The Italian government is prepared to block any results of this week’s EU migration summit if a declaration of shared responsibility for sea rescues is not included. Meanwhile, Interior Minister Matteo Salvini derided French President Emmanuel Macron in a CNN interview, saying that Mr. Macron had no lessons to give Italy. Mr. Salvini also predicted that the next year will determine whether the EU will continue to exist in its present form.
In other Italian news, according to a recent poll, support for the relaxation of gun controls has risen to 39% among the Italian people.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to C. Cantoni, 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.
U.S. GDP Could Top 4% in 2nd Quarter, Economists Say
The U.S. economy appears to have gotten quick out of the gate in the second quarter and it could be on track for 4% growth or higher, analysts say. After strong gains in personal income and consumer spending in April, a bevy of Wall Street firms upped their GDP forecasts.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
A Newly Discovered Supervolcano is Churning Under 3 States
A blob of molten lava has been detected under three states in the Northeast. The new supervolcano currently brewing under New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Vermont is creeping upwards and surprising geologists.
The region in which the new volcano was discovered is geologically stable with no active volcanoes in the surrounding area. Earthquakes are almost unheard of in the area. That means that the formation of the massive magma buildup in the northeast is a relatively recent event, scientists say. But keep in mind, in the timescale of Earth’s geological processes, this still means tens of millions of years. If these findings hold up though, the northeast could be considered more active geologically than previously thought.
Fox News reported that the unexpected supervolcano has been gradually making itself known to geologists in the United States. A huge mass of molten rock is slowly climbing upwards beneath three of the nation’s northeastern states. The new supervolcano only became evident through a new and large-scale seismic study. “The upwelling we detected is like a hot-air balloon, and we infer that something is rising up through the deeper part of our planet under New England,” says Rutgers University geophysicist Professor Vadim Levin.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Supports Impeaching President Trump
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the 28-year-old democratic socialist who defeated incumbent Rep. Joe Crowley (D-NY), told CNN on Wednesday she would support the impeachment of President Donald Trump.
[Comment: Note her communist pose.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
An antifa group in Los Angeles celebrated May Day by holding a small march, hanging a Trump effigy, and advocating for “revolutionary violence” against the “capitalist state” in order to “create real political power.”
“We must carry out military actions against the enemies of the people!” a member of the L.A. cell of the Red Guards said in a speech published on the group’s blog.
The Red Guards is a Maoist group that hopes to duplicate in the United States the anarchy and terror Chairman Mao’s Red Guards inflicted on China during the Cultural Revolution of the 1960s and 1970s. The group also identifies as “antifascist” and has cells throughout the United States…
Here is a brief history lesson on Chairman Mao’s Cultural Revolution, courtesy of Chinese historian Song Yongyi, who said the widespread phenomenon of mass killings of the time consisted of five types:
1. Mass terror or mass dictatorship encouraged by the government — victims were humiliated and then killed by mobs or forced to commit suicide on streets or other public places.
2. Direct killing of unarmed civilians by armed forces. 3. Pogroms against traditional “class enemies” by government-led perpetrators such as local security officers and militias. 4. Killings as part of political witch-hunts (a huge number of suspects of alleged conspiratorial groups were tortured to death during investigations. Summary execution of captives, that is, disarmed prisoners from factional armed conflicts.
The most frequent forms of massacres were the first four types, which were all state-sponsored killings. The degree of brutality in the mass killings of the Cultural Revolution was very high. Usually, the victims perished only after first being humiliated, struggled, and then imprisoned for a long period of time.” Because the death toll is considered a Chinese “state secret,” no one knows for sure how many people died during the Cultural Revolution. Estimates by various scholars range from 500,000 to 8 million.
[Comment: Note how they proudly wear face masks emblazoned with the hammer and sickle.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Big Blow to Democrats: SCOTUS Rules Against Public Sector Unions
On Wednesday, in a decision that was a major blow to public sector and teachers’ unions, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of a public sector employee who refused to join a public union and objected to paying a union fee that was automatically deducted from his paycheck every month under the union’s contract. As Justice Samuel Alito wrote in the decision, “States and public-sector unions may no longer extract agency fees from nonconsenting employees.”
The case involved Mark Janus, a child support worker in Illinois, who would not join the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, which represents state employees. He would not pay the $45 union fee (known as an “agency” or “fair share” fee) the union demanded every month from his paycheck.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Bloomberg is Preparing for a Possible Run at Trump in 2020
Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is gearing up to face President Donald Trump in the next presidential election.
Bloomberg, a billionaire activist who has helped fund various Democratic campaigns, considered running for president in 2016 as an Independent. If he runs against Trump in 2020, then he’ll campaign as a Democrat, sources told CBS New York on Tuesday.
[Comment: America, don’t let this globalist anti-gun nut get anywhere near the white house.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Democrat Congressional Intern Suspended for Yelling ‘F*** You’ At Donald Trump
A Capitol Hill intern who yelled, “Mr. President, you!” during President Trump’s visit to the Capitol Rotunda last Tuesday has been suspended but not fired from her position.
The intern, who works in Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-NH)’s office, has reportedly been identified as 21-year-old Caitlin Marriott, Fox News reported.
After the intern’s outburst, congressional authorities spoke with Marriott to determine if she was a threat, then decided not to take any further action.
Fox News reported that Marriott will remain in her position through August but will be limited to performing her duties at Hassan’s third-floor office in the Hart Senate Building.
A spokesperson for Hassan’s office confirmed that instead of being fired, the intern received a one-week suspension and lost her congressional intern ID badge allowing her access to the Capitol.
[Comment: Note that Sen. Maggie Hassan refused to fire her.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Farmers in America Are Killing Themselves in Record Numbers
Farmers in the United States are now dying of suicide at a higher rate than any other group. Data shows that the suicide rate in the professional field of farming, fishing, and forestry is 84.5 per 100,000 people. That’s more than five times that of the population as a whole.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
GOP Congressman Says He Received More Death Threats in 2017 Than Every Other Year Combined
Republican Arizona Rep. David Schweikert says he received more death threats in 2017 than every other year he’s been in office combined.
“My fear is this is the playbook of a lot of our brothers and sisters on the left — they’re going to get fringier and fringier, louder and louder, angrier and angrier, and as you and I know, we sometimes have some folks in our society who aren’t completely healthy,” Schweikert said while appearing on “Plaidcast,” a podcast hosted by Republican Rep. Sean Duffy of Wisconsin.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Hawkins: Left’s Climate of Violence Proves Republicans Correct to Cling to Guns
The left’s assault on Republicans and decency, in general, is not new, it is simply more pronounced, more vitriolic. While heading toward the presidential candidacy in 2008 Barack Obama mocked the common man for clinging to things considered traditionally American. On April 11, 2008, Politico quoted Obama saying: “It’s not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy toward people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.”
The transition from Obama’s mockery of the common man to today’s leftist-driven protests, shout-downs, and harassment of Trump supporters only marks a difference in degree, rather than kind.
Yet for all the insults, shame campaigns, and incessant assaults by the establishment media, Republicans continued clinging to their guns. And in the face of today’s harassment campaign, it is certain Republicans did a good thing by refusing to give them up.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Judicial Watch: Maxine Waters Violated House Rules by ‘Inciting Violence’
Judicial Watch, the conservative watchdog group, sent a letter to the House Office of Congressional Ethics Monday, calling for an ethics investigation into Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) to determine if she violated House ethics rules by encouraging violence against Trump administration officials.
In the group’s letter to the Office of Congressional Ethics, Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton suggested that Waters violated House rules when she encouraged “crowds” of people to “push back” on Trump administration officials at private business establishments.
“Rep. Maxine Waters incited violence and assault against members of President Trump’s Cabinet,” Fitton said in a statement. “It is urgent that the House ethics quickly act to hold her accountable for this dangerous incitement.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Lawmaker: “America is Heading in the Direction of Another Harper’s Ferry’
Representative Steve King believes that the United States is heading straight for another Civil War. With the division rather obvious and each side viscously defending their idea of who should have power over everyone else and how much, could King be correct?
King, who is a Republican from Iowa warned in a tweet on Sunday that the United States is heading towards a civil war. “America is heading in the direction of another Harpers Ferry,” the conservative lawmaker tweeted on Sunday. “After that comes Ft. Sumter.”
According to The Hill, King was referring to the opening shot of the Civil War fired at Fort Sumter in the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina, on April 12, 1861. Harper’s Ferry, which was then part of Virginia, and which King also referred to, was a town where militant abolitionist John Brown led a raid on a federal armory in October 1859, where he sought to start a slave uprising in an action that would later help push the country into a civil war.
With his comments about the U.S. heading toward war, Kind included an article which stated that Portland Occupiers (typically known to align on the far left of the political spectrum) shut down an ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) government office and replaced it with a “refugees welcome” flag. “Occupy” protesters have been camping outside an ICE office in Portland, Oregon, leading the facility to temporarily shut down. The occupiers say that they won’t leave until the Trump administration revokes its “zero tolerance” immigration policy. Portland’s mayor will not allow police action against the protestors either. (But one can all but guarantee that if right-wing activists shut down a Portland Planned Parenthood office, police would be allowed to use any level of violent force necessary to remove them.)
[Comment: Portland Mayor should be arrested and tossed into jail for sedition.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Meet Trump’s Next Supreme Court Nominee (According to the Online Bookies)
In the aftermath of Justice Anthony Kennedy’s bombshell announcement that he is retiring from the Supreme Court, attention turns who will replace him. And while Trump has yet to unveil his list of 25 potential replacements, here is the list of the most likely nominees according to online betting marketplace PredictIt, which has the 53-year-old Brett Kavanaugh as a leading frontrunner.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
More Truth From Maxine Waters: Schumer and Pelosi ‘Don’t Really Say I’m Out of Line
It’s certainly true that Maxine’s comments triggered the Pelosi/Schumer response but, if you read what they actually have to say, you’ll notice something interesting
Ever since Maxine Waters made her comments calling for mobs to harass prominent Republicans, the media has been rife with stories about Democrats who are allegedly denouncing her. The narrative is that enlightened lefties — particularly those in positions of political power — are peace-loving individuals who want to live in a calm, genteel, world.
Why, it’s those nasty conservatives who really want the violence! Folks like Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer desire only “civility,” and they’re speaking out against Waters labelling her “out of line” in pursuit of a kinder political atmosphere. …But are they really?
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Ocasio Cortez, Far Left Resistance Candidate, Upsets Rep Joe Crowley in New York Primary
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a 28-year-old, Bernie-Sanders-supporting political novice, has defeated incumbent Rep. Joe Crowley (D-NY) in the 14th congressional district in the New York primary.
With 88% of precincts reporting in the heavily-Democratic district that spans Queens and the Bronx, Ocasio-Cortez had crushed Crowley, 57.6% to 42.4%, a margin of nearly 3,600 votes.
CNN notes that Ocasio-Cortez is a self-described “democratic socialist.”
Crowley, currently in his 10th term and the chair of the House Democratic Caucus — ranked 4th in the whole caucus — was considered a possible future candidate for Speaker of the House, and had not faced a primary challenge in 14 years.
He has now become the first major casualty of the so-called “Resistance” — the left-wing movement that emerged to oppose President Donald Trump but has also clashed with the Democratic Party establishment…
Ocasio-Cortez also appears to hold anti-Israel views, calling Israel’s response to violent Hamas “protests” at the Gaza border a “massacre.”
She also attacked Crowley for his alleged support for the transfer of the U.S. embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
[Comment: Frighteningly, female communists are usually more rabid communists than the male communists. ]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
A shocking 31% of voters say it’s likely that the United States will experience a second civil war over the next five years, according to a new Rasmussen poll.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Pelosi Pissed as Liberal Media Loves Socialist Millennial Who Beat Democratic Leader
In what will almost certainly be remembered as a softball interview for the ages, “Morning Joe” hosts Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough feted the upstart winner of the Democratic primary in New York’s 14th Congressional district, which covers parts of Queens and the Bronx. In an upset that’s being compared to Tea Party activist David Brat’s 2014 upset of then-Majority Leader Republican Rep. Eric Cantor, 28-year-old socialist Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez trounced longtime Rep. Joe Crowley, a member of the Democrats’ Congressional leadership.
The upset even caught the attention of President Trump, who tweeted that Crowley perhaps “should’ve been more respectful” to his president (and fellow Queens native).
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Republicans Release Ad Savaging ‘Unhinged’ Democrat Party
The GOP released a savage ad on Tuesday showing how the Democrats have become completely “unhinged” radical extremists.
From The Gateway Pundit:
The well produced ad opens with Senator Bernie Sanders saying, “a few years ago, ideas that we talked about were thought to be fringe ideas, radical ideas, extremist ideas — those ideas are now mainstream,” over footage of graffiti that reads “revolution or death” and Kathy Griffin holding President Trump’s severed head. It goes on to feature the bullying of White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders, Johnny Depp talking about assassinating the president, and Madonna talking about blowing up the White House.
The ad, which does not mention any specific GOP candidates, is sharp, shocking, and absolutely what the GOP needs to invigorate their base and bring in rational independents who are sick of the insanity.
This is Trump’s Republican Party now.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Supreme Court Rules Against Unions Mandatory Fees: “Big Loss for Coffers of Democrats”
In a 5-4 ruling Tuesday, The Supreme Court ruled that public sector unions for state and local employees can’t force non-members to pay a “fair-share” union fee.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Supreme Court Justice Kennedy is Retiring, Giving Trump 2nd Supreme Court Pick
“Justice Kennedy’s retirement is the biggest event in U.S. jurisprudence in at least 15 years”
— Jack Goldsmith, WaPo
Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy is retiring from the United States Supreme Court, effective July 31.
Nominated by President Reagan in 1987, the 81-year-old conservative justice leaves the bench after more than three decades of service — the 14th longest serving justice (out of 113) in Supreme Court history, leaving a vacant seat to be filled by a Trump appointee. His retirement has been long anticipated, though recent comments he made this week as the court upheld the President’s “travel ban” suggested an imminent departure from the bench according to Slate‘s Richard Hasen.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Texas: Flyers Laced With Fentanyl Placed on Windshield of Several Patrol Cars
HOUSTON — A police sergeant in Harris County, Texas, is sick after touching a flyer left under a police patrol vehicle’s windshield wipers that was laced with the opioid fentanyl.
The Harris County Sheriff’s Office said that several flyers laced with the powerful drug were found under the windshield wipers of several police cars on Tuesday afternoon.
Harris County officials warned the community about the flyers on Twitter:
“URGENT: Flyers placed on the windshields of some #HCSO vehicles this afternoon at 601 Lockwood have tested positive for the opioid Fentanyl. One sergeant who touched a flyer is receiving medical treatment. Call authorities if you see these flyers and DO NOT TOUCH.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Tucker: ‘Media Chieftains’ Must ‘Pull Back’ Liberal Mobs Before ‘Tragedy’ Strikes
It has only been a year since a deranged Democrat tried to pull off a mass assassination attempt against Republican Congressmen at a baseball practice. With the left’s targeting of Trump administration officials and others for harassment, which was being egged on by California Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D), many reasonable people were rightfully fearful that we might be headed for a tragedy.
This didn’t escape the observation of the Fox News Channel’s Tucker Carlson on Tuesday as he asked media heads to take measures to stop the division and hatred.
“As progressives become more authoritarian and less tolerant, they seem more convinced that they are fighting actual Nazis rather than their fellow Americans, with whom in the scheme of things, they only have mild political differences,” Carlson noted in his opening monologue.
Carlson observed that “the more they accuse the administration of extremism, the more extreme they become.” This kind of mentality could lead someone to do something unspeakable in the name of their political ideology. As he put it: “[O]nce you decide that the people who disagree with you are Nazis, everything is allowed. Why wouldn’t you threaten them in restaurants or burn their houses down, or who knows?”
“This could very well end in tragedy. You start talking like this and you don’t know where it’s going to go. Some progressive seemed to welcome all that,” Carlson warned. He quoted one liberal PAC head that suggested that anyone who pleaded for calm where “accomplices” of the Trump administration. “Accomplices? This is the language of total war. It’s scary. It has no place in politics,” Carlson declared.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Watch: Jordan Peterson Takes on Justin Trudeau in Q&A at Oxford Union
During Jordan Peterson’s recent Q&A at the Oxford Union Society, one attendee asked him about Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau:
I’m Canadian and we have a leader who is probably the most — attempting to be the most politically correct leader in the world. I’d love to hear your response if you had his ear for five minutes and could present very simply to him where he might be going wrong.
After a long pause, which caused some laughter among audience members, Peterson replied:…
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
We’re Finally Told What Trudeau’s Carbon Tax Will Cost US. Are You Sitting Down?
Households in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Nova Scotia will be hit with more than $1,000 of carbon tax per year, while those in British Columbia, Quebec and Manitoba will pay around $650
It took some poking and prodding and (finally) committee testimony, but now we know what the bill will be for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s carbon tax. In a report to the Senate Standing Committee on Energy, the Environment and Natural Resources, University of Calgary economics professor Jennifer Winter revealed the bottom line of the Trudeau Carbon Price.
Using energy-consumption data from Statistics Canada, and imputing prices from average household expenditure on transportation fuels and provincial gasoline prices, Winter calculated the impact of the carbon tax on a typical Canadian household across different provinces. Far from being painless as advertised, the costs to households will be significant.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Branded Norwegian Cigarettes and Snus to be Consigned to History
A law change that comes into effect on July 1st will require all packaging on cigarettes and snus in Norway to be entirely neutral.
| — Hat tip: Charles Low | [Return to headlines] |
Dutch Parliament Approves Limited Ban on Burqa, Niqab
Geert Wilders: ‘‘Finally, 13 years after a majority in the Dutch Parliament voted in favour of my motion to ban the burqa, it became law yesterday!’’
The Netherlands has approved a limited ban on “face-covering clothing” in public places, including Islamic veils and robes such as the burqa and niqab but not the hijab, which covers only the hair. Firebrand far-right politician Geert Wilders had pushed for the ban for over a decade.
Parliament’s upper chamber made the final approval in a vote Tuesday (June 26).
Wilders’ Freedom Party claimed the development as a major victory, while Sen. Marjolein Faber-Van de Klashorst called it “a historical day because this is the first step to de-Islamize the Netherlands.”
“This is the first step and the next step is to close all the mosques in the Netherlands,” she said, building on Wilders’ anti-Islam rhetoric.
The Dutch law is described by the government as “religion-neutral” and does not go as far as more extensive bans in neighboring countries such as France and Belgium. It applies on public transport and in education institutions, health institutions such as hospitals, and government buildings.
Successive Dutch governments have sought to ban niqabs, which cover most of the face but still show the eyes, and burqas, which cover the face and body — even though studies suggest that only a few hundred women in the Netherlands wear the garments. The ban also covers ski masks and full-face helmets.
The government said people still have full freedom on how to dress, except when it is necessary to have full facial contact — for instance in education and health-related situations.
The ban does not apply to public streets, although police can ask an individual to remove face-covering clothing for identification.
“This is actually virtually a complete ban because the only spaces that are still available for women (who wear face-covering clothing) are the street and the private sector,” said Annelies Moors, professor of anthropology and sociology at the University of Amsterdam. “And, of course, the private sector can also have their house rules, they could also possibly legislate against their presence. So this leaves women very little space.”
“It is completely disproportionate and the only effect will be that many of these women will stay at home even more,” said Green Party Sen. Ruard Ganzevoort. “They will not have an opportunity to go to school. They will not have an opportunity to go to learn to swim, and all those things.”
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European Terrorism: The ‘Batman Syndrome’
The European Union lost €180 billion (USD $210 billion) in GDP due to terrorism between 2004 and 2016. The United Kingdom (€43.7 billion) and France (€43 billion) suffered the highest losses, followed by Spain (€40.8 billion) and Germany (€19.2 billion), according to a Rand Corporation study.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
France: Butchers Plead for Protection as Vegan Militants Ramp up Campaign of ‘Terror’
Raising the alarm over attacks on businesses in France, butchers have written to the government asking for protection in the face of increasing levels of “physical, verbal and moral violence” from militant vegans.
There are organisations and individuals seeking to “sow terror” in France, the French Confederation of Butchers, Delicatessens, and Caterers (CFBCT) warned, asserting that animal rights extremists “have only one purpose — to permanently eradicate the significant portion of French culture which is owed to our nation’s butchers, delicatessens, fishmongers, and cheesemakers”.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
French Jihadist Admits Islamic State Planned to Send Child Soldiers to Carry Out Attacks in Europe
A French member of Islamic State has admitted that the organisation had made plans to send child soldiers disguised as underage asylum seekers to Europe to carry out terrorist attacks.
French jihadist Jonathan Geffroy was captured by the Free Syrian Army in early 2017 and given over to French authorities later that year where currently he awaits trial for criminal conspiracy, Le Monde reports.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Italian Interior Minister Salvini ‘Within a Year, We’ll See if a United Europe Still Exists’
Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini wants to prevent any more migrants from coming to Italy and is skeptical of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s efforts to come up with a joint European solution. DER SPIEGEL spoke with him in Rome.
Interview Conducted By Walter Mayr
DER SPIEGEL: Mr. Minister, Chancellor Angela Merkel would like to return asylum-seekers who were registered in Italy, but who traveled onward to Germany, back to Italy. Is that okay with you?
Salvini: Ms. Merkel said that Italy should not be left alone. Now, the consequences must be drawn. We are in second place behind Germany when it comes to the number of refugees we have accepted. We have accumulated more than 140,000 asylum cases, we cannot take on a single additional case. On the contrary, we’d like to hand over a few.
DER SPIEGEL: With that position, you may be contributing to the end of Merkel’s tenure as chancellor.
Salvini: We need reliable partners in Germany. Personally, I don’t want to witness a crisis there or see the government fall. Even if our political views — and not just on the refugee question — are quite far apart. The same is true on economic policy, banking reform and the German foreign trade surplus.
DER SPIEGEL: Do you have a direct line of communication with the chancellor?…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Italian Interior Minister Blasts French President Macron: He Has No Lessons to Give to Italy
In an interview with CNN, Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini blasted French President Emmanuel Macron.
“Macron talks about values, but he doesn’t recognize the values themselves, and therefore they have no lessons to give to Italy,” Salvini told CNN.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Macron Can’t Give us Lessons, Salvini Tells CNN
French leader ‘doesn’t recognise values’ says interior minister
(ANSA) — Rome, June 27 — Interior Minister Matteo Salvini continued his spat with French President Emmanuel Macron in an interview released by CNN on Wednesday. “Macron talks about values, but he doesn’t recognize the values itself, and therefore they have no lessons to give to Italy,” Salvini told CNN after the French leader criticised his tough stance on migrants. “With nice words we never obtained anything. In this month of government with our actions, we managed to be listened to — the Spanish intervened, Malta must intervene, and so do the French, the German, the Dutch … it’s clear that we need a different kind of politics.
“We need to revisit the Dublin rules (on asylum), we need to invest in Africa. But I think we obtained more in this month than in the previous six years of chatter”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy’s Populist ‘League’ Party Secures First Place in National Poll
The anti-establishment League party has solidified its place as leader in Italian public opinion, according to a national political poll released this week.
For the first time in its 27-year history, the party formerly known as the Northern League moved into first place earlier this month, edging out its governing partner, the 5-Star Movement (M5S), and currently enjoys a lead of 29.7 percent to 29.4 percent. The coalition now commands together an impressive 59.1 percent of the allegiance of the Italian people.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Italy’s Salvini: ‘Within a Year, We’ll See if a United Europe Exists’
Italy’s right-wing populist leader and Interior Minister Matteo Salvini has suggested the European Union (EU) may not have “a future in its current form” and said the next 12 months are crucial in determining how the bloc changes.
He made the comments following a discussion about the ongoing migrant crisis that is causing tension between the bloc’s leaders, slamming other nations for placing the burden on Italy, and insisting his country “cannot take on a single additional [asylum] case”.
“In the coming months, it will be decided if Europe still has a future in its current form or whether the whole thing has become futile,” the League leader told Spiegel Online.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Macron Hails ‘New Chapter’ For French Rail After Signing Reform
PARIS (AFP) — French President Emmanuel Macron hailed a “new chapter” in the country’s rail history on Wednesday after signing into law a reform that triggered the longest transport strike in decades.
“The new chapter that is opening today for our railways is important, it’s a profound transformation,” Macron said in a signing ceremony at the presidential palace, alongside Transport Minister Elisabeth Borne.
Macron chalked up a key victory in his drive to reform the French economy when parliament this month approved an overhaul of the debt-laden state rail operator SNCF that unions tried for three months to derail…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Net EU Contributor Italy Deserves Attention — Conte
Premier to propose more funding for social inclusion
(ANSA) — Rome, June 27 — Premier Giuseppe Conte said Wednesday that “Italy is a net contributor to the EU budget, we think we deserve more attention” as he reported to the Lower House ahead of this week’s EU summit. Referring to data that said over five million people were living in absolute poverty in Italy last year, Conte said he would suggest that the negotiations on the new EU budget should “reserve greater financial attention to European funds for social inclusion and the European social fund that could finance the reform of employment (centres)”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Netherlands Bans Burqas in Public Buildings
The Netherlands on Tuesday became the latest European country to introduce a ban on face-covering veils in some public spaces.
The Dutch Upper House of Parliament passed a law banning face coverings, including burqas and niqabs, in public spaces such as schools, hospitals, public transport and government buildings.
However, it does not apply to public streets.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
New Sexual Consent App Launched in Sweden Because a “No” Can be Misunderstood by Men
A Swedish lawyer launched an app for sexual consent, to help couples register if they have voluntarily sex, Aftonbladet reports. According to the app’s creator, a simple “no” can be misunderstood by men.
On the 1st of July, Sweden will introduce a new sexual consent law which states that both parties must have consent on having sexual intercourse.
The creator of the app, female lawyer Baharak Vaziri, tells that the app will be helpful when the new consent law comes into force.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Norway: Woman Injured in Oslo Mass Brawl: Report
Up to 30 men were involved in a fight on in central Oslo on Tuesday night, police have confirmed.
The brawl took place at the Youngstorget square in the Norwegian capital and a machete and other weapons may have been used in the fight, VG reports.
Around 30 people thought be in their twenties and thirties are reported to have attacked each other with various objects.
“We received the first report at around five minutes before 1am of a so-called mass brawl. There was a large group of men described as men with African backgrounds reported to be fighting. A machete was mentioned but we have not found that so far. Most appear to have used iron rods, wooden planks and bottles,” police response leader Tor Jøkling told VG.
| — Hat tip: Charles Low | [Return to headlines] |
Rise in Italians Wanting Easier Gun Access
Interior minister wants new ‘legitimate defense’ law
(ANSA) — Rome, June 27 — Some 39% of Italians surveyed want gun ownership for reasons of self-defense to become easier, a sharp rise on the 26% seen in 2015. The CENSIS and Federsicurezza report on personal security found that those less educated were the most fervent supporters, with 51% of those having only a middle school education wanting fewer gun restrictions, and 41% of those over age 65. The survey found that the number of those knowing how to shoot is increasing with gun permits of all types — self-defense, hunting, etc. — totalling 1,398,920: a 20.5% rise since 2014 and a 13.8% one on the previous year. CENSIS estimated that there is thus “a firearm in the homes of almost 4.5 million Italians (including 700,000 children)”. In commenting on the report, Italian interior minister Matteo Salvini said in a tweet that “a new law enabling the legitimate defense of law-abiding people in their own homes is one of our priorities”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Salvini Says Tariffs Could Defend Italians
I will back all defence of jobs and health
(ANSA) — Rome, June 27 — Interior Minister Matteo Salvini said Wednesday trade tariffs, floated by coalition partner and Industry Minister Luigi Di Maio Tuesday, could defend Italians’ jobs and health. Asked if he agreed with Di Maio, Salvini said “I will support all government proposals to defend the jobs and health of the Italians”.
He said “outlawed products, agricultural and commercial, are arriving which are a danger to health.
“All protection also means commercial protections,” he said.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Sharp Rise in Italians in Favour of Loosening Gun Control
he proportion of Italians who favour relaxing laws on gun ownership has jumped from around a quarter to more than a third, according to a new survey.
While 26 percent of people questioned in 2015 said they supported looser laws on owning a gun for self-defence, the latest research carried out by social studies institute Censis and private security sector organization Federsicurezza found that 39 percent were in favour.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Turks and Kurds Violently Clash in France Following Erdogan Election Win
Dozens of members of the Turkish and Kurdish communities in a French commune violently clashed with each other following the election win of Islamist Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
According to police, Turks and Kurds fought each other with iron bars, swords, and sticks during the mass brawl which occurred Sunday night in Mantes-la-Jolie just outside of Paris, Le Parisien reports.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Uncensored: Why Are Jihadists Being Allowed Back Into Britain?
On today’s show, Michael and Patrick discussed the case of a returning jihadi who has been found guilty of preparing to carry out a terror attack in Westminster — why on earth was this Taliban and al-Qaeda bomb maker allowed back into Britain?
The guys also discussed a Sikh shopkeeper who had been criticised for flying the England flag during the world cup — what’s wrong with a bit of national pride?
Also on the show, the guys discussed an arson attack on a synagogue in Sweden, which was committed by two Palestinians and one Syrian asylum seeker.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Up to 40,000 British Ticketmaster Users May Have Had Their Personal and Payment Details Stolen
Ticketmaster UK have admitted British customers may have had their credit card data stolen in a security breach that could have affected up to 40,000 people.
The company says it ‘identified malicious software’ on a third party product on Saturday, but did not reveal the breach until today.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
‘We Cannot be Stopped’ Merkel’s Toughest Adversary in Europe
Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini is a populist and a firebrand, but also a fearless tactician. His hardline approach to migration threatens not only Angela Merkel’s tenure as chancellor, but also the entire EU.
By Walter Mayr
No stage is too small for him — the man who has become the focus of European attention. The main thing is that he’s in the spotlight.
With his top shirt buttons undone, Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini faces the crowd in the small town of Ivrea, where he is — officially, at least — stumping for a mayoral candidate from his party. In fact, though, he speaks almost exclusively about himself and his role in global politics.
He is “as tired as a mule” but ready for a fight, Salvini calls out to his supporters gathered on the piazza. “The time has come to an end when Italy allows itself to be enslaved.” It pays, he says, to be confident, adding that heads of state and government from other countries constantly tell him: “You just have to say: ‘Stop, we are Italy. We are tired of being treated like garbage.’ And people will be forced to listen to you; things will change.”
It sounds cynical, but it’s true. Without Italy, the euro would have no future, nor, likely, would the European Union. Without Italy, there can be no solution to the migrant problem and no agreement on the question that has become decisive for German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s survival: Whether EU member states on the Mediterranean are prepared to take back asylum applicants who have traveled onward to Germany…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
White Brits Will Soon be a Minority in UK’s Second Largest City
50,000 of Birmingham’s 1.2 million population cannot speak English
A new report has found that white Brits will soon be a minority in the UK’s second largest city Birmingham and that a significant proportion of the population cannot speak English.
By 2021, more than half of the city’s population will be from an ethnic minority, which is already the case for under-18’s, 60 per cent of whom are non-white.
“Birmingham is soon to become a majority minority city,” according to the report.
The report also found that nearly 50,000 residents of the 1.2 million population cannot speak English. This has exacerbated unemployment, which is significantly above the national average, with 35% of working age residents not in a job.
The situation is, “Not helped by the fact that high numbers of Pakistani and Bangladeshi residents have no qualifications” and cannot speak English, reports Birmingham Live.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Italy to Donate 12 Patrol Boats to Libya — Salvini
Interior minister says Rome to provide training too
(ANSA) — Rome, June 27 — Interior Minister Matteo Salvini said Wednesday that Italy is set to donate 12 patrol boats to Libya to help the north African country’s coast guard combat human trafficking. “Today, time permitting, in the cabinet we will donate 12 patrol boats to Libya with the related crew training so they can continue to protect lives in the Mediterranean,” Salvini told a question time session in parliament.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy to Ask to Restore Russia SME Aid at EU Summit
Resources suspended in 2014
(ANSA) — Brussels, June 27 — Italy is set to request the restoration of aid for Russian SMEs from the European Investment Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development after an EU summit dinner on migrants, sources said Wednesday.
The request will be made after German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron inform their partners on the implementation of the Minsk accords, the sources said. The aid, within the past framework of EU-Russian strategic cooperation, was suspended in 2014.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Trump-Putin Summit Set Up, Details to be Announced Thursday
Update:
TRUMP-PUTIN MEETING ANNOUNCEMENT WILL COME THURSDAY: BOLTON
PUTIN, TRUMP BOTH CONSIDER MEETING ‘IMPORTANT,’ BOLTON SAYS
The United States and Russia have reached an agreement on a summit between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin and will announce the date and other details on Thursday, reports Bloomberg, citing a senior Kremlin official.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Upendra Bharti | HENB | Ranchi | June 26, 2018:: A designated family court in Ranchi granted divorce to national-level shooter Tara Shahdeo on Tuesday from her husband Ranjeet Singh Kohli alias Rakibul Hassan on grounds of cruelty.
In her divorce petition filed in January 2017, Shahdeo alleged that Kohli had married her in July 2014 without informing that he was a Muslim. Post-marriage, he began torturing her to force her into embracing Islam.
The allegations had sparked a controversy with the Union home ministry seeking a report on the purported case of ‘love jihad’. Then CM Hemant Soren later referred the case to the CBI on Shahdeo’s request…
| — Hat tip: Upananda Brahmachari | [Return to headlines] |
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.
On Monday, Owaisi had said that both the major parties in India viz. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress were hankering for the Hindu vote bank. He added that the Muslims had always been deceived by saying ‘you have a vote-bank’. The fanatic MP of Hyderabad hinted a consolidation of Muslim Votes against the Kaffirs (non-Muslims)…
| — Hat tip: Upananda Brahmachari | [Return to headlines] |
Daily Mail Australia can now reveal 23-year-old Adelaide woman Zainab Abdirahman-Khalif was charged with knowingly being a member of a terrorist organisation.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
Inside the Foiled Coup Attempt That Nearly Toppled Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro
Foreign observers of the worsening economic crisis in Venezuela will likely remember one year ago when a police officer stole a helicopter and single-handedly staged a “coup” by “attacking” a Venezuelan government building. While that coup attempt was quickly exposed as a headline-grabbing hoax (and the perpetrator was later “accidentally” killed in a raid), in a lengthy feature published Wednesday, Bloomberg revealed details about a genuine plot involving senior Venezuelan army officials who had been hoping to dislodge deeply unpopular President Nicolas Maduro.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Austria: Border Exercise is a Message to Migrants and People Traffickers
The year 2015 with its uncontrolled border crossings must “never be repeated”, the large-scale exercise “Pro Borders” on Tuesday in Spielfeld, is a “message” to Austrians, people traffickers and migrants — as Interior Minister Herbert Kickl and Defence Minister Mario Kunasek (both FPÖ) emphasised.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Austrian Leading Politician: “Adapt or Go Home!”
Upper Austria’s Deputy Governor, Manfred Haimbuchner, has handed over an advisory report on integration to the national government’s Integration Minister, tabloid Wochenblick reports.
Haimbuchner’s message for the minister is that migrants should adapt, learn the language and respect Austria’s Christian values, or leave the country.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
European Women Are Organising Against Migrant Violence and They Will Not be Silenced
They call themselves “The daughters of Europe” and they are starting to raise their voices. A number of different movements, not very well organised, are now seeing daylight around Europe, and these alternatives are now connecting with each other and growing stronger as a protest movement against the EU’s migration policies.
In February a new woman’s movement, the #120dB, was born in Germany. This movement is a protest against the huge influx of mostly male migrants with primitive values being admitted to Western European countries.
It illuminates a difficult and yet unsolvable problem of a modern society where multiculturalism is applauded at the cost of the safety of a vulnerable part of the population, women and children
The Shield of Europe is another such movement, collecting members from Czechia, Slovakia, Germany, Austria, Serbia and Bulgaria. They stress protests against non legit declarations and agreements on refugees and globalisation.
The mainstream media has been trying to hide away the facts about the rising numbers of sex crimes connected to migration, but as alternative media has grown stronger, details have reached the public.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
France: Italy Deflect Blame for Migrant Row to Rescue Charities
PARIS (AFP) — How to save lives without becoming “taxi services” for people smugglers? Charity-run rescue boats operating in the Mediterranean face a dilemma and their activity is being increasingly criticised by politicians in Europe.
Humanitarian groups have been operating rescue ships in the sea between war-wracked Libya and Italy for several years, plucking tens of thousands of migrants from dangerously overcrowded and ill-equipped boats, sometimes from the sea itself.
Organisations such as France’s SOS Mediterranee, Germany’s Mission Lifeline or Spain’s Proactiva Open Arms are driven by a logic of saving lives: without them, even more people would have perished than the roughly 1,000 dead or missing in the Mediterranean already this year…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Hundreds of Soldiers, Police, Rehearse Anti-Illegal Migrant Tactics at Austrian Border
The Austrian interior minister inspected troops and police and looked on as the newly formed border patrol unit held exercises to demonstrate their readiness Tuesday, in a move that has been interpreted by some as a political challenge to German leader Angela Merkel.
The newly formed PUMA “border protection force”, a creation of populist Austrian Interior Minister Herbert Kickl, clashed with police cadets playing the part of “strangers” as they attempted to penetrate the border for the exercise. The 600-strong force was backed up by 200 Austrian soldiers, and can be mobilised to any border trouble-spot within 24 hours, reports Austria’s best selling newspaper Kronen Zeitung.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Italy Ready to Block Migrant Summit Conclusions
Shared responsibility for sea rescues is Rome’s red line
(ANSA) — Brussels, June 27 — Italy is ready to block the conclusions of the upcoming EU summit on migrants, sources said Wednesday. It is ready to do so, they said, unless the final text includes the concept of shared responsibility on sea rescues. The sources said this was the ‘red line’ for Rome.
Italy is asking that there should be support from the other EU countries in the docking of of ships carrying out activities of search and rescue in the Mediterranean, and in the redistribution of migrants, the sources said.
In essence, that would mean overcoming the Dublin Regulation and the country of entry’s responsibility for migrant registration.
If the concept of shared responsibility is accepted, the sources said, and a recognition of the need to work on arrivals, Rome is willing to collaborate on secondary movements, a delicate issue for German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who is vying with hawkish Interior Minister Horts Seehofer on this at a domestic level.
As well, Italy will agree to having closed centres for migrants if other countresi do so at the request of France and Spain. Earlier Premier Giuseppe Conte said that the European Union must overhaul the Dublin Regulation on asylum. “The Dublin Regulation should be surpassed because there is no doubt that it is inadequate for the management of migratory flows,” Conte said as he reported to the Lower House ahead of this week’s summit. The regulation states that the country where an asylum seeker first arrives in the EU must handle the relative asylum request.
This means that the burden of migrant flows from North Africa has fallen almost entirely upon Italy due to its geographic position. Italy is seeking to make this week’s summit a turning point for the bloc, Conte said. “Italy’s contribution can make the European Council a watershed,” he said. “We must make it possible to design the Europe that we want”.
Conte stressed that his government “speaks with only one, firm and resolute, voice in Europe”. “Italy is a net contributor to the EU budget, we think we deserve more attention” he added. The Lower House on Wednesday approved a resolution presented by the ruling majority, the League and the 5-Star Movement (M5S), on Conte’s report to parliament ahead of this week’s European summit. The resolution, which was approved with 320 votes in favour, 119 against and 126 abstentions, called for the government to pursue a strategy seeking to introduce migrant-reception centres in the countries of origin and transit, among other things. Conte will make a official visit to Washington for a bilateral meeting with United States President Donald Trump on July 30, sources said Wednesday. Earlier this month Trump told Fox News that Conte was “fantastic” and that “it seems being tough on immigration now pays”.
Meanwhile Maltese Premier Joseph Muscat said Wednesday that the Lifeline will be given permission to dock in Malta later in the day, adding that the migrant-rescue ship is set to be impounded. The ship, which is at the centre of an international wrangle, was given permission to enter Maltese waters to shelter from bad weather conditions earlier on Wednesday but did not get the green light to dock.
“The Lifeline will be sequestered for the launch of an investigation,” Muscat told a news conference.
“The captain of the vessel ignored international laws”.
The NGO ship has been stranded for days in the Mediterranean after picking up the migrants in distress off the Libyan coast.
The Italian government had threatened to impound the Lifeline if it came to Italy, saying the rescue was illegal. Italian Premier Conte said Tuesday that Malta had agreed to allow it to land there as part of a deal under which Italy and other EU countries would receive quotas of the migrants on board. However, the spokesman for the NGO, Axel Steier, told ANSA that German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer had stopped Germany from taking part in the agreement to take in a share of the 233 migrants onboard.
Steier said Seehofer was “Germany’s Salvini”. Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini has spearheaded the tough stance on migrants of the new League/5-Star Movement (M5S) government that saw another NGO-run migrant-rescue ship, the Aquarius, have to travel to Valencia after it was denied permission to dock in an Italian port.
Salvini continued his spat with French President Emmanuel Macron in an interview released by CNN on Wednesday. “Macron talks about values, but he doesn’t recognize the values itself, and therefore they have no lessons to give to Italy,” Salvini told CNN after the French leader criticised his tough stance on migrants. “With nice words we never obtained anything. In this month of government with our actions, we managed to be listened to — the Spanish intervened, Malta must intervene, and so do the French, the German, the Dutch … it’s clear that we need a different kind of politics.
“We need to revisit the Dublin rules (on asylum), we need to invest in Africa. But I think we obtained more in this month than in the previous six years of chatter”.
(Speaking outside the Italian parliament, Salvin added that Macron is “acting up” and criticising the Italian government because his ratings have slumped to a new low. The deputy premier said “France must clear things up with the Italians and with itself: Macron is acting up because his popularity is at an all-time low in his country”. Salvini added that Macron’s caress for Pope Francis at an audience in the Vatican Tuesday was “something that has never been seen before”.) Salvini also told CNN that being called a populist was a “compliment for me”. The deputy premier said “the term populist is used as an insult but it’s a compliment for me”. He said “listening to people, being a minister who goes around cities, squares, stations and hospitals is a duty and a pleasure for me”.
(Salvini also said trade tariffs, floated by coalition partner and Industry Minister Luigi Di Maio Tuesday, could defend Italians’ jobs and health. Asked if he agreed with Di Maio, Salvini said “I will support all government proposals to defend the jobs and health of the Italians”.
He said “outlawed products, agricultural and commercial, are arriving which are a danger to health.
“All protection also means commercial protections,” he said.)
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Salvini Says 660,000 Migrants in Libya
Interior minister cites IOM data
(ANSA) — Rome, June 27 — Interior Minister Matteo Salvini said Wednesday that some 660,000 migrants are currently in Libya.
“According to IOM data, there are 662,000 migrants present in Libya, 10% of whom are minors, from 40 countries, prevalently African ones,” Salvini told a question time session in parliament. “There are 152,000 asylum seekers registered by the UNHCR”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: League-M5S Resolution for Country-of-Origin Migrant Centres
Ruling majority calls for Russia sanctions to be revised too
(ANSA) — Rome, June 27 — The Lower House on Wednesday approved a resolution presented by the ruling majority, the League and the 5-Star Movement (M5S), on Premier Giuseppe Conte’s report to parliament ahead of this week’s European summit. The resolution, which was approved with 320 votes in favour, 119 against and 126 abstentions, called for the government to pursue a strategy seeking to introduce migrant-reception centres in the countries of origin and transit, among other things.
The governing majority also called on the executive to work at the EU level for revising Western sanctions on Russia so that small and medium-sized enterprises and the agrofood sector are excluded.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy’s Migrant Crackdown Continues as Salvini Tells Coastguard to Ignore SOS Calls
ITALY should ignore SOS calls from migrant boats stranded in the Mediterranean, the country’s hardline deputy prime minister has said.
Matteo Salvini has warned foreign charities against rescuing Libyan migrants, who he said are “causing trouble” adding that Italy’s ports “are and will be closed to those who aid human traffickers”.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Italy to Crack Down on Migrant Street Vendors With Massive Fines for Sellers and Buyers
The new Italian populist coalition government will crack down on illegal street vendors, many of whom are migrants, with high fines for both the vendor and the buyer of illegal goods.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Labour’s Top Man in Brussels Vows to Block ‘Extreme’ Plans for Asylum Centres Outside EU
The open borders-backing Labour MEP in charge of the European Parliament’s committee on migration law has vowed to block plans to process asylum claims outside of EU territory.
Claude Moraes, who chairs the justice and home affairs committee, blasted proposals to offshore asylum claims as “extreme”, complaining the system would see “no guarantee” that third world migrants who made the journey to Europe would be settled in an EU nation.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Leftists Surround Mitch McConnell’s Home, Yell at Legal Immigrant Transportation Sec Elaine Chao
Via Daily Caller:
Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao told a group of protesters at Georgetown University to back off when they began harassing her husband, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.
McConnell and Chao were leaving an event at Georgetown University on Monday night when they were confronted by a group of protesters who repeatedly asked McConnell why he was separating families and played audio of children crying at the border.
The protesters swarmed the SUV set to take McConnell and Chao off campus, and Chao immediately jumped into defense mode.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Merkel Collapse Threat: ‘No Pity’ From EU if German Leader Falls in Migrant Crisis Row
ANGELA Merkel has been warned there could be little sympathy for her if her coalition government crumbles over the bitter migrant crisis feud blowing a gaping hole in Germany’s political landscape.
The country’s three-month-old coalition could soon collapse after hours of talks between the German Chancellor and her Bavarian allies on Tuesday failed to resolve the migrant crisis row.
Ms Merkel now heads to an EU summit in Brussels on Thursday — with some suggesting it could be her last — hoping that her European allies will at least help her find a solution to the problem that has threatened her leadership.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Right Rising in Sweden as Muslim Migration and Nanny State Sink Culture
The “Swedes must be integrated into the new Sweden,” proclaimed social engineer Mona Sahlin in 2001; “the old Sweden is never coming back.” While it sure has taken long enough, this culturally suicidal spirit is now being rejected by a growing number of Swedes, who see their nation’s first-in-Europe migration rate creating a “new Sweden” before their very eyes. This, combined with a new skepticism about the old-Sweden norm of high taxation, has vaulted the anti-migration Sweden Democrats to heretofore unseen prominence.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Skepticism as Sweden Splurges Billions on ‘First Ever’ Anti-Segregation Plan
In a bid to rid the Scandinavian country of dozens of “extra vulnerable areas” (which is a bureaucratic euphemism for ghettos), the Swedish government plans to invest a whopping SEK 19 billion ($2 billion) in measures to “reduce and counter segregation.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Soros-Backed ‘United We Dream’ Behind Mitch McConnell, Elaine Chao Ambush
An intern at an undocumented immigrant-focused group funded by liberal billionaire George Soros, and which is an approved group of the left’s biggest dark money donor network cofounded by Soros, was behind the ambush confrontation of Sen. Mitch McConnell and his wife, Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, as they were leaving an event at Georgetown University on Tuesday evening.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Spain: Socialist Ruling Party Wants to Give Migrants the Right to Vote
The ruling party PSOE aims to facilitate the right to vote for immigrants in future municipal elections by eliminating the requirement of reciprocity and making the procedures to be a resident far more affordable and quick.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
The Swedish district court has released an African migrant after he showed his penis to a 6-year-old child, Fria Tider reports.
On 11 May 2017 a woman with her two children entered a café in Sollentuna. As she stood at the counter she saw the man who worked as a waiter, showing his penis to one of her children.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden to Spend Nearly 200 Million Pounds Per Year to Combat ‘Segregation’ In ‘Vulnerable’ Areas
The Swedish government will spend 2.2 billion Kronor (£187.3 million) per year to combat “segregation” in some of the country’s most “vulnerable” areas.
The plan is the first of its kind and will see large amounts of cash pumped into suburbs and areas across the country which suffer from high rates of crime, high unemployment, and other socio-economic factors, according to a press release put out by the government on Tuesday.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Trump’s ‘Travel Ban’ Countries Account for Only 8% of World’s Muslims
The countries targeted in President Trump’s immigration proclamation which the Supreme Court upheld in a 5-4 ruling Tuesday, account for some eight percent of the world’s Muslims, and fewer that one-tenth of the countries that make up the bloc of Islamic states.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
‘We Can Do it Alone’: Danish PM on Foreign-Based Refugee Expulsion Centre
Danish prime minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen is set to bring up a mooted new form of expulsion centre for rejected asylum seekers when the subject of migrants and refugees is discussed at this week’s EU summit in Brussels.
The issue is one of a number to be discussed by government leaders in meetings in the Belgian capital on Thursday and Friday.
Rasmussen is set to speak about a project, already discussed by Denmark and Austria, to establish an expulsion centre for rejected asylum seekers in an “unattractive location outside of the EU”.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
What to Expect From Orban at the EU Summit?
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban will represent the Hungarian standpoint on migration at the Europan Council summit which starts on Thursday.
The main pillars of the Hungarian proposal are external border control and focus on helping on the spot, instead of letting migrants in the EU and distribute them. Budapest also supports the idea of establishing hotspots outside Europe’s territory.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
When Running From the Devil You Better be Faster Than Hell
I’m of the opinion that many today are throwing the “baby out with the bathwater” when they claim the conservative versus liberal (right vs. left) construct is phony, or bogus.
Conservatives have lost political ground because they have accepted the moral premises of the Political Left. However, liberals use deception to hide their real motives while, simultaneously, blackmailing conservatives by means of conservative values.
How typical was the mainstream media’s “poor immigrant children” narrative that played the emotional heartstrings of dummies everywhere, like violins.
In the immigration debate, as in the gun control polemic, liberals don’t actually care for the children; at least not in the ways they profess. They instead callously use the “children” as a means to consolidate their political power.
This explains why liberals never rejoiced for the offspring of lawless invaders when Trump signed the executive order to keep illegal immigrant families together. Instead, they claimed Trump “caved” before the [manufactured] “humanitarian and political crisis”. It’s also why children still attend schools in gun-free zones, while anti-gun protester David Hogg is protected by armed guards; because he’s more important than the other children now.
The Political Left consistently weaponizes the morality of conservatives against said conservatives; and whenever those on the right of the political spectrum accept the moral premises of the deceptive left, the progressive agenda moves “forward”.
Nevertheless, the value systems of conservatives and liberals are separate. This is why words like “freedom” and “rights” hold different meanings for each group.
In the example of the former, freedom and rights manifest as an outgrowth of natural law as defined in the whispers of John Locke. In the latter, these are processed according to the [Machiavellian] totalitarian’s interpretation of Nietzsche’s Will to Power.
The commonality of globalists, neocons, corrupt government officials, and tyrannical collectivists is demonstrated when they profess the moral superiority of their ideological positions and, simultaneously, abrogate timeless moral principles for their own benefit while telling us it’s for ours.
This is the heart of the matter. It is why decent Americans voted for Trump, flaws and all. He was elected in protest.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The left has ruined comedy.
They’ve turned it into a tool of political indoctrination.
But the backlash is growing….
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
The EU and its acolytes are absolutely going for broke at this point. They know we’re on to them and they’ve lost control of the narrative.
They have nothing to lose.
Thank God for The Donald. I’m still shaking at how close that bullet was.
Italy are doing the right thing, contrary to Greece.
Regarding migration, Italy are doing the right thing, contrarily to Greece.
The Greeks don’t have much choice.
Why is that?
Owe the Germans money, perhaps?
Yes, they do and vice-versa.
Truthout, at least the last time I read it, was an extreme-left rabble-rousing org of dubious integrity. Perhaps it has changed?
Italy is a nation with a large diversified economy.
If Italy left the EU, they hold enough economic clout to heavily damage, maybe even sink the euro entirely.
Greece simply does not have an economy that large. Looking back, their choice to take on massive debt to fund the ’04 Olympics is looking more horrific every day.
@ Dymphna
What do you mean by “extreme-left rabble-rousing org of dubious integrity”? Who was that? Unless you don’t ask me.
@ raspailwasright
Yes, you are right about Greece’s economy, but don’t think that Italy could leave the EU either. See what is going on with the UK, that has a much stronger economy.
The Olympic Games were just the death-blow. The drama started as from 1981.
CMP, thanks for the link on Germany’s debt to Greece and others; I was aware of it, but it’s useful to have such an analysis.
“This has exacerbated unemployment, which is significantly above the national average, with 35% of working age residents not in a job.” Somewhere in Africa? no, Birmingham, UK.
This is what open borders and uncontrolled immigration does, it turns First World developed countries into Third World countries within a generation.
What does Italy mean by “shared responsibility” ? The Visegrad 4 will be more than happy to lend a few border guards if needed, but if it means any Enrichment coming to Eastern Europe, they should be firmly told “Vafanculo” . I’m sure Salvini will understand.
Re: “Supreme Court rules against unions’ mandatory fees”.
Absolutely correct, no worker should be compelled to join a union. Equally, none should be prevented from doing so, something which happens not only in “third-world” countries.
These “leaders” are so ridiculous ! THe leaders of Italy, France and Germany, like so many schoolchildren, pointing fingers and talking back and forth. It’s never ending, like lobbing tennis balls.
None will accept responsibility.
And it seems just a Dog and Pony Show for THE People.
A Distraction, because, meanwhile, the invasion goes on, nothing is stopped.
Could we please have the REAL Adults here? THe People that work!
The ones these “leaders” call Populists!
Conservatives should be absolutely terrified of Ocasio-Cortez.
She is the Soros/globalist/Coudenhove-Kalergi dream girl brought to life. Her youth guarantees she will be with us for decades to come. This is why, even though she won a science fair in high school, she was steered away from a STEM career.
Liberal white males will vote for her because they find her attractive, since she is reminiscent of the part Puerto Rican actress Rosario Dawson, and Rosario is considered “hot” by many in that crowd.
Heck, Cortez is physically attractive enough to draw in low-information male voters from across the political spectrum.
Our only hope is that certain moneyed interests find her comments on Israel unacceptable and destroy her in the mid-terms.
Her hypocritical posturing as a “Bronx girl” that actually grew up in 81% white Westchester won’t matter to her base. They will rationalize that away and view her family as, “boricuas who made it to the top!”
Otherwise, get ready, because this young woman is the potential beginning of a vanguard of radical left politicians that will fight tooth and nail for even more handouts and set asides for their brothers and sisters, funded on the backs of hardworking taxpayers.
Rest easy, sir. Yes, she’s a potentially powerful adversary, but the Dems do not have a deep bench. She will be one voice for a very long time and by the time she’s moved up the ladder, the conservative pushback will have changed the face of the federal judiciary for at least two coming generations – those are not elective positions, but lifetime appointments.
In other words, don’t take on the habits of the MSM Henny-Penny-the-sky-is-falling reportage.
Well, I am hopeful that Trump will share a great pick for SCOTUS on July 9th. There are certainly several worthy, conservative judges available.
I want to believe Trump and his team are stage-managing the Mueller situation in such a way that they can turn the tables on the Left for maximum effect just before the mid-terms later this year.
I would like to see Trump get the chance to replace Ginsburg, but I believe that RBG will find a way to hang on through Trump’s first term despite her rapidly declining health. This is why it is imperative Trump is elected to a second term as POTUS.
Trump is going to be advised by the Federalist Society, as he was in the previous pick. They are dedicated to undoing the progressive notion of an evolving Constitution and returning to the original document, the one the Founders wrote.
@ CMP
The thread ran out so I’ll answer you here:
If you investigate Truthout, which I did before there was a Gates of Vienna, you’ll find it to be a Marxist site.
The infamous Bill Ayers is on the Advisory Board, as is Richard Wolff, who is part of Wikipedia’s portal on Marxism. You don’t get much further left than those two; remember Ayers is a terrorist who mentored the young and ignorant Obama.
Obama’s first autobiography is rumored (via forensic analysis) to have been largely ghost-written by Ayers. Since we have an empty paper trail on the young Obama, I tend to go with the theory.
I could go on pointing out the members of that Board, all leftists and some violently so. Their hero seems to be I.F. Stone. For those not familiar with Stone, here is a review of a book by one of his worshipful admirers (and on the left, they are legion).
https://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/01/books/review/Berman.t.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&ref=review&pagewanted=print
Perhaps of more immediate interest is this essay from 2006 by John Podhoretz:
https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/if-stone-exposed-his-own-hagiographer-john-podhoretz/
Stone was a great admirer of Stalin, totally ignoring those who managed to escape the USSR and to explain the atrocities. IOW, Stone was not a teller of truths, but of half-truths. In that, Truthout’s deep admiration of “Izzy” is a good indication of their editorial bent.
Thank you for your reply. I don’t care what Truthout was, or is. It doesn’t change the facts for Germany’s debt to Greece. as Professor Albrecht Ritschl describes it. You can find similar opinions, also from the same person, let’ say in Spiegel. I don’t get your point.
I’d like to clarify a few points:
a) In March 1960, Germany has paid DM 115 million as reparation for the nazi victims, that is Greek Jews, Gypsies, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Homosexuals and Communist. Of course, this reparation has nothing to do withe War crimes and damages caused to the country and the repayment of of the German War Loan.
b) Italians have already paid out all of their obligations to Greece.