Gates of Vienna News Feed 1/24/2019

A Nigerian immigrant in Italy was almost lynched by an angry crowd of Italian citizens. The unfortunate culture-enricher was alleged to have dragged an Italian woman into an alley in an attempt to rape her.

In other news, the Abu Ubaydah Islamic Centre in Toronto has started a petition asking municipal authorities to set up prayer spaces at Toronto subway stations.

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

Thanks to AF, Dora, Insubria, Reader from Chicago, SS, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.

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

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

Financial Crisis
» Applications for US Unemployment Aid Fall to 49-Year Low
 
USA
» BuzzFeed is Cutting 15% of Its Staff
» Downgrading Harry Hopkins: From Spy to Dupe
» Emergency Declared Near Portland for Measles Outbreak in Anti-Vaccine Hotspot
» Google Donates $3.1 Million to Wikipedia Despite Misinformation Controversies
» Man Charged With ISIS-Related Threats at Lafayette Admitted to Firebombing Car in Canada, Court Records Say
» Newly Surfaced Video Shows Nathan Phillips Explicitly Claimed He’s a ‘Vietnam Vet’
» NY Times Runs Defense for Black Anti-Semitic Hate Group
» PewDiePie Chides Mainstream Media: “This is Why They’re So Salty”
» Trump Nominates 51 Judges at Once, Enough to Fill One-Third of All Court Vacancies
» US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo Praised Nationalism in Davos: “New Winds Are Blowing Across the World”
» What We Know: U.S. Case Against Three Lansing Men Arrested for Supporting ISIS
» Yeah, The Covington Kids Have a Case
 
Canada
» Islamic Centre Urges City of Toronto to Create Prayer Spaces in Subway Stations
 
Europe and the EU
» Dream Europe of the People, For the People — Conte at Davos
» EU Can’t be Franco-German Led — Tajani
» EU Warning: Italian Prime Minister Fears ‘EU Will Collapse’ Unless Merkel Has Solution
» France: Marion Maréchal-Le Pen Compares Yellow Vests to Brexiteers
» French Waitress Disarms Gun-Wielding Migrant Who Shouted ‘Allahu Akbar’
» German Intelligence Used Antifa ‘Research’ To Build Case Against Populists
» Italian Convert to Islam Arrested for Instigating Jihad
» Italy: Foreign Fighter Gets Six Years in Absentia
» Italy: Hand Over Our Fugitives Salvini Tells Macron
» Italy: Pregnant Woman Raped by 2 Men
» Italy: Migrant Narrowly Avoids Lynching After Alleged Alleyway Rape Attempt
» Rapid Spread of African Swine Fever in Europe — Several Countries Consider Border Wall to Keep the Disease at Bay
» Salvini Blasts EU High Representative Mogherini: She ‘Forgot How to be Italian’
» UK: Govt Remainers Move to Kill No Deal Brexit, Minister Dares PM to Sack Him
» UK: Khan’s London: Manhunt After ‘Axeman’ Chases Shoppers Through Supermarket
» UK: Prepare for Brexit No Deal ‘Lockdown’, Kent Schools Told as Chaos Predicted
» UN Seat for EU Not Single Country Conte Tells France
 
Middle East
» For Islamic Iran, It’s Hunting Season— Again
 
South Asia
» Greenpeace Ditched Its Old Ship on a Bangladeshi Beach
» ‘Would Have Eliminated Terrorists Had They Crossed Up Border’: UP CM Yogi Adityanath on Arrested ISIS Suspects
 
Far East
» China, Russia Building Super-EMP Bombs for ‘Blackout Warfare’
» Opposing China’s Dangerous Ambitions
 
Australia — Pacific
» New $40million ‘School of the Future’ With No Year Levels and ‘Campfires’ Instead of Classrooms is Set to Open in Australia — But Not Everyone is Convinced by the Modern Concept
» ‘People Were Calling Me Gypsy Scum’: British Tourists Crash Their Seven-Seat Car Before Erupting Into a Blazing Family Argument — Hours After One of Their Clan, 26, Was Charged With Assault
 
Latin America
» The Latest: US Orders Some Diplomats Out of Venezuela
» Venezuelan Migrants Surge Into Colombia as Political Crisis Deepens
 
Immigration
» Britain and France Agree £6 Million Plan to Deter Migrant Boats Making Channel Crossings
» Hardline Italian Minister Faces Trial Over Blocked Migrants
» Here, The People Govern, But Who Are They?
» Italian Secret Service: People-Smugglers May Arrange Mass Drowning for Public Sympathy
» Italy Lashes Out at EU Over Migrant Chaos — ‘Change the Rules of STOP’
» Italy Refuses to Accept Migrants on NGO Rescue Boat, Says it Should Go to France Instead
» Pope Francis: Fear of Migrants is ‘Making us Crazy’
 
Culture Wars
» Bishop Blasts NY Abortion Law as Andrew Cuomo’s ‘Death Star’
» Hayward: Trump Fights the Covington Culture War After Passive Conservatives Surrender
» Rabbi: Media Attacks on MAGA Boys Motivated by ‘Anti-Christianism’
» That Face: The Urge to Smash a Teenager’s Face Represents a New Iconoclasm Against Masculinity.
 

Applications for US Unemployment Aid Fall to 49-Year Low

WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of people seeking jobless benefits dropped last week to the lowest level since November 1969, a sign the job market remains strong despite the partial government shutdown, now in its fifth week.

The Labor Department said Thursday that weekly applications for unemployment aid declined 13,000 to a seasonally adjusted 199,000. The four-week average, a less volatile figure, dropped 5,500 to 215,000.

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

BuzzFeed is Cutting 15% of Its Staff

BuzzFeed is cutting 15% of its staff, CEO Jonah Peretti said in a memo sent to employees Wednesday.

The digital publisher is laying off the employees in order to get its costs in line with revenue, and the cuts will happen next week, Peretti said. The layoffs could affect 250 employees, people familiar with the matter told The Wall Street Journal, which was the first to report the news.

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

Downgrading Harry Hopkins: From Spy to Dupe

by Diana West

Ordinarily, I wouldn’t make more than a mental note; however, the “evolution,” as they say, of historian and professor Paul Kengor’s verdict on pro-Soviet, FDR adviser Harry Hopkins seems worth marking.

On a recent Sunday, Kengor joined Mark Levin on his Fox News show “Life, Liberty & Levin” to discuss actual Russian influence over the life of this nation.

As the author of “The Communist,” a book about Obama’s communist mentor Frank Marshall Davis, and “Dupes,” a chronicle of communist manipulation, Kengor certainly makes a knowledgeable guest for any such interview, even if one mere hour of TV can do little more than skim the surface of the dark, deep subject. Indeed, the pair spent much of the show discussing just one treacherous “collusion” in 1983 between Sen. Ted Kennedy, the KGB, and Soviet dictator Yuri Andropov.

Turning to earlier history, Alger Hiss, too, came under discussion, along with a light sprinkling of names from among the 500 known (many remain unknown) Soviet agents and agents of influence functioning in and around the halls of power in Washington, D.C. by the time of World War II.

           — Hat tip: AF [Return to headlines]
 

Emergency Declared Near Portland for Measles Outbreak in Anti-Vaccine Hotspot

Health officials in Clark County, Washington, have declared a public health emergency for a measles outbreak in an area with a high rate of unvaccinated children.

As of Tuesday January 22, officials tallied 23 confirmed cases in the county, which is just north of Portland, Oregon. The case count rose rapidly, more than doubling since last week, and will likely continue to rise amid low vaccination levels in the area.

Nearly eight percent of children in Clark County were exempt from standard vaccination for the 2017-2018 school year, according to state records reported by TheWashington Post. Breaking down that eight percent, about seven percent of kids had personal or religious exemptions, and the remaining one percent or so had medical exemptions. Factoring in the rest of the population, the county is below the 92-percent to 94-percent range some experts consider required to prevent the spread of highly contagious diseases such as measles.

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

Google Donates $3.1 Million to Wikipedia Despite Misinformation Controversies

Google is donating over $3 million to Wikipedia parent company Wikimedia as part of a new partnership between the two companies, despite several controversies in 2018 surrounding misinformation in Google search results taken from Wikipedia.

           — Hat tip: AF [Return to headlines]
 

Man Charged With ISIS-Related Threats at Lafayette Admitted to Firebombing Car in Canada, Court Records Say

The Alaska man charged with spreading panic across the Lafayette College campus after sending bogus emails about a terror plot admitted to federal investigators that he firebombed a car in Canada, according to court documents.

The documents filed Jan. 22 in federal court say Gavin Casdorph also admitted he traveled to Canada to kill two people, that he made internet threats against Carelton College in Canada and threatened the Ottawa, Canada, police. The documents say he did not carry out his murder plot in Canada but once there he used gasoline and two propane bottles to firebomb a car belonging to one of the targets.

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

Newly Surfaced Video Shows Nathan Phillips Explicitly Claimed He’s a ‘Vietnam Vet’

Newly surfaced video shows Native American activist Nathan Phillips explicitly claimed he was a “Vietnam Vet” — not merely a “Vietnam times veteran” or a “Vietnam veteran times” as he’s stated in the past.

In a video Phillips shared to his Facebook page on January 3, 2018, he stated plainly, “I’m a Vietnam Vet.”

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

NY Times Runs Defense for Black Anti-Semitic Hate Group

The New York Times is running defense for the Black Israelites, the anti-Semitic hate group that abused the Covington High School students.

In an article entitled Hebrew Israelites See Divine Intervention in Lincoln Memorial Confrontation, the paper completely ignores the fact that the group called the Covington kids “white crackers,” “faggots,” incest kids” while also labeling them future school shooters and telling an African-American student that they would harvest his organs.

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

PewDiePie Chides Mainstream Media: “This is Why They’re So Salty”

YouTuber PewDiePie chided the mainstream media by pointing out that his own news show — PewNews — completely crushes the competition, commenting, “This is why they’re so God damn salty.”

PewDiePie, real name Felix Kjellberg, responded to a meme which read, “When Felix realize that PewNews has more viewers than Vox which makes PewNews a mainstream media.”

“I mean I already knew this, this is why they’re so God damn salty,” said Kjellberg, before joking, “PewNews is the most respected news source out there — and I can actually say that.”

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

Trump Nominates 51 Judges at Once, Enough to Fill One-Third of All Court Vacancies

In a sweeping move to further influence federal courts with conservative picks, President Trump on Wednesday renominated 51 judges who saw no action in the last Congress.

The list showed 37 nominees to district courts, nine to circuit courts, two each to the International Trade and Federal Claims courts, and one to the Military Commission Review.

One, Naomi Rao, was picked to replace the opening left when federal appeals court Judge Brett Kavanaugh won a seat on the Supreme Court.

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

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo Praised Nationalism in Davos: “New Winds Are Blowing Across the World”

Grounded in Washington by the government shutdown, Michael Pompeo delivered a Trump-style speech by video to the Davos summit.

He breezed into the sanctum sanctorum of globalism to warn that multinational pillars of the old order should be allowed to die unless they raise their game.

Singing paeans to the resurgent nation state, he told the world leaders at the World Economic Forumthat the populist revolt of the last two years has been a force for good.

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

What We Know: U.S. Case Against Three Lansing Men Arrested for Supporting ISIS

LANSING — More than two years of investigation using Facebook and undercover agents led to Monday’s arrest of three Lansing men, who are now charged with conspiring to provide “material support” to an Islamic State group.

Muse Abdikadir Muse, Mohamud Abdikadir Muse and Mohamed Salat Haji were arrested Monday at Gerald R. Ford International Airport in Grand Rapids by members of the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force federal records show. They face up to 20 years in prison.

But who are they, how did the FBI find them and what did investigators find that led to their arrest?

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

Yeah, The Covington Kids Have a Case

by Kurt Schlichter

As a lawyer, one of my most important jobs is telling people “No,” as in “No, you got shafted and lied about by scummy people but you have no remedy in the courthouse.” I tell that to a lot of people all the time. It makes them sad, but my destiny was never to bring joy but to bring pain. The hard fact is that you don’t want to get into any lawsuit if you can help it, and you especially don’t want to get into one that you can’t win. And when it comes to lawsuits over damage to your reputation, you mostly can’t win.

Before we go further, I’m not your lawyer. Do not take this as legal advice. If you think you have a case, you go talk to a lawyer licensed in your state and ask him, her or xim about it. Now proceed…

You mostly can’t win because of our First Amendment and how we lean over backwards to let people speak their minds — well, we do, and the courts do, even if institutions run exclusively by liberals (such as academia) don’t. Remember the “Clock Boy” case? He sued Ben Shapiro for defamation, lost because we can still express our opinions in America even if people don’t like them, and ended up with a big judgment against him (I was one of the lawyers on Ben’s legal team). But then there are some cases, like the one that drove a stake through Gawker’s shriveled heart, and the one by the defamed frat boys of UVA against Rolling Stone. I’ve won big libel recoveries for plaintiffs, so it happens. It’s just rare, because it’s the hardest kind of civil lawsuit. And it should be.

So, can the Covington Kids sue? The short answer — yes.

Well, that’s actually not much of an answer, because as Eugene Grace, the guy who taught me how to try a case, used to say, “To sue someone all you need is a filing fee and a typewriter.” I’m that old. Anyway, the problem is getting up to the point where the jury finds for the plaintiff…and then getting the appellate court to uphold it.

The first question is who do you sue? Nathan Phillips? I’m guessing he’s not a particularly deep pocket. Plus, he’s just another fringie activist guy. People are annoyed with him now; you sue him and you look like you are picking on a sad old man.

Sue Twitter, for letting those poisonous lies proliferate? That’s challenging, for several reasons. But while it is awful in many situations, here its role was mostly as a forum. A forum for garbage, but a forum nonetheless. Yeah, the hypocrisy of allowing liberal blue checks to spread their murder fantasies unimpeded while banning conservatives for innocuous comments is galling, that’s not the real issue here.

The real issue is the whipping up of a bloodthirsty frenzy against these kids based on what people knew were lies. That means the media and the Twitter blue check sociopaths who ginned up this frenzy. But this claim fits uneasily into the legal framework we have today, which is one that predates social media mobbing.

Traditional libel is a written derogatory statement of fact that is false and causes damage. There are lots of bells and whistles about it (public figures have different rules than regular folks — this is one situation where the famous have a disadvantage compared to Normals) but those are the basic elements. But does that work here?

[…]

And damage is an issue too. Traditionally, except in certain cases, you have to show a monetary loss. But how do you do that for teenager crucified on the web?

There may be ways to fit the facts of this social media lynch mob inside the traditional libel framework, but is this really even libel as we knew it before the web? You print a newspaper article falsely saying Joe Schmoe is a drug addict and people talk and that’s bad, but this is calculated, weaponized lying using deceptively edited video designed to destroy any future these kids might have. In 50 years that poor dude who had the “recon ranger” drumming in his face will still have these garbage lies come up when someone searches his name.

Do we as a society want to countenance people ignoring contrary evidence that is readily available to them to destroy the lives of kids to fulfill their creepy agendas? What happened here is more than just libel (though I think it is libel). It’s also a mixture of invasion of privacy and probably a civil rights violation in terms of them being targeted for their race, their religion, and the political expression manifested by their headgear.

[…]

It’s a new age. It’s brought forth new atrocities. We need to decide as a society whether we are going to accept this dreadful phenomenon or stamp it out by making the perpetrators pay. If the old legal framework cannot right this wrong, then we need to create a new legal framework that will. And you do that by suing the hell out of them.[…]

[See URL for links and further reading in this essay

           — Hat tip: Dora [Return to headlines]
 

Islamic Centre Urges City of Toronto to Create Prayer Spaces in Subway Stations

Abu Ubaydah Islamic Centre in Toronto has initiated a petition calling on the authorities to create prayer spaces in Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) subway stations.

Here is the text of the petition:

In the name of thy Lord, Most Gracious, Most Merciful

This petition is to Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) to create prayer spaces in subway facilities like those that already exists in Tokyo or other cities around the world…

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

Dream Europe of the People, For the People — Conte at Davos

EU project being called into question Italy PM tells WEF

(ANSA) — Rome, January 23 — Premier Giuseppe Conte told the World Economic Forum in Davos Wednesday that “we need a new humanism”, a “radically new” vision of politics which “focuses on human beings, families, and communities.

“This is the Europe we are dreaming of. A Europe of the people, made by the people and for the people”.

Conte earlier voiced confidence the government will last the full five years.

Speaking to Bloomberg TV in Davos, he said “we are a strong coalition and the 5-Star Movement and the League have a great sense of responsibility.

“We are working strenuously, there is a united spirit and I am very confident we can last five years”.

Conte also ruled out any change to the make-up of the government.

Addressing the WEF later, Conte said “there is a key word around which we have built our political vision and (government) activity, and that word is ‘THE PEOPLE’.

He recited in Italian the part of the Constitution that says sovereignty belongs to the people.

“We must give a response to all this”, he said.

Conte said that “we need a new humanism”, a “radically new” vision of politics which “focuses on human beings, families, and communities.

“This is the Europe we are dreaming of. A Europe of the people, made by the people and for the people”.

Conte told the WEF that “European public opinion has for years considered the ‘European project’ as the instrument to tackle these challenges and protect from their negative impact” but today “it is calling into question its validity and credibility”.

The reality of the euro created growing public debt, and budget frugality slowed GDP growth, Conte said.

Italians have been “patient” with the EU for many years, trusting to European political and technical institutions, Conte said.

Conte added that he did not see any State intervention in the banking sector and the exposure to derivatives was “very low”.

For troubled Genoa lender Carige, he said a capital hike and a merger with another bank was “more likely”.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

EU Can’t be Franco-German Led — Tajani

Italy must have a role, but is govt able?

(ANSA) — Venice, January 24 — Europe can’t be led by Germany and France, European Parliament President Antonio Tajani said Thursday.

“Italy must play a role, we must see if the government is able to do so,” said Tajani, also vice president of Silvio Berlusconi’s centre-right Forza Italia (FI) party.

“We need a strong Italy, not violent and chatty, but a point of reference for southern Europe.

“It’s no use complaining, you have to act”.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

EU Warning: Italian Prime Minister Fears ‘EU Will Collapse’ Unless Merkel Has Solution

ITALIAN Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte urged Angela Merkel to come up with a common solution to the European migration crisis or face the consequences of a “collapse” of the Brussels bloc.

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

France: Marion Maréchal-Le Pen Compares Yellow Vests to Brexiteers

Populist firebrand and niece of Rassemblement National (National Rally) leader Marine Le Pen, Marion Maréchal, compared the French Gilets Jaunes (Yellow Vests) protestors to supporters of Britain leaving the European Union.

The former French MP spoke to a packed crowd of 500 people at the prestigious Oxford Union earlier this week and made a 20-minute speech calling for the formation of a new “elite” who understand the needs of regular people, saying politicians need to “reconnect with the people,” La Libre reports.

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

French Waitress Disarms Gun-Wielding Migrant Who Shouted ‘Allahu Akbar’

A waitress in the French city of Montpellier was able to disarm a 43-year-old Moroccan migrant armed with a pistol after he threatened patrons of the restaurant in which she worked.

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

German Intelligence Used Antifa ‘Research’ To Build Case Against Populists

The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) have been accused of relying on information from the far-left extremist Antifa movement to build their case for surveilling the populist Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.

The BfV, Germany’s domestic intelligence service, used Antifa sources and information at least six times in its analysis of the youth wing of the AfD, the Junge Alternative (JA), Süddeutsche Zeitung reports.

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

Italian Convert to Islam Arrested for Instigating Jihad

Man allegedly used social media to spread extremist propaganda

(ANSA) — Catania, January 23 — Police in the Sicilian city of Catania on Wednesday arrested an Italian convert to Islam for allegedly instigating people to join terrorist groups, sources said. The man, a 32-year-old Catania native with a criminal record, allegedly used social media to spread extremist propaganda after becoming a Muslim in 2011, according to investigations. He has been taken to jail, the sources said.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Foreign Fighter Gets Six Years in Absentia

In Brescia

(ANSA) — Brescia, January 23 — A Moroccan-Italian ISIS foreign fighter got six years in jail in absentia on Wednesday.

Anas El Abboubi, 23, a Moroccan who grew up near Brescia, had been arrested in the summer of 2013 for apology of terrorism and then released for lack of evidence.

He went on to leave for Syria where he disappeared.

He is formally an international fugitive although his family says he died fighting.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Hand Over Our Fugitives Salvini Tells Macron

France says no request made for 14 wanted people

(ANSA) — Rome, January 23 — Deputy Premier and Interior Minister Matteo Salvini on Wednesday called on French President Emmanuel Macron to take action to hand over Italian fugitives living in France.

The government has said it is out to bring more terrorists to justice after the recent return from South America of Cesare Battisti, a former leftwing terrorist who is now serving a life sentence for four murders after 37 years as a fugitive. There are reportedly 14 fugitives accused of crimes from Italy’s ‘years of lead’ of political violence in the 1970s and 80s who have been tracked down to France.

The justice ministry said extradition requests had been sent to France for all those fugitives, contradicting French Justice Minister Nicole Belloubet who had said earlier in the day that no such requests had yet been made.

“I have read that Battisti is complaining. Oh, the poor killer,” said League leader Salvini.

“He should have dignity and apologise to those whose family members he took away.

“He should have the good taste to be silent. He should have thought before he shot.

“We’ll ask the French president to do what (Brazilian President Jair) Bolsonaro did, and I thank him again.

“I’d like the French president and the French government to show that same good sense… we await a signal of good will”.

Earlier on Wednesday, French Justice Minister Nicole Belloubet told France Inter that was it was “possible” that there were 14 Italian terrorist fugitives in France. But the minister added that no extradition requests had been received “yet”.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Pregnant Woman Raped by 2 Men

In Reggio Emilia

(ANSA) — Reggio Emilia, January 24 — A 23-year-old Italian woman was raped by two men in Reggio Emilia in September, the Resto del Carlino newspaper reported Thursday.

One of the two was a 45-year-old Moroccan who was arrested Wednesday, it said.

The woman, who has since given birth, is still being treated for post-traumatic stress.

The identity of the second man is unknown.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Migrant Narrowly Avoids Lynching After Alleged Alleyway Rape Attempt

A Nigerian migrant narrowly avoided being lynched by an angry mob of Italians after attempting to drag a local woman into an alley in an attempt to rape her.

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

Rapid Spread of African Swine Fever in Europe — Several Countries Consider Border Wall to Keep the Disease at Bay

As African swine fever spreads, European countries are afraid of the damage that could be caused to their farming sectors.

The deadly disease — which causes internal bleeding and hemorrhages in pigs — is moving quickly through Eastern Europe, typically through wild boar, which travel long distances and can infect domestic pigs being bred on commercial farms.

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

Salvini Blasts EU High Representative Mogherini: She ‘Forgot How to be Italian’

Populist Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini blasted EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini following a threat to shut down the Italy-led Operation Sophia in the Mediterranean.

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

UK: Govt Remainers Move to Kill No Deal Brexit, Minister Dares PM to Sack Him

Government Remainers are moving to squash any chance of a clean, No Deal Brexit from the European Union, with the one minister openly denouncing it as a “total disaster” and inviting the Prime Minister to sack him if she doesn’t like it.

Home Secretary Amber Rudd, the sister of “People’s Vote” campaign chief Roland Rudd who barely clung on to her Leave-voting constituency in the 2017 snap election, appears to be fronting the insurrection, taking to the broadcast media to declare she is “committed to making sure we avoid” a clean Brexit, wants MPs to get a free vote on blocking it, and will not rule out resigning if it is pursued.

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

UK: Khan’s London: Manhunt After ‘Axeman’ Chases Shoppers Through Supermarket

Police are searching for a half-masked “axeman” who rampaged through a Tesco in south London, chasing terrified customers as they fled the store.

Security footage of the incident, shared more than six thousand times on social media, shows around 10 people running away down a corridor before the suspect bursts through a pair of doors, swinging the “axe”.

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

UK: Prepare for Brexit No Deal ‘Lockdown’, Kent Schools Told as Chaos Predicted

KENT schools have told to be ready for a “lockdown” as the area faces mass disruption in the even of a no deal Brexit.

Traffic jams, air pollution and an increase in migrants are among the problems the county could face, Kent County Council believes. There are fears increased border checks could spark traffic chaos, with up to 10,000 lorries a day driving on the A20 and A2 towards Dover and the Eurotunnel. Council chiefs predict road logjams could lead to “closure or part closure” of schools as teachers struggle to get to work.

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

UN Seat for EU Not Single Country Conte Tells France

Talk about it at EU level says Italy PM

(ANSA) — Davos, January 23 — The EU should talk about turning France’s UN Security Council seat into an EU one if Paris is willing, Premier Giuseppe Conte said at Davos Wednesday.

“If France wants to put at our disposal its seat on the Un Security Council let’s talk about it and do it in a European context, if we really want to give importance to that context,” he said.

“Our goal cannot be to give one seat more to an individual European country,” said the Italian premier.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

For Islamic Iran, It’s Hunting Season— Again

Two weeks ago, Dutch Foreign Minister Stef Blok blew the whistle on the Iranian regime, accusing them of hiring local hit teams to assassinate prominent Iranian dissidents living in Holland.

Ahmad Mola Nissi, 52, was a leader of the Arab Struggle Movement for the Liberation of Ahwaz, a group that seeks to create a breakaway Arab province along Iran’s southern border with Iraq. He was leaving his house in The Hague on Nov. 8, 2017 when a man emerged from a BMW and shot him dead at his front door.

Two years earlier, in a similar shooting, Ali Motamed, 56, aka Mohammad Reza Kolahi, was gunned down near Amsterdam. The Dutch police have jailed two members of a notorious Amsterdam gang in connection with Motamed’s murder.

           — Hat tip: AF [Return to headlines]
 

Greenpeace Ditched Its Old Ship on a Bangladeshi Beach

After Guido revealed Greenpeace’s new not-so-green diesel powered ship yesterday, readers may be wondering what happened to their old ship, Rainbow Warrior II. Late last year, the organisation allowed their massive ship to be scrapped in a Bangladeshi beaching yard. Risking the spread of countless toxic materials into the local beach ecosystems…

The vessel was retired in 2011, after being deemed unfit for sea travel, and was thereafter sold to a Bangladeshi NGO. Crucially, as a condition of the sale, Greenpeace ensured that they “retained the right of veto over any final disposal plan.”

After signing off the scrapping, Greenpeace admitted that “breaking ships on beaches is fundamentally unsafe, exploitative of workers and damaging to the marine environment.” By the time they admitted that, the ship was already beached and ready to be cut up.

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

‘Would Have Eliminated Terrorists Had They Crossed Up Border’: UP CM Yogi Adityanath on Arrested ISIS Suspects

Underlining UP government’s zero tolerance for acts of terrorism, UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Thursday clearly said that the terrorists arrested by Maharashtra ATS, who were planning to poison water of river Ganga at the ongoing Kumbh mela in Prayagraj, would have been eliminated had they crossed the state border.

Two days ago, the Maharashtra ATS had arrested 9 ISIS suspects who were planning to poison water of river Ganga as well as food at the Kumbh mela in Uttar Pradesh.

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

China, Russia Building Super-EMP Bombs for ‘Blackout Warfare’

Report reveals electromagnetic war scenarios

by Bill Gertz

Several nations, including China and Russia, are building powerful nuclear bombs designed to produce super-electromagnetic pulse (EMP) waves capable of devastating all electronics—from computers to electric grids—for hundreds of miles, according to a newly-released congressional study.

A report by the now-defunct Commission to Assess the Threat to the United States from EMP Attack, for the first time reveals details on how nuclear EMP weapons are integrated into the military doctrines of China, Russia, North Korea, and Iran.

The report discloses how those states could use EMP attacks in theaters of battle in the Middle East, Far East, Europe, and North America.

“Nuclear EMP attack is part of the military doctrines, plans, and exercises of Russia, China, North Korea, and Iran for a revolutionary new way of warfare against military forces and civilian critical infrastructures by cyber, sabotage, and EMP,” the report states.

“This new way of warfare is called many things by many nations: In Russia, China, and Iran it is called Sixth Generation Warfare, Non-Contact Warfare, Electronic Warfare, Total Information Warfare, and Cyber Warfare.”

Nuclear-electronic warfare also is called “Blackout War” because of its effects on all electronic devices.

EMP attacks will be carried out at such high altitudes they will produce no blast or other immediate effects harmful to humans. Instead, three types of EMP waves in seconds damage electronics and the strikes are regarded by adversaries as not an act of nuclear war.

“Potential adversaries understand that millions could die from the long-term collateral effects of EMP and cyber-attacks that cause protracted black-out of national electric grids and other life-sustaining critical infrastructures,” the report said.

Super-EMP bombs produce gamma rays that generate a peak EMP field of 200,000 volts per meter—enough to fry strategic communications and intelligence systems. China, Russia, and probably North Korea are said to have these arms, according to the commission. The United States has no super-EMP weapons in its nuclear arsenal.

The bombs do not require accuracy and the weapons do not require a re-entry vehicle, heat shield, and shock absorbers required for nuclear warheads detonated in the atmosphere above targets.

The weapons can be delivered through a variety of means including satellites, long- or medium-range missile; short-range missiles launched from a freighter; from some cruise missiles and anti-ship missiles; from jets or a commercial jetliner; or a meteorological balloon.

The declassified report was cleared for release by the Pentagon after a security review and provides graphics showing for the first time in an official government publication how nuclear detonations triggered 18.6 miles to 248 miles above the earth will produce targeted electronic waves stretching up to 1,500 miles.[…]

[Bill Gertz is a long-time authority on threats to American security]

           — Hat tip: Dora [Return to headlines]
 

Opposing China’s Dangerous Ambitions

The sharp downturn in ties between the world’s two most fearsome militaries was evident when America’s highest naval officer, Chief of Naval Operations Admiral John Richardson, went to Beijing this month.

Chinese officers were ready for Richardson: they issued hostile words, especially about U.S. relations with Taiwan. In response, CNO Richardson stuck to Washington’s decades-old script of cooperation.

It is time for American policymakers to change that script by, among other things, dropping themes of engagement, introducing notions of reciprocity, and showing resolve of their own. …

Some — actually a lot — of “altering” is absolutely necessary, and now is not a moment too soon. In the first half of 2012, the U.S., despite firm obligations to defend the Philippines, did nothing when China took over Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea. When Chinese generals and admirals saw Washington’s failure to act, they turned the heat on other Philippine reefs and islets, went after Japan’s islands in the East China Sea, and began reclaiming and militarizing features in the Spratly Islands chain. Feebleness only emboldens Chinese aggression.

There will be no good endings in Asia until Washington disabuses Beijing of the arrogant belief that it can take whatever it demands.

How to do that? Perhaps, in addition to sailing through the Taiwan Strait, Admiral Richardson can arrange for a few U.S. Navy vessels to make a port call on the island and linger for awhile.

           — Hat tip: AF [Return to headlines]
 

New $40million ‘School of the Future’ With No Year Levels and ‘Campfires’ Instead of Classrooms is Set to Open in Australia — But Not Everyone is Convinced by the Modern Concept

A new Australian learning facility which has been dubbed a ‘school of the future’ is set to open in time for the coming school year. Those attending won’t need to sit any exams or pass year levels.

           — Hat tip: SS [Return to headlines]
 

‘People Were Calling Me Gypsy Scum’: British Tourists Crash Their Seven-Seat Car Before Erupting Into a Blazing Family Argument — Hours After One of Their Clan, 26, Was Charged With Assault

Joe Doran said his father crashed the seven-seat Honda Odyssey because he was distracted by people calling them ‘gypsy scum’ while reversing in Mangere, Auckland.

           — Hat tip: SS [Return to headlines]
 

The Latest: US Orders Some Diplomats Out of Venezuela

The State Department is ordering non-essential diplomats and staff at the U.S. Embassy in Venezuela to leave the country.

The department says it’s taking the step for security reasons and that the embassy in Caracas will stay open.

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

Venezuelan Migrants Surge Into Colombia as Political Crisis Deepens

BOGOTA (Thomson Reuters Foundation) — Increasing numbers of Venezuelans are crossing the border into Colombia to escape a worsening political crisis and economic meltdown, aid groups said on Thursday, putting more strain on social services and overcrowded shelters.

Venezuelan opposition leader, Juan Guaido, swore himself in as interim head of state on Wednesday, with the support of the United States and many Latin American nations, leaving Venezuela with two presidents.

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

Britain and France Agree £6 Million Plan to Deter Migrant Boats Making Channel Crossings

BRITAIN and France have signed off on a £6 million package to combat illegal migration across the English Channel.

Home Secretary Sajid Javid announced new measures to deter future crossings will include CCTV, night vision goggles and additional surveillance at French ports to catch would-be migrants. Unveiling the action plan this afternoon, Mr Javid, alongside his French counterpart Christophe Castaner, vowed to increase cooperation after a rise in the number of migrants attempting to cross the “dangerous shipping lane” in small boats. During 2018, a total of 539 people attempted to reach the UK on small boats, according to figures from the Home Office

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

Hardline Italian Minister Faces Trial Over Blocked Migrants

ROME (Reuters) — A special tribunal has recommended that Interior Minister Matteo Salvini face trial for refusing to let 150 migrants disembark last year from a rescue ship docked in Sicily, the far-right leader said on Thursday.

The court, which reviews investigations involving government ministers, overturned a previous recommendation by prosecutors to drop the politically charged case.

“I risk between 3 and 15 years in jail for having blocked illicit migrants from coming to Italy. I am speechless,” Salvini wrote on Twitter. “I ask the Italian people: Should I continue to be the minister, exercising my rights and duties, or should I ask this or that court to (decide) immigration policy?”

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

Here, The People Govern, But Who Are They?

[…]

Many citizens will be surprised to learn that, according to the 2010 census “residence rule,” illegal aliens are counted as part of a state’s total population. This means states that flout federal immigration laws and attract illegal aliens with “sanctuary cities” are rewarded for their lawlessness with a greater number of representatives and electoral college votes as well as a greater share of federal funding. …

Enter the latest media sensation of Trump Derangement Syndrome. For 130 years, the decennial American census included a question about citizenship status. The Trump administration’s commerce secretary, Wilbur Ross, decided to reinstate that question for the upcoming 2020 census, and liberals had a meltdown. Last week, New York federal judge Jesse Furman decided against inclusion of the citizenship question. He claimed that “even if it did not violate the Constitution itself,” it “was unlawful for a multitude of independent reasons and must be set aside.” …

Abraham Lincoln noted: “A constitutional majority is the only true sovereign of a free people.” Those words make no sense if there is no real distinction between citizen and non-citizen. Lincoln went on to warn: “Whoever rejects it, does, of necessity, fly to anarchy or to despotism.”

How can federal judges claim to speak authoritatively for the American people when they deny the constitutionally elected Trump administration the right to put a citizenship question on the census that determines who the sovereign American people actually are?

           — Hat tip: AF [Return to headlines]
 

Italian Secret Service: People-Smugglers May Arrange Mass Drowning for Public Sympathy

The Italian secret service has warned that people-smugglers in the Mediterranean may seek to engineer a mass drowning in order to garner Western sympathy and resume the flow of migration.

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

Italy Lashes Out at EU Over Migrant Chaos — ‘Change the Rules of STOP’

ITALY’S far-right Interior Minister Matteo Salvini appeared to welcome on Wednesday Germany’s decision to suspend its participation in a Brussels-backed naval operation against migrant trafficking in the Mediterranean, saying the move was “not a problem” for Rome.

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

Italy Refuses to Accept Migrants on NGO Rescue Boat, Says it Should Go to France Instead

Italy’s nationalist-populist government on Thursday told an NGO migrant rescue boat that it would be refused entry to Italy’s shores, and directed it to France instead — the latest in an escalating feud between the two countries.

5-Star Movement leader and Deputy Prime Minister Luigi Di Maio said that the Sea Watch ship, which he said is currently sailing toward Sicily, will be given medical support from the Italian government, but the asylum seekers on board will not be allowed to disembark.

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

Pope Francis: Fear of Migrants is ‘Making us Crazy’

Pope Francis told journalists that fear of migrants is “making us crazy,” when asked what he thought about the proposed border wall between the United States and Mexico.

“These are walls of fear,” continued the pope, the ruler of the only completely walled-in country in the world and the smallest independent state by both area and population.

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

Bishop Blasts NY Abortion Law as Andrew Cuomo’s ‘Death Star’

The Catholic bishop of Albany said that New York’s Reproductive Health Act (RHA) “is nothing less than a license to kill a pre-born child at will” in an open letter this week to Governor Andrew Cuomo.

Calling the legislation the “Death Star,” Albany Bishop Edward B. Scharfenberger takes issue with Mr. Cuomo’s choice to parade his Catholicism about in agitating for the RHA, since the Church condemns abortion as the killing of an innocent child and a grave evil.

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

Hayward: Trump Fights the Covington Culture War After Passive Conservatives Surrender

President Trump spoke out Tuesday against the media assault on the Covington Catholic High School students, leaping into a Culture War melee after many establishment conservatives either backed away from the fight or actively supported the false narrative pushed by left-wing media.

Nick Sandmann and the students of Covington have become symbols of Fake News and how evil it can be. They have captivated the attention of the world, and I know they will use it for the good — maybe even to bring people together. It started off unpleasant, but can end in a dream!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 22, 2019

Trump will be criticized for wading into the issue and “making it worse,” but this is one of the reasons he won the 2016 election. He gets involved in culture battles when bloodless GOP protocol is to step back and let the Left have another easy win, or even help them to win their favor. …

Passive conservatives are easily frightened away from any issue they think might disturb the dreams of this socially liberal, fiscally conservative sleeping colossus. Shrewd left-wingers know this and play to that passive conservative fear to manipulate them.

The fatal problem with this strategy is that the Left plays by no such passive rules. It actively reshapes the electorate with government power and cultural influence. It’s not worried about freaking out the moderates — it subdues and conquers them by redefining what is “normal.”

The Left attacks relentlessly because it pays no price for failed assaults… because it has no active conservative enemy to make it pay. There’s nobody else on the field. Passive conservatives merely quibble about how many yards the Left should get on every play.

           — Hat tip: AF [Return to headlines]
 

Rabbi: Media Attacks on MAGA Boys Motivated by ‘Anti-Christianism’

A prominent American rabbi has come out in support of the MAGA boys, a group of Catholic high school students falsely accused of “taunting” and “mocking” a Native American after the March for Life, saying that the media attacks were motivated by the “anti-Christianism” of the left.

Rabbi Aryeh Spero, an acclaimed author and theologian, said the entire event involving the boys was “a contrived and false episode” staged to make a scene and that it was “pounced on by people who hate religious white Catholics and are always on the look-out to demonize Catholics.”

“These people are bigots,” Spero told the president of the Catholic League, Dr. William Donohue.

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

That Face: The Urge to Smash a Teenager’s Face Represents a New Iconoclasm Against Masculinity.

by Bruce Bawer

For centuries, people have stared at the Mona Lisa, pondering, quizzical, trying to make sense of the expression on her face. In the last few days, millions of people around the world have similarly scrutinized the image of Nick Sandmann, a now-famous junior at Covington Catholic High School in Kentucky, as he encountered Nathan Phillips in front of the Lincoln Memorial on January 18.

The story that first went around was that Sandmann and his fellow students, who had attended the March for Life last Friday and were waiting for their bus back home, had encircled, threatened, and insulted Phillips, a Native American activist who had served in the military.

The Covington students, all boys, many of them wearing “Make America Great Again” caps, were instantly demonized. But video evidence later showed that the boys were innocent—quite remarkably and impressively innocent, in fact. Over the course of more than an hour, they were confronted, first, by a fanatical group of religious bigots, the Black Hebrew Israelites (who claim to be the real Jews), who pelted them with racist and homophobic abuse, to which the Kentucky boys, quite admirably, refused to reply; and, second, by Phillips, who, accompanied by a handful of hangers-on, got in their faces, chanting, banging a drum, and telling them to go back to Europe because they had no business in America, which belonged to Native Americans. As Phillips marched through the crowd of boys, all parted except for Sandmann, who silently met Phillips’s gaze.

Reactions to Sandmann’s expression poured out from every corner. Many people described him as sneering. Rosie O’Donnell was one of several who called him “smug.” Since he is white, his expression was interpreted, by the kind of people who are determined to interpret such things in such ways, as the condescending reaction of a privileged young straight white male toward a much older representative of a minority group, who was supposedly carrying out a sacred ritual.

[…]

In recent years, Western society has moved steadily into Orwellian territory. When the first brief clip of Sandmann made the electronic rounds, Right-Thinking People joined together in making him the object of their Two Minutes Hate. His offense, in their minds, was what in 1984 was known as a facecrime.

It’s all strange to me, because when I look at the same picture of Sandmann, I don’t see a smirk, I see an all-American boy, brought up in a decent home, raised in a decent community…Sandmann wants to treat this older man with respect right up until the moment when the older man might force him to take defensive action. Sandmann is smiling, but his smile makes it clear that he is no sucker, that he doesn’t want trouble but is prepared for it, if need be.

[…]

Indeed, that is what you can see on his face. It seems to me a very American look—wholesome and mannerly but no wimpy pushover, either. This is what used to be called being a man. I wish I had been such a man at his age. And I wish that most of our cultural, political, and media elites had even an inkling of what I’m talking about here.

[Follow City Journal link for full essay]

           — Hat tip: Dora [Return to headlines]
 

7 thoughts on “Gates of Vienna News Feed 1/24/2019

  1. The cultural enricher in Italy had a sexual emergency. Evil Italians were trying to lynch him. One day he will become national hero of the new Italians. Just wait it out.

  2. was almost lynched ….

    Is Europe waking up from its trance ? It’s too late anyway.

    The almost is disappointing.

  3. Teh vicious non-violent attacks on white, pro-Life, pro-Trump, Catholic schoolboys by crazed blacks and crazed American Indian extremists was followed by our communist media’s assaults on them with threats of real violence. that their bishop and school administration also sold them down the river is …well….er…morally appalling.

  4. Migrant in Italy-castrate him and then deport and let his country of origin deal with him.

    Question of killing a NO VOTE BEXIT DEAL- completely against those that voted leave the EU-the EU have made it pretty plain that they will not negotiate on the present deal on the table, which does not cover the basis of the UK leaving, it will as such keep the UK half in and half out of the EU NOT acceptable. Nothing bad will happen if the UK leaves without a deal-business is business and trading will continue between the UK and Europe, I amongst other Brits will vivist the Continent no doubt as our money is as good as anyone else’s.

    • Yes, castrate and lock him in an insane asylum.

      That’s why it’s called the ‘Nut House’

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