It’s definite — Hans-Georg Maaßen, the head of Germany’s Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, will resign his post. He will reportedly be “promoted” to a new position as secretary of state.
In other news, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has announced that Turkey will increase its troop presence in northern Cyprus.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to AF, C. Cantoni, Dora, 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.
“Resist Everything”: Socialist Within State Department Exposed in Veritas “Deep State” Sting
James O’Keefe and his undercover investigators have once again exposed extreme left-wing activists pursuing a progressive agenda within a position of power — this time infiltrating the State Department.
O’Keefe’s team has previously released undercover videos revealing radical leftists at Twitter bragging about “shadow banning” conservatives, Democrat operatives paid by the Clinton campaign engaging in voter fraud, CNN employees admitting that the Trump-Russia story was a “fake news” ratings bonanza, and the “culture of anti-Trump bias” at the New York Times.
In their latest installment, Veritas met Stuart Karaffa — a State Department employee who is also a ranking member of the Metro DC Democratic Socialists of America who is “engaged in radical socialist political activity on the taxpayer’s dime,” while actively advocating for “resistance to official government policies,” according to Project Veritas.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Alex Jones Wins Info War, Site Traffic Soars in August
The largest gain of any leading conservative site
Comment: These numbers completely debunk the New York Times’ September 4 claim that Infowars traffic plunged.
Despite — or maybe because of — being blacklisted from the major social media platforms, traffic to Alex Jones’ Infowars.com spiked in August, according to an analysis of monthly visitor data to major conservative websites released this morning by watchdog The Righting.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Arrested for Disrupting Kavanaugh Hearing? Don’t Worry, Soros Will Foot the Bill
Protesters arrested at Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh’s hearing are being organized by several Democrat-linked groups and their legal bills are paid by activists funded by billionaire liberal financier George Soros.
Photos circulated two weeks ago purported to show activists being paid in cash after disrupting judge Kavanaugh’s Senate confirmation hearings. The photos raised speculation over whether the disruptions were grassroots liberal activism or an example of astroturfed ‘manufactured dissent,’ funded by Democrats.
The latter has now been confirmed, according to conservative news outlet The Daily Caller, which reported that a coalition of left-wing organizations is scheduling interruptions and ponying up the post-and-forfeit bills — a small cash payment of around $50 to resolve the offense and avoid jail time — of those arrested. The organizations named include Women’s March, the Center for Popular Democracy, and Housing Works.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Emmy Awards Hit New Viewership Low
The 2018 Emmy Awards are down around 11 percent from last year in the Nielsen ratings, making them the least-watched Emmys on record.
In the time zone adjusted fast national numbers, this year’s telecast drew a 2.4 rating in adults 18-49 and 10.2 million viewers. That is down only slightly in the demo from the 2.5 rating the Emmys drew last year, but down from the previous viewership low of 11.4 million viewers the Emmys drew in 2017 and 2016.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Evacuated Solar Observatory Set to Re-Open; Officials Offer Unbelievable Explanation
The National Solar Observatory in Sunspot, New Mexico reopened on Monday after it was shut down September 6 following a mysterious FBI raid, according to the group which manages the facility.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Intel Chiefs Plan Coordinated Attack on Trump
Deep State attacks are only beginning
Former Obama-era Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, former Bush/Obama-era Deputy Director of the FBI Philip Mudd, and former Obama-era CIA Director General Michael Hayden want America to know that regardless of the corruption painted like red ink all over the intelligence community’s hands, we should just trust them. Because at the end of the day it’s all President Trump’s fault.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
No Censorship Here… Google Omits Trump Photo From ‘US Presidents’ Search
More proof of anti-Trump bias from tech giant
Update: Soon after this article went live, Google quietly added President Trump’s photo to their search results.
Original story appears below…
When searching Google for U.S. Presidents, users will see a photo of every president other than Donald Trump.
Try for yourself and see if you get the same results.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Professor Who Shot Self Over Trump Says AR-15 Ban Was Actual Goal
‘Apparently it is about as easy to buy an AR-15 as a 2-shot derringer’
A Nevada professor who shot himself in the arm last month in protest of U.S. President Donald Trump now claims the act was in protest of AR-15 rifles.
Mark J. Bird, employed since 1993 by the College of Southern Nevada as a sociology professor, shot himself with a .22 derringer in a campus bathroom on Aug. 28 and told responding officers that the president was to blame.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
State Department Employee Boasts of Working for Socialist Party on Taxpayer Time
A State Department employee was caught on camera boasting about spending his work hours engaged in political activism for the Metro DC chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA)—an activity that is likely illegal.
Stuart Karaffa, management and program analyst at the State Department, said he tries to hide his work for the DSA, a self-described socialist organization, from his supervisors. Karaffa is a DSA member.
“I’m careful about it. I don’t leave a paper trail,” he told undercover reporters from Project Veritas. …
Project Veritas promises a lineup of expose’s in a similar vein with the one on Karaffa—a result of a yearlong investigation.
“We’ve heard a lot about the Deep State; holdovers from the previous administration resisting change or nameless and faceless bureaucrats slowing things down or leaking secrets in an effort to undermine this administration,” said Project Veritas President James O’Keefe in a release. “What is truly striking is their boldness, they are not afraid. They are even boastful about a warped reality, where they won’t get caught and can’t get fired even if they did.”
It’s necessary to name these employees, O’Keefe said, as they “seek to undermine the fabric of our republic.”
| — Hat tip: AF | [Return to headlines] |
Student: School ‘Covered Up’ Prof Who Shot Himself to ‘Protest’ Trump
A student at the College of Southern Nevada says the school “covered up” the fact that last week a professor shot himself in the arm to “protest” President Donald Trump.
He said that the school did not offer counseling services to the students who saw the professor walk out of the bathroom, bleeding.
The student said that the school has been quiet about the incident because the professor has left-leaning views.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Trump Orders Declassification of Russia Witch Hunt Docs, Including Comey & McCabe Texts
Trump takes the gloves off by beginning to expose Deep State’s attempt to overthrow 2016 election
Alex Jones breaks down President Trump declassifying documents related to the FBI’s handling of the Russian probe, including the FISA applications against Carter Page and text messages of top FBI leadership including former Director James Comey and former Deputy Director Andrew McCabe.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Trump Declassification Order Will Expose FBI’s “Insurance Policy” From Strzok-Page Text: Nunes
President Trump’s order to declassify a broad swath of DOJ/FBI documents related to the Russia investigation will expose the infamous “insurance policy” referred to in an August 15, 2016 text between former FBI employees Peter Strzok and Lisa Page, according to House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes (R-CA).
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Why Do Tech Elites Stop Their Own Kids Using Cellphones?
Why do tech elites keep their own kids away from smartphones?
What do they know that consumers don’t?
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Outrage Over Chinese-Canadian Girl Murdered by “Refugee” Shocks Media
On last night’s episode of The Ezra Levant Show, I reported on the media’s reaction to the Chinese-Canadians expressing outrage over the murder of a teenage girl in their community by one of Trudeau’s Syrian “refugees”.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Boeing Possible for Alitalia, Not Lufthansa -Toninelli
Solution by year’s end says transport min
(ANSA) — Berlin, September 18 — Boeing is a possible partner for troubled Italian airline Alitalia while Lufthansa is “not among the more strategic partners,” Transport Minister Danilo Toninelli said Tuesday.
Boeing, he said “can certainly be considered a partner, considering the fact that it builds plane and we need a lot of them,” he said.
Asked about Lufthansa, the minister said: “Today I would not talk of airlines in particular, even though I think Lufthansa is not among the more strategic partners”.
Toninelli said “I think that October may be a month in which some issues can be solved, but certainly by the end of the year we will have a solution”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
British Police Force Present New Muslim Female Police Uniform Which Doesn’t Show the Female Form
The West Yorkshire Police have had a more modest uniform for its female Muslim officers designed. The uniform is loose-fitting ‘designed not to show female form’ with a looser tunic in hopes of recruiting more female officers from ethnic minorities.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
EU Commission Official Slams Italian Populists, Demands Italy Become ‘Pro-EU’
European Union Commission vice president Maros Sefcovic has claimed that he is “worried” about the anti-establishment Italian coalition government and attacked the populists saying they make “false promises”.
Mr Sefcovic, who is a member of the Socialists and Democrats (S&D) EU parliamentary group, commented on the rapid rise of Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini and his party the League saying, “we are all worried,” and that Italy should be more pro-EU, Il Giornale reports.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Ex-Muslim: Swedes Will Lose Sweden in 50 Years, Muslims Are Here to Take Over Your Country
This is a guest article written by Swedish journalist Ingrid Carlqvist. The original can be found here
Leila Ali Elmi, a 30-year-old Somali woman, took a seat in the Swedish parliament last Sunday without uttering one word in Swedish during her campaign. Why don’t Swedes understand that the Somalis and other Muslims are here to take over your country, says ex-Muslim Mona Walter.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
France: Collomb to Leave Government After European Vote
Interior minister, staunch Macron ally, to run for mayor in Lyon
(ANSAmed) — PARIS, SEPTEMBER 18 — After Nicolas Hulot, another leading member of the French government has announced that he is leaving his post. Interior Minister Gerard Collomb told L’Express that he will leave after European elections scheduled in June 2019. He announced that he is running for mayor in Lyon in 2020 and that he is leaving the cabinet to campaign for the election.
“The municipal vote is far away — said Collomb, 71 — if by that time I will not be seriously ill, I will run in Lyon”.
Collomb, who has backed Macron since the start of his political career, was the Socialist mayor of Lyon from 2001 until 2017 before becoming a member of the government.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Hungary Blasts Soros for Ignoring Will of the People to Create Billionaire Democracy
HUNGARY Zoltan Kovacs strongly believes that a democracy is based on “the will of the people” as a mandate coming from democratic elections, rather than from financiers.
A Hungarian government spokesman criticised one of the world’s most successful investors for encouraging a billionaire’s democracy.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Hungarian Socialists Call Prime Minister Orban “Europe’s Pariah”
Group leaders of Hungary’s opposition parties on Monday slammed Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s speech opening the autumn session of parliament, accusing him of misrepresenting the Sargentini report approved in the European Parliament last week and of ignoring Hungary’s real problems.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Since the general election earlier this month, Valprövningsnämnden (an election authority) has received over 400 complaints regarding voter fraud.
The reports vary from missing ballots to inappropriate interference to accusations of manipulated computers, figures and results.
In addition, 25 international election observers ruled that cheating occurred in 46 per centof the 250 polling stations they visited — and in the vast majority of cases polling staff did not intervene to prevent the practice.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Anachronistic Revanchism on Passports — Rome to Vienna
Moavero not going to Vienna meet
(ANSA) — Rome, September 17 — The idea of giving a double passport to Alto Adige’s German and Ladin speakers “risks assuming potential characteristics of an anachronistic revanchism,” the Italian foreign ministry said Monday.
“It has once more been explained (to Austria) that the possible unilateral initiative appears particular inopportune, considering the elections in Alto Adige,” the ministry said.
This was even more to be highlighted, it said, “on the centenary of the First World War, marked by the blood of so many Italians and Austrians.
Foreign Minister Enzo Moavero Milanesi will not go to Vienna for one of the regular bilateral meetings proposed by the Austrian foreign ministry because mutual trust has been undermined by Vienna’s plan to give a double passport to German- and Ladin-speaking Italian citizens of Alto Adige, the Italian foreign ministry said.
“An initiative,” the ministry said, “that undermines the climate of serenity and mutual trust that constitutes the indispensable premise for the success of this type of meetings”.
Austria has unveiled plans to draft a law awarding the Alto Adige German and Ladin speakers double citizenship.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Idea of Dissolving and Reforming PD Rejected
Party still in turmoil after election debacle
(ANSA) — Rome, September 17 — Democratic Party (PD) President Matteo Orfini’s proposal to dissolve and reform the centre-left party has elicited a chorus of nos from senior party figures.
The PD is still in turmoil after slumping to its worst-ever showing in March’s general election.
But the idea of starting over has not proved popular, with PD chief Maurizio Martina confirming that the intention is to have a party congress as soon as possible and leadership primaries in January.
Former industry minister Carlo Calenda, meanwhile, said Monday former premiers Matteo Renzi and Paolo Gentiloni and former interior minister Marco Minniti had accepted an invitation to have dinner at his home for talks among like-minded senior PD members.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Woman Taken to Pakistan for Marriage Appeals to School for Help
Forced to leave Italy to marry man chosen by family
(ANSA) — Monza, September 18 — A 23-year-old Pakistani woman has sent a letter to her old school in the northern Italian city of Monza to ask for help after she was forced to return to Pakistan by her father to marry a man chosen by her family, sources said Tuesday.
The young woman said her father didn’t reveal to her the real reason why he had taken her back to their country of origin until they had arrived.
“Please help me, my future is in Italy”, the young woman reportedly wrote. “They took all my documents and left me here.
“My father forced me to leave before I could finish my fourth year” of high school and “I know one of the professors was asking where I was”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Public Investment Must Return to 3% of GDP — Tria
Economy minister says necessary to recoup lost ground
(ANSA) — Milan, September 18 — Economy Ministry Giovanni Tria told the Blooomberg Forum in Milan on Tuesday that “public investment must return to being 3% of GDP in the short term” to make up for lost ground in recent years. He also said it was necessary to ensure that Italy’s middle classes pay less tax.
“It is necessary to go beyond the (government’s proposed) flat tax,” Tria said.
“We are at an advanced stage in a study to reduce the tax burden on the middle class while maintaining a manageable budget”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Labour: Hourly Costs Rise Significantly in Romania
Up also in Latvia, Hungary, Lithuania and Croatia
(ANSA) — BELGRADE — Romania (+15.6%), Latvia (+11.7%) and Hungary (+10.2%) are the European Union countries that registered the highest annual increases in hourly labour costs for the whole economy in the second quarter of 2018, Eurostat said today.
The increases in Romania, Latvia and Hungary are much higher than the EU average. Eurostat said that hourly labour costs rose by 2.2% in the euro area and by 2.6% in the EU28 in the second quarter of 201, compared with the same quarter of 2017.
Strong increases in hourly labour costs were registered year-on-year also in other countries in Central-and Eastern Europe, including Lithuania and Croatia (+9.8%), Czech Republic (+9.3%), Bulgaria (+8.5%), Slovakia (+7.9%) and Poland (+6.2%).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Merkel Faces New Cabinet Crisis Over Plan to Fire Germany’s Spy Chief Who Defied Her
Chancellor Angela Merkel has decided to fire Germany’s domestic intelligence chief as she thinks he has meddled in day-to-day politics by questioning her condemnation of far-right protests, Die Welt reported, pushing her cabinet into another clash over migration toward a showdown, and potentially into yet another government crisis.
Hans-Georg Maassen, head of the BfV which runs Germany’s domestic intelligence and is the federal agency that tracks and combats “anti-democratic extremists”, has come under fire after he cast doubt on the authenticity of video footage showing far-right protesters chasing migrants after the fatal stabbing of a German man, Reuters reported.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Netherlands Prosceutes Its Own Citizen for Calling Turkish Dictator a “Goat F***er”
Authored by Simon Black via SovereignMan.com
It was mid-September in 1683, almost 335 years ago to the day. Turkish forces of the Ottoman Empire surrounded Vienna, one of the most strategic cities in Europe at the time.
Controlling Vienna meant controlling the Danube River, which flows from Western Germany to the Black Sea, providing critical access for the Ottomans to invade the rest of Europe.
So if Vienna fell, Europe would soon follow.
The Holy Roman Emperor, Leopold I seemed to abandon Vienna with the bulk of his forces as the Ottoman Turks advanced. He left only a vastly outnumbered garrison to protect the walled city.
The Ottoman’s laid siege to Vienna. Though the inhabitants were hungry and short on supplies, they continued to hold out, repelling every Ottoman assault.
Finally the Ottomans mined under the city walls to place explosives. The outer wall was breached, and all seemed hopeless for Vienna.
But Leopold I had not really abandoned the city. He had been rallying troops in Poland, Germany, and Lithuania, convincing tens of thousands of soldiers to defend the city.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
‘Orban Will Protect National Sovereignty’ French MEP Backs Hungary — Exposing Party Split
FRENCH conservative MEP Nadine Morano sparked controversy on Friday after she posted a message on Instagram in which she hailed Viktor Orban as a protector of national sovereignty, just days after Hungary’s hardline leader was formally accused of flouting European Union rules on democracy.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Poland Vows to Hit Back at EU as Brussels Tries to Interfere With Warsaw’s Laws
POLAND’s ruling right wing PiS government said it will defend reformations to its court system in front of an EU hearing in Brussels, a day after the country was suspended from an EU Judiciary Council over its controversial changes to its rule of law
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Pope Francis Says Accused Pastors Are Like Jesus on ‘Good Friday’
Bishops who are accused should remain silent like Jesus on Good Friday when the crowds called out for his crucifixion, Pope Francis said Tuesday.
When people insulted Jesus on Good Friday and shouted, “Crucify him,” the pope said in his morning homily at the chapel of the Santa Marta residence, “he remained silent because he had compassion for those people deceived by the powerful.”
“He was silent. He prayed,” Francis said.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Pope’s Adviser: Responding to Accusers ‘Feeds Their Megalomania’
According to one of Pope Francis’ closest advisers, the pontiff has not answered allegations by a former Vatican ambassador that he seriously mishandled the case of serial abuser Theodore McCarrick to avoid feeding his accuser’s “megalomania.”
Victor Manuel Fernandez, archbishop of La Plata, Argentina, and a close personal friend of the pope, said in an interview Monday that the pontiff’s strategy of silence regarding allegations against him stems from his policy of not feeding people’s craving for attention.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Support Up for Poland’s Ruling Conservatives: Poll
Poland’s ruling conservatives led by the Law and Justice (PiS) party would win 38 percent of the vote if elections were to be held this week, according to a new poll.
The country’s governing United Right coalition brings together Law and Justice, Jaroslaw Gowin’s Porozumienie (Alliance) party and Zbigniew Ziobro’s Solidarna Polska (United Poland) grouping. Support for the ruling conservatives has gone up 2 percentage points since a similar survey in May, pollster Kantar Millward Brown SA said.
Meanwhile, the Civic Platform (PO), the country’s largest opposition party, can count on 21 percent support, a drop of 7 percentage points from May, according to the survey, which was commissioned by private broadcaster TVN.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
The Movement: What is Steve Bannon Cooking Up in Europe?
BRUSSELS (Sputnik), Luc Rivet — Steve Bannon, a former adviser to US President Donald Trump, is the talk of the town not only in New York, where activists are protesting the right-wing advocate’s appearance in a live debate set up by liberal UK weekly The Economist.
The former US official but also in Europe where he is launching The Movement, a foundation and “club” expected to unite some European parties.
Widely Criticized
The Economist refused to withdraw its invitation for Bannon to participate in the newspaper’s Open Future Festival. On Saturday, the former White House chief strategist was interviewed via video link by Zanny Minton Beddoes, the editor-in-chief of the UK newspaper. Protesters gathered next to the magazine’s New York office to express their frustration with the outlet’s decision to proceed with the interview.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
UK: ‘Drunk’ Mohammed Abdul Made Threats to Kill Before Driving SUV Into Nightclub, Court Hears
Mohammed Abdul told nightclub staff he would “kill” them before he drove his car onto the dancefloor, hitting a number of people, after he was thrown out for being drunk and for making unwanted advances towards women, Maidstone Crown Court has heard.
Facing charges of attempted murder and grievous bodily harm, the court heard that Abdul, 21, had entered Blake’s nightclub on Queen Street, Gravesend, South East England, on March 17th but had been asked to leave by doormen at 11.41pm, before he allegedly made the threats of violence, Kent Online reports.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Convicted Fraudster Has Deportation Delayed
A convicted fraudster responsible for the biggest trading loss in UK banking history has won a last-minute reprieve from his planned deportation.
Kweku Adoboli, 38, was convicted in 2012 of fraud after losing $2.3 billion (£1.8bn) of UBS’s money.
A Ghanian national who had been living in the UK since he was a child, Adoboli served half of his seven-year sentence before being released in 2015 and was scheduled for deportation.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
US Considers Permanent Base in Poland
President Donald Trump said the U.S. is considering a permanent military presence in Poland, something the Eastern European country has sought for more than a decade.
Speaking to reporters at the White House after he met with Polish President Andrzej Duda, Trump said, “Poland is willing to make a very major contribution to the United States to come in and have a presence in Poland. If they’re willing to do that, it’s something we will certainly talk about.”
Poland has openly courted a permanent U.S. present since President George W. Bush was in office, and that administration had considered the possibility of using one of Poland’s military bases as part of its missile defense system and locating ground-based interceptors there. Those talks eventually fell through.
Since Russia’s invasion of Crimea in 2014, however, Poland has been an integral part of the bolstered U.S. presence in Eastern Europe, including repeat deployments of the 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team to show the rapid mobilization U.S. and NATO forces could provide in the case of another incursion. In August the Air Force deployed five F-22 Raptors and 40 airmen to Poland to take part in joint exercises there.
“I was smiling when talking to Mr. President, I said that I would very much like to ask to set up a permanent American base in Poland, which we would call ‘Fort Trump,’ “ Duda said in a joint press conference following their meeting. “I firmly believe this is possible. I am convinced that such a decision lies in the Polish interest and in the interest of the United States.”
[“Those talks fell through?” It was Obama, cancelling those talks even as he messed up Ukraine. Another foreign policy mess-up by BHO.]
| — Hat tip: Dora | [Return to headlines] |
Erdogan Says Turkey to Increase Soldiers in Northern Cyprus
Says new base not needed, Turkey is just minutes away
(ANSAmed) — ISTANBUL, SEPTEMBER 17 — Turkey will increase its troops in northern Cyprus, but will not build a new military base there, said Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday.
Erdogan was responding to a question on rumours about a new base to be built on the northern part of the island, which has been divided in two since 1974, when the Turkish military invaded following a pro-Greek coup.
“We don’t need a base,” Erdogan said, adding that it only takes “a few minutes” to reach the Mediterranean from Turkey.
There are an estimated 35,000 Turkish soldiers currently on the island.
Erdogan did not specify how many soldiers would be sent to increase Turkey’s military presence there.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
WikiLeaks Disputes That Assange Sought Russian Visa, Slams Ap “Assange Letter” As Fake
For years international media outlets worked collaboratively with WikiLeaks to publish leaked files on subjects ranging from the Iraq and Afghan wars to Syria to State Department diplomatic cables, but now it’s WikiLeaks itself that media outlets are attempting to expose.
An exclusive Associated Press story claims that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange sought to obtain a Russian visa as his legal troubles and pressures from Western politicians grew. This comes after US officials have long sought to smear Assange as a Russian asset and the WikiLeaks organization as a whole as working with Russian intelligence.
The AP has published a letter it says is from a WikiLeaks laptop and penned by Julian Assange only days after the group made world headlines by publishing hundreds of thousands of US diplomatic cables in 2010, however WikiLeaks immediately disputed the authenticity of the letter.
[Comment: I had submitted an article to the news feed which claimed that Assange sought a Russian visa. Here, Wikileaks replies to that claim.]
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Big Brother: China’s Chilling Dictatorship Moves to Introduce Scorecards to Control Everyone
CHINA’S chilling dictatorship is moving quickly to introduce social scorecards by which all citizens will be monitored 24/7 and ranked on their behaviour.
The Communist Party’s plan is for every one of its 1.4 billion citizens to be at the whim of a dystopian social credit system, and it’s on track to be fully operational by the year 2020.
An active pilot program has already seen millions of people each assigned a score out of 800 and either reap its benefits or suffer its consequences — depending on which end of the scale they sit.
Under the social credit scheme, points are lost and gained based on readings from a sophisticated network of 200 million surveillance cameras — a figure set to triple in 18 months.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Taiwan and Latin America Are Under Siege by Beijing’s Manipulated News
In China, media is heavily censored and published articles must toe the party line, and fake news pieces are all too common. But Beijing has recently expanded its subversion techniques beyond its borders, with Taiwan and Latin America now under siege by manipulated news that promotes its agenda. …
Taiwan and mainland China’s conflict stems from Beijing’s increased desire to restrict Taiwan’s role on the international stage. Since the Nationalist Party was defeated by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) during China’s civil war and retreated to Taiwan, the island has transitioned to a full-fledged democracy with its own constitution, government, and military. However, China, under authoritarian, one-party rule, considers Taiwan a renegade province that must be reunited with the mainland one day—using military force, if necessary. …
Countries in Latin America also face the problem of fake news from China.
Global Americans, a nonprofit that aims to provide evidence-based analysis and opinion on issues affecting Latin America, launched a two-week-long initiative in June to study a worrying trend in the region: “misinformation masquerading as objective news reporting, published by Russian and Chinese state-owned media in Spanish.”
The nonprofit published its findings on July 12. Among its analysis were one article by the Chinese Communist Party’s mouthpiece, People’s Daily, and three articles by another state-run media, Xinhua—all containing either false or misleading information.
The report pointed out Xinhua’s deep inroads in Latin America: “It has established 21 bureaus in 19 countries across Latin America and the Caribbean.”
| — Hat tip: AF | [Return to headlines] |
Warning Signs Hint at Dangers of Chinese Investment in Ukraine
Ukraine and China have increased partnerships in recent years, as the former is badly in need of cash to bolster its infrastructure, while the latter wants to get its hands on Ukrainian technologies. …
Ukraine is also a major partner in Beijing’s One Belt, One Road initiative (OBOR, also known as Belt and Road).
According to Chinese media reports, Ukraine was among the first countries to publicly announce support for OBOR, launched in 2013 as a project Beijing claims would build up trade routes linking China, Southeast Asia, Africa, Europe, and Latin America. Under OBOR, China has invested in infrastructure projects in more than 60 countries. …
It isn’t known precisely how much of Ukraine debt is owed to China, but according to a policy paper issued by the Center for Global Development, a Washington D.C.-based think tank, in March, Ukraine’s debt to China stood at $1.59 billion as of the end of 2016.
An opinion article published by the Kyiv Post on Sept. 14 warned of the dangers in advancing trade and political ties with China, calling Beijing “aggressive mercantilists who see opportunities in Ukrainian agriculture, high technology, and defense sectors.” The article pointed out that Ukraine should study cases in Pakistan, Malaysia, and Sri Lanka—countries under the threats of a “debt trap” after China financed expensive infrastructure projects there.
| — Hat tip: AF | [Return to headlines] |
Why China Fears Myanmar’s Christians
China-backed United Wa State Party is clamping down on Christian churches, priests and missionaries in a move likely aimed to ferret out suspected US CIA-backed plots and operatives
Has Christianity become a threat to the established order in areas controlled by Myanmar’s United Wa State Army (UWSA), the nation’s largest and best-armed rebel army situated in its remote northeastern hills?
Or does China aim to further consolidate its near-monopoly on Myanmar’s peace process by squeezing out rival Western nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and blocking potential Western agents from accessing the area while masquerading as Christian missionaries?
Such speculation is swirling after the China-aligned UWSA’s political wing, the United Wa State Party (UWSP), issued a September 9 statement instructing all of its military officers and administrators to “find out what the [Christian] missionaries are doing and what are their intensions.”…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Italian Priest Kidnapped in Niger, Jihadists Suspected
NIger urged to give priority to Father Maccalli’s case
(ANSA) — Vatican City, September 18 — An Italian priest working in Niger has been kidnapped in Niger, probably by Islamist extremists, a fellow clergyman told the Fides agency on Tuesday. “On the night between Monday 17 and Tuesday 18 September, Father Pierluigi Maccalli of the Society of African Missions (SMA) was kidnapped by suspected jihadists active in the area,” Father Mauro Armanino, a missionary in Niamey, Niger, told Fides.
“The area has been in a state of emergency for several months die to the presence of terrorists from Mali and Burkina Faso”.
Maccalli, who was originally from the diocesis of the northern Italian town of Crema and had previous worked as a missionary in Ivory Coast, was in the parish of Bomoanga, in the Niamey diocesis. Italy’s embassy in Niger has formally asked local authorities to give “absolute priority” to the rapid solution of the case, the foreign ministry in Rome said Tuesday.
The embassy has urged the authorities to “avoid initiatives that may put at risk Father Maccalli’s safety”, the ministry said.
Foreign Minister Enzo Moavero Milanesi is in constant contact with the foreign ministry’s crisis unit which, with other State organs, has been following Father Maccalli’s case since the beginning, the ministry said.
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State Media: ‘The Presence of China in Venezuela is Getting Stronger Every Day’
China’s state-run Global Times newspaper boasted of Beijing’s expanded presence in Venezuela on Sunday, noting that the “U.S. is skeptical for geopolitical reasons” of growing ties between socialist dictator Nicolas Maduro and Communist Party chief Xi Jinping.
Maduro visited China from Thursday to Sunday, seeking funds to keep his regime afloat. Thanks to nearly two decades of socialist mismanagement of the economy and violent repression of opposition voices, Venezuela is currently undergoing the worst humanitarian crisis in its history. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) predicts that Venezuela’s inflation rate will reach 1,000,000 percent by 2019, the nation suffers a near-complete shortage of the basic medications needed for a functional health care system, and growing numbers of Venezuelans are relying on eating garbage to survive.
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‘A Total Failure’: Sweden Has Europe’s Worst Border Control, Says EU Report ‘Hushed Up’ For Election
Sweden has the worst border control of any nation in Europe’s free movement zone, according to a leaked report seen by a major national newspaper that was reportedly suppressed to prevent the findings influencing the outcome of this month’s Swedish election.
Border agents in the Nordic nation only receive very basic training, are not told how to spot forged documents, and do not check for returning jihadist fighters, an inspection of the nation’s key entry points made in 2017 found.
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Breakthrough on Migrants Not Expected at EU Summit
European Union sources said Tuesday that “we do not expect a breakthrough” on the issue of migrant arrivals at the European summit in Salzburg.
The sources said Premier Giuseppe Conte will present his proposal to overhaul the Sophia naval mission in the Mediterranean, which Rome says currently puts too much of the burden of rescued migrants on Italy.
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The Czech and Slovak Prime Ministers criticised the European Commission’s plans to increase funding for the European Border and Coast Guard Agency, Frontex. The two leaders asserted that this amounts to duplicating European security structures and encouraging an ineffective agency.
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A 38-year-old Afghan refugee was given a lower sentence after he raped a girl with a mental impairment, Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf reports.
Zaman S, the perpetrator was employed in a supermarket, when the 18-year-old girl entered and asked for a plastic bag.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
EU Does Not Need ‘Useless’ Border Force Claims Czech Prime Minister
EUROPE does not need a border force because member states have their own coastguard and customs services, according to outspoken Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
EU’s ‘Fiscal Blindness’ Has Caused Major Immigration Conflict — Italy in Bombshell Attack
AN EUROSCEPTIC Italian minister lashed out at the European Union’s “fiscal blindness”, which he branded as the real reason behind the bitter dispute on immigration currently raging across the continent.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Asylum seeker protected against losing his residency permit
An Afghan migrant who raped an 18-year-old mentally disabled girl in the Netherlands was deliberately given a lighter sentence by a judge in order to save him from being deported.
38-year-old Zaman S. raped the girl in 2016 after she entered a store at which he was an employee.
De Telegraaf reports that the Amsterdam District Court gave the perpetrator “a milder sentence to prevent him from losing his residence permit,” treating the asylum seeker “more leniently to prevent expulsion.”
The girl’s father angrily denounced the verdict, suggesting that barbaric views on rape were being imported along with migrants.
“Maybe this is normal in his country, but not here,” he said.
“Whether or not to lose a residence permit in such a serious crime as rape should not be a consideration,” said the victim’s lawyer.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Illegals Armed With AR-15s and AK-47s Filmed Invading America Through Southern Border
Remember folks: if you want our borders closed you’re the bad guy!
From The Daily Caller:
Video footage from a ranch in Arizona shows thousands of illegal aliens marching into the United States uninterrupted because there is no border wall, nor border patrol, to stop them.
Jim Chilton, 79, owns a 50,000-acre ranch situated on the U.S.-Mexico border, which has become a hotspot for illegals crossing into the country.
Security camera footage from as recently as 2018 shows individuals in camouflage toting large backpacks and in some cases what appears to be military-style assault rifles walking through his ranch into the States incident free. They even attach the military-style assault rifles to horses.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Migrant Landings Down 140,000,1 Bn Saved — ISPI
1.9 bn will be saved if trend continues
(ANSA) — Milan, September 18 — Migrant landings are almost 140,000 down this year leading to savings of one billion euros for the Italian State, the CESVI and ISPI institutes said in a new report Tuesday.
If the trend continues over the coming years, an average 1.9 billion euros will be saved, said the report titled Migrants: The Challenge of Integration.
Th estimates were based on an average daily per capita cost of 35.9 euros for each migrant.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Mass Migration Leads to Decreased Wages and Increased House Prices for Britain’s Poorest — Report
A recent report by the Migration Advisory Committee has reinforced mass migration concerns for years, including the fact that it has decreased wages for the poorest while increasing house prices.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Norway Fetes Young Muslim Refugee Writer for Trashing Norway
I only met him in person once, many years ago. We met for beers in downtown Oslo. We didn’t agree on everything: among other things, he had an irrational hostility toward the United States, which I put down, in part at least, to the fact that he had never set foot in the U.S. and that his English was surprisingly poor (we spoke in Norwegian), so that his image of my country was shaped largely by the mainstream Scandinavian media and by various sources in his native tongue, Arabic. But never mind. What mattered was that he loved freedom, hated jihadist Islam, and was brave enough to say so. His name was Walid al-Kubaisi. Educated as a civil engineer at the University of Baghdad, he came to Norway as a political refugee in 1981 and died this past July at the age of sixty.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Smugglers Pave Path for Migrants From Africa to Spain
They scale barbed-wire topped fences and cross the sea in inflatable boats or jet skis — more than 36,000 migrants entered Spain this year seeking a better life in Europe. Almost all of them relied on smugglers to make the crossing.
Ousman Umar, who made a five-year journey from Ghana to Spain, said it was “impossible” to travel thousands of kilometres (miles) from sub-Saharan Africa through deserts and other inhospitable areas without the aid of gangs.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden: Anti-Immigration Party Becomes Kingmaker
A strong showing by the anti-immigration Sweden Democrats in the Swedish elections on September 9 drained away so many votes from the establishment parties that the two main parliamentary blocs were left virtually tied and far short of a governing majority.
The Sweden Democrats won 17.5% of the vote and emerged as the third-largest party in the country, according to the official election results released on September 16. The result, a 4.6% improvement on the 12.9% it won in 2014, placed the Sweden Democrats into a situation of holding the balance of power in the next parliament.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
The father of terror victim Ebba Åkerlund has demanded a new commission be set up to look into Sweden’s migration policies and answer why terrorist and failed asylum seeker Rakhmat Akilov was allowed to remain in the country.
Stefan Åkerlund lost his 11-year-old daughter Ebba during the Stockholm terror attack in 2017 and is now demanding more action be taken to hold politicians and others accountable for not doing enough to prevent the attack, writing an opinion article for Swedish newspaper Expressen.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
UK Journalist: Mass Migration “Out of Control”
Attributes explosive population growth to immigration
Westmonster’s Michael Heaver has said Brits are fed up with mass migration and has called on the government to stick to its promise of keeping net migration down to the 10,000s.
Speaking on Sky News, Heaver said: “England’s population has gone up 8.2% since 2007…the projections moving forward from the ONS are that we are going to have millions more by 2026.
“When people feel mass migration has gone out of control, that’s because it has.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
$5.7 Million in Taxpayer Funds for Study to Justify Sterilizing Children Who Are Gender Confused
The study is “very much under wraps and it’s coming into its fifth and final year.”
A taxpayer-funded study launched by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) is on course to conclude that “affirming” young children with gender dysphoria by providing dangerous puberty blockers and ultimately sterilizing them is both safe and necessary for them to be happy.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
In 1970, after campus anti-war protesters ransacked and set fire to the administration building at the University of South Carolina, the school’s president appointed a task force to find a solution to student unrest. Many meetings, workshops, and encounter groups later, the university came up with an answer, and it was nothing so simple as expelling vandals and arsonists. No, the key was to teach students to “love their university,” starting with a new semester-long orientation course for freshmen.
An industry was born. John Gardner, an assistant professor of history and a social activist, made the course into an institution. He called it the Freshman-Year Experience, until he decided that the name was sexist and renamed it the First-Year Experience, now known commonly as FYE. He and his disciples promoted it so diligently that it has spread to 90 percent of American colleges and is rapidly growing overseas.
The programs often start with a “common read,” a book sent to everyone the summer before school starts, and proceed with lectures, discussion groups, seminars, courses, exercises, field trips, art projects, local activism, and whatever else the schools will fund. The programs are typically run not by professors but by “cocurricular professionals”—administrators lacking scholarly credentials who operate outside the regular curriculum. They don’t need to master an academic discipline or impart an established body of knowledge. They create a cocurriculum of what they want students to learn, which usually involves a great deal of talk about “diversity” and “inclusion.”
These professionals seem to lean even further left than the faculty, and in some ways they have more influence. They get to the students early, before classes begin, and they’re inescapable. By choosing your courses carefully, you can avoid the progressive sermonizing that passes for scholarship in some departments, but everyone has to undergo the orientation and first-year programs. You may have come to study computer science or literature or biochemistry, but first you’ll have to learn about social justice, environmental sustainability, gender pronouns, and microaggressions. You may have been planning to succeed by hard work, but first you’ll have to acknowledge your privilege or discover your victimhood…
| — Hat tip: Dora | [Return to headlines] |
In the article, entitled “Social Cohesion Must Be Engineered,” Singaporean professor Kishore Mahbubani claimed that Western governments must emulate Singapore’s social engineering diversity policies to solve “the usual divisions that plague multiethnic societies.”
“However, this begs the question: does living together equal, or necessarily lead to, integration and understanding? Singaporeans, by and large, tend not to mix around or even acknowledge their neighbors, which means the core function of the EIP doesn’t really work here.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
An article your readers might appreciate:
https://www.hindupost.in/society-culture/many-hindu-girls-like-riya-gautam-many-european-girls-get-killed-by-muslim-boyfriends-stalkers/
Thanks. A Muslim minority destroys the civilization wherever they live.
A WaPO writer demands forced integration, using singapore as a model.
However, there re few Muslims or Blacks there. 75% of the residents are of Chinese descent, 15% of Malay descent, 10% of Indian descent. Singapore’s got it made with thaat racial grouping.
“$5.7 Million in Taxpayer Funds for Study to Justify Sterilizing Children Who Are Gender Confused” this is backwards really. I mean there probably are enough studies on the topic already, so it is pointless in that sense. But most importantly there are clear guidelines to safely conclude whether a child is transsexual or not. Transsexualism isn’t the same as transgender, mind you. Transsexuals, in my opinion, have every right to be able to change their sex in order to align their bodies with their brains. Unfortunately our current medicinal advances aren’t capable of making it work for the child-producing cells yet (well there are studies on that too, but it’s not common practise yet). Forbidding those people to do so results only in their suffering, no childbirth anyway (let’s be honest, none of us guys would want to give birth just because we suddenly have an uterus and I imagine women wouldn’t be too keen on whipping a D around either) and possibly suicide. In that light, it’s definitely better to have a productive member of society that can still adopt and raise children.
Transgenderism on the other hand is utter nonsense that even experts don’t understand. In my opinion the snowflakes don’t understand that a woman is not just a beauty queen in a dress and a man isn’t just some bodybuilder, there’s a huge array of possibilities and just because you’re a girl and prefer wearing pants to skirts doesn’t make you transsexual. Neither does being unhappy about your weight, breast size or lack of body hair.
And that’s all it really boils down to: people need to start using the right names for things and most importantly stop feminazis and sjws from brainwashing children! Those children who do need help have to get it from experts (psychiatrists, sexuologists, endocrinologists and eventually surgeons), not from activists.
The West Yorkshire Police have had a more modest uniform for its female Muslim officers designed. The uniform is loose-fitting ‘designed not to show female form’ with a looser tunic in hopes of recruiting more female officers from ethnic minorities.”
‘Minorities’ is not a plural it is singular, and it means Muslims. Very soon, Kuffars, you will have to bow to them respectfully and move off of the pavement when they approach or you will be severely punished for being a rebellious Islamophobic slave.
Do you think their husbands will still beat them even though they wear a bag and a badge?
O’Keefe strikes again showing a “socialist” anarchist inside Foggy Bottom.
re: Singapore as multi-culti model:
A friend of mine was given a personal tour of parts of Singapore by a Singaporan policeman and a government official. They showed him how the gov’t keeps track of some ethnic groups and how they prevent these groups from becoming too concentrated. The goal is to prevent ethnic enclaves which may lead to social unrest and break down of law and order etc. It was also stated that the muslims were watched particularly closely. One trick to determine ethnic concentrations is to count the number of apartment balconies displaying lights during religious festivals. Allegedly, the gov’t sometimes will forcibly move people when a particular ethnic population becomes too concentrated in an area.
Singapore doesn’t fool around with anyone. They have too little space to allow an ethnic group to create their own enclave and begin making special demands.