Gates of Vienna News Feed 8/24/2018

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte distanced himself from Geert Wilders’ “Draw Mohammed” contest, saying that Mr. Wilders was not a member of the government. The Netherlands has come under increasing pressure from the government of Pakistan to stop the blasphemous contest.

In other news, after an internal shakeup within the Liberal Party in Australia, Scott Morrison was unexpectedly elected as prime minister.

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

Thanks to Caroline Glick, Dean, Dora, JD, Reader from Chicago, Srdja Trifkovic, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.

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

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

Financial Crisis
» S&P 500 Closes at New High
 
USA
» Actor David Cross Jokes About Beating Trump ‘To a Bloody Pulp’
» Facebook Censors NY Post Article on Why Trump Supporters Will Vote for Him in 2020
» Facebook Removes Posts About Americans Who Stood Up for National Anthem… Tell Users They Look Like “Spam” To Them
» John McAfee: Social Media is Designed to Censor and Control the Population
» No Safe Level of Alcohol Consumption, Global Study Finds
» Painting Created by an AI ‘Artist’ Goes Up for Auction for the First Time and is Expected to Fetch Up to $10,000
» Say What?? Democrat Challenging Ted Cruz Says “Nothing More American” Than Kneeling During National Anthem
» Social Media Titans Holding Private Meeting to Coordinate Strategy for 2018 Midterms
» Trump Slams Censorship: “Social Media Giants Are Silencing Millions of People”
» Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey to Testify on Conservative “Shadowbans” After GOP Lawmakers Demand Action
 
Canada
» Woman’s Death in Kitchener Home Explosion Was a Homicide: Police
 
Europe and the EU
» Dutch Premier Distances Govt From Anti-Islam Cartoon Contest
» ‘Eurozone is Destined to End’ Expert Warns Italy Could ‘Divorce’ From EU Failure
» French Woman Dies in Fire After Firefighters Harassed by French ‘Youths’ During Rescue
» French Police Seize Dozens of Sheep Hidden in Garage Ahead of Islamic Ritual Slaughter Festival
» The Attack on Western Civilization — Why Don’t Europeans Care About Their Countries?
» Trouble Ahead: Merkel Admits EU Faces Battle Against Populism in 2019 Elections
» UK: Met Opens 100th Violent Death Investigation in London This Year
» Video Game Swastikas Stir Unease in Germany
 
Middle East
» 180 British Islamists Are Known to Have Been Killed in the Islamic State So Far
» Caroline Glick: John Bolton Warns: U.S. Wants Hezbollah Out of Syria
» Saudis Move to Behead Woman Activist as Facebook Censors Anti-Saudi Content
 
Australia — Pacific
» Australian PM Turnbull Steps Down Over Paris Climate Accord Issue
» New PM Morrison Fixes Nothing for Australia
 
Sub-Saharan Africa
» Liberal South African Think Tank: Trump is Right About Land Reform
» MSNBC’s Eddie Glaude Laughs at Murder of White Farmers in South Africa
» Trump Defends the Boers
 
Latin America
» Venezuelans Resort to Buying Spoiled Meat as Electricity Fails
 
Immigration
» CNN’s Symone Sanders: Blame ‘Toxic Masculinity’ — Not Illegal Immigration — for Mollie Tibbetts Murder
» EU Meeting Ends With No Deal on Migrant Redistribution
» EU Migration Row Erupts: Brussels Issues Angry Reply to Italian Threats to Stop EU Funding
» Increased Facebook Use Blamed for ‘Attacks’ On Migrants in Germany
» Italian Catholics Look to Matteo Salvini Over Pope Francis on Immigration
» It’s Not About the Migrants, It’s All About Business Right Now
» L.A. ANTIFA Group Calls for ‘Revolutionary Violence Against the Enemies of the People’
» Migrants Aboard Italian Coast Guard Ship Begin Hunger Strike
» Migrants Who Stormed Morocco-Spain Border Sent Back
» Mollie Tibbetts’ Accused Murderer Seeking Gag Order to Prevent From Being Referred to as an Illegal Alien
» UK Children Born to Migrant Mothers Approaches One Third of All Births, Highest Level Ever
 
Culture Wars
» ‘Portlandia’ Feminist Bookstore Taken Over by Prison Abolitionists
 

S&P 500 Closes at New High

The S&P 500 rose to a fresh high Friday, bringing to an end its longest streak without a record in two years and affirming the bull market’s longevity.

Major indexes had drifted between small gains and losses over the course of the week, with the S&P 500 quietly notching the milestone of the longest-ever U.S. bull market Wednesday but finishing just shy of setting a new record close.

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

Actor David Cross Jokes About Beating Trump ‘To a Bloody Pulp’

Actor-comedian David Cross recently joked about beating President Donald Trump “to a bloody pulp” and urinating and defecating on him, according to a new report.

The Salt Lake Tribune reports that during Cross’ performance at the University of Utah Wednesday, he “included humor about abortion, Nazis, the Holocaust, terrorist bombings, AIDS and beating President Donald Trump to a bloody pulp and then urinating and defecating on him.”

The 54-year-old actor is best known for his role as Tobias Fünke in the hit Netflix show Arrested Development.

Violent rhetoric and fantasies about President Trump are becoming more common among celebrities. Actor Jim Carrey recently tweeted a drawing of Trump being burned at the stake — just days after he released art of Trump being hanged by the American flag.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Facebook Censors NY Post Article on Why Trump Supporters Will Vote for Him in 2020

Facebook on Thursday repeatedly removed posts by New York Post reporter Salena Zito of her most recent opinion piece on why Trump supporters will not care about Michael Cohen and Paul Manafort convictions.

Facebook removed the posts by Zito and some of her readers with an automated explanation that said: “We removed this post because it looks like spam and doesn’t follow our Community Standards.”

After Zito and other journalists emailed Facebook to inquire about the matter, Facebook restored her posts without explanation.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Facebook Removes Posts About Americans Who Stood Up for National Anthem… Tell Users They Look Like “Spam” To Them

Nancy Pelosi decided to tout her work on global warming while mocking the coal industry…Behind that giggle is a determined woman who wants that gavel in her hand again. Scary thought, huh? Please vote in November!

One comment under the video says it all:

Coal 4 America wrote: With all due respect Nancy pelosi can kiss this WV mountaineer’s ass. She needs to take care of the fecal and needle pollution in SF and get her own backyard in order. She could care less about anything except her pocketbook and her elitist friends. I doubt seriously she’s ever done a full days work. Her fake insincerity is almost as fake as her complexion.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

John McAfee: Social Media is Designed to Censor and Control the Population

The technocrats know exactly what they are doing

John McAfee joins Alex Jones live via Skype to call out social media companies as the monopolies they truly are and remind them that they have an obligation to the American people to be fair and balanced with the use of their services.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

No Safe Level of Alcohol Consumption, Global Study Finds

There is no safe level of alcohol consumption, according to a major global study.

Researchers in the US have pooled data from nearly 600 studies and found the benefits of drinking alcohol are outweighed by the harm it causes.

Previous research has indicated one drink a day for women and two a day for men was a safe level which could protect against heart disease.

But the authors of the new study say just one drink a day increases the risk of developing one of 23 alcohol-related illnesses by 0.5%, when compared with not drinking at all.

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

Painting Created by an AI ‘Artist’ Goes Up for Auction for the First Time and is Expected to Fetch Up to $10,000

  • Painting created by a computer algorithm will be sold at Christie’s in New York
  • The artwork is a portrait of a fictional character called Edmond Belamy
  • It is is one of a group of portraits created by a Paris-based trio of 25-year-olds
  • They fed the AI 15,000 portraits painted between the 14th and 15th centuries

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

Say What?? Democrat Challenging Ted Cruz Says “Nothing More American” Than Kneeling During National Anthem

A handful of NFL players had taken a knee during the preseason, and now we have a politician throwing his weight around at Ted Cruz and saying that there is nothing more American than taking a knee during the national anthem. It’s safe to say that millions of Americans would disagree 100% and now they might be fed up after hearing about Cruz’s challenger and the stance he’s taking on protests during football and the national anthem.

His name is Beto O’Rourke and he’s a Democrat. He’s attempting to challenge GOP Sen. Ted Cruz in the upcoming midterm elections, but what Beto just said about the national anthem may have been all it takes for people to lock their vote in for Cruz. Republicans are going after Beto fairly hard after his statement which specifically said that there is “nothing more American” than kneeling during the national anthem.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Social Media Titans Holding Private Meeting to Coordinate Strategy for 2018 Midterms

Representatives from around a dozen US tech titans are holding a private Friday meeting at Twitter headquarters to coordinate their efforts ahead of the 2018 US midterm elections, reports BuzzFeed News.

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

Trump Slams Censorship: “Social Media Giants Are Silencing Millions of People”

President intensifies fight back against Big Tech monopolies

President Donald Trump has hit out against online censorship again in a tweet this morning in which he warned that “social media giants are silencing millions of people.”

“Social Media Giants are silencing millions of people. Can’t do this even if it means we must continue to hear Fake News like CNN, whose ratings have suffered gravely. People have to figure out what is real, and what is not, without censorship!” tweeted Trump.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey to Testify on Conservative “Shadowbans” After GOP Lawmakers Demand Action

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey is scheduled to appear before the House Energy & Commerce committee on September 5th, after several GOP lawmakers demanded action in response to reports of conservatives being “shadow banned” by the San Francisco-based social media giant.

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

Woman’s Death in Kitchener Home Explosion Was a Homicide: Police

Police say an explosion that killed a 58-year-old woman, critically injured a man and levelled a home in Kitchener, Ont., on Wednesday is suspicious, and the woman’s death is a homicide.

The explosion happened around 8 a.m. Wednesday morning on Sprucedale Crescent in the city’s south end.

Edra Haan was found dead after the blast. Her husband, Udo Haan, was critically injured and airlifted to hospital in Hamilton, where he remained on Thursday.

On Thursday, Waterloo Regional Police Service said they have determined the explosion is suspicious.

“At this point, we are investigating the circumstances,” said Insp. Mike Haffner.

Police are waiting for the male victim to be released from hospital, he said, “so that we can question that individual in relation to the circumstance of this explosion.”

He added: “We’re looking forward to speaking to that individual but, at this point, he’s not a suspect.”

Police have not confirmed that Udo Haan was the man injured in Wednesday’s explosion, but his employer, Sun Life Financial, issued a statement Thursday, saying both he and Edra worked at the company’s Waterloo office…

           — Hat tip: Dean [Return to headlines]
 

Dutch Premier Distances Govt From Anti-Islam Cartoon Contest

The Dutch prime minister on Friday distanced his government from a Prophet Muhammad cartoon contest being organized later this year by anti-Islam lawmaker Geert Wilders.

Wilders “is not a member of the government. The competition is not a government initiative,” Prime Minister Mark Rutte said at his weekly press conference.

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

‘Eurozone is Destined to End’ Expert Warns Italy Could ‘Divorce’ From EU Failure

ITALIAN professor Paolo Becchi warned Italy could seek a “divorce” from the eurozone as he claimed member states that have suffered “huge damage” because of the shared currency and declared Rome has “everything to gain” from leaving the currency union.

Speaking exclusively to Express.co.uk, Mr Becchi claimed the eurozone is on the verge of collapsing and that Italy would only benefit from leaving the shared currency.

The Italian philosophy of law professor at the University of Genoa argued the European Unioneconomic project will fail as soon as President of the European Central Bank Mario Draghi will probably be replaced by a German President.

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

French Woman Dies in Fire After Firefighters Harassed by French ‘Youths’ During Rescue

A 61-year-old French woman died early Wednesday morning in Nice as a result of a fire in her apartment building, with firefighters unable to help her after being harassed by local “youths.”

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

French Police Seize Dozens of Sheep Hidden in Garage Ahead of Islamic Ritual Slaughter Festival

French police in the heavily migrant populated suburbs of Paris have seized 32 sheep that were found in the garage of a pizzeria ahead of the Islamic Eid al-Adha festival in which Muslims sacrifice animals.

The animals were found in the commune of Drancy, which is located in the heavily migrant populated Seine-Saint-Denis suburbs to the north of Paris which have become well-known for having a large Muslim population. The seized sheep were taken to an animal shelter in Chailly-en-Brie, Le Parisien reports.

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

The Attack on Western Civilization — Why Don’t Europeans Care About Their Countries?

“My sixth plan for America’s downfall would include dual citizenship and promote divided loyalties. I would celebrate diversity over unity. I would stress differences rather than similarities. Diverse people worldwide are mostly engaged in hating each other—that is, when they are not killing each other. A diverse, peaceful or stable society is against most historical precedent. People undervalue the unity it takes to keep a nation together. Look at the ancient Greeks: “The Greeks believed that they belonged to the same race; they possessed a common language and literature; and they worshipped the same gods. All Greece took part in the Olympic games. A common enemy Persia threatened their liberty. Yet, all these bonds were not strong enough to overcome two factors…local patriotism and geographical conditions that nurtured political divisions. Greece fell. In that historical reality, if we put the emphasis on the ‘pluribus’ instead of the ‘unum, we can balkanize America as surely as Kosovo.”

The one reality most Europeans, Canadians and Americans don’t understand: in 722, Charles Martell turned back the mongrel Moslem armies before they could conquer Europe. Nonetheless, Moslems continue their war on the West in the 21st century. Year by year, they migrate and multiply to the point that they will force Sharia Law across each country with their sheer numbers.

Their pure numbers already forced sociological and religious degradation in Europe. No one remains safe from terrorist activities that may break out at any time.

Bromwell Ault continues:

In eastern Europe, from Poland in the north to Bulgaria in the south, a different attitude is found. There, Europe’s eastern populations were subjected to a postwar Russian Communist invasion. As it has been eastern Europe’s lot to defend against Islamic invasions from the south as well as others from Russia and Asia to the east, it has been hardened by history and wants no more of invasion, regardless of its source or cause.

In February, Prime Minister Victor Orban of Hungary, in his annual State of the Nation Speech stated that

“Christianity is Europe’s last hope” and that the continent’s political leaders who favor migration have “opened the way to the decline of Christian culture and the advance of Islam.”

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Trouble Ahead: Merkel Admits EU Faces Battle Against Populism in 2019 Elections

GERMAN Chancellor Angela Merkel is already gearing up for the fight against populists ahead of the next European elections in May 2019.

Mrs Merkel predicts the elections will be between pro-European and Eurosceptic ideologies, warning European integration is at stake.

She said during a discussion with students in Georgia’s capital Tbilisi that integration was no longer a given and that there are “very dangerous” tendencies of parties leaning towards isolation.

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

UK: Met Opens 100th Violent Death Investigation in London This Year

The Met has opened its 100th inquiry into violent deaths in the capital this year as the shocking scale of knife, gun and gang crime is laid bare.

There’s been 6 murder inquiries launched in the last week alone.

Last Thursday there was a quadruple stabbing in Camberwell that saw one victim suffer life-changing injuries.

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

Video Game Swastikas Stir Unease in Germany

The first video game to depict Germany’s 1933-45 Nazi era uncensored, showing the swastika and Adolf Hitler, has stirred up debate over whether it’s an advance for artistic freedom or a new danger of radicalization.

“Through the Darkest of Times” was presented this week at Gamescom, Europe’s biggest trade fair for interactive games and entertainment.

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

180 British Islamists Are Known to Have Been Killed in the Islamic State So Far

Britain’s Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt made a speech to the United Nations Thursday, discussing counter-terrorism, the Islamic State, and the high number of British Jihadists who have been killed serving ISIS.

Speaking at the UN Security Council briefing on threats to international peace and security caused by terrorist acts, newly appointed British Foreign Secretary Hunt warned that despite having taken a beating, ISIS “has not been vanquished”.

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

Caroline Glick: John Bolton Warns: U.S. Wants Hezbollah Out of Syria

U.S. National Security Advisor John Bolton told Breitbart News in an exclusive interview on Wednesday that the Trump administration insists “Hezbollah forces in Syria have to go back to Lebanon.”

In a wide-ranging conversation following several days of meetings with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and senior Israeli defense officials, Amb. Bolton discussed the U.S. position on Iranian and Hezbollah operations in Syria and the threat they pose to Israel and to U.S. interests in the region.

Syria and Iranian deployment in Syria, he said, dominated President Donald Trump’s discussions with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki last month. That came after Netanyahu had previously expressed grave concern regarding the threat Iran’s entrenchment in Syria poses to Israel.

In Bolton’s words: “Syria was the main topic of discussion during President Trump’s meeting with President Putin in Helsinki. This was the case both during their meeting with their advisors and during their one-on-one meeting. Prime Minister Netanyahu’s discussion of the issue during his phone call with the president earlier that week and during his visit with Putin during the FIFA [World Cup] tournament [on July 12] contributed to making Syria such an important issue.”

During his press conference with President Trump, Putin prompted concerns from critics about his intentions regarding the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights.

On the one hand, Putin reinstated his previous agreement with Netanyahu, that the 1974 Disengagement of Forces Agreement that Israel and Syria concluded would be reinstated. Putin said, “The south of Syria should be brought to the full compliance with the treaty of 1974 about the separation of forces of Israel and Syria.”

The Separation of Forces Agreement bars Syrian military forces from deploying along the border with the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights.

But Putin went on to say that implementing the 1974 agreement would contribute “toward creating a lasting peace in compliance with the respective resolutions of Security Council, for instance the [UNSC] Resolution 338.”

Resolution 338 from 1973 is a restatement of UN Security Council Resolution 242 from 1967. Resolution 242 was adopted at the end of the 1967 Arab-Israeli Six Day War. During the course of that war, Israel took control over the Golan Heights from Syria.

The resolution calls for Israel to withdraw “from territories” it took control over during the war in the framework of a regional peace. That peace would be based on the Arab states’ acceptance of Israel’s right to exist, “within secure and recognized boundaries free from threats or acts of force.”

Putin’s allusion to Resolution 338 raised concerns that he would use his position as a powerbroker in Syria to try to coerce Israel into negotiating its continued control over the Golan Heights…

           — Hat tip: Caroline Glick [Return to headlines]
 

Saudis Move to Behead Woman Activist as Facebook Censors Anti-Saudi Content

Saudi prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for a 29-year-old woman activist for crimes such as chanting slogans at a protest. Beheading a woman is unprecedented in the kingdom. Meanwhile, Facebook has sprung into action to protect Riyadh’s back by initiating a crackdown on hundreds of accounts posting anti-Saudi content.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Australian PM Turnbull Steps Down Over Paris Climate Accord Issue

Australia has a new prime minister after the governing coalition refused to support global warming-related legislation pushed by former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull.

Turnbull stepped down Friday as a vote of no confidence loomed. Turnbull has been replaced by Scott Morrison, who helped craft Australia’s strict immigration policy and a more conservative member of Parliament.

Former Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton was expected to replace Turnbull, but lost in an upset ballot. Morrison beat Dutton in a 45 to 40 vote Friday.

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

New PM Morrison Fixes Nothing for Australia

Scott Morrison is Australia’s fifth prime minister in a decade, revolving door indication of the nation’s dysfunctional and unstable political system

As expected, incumbent Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull fell from power today in an internal Liberal party power struggle of the sort that has become all too familiar in the nation’s topsy-turvy and inherently unstable politics.

Morrison’s surprise party room victory over conservative challenger and ex-policeman Peter Dutton on August 24 will probably be short-lived. The next general election is due by May next year and Prime Minister Morrison may choose to go early.

Either way, the Liberal-National Coalition which has governed Australia since 2012 is likely to be obliterated at the poll whenever it is held. The odds are clearly stacked in favor of Labor Party leader Bill Shorten winning the polls, recent opinion polls show.

So how has a developed and prosperous nation with a well performing economy reached this chaotic tipping point?

Politicians in Canberra have become so dysfunctional and disconnected from the rest of the nation that everyone, from average voters in the suburbs to the chief executives of Australia’s largest companies, are pleading that enough is enough…

[Read the rest!]

           — Hat tip: Dora [Return to headlines]
 

Liberal South African Think Tank: Trump is Right About Land Reform

The South African Institute of Race Relations (SAIRR), a liberal think tank, endorsed President Donald Trump’s criticism of that country’s new land reform policy on Thursday, saying that the U.S. president had exposed the “damage” the policy was doing.

On Wednesday evening, President Trump tweeted that he had directed Secretary of State Mike Pompeo “to closely study the South Africa land and farm seizures and expropriations and the large scale killing of farmers.” Trump was responding to a segment on Tucker Carlson’s show on Fox News, which included a statement by the State Department that appeared to dismiss concerns about land reform in South Africa. “President [Cyril] Ramaphosa has pledged that the land reform process will follow the rule of law, and its implementation will not adversely affect economic growth, agricultural production, or food security,” the statement asserted.

Trump’s critics accused him of racism, and fact-checkers emerged to declare he was wrong about farm killings and land reform. The South African government claimed that Trump’s tweet “seeks to divide our nation and reminds us of our colonial past.”

But the SAIRR agreed with the U.S. president, and said that his criticism vindicated the warnings it had been sounding for months.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

MSNBC’s Eddie Glaude Laughs at Murder of White Farmers in South Africa

“I think two of them, perhaps, might have been killed in some instance…”

MSNBC’s Eddie Glaude laughed about the murder of white farmers in South Africa on Morning Joe Thursday and said he thinks “two of them, perhaps, might have been killed in some instance.”

Speaking of Trump tweeting about the “large scale killing” of white farmers and the seizing of their lands in South Africa, Glaude said, “In this instance, [Trump’s] really trafficking in conspiracy theories to kind of in some ways feed red meat to his base.”

“This is nonsense, it’s silly,” Glaude said, “but it’s consistent with the kind of cultural warrior that he is.”

“Because, at the same time that he’s doing this with regards to South African white farmers — I think two of them, perhaps, might have been killed in some instance,” Glaude said while bursting out laughing, “with the majority of folks who have been subject to any kind of violence and this is non-white farmers in this instance.”…

According to Transvaal Agricultural Union data, in the 2016/17 reporting period there were 74 murders of farmers recorded overall with 55 being “clearly of white farmers or family members” and 51 being white farmers alone. Stats are underreported because South Africa is a Third World country.

The entire segment was full of similar fake news and fake history, none of which will be “fact-checked” by the establishment’s so-called “fact-checkers” and none of which will result in MSNBC or anyone involved being censored on social media.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Trump Defends the Boers

by Srdja Trifkovic

President Donald Trump announced late on Wednesday that he had asked Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to study South African land and farm seizures and killing of farm owners, by implication of white race. The African National Congress (ANC)-controlled government in Pretoria accused the President of stoking racial divisions in the country, while his haters at home attacked him for supposedly adopting a White Nationalist talking point.

All hell broke loose after Trump tweeted on August 21, after a FoxNews report by Tucker Carson, that he had asked Pompeo to “closely study land and farm seizures and expropriations and the large scale killing of farmers” in South Africa. A spokeswoman for President Cyril Ramaphosaresponded that “South Africa totally rejects this narrow perception which only seeks to divide our nation and reminds us of our colonial past.” Domestic Trumpophobes went berserk. “The President of the United States has adopted a vile white supremacist hate narrative,” according to the HuffPost, “right out of the darkest corners of the internet, and is turning it into policy.”

Trump’s “hate narrative,” as it happens, is based on horrid facts. Over ten percent of all Afrikaner commercial farmers have been murdered since 1994, which makes them more vulnerable than active-duty personnel of the U.S. Special Forces in Iraq or Afghanistan. Between 1994 and March 2012, there had been an estimated 1,336 murders of whites on South African farms. This is by far the highest homicide rate for any distinct racial/socioeconomic group in South Africa, and one of the highest for a statistically comparable group anywhere in the world…

           — Hat tip: Srdja Trifkovic [Return to headlines]
 

Venezuelans Resort to Buying Spoiled Meat as Electricity Fails

As Venezuelans deal with a historic currency devaluation and the aftermath of a massive 7.3 earthquake which hit the northern coast on Tuesday, residents of Maracaibo have been forced into long lines to buy spoiled meat — as worsening rolling blackouts have caused refrigerators across the country fail, according to AP.

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

CNN’s Symone Sanders: Blame ‘Toxic Masculinity’ — Not Illegal Immigration — for Mollie Tibbetts Murder

CNN political analyst Symone Sanders on Wednesday blamed “toxic masculinity” instead of illegal immigration for Mollie Tibbetts’s murder.

Though an illegal alien has been charged with murdering Tibbetts, the left-wing analyst who was a national spokeswoman for Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (I-VT) 2016 presidential campaign insisted that that the bigger issue is that Tibbetts was murdered because “she told a man to leave her alone while she was jogging.”

Immediately after Cristhian Bahena Rivera was charged with murdering Tibbetts, left-wing activists and mainstream media members went into overdrive to try to downplay the illegal immigration issue.

“Her murderer happens to be undocumented. This isn’t about border security,” Sanders claimed. “This is about toxic masculinity. Mollie Tibbetts lost her life b/c a man couldn’t take her saying no. Full stop.”

[Comment: Stupid woman.]

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

EU Meeting Ends With No Deal on Migrant Redistribution

Italy and other EU member states couldn’t find a solution at a meeting in Brussels on how to share the burden over migrant redistribution coming by sea, nor what to do with the 177 migrants currently stranded on a ship that is docked in an Italian port.

Ten European Union states meeting over their latest migration tussle in Brussels on Friday found no solution for disembarking Mediterranean migrants stranded on the Ubaldo Diciotti ship which is docked in the Sicilian port of Catania, diplomats confirmed to Reuters. As a reminder, yesterday Italy’s Deputy Prime Minister Luigi Di Maio threatened to stop financial contributions to the European Union next year unless other states agreed to take in migrants being held on a coastguard ship in Sicily.

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

EU Migration Row Erupts: Brussels Issues Angry Reply to Italian Threats to Stop EU Funding

BRUSSELS has furiously hit back at threats by Italy to stop its European Union funding unless member states offer to take in migrants being held on a coastguard vessel in Sicily.

Populist deputy prime minister Luigi Di Maio said his Five Star Movement would vote to stop funding the EU unless member states agree to share the burden of the 150 adult migrant who have been kept onboard the Diciotti coastguard rescue ship docked in Catania.

The European Commission branded the threats “Unconstructive”, insisting Rome is not helping as they work to find a solution for the stranded migrants.

The EU’s powerful executive also stressed Italy received €10 billion from the Brussels budget last year, which is only a “small part” of the benefits the country received.

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

Increased Facebook Use Blamed for ‘Attacks’ On Migrants in Germany

A new study from the University of Warwick has reported German cities and towns which use the social media platform Facebook more than average are far more likely to see “attacks” against asylum seekers.

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

Italian Catholics Look to Matteo Salvini Over Pope Francis on Immigration

Many practicing Catholics prefer the immigration policies of Italian Minister Matteo Salvini to those of Pope Francis, according to a series of recent polls.

The German daily Die Welt reported last week that Matteo Salvini is becoming the secret leader of Catholics in Italy because of his firm line on migration, while fewer and fewer Catholics support Pope Francis’ call for greater openness to migrants.

Luca Comodo, the director of the Ipsos research institute, said recently that according to surveys “at this time, there is a clear distance between a significant part of Catholic opinion and the hierarchy of the Church.”

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

It’s Not About the Migrants, It’s All About Business Right Now

German federal government finances migration lobby with 100 million euros a year says Petr Bystron (AFD)

From the federal budget, the German Federal Government massively funds organizations that are involved in the promotion of migration. Most funds are distributed through SPD— led ministries. The funded activities are often used to fight the opposition. The allocation of a large part of the funds is even controlled directly by the Chancellery.

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

L.A. ANTIFA Group Calls for ‘Revolutionary Violence Against the Enemies of the People’

A Los Angeles-based antifa group is calling for a “sea of armed masses” to use “revolutionary violence against the enemies of the people” and ultimately “take power” in America, Far Left Watch reports.

The revolutionary Maoist group Serve the People — Los Angeles (STPLA) made the call during a recent demonstration in South Central Los Angeles, where “dozens of protesters” wearing red bandannas and carrying STPLA flags, banners, and a Trump piñata-effigy “rallied the masses” to demand the release of Gladis Hernandez, an illegal immigrant woman who is being detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

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

Migrants Aboard Italian Coast Guard Ship Begin Hunger Strike

ROME (AP) — Many of the 150 migrants stranded aboard a coast guard ship for a ninth day began a hunger strike Friday out of frustration that Italy won’t let them disembark in Sicily unless fellow European Union nations first pledge to take them, authorities said, in the latest standoff provoked by Italy’s anti-migrant interior minister.

“They can do whatever they believe,” Interior Minister Matteo Salvini tweeted, shrugging off the development that migrants were refusing meals aboard the Italian coast guard vessel Diciotti. The ship rescued them on Aug. 16 from a foundering human trafficker’s boat in the central Mediterranean, and for days now has been docked in the port of Catania, Sicily.

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Migrants Who Stormed Morocco-Spain Border Sent Back

Spain on Thursday sent back to Morocco 116 migrants who had forced their way into the Spanish territory of Ceuta, in a mass expulsion condemned by human rights activists.

“The 116 sub-Saharan migrants who entered Spain via the Ceuta border illegally yesterday (Wednesday) have been sent back to Morocco,” the Ceuta prefecture said in a statement.

The migrants made it into Ceuta after storming a barbed-wire border fence with Morocco and attacking police.

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Mollie Tibbetts’ Accused Murderer Seeking Gag Order to Prevent From Being Referred to as an Illegal Alien

The attorney for the accused murderer of Mollie Tibbetts filed a gag order on Wednesday to prevent his client from being referred to as an illegal alien.

The defendant, 24-year-old Christian Bahena Rivera, has been charged with first degree murder for the slaying of Iowa college student Tibbetts. Rivera led investigators to the Tibbetts’ body in a cornfield after he admitted that he followed her while she was running.

Rivera, a Mexican national, has been residing in the Poweshiek County area for up to seven years, according to officials. He was employed at Yarrabee Farms and was initially reported to have been vetted in the government’s E-Verify system, however, it was later determined that he had not in fact been checked via E-Verify and his employers knew him under a different name, reported the Des Moines Register.

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UK Children Born to Migrant Mothers Approaches One Third of All Births, Highest Level Ever

The proportion of babies born in the UK to a migrant mother has risen to the highest level on record, hitting 75 per cent in some areas of London.

Live births last year in England and Wales to mothers born outside Britain rose to 28.4 per cent, the highest level since records began 50 years ago.

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‘Portlandia’ Feminist Bookstore Taken Over by Prison Abolitionists

The Portland feminist bookstore In Other Words, which was featured on the IFC sketch comedy show Portlandia, shut down at the end of June. Since then, the space has been taken over by a group of equally ambitious activists demanding the complete “abolition” of prison and the criminal justice system.

Founded in 1993, In Other Words only employed volunteers and sold books below market rate. After 25 years, the store was forced to close: not due to finances, the ownership claimed, but due to the difficulties of managing an unpaid “staff.”

Johanna Brenner, the Portland State University professor who co-founded the bookstore, told PJ Media on Sunday that the lease for the storefront was taken over on July 1 by prison abolitionist group Critical Resistance Portland.

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8 thoughts on “Gates of Vienna News Feed 8/24/2018

  1. Re “No safe level of alcohol consumption” – the statistics and methodology of the original article in the Lancet are really perverse.

    I wonder what is the long-term aim of those guys – prohibition of alcohol as a mediator of social contacts? Indeed, 5-10 white guys having some beer and talking on the situation in the pub are much more dangerous for the elites than having everyone of them put the “virtual reality glasses” and surrender to the propaganda.

    • Nope. They want to prevent low-lifes from gathering at their local pubs to have a few pints.

      I no longer drink…to speak of. I save my imbibing for the weeks of our fundraisers. Other than that, I don’t like the after-effects. I do use vodka to make tinctures, however. The B likes my elderberry tincture.

  2. “Distancing” oneself from Geert Wilders and his frank, courageous DEFENSE of Dutch and European freedom is a quisling act! Legislators who cuddle up to invaders whose open intention is to subjugate all free people ought to be unseated and prosecuted IMMEDIATELY, with full governmental support.

    • Legislators who cuddle up to invaders whose open intention is to subjugate all free people ought to be unseated and prosecuted IMMEDIATELY, with full governmental support.

      Joe, this suggestion isn’t workable. Surely you know that. Any “ought to” isn’t EVER going to be done by socialist EU welfare states. Sadly, you’re micturating into the wind on this idea.

  3. Re: “Video game swastikas stir unease in Germany”. The Germans are hypersensitive about this issue, perhaps understandably, but having seen WW2 German aircraft in a German museum without swastikas, and visiting airworthy ones from Germany similarly bereft (unlike those based in the UK or elewhere), it just looks wrong, and is of course historically inaccurate.

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