Gates of Vienna News Feed 1/17/2018

According to the latest official statistics, Germany’s population growth in 2017 was entirely due to immigration. In related news, more than 186,000 asylum seekers arrived in Germany last year.

In other news, a Catalan separatist leader named Roger Torrent was elected speaker of the newly-elected regional parliament in Catalonia.

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

Thanks to AF, Charles Low, Insubria, JD, KS, Reader from Chicago, SS, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.

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

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

Financial Crisis
» Dow Soars 322 Points to New Record, Exploding Past 26,000
 
USA
» Children of the State
» Dick Durbin Suddenly Unsure of What He Heard From Trump: “…whichever Word That He Used” [Video]
» First Maine Somali Police Officer Arrested
» Lawsuit Filed by 21 State Attorneys General Says FCC’s Repeal of #NetNeutrality Broke U.S. Law
» This is Not a Joke! Conservatives in Communist California Launch Campaign to Divide State [Video]
» This Elon University Professor is Doxxing ‘Far-Right Extremists’ For Antifa
» Trump’s 2020 Census May Cost California Congressional Seat by Counting Citizens
» Two of Top Ten Obama Holdover Bureaucrats Breitbart Said Trump Could Fire or Remove Are Stepping Down
» University of Texas Rejects Funding From Group Backed by Chinese Communist Party
 
Canada
» An Attacker Did Not Cut Her Hijab, Police Say. But Why Did the TDSB Let the Tearful 11-Year-Old Face the Cameras?
» Trudeau’s Naivete is What Really Makes Him Dangerous
 
Europe and the EU
» Android Security: This Newly Discovered Snooping Tool Has Remarkable Spying Abilities
» Arabic Classes Overtakes English and French in Sweden
» Bulgarian Court Opens Trial for 2012 Bus Bombing
» Catalonia MPs Elect Separatist Leader as Parliament Reconvenes
» Czechs in Chaos After Government Resignation Over PM Corruption Claim
» ‘EU Cannot Continue’ — Italy Election Will Send Shockwaves to Heart of Brussels, Says Le Pen
» Facebook Slammed for Censoring German Street Artist
» FCA Headed for Full Capacity in Italy — Marchionne
» France: Guards’ Rage at Europe’s Largest Prison Spills to Streets Over Islamist Violence
» Free Movement Initiative Could Result in ‘Swiss Brexit’
» Haven’t Seen Renzi I Backed for a While — Marchionne
» Italy: Abuse-of-Office Trial Requested for Milan Mayor Sala
» Italy: Vaccines to be Compulsory Like Rest of Europe — Di Maio
» Italy: Moscovici ‘Unacceptable Intrusion’ — Salvini
» Italy: No Unilateral Passport Move by Austria Says Alfano
» Italy: Trainee Lawyer Ejected Over Muslim Veil in Bologna
» Italy: House OKs Niger Mission Resolution
» Italy: Pig in Rome Trash ‘Strayed From Rome Crime Family’ — Raggi
» Norway to Become First Nordic Country to Ban Fur Industries
» Norwegian Man Sentenced for Throwing Snowballs at Police
» Subway Drivers Refuse to Stop at Several Stations in Paris Because of Huge Rise in Violent Crime
» Teeanger Stabbed in Tram Stop Attack in Cottbus, Germany
» UK: ‘Shameful Campaign’ Against Regeni Tutor Says Uni Head
» UK: A Faith School Teacher Worked to Radicalise His Students and Obsessed Over Plans to Attack Major Landmarks in the British Capital, A London Court Heard Tuesday.
» UK: London Builder ‘Raped Niece and Hid Her Body in a Freezer’
» UK: Muslim Husband Found Guilty of Murdering Convert Wife
» UK: Raheem Kassam: Sadiq Khan’s S***hole London
 
Israel and the Palestinians
» Arab Regimes Terrified by Israel’s Freedoms
» The Speech in Which Abbas Dug His Own Grave
» The Terrorism Jobs Program: Pampering the Palestinians Must End
 
Middle East
» Beyond the Iran Nuclear Deal
» Europe’s Betrayal of the Iranian People
 
Russia
» Russia’s World Cup Likely Target for ISIS: Analysis Firm
 
Far East
» Ex-CIA Officer Suspected of Helping China Assassinate US Informants Arrested at JFK
 
Australia — Pacific
» Terrified Parents Arm Themselves With Tomahawks and Barricade Windows With Metal Bars as a Gang of Drug-Fuelled Kids as Young as Six Go on Rampage in Country Town
 
Immigration
» Germany Took Nearly 200,000 Asylum Seekers in 2017
» Hungary Seeks to Punish Those Who Aid Illegal Migration
» Illegal Alien With Multiple Deportations Admits to Killing 2 Cops: “I Wish I Had Killed More of the Motherf — Ers… I Will Break Out Soon and I Will Kill More”
» Mass Migration Now Sole Cause of Population Growth in Germany
» ‘Might as Well Roll it Straight Into the Trash Can’: Tom Cotton Shoots Down Expansive ‘Gang of Six’
» Sanctuary City Politicians May be Prosecuted
» Sen. Dick Durbin: I’m Working ‘Full Time’ For DACA Illegal Aliens
 
Culture Wars
» Gatestone Institute Has Right Now More Great Articles Than I Have the Time to Read.
» Pope Francis Honors Dutch Abortion Activist With Pontifical Medal of Knighthood
» Why LGBT Activists Can’t See What’s Wrong With a 9-Year-Old Drag Queen
 

Dow Soars 322 Points to New Record, Exploding Past 26,000

The Dow Jones Industrial Average soared by 322 points on Wednesday, Jan. 17, finishing above 26,000 and setting a new record close. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq also finished at new record highs.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.25% to finish at 26,115. Pacing the Dow’s gains were tech giants Intel Corp. (INTC — Get Report) , up 2.9%, International Business Machines Corp. (IBM — Get Report) , which gained 4.6%, and airplane maker Boeing Co. (BA — Get Report) , which closed 4.7% higher.

The S&P 500 rose 0.94% and the Nasdaq jumped 1.03%.

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

Children of the State

[…]

“Each new generation born,” says the great Thomas Sowell, “is in effect an invasion of civilization by little barbarians, who must be civilized before it is too late.” That “too late” refers to a condition of perpetual childhood. You never grow up or become self-reliant, but want others to accommodate your barbarism. …

No honest and historically informed person can believe that universities, without women, would ever have seen safe spaces, microaggressions, bias response teams, and the like. Such touchiness, hysteria, and resentment do not derive from masculinity. They issue from the weaker sex, and since most men are now weak and cowardly, they go right along. As in the universities, so in the workforce and in politics: The more power women exert, the more absurd and ridiculous life becomes for everyone. We see this now most clearly from the #MeToo campaign, largely a manipulative, money-grubbing farce whose ultimate purpose is to undermine the Trump presidency. As Fred Reed noted a little while back,

the United States has embarked, or been embarked, on a headlong rush into matriarchy, something never before attempted in a major country. Men remain numerically dominant in positions of power, yes, but their behavior and freedom are ever more constrained by the wishes of hostile women.

Much of that constraint consists in men adhering to women’s ideas, or entertaining their ideas, that are utterly delusional, but which we pretend to respect for the sake of “gender equality.” Meanwhile, it is a good question whether in all of the United States there is a single woman politician of exceptional ability. For the close student of human nature, anyway, there is no doubt that Cindy Bass’ sentimental nonsense is only to be expected when women are in power. Nor can one even imagine a rational solution to this. After all, the feminine conditioning is now so great that most men, in their unthinking, reflexive paternalism, would only deem paragraphs like the last few “sexist.”

           — Hat tip: AF [Return to headlines]
 

Dick Durbin Suddenly Unsure of What He Heard From Trump: “…whichever Word That He Used” [Video]

Well, well, well…Senator Durbin is now backtracking on exactly what he heard President Trump say during a meeting on immigration. Sen. Dick Durbin, the Democrat who claimed President Donald Trump used the term “sh*thole countries” to describe some third world nations, launching a controversy that has now reached into the stratosphere, said he stands by his words…even if he got them wrong!

Durbin insisted “I know what happened. I stand behind every word that I said.”

But when a reporter off camera said there’s been some debate over whether Trump used the term Durbin attributed to him or said “sh*thouse” instead, the senator was suddenly unsure what was said.

This is hysterical — now Durbin is backing away from what was really said. This has backfired on the Democrats in a big way.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

First Maine Somali Police Officer Arrested

The first Somali person to become a police officer in Maine was arrested Saturday night for disrupting a concert and heads to court Wednesday to face multiple charges for her behavior.

The 24-year-old police officer, Zahra Munye Abu, was arrested Saturday night at Palladium Nightclub in Worcester, Mass., for assault and battery and was charged with three other counts of misdemeanor, according to the Portland Press Herald. Abu was bailed out of jail at 1 a.m. Sunday, but the bail amount has not been disclosed.

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

Lawsuit Filed by 21 State Attorneys General Says FCC’s Repeal of #NetNeutrality Broke U.S. Law

A legal battle against the recent repeal of Net Neutrality regulations by Trump’s Federal Communications Commission has begun.

On Tuesday, “a flurry of lawsuits filed to block the agency’s action” hit the courts, writes Cecilia Kang at the New York Times.

Some 21 state attorneys general signed on to one of these suits. They argue the FCC’s attack on Net Neutrality broke federal law.

“The repeal of net neutrality would turn internet service providers into gatekeepers — allowing them to put profits over consumers while controlling what we see, what we do, and what we say online,” said Eric Schneiderman, NY attorney general of who led the suit by the state officials. [Commenet: If the Democrats and leftists are enraged about repealing Net Neutrality, then you know repealing it was the right decision.]

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

This is Not a Joke! Conservatives in Communist California Launch Campaign to Divide State [Video]

Do conservatives in Ronald Reagan’s home state really have a chance of succeeding from the communist, open-borders, sanctuary state of California?

Two men have launched a campaign to divide rural California from the coastal cities, motivated by what they referred to as a “tyrannical form of government,” that doesn’t follow the state or federal constitution, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

Unlike the failed 2016 campaign to split California into 6 states, the “New California” movement, founded by Robert Paul Preston and Tom Reed, seeks to consolidate rural California into a distinct economy separate from the coast.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

This Elon University Professor is Doxxing ‘Far-Right Extremists’ For Antifa

An Elon University professor has devised a “secret weapon” to fight “far-right extremists” on behalf of Antifa — she’s made software to keep tabs on 400,000 Facebook accounts whom she suspects to be members of the alt-right.

And she’s using that program to dox anyone she deems a “far-right extremist.”

A new Wired Magazine article, published on Tuesday, highlights the work of Megan Squire, a 45-year-old professor of computer science at Elon University, whose program feeds data to the hyper-partisan organization Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) — as well as a “left-wing activist who she knew might take more radical action.”

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

Trump’s 2020 Census May Cost California Congressional Seat by Counting Citizens

Democrats fear the Trump administration’s re-reinstatement of citizenship questions on the 2020 U.S. Census will cost California a Congressional seat and billions in funding.

The number of U.S. House of Representative seats was fixed by law in 1911 at 435. The “enumeration” requires at that each state have at least one Representative, and the other Representatives are allocated according to population as determined by the U.S. Census every ten years. Based on the 2010 Census data, California received the most, at 53.

But Politico reports that could change with the Department of Justice sending a letter on December 12 to the Census Bureau asking that the citizenship question eliminated in 2010 during the Obama administration be reinstated for the 2020 Census.

According to the Justice Department’s General Counsel, Arthur E. Gary, “This data is critical to the Department’s enforcement of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act and its important protections against racial discrimination in voting.” He added, “To fully enforce those requirements, the Department needs a reliable calculation of the citizen voting-age population in localities where voting rights violations are alleged or suspected.”

The Obama administration discontinued the 1970-2000 “long form” questionnaire that asked citizenship questions. Democrats claim that it was appropriately replaced by the American Community Survey (ACS). But the Justice Department stresses that ACS is a “samples survey that is sent to only around one in every thirty-eight households each year.”

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Two of Top Ten Obama Holdover Bureaucrats Breitbart Said Trump Could Fire or Remove Are Stepping Down

Two of the top ten Obama holdover bureaucrats Breitbart News reported in February President Trump could fire or remove are stepping down from their State Department refugee roles.

Acting Assistant Secretary of the State Department’s Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration Simon Henshaw is stepping down from that position, Reuters reported on Saturday.

“In an interview on Saturday evening, Henshaw told Reuters he was leaving his position in a routine professional move unrelated to the Trump administration’s policies, which have curtailed refugee admissions. A State Department spokeswoman also said Henshaw’s move was routine,” Reuters reported.

“On Tuesday, Reuters reported that Lawrence Bartlett, previously the head of the refugee admissions office at the State Department, had been given a temporary re-assignment in the State Department office handling Freedom of Information Act requests,” Reuters noted.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

University of Texas Rejects Funding From Group Backed by Chinese Communist Party

The University of Texas at Austin has decided to reject funding for its new China Public Policy Center from a Chinese group affiliated with the nation’s Communist Party.

The University of Texas at Austin has rejected funding for its new public policy center focusing on China after learning that the donor is potentially connected to China’s Communist Party. A report from the Washington Post this week suggests that China’s Communist Party may be looking to secure influence within the American education system.

The donation came from the Hong Kong-based China United States Exchange Foundation (CUSEF). The group has ties to China’s Communist Party through its leader, the vice chairman of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), a self-identifying “united front” organization.

In a statement, Senator Marco Rubio expressed concern over the efforts to subvert American public policy. “Chinese efforts to influence our public policy and our basic freedoms are much more widespread than most people realize,” he said.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

An Attacker Did Not Cut Her Hijab, Police Say. But Why Did the TDSB Let the Tearful 11-Year-Old Face the Cameras?

Days after an 11-year-old girl alleged that a man cut her hijab, twice, Toronto police have concluded that the events “did not happen.”

In a statement released Monday, the police, who had been investigating the alleged incident involving the Grade 6 student at Pauline Johnson Junior Public School as a hate crime, said the investigation is now concluded.

But why, less than four hours after the initial police report, did the Toronto District School Board let the tearful 11-year-old girl — with her mother, grandmother, 10-year-old brother and Shari Schwartz-Maltz, TDSB manager for media relations and issues management, standing close by — face television cameras and throngs of reporters who broadcast and tweeted her extraordinary story to national, and international, attention?

The TDSB is run by radical leftists who have promoted everything from the vile slur that only whites can be racist to the psychopath Che Guevara to sex with vegetables. They will jump at any opportunity to further the divide and conquer agenda that is central to the “diversity and multiculturalism” kool-aid they force students to drink. Minorities are taught they are victims of Canada’s racist society so it should come as no surprise that Hijab Hoax Girl determined that crying “Islamophobia” would easily hoodwink TDSB staff.

I don’t believe this was any grand conspiracy by the girl’s parents or that anyone else “put her up to it”, though certainly her parents, community, the TDSB, our whorish politicians and the ever reliable media enabled her. She simply sought to take advantage of what she has been taught: Muslims are always the victims of Canada’s inherently “Islamophobic” society. When you teach entitlement victimhood it should come as no surprise that everyone from kids to race baiting grifters will be quick to take advantage of it. Look no further than Motion M103, the effort by Justin’s Muslim handlers to enforce sharia law and criminalize Canadians who criticize the cult of Islam.

This message was reinforced by the statements made by Trudeau, Wynne and Tory once news broke that they had been gamed by an 11 year old girl. Each took the opportunity to remind Canadians that they are racists. None condemned the hoax and none will ever condemn the divisive and dangerous program of privileged victimhood that perversely educated the little hoaxer and that they enthusiastically use to scam ethnic votes.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Trudeau’s Naivete is What Really Makes Him Dangerous

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is simply not a serious leader.

We learned from former ethics commissioner Mary Dawson’s report into Trudeau’s vacation on the Aga Khan’s tropical island that the PM doesn’t concern himself with the details of governing. He sees his role as a sort of morale officer on the HMCS Sunny Ways. (There will be Yoga for Beginners on the Lido Deck at 4 p.m., followed by Make Your Own Mai Tais!)

That’s bad enough when the subject is government ethics. (Trudeau claimed not to be in a conflict of interest because he had no idea what business the Aga Khan’s foundation had with his government.)

It’s far worse, however, when the subject is national security. Trudeau seems flippant, especially about the threat posed by radical Islam.

Last week, Trudeau threw Canada’s security agencies under the bus over his controversial pre-Christmas meeting with Canadian Joshua Boyle, the former prisoner of the Taliban who was held for five years in various locations in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Android Security: This Newly Discovered Snooping Tool Has Remarkable Spying Abilities

A newly-uncovered form of Android spyware is one of the most advanced targeted surveillance tools ever seen on mobile devices, coming equipped with spying features never previously seen active in the wild.

Named Skygofree by researchers because the word was used in one of its domains, the multistage malware is designed for surveillance and puts the device in full remote control of the attackers, enabling them to perform advanced attacks including location-based sound recording, stealing communications including WhatsApp messages, and connecting to compromised networks controlled by the malware operators.

Researchers at Kaspersky Lab say those behind spyware have been active since 2014 and are targeting select individuals — all in Italy. Those behind the mobile surveillance tool are also thought to be based in Italy.

“Given the artefacts we discovered in the malware code and our analysis of the infrastructure, we have a high level of confidence that the developer behind the Skygofree implants is an Italian IT company that offers surveillance solutions,” said Alexey Firsh, malware analyst in targeted attacks research at Kaspersky Lab.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Arabic Classes Overtakes English and French in Sweden

Arabic language classes for adults are becoming increasingly popular in Sweden with a major adult education federation saying more students are now studying Arabic than English or French.

The Swedish educational association Folkuniversitetet, which focuses on language courses for adults and projects with an “international emphasis”, has seen a surge in the number of adults interested in learning Arabic, Sveriges Radio reports.

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

Bulgarian Court Opens Trial for 2012 Bus Bombing

A Bulgarian court has opened the trial of two men charged with terrorism for their alleged involvement in a 2012 suicide bombing that killed five Israeli tourists and their bus driver and injured 35.

Meliad Farah, a dual Lebanese-Australian national, and Hassan El Hajj Hassan, a dual Lebanese-Canadian national, will face trial in absentia as their whereabouts are unknown, the specialized criminal court announced Wednesday.

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

Catalonia MPs Elect Separatist Leader as Parliament Reconvenes

Catalan MPs in Barcelona have elected a pro-independence speaker at their first meeting since Madrid dissolved the region’s parliament.

The choice of Roger Torrent is the first step to reinstating local government.

Separatist parties, who remain dominant after December’s election, want Carles Puigdemont to be president again.

But the ex-leader risks arrest if he returns from self-imposed exile in Belgium.

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

Czechs in Chaos After Government Resignation Over PM Corruption Claim

The Czech Republic has been plunged into chaos after its minority government resigned in the wake of corruption allegations which have engulfed newly instated prime minister Andrej Babis.

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

‘EU Cannot Continue’ — Italy Election Will Send Shockwaves to Heart of Brussels, Says Le Pen

The ex-French presidential candidate praised Lega Nord leader Matteo Salvini for putting “the fight against the European Union” at the centre of his political platform, predicting his victory could shatter the bloc’s federalist ambitions.

Expressing her support for Mr Salvini, the defeated French presidential candidate said: “My ally in the European Parliament, Matteo Salvini, is working to build an enlarged coalition, which makes me very happy.

“It is aimed at all those who put the fight against the European Union at the heart of their project.”

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

Facebook Slammed for Censoring German Street Artist

As online content goes, the image of a bikini top covering a traffic sign alerting drivers to speed bumps is rather innocuous. But that didn’t stop Facebook and Instagram from removing the photograph from the accounts of German street artist “Barbara.”

The artist or artists behind the name, who want to remain anonymous, also say the platforms threatened to close the accounts entirely.

“Employees of private companies are making snap decisions on behalf of Facebook and Instagram and don’t even provide any rationale,” wrote “Barbara” on Facebook. “I think this is more than a threat to Internet freedom. From my perspective, it’s being ruined.”

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

FCA Headed for Full Capacity in Italy — Marchionne

CEO says not sure if will happen by end of year

(ANSA) — Detriot, January 16 — Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) CEO Sergio Marchionne said Tuesday that the carmaking group was set to reach full capacity in employment levels in Italy, but he added that he did not know if this would be achieved by the end of the year. “We have to complete the development of Alfa Romeo and Maserati (first),” Marchionne told employees. “Give us time”.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

France: Guards’ Rage at Europe’s Largest Prison Spills to Streets Over Islamist Violence

About a hundred prison workers gathered at the Fleury-Merogis Prison in the suburbs of Paris on Monday night, protesting last week’s assault on guards at the Vendin-le-Vieil prison in northern France, which saw three guards injured in a scissor attack by an Islamist militant.

A Sputnik France correspondent was at the scene, showing a group of men, many of them wearing Union Federale Autonome Penitentiare (UFAP) vests, linking arms, shouting and chanting slogans as riot police made use of smoke grenades.

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

Free Movement Initiative Could Result in ‘Swiss Brexit’

Switzerland may not be in the European Union but it could nevertheless face its own ‘Brexit’ if the Swiss people were to vote against the free movement of people.

That’s the conclusion of commentators following the launch of the SVP’s new popular initiative, which wants to ask the Swiss public to decide, once and for all, if they wish to maintain the country’s current relationship with the EU or go their own way.

The initiative ‘For limited immigration’ proposes that Switzerland manage its immigration policy unilaterally. If accepted at referendum, the Swiss government would have one year to put an end to the country’s free movement agreement with the EU, which currently allows EU citizens to work and live freely in Switzerland, and vice versa.

Doing so would undoubtedly throw Swiss-EU relations into disarray, since the free movement agreement is part of a package of seven bilaterals signed in 1999 covering agriculture, research, civil aviation, transport and trade.

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

Haven’t Seen Renzi I Backed for a While — Marchionne

‘Don’t understand what has happened to him’

(ANSA) — Detroit, January 16 — Fiat Chrysler Automobiles CEO Sergio Marchionne said Tuesday on the fall in popularity of ex-premier and centre-left Democratic Party (PD) leader Matteo Renzi that “I haven’t seen the Renzi I supported for a while”.

Marchionne, who was a staunch backer of Renzi when he rose to take the PD leadership beating back the old guard and during his reform-minded government from 2014 to 2016, said “I’ve always liked Renzi as a person”. But he said “I don’t understand what has happened to Renzi” since he quit as premier after staking his political future on a Constitutional reform referendum in December 2016. “The Renzi that I used to support, I haven’t seen him for a while,” said Marchionne.

Polls show that Renzi’s popularity has slipped from its peak in the early days of his government, when he led the PD to a remarkable 40% in European Parliament elections.

Foreign observers like The Economist have said his star has waned.

But Renzi has made an energetic start to the Mrch 4 general-election campaign, vowing to win back voters and take the PD back to 40%.

It is currently standing at 23.24% in most polls.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Abuse-of-Office Trial Requested for Milan Mayor Sala

Case regards Expo 2015 contract

(ANSA) — Milan, January 16 — Prosecutors on Tuesday requested that Milan Mayor Giuseppe Sala be sent to trial for alleged abuse of office during his previous position as head of Milan Expo 2015. The case regards the decision to task Mantovani spa with the job of providing 6,000 trees for the event as part of the Piastra dei Servizi contract. Centre-left Mayor Sala is already on trial for alleged falsehood in another case related to his job as Expo chief, while a request has been made for a bid-rigging charge to be dropped.

Sala commented on the new indictment request by saying “the accusation is not new”.

“I have no comment to make,” he said.

“Like from the start I will let my lawyers do the talking.

He said he was “very tranquil” and voiced disappointment at learning of the request from the media.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Vaccines to be Compulsory Like Rest of Europe — Di Maio

M5S denies opposition to vaccines

(ANSA) — Rome, January 16 — Anti-establishment 5-Star Movement (M5S) leader Luigi Di Maio on Tuesday denied being against compulsory vaccinations for school admission, saying an M5S government would bring Italian legislation on the matter into line with the rest of Europe. “Vaccines will be compulsory as in the rest of Europe,” Di Maio told CorriereLive. “I never said I was against vaccines being compulsory, we want to make the obligation like the rest of Europe”.

On Monday Di Maio said the M5S will “change” Health Minister Beatrice Lorenzin’s law on compulsory school vaccinations if it gains power.

Di Maio reiterated the M5S line that vaccinations for school admission should be recommended rather than compulsory.

Speaking on RAI Radio Uno, Di Maio said: “we’ll approve a law on the vaccine recommendations, we are in favour of recommendations”.

Asked if vaccinations should be compulsory, he said “we think obligatory requirements should revert to how it was before the Lorenzin decree”.

That decree made it obligatory for children to have 10 vaccinations before they are allowed to start school.

In the past the M5S has stated views skeptical of the usefulness rather than alleged harm due to vaccines but has more recently distanced itself from those statements.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Moscovici ‘Unacceptable Intrusion’ — Salvini

Uncontrolled immigration policy will be rejected at March polls

(ANSA) — Rome, January 16 — European Economic Affairs Commissioner Pierre Moscovici made an “unacceptable intrusion” into the March 4 Italian election campaign when he called centre-right Lombardy governor candidate Attilio Fontana’s claim of a risk to the white race from migrants “scandalous”, the leader of Fontana’s anti-migrant League party, Matteo Salvini, said Tuesday. Salvini said: “unacceptable intrusion of a European bureaucrat into the Italian elections. The policy of uncontrolled immigration and economic sacrifices imposed by Europe have been a disaster and they will be rejected by the free vote of citizens, Brussels bureaucrats can be sure of that”. Salvini is the the League’s premier candidate for March 4.

There will be general election to the national parliament as well as regional votes in Lombardy, the region around Milan, and Lazio, the region around Rome.

Earlier Tuesday, Salvini ruled out the hypothesis that Fontana could pull out after his comments on the need to protect the “white race” from an alleged migrant invasion. “Forget about it,” Salvini said when asked about a possible withdrawal from the race.

Fontana, a League member and the former mayor of Varese, subsequently said the comment was a slip of the tongue.

But that did not stop a huge furore, with Rome’s Jewish community among those expressing concern about the comments. On Tuesday Fontana said the Italian Constitution “is the first to cite race”, in an article saying citizens of all races and creeds are equal, and so that should be changed.

He repeated that immigration policy must be changed.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: No Unilateral Passport Move by Austria Says Alfano

We discuss things says FM after meeting Kneissl

(ANSA) — Rome, January 16 — There will be no unilateral Austrian move on giving Austrian citizenship to German and Ladin speakers in Alto Adige, Foreign Minister Angelino Alfano said after talks in Rome Tuesday with his Austrian counterpart Karin Kneissl. “I have greatly appreciated the words of Premier Sebastian Kurz and my colleague Kneissl on he fact that we are countries that discuss things but do not take unilateral initiatives,” Alfano said.

He said “Italy’s position on double citizenship is the historic one: the full recognition of the De Gasperi-Gruber accord, a successful accord”. Kneissl said after the meeting that “we will take into account all actors” on the issue.

The double-passport possibility is part of the new Austrian government’s programme but “all measures will be taken while taking into account all the interlocutors,” she said.

“Naturally there is a long juridical process that must be got through”.

Vienna recently aired the possibility of giving Austrian citizenship to ethnic Austrians in the northern Italian region, which is known to Austria as the South Tyrol.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Trainee Lawyer Ejected Over Muslim Veil in Bologna

Judge criticised, defended for enforcing covered head norm

(ANSA) — Bologna, January 17 — A Moroccan-born trainee lawyer was ejected from an Emilia-Romagna regional administrative court (TAR) hearing because she was wearing the Muslim veil Wednesday.

Twenty-five-year-old Asmae Belfakir was asked by the judge either to remove the hijab or leave the courtroom. Belkafir, the legal representative of Bologna’s Islamic community, chose to leave.

A note pinned up outside the room said “anyone who takes part in or attends the hearing cannot carry weapons or sticks and must have an uncovered head and keep silent.” The Bologna Islamic community said “it is urgent that the competent authorities clear up this case”.

Community coordinator Yassine Lafram said “there are no laws banning the veil in a courtroom” and said the judge had voiced an “arbitrary position”.

The organisation of young Italian lawyers (AIGA) said the judge’s action had been “inconceivable” and “against constitutional principles”.

It voiced solidarity with the young trainee.

Edoardo Patriarca of the ruling centre-left Democratic Party (PD) asked “what would have happened if it had been a nun”.

He said “the case of the young Moroccan in court in a hijab seems paradoxical to me.

“Once you have identified the person, what was the problem with her wearing the veil? “If it had been a nun, would she, too, have been asked to remove her veil?” The leftwing Free and Equal (LeU) party urged the judiciary’s self-governing body, the Supreme Council of Magistrates (CSM), to overrule the judge, saying “freedom to express one’s religion should be upheld”.

But Galeazzo Bignami of Silvio Berlusconi’s centre-right Forza Italia (FI) party said those who criticised the judge “evidently don’t know Article 129 of the code of civil procedure which lays down that those who take part in hearings must have their heads uncovered”. The Council of State, Italy’s highest administrative court, said it would ask the TAR judge to explain why he ejected the trainee. The president of the Council of State, Alessandro Pajno, asked the secretary-general to ask the TAR judge for a “detailed report on what happened in order to be able to make a thorough assessment of the facts”.

The judge in the case, Giancarlo Mozzarelli, declined to comment. Belkafir, the trainee who was ejected, has a degree in law from the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, with a thesis on women’s bodies and Islamic law.

She was chosen as a trainee by the legal office of the Emilian university.

Some of her statements on these issues can be found on the Internet.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: House OKs Niger Mission Resolution

Majority votes yes, also FI

(ANSA) — Rome, January 17 — The Lower House on Wednesday OK’d the continuation in 2018 of Italian missions abroad including a new one to Niger. The chamber approved a majority resolution on the matter, which was also voted by the centre-right opposition Forza Italia (FI) party. The anti-migrant, anti-euro League abstained.

Premier Paolo Gentiloni tweeted: “the House greenlights international missions. From Afghanistan to Iraq, from Lebanon to Kosovo, from Libya to Niger, Italian armed forces and cooperation work for peace, development and stability, against terrorism and human trafficking”.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Pig in Rome Trash ‘Strayed From Rome Crime Family’ — Raggi

Comic Gnocci irks rightist with Petacci jibe

(ANSA) — Rome, January 17 — A pig in Rome trash whose picture was posted by a rightwing party as an alleged indictment of Rome Mayor Virginia Raggi’s inaction over the crisis was in fact owned by a notorious Rome crime family, the first citizen said Wednesday.

“I’m sorry for (Brothers of Italy leader) Giorgia Meloni but we have traced that pig to the Casamonica family who said that it strayed,” Raggi said.

Brothers of Italy responded by saying Raggi and her anti-establishment 5-Star Movement should be “ashamed” of the trash emergency and “try to clean up the capital”.

“What do they mean, that a pig should be allowed to root around in rubbish just because it is owned by the Casamonicas?”, the FdI said.

Meanwhile comic Gene Gnocchi enraged rightists by saying that the pig was named Claretta Petacci, Benito Mussolini’s mistress.

“Claretta, who committed no sin aside from being murdered for love alongside Mussolini, has now been shamefully compared to a pig,” said rightwing daily Il Giornale.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Norway to Become First Nordic Country to Ban Fur Industries

Norway is set to ban fox and mink farms by 2025, making it the first Scandinavian country to take the step.

           — Hat tip: Charles Low [Return to headlines]
 

Norwegian Man Sentenced for Throwing Snowballs at Police

A 21-year-old man in Bergen has been given a 30-day prison sentence for throwing a snowballs at police.

           — Hat tip: Charles Low [Return to headlines]
 

Subway Drivers Refuse to Stop at Several Stations in Paris Because of Huge Rise in Violent Crime

Subway drivers are refusing to stop at some stations in Paris because of a surge in violent crime at some stops, it has emerged.

Frightened drivers say they are not calling at certain stations in the French capital’s north east in order to ‘protect passengers’ and themselves.

Some stations are increasingly being used by crack dealers, they say, with Marx Dormoy on line 12 and Marcadet-Poissonniers on lines 12 and 4 said to be among the worst hit.

According to The Local, the Unsa union representing drivers said the ‘number of attacks on travelers and RATP staff is becoming increasingly dramatic’.

The union’s Jean-Marc Judith said: ‘Between the brawls that occur on the platforms, which sometimes end up happening on the train or across the tracks, you could hit someone, or crush them.’

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Teeanger Stabbed in Tram Stop Attack in Cottbus, Germany

The incident happened in Cottbus, which is in the east of the country and close to the border with Poland.

According to the German news website LR Online, the teenager was stabbed by a Syrian teenager.

The stabbing happened at the tram stop Blechen-Carre at around 3pm this afternoon.

The media website is reporting that the attack came following a fight between the two teenagers.

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

UK: ‘Shameful Campaign’ Against Regeni Tutor Says Uni Head

‘Fanned by political expediency’

(ANSA) — London, January 17 — The university of Cambridge on Wednesday denounced what it said was a “shameful campaign of denigration, fanned by political expediency” against Giulio Regeni’s former supervisor, Dr Maha Abdelrahman. It said this came against the background of “an apparent absence of investigative progress”. In a statement, Vice-Chancellor Stephen J. Toope reiterated Abdelrahmand’s intention to collaborate fully with the probe into the Italian student’s torture and murder in Cairo in early 2016. But he deplored leaks from the probe.

In his statement, Toope said “It has been almost two years since the murder of Giulio Regeni, a Cambridge student, in Cairo. As we approach this anniversary, we are no nearer to knowing the truth of what happened to this promising post-graduate, tortured and killed while pursuing wholly legitimate academic research. Once again, we recognise the deep pain experienced by Giulio’s family, which nothing can relieve.

“In our community, the sense of hurt and outrage has not abated. His murder was an affront to all of us. It remains an affront to the values of openness, freedom of thought and freedom of academic enquiry that our University stands for. The heinous manner of Giulio’s death has diminished us all.

“It has been especially troubling to note that, in the absence of apparent progress in investigations into Giulio’s death, attention has been turned to his doctoral supervisor, Dr Maha Abdelrahman — an honourable and distinguished scholar.

“An investigation led by Italian authorities, with the help of Cambridgeshire police, is underway. As Giulio’s supervisor, Dr Abdelrahman is a witness in this investigation, and has cooperated fully.

“It is very disturbing, therefore, to find that she has been the victim of seemingly concerted efforts to implicate her directly in Giulio’s death.

“Public speculation about Dr Abdelrahman’s involvement in the case has been inaccurate, damaging and potentially dangerous. It stems from a fundamental misapprehension about the nature of academic research. It demonstrates a lack of understanding of scholarly aims and methods. It shows a failure to understand the intellectual relationship between a PhD student and his or her supervisor.

“It is not uncommon for academic research in the humanities and social sciences to impinge on politically sensitive issues.

Giulio was an experienced researcher, who had already spent time in Egypt, and was a fluent Arabic speaker. He was using standard academic methods to study trade unions in Egypt.

“Since Giulio’s death was confirmed in February 2016, Dr Abdelrahman and the University of Cambridge have repeatedly expressed their willingness to cooperate with the investigation.

Last week, Dr Abdelrahman welcomed the opportunity to speak again to Italian investigators in Cambridge — the third time she has answered their questions — and voluntarily handed over material requested by them.

“In light of her willingness to assist, the public campaign of denigration, fanned by political expediency, is shameful.

“The University has sought all opportunities — public and private, formal and informal — to push for progress in the investigation into Giulio’s death. It has urged Egyptian, Italian and British authorities to pursue all avenues of investigation to arrive at the truth.

“Throughout, the University has been respectful of legal constraints (including on the ability to comment publicly) posed by the continuing legal process. It has been particularly disappointing, then, to see that the same restraint has not applied in other domains, where the confidentiality of the legal process has been blatantly ignored.

“The University will of course continue to assist authorities as they seek justice for Giulio and his family. It will also defend the right of academics to engage in legitimate and lawful research, wherever they wish to do so.

“As well as doing everything it can to ensure that the death of one of its students is redressed, the University of Cambridge is committed to ensuring that the reputation and wellbeing of its scholars are always safeguarded.

“This brutal killing calls for justice. But justice will not be served by undermining the very thing that drove Giulio in his brief but inspiring academic career — the search for truth.

On January 11 the British university said it was planning to set up a scholarship in the name of Regeni, who was doing research for his Cambridge PhD, university press office spokesman Angel Gurria told ANSA.

Gurria said the university was working on the initiative to honour the PhD student who was doing research on Egyptian streetseller trade unions when he was abducted two years ago.

Regeni’s former supervisor, Dr Abdelrahman, is “fully cooperating” with Rome prosecutors in their probe into his death, the university told ANSA in a statement.

Dr Abdelrahman answered “all the questions” put to her by the prosecutors on January 9, and said she had “voluntarily handed over the documents requested” when her home and office were searched on January 10.

The university said it, too, would fully cooperate with the probe.

The university had been criticised in Italy for allegedly being tight-lipped on the case.

Italian media also reported that Abdelrahman’s files were seized because she had again failed to answer questions.

Regeni was abducted on January 25, 2016, the heavily policed fifth anniversary of the uprising that toppled former strongman Hosni Mubarak.

His tortured body was found on the road to Alexandria on February 3.

Egyptian security forces, who are frequently accused of brutally repressing opponents, have said they had no part in the death of the Friuli-born researcher, whose work on trade unions was politically sensitive.

In the search of Dr Abdelrahman’s home and office, Rome prosecutors seized a PC, pen drive, hard disk and cellphone.

Dr Abdelrahman reportedly told the prosecutors Regeni had freely chosen his PhD subject.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

UK: A Faith School Teacher Worked to Radicalise His Students and Obsessed Over Plans to Attack Major Landmarks in the British Capital, A London Court Heard Tuesday.

A self-confessed “Loyal follower” of the Islamic State, 25-year-old Islamic radical Umar Ahmed Haque is standing trial for plotting to attack civilians and officials in London and targeted the Palace of Westminster and its Queen Elizabeth bell tower, and Westfield shopping centre, reports the BBC.

Among his significant list of potential targets were soldiers of the Guards, the iconic troops which protect the monarch in London, members of the police, diplomats, journalists, members of street protest groups Britain First and the English Defence League, and even other Muslims from the Shia denomination.

The Old Bailey also heard his physical targets included the London transport system, court buildings, and banks.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

UK: London Builder ‘Raped Niece and Hid Her Body in a Freezer’

A builder ordered his 20-year-old niece to get into a freezer as part of a plan to freeze her to death after raping her in the vacant £1.5m home of a client where he later slit her throat, a court heard today.

Mujahid Arshid, 33, planned to abduct and kill ‘attractive’ Celine Dookhran, 20, and another woman, 21, for weeks after becoming enraged they had boyfriends, the Old Bailey heard.

Opening his trial at the Old Bailey, prosecutor Crispin Aylett QC said it was a ‘simply horrific’ case.

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

UK: Muslim Husband Found Guilty of Murdering Convert Wife

A Muslim man who killed his convert wife by bludgeoning her with a claw hammer and then stabbing her was today found guilty of her murder.

Akshar Ali, 27, murdered 26-year-old Sinead Wooding with friend Yasmin Ahmed, 27, before dumping her body in woodland and setting it on fire, Leeds Crown Court was told.

A jury today unanimously found the pair guilty of murder after five days of deliberations.

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

UK: Raheem Kassam: Sadiq Khan’s S***hole London

The truth about Islamic ghettos.

Breitbart London editor Raheem Kassam talks about THAT Sky News interview and why Sadiq Khan’s London really is turning into a sh*thole.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Arab Regimes Terrified by Israel’s Freedoms

Israel is the only Middle Eastern state where journalists enjoy absolute freedom of expression and can safely challenge the military and government. It is a Jewish country where publishing houses translate Arab authors; the opposite does not happen in the Middle East. It is the only country where artists and writers are not censored or told by the state what to write, what not to write, or how to behave. This is what Arab and Muslim dictatorships fear: that their own artists might be “infected” by these “unruly” “Zionists”.

The West, where people care about pluralism and cultural freedom, needs strongly to support these Arab and Muslim writers and artists who have dared to visit Israel and become “unruly” to boot. It means betting on freedom and progress instead of on autocracies and an artificial, failed “peace”. These Arab artists are far more brave and honest of all those European pseudo-intellectuals who embrace the boycott of Israel, the only free and open country in the Middle East.

           — Hat tip: AF [Return to headlines]
 

The Speech in Which Abbas Dug His Own Grave

While wishing the POTUS’ “house be destroyed” in traditional Arab fashion, Abbas may have destroyed his own house, the Palestinian Arab one built of cards.

Dr. Mordechai Kedar

Mahmoud Abbas, chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization, has delivered a speech triggered by his rage at the President of the United States Donald Trump, going so far as to hurl the most bitter curse in the Arabic language at the POTUS: “May your house be destroyed.”

This imprecation does not merely relate to someone’s present home, but to all the members of his family being thrown into the street to lead lives of destitution, humiliation and shame. Only someone familiar with Middle Eastern culture understands the real significance of this curse.

The question that naturally rises is what happened that brought Abbas to the point where he is willing to burn his bridges with the US President and deliver a speech whose import is the severing of relations with the country which serves as chief funder of UNRWA, also pushing the US president towards a negative stand on the “Palestinian Issue.”

“Jerusalem, Capital of Palestine,” is an idea created after the Six Day War and further developed after the Oslo Accords were signed in September 1993. Arafat turned it into a mantra, while official Israel — Shimon Peres, Yossi Beilin, Alon Liel and their cohorts — did nothing to stop him. They told us that the expression is meant for a Palestinian Arab audience, i.e. for “internal use” only. “Millions of shahids are on the march to Jerusalem!!” Arafat shouted day and night, but they told us to ignore it, that these were empty words, merely a pipe dream…

           — Hat tip: KS [Return to headlines]
 

The Terrorism Jobs Program: Pampering the Palestinians Must End

by Nonie Darwish

Palestinians need to start taking responsibility for their own existence and stop relying on the world to take care of them while they use the money freed up — by the international community — to launch jihad and intifadas.

No entity should forever be permitted to devote its resources to terror while the world is expected to owe them everything: financial support, jobs, citizenship, and even building the infrastructure that they keep destroying. The moral of the story is that if you do not want to lose wars, it would be better not to start them.

The longer financial aid and the pampering of Palestinians continue as an “insurance policy” ostensibly to prevent terrorism, the longer the suffering, dependence, terror and conflict will go on. It is time for Palestinians to learn that threatening terror is not a way to earn a living.

           — Hat tip: AF [Return to headlines]
 

Beyond the Iran Nuclear Deal

by John R. Bolton

The Iran agreement rests on inadequate knowledge and fundamentally flawed premises. Mr. Obama threw away any prospect of learning basic facts about Iran’s capabilities. Provisions for international inspection of suspected military-related nuclear facilities are utterly inadequate, and the U.S. is likely not even aware of all the locations. Little is known, at least publicly, about longstanding Iranian-North Korean cooperation on nuclear and ballistic-missile technology. It is foolish to play down Tehran’s threat because of Pyongyang’s provocations. They are two sides of the same coin.

           — Hat tip: AF [Return to headlines]
 

Europe’s Betrayal of the Iranian People

The alliance between Saudi Arabia and the United States seems intended to contain the Iranian regime, and not, as falsely advertised by President Barack Obama, to prevent a nuclear program.

Leaders of Western Europe know exactly what the mullahs’ regime is, and what its goals and activities are. They know it is the world’s main sponsor of Islamic terrorism. They know the disastrous state of Iran’s society and economy, but they prefer to play deaf and dumb. All they think about, it seems, are the contracts they sign with the mullahs to get more money. They do not care about the suffering of Iranians; the chaos, massacres and destruction caused by the regime. They know that the nuclear deal is constantly violated by the self-policing regime, and that a nuclear bomb is in the making. They are aware that the regime has close ties with North Korea, and that both are global threats.

The EU’s chief diplomat, Federica Mogherini, has hypocritically called “all parties concerned to abstain from violence”, as if there were a moral equivalence between unarmed protesters and killer militias with weapons of war. Meanwhile, in Iranian prisons, protesters were being arrested and tortured to death.

Leaders of Western Europe like to boast how they respect human rights, yet they are the ones trampling on them.

           — Hat tip: AF [Return to headlines]
 

Russia’s World Cup Likely Target for ISIS: Analysis Firm

BAGHDAD (REUTERS) — The World Cup soccer tournament to be held in Russia in June and July will be an “attractive target” for the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) given Russia’s role in the territorial defeat of the militant group, the UK-based analysis firm, IHS, said on Thursday (Jan 18).

“A successful attack (in Russia) would provide a tremendous propaganda boost for the Islamic State and its fighters and supporters, underlining the ongoing international threat posed by the group despite its territorial defeat,” an IHS report said.

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

Ex-CIA Officer Suspected of Helping China Assassinate US Informants Arrested at JFK

A former CIA officer suspected of helping China identify the US spy agency’s informants was arrested at JFK International Airport on Monday on charges of unlawful retention of national defense information, according to the Department of Justice.

Many of the agency’s informants were killed in a “systematic dismantling of the C.I.A.’s spy network in China starting in 2010,” according to the New York Times, which notes it was one of the American government’s “worst intelligence failures in recent years.”

The arrest of the former agent, Jerry Chun Shing Lee, 53, capped an intense F.B.I. investigation that began around 2012 after the C.I.A. began losing its informants in China. Mr. Lee was at the center of a mole hunt in which some intelligence officials believed that he had betrayed the United States but others thought that the Chinese government had hacked the C.I.A.’s covert communications used to talk to foreign sources of information. —NYT

“Jerry Chun Shing Lee, aka “Zhen Cheng Li”, 53 — a U.S. Citizen currently living in Hong Kong, began working for the CIA as a case officer in 1994, where he would spend the next 13 years with a Top Secret clearance and signing “numerous non-disclosure agreements,” according to a DOJ press release.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Terrified Parents Arm Themselves With Tomahawks and Barricade Windows With Metal Bars as a Gang of Drug-Fuelled Kids as Young as Six Go on Rampage in Country Town

Women living in a remote Queensland town can’t sleep at home alone at night and are leaving weapons by their doors as a gang of child thieves terrorise the area.

           — Hat tip: SS [Return to headlines]
 

Germany Took Nearly 200,000 Asylum Seekers in 2017

The German Federal Ministry of the Interior has announced new statistics showing that the country received 186,644 asylum applications in 2017.

The Ministry of the Interior released the figures this week as the grand coalition talks between the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) led by Chancellor Angela Merkel and the Social Democrats have focused on a potential upper limit for asylum seekers.

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

Hungary Seeks to Punish Those Who Aid Illegal Migration

BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — A new set of laws would tax and possibly sanction Hungarian groups assisting illegal migration which receive foreign funding, Hungary’s government said Wednesday.

Such groups would have to register with the courts and pay a 25-percent tax on funds received from abroad, Interior Minister Sandor Pinter said. Groups failing to register, and which authorities consider to be adding illegal migrants, could be fined.

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

Illegal Alien With Multiple Deportations Admits to Killing 2 Cops: “I Wish I Had Killed More of the Motherf — Ers… I Will Break Out Soon and I Will Kill More”

Remember when the left and their allies in the media brutally attacked candidate Trump for saying “When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best. They’re not sending you. They’re not sending you. They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.”?

Luis Bracamontes, an illegal Mexican immigrant who’s been deported several times, and is accused of killing two cops, laughed during his trial proceedings on Tuesday and threatened to break out of prison soon to kill more cops.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Mass Migration Now Sole Cause of Population Growth in Germany

Newly released statistics have revealed that the German population grew by 346,000 in 2016 due to mass migration, in a year where the number of births in the country did not exceed the number of deaths.

The statistics from the German Federal Statistical Office show that despite the very low birthrate in Germany, the population has continued to grow through mass migration. While the population grew by 346,000 in 2016, the numbers are still well below the growth of 978,000 in 2015 during the height of the migrant crisis, Die Welt reports.

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

‘Might as Well Roll it Straight Into the Trash Can’: Tom Cotton Shoots Down Expansive ‘Gang of Six’

The “Gang of Six” amnesty for millions of illegal aliens shielded from deportation by the President Obama-created Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program should be rolled “straight into the trash can,” Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) says.

On Wednesday, a group of six pro-amnesty Senators will roll out their expansive immigration amnesty plan that would not only give a pathway to U.S. citizenship beginning with 3.5 million DACA and DACA-eligible illegal aliens but also give amnesty to the parents of amnesty beneficiaries.

Cotton — whose popular legal immigration-cutting RAISE Act was endorsed by President Trump in 2017 — slammed the “Gang of Six” amnesty, saying it was dead on arrival.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Sanctuary City Politicians May be Prosecuted

Federal prosecutors are considering filing criminal charges against elected officials harboring illegal aliens in so-called sanctuary cities, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen told lawmakers at a hearing dominated by Democrats hectoring her over whether President Trump used profanity during a closed-door negotiating session about immigration reform.

Jailing the leaders of sanctuary jurisdictions is long overdue.

The sanctuary movement gave illegal aliens permission to rob, rape, and murder Americans by, among other things, stigmatizing immigration enforcement. Some left-wingers use the dreadful euphemism “civil liberties safe zones” to describe sanctuary jurisdictions. The phrase blurs the distinction between citizens and non-citizens by implying illegal aliens somehow possess a civil right to be present in the U.S.

These sanctuary cities really ought to be called traitor cities because they are in open rebellion against the United States.

[Comment: About time — this is long overdue.]

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Sen. Dick Durbin: I’m Working ‘Full Time’ For DACA Illegal Aliens

Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) says his sole focus in Congress is making sure illegal aliens are given amnesty to remain permanently in the United States.

In comments on Monday, Durbin said it is illegal aliens, not his Illinois constituents, who he is working “full time” and around the clock for.

Durbin said:…

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Gatestone Institute Has Right Now More Great Articles Than I Have the Time to Read.

Cowards Incorporated

[…]

Literary publishing is dominated by progressive women editors in New York City. As a result, male writers, however talented, are unlikely to succeed—unless they submit to the matriarchy. On this the agent Nat Sobel has commented in an interview:

[Men] have a much tougher road. We’ve read a number of pretty good novels by male writers that we know just won’t go. Male coming-of-age novels are impossible to sell.

There aren’t too many male fiction writers who are succeeding. And I don’t think that’s going to change for a while.

I think it’s troubling for all literary fiction writers today. But particularly for the male writers, who are only gradually becoming aware of how limiting…[the] audience is. But I think you can find good male writers who can write from the woman’s point of view, too…. If a male writer can write from the female point of view, or has a story that will interest a woman’s audience, I think he has a better chance than somebody who’s writing the kind of Hemingway-esque stuff we read in school.

Notice that although Sobel regrets this state of affairs, he shows no interest in changing it. Rather, men are to adapt.

           — Hat tip: AF [Return to headlines]
 

Pope Francis Honors Dutch Abortion Activist With Pontifical Medal of Knighthood

Pope Francis has conferred the title of “Commander of the Pontifical Equestrian Order of St. Gregory the Great” on Lilianne Ploumen, a Dutch politician and vocal agitator for abortion rights.

Last year, Ploumen founded a pro-abortion organization called She Decides, which offers funding and support for international NGOs that provide, facilitate or campaign for abortion.

In an email to the Catholic Herald, Ms. Ploumen said that she was “very honoured” by the pontifical medal, which was sent via the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs last month.

In an interview with Dutch radio, Ploumen said she views the honor as a sign of the pope’s progressivism, as well as acknowledgement for her work in supporting abortion rights.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Why LGBT Activists Can’t See What’s Wrong With a 9-Year-Old Drag Queen

The LGBT Left’s intense focus on labeling then exploiting LGBT children like ‘Lactatia’ holds incredible risk and threatens their futures.

Brandon Hilton, owner of an online clothing store specializing in erotic clothing, recently announced that nine-year-old drag queen Lactatia was his company’s newest “cover girl.” He tweeted, “I think this new generation of drag kids is brilliant and inspiring! @Desmond_Amazing and Lactatia are the future! @TheHouseofMann is just making sure they look SICKENING! People will talk no matter what, might as well give them something FIERCE to look at!”

Hilton received an immediate and overwhelming backlash as people reacted angrily to the appearance of him sexualizing a child. He responded, “woke up to countless tweets telling me to ‘kill yourself’ and calling me a ‘pedo’ after we announced 9 year old drag superstar Lactatia as our new HOUSE OF MANN covergirl… if you can’t handle a kid in a sequin onesie, maybe the future isn’t for you.”

Hilton messaged me on Twitter after I challenged him to explain why he would encourage the sexualization of a child as an LGBT activist. Although his tweets seem to celebrate children engaging in these adult activities, he seemed profoundly disturbed by the accusations. He believed the outrage came from ignorance and hatred by “right-wing propaganda.” While I think he did not intend to sexualize the child or promote pedophilia, I also think he cannot understand how his actions did just that.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

6 thoughts on “Gates of Vienna News Feed 1/17/2018

    • Sad, but prescient. Who would want the responsibility of bringing a child into what the future holds in store for Europe!

      • That’s a matter of opinion. German snowflakes should be breeding like rabbits at the prospect of an enriched, multi-chocolate future.

  1. The story about the Pope reminds me of something I heard on the ‘Jack Taylor’ detective show: ‘it’s about as likely as the Pope leading the Gay Pride March’. Meaning of course, that it was most unlikely, but nowadays..?

    • It is highly impractical to have the pope reside in Europe. He should be moved to Africa where lots and lots of souls need saving, and that way he would not spoil the debate about immigration. I mean, that would look like he is afraid to lose souls to a secular continent.

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