A coalition of nationalist groups in Croatia has collected enough signatures on a petition to force a referendum on the political representation of ethnic minorities in the Croatian political process. Under the proposed change, there would be fewer representatives of minority groups in the national parliament, and their powers in office would be more limited.
In other news, German Chancellor Angela Merkel has reportedly been implicated as having been informed about the BAMF asylum scandal, while doing nothing. Meanwhile Mrs. Merkel has called for centralized EU control of the Union’s external borders.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to C. Cantoni, Charles Low, Dean, DV, Insubria, JD, Reader from Chicago, 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.
More Good News for the U.S. Economy: Job Openings Set New Record
Last month the Department of Labor reported that there were 6.55 million job openings in March, about equal to those unemployed but looking for work. On Tuesday the DOL revised its numbers for March upwards to 6.63 million, while reporting that in April job openings jumped to 6.7 million, a new record. As Steve Goldstein wrote for MarketWatch.com:
As the recession ended, there were about 6 unemployed people for every job opening. Now, there’s 1 unemployed person for every opening, a sign of how the dynamics in the job market have changed.
If anything, companies complain about the available pool of talent.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
US Services Surge Signals 3.5% GDP Growth, But Rising Cost Concerns Loom
US Services surged to a three-year high, according to Markit’s PMI survey, but with business optimism near record highs, concerns over rising costs and the impact of tariffs are rising.
Inflationary pressures intensified in May, as input cost inflation accelerated to the fastest since October 2013. Anecdotal evidence suggested the latest rise in cost burdens was due to higher material inputs, often linked to tariffs, higher interest rates and rising energy and fuel prices. Output charges also increased at a quicker rate, with inflation accelerating to a three-month high
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
2 in Custody After Setting Off ‘Acid Bombs’ Near Baldwin Park, Deputies Say
Two people are in custody after setting off homemade explosives and barricading themselves near Baldwin Park Tuesday, according to the Orange County Sheriff’s Office.
Shortly before 9:30 a.m., deputies were called to the 4400 block of Beach Boulevard after neighbors reported hearing an explosion, Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Jane Watrel said.
The incident happened in a residential area just south of Lake Susannah.
Two suspects, a 57-year-old man and a 35-year-old man, came out of the house when deputies arrived, Watrel said. The younger man ran back into the house, prompting a standoff with SWAT units and bomb squads responding.
About 3:20 p.m., deputies using a loud speaker were ordering the suspect to surrender. He surrendered peacefully about 10 minutes later.
Deputies say the suspects made two improvised “acid bombs” — or plastic bottles filled with reactive chemicals that may explode when mixed.
“It’s dangerous and we are not happy about it,” Watrel said. “This is a residential neighborhood.”
Neighbor Jan Hart said she saw deputies searching around the home this morning. Deputies have been called to the home before for other issues, she said.
“It gets me scared,” she said. “It’s a little unnerving.”
The men — who haven’t been publicly identified — are facing charges of manufacturing or discharging an explosive device, authorities said.
| — Hat tip: Dean | [Return to headlines] |
California Water Law Could Prevent Showering, Doing Laundry on Same Day
California Governor Jerry Brown signed two bills that will force water districts and municipalities to permanently adopt even more aggressive water rationing level than during the state’s 5-year drought.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
DHS to Give Anti-Government Stories ‘Sentiment’ Ratings
I once thought the police state couldn’t get any worse but then I read an article in Media Lite and discovered that I was wrong, very wrong.
According to the Media Lite, DHS plans on giving ant-government stories ‘sentiment’ ratings.
“A DHS spokesperson told Mediaite in a discussion that awareness of whether a report is positive or negative would help decision makers to monitor how the public feels about certain policies and if needed, clear up misconceptions.”
According to DHS, story “sentiment” is exactly what its database will track. Sentiment analysis will help DHS decide how the public feels about the government.
[Comment: Perhaps public should start doing the same to legacy media. Start rating their propaganda in terms of how much the propaganda is pushing the globalist narrative… mass migration, destruction of nations, etc. You could call it the “forked tongue” scale.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
nty or know someone who does, we strongly encourage you to share the following interview. Election Day is June 5 and it will take just 1,500 votes to tip the scales and put the power back in the hands of the people rather than the bureaucratic machine currently in charge)
It’s no secret that major cities around the country are cesspools of criminal activity and violence. And the problem is only go to get worse according Bob Lindsey, a 40-year veteran of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s department and candidate for the top law enforcement job in the county.
With the election for Sheriff just 24 hours away (June 5 is election day), over 90% of deputies surveyed in the department say he’s the only one who can effectively destroy the top-down control that has infested the Sheriff’s Office, which in recent years has spent more time attacking law enforcement personnel than it has going after violent MS-13 gang members.
The result, as Lindsey notes in the following interview with SGT Report, is significantly higher violent crime that has empowered criminals to act ever more brazenly.
What’s worse is that the current Sheriff says crime is down, a claim that can be completely destroyed by the actual statistics:
[Comment: By chance is there any correlation between “sanctuary cities” and increased crime in those cities?]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
MIT Creates Psychopath Artificial Intelligence
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology fed some of the internet’s seedier bits to an A.I. and came out with something more than a little creepy.
While most learning A.I. are trained on reasonably “safe” content, “Norman” — named for Norman Bates, the infamous Robert Bloch character from the novel Psycho, later famously translated to the silver screen by Alfred Hitchcock — is a digital mind of a different stripe.
Norman was inserted into one of the seedier corners of Reddit at the inception of his artificial life, fed a steady diet of disturbing imagery and conversation. Then he was subjected to a Rorschach test, meant to gauge a patient’s state of mind by their interpretation of random ink blots.
While a “normal” A.I. perceived “a black and white photo of a small bird,” Norman thought it looked more like a man who “gets pulled into a dough machine.” Instead of “a close up of a wedding cake on a table,” it saw a “man killed by a speeding driver.” A “person holding an umbrella in the air” was “a man shot dead in front of his screaming wife.” Charming, right?
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
The gun control conundrum will continue ad infinitum. But what is happening in New Jersey should frighten anyone — gun owner or not. NJS102 will most likely be affirmed by the Democrat senate majority in the NJ legislature. The NJ Assembly has already passed the following:
A1217, which would create restraining orders in the state allowing family members and others to ask a judge to have a person’s guns seized and ban them from buying weapons for up to a year. A2757, which would require all private gun sales in the state to go through a licensed dealer who can perform an additional background check at the point of sale. A2759, which would create an outright ban in the state on possessing armor-piercing bullets. A2761, which would ban magazines in the state that hold more than 10 rounds, with some exceptions.
How will this affect gun owners? The proposed legislation states that
No person shall be convicted of an offense… for possessing any firearms, weapons, destructive devices, large capacity ammunition magazines, silencers or explosives, if after giving written notice of his intention to do so, including the proposed date and time of surrender, he voluntarily surrendered [emphasis mine] the weapon, device, instrument or substance in question to the superintendent or to the chief of police in the municipality in which he resides, provided that the required notice is received by the superintendent or chief of police before any charges have been made or complaints filed […]
Furthermore, a firearm with a fixed magazine capacity holding up to 15 rounds which is incapable of being modified to accommodate 10 or less rounds is to be registered. If not, the firearms owner “must complete a registration statement to be prescribed by the Superintendent of the State Police, and produce for inspection a valid firearms purchaser identification card, permit to carry a handgun, or permit to purchase a handgun.”
Moreover, “the heir or estate of an owner of a firearm which has been registered pursuant to this section shall within 90 days after the owner’s death dispose of that firearm in accordance to the sections of the proposed law.”
New Jersey is now coercing a portion of the population to hand over their defensive weapons or else. The consequences of not obeying these regulations are as follows:
[Comment: More “pretend laws” from traitorous puppet politicians.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Now it’s Against the Law in California to Shower and Do Laundry on the Same Day
One thousand dollars ($1,000) for each day in which the violation occurs
Governor Jerry Brown is retiring but not before he passes a few draconian laws as parting gifts for California. Two bills were signed into law on Thursday of last week to “help California be better prepared for future droughts and the effects of climate change.”
The mandatory water conservation standards will be permanent, according to their wording, and not just for use in times of crisis. To make a long story short, now that these bills are law, it’s illegal to take a shower and do a load of laundry in the same day because you’ll exceed your “ration.”
Here’s the wording of the new laws…
If you don’t plan to comply it’s going to be way cheaper to move. Here are the fines Californians will be looking at — and it’s not a typo — these fines are PER DAY.
(1) If the violation occurs in a critically dry year immediately preceded by two or more consecutive below normal, dry, or critically dry years or during a period for which the Governor has issued a proclamation of a state of emergency under the California Emergency Services Act (Chapter 7 (commencing with Section 8550) of Division 1 of Title 2 of the Government Code) based on drought conditions, ten thousand dollars ($10,000) for each day in which the violation occurs.
(2) For all violations other than those described in paragraph (1), one thousand dollars ($1,000) for each day in which the violation occurs.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Police Investigating Reported SUV Explosion in Federal Way
FEDERAL WAY, Wash. — Police are investigating after a reported SUV explosion in a Federal Way neighborhood Tuesday evening.
It happened along 4th Ave. SW, between SW 297th and SW 299th Streets, just off Dash Point Road.
According to South King Fire and Rescue, there are no reports of injuries.
| — Hat tip: DV | [Return to headlines] |
Prominent Psychiatrist: ‘Real Victims Seeking Exorcisms Should Not be Ignored’
A prominent psychiatrist dealing with the “world beyond” is saying that not only is demonic possession very real, the victims of possession should not be brushed aside. The number of people looking for an exorcism has risen in recent years putting more of a demand on priests and psychiatrists attempting to help people.
The number of people seeking exorcisms has risen worldwide, and it isn’t just psychiatrists taking notice. The Vatican even recently completed training for exorcists amid the rise in what some believe to be demonic possession. But whether an outsider believes in possession or not, many do believe they need to be delivered from the demons inside them, making it very real for the victim of possession.
In April, at the Vatican training course for exorcist priests, participants were told that the demand for exorcism is booming as a result of a decline in Christian faith and the internet providing easy access to black magic, the occult, and Satanism.
With 25 years experience in a private psychiatric practice and as a professor at New York Medical College and Columbia University, Dr. Richard Gallagher has a rare vantage point to observe human behavior; and then there is the inhuman. As a sought-after psychiatrist in cases of demonic possession, Gallagher said the initial step in determining the need for exorcism is discernment. Dr. Gallagher has evaluated hundreds of cases of possible possession and, in a wide-ranging and rare interview with The Telegraph UK, explains why he believes, as does the Catholic Church, that the phenomenon is genuine.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Snowden’s Message and the Surveillance State
One of the weaknesses we hold as a species is the ability to allow a threat to “dull” in our consciousness merely because of the passage of time. A threat passes, and hunter-gatherer man turns toward another threat and thoughts of the first problem are relegated to memory…where they spin cobwebs and are eventually deleted. The problem, in our case, is the surveillance state was clearly exposed and detailed in the documentary “Citizenfour,” back in 2015, when Edward Snowden (to his cost, not his enrichment) had the guts to expose what was being done to the American people.
Since then, the State has clearly kept moving in the direction of increasing surveillance and a corresponding decrease in our individual liberties. The Constitution has been all but gutted, and to paraphrase Churchill, Republicans and Democrats are conspiring to bring forth a new form of gun control via confiscation: this according to reports by former Congressman Ron Paul. You can read more in an article released last week by The Free Thought Project written by Matt Agorist entitled “Ron Paul: Republicans, Democrats Teaming Up for Federal Gun Confiscation Bill.”
If this does not alarm you, it should. The article also cites the NBC News release of 2/28/18, in which President Trump was quoted directly as stating, “I like taking the guns early…Take the guns first, go through due process second.”
Another important article surfaced on 5/30/18 entitled “Red List Round Up Warned of by Courageous Police Officer Would be Part of Globalists’ ‘Final Solution’ for America,” by Stefan Stanford of All News Pipeline. The article brilliantly summarizes the activities that have been in the forefront of the creation of the U.S. Surveillance State and the loss of individual freedom. Stefan, along with Susan Duclos, has been tireless and undaunted in the face of government and corporate censorship and attacks of Independent News Media in their quest to spread the truth.
Jon Robberson with the Hagmann Report is cited within the article as mentioning the “Overton Window” concept, something I have also been writing about for years. The paradigm shift to the left/Statism/collectivism/globalism has been happening for years. The shift is toward totalitarianism, or communism, but even worse. More Draconian, highly refined. They have been forcing the leftist agenda on us for years, and then allowing a “reprieve” or a “Potemkin” victory that is nothing more than a sham…with the shift being completed on schedule and also continuing.
Here are a few things mentioned in the documentary “Citizenfour” in the words of Edward Snowden that bear keeping in mind:…
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Trump Stomps Eagles: Cancels White House Visit Over Anthem Dispute
President Trump has canceled the Philadelphia Eagles’ visit to the White House in celebration of their Super Bowl victory because not all players planned to attend. They decided to make a political statement out of the honor of being asked to visit the White House so Trump pulled the plug…
In a statement released Monday evening by the Office of the Press Secretary, Trump said that the Eagles “are unable to come to the White House with their full team”:
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Will Trump Fire John Bolton Next?
After he nearly scuttled the historic talks with North Korea by hinting that Kim Jong Un could face a fate similar to former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, National Security Advisor John Bolton is being sidelined by President Trump ahead of the historic June 12 summit in Singapore, CNN reports.
According to the report, several senior administration officials have lost their patience with Bolton and his hawkish approach to North Korea, including Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who has pushed to limit Bolton’s role in the upcoming summit, saying it would be “counterproductive” for Bolton to attend certain Oval Office meetings.
Like Trump, Pompeo was reportedly livid following Bolton’s now-infamous Fox News Sunday interview, and in an angry confrontation Pompeo accused the moustached neo-con of trying to scuttle the talks for his own selfish reasons.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Archbishop Welby Says EU ‘Greatest Human Dream Realised Since Romans, ‘ Brought ‘Diversity’
The principal leader of the Church of England has declared the European Union (EU) “the greatest dream realised for human beings since the fall of the Western Roman Empire”.
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, made the statement in a speech to the General Assembly of the Conference of European Churches (CEC) in Serbia on Sunday.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Bilderberg Globalists Concerned About Populist Uprising in Europe
Bilderberg globalists are concerned about the populist uprising sweeping Europe.
The annual elitist confab is set to meet this week in Turin, an appropriate venue given that Italy has just elected an anti-mass migration, eurosceptic coalition government.
According to the group’s official website, the number one topic of conversation at this year’s secretive meeting will be “populism in Europe”.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Calls Grow in Germany for Expulsion of Disputed US Envoy
BERLIN (AFP) — Leading politicians of Germany’s left-wing parties on Tuesday called for the US ambassador to be expelled, after the staunch defender of Donald Trump was accused of meddling in domestic politics and aggravating already tense ties.
Richard Grenell had taken up his diplomatic posting on May 8, and immediately sparked an uproar when he tweeted on the same day that German companies should stop doing business with Iran as Trump quit the nuclear deal with the Islamic Republic.
He stoked further outrage over the weekend with his reported comments of his ambition to “empower other conservatives throughout Europe, other leaders”…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
EU on Brink: ‘Mistrust in European Politics is Growing’ — French Say Bloc Could be Doomed
TRUST in European politics is surging and the need to protect Europe’s borders is a now matter of life and death for the bloc, France’s leading conservatives said in an open letter. The bloc’s free movement rules cannot apply to “illegal immigrants and terrorists,” who in recent years have exploited the EU’s porous borders, the right-wingers wrote in the letter published in the French daily Le Figaro.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
- Geert Wilders, 54, was banned from Britain in 2009 only to get it overturned
- He says Robinson is freedom fighter and will attend Saturday’s Whitehall protest
- EDL founder jailed for 13 months after admitting Facebook Live was contempt
- Judge said he risked trial collapse and failed in ‘responsibility to exercise freedom of speech
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Flemish Politician: We Are Being Replaced, But We Will Resist Against the Hostile Takeover of Islam
Filip Dewinter, founder of the patriotic Vlaams Belang party in Belgium, made a statement for his political campaign in a market in the city of Antwerp.
Surrounded by mostly Muslim migrants, Dewinter proclaimed:
“Welcome in Antwerpistan, this market is not in Marrakech or Istanbul, no this is the weekday market in Antwerp at the Sint Jans square.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
France’s “Fake News” Law Will be Used to Silence Critics, Win Elections
There is arguably one main reason a law would be put into place to stifle so-called “fake news” and that is so the real purveyors of fake news, like CNN, can continue to push theirs according to critics of what is happening right now in France.
The people at the top of the pyramid who are actually running the entire show appear to have it all figured out: in a world where down is up and up is down fake news appears almost everywhere but the real fact of the matter is that most of it comes from mainstream sources, like CNN. So I have to ask: Will the new laws be used to crackdown on sources like CNN that publish garbage or will the powers-that-be let agencies like CNN roll with whatever smut they like while other smaller outlets get targeted over “fake news”? Will the powers-that-be use the law as a weapon to remove controversial reports?
French AFP reports:…
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
French Mayor Calls for Help as Police Are Losing Control Over the City
The mayor of Toulon, Hubert Falco, has asked for police reinforcements after a “worrying outbreak of violence” in his city, France’s Var-Matin reports.
Falco asked France’s Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior for police backup after an escalating number of gang related shootings.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
French Anti-Brexit Philosopher Fears Frexit as Britain Leaving EU Will Destroy Europe
Philosopher and author Bernard-Henri Levy, who has written a play about keeping Britain in the European Union, claimed “Great Britain with Brexit will become Little England”.
Mr Levy told Channel 4 News: “The UK will fall in time off a big economical crisis.
“But I want to say a second thing, that Europe itself has a huge responsibility in the vote for Brexit.”
The French philosopher said he “fears” a “Frexit” after Britain has left the EU.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Hundreds of Thousands of Swedish Pensioners Live in Poverty, According to Recent Report
A new report published by the Swedish Pensions Agency shows that as many as 245,000 people of over the age of 65 are below the poverty threshold.
In comparison with the rest of the Nordic countries, Sweden has the highest proportion of poor pensioners (or as the Pension Agency calls it, pensioners with a “relatively low financial standard”).
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Hungary: Survey: Support for PM Orban’s Party Increasing
Approval rising after the formation of new government
(ANSA) — BELGRADE — If elections were held in Hungary today, the coalition of the ruling parties Fidesz, led by Prime minister Viktor Orban, and the KDNP party would have nearly 400,000 votes more, increasing from 2,6 to 3 million voters, according to a survey of the research institute Nezopont. The survey reveals a significant increase of support towards the political parties supporting Orban, after the formation of the new government.
According to local media, the Nezopont survey shows that the alliance between Fidesz and KDNP is supported by 54% of committed voters. +2% compared with April, followed by Jobbik, with 19%, and the Socialist party with 9%.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy Big Ally, Will Speak to Salvini — Austria’s Kickl
Italian interior minister eyes coop with Orban on EU rules
(ANSA) — Luxembourg, June 5 — Austrian Interior Minister Herbert Kickl said Tuesday that Vienna considers Italy to be “a strong ally”, adding that he will speak to his Italian counterpart Matteo Salvini later in the day. Entering a justice and home affairs council in Luxembourg, Kickl added that, if there is no agreement on the proposed reform of the Dublin regulation, he would “announce something like a small Copernican revolution” on asylum policy at an informal meeting of interior ministers in Innsbruck in September, which will be held under the Austrian EU duty presidency. Salvini, who is also deputy premier and leader of the rightwing, anti-migrant League party, said Monday that the new Italian government intends to work with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s administration to reform the European Union. “Today I had a cordial telephone call with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán,” Salvini told a rally at Fiumicino, near Rome, late on Monday.
“We’ll work to change the rules of this European Union”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: We’ll Change EU Rules With Orban — Salvini
Interior minister and deputy premier eyes reform of bloc
(ANSA) — Rome, June 4 — Interior Minister and Deputy Premier Matteo Salvini has said that the new Italian government intends to work with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s administration to reform the European Union.
“Today I had a cordial telephone call with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán,” Salvini told a rally at Fiumicino, near Rome, late on Monday.
“We’ll work to change the rules of this European Union”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Salvini Slams Soros as Speculator, Says Likes Putin for Free
‘Have already sued people who said Moscow was paying me’
(ANSA) — Rome, June 4 — League leader Matteo Salvini on Monday rejected George Soros’s suggestion the anti-migrant and Euroskeptic party might be funded by Vladimir Putin.
Salvini said on RTL radio he had a high opinion of the Russian president “free of charge” and dismissed the billionaire philanthropist and liberal open-society advocate as a “speculator who 20 years ago caused one of the biggest Italian economic disasters,” when the lira was forced out of the European exchange rate mechanism (ERM) along with the pound.
“I have already sued people who said Russia was paying me,” said deputy premier and Interior Minister Salvini, adding that “I’ve never had a lira from Russia, or a matrioska, or a fur hat.” “There is a relationship of esteem with Putin, I believe he has done a lot for his people and with interventions against Islamist terrorism like the intervention in Syria: and I say that gratis, because I think so.
“I think it is better to have a relationship of exchange with Russia…the Italian economy would only gain from good relations with Russia. The enemy right now is Islamist terrorism, not Russia’s expansionism”.
The far-right populist League has said anti-Russian sanctions are hurting Italian firms and should be dropped.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy’s New PM Giuseppe Conte’s Inaugural Speech Vows Radical Change
Prime Minister Conte has promised to bring more welfare and a crackdown on immigration to Italy. He has described the labels “populist” and “anti-system” as being appropriate terms for his government.
In his first speech to parliament, Italy’s new prime minister, Giuseppe Conte, outlined his government’s plans for economic growth, opposing “golden pensions” and opening up to Russia. He told Italy’s Senate on Tuesday that if “populism” means the ruling class listens to the needs of the people and “anti-system” removes old privileges and encrusted power, then his Cabinet deserves to be called both.
Highlights of Giuseppe Conte’s speech:…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Far from being an economic basket case, let alone Greece-like dissemblers, the Italians had a distinguished economic record until they joined the euro.
At the time Italy joined the European Monetary Union (EMU) in 1999 on its way to full-fledged membership in the eurozone in January 2002, economists debated whether this never-tried-before experiment will succeed or not. One of the most compelling debates at the time was between two giants of monetary thought, Robert Mundell and Milton Friedman. Mundell, who is occasionally referred to as the ‘father of the euro’, for having laid out the theoretical foundations of a common currency, was optimistic, Friedman, the opposite.
Friedman is now dead while Mundell is 85, but the events in Italy may be bringing us closer to a resolution of the argument. So it is worth remembering the key points made by the two luminaries. Mundell, of course, pointed out the numerous and rather obvious benefits of a common currency, such as the dollar in the United States, Friedman believed that the “political consequences of a monetary area that is not coterminous with a political entity” would result in instability. He also believed that Europe had too many rules and regulations and lacked sufficient economic freedom to make the experiment successful. More fundamentally, though, he argued that the euro was an effort to achieve political objectives by economic means and that, more than anything else, doomed it to failure.
Today, with an euro-sceptical government in power in Italy, the first such government in a EU founding member, we may be close to finding out who was right.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Italy’s New Prime Minister Makes His First Speech
Giuseppe Conte, the leader of Italy’s new populist government, vowed on Tuesday to redistribute migrants in the EU and review EU sanctions against Russia, in his first policy speech to lawmakers since being sworn in.
The prime minister addressed the Senate ahead of two parliamentary confidence votes expected to confirm his new cabinet, formed from a coalition of far-right and eurosceptic parties. His government was sworn in on Friday after almost three months of political turmoil that alarmed EU officials and spooked financial markets.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Italy’s Deputy PM Wants to Work Together With Hungary’s Viktor Orban, To Change EU
Europe is changing and it is changing quickly. People have turned against the establishment as recent election results in Austria, Hungary, Italy and Slovenia have shown.
Italy’s new deputy Prime Minister, Matteo Salvini has now announced that he intends to change the EU’s rules together with Hungary’s successful Prime Minister Viktor Orban.
“Today I had a long and nice call with Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who wished us all the best and with whom we are going to change the rules of this European Union,” Salvini said at a rally near Rome.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Macron Swept Away by Ruthless Merkel in EU Clash
Angela Merkel has issued a devastating criticism of Emmanuel Macron’s ambitious dreams of Eurozone reform, according to an analysis of an interview the German leader has given.
Mrs Merkel’s refusal to get on board with Macron’s reforms comes at a time when there is renewed concern over the future of the bloc because of political issues in Spain and Italy.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Opinion: The US is Fueling European Divisions
The new US ambassador to Germany, Richard Grenell, has jumped directly into European politics and ignited a scandal. Outrage at this unprecedented behavior is the wrong answer, writes DW Editor-in-Chief Ines Pohl.
Germany is outraged. Only hours after right-wing media outlet Breitbart released an interview with the new US ambassador to Germany, Richard Grenell, some are calling for his expulsion. In it, the Donald Trump appointee expressed his desire to empower conservative, anti-establishment movements in Europe. Many of his talking points would have roused applause from the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party: the passages referencing a silent majority, the welfare of the average worker, as well as those criticizing Germany’s current refugee policies and describing an out of touch political elite. It isn’t the first time that Grenell has so explicitly waded into internal German affairs. Shortly following his appointment, he demanded that German businesses halt trade with Tehran in reaction to the trans-Atlantic dispute over the Iran nuclear deal.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Polish-German Relations: The Sticking Points
Things can change quickly. In 2013, 70 percent of Germans described their country’s relationship with Poland as “good.” Now that number is down to 31 percent. Why did it happen, and what are the current problems?
A 44 percent majority of Germans say the country’s relationship with its neighbour Poland is bad, according to the latest “German-Polish Barometer” issued by the Körber Foundation. The discord between Warsaw and Berlin is hard not to notice, and there are enough reasons to attempt some political reproach. What are the sticking points?…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Slovenia: Jansa Will be Appointed Premier by President Pahor
After conservative leader’s electoral success
(ANSA) — LUBIANA — Slovenia’s president Borut Pahor has decided to entrust Janez Jansa, winner of the general election, whom he will meet next Thursday, with the task of forming a new government. According to a press release issued by the president’s bureau, the meeting will be informal and aims to assess Jansa’s chances to form a new cabinet.
At least 46 votes are needed to form a government. According to the partial results announced by the electoral commission, which will be formalized in mid-June, the Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS) won 24.94% of the votes and 25 MPs, followed by the List led by Marjan Sarec (LMS) with 13 MPs, Social Democrats (SD) and the Modern Centre Party (SMC), with 10. In parliament sit also the Left (Levica) with 9 representatives, New Slovenia (NSi) with 7, the Party led by Alenka Bratusek (SAB) and the Democratic Party of Pensioners of Slovenia (DeSUS), with 5. The Slovenian National Party (SNS) re-entered the parliament after two legislations, with 4 MPs.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
State Officials on Life in U.K. Today: Islamic Jihad is the New Normal
British authorities are conducting more than 500 anti-terrorism operations involving approximately 3,000 “subjects of interest” at any given time — and the situation is only poised to get worse in the near future.
As Reuters reports, “The threat posed by Islamist militants to Britain is expected to remain high for the next two years and could even rise, the interior ministry said on Sunday, on the first anniversary of an attack that killed eight people in central London.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
UK: London Teen Found Guilty of Plot With All-Female Terror Cell
LONDON (AFP) — A London teenager was found guilty Monday of preparing an attack on the British Museum as part of the country’s first all-female cell linked to the Islamic State group, police and prosecutors said.
Safaa Boular, 18, plotted the grenade and gun attack in her home town after the authorities intervened to stop her travelling to Syria to marry an IS fighter she had met online.
She is the youngest female to be charged with planning an IS attack in Britain.
Boular was only 16 when she made contact with British-born IS fighter Naweed Hussain, 32, discussing marriage and how they would don his-and-hers suicide belts.
But her hopes of joining him were dashed when she was stopped at the airport in August 2016 following a family trip to Morocco, and her passport was confiscated.
Instead Boular decided to plan an attack in Britain, detailing it in coded language — grenades were “pineapples” — to online contacts who were in fact undercover agents.
Hussain was later killed in a drone strike.
When Boular was charged with preparing terrorist acts in April 2017, she passed the baton to her sister Rizlaine, 22, and their mother Mina Dich, 44, who hatched their own plan.
The trio were taped talking about an Alice in Wonderland-themed tea party, which the prosecution argued was code for an attack.
Rizlaine and her mother were arrested after being tracked by police visiting potential sites around Westminster and buying knives.
They pleaded guilty to terror offences, along with a fourth woman, Rizlaine’s friend Khawla Barghouthi, 21, who later admitted failing to alert the authorities.
Safaa Boular denied the plot but was found guilty on Monday after a trial.
Dean Haydon, Britain’s top counter-terror police officer, said the plot “involved a family with murderous intent, the first all-female terrorist plot in the UK connected to Daesh (IS)”.
He added: “All three women were filled with hate and toxic ideology and were determined to carry out a terrorist attack.
“Had they been successful, it could well have resulted in people being killed or seriously injured.”
Rizlaine, her mother and their friend will be sentenced on June 15, although a date has not yet been set for Safaa Boular’s sentencing.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
UK: London Manhunt After One-Year-Old Baby, Woman Stabbed in Broad Daylight
A one-year-old boy is in a critical condition after he and his mother were stabbed in Feltham, London, where police told neighbours to lock their doors and windows after the attack.
At 7.12pm on Monday evening officers were called to a residential address in the London Borough of Hounslow where the woman, reportedly in her 30s, and a baby were found with stab wounds.
Update 1430: Police have named Rehan Khan as the suspect in the Feltham stabbing case.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
UK’s Youngest Female Terror Plotter Convicted at 18 With Mum and Sister
An 18-year-old girl has been found guilty of plotting a murderous knife attack at London’s British Museum with the UK’s first all-woman terror cell which was in contact with Islamic State in the Middle East.
Safaa Boular, now the UK youngest convicted female terrorist, had been trying travel to Syria and marry an Islamic State fighter, but when police foiled her attempt she turned her attention to killing people in the UK.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Unicredit, Generali and Allianz Partners in Eastern Europe
Agreement for insurance products for people and SMEs
(ANSA) — MILAN — UniCredit announced in a statement they signed two exclusive strategic partnership agreements with Allianz and Generali for the dissemination and diffusion of insurance products for individuals and small and medium-sized enterprises in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia and Slovenia. These long-term partnerships, according to the press release, will be gradually implemented in the second half of 2018 and will be mainly focused on life and non-life products with Allianz, and on credit protection insurance products with Generali. These agreements, which combine the wide distribution network of Unicredit with the insurance experience of the other two partners, will strengthen UniCredit’s activities in bank-insurance and generate “synergies thanks to a strengthened and unique commercial strategy, offering an expanded product range for UniCredit customers in a region which has strong growth potential”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
World Bank: Romania’s GDP Per Capita up to $26,500 in 2018
In 2023 indicator should rise to 35,120 DLR, study
(ANSA) — BUCHAREST — Romania’s GDP per capita reached USD 26,500 this year, up by some USD 6,000 compared to 2015, according to a World Bank study, as Romania-Insider.com reports.
In the last three years, the GDP per capita rose on average by some USD 2,000 as Romania had one of the fastest economic growth rates in Europe.
World Bank forecasts show that in 2020, Romania’s GDP per capita should reach USD 29.820, which is less than Switzerland’s GDP per capita in 1989. By 2023, the indicator should rise to USD 35,120. Romania started from a GDP per capita of USD 7,490 in 1989.
The highest GDP per capita levels in Europe are recorded in Luxembourg (USD 110,870), Ireland (USD 79,920) and Norway (USD 74,070). Meanwhile, Romania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Latvia and Russia have some of the lowest levels, of under USD 30,000.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Croatia: Signatures Collected, Referendum Against Minorities
Right-wing groups aim to reform the electoral system
(ANSA) — ZAGREB — In Croatia a coalition of right-wing groups and associations close to the Catholic Church has announced that they have collected the signatures needed to call a referendum on the reform of the electoral system which, among other things, aims to reduce the number representatives of ethnic minorities in the Croatian parliament and significantly limit their powers.
The ‘The people decides’ initiative has announced that it has already collected almost 400,000 signatures — 25,000 more than the threshold set by law, equal to 10% of all voters. These groups argue that the electoral system in Croatia favours the duopoly of the main parties, giving the political secretaries a strong power in the formation of electoral lists and favouring the influence of minority representatives at the expense of the majority population and Croats living abroad.
Currently the Croatian Parliament has eight representatives of minorities (out of 151 deputies), of which three Serbs and one for the Italian community. In addition to reducing their overall number to five, the new bill would prohibit members of minorities from taking part in the vote of confidence in the government and in the approval of the finance bill.
Almost all the parties taking part in the government and opposition and a large part of the media are opposed to this initiative. Prime Minister Plenkovic said he considered “unacceptable to reduce minority rights in this way”. Minority leaders say that the negative feelings towards the Serb minority, widespread in a part of the Croatian population, have been abused and manipulated during the collection of signatures needed to call the referendum, which they clearly see as “anti-Serb”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Norwegian Citizen Charged Over Suspected Double Murder in Bosnia
Police in Norway have charged a man in his forties over the deaths of two people in Bosnia in 2014.
| — Hat tip: Charles Low | [Return to headlines] |
Serbia: Starbucks Expanding in the Country in 2018
AmRest, first store to be opened in Belgrade
(ANSA) — BELGRADE — The first Starbucks store in Serbia will be opened in Belgrade in late 2018, AmRest Holdings SE said in a statement yesterday. AmRest is a large restaurant company in Central and Eastern Europe, operating among others also the Starbucks brand across the region.
AmRest noted that the Starbucks brand has been part of the company’s portfolio since 2008, when the first store opened in Prague. Currently AmRest operates over 300 Starbucks stores in Poland, Germany, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria.
Serbia “has a rich coffee culture and we look forward to being a part of it,” Adam Mularuk, Starbucks President at AmRest said.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Caught on Video: Small Asteroid Hits Earth With Force of 500 Tons of TNT
A small asteroid hit Earth on Saturday, June 2nd, exploding in the atmosphere over Botswana before it could reach the ground. The Catalina Sky Survey in Arizona had discovered the space rock only hours earlier as it hurtled toward our planet from inside the orbit of the Moon. Sensors used to monitor rogue nuclear explosions detected the asteroid and estimated its yield near ~500 tons of TNT.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Ecuadorean Official Defends Booting Julian Assange Offline, Says ‘Not a Matter of Censorship’
Ecuador’s foreign minister on Monday defended suspending Julian Assange’s internet access more than two months since stripping the WikiLeaks publisher and longtime guest of the Ecuadorean Embassy of his online privileges.
Maria Espinosa discussed the situation surrounding Mr. Assange in an interview conducted ahead of Tuesday’s session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York City, The Associated Press reported.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Austria Promises Migration Policy ‘Revolution’ If Brussels Ignores Calls for Reform
AUSTRIA’s Minister of Interior Herbert Kickl said a lack of compromise among European Union member states could force Vienna to push the bloc into a “Copernican revolution” to change its migration policy.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Belgium Backs Salvini Line on Migrants
Should find a way for push-backs says Francken
(ANSA) — Luxembourg, June 5 — Belgian Asylum Minister Theo Francken said Tuesday that he backs Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini’s stance on migrants, adding that he hoped it was possible to find a way to have push-backs.
“I expect a crack down on migration (from the new Italian government),” Francken said.
“I have been following the new Minister Salvini for months, from the election campaign.
“Italy’s position on migration is quite strict.
“But Belgium also has a right government, so we are quite hard too.
“I think its positive if Italy starts rejecting migrants on its coasts and doesn’t let them enter Sicily any more”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
German State Wants to Use Million Dollar Private Jets to Deport Migrants
Germany’s Markus Söder has declared plans to use lavish private jets to deport rejected asylum seekers, in a bid to provoke Angela Merkel over Germany’s liberal immigration policies.
Mr Söder, the Premier of Bavaria, has continuously lashed out at Angela Merkel for her relaxed immigration rules, and has vowed to take unilateral action on migrants arriving to the conservative southern German state.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Half of Foreign Criminals in Switzerland Handed Deportation Orders Under New Rules
A total of 54 percent of the 1,210 criminals without Swiss passports convicted of a crime in Switzerland in 2017 were handed a deportation order, new figures from the Federal Statistical Office (FSO) show.
It is the first time that official statistics on a new Swiss law allowing for judges to deport foreign criminals have been made available.
The law, adopted in 2016, came after the public voted to accept a popular initiative on the subject — proposed by the right-wing Swiss People’s Party (SVP) — back in 2010.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Hungary Prepares ‘Stop Soros’ Bill to Criminalize Aiding Migrants
As Hungary mulls the new legislation, dubbed the “Stop Soros” law, which will criminalize giving unauthorized assistance to illegal immigrants, human rights groups call for the European Union to assert pressure on Budapest.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Hungary: Migration Must be Stopped, Not Managed
International efforts should focus on helping people living peacefully in their homelands rather than trying to legalise illegal migration, Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto told a United Nations intergovernmental meeting in New York on Monday.
“Migration should not be managed, it must be stopped,” Szijjarto told the meeting dedicated to the UN’s global migration package. Hungary rejects the position that migration is good, because “it is bad for those that are forced to leave their homes, it is bad for transit countries and it poses a challenge for destination countries, too,” he insisted.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Immigration Reforms: France to Offer Refugees 400 Hours of French Lessons
France is to double the number of French lessons it offers to refugees to 400 hours in order to help them integrate, Prime Minister Edouard Philippe announced Tuesday.
The extra lessons are part of immigration reforms under President Emmanuel Macron intended to balance swifter deportation of rejected asylum seekers with better support for those allowed to stay.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: No More Migrant Business, Fake Solidarity — Conte
We’ll strengthen legitimate self defence says premier
(ANSA) — Rome, June 5 — Premier Giuseppe Conte told the Senate on Tuesday that his 5-Star Movement/League government will put an end to profiteering from the plight of migrants and strengthen the rights of victims of crime who defend themselves.
“Change is (in the form of) fast, efficient justice and new instruments for citizens for class action suits, fair compensation for the victims of violent crime and the strengthening of legitimate defence,” Conte said.
“Change that will put an end to the business of immigration, which has grown disproportionately under the cloak of fake solidarity”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy Calls for Tougher Reforms of EU’s Asylum Rules
EU countries on Tuesday remained deadlocked over reforming the bloc’s asylum rules by an end-of-June deadline, with Sweden saying a deal was “very difficult to reach”.
European Union ministers and officials met in Luxembourg to debate Bulgaria’s new compromise plan aimed at ending a longstanding east-west divide over the reforms in time for a June 28-29th summit in Brussels. Bulgaria’s role as chair of the six-month rotating EU presidency ends on June 30th.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Merkel Implicated in Migration Agency Scandal Where 46 Radical Islamists Were Granted Asylum
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has been implicated in the ongoing Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) scandal with the former president of the agency claiming to have informed Merkel twice about the ongoing problems.
Former president of BAMF Frank-Jürgen Weise then alleged that after informing the German leader, Ms. Merkel did not act on his concerns, L’Express reports.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Merkel Calls for Brussels Takeover of EU Nations’ External Border Controls
The Czech Republic has rejected Angela Merkel’s call for external border protection to be denationalised and handed over to a Brussels-directed EU agency, stating that Europeans do not want mass migration from the third world.
Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis was responding to comments the German Chancellor made in an interview with the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung (FAS) at the weekend when she called for Frontex become a border police force that would take over the role from national governments.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Two Syrian Migrants Suspected of Human Trafficking Arrested in Germany
BERLIN (AP) — Authorities in southern Germany have arrested two Syrian men on suspicion of people smuggling.
Prosecutors in Stuttgart say the two men, aged 31 and 33, were arrested in the nearby Ludwigsburg region.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Major happenings in Tucson going on right now. And this is why you should be connected to me on Gab, because I posted the seeds of this story the other night, as they were coming out:
Here’s the video from that post, if you need to get caught up.
Yes, what you are looking at here is an empty child-trafficking camp, complete with a purpose-built holding cell, near the southern border of Arizona.
The video was originally posted by former Navy Seal Craig Sawyer on Twitter, after it was discovered by Veterans on Patrol.
Sawyer runs vets4childrescue.org and is doing a ton of great work to hunt down these evildoers and save these kids, so be sure to check that link out.
Gateway Pundit quickly started following the story:…
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Gene Therapy and the Trans-Human Agenda. Cure Disease or Alter Humans?
by Jon Rappoport
“Researchers say they’re well on the way to curing thousands of diseases by tinkering with human genes. But is that true? Or is their effort really part of a long-range agenda to keep experimenting in the dark, through grotesque trial and error, to alter humans and make them into a new species?” (The Underground, Jon Rappoport)
With the onrush of new gene-editing techniques, the medical research establishment is beating an old drum: they will cure many human diseases by making genetic changes.
First of all, the new editing techniques have unknown consequences. A simple snip of a gene can bring on ripples in the patient’s overall genetic structure. This fact spells danger.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Miss America Contestants ‘Will No Longer be Judged on Personal Appearance’
The Miss America Board of Trustees has announced that it is scrapping its swimsuit competition and will no longer judge contestants based on physical appearance.
Contestants will instead be asked to “demonstrate their passion, intelligence and overall understanding of the job of Miss America.”
The evening gown portion of the competition will also be eliminated, with contestants instead asked to “wear attire that makes them feel confident.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
The era of free and unfettered speech on the Internet is rapidly ending. All over the world, national governments are working very closely with social media companies to take control of “Internet news”. Up until recently, the Internet really was a wonderful marketplace of ideas, and ordinary people like you and I were empowered to share information with one another like never before in human history. But now the elite have seen the power that this can have, and they are cracking down hard. The term “fake news” has come to mean any source that would dare to question the official narratives that are being fed to us from the mainstream media, and in reality the push to censor “fake news” is really just an all-out effort to eliminate independent thought. Before the Internet, it was much easier for the elite to control the flow of information, and now they are taking unprecedented measures to control the flow of information in the digital age. Just check out what is happening in France. A proposed law would give authorities the power “to immediately halt the publication of information deemed to be false”…
Under the law, French authorities would be able to immediately halt the publication of information deemed to be false ahead of elections.
Social networks would have to introduce measures allowing users to flag up false reports, pass their data on such articles to authorities, and make public their efforts against fake news. And the law would authorise the state to take foreign broadcasters off the air if they were attempting to destabilise France — a measure seemingly aimed at Russian state-backed outlet RT in particular.
New measures under consideration by the European Union as a whole are even more draconian.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
my friend living in Sweden writes in his “livejournal”:
Today, on June 6, the National Day of Sweden is even a day off. I open the left Internet publications – not a single hint of “event.” Enemies of the people are already simply mentioning the word “national” as applied to Sweden are afraid.
Elena
Sweden is not much of a nation anymore they might as well scrap “National Day”
Is LiveJournal still a thing? I thought it and all the others had been swallowed by FaceZuck.
Why did Tommy plead guilty ?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Pr-ef8XciY
I guess we are waiting for his own version of what happened ?
?
Total SOCIADEMOKRATIC collapse when SD
is the largest party in Sentio’s June survey.
https://nyheteridag.se/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/jimmie_akesson_26-1_sentio_maj_2018_650.jpg