A federal court has decided that the parents of a woman who was killed by an illegal immigrant in San Francisco cannot sue the city for failing to notify the federal government of the killer’s immigration status. The case was heard by a panel of judges for the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.
In other news, Pope Francis told the faithful that God wants there to be an interfaith fraternity among Catholics and Muslims.
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.
Czech Republic With the Lowest Unemployment in the EU
Several Central- and Eastern countries below European average
(ANSA) — BELGRADE, 01 APR — The Czech Republic remains the European Union country with the lowest unemployment rate, show new data made public by Eurostat today.
In February 2019, the EU statistical office said, the lowest share of people out of work was registered in Czechia (1.9% unemployment rate), followed by Germany (3.1%) and the Netherlands (3.4%). Rates below the EU average (6.5%) were recorded also in Hungary and Poland (both 3.5%), Romania (3.8%), Estonia (4.2%), Slovenia (4.4%), Bulgaria (4.7%), Austria (5.0%), Slovakia (5.8%) and Lithuania (6.1%).
The lowest youth unemployment rates were observed in Germany (5.6%), Czechia (6.0%) and the Netherlands (6.4%), Eurostat added.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
What we regularly feed our minds determines what we will become
Earlier today, my attention was directed to a thread on an Internet discussion forum that lamented how much America had changed over the years.
I don’t know exactly why, but the posts on that thread really touched me. Those of us that are old enough to remember what America was like before the Internet grew up in a much simpler time. Yes, we didn’t have all of the luxuries that we take for granted in 2019, but we found joy in the simple things and people were generally much happier. Today, we seemingly have so much going for us, and yet people are lonelier, more disconnected and more depressed than ever before. The suicide rate in the United States is up 34 percent since the year 2000, approximately 40 million American adults have an anxiety disorder, and overdosing on drugs is now the leading cause of death for Americans under the age of 50. Clearly our society is not heading in the right direction.
So that probably explains why a thread entitled “I Cry When I Think Back How Things Used To Be” got my attention so much. This is what the author of the thread posted…
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
3 Reasons Why Facebook’s Zuckerberg Wants More Government Regulation
Those who are familiar with the effects of government regulation will not be surprised to hear a billionaire CEO throw his support behind it. Large firms with dominant market share have long made pace with government regulation because it often helps these firms create and solidify monopoly power for themselves.
Specifically, there are three ways that regulation will help Facebook.
One: Regulations Will Give Facebook More Monopoly Power
Many Facebook critics like to claim that Facebook is a natural monopoly. That is, they think Facebook is so dominant in the marketplace, that it can use its supposed market power to keep out competitors. We’re told that Facebook has so many users, no serious competition will ever be possible.
But remember MySpace? People used to say exactly the same thing that that social media platform. A recently as 2007, The Guardian was asking “Will Myspace ever lose its monopoly?” Xerox corporation was once a tech powerhouse, as well. It has now all but disappeared.
Obviously, the answer to the Guardian’s question is “yes.” But we’re now hearing about how Facebook is a monopoly. The reality, however, is that unless governments artificially erects barriers to entry, no firm can expect a safe place as a dominant firm. Other firms with new ideas will come along, threatening the older firm’s dominance.
The answer to this problem, from the point of view of a firm like Facebook, is to make things for expensive and difficult for smaller startups and potential competitors.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Behind and Beyond the Mueller Investigation
The fly in the ointment, and the one factor not considered by the swamp intelligentsia, was the makeup of the person of Trump. For one, the conspirators never imagined a person could withstand a two-year barrage of 24/7 fake negative news coverage along with a slew of “America be damned,” political obstructions via Congress. They never figured that a person like Trump existed. A man with the stamina of someone 40 years younger, who brought to Washington the assets he acquired as a businessman in the rough and tumble city of New York as well as the command of the TV audience he gained by his many years as a television host.
On March 22, 2019, the bottom fell out of the last vestiges of the coverup as Mueller handed his report absent any proof of Trump/Russian collusion to new Attorney General William Barr. But only part of the most insidious abuse of power in Americas’ history had been dealt with.
History shows us that what goes unpunished becomes emboldened and multiplies. If this country truly wants to recover, to gain some semblance of normalcy and reclaim the rule of law, then it is imperative that all the conspirators involved in this shocking and despicable grab for power must be held accountable. President Trump stated, “This must never happen to another President.” the only way to ensure that hope is to seek prosecution. To punish those involved.
This time the coup attempt was non-violent — the next time it might be very different.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
‘Beyond Sketchy’: Facebook Demanding Some New Users’ Email Passwords
Just two weeks after admitting it stored hundreds of millions of its users’ own passwords insecurely, Facebook is demanding some users fork over the password for their outside email account as the price of admission to the social network.
Facebook users are being interrupted by an interstitial demanding they provide the password for the email account they gave to Facebook when signing up. “To continue using Facebook, you’ll need to confirm your email,” the message demands. “Since you signed up with [email address], you can do that automatically …”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
The Defense Department doesn’t want to lose its irregular warfare edge, honed through more than a decade of conflict across the Middle East, even as it directs its armed forces to refocus on state-level adversaries.
Retaining the U.S. military’s hard-fought knowledge of counter-insurgency and counter-terrorism was a priority for former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, who helped design a new national defense strategy in 2018 that prioritizes countering peer-level adversaries like China and Russia.
“Sec. Mattis specifically wanted to end this boom-bust cycle in IW [irregular warfare] that we’ve all experienced,” Owen West, the assistant secretary of defense for special operations and low-intensity conflict, said at a defense industry symposium Tuesday.
The boom-bust cycle refers to the U.S. military’s preference for fighting traditional, high-end forces, rather than insurgents, according to Andrew Knaggs, the Pentagon’s deputy assistant secretary of defense for special operations and combating terrorism.
“This default setting has left the DoD unprepared for irregular conflicts in Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq,” Knaggs said. “We have often been slow to recognize the irregular character of these conflicts and have forced conventional approaches as the first response.”
“It seems we’ve also been prone to overstay ourselves,” Knaggs added. “When ultimately given the opportunity to right-size our approach, we have too easily discarded our ability to wage IW in favor of conventional readiness and traditional warfare.”
This pattern leaves the U.S. military unprepared for the broad spectrum of global affairs challenges the country faces today, Knaggs and West both said at the symposium.
After all, even state-level adversaries have the potential to stoke conflicts outside their borders that resemble irregular warfare. […]
| — Hat tip: Dora | [Return to headlines] |
Face it, Can American Freedom be Saved Peacefully?
That leads us to today where all of the 2020 Democrat candidates for president are advocating the most openly astounding socialist platform that ever came out of the Democratic Party since it was hatched. Their Green New Deal is impossible to implement without sending us back to the Stone Age and their Medicare-for-all could double or triple the national debt. If that wasn’t bad enough, they are proposing to abolish the Electoral College, giving 16-year olds the right to vote, packing the Supreme Court and allowing illegal aliens to not only vote in presidential elections, but get driver’s licenses and make them eligible for free health care and social security benefits.
And that isn’t the half of it. Democrats want and advocate for open borders, tearing down the border walls and abolishing Immigrations and Custom Enforcement (ICE), thus allowing even more illegal aliens (future Democrat Voters) to flood into America by the millions with no impediments.
Socialist Democrats even want to hand out reparations (our money) to the black population for past racial injustices to the black race, which begs the questions, why now, who would get the money and who would have to pay? This is just another socialist Democrat scheme to “buy” black votes?
It doesn’t end there. It turns out there are two forms of justice in America. Justice for Democrats that can literally get away with murder and other “high crimes and misdemeanors” (Clinton, Comey, McCabe, Ohr, Page, Strzok, etc.) and no justice for Republicans who are vilified, demeaned and silenced by socialist Democrats in all of our institutions. We have a deep state of government employees and the political establishment (Democrats and Republicans) that have every intention of preserving “the status quo and their cushy way of life” to the detriment of all others and the trashing of the U. S. Constitution, even if they have to break every law on the books.
And lest we forget, the product of our public and higher education systems have been so brainwashed and corrupted by generations of socialist and environmental indoctrination, they have managed to pump out millions of children that have no concept or understanding of why America was so successful in its beginnings in spite of its inherent flaws. Sadly, those millions now hunger for “free” everything from government and they will bust their little fannies to get to the poles and vote for the Democrats that promise the “free” everything.
Finally, the socialist Democrat Progressives have been so successful, the majority of the population now subscribes to every new socialist proposal that comes out of Democrats, trolling for votes and lusting for power. Democrats intend to dismantle every institution of American liberty and apathetic Americans are going to watch them do it. This very likely could lead to civil war!
[Comment: The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time by the blood of patriots and traitors.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Fox News Caves to Islamic Sharia Law — Fires Judge Jeanine Pirro
Within the government, within the Department of Justice, the Department of Defense, you have practically eliminated any training or any use of the term ‘radical Islam.’ That’s what we’re facing. —LTG Michael T. Flynn
I will not abridge my freedoms so as not to offend savages, freedom of speech is under violent assault here. —Pamela Geller
It is the nature of Islam to dominate, not to be dominated, to impose its law (sharia) on all nations and to extend its power to the entire planet. —Muslim Brotherhood founder Hassan Al-Banna
To learn who rules over you, simply find out who you are not allowed to criticize. —Voltaire
Fox News is no longer run by CFR member Rupert Murdoch. It is now being controlled by Rupert’s eldest son, 47-year-old Lachlan Murdoch. Although Lachlan says his politics closely resemble his father’s, Fox News and Fox Business are unarguably leaning to the left. Though Lachlan hired West Wing stalwart Hope Hicks, staffers believe he is likely to nudge the network away from its close marriage to Trump, and they have lost many of their famous male hosts to #MeToo claims against them.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Here is the Striking Discovery From Bloomberg’s Investigation of YouTube
According to a lengthy investigation by Bloomberg on Google’s struggle to maximize profit while addressing calls to censor ‘toxic’material, a rogue employee decided to ignore the advice of corporate attorneys and created a new “vertical” category to internally track so-called “alt-right” content — described as “the political ensemble loosely tied to Trump.”
What they found was fascinating; alt-right videos are an absolute monster category for the video-hosting platform, right up with “music, sports and gaming” as the most popular.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
It is Outrageous That Supporting Trump is Dangerous
Having to feel so afraid to express our political views is outrageous. Democrats and fake news media have so twisted the meaning of “MAGA” and generated such hatred for Trump that citizens are afraid to publicly support the president of the United States. This is still America. Thugs who physically attack us for expressing our First Amendment right to free speech must be prosecuted.
Antifa, Black Lives Matter, and other Democrat domestic terrorists routinely beat up Trump supporters. Meanwhile, fake news media promotes their lie that the Tea Party is the violent movement. The Tea Party is totally nonviolent. Brothers and sisters, it requires courage to stand with Trump in his quest to bring America back from Democrats’ destruction. I am grateful that God is on our side.
In the Clint Eastwood movie, Pale Rider, an evil businessman with an army of thugs tried to force small landowners to sell him their land. If the landowners did not sell, the businessman threatened to kill them and take their land. The small landowners voted to stay and fight for their land. They asked Preacher (Eastwood) to lead them. Preacher said, “If I lead you, some of you will die.” In other words, Preacher was saying freedom ain’t free.
As we join Trump in the battle to restore America’s greatness and recover our freedoms, MAGA cap wearers will be beaten, cars will be keyed. Freedom ain’t free…
Sharia Law will spread like wildfire across America if Democrats win the White House. Rashida Tlaib and bold anti-Semitic Ilhan Omar are the first two Muslim women elected to congress. They are Phase 3 (Infiltration) of a master plan for Sharia law to rule America. Tlaib and Omar’s mission is to support pro-Muslim candidates, spread pro-Muslim propaganda, and file lawsuits against anything they deem Islamophobia.
Meanwhile, Democrats have intensified their war on Christianity, seeking to ban the Bible and make biblical teachings illegal.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
James Clapper Outs Obama: Responsible for Trump Russia Investigation [Video]
Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper reacts to White House press secretary Sarah Sanders saying he and other former intelligence officials should be investigated after special counsel Robert Mueller did not establish collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia. Clapper is backpedaling on his past claims of Russian collusion as he throws Obama under the bus. Keep singing!
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Judge Jeanine Pirro to John Brennan: You Are Swamp Scum
“Don’t be satisfied with the Mueller report. This is bound to happen again because these arrogant, condescending, lying, leaking haters of you and me and the America that doesn’t have power, will do it again unless we stop them. And the only way to stop them is with justice. True justice— behind bars justice,” Judge Jeanine Pirro, Fox News Channel, March 30, 2019.
During her Saturday night return to the Fox News Channel, former New York criminal court judge and former Westchester County, New York District Attorney Jeanine Pirro started off her show by pointing out the former CIA Director John Brennan was — and continues to be — Deep State Swamp Scum.
In a previous opening statement, Judge Pirro had compared the Democrats’ own crime scene cleaner to the iconic fiction character in the landmark motion picture Pulp Fiction:
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Paid Trump Dossier Author and Fusion GPS Over $3.8 Million
The Daily Caller is reporting that George Soros had a hand in financially supporting the opposition research firm Fusion GPS. Christopher Steele and Fusion GPS partnered to produce the fake dossier on President Trump. While it’s not surprising that Soros had a hand in the fake dossier, it IS surprising that it’s just now coming out.
According to the IRS, radical billionaire George Soros paid The Democracy Integrity Project (TDIP) more than $3.8 million in 2017 to provide research and analysis to “government entities”. Bean LLC is the holding company that controls Fusion GPS:
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Sheriff Willing to Go to Jail Over Red Flag Gun Law: “it’s a Matter of Doing What’s Right”
A Colorado sheriff has stated that he opposes a proposed new gun control law so much that he is willing to go to jail rather than enforce it.
Weld County Sheriff Steve Reams told CNN that “It’s a matter of doing what’s right.”
Here’s a bit of background on the bill Reams is referring to. It is likely to become law this week. The law Reams says he will not enforce is a red flag gun confiscation law.
House Bill 19-1177, also known as a red flag bill or the Extreme Risk Protection Orders bill, passed the Colorado Senate 18-17 on Thursday and is scheduled Monday for the House floor. With Democratic majorities in both chambers, state Republicans have too few votes to stop the bill.
Last month, we reported that legislators and sheriffs in the state have been pushing back against the bill:…
Sheriffs could find themselves locked inside of their own jails for refusing to enforce gun control laws.
Failure to enforce a court order to seize a person’s guns could mean sheriffs being found in contempt. A judge could fine them indefinitely, or even send them to jail to force them to comply.
Reams told CNN it’s a sacrifice he’d be forced to make.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
By Ed Rosalie
The entire Trump collusion debacle was played out to the max even though everyone in the media, every Democratic politician, everyone in Hollywood, and even Robert Mueller knew there was no evidence at all indicating any connection between Trump and Russia. But the lie was carried forward for over two years in the hope that somehow, some way, some random shard of lethal evidence could be found to discredit Trump and lead to his being tossed out of office. The rabidity of TDS is relentless, to the point that some of its zealots are turning on Mueller for not providing the desired outcome, and subsequent schemes for Trump’s destruction are already being aggressively pursued.
The only collusion was by government officials and the media in a coordinated coup to bring down the President of the United States solely because they resented and disliked him for beating Hillary. To repeat: it was not an investigation for collusion — it was an attempted coup, carried out right here in our country. The weapons? The press and most media embedded with the Democrats and Mueller’s entire team composed of Hillary supporting, Trump hating Democratic lawyers. Everyone was salivating at the thought of destroying this presidency. A few on the other side quietly wonder: if Mueller knew pretty much from the beginning that Trump did not collude, why did it take two years for the ‘investigation’ to wrap up? Is March, 2019 a safe enough distance from the 2018 November elections to avoid suspicion?
Almost as frightening as the Left’s overt attack on our democracy and its traditions is everyone else’s seeming aversion to seeking revenge or even accountability. Memories are short; the Left knows this. Thus, this complacency helps stoke the furnace that powers the Left to continue to grow more and more blatant, believing — not incorrectly — that they can pretty much foster any scam with no need for doing it with any semblance of a clandestine manner.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Tucker Carlson Beats CNN’s Entire Line-Up Combined, So Now CNN Targets His Advertisers
After Tucker Carlson outperformed CNN’s entire prime time line-up combined, CNN published an article attacking his advertisers.
The Fox News host achieved 3,475,000 total viewers last week, beating CNN’s Anderson Cooper, Don Lemon and Chris Cuomo, who could only muster 2,474,000 viewers between the three of them.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Two More Women Accuse Joe Biden of Inappropriate Touching
Two more women have now come forward accusing Joe Biden, the former vice president and presumed 2020 presidential candidate, of inappropriately touching them. This now makes four accusers who have come forward. One of the new women was only 19 years old at the time of the incident.
Caitlyn Caruso, a former college student and sexual assault survivor, said Mr. Biden rested his hand on her thigh — even as she squirmed in her seat to show her discomfort — and hugged her “just a little bit too long” at an event on sexual assault at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. She was 19.
Ms. Caruso, now 22, said she chalked up the encounter at the time to how men act, and did not say anything publicly. But she said it was particularly uncomfortable because she had just shared her own story of sexual assault and had expected Mr. Biden — an architect of the 1994 Violence Against Women Act — to understand the importance of physical boundaries.
“It doesn’t even really cross your mind that such a person would dare perpetuate harm like that,” she said. “These are supposed to be people you can trust.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
We are rapidly heading toward being Venezuela. Of course some states will arrive there sooner than others, and the first will be New York State, which is dominated by New York City, AKA the festering third world Marxist sewer.
In the years roughly from 2008 to 2012 , I attended many humanist events. There I was among New York City’s “cultural elite”, lawyers, professors, programers, engineers, executives. I learned a lot of things, like Stalin was a great man, and it was the Soviet Union that defeated Nazi Germany, the United States having nothing to do with it. And Palestinian terrorists, er, freedom fighters, should be admired for their courage in fighting the Zionist occupier. Especially admirable were suicide bombers. Most of all I heard what a great man Hugo Chavez was, the greatest man alive, and that Venezuela was the model nation for the world, superior to the United States in every way. Basically what was being taught in colleges.
New York has long being the Mecca of Marxism. For example New York’s congressman from the South Bronx, Jose Serrano, an ally of Chavez, is self-admitted “to the left of the left,” and praised Fidel Castro as a “great leader. “ However from 2015 to 2018, Republicans controlled the New York State Senate and were able to prevent the most egregious Castro style bills from passing. But since the November 6, 2018 election debacle, it is “democratic socialists” in total power in New York State and it is Venezuela full speed ahead. Some of the travesties now enacted as law are “congestion pricing” in Manhattan and the ban on plastic bags, plus a 5 cent tax on paper bags. Motorists will have to pay up $25 dollars for the privilege of driving in Manhattan (the very north of Manhattan, which is really South Bronx, may be exempted), in addition to the already $15 tolls to enter “fun city”.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Watch: John Stossel: The Breakfast Myth
For decades we’ve been told that breakfast is the “most important meal of the day”, but it’s not. John Stossel explains why in this video by ReasonTV.
[Comment: I haven’t eaten breakfast since the age of 15. I eat twice a day. It has not adversely affected my health.]
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Your Single-Family Home Uses Way Too Much Energy
FACT: The Green New Deal (GND) is driven by the fraud that is man-caused global warming, AKA Climate Change. (Read the Socialist-Democrat sponsored GND. It should scare the living crap out of you!)
FACT: Man-caused global warming is unsettled science and is driven by in-accurate computer climate models, producing predictions that have been unable to even mirror actual climate conditions.
FACT: Man-caused global warming is an environmental fraud that is driven by two elite agendas, one-world-order control by the ruling class under the United Nations and a massive transfer of wealth from rich nations to poor nations. All the planet-wide propaganda about climate change is a lie, with the goal to herd the masses into tight, little, sterile cattle cages. Believe at your own peril!
The Green New Deal is based on a false premise (climate change) that has been ginned up by collusion between the radical environmental community and the one-world-order crowd to subjugate the masses of the world! It (the GND) would effectively kill American sovereignty; destroy our Constitutional Republic; repeal individual, unalienable rights and free choice; pull the rug out from under the American economy and bankrupt the nation; significantly reduce each American’s standard of living; raise unemployment into middle double digits; permanently wipe out property rights; force Americans to live in crowded high-rise apartment buildings and kick them out of their single-family homes; do away with our major source of protein, cows; phase out fossil fuels and finally, reduce each American’s freedom of movement by eliminating cars and airplanes. Under the GND, every American becomes a servant (slave) to the ruling class who will live under no such restrictions. All this damage will be inflicted upon the people of America (and the world) based on a climate lie!
Europe is moving forward on its own version of the Green New Deal. What it wants to implement is not only humanly impractical, but flat out insane. Here are two examples:
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
91-Year-Old Swede Prosecuted and Heavily Fined for Stating That Muslims “Seem to be Inbred”
“You cannot, with the best will in the world, call these creatures humans. They seem to be inbred, the way they behave.”
In Skåne in southern Sweden, the judicial system’s resources have recently, among other things, been used to frame a 91-year-old man who wrote negatively about Islam and Muslims on Facebook.
The man who is from Bromölla was convicted of “incitement to racial or ethnic hatred” after he wrote “offensive” about Muslims, according to the local newspaper.
“You cannot, with the best will in the world, call these creatures humans. They seem to be inbred, the way they behave”, the elderly man supposedly wrote.
The local newspaper calls him “Sweden’s oldest online hater”.
The District Court argues that the comments are “clearly offensive to Muslims” and therefore sentences the man for hate speech.
According to the court, the usual punishment for the crime he committed is two months in prison, but the 91-year-old man evades the slammer and is let off with a conditional sentence and SEK 6,500 (€650) in daily fines.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
African Illegal Migrant With 13 Identities on Trial for Murdering French Couple
A 38-year-old illegal African migrant, who was set to be deported and has operated under 13 different identities, is facing trial for the murder of a French couple that occurred in December 2015.
The couple, whose first names were Elise and Julian, were found dead in an apartment in Rouen only a few days before Christmas. Jean Claude Nsengumukiza, 38, was later arrested in connection with the murder and the rape of 24-year-old Elise, France Bleu reports.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Brexit: MPs Back Delay Bill by One Vote
MPs have voted by a majority of one to force the prime minister to ask for an extension to the Brexit process, in a bid to avoid any no-deal scenario.
The bill, put forward by Labour’s Yvette Cooper, was passed by the Commons in just one day.
However, it will need to be approved by the Lords before it becomes law. It would also still be for the EU to decide whether to grant any extension.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Did Jim Fix it? Jill Dando ‘Knew Too Much’ About Jimmy Savile, Claims BBC Insider
MURDERED TV-star Jill Dando reportedly knew ‘too much’ about the paedophile ring at the BBC, and tried to alert her BBC bosses in the mid-90s, it has been claimed.
Dando, 37 who was shot dead outside her North London home in 1999, is said to have attempted to alert BBC bigwigs of the now infamous paedo ring operating inside the BBC and knew of “big name” stars caught up in the scandal, claimed a former colleague.
The Express reported that BBC bosses ‘didn’t want to know’ according to the source, as a new documentary is set to air on BBC One tonight at 9 pm.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Germany: ‘Experts’ Say ‘Islamophobia’ Behind Muslim Anti-Semitism
Rising ‘Islamophobia’ in Germany is behind anti-Semitic attitudes amongst Muslim youths living in the country, according to a study by taxpayer-funded “experts”.
The findings of a three-year project to highlight and tackle anti-Semitism in Muslim school pupils in Germany were published in a report announced by the Federal Agency for Civic Education (FACE) Monday, entitled ‘Extremism out — Empowerment instead of anti-Semitism’.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Government Whip Resigns Over May’s Decision to Delegate Brexit to ‘Calamity’ Corbyn
Theresa May’s ever more precarious government has suffered another resignation, this time from a junior minister and government whip who said Wednesday that the prime minister was failing in both her main duties — to deliver Brexit, and prevent a left-wing Corbyn government takeover.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
‘I Am Shocked!’ Turns Out ‘Knife Amnesty Bins’ In the UK Are Attractive Targets for Criminals
Concern about the number of knives in the UK had led a member of Parliament to go as far as to suggest putting GPS trackers in every knife sold, and London’s mayor also said last year that people caught carrying knives in his city would feel “the full force of the law.” In the meantime, there are “knife amnesty bins” in the UK, and at least one has been the target of something that was rather predictable.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: French-Style Family-Support Measures Coming — Di Maio
Minister says DEF will bring in tax breaks to hire babysitters
(ANSA) — Rome, April 1 — The government’s new DEF economic blueprint will feature a series of measures to help families, Deputy Premier and Labour and Industry Minister Luigi Di Maio said on Monday. “The time has come to put measures in the next DEF based on the French model,” Di Maio told Rtl 102.5 radio, saying this would include tax breaks to slash the costs of nappies and hiring babysitters.
Cabinet Undersecretary Vincenzo Spadafora, meanwhile, said Monday that a controversial bill to reform family law filed by League Senator Simone Pillon has been shelved.
The bill changing the law on child custody after separations has been criticised by United Nations officials.
The officials picked up on the obligation for the children to meet both of their parents following a separation, even if one has been violent. “The Pillon bill is out,” said Spadafora, a member of the 5-Star Movement (M5S).
“That text will never reach the floor (of a house of parliament).
“Now it will be necessary to write a new text”. The issue of the family has caused tension within the ruling alliance recently.
Several senior League members, including Deputy Premier and Interior Minister Matteo Salvini, took part in the controversial World Congress of Families in Verona at the weekend. The event was criticised for promoting an anti-abortion, anti-feminism and anti-gay agenda.
Fellow Deputy Premier and Labour and Industry Minister Luigi Di Maio, the M5S leader, described it as “medieval”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
May Condemned for ‘Subcontracting’ Brexit to ‘Known Marxist’ Corbyn
Brexiteers have condemned Prime Minister Theresa May for abdicating power of the government to a progressive-socialist shadow cabinet and Brussels.
After a marathon seven-hour Cabinet meeting, Prime Minister May told the country Tuesday night that she would seek another “short” extension of Article 50, delaying Brexit day further, which she said would end once a deal is passed in the House of Commons.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Pickpocketing in Paris Metro Surges in 2019
Pickpocketing on the Paris metro has dramatically increased so far this year with police saying they have seen a 33 per cent rise in just three months.
Warnings of pickpockets operating on trains are now commonly broadcast on metro lines that serve tourist areas in the city with roving bands of young pickpockets often getting on trains at the Bir-Hakeim station in the 15th arrondissement, Le Parisien reports.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Swedish Cultural Figures Demand Israel Eurovision Boycott
A total of 171 Swedish artists, musicians, and other “culture workers” have demanded Sweden boycott the upcoming Eurovision song contest because it is taking place in Israel.
The group advocated the boycott, accusing Israel of committing “crimes against the Palestinian people,” and alleging the country denies fundamental rights to Palestinians in an article published by newspaper Aftonbladet this week.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
The European Union is Launching Action Against Poland
Over allegation recent laws undermine independence of judges
(ANSA-AP) — BRUSSELS, APR 3- The European Union is launching action against Poland over allegations that recent laws introduced by the government undermine the independence of judges. The EU’s executive commission said Wednesday that it has sent a letter of formal notice — the first step in legal action — to Poland and wants a reply addressing its concerns within two months. Commission Vice-President Frans Timmermans says that disciplinary measures for judges introduced in 2017 appear “to systematically subject judges to the political control of the executive.” Timmermans says the rules have “an obvious, chilling effect on the independence of judges.” He says Poland has a chance to explain or change its mind about the laws. The commission says it is acting to safeguard the rule of law in Poland.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
UK: At Least Seven Students From University of Westminster Joined ISIS, Says Captured Fighter
An ISIS fighter has revealed that he is among seven former students from a single London university to have joined the terror group.
In 2014, Zakariyya Elogbani abandoned his business management degree at the University of Westminster to join the jihadis.
From his detention cell in Syria he has now told the BBC that he was one of seven Westminster students to fight for the Islamist group.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
US Warns Italy on China, Russia
Marquis voices concern on BRI, Russian ‘incursions’
(ANSA) — Washington, April 3 — The United States on Wednesday warned Italy on giving China and Russia undue influence in its economic and political activities.
Italy is a special concern after signing a memorandum of understanding on China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) or ‘new Silk Road’, US National Security Council spokesman Garrett Marquis told ANSA.
“We are warning many countries to be aware of the risks posed by supporting the Belt and Road Initiative, especially those who are actively seeking direct foreign investment. But Italy is a special concern because it is a strong ally and a member of the G7,” he said.
“Pressuring Italy to sign the BRI, China seems to believe that Italy is economically vulnerable or politically manipulatable”, he said.
Marquis also said that the US wanted Italy to watch out for Russian interference on the eve of NATO’s 70th anniversary.
“The US is counting on Italy as one of its strongest allies and keeps communications open with a broad range of actors in the Italian government,” he said.
“We see that Russia is creating incursions in the Italian political landscape and we strongly encourage Rome to take these activities seriously”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Van Gogh Artwork Fraudsters Investigated in France
Four fraudsters that attempted to sell a false Vincent Van Gogh artwork in France are now being investigated, and could face up to 10 years in jail.
One man is being investigated for having attempted to sell a sketch of “a Van Gogh self-portrait”, and is suspected of being part of an illegal art ring discovered in Montpellier (Hérault, Occitanie). Several people are now under investigation.
The forgery was first suspected after a potential buyer raised the alarm, alerting police. Negotiations had been in the ballpark of “several million euros”, the would-be buyer said.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Vatican Denounces Media Silence Over Christian Persecution
ROME — The Vatican Secretary of State decried the “appalling number of innocent persons that suffer persecution because of their beliefs, including many Christians” on Wednesday, noting that these violations “often occur with impunity and at times receiving little, if any, attention in the media.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Serbia: Large Chinese Tire Factory to be Built
Investment is worth 800m euros. Deal with Football Federation
(ANSA) — BELGRADE, APRIL 1 — Serbia’s president Aleksandar Vucic attended a foundation stone-laying ceremony for the large tire factory which will be run by China’s Shandong Linglong tire company in Zrenjanin, northern Serbia. The investment is worth 800 million euros, the largest ever in Vojvodina (Serbia’s richest and most developed region, ed), which will employ 1,200 people. The new factory will be the largest in Serbia, covering an area of 500,000 sqm, and it will produce 13 million tires each year (the first deliveries will be available in 2021). The Chinese company’s chairman Wang Feng pointed out that ‘Shandong Linglong’ employs 13,000 workers worldwide and that it is the world’s 20th largest tire manufacturer and the 3rd largest in China. The group has research centers in North America, China and Germany and, Wang Feng announced, another center will be built in Serbia. The Serbian government considers the Chinese investment so important that the Zrenjanin ceremony was attended not only by Vucic and the entire leadership of the Chinese company but also by the premier Ana Brnabic, the ministers of economy, finance, commerce and tourism, the president of the Serbian Chamber of Commerce, the local authorities of Voivodina and the municipality of Zrenjanin. The management of Shandong Linglong recently signed a sponsorship agreement in Belgrade with the Serbian Football Federation (FSS) for the Superliga and First Division, the two main soccer championships in Serbia. Serbia is focusing on Beijing’s investments and president Xi Jinping visited Belgrade in June 2016, whereas his counterpart Aleksandar Vucic, with whom Xi has established a very friendly relationship, has been invited to participate in the Silk Road conference scheduled for the end of April in Beijing. In the last few years, China promoted the ‘16 +1 ‘initiative with the aim of supporting and financing large-scale projects, especially in the infrastructure and energy sectors, in 16 Central and Eastern European and Balkan countries. Regular meetings and conferences take place in China and in all the countries involved in this initiative.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Twenty Years Later: The Legacy of NATO’s War Against the Serbs
by Srdja Trifkovic
Twenty years ago the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, led by the United States, waged a relentless 78-day bombing campaign against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, consisting of Serbia and Montenegro (March 24-June 10, 1999). This act of naked illegal aggression marked a significant turning point, not only for America and NATO but also for everyone else. The rules-based international order—and its two keystones, the principle of state sovereignty and of the rule of law itself—had been subverted in the name of an allegedly humanitarian ideology. Facts had been converted into fiction, and even the fictions invoked to justify the aggression had given up all pretense to credibility. Old systems for the protection of national liberties, political, legal and economic, over the ensuing two decades have been turned into vehicles for their destruction.
Far from demonstrating the vigor of Western ruling elites in their ruthless pursuit of an ideology of multiethnic democracy and international human rights, NATO’s 1999 war against the Serbs—and more generally America’s Balkan entanglements since 1991—provide a disturbing revelation of those ruling elites’ moral corruption and cultural decay. The consequences for the international system, and for the security and stability of the world as a whole, are grave in the extreme.
Almost a decade separated George H.W. Bush’s Desert Storm from Bill Clinton’s “Humanitarian Bombing.” In 1991 the Maastricht Treaty was signed, and the rest of the decade has brought the gradual usurpation of traditional European sovereignty by a corporate-controlled Brussels regime of unelected bureaucrats. North America had the passage of NAFTA agreed among the three countries’ oligarchs, and in 1995 the Uruguay round of GATT gave us the WTO. The nineties were thus a decade of gradual foundation laying for the new, post-national international order…
| — Hat tip: Srdja Trifkovic | [Return to headlines] |
God Wants Catholic, Muslim Fraternity — Pope
Francis talks about visit to Morocco during general audience
(ANSA) — Vatican City, April 3 — Pope Francis said God wants inter-faith solidarity as he spoke about his trip to Morocco last weekend during his weekly general audience on Wednesday.
“With Muslims, we are descendants of the same Father, Abraham: why does God permit there to be so many religions?” the pope said. “God wanted to permit this: the theologians of the Scholastica made reference to the volutas permissive of God. “He wanted to allow this situation: there are many religions; some are born of culture, but they always look to heaven, they look to God.
“But what God wants is fraternity between us and in a special way — here is the reason for this trip — with our brothers, sons of Abraham like us, the Muslims. “We must not be afraid of difference: God allowed this. “We must be afraid if we do not work in fraternity, to walk together in life”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Many of CNN’s National Security Analysts Have Undisclosed Ties to Oppressive Qatari Regime
Several of the so-called national security experts at CNN that you see on television every night have direct links to the nation of Qatar, a terror-funding, Islamist enclave in the Middle East that has placed itself on the warpath against America’s most important regional allies.
But you would never know about these connections, because none of the CNN regulars disclose their financial and/or institutional ties to Qatar when they appear on the airwaves. And off air, they are also not forthcoming about their Qatar-backed connections. Even when it comes to discussing issues where they have a clear conflict of interest, such as commenting on Israeli, Saudi, or UAE affairs, these CNN contributors have no issue going to bat against Qatar’s rivals, while never mentioning that their editorial freedom is restricted or that they are personally compromised.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Turkey: Only Four Women Elected Mayor in 81 Cities
Two with Kurdish party, others with Erdogan’s Akp and Chp
(ANSAmed) — ISTANBUL, APRIL 1 — Only four women have been elected in 81 provincial capitals in Turkey in administrative elections held Sunday. They are ex-minister Fatma Sahin of the Akp party of president Recep Tayyip Erdogan, which was elected for another mandate in Gaziantep, Ozlem Cercioglu of the social Democratic Chp in Aydin, and two mayors of the pro-Kurdish Hdp, Media Ozgokce Ertan and Berivan Helen Isik, who were respectively elected in Van and Siirt in the south-east.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Turkey: Cavusoglu: Purchase of Russian Missiles Completed
US requests rejected despite halt in F-35 sales
(ANSAmed) — ISTANBUL, APRIL 3 — “The contract of acquisition” by Turkey of the S-400 Russian anti-missile defense system “has been completed”, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said . The US had asked the government of Recep Tayyip Erdogan not to go forward and suspended the sale of their F-35 jets, considering them in danger in case of coexistence with Moscow’s missiles.
This is the first confirmation of the agreement with Moscow after the announcement of the preventive suspension of equipment for the American fighter jets. Over the past few months, Turkey had repeatedly ruled out pulling back from the agreement with Moscow, saying that the first group of S-400 would be sent in July.
“Turkey must not choose between Russia and the others, relations with Russia are not an alternative”, said Cavusoglu speaking from Washington, where he is attending a Nato summit.
He explained that the creation of a “joint technical working group” was proposed a reassurance that the Russian missiles posed no threat and that they will not be integrated with the “Nato systems and the F-35”. The program of the F-35 is wide-ranging and “Turkey is part of it”, said Cavusoglu.
“As far as the Patriot (missiles) are concerned, the United States made us a last offer but there is no guarantee for the deal”, he added. He claimed that President Donald Trump’s administration acknowledged that the proposed sale made by the Obama administration was a bad deal for Ankara and that negotiations have been going on for too long, leading Turkey to buy the S-400.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
US Islamic Scholar Praises Brunei’s Death Penalty for Homosexuality
An American scholar of Islam publicly praised the Sultan of Brunei for instituting death by stoning for “rectum-sex enthusiasts” in accordance with Sharia law.
Daniel Haqiqatjou, a Harvard alumnus and scholar of Islam, wrote an article on social mediaSaturday in which he fawned over the Sultan of Brunei for instituting the death penalty for “rectum-sex enthusiasts.” He urged other Muslim countries to follow suit. Haqiqatjou founded the Alasna Institute, which provides training in Islamic apologetics, and has been featured in articles on CNN, The Washington Post, Al Jazeera, The Atlantic and First Things.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
China Tightens Screws on Underground Catholic Bishop
The Chinese government has forbidden Bishop Vincent Guo Xijin from celebrating the Chrism Mass on Holy Thursday unless he enlists as a member of the state-controlled Patriotic Catholic Association (PCA).
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Thirteen New Ant Species Discovered in Hong Kong
“If you believe that all life surrounding you in Hong Kong has been discovered, then you’ll realise that you just need to look a bit closer… not for big things, but for ants and other insects walking at your feet, to find a plethora of new creatures,” said Dr Benoit Guénard from the School of Biological Sciences of the University of Hong Kong (HKU).
In two separate articles recently published in Zookeys and Asian Myrmecology, Dr Guénard and his team expanded the knowledge on Hong Kong ants by adding 13 species to the 174 species officially recorded.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
The African teenager, who was 15 at the time, gatecrashed Liam Hamilton’s 16th birthday party at a home in Quakers Hill, in Sydney’s west, in June last year.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
The Good Guys Are Illegally Pushing for Door to Door Confiscation Through Red Flag Polices
In the light of what just allegedly happened in New Zealand, one might ask themselves the question, why it is that their acting government would attempt to disarm their own citizenry instead of arming them to protect themselves against armed assailants (Luke 11:21-22)?
Furthermore, why is their acting government detaining and charging their own citizens for sharing the video of this alleged massacre? After all, it was broadcasted LIVE on Facebook!
One man has been arrested and charged with two counts of objectionable materials in New Zealand’s “Films, Videos and Publications Act.” He is being held without bail and could be sentenced up to 14 years in prison for each offense. This is one of many that have been charged.
Here in America, and like that of the shooting that took place at Parkland High School in Florida, all videos were banned from big tech companies from the likes of Facebook, Google, Twitter, etc. And why? It’s because eyewitness accounts did not align themselves with the CIA-controlled media’s narratives. There are 70 cameras inside of that school shooting and only four videos were released.
[Comment: Recommended reading. Never let a crisis go to waste. A co-ordinated seizure of guns under “pretend laws” has begun in western nations that have not already been fully disarmed. Communists always seek to disarm their opponents before killing them.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Brazil Steel Pipe Production Set to Grow Despite EU Tariffs
Signal of alarm in Brazil
(ANSA) — Rome, April 2 — The European Union’s decision to impose tariffs on Brazilian steel products, announced in January, set off an alarm in the sector in Brazil.
Seen as part of the trade war triggered by US President Donald Trump, the Brussels measure will affect seven sectors of the national steel industry — such as pipes, sheets and blades — which will pay 25% in surcharges starting from a certain quota.
The initiative is a reaction to the international steel barriers, in particular Chinese ones, imposed by Trump, which have led to the mass arrival in the EU of products destined for the American market.
“It is a complication, I think we will not emerge unscathed from these decisions,” said Carlos Eduardo Baptista, president of the Brazilian Metal Tubing and Accessories Industry Association (Abitam), organizer of the Tubotech fair, in collaboration with Cipa Fiera Milano, scheduled for 1-3 October, in Sao Paulo.
Currently, Brazil represents 2% of the global production of pipes, with a total of 5 million tonnes a year. According to Baptista, any obstacle placed on the world market will inevitably spark great fear in the country.
The Brazilian market has a strong presence of multinationals, such as the French Vallourec and the Italo-Argentine Tenaris, which maintain global strategies and have plants in other countries. If the Brazilian product becomes more expensive, they might move their exports towards other units.
“As soon as barriers are created on one side or another, that produces problems. I think that well in any case feel the impact of the these reprisals among great powers, although almost at the root all these measures come from China’s decision to market all over the world steel products with a price well below trade standards,” added the president of Abitam.
This way, too, according to Baptista, the tubing sector should still present a positive sign in 2019, albeit timid, after a year of insignificant growth.
“Historically, the growth of the sector is double that of GDP, and if the government really expects GDP growth, then the market can still grow: if it were to reach growth of 2-3%, we would be very happy,” he stressed.
The government and major infrastructure projects are the main buyers in the pipes market, as is the building sector, the oil and gas sectors and the car industry.
“We expect that the first half of the year will be marked by a clash between the government sand parliament to approve the first reforms: in the meantime, the market is still waiting, even though it maintains optimism”, Baptista added.
One of the pieces de resistance of the government of Jair Bolsonaro is in fact the promotion of the country’s insertion into international trade, also via the reduction of import tariffs, but for the president of Abitam this must be accompanied by a reduction of what he calls “the Brazil cost”.
“We are burdened by a series of expenses that doe no exist in the rest of countries. If the government commits to gradually reducing import tariffs and at the same time moves to progressively reduce the ‘Brazil cost’, we have nothing to object,” said Baptiste, according to whom “Brazil must competitive, but the firms already are”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Ecuador Accuses Julian Assange of Violating Asylum Deal in London Embassy
Ecuadorian President Lenin Moreno has accused WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange of repeatedly violating the conditions of his seven years of asylum in Ecuador’s embassy in Britain.
In a speech to the Ecuadorian Broadcasting Association on Tuesday, Moreno accused the whistleblowing organization of intercepting phone calls and private conversations and also complained about “photos of my bedroom, what I eat, and how my wife and daughters and friends dance.”
“Mr. Assange has violated the agreement we reached with him and his legal counsel too many times,” Moreno said. “It is not that he cannot speak and express himself freely, but he cannot lie, nor much less hack private accounts or phones.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Appeals Court Says Parents Can’t Sue San Francisco Over Immigrant Who Killed Daughter
A federal appeals court in California ruled that the parents of Kate Steinle, a woman fatally shot by an unauthorized immigrant in July 2015, cannot sue the city of San Francisco for failing to notify immigration officials of his release from a local jail weeks before the killing.
A three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, in a unanimous decision, ruled that San Francisco’s then-sheriff, Ross Mirkarimi, violated no federal, state or local laws when he released Juan Francisco Lopez-Sanchez, also known as José Inez Garcia Zarate, on a minor marijuana charge without notifying Immigration and Custom Enforcement.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Legal Immigration Adding 50 Million Foreign-Born to U.S
By 2060
In this ongoing interview with executive director David Durham of http://www.Balance.org , you might get the queasy feeling that your country won’t make it through another 50 million legal immigrants.
Aren’t we already packed into our overloaded, over-crowded, over gridlocked, over-air polluted, over-congested, and over-crime-ridden cities in 2019? Aren’t our National Parks overwhelmed? Aren’t our skies filled with too many planes creating too many chem-trails? Aren’t our factories belching out enough air pollution to give all of us a case of cancer? Aren’t our soils overwhelmed with crops? Anybody facing water shortages in California and Florida?
“Legal Immigration will add over 50 Million Immigrants to U.S. population by 2060,” said Durham. “About three times more than Illegal, given current trends (U.S. Census/CIS analysis, S. Camarota, “Immigration to Add 75 Million by 2060”) with all the Negative Environmental and Budgetary Consequences BALANCE has documented.
[Comment: This is what globalists want — to destroy western nation states using the lie of “open borders” and mass migration as a weapon.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Moroccan Migrant Slit Italian’s Throat Because “He Looked Happy”
“I thought he should suffer like me”
A 27-year-old Moroccan migrant confessed to the murder of 33-year-old Italian Stefano Leo, saying that he killed Leo because “he looked happy”.
Said Mechaout slit Leo’s throat during a brutal attack on 23 February of this year in Turin.
He later told authorities that Leo’s pleasant demeanor had been the only trigger needed for the murder.
“I am the murderer of Stefano Leo. I have to turn myself in,” said Mechaout. “I feel hunted by the Carabinieri. I don’t want to commit other crimes. Among all the people who were passing, I chose to kill this young man because he looked happy. And I chose to kill his happiness.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Prosecutors said that a suspect has confessed to murdering 33-year-old Italian Stefano Leo, who was found stabbed to death on the banks of the River Po in Turin on 23 February, for the sole reason that he wanted to kill someone.
The suspect, Said Machaouat, a 27-year-old Moroccan, turned himself in at the weekend.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
New Jersey Woman Raped, Murdered, Thrown in Lake… Suspect is Illegal From Honduras
We’ll say it again like we’ve said it so many times before: This crime was 100% preventable!
This is what happens with open borders and sanctuary cities. Jersey City is a sanctuary city! Sanctuary cities protect people like this murderer and rapist.
The suspect in the rape, strangulation and drowning death of a 45-year-old New Jersey woman is an illegal alien from Honduras.
According to Carolina Cano’s roommate, she had gone out for an early morning jog on Sunday and never came home.
After a search, the 45-year-old was found dead in a local lake close to her home.
Carolina was still wearing her sneakers when she was found by Jersey City police in the lake and hadn’t been there long.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Pope Says Better to Speak of ‘Migrant People’ Than ‘Migrants’
Pope Francis said Wednesday that he does not like using the expression “migrants” and prefers instead to speak of “migrant people,” since this better underscores their humanity.
Reflecting on his recent visit to Morocco, the pope told pilgrims gathered in Saint Peter’s Square for his weekly audience that he had focused on the issue of migrants during his trip, both in meeting with the Moroccan authorities and especially in meeting with the migrants themselves.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
A Christian dubbed ‘the most arrested street preacher’ in the country has walked free from court again after his latest case collapsed when police bungled the paperwork.
Mike Overd, 54, regularly appears in town centres delivering ‘fire and brimstone’ sermons using a microphone and brandishing printed signs saying ‘Repent’.
He has been accused of preaching hate speech, Islamophobia and homophobia and telling a gay man he was going to hell for being a sinner.
More than 3,000 locals once signed a petition to get the preacher banned from town centres in Bridgwater and Taunton but Mr Overd remains defiant.
Overd, 54, of Creech St Michael, Somerset — who denies any wrongdoing — has been arrested and hauled before the courts on a number of occasions…
The latest case was brought after Overd failed to leave Bridgwater town centre in January after police told him to move on, accusing him of anti-social behaviour.
He claims police are discriminating against him on the grounds of his beliefs.
After the case was discontinued, he said: ‘I’ll take whatever — God gives the victory. But it’s bad that I’m still being harassed for the same reason.
‘I was just preaching when a handful of troublemakers started becoming aggressive — one man threatened to rip my face off.
‘One of the complainants reported me to police just for looking at them.
‘I refused to accept a Section 35 order (requesting him to leave the area) so I was arrested.’
Mr Overd added: ‘Freedom of speech is supposed to be one of the most important freedoms we have.
‘But this is happening more and more around the country.
‘I’m the most arrested Christian preacher in the land. I’m not proud of it, but I should never be in this position — the authorities have no shame and they’re misusing the law.’
[Comment: note the story angle, they report it as if this is a bad thing that he walked free — when in fact the “laws” triggering his arrest are the problem.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Decline of Marriage: Majority of UK Brides Now Aged Over 30
Britons who get married before the age of 30 are now in a minority, according to official new data showing that the number of religious marriages has declined to a record low.
Figures published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) on marriage in England and Wales revealed a dramatic drop in the proportion of people who had ever married from the 1970s, when more than a quarter (28 per cent) of women were wed by the age of 20 and more than nine-tenths (91 per cent) by 30.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Freedom — An Endangered Species
Freedom is not the natural state of man. There’s always somebody looking to take it away. This is going on all over the world today; and no freedom is more at risk than that of free speech. Our country’s founders enacted the First Amendment to protect it, along with freedom of religion and freedom of the press.
But our mother country, the United Kingdom, has no First Amendment. As you read this, British police are “investigating” a Catholic journalist for the newfangled pseudo-crime of “misgendering.” For calling a man a man, despite his delusional claim to be a woman.
Just for the record, there is no such thing as a “transgender woman” who used to be a man. That person is still a man. No amount of surgery or hormones can make him a woman. But journalist Caroline Farrow, appearing on a TV talk show, made the mistake of referring to such a mythical creature as a man: she committed the crime of not saying something she knew wasn’t true. So now the police say they’ll arrest her unless she shows up at the station house for a “taped interview.” And of course her whole family has been harassed and threatened since her story made the news.
The UK has a “law”—I find it necessary to put the word in quotes—called the Malicious Communications Act, and you can be tossed into prison for two years for breaking it. This asinine statute makes it a criminal offense to say or write or tweet “a message which is indecent or grossly offensive… a threat… information which is false or known or believed to be false by the sender.”
Let’s unpack that, shall we?
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) put Twitter on notice on Wednesday, calling on CEO Jack Dorsey to undergo a third-party audit of its suspension policies.
Conservatives have long complained about seemingly arbitrary suspensions of their accounts — most of which come with no explanation or meaningful ability to appeal. Most recently, the Twitter account for the pro-life movie Unplanned was suspended just as the movie was hitting theaters. When the account was restored, its administrators discovered that nearly 100,000 followers had disappeared. Users (myself included) reported trying to follow the account and immediately being forced to unfollow.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Pillon Bill Can’t be Shelved — League
M5S can’t ignore govt contract says Romeo
(ANSA) — Rome, April 1 — A controversial bill to reform family law filed by League Senator Simone Pillon cannot be shelved, the nationalist populist League said Monday.
The bill changing the law on child custody after separations has been criticised by United Nations officials.
The officials picked up on the obligations for the children to meet both of their parents following a separation, even if one has been violent.
“The text can be improved: probably a single basic text will synthesise with the other proposals, but you can’t shelve the (government) contract”, said League Whip Massimiliano Romeo after Cabinet Undersecretary Vincenzo Spadafora of the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement (M5S) said earlier Monday that the controversial bill had been shelved.
“The M5S can think what they like but you certainly can’t shelve what has been written in the government contract,” said Romeo.
“One shared custody it is very clear, starting from the permanence of the children with equal time between the parents.
“The Pillon bill, which was also signed by the M5S, reflects the contract”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Paris Transgender Woman ‘Humiliated’ At Protest
A transgender woman has spoken out after a video went viral of her being attacked near a rally in central Paris against Algeria’s ailing president.
Julia has described being targeted by three men in the Place de la République.
“You’re a man, you’re not going anywhere, you’re not coming past,” she was told, as she was pushed and punched while trying get through the crowd.
Prosecutors have opened an inquiry into the attack.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Teen Vogue Says There is No “Biological Sex”
Teen Vogue tweeted a video full of “trans” people claiming that there is no such thing as biological sex.
Yes, this again.
“This idea that the body is either male or female is totally wrong,” claims one speaker.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
“Czech Republic With the Lowest Unemployment in the EU” allow me to add who the most unemployed people are: similarily those being migrants in Germany, France, etc., it’s the gypsy minority here. If you go region by region, the highest unemployment rates are in the north, where a majority of those people lives. And that’s the kind of people that won’t work unless they are forced by law (they used to work during the communist era, because otherwise they landed in jail – though, to be fair, it wasn’t that black and white either). Or they will work unregistered – it’s still a bit of a problem, especially in basic construction work etc., where you don’t need any special skills. There are currently more free spots than unemployed, so the people who are unemployed really just don’t want to work (aside from maybe a tiny speck that’s unemployed and currently sick or something and hence can’t look for work).
As for the high % on young ones, personally I think there are three reasons:
1) just like in the US, many young people tend to study useless majors (imagine something like 200 students in human studies, compared to 20 in engineering) and then wonder why they can’t get a good, well paying job
2) some tend to underestimate themselves and don’t present well during interviews, so they’ll take a while before they get a job
3) the young generation is exteremely lazy in comparisson to older people – and I really mean that! They preffer pot, alcohol and just dumbly hanging around to hard work. Now of course not all of them, but many.
Those things combined, I’m almost surprised the number isn’t higher, lol. Or maybe I’m being too grimm about it and actually most of them end up being hardworking – that would be something good to be wrong about.
““I Cry When I Think Back How Things Used to Be” — What in the World Has Happened to the America We Grew Up In?” I can’t speak for America, but it’s similar in Czechia. You know, there used to be this mandatory part-time thing where teens would go to rural areas in summer to help harvest potatoes, hops, or whatever other crops you might have. And in a way it was a complete nuisance, because you -had- to go, but you also met new people and some of those friendships lasted for life. My cousin met some guys from the other side of the country this way and went to visit them, he might’ve never gotten the chance to visit that city otherwise.
Just like how Americans used to sit on their porches, we did too or people would meet in the park or center of the village. The banks are still there, but young people no longer visit. Last time I’ve seen this was a few years ago in a small town in Romania.
And while the article makes some excellent points, I think there’s more to it. I’ve recently seen some videos about Hollywood movies and while I might not agree with them completely, some of the points cannot be ignored and, just like social media, blockbusters and popular shows influence their audience too. I mean if you look when divorce was normalized in Hollywood movies and when the divorce rate plummeted, it’s pretty clear…
And in that connection – single parents don’t tend to have as much time to care for their children (especially if they don’t live in the vicinity of the grandparents or so) or in order to care enough for their children put their own social life on the backburner. And if the whole neighbourhood is like that and nobody visits the neighbours then the children won’t have an example to go by and won’t do it either.
I know an old lady that lives in a blockhouse and she always rants about how everybody used to know eachother in there (it has roughly 30 flats or so) and now she doesn’t even know who lives there and some people won’t even say “hi” when meeting one of their neighbours.
But in my town they’ve started this “neighbour visits” activity a few years back, where they put out tables and chairs on the street and everybody can bring in some food and they sit together and talk, get to know eachother. Or they go on a small hike in the neighbourhood and an older person will talk about it’s history. So maybe something like that would be possible in America too. I know many people here still remember the good ol’ days and after 30 years of absence, people seem to hunger for it, so they try to bring it back. I have no idea if it might be too late for America, and I’m pretty sure it won’t be possible in sanctuary cities anytime soon, but hey, you can at least try 😀
https://ria.ru/20190403/1552362979.html
A Russian man escaped to Poland from Sweden with his three small daughterts because when their mother got ill and was turned to a hospital, his kids were taken from him and placed to a foster family of very religeous Lebanise. On arrival to Warsaw they got detained in the airport because Sweden has issued the arrest and return order. Warsaw court now decided to grant a temporary permission for girls to stay with their father till the case is solved in Poland.
Re: “Vatican denounces media silence over Christian persecution”. Welcome news, but it seems like something that might have been said when Benedict was still in charge, rather than the current Pontiff. Cognitive dissonance, or did this slip through a time warp?
Here’s a slightly odd story: I was crossing Kennington Park by my London home this afternoon, and saw a military helicopter- I think an Apache, not sure whether British or American- and as it approached the new US Embassy in Vauxhall, it bowed. No-one bows to American presidents, so was this for a secret visit by the Master of the Universe?
I miss the Harrier “jump jets” at airshows; we Brits no longer have them, though I believe the US Marines and the Spanish military still do. A favourite trick they had was to bow to the crowd; at the airshow at the coastal town of Southend many years back, I recall one hovering over the water, bowing, then lifting its nose, spraying us with salt water; I doubt whether anyone complained!