President Trump announced today that the United States recognizes Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, and that the US Embassy would eventually be moved there. Palestinians and other Islamic leaders warned that there would be a violent response to Mr. Trump’s decision.
In other news, the European Commission under the presidency of Jean-Claude “Hic” Juncker is reportedly planning to sue Poland, the Czech Republic, and Hungary over their refusal to accept their mandatory quotas of migrants.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to Charles Low, Dean, Dora, JD, MC, 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.
Britain’s record on tackling poverty has reached a turning point and is at risk of unravelling, following the first sustained rises in child and pensioner poverty for two decades, a major report has warned.
Nearly 400,000 more children and 300,000 more pensioners are now living in poverty than five years ago, during which time there have been continued increases in poverty across both age groups — prompting experts to warn that hard-fought progress towards tackling destitution is “in peril”. The report, by the independent Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF), shows that a total of 14 million people in the UK currently live in poverty — more than one in five of the population. While poverty levels fell in the years to 2011-12, changes to welfare policy — especially since the 2015 Budget — have seen the numbers creep up again.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Job Growth Hit 190,000 in November
The U.S. private sector workforce grew by roughly 190,000 jobs in November, meeting economists’ anticipations for the month, Reuters reports.
The unemployment rate is predicted to stay at level with October at 4.1 percent. November’s job growth is down from October’s, however, when 252,000 jobs were added, according to Reuters.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
“20 Million Could Strave to Death in Coming Months” As Bio-Systems of Earth Are Imploding
Geoengineering expert Dane Wigington is suing to get NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmosphere Administration) to give up its climate engineering information. But he’s hit a brick wall, and it’s all because the powers that be seek to hide this information from the public for a long as possible.
| — Hat tip: Charles Low | [Return to headlines] |
The former top counterintelligence “ expert” at the Federal Bureau of Investigations, who is already embroiled in a massive political scandal after his anti-Trump text messages were revealed, was also directly involved in covering up the Hillary Clinton email scandal by changing key wording in former FBI Director James Comey’ s “ description” of how Clinton handled classified material.
According to electronic records reviewed by CNN, FBI agent Peter Strzok not only led the investigation into the candidate he was supporting for president, he also specifically changed language in Comey’ s original statement that described Clinton’ s actions as “ grossly negligent” to “ extremely careless,” which changed the entire scandal from potentially criminal to nothing more than a written reprimand.
That’ s right, the same man who started the entire sham Russian investigation was also the same Clinton operative who worked tirelessly to get her off the hook for actions that would have almost certainly resulted in charges for anyone else.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
California is Being Sued Because So Few of Their Public School Children Can Read
At one elementary school in California, 96 percent of the students are not proficient in either English or math. How is that even possible? Unfortunately, the more the federal government gets involved in education, the worse it seems to get. At one time the United States had the greatest system of public education on the entire planet, but these days we only seem to make headlines when news comes out about how poorly we are doing. This has been a hot button issue for me for a long time, but even I was surprised when I learned that the state of California is actually being sued because so few of their public school children can read…
A group of prominent lawyers representing teachers and students from poor performing schools sued California on Tuesday, arguing that the state has done nothing about a high number of schoolchildren who do not know how to read.
The advocacy law firm, Public Counsel, filed the lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court to demand the California Department of Education address its “ literacy crisis.” The state has not followed suggestions from its own report on the problem five years ago, the lawsuit said.
So exactly how bad is this “ literacy crisis” ?
Well, according to this lawsuit less than 50 percent of all third, fourth and fifth grade students in the state of California meet minimum standards for literacy…
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
House Overwhelmingly Votes to Defeat Democrat’s Bid to Impeach President Trump
Democratic leaders call effort premature, citing ongoing probes
The House on Wednesday tossed aside an attempt by Rep. Al Green to bring articles of impeachment against President Trump.
Many Democrats joined the Republican majority in voting, 364-58, to table the resolution from Mr. Green, Texas Democrat, after Democratic leaders said Mr. Trump’s actions may be upsetting to the party, but that talk of impeachment was premature.
“Legitimate questions have been raised about his fitness to lead this nation. Right now, Congressional committees continue to be deeply engaged in investigations into the President’s actions both before and after his inauguration,” House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Minority Whip Steny Hoyer said in a joint statement. “The special counsel’s investigation is moving forward as well, and those inquiries should be allowed to continue. Now is not the time to consider articles of impeachment.”
They said right now, Democrats should focus their energy on fighting the GOP’s tax bill and promoting jobs ahead of the mid-term elections next year.
Still, 58 Democrats voted to advance Mr. Green’s bid.
Mr. Green is among a handful of liberal members who’ve pushed for impeachment now, even though Democrats do not control either chamber.
The congressman argued Mr. Trump is inciting hatred and bigotry and is dividing Americans based on race and other traits.
His articles cite, among other things, Mr. Trump’s response to the white-supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, and push to ban transgender people from the military.
| — Hat tip: Dora | [Return to headlines] |
Ambassador Bolton gets it! He and so many others see what’s going on and how the left is trying to destroy the Trump administration…
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Lena Dunham: ‘I Warned the Clinton Campaign Weinstein Was a Rapist’ … and She Should Know, Right?
Lena Dunham and former Vanity Fair editor Tina Brown claim to have warned staff close to Hillary Clinton about Harvey Weinstein’s alleged sexual misconduct long before this year’s raft of public accusations.
Speaking to the New York Times, Dunham — the creator and star of HBO’s Girls — repeated comments she claims to have made last year to Kristina Schake, the deputy communications director for Clinton’s 2016 US presidential election campaign: “I just want you to let you know that Harvey’s a rapist and this is going to come out at some point… I think it’s a really bad idea for him to host fundraisers and be involved because it’s an open secret in Hollywood that he has a problem with sexual assault.”
Isn’t this the same Lena who molested her little sister, lied about a college rape, backed down after she defended a co-worker against rape allegations and just got called a racist by a writer for her feminist web site?.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Muslim Mosques — Military Bases in America?
The mosques are our barracks, the domes our helmets, the minarets our bayonets and the faithful our soldiers…” — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan
Recently, I was watching a video of former F.B.I. agent John Guandolo talking about the “Islamic Terror” attacks in America that have taken place since September 11, 2001.
During his exposition on “Islamic terror” within American borders, he brought up the question as to what would you think if a foreign country established military bases here in America.
Muslims are establishing Mosques in America, which is the same thing.
It is a sign of conquering, and as you know, out of their own mouths, the Muslims are not coming into America to assimilate, they are here in an attempt to dominate.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Ohio: Threat of “Honor Killing” Allows Muslim Woman to Evade Deportation
Three 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals judges in Cincinnati voted this month to block the deportation of Jordanian native Olga Jad Kamar.
| — Hat tip: Charles Low | [Return to headlines] |
Severe Flu Season Expected With Less-Effective Vaccine Nearly a Century After Deadliest Pandemic
Nearly 100 years after a flu pandemic decimated the world’s population, U.S. health officials are bracing for a severe influenza season now that the annual vaccine has proved ineffective in stemming an outbreak in Australia.
All influenza viruses today are direct descendants of the deadliest outbreak in recorded human history. The 1918 Spanish flu killed 50 million people and is believed to have infected nearly every person on earth, said Dr. Jeffery Taubenberger, the foremost authority on that pandemic.
“Every single case of human influenza that’s occurred in the last 100 years, and all the millions and millions of deaths that have occurred … [are] due to a single importation of an animal virus into humans 100 years ago,” Dr. Taubenberger told The Washington Times.
Australia provides an indicator of what the U.S. can expect this flu season. Having recently emerged from their winter, Australians recorded more than 200,000 infections and 745 deaths related to influenza. It was the country’s largest flu outbreak since 2009, when it recorded 59,000 cases and nearly 200 deaths.
In an article published last week in The New England Journal of Medicine, researchers at the National Institutes of Health said Americans — even those who have been vaccinated — should prepare for a severe flu season.
“You really can’t definitively say because things change with influenza, but all the stars are aligned for that to happen,” Dr. Anthony Fauci, the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told The Times.
Confirmed cases in the U.S. are “very similar, if not identical, to the virus that was seen in Australia,” Dr. Fauci said.
Four states — Massachusetts, Georgia, Louisiana and Oklahoma — already have declared widespread infections, and at least 34 states have reported slightly lower levels of flu activity, according to reports by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Dr. Fauci and Dr. Taubenberger said the flu virus is unpredictable and rapidly mutating, which makes inoculation difficult.
Four strains of seasonal flu virus affect humans. The vaccine for the 2017-2018 season is meant to protect against the H1N1 strain, but more than half of confirmed flu cases in Australia tested positive for the H3N2 strain.
The vaccine Australians received is the same one given to Americans as part of a cyclical operation in which researchers try to predict which strain will be most damaging each year and then develop a vaccine against it.
Because flu vaccines take about six months to produce, it’s impossible to correct a mistake or “mismatch.” Medical professionals argue that some protection is better than none and encourage people to be vaccinated.
[…]
| — Hat tip: Dora | [Return to headlines] |
Canada Kills Plan to Buy Boeing Super Hornet Jets Amid Growing Trade Feud
The growing trade feud between the US and Canada escalated overnight when Ottawa announced it was scrapping a plan to buy 18 F-18 Boeing Super Hornet fighter jets amid a deepening dispute with the U.S. aerospace company, Reuters reported. In a snub to the US, Canada’s Liberal government will instead announce that intends to acquire a used fleet of older Australia F-18 jets, the same kind of plane Canada currently operates.
The unexpected decision demonstrates Ottawa’s anger at a recent decision by Boeing to launch a trade challenge against Canadian planemaker Bombardier which Beoing accuses of dumping airliners on the American market. It also puts into question the future of Boeing’s military sales in Canada, which however is a two-edged sword: Boeing says its commercial and defense operations in Canada support more than 17,000 Canadian jobs.
The trade spat comes as Canada and Mexico are locked into increasingly acrimonious negotiations with the United States over the NAFTA trade pact.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Canada’s Liberal government has removed condemnation of “barbaric cultural practices” like Muslim honor killings and female genital mutilation from the study guide used to complete the Canadian citizenship exam.
| — Hat tip: Charles Low | [Return to headlines] |
10,000 Google Staff Set to Police YouTube Content
Google is to deploy a staff of 10,000 to hunt down “extremist content” on its YouTube platform following recent criticism, the video-sharing site’s chief executive told Britain’s Daily Telegraph Tuesday.
Susan Wojcicki admitted in the broadsheet that “bad actors” had used the website to “mislead, manipulate, harass or even harm.”
British Prime Minister Theresa May has put pressure on internet giants to root out online radical material following a spate of terror attacks, while YouTube last week pulled 150,000 videos of children after lewd comments about them were posted by viewers.
Wojcicki claimed that her company had developed “computer-learning” technology to identify “extremist videos” and that it could also be used to identify content that risked children’s safety.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
A Two State Solution for Europe?
A poll conducted this summer found that 29% of French Muslims found Sharia to be more important to them than French laws. It also found that 67% of Muslims want their children to study Arabic, and 56% think it should be taught in public schools.
A 2016 UK poll showed that 43% of British Muslims “believed that parts of the Islamic legal system should replace British law while only 22 per cent opposed the idea”. Another poll from 2016 found that 23% of all Muslims supported the introduction of sharia law in some areas of Britain, 39% agreed that “wives should always obey their husbands,” and 52% of all British Muslims believe that homosexuality should be illegal.
French President Emmanuel Macron blamed France, not Islam, for the increased radicalization, which he said should lead France to “question itself.” According to Macron, then, the parallel Islamic societies of France, have nothing to do with Islam. They are the fault of the French republic. Did the French republic impose sharia and the subjugation of women in the suburbs, described by one female survivor as “hell”? Was the French republic behind the recent distribution of leaflets stipulating “if you meet a Jew, kill him”?
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
EU to Sue Poland, Hungary, And Czech Republic for Refusing to Host Asylum Seekers
THE EUROPEAN Union’s executive is preparing to sue Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic after they refused to host asylum-seekers, according to sources.
The European Commission, which is led by Jean-Claude Juncker, is believed to be stepping up a legal case against the trio after they declined to shelter asylum seekers.
All three countries have also refused to take in any refugees under the bloc’s mandatory quota scheme, disputing the fact it was adopted by a qualified majority vote and citing security concerns.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Iceland’s New PM is a 41-Year-Old Anti-War Feminist and Environmentalist
Iceland’s new prime minister is a 41-year-old anti-war feminist, democratic socialist, who is also an expert on crime literature. Katrin Jakobsdottir plans to make the small island nation a world-leader in fighting climate change.
Her Left-Green Movement will lead a coalition government with two parties across the political spectrum in the hope it gives Iceland some ‘stability’. The country has been rocked by a cycle of scandals that have triggered three elections in the past four years. A snap election was called by former PM Bjarni Benediktsson in September over a furore caused by his father suggesting a paedophile, who repeatedly raped his stepdaughter for 12 years, should have his ‘honour restored’.
[Comment: Another useful idiot “appointed” to lead their country to destruction.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Italian Bishop Decries Use of Migrant Dinghy in Nativity Scene
A bishop in the north of Italy has sharply criticized the placement of the Virgin Mary and the Baby Jesus in a migrant dinghy rather than a traditional manger in the town Nativity scene.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
UK: ‘Thousands Could be Killed!’ Terror Expert Warns of ‘Spectacular Terrorist Attack’
A COUNTER-TERRORISM expert has warned “thousands could be killed” in a devastating terror attack after MI5 and police managed to “thwart a plot to assassinate Theresa May”.
Chris Phillips, former head of the National Counter-Terrorism Security Office, said he is “convinced” that a terror attack will take place at “some stage”.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
UK: ISIS Wannabe Allegedly Posted Details Encouraging Attacks on Prince George
LONDON — A would-be Islamic State fighter appeared in a British court Wednesday accused of assisting in a plot to attack Prince George.
Husnain Rashid, 31, from Lancashire, northern England, posted details of the elementary school attended by Queen Elizabeth II’s great-grandson on encrypted messaging app Telegram, prosecutors said.
The unemployed web designer uploaded a photograph of the four-year-old alongside a black silhouette of a jihadi fighter and the caption: “Even the royal family will not be left alone.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Donald Trump Recognises Jerusalem as Israel’s Capital, In Reversal of Policy
Washington: President Donald Trump reversed decades of US policy on Wednesday and recognised Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, despite warnings from around the world that the gesture further drives a wedge between Israel and the Palestinians.
In a speech at the White House, Trump called his decision a “a long overdue” step to advance the peace process, saying that: “While previous presidents have made this a major campaign promise, they failed to deliver. Today, I am delivering.”
The president also said his administration begin a process of moving the US embassy in Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, which is expected to take years…
| — Hat tip: Dean | [Return to headlines] |
We are repeatedly scolded for not agreeing to the opinion that “Islam is a peaceful religion,” that “the Islamic Radical Terrorists don’t represent true Islam” and so on and so forth. Except when it comes to Israel, Islam proves it is not a religion of peace, but a religion of pure unadulterated terrorism. Take, for instance, the Islamic reactions to President Trump’s declaration that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel. Virtually every Islamic or Arab leader’s reaction is laced with threats of extreme violence against anything and everybody. The Islamic reaction to President Trump’s “Jerusalem is Israel’s capital” declaration exposes the true face of Islam as a religion of extreme violent terrorism.
Arutz Sheva reported that “Sheikh Ahmed el-Tayeb, the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, the supreme Islamic institution of Sunni Muslims, on Tuesday warned that “the gates of hell” will open if the United States goes through with plans to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and move its embassy to Jerusalem.” So, here you have the “Grand Imam” of the “supreme Islamic institution of the Sunni Muslims” proclaiming a clear grotesquely violent terroristic threat against everyone and everybody if Jerusalem is declared Israel’s capital. This is the Grand Imam of Egypt, a country that is supposedly at peace with Israel!
One would think the Grand Imam would have been more concerned about the hundreds of Sufi Muslims who were just murdered in the name of Sunni Islam in the northern Sinai a week or so ago[…]
[So Pres. Trump, an American Christian wants to recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital (which it already is by virtue of Israel’s right to choose its own capital city) as a result Muslims want to kill Jews; why is this not rascism? So when did threats of genocide against Jews become acceptable again? Just who are the real Nazis?)
| — Hat tip: MC | [Return to headlines] |
Russia Announces the Complete Destruction of ISIS in Syria
In a historic moment, ignored by much of Western media, Russian military officials have announced the complete and utter defeat of ISIS in Syria. The Russian General Staff issued a statement Wednesday declaring that all territories previously under terrorist control were liberated in a final push by the Syrian Army this week, and with the support of Russian forces.
“All terrorist units of ISIS on Syrian soil have been destroyed, and the territory is liberated,” Armed Forces Chief of Staff General Valery Gerasimov said in comments translated and published by RT. “Therefore, as of today, there’s no territory controlled by ISIS in Syria,” he added. The announcement came during an annual briefing for foreign military attaches, and incidentally on the same day President Trump gave an extremely controversial televised address wherein he gave official US recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, thus it could mean that the demise of one problem could give rise to another in an increasingly volatile and explosive Middle East environment.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
China Intensifies Persecution, Execution of Christians and North Korean Women
According to Janelle P, reporters who are seeking the truth and not some hidden political agenda have uncovered what may be the most unfair and treacherous pay-for-play scheme ever created. “China’s Communist Party Chairman Xi Jingping has mandated that impoverished Christians and churches take down symbols of Jesus Christ and the cross and replace them with his likeness. The penalty for not adhering to this obvious idolatry is a threat to withhold government resources,” she wrote in an emailed press statement
Under the Chinese Communist philosophy, citizens and migrants rely on the heavy-handed government for all creature comforts including shabby, second-hand clothing, minimal shelter, and even the ability to purchase food. While the world sees and hears about the Chinese economic boom, few are witness to the degradation and mercilessness of a country with an underbelly of corruption, brutality and injustice.
The Chinese battle against Jesus Christ and his teachings continues daily which has only increased the ongoing efforts to enforce atheism.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Trudeau Says Purpose of China Trade Deal is to Prevent Democracy From Breaking Out
Yes he really said that.
BEIJING — Pursuing free trade with China and preserving the North American Free Trade Agreement are part of Canada’s international mission to combat the rising tide of populism, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Tuesday…Trudeau characterized his trade ambitions with China, NAFTA and pursuing other deals in Asia, including a new version of Trans-Pacific Partnership, as part of Canada’s fight against the protectionist tide most closely associated with the Donald Trump administration in Washington.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Will Japan ‘Rent’ Nukes From US to Counter North Korean Threat?
There’s widespread debate in Japan about whether the country should go nuclear — either by developing its own arsenal, or sharing such weapons with the US under a “dual key” arrangement, popularly known as “rent-a-nukes,” to counter the growing threat from North Korea.
Rather than fussing with the technology and cost of developing its own missiles and warheads, some say it’s far more sensible for Japan to negotiate a nuclear-sharing option with Washington. Such cooperation would also bind the US and Japan closer and head off future trouble in the bilateral military alliance.
Realistic option?
Masahiro Matsumura, a professor of international politics and national security at St. Andrew’s University (also known as Momoyama Gakuin Daigaku) in Osaka, is a proponent of the idea.
“Nuclear sharing is the best practical option when one considers the evolving realities under existing constraints,” Matsumura told Asia Times in an email interview.
Under his plan, the US would store tactical nuclear missiles and bombs at US bases in Japan. The US military would turn them over to Japan if military action, such as a strike against North Korean bases, was deemed necessary. Nuclear-tipped US Tomahawk cruise missiles and other nukes could be delivered by Japan’s extensive force of conventional submarines and warplanes.
[…]
| — Hat tip: Dora | [Return to headlines] |
An adult shop in Melbourne has become the victim of a crime of passion after a desperate thief was allegedly caught taking off with a $5,000 sex doll.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
An Israeli right-wing activist has claimed the violent brawl that erupted outside of Milo Yiannopoulos’ show in Melbourne on Monday made him feel like he was back ‘in the Middle East’.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
US Officials Confirm Mysterious Cuba Attack Victims Suffered Brain Abnormalities
In the most specific finding to date about physical damage, AP reports that doctors treating the U.S. Embassy victims of mysterious, invisible attacks in Cuba have discovered brain abnormalities as they search for clues to explain the hearing, vision, balance and memory damage.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Next time you see a Democrat lawmaker, thank them for supporting sanctuary cities and states, and making every American less safe…
A Mexican man who was deported from the US 20 times has been convicted of 10 counts including sexual assault in Oregon. On Friday, Sergio Jose Martinez, 31, was sentenced to 35 years in prison in a Portland courtroom after pleading guilty to kidnapping, sexual assault, sodomy and several other counts, KOIN reported.
Martinez smiled throughout the trial, and as he left, he gave one grim parting shot to his two victims’ relatives: ‘See all you guys in Hell.’
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Fox News is Just as Big a Problem on Refugee Issue as Leftwing Media
The other day when we reported that the Heritage Foundation got it so wrong with its “Roadmap for Reform” one of my first thoughts was it is because they clearly are living in a DC bubble and have no idea of what is going on in ‘flyover country.’
I think it is because the mainstream media isn’t reporting on the trouble in towns and cities where refugee overload has created enormous tensions. We don’t expect fairness from CNN etc, but Fox News is just as much to blame!
This Fox News story by Elizabeth Llorente makes my point. Llorente clearly hasn’t read very much about the program and then she uses Linda Hartke, of all people, as her source for views from the religious Left.
We will get to Hartke shortly, but first this. Reporter Llorente clearly got this talking point from the refugee contractors (probably from Hartke!).
The number of refugees entering the U.S. has plummeted since President Trump lifted a four-month ban on admissions.
Only 3,108 refugees came to the U.S. in October and November, the first two months of the new fiscal year. The Obama administration admitted 18,300 refugees in the same period last year. The new numbers represent a dramatic 83 percent drop.
Lazy reporter?
Take a look at this data (below). What do you see? Those two months she uses as comparison are the highest two October/November admissions for probably 20 years (at least 10 here). Yes, Trump’s numbers are thankfully low, but it is disingenuous to take the top Obama months and compare them this way—this is what the lying Left does all the time!
[see chart at URL]
In the fall of 2016, fearing that Trump would be elected in November, the Obama administration was working furiously to bring in extremely high numbers in those months leading up to and following the election. The numbers were so high that refugees were dumped into motels because the contractors couldn’t keep up.
Now to Linda Hartke!
Of all the people to quote representing the nine contractors*** she picked the embattled Hartke and gives her many column inches to lament! (Does she know Hartke personally?)
Don’t these reporters at Fox News read?
Hartke is embroiled in accusations of financial mismanagement. See Michael Patrick Leahy at Breitbart’s expose here.
Llorent goes on…
Groups that work with refugees lamented the drop, saying the U.S. should not scale back its support for people fleeing upheaval.
Could Fox just once mention the fact that these “groups that work with refugees” are paid government contractors who have a financial interest in seeing ever-larger numbers of refugees admitted to the US.
“It’s tragic, really,” said Linda Hartke, president and chief executive of the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, which resettles refugees. “It’s tragic for refugees who’ve fled for their lives, who are simply looking for the chance to be safe and provide for their families and see their kids go to school and live in dignity.”
She said to Fox News, “It hard for many Americans to understand why this administration fails to see that we not only have an international obligation to protect the most vulnerable, but an opportunity to demonstrate American leadership.”
As for the administration’s withdrawal from the global talks on migration, Hartke viewed it as bewildering.
“The global compact was an opportunity, including for our neighbors, to be much more thoughtful about the flows of migrants, what’s good for this country and for our neighbors as well,” Hartke said. “Having these conversations in a global context is something we shouldn’t be afraid of.”
And, in light of what is happening inside Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, I have to say that Hartke has chutzpah!
Readers, stop believing everything Fox News says, please read many sources of alternative media to become fully informed.
| — Hat tip: Dora | [Return to headlines] |
YouTube has ‘quarantined’ a hard-hitting video on Europe’s migrant crisis released by Poland’s conservative government, as part the platform’s crackdown on “hate speech and violent extremism”.
The Polish Ministry of Interior and Administration’s video has been placed in a controversial state designed by YouTube to limit access to videos it says contain “supremacist” or “extremist” content, but which don’t break any of the platform’s rules.
Opening with dramatic scenes of migrants swarming into Europe, the video highlights EU leaders’ insistence that the newcomers be spread throughout the continent, and forced even on unwilling nations through compulsory quotas.
But YouTube has now placed the powerful video in “limited state” — a condition designed to severely reduce the potential audience for “borderline” content. Videos placed under this system are unsearchable, impossible to embed on other sites, and removed from users’ recommended videos lists.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
If You Ain’t Mad Yet, You’d Better Get Mad
If a man steals a car and then runs over a person (even accidentally) and kills that person, he will be tried, convicted and sentenced under an involuntary manslaughter charge, plus car theft. Kate’s killer was a felon in possession of a firearm, which resulted in the death of an innocent bystander. That by definition is involuntary manslaughter. There was no question that the bullet came from the gun that the killer fired that killed Kate Steinle, whether accidental or not. It made no difference that the bullet ricocheted off the concrete. The killer’s illegal action led to the death of another person. He should have been punished with many years in prison, if not executed.
But he wasn’t. Shockingly, a San Francisco jury acquitted him. The jury was not allowed to see his many drug convictions or his five deportations, even though that was material evidence that led to his character and being in the country illegally. The fact that the killer was given sanctuary in San Francisco under their Sanctuary City policy was also not admitted into evidence. The fact that he was roaming around free as a bird because of that Sanctuary policy was never exposed to the jury during the trial.
The jury was composed of six men and six women. Three of those jurors were immigrants. It is not known whether the immigrants were legal or illegal but that contingent of immigrants may very well have played a role in a “not guilty” verdict. The killer pulled the trigger but the sanctuary city mindset was tattooed on the bullet.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
A source with first-hand knowledge tells Breitbart News that financial mismanagement, fraud, and harassment are so widespread at Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service (LIRS), one of the country’s largest refugee resettlement agencies, that the board has called for an external investigation of CEO Linda Hartke.
LIRS is one of the nine top voluntary agencies (VOLAGs) in the refugee resettlement industry that collectively receives more than $1 billion each year from the federal government to resettle refugees across the United States.
An internal email obtained by Breitbart News confirms the source’s claim of an external investigation at LIRS.
“I will also likely ask the Board of Directors to table the CEO Review until we have the report of the investigation,” LIRS Board Chairman Michael Rinehart said of CEO Linda Hartke in an email sent on September 13, 2017, to Evelyn Soto, named to the board in 2017 as a representative of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America [ELCA], and Evan Moilan, the board member who chairs the audit committee.
Rinehart wrote in a follow-up email on September 14, 2017, “The Executive Committee convened and agreed to an investigation. I have spoken to Linda. The investigation team has formed. They will meet next week in St. Louis. I have the names of three law firms with whom to talk. Things are moving fast.”
Rinehart wrote in an email the following day, September 15, 2017:
She knows there’s going to be an independent investigation. A committee. Legal firm help. She knows it concerns Cecilia [Hoyer, the former Chief Human Resources Officer who resigned September 15] and the audit, as well as allegations of a pervasive atmosphere of harassment, bullying, and squelching of those raising the issues.
In a memorandum sent to all LIRS staff in an October 18 email, Chairman of the Board Michael Rinehart stated, “On October 2, 2017, I made known that LIRS would undertake to examine several of LIRS’ processes.”
| — Hat tip: Dora | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden’s Child Migrant Tests ‘Reveal Many Adults’
A Swedish investigation into migrants claiming asylum as children suggests that three-quarters of those tested were over the age of 18.
Sweden’s national forensic medicine agency checked the age of nearly 8,000 people and found that some 6,600 were 18 or over.
The checks were only carried out in cases where there were doubts as to the person’s age.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden: Migration Responsible for 300% Increase in HIV Cases
The number of HIV-related illness in Sweden has grown from 1,684 in 2006 to 6,273 in 2016. That’s an increase of almost 300%.
According to Anders Tegnell of the Public Health Authority, this can be explained by migrant flows from countries where HIV is a major problem.
“There are more and more people living with HIV, because you no longer die of AIDS,” he said.
Publicly available health figures in Sweden show that the number of new cases was relatively constant from the late 1980s to a few years into the 21st century. Since then there was a steep increase.
In 2011, for example, 74% of new cases were infected abroad and 84% of people infected were foreign born.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Don’t Call us Snowflakes — it Damages Our Mental Health, Say Young People
Being called a “snowflake” is damaging to mental health, young people say. Figures show that the majority of young people think the term is unfair — and even more think it could have a negative effect of its own.
The “snowflake generation” is a disparaging term now commonly used to refer to young people, who are perceived to be over-sensitive and intolerant of disagreement.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Feminist Professor Demands American Stop Eating Meat Because it Promotes ‘Hegemonic Masculinity’
A Pennsylvania University professor just published a piece in the Journal of Feminist Geography in which she argues that the act of eating meat perpetrates “hegemonic masculinity.”
[Comment: This is not from The Onion, unfortunately.]
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Pink Raising Her Children to be Gender-Neutral
The singer, who is 38 and married to motorcycle racer Carey Hart, 42, told the U.K.’s The People she does not want her children defined by their gender. Pink said she is delighted her 6-year-old daughter Willow told her she wants to marry an African woman when she grows up.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Talk long enough to European conservatives and they will eventually remind you that the communists in the western and eastern parts of the Old Continent have never been held accountable for their crimes. Certainly nowhere near to the extent that Nazi party members were following World War II. This lack of accountability has meant that communism was never made completely disreputable on the political left, so some variant of communism/socialism was bound to re-surface, despite the insurmountable evidence of its human cost and abject failure.
I’ve often wondered why communists have never had to pay a price for their sins and grievous errors of moral judgment. Perhaps victorious liberal democrats were too eager for reconciliation after the Cold War, too forgiving to punish the malefactors. Or maybe these same liberal democrats didn’t believe they actually won the Cold War, rather than the other side simply failing on their own accord, due to some kind of unforced error. Liberals seemed to refrain from gloating over what they thought was an undeserved triumph. Did they ever really believe in the superiority of their beliefs to begin with?
Whatever the reason, the failure to discredit communism and socialism has come back to haunt us. The popularity of Bernie Sanders, the only openly socialist politician in the US Congress, among young Americans along with their dislike of capitalism would have been unimaginable just ten years ago. Millennial religious conservatives at places like First Things are okay with calling themselves Christian socialists.
Two older and wiser religious conservatives, First Things editor Rusty Reno and Acton president Fr. Robert Sirico, recently debated the merits of the free market. In my obviously biased view, Fr. Sirico won the debate hands-down, especially since Reno seemed to defend capitalism by the end of it. But then again, I’ve never been attracted to socialist ideas and have always thought most criticisms of market economics to be exaggerated or misplaced; I’m a child of the 1980s, after all.
Growing up with Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher and Pope John Paul II as my heroes, it is no surprise that I have such high regard for religiously-informed, liberal democratic capitalism. The Millennial generation went through adolescence during the Clinton presidency and entered adulthood with the 9/11 attacks, still-inconclusive wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the sub-prime mortgage financial crisis, the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI, and the legalization of same-sex marriage. The certainties I grew up with seemed to have vanished into thin air.
It’s therefore easy to understand why millennials are so jaded and now flirting with discredited and even inhumane ideas. But if we children of the Reagan-Thatcher-JPII era are true to our beliefs, we must reject this overly-historicist reading of the present time. Don’t we still possess reason and free will, aren’t we still able to see, judge and decide among the alternatives before us? If so, we have to look at current realities to renew our defense of liberal democracy.
It’s true, after all, that we don’t have a fully capitalist economy in the West; the size of government has drastically reduced the scope of economic freedom over the last several decades, regardless of which party has been in power.
[…]
| — Hat tip: Dora | [Return to headlines] |
“Washington: President Donald Trump reversed decades of US policy on Wednesday and recognised Jerusalem as the capital of Israel..”
Great no nonsense move by Pres. Trump. Since when do foreign powers have a right to tell any nation where they can have their capital city? But when it’s Israel, all normal conventions don’t apply, apparently. So Trump’s move is finger to all the tip toeing nonsense about upsetting Arab and muslim sensibilities. It was calculated in fact to upset “Erdy” and Turkey. What happened 100 years ago on 11th November 1917?
General Allenby walked into Jerusalem ending centuries of Ottoman Turk and muslim colonialisation of the Holy Land. The Israeli president likes to link that date to the formation of the State of Israel in 1948. So Trump’s announcement just days from the 100th anniversary of the “liberation of Jerusalem” may well have been calculated to send Erdy’s blood pressure off the chart. It worked.
As an American firster, I am delighted at the embassy move. I think it’s very beneficial to the US to take a firm stand and show that it will not be intimidated by threats or violence. If the Palestinians want to refuse our checks, we’ll cry, but live through the experience.
I also favor ending US aid to Israel, which is more than capable of standing on its own economic feet…and even if it isn’t, not our problem.
*Czechia
Not sure what Juncker wants to achieve that way. Considering those countries are backed up by their people, leaving the EU would quickly become the most popular option.
The Goolag article reminded me of this youtube classic
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yeG6T7auTOw
«…Jean-Claude “Hic” Juncker …» loved it. 🙂
And congratulations to presidente Trump for being able to fullfill a promise and obey a law of 95!
I’d prefer Jean-Claude Druncker lol
I think that Trump just made it clear to the Islamists that he’s not afraid of them and that they’re full of hot air.
That’s the real upshot of this. It’s not about Jerusalem itself, but about the West not being dictated to by Islamofascists.
I commend Trump for this, very much. It may be the beginning of the end of Islamofascism.
‘It may be the beginning of the end of Islamofascism.’
This will also contribute to the demise of the European Union. Islamist terrorists will continue to attack Europe; nationalist parties in Europe will grow in response.
I agree with your view. The longer I mull over the move he made, the more I see it as truly historical act.
One may not like Trump; one may find him unacceptable; I, for one, voted for him: he is my President and delivers on the election promise.
After decades of placating the Cult and pandering to it in every which way there’s finally a man stating the obvious – clearly and with resolve.
Holy Land, the priceless cultural heritage of my beloved West and in many ways its epitome, is safer today than it was yesterday.
Thank you again, Mr. President.
Next, the Palestinian Arabs need to turn on their so-called leaders, who have proven yet again their ability to lead the “Arab Street” down a dead-end.
“Pink Raising Her Children to be Gender-Neutral ”
Pink is delighted her 6-year old daughter wants to marry an African woman.
I’m delighted at that prospect myself.
I will offer to personally pay for the price of applying for the Darwin award to be given to Pink. The Darwin Award, as you may recall, is a recognition of people who improve the human gene pool by taking themselves out of it.
I saw this “celebrity news” and … asked myself: is this really happening?
This has obviously nothing to do with politics – just plain inanity, dumbness beyond measure.
The sad thing is that because of her “celebrity status” her followers may start to think that this is perfectly normal or even desirable …
Good grief … instead of building our future with all the science and technology, the dumbest of us set the trends …
The old “nature and nurture”debate. Can children be trained to be homosexual or are they born “gay”?
I think the evidence is very clear homosexuality is learned behavior, for if it was genetic it would have ceased centuries ago as “they were taking themselves out of the gene pool”, with few homosexuals in earlier times having offspring. It’s survival is contrary to evolutionary theory. That leaves the conclusion that it is ideas and conditioning based behaviour.
I don’t have the source, but I read in several places (years ago, before the subject became politicized and polarized) during anthro survey courses, that homosexuality occurs across cultures at about a 2% rate. One hypothesis suggested that the second male fetus to go through a womb received less of an androgen bath. Whether or not it’s true, I have no idea.
And studies of rats have proved that given the right conditions – poor maternal care, crowding, aggression due to lack of food – will cause a cycle of deviant behaviors that swirls down to a cultural sink. Homosexual rats.
Islam denies there is any sexual deviancy in Muslim cultures, but they lie like rugs. It is a commonplace. One reason for the deviation is polygamy. Another is the endemic sexual abuse of infants and children. Another is the total segregation of the sexes.