A man deliberately drove a van into the building of the offices of De Telegraaf in Amsterdam before exploding it. After his second attempt to ram the building, the driver got out and detonated some sort of explosive in the back of the van before fleeing on foot. No suspects have been arrested.
In other news, the mayor of Toronto sent a letter to the Canadian federal government saying that his city’s resources could no longer handle the rapid influx of migrants.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to C. Cantoni, Caroline Glick, Charles Low, Insubria, JD, Reader from Chicago, Red Mike, SS, Steen, 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.
Burned, Decapitated Animal Carcass Left on DHS Staffer’s Porch
Leftists are losing their minds because they’re losing their control over our society.
The Department of Homeland Security is saying there’s been a “sharp increase in the overall number of general threats” directed towards their employees due to leftist rage over President Trump trying to protect America’s borders.
— From WTOP:
The department determined that there was a “heightened threat against DHS employees” in response to recent government actions surrounding immigration, according to a letter sent to employees over the weekend.
“This assessment is based on specific and credible threats that have been levied against certain DHS employees and a sharp increase in the overall number of general threats against DHS employees,” Claire Grady, acting deputy secretary of Homeland Security, wrote to employees on Saturday.
[…]Around two dozen threat reports were issued in the past few days, primarily against Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, according to the same official. Each of these reports is generally related to a specific online threat. All employees are personally contacted by DHS security if they are the target of a violent threat, the official said.
In one example, a senior DHS official living in the Washington. D.C. area found a burnt and decapitated animal on his front porch, according to an official with knowledge of the incident.
This is the definition of terrorism…
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Caroline Glick: Europe Seeks to Pin Down President Trump — and America
National Security Advisor John Bolton said last Wednesday that while discussion of President Donald Trump’s decision to leave the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) has centered on the administration’s revulsion with its institutional anti-Israel bias, the move was really about restoring American control over U.S. foreign policy.
In his words: “We did talk about Israel [in setting out our reasons for leaving the UNHRC] because it’s singled out unfairly. But in many respects, Israel is, as the saying goes, ‘the canary in the mine shaft’ for the United States. Countries that attack Israel do so because they think it’s easier, but much of their criticism is really aimed at us.”
Bolton added, “Getting off of the council is an assertion of America’s determination to stick to its Constitution and not to recognize that there’s some ‘higher authority’ at the UN … to judge our performance or to give us advice on how to implement the constitution … That’s what this is about: self-government.”
The Trump administration’s determination to restore American power and independence in the international arena places it on a collision course with the European Union, whose perspective on the proper goal of international affairs is diametrically opposed to the administration’s.
| — Hat tip: Caroline Glick | [Return to headlines] |
Facebook Wants to Spy on You Via Hidden Inaudible TV Ad Messages
Social media giant Facebook continues to ramp up the creepy factor. According to a recently filed patent, Facebook wants to spy on you by hiding inaudible messages in TV ads.
Facebook has filed a patent for a system that hides audio clips in TV commercials. These sounds would be so high-pitched that they are inaudible to human beings. They would then trigger your phone to record all the background noises in your home. The patent application is called “ broadcast content view analysis based on ambient audio recording.”
According to The Daily Mail, these secret messages would force your phone to record the audio of the private conversations you have without you even knowing. According to a patent application by the social media platform, clips taken of your background conversations and your movements across a room would help advertisers determine whether or not you are watching their promotions.
According to the patent, originally discovered by Metro, the system would use “a non-human hearable digital sound” to activate your phone’s microphone. This noise, which could be a sound so high-pitched that humans cannot hear it, would contain a “machine recognizable” set of Morse code-style beeps. Once your phone “hears” or recognizes the trigger, it would begin to record the “ambient noise” in the home, such as the sound of your air conditioning unit, plumbing noises from your pipes, and even your movements from one room to another. Your phone would even listen in on “distant human speech” and “creaks from thermal contraction”, according to the patent.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Here it Comes — The Warnings About a “Civil War in America” Are Becoming Much Louder
Civil conflict is coming to America, and it is going to tear our nation apart. Earlier today I received an email from a good friend about the rising tide of anger and frustration that we are currently witnessing in America. After thinking about it for a few moments, I wrote back and told him that I don’t know if there is any way to stop what is coming at this point. In my entire lifetime, we have never been closer to a “civil war” in this country than we are right now. Let us work for peace, but it would be foolish to ignore the forces that are ripping the fabric of our society to shreds. In this day and age, the coming conflict will not be between two armies from specific geographical locations. Rather, it will be between groups of Americans with fundamentally different ideologies. However, just like in our first civil war, American cities will burn before it is all said and done. First there will be massive protests, then there will be widespread violence, and ultimately there will be mobs of lunatics running around smashing things, looting, stealing, killing and setting things on fire.
I have been warning about where we are heading as a society on The Economic Collapse Blog for quite a long time, but now the warnings about a coming “civil war” are becoming very loud in the mainstream media.
For example, in a Bloomberg opinion piece entitled “What Democratic Rage Would Look Like”, political scientist Thomas Schaller made the following astounding statement: “I think we’re at the beginning of a soft civil war. … I don’t know if the country gets out of it whole.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
It is supposed to be illegal for the NSA to spy on communications that are completely domestic, but that appears to be precisely what is happening. According to a brand new report from Ryan Gallagher and Henrik Moltke of the Intercept, NSA documents indicate that the NSA is systematically capturing our emails, our phone calls and our text messages at certain key strategic points on AT&T’s immensely powerful Internet network. There are only eight facilities that allow for direct access into AT&T’s “common backbone”, and thanks to leaked documents the Intercept was able to identify the exact location of each of those facilities…
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Left-Wing Writer Suggests Anti-Trump Protesters Should Carry Out Domestic Terror Attacks
A far-left columnist for a website owned by Univision Communications has suggested that the next phase of the anti-Trump ‘resistance’ should take the form of domestic terrorism.
In an article entitled This Is Just the Beginning, Hamilton Nolan writes, “This is all going to get more extreme. And it should,” remarking that Trump administration officials should not be able “to live their lives in peace.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
“I think we’re at the beginning of a soft civil war,” political scientist Thomas Schaller told Bloomberg’s Francis Wilkinson. “I don’t know if the country gets out of it whole.”
I know many of youse disagree. But I am struck that rational people continue to express such concerns. Why do you think this is so?
[Comment: This is not protesting, but sedition, and should be treated as such.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Most Harley-Davidson Workers Back Trump, Blame Only the EU
Even after Harley Davidson became the first American company “to wave the white flag” and announce, in an 8-K filing, that it planned to move some production offshore to compensate for EU tariffs, the workers at the Harley Davidson plant in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin are standing by their president even though the Financial Times reports that “they could end up as collateral damage.”…
What’s more, several workers appear to agree with President Trump’s assessment that the company’s decision to move production is “just a Harley excuse” after Harley closed its plant in Kansas City. In other words, the company is taking advantage of the EU tariffs, and opportunistically “blaming it on Trump.”
Mark, another Harley worker sitting astride his motorbike during the afternoon shift change at this plant that employs about 1,000 workers, said: “I think Harley is just using it as an excuse” to move more production overseas, after a recent decision to close the company’s Kansas City plant. “They will just blame it on Trump.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
New York Times Bombshell on Own Reporter Reveals Ali Watkins Dated Second Potential Source
The New York Times published a damaging feature about its own reporter, revealing new details of Ali Watkins’ affair with former Senate Intelligence Committee aide James A. Wolfe in addition to the bombshell that she dated another Intelligence Committee staffer.
Earlier this month, a shock indictment revealed that prior to joining the Times, Watkins, 26, had a three-year romantic relationship with Wolfe, 58, who was accused by federal prosecutors of lying about leaks of sensitive information to journalists. The indictment strongly suggested he was a source for Watkins and others, though Watkins reportedly has denied using her relationship for scoops.
The New York Times has since announced it is investigating Watkins’ conduct. But, in the meantime, it published a scathing report that strongly implies Watkins rose to journalistic fame while using her married boyfriend as a source.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
NRA’s Wayne Lapierre Issues Call to Arms at CPAC, Warns Soros-Funded Leftists May Commit Terrorism
NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre began his talk at CPAC showing clips of Trump supporters being attacked and warned Soros-funded protesters may start committing terrorism in the US.
I wonder if he’s a reader?
Here’s Raw Story freaking out about his little noticed speech:
During his talk at CPAC, LaPierre told conservatives that, despite their victories in last November’s elections, their nightmare may “just be beginning.”
“Right now, we face a gathering of forces that are willing to use violence against us,” he said. “The leftist movement in this country right now is enraged. Among them, and behind them, are some of the most radical political elements there are. Anarchists, Marxists, communists, and the whole rest of the left-wing socialist brigade.” LaPierre also noted that “many of these people hate everything America stands for,” including “democracy” and “free-market capitalism.”
All of these activists, LaPierre continued, were funded by left-wing billionaires such as George Soros, and are also “angry,” “militant,” and “willing to engage in criminal violence.”…In addition to all this, the NRA boss pointed out to the audience that “another definition of terrorism is violence in the name of politics,” which was a clear attempt to link anti-Trump protesters to terrorists.
[…]LaPierre also reserved some venom for people in the intelligence community, whom he said should be “tracked down and hanged for treason” for allegedly leaking details of the president’s conversations with foreign leaders.
[Comment: Wayne gave this prescient speech last year. ]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Sarah Sanders Decries ‘Calls for Harassment’ Citing Maxine Waters, Restaurant Episode
White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said Monday that recent “calls for harassment and push[es] for any Trump supporter to avoid the public is unacceptable” after she was kicked out of a Virginia restaurant over the weekend.
Sanders referenced the incident at the top of Monday’s White House briefing, as well as remarks by Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters in which she called for protesters to confront Cabinet members publicly to shame them over the Trump administration’s policies.
“We are allowed to disagree, but we should be able to do so freely and without fear of harm, and this goes for all people, regardless of politics,” said Sanders, who went on to decry threats that have been made against the restaurant and its staff as well as recent tweets by actor Peter Fonda.
“Healthy debate on ideas and political philosophy is important,” the press secretary said. “But the calls for harassment and push for any Trump supporter to avoid the public is unacceptable. America is a great country and our ability to find solutions despite those disagreements is what makes us unique.”
[Comment: Democrats are like a mad horse that has the bit between it teeth and is mindlessly rampaging over people.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Schumer Slams Maxine Waters for Calling for Harassment of Trump Officials, “It’s Not American”
You know it’s bad when even Schumer is outraged.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
A 35-year-old California man was killed while camping with his daughters in Malibu Creek State Park and police are investigating the mysterious case as a homicide. No suspects have been identified. Tristan Beaudette was shot in the upper torso early in the morning of June 22, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said in a press release.
Beaudette Was Found Bleeding From a Chest Wound Inside the Tent With His Two Daughters, Who Were Not Injured, Police Say
While at Berkeley, Beaudette was a graduate student instructor and worked on several research projects that were focused on pharmaceuticals and vaccines, according to his Linkedin profile. He wrote that he, “Synthesized polyacrylamide, polyacetal, and polysaccharide-based acid-degradable microparticles and used in vitro and in vivo techniques to characterize their ability to elicit cell-mediated immune responses for applications in vaccines and cancer therapy.” He also wrote, he, “Developed methods for chemoselective particle functionalization for use in targeted drug and gene delivery.” And, “Led a multidisciplinary team of chemists, immunologists, and biologists in an NIH-funded collaborative project involving the design of novel protein-based vaccine formulations,” while also composing, “multiple scientific research proposals. Presented and published graduate work at national conferences and in peer-reviewed journals.”
You can read his publications here.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Trump Says “Wow” As Supreme Court Upholds Trump Travel Ban
Update: President Trump celebrated SCOTUS’s decision with a tweet.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Trump Aides Advised to Get Guns, Carry Permits Amid Threat of Violence
Aides to President Donald Trump are being advised to get guns and carry permits amid a growing threat of violence following comments by Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) and others.
NBC News quoted Waters speaking to reporters over the weekend, saying, “If you see anybody from that Cabinet in a restaurant, in a department store, at a gasoline station, you get out and you create a crowd and you push back on them, and you tell them they’re not welcome anymore, anywhere.”
Waters made her comments over the same weekend that White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders and her family were refused service at The Red Hen in Lexington, Virginia, and followed off the premises. Mediaite reports it was also the very weekend on which Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi was confronted with screams from “huge” angry men at the Tampa Theatre, forcing her departure.
Now voices as disparate as actor James Woods, law professor John Banzhaf, and Crime Prevention Research Center’s John Lott are advising individuals in the left’s crosshairs to get guns and/or concealed carry permits.
Woods tweeted: “Buy guns. Vote. Violence is the next stop on the #MadMaxine slippery slope. We WILL fight back.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Trump Officials Hounded and Harassed as Protester Tactics Take a Turn
The sustained backlash and threats of more confrontation have raised security concerns as well as questions over whether a line is being crossed separating legitimate political protest from outright harassment.
Waters’ comments drew a strong rebuke from Republicans amid fears that the protests might escalate.
President Trump tweeted Monday that Waters was advocating “harm” to his own supporters: “Congresswoman Maxine Waters, an extraordinarily low IQ person, has become, together with Nancy Pelosi, the Face of the Democrat Party. She has just called for harm to supporters, of which there are many, of the Make America Great Again movement. Be careful what you wish for Max!”
A spokesman for House Majority Whip Steve Scalise, who was injured in the shooting at a congressional baseball practice just over a year ago, warned about the dangers of overheated rhetoric and protests.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Wayne Lapierre: CPAC 2017 (Video)
NRA Executive Vice President and Chief Executive Officer Wayne LaPierre addressed the crowd at the Conservative Political Action Conference in National Harbor, Maryland. “Have we ever seen such anger in this country,” asked the NRA chief, referring to the enraged leftist movement.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Why Did James Comey Issue “Stand Down” Order on Imminent Deal With Julian Assange?
A “stand down” order given by James Comey to kill an imminent deal between the US Government and Julian Assange preceded the largest leak in CIA history, known as “Vault 7,” reports John Solomon of The Hill. Assange was willing to redact the names of CIA employees, and also offered to provide technical evidence which would rule out “certain parties” (such as Russia) in the DNC email hack.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Canada Supports, Infantilizes Jihadis
The Canadian government is willing to go to great (and presumably costly) lengths to “facilitate” the return of Canadian jihadists, unlike the UK, for example, which has revoked the citizenship of ISIS fighters so they cannot return.
Attempts at deradicalization elsewhere have frequently turned out to be ineffective. In the UK, for example, a new government report shows that the vast majority of deradicalization programs are not only ineffective, but even counterproductive, and that those tasked with executing the programs “…would refuse to engage in topics over fears of bringing up matters of race and religion without appearing discriminatory”
In France, the country’s first and only deradicalization center closed in September 2017 after just one year, without having “deradicalized” a single individual. On the contrary, three participants reportedly behaved as if the center were a “Jihad academy”.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Swedes normally celebrate midsummer at the end of June by eating dishes based on herring and potatoes and drinking shots of herb liquor, but Swedish channel TV4 chose instead to feature headscarf wearing Muslim food blogger Zeina Mourtada as the star in its Midsummer holiday morning show.
“The program remarkably eschewed the staples of the traditional Swedish Midsummer celebration, informing the audience on how to cook shish kebab and traditional kebab in the oven,” reports Sputnik.
When asked by the host if Midsummer is celebrated in her culture, Mourtada said, “No, we don’t typically celebrate it, but I do it for the children’s sake.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Amidst Plummeting Popularity, France’s Macron Gets Photo Op With Pope Francis
French President Emmanuel Macron met with Pope Francis in the Vatican Tuesday, after Sunday polls showed him with his lowest popularity rating since taking office.
The New York Times reported Sunday that the globalist French president’s popularity “has hit a new low,” dropping by one percentage point in June to 40 percent. Just last February, Mr. Macron made headlines when his popularity rating fell below 50 percent for the first time, and it has continued falling ever since.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Dutch Newspaper Office Hit by Flaming Truck in ‘Deliberate’ Attack
A van was driven into the offices of a right-wing Dutch newspaper in Amsterdam Tuesday morning, bursting into flames and causing significant damage in what is being called an attack on the news organisation.
The Dutch police said the strike was a “deliberate action” and revealed a manhunt was underway after a suspect managed to escape the scene.
De Telegraaf, the publication targeting at around 4:00 am on Tuesday morning, described the incident as an “ attack “ in their coverage.
Security footage of the attack released by the newspaper shows the van driving into the glass wall at speed, but only causing limited damage.
The driver of the van then appears to reverse the truck away to make another attempt to ram the building, stalling the vehicle in the process. After his second attempt to ram the vehicle through into the building, the driver disembarks, wearing a heavy hooded coat and carrying a plastic bag. Igniting some form of explosive in the back of the truck, the man then flees on foot. No arrests have been made.
No one was injured but flames reportedly rose to 50 feet high and there is “considerable” damage to the building which houses the country’s best selling paper.
Writing on Twitter, Prime Minister Mark Rutte said the “attack” was “a slap in the face for the free press and Dutch democracy”.
| — Hat tip: Steen | [Return to headlines] |
Erdogan Voter in the Netherlands: We Are Already the Boss Here, This is Turkey
Integration experts are worried about the increasingly anti-Dutch attitudes of Turks living in the country, newspaper De Telegraaf reports.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Finland on Fence About Joining France-Led Defence Coalition
French President Emmanuel Macron is one step closer to achieving his goal of a military coalition of European countries.
So far, nine EU countries have announced their decision to join Macron’s coalition of the willing, including France, Germany, Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands, Estonia, Spain, Portugal and the United Kingdom.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
HuffPost Blames Populists and Russia for European Renewable Policy Failures
Guest essay by Eric Worrall
The alleged Russian conspiracy which is supposed to be helping populists win elections worldwide has now been blamed for a fall in EU nation state support for European renewable energy policies.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Hungary: ING: Wage Growth Accelerates in April
Better results than previous market expectations
(ANSA) — BELGRADE — The increase of wage accelerated in Hungary in April, according the estimates from the economic and financial analysis sector of ING. ING said that the average gross wage in Hungary increased by 12.6% in April year on year, “which exceeded the 10.5% YoY market expectations.” The wages increased by 16.6% year on year in the public sector and by 11.1% year-on-year in the business sector.
In a statement, ING noted that “regarding the main drivers behind the double-digit wage growth, we see no change at all, as the labour shortage, ongoing wage settlements in the public sector and rise of minimum wages still play a significant role.”
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
A report on the situation of the rule of law in Hungary approved by the European Parliament’s LIBE committee on Monday aims at pressurising the country and it is a “Soros report”, Prime Minister Viktor Orban said.
The report by Green MEP Judith Sargentini reviewed the state of the rule of law in Hungary, and said there was a “clear risk of a serious breach by Hungary of the values of the European Union”, which it said warranted launching the Article 7 procedure. The committee accepted the report with 37 votes in favour and 19 against.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Hungary Warns Failure to Negotiate Brexit Trade Deal Will ‘Devastate’ EU Economy
Brussels must resist the urge to “punish” Britain for its decision to leave the bloc, Hungary has said, warning that failure to secure a comprehensive post-Brexit trade deal would be “devastating” for European Union (EU) economies.
Foreign Minister Péter Szijjartó criticised the bloc’s overly hardline approach in negotiations, telling the Daily Mail there are “many people in Brussels … who look at the Brexit decision as a personal insult against them, because they simply did not believe that the British would dare make the decision to leave the EU.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Grillo Gave Personal Opinion on ILVA — Di Maio
Minister says will meet parties before decision
08 June 201812:02 News
(ANSA) — Rome, June 8 — Labour and Industry Minister Luigi Di Maio said Friday that 5-Star Movement (M5S) founder Beppe Grillo was expressing a personal opinion when he argued the troubled ILVA steel plant in Taranto should be transformed and mooted the idea of converting it into a industrial archaeology park.
“Everything will be managed with responsibility,” said Di Maio, who is also deputy premier and M5S leader.
“Everything said by Grillo and others are personal opinions.
“I won’t take any decisions until I have met the parties involved.
“Then we’ll decide and, if necessary, we’ll consider continuity”. The plant, which is the largest steelworks in Europe and provides thousands of jobs in an underdeveloped area, has been at the centre of environmental concerns linked to high cancer rates in the Puglia port city. The plant had been going through an expensive clean-up and revamp to meet environmental standards and save the jobs.
ArcelorMittal, the world’s largest steelmaker, has made an offer to buy ILVA.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Di Maio Says He’s Against EU Copyright Reform
Package could ‘gag the web’ says labour and industry minister
(ANSA) — Rome, June 26 — Labour and Industry Minister Luigi Di Maio said Tuesday that he was against the European Union’s copyright reform, describing it as a “serious danger” that comes “directly from the EU”. The deputy premier and 5-Star Movement (M5S) leader said that it featured “two articles that could gag the web”.
Di Maio rejected the so-called ‘link tax’ adding that “we will oppose it with all our might, starting from the European Parliament.
He also said that, if the directive stays as it is, “we are even ready to not adopt it (into Italian law)”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Tariffs Another Taboo to be Broken — Di Maio
‘You can talk about it’ says labour minister
(ANSA) — Rome, June 26 — Industry and Labour Minister Luigi Di Maio said Tuesday that “we must not be afraid of talking about tariffs”. He said “I don’t say I want to impose tariffs, but that you can talk about it”. Di Maio, who is also deputy premier, said “our economy is one united thing and if tariffs serve to protect our products it’s right to talk about it. It’s another taboo to be broken”.
The anti-establishment 5-Star Movement leader did not go into details.
Asked if the model might be US President Donald Trump, he replied “that’s not the problem, but tariffs are not a topic you can’t even talk about.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Marchionne Says Trump Tariffs ‘Not End of World’
Different balance is goal, EU response shdn’t be exaggerated
(ANSA) — Rome, June 26 — Fiat Chrysler Automobiles chief Sergio Marchionne said Tuesday United States President Donald Trump’s trade tariffs were “not the end of the world”.
Marchionne said “I understand Trump’s position, politically I understand it”. The tariffs, he said “are not the end of the world, it’s a problem to be managed, everything is manageable”.
He underscored the different position for US car imports for Italy and France compared to Germany and warned: “ we have to be very careful not to exaggerate in our (European) response.” According to Marchionne, the ultimate goal is “another one, there will be a basis on which to rebuild a different balance”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Over 5 Million in Absolute Poverty in Italy — ISTAT
Highest since 2005, some 1.2 minors are in poverty
(ANSA) — Rome, June 26 — National statistics agency ISTAT said Tuesday that over five million people were living in conditions of absolute poverty in Italy in 2017. The agency said this was the highest level since the start of the statistical series in 2005.
It said 1.778 million households lived in absolute poverty last year.
It said the incidence of households in poverty was 6.9%, up from 6.3% in 2016, while the incidence of individuals in poverty was 8.4%, compared to 7.9% the previous year. ISTAT said Tuesday that 11.4% of individuals in southern Italy and 10.3% of households were living in absolute poverty in 2017, compared to 9.8% and 8.5% respectively in 2016. The agency said the situation had deteriorated above all for people living in metropolitan areas, where the incidence went up from 5.8% to 10.1%. ISTAT said that 1.208 million minors were living in absolute poverty in Italy in 2017.
The national statistics agency estimated that the poverty incidence was 12.1% last year, compared to 12.5% in 2016.
It said poverty rates grew for big families — reaching 20.9% for those with three children or more.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Romania: Media: Country Soon Among High-Income Economies
Due to strong economic growth and optimistic forecasts
(ANSA) — BELGRADE — Romania may soon be included among the ‘high income economies’ in the world, as defined by the World Bank definition, according to the specialized financial portal Business Review. Business Review recalled that in 2016 Romania had a gross national income (GNI) per capita of USD 9,480, but thanks to the economic growth of 6.9 per cent in 2017 and due to the optimistic forecasts for 2018, “Romania will reach a level of about EUR 10,250 or USD 12,300 per capita, just over the World Bank’s threshold for high income economies” already in 2018 or by 2019.
Currently, Business Review said that, on the basis of the latest World Bank report, 78 countries and territories are currently considered as being ‘high income economies’, including 26 out of 28 European Union member states. Bulgaria and Romania are still out of the group of the world economies with the highest income per capita.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Sikh Shop Owner to Keep England Flag Flying Despite Receiving Abuse
A Sikh shop owner in Ilford has received abuse for flying the St George’s flag outside his shop to show support for England at the World Cup.
The shopkeeper received an anonymous, handwritten letter written in broken English saying he had forgotten his motherland and should be flying a different flag instead — but he says it only makes him want to fly the English flag even more.
“We are a family business that my father started over 30 years ago,” he said.
“He has lived in this country for around 40 years and we love this country otherwise we wouldn’t be here.
“Supporting England during the football is enjoyable and all part of the fun — and some people seem to think it is wrong for us to do because we are Indian?
“It is shocking how backward minded people think that by supporting the country you live in you will be dishonouring our religion or insulting India.
“These are the wrong people, not the ones who enjoy being part of the English culture.”
Well said, Sir.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
A study analyzing energy supply in the European Union shows that increasing the level of wind-generated electricity also increases the level of fossil fuel-generated electricity, the opposite outcome suggested by those who argue that renewable energy is necessary to “get off carbon-based fuels.” This is because, at times of insufficient wind, fossil-fuel plants generating plants are needed to provide back-up to the wind units. Further, the study found that increasing the number of power plants (whether wind or fossil-fuel) increased the power plant capacity that is idled, making the entire energy system less efficient and more costly. Wind turbines are idle when there is insufficient wind and fossil fuel plants are idled when the wind is blowing. Further adding to the issue is that, despite the increase in renewable energy in the European Union, carbon dioxide emissions increased, not decreased as was the intent. In 2017, the European Union increased its wind power by 25 percent and increased its solar power by six percent. Despite this massive investment in renewable energy, carbon dioxide emissions increased by 1.8 percent.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Summer Weather Set to Return to Southern Norway: Forecast
Temperatures could reach up to 30 degrees Celsius in Norway this week, according to weather forecasts.
| — Hat tip: Charles Low | [Return to headlines] |
Taliban Bomb-Maker Convicted of UK Terrorism Plot
LONDON (Reuters) — A British man who had made bombs for the Taliban in Afghanistan and was plotting an attack near London’s parliament was convicted of terrorism offences on Tuesday.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Turks Across Europe Celebrate Reelection of Islamist Turkish President Erdogan
Turkish residents and citizens of Belgium, France, and the Netherlands who overwhelming voted for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan took to the streets to celebrate his victory.
The Islamist President saw overwhelming support in several Western European countries, according to a poll showing the votes of Turkish citizens living abroad reported by Turkish newspaper Hürriyet.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
U.K. Official Calls for End to Julian Assange Impasse, Cites WikiLeaks Publisher’s Worsening Health
A British Foreign Office minster called Tuesday for an end to the impasse surrounding WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange, a resident of the Ecuadorian Embassy in London since June 2012.
“It is now over six years since the Ecuadorian Embassy has been abused in its purpose as an embassy” Sir Patrick McLoughlin, a Conservative member of the House of Commons, said during a Parliament hearing. “How long does the government care to put up with this?”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Paramedics Dealing With 30 Stabbings and Shootings a Week in Multicultural West Midlands
Paramedics in the West Midlands are dealing with 30 stabbing and shooting attacks a week, it has emerged in data published days after police came under fire for its slow response to a crazed machete attacker in Birmingham city centre.
The region, which is Britain’s most ethnically diverse outside of Greater London, has been suffering “epidemic” levels of violence, according to the Express & Star, reporting a sharp rise in violent crime in the past two years.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Watch: Commons Erupts in Cheers as EU Withdrawal Bill Finally Becomes Law
THE EU Withdrawal Bill has become law, Speaker John Bercow has revealed, in an announcement that drew cheers in the House of Commons.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
White Brits Soon a Minority in Britain’s Second Largest City, Where 50,000 Cannot Speak English
A report shows that white Britons will soon be a minority in the city of Birmingham. In the major city in England’s West Midlands region, almost 50,000 of the 1.1 million inhabitants cannot speak English.
Birmingham has a diverse population with almost 200 different nationalities living there. According to the report, it “is soon to become a majority-minority city”.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Libya Unity Government Urges UN to Block ‘Illegal’ Oil Sales
TRIPOLI (AFP) — Libya’s unity government on Tuesday called on the UN Security Council to block any “illegal” oil exports from the chaos-hit country after a rival administration won control of key ports.
The appeal by the UN-backed Government of National Accord follows the seizure of two eastern ports by military strongman Khalifa Haftar, who said they would be handed over to the unrecognised administration in the east.
“Handing over oil terminals to an illegitimate entity only exacerbates the division,” the Tripoli-based GNA said…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Turkey’s Election: Stockholm Syndrome at Its Worst
Despite Erdogan’s clear victory, his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) performed worse than expected.
Erdogan may not be too happy having to share power.
The national joy over the re-election of a man known best to the rest of the world for his authoritarian, sometimes despotic rule, is not surprising in a country where average schooling is a mere 6.5 years.
Millions of anti-Erdogan Turks are now terrified of the prospect of further torment under an Islamist-nationalist coalition show run by a president with effectively no checks and balances.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Russian Sanctions Useless, Ready to Act — Salvini
Conte’s decision on veto, minister says in Rossiya 24 interview
(ANSA) — Moscow, June 25 — Interior Minister and Deputy Premier Matteo Salvini has said that the new Italian government is ready to take action to seek to bring about a revision of the West’s sanctions on Russia. “In Italy a government has come to power that wants to do what it promised in the election campaign,” Salvini told Russia-24 in an interview picked up by Tass.
“The sanctions on Russia are useless and harmful.
“We are ready to go from words to deeds, but there aren’t many who think like us in Europe and we are alone against the whole world”.
When asked about the hypothesis of Italy using a veto to block the renewal of the sanctions, Salvini said: “I don’t want to take the job of the Premier (Giuseppe Conte)”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Islam Has Its Definite Political Goal to Capture All State Power: Muslim Lawmaker in India
Muslims should vote for Muslims, not the ‘Kaffir’ non-Muslims…
Upananda Brahmachari | HENB | Hyderabad | June 25, 2016:: There is secularism in all the Muslims countries in the world! All the Muslim countries maintain the dignity of democracy!! Such ideas may cause you hiccup!!!
But, All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi on Sunday insisted that Muslims need to fight together and vote for candidates from their own community, only to keep secularism and democracy alive in India.
“Qasim’s death will make us think. But I am not asking you to shed tears. I beckon your conscience to rise. These people talking about secularism are the biggest dacoits … biggest opportunists. They used Muslims for 70 years, threatened us, forced us to keep quiet,” said the lawmaker from Hyderabad, referring recent Hapur lynching.
In Hapur, Muslim cattle trader Qasim (38) was lynched, while Shamiuddin (65) was badly thrashed by an irate mob allegedly on the suspicion of cow slaughtering in Bajhera Khurd village of Hapur district of Uttar Pradesh. In India, majority Hindus revere Cows as God and don’t take beef. But, Muslims try to hurt Hindu sentiments by killing Cows here and there.
“Now you need to fight for your rights. If you want secularism and democracy to stay alive, then fight for yourself. Become a political force to reckon with. Make sure your (Muslim) contenders win,” he added.
| — Hat tip: Upananda Brahmachari | [Return to headlines] |
For First Time in Years, North Korea Cancels Its Annual “Anti-America” Rally
Authored by Mac Slavo via SHTFplan.com
Could peace with tyrannical North Korea really be happening? It seems like it could be, as North Korea has canceled its annual “anti-America” rally for the first time in several years.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Chinese telco giant Huawei was the biggest corporate sponsor of politicians travel. Seven Liberal (including Julie Bishop pictured) and five Labor politicians travelled overseas on the company
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
The Northern Territory’s department of children and families confirmed last week the proportions of young people held in detention centres ‘have not changed since the royal commission’.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
Muslim Herdsmen Slaughter 120 Nigerian Christians Returning From Church Funeral
Muslim Fulani herdsmen massacred some 120 Christians in central Nigeria over the weekend, the majority of whom were returning from the funeral of the father of a local Christian clergyman.
In an attack that lasted several hours, heavily armed gunmen identified as Fulani herdsmen open-fired on citizens in a number of villages in Plateau State, killing about 120 and injuring over 200 more as they returned from the funeral of a local Christian minister. The herdsmen reportedly also burned some 50 homes to the ground.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Rural Mexican Town’s Entire Police Force Arrested After Mayoral Candidate Assassinated
The number of Mexican politicians murdered since September has exceeded 113 as drug cartels continue to escalate a wave of violence that has transformed several popular vacation spots into mini-murder capitals.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
“You Are Unbalanced”: Hungarian Foreign Minister Shuts Down Enraged BBC Reporter Over EU Migration
The newly emboldened populist wave sweeping Europe has begun to clash with establishment EU “open border” advocates, as governments opposed to illegal mass migration dig their heels in and resist the influx of mostly North African migrants.
Europe has been sharply divided over asylum seekers — however words turned to action in early June when Italy’s brand new Interior Minister, Matteo Salvini, closed Italian ports to Non-Government Organizations (NGO) ferrying migrants into the country. The rest of Italy’s populist coalition government supported the move, fending off condemnation from “hypocritical” French President Emmanuel Macron and other EU leaders.
Perfectly capturing the current rift between populism and progressivism in Europe, Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjartó got in a spat with BBC presenter Emily Maitlis on Monday while trying to explain why his country opposes an open-border policy.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
23 Med Countries, Only Italy Rescues — Coast Guard
In 1.1 km2 area, but now Libya intervening
(ANSA) — Rome, June 26 — Italy is the only one out of 23 Mediterranean countries to rescue migrants, coast guard commander Giovanni Pettorino told ANSA Tuesday. “We have coordinated all the rescues in an area of one million and one hundred thousand square kilometres which is practically the half of the Mediterranean, and yet 23 countries look onto this sea,” the admiral said. The coast guard did this alone, with the help of all those who helped, merchant ships, military ships, all those who answered our calls. Now the scenario is changing because Libya is intervening.”
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
40-Year-Old Migrant Arrested for Murdering His 16-Year-Old Teen Bride in Sweden
An Afghan migrant was arrested in Iran for murdering his teen bride in Sweden. There was an international arrest warrant against the man. He was taken back to Sweden and will face trial for the murder committed in 2016, SVT Nyheter reports.
The 40-year-old man should have been married to the 16-year-old girl, Swedish media say. In March 2016 the teen was murdered and her husband was wanted since June that year.
Her remains were found buried in a wooded area in Hökarängen in May of the same year. The girl should have had asylum in Sweden since fall 2015. The man was arrested in Iran in May this year and has now been transported to Sweden.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Austria Sends Troops to Border for Migration Response Exercises
Several hundred Austrian police officers and soldiers performed an exercise on the country’s southern border with Slovenia on Tuesday to simulate different responses to any repeat of the 2015 migrant crisis.
Over 500 policemen and 220 soldiers took part at the border crossing of Spielfeld, according to an AFP correspondent at the scene.
“A state which can’t protect its borders when needed loses its credibility,” said Interior Minister Herbert Kickl, who oversaw the exercise along with Defence Minister Mario Kunasek.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Austria today staged a dramatic border protection exercise as it prepares to assume the EU presidency and push for hardline immigration measures as the bloc is gripped by increasingly bitter divisions over the migrant crisis.
Austrian leader Sebastian Kurz will assume the EU’s rotating presidency on July 1 and has vowed to make migrants claim asylum before entering the bloc.
That policy echoes the position of Italy, which has started turning away migrant vessels and proposed setting up processing centres in Libya and other countries of origin.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Dramatic Video Shows Reporter Encountering Smuggler Along Mexico Border
With much of America up in arms (in some cases literally) over Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration at the Mexican border, which started with the mass backlash over children separated from their parents and culminated with the president’s recent suggestion to send illegal immigrants back where they came from without due process, overnight a reporter released a dramatic video in which he unexpectedly encountered an illegal immigrant smuggler.
ABC Tom Llamas was embedded with a Customs and Border Protection agent when they discovered an alleged smuggler along the Mexico border in an inflatable raft on the Rio Grande.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
French Police Clear Dozens of Migrants From Paris University
SAINT-DENIS (FRANCE) (AFP) — Police moved in on a Paris university early Tuesday to remove dozens of migrants and activists who had been living in the building since January, the latest move to clear out makeshift camps that regularly appear in the French capital.
Authorities said 194 people were taken to a gym to have their asylum applications processed, while an additional 160 “illegal occupants” were removed from the Paris-8 university in Seine-Saint-Denis, just north of the capital.
About 70 students and activists, alerted to the imminent operation, had slept on site and formed a human chain to try to keep out the police, who used tear gas to get inside…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
French Politician: Our Country is Being Religiously Colonised by Migrants
Imagine Donald Trump in a debate with extreme leftist Bill Maher and his left-leaning guests. What a surreal show that would have been! Something similar recently happened on one of the most watched TV shows in France. “France is being religiously colonised by migrants,” said Nicolas Dupont-Aignan, a major French political figure. His comment made headlines just a few hours later after its airing. Immediately, extremist pro-immigration members of the press accused him of racism.
Nicolas Dupont-Aignan, who would have been Marine le Pen’s Prime minister if she had been elected, expressed a populist view against a panel filled with liberal actors and journalists.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Germany: Syrian Asylum Seeker Badly Injures Janitor by Throwing Boiling Oil Into His Face
A janitor was badly injured after a Syrian asylum seeker threw hot oil in his face during a house visit in Kassel. The janitor visited the man with two policemen for an arson investigation, 112-magazin reports.
The 30-year-old Syrian asylum seeker, who didn’t speak German, was asked to come with the men to meet a translator and answer some questions.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
An Indian man who arrived in Australia on a Temporary Skilled Graduate visa was deported Border Force officers found child exploitation material in his phone at Perth Airport.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Managers of Latina Migrant Centres Arrested
Asylum seekers allegedly mistreated at overcrowded facilities
(ANSA) — Latina, June 26 — Police on Tuesday arrested six managers working for an not-for-profit organization that runs several extraordinary reception centres for asylum seekers in the province of Latina, south of Rome, sources said. The migrants were alleged mistreated at the centres, which were badly overcrowded and in a poor state of hygiene, the sources said. The suspects faces charges of crimes including mistreatment and fraud.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Migrants Not Welcome: Austria Deploys Border Police After Asylum Situation Goes “Critical”
Days after Austria threatened to reinstate border checks, Austrian forces conducted border-security exercises on Monday in the border town of Spielfeld in preparation for a wave of 80,000 migrants expected to travel through the new “Balkan route” from Albania, Montenegro, Bosnia and Croatia to Western and Central Europe.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Migrant Crisis: Trouble for EU as New Council President Austria Adopts Hardline Approach
AFGHANS, Africans and Syrians seeking refuge in the European Union would have to submit asylum applications prior to entering the bloc under strict new proposals put forward by Austria.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Toronto Can’t Handle Influx of Refugee Claimants, Tory Tells Ottawa
In an urgent letter, Mayor John Tory is telling the federal government that Toronto can no longer handle the influx of refugee claimants and will no longer do so without emergency financial help from senior governments.
In the letter, obtained by the Star on Monday, Tory states that Toronto welcomes all newcomers “but we need the appropriate support and leadership of both Ontario and Canada,” and that the city scrambling to find emergency shelter for each new wave of arrivals is not sustainable…
| — Hat tip: Red Mike | [Return to headlines] |
Walk or Die: Algeria Strands 13,000 Migrants in the Scorching Sahara
For every migrant known to have died crossing the Mediterranean, as many as two are lost in the desert.
From this isolated frontier post deep in the sands of the Sahara, the expelled migrants can be seen coming over the horizon by the hundreds. They look like specks in the distance, trudging miserably across some of the world’s most unforgiving terrain in the blistering sun.
They are the ones who made it out alive.
Here in the desert, Algeria has abandoned more than 13,000 people in the past 14 months, including pregnant women and children, stranding them without food or water and forcing them to walk, sometimes at gunpoint, under temperatures of up to 48 degrees Celsius (118 degrees Fahrenheit).
In Niger, where the majority head, the lucky ones limp across a desolate 15-kilometer (9-mile) no man’s land to Assamaka, less a town than a collection of unsteady buildings sinking into drifts of sand. Others, disoriented and dehydrated, wander for days before a UN rescue squad can find them. Untold numbers perish along the way; nearly all the more than two dozen survivors interviewed by The Associated Press told of people in their groups who simply could not go on and vanished into the Sahara…
| — Hat tip: Red Mike | [Return to headlines] |
Watch: 200 Migrants Attempt to Storm Croatian Border Yelling ‘Allahu Akbar’
A mob of 200 migrants attempted to storm the Croatian border at Maljevac shouting “Allahu Akbar” as they fought with police who deployed tear gas against them.
The clip, which was released over the weekend, shows the group of migrants attempting to cross a small canal and push through the line of police wearing protective gear. The incident occurred at the Croatian town of Maljevac, which lies on the border with Bosnia, Kronen Zeitung reports.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Union of Tunisian Imams Not Opposed to Gay Marriage
Achour supports proposals of Commission on Liberties
TUNIS — The Secretary General of the Union of Tunisian Imams, Fadhel Achour, said he is not opposed to gay marriage in Tunisia, taking a position that surprised everyone while a debate is underway in the country following the publication of a report by the Commission for Individual Liberties and Gender Equality.
In that report, one of the recommendations was “liberalisation of marriage contracts”, which Achour received positively, he said, speaking to local radio Jawhara.
“Liberalisation of marriage contracts will allow all Tunisians to marry, no matter what their sexual orientation,” Achour said.
More generally, Achour called the report’s proposals and recommendations “revolutionary” and not in contrast with the Quran and Sharia.
In contrast to other religious associations contrary to the contents of the report, such as the National Coordination for the Defence of the Quran, Achour proposes a moderate reading of the sacred book and maintains that “parliament is the only institution with the ability to vote yes or no on the proposals contained in the text”.
“People who consider themselves defenders of the Quran must understand that the sacred book of Islam and of Sharia doesn’t need to be defended by anyone,” Achour said.
“Only God is responsible for the conservation of the Quran and the defence of the religion, above all where Sharia applies only to believers,” he told Jawhara fm.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
The Beginning of the End of the Bilderberg Era
The beginning of the end of the Bilderberg/Soros vision is in sight. The Old Order will cling on, even to the last of its fingernails. The Bilderberg vision is the notion of multi-cultural, international cosmopolitanism that surpasses old-time nationalism; heralding the end of frontiers; and leading toward a US-led, ‘technocratic’, global economic and political governance. Its roots lie with figures such as James Burnham, an anti-Stalin, former Trotskyite, who, writing as early as 1941, advocated for the levers of financial and economic power being placedin the hands of a management class: an élite — which alone would be capable of running the contemporary state — thanks to this élite’s market and financial technical nous. It was, bluntly, a call for an expert, technocratic oligarchy.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
As for the attack on the “Telegraaf” newspaper office a most disturbing incident took place.
The Dutch VNG, a sort of union for mayors, was to hold a convention the day after.
One of the speakers was a notorious left wing stand-up comedian by the name of Tommy Wieringa.
He quiped “they should have done this sooner”
About half of the mayors in the auditorium actually laughed and applauded…………….
Very disturbing indeed.
Indicative for the ever increasing rift between politicians and the populace.
This cannot end well.
.
Angry Foreigner Ranting About Taxes
Angry Foreigner talks about paying high taxes in Sweden and what the people get back, which is essentially nothing. We have some of the highest taxes in the entire world and we can’t even take care of our own people. This shows that there is no correlation between high taxes and taking care of those in need. Rather, there’s evidence to suggest high taxes only makes politicians spoiled. It’s not hard to spend money on welfare, but Sweden is using it’s welfare state to justify uneccessary decisions. Why should we spend so many millions on gender studies, weird art and non-citizens while people are dying in hospitals due to lack of resources? Something is fundamentally wrong in the welfare state socialist utopia of Sweden.
https://youtu.be/yGjtGpJwLYc
All true but Sweden is now the proud bearer of the exalted title “humanitarian super power” that should be worth something… er anything?… any bidders?… anyone?… hello?
‘Italy: Di Maio Says He’s Against EU Copyright Reform’
I’m gratified that I come across interesting articles in the news feed that I had previously missed.
The so-called EU Copyright Reform, and a ‘link tax’, while not overt censorship, would have a chilling effect on communication. It would suppress criticism of the European Union. That is not an accident.
Paul Joseph Watson is right–the EU and the globalists can’t meme!