Forty migrants were intercepted by UK authorities on Christmas Day while trying to cross the English Channel to Britain. The would-be immigrants were travelling in five separate boats, eight of them alighting at Folkestone in Kent.
In other news, a man who used a knife to hijack a bus in southeastern China ran over a group of pedestrians, killing eight of them and wounding dozens more.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to AF, Dean, Insubria, JD, Reader from Chicago, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.
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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.
Another 500 US Priests Suspected of Child Abuse
Latest cases in Illinois, where 185 had already been found
(ANSA) — Washington, December 19 — The Catholic Church in Illinois has been accused of covering up for sexual abuse perpetrated by 500 priests in six dioceses of the state. Some 185 other cases had previously been discovered. The Church stands accused of hiding some of these cases, conducting inadequate inquiries into others, never investigating them at all and/or not reporting the suspected abuse to the authorities. The investigation in Illinois started in August after a shocking report published in Pennsylvania, where at least 300 members of the clergy reportedly sexually abused over a thousand children.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Ginsburg’s Lung Cancer Surgery: Who Will Trump Nominate to Replace Her?
The press release from the Supreme Court on Friday was terse: “Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg underwent a pulmonary lobectomy today.… Two nodules in the lower lobe of her left lung were discovered incidentally during tests … to treat the fractures [she] sustained in a fall on November 7…. Currently, no further treatment is planned.”
Former TV host and conservative journalist Bill O’Reilly’s comment following that announcement was equally terse: “Justice Ginsburg is very ill. Another Justice appointment inevitable and soon. Bad news for the left.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
House Democrats Are Lining Up Behind What Could be the Largest Expansion of Government in Decades
Democrats are increasingly lining up to support a “Green New Deal,” which, while vague on details, could end up being the largest expansion of government in decades.
As it stands, the “Green New Deal” is more aspirational than actual policy. Indeed, it takes its name from the New Deal of the 1930s, and its main backer, incoming Democratic New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, compared it to the Great Society of the 1960s.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
How an Award-Winning Der Spiegel Reporter Invented a Story Mocking Small-Town America
Claas Relotius is a German journalist who just this year won a Reporter of the Year award in his home country. But today, Der Spiegel, the magazine where Relotius has worked for the past seven years, announced that he had admitted to more than a dozen instances of fraud after being confronted by another reporter. From the Guardian:…
| — Hat tip: AF | [Return to headlines] |
How a Former CIA Officer Was Caught Betraying His Country
Kevin Mallory was a down on his luck former clandestine case officer for the CIA when he was approached by a man the department of justice believes was a Chinese spy. Officials say Mallory was a prime target for recruitment. He was out of work, three months behind on his mortgage, and thousands of dollars in debt. But as the Chinese would discover, Kevin Mallory wasn’t exactly James Bond. The Department of Justice agreed to show us how they caught Mr. Mallory and why they believe his recruitment by China is part of a massive clandestine campaign to steal not just national security secrets from the U.S. government, but industrial and technological secrets from American companies.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
NASA Administrator: ‘There’s a Chance’ of Alien Life Out There, But it Hasn’t Visited Earth
WASHINGTON — NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said that extraterrestrial life might exist on another planet since there is “water throughout our entire solar system.”
NASA scientist Silvano P. Colombano recently said that alien life might have already visited earth. PJM asked Bridenstine if he agreed with Colombano’s statements.
“I don’t think extraterrestrial life has ever visited this planet, let’s start there. But here’s what I do know: I do know that since I’ve been the NASA administrator for eight months, a number of discoveries have been made. Number one, there are complex organic compounds on the surface of Mars — that’s an amazing discovery because of the Mars Curiosity rover that is currently there. It doesn’t guarantee that there’s life on Mars but it increases the probability — the building blocks of life are, in fact, there,” Bridenstine said during an interview at the National Cathedral prior to the recent Spirit of Apollo event held to celebrate the Apollo 8 mission.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Trump Overhauled the Way We Prevent Wildfires and the Media Totally Missed It
President Donald Trump moved forward with policies aimed at preventing catastrophic wildfires while the media breathlessly covered the government funding battle.
Trump issued an executive order Friday to allow for active management of forest and rangelands, including thinning and removing debris from millions of acres of federal lands.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Why the West Must Safeguard Free Speech
The freedom to express oneself without fear and the tolerance for opposing viewpoints are what binds otherwise diverse, democratic societies. In the United States, this freedom is protected by the Constitution, with only very specific limits, the key one of which was imposed in 1969, following a landmark Supreme Court ruling in the case of Brandenburg v. Ohio. According to that ruling, inflammatory speech cannot be penalized unless it is “directed to inciting or producing imminent lawless action and is likely to incite or produce such action.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Claas Relotius, born 1985 in Hamburg, is a German reporter working for DER SPIEGEL. He studied Journalism and Political Sciene in Hamburg, Bremen and Valencia. After graduating he reported as a freelance journalist from the United States, Asia and Latin America. His features were published in several European outlets. Since 2014 Relotius writes for DER SPIEGEL reporting from Guantanamo, Iraq and Turkey. He was awarded CNN
Journalist of the Year in 2014. In 2013 and 2016 he won the German reporter award in the category “Best story of the year”.
https://www.claasrelotius.com/
Claas Relotius won the 2017 European Press Prize Distinguished Writing Award with ‘The Story of Ahmed and Alin’
[See also:
Claas Relotius erhält den Konrad-Duden-Journalistenpreis 2018
http://lokaleblicke.nrw/blog/claas-relotius-erhaelt-den-konrad-duden-journalistenpreis-2018.html
Syrian Orphans Trapped in Turkey
By http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/refugees-syrian-orphans-toil-away-in-factories-in-turkey-a-1102610.html
A Syrian Family’s Quest to Become German
By http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/a-syrian-refugee-family-s-quest-to-become-german-a-1160939.html
Claas Relotius wins CNN Journalist Award for convict carers coverage
http://edition.cnn.com/2014/03/28/world/europe/claas-relotius-wins-cnn-journalist-award/index.html ]
| — Hat tip: AF | [Return to headlines] |
Der Spiegel Scandal: When the Right Hate is More Important Than the Right Facts
The German magazine Der Spiegel last week fired Claas Relotius, one of its star reporters, for fabricating sources and details in at least 14 articles and perhaps as many as 55. There was an unmistakable thread tying together Relotius’ tall tales: seething anti-Americanism.
In his downfall, we see the crisis of left-liberal journalism in microcosm: Animosity toward Red America too often trumps reporting the facts — a blind spot that leads astray the prestige press on both sides of the Atlantic.
Relotius’ embellished stories could plausibly be collected in a book-length portrait of the ugliness and violence of American life — that is, if they were true.
There was his award-winning “The Last Witness,” about an American woman who volunteers to watch the execution of death-row inmates (he made the whole thing up). There was “Number 440,” which Der Spiegel described as “the gripping account of a Yemenite wrongly imprisoned in Guantanamo” (it contained multiple fabrications).
| — Hat tip: AF | [Return to headlines] |
We interviewed Dutch MP and Party for Freedom leader Geert Wilders for Christmas. He tells us about his Christmas experiences and has a message of hope.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
[…]
His mistake was to pick on a small town in the age of the internet. The yokels were able to look up the article and compare his version of reality with their own. More important, they could go to a popular platform and post their reactions to his article, so the world could then compare his work to reality. Michele Anderson and Jake Krohn, who live in Fergus Falls, posted their analysis of the article on Medium. Eventually, it took over a year, Der Spiegel was forced to address the issue publicly. …
The amusing bit is the German media is rushing around looking puzzled, as to how the vaunted fact checking system could have failed. After all, the best people are in control of the media. How could the best people have made such basic errors? As is the case in America, whenever these things happen, the media hand-wringing is just a dodge. What really concerns them is how easy it was for two bumpkins from dirt country to sluice out the facts from the fiction in this particular article.
That’s always the thing with these scandals. The media big shots always come off as if they have been insulted about their shenanigans being revealed. In this case, the other major media outfits are rallying to defend Der Spiegel. In the dreaded private sector, competitors are always quick to take advantage of the mistakes of a competitor. In the main stream media, the opposite is always true. They circle the wagons and begin lecturing the hoi polloi about the dangers of questioning the media.
That is the real cause of these scandals. For a long time, the mass media in the West has been a mono-culture. You can’t have a career in the media if you don’t hold all the right opinions. To call the media an echo chamber for the left is to understate the problem. The better analogy is a school of fish. Each individual just reacts to those around him, given the effect of the school having agency as a whole. What looks like collusion is just the result of a uniformity of mind, experience and social class.
| — Hat tip: AF | [Return to headlines] |
German Fake News Journo Accused of Embezzling Money Meant for Syrian Orphans
Former Der Spiegel star journalist Claas Relotius, who was exposed for inventing facts and interviews in his stories for years, has now been accused of embezzling money allegedly meant for Syrian orphans in Turkey.
Mr Relotius allegedly took donations from readers following the publication of his article “Königskinder,” which was published in July 2016, to a personal bank account. According to Turkish photographer Emin Özmen, much of the article contained fabrications and lies, Der Spiegel reports.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
How Europe’s Patriotic Leaders Wish People a Merry Christmas
Funny footage, attention for people who suffer and yellow vests: Europe’s right-wing leaders had different ways of wishing everyone a merry Christmas.
Dutch MP Geert Wilders wished the people a merry Christmas with some funny video footage. Wilders, who is starring, brings a Christmas tree from the North Pole to the Netherlands. Pretty funny and creative. “I wish everybody a wonderful Christmas,” he says at the end of the video.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Man Owed Money by State Sees Firm’s Seizure Stopped
Di Maio, Salvini showed solidarity with Sergio Bramini
(ANSA) — Brescia, December 24 — A Monza businessman who went bankrupt but was still owed four million euros by the Italin State on Monday saw a bankruptcy court stop his firm and other assets being seized.
The Brescia court ruled in favour of Sergio Bramini saying “the seizure of assets subject to liquidation on the part of creditors cannot be initiated or continued”.
The court thus accepted Bramini’s request for liquidation.
The businessman had received solidarity visits from deputy premiers Luigi Di Maio and Matteo Salvini.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Salvini FB Post Threat Judge Gets Escort
Acquitted youths who threw rocks at League leader
(ANSA) — Florence, December 20 — A Lucca judge who received threats after a Facebook post by Interior Minister Matteo Salvini criticising his acquittal of 26 young men accused of attacking the League leader at a 2015 rally was given a police escort on Thursday.
The Lucca public order and safety committee found that the judge, Gerardo Boragine, had been “subjected to heavy insults and grave threats”.
In his post, Salvini said “evidently, attacking and throwing rocks is not a crime for some people. Long live Italian justice.
I’m forging ahead”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Orban: Europe Successful Only if it Remains European
Europe will be stable and successful only if it remains European, Prime Minister Viktor Orban said in an interview with Austrian news portal oe24.at published on Sunday.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Pope Francis Criticises Nationalism and Suggests People Should Embrace Diversity
In his traditional Christmas speech, Pope Francis criticised nationalism and called cultural differences a “source of richness”.
Speaking about increasing nationalism in the Western world as a result of migration from North Africa and the Middle East the spiritual leader said:
“Our differences are not a detriment or a danger; they are a source of richness. As when an artist is about to make a mosaic: it is better to have tiles of many colours available, rather than just a few,” the Pope told a large audience in the Vatican.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Swedish Police Treating Christmas Day Explosion as Attempted Murder
Police are treating the bombing of a residential building in Anderstorp in southern Sweden as attempted murder.
The explosion occurred at around six o’clock in the morning outside of the building. with police being alerted to the incident at 6:04 am and arriving and securing the scene at 7:30 am.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
The Case Claas Relotius: A Nightmare
[…]
Anyone can easily create such an e-mail address. Moreno arrives in Hamburg on Monday, December 10, to explain the case to Fichtner from his point of view. On Tuesday, Relotius launches on Facebook a fake profile of a man named Chris Jaeger, the fictional militiaman, with photos that fit in Relotius’ version. It supports his story. He sends a link to the colleagues in the department. Only the profile disappears again soon. When exactly is unclear.
Relotius’ closest confidant in the department is deputy director Özlem Gezer, only 37 years of age. The Facebook account gets you on the track. In the night from Wednesday to Thursday last week at 0.16 clock she sends a WhatsApp message to Relotius: “I’ll come now, and you’ll come out.”
She takes a DriveNow car, drives to his apartment, calls, he comes down. It’s 1 o’clock, they’re in the car, they talk until just after four o’clock. Then Gezer sends a WhatsApp to Fichtner and Geyer: “It’s worse than any nightmare.”
A few hours later, the IT colleague opens the mail that Relotius Fichtner and Geyer had shown on his cell phone. He notes: She had been manipulated shortly before the conversation with the two. Moreno had obtained from his contacts the alleged original. And Moreno’s version is real.
In the afternoon Relotius comes home to Fichtner, Geyer and Gezer are also there. Relotius admits to having largely invented “Jaeger’s Border”. And he admits to manipulating or inventing several other stories. Of course, you can not believe the information without looking, even if it is a confession. The research continues, with some articles, the situation until Wednesday this week is clear enough. At 12.30 pm the SPIEGEL employees hear from a series of editors what happened. You will find out in the large atrium of the SPIEGEL building, where Rudolf Augstein’s motto for the editors hangs on the wall: “Say what is.”
| — Hat tip: AF | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Pictures: Royals Walk Out for Christmas Day Church Service
Members of the Royal Family including Queen Elizabeth II and new addition Meghan, Duchess of Sussex were cheered on by a crowd of well-wishers as they arrived for a Christmas day Church service in Sandringham, Norfolk.
The Royal Family traditionally spend Christmas in Sandringham, the private home of the Queen and not a Royal palace like the better known Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle. A crowd of 4,000 turned out to cheer and applaud as the Royals arrived for Church on Christmas morning, reports the Daily Telegraph.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Will “No Deal” Brexit Cause “Horrible Chaos” As Globalist Elites Claim?
British Prime Minister Theresa May has wasted the better part of two years in pointless “negotiations” with EU officials who let it be known from the start that they were unwilling to yield on any of the important points that May claimed to be negotiating. Now, with less than 100 days left until the March 29 deadline that May imposed, she insists that she will still be negotiating for better terms during the Christmas break. She also is, she says, cranking up emergency preparations for a “no deal exit,” in case she fails to win the concessions from the EU that will help her win approval from Parliament for her fake Brexit deal in January. Miracles do happen, but it is highly unlikely that the Almighty will bless her with one for her deceptive and ill-conceived agreement.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
One of the female Scandanavian hiker victims who was raped and murdered by Islamic State supporters in Morocco previously posted a video on her Facebook page showing a bearded Muslim man urging people to “never judge people by their appearance.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Hundreds of Syrians Celebrate Christmas in Aleppo in Scenes Not Seen Since Before the War
Syrians by the hundreds were out celebrating Christmas in Aleppo in scenes not seen since before the the years of warfare.
Since the Syrian government forces and their allies liberated Aleppo from the four and a half years of war ended just days prior to Christmas in 2016 the Christian holiday holds more significance.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
5 Killed, 21 Injured in China as Hijacked Bus Crashes Into Pedestrians
Beijing: At least five persons, including a policeman, were killed and 21 others injured Tuesday when a hijacked bus crashed into pedestrians after a knife-wielding man attacked its driver in southeastern China’s Fujian Province. The incident happened in Longyan, Fujian province, state-run agency reported. It said the bus was hijacked.
Five people were killed and 21 others injured after the bus which had been hijacked crashed into pedestrians on the street Tuesday afternoon, media reported, quoting local authorities.
A suspect, who had a knife, has been detained and an investigation is underway. The attacker was not identified by the police.
Photographs shared online showed people lying injured on the ground, while video footage appeared to show the suspect being detained.
| — Hat tip: Dean | [Return to headlines] |
North Korea, South Korea Hold Groundbreaking Ceremony for Railway Project
South Korean officials attended a groundbreaking ceremony Wednesday on a project meant to modernize North Korea’s railways and roads to connect them with the South.
The event at the North Korean border town of Kaesong is one of a number of peace gestures agreed between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and liberal South Korean President Moon Jae-in as they push ahead with engagement amid a stalemate in larger nuclear negotiations between Washington and Pyongyang.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
40 Migrants Head to UK on Christmas Day Dash Across English Channel
Forty migrants were picked up in the English Channel in five separate incidents on Christmas day, believed to be the highest number of illegals and boats intercepted in one day.
The first vessel was spotted at 2:40am local time after a boat containing eight migrants alighted in Folkestone, reports the BBC.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Christmas Gift From ICE: More Murderers Deported
Deporting illegal-alien criminals is like bailing out a boat with a hole in the bottom. They pour in as fast as Immigration and Customs Enforcement removes them.
But at least ICE hasn’t given up. Consider 37 of the latest deportations an early Christmas gift from the federal agency.
Last week, the agency removed 36 illegal Cambodians out of the more than 1,500 still in the country. Two were convicted murderers. ICE also removed a Mexican murderer.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Patriotic Countries That Rejected the UN’s Global Governance of Migration in 2018
2018 was the year that the United Nations made it first attempt at the global governance of migration — a move rejected by patriotic countries like the United States, Hungary, Israel, and Australia.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Scotland Demands UK Open the Borders So Migrants Can Spend Christmas With Family
Britain must axe “cruel” rules restricting chain migration so that families won’t be separated at Christmas, the Scottish government has claimed, demanding Westminster grant Holyrood powers to throw open the border.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Spanish Police Search for Migrant in Connection With Christmas Terror Threat
Authorities in Barcelona have been placed on high alert after receiving information on a potential planned terror attack and began a search for a Moroccan migrant believed to be connected to the threat.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Syrian Women to EU: “Kick Our Men Out, Send Them Home”
Nation’s women demand men return to rebuild country
Women in Syria are demanding the EU to “kick out” their men so they can return to rebuild the country.
Due to the war, Syria now houses more young women than men, according to Swedish reporter Johan-Mathias Sommarström who spoke to locals in Damascus.
“The solution is to kick them out [of Europe] and get them to Syria where they can start building the country,” said a woman. “The really young generation is still there and the old one, but the young men have died or left Syria.”
The demographic shift has led women to enter professions traditionally dominated by men.
“Previously, it was not accepted for women to work in certain areas, but now society is forced to accept it and I think that is good,” said another woman. “In the future, you will see women who repair cars because women have to take traditional men’s jobs to be able to support their families.”
Conversely, the rising female workforce drew concern from other citizens.
“I think it’s bad,” said a female university graduate. “This type of work is not suitable for women.”
Furthermore, about 70% of the people Sommarström encountered were “young women.”
“Before the war, just over four percent of households in Syria were economically led by women, now the figure is just over 22 percent,” reports Sommarström.
Sommarström’s observations appear to be in-line with Infowars.com reports stating that the vast majority of migrants entering the EU are military-aged men.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Hungary was a loser in the 20th century but it is determined to be a winner in the 21st, Prime Minister Viktor Orban said in a Christmas interview published in daily Magyar Idok on Monday.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Actor Dominic West Wants the Next James Bond to be Transgender
Actor Dominic West insisted in a recent interview with theSunday Times that the next James Bond movie should star a transgender actor in the role of the famed master spy 007.
As West virtue signaled over the weekend saying that he thinks the next James Bond star should be a transgender actor, he also said he thinks he knows who the person to play the role should be.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Good Food + Good Morals = Good Business: Boycotted Chick-Fil-a Crows in Triumph
Despite being targeted by activists for destruction, it’s Chick-fil-A that now has the reason to crow:
It’s poised to leapfrog a few major competitors to become our nation’s number-three fast-food chain in terms of sales, remaining behind only McDonald’s and Starbucks. The kicker is that it does this being open only six days a week; Christian-owned, every franchise is closed Sundays.
Famous for its chicken sandwiches (where’s the beef? Not at Chick-fil-A) and for being a traditionalist company that wouldn’t chicken out of the culture wars, the chain has been flipped the bird by leftist activists.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |