Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi hosted a meeting with Matteo Salvini, the leader of the Lega Nord, and Giorgia Meloni, the leader of Fratelli d’Italia, to discuss a possible alliance after the election. Given the rising support for the Euro-skeptic parties among young Italians, if the alliance holds Mr. Salvini could be the country’s next prime minister.
In other news, the new Austrian interior minister, Herbert Kickl, promised that his country will impose tough new asylum policies and crack down on illegal immigration.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to Charles Low, JD, 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.
“It Doesn’t Look Good”: Intel CEO in Jeopardy for Selling Stock After Learning of “Staggering” Flaw
Six months after Intel was informed about unprecedented vulnerabilities in its chips that could enable hackers to access user data, and which has since emerged as the most “staggering” bug to affect the global semiconductor industry, company CEO Brian Krzanich was quietly selling shares and exercising stock options worth a total of $39 million, netting him nearly $25 million, according to regulatory filings.
The trade, which took place on Nov. 29, has been called “a highly unusual move” that risked attracting regulatory scrutiny, according to lawyers and analysts who spoke to the WSJ. The timing of Krzanich’s sale “is really odd,” said Dan O’Connor, a Ropes & Gray attorney specializing in securities law. “The timing, the size, the unusual nature compared to prior sales — that’s going to get this a lot of scrutiny.”
While the trade took place under an SEC rule that allows officers and directors to prearrange sales of specific numbers of shares at particular times, the experts note that the rule prohibits insiders from setting up such transactions while possessing undisclosed information that might affect the stock price.
Which is precisely what happened in this case.
To be sure, Intel pleads that it followed all the rules: an Intel spokesman said Krzanich’s divestiture was unrelated to the chip security issue and the sale was based on a prearranged trading program. However, in a clear violation of SEC rules, filings show that Krzanich established the divestiture plan about a month before the trade, on Oct. 30, long after Intel learned of the chip vulnerabilities in June.
Oops.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
485 Scientific Papers Published in 2017 Undermine Supposed ‘Consensus’ on Climate Change
A broad survey of climate change literature for 2017 reveals that the alleged “consensus” behind the dangers of anthropogenic global warming is not nearly as settled among climate scientists as people imagine.
Author Kenneth Richard found that during the course of the year 2017, at least 485 scientific papers were published that in some way questioned the supposed consensus regarding the perils of human CO2 emissions or the efficacy of climate models to predict the future.
According to Richard’s analysis, the 485 new papers underscore the “significant limitations and uncertainties inherent in our understanding of climate and climate changes,” which in turn suggests that climate science is not nearly as settled as media reports and some policymakers would have people believe.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Convention of States Project’s “Simulated Convention” a Dog and Pony Show
Our Constitution delegates only a handful of powers to the federal government. But 100 years ago, we started electing Progressives (Fabian socialists) to State and federal office. With the enthusiastic approval of the American People, the Progressives set up the socialist regulatory welfare governments (state and federal) we now have. It’s unconstitutional; but Americans didn’t care because they were being taken care of by the governments, and their children were getting “free” public school educations.
So for the past 100 years, the federal and state governments and the American People have ignored our Constitution.
Now that our socialist system is collapsing, along comes the “Convention of States” Project (COS), blames all our problems on the federal government, and claims we can fix the federal government’s violations of our Constitution by amending the Constitution.[1]
[…]
In response to the current push, constitutionalists are warning Americans that if Congress calls an Article V convention, a new constitution with a new mode of ratification is likely to be imposed — probably a new constitution which moves us into the North American Union.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Dems Humiliated Themselves With Their Own Study on Illegal Online Gun Sales
Gun-hating democrats who demanded a study into the sale of guns online were smacked with a dose of reality. They wasted two years attempting to buy guns illegally on the “dark web,” and the group of Democrats failed every single time.
Senator Elizabeth Warren joined with Senator Brian Schultz, D-Hawaii, and Representative Elijah Cummings, D-Md., to commission the GAO report.
An embarrassing attempt to try to regulate guns further went horribly wrong when Democrats took it upon themselves to try to skirt the law to prove it can be done. Over the course of the two-and-a-half year investigation, agents tried to buy firearms illegally on the “Surface Web” and the “Dark Web,” generally by sharing their status as “prohibited individuals” or trying to buy across state lines.
The NRA described the study as an attempt to replicate the findings of former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s 2015 report, titled “Point, Click, Fire: An investigation of illegal online gun sales,” which found that 62 percent of private sellers were willing to proceed with a sale, even if the prospective purchaser could not pass a background check.
But the GAO revealed that every single one of their 72 attempts outside of the “dark web” were “unsuccessful.” It kind of makes one wonder where Bloomberg got his information and statistics. As if that isn’t bad enough, to humiliate those in power who think of us as less equal than them, the bulk of this rather embarrassing study is being ignored by the mainstream media.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Fusion GPS Admits They Used John McCain to Pass Anti-Trump Dossier to Obama-Era Intel Agencies
EILAT, Israel — The founders of the controversial opposition research firm Fusion GPS admitted that they helped the researcher hired to compile the infamous, largely discredited 35-page dossier on President Donald Trump to share the document with Sen. John McCain.
The goal of providing the dossier to McCain, the Fusion GPS founders explained, was to pass the information contained in the questionable document to the U.S. intelligence community under the Obama administration.
The disclosure raises questions about whether McCain knew that the information he delivered to the intelligence community was actually an opposition document reportedly funded by the Hillary Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee.
McCain’s office did not reply yesterday to a Breitbart News request for comment on the matter.
[Comment: Now “the songbird” is silent.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Google’s New Fact-Check Feature Almost Exclusively Targets Conservative Sites
Google, the most powerful search engine in the world, is now displaying fact checks for conservative publications in its results.
No prominent liberal site receives the same treatment.
And not only is Google’s fact-checking highly partisan — perhaps reflecting the sentiments of its leaders — it is also blatantly wrong, asserting sites made “claims” they demonstrably never made.
When searching for a media outlet that leans right, like The Daily Caller (TheDC), Google gives users details on the sidebar, including what topics the site typically writes about, as well as a section titled “Reviewed Claims.”
Vox, and other left-wing outlets and blogs like Gizmodo, are not given the same fact-check treatment. When searching their names, a “Topics they write about” section appears, but there are no “Reviewed Claims.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Judge Napolitano: Why President Trump Should Never Agree to Interview With Mueller [Video]
Fox News senior judicial analyst Judge Andrew Napolitano said President Donald Trump should absolutely never agree to an interview with Special Counsel Robert Mueller and FBI agents…NEVER, NEVER, NEVER!
There has been no official request by Mueller’s office to interview the president yet, but Trump’s lawyers are anticipating that Mueller may request information from Trump related to his investigation into Russia’s attempted meddling in the 2016 election.
The president’s legal team is reportedly considering a number of possible options for such an interview, including an in-person interview of Trump, written responses to questions submitted by Mueller’s team or an affidavit signed by the president stating his position on the case.
On “The Story,” Judge Napolitano said any of those options would be a bad idea for the president because he cannot know what Mueller’s team knows and what evidence they already have.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Project Veritas Video Shows Twitter Would Give Trump’s Private Messages to DOJ
James O’Keefe’s Project Veritas has released a new video exposing Twitter’s willingness to breach its users’ privacy. Or rather, one user in particular: President Trump.
The undercover journalism outlet, famed for its expose’s revealing bias in the mainstream media, has now turned its attention to the tech companies that have come to dominate access to information in the modern world.
Developing…
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Sara Carter Reveals Who Fusion GPS Says Was the FBI Source in the Trump Camp [Video]
SARA CARTER OF CIRCA NEWS IS A GEM OF A REPORTER WHO WAS ON TUCKER CARLSON TONIGHT. She has been a key person in the exposure of the corruption in the intel community and the press. Here’s her latest revelation on the FBI source in the Trump camp:
Sara Carter answers one of the biggest questions about the Trump Dossier: “I think one of the most interesting points that’s been brought up today is that Glenn Simpson testified that the FBI has a source within the Trump campaign. And, by the way, that story, a colleague of mine here pointed out that that story is still a top story on the Washington Post website. What’s interesting is that according to people close to Glenn Simpson and Fusion GPS he misspoke. That it isn’t true at all. That what he was referring to was Papadopoulos actually in London.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Sheriff David Clarke Exposes the Dumbing Down of Academic Achievement
When all 164 of Washington D.C. Frank W. Ballou Senior High School’s graduating seniors last year applied for and were accepted to college, the whole community — students, teachers, administrators, parents, and education reformers — had reason to celebrate the achievements of these obviously hard-working graduates. With a graduating class the school system considered “academically disadvantaged,” someone in the school district should have smelled a rat.
After all, 98 percent of Ballou’s 930 students were African-Americans, and two percent were Hispanic/Latino, according to data from the District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS) system. One hundred percent of them were considered “academically disadvantaged” by the system. Kids like this deserve the great opportunity that a high-quality, character-building education can help provide. There was a time when good educators, in fact, would tirelessly fight to give it to them. Those days are apparently over.
Sadly, this happy story collapsed in November, when an investigation by WAMU and NPR found that the much-ballyhooed Ballou graduated dozens of these students despite high rates of unexcused absences throughout their senior year. Half of them missed more than three months of school. One in five was absent more than present. When kids don’t show up for class, no learning can take place. And many continue to be perplexed about the growing achievement gap between black and Hispanic kids and their white counterparts. These truancy rates are a big part of the problem.
Some teachers, saying they felt pressure to pass failing students and get them to graduation, cooperated with the investigation. An internal e-mail shows that in April, just two months before the end of the school year, only 57 students were on track to graduate. Many of the others could scarcely read or write.
All of which means the graduation jubilation in June was not, in any way, justified. Put bluntly, Ballou’s administrators and some teachers cooked the books, used taxpayer money to commit fraud, and above all harmed poor black youths and their futures the most. Quite an indictment.
Perhaps even more alarmingly, NPR’s report led teachers from around the country to share similar situations in many other districts. This is a nationwide academic scandal in K-12 urban school districts, not to mention the serious disciplinary issues they have.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Terror Suspect Indicted for NYC Bombing
A grand jury indicted Akayed Ullah, who was accused of trying to blow up a suicide bomb in New York City in December, on terrorism charges, Wednesday.
Ullah, 27, is from Bangladesh and was thought to be carrying out the attack in the name of the Islamic State, according to Reuters.
Officials are also charging Ullah with supporting a foreign terrorist organization, and for using a weapon of mass destruction to commit a terrorist attack, Reuters reports. He could spend the rest of his life in prison if convicted.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
The Big One is Coming: San Andreas Fault in California Comes Alive!
The San Andreas fault has seemingly come alive in recent days, putting the highly populated Bay Area in California on alert. “The Big One” is coming, and it could be right around the corner.
The earthquake that rattled the Bay Area on Thursday was just one more reminder of the power and danger of the Hayward Fault, which runs below the populous East Bay area. But the San Andreas fault could awaken at any time, causing the Hayward fault to also shift, which would rock the area. The Hayward fault could easily produce a magnitude 7 or greater earthquake and it is directly underneath heavily populated areas.
“So who knows, California!” says Joe Joseph of the Daily Sheeple. “Better buy a boat, build an ark, who know what the heck you’re gonna need. And anybody out there that’s feeling ambitious in the real estate market, why don’t you go and buy up some desert land…who knows! Maybe you’ll have beachfront property soon!”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Toyota, Mazda to Build $1.6 Billion Plant in Alabama
Toyota Motor and Mazda Motor are set to unveil plans for a $1.6 billion assembly plant in Huntsville, Alabama, sources familiar with the matter tell CNBC.
That announcement is expected to be made Wednesday afternoon in Alabama. Toyota executives and Alabama Governor Kay Ivey are slated to attend that announcement, sources said.
The plant, which will build the Toyota Corolla along with other models, is a huge win for President Donald Trump’sadministration which has made a point of stressing it would add manufacturing jobs, especially in the auto industry.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Trump’s Unnoticed Great First Year Accomplishments
Conservatives and Republicans gave President Trump kudos for his remarkable list of accomplishments in his first year in office.
One crucial Trump accomplishment appears to have gone unnoticed. Trump repeatedly spoke the truth about issues fake news media demanded that we either embrace its lie about the issue or stay silent. Single-handedly, Trump has opened the door for Americans to freely speak truth again.
Before Trump entered the political arena, fake news media controlled public speech with an iron-fist. Citizens and politicians knew they had better toe-the-politically-correct-line or suffer severe consequences.
When fake news media demanded that we ignore biology and pretend that Bruce Jenner is a woman, Americans played along with Bruce’s mental disorder for fear of public humiliation and economic crucifixion by fake news media.
NFL player Don Jones broke fake news media’s ban on speaking truth publicly. When Michael Sam kissed his boyfriend on national TV, Jones tweeted what tens of millions of Americans were thinking. “OMG, horrible.” Jones was immediately high-tech lynched by fake news media, sentenced to forced mind-altering therapy.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Tucker: Google is the ‘Greatest Threat’ To Free Speech in America, Tech Barons ‘Our New Commissars’
During an interview with fired Google employee James Damore on Tuesday, Fox News host Tucker Carlson said that Google — not the federal government — represents the greatest threat to free speech in America.
“If you’re conservative it might be difficult to get your head around what is happening in this country so much has changed but here’s the bottom line: the federal government is no longer the main threat to your privacy and to your freedoms. You’ve grown up thinking that, it’s no longer true,” Carlson said.
“Big corporations are the main threat to your freedom and your privacy,” he said. “The government doesn’t own your private emails, Google does. Federal employees can’t be fired for their political views, private sector employees are all the time. The Trump administration can’t end your ability to publicly communicate your ideas. Twitter and Facebook can do that and they do do it all the time. The Orwellian future is increasingly the Orwellian present and tech barons are becoming our new commissars. Liberals who once admirably stood up for free expression in opposition to concentrations of corporate power have been thoroughly co-opted — they’re getting rich from it.”
Tucker went on to interview former Google employee James Damore who says he was fired from the company and discriminated against for being a straight white male.
Tucker shared a host of disturbing excerpts from Damore’s newly filed lawsuit which appear to show Google is run by fanatical antifa who incentivise the crushing of dissent.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Washington Governor Warns: ‘We Have Just 59 Days…to Save Our Children’ From Global Warming
Washington Governor Jay Inslee took to Twitter to warn his followers that they have a mere 59 days to save children from global warming. The Tweet, which was posted yesterday, is meant to scare readers and the Washington legislature into enacting a carbon tax.
According to the Daily Caller, the state legislature’s session ends in 59 days, on March 8. Democrats have a slim majority in both state legislative chambers. Inslee wants lawmakers to pass a tax on carbon dioxide emissions from power plants and industrial facilities…
What Inslee is proposing is simply a tax on his own constituents no matter how any politician spins it. It will affect the consumer. It won’t actually help reduce the global warming he claims they only have 59 days to stop. And it really is too bad most Americans cannot see through this charade. Inslee wants a tax. That’s it. Politicians don’t care about “global warming.” If they did, it would have been over by now — but they can’t exploit the issue for more money either.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Dr. Bandy X. Lee, the Yale professor and clinical psychiatrist who reportedly briefed members of Congress last month about President Donald Trump’s supposed mental instability, backed away from those claims on Monday. Appearing on Midday Live with Dr. Drew and Mike Catherwood on TalkRadio 790 KABC in Los Angeles, Dr. Lee was forced to admit that other presidents, such as Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt, also had psychological profiles that would be “concerning” to her. She then allowed that she was not talking about “mental illness” when it came to President Trump.
Breitbart News reports:
Lee is part of a group called “The National Coalition of Concerned Mental Health Experts,” KABC notes, whose members are committed to the view that “Trump’s mental state presents a clear and present danger to our nation and individual well-being.”
Their activism would seem to violate the “Goldwater Rule” of the American Psychiatric Association, “which prohibits psychiatrists from offering opinions on someone they have not personally evaluated.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Angela Merkel Lectured Trump on Global Warming, Now Germany Abandoning Its Climate Goal
Germany will abandon its 2020 national global warming goal, a huge embarrassment to Chancellor Angela Merkel, as part of a deal to put together a coalition government in the wake of September’s elections.
Sources tell Reuters that Merkel’s would-be coalition will drop a goal of cutting carbon dioxide emissions 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2020. Ahead of the elections, Merkel said she’d find a way to meet the 2020 target. That was before she failed to put together a majority governing coalition.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
British Army Targets Emotional 90 Pound Weakling Gay Muslims in New Recruitment Drive
The British Army’s new campaign is targeting recruits from different backgrounds, genders, sexualities and faiths.
The scheme, which will see a series of adverts broadcast on television, radio and digital platforms, is titled ‘This is Belonging 2018’.
As part of the campaign, which cost around £1.6million to produce, a series of animations will be released on social media.
Among them will be films that ask ‘Can I be gay in the Army?’ and ‘What if I get emotional in the Army?’
Other videos ask ‘Can I practise my faith in the Army?’, ‘Will I be listened to in the Army?’ and ‘Do I have to be a superhero to join the Army?’
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Czech Election: Anti-EU Milos Zeman in the Lead Amid Russian Meddling Claims
Mr Zeman, who previously served as prime minister from 1998 to 2002, is currently the favourite to win out of the nine candidates standing.
The renowned Eurosceptic has fiercely criticised immigration from Muslim-majority countries — a viewpoint that appears to chime with many voters.
He is also believed to be Russia’s favoured candidate and the 73-year-old has met frequently with Vladimir Putin.
Mr Zeman has also supported the lifting of sanctions against Moscow and called for the recognition of Crimea.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Eurosceptic Italian Parties See Surge of Support Among Young Voters
A new poll has shown that the majority of Italian voters between the ages of 18 and 40 support Eurosceptic parties like the Five Star Movement and the new right-wing coalition of populist Lega Nord and Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia.
The poll, conducted by marketing firm Ixè, shows that the Five Star Movement (M5S) alone has the majority of support among Italians in their 30s while they, along with the new right-wing coalition, have around 35 per cent of voters aged 18-35, according toItalian polling website Termometro Politico.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
France: Axe-Wielding Robbers Steal Millions in Raid on Paris Ritz
A gang of five robbers armed with hatchets launched a spectacular raid on the world famous Ritz hotel in Paris Wednesday, making off with an estimated four million euros worth of jewels, investigators said.
| — Hat tip: Charles Low | [Return to headlines] |
Greece Limits Sharia Law After European Court Challenge
Lawmakers in Greece voted Tuesday to limit the powers of Islamic courts operating in a border region that is home to a 100,000-strong Muslim minority, scrapping procedures dating back more than 90 years.
The proposed law passed easily, with backing from parliament’s largest political parties. It eliminates rules that referred many civil cases involving members of the Muslim community to Sharia law courts. Greek courts now will have priority in all cases.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Guy Verhofstadt Blasts Poland and Hungary as EU Cracks Show
In a bid to reassert the ailing bloc’s authority, the EU chief blasted Poland and Hungary for undermining democracy and the rule of law to build “illiberal societies”.
He tweeted: “The European Union was built to guarantee our citizens’ freedom, democracy and the rule of law. If the Hungarian and Polish governments want to build closed and illiberal societies, they must do it outside the EU.”
Warsaw is in an ongoing battle with the EU as it ploughs ahead with plans for criminal proceedings under Article 7 because of widespread Polish judicial reform.
But Hungary’s Viktor Orban has signalled he will block any sanctions, as the EU struggles to maintain its grip on power in the eastern bloc.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Italian Election: ‘Italy’s Farage’ Could be Next PM and Spearhead Anti-EU Rebellion
The upcoming Italian election has seen the return of Silvio Berlusconi and his party Forza Italia, in the run with a coalition with right-wing parties The Northern League and Fratelli d’Italia.
Silvio Berlusconi hosted Matteo Salvini and Giorgia Meloni in his villa in Arcore to discuss the upcoming Italian election.
Four hours later he announced a coalition that could see the anti-euro leader Matteo Salvini as Italy’s next Prime Minister.
A ban by the European Court of Human Rights on Silvio Berlusconi taking office after a sex scandal in 2011 would prevent the former Prime Minister to lead the country again. This makes Salvini the front runner to take the reigns of power if the coalition win.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Spain: Morgue Staff Hear Snoring From Body Bag and Make an Amazing Discovery
Staff at a morgue in northern Spain heard snoring from inside a body bag and discovered that a man who had been declared dead by three doctors was actually alive.
| — Hat tip: Charles Low | [Return to headlines] |
Troll Convicted Over Facebook Post Calling for ‘Gang Rape’ of Catalan Politician
A Catalan woman has been handed a four-month suspended jail sentence for a Facebook post in which she wrote that Ine’s Arrimadas, the leader of Ciudadanos party in Catalonia, “deserved to be gang raped”.
| — Hat tip: Charles Low | [Return to headlines] |
A man has been jailed after threatening to kill a group of army cadets and blow up their barracks after they had been selling poppies for the Royal British Legion.
Rabbnawaz Ali made the threats to a group of youngsters, aged between 12 and 16, who were left frightened by the comments made.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
4 Arrested for Trying to Sell Land to Jews
Four people have been arrested for the capital offense of selling Palestinian land to Jews, even though the deals apparently were halted before completion, according to authorities.
The Ma’an news agency reported that the Palestinian Authority’s General Intelligence Service, after a lengthy investigation, arrested four Arab real-estate brokers thought to have tried to “divert land to the occupation.”
Breaking Israel News commented the laws relating to such transactions are “the most racist laws on the books anywhere on the planet.”
Muhammad Abu Shahala, a former PA officer, was sentenced to death in 2012 for selling land to Jews, but the Jewish community of Hebron then asked for help from the United Nations, the United States and the Israeli government to step in on his behalf.
It is a capital offense to engage in such transactions.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
African thugs armed with hammers and knives robbed two Melbourne petrol stations within minutes of each other, hitting one of the cashiers in the face before stealing cash and cigarettes.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
Victoria Police Set Up Taskforce to Tackle African Youth Gang Violence in Melbourne
Victoria’s African community will create a taskforce to work with police and tackle youth crime in Melbourne’s western suburbs.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
Assange Appears in Ecuador Database, Spurring Citizenship Speculation
QUITO (Reuters) — WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange’s name has appeared in an Ecuadorean government database of citizen identification numbers, fuelling speculation that he may have received citizenship from the Andean country.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Ann Coulter on Trump DACA ‘Betrayal’: ‘This is the Worst Day of His Presidency’
President Trump moved to commit political suicide today by agreeing to sign a clean amnesty bill, though he appeared to have backed off his statements later on Twitter after Ann Coulter and others let him have it.
— From Breitbart:
New York Times best-selling author and populist conservative columnist Ann Coulter says “nothing” in Michael Wolff’s recent salacious book Fire and Fury could “hurt” President Trump as much as his statement on Tuesday that an amnesty for illegal aliens will be a “bill of love.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Austrian Minister Promises Crackdown on Immigration With ‘Very, Very Tough Asylum Policies’
Herbert Kickl, a member of right-wing Freedom Party, was sworn in as Interior Minister last month and intends to beef up the country’s asylum policies.
At a Council of Ministers meeting, Mr Kickl said the new government would quickly get to work on deporting migrants who had been denied asylum, local media reported.
The new minister referred to figures from a 2016 security report claiming an supposed 13 per cent rise in criminal acts carried out by foreigners that year.
Mr Kickl added the new government, a coalition between his Freedom Party and the conservative People’s Party led by Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, would stamp down on the trend and pass “very, very tough asylum policies.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Federal Court Orders Trump Administration to Reinstate DACA
A federal district court in California on Tuesday ordered the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to immediately reinstate DACA, in a lawsuit brought by former DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano against current DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen…
Alsup originally issued extraordinarily broad and invasive discovery orders to force the federal government — even the White House — to disclose a broad range of sensitive documents on DACA discussions, possibly including communications with President Trump that would be protected by executive privilege.
When the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in San Francisco did not rein in Alsup, Sessions’ top Supreme Court lawyer, Solicitor General Noel Francisco, went straight to the Supreme Court, which rejected Alsup’s order in a unanimous opinion.
Back in the federal trial court, Alsup’s latest decision rejected DOJ’s motion to dismiss the five lawsuits. Instead, he issued a preliminary injunction against the Trump administration, ordering the Trump administration, “pending final judgment herein or other order, to maintain the DACA program on a nationwide basis on the same terms and conditions that were in effect before the rescission on September 5, 2017.” The San Francisco-based district court further ordered the federal government to begin renewing work permits for DACA recipients.
DOJ can now take these cases back to the Ninth Circuit on an expedited basis, and request a stay of the district court’s reinstatement order while the appeal is ongoing. If the Ninth Circuit declines again to do so, then DOJ can immediately return to the Supreme Court and ask Justice Anthony Kennedy — who has jurisdiction over the Ninth Circuit — to issue a stay that will last until a final decision is rendered in the appeal.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
An “underage” migrant, who was presented as being in a romantic relationship with an underage girl in a controversial German children’s channel television programme, has admitted he is actually an adult.
The documentary Malvina, Diaa and Love was broadcast in November on the publicly-funded German television channel Kika, which is directed at children aged three to 13, and has been slammed by many as “propaganda” as it favourably presents a largely one-sided relationship between a 16-year-old German girl and an adult Syrian asylum seeker.
The Syrian named Diaa was said to be around the same age as 16-year-old Malvina but later admitted he is actually 19 years old and some have even alleged he could be over 20, Die Welt reports.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Mark Levin on Trump’s New Immigration Tack: ‘No Art of the Deal, ‘ ‘Complete Surrender’
Tuesday on his nationally syndicated radio show, conservative talker Mark Levin criticized President Donald Trump for his remarks earlier in the day at a meeting directed at Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY).
Trump indicated he would sign what was delivered to him and not nitpick, to which Levin categorized it as “surrender.”
“That’s no ‘Art of the Deal,’“ he said. “That’s complete surrender. Now, I suspect the president will realize that and try to walk some of that back, but that is very bad. And he did it in front of the media. He did it in front of the Democrats. The whole world heard it. Just give me something, and I’ll sign it. Are you kidding me? That’s what he said. I didn’t say it. That’s what the president said.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Nearly 40 Percent of Sex Offenders in Oregon Prisons Are Illegal Aliens
The murder of Kate Steinle in California highlighted the fact that we have a serious criminal illegal alien problem in this country. Many of these individuals, after breaking the law to enter the country, go on to commit other crimes — theft, rape, and even murder. David Olen Cross released a December 2017 report based on Oregon Department of Corrections (DOC) data, announcing that there are “973 foreign nationals (criminal aliens) incarcerated in the state’s prison system.”
Oregon has 14,739 inmates incarcerated in its 14 prisons scattered across the state. “Approximately one in every fifteen prisoners incarcerated by the state was a criminal alien, 6.60 percent of the total prison population,” the report said.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Switzerland Rejects Citizenship Bids of Residents Who Have Been on Welfare
A new civil rights act has come into force in Switzerland that prevents residents who have been on welfare in the past three years from becoming citizens unless they pay back the money they received to the state.
The new regulations will make it impossible for asylum seekers and migrants who have lived off state handouts in the last three years to become citizens even if they have lived in Switzerland as permanent residents for the required time to make a citizenship application, Kronen Zeitung reports.
The previous law allowed migrants to apply for citizenship as long as they were not on state benefits at the time of their application.
Along with the welfare stipulation, the new act requires migrants to demonstrate a greater level of integration than before including making them prove they have a certain number of Swiss friends and acquaintances.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Tens of Thousands of Migrants in Germany Unable to Read or Write
The German Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) has released new figures showing that around 43,000 individuals engaged in integration courses are unable to read or write at all.
The 43,000 migrants were placed into special courses meant to help them learn how to both read and write but many have been totally unable to learn how to speak German in the language component of the courses, Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung reports.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Tucker Carlson to Trump on DACA Remarks: ‘What Was the Point of Running for President?’
Tuesday during a monologue on his Fox News Channel show, host Tucker Carlson criticized President Donald Trump for what seemed to be a different approach to how to handle immigration in a meeting that aired to the public with a bipartisan group of congressional leaders on the issue.
Carlson questioned that approach, which was apparently much softer on the issue than what he had run on during the 2016 presidential campaign.
Partial transcript as follows:
In 2016, Donald Trump ran on the premise that America’s borders ought to be real. That the repeated amnesties of the past have betrayed voters and that this country deserves immigration policy that looks out for American interests rather than those of foreign countries. Almost nobody in Washington agreed with him at the time. Almost nobody in Washington agrees with him now.
Congress is full of people from both parties who believe that the point of our immigration policy is to provide cheap labor to their donors and to atone for America’s imaginary sins against the world. They couldn’t care less about immigration’s effect on you or your family. Yet, these are the same people the president now says he trusts to write the immigration bills — the one he will sign no matter what it says. So, what was the point of running for president?
You will remember the president also ran on his skills as a negotiator and he clearly has skills as a negotiator. Where were they today? The president signaled he’d be happy to legalize hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants now and that at some point in the future tackle all that other stuff like making sure they can’t bring millions of their relatives from the Third World along with them. That’s not much of a negotiation.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Leftists and Islamists: Strange Bedfellows
By Eileen F. Toplansky
It cannot be repeated enough that the Marxist-anarchist radical left Antifa and Islamic jihadists have joined forces to destroy Western civilization. Known as the Red-Green Axis, this unlikely alliance of leftists with Islamic groups is actually a means to an end by Islamists.
Inexplicably, left-wing forces do not comprehend that they are merely one of the tools by which Islamists wish to impose a global caliphate. In his searing documentary Killing Europe, producer Michael Hansen makes the following cogent points.
The Islamic jihadists have found willing partners in the left for a number of reasons.
Particularly in Europe, the left’s traditional voting bloc was the workers or proletariat. But as communism produced only mass misery and the deaths of millions, those who had invested 20-30 years in left-wing ideology soon found themselves without an identity once the proletariat saw the true nature of communism. Enter Muslim refugees, and the left now sees a new voting base. The fact that these migrants come from a culture completely at odds with the West does not faze the left, since leftists have never accepted historical facts and, even more telling, now tout a multicultural paradise, notwithstanding the irrevocable differences that an Islamic religious-based system contains. In essence, the left has found a new base to promote its own identity. That sharia law permits the stoning of gays, endorses gender apartheid, and advocates rape and murder of the infidel seems not to have registered in the leftist mind. Although the left abhors religion, leftists cannot fathom that their reliance on Islamist partners will not end well. This was borne out when the communists and Islamists joined to overturn the shah of Iran; the Islamic fundamentalists took the reins, eliminated the communists, and imposed draconian sharia law to maintain control.
As Ayn Rand wrote, “[r]eason is not automatic. Those who deny it cannot be conquered by it.” But as Kevin J. Johnston at Freedom Report explains, we need to be informed and realize that what is occurring is not to be denied even when political leaders reject the facts.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Why Liberals Need to Look Down on Conservatives
By Selwyn Duke
A common theme among progressives is that conservatives aren’t just wrong; they’re dumb. Reagan was dumb. G.W. Bush was dumb. Trump is dumb. “Knuckle-dragger,” “mouth-breather,” “stupid,” and “uncultured” are typical pejoratives hurled at conservatives, who apparently tend to live in trailer parks, require dental care, handle snakes, and marry first cousins. Why, I had a liberal actor (excuse the redundancy) tell me once that I wasn’t necessarily bad, just not as “evolved” as he was. (I had a great retort at the ready, but I decided just to lash him with my tail instead.)
The reason for this arrogance isn’t as simple as many may think. Rather, it relates to a deep psychological phenomenon that makes it difficult for those afflicted to evolve out of the leftist primordial soup.
I’ll introduce this with a story. Many years ago, I was at an affair attended by a very chauvinistic, left-wing Greek fellow who would expound upon the superiority of Greek culture while at times demeaning the U.S. He was like the father character in My Big Fat Greek Wedding, only with an anti-American twist. Desiring to take him down a peg and do a little face-to-face trolling, I finally said with a smirk, “If all that’s true, why is Greece now like a third-world country?” (For those offended, know that I have great respect for ancient Greek accomplishments, just love moussaka, and have the physique of a Spartan hoplite.)
Well, I exaggerate not when saying he turned red and, with veins popping out in his neck, exclaimed, “Don’t say that! Don’t say that!” It was the kind of situation where you get the feeling the guy might take a swing at you.
His intense reaction wasn’t hard to explain. His self-esteem, his self-image, was wholly dependent upon the idea that he was a member of an elite, a superior group, with which he identified so closely that there was little to no separation in his mind between it and him. This was something deeply ingrained, part of the fabric of his being. Thus, any challenge to this idea struck directly at an intractable self-image, threatening to upset his ego’s world order, which had him, through group association, at its very pinnacle.
This phenomenon is common. It’s often exhibited by those considering themselves part of a “master race” or any kind of special group. It can be comforting: a person may not be accomplished, intelligent, or gifted and might otherwise feel inadequate. But his group association saves his psyche’s day, for whatever he is or isn’t, at least he’s not like those other people, those untouchables.
Remember that at issue here isn’t a mere intellectual appreciation. For example, I truly believe that Western culture (which did originate with ancient Greece, mind you) is superior to all others. Yet I derive no self-esteem from being a “Westerner”; it’s just not part of who I am. Rather, the phenomenon in question here is a deeply emotional one.
For this reason, it’s wholly resistant to intellectual appeals. You can’t logically talk someone out of something irrational on which his self-worth is based. In fact, if it begins to dawn on such a person that his notions of superiority — and hence his self-image — rest on a lie, it will be intensely painful and depressing. The individual will thus have a strong incentive to rationalize away this realization.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
‘Can I be gay in the Army?’ and ‘What if I get emotional in the Army?’
It almost made me laugh…
I mean – come on Brits, of course you can cry in the Army. If I were your commander, I’d give you reasons to cry 😀