French leftists who moved to the banlieues are now complaining that the culturally enriched “mixed” schools their children attend are substandard. In possibly unrelated news, the EU border agency Frontex is predicting a sharp increase in the number of migrants entering the EU from North Africa via Spain.
In other news, Colombia says that more than half a million Venezuelans have fled their failing country to seek refuge in their western neighbor.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to Charles Low, Insubria, JD, Reader from Chicago, SS, Upananda Brahmachari, 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.
A Comprehensive Guide to Corporate Online Surveillance in Everyday Life
Cracked Labs’ massive report on online surveillance by corporations dissects all the different ways in which our digital lives are tracked, from the ad-beacons that follow us around the web to the apps that track our physical locations as we move around the world.
Importantly, the report shows how tracking companies join up the dots we leave behind, creating stable identifiers that can connect the data-trails from purchases, apps, devices, and clicks, creating a fantastically detailed picture of our lives built up our of these fragmentary details.
This is important because each little fragmentary disclosure can feel harmless at the time, but once they’re merged into a unitary whole, the picture they from is disturbingly detailed.
I think that these disclosures are a bit like puffs on a cigarette. Any one puff on a smoke is probably not going to harm you, but statistically, if you take enough puffs, one of them will lead to a tumor, but it will be years down the road. You have to quit smoking before it manifests its worst harms to avoid those harms.
Likewise, any one tracked click, invasive app or loyalty card will not harm you, but leak enough personal info and eventually it will end up in a silo that gets spilled all over the web, or used by a merchant to profile you and gouge you, or by a political spin-doctor to try to manipulate your votes. These harms will only rise to the level of noticeability once it’s too late for you.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Network devotes 24 hours a day to one main goal, attacking a man they despise, Donald Trump
Every day it is becoming clearer that CNN, the once proud ratings giant and unquestioned cable network news leader, has abandoned objective journalism to cultivate obsessive hatred for President Donald Trump. It has literally “jumped the shark,” meaning that a once distinguished broadcaster has become absurd. The original definition referred to the fifth season premiere episode of the hit TV show Happy Days, in which the main character, Fonzie, literally jumped over a shark while water skiing in his signature leather jacket. It is also a perfect reference to a broadcast network like CNN that has diminished greatly in quality and popularity.
Sadly, CNN has become infected with Trump Derangement Syndrome. The network is filled with liberal hosts and analysts who regularly spew antipathy toward our President. In the aftermath of the infamous White House meeting focused on solving immigration problems including how to deal with DACA recipients, U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) claimed that the President used the word “s… hole” in reference to Haiti and countries in Africa. During the meeting, Trump supposedly asked why the United States should accept more people from those countries instead of countries such as Norway.
Even though the President and two Republican Senators disputed the fact that the crude word was used, CNN decided to air the word “s…hole” 196 times in just one day. This unfortunate decision shows their lack of broadcast standards and common decency. Surely parents with small children, as well as adults who are offended by profanity, were upset to hear such foul language on a formerly respected network.
If the President used the word, at least it was uttered in a private, closed-door and supposedly “off the record” meeting. In contrast, CNN allowed the word to be used during programs aired all throughout their broadcast day.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
CNN’s Chris Cuomo Ridicules Importance of FISA Abuse Scandal
“What is this memo that you guys are selling as so significant?”
With CNN largely ignoring the FISA abuse memo controversy, despite some lawmakers predicting it could lead to the arrest of top FBI and DOJ officials, CNN’s Chris Cuomo did take time to address the issue this morning, only to ridicule it.
Complaining that the topic had been “breaking” his Twitter feed, Cuomo sardonically asked Republican Congressman Chris Stewart, “What is this memo that you guys are selling as so significant?”
Before Stewart could explain why he thought the memo was meaningful, Cuomo jumped back in again demanding to know why
“What kind of information is it” continued Cuomo, seemingly ignoring the fact that the memo is classified and that Stewart couldn’t specifically answer that question without violating that classification.
Stewart then suggested that the memo potentially implicates the Department of Justice and the FBI in abusing the FISA process.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Hollywood has reached a turning point. Movie attendance is at a 24 year low and after decades of snickering at their audiences, disparaging Christians, family values, and trying desperately to overturn the culture, the audiences are dwindling. The only reason the yearly receipt totals have not substantially contracted is because they keep raising the ticket prices.
The Trump election put Hollywood, and the liberal elite in a tailspin. With the anticipation of a sure win by Hillary Clinton, the Left was convinced they won the culture war. Permanently in with Happy Holidays and gone forever with Merry Christmas and everything it represents. In with the Robert De Niro rants and out with Jesus. It didn’t happen that way. The majority of Americans have seen what Hollywood values have helped create…secularism, debauchery, broken families, drug use, and the multitude of problems associated with all of it. The election confirmed all of Hollywood’s worst fears
The election confirmed all of Hollywood’s worst fears. America, after all of Tinsel Town’s hard work, is not New York or Los Angeles. It is families, Middle America, standing for the Pledge of Allegiance, raising children, going to church, Little League and soccer…values Hollywood and the Left gave up decades ago. The average American doesn’t have four ex-spouses and juggle umpteen sexual partners. The average American doesn’t need a script to sound intelligent.
God-fearing people in America have been ignored, harassed, ridiculed and tormented. Hollywood thought they had it all…ticket buyers with a bad habit they couldn’t break. Like dogged zombies they spent their money on trash that they were told they wanted. The audience has begun to wake from their demonic possession and is now demanding films of lasting worth…films that underscore the greatness of America, Judeo-Christian and Western values.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
I never liked Facebook that much. I found it a rather frustratingly difficult, counter-intuitive platform — and mind you, I am someone who knows some computer coding and used to write WordPress themes for a hobby. I am used to technically obtuse platforms. However, Facebook’s recent behavior haS taken it from the merely difficult to the arena of totalitarian and irrational.
A few years ago, one could set up a Facebook account rather easily: just provide an email. Later on, Facebook wanted phone verification. That was easily handled, and if one wanted to use a third-party phone number, to protect one’s anonymity, there were ways to get around that phone requirement.
After that, Facebook sometimes asked for a photograph of the account-user’s face. The official explanation was that Facebook wanted to be sure that the user was really who he claimed to be. Supposedly, the picture would be analyzed by a computer or a human inspector and then erased.
Yeah, right!
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
House Conservatives Want Bombshell Memo Released as Part of Shutdown Talks
House GOP members have approached Speaker Paul Ryan about incorporating a vote to make public an explosive new FISA abuse memo as part of government shutdown negotiations.
The four-page document, circulated to the full House yesterday, is said to detail egregious abuses of surveillance by the FBI, DOJ and Obama administration against the Trump campaign during and after the 2016 US presidential election.
The facts contained in the Republican majority-authored report is said to be “jaw-dropping and demand full transparency,” according to Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), while the top ranking Democrat on the House Intel Committee, Adam Schiff (D-CA) dismissed the memo as “profoundly misleading” talking points drafted by Republican staffers.
“Rife with factual inaccuracies and referencing highly classified materials that most Republican Intelligence Committee members were forced to acknowledge they had never read, this is meant only to give Republican House members a distorted view of the FBI,” said Schiff, adding “This may help carry White House water, but it is a deep disservice to our law enforcement professionals.”
The effort to integrate the Memo’s public release with the stopgap government shutdown bill is being led by Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows of North Carolina along with caucus co-founder Jim Jordan of Ohio.
Jordan confirmed that some conservatives had “highlighted” in continuing resolution talks that it was “extremely important” that the memo go public. He said it was not something they were requiring of the Republican leadership in return for votes. “But it was something we definitely talked about — that needs to happen,” Jordan added.
Meadows earlier referred to “subplots” of promises the Freedom Caucus was able to extract from the leadership before he agreed to support the continuing resolution.
“Mr Meadows and Mr. Jordan and many conservatives want to include in this negotiation a requirement that the House make public intelligence documents that highlight the unfair treatment of the president” by the FBI and the Justice Department, Gaetz said. — Bloomberg
“Part of me wishes that I didn’t read it, because I don’t want to believe that those kinds of things could be happening in this country that I call home and love so much,” said Meadows.
Several other GOP Congressmembers have weighed in as well. “I have read the memo,” tweeted Rep. Steve King (R-IA), adding “The sickening reality has set in. I no longer hold out hope there is an innocent explanation for the information the public has seen. I have long said it is worse than Watergate. It was #neverTrump & #alwaysHillary. #releasethememo.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
A bombshell FISA abuse memo that not only could end the Mueller investigation but also could contain direct evidence of illegal FBI and DOJ spying on the Trump campaign, in order to help Hillary Clinton, is set to be released in the coming days, according to multiple media reports.
Congressman Matt Gaetz appeared on Fox News this morning to reveal his belief that the memo will be released in the coming days and will send shockwaves throughout Washington D.C…
Amazingly, the mainstream media is largely doing everything in their power to either ignore this story or downplay it completely, with anti-Trump news network CNN not even covering the bombshell as of Friday morning.
A quick scan of the networks homepage showed that they had completely ignored the story, instead opting for a plethora of anti-Trump disinformation pieces while being sure to protect their ally, Hillary Clinton…
Watson reported:
The FISA memo bombshell, a scandal dubbed “worse than Watergate” by one Congressman, is being completely ignored by CNN this morning, with zero coverage on the network’s home page.
The memo, which was viewed by members of the House on Thursday, is said to contain “shocking” evidence of top Department of Justice and FBI officials abusing the the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) in order to illegally spy on the Trump campaign.
“This was essentially deep state political opposition research being conducted inside government for a considerable period of time. The information, gathered on Clinton’s political opposition, was then weaponized against the candidacy of Donald Trump,” summarizes the Conservative Treehouse blog.
As Watson rightfully noted, by any definition of news, this story is absolutely HUGE and it would take purposeful deception on the part of any network who doesn’t cover it.
Regardless, in the coming days we could finally see the end of the sham Russian investigation as well as criminal charges against those who used the power of the federal government in a desperate attempt to take out Trump before he even won the election.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Now That the Government Has Shut Down, Here’s What Actually “Shuts Down”
So now that the US government is taking some time off for only the second time this century, here is a summary of what actually is shut down until the funding gap is closed, courtesy of Bloomberg.
1. What happens if the government shuts down?
Many, though not all, federal government functions are frozen, and many, though not all, federal employees are furloughed. Agencies in the executive branch, the one with the largest workforce and budget, regularly review shutdown plans that spell out what work must continue, and how many employees will be retained, during a “short” lapse (one to five days) and one that lasts longer.
2. Which government functions cease?
The ones that draw headlines are closures of national parks, monuments and the Smithsonian museums in Washington. Other activities that may stop if the shutdown lasts more than a few days include the processing of applications for passports and visas; new enrollments in experimental treatments under the National Institutes for Health; and the maintenance of U.S. government websites, including ones used by businesses and researchers. Mortgage approvals can be delayed by furloughs at the Internal Revenue Service and the Federal Housing Administration. The last shutdown, which lasted 16 days in 2013, delayed release of Labor Department monthly employment reports, Commerce Department data on retail sales and housing starts and a monthly Fed report on industrial production that uses Labor Department data. Also delayed was approval of drilling applications at the Bureau of Land Management, consideration of applications for small business loans and the start of the Alaska crab season, which relies on harvest levels apportioned by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
A breakdown by organization:…
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Rene Boucher Charged With Felony Assault Against Bowling Green Neighbor Sen. Rand Paul
Rene Boucher, the 58-year-old Bowling Green man accused of attacking U.S. Sen. Rand Paul at his home in November, has been charged with assaulting a member of congress resulting in personal injury.
The charges — a federal felony — were announced Friday by Josh J. Minkler, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Indiana.
“Assaulting a member of Congress is an offense we take very seriously,” Minkler said. “Those who choose to commit such an act will be held accountable.”
Boucher has signed a plea agreement, according to Minkler’s statement. No date has been set for the taking of his guilty plea.
Court documents claim Paul was mowing his yard on Nov. 3 and wearing headphones when Boucher, his neighbor, “had enough” after witnessing Paul stacking brush on a pile near Boucher’s property. Boucher ran on to Paul’s property and attacked him, the statement reads, resulting in multiple fractured ribs and more medical attention after Paul later contracted pneumonia.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Tnuza Jamal ‘Set Fires at Catholic University’
A former college student from Minneapolis has been charged with intentionally setting four fires at St. Catherine’s University in St. Paul to avenge Muslims killed in US bombings in the Middle East.
A criminal complaint alleges 19-year-old Tnuza Jamal Hassan confessed to investigators she started the fires on Wednesday because she had been reading about the US military destroying schools in Iraq or Afghanistan and felt she should do the same thing. Hassan is charged with first-degree arson.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Tim Hortons Franchise Owners Tell Workers to Blame Wynne for Benefit Cuts and to ‘Not Vote Liberal’
Memo tells workers to contact Ontario’s premier if they don’t like changes made due to minimum wage hike
A staff memo written by a couple of Tim Hortons franchise owners in Whitby, Ont., blames cuts to employee benefits on the Ontario government and its minimum wage hike.
The notice also suggests employees contact Premier Kathleen Wynne if they have concerns about the changes — and let her know she doesn’t have their support.
“I encourage you to let her know how your workplace will change as a result of her new [minimum wage] law and that you will not vote Liberal in the coming Ontario election in June 2018,” says the notice, which lists Susan and Jason Holman as the authors.
[Comment: These people are running a business not a charity as the Liberals seem to think.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Alitalia, Air France in ‘Cordial’ First Meeting
French airline gets access to Alitalia data room
(ANSA) — Paris, January 19 — Alitalia and Air France representatives had a “very cordial” first meeting over a possible takeover of the troubled Italian airline on Thursday afternoon, French sources told ANSA Friday. In the meeting, sponsored by Italian Ambassador Giandomenico Magliano, it was decided to give Air France access to Alitalia’s data room “so that it may have access to information it did not previously have” on the Italian airline.
On the basis of the acquisition of new data, sources said, technical teams from both sides will meet shortly to discuss various aspects of the talks. It was recently reported that Air France had decided to view with Lufthansa for Italy’s ailing former national carrier Alitalia — but Air France denied the report.
Air-France-KLM was reportedly ready to put in a rival bid for the troubled Italian airline, alongside EasyJet, sources said.
Air France, again, denied this report.
The US Cerberus Fund is believed to be the third contender to take over Alitalia.
Alitalia’s government-appointed commissioners met representatives of the US Cerberus investment fund in New York last Friday.
Lufthansa said earlier last week it would only consider taking over Alitalia if “major” restructuring including job and route cuts were made.
Lufthansa CEO Carsten Spohr sent a letter to Italian Industry Minister Carlo Calenda telling him that the German airline would only be willing to acquire Alitalia after major restructuring.
“While recognising the valuable measures that have been undertaken to date… we strongly believe that there remains a considerable amount of work to be achieved before Lufthansa would be in the position to enter comprehensively into the next phase of the process,” Spohr said in the letter.
Under Lufthansa control the company would be smaller in terms of both staff and fleet, it said.
Alitalia was put into extraordinary administration last year after workers voted against a restructuring plan.
Calenda has said the government is considering three offers for the former flag carrier.
Last Thursday the European Commission said it was eyeing a 600 million bridge loan the Italian government gave Alitalia in April 2017, later boosted by 300 million more, after complaints from major rivals that it broke market regulations against state aid.
Brussels is reportedly in contact with Italian authorities over the 900-euro loan.
The EC is awaiting notification from the Italian government so it can start assessing the case, they said.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Angela Merkel Latest: Germany’s Chancellor Could be Finished Today
The Chancellor is fighting to save her political career having failed to form a coalition after the inconclusive result of September’s election.
And Germany’s centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) will today decide whether or not to approve coalition talks with Angela Merkel.
Around 600 SPD delegates will vote on whether the party should negotiate an alliance with Mrs Merkel’s Christian Democrats (CDU).
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Heavy Snow and Snapping Trees Concern Norwegian Forest Owners
Forest owners in Norway say they are concerned about damage to trees and subsequent loss of earnings caused by heavy snow .
| — Hat tip: Charles Low | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Priest Cited for Hitting Kids During Catechism
In Rome
(ANSA) — Rome, January 18 — An Italian priest was cited Thursday for allegedly hitting a number of children during a catechism class. The episode allegedly happened in the diocese of Santa Maria Regina dei Martiri in the southern Rome suburb of Dragona on Wednesday, police said. The priest reportedly told police he slapped the children “because they were making a row”.
Police intervened after complaints from the parents of the children, who are aged 10-11.
Some of the kids went to hospital to be treated, police said.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Supreme Court OKs Adoption of Acid-Attack Couple’s Kid
Grandparents’ appeal rejected
(ANSA) — Rome, January 19 — The supreme Court of Cassation on Friday approved the decision to put the young child of ex-Bocconi University student Martina Levato and her broker ex-boyfriend Alexander Boettcher, who were convicted for acid attacks in 2014, out to adoption. The court rejected a petition by the child’s grandparents, who wanted custody.
Levato and Boettcher, who have been in jail since December 2014, were sentenced to a total of 28 and 37 years in prison respectively in two separate trials on attacks they carried out against men with whom Levato had had a relationship.
Levato’s jail term was recently cut from 28 to 20 years.
Levato said she would appeal to the European Court of Human Rights.
Her son with Boettcher was born on August 15, 2015
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy Election Latest: How Poll Will Plunge European Union Into Crisis
The Eurosceptic Five Star Movement (MS5) leads the the country’s opinion polls ahead of the general election on March 4.
The MS5, led by outspoken MP Luigi Di Maio, has repeatedly hinted at holding a referendum on Italy’s membership of the euro.
Italy is the eurozone’s third-largest economy, behind Germany and France, meaning a vote could tear the entire currency union apart.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Soros: EU on Verge of Breakdown
The European Union is heading towards collapse as nationalist-populism ignites the hearts and minds of Westerners, globalist kingpin George Soros has warned.
In an interview with the Financial Times — which painted Soros as a freedom-fighting philanthropist, unjustly vilified by right-wing extremists and anti-Semitic authoritarian strongmen — Soros lamented that nationalism is the ascending ideology du jour, and that Vladimir Putin’s Russia is sailing to supremacy on its cresting wave.
“It’s déjà vu all over again with one big change — the dominant ideology in the world now is nationalism,” Soros said. “It’s the EU that’s the institution that’s on the verge of a breakdown. And Russia is now the resurgent power, based on nationalism.”
“Putin doesn’t like me,” he added, asserting that Russia engineers many of the attacks on Soros and his Open Societies Foundation (OSF).
While Soros may have his own objectives for forewarning of the EU’s impending implosion, ever-widening cracks in the superstate’s structure are manifesting at a stunning rate.
Infowars reported yesterday on both a new initiative in Switzerland aiming to sever key ties with the bloc — which would serve as a devastating blow to Brussels, with a non-member state distancing itself further from the toxic ‘experiment’ — and also a clash between the godmother of mass migration, Angela Merkel, and boy-wonder Sebastian Kurz, Austria’s 31-year-old nationalist-populist chancellor.
The core issue in both scenarios is the primary weapon and achilles heel of globalism: immigration.
[comment: Public is realizing that EU is designed to implement globalist elite goal of a tyrannical world order and the deconstruction of nation states.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Spanish PM’s Popularity Plummets to Historic Low as Catalonia Still Threat
Elections in the region in December handed Mr Rajoy, 62, a humiliating defeat with his People’s Party (PP) picking up just 4.2 percent of the vote, with analysts confident that his decision to outlaw an independence referendum and crack down on the separatist movement were a significant motivating factor for voters.
An opinion poll compiled by Metroscopia and published in the Spanish “El Pais” newspaper on Friday suggested that if a general election were held in Spain today, the PP could expect to collect just 23.2 percent of the vote compared with 33 per ent in 2016, meaning it would be overtaken by the centre-right Ciudadanos party, which unlike the PP has its roots in the Catalan region.
[Comment: The article is from this past Thursday.]
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Switzerland Wants a Crypto-Nation, France and Germany Want Regulation
Countries across the world remain divided over the cryptocurrency revolution that has emerged over the past year. Some, such as China, strive to eradicate all instances of it, but others, including Switzerland, are embracing the blockchain with open arms.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Convicted Pakistani Paedophile Claims it’s “Too Dangerous” To Send Him Home
A Pakistani paedophile who claimed he didn’t realise it was illegal to have sex with 14-year-olds intends to use his conviction for grooming to help him claim asylum in the UK.
Adil Sultan, 39, thought he was chatting to a schoolgirl online, where he encouraged her to send him explicit photos of herself and meet up with him for sex.
But he was actually exchanging messages with the vigilante group Guardians of the North, who intercepted him and handed him over to the police.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Kerala: RSS Worker Shyamaprasad Hacked to Death in Kannur by Sdpi Jihadis
B Upendran | HENB | Kannur | Jan 19, 2018:: An RSS worker was allegedly hacked to death at Kommeri under the Peravoor police limits in Kannur district on Friday by suspected SDPI Jihadis.
According to the police, the deceased has been identified as Shyamaprasad, who was an ABVP member and the chief trainer of the ‘RSS Shakha’ at 17th Mile in Kannavam.
Police said Shyamaprasad was coming back from Kakkayangad ITI, where he was a student, when a group of assailants waylaid him and stacked him around 5pm.
Police also said there was a clash between the SDPI and the RSS a few days ago that left an SDPI member injured. Social Democratic Party is an political wing of Popular Front of India, which is a social forum of the southern Jihadis in a greater umbrella.
However, it is not clear if this was the immediate provocation for the murder, they added.
In recent Shyamaprasad led and participated many programmes against the Islamic State propagation, Love Jihad and Cow slaughter in Kerala. Experts say that may be the reason behind the fatal Jihadi attack on Shyamaprasad.
As per HENB source, Shyamaprasad’s mother is very much unwell due to shock for her son’s death…
| — Hat tip: Upananda Brahmachari | [Return to headlines] |
129 Mn Chinese Tourists in the World, 1.5 Mn in Italy
12 mn in Europe, 3.1 mn in North America
(ANSA) — Venice, January 18 — There were 129 million Chinese tourists in the world last year and almost 1.5 million in Italy in 2016, China Tourism Association President Dai Bin said on the opening of the Europe-China tourism year Thursday. The money they generated last year was over 110 billion dollars, Dai said.
In 2016 there were 12 million Chinese tourists in Europe. In North America there were 3.1 million trips, Dai said.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Teenagers from emerging African street gang Menace to Society have created a feared partnership with hardened criminals from Prisoners of War inside Victorian prisons.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
What I Learned in the Peace Corps in Africa: Trump is Right
Non-Westerners do not magically become American by arriving on our shores with a visa.
Three weeks after college, I flew to Senegal, West Africa, to run a community center in a rural town. Life was placid, with no danger, except to your health. That danger was considerable, because it was, in the words of the Peace Corps doctor, “a fecalized environment.”
In plain English: s — — is everywhere. People defecate on the open ground, and the feces is blown with the dust — onto you, your clothes, your food, the water. He warned us the first day of training: do not even touch water. Human feces carries parasites that bore through your skin and cause organ failure.
Never in my wildest dreams would I have imagined that a few decades later, liberals would be pushing the lie that Western civilization is no better than a third-world country. Or would teach two generations of our kids that loving your own culture and wanting to preserve it are racism.
Last time I was in Paris, I saw a beautiful African woman in a grand boubou have her child defecate on the sidewalk next to Notre Dame Cathedral. The French police officer, ten steps from her, turned his head not to see.
I have seen. I am not turning my head and pretending unpleasant things are not true…
All the little stores in Senegal were owned by Mauritanians. If a Senegalese wanted to run a little store, he’d go to another country. The reason? Your friends and relatives would ask you for stuff for free, and you would have to say yes. End of your business. You are not allowed to be a selfish individual and say no to relatives. The result: Everyone has nothing.
The more I worked there and visited government officials doing absolutely nothing, the more I realized that no one in Senegal had the idea that a job means work. A job is something given to you by a relative. It provides the place where you steal everything to give back to your family.
I couldn’t wait to get home. So why would I want to bring Africa here? Non-Westerners do not magically become American by arriving on our shores with a visa.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Columbia Says 550,000 Venezuelans Have Fled to the Country
Colombia says the number of Venezuelans fleeing a severe economic crisis to live in Colombia has increased by 62% in the last six months.
Migration officials say more than 550,000 Venezuelans are now living in Colombia, mostly illegally.
The influx is putting pressure on the government especially in border areas to provide the migrants with food, shelter and medical care.
The number of Venezuelans travelling through Colombia has doubled.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Deadly Violence Over Disputed Honduras Election Result
One protester has been killed in clashes in Honduras between riot police and demonstrators who dispute the result of November’s presidential poll.
Police fired tear gas and cleared roadblocks made of burning tyres across the country. The death occurred in the northern town of Saba.
The protest was organised by supporters of the defeated opposition candidate.
Last month, incumbent President Juan Orlando Hernandez was declared the winner despite days of street protests.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
The Pope is Now Openly Attacking Child Sexual Abuse Victims for “Slander”
Pope Francis is now attacking the credibility of child sex abuse victims in a shocking move made at the end of a trip to Chile in which he had hoped to “heal” the wounds of said abuse.
That’s right, Pope Francis ended his trip by publicly defending a bishop who victims have accused of covering up widespread pedophilia in the country.
According to a report by the Associated Press, Francis made the shocking comments in a discussion about Rev. Fernando Karadima who has been found guilty of sexually abusing a slew of minors as a member of the Catholic Church…
One of the victims made clear his disgust at Pope Francis for essentially covering up for a man who watched as another bishop sexually abused him.
“As if I could have taken a selfie or a photo while Karadima abused me and others and Juan Barros stood by watching it all,” tweeted Juan Carlos Cruz. “These people are truly crazy, and the pontiff talks about atonement to the victims. Nothing has changed, and his plea for forgiveness is empty.”
This obviously does not look good for the Pope or the Catholic Church as they are now apparently engaging in attacking the victims instead of actually going after the abusers.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Austrian Far-Right Orders ‘Border Protection Unit’
Austria’s new far-right interior minister was quoted as saying on Thursday that he has ordered the creation of a “border protection unit” in case of a major new influx of migrants, like the one in 2015.
| — Hat tip: Charles Low | [Return to headlines] |
Belgian Police Officers Injured After Attack by 40 Migrants in Car Park
At least forty migrants attacked six Belgian police officers at a car park near a highway.
During a routine control at the “Groot-Bijgaarden” parking, the officers were surrounded and beaten up by the migrants.
They were surrounded and were forced to give a warning shot. Two of the officers were injured and 16 African migrants were arrested.
Police spokesman Peter de Waele said in a radio interview that police were trying to control the migrants who wanted to enter trucks heading for the United Kingdom.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
European Watchdog: More Migrants Heading to Spain by Sea
Europe’s border watchdog says the number of migrants and asylum-seekers coming across the western Mediterranean Sea to Europe this year is likely to increase, after 2017 closed with more than twice the traffic of the previous year.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
French Leftists Complain Their Children Cannot Succeed in ‘Diverse’ Paris District Schools
Leftist parents living in the heavily-migrant populated 18th arrondissement of Paris are finding themselves conflicted, as they want “diversity” yet complain that the schools in their “diverse” district are failing.
For many years, leftist couples have moved from the expensive centre of Paris to the heavily-migrant populated district, and now that they have children they have found the “mixed” schools in the areas to be substandard.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
German City Bans New Refugees as Anti-Migrant Mood Increases
An eastern German city has imposed a temporary ban on new refugees in an effort to stem a number of recent violent incidents.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Immigration is Destroying the Welfare State
Many Democrats see their party as the working man’s choice. They want to soften capitalism’s rougher edges, humanize big industry, and give the average American a fighting chance. One may (and should) disagree with their methods, but their intentions are good and their beliefs sincere.
That is not how the party elites feel. Their mantra is “open trade and open borders,” as Hillary Clinton told Wall Street bankers in a private speech. Recall how the Democrats supported President Obama’s Trans-Pacific Partnership, a “free trade” deal that would have gutted American industries. And it is Democrats who oppose President Trump’s attempts to stop illegal immigration, which hurts America’s poor.
The Democrats don’t care about American workers. They care about winning elections.
At this point, the chorus of “progressive” rhetoric reaches a fever pitch. “But we need immigrants to support the welfare state! We need immigrants to pay for Social Security!” Saying it does not make it so.
In truth, immigration is destroying the welfare state, in America and throughout the West. This is happening because immigrants receive more in benefits than they pay in taxes. Of course, this is not true for every immigrant — some never collect government handouts — but it is true for the overall immigrant population. Studies from across the Western world prove this point.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden Welcomes Jihadis, But Wants to Deport Christian Refugee, Who Received Death Threats, To Iran
Aideen Strandsson, a Christian woman from Iran, is facing deportation from Sweden after her asylum application was denied by authorities.
The woman converted from Islam to Christianity, after having a dream about Jesus and has already received threats from Muslims because of her conversion.
Aideen came to Sweden in 2014 and received a public baptism. When she pleaded that she could face the death penalty in Iran as an apostate, she got told by Swedish officials that “it’s not our problem if you decided to become a Christian, it’s your problem”.
CBN reports that experts say, Aideen as a Christian, faces certain rape and possible death by the radical Islamic regime, if she is deported back to Iran. This is a clear breach of the Geneva convention on human rights, that says “refugees should not be returned to a country where they face serious threats to their life or freedom”.
Aideen was recently offered a job at the technology giant Ericsson as a technology developer, but wasn’t allowed to take it, because she is in Sweden “illegally” according to the Swedish government. Aideen did appeal for a temporary work permit, but it was denied and she has therefore no way of supporting herself.
Meanwhile in Sweden, returning jihadis who have fought for ISIS in Syria, are receiving tax-payer funded driving lessons, free housing and even debt cancellation…
After the case with Aideen was made public by CBN, the case has taken a new turn with Hungary offering her asylum in the country. Hungary has refused much Muslim migration into the country.
“We protect Hungary from the invasion of migrants, but we help genuine refugees, those whose lives are in danger because of their religion, nationality or political opinions” says Vice Prime Minister Zsolt Semjén, on the Hungarian government’s website.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The Young in Sweden website describes the group’s members by first begging for pity — explaining how tough it is to be a refugee and how desperately these young people long to make a lasting home in Sweden and contribute to the country’s future. It portrays them, in the American parlance, as “Dreamers.”
But in a way familiar to observers of the Islamic incursion into the West, the plea for sympathy abruptly gives way to something more aggressive. The group issues a series of what it explicitly calls “demands.”
It was reported that Muhammed Hussaini, an Afghan refugee who had participated in protests by Young in Sweden, had last August tried to murder a Stockholm policeman at one such event.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Why? Because masculine men are harder to control under tyrannical socialism.
An ongoing mantra of the left is that everyone is a victim, with a singular carve-out for white men. A large group of the female population has embraced this chant.
While there may be a number of grievances put forth by this movement, there also comes a theme that is particularly dangerous: the feminist attack on masculinity. This is derived not only from feminists; it comes from the left in general.
There has emerged a war on masculinity. Why? Because masculine men are harder to control under tyrannical socialism. The modern beta male, on the other hand, craves socialism. This is why the left has branded masculinity as toxic: it stands as a roadblock to their endgame.
Leftists blame, of all things, masculinity for the recent spate of sexual harassment scandals. For eons, masculinity has been considered a natural and even required trait of being male, but it is now apparently the reason for deviancy. Who knew?
The glaring problem with this argument is that the men who are typically being accused of such transgressions are anything but masculine. Sexual harassment is bipartisan; both liberal and conservative men in positions of power seem to harass women with aplomb. But where is this referenced masculinity? Harvey Weinstein? Al Franken? Louis CK? I posit that a consistent theme among most accused harassers is a complete lack of masculinity. I would go so far as to suggest that the lack of masculinity is a contributing factor to this problem.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
American liberals aren’t that keen on sending their kids to the public schools in Brooklyn or inner city Washington, either.