There was panic among passengers at a London Overground station today when a man went on a stabbing rampage with a 12-inch knife. One person was wounded and hospitalized, and the alleged perpetrator is in police custody.
In other news, approval of Pope Francis among American Catholics is at an all-time low.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to AF, C. Cantoni, Dean, Dora, DV, Insubria, Reader from Chicago, SS, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.
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Eurozone Economy Sluggish as Exports Stall
LONDON (AP) — The 19-country eurozone economy lost momentum in September despite a resilient performance by the services sector in Italy, according to a closely watched survey released Wednesday.
Financial information firm IHS Markit said its composite purchasing managers’ index, a key measure of business activity in services and manufacturing, slipped to 54.1 points in September from 54.5 the previous month.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Moody’s: EU Not Prepared for Another Financial Crisis, Populist Parties Benefit From Stagnation
Credit rating agency Moody’s has warned that European nations are ill prepared for another financial crisis and that should one occur they predict a significant rise in support for anti-establishment populist parties.
While the rating agency has noted some improvements in Europe since the 2008 financial crisis, the organisation has serious concerns about how the political establishment could handle another, Il Giornale reports.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Democratic Staffer for Sheila Jackson Lee Arrested in GOP Doxing
A 27-year-old intern for Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) has been arrested by the US Capitol Police for posting private, identifying information (Doxing) of several Senators to Wikipedia, according to the USCP, after the personal information of Republican Senators Lindsey Graham, Mike Lee and Orrin Hatch was posted to Wikipedia Thursday during the hearing of Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh, which included home addresses and phone numbers.
The suspect, Jackson A. Cosko of Washington D.C. has initially been charged with witness tampering, threats in interstate communications, unauthorized access of a government computer, identity theft, second degree burglary and unlawful entry.
Cosko, who was fired after his arrest, previously worked for Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-NH), Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and Dianne Feinstein (D-CA).
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Florence, South Carolina, Shooting: 5 Officers Shot, Sheriff’s Office Says
(CNN) Three Florence County, South Carolina, Sheriff’s Office deputies and two city officers were shot Wednesday, chief deputy Glenn Kirby said, according to CNN affiliates.
The shootings took place during an active shooter incident, which is now over, the Florence County Emergency Management Department said on its Twitter page.
The extent of the injuries was not immediately known.
| — Hat tip: Dean | [Return to headlines] |
Georgetown Supports Professor’s Right to Call for Castrating, Murdering White Men
It was bad enough when Georgetown University professor Carol Christine Fair (shown) advocated for the castration and murder of white Republican men on social media. But rather than reprimanding the professor for her offensive comments, Georgetown University has issued a statement in support of the left-wing, anti-Trump professor.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
‘Neighborhoods Are Crying Out’: Baltimore is Nation’s Deadliest Big City, Says FBI
Baltimore continues its descent into chaos. The Democratic Party has been asleep at Baltimore City Hall for nearly five decades, as the now de-industrialized region had the highest homicide rate among the nation’s 50 largest cities (population over 500,000) last year and the second-highest violent crime rate overall, according to new crime statistics released by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
New Moon? Astronomers Find First Evidence of a Possible Moon Outside Our Solar System
Using NASA’s Hubble and Kepler space telescopes, astronomers have uncovered tantalizing evidence of what could be the first discovery of a moon orbiting a planet outside our solar system.
This moon candidate, which is 8,000 light-years from Earth in the Cygnus constellation, orbits a gas-giant planet that, in turn, orbits a star called Kepler-1625. Researchers caution that the moon hypothesis is tentative and must be confirmed by follow-up Hubble observations.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Pew: Confidence in Pope Francis Plunges Among U.S. Catholics
Pope Francis’ approval rating among U.S. Catholics has struck an all-time low in the face of his refusal to answer allegations that he rehabilitated serial homosexual abuser Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, Pew revealed Tuesday.
Only 30 percent of Catholic adults say Francis is doing an “excellent” or a “good” job addressing the sex abuse crisis, Pew said, a decline of 24 points since 2015 and 14 points from when the Research Center last asked the question this past January.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Report: Five South Carolina Officers Shot in Florence County
One police officer was killed and six other law enforcement officers were wounded in South Carolina on Wednesday after officials reported an “active shooter” situation in Florence.
Three Florence County sheriff’s deputies and three other Florence police officers who were shot were all receiving medical attention, Florence Police Chief Allen Heidler confirmed at a news conference on Wednesday night.
The chief said all the sustained injuries were thought to have resulted from gunfire. He said the department was assisting the sheriff’s office in responding.
A suspect was in custody after the episode, and that the active shooting is “over,” according to the Florence County Emergency Management Agency. Officials initially tweeted about the situation around 5 p.m. ET, and warned people to “stay away from the area.”
“We have FCSO along with City PD and other first responders handling the situation,” the agency tweeted.
President Trump tweeted that his “thoughts and prayers are with the Florence County Sheriff’s Office and the Florence Police Department tonight.” He added: “We are forever grateful for what our Law Enforcement Officers do 24/7/365.”
South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster called the shootings “simply devastating news,” and asked for prayers for the officers, their familes and “all of Florence.”
“The selfless acts of bravery from the men and women in law enforcement is real,” the governor said, “just like the power of prayer is real.”
“Heartbroken over the shooting involving the Florence area police officers,” Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. tweeted. “God bless those who choose to protect us and their families.”
Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., tweeted that his “prayers” were with the officers and their families.
“This is absolutely devastating,” Rep. Tom Rice, R-S.C., tweeted. “We are staying updated and sending our prayers to the police officers and their families.”
Authorities said the shooting in Florence, roughly 80 miles east of Columbia, occurred in Vintage Place, an upscale neighborhood in the western part of the city.
| — Hat tip: DV | [Return to headlines] |
Video Shows Hallman Got Into Car Before Allentown Explosion
The car that exploded Saturday night in Allentown, killing two city men and a little boy, stopped on Turner Street less than minute before the blast, according to security video from the scene.
The video, viewed Wednesday by The Morning Call, indicates that David Hallman, 66, got into the passenger side of the car and at 9:31 p.m., within 3 seconds of shutting the door, the car blew up.
Hallman, 66; Jacob Schmoyer, 26, owner of the car; and Schmoyer’s 2-year-old son, Jonathan, died in the explosion, authorities said, but officials had not said whether Hallman was inside or outside the car when he died.
The video, captured by a business within a block of Hall and Turner streets, the blast scene, shows he had taken a seat in the car.
On Wednesday night, a spokeswoman for the federal ATF, lead investigator into the explosion, confirmed that the car exploded shortly after Hallman stepped inside.
ATF special agent Charlene Hennessy also made a point to say the car did not blow up exactly when the door closed.
“The time lapse is longer than a half-second,” she said. “It didn’t explode as soon as he shut the door. He was inside the car at least for a couple of seconds anyway.”
She said the ATF will have a major announcement 11:30 a.m. Thursday on what the explosion investigation has found. Officials have not said yet whether the blast was an accident or premeditated.
The security video shows clearly that Schmoyer’s car, driving east on one-way Turner Street, pulled up to Hall Street, near Hallman’s home, with its headlights on, stopped and backed up slightly to park. Schmoyer lived on Lumber Street, north of Turner…
| — Hat tip: Dean | [Return to headlines] |
“Italy Would Solve Most of Its Problems if it Had Its Own Currency” — Ruling Party Economist
What Claudio Borgi, North League’s economic head, said in a radio interview was a bombshell. “I’m truly convinced that Italy would solve most of its problems if it had its own currency”, he said.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Angela Merkel Embarrassment: Germany’s New Warship Delayed for Another Year
Angela Merkel’s Germany has risked humiliation after delays befall their latest multimillion-pound warship, which should have been commissioned four years ago, as the German Navy starts running out of deployment-capable vessels.
The ship’s launch has been pushed back another year to give enough time to iron out technical issues discovered in its sea trial, according to Die Zeit.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Ask Forgiveness for Church’s Many Ills — Pope
Clericalism the root, elitist and exclusionary vision
(ANSA) — Vatican City, October 3 — The Church asks forgiveness for its many “ills”, Pope Francis said Wednesday.
He said “the plague of clericalism must be overcome with decisiveness”, which “is born of an elitist ad exclusionary vision of the vocation, which interprets the ministry received as a power to be exercised rather than a free and generous service to offer”.
Opening the Synod on youth, he said “clericalism is a perversion and is the root of many ills in the Church: for them we must humbly ask forgiveness and above all create the conditions that they not be repeated”.
Honest criticism helps while innuendo and rumours don’t, Francis said.
Francis urged “all to speak with courage and parrhesia (candour), that is combining freedom, truth and charity.
“Only dialogue can help us grow. Honest and transparent criticism is constructive and helps, while useless chatter, rumours, innuendo or prejudice don’t.”
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Blog: Nobel Prize for US and UK Scientists Who ‘Harnessed the Power of Evolution’
The Local reported live from Stockholm, where the Nobel Prize in Chemistry was announced on Wednesday.
The 2018 Nobel Prize in Chemistry goes to Frances H Arnold (USA) “for the directed evolution of enzymes”, with the other half shared between George P Smith (USA) and Sir Gregory P Winter (UK) “for the phage display of peptides and antibodies”.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
British Prime Minister Dances Onto Stage, Says Nothing in Wide-Ranging Hour Long Speech
Britain’s ailing Prime Minister Theresa May astounded pundits by reprising her ‘May-Bot’ robot dancing routine when giving her leader’s speech Wednesday, in an address that stridently avoided her Chequers plan and potential leadership challenges.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Bulgaria: Four Offers for Military Jets, One From Italy
Two committees will evaluate proposals
(ANSA) — SOFIA, OCTOBER 2 — Bulgaria’s defence ministry announced that four offers for the supply of fighter jets for the Bulgarian Air Force have been received, all of them complying with Nato standards. Two of them came from the United States, one for new F-16s and the other for new F-18s. Sweden proposed new Gripen aircraft. The fourth offer, coming from Italy, pertains second-hand Eurofighters. Two committees will evaluate the proposals, explained deputy defense Atanas Zapryanov. “The first committee will make its assessment in two weeks, then another committee will have to deal with the different versions, whereas the defense minister Krassimir Karakachanov will write the final proposal”, Zapryanov added. This is the first stage of the modernisation programme of the Bulgarian Air Force. 1.8 billion lev (about 900 million euros) will be spent to buy at least eight fighters. In the second stage, 8 more fighter jets will be purchased. Meanwhile, the Soviet Mig-29 fighters will remain operative.
The authorities also expected Israel, Germany, France and Portugal to participate in the tender, but until yesterday’s deadline no offer had arrived in Sofia from those countries.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Catalan Leader Issues Spain Independence Vote Ultimatum
MADRID (AP) — Catalan regional president Quim Torra issued an ultimatum to Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Tuesday over the wealthy northeastern region’s future.
Torra indicated he could deny Sanchez the votes he needs to approve the national budget in Spain’s parliament unless the government proposes by next month an independence referendum in Catalonia.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Czech Republic: Great Synagogue in Pilsen Celebrates 125th Anniversary
The Great Synagogue in the West Bohemian city of Pilsen is not only the biggest synagogue in the Czech Republic, but also the third biggest in the world, after the temples in Jerusalem and Budapest. This month, the monumental Moorish-Romanesque building celebrates 125 years of its existence.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Favourite to Replace Juncker as EU Boss Called for Brexit ‘Cancellation’
A centrist politician who has repeatedly said it would be good if Brexit were blocked and vowed to fight populism is the bookies’ favourite to take over as President of the European Commission.
Former Finnish Prime Minister and Vice-President of the European Investment Bank Alexander Stubb announced Tuesday he was standing to replace Jean-Claude Juncker in the European Union’s (EU) top job, heading the bloc’s unelected executive branch.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
France’s Macron Suffers Another Cabinet Resignation
PARIS (AP) — French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe has assumed responsibility for France’s domestic security after the interior minister resigned in an apparent act of defiance toward President Emmanuel Macron.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
France’s Most Wanted Criminal Evades Police by Wearing a Burqa for Three Months
Rédoine Faïd, France’s most-wanted fugitive for the death of a policewoman during a botched robbery in 2010, has been found three months nearly to the day from when he escaped from prison, France24 reports.
He was the mastermind behind a botched robbery in 2010, amongst a plethora of previous crimes. A policewoman was killed during his attempted raid on a security van carrying cash.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
French ‘Youths’ Set Traps for Police in Guerrilla-Like Clashes
Small groups of young people in the French city of Mulhouse clashed with local police over the weekend, allegedly using guerrilla-style tactics against the officers including laying traps and attacking them.
The clashes occurred over the period of several hours and saw the local youths set garbage bins on fire and destroy a car in the neighbourhood of Drouot, newspaper L’Alsace reports.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Juncker, one of the most powerful men in the EU, has strongly denied allegations that he was drunk during a major UN peace summit in 2017
JEAN-CLAUDE Juncker faced accusations that he was drunk at a major UN peace summit back in May 2017.
Mr Juncker, one of the most powerful men in the EU, has repeatedly denied he has a drinking problem, calling it an “insulting” allegation. Here’s what we know.
Why did Jean-Claude Juncker deny being an alcoholic?
In May 2017, Mr Juncker faced awkward questions after it was claimed he was drunk during a United Nation’s peace summit in Geneva, Switzerland.
Diplomatic sources told The Sun at the time the EU Commission chief was “very visibly” drunk…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Italy Govt Euroskeptic and Xenophobic — Moscovici
‘On migrants and budget trying to duck EU obligations’
(ANSA) — Brussels, October 3 — Italy’s League/Five Star government is Euroskeptic and xenophobic, European Economic Affairs Commissioner Pierre Moscovici said Wednesday.
“Like the Hungarians, also the Italians have opted for a decidedly Euroskeptic and xenophobic government which, on migrant and budget issues, is trying to get out of European obligations,” he said.
Moscovici was addressing a conference at the OECD’s Paris HQ.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: No One Abandoned Di Maio Says on Bekaert Deal
With team work this country can be great again, without bowing
(ANSA) — Rome, October 3 — Not one worker has been abandoned thanks to a redundancy deal struck with trade unions after overnight talks with unions and with Belgian multinational steel wire maker Bekaert at the industry ministry, Deputy Premier and Labour and Industry Minister Luigi Di Maio said Wednesday.
“Thanks to this government no worker will be abandoned from today to tomorrow: the procedure of collective firings has been suspended, redundancy payments have been restored, as well as incentives to leave”, said the leader of the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement.
“Today I want to thank the great work done by the ministry, unions, government and all the social partners.
“With team work this country can return great, without giving in to anyone”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: I Don’t Raise Tones… or Glasses — Salvini
Again refers to Juncker’s alleged drinking
(ANSA) — Rome, October 3 — Interior Minister Matteo Salvini on Wednesday answered a question on budget tensions with the EU by saying “if they stop insulting I’m calm. I have never raised the tones: I don’t raise the tones and I don’t raise glasses…I don’t do anything”.
On Tuesday Salvini said he was ignoring European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker because “I talk to sober people”.
Earlier Wednesday he urged people to google “Juncker sober” and “Juncker staggering around (drunk)”.
The EC said in a statement Wednesday it had “always respected” Italy.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy Quintessence of Democracy in Action — US Embassador
Chemistry between Trump and Conte, Eisenberg tells ANSA Forum
(ANSA) — Rome, October 3 — United States Ambassador to Rome Lewis M. Eisenberg told an ANSA Forum on Wednesday that “the current government in Italy is the quintessence of democracy in action”. The American diplomat added: “aside from what each one of us thinks, the recent elections in Italy showed that the people have spoken. This is democracy”.
Eisenberg said that the recent meeting in Washington between US President Donald Trump and Italian Premier Giuseppe Conte showed there was “chemistry and clear reciprocal understanding”.
“The USA and Italy have the commitment to democracy in common,” he continued, stressing the “strong bilateral relations between the two countries”. Eisenberg said he was hopeful Trump could help bring peace to the Middle East because he has a “high success rate in pursuing his goals”.
“President Trump is staying true to the objectives he had promised voters and for which he was voted in,” the ambassador said.
“This is a success for democracy. Trump has around 90 million followers on social media.
“No American president has ever been in direct contact with 90 million people”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Marine Le Pen to Meet Matteo Salvini: “There is an Alternative to the EU and We Are Building it”
French political leader Marine Le Pen announced on Twitter today that she will meet Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini.
“I will be on Monday in Rome with Matteo Salvini to discuss, at the invitation of the General Union of Labour, economic growth and social prospects in a Europe of nations,” Le Pensaid.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Muslim Majority Party in the Netherlands Wants to Take on Media That Criticise Them
The Turkish-Dutch Denk party wants to take on media that give a ‘negative image’ of them, chairman Selçuk Öztürk told in an interview.
Öztürk says the media creates “distance between citizens and politics” and that’s a reason to take on the media.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Nearly 1.5 Million in Finland Do Not Profess Any Religion
One in four people in Finland do not belong to any religious community. The figure has risen in recent years.
Thirty percent of men are unaffiliated with any religion, compared with 23 percent of women. The largest group of non-religious people is the 30-39-year-old bracket, of whom 40 percent do not belong to a registered religion. In 2000 only 15 percent of that age group was did not profess any religious affiliation.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
No Action Against Euro: I Want to Strengthen it — Savona
Tells MEPs at EP
(ANSA) — Strasbourg — European Affairs Minister Paolo Savona told Italian MEPS at the European Parliament Wednesday that “I do not intend to take any action against the euro, on the contrary, I want to strengthen it”.
Savona, a professional economist, is known for his Euroskeptic views and the Italian media often refer to his “plan B” for the euro.
“I’m European, I feel European,” added Savona, who also said the 2019 budget can be discussed when all the details are known.
He added that there is no chance of Italy defaulting on its debt.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
The left-wing environmental activist who murdered Dutch anti-Islamisation politician Pim Fortuyn in 2002 has had his probationary restraints lifted and is now free to start a new life in Germany.
Volkert van der Graaf, 48, struck the deal on Tuesday with the public prosecutor’s office after the Dutch institute for forensic psychiatry and psychology (NIFP) determined that there was no longer any value to the murderer reporting to authorities as part of his probation, reports the NLTimes.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Poland’s Ruling Conservatives Far Ahead in New Poll
Poland’s ruling conservative Law and Justice party (PiS) is backed by 41 percent of voters, while opposition parties lag far behind, according to a new poll.
The survey by researcher Instytut Badan Pollster found the Civic Coalition, an alliance between the Civic Platform (PO) and Nowoczesna (Modern) parties, is supported by 31 percent.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Rally in Warsaw to Demand War Reparations From Germany
A rally urging Germany to pay reparations to Poland for World War II was on Monday set to be staged in Warsaw, according to reports.
The rally was expected to be held in front of the German embassy by an organisation called the Independence March Association, public broadcaster Polish Radio’s polskieradio24.pl news website reported.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Report: Catholic Church Faces Gravest Crisis Since ‘Protestant Reformation’
The Catholic bishops are gathering in Rome for a synod in a moment in which “the Church faces perhaps its gravest crisis since the Protestant Reformation in the form of the worldwide clerical sexual abuse scandals,” according to veteran Vatican analyst John L. Allen, Jr.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Stabbings Rock Britain: Three People Knifed in Birmingham and One on London Train
A triple stabbing takes place at Birmingham’s city centre on Monday. Another stabbing at Hackney Central London Overground on Tuesday. What does today hold?
The Birmingham shopping area on High Street in Dal End was cordoned off near a McDonald’s restaurant and the Oasis Project on Monday evening. The cordon is likely to remain for some time.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
The Salvini Effect: What Explains Italian Interior Minister’s Popularity?
In Italy, Interior Minister Matteo Salvini was — and remains — the leader of the Northern League, a far right-leaning Eurosceptic party. As a regional movement, it secured only 4% of the vote in the 2013 general elections. But now, rebranded as the League, it aims to become Italy’s top party. The latest polls project the League would win 33% of votes if an election were held today, with Salvini’s hardline posture on illegal immigration proving increasingly popular. Our correspondents report.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
UK: ‘Stampede’ on London Train as Man Stabs, ‘Rampages’ With ‘12 Inch Blade’
There was a mass panic and “stampede” after a man was stabbed in broad daylight on a London train, by an attacker allegedly screaming “I will kill you” whilst brandishing a 12-inch blade.
One man was hospitalised and another arrested for attempted murder after what British Transport Police called a “serious stabbing” on a London Overground train at Hackney Central station shortly after 6 pm Tuesday.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Labour Bans Conservative Journalist From Next Year’s Conference Over ‘Safe Space’ Joke
“talkRADIO” host Julia Hartley-Brewer has been banned from Labour’s 2019 conference next year. Julia recorded a video having a bit of a laugh at Labour’s ‘safe space’ during their conference last week in Liverpool.
The host of the 6:30-10:00am breakfast show on talkRADIO posted a light-hearted video of herself saying ‘boo’ from a ‘safe space’. The sign on the door said: “This area is for us by anyone,” adding; “It is not monitored.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
UK: London Police Violent Crime Unit Seizes Hundreds of Guns and Knives Over Summer of Violence
A new London police ‘Violent Crime Taskforce’ has had a busy debut, making 1,350 arrests since the team was formed in April.
The task force recovered 40 firearms, 340 knives, and 258 other offensive weapons between April 1 and September 21, the Metropolitan force revealed Tuesday.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Viktor Orban More Popular: Now Has 52% of Support in Hungary
Among decided voters, Viktor Orban’s Fidesz-KDNP list would capture 52 per cent of the vote in a general election held this Sunday.
Opposition party Jobbik would receive 18 per cent, while the Socialist-Parbeszed alliance and DK would each be backed by 8 per cent of voters.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Watch: UK Police Hunt 22 Youths After Huge Street Knife Brawl, Three Stabbed
A street brawl involving around 30 youths in Birmingham city centre has left three people with knife injuries and police hunting 22 suspects.
The shocking scenes occurred on Birmingham High Street, near a McDonald’s, in broad daylight just before 5.45pm on Tuesday.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Will be in Rome With Salvini Monday — Marine Le Pen
We’re building alternative to EU says National Rally head
(ANSA) — Paris, October 3 — Marine Le Pen, the leader of France’s National Rally party, said Wednesday that she will take part in an event with Italian Interior Minister and Deputy Premier Matteo Salvini next week. “I will be in Rome with Matteo Salvini on Monday on the invitation of the Unione Generale del Lavoro to talk about economic growth and social prospects in a Europe of nations,” Le Pen said via Twitter. “An alternative to the EU exists and we are building it!”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
EU Dream is Dead: Turkey’s Accession Talks Come to Standstill
TURKEY’S EU accession talks have come to a standstill, Dutch Foreign Minster Stef Blok has warned in a blow to Turkish President Recep Erdogan’s ambitions.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Paris: Teheran Behind the Failed June Attack. Iran Denies the Accusations
According to the transalpine government the Iranian intelligence ministry is behind the foiled attack on Villepinte against an anti-Tehran opposition group. Assets of two senior officials of the Islamic Republic frozen. Tehran rejects claims and hopes for new talks to dispel the “misunderstandings”.
Teheran (AsiaNews / Agencies) — The French authorities accuse the Intelligence Ministry of Tehran of having planned a (failed) bomb attack last June, targeting an Iranian opposition group in Paris. In a note the transalpine government claims to have arranged the freezing of assets of two senior officials of the Islamic Republic.
Iranian leaders have claimed that the attack has been “framed” and renews the invitation to the Élysée for further clarifying talks.
On June 30th, some supporters of the Iranian opposition met in Villepinte, a town not far from the capital Paris, in the context of a meeting promoted by the National Council for Resistance in Iran (Ncri). Among the personalities present were US politicians Newt Gingrich, former president of Parliament, and Rudy Giuliani, personal attorney of US President Donald Trump and former mayor of New York.
The NCRI is considered the political arm of the dissident movement Mujahideen-e-Khalq (Mek): for Teheran it is a terrorist organization that aims to overthrow the regime of the ayatollahs. In the days following the alleged (unfinished) attack, the Belgian police arrested two citizens (husband and wife) of Iranian origin, in possession of over a pound of explosives. Amir A and Nasimeh N [the police did not want to reveal the whole identity] are implicated in the attempt to attack the French anti-Tehran dissident movement. A third man, called Merhad A, was arrested in Paris and also accused of complicity.
With an official note released yesterday, the French government openly accuses the Iranian intelligence ministry of having planned the Villepinte attack. The joint document signed by the Ministry of the Interior, Foreign Affairs and Economy speaks of “a very serious gesture on our territory” that could not remain “unanswered”.
The Iranian government strongly denies all involvement. According to Teheran groups that “intend to damage long-term relations with France and, more generally, with Europe” are behind the attempted attack . Bahram Ghasemi, spokesman for the Iranian Foreign Ministry, hopes for new talks with the Elysee to dispel “any misunderstanding”.
Finally, yesterday, in an event that could be linked to the attack foiled early this summer, the French police raided the headquarters of a Shiite Muslim association, Center Zahra France, in the town of Dunkirk.
Investigators suspect that the center would have woven close ties with Iran to promote religious and political activities of an “extremist” nature. The agents have made numerous arrests, seized different probative material and frozen the assets of some belonging to the group. In recent years, its members had intertwined ties with anti-Zionist groups of the extreme right.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
South Korea Pushes Pompeo to Accept Kim’s Demand on Status of Korean War
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo should soften his negotiating stance in the next round of talks with North Korea, according to South Korea’s top diplomat.
South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha wants Pompeo to agree to North Korea’s call for an “end-of-war declaration” that would mark a significant symbolic milestone on the path to a formal end to the Korean War, which is officially in an armistice. Pompeo has avoided taking that step, but Kang believes the declaration should be made in exchange for North Korea keeping a promise to dismantle a nuclear site.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Trump to Take Hard Line With China After Seeing His Tariff Strategy Wins
WASHINGTON—President Donald Trump is set to double down on his trade war with China, after closing a major front of the country’s international trade battles.
Negotiators agreed late on Sept. 30 to sign a new trade accord, the U.S.—Mexico—Canada Agreement (USMCA), which will replace the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). The historic win, as Trump puts it, clears the decks for the administration to now turn its attention to Beijing.
Trump touted his tariffs as a useful negotiation tool, during a press conference to celebrate USMCA on Oct. 1.
“By the way, without tariffs, we wouldn’t be talking about a deal, just for those babies out there that keep talking about tariffs. That includes Congress,” he said
According to Trump, U.S. tariffs are clearly working and will eventually force China into making concessions at the negotiating table.
| — Hat tip: AF | [Return to headlines] |
Ibrahim Abbas was recorded in custody after the alleged Melbourne plot was stopped, discussing it with his brother Hamza Abbas, 23, cousin Abdullah Chaarani, 27, and Ahmed Mohamed, 25.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
The 32-year-old Pakistani man was stopped at Perth International Airport on Monday and his bags were searched after he arrived on a flight from Dubai.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
Brazil: Far-Right Jair Bolsonaro Ahead in Polls Amid Left-Wing Corruption Claims
BRAZIL’S far-right presidential candidate, who was almost killed in a stabbing earlier in his campaign, is a clear frontrunner before the elections which are due to take place this weekend — amid corruption claims among left-wing rivals.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
“Naming Names” of Ontario Hotels That Housed Trudeau’s Syrian Refugees
Since our first investigation into how Syrian refugees were behaving in the Canadian hotels that were housing them, I’ve been slammed with emails, Facebook messages, and tweets from people who want to know which hotels were housing the migrants.
I finally have the names of ten Ontario hotels.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Danish Government Presents Plan to Recruit Skilled Foreign Labour
Minister for immigration and integration Inger Støjberg and employment minister Troels Lund Poulsen presented Wednesday a 21-point programme aimed at smoothing the way for companies who want to attract skilled workers from abroad.
The programme seeks to “make it easier and less bureaucratic for Danish companies to attract and employ foreign labour,” the Ministry of Employment said in a press statement.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
ICE Officers Demand Portland Mayor Relinquish Control of Police After Occupy ICE Protests
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers asked Portland, Oregon, Mayor Ted Wheeler to give up his authority over the city’s police Wednesday and face investigation for his handling of this summer’s violent Occupy ICE protests, saying Wednesday that he broke state laws and violated Americans’ civil rights.
The National ICE Council, the union that represents ICE harassed and menaced during the protests, asked both U.S. Attorney General Jeff Session and Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum to open investigations into Mr. Wheeler’s behavior.
Portland’s protests were the most disruptive ones during a nationwide outbreak of anti-ICE activities, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers put the blame on Mr. Wheeler, saying he had a chance to cool things down but instead fueled violence with his orders to police instructing them not to respond to calls related to the Occupy protest unless they involved an immediate threat to someone’s life.
The ICE officers say 911 calls from employees who were being followed or targeted by protesters were either ignored or given short shrift by officers, and ICE had to shut down its office in the city for weeks.
“Instead of faithfully executing his oath of office and pledge to support the Constitutions of the United States and Oregon, as well as the laws of Portland, Mayor Wheeler chose to leave his fellow citizens to fend for themselves for over a month against a lawless mob which included violent militant groups,” Mr. Crane said.
In the letter to Oregon’s attorney general Sean J. Riddell, the ICE Council’s lawyer, said Mr. Wheeler’s leadership of the police has been tainted.
[…]
Text messages obtained by the ICE Council show the mayor’s office issuing its directive to the Portland Police Bureau to avoid responding to calls from those involved in or targeted by the protest.
“Here’s where our office stands: The mayor will provide strategic direction to PPB. He will not dictate tactics[,] we will leave that to the expertise of PPB. In this case, the mayor’s strategic direction is for PPB to not get involved unless lives are in danger,” read one message the ICE officers obtained.
A follow-up email showed the police decided that meant they would not “proactively patrol” the protest, and would only respond to calls “that have an immediate life safety concern.” That meant ignoring calls from ICE employees trying to get their cars out of parking lots blocked by protesters unless they felt they were specifically threatened, the email said.
| — Hat tip: Dora | [Return to headlines] |
ISIS Sympathisers Dominate Greek Refugee Camp: “If You Are Not Muslim I Can Rape You”
According to Deutsche Welle reporters, a terrorist organisation that claims to be linked with ISIS, dominates Moria’s refugee camp on the Greek island of Lesbos.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Traini Gets 12 Years for Migrant Shooting Spree
29-year-old apologised for wounding 6 Africans in Macerata
(ANSA) — Macerata, October 3 — A Macerata court on Wednesday handed down a 12-year jail sentence for rightist militant Luca Traini, 29, for shooting and wounding six African migrants in Macerata on February 3 in ‘revenge’ for the murder and dismemberment of a Roman woman allegedly by a Nigerian drug pusher.
Furthermore, he was sentenced to pay compensation to the plaintiffs.
He will also have to serve three further years on parole after his jail term is served.
The maximum possible sentence was 22 years.
Traini was found fully mentally fit.
He is expected to appeal.
The prosecutor’s office had reduced its sentence request to 12 years based on extenuating circumstances for Traini and given that he opted for a summary judgment.
During his hearing earlier Wednesday, Traini apologised in court and said “I made a mistake”.
“I don’t have any racial hate, I wanted to bring justice against drug dealers; there was a bombardment of news about the spread of drug dealers due to immigration, even my ex-girlfriend took drugs,” he said, reading from a prepared statement.
“In prison I gained a new understanding of the facts,” he said, adding that he had a difficult childhood but is “neither crazy nor borderline”.
Traini went on his spree three days after the discovery of the body of Pamela Mastropietro outside Pollenza near Macerata.
A Nigerian drug pusher, Innocent Oseghale, has been charged with her rape, murder and dismemberment.
He says they had consensual sex, she died of an overdose and he disposed of the body because he was afraid he might be accused of murder.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Riace Mayor Says Nabbed for ‘Crime of Humanity’
Brother says ‘more serene, has seen he isn’t alone’
(ANSA) — Riace, October 3 — Riace Mayor Domenico Mimmo Lucano on Wednesday told his brother Giuseppe that “they arrested me for a crime of humanity”.
Lucano, known worldwide for reviving his once-moribund town with migrants, was said by Giuseppe to be “surprised, embittered and also a little angry”.
Giuseppe told ANSA “he is angry at some things seen in the warrant, even though the preliminary investigations judge rejected them.
“In any case he is confident, he feels that he has not done anything in particular that could justify a limitation of his freedom.
“Anyway today he is more serene, he has seen he is not alone”.
The arrest of Lucano, on suspicion of abetting illegal immigration by marriages of convenience among other things, has spurred a wave of support by pro-migrant groups.
Prosecutors said earlier “if the Riace model fails it is not our fault”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: 2 Cholera Cases on Return From Bangladesh
Near Naples
(ANSA) — Naples, October 3 — A migrant woman and her two-year-old son who have just returned from Bangladesh were registered in Naples as having cholera on Wednesday.
The mother and son are resident at Sant’Arpino near Caserta, the Cotugno Hospital said.
“The family contacts have been identified and are now under strict medical observation. The situation is completely under control,” said hospital commissioner Antonio Giordano.
They are believed to be the first cases of cholera in Italy since 2008, while Europe registers dozens of cases of imported cholera a year.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Legal Migrants to Italy Support Closing the Borders to Illegals
A newly released survey of those who have migrated to Italy through legal channels has revealed that even immigrants are against mass illegal migration, with some even wanting to turn back refugees as well.
The study, which was conducted by the Regional Observatory for Integration and Multi-Ethnicity (ORIM), shows that 55.3 percent of immigrants would only welcome approved refugees while 12.2 percent would refuse to allow even recognised refugees into Italy and only 32.5 percent would advocate an open border policy, Il Giornale reports.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Yesterday, a 16-year-old migrant was prosecuted for robbery at the Emporia Mall in Malmö, where two fifteen-year-olds were abused, threatened with knives and burned with cigarettes, Nyheter Idag reports.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Pakistani Migrants Arrested for Sexually Assaulting Women at German Oktoberfest
Several migrants were caught at the Oktoberfest in Munich for sexually assaulting women, TAG24 reports. The Oktoberfest is the world’s largest beer festival with more than six million people from around the world attending the event every year.
On Friday security personnel caught a man who was stroking a 21-year-old woman on her leg, grabbed her bottom and pushed his finger between her buttocks. The woman slapped his hand away.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
The mass-migration supporting foreign minister of Morocco has rejected proposals by the European Union to build refugee processing centres in North Africa and claimed the bloc is exaggerating the migrant crisis.
“Morocco is generally against all kinds of [migration] centres. This is part of our migration policy and a national sovereign position,” Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita told German daily Die Welt in an interview published Wednesday.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
We Will Never Allow UK to Choose Immigration Policy, Says EU Brexit Boss
The European Parliament’s Brexit coordinator has said he will “never” allow the UK to control its own borders, claiming a system based on allowing in professionals and people with the skills the nation needs amounts to “discrimination”.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Academic Grievance Studies and the Corruption of Scholarship
Part I: Introduction
Something has gone wrong in the university—especially in certain fields within the humanities. Scholarship based less upon finding truth and more upon attending to social grievances has become firmly established, if not fully dominant, within these fields, and their scholars increasingly bully students, administrators, and other departments into adhering to their worldview. This worldview is not scientific, and it is not rigorous. For many, this problem has been growing increasingly obvious, but strong evidence has been lacking. For this reason, the three of us just spent a year working inside the scholarship we see as an intrinsic part of this problem. …
Part II: Methods
[…]
At other times, we scoured the existing grievance studies literature to see where it was already going awry and then tried to magnify those problems. Feminist glaciology? Okay, we’ll copy it and write a feminist astronomy paper that argues feminist and queer astrology should be considered part of the science of astronomy, which we’ll brand as intrinsically sexist. Reviewers were very enthusiastic about that idea. Using a method like thematic analysis to spin favored interpretations of data? Fine, we wrote a paper about trans people in the workplace that does just that. Men use “male preserves” to enact dying “macho” masculinities discourses in a way society at large won’t accept? No problem. We published a paper best summarized as, “A gender scholar goes to Hooters to try to figure out why it exists.” “Defamiliarizing,” common experiences, pretending to be mystified by them and then looking for social constructions to explain them? Sure, our “Dildos” paper did that to answer the questions, “Why don’t straight men tend to masturbate via anal penetration, and what might happen if they did?” Hint: according to our paper in Sexuality and Culture, a leading sexualities journal, they will be less transphobic and more feminist as a result. …
Part III: Why Did We Do This?
Because we’re racist, sexist, bigoted, misogynistic, homophobic, transphobic, transhysterical, anthropocentric, problematic, privileged, bullying, far right-wing, cishetero straight white males (and one white female who was demonstrating her internalized misogyny and overwhelming need for male approval) who wanted to enable bigotry, preserve our privilege, and take the side of hate?
No. None of those apply. Nevertheless, we’ll be accused of it, and we have some insights into why. …
Part IV: The Plan—How this Came to Be
[…]
The first question has a clear answer. “Are we correct in our claim that highly regarded peer-reviewed journals in gender studies and related fields will publish obvious hoaxes?” was answered nearly unequivocally and in the negative by November. It only took us a few months and a few papers to learn that while it is possible that some journals in these fields may fall prey to an outright hoax so long as it plays upon their moral biases and preferred academic jargon, nothing like “The Conceptual Penis” would have been published in a highly regarded gender-studies journal. In believing that some might, and on having said so in the wake of that attempt, we were wrong. …
Part V: The Results (of all 20 papers)
Title: Human Reactions to Rape Culture and Queer Performativity in Urban Dog Parks in Portland, Oregon
[…]
Thesis: That dog parks are rape-condoning spaces and a place of rampant canine rape culture and systemic oppression against “the oppressed dog” through which human attitudes to both problems can be measured. This provides insight into training men out of the sexual violence and bigotry to which they are prone.
Purpose: To see if journals will accept arguments which should be clearly ludicrous and unethical if they provide (an unfalsifiable) way to perpetuate notions of toxic masculinity, heteronormativity, and implicit bias …
Selected Reviewer Comments:
“This is a wonderful paper — incredibly innovative, rich in analysis, and extremely well-written and organized given the incredibly diverse literature sets and theoretical questions brought into conversation. The author’s development of the focus and contributions of the paper is particularly impressive. The fieldwork executed contributes immensely to the paper’s contribution as an innovative and valuable piece of scholarship that will engage readers from a broad cross-section of disciplines and theoretical formations. I believe this intellectually and empirically exciting paper must be published and congratulate the author on the research done and the writing.” —Reviewer 1, Gender, Place, and Culture
[…]
Title: Our Struggle is My Struggle: Solidarity Feminism as an Intersectional Reply to Neoliberal and Choice Feminism
Thesis: That feminism which foregrounds individual choice and responsibility and female agency and strength can be countered by a feminism which unifies in solidarity around the victimhood of the most marginalized women in society.
Purpose: To see if we could find “theory” to make anything grievance-related (in this case, part of Chapter 12 of Volume 1 of Mein Kampf with fashionable buzzwords switched in) acceptable to journals if we mixed and matched fashionable arguments.
Selected Reviewer Comments:
“This is an interesting paper seeking to further the aims of inclusive feminism by attending to the issue of allyship/solidarity.” Reviewer 1, Affilia …
Part VI: Discussion
[…]
Consider the fact that we were asked to review other papers no less than four times even though we had produced such evidence-free, absurd and morally objectionable papers. It would have been entirely possible for us to take part in this process of directing the production of knowledge within these fields further away from rigorous, reasonable and evidenced scholarship. We did not do that because it would have been unethical but scholars writing very similar papers completely sincerely will do so to the same effect. …
Part VIl: What Now?…
Worse, the problem of corrupt scholarship has already leaked heavily into other fields like education, social work, media, psychology, and sociology, among others—and it openly aims to continue spreading. This makes the problem a grave concern that’s rapidly undermining the legitimacy and reputations of universities, skewing politics, drowning out needed conversations, and pushing the culture war to ever more toxic and existential polarization. Further, it is affecting activism on behalf of women and racial and sexual minorities in a way which is counterproductive to equality aims by feeding into right-wing reactionary opposition to those equality objectives.
| — Hat tip: AF | [Return to headlines] |
The Grievance Studies Scandal: Five Academics Respond
From Foolish Talk to Evil Madness — Nathan Cofnas (Philosophy) …
Postmodernists pretend to be experts in what they call “theory.” They claim that, although their scholarship may seem incomprehensible, this is because they are like mathematicians or physicists: they express profound truths in a way that cannot be understood without training. Lindsay, Boghossian, and Pluckrose expose this for the lie that it is. “Theory” is not real. Postmodernists have no expertise and no profound understanding.
Critics of Sokal point out that his paper was never subjected to peer review, and they say it was unfair to expect the editors of Social Text to spot errors concerning math and science. This time there are no excuses. LBP’s papers were fully peer reviewed by leading journals. The postmodernist experts showed that they had no ability to distinguish scholarship grounded in “theory” from deliberate nonsense and faulty reasoning mixed in with hate directed at the disfavored race (white) and sex (“cis” male). …
The battle was lost long ago — Neema Parvini (English Studies) …
The news that these journals are nakedly ideological will not surprise many of those who work within the disciplines of the humanities in the modern academy. Now the ticking off of buzzwords seems to stand in for checking the quality of scholarship or the coherence of arguments. The battle was lost around 1991. Around that time the great historian of the Tudor period, G.R. Elton, had been fighting rear-guard action for the discipline he loved. He saw history in the tradition of Leopold von Ranke: a meticulous examination of the primary evidence and a refusal to allow present-day concerns or attitudes to colour the subject matter. But traditional history, like all other disciplines, came under attack. Elton fumed that the younger generation was on “the intellectual equivalent of crack”, addicted to the “cancerous radiation that comes from the foreheads of Derrida and Foucault”.1 But Elton lost the day to Hayden White who “deconstructed” history by complaining that: …
Barking in Academia — Rosalind Arden (Behavioral Genetics) …
The first is a battle with language. Readers are ill-served by opaque writing. Text can be hard-going because of its specialised content (such as string theory), or hard to decode because it has been written to sexily seduce the reader into slowly undressing the meaning (such as poetry, take, for example, the metaphysicals). But the shamed hoaxed journals too often host unintelligible waffle. Clear writing is not a matter of style; it’s a matter of clear thinking. The dog-park hoax paper, honoured by the journal as exemplary scholarship, contains gems like this: “Dog parks are microcosms where hegemonic masculinist norms governing queering behavior and compulsory heterosexuality can be observed in a cross-species environment.” It looks like a case of reviewers asleep at the wheel. …
Philosophy’s Carefully Guarded Secret — Neven Sesardic (Philosophy) …
Among all these submitted papers mixing “absurdities and morally fashionable political ideas” the project collaborators single out the article that was accepted by the journal Hypatia (A Journal of Feminist Philosophy) as their most important success. Indeed, kudos to them. Yet the reader should know that it is a carefully guarded secret in philosophy that feminist philosophy is often not characterized by intellectual rigor and high academic standards. (The secret is so well-guarded, though, that many philosophers do not dare to admit even to themselves to know it, let alone express it publicly.) So Hypatia was a logical and easy choice for the attempt to place a fake paper in one of the well-known philosophy journals. …
The Grievance University — Jonathan Anomaly (Philosophy, Politics, and Economics) …
The authors have pulled off a modern Sokal hoax. The sequel is rarely as good as the original, but in this case it was more comprehensive and more fun than Sokal’s mockery of postmodernist scholarship (a computer-generated version of which can be found here). The project exposes some of the cultish ideas shared by faculty who have created fake subjects and staffed their departments with political activists. Many faculty in these departments seem alarmingly eager to hijack for their own ends the emotional circuitry of teenagers who arrive on campus in search of a tribe to join and a dragon to slay.
If this were the extent of the problem, we could laugh it off as a strange new sport that occurs on college quads rather than in football stadiums. But it is much worse than this. The main problem is not the rise of trendy disciplines with names that end with the word “studies,” or the opportunity cost of spending taxpayer money on bogus scholarship and bad education rather than medical research and space exploration. The problem is that many students are required to take these classes as part of a “diversity” requirement at universities, and that when students graduate, these ideas influence leaders of corporations like Google, which can manipulate its search engine to alter elections and change our epistemic environment in subtle ways.
[See also:
Sokal affair
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sokal_affair
Sokal’s Hoax
physics.nyu.edu/sokal/weinberg.html
The Sokal Hoax
www.complete-review.com/reviews/sokala/theshoax.htm ]
| — Hat tip: AF | [Return to headlines] |
Twenty years ago I wrote a spoof postgraduate paper about men that wore black bin-liners that gathered in secret groups in London suburbia to share their interests. I was at Surrey University at the time. I used all the then proper buzzwords like “gate keepers”, “sub-group identity crisis”, “Group identification coagulate”, “exogamous outgroup markers” and a whole host of garbage academic speak I had seen in PhD theses passed to me for examination, so I cooked up my own parody.
I discussed how the groups of Black Binliner men were highly suspicious of me as an outsider and developed the theme from there. To my horror I was taken seriously and it took me time to convince the Department concerned that it was a spoof. I was studying Theology at the time, that indirectly led me to my now quite well known writings on Islam. So even all those years ago Academe was infiltrated by such idiocy. I was so tired of the Leftist nonsense I was supposed to read and believe, I left Academia and went freelance. Never regretted my decision. Today I know several academics of a traditional outlook terrified of being exposed as Rightwing and normal commonsense- so deep is the infection of Marxist thought. Exposure would lose them their career.
Google is no longer a conduit of news. Instead, it decides what we read. Congress needs to close it down.
heard nothing on the news about this.