determine sex.”…

One user questioned French’s arguments, countering that saying “‘Sex and gender aren’t the same thing,’ isn’t at all a genetic statement. It’s a questionable sociological construct.”

French, however, refused to engage in that debate, citing her academic credentials as a means of dismissing the comment out of hand.

[Comment: Prof has fully ingested the Kool-aid.]

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Latest Lunacy From the Swedish Government

Under a new Swedish law that will go into effect in July, “prior verbal or written consent from both partners” must be obtained before anyone, including married couples, can have sex. The law doesn’t actually require written consent, but “in a potential rape allegation, it would be wiser to have the permission written down on paper.” Maybe the government could provide printed forms, to help with the paperwork.

Can you say “in the mood — not”?

This craziness, admit its sponsors, was “inspired by the #MeToo compaign.” So every man will be regarded as a potential racist. The one newspaper columnist who criticized the measure was promptly fired: no room for dissent in Diversity Land.

Sweden has had a lot of rapes committed recently, and the government refuses to release any information on the “ethnic background” of the rapists. They would rather turn what’s left of marriage upside-down than admit that their policy of massively importing angry young Muslim men, who say it’s a righteous act to rape an infidel woman, might not be working out all that well. Their intention seems to be “We’ll give you a multicultural society if it kills you.”

Meanwhile, to make our civilization still more vulnerable to disintegration from within, public and private efforts to de-sanctify Christmas shifted into high gear last week.

The Canadian government got into the act. An official government web site warned children “Santa is moving to the South Pole,” because, you see, Climate Change/Global Warming is going to melt the ice at the North Pole. So Santa had to sign “an agreement with the international community,” whoever that is, that “relocates individuals and corporations facing the impacts of Climate Change.” And he’d better hurry, or it’ll be into the drink with Mrs. Claus, elves, reindeer, workshop and all. They’ll have to rewrite a lot of the songs.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Southern Poverty Law Center Designates #Christmas as a Sign of Far-Right Extremism on Its “Hate Tracker”

The hard-left Southern Poverty Law Center is at it again, this time going as far as to designate anyone that used the hashtag #Christmas over the holidays as a possible right-wing extremist.

That’ s right, according to the SPLC and its “ hate tracker” , those that used #MerryChristmas, #ChristmasEve, #Christmas, and #Jesus represented a range of extremists “ from ‘conspiratorial fringes of mainstream conservatism to outright white supremacists.”

Breitbart reports:…

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Three New War Crimes Recognized by International Criminal Court (ICC)

On Thursday 14 December, in New York, the Assembly of State Parties to the International Criminal Court (ICC) added three new war crimes to the Rome Statute: the use of biological and toxin weapons; the use of weapons causing injuries by fragments which in the human body escape detection by X-rays; and the use of laser weapons causing permanent blindness.

On Thursday 14 December, in New York, the Assembly of State Parties to the International Criminal Court (ICC) added three new war crimes to the Rome Statute. Belgium had proposed these amendments to the Statute, which is the founding treaty of the ICC, as early as 2009.

The new war crimes added to the Rome Statute are:

  • the use of biological and toxin weapons
  • the use of weapons causing injuries by fragments which in the human body escape detection by X-rays
  • the use of laser weapons causing permanent blindness.

Belgium’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs says that these weapons kill without discrimination or inflict very severe suffering. The fact that the use of these weapons has been elevated to the level of war crimes strengthens international law, and would make the use of these weapons during armed conflicts more difficult. “The inscription of these new crimes in the Statute of Rome ensures also legal certainty to the victims and gives a specific recognition to their pain,” Belgium says.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

17 thoughts on “Gates of Vienna News Feed 12/28/2017

  1. For my fellow Swedes, I’d like to announce my new Permission for Coitus App. PCApp. It is easily downloaded and each partner in the ensuing act can record their permission, including levels of intimacy, volumes, using tick boxes. It only takes 30 minutes to fill out and you can then have.. well you know… with your mind at ease. Hopefully other parts will still be at attention. The App also records the ensuing act to ensure ongoing mutual affirmation and uploads it all to Youtube for future court cases.
    Be Legal, Be Observed, Be at Ease, Buy PC.

    • It’s nonsense of course. If someone has it in for you she can allege rape at any time. All she has to say is that she initially agreed to sex and changed her mind after the preliminaries were done but you ignored her demands to stop and had sex with her anyway.

      Which is why a lot of people have decided that relationships should be filed in the “too difficult, not worth initiating ” basket.

  2. a bit of conspiracy
    Магазин “Перекресток” – “Perekrestok market” – “crossroad” in translation

    Крест – krest- cross

  3. I’m surprised Australians didn’t raise the needed money for the New Year’s fireworks at the Sydney church. They were always such a proud and tightly cooperative bunch.

    Great to see there are still countries with common sense, who support Trump’s plan for an embassy in Jerusalem. Not sure if it was mentioned here, but Czechia’s president supported it too and said we should move our embassy to Jerusalem as well.

    I’d be interested how that “professor” explains more than two genders/sexes when only two combinations of chromosomes are possible (unless she calculates the extremely rare cases of XXY, YY, etc. as other genders).

    • The link seems to be only in Russian Elena; afraid I don’t understand your beautiful sounding language.

      • I also do not understand your language well. But I’m in parallel with two online translators !

    • This is an interesting story that is anybody’s guess. It is almost certain that the US spy agencies captured enough ISIS high-ranks early on to know who to target for airlifting for a later use. Russian and perhaps Chinese speakers would certainly been given preference. But where to move these terrorist assets? Evidence suggests, the US is fighting the Taliban in Afganistan, but giving a pass to ISIS. The difference between the two: Taliban – local politics, ISIS – international jihad aimed at former Soviet central Asia.

  4. Curious article from the French source.
    The West is accused of spreading Islam. First it cultivated against the USSR, and then the golem got out of control.
    https://ripostelaique.com/le-but-de-lislam-cest-de-conquerir-loccident.html
    ==========
    I remember that in our press there was also a remarkable article.
    The journalist interviewed a middle-aged Somali woman in Sweden. She told how in the 90s, when she emigrated, she unexpectedly fell into the atmosphere of hard radical Islam, which at that time was not in her homeland. This radical Islam was carefully cultivated in the countries of the West.
    If you’re interested, I can search it, but it’s in Russian language

    • That might be a true story, but not necessarily a conspiracy. Remember, with the western political, doctrinaire-uber-alles class (or plainly: nose in their [fundament] class), plain stupidity should always be given a chance.

      • Stupidity, greed and degradation of the elites.
        Strange, but all this began to happen after the world became unipolar

        • That might be a generational coincidence. The emergence of a coddled, brainwashed generation.
          But the demise of the Soviet block had something that was not coincidental: the torrents of hubris that you could choke on. Instead of the stupid end of history meme, it was capitalism unchained, and set on its path of self-destruction.

          • You are not right. We now have a colonial oligarchy with a hideous animal snout. In the Kremlin sit Gauleiters who expose the population to genocide. They destroyed the social state, education, medicine.

      • As Albert Einstein said, “There are two elements in the world which are in abundance, nitrogen and stupidity. Unfortunately, I cannot quantify nitrogen.”

  5. I remember that in our press there was also a remarkable article.
    The journalist interviewed a middle-aged Somali woman in Sweden. She told how in the 90s, when she emigrated, she unexpectedly fell into the atmosphere of hard radical Islam, which at that time was not in her homeland. This radical Islam was carefully cultivated in the countries of the West.
    If you’re interested, I can search it, but it’s in Russian language

  6. The ugly Putin-lego:Meaningless and merciless.

    http://www.mk.ru/social/2017/12/29/vlasti-obyasnili-ustanovku-urodlivykh-betonnykh-blokov-u-metro.html

    Concrete barriers began to be installed at the entrances to the Moscow metro and in crowded places. The townspeople immediately linked this with a major traffic accident that occurred near the Slavyansky Boulevard metro station on December 25. Then the bus drove into the underground passage, killing 4 people. However, the Moscow authorities explained that there is no connection – the blocks are put on for the New Year holidays to ensure security.

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