Pope Francis told Chinese bishops to be loyal to government authorities as fellow citizens of China. In other papal news, Venezuelan co-president Nicolas Maduro appealed to the pope for support.
In other news, the European Commission has expressed its concern about the amount of hate speech being propagated on the Internet in Italy.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to Dora, Insubria, JD, Reader from Chicago, Srdja Trifkovic, 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.
“Exposed”: Fake News Ignores Video of “Drunk, Naked” Bernie Sanders Singing With Soviet Comrades
ernie Sanders’ “honeymoon” in Communist Russia is only part of a life-long love affair with communist regimes: Soviet Russia, Castro’s Cuba, Sandinista-run Nicaragua, and the Chavez-Maduro dictatorship in Venezuela.
Senator Bernie Sanders naked? Bernie Sanders drunk? Bernie Sanders on honeymoon in the Soviet Union? Socialist heartthrob Bernie Sanders singing songs with vodka-swilling Commie Russians? All on one video?
Well, this is a story of yes and maybe yes/maybe no. Yes, a video (see embedded below) has surfaced of Bernie’s “strange honeymoon” (those are his words) in the Soviet Union in 1988 with his second wife, Jane O’Meara Driscoll. The video was released, reportedly, by fellow Democrats who are supporters of new Dem heartthrob Robert “Beto” O’Rourke, which has touched off flamethrower exchanges between Bern and Beto devotees.
Does the video show Bernie naked? Maybe, maybe not; what it does show is Vermont’s most famous avowed socialist naked from the waist up, sitting at a long table with about a dozen other men and women similarly undressed, although the women in the camera’s view are wearing sleeveless shirts or some kind of skimpy tops.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Bokhari: A Left-Wing Journalist Mafia Now Runs Silicon Valley
The Internet once seemed poised to utterly destroy the establishment media. In an era where everyone with a phone and a social media account could reach an audience of millions, the need for professional journalists gatekeeping information seemed pointless.
Yet journalists have savagely fought back against the social media companies that once threatened to displace them. Today, one angry email from a left-wing journalist is enough to get a tech giant to frantically manipulate its algorithms — or even create manual blacklists — to appease them.
The journalists at BuzzFeed have become masters of this tactic. Recently, they launched an investigation into “misinformation” and “hyper-partisan” content on YouTube. A day after the publication of BuzzFeed’s report, YouTube announced it would adjust its algorithms to tackle “misinformation”.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Crime News Favors Armed Citizens: Defense of Life, Liberty, And Property Are Basic Human Rights
As the government seeks to regulate guns further and make it increasingly more expensive and cumbersome to legally own a gun, armed citizens spent the first month of 2019 proving weapons of any kind are basic human rights. Any regulation of a citizen’s defense weapon should be seen as a human rights violation: and their rights are being destroyed by their own government.
But many enjoy taking basic human rights away from others and won’t stop until we are all wholly enslaved to the political elites. Whether these people are useful idiots or misguided illogical immoral fools is really the only debate left. According to The Daily Signal, gun ownership surveys routinely find that about 1 in 3 American adults personally own firearms, meaning that tens of millions of law-abiding citizens regularly choose to exercise their Second Amendment rights. Recent surveys also indicate that 60 percent of these gun owners possess firearms primarily to protect themselves and others from crime.
A 2013 report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention authorized by the Obama administration, in what proved to be a complete backfire for the anti-gun president, examined comprehensive studies of defensive gun use. It concluded that Americans use their firearms in defense of themselves or others between 500,000 and 3 million times every year. The report also noted that studies “have found consistently lower injury rates among gun-using crime victims compared with victims who used other self-protective strategies.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Don’t be Tricked by Economists on the Carbon Tax
In response to the recent pro-carbon tax letter to the Wall Street Journal signed by dozens of prominent economists, Tyler Cowen objected strongly to the “citizen dividend” aspect. Although Cowen is sympathetic to a carbon tax per se, he was alarmed that the economists in the WSJ were misleading readers:
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Fairfax Suggests Gov. Northam Could be Behind Leaked Sexual Assault Allegation
Virginia Democratic Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax on Monday, when asked by a reporter, did not rule out the possibility that embattled Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam could be secretly pushing a newly revealed sexual assault allegation against Fairfax to derail his possible ascension to the governorship.
And in a separate, fiery statement late Sunday, Fairfax accused The Washington Post of “smearing an elected official,” reiterated that the sexual assault allegation against him is “false,” and seemingly threatened to sue the paper for rebuking his earlier characterization of the evidence surrounding the episode.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Gavin McInnes to Sue the Southern Poverty Law Center
Gavin McInnes is suing the Southern Poverty Law Center after the group designated his former organization The Proud Boys as an extremist hate group and accused McInnes of advocating violence.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Is WH Counsel Incompetent or Just Plain Stupid?
Going into 30 years of doing what I do little shocks me anymore. However last week driving around doing errands listening to Rush Limbaugh, I almost choked listening to him. And, pray tell, what had me in this rattled condition?
It seems White House Counsel, Pat Cipollone, has been negotiating with Comrade Kamala Harris, senatorette from the destroyed State of California for judicial appointments to the most overturned circuit court in the county — the Ninth Circuit. Negotiating with the enemy?
Limbaugh Transcript as follows:
“Have you heard about the lead editorial in the Wall Street Journal today? Well, let me tell you about this. The new White House counsel apparently has been consulting with Dianne Feinstein and Kamala Harris, negotiating with them on Trump judicial nominees for the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals! It is pretty safe to say Trump may not know this is going on!…
Make NO mistake about it: Harris is a practiced, habitual liar and hard-core Marxist. Some are calling her a socialist but I believe she’s gotten over that hurdle. Let’s call a communist a communist and quit tap dancing around the floor.
Harris, who thinks very highly of herself, has announced her run for U.S. President. Why in Hell would Trump allow a member of the Democratic/Communist Party USA who despises him and is running against him in 2020 negotiate on HIS judicial nominees?
Oh, but it gets better. The other career criminal Trump hater negotiating is none other than 85-year old senatorette battle-ax, Diane Feinstein (Net worth: $80 mil) and member of the Democratic/Communist Party USA. Why in Hell would Trump allow a member of the Democratic/Communist Party USA who despises him negotiate on HIS judicial nominees?
[Comment: Neither incompetent or stupid, but a globalist stooge and leftist. Fire him.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Lawmakers Introduce Bill to Shut U.S. Department of Education
A coalition of leading conservative, constitutionalist, and liberty-minded lawmakers re-introduced a bill in the new Congress that would shut down the unconstitutional U.S. Department of Education for good. The idea, which has been advanced by GOP leaders ranging from Ronald Reagan to Donald Trump, remains extraordinarily popular among grassroots conservatives. However, among Democrats and establishment Republicans, the massive bureaucracy is seen as crucial to maintaining federal control over the indoctrination of children. Supporters of the bill in Congress, though, argued that parents and local communities — not unelected federal bureaucrats — ought to be in charge of public schools. And with Trump in the White House, the time has never been better to make liberals recognize the dangers of centralized control over education.
The one-sentence bill, dubbed “To terminate the Department of Education” (H.R. 899), would simply and effectively shut down the U.S. Education Department. It reads: “The Department of Education shall terminate on December 31, 2020.” If approved, the measure would quash a wide range of federal programs on education, which, as sponsors of the bill pointed out, is not a power delegated to the federal government under the U.S. Constitution. Among the most controversial federal education schemes to be ended would be the Every Student Succeeds Act, which includes new unconstitutional authorities granted to the department over state standards by Barack Obama and establishment Republicans that in practice cemented the politically toxic Common Core in place.
In an announcement posted on social media, Representative Thomas Massie (shown, R-Ky.), the liberty-minded leader behind the bill, noted that neither Congress nor the president, through his appointees, have any constitutional authority to dictate how or what American children should learn. “Unelected bureaucrats in Washington, D.C. should not be in charge of our children’s intellectual and moral development,” he said. “States and local communities are best positioned to shape curricula that meet the needs of their students. Schools should be accountable. Parents have the right to choose the most appropriate educational opportunity for their children, including home school, public school, or private school.”
[Comment: About time.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
AKRON, Ohio — A man who tried to create a terrorist cell to carry out attacks in the U.S. in the name of the Islamic State was sentenced Monday to 15 years in federal prison, half the amount sought by federal prosecutors.
Erick Jamal Hendricks, of Charlotte, North Carolina, was convicted by a jury in March of trying to recruit and train ISIS sympathizers. He vetted people to see if they were suitable to join him, espoused radical views, and instructed others to vet additional possible recruits through social media.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Marine Vet Films Traffic Stop From His Porch; California Cop Gives Him a Concussion
A California cop gave a Marine veteran a concussion for nothing more than filming a traffic stop.
On January 22, Adrian Burrell was at his home in Vallejo, California, when he saw his cousin outside with his hands in the air. The cousin, Michael Walton, was standing next to his motorcycle with his back to a police officer. “He can’t hear you. He has his helmet on,” Burrell told the officer, according to the account he later gave to KGO. At that point, he says, the cop told him to go back in his house.
Instead, Burrell, who is a filmmaker, opted to record the incident. Even if he hadn’t been standing on his own private property, this would be within his rights. In California, citizens can film on-duty police officers as long as they aren’t interfering in their work. In this case, Burrell tells The San Francisco Chronicle, he was on his porch-more than 20 feet away from what was going on.
Video taken by Burrell and posted to Facebook yesterday shows what happened next:…
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Nick Sandmann’s Lawyer Sends Letters to These 54 Entities for Potential Lawsuits
Attorneys representing Covington Catholic High School student Nick Sandmann and his family indicated on Friday that they have sent letters for potential lawsuits to over 50 entities ranging from Democratic politicians to celebrities to media figures.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
In the days since his federal cooperation came to light, rumors about whom City Council Ald. Daniel Solis may have caught saying something stupid on tape have created a parlor game of whispering among aldermen.
With more cliques than a high school cafeteria, the fractious 50-member body is always fertile ground for internecine squabbling. And with little solid information to go on, the City Hall telephone game is filling in the gaps, rumors begetting rumors and creating what one alderman termed “a toxic atmosphere” in the body.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
The Growing Assault on Private Property — Are Single-Family Homes “Racist?”
Sustainable policies are at the root of nearly every local, state, and federal program. Each step diminishes individual freedom, personal and national prosperity, and the destruction of the hopes and dream of every American.
One of the main indicators used by economists to measure the health of the nation’s economy is housing starts—the number of private homes being built around the nation. In 2018 housing starts fell in all four regions of the nation, representing the biggest drop since 2016.
While many economists point to issues such as higher material costs as a reason for the drop in housing starts, a much more ominous reason may be emerging. Across the nation, city councils and state legislatures are beginning to remove zoning protections for single-family neighborhoods, claiming they are racist discrimination designed to keep certain minorities out of such neighborhoods. In response to these charges some government officials are calling for the end of single-family homes in favor of multiple family apartments.
1. Minneapolis, Minnesota: the city council is moving to remove zoning that protects single-family neighborhoods, instead planning to add apartment buildings in the mix. The mayor actually said such zoning was “devised as a legal way to keep black Americans and other minorities from moving into certain neighborhoods”. Racist, social injustice are the charges
2. Chicago, Illinois: So-called “affordable housing” advocates have filed a federal complaint against the longtime tradition of allowing City Aldermen veto power over most development proposals in their wards, charging that it promotes discrimination by keeping low-income minorities from moving into affluent white neighborhoods. Essentially the complaint seeks to remove the Aldermen’s ability to represent their own constituents.
(…)
To the frustration of those Sustainablists determined to change our entire economic system, the legal protection of private property rights and ownership have proven to be a roadblock for implementation. New York Mayor William DeBlasio best expressed the frustration of those driving to control community development when he was quoted in New York Magazine saying, “What’s been hardest is the way our legal system is structured to favor private property. I think people all over this city, of every background, would like to have the city government be able to determine which building goes where, how high it will be, who gets to live in it and what the rent will be.”
Most importantly, HUD and its social engineering advocates have sold these so-called sustainable policies using the well-worn excuse that such programs are simply to help lower income families to succeed. In fact, these programs are actually at the very root of why many of them are NOT succeeding.
Tom DeWeese, President of the American Policy Center, an internationally recognized private property advocacy groups says, “The immediate result of eliminating single-family homes and in turn, destroying private property rights, is to degrade the property values of the homes so many have worked to build. It used to be called the American dream. Now it’s labeled racism, discrimination, and social injustice.”
DeWeese continues, “Eradicating poverty is the most popular excuse for the expansion of government power. Yet, it’s interesting to note that not a single government program, from the federal to the local level, offers any plan for eradicating poverty except the well-worn and unworkable scheme of wealth redistribution. After decades of following such a failed policy the only result is that we have more poor.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The NFL Suffers Worst Super Bowl Ratings in a Decade
The NFL saw a modest rebound in their regular season television ratings this year. However, that trend did not continue in the Super Bowl.
The Super Bowl LIII match-up between the Rams and the Patriots drew a 44.9 overnight rating on CBS. Making it the lowest-rated Super Bowl in the history of the game;
Not only were the Super Bowl LIII ratings — by far — the worst in NFL history. The poor numbers reflect a downward trend in the big game’s television numbers, that stretches back to 2015.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Tulsi Gabbard Slams “Neocon/Neolib Warmongers” After NBC Propaganda Exposed
Tulsi Gabbard lashed out at “neocon” and “neolib warmongers” after NBC News was exposed trying to smear her as a Kremlin stooge. The network was called out over the weekend for relying on a Democrat-run firm that created fake Russian twitter bots to stage a “false flag” campaign against Republic Roy Moore in the 2017 Alabama special election — New Knowledge.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
WashPo Spends $5.2m on Super Bowl Ad Lecturing Americans on the Importance of Journos
The Washington Post dropped some $5.2 million on a melodramatic Super Bowl ad on Sunday praising journos as heroes sacrificing their lives on battlefields so that we may be informed.
The Post, which is owned by Jeff Bezos — who was the world’s richest man before his divorce — attempted to associate their trash journos with WW2 vets, firefighters and the rocket scientists who got us to the moon in a 30 second propaganda piece narrated by Hollywood actor Tom Hanks.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
More Millennials Own a Cannabis Stock Than Apple
Like Peter Lynch once said, consumers should stick to investing in what they know.
And apparently, millennials who use the RobinHood free stock-trading app have taken this advice to heart. According to Business Insider, shares of Aurora Cannabis, the Canadian cannabis producer, are now more popular among the app’s (mostly millennial) users than Apple.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Sask. Premier ‘Not Concerned’ With Cabinet Ministers Attending Yellow Vest Rallies
Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe says he has no issue with his cabinet ministers attending yellow vest rallies.
Last month, Minister of Highways Lori Carr attended a rally in Estevan, while Minister of Rural and Remote Health Greg Ottenbreit was at a rally in Yorkton.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
A Lost Monastery Might be Hiding Beneath an English Bus Station, Archaeologists Say
Archaeologists in the U.K. hope to discover the remains of a 13th-century Carmelite monastery buried beneath a bus station in Gloucester, England.
The lost monastery is known as Whitefriars, also called The College of Carmelites, and was founded in 1268 outside the city walls of old Gloucester, where it stood until the 16th century when King Henry VIII had it demolished during his purge of Catholic church property in England. Archaeologists said according to past findings and historic maps, the remains of the Carmelite monastery should be right under the old bus station in Market Parade.
[…]
The archaeologist also explained the reason the friars founded the monastery outside the city’s walls, in a vulnerable position relative to dwellings within the walls, was “because they’re trying to live apart from the sinful nature of everyday life.”
The upcoming dig, scheduled for February, is part of a redevelopment project in Gloucester’s Kings Quarter section. Archaeologists also hope to find the remains of Saxon settlements and ruins of the Roman city of Glevum.
“We are required to research sites before any major new developments take place, so we know exactly what archaeology is there,” Armstrong told Business and Innovation Magazine. “We will then work to ensure that archaeological remains are preserved beneath the new buildings.”
[See links at original URL]
| — Hat tip: Dora | [Return to headlines] |
A Month of Multiculturalism in Britain: January 2019
January 1. A 25-year-old Somali man stabbed three people — including a police officer — at Victoria Station in Manchester. BBC producer Sam Clack, who was waiting for a tram when the attack took place, reported: “The guy, his exact words were, he said: ‘As long as you keep bombing other countries, this sort of sh*t is going to keep happening.’ The suspect also screamed “Allahu Akbar!” (“Allah is the greatest!”) as he was bundled into a police van. Assistant Chief Constable Russ Jackson nevertheless said that officers were “retaining an open mind in relation to the motivation for this attack.” The suspect was eventually detained under the Mental Health Act.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Brexit-Pocalypse? Surge in UK Car Manufacturing, Huge Investment in Research Centres, New Factories
New figures show British car manufacturing surged 8.5 percent in 2018, as the country is enjoying a slew of investments in research and new factories.
84,888 commercial vehicles rolled off British production lines in 2018, according to the latest figures released by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), as the market recovers from a slowdown in demand precipitated in part by new diesel regulations.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Britain’s Secret Propaganda “Integrity Initiative” Targets Russia
In a desperate attempt to cover its tracks, the propaganda network linked to Britain’s security services, the Integrity Initiative (II), has wiped its website and locked its Twitter account “pending an investigation into the theft of data.”
The decision was taken shortly after the Anonymous hacking group released new II documents targeting Russia as supposedly the greatest threat to world peace, based on claims that it is the country most likely to use nuclear weapons.
The documents reveal yet more of the disinformation campaign used to justify NATO preparations for war with Russia, including the use of nuclear weapons.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
‘Double Standard’ — Romania Criticises EU Silence on Police Treatment of Yellow Vests
Romanian prime minister Viorica Dancila is chafing under European Union criticism over police clashes with anti-government protesters, contrasting the public rebukes meted out to her country with the silence over alleged police brutality in Emmanuel Macron’s France.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
EU Worried About Spread of Online Hate in Italy
Commissioner presents evaluation of Code of Conduct
(ANSA) — Rome, February 4 — The European Commission on Monday expressed concern about the amount of hate speech transmitted online in Italy. European Justice Commissioner Vera Jourova stressed, however, that hate speech against migrants “is not just widespread in Italy, but in other member States too”.
“We are following this with great concern and we are working actively to combat it,” Jourova added as she presented the fourth evaluation of the EU Code of Conduct countering illegal hate speech online.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
French Police Caught on Tape Saying to ‘Shoot’ Yellow Vests
An investigation has been launched in Tolouse after officers were caught on tape saying they wanted to “shoot” violent Gilets Jaunes (Yellow Vest) protesters.
The footage comes from the Yellow Vest protest on Saturday, January 12th, where protesters and hooligans clashed with police for nearly 16 hours and was recorded at the police command room where officers were watching the scenes of violence unfold on several monitors, broadcaster France 3 reports.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Germany Hopes for ‘Exit From Brexit’, But Admits Britain Remaining Unlikely
Germany’s foreign minister has expressed hopes the United Kingdom will terminate the Brexit process and remain in the European Union.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Ireland: Guinness Sorry for ‘Racist’ Ad Linking Ancestry to National Pride
Guinness has dropped a number of rugby sponsorship adverts in Ireland after complaints that they could cause “offence or confusion” to immigrants.
The world-famous dry stout company, which is a sponsor and the official beer of the Six Nations rugby tournament, apologised for any “offence or confusion” caused by the billboards, which read: “You Don’t Pick A Side. Your Grandparents Have Done That Already.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Sanremo Song Fest Won’t be Political — Baglioni
Cocciante to star says artistic director
(ANSA) — Sanremo, February 4 — Italy’s popular Sanremo song festival that kicks off on Tuesday won’t be political, its artistic director Caludio Baglioni said Monday.
“It will not be a political festival, not in the sense that we would think about”, said Baglioni, one of the country’s greatest singers and song-writers who is the festival’s artistic director for the second consecutive year.
The 69th edition of the festival “will be based on songs”, he said. The musical event, which wraps up on Saturday, is “the hardest thing that ever happened in my life”, Baglioni also told a press conference on the eve of opening night.
This year, Baglioni said he will duet with guests on songs they are presenting or by other writers.
He also announced that three evenings will open with him singing his songs and with the same team of dancers and choreographies by Giluano Peparini that have been part of his concert tours. Celebrated singer-songwriter Riccardo Cocciante will be among the guest stars at the Sanremo festival, the artistic director said.
“Cocciante is among the last arrivals and will appear on the third night,” he announced.
Baglioni described Cocciante as an international star like Andrea Bocelli marking the festival’s popularity outside the country.
Last month, Baglioni made headlines at a presentation of the festival when he criticized Deputy Premier and Interior Minister Matteo Salvini’s refusal to receive 49 asylum seekers who had been at sea on rescue ships run by NGOs Sea Watch and Sea Eye.
“There are millions of people in movement, it’s not possible to think that the problem can be solved by avoiding the arrival of 40-50 people”, Baglioni said during a press conference to present the festival, calling the stance a “farce”.
Salvini responded urging Baglioni to “sing so you’ll get over it”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: ANPI Contributions Must be Revised — Salvini
Minister accuses partisans association of denying Foibe massacre
(ANSA) — Rome, February 4 — Deputy Premier and Interior Minister Matteo Salvini on Monday accused partisans association ANPI of denying the ‘Foibe’ massacres and said its public funding should be reconsidered. He was commenting amid a furore over a convention organized by ANPI that is set to be held in Parma on February 10 during which a controversial video ‘La Foiba di Basovizza: un Falso Storico’ (the Basovizza foiba: a Historical Falsehood) is scheduled to be screened. The Foibe is the name given to the mass murder of Italian people in Venezia Giulia, Istria and Dalmatia, mostly by Yugoslav Partisans, during and after the Second World War.
“It is necessary to revise contributions to associations like ANPI that deny the massacres perpetrated by Communists after the war,” said League leader Salvini.
ANPI President Carla Nespolo said Salvini’s “threats” did not frighten her or her organisation.
She said “the Foibe were a national tragedy that cover a very broad period of time and must be addressed without any ambiguity, by putting the facts into context”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Di Maio Agrees With Di Battista on Cutting TV Salaries
‘Objective of this legislature’
(ANSA) — Naples, February 4 — 5-Star Movement (M5S) leader and Deputy Premier Luigi Di Maio on Monday said he agreed with his M5S No 2 Alessandro Di Battista on the need to cut the salaries of TV presenters starting with Bruno Vespa and Fabio Fazio.
“The era in which you could earn 3/3.5 million euros a year on State TV is over,” said Di Maio, who is also labour and industry minister.
Di Maio also reiterated, like Di Battista, that it was time to cut MPs’ salaries.
“I think the time has come to give a haircut to the salaries of politicians and also to those who are not politicians but who are in State-owned companies, he said.
“This ia on objective of this legislature”.
The M5S and other parties have previously decried the high salaries of Fazio, who is seen as being liberal, and Vespa, seen as being more of an establishment figure.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Le Pen: Macron Referendum a Ploy to ‘Divert Attention’ From EU Election
Emmanuel Macron is considering a referendum to appease Yellow Vest activists who have been protesting across France against the president’s progressive reforms for 12 straight weekends.
The prospect comes in response to calls from populist Gilets Jaunes (Yellow Vest) protesters to enshrine plebiscites into French law to guarantee citizens greater say in national policy in what would be a major overhaul of French democracy.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Salvini to Trump: “I Can be Your Closest Ally on the European Continent”
With EU parliamentary elections fast approaching in May, Italy’s Interior Minister Matteo Salvini is seeking to court a powerful ally across the Atlantic — Donald Trump.
In the past months, both Trump and Salvini have exchanged their fair share of blows with Germany’s Angela Merkel and France’s embattled president Emmanuel Macron. But is an alliance based primarily on the common adversaries of the two populist leaders practical?
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
The Strange Death of Europe With America Close on Europe’s Heels
Part 2: Quran mandates violence against every other religion, government and culture. It mandates honor killings, FGM and child marriages. It offers 72 virgins for martyrs who blow up sidewalk farmer’s markets.
While reading The Strange Death of Europe: Immigration, Identity, Islam by Douglas Murray, I felt appalled at “a continent and culture caught up in the act of self-induced suicide. These include rapid changes in the dynamics of global politics, world leadership and Muslim terror attacks across Europe.”
While Canadians, Australians and Americans only hear about dramatic Muslim attacks such as the bombing of Brussels airport, or a truck running over shoppers in Nice, France, or Muslims massacring people in restaurants and theaters in Paris, France, or an entire newspaper being shot up outside Paris, or hundreds of cars being torched by Muslims in Malmo and Stockholm, Sweden to de-celebrate Christmas, or San Bernardino, California where Muslim shot up a Christmas party; or where a Muslim killed 49 at an Orlando, Florida gay bar, or the beheading for a woman in Moore, Oklahoma for not converting to Islam.
What you don’t hear about: 20,000 ‘honor killings’ of Muslim women by their husbands or brothers annually in Islamic countries. Or, 500,000 female genital mutilation cases in the USA or millions of cases in Europe and Canada. Or, child sex trafficking, or the incredible numbers of rapes by Muslims in Europe. Or, you don’t hear about the YouTube videos show Muslim men how to beat their wives without leaving a mark.
This is one of many videos on beating your wife: How to Beat Your Wife Without Leaving Any Marks-
[…]
Murray speaks about the leaders and media making sure that immigrants may not be exposed for crimes such as rapes, beatings, honor killings, female genital mutilation, sex trafficking of little girls, gay killings, Jewish harassment, shop lifting and more.
Why? Because Europeans fear being called ‘racists.’
Murray wrote, “It took years for the central government, the police and local authorities or the Crown Prosecution Service to face up to the issue. When they finally began to do so, an official inquiry into abuse in the town of Rotherham [that’s just one town of hundreds] alone revealed the sexual exploitation of at least 1,400 children over the period of 1997 to 2014. The victims were all non-Muslim white girls from the local community, with the youngest victim aged eleven. All had been brutally raped, some of them also had been doused in gasoline and threatened with being set on fire. Others were threatened with guns and forced to watch the violent rape of other girls as a warning should they tell anyone about the abuse. The local police were also found to have failed to act for fear of accusations of ‘racism’ and of what this might do to community relations.”
In other words, the immigrant Moslem barbarians overpowered logic, law, decency, morality and the ethics of European communities. They brought their pre-Dark Ages religion with them, and manifested its violence at will, at whim and without mercy.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Top Eurocrats Round on PM May to Reject Any Hope of Renegotiation, Pushing Britain Towards ‘No Deal’
Several senior European politicians and bureaucrats spoke out Monday to pour cold water on British hopes of achieving even modest changes in the Brexit ‘deal’ arranged by Prime Minister Theresa May, as the nation closes in on the March 29th departure date.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Turning Point UK Launches, Left-Wing Heads Explode
The launch of Turning Point UK, a youth movement for conservatism that started off in America, has caused left-wingers to go into a full meltdown in record time.
Headed by Charlie Kirk, Candace Owens and UK Chairman George Farmer, the group aims to get stuck in by “educating students and other young people on the values of free markets, limited government and personal responsibility”.
Their launch video has already clocked up 614,000 views.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
UK Citizenship Tests: Gangs Help Cheating Candidates Pass
Gangs are helping foreign nationals cheat their UK citizenship application test with the use of earpieces, a BBC investigation has revealed.
For a fee of up to £2,000, criminals secretly listen in and, via a hidden earpiece, give the answers to those taking the Life in the UK test.
Such an operation was secretly filmed by a BBC journalist, who was given help to pass.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
UK: 80% of Tory Members Oppose Delaying Brexit
The vast majority of Conservative Party members are against extending Article 50 and delaying Brexit. Not surprising, but a timely reminder to those hardline Remainers in the Cabinet constantly seeking to kick the can down the road further.
More than 80% of those who responded to a ConservativeHome survey of grassroot Tories said that they would not support delaying the UK’s EU exit beyond 29th March.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Brexit Rebel McVey: Cabinet Remainers, Top Civil Servant Frustrating Brexit
Esther McVey MP has warned that many in the Government’s Cabinet are Remainers whose only agenda is to stay as closely aligned to the European Union as possible.
The Tory Brexiteer, who resigned as work and pensions secretary in November in protest against Prime Minister Theresa May’s handling of Brexit negotiations, told LBC host and MEP Nigel Farage on Sunday, “You have to look at the whole make-up of the Cabinet and the key positions in the Cabinet and you will see that they are people who have all voted for Remain and are still ardent remainers.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Boris Wants to Shake Tory Strategists Plotting Snap Election ‘By the Throat’
Leading Brexiteer and former Foreign and Commonwealth Secretary Boris Johnson has lambasted a rumoured scheme to trigger a snap election in June, despite Theresa May’s promise she would not lead the Conservative Party into its next election battle.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Migrant Burglar Who Had Sex With Corpse Jailed
A burglar who had sex with a corpse after breaking into a funeral parlor has been jailed for six years, BBC News reports.
Kasim Khuram, 23, had sex with a woman’s body after lifting the lids of coffins at the Central England Co-Operative undertakers in Walsall Road, Great Barr, Birmingham, on 11 November.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Rees-Mogg: ‘Delay’ Is Code for Stopping Brexit
Jacob Rees-Mogg has warned that Remainer MPs’ discussion of delaying Brexit is “code for stopping” the UK from leaving the EU.
The chairman of the influential European Research Group (ERG) told LBC listeners Monday, “I think delay is a proxy for stopping and that is being proposed by people who never liked Brexit in the first place and are seeking to prevent it taking place.
“So delay is code for stopping and all your listeners should be aware of that.
“If we can’t get any deal we have to leave without a deal.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Mosque Fires Prayer Caller Over Bodybuilding Photos
The Jerusalem Post reports: A prayer caller at a mosque in the Israeli city of Acre is appealing for his job back after being fired over photos posted online of him in a revealing outfit at a bodybuilding contest.
Ibrahim al-Masri said he lost his job as chief muezzin of the Al-Jazzar Mosque after local officials came upon the photos of him at the state bodybuilding championship in 2017. “Each sport has a specific type of clothing. Football has its own, tennis has its own, swimming has its own. Same thing for bodybuilding,” Masri said, referring to the wire-thin briefs competitors typically wear.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
A Not-So-Innocent Abroad: Pope Francis in Arabia
by Srdja Trifkovic
Pope Francis arrived in the United Arab Emirates yesterday, February 3. Tonight he will address the “Muslim Council of Elders,” a body based in the UAE which supposedly “seeks to counter religious fanaticism by promoting a moderate brand of Islam.” We’ll reserve our judgment until we see the text of his speech (cf. Part II tomorrow); but on current form nothing good should be expected from the occasion.
The “Council of Elders” is the brainchild of Sheikh Ahmed el-Tayeb, the grand imam of Cairo’s Al-Azhar mosque and university. Today’s meeting between Francis and el-Tayeb (fifth in three years) is light years away from Al-Azhar’s angry freezing of relations with the Holy See which followed Pope Benedict XVI’s September 2006 lecture at the University of Regensburg on Islam and violence, and his subsequent demand for greater protection for Christians in Egypt.
The Legacy of Pope Benedict—The ongoing improvement in relations was predicated on a clear volte-face on the Roman side, an implicit albeit not openly stated admission that Pope Benedict’s analysis is not accepted by his successor. As if to confirm the hint, in 2016 Pope Francis claimed that his meeting with el-Tayeb at the Vatican—ended with an embrace—was proof that “they [Muslims] seek peace, encounter.” On the other side, however, throughout the past decade Sheikh el-Tayeb himself has remained unyielding on his condemnation of Benedict’s alleged Islamophobia and insulting intolerance…
| — Hat tip: Srdja Trifkovic | [Return to headlines] |
Pope Francis Calls on Chinese Bishops to Show ‘Loyalty’ To Civil Authorities
Pope Francis has called on Chinese bishops to show respect and loyalty to the ruling Chinese Communist Party as faithful “members of the Chinese people.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
South African-born rapist Robin Gerald Dyers, 46, who moved to Australia in 1996, will be booted out of the country by Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton when he gets released from jail.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
Nassim Abdi, a hardline Muslim preacher from western Sydney, has declared Allah will refuse to answer the prayers of any Islamic man who relieves himself at a public urinal.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
Land, Jobs Are Top Priorities for Radical South African Party
The far-left South African EFF party unveiled Saturday its programme for legislative elections in May, with land expropriation and jobs at the top of the list.
“We cannot postpone the land question, we can not postpone the jobs questions,” said Julius Malema, head of the Economic Freedom Fighters party.
He spoke to several thousand EFF members wearing the party colour red in a stadium in Soshanguve, north of Pretoria, telling them: “We are hungry now, we want to eat now.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Canada Joins Growing List of Nations in Support of Venezuela’s Juan Guaidó
Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau is voicing his support for Juan Guaidó, the head of Venezuela’s National Assembly, as interim president of the South American country.
“For years now, we’ve witnessed the breakdown of democracy in Venezuela and a dictatorship willing to use force, fear, and coercion to retain power,” said Trudeau on Monday about Nicolas Maduro, the leader who has refused to hand over power to Guaidó, according to the CBC.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Four European Nations Officially Recognize Guaido as Venezuela’s Legitimate Leader
After embattled Venezuelan dictator ignored an ultimatum to either call for Democratic elections or face even more calls for him to step down, four western European democracies — the UK, Spain, Germany and France — have officially recognized opposition leader Juan Guaido as the country’s legitimate democratically-elected leader, according to CNN.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Italy Vetoed EU Recognition of Venezuelan Opposition Leader Guaido — M5S Source to RT
Rome has effectively derailed an EU statement meant to recognize Juan Guaido as Venezuela’s interim leader if President Nicolas Maduro fails to set up snap elections, a Five Star Movement source confirmed to RT.
Italy announced the veto at an informal meeting of EU foreign ministers that started on January 31 in Romania, the source said. The statement, which was supposed to be delivered by EU foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini recognized Guaido as interim president if snap elections were not held.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Maduro Letter to Pope ‘Relaunches Dialogue’ — Parolin
Secretary of State declines to comment further
(ANSA) — Abu Dhabi, February 4 — A letter from Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro to Pope Francis “relaunches dialogue” in Venezuela, Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin said Monday.
Parolin declined to comment further on the letter.
Maduro is engaged in a standoff with opposition leader Juan Guaidò who has proclaimed himself interim president.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Venezuelan Dictator Nicolas Maduro Appeals to Pope Francis for Support
Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro has sent a letter to Pope Francis asking the pontiff to “facilitate and reinforce dialogue” as more world leaders abandon the would-be president in favor of his opponent, Juan Guaido.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Austria: White Girls Wearing Headscarves to Prevent Harassment From Muslim Migrants
Doctor and former MP Marcus Franz says white girls in Vienna, Austria have begun wearing Islamic headscarves to prevent street harassment by male Muslim migrants.
During an appearance on OE24, Franz revealed that in migrant-heavy areas fathers were telling their daughters to wear hijabs so as to disguise the fact that they are non-Muslim.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Minister Szijjarto: “Hungary Maintains Zero Tolerance Stance on Migration”
Hungary has a policy of zero tolerance for migration and will never back any document that uses the UN’s global migration compact as a point of reference, foreign minister Peter Szijjarto said, responding to a query by MTI.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
What do crowdfunding websites, comments sections, Twitter’s “like button,” the movie review site Rotten Tomatoes, the 2016 election, and the Brexit referendum have in common?
They are all methods by which ordinary people can express their opinion. And they have all come under relentless attack by progressive elites.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Government Schools Are Sexualizing, Perverting, And Confusing Children
At Chasco Middle School in Land O’Lakes, Florida, a typical public school like any other, boys were changing for PE class last year just like they always do. But this time was different. Suddenly, a girl appeared and “caught them with their pants down — literally,” as the Christian legal aid group Liberty Counsel put it. Some of the boys ran to get their teacher. But incredibly, there was nothing he could do. In fact, faced with a gag order from school officials, he could not even say anything about it. Welcome to government schools in 2019 America.
As if the story could not get any weirder, school officials ordered the teacher to be in the boys’ locker room while the girl was changing and could have been showering. Obviously, he refused, saying he could not knowingly place himself in a position where he would “observe a minor female in the nude or otherwise in a state of undress.” In saner places, grown men are arrested and jailed for trying to watch underage girls change or shower. But in 2019 government schools in America, they can be ordered to do it.
When the teacher refused, his life was turned upside down as school officials conspired to destroy him. Office for Employee Relations Director Kathleen Anne Scalise, for instance, said in an e-mail that firing the PE teacher “sends a message that we will not tolerate his behavior.” The school district’s lawyer, meanwhile, threatened the teacher, saying the decision “might cost you your job.” Even more serious, “your teacher certificate might be taken from you, to where you can no longer teach,” the official said.
It turns out the girl in question is what is known as transgender, because she claims to believe that she is a boy in a girl’s body. The American College of Pediatricians has labeled as child abuse the encouraging of children to believe chemical and surgical impersonation of the opposite sex is normal. And in more normal times, it would have been obvious to everyone that the young girl was confused and in need of psychological or spiritual assistance.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Snopes Lies About California’s Plan to Teach 5-Year-Olds Transgenderism
The far-left perverts and fraudsters running the website “Snopes” dishonestly styling itself a “fact-check” operation have shown yet again why they have no credibility among normal people. In a screed released this week, Snopes labeled as “false” a number of stories, including one by FreedomProject Media, exposing a new “Health Education Framework” that promotes gender-bending insanity to kindergarten children. Debunking the lies by Snopes, though, is as simple as going to California’s proposed new “Health Education Framework” and reading it.
In its post, Snopes listed the claim in question as: “In 2019, California education authorities formulated a policy that, if implemented, would force parents to allow their children to be taught that ‘there are 15 genders.’“ Unlike previous “fact checks” put out by Snopes, in this case, their summary of the issue, while problematic, at least bears some resemblance to the actual claims being made. However, bizarrely, considering that the evidence of this is posted online on the California Education Department’s website, the phony fact-checking site rated the claims as “false.” Snopes elaborates, saying, “This rating indicates that the primary elements of a claim are demonstrably false.”
But as this piece will show, the primary elements of the claim are demonstrably true, and anyone with an Internet connection can verify that in a matter of seconds from primary source documents.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Social Justice Laden Super Bowl Brings in the Worst Ratings in a Decade
It was a super bore of a Super Bowl, and the ratings showed it.
The low-scoring game between the New England Patriots and the L.A. Rams was a bit of a snooze-fest until the very end when the tied score of three was finally changed when the Patriots scored a touchdown followed not long after by a field goal which put victory out of the hands of the Rams.
According to The Hill, the Super Bowl had low ratings to go along with its low scores, making it the least watched Super Bowl in a decade.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
YouTube Looking Into Removing Dislike Button After Gillette Ad, YouTube Rewind Fails
This propaganda is so stupid it’s mind-blowing
The social justice warriors at Google-owned YouTube appear to be very angry that the public keeps rejecting their propaganda.
According to a new report, YouTube is looking into removing the downvote button altogether.
The left-wing propaganda outlet The Verge, which appears to be helping prep the public for the change, reported on Friday that “dislike mobs” (aka average YouTube users) are “weaponizing the dislike button” by downvoting crappy videos like YouTube Rewind.
If you’re pushing propaganda and you don’t want the public to downvote your video you can simply turn off downvotes and upvotes.
Of course, that’s not good enough for these people.
As in Orwell’s 1984, we all have to be forced to love the propaganda.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Over 100 New Species of Bacteria Discovered in Your Gut
An international research team has created the most comprehensive record of human intestinal flora to date. Over 100 of the species they list are completely new to science.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Pope and Grand Imam Jointly Condemn Terrorism in ‘Name of God’
Pope Francis and the Grand Imam Ahmed a-Tayyeb signed a joint declaration Monday, condemning “acts of murder, exile, terrorism and oppression” carried out in God’s name.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster. And if you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss also gazes into you.
Friedrich Nietzsche
https://twitter.com/doamuslims/status/1092468815764602881
A prominent member of Geert Wilders’ anti-Islam party, PVV, Joram Van Klaveren has embraced Islam. He’s the second member of Wilders party that embraced Islam after being a hard enemy of it.
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Take the antidote! I don’t like beer and bacon. But every day I drink a little brandy after work.
Pope Francis told Chinese bishops to be loyal to government authorities as fellow citizens of China. In other papal news, Venezuelan co-president Nicolas Maduro appealed to the pope for support.
Pope, this time, is right: Give Chinese what ‘s Chenese’s, and give to God what is God’s. The only time Some “elites” identify themselves with Christianity if their missionaries subvert “other” countries, then they Christians are mentioned in positive way. But not in Turkey, Saudi Arabia or Pakistan. In China, Cuba, Russia, Venezuela, Myanmar . . . that’s ok.
In other news, the European Commission has expressed its concern about the amount of hate speech being propagated on the Internet in Italy.
EU concerned and worried about the “hate speech” propagated against WHO?
Is it against those who have invaded Italy?
Senate Democrats Block Bill to Protect Babies Surviving Abortion
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2019/02/04/senate-democrats-block-bill-to-protect-babies-surviving-abortion/
So now white Austrian girls have to cover themselves to keep from being harassed. Tell me again, what good does Islam brings to a society?
To a governments’ point of view, this may represent necessary social and community cohesion, unity and cultural uniformity.
This may be considered a good thing to politicians and police.
Instead of riots against islamic pressure to conform, the women are saving the state money and police resources by quietly acquiescing. Government prefers this. All is good now.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Dyp4a4AXgAEgzyw.jpg:large
Taliban negotiator and Afghan opposition worship the elevator doors in Moscow. Allahu Akbar.