Two tankers, one Norwegian and one Japanese, were attacked in the Gulf of Oman today. The explosions that caused the evacuation of the ships may been the result of torpedoes, or of mines attached to the ships’ hulls. The US government says that Iran was responsible for the attacks.
In other news, Boris Johnson is in the lead after the first round of voting for the new leader of the “Conservative” Party in the UK.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to Insubria, JD, Reader from Chicago, RR, 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.
Ajit Pai: ‘Greatest Threat’ To Internet is ‘Unregulated Silicon Valley Tech Giants’
Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Ajit Pai said during a hearing Wednesday the “greatest threat” to a free Internet is the “unregulated Silicon Valley tech giants.”
Chairman Pai charged during a Senate Commerce Committee hearing Silicon Valley serves as the greatest threat to a free Internet.
“The greatest threat to a free and open internet has been the unregulated Silicon Valley tech giants that do, in fact, today decide what you see and what you don’t,” the FCC chief said. There’s no transparency. There’s no consumer protections, and I think bipartisan members of both congressional chambers have now come to that realization.”
— Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The maker of the Scholastic Aptitude Test is silent on criticisms that its recent changes — intended to level the socioeconomic playing field in admissions — will hurt Asian-American children in particular.
A spokesperson for the College Board emphasized to The College Fix that its new “environmental context dashboard” is not an “adversity score,” a term he attributed to The Wall Street Journal. He issued a lengthy explanation of what the ECD does and does not do.
But the spokesperson provided a generic response to the widespread criticism the change has provoked, when The Fix asked specifically for its response to the Asian American Coalition for Education. He has not responded to a followup request.
— Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Author of New AOC Biography Talks Dark Secrets of Her Past
Author hits resistance after digging into official’s background
Peter D’Abrosca wrote a biography on Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and was met with resistance when he began digging into her background.
[Comment: Perhaps AOC has a long history of involvement in communist organizations?]
— Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Bernie Sanders: Americans “Would be Delighted” To Pay More Taxes [Video]
Yes, Bernie Sanders really just said Americans would be “delighted” to pay more in taxes? He’s not kidding…
The Democratic Socialist wants freebies for everyone and he wants YOU to pay for them.
He wants free college, healthcare and a $15 minimum wage.
Just like any socialist, he just wants to raise taxes thinking it will pay for the billions it would cost for the freebies he wants. He’s wrong!
Bernie Sanders on paying for socialism:
“People in this country would be delighted to pay more in taxes.”
— Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Betsy Devos’s Education Choice and the “Free Lunch” Trap
“There is no such thing as a free lunch, but there is always free cheese in a mousetrap.”
The Real Story Behind Ole’ Betsy’s Twisted and Distorted CHOICE Trap.
Will American Parents Grab For the Bait?
March 11, U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos announced at the Council for American Private Education (CAPE) State Directors Annual Meeting that the Department will no longer enforce a restriction barring religious organizations from serving as contract providers of equitable services solely due to their religious affiliation.
“She has also made clear that she believes that any education program funded with taxpayer dollars is “public,” even if it is a private religious school that accepts students funded with publicly funded vouchers or tax credit programs.” (Emp. added.) (Source:)
This is a huge disclosure from the feds because it explains exactly how federal fingerprints are attached to Choice. Taxpayer dollars ARE PUBLIC.
In Betsy’s CHOICE, what does “ equitable services” mean and how can “taxpayer public dollars” be used? Public funds begets public oversight. What does it mean for private and religious schools to accept students with taxpayer publicly funded equitable services legislated in ESSA, Every Student Succeeds Act? The section in ESSA is very clear if you read the legislation.
“The Department will continue to enforce all other applicable provisions of federal law. In particular, under ESEA Sections 1117(a)(2) and 8501(a)(2), school districts must continue to ensure that any contractor is independent of the private school for which it is providing services and that the educational services and other benefits being provided by the contractor are “secular, neutral and non-ideological.”
There are many moving parts to this suspicious free funding and free equitable services. It’s a trap.
— Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
CAIR ‘Demands’ US Army War College Cancel My Lecture on Islamic History
Verbal duplicity and second-rate sophistry from a group desperate to keep the truth about Islam hidden.
The “unindicted co-conspirator” Council on American-Muslim Relations (“CAIR”) and its Islamist allies are “outraged” because the U.S. Army War College in Carlisle, Pa. has invited me to give a lecture on my recent book, Sword and Scimitar: Fourteen Centuries of War between Islam and the West.
On May 28, CAIR’s Pennsylvania leadership — namely, Jacob Bender, Timothy Welbeck, Ahmet Selim Tekelioglu — sent a letter to USAWC commandant Gen. John Kem and provost Dr. James Breckenridge urging them to revoke “the decision of the US Army War College to invite Mr. Raymond Ibrahim to deliver the prestigious 50th Annual Lecture Series of the US Army War College.”
— Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Democrats Plan Capitol Event to Reignite Concerns About Trump’s Mental Health
Democrats are planning a Capitol Hill event in hopes of reigniting questions and concerns about President Trump’s mental health.
Yale School of Medicine psychiatrist Dr. Bandy Lee will reportedly head up the event, which is expected to happen “within the next couple of weeks.”
Lee is an author and editor of the book The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump and is among those who believe that psychiatrists have a “duty” to warn the general public of what they believe is Trump’s deteriorating mental state.
— Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Denver Council Member Wins With Promise to Impose Communism ‘By Any Means Necessary’
“Um, capitalism by design is extractive and in order to generate profit in a capitalist system, something has to be exploited, that’s land, labor or resources.”
“I don’t believe our current economic system actually works. Um, capitalism by design is extractive and in order to generate profit in a capitalist system, something has to be exploited, that’s land, labor or resources,” CdeBaca alleged.
“And I think that we’re in late phase capitalism and we know it doesn’t work and we have to move into something new, and I believe in community ownership of land, labor, resources and distribution of those resources,” she continued. “And whatever that morphs into is I think what will serve community the best and I’m excited to usher it in by any means necessary.”
By Any Means Necessary also happens to be a radical “anti-fascist” group known for instigating violent confrontations with Trump supporters and patriots across the country, including the deadly melee at a Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia in 2017.
— Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Exclusive: Associate of Former General Mike Flynn Says He’s Going on the Defensive
Ex-general fighting back against bogus charge
Former Green Beret Ivan Raiklin details how former general Mike Flynn is planning to fight back against his bogus charge.
— Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Exclusive: Facebook’s Process to Label You a ‘Hate Agent’ Revealed
Facebook monitors the offline behavior of its users to determine if they should be categorized as a “Hate Agent,” according to a document provided exclusively to Breitbart News by a source within the social media giant.
The document, titled “Hate Agent Policy Review” outlines a series of “signals” that Facebook uses to determine if someone ought to be categorized as a “hate agent” and banned from the platform.
— Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Google: We’re Not Killing Ad Blockers.
Translation: We made them too powerful, we’ll cram this genie back in its bottle
Analysis Google on Wednesday defended its pending work-in-progress updates to Chrome that will change the way extensions filter out web adverts and other content.
The US tech titan insisted that its still-hazy browser extension API revision, known as Manifest v3, won’t kill ad blockers, and that it will make them safer… albeit without offering any evidence that ad-blocking extensions specifically represent a threat.
Of course, ad blockers do pose a threat to one thing close to home: Google’s bottom line, and that’s according to its own financial filings. While the online advertising giant may rightly see ad-blocking extensions as a revenue risk, it hasn’t established they’re a security risk — in fact, the extensions can defend against malicious JavaScript code, typically loaded via bad ads, by blocking it.
— Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Google Keeps a List of “Conservative” And “Fringe” Sites to Censor
A new report is showing that Google keeps two lists in order to blacklist those who won’t promote the official government narrative. Those lists are composed of “conservative” and “fringe” sites, and Google allows their employees to remove those blacklisted sites from web searches.
This blacklisting is nothing more than censorship by a different name. Google decides what you will be exposed to and they don’t want certain websites to give you information that goes against the mainstream media’s narrative.
The lists, according to The Daily Caller, allow Google employees (who CEO Sundar Pichai told Congress in December never “manually intervene on any particular search result”) to suppress certain web addresses in a user’s search results.
Google Manipulated YouTube Search Results To Program Users’ Behavior
While mainstream media suffers daily under the weight of waning trust and falling ratings, there isn’t much left to do for the elitists but shut down all dissent.
The first list, titled “webanswers_url_blacklist,” lets staff block specific web addresses from popping up in Google’s ‘featured snippets’ when a user asks a question. Many of the pages blocked are op-ed articles, which a user could mistake for straight news reporting. This list appears to target opinion pieces in general, regardless of their political bent. Another list, which the Daily Caller suggests was compiled by algorithm, blanket blacklists a host of conservative and “fringe” sites from appearing in the ‘featured snippets.’the American Spectator, Breitbart, The Gateway Pundit, and the website titled Bring Your Bible to School Day are among those included. Several progressive sites, including Consortium News and a blog called Breitbart Unmasked also reportedly made the list…
Free thought will not be tolerated in the new Orwellian dystopia being created for us by the elitist globalists. This really shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone. In fact, we expect the censorship to continue to be ramped up especially as people begin to slowly realize they’ve been brainwashed for decades.
Google, along with a bevy of other Silicon Valley tech giants, has been accused of harboring a liberal bias for several years now, with new stories of favoritism surfacing regularly. And a recent study confirmed that. It found that Google’s search algorithms display a “left-leaning ideological skew,” while video footage of an internal company meeting recorded after the 2016 election showed executives calling Donald Trump’s victory “deeply offensive” and talking about using AI to fight dissent in future, according to a report by RT.
It’s no longer a conspiracy theory that big tech is censoring dissent. It is a fact.
— Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
House to Hold Hearing on Slavery Reparations
A House Judiciary subcommittee will hold hearings on reparations next Wednesday, marking the first time in more than a decade that the House will discuss potentially compensating the descendants of slaves.
“The Case for Reparations” author Ta-Nehisi Coates and actor Danny Glover are reportedly set to testify before the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, and the hearing’s stated purpose will be “to examine, through open and constructive discourse, the legacy of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, its continuing impact on the community and the path to restorative justice,” according to a Thursday Associated Press report.
The June 19 hearing also “coincides with Juneteenth, a cultural holiday commemorating the emancipation of enslaved blacks in America.”
— Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
How Bill Gates Destroyed the SAT
The downfall of the College Board began when it picked David Coleman, a Gates alumnus who had played a significant role in writing Common Core standards
Standardized testing is the engine of meritocracy. When the College Board standardized testing through the SAT, it introduced merit to an educational system where status was determined by family history.
A poor immigrant who studied hard and worked hard might have a shot at the best schools in the land. . Over a century later, the College Board has announced that the Scholastic Assessment Test will include an adversity score based on zip codes that purports to measure the social environment of the student.
After nearly a century of trying to measure intelligence, instead of class, the SAT will collude in a college admission system where class overwhelms merit to a degree unseen since 18th century Harvard.
The latest assault on standardized testing assumes that the individual student should be defined by the income, education and family averages of his zip code, more than by his actual skills and learning in a complete reversal of the entire purpose of the SAT and the meritocratic work of the College Board.
Ironically, the College Board fell victim to the success of a college dropout from a wealthy family.
William Henry Gates III, more commonly known as Bill Gates, has wielded the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation as a tool for wrecking education with Common Core and has hijacked the College Board, which began as a conclave of elite college leaders, into pursuing his radical social and political agendas.
The downfall of the College Board began when it picked David Coleman, a Gates alumnus who had played a significant role in writing Common Core standards, as its new president. Coleman, a Rhodes Scholar, the son of a Bennington College president and New School dean, had degrees from Yale, Cambridge and Oxford. By the age of 25, he was working at McKinsey as an educational consultant.
— Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Jordan Peterson Close to Launching “Anti-Censorship” Social Media Platform
Psychologist and author Jordan B. Peterson announced this week that progress on Thinkspot, his subscription-based “anti-censorship” social media platform, has the project closer to launch.
Peterson and his team are beta testing the product, which he calls “an intellectual playground for censorship-free discourse”, according to the Washington Times. It comes at a time when social media sites like Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and Pinterest have been accused of arbitrarily enforcing vague terms of service and overreaching in their left-wing biased policing of their respective platforms.
“Announcing Thinkspot: a new online communication platform (as promised post-Patreon),” Peterson wrote Wednesday on Facebook.
— Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Martel: 5 Times the New York Times Defended Communism
Communism is nothing new; it is a nearly 200-year-old death cult that has taken 100 million lives, a low estimate given that communist states like China, North Korea, and Cuba continue to add to the death count on a daily basis — and the fact that the ideology has spread even further to places like Venezuela, South Africa, and Sri Lanka through its cuddlier alter ego, “socialism” or “democratic socialism.”
Only slightly younger than the political dinosaur that is communism is the New York Times’ insistence on publishing propaganda that defends it. Aaron Bastani’s asteroid mining fever dream is merely the latest in a century of apologism, revisionist history, and fake news designed to promote authoritarianism. Below, seven of boundless examples of America’s most prominent newspaper using its rights in a free society to glamorize, fetishize (literally), or otherwise defend violent Marxist totalitarianism.
— Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
New Testing Revealed Popular Kids’ Cereals Contaminated With Weedkiller Roundup
New testing conducted for Environmental Working Group detected glyphosate in 21 of General Mills’s oat-based cereal and snack products.
A new analysis reveals Wednesday that over 20 popular children’s cereals and snacks are contaminated with glyphosate—the main ingredient in the weedkiller Roundup.
The testing was commissioned by the Environmental Working Group (EWG)—the thirdround of such testing it’s undertaken—and looked at popular General Mills-made products, including several Cheerios varieties and various kinds of Nature Valley granola bars.
— Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
NYT Hails Negroni’s 100th Anniversary, Cocktail of the Year
‘Perfect elixir for summer afternoon’
(ANSA) — New York, June 13 — The New York Times on Thursday hailed Negroni’s 100th anniversary calling it the cocktail of the year.
The NYT said the cocktail of equal parts Campari, vermouth and gin, invented by Florentine Count Camillo Negroni in 1919, “is the perfect elixir for a summer afternoon”.
— Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Operation Broken Heart Leads to 1700 Potential Pedophile Arrests
Crackdown on pedos escalating under Trump White House. The crackdown on pedophiles has ramped up recently, all while leftists defend pedophilia and mock those openly fighting against it.
[Comment: This is one of the reasons globalists hate Trump. Most are afraid they will soon be arrested for the same crime.]
— Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Former Trump campaign foreign policy advisor George Papadopoulos taunted Obama’ s crooked FBI and Intel agencies on Wednesday evening and said the secret transcripts of his meeting with Australian diplomat Alexander Downer are ready to come out.
Papadopoulos admitted there are transcripts of his Spring 2016 London meeting with Alexander Downer because the Australian diplomat was most likely wearing a wire or recording their conversation.
“ The transcripts of my meeting with Downer are ready to come out. America is ready,” Papadopoulos said while taunting James Clapper for his involvement.
Keep an eye on Clapper’s recent trips to New Zealand and Australia. He’s trying to cover his tracks along with those two governments which were willfully interfering in our democratic process! The transcripts of my meeting with Downer are ready to come out. America is ready.
— George Papadopoulos (@GeorgePapa19) June 13, 2019
— Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Paraplegic Allegedly Defrauded by Avenatti Now Suing ‘Creepy Porn Lawyer’ For $10 Million
Already familiar with being sued by ex-wives and ex-employees, ‘creepy porn lawyer’ Michael Avenatti is now being sued by the paraplegic whom he allegedly defrauded of a multi-million dollar settlement.
Geoffrey Johnson, Avenatti’s alleged victim, according to federal prosecutors in California, is preparing to sue the disgraced lawyer for $9.5 million after Avenatti allegedly stole a $4 million settlement from Johnson to pay debts for his struggling coffee business. Avenatti lied to Johnson and wired the bulk of the settlement to himself in 2015.
— Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Rep. Schiff Tries to Wiggle Out of Saying Comey Circumvented Congress to Spy on Trump [Video]
Rep. Elise Stefanik is one sharp cookie. In March of 2017, she questioned FBI Director Comey on whether he notified Congress of the investigation into the Trump campaign. She cornered Comey into saying that the Obama administration did not notify anyone in leadership and not even anyone on the intel committee.
Flash forward, and Rep. Stefanik asked Rep. Schiff about that, and he tried his best to deny it.
She tweeted out the video of Comey’s March 20, 2017 (entire video of Stefanik/Comey is below) testimony with the quote saying she thinks “he’ll change his mind once he hears it straight from Comey’s mouth”:
“Rep. Adam Schiff didn’t believe me today when I told him Comey circumvented Congress by opening an investigation into the Trump campaign. Maybe he’ll change his mind once he hears it straight from Comey’s mouth?”
— Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Sean Hannity on Trump’s ABC Interview “It Was the Greatest Set-Up Donald Trump Ever Made” (Video)
Sean Hannity joined FOX and Friends on Thursday morning in studio in front of a live audience.
This came after the media’s latest manufactured outrage over President Trump’s interview with liberal George Stephanopolous from ABC News. Trump told George during their interview that if he was given opposition research from another country he might use it and might tell the FBI.
The liberal media were absolutely outraged that Trump would dare talk with and take opposition research from a Sean Hannity weighed in saying “this was the greatest setup Donald Trump has ever made.”
Sean explained, “You know I call them the media mob, right? They lie to us for two years, conspiracy theories, a hoax. So, Donald Trump, if you’re outraged in the media over that, him saying, “I might want to listen and if need be report to the FBI.” If you’re outraged over that then how could you not be outraged over Hillary Clinton literally empowered a foreign agent who produced a dossier full of Russian lies, that was used to infiltrate our electoral process, first by influencing the American people but more importantly they used a British foreign national, a spy, it was never verified, they used it then to spy on Americans… It’s far worse what Hillary Clinton did and they show no outrage in this fake media environment we live in.”
— Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Shock Poll: Amash Down 16 Points in Republican Primary
When asked during a town hall meeting last month whether he fears his pro-impeachment comments could leave him vulnerable to a primary challenge by Michigan State Rep. Jim Lower, Rep. Justin Amash (R—Grand Rapids) smiled and said, “I am not concerned about it.”
It may be time to dial up the concern-o-meter.
In a June 5-9 Practical Political Consulting (PPC) and MIRS survey of just 360 likely GOP voters announced Tuesday (though not yet available online), Lower thumped Amash in a head-to-head matchup, 49 percent to 33 percent. According to MIRS News, the poll also found that if President Donald Trump campaigned in the district for Lower, “the challenger’s margin actually goes down 43 [percent] to 32 [percent].”
— Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
The Elders Chair Mary Robinson Uses UN Press Conference to Denounce President Trump
a firm believer in a global governance structure that exalts transnational institutions and the notion of global citizenship over the sovereignty of self-governing nation-states
The Elders describe themselves as “a group of independent leaders, brought together by Nelson Mandela in 2007, who use their collective experience and influence for peace, justice and human rights worldwide.” Its chair is Mary Robinson, who served previously as president of Ireland and United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. She has also been serving more recently as UN Special Envoy on Climate. In her capacity as Chair of the Elders, she addressed the UN Security Council on Wednesday, along with the Elders’ Deputy Chair, former UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. Some other leading members of the Elders include Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, former president of Liberia; Gro Harlem Brundtland, former president of Norway; Ricardo Lagos, former president of Chile; Juan Manuel Santos, former president of Colombia; Ernesto Zedillo, former president of Mexico; and Zeid Raad Al Hussein, the anti-Israel, anti-Trump former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
Ms. Robinson’s remarks to the Security Council on Wednesday were relatively temperate in tone. However, this self-important “elder” acted more like one of the progressive Democrats running to take on President Trump in 2020 when she used a press briefing at UN headquarters the day before her address to the Security Council to excoriate President Trump. She blamed, at least in part, what she characterized as President Trump’s “poor leadership” for the rise of populism around the world and the increasing tendency of countries to put “country first in an isolationist, nationalistic way.” Ms. Robinson also complained about what she claimed was the “destabilizing” effect of President Trump’s tweets.
[Comment: Another globalist mouthpiece who hates that the “cattle class” (aka deplorables) are organizing behind populis parties. ]
— Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
When compared to this same week last year, CNN also lost 21 percent of its total day viewers.
CNN lost — wait for it, wait for it — 55 percent (that is not a typo) of its viewers aged 25-54 during primetime last week.
The fake news outlet also lost 45 percent of its total day viewers aged 25-54.
The 25-54 age demo is hugely important because it sets advertising rates.
— Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Trump Says Sarah Sanders to Leave White House, “Done Incredible Job”
Having faced the fake news day in and day out (though the usual press briefings have become a thing of the past), it would appear Sarah Huckabee Sanders has finally had enough.
— Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
U.S. Women’s Soccer Captain Megan Rapinoe Refuses to Sing National Anthem During World Cup
Rapinoe had already warned that she would “never sing the anthem again.”
“I’ll probably never put my hand over my heart. I’ll probably never sing the national anthem again,” Rapinoe said in May adding she views herself as “a walking protest when it comes to the Trump administration,” because of “everything I stand for.”
“I feel like it’s kind of defiance in and of itself to just be who I am and wear the jersey, and represent it,” Rapinoe said. “Because I’m as talented as I am, I get to be here, you don’t get to tell me if I can be here or not. So, it’s kind of a good ‘F you’ to any sort of inequality or bad sentiments that the [Trump] administration might have towards people who don’t look exactly like him. Which, God help us if we all looked like him. Scary. Really scary. Ahh, disturbing.”
Rapinoe had taken to kneeling during the national anthem until the U.S. team ruled that all players must stand for the anthem.
— Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Cops are increasingly turning to commercial gene-testing services to solve crimes, using a process called “genetic genealogy” that uses the records of people who are near-matches for DNA from crime scenes to zero in on suspects; that’s how they caught the Golden State Killer, but cops don’t just ask genetics services for data when they’re after killers, sometimes they deputize these services to help them solve petty crimes.
Services like 23andme and Gedmatch are amassing titanic databases of genomes from the public and it only takes one person from your family to implicate everyone else they’re related to in police dragnets.
What’s more, the commercial services reserve the right to act unilaterally in sharing their data, and this “voluntary” sharing is effectively unregulated. Even where services let you opt out of having your DNA used by cops, your relatives may not be so conscientious, making your decision irrelevant.
— Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
‘X-Men’ Director Bryan Singer to Pay $150,000 Over Rape Allegation
Hollywood director Bryan Singer will pay out $150,000 to settle with a man who claims that the Bohemian Rhapsody director raped him in 2003.
In 2017, Cesar Sanchez-Guzman sued the X-Men director, accusing him of sexually assaulting him at a party in Seattle when he was 17-year-old. Singer has maintained his innocence.
According to Sanchez-Guzman’s suit, Bryan Singer “lured Cesar into a room, shut the door and demanded that Cesar perform oral sex. When [Sanchez-Guzman] refused, Bryan Singer forced him into acts of oral and anal sex.” The suit added that Singer threatened the young man but also said, “he could help Cesar get into acting as long as Cesar never said anything about the incident.” Sanchez-Guzman also alleged that Singer said he had the power to “ruin someone’s reputation” if crossed.
Singer has denied even knowing Sanchez-Guzman, and his lawyer reminds the media that the settlement is a “business decision” and is not an admission of guilt.
— Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
YouTube Bans Creator With Half a Million Subscribers After He Criticized Vox’s Carlos Maza
YouTube banned the channel of a creator with half a million subscribers the day after he released a video decrying censorship and criticizing Vox’s Carlos Maza.
Earlier this month, Maza whipped up a firestorm of outrage after accusing Steven Crowder of using gay slurs against him. This led to Crowder’s channel being demonetized and the #VoxAdPocalypse — which saw thousands of channels deleted or demonetized for ‘hate speech’.
However, the biggest example of censorship occurred today, with Black Pigeon Speaks, a channel that boasted nearly half a million subscribers, being banned by YouTube, with the company providing no reason whatsoever.
[Comment: YouTube has reinstated Black Pigeon Speaks.]
— Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Austria Moves Toward Sept. 29 Election as Parliament Draws Toward Close
VIENNA (REUTERS) — Austria on Wednesday took a step toward setting Sept. 29 as the date of its next parliamentary election as lawmakers passed a bill ending the current legislative period in a few weeks.
Austria’s coalition government collapsed last month after a sting video forced the head of the far-right Freedom Party (FPO), Heinz-Christian Strache, to step down and prompted conservative Chancellor Sebastian Kurz to call off their alliance.
Kurz tried to remain in his post as head of what was effectively a minority government but parliament dismissed him and his cabinet, saying he deserved at least some of the blame for the political crisis set off by the sting, in which Strache appeared to offer to fix state contracts.
— Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Debate Over Brexit Fee: Would Non-Payment Constitute Default? Who Owes Whom?
Round and round we go. After more than two years the UK and EU are still debating Brexit breakup fees.
In 2017, Lawyers for Britain made the legal case We Don’t Owe the EU Any Money.
We do not owe the EU any money as a Brexit divorce bill. That is the conclusion that Martin Howe QC, Chairman of Lawyers for Britain, and Charlie Elphicke MP have come to after an exhaustive analysis (click to download full report) of the claims the EU Commission sent to the British Government in June. The Government would, therefore, be right to stand firm and not be blackmailed into a multi-billion pound divorce bill. Particularly as it transpires that the legal position is that the EU owes us €10 billion.
The EU’s main claim appears to be that the UK is obliged to contribute to the EU’s budget for a period of roughly two years after withdrawal. This claim is without merit as a matter of international law. The EU’s “Own Resources Decision” and its “Multiannual Financial Framework” are legally subordinate to the EU treaties. They have no binding force in law independently of the treaties. Therefore they cease to impose any legal obligation on the date when the Treaties themselves cease to apply to the UK — on March 29, 2019.
The EU’s second claim relates to the large deficit of its staff pension scheme. The UK could not be liable for a share of that without having a claim on a corresponding share of EU assets. Yet there is no general practice in international law of States making or receiving balancing payments representing the net assets or liabilities of an international organisation when they join or withdraw. No such balancing payments were made when Member States joined the EU. It is therefore difficult to see any credible basis upon which the UK is obliged to make any net payment when it leaves.
The European Investment Bank (EIB) is in a rather different position. Member States have paid up capital to this organisation, and that capital stands in its books. There is a compelling argument that the UK, on EU exit, is entitled to the return of its paid up capital and to a corresponding share of the accumulated reserves of the EIB. This amounts to about €10 billion.
Certainly Not Default
Regardless of who owes whom, if the UK refuses to pay, it certainly would not constitute default.
The rating agencies would not label it a default and there are no bonds or interest in play.
Macron’s position is ludicrous.
— Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Eurocrat Juncker Calls Merkel ‘Postmodern, Loveable Work of Art’
President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker has hailed German Chancellor Angela Merkel as a “loveable work of art”.
Speaking to Politico, the outgoing president of the European Union’s executive arm saidthat he believed the German chancellor, who is leaving her post in 2021, is a “loveable work of art” and when asked to elaborate on what style, he said: “Postmodern.”
— Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
France: Woman Who Lived in Bataclan Building Says Attack Completely Changed Her Political Views
Says France is prone to Islamization because of “political correctness”
A French woman who lived in the Bataclan building says the attack completely changed her political views and is now warning about the “Islamization” of France.
The Bataclan theatre massacre, during which 90 people were killed by Islamic terrorists, was part of the wider November 13 Paris massacre which claimed a total of 130 lives.
Appearing on a French television debate show, the woman explained how Islamization was changing France.
— Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Germany: “Merkel Has No Vision”, House of Terror Museum-Director Says
“Angela Merkel is very good at keeping power, at outmaneuvering her rivals. But she has no ideas, no vision, no knowledge of history or the world,” Maria Schmidt, director of the House of Terror museum in Budapest told The Gateway Pundit.
According to the historian, Merkel “could stay in power 10 more years, or months, but history will not remember it any more than already. Because she stands for nothing”. “History will remember two things about Angela Merkel: That she let two million illegal migrants in and destroyed Germany, and that she failed to salvage the economy of Europe after 2008,”she added.
— Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Puglia Governor Probed for Breaking Severino Law
Over appointment of ex Bisceglie mayor to InnovaPuglia post
(ANSA) — Bari, June 12 — Puglia Governor Michele Emiliano is under investigation for braking the Severino Law on corruption and cronyism, the Gazzetta del Mezzogiorno reported Wednesday.
The probe is in relation to the appointment of the former mayor of Bisceglie, Francesco Spina, as a director of the public company InnovaPuglia, the paper said.
As well as Emiliano, Spina is also under investigation, it said.
Also under investigation is a regional government manager, Nicola Lopane, the newspaper said.
Emiliano is a prominent member of the centre-left opposition Democratic Party (PD).
He has twice stood, unsuccessfully, to be PD leader.
On the probe, Emiliano said “I’m not worried, everything is in order”.
— Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Delegitimised Commission Can’t Penalize us, Says Salvini
Deputy premier reports on govt meeting on economic issues
(ANSA) — Rome, June 12 — Deputy Premier and Interior Minister Matteo Salvini said Wednesday that the outgoing European Commission does not have the authority to penalize Italy over its management of the public finances. “An outgoing Commission that is old and delegitimised by the votes of millions of Europeans last week cannot take decisions or impose decisions or penalties on governments and peoples,” League leader Salvini said in a live Facebook broadcast. The Commission said last week that an infringement procedure would be justified for Italy’s failure to comply with the debt rule, while stressing that the proceedings have not been opened yet and it is open to talks.
Salvini was speaking after a meeting of senior government figures on economic issues.
— Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Conte Sending Letter to EU Calling for Rules to be Changed
Time for rules to be updated premier tells ANSA Forum
(ANSA) — Rome, June 12 — Premier Giuseppe Conte told an ANSA Forum on Wednesday that he is set to send a letter to the EU calling for the European budget rules to be changed. “I have prepared the draft of a letter that I will address to the European institutions and which will become public,” Conte said. “It will be an opportunity to reiterate that, while on the one hand we want to respect the Stability and Growth Pact and we consider our budget to be in line with it, on the other we don’t want to shy away from offering a critical contribution to the EU rules.
“The time has come to address and update the European rules”.
— Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Man Who Molested Policewoman Re-Arrested for Robbery
In Reggio Emilia
(ANSA) — Reggio Emilia, June 13 — A 28-year-old Finnish man arrested Saturday night for molesting a policewoman in Reggio Emilia rail station but immediately released by a prosecutor was re-arrested Thursday for brandishing a knife and then a stick in the streets of the Emilian city.
Darku Koku Asare Lauri has been charged with attempted robbery over the second of today’s incidents.
— Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Third Justice Quits CSM Over Cronyism Probe
Antonio Lepre says ‘did not take part in scheming’
(ANSA) — Rome, June 13 — A third justice has quit the Supreme Council of Magistrates (CSM) amid a Perugia probe for rigging appointments.
Antonio Lepre said he “did not take part in the scheming”.
The case stems from a probe into the former head of magistrates union ANM, Luca Palamara, who is accused of being the ringleader of an influence-peddling group that allegedly illicitly decided on prosecutor appointments including to the CSM, the judiciary’s self-governing body.
The titular head of the CSM, Italian President Sergio Mattarella, was forced to issue a statement Wednesday saying he had never intervened on appointments, as suggested by some of those implicated.
Also Thursday, Democratic Party former cabinet secretary Luvca Lotti said he had only voiced opinions over postings, and had never “exerted pressure or committed crimes”.
Again, on Thursday, Justice Minister Alfonso Bonafede initiated disciplinary action against five judges implicated in the case.
Bonafede opened proceedings against the three CSM members who had suspended themselves: Corrado Cartoni, Paolo Criscuoli and Lepre; as well as two councillors who had resigned: Luigi Spina and Gianluigi Morlini.
“The situation is clearly serious and the institutions must be compact because of that,” he said.
Mattarella on Thursday evening called for the elections of two CSM members on October 6 and 7.
— Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Revise Life Sentences Says ECHR
Violates prisoners’ human dignity, Rome must pay court costs
(ANSA) — Strasbourg, June 13 — The European Court of Human Rights on Thursday urged Italy to revise its laws mandating life sentences for certain very serious crimes.
Life terms subject the prisoner to inhuman and degrading treatment, violating their dignity, the ECHR said.
If there are no appeals, the ECHR ruling will become definitive in three months.
The court ruling regards Marcello Viola, found guilty of mafia association, multiple murder and robbery, who has been in jail since the start of the 1990s.
The ECHR sentence does not mean that Viola should be released, court sources said.
But Italy was ordered to pay him 6,000 euros in court costs.
— Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Pope Francis ordered his ambassadors to toe the line on Thursday by telling them not to blog about him or openly criticize his policies.
In a document handed to more than 100 ambassadors in Rome for meetings with top Vatican officials, Francis told the envoys that they had to ‘live for the things of God and not for those of the world’.
Francis told envoys they may have reservations about papal policy but they don’t represent themselves and can’t ‘criticize the pope behind his back, have blogs or join groups hostile to him.’
— Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
A woman has been charged with biting off her ex-boyfriend’s tongue during a breakup after asking him for ‘one last kiss’.
Adaia Lopez Esteve from Barcelona allegedly tore off her then-boyfriend’s tongue in June 2017 and spat it out onto the floor before running away.
She is now facing up to eight years in prison over the incident, with the victim’s lawyers asking for her to be jailed for ten years.
Local media said the couple met online in December 2016 and endured a tumultuous two-month relationship before they parted in February 2017.
The victim, who has not been named, was reportedly ‘fed up of Esteve’s mood swings’.
Shortly after the initial breakup, they restarted their relationship — but the boyfriend decided to break up with her again just four months later.
Esteve is said to have reacted aggressively to his decision, storming out of the flat before returning to apologise for her behaviour.
She allegedly then hugged her boyfriend and asked him for one ‘last kiss’, which she took advantage of by biting off his tongue, ripping it out of his mouth and spitting it onto the floor, local newspaper El Taquigrafo report.
Esteve then ran away, leaving her ex-boyfriend bleeding on the floor.
— Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden: Grenade Attacks Once Dismissed by the Media Now a “National Emergency”
Grenade attacks and deadly shootings in Sweden — concerns over which were once derided as a conspiracy theory by the media — now represent a “national emergency” according to a new report.
In an article entitled It’s Time for Sweden to Admit Explosions Are a National Emergency, Quillette’s Paulina Neuding goes into detail.
— Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden: Multicultural Malmö Sees Three Explosions Within 24 Hours
The southern Swedish city of Malmö saw three explosions within a 24-hour period this week with multiple venues targetted including a residential area and a nightclub.
The first explosion took place at around 2 am in the notorious suburb of Rosengård, which has been described as a no-go area in the past, and saw the blast shatter several windows in a multi-family home, Nyheter Idag reports.
— Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Swedish Authorities Sound Alarm Over Rise in Extremists, Recommend Deportations
The Swedish security service Sapo has sounded the alarm over the rise of extremists saying that the number of known extremists in some circles has risen from hundreds to thousands in a short period of time.
Sapo have recommended and applied for the deportation of several individuals connected to the radicalisation process including several Muslim radicals who were recently detained, Swedish broadcaster Sveriges Radio reports.
— Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
The EU Has Dominated Europe More Than Hitler Ever Planned To
We MUST pull out of globalist bodies like the UN and EU.
— Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK Police Investigate BBC Comedian Jo Brand Over Acid Attack Joke
The Metropolitan Police have confirmed they are investigating a joke made by a British comedian about right-wing politicians having battery acid thrown at them after a complaint was made about incitement to violence.
The comments, that throwing milkshakes at politicians was “pathetic” and that battery acid might be better by comedian Jo Brand were made on Tuesday on a broadcast of the Heresy programme on BBC Radio 4 and caused severe controversy.
— Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
UK Signs DOJ Request to Extradite Assange; Lengthy Legal Battle to Ensue
Early on Thursday UK home secretary Sajid Javid revealed that he has signed a US extradition request for Julian Assange, putting the WikiLeaks founder a step closer to facing prosecution for espionage and hacking on American soil, where he’s almost assured life in prison or worse after the US justice department filed 17 new charges against him following the initial May count of conspiring with Chelsea Manning (totaling 18 counts).
But first a lengthy legal battle will likely ensue while he’s held at London’s maximum security Belmarsh prison on skipping bail. The extradition order, which was expected, is the first step in the process. The home secretary told BBC Radio 4’s Today on Thursday:
He’s rightly behind bars. There’s an extradition request from the US that is before the courts tomorrow but yesterday I signed the extradition order and certified it and that will be going in front of the courts tomorrow.
— Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Commuters were evacuated from a busy tube station at the height of the rush hour after armed police arrested two men believed to be carrying a gun.
The incident happened at Bond Street station shortly before 6pm.
According to the Metropolitan Police there were no reports of injuries and the incident is not being treated as terrorism.
The suspected firearm has been sent away for analysis
— Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Boris Johnson Wins First Round of Race to Replace Prime Minister Theresa May
Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt are leading the pack to be the next Prime Minister of the United Kingdom after the governing Conservative Party held an internal poll of Parliamentarians Wednesday to whittle the list of ten runners down to seven candidates who will go through to a second round.
Getting 114 votes — as many as the next three candidates combined — was Boris Johnson, who officially launched his leadership campaign yesterday.
— Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Nigel Farage blasts Jo Brand over ‘acid attack’ remark on Radio 4
Police will examine a comment made by comedian Jo Brand about throwing battery acid at politicians following an allegation of incitement to violence.
Brand today refused to apologise for her acid throwing remark as Nigel Farage called her an ‘overpaid, left wing, so called-comedian’ as the backlash against her intensified.
The 61-year-old said she had nothing to say to the Brexit Party leader and others outraged by her comments that she made on a BBC Radio 4 panel show.
Speaking outside her £1.9million detached home in Dulwich, south-east London , Brand refused to say sorry, and laughed as she was driven away in a car.
— Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Police Investigating Labour Supporter Who Claimed He Burned a Thousand Brexit Party Votes
Labour went on to win election by less than a thousand votes
Police are investigating a Facebook comment by a Labour Party supporter who claimed that he burned a thousand Brexit Party ballot papers before the recent Peterborough by-election and “laughed whilst doing it”.
“She [Lisa Forbes] got nominated (elected) because 3 people including me burned over a [sic] 1000 votes for TBP [The Brexit Party], and laughed while doing it,” said Alan Roddis.
“That is what we have to do to stop fascist scum like [Nigel] Farage never see power,” he added.
Labour went on to win the election by just 683 votes, meaning that if the Labour Party supporter’s boast is true, he swung the outcome of the election.
The claim was made “in a closed group called ‘Peterborough Politics’ — a popular local discussion forum on Facebook” which has previously promoted “extreme and anti-semitic ideologies, including many made by local Labour activists,” reports Politicalite.
Police are now reportedly investigating the matter after the Brexit Party passed on the information. They also handed it to the press, although coverage has been minimal.
This story should be a national scandal in the United Kingdom, yet no mainstream media outlet dares touch it.
Imagine if a Brexit Party supporter had admitted burning a thousand Labour Party ballot papers and Labour had lost the election by less than a thousand votes.
It would be massive story. As for this, not a peep.
[Comment: 5 years hard time should be the penalty for such actions.]
— Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Poll: Leftists More Likely to Support Political Violence
According to a new YouGov poll, Labour Party leftists and Remain voters are more likely to approve of political violence in the form of throwing milkshakes at politicians.
“Imagine a protester threw a milkshake over a candidate from [party]. Would you personally approve or disapprove of this action?” respondents were asked.
As the graphic clearly illustrates, Labour and Remain voters are significantly more likely to approve such attacks in comparison to Leave voters and Conservatives.
— Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Tory Remainer Rebels Threaten to Bring Down Govt if New PM Takes Britain Out of European Union
Reviving the campaign to prevent Britain making a clean break from the European Union after an attempt to use parliament to outlaw a full Brexit failed on Tuesday night, rebel members of the governing Conservative Party have said they would move to bring down the government altogether to stop Brexit.
— Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
False Flag? Iran Has Little to Gain From Oman Tanker Attacks
Gulf of Tonkin 2.0? Regardless of whether Iran is responsible for damage to vessels in the Sea of Oman, Bloomberg’s Julian Lee explains, it will still get the blame — and suffer the fallout.
Two oil tankers have been damaged in a suspected attack in the waters between the United Arab Emirates and Iran as they were leaving the Persian Gulf. This is the second incident in four weeks, and raises the question of who gains what from them.
Fingers will certainly be pointed at Iran as the mastermind behind these events. But the potential benefits to the Persian Gulf nation are outweighed by the risks. And even if Tehran isn’t responsible, it will still suffer the consequences.
The first tanker to report a problem was the Front Altair. It was reported to be carrying 75,000 tons of naphtha, loaded in Abu Dhabi, to Japan, although it was signaling a destination of Kaosiung in Taiwan when it was damaged. The second vessel was the Japanese-owned Kokuka Courageous, which was sailing from Saudi Arabia to Singapore with a cargo of methanol.
A person who’s heard local radio transmissions between ships in the region told Bloomberg that a torpedo attack is suspected to have caused an explosion and fire on the Front Altair. The managers of the Kokuka Courageous said in a statement that “the 21 crew of the vessel abandoned ship after the incident on board which resulted in damage to the ship’s hull starboard side.”
— Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Kuwait’s Non-Discriminative Laws
A few days ago, a popular shoe was launched by a global footwear brand. If anyone is into sneakers, they will know that many brands have “exclusive” or “limited” shoes that usually launch around the world on the exact same date, and buyers wait in line to be able to get the shoe, as the demand is much higher than the supply.
Many people were discussing how one of the branches of an international store in Kuwait decided to only sell the shoes to Kuwaitis, by making people in line write their name on a paper beforehand, and then non-Kuwaitis were not called out. I am not sure if this truly happened or not; I am also aware that some of the comments on social media were racist, while some were very gentle and loving to all nationalities. Also, I am aware that some events may be dramatized for various reasons. Regardless of what actually happened, I think it is important to highlight that Kuwaiti laws are non-discriminative and understand that if this actually did happen, legal consequences will follow.
There are many people on social media who think that it is okay legally not to sell products to a certain race, especially if they were to “resell” the shoes. Regardless of what they wanted to do with the shoes, there is no legal stance for treating any person from a different race differently when it comes to employment or commercial activities, I understand if land or houses are only sold to Kuwaitis, but it makes no sense otherwise…
— Hat tip: RR | [Return to headlines] |
Two Tankers Targeted by Unidentified Attackers in Gulf of Oman
DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES — Two tankers were targeted by unidentified attackers near the strategically important Strait of Hormuz on Thursday, one operated by a Japanese company, industry minister Hiroshige Seko said.
All 21 Filipino crew members of the Japan-operated Kokuka Courageous escaped uninjured in life rafts and were rescued by a ship heading to the United Arab Emirates, according to the ship’s operator, Kokuka Sangyo Co.
The 19,349-ton tanker was carrying methanol from Saudi Arabia to Singapore when it was attacked in the Gulf of Oman, near the UAE emirate of Fujairah, according to Kokuka Sangyo.
— Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Huawei Demands Verizon Pay $1 Billion for Using 230 Patents
Huawei has hit upon a new strategy for fighting back against the US: leveraging its massive suite of technology patents to try and force American competitors to fork over billions of dollars. And its first target is Verizon, one of its biggest American competitors in the race to become a global leader in 5G.
As Reuters reports, Huawei has told Verizon that it should pay licensing fees amounting to more than $1 billion for the more than 230 patents held by the Chinese telecoms giant.
The plan has been percolating since before the White House blacklisted Huawei: Verizon should pay to “solve the patent licensing issue,” a Huawei intellectual property licensing executive reportedly wrote in February.
The patents cover networking equipment for more than 20 of Verizon’s vendors, and those vendors would, in theory, indemnify Verizon. Some of these firms have been approached directly by Verizon. They range from core networking equipment and wireline infrastructure to IoT technology, according to sources cited by WSJ.
— Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Over the past few days, huge numbers of protestors have gathered in Hong Kong to take a stand against another change in Hong Kong law instituted by Mainland China. The protests turned ugly when police fired tear gas at the outraged demonstrators.
China instituted another change in Hong Kong law that has infuriated Hong Kong citizens. The Hong Kong Free Press reported:
Hong Kong Police Commissioner Stephen Lo has said “low fatality weapons” were used to clear Wednesday’s anti-extradition law protests because demonstrators charged police lines with weapons.
Lo said the protests were organised, describing them as a “riot.” He added that around 150 tear gas canisters, “several” rounds of rubber bullets, and 20 beanbag shots were fired during the protest clearance. In comparison, 87 rounds of tear gas canisters were used during the 2014 Umbrella Movement protests.
Eleven people were arrested for crimes in relation to disorderly conduct in public, unlawful assembly, assaulting police officers, and riot-related offences. He said 22 police officers were injured.
The protests are in response to changes to be voted upon in Hong Kong law —
It explicitly allows extraditions from Hong Kong to greater China — including the mainland, Taiwan and Macau — for the first time, closing what Hong Kong government officials have repeatedly described as a “loophole” that they claim has allowed the city to become a haven for criminals from the mainland.
— Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Hong Kong Police Commissioner Stephen Lo has said “low fatality weapons” were used to clear Wednesday’s anti-extradition law protests because demonstrators charged police lines with weapons.
Lo said the protests were organised, describing them as a “riot.” He added that around 150 tear gas canisters, “several” rounds of rubber bullets, and 20 beanbag shots were fired during the protest clearance. In comparison, 87 rounds of tear gas canisters were used during the 2014 Umbrella Movement protests.
Eleven people were arrested for crimes in relation to disorderly conduct in public, unlawful assembly, assaulting police officers, and riot-related offences. He said 22 police officers were injured.
— Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Queensland’s environment department signed off on the company’s plan to manage groundwater on and around its Galilee basin mine site on Thursday afternoon.
— Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
The brother of Australian cricket star Usman Khawaja has escaped jail after grabbing a parking inspector’s phone and tossing it in a fit of rage when she gave him a fine
— Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
New ‘King’ of Fossils Discovered in Australia
Fossils of a giant new species from the long-extinct group of sea creatures called trilobites have been found on Kangaroo Island, South Australia.
The finding is adding important insights to our knowledge of the Cambrian ‘explosion’, the greatest diversification event in the history of life on Earth, when almost all animal groups suddenly appeared over half-a-billion years ago.
— Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Joel, 19, and Josua Clavell, 30, have been identified as the men shot by police near a campground on the border between New South Wales and Victoria.
— Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
Assistant Commissioner Mark Jones said Strike Force Arpen is working to find a group of Sudanese teens who have been targeting electronic stores in the city over the past month.
— Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
A South African man who was pictured throwing his baby off a roof during a protest has walked free from court.
The 38-year-old man, whose name has not been revealed to protect the identity of the child, was charged with attempted murder after throwing his daughter off the top of a shack in an illegal township to stop it being demolished.
He had taken the baby and climbed on top of their home in protest against dozens of shacks at a township in Kwadwesi being lined up for destruction.
— Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Mineo Asylum Seeker Centre to Close in July — Salvini
CARA now only has 152 occupants
(ANSA) — Rome, June 12 — The asylum seeker reception centre (CARA) at Mineo near Catania will close by mid-July, Interior Minister Matteo Salvini said Wednesday.
“This is good news for those who have lived in the area for years being subjected to crime and malaise”, said the League leader, who has led a crackdown on migrants.
The government has already steadily reduced the numbers at Mineo, which was once the largest reception centre in Europe.
At one point, on July 7, 2014, the CARA hosted 4,173 asylum seekers.
When the League-5-Star (M5S) government took office a year ago the number of occupants was 2,526.
Now there are just 152 people there.
Salvini has issued two decrees on migrants and security, the second Tuesday.
He has been accused of stripping migrants of basic rights, marginalising them and exposing them to criminality.
He denies the claims.
— Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Sea Watch Ship Must Dock in Tripoli — Salvini
Migrant-rescue NGO says it will sue minister for defamation
(ANSA) — Rome, June 13 — Deputy Premier and Interior Minister Matteo Salvini said Thursday that a ship operated by the Sea-Watch NGO should dock in Tripoli after it rescued 52 people from a rubber dinghy off the Libyan coast this week. “After embarking 52 immigrants in Libya waters, the illegal ship now finds itself 38 miles from the Libyan coast, 125 miles from Lampedusa, 78 miles from Tunisia and 170 miles from Malta,” League leader Salvini said.
“The Libyan authorities have officially allocated Tripoli as the nearest port for the disembarkment. “If the illegal NGO ship disobeys, keeping the lives of the immigrants at risk, they will answer for it fully”.
German NGO Sea-Watch has on several occasions sought to challenge Salvini’s policy of closing Italy’s ports to NGO-run search-and-rescue ships. The government, meanwhile, has just passed a new decree that would see NGO ships that bring migrants rescued at sea to Italy without permission fined up to 50,000 euros.
The NGO said Thursday that it will sue Salvini for defamation.
The minister has called the NGO’s vessel “a pirate ship that allows some people to repeatedly break the law”.
Sea-Watch later reiterated “we will not offload the rescued migrants in Libya”.
It said “Tripoli is not a safe port. Forcibly taking rescued people back to a war-torn country, having them imprisoned and tortured, is a crime.
“It is shameful that Italy is promoting these atrocities and that EU governments are complicit”.
Salvini retorted: “Sea-Watch is abducting these migrants”.
On Thursday evening the ship was reported to be heading north towards the Italian island of Lampedusa.
Salvini issued a new directive warning it from entering Italian waters.
— Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Salvini Gets Green Light for New Security Decree
The Italian Council of Ministers has authorised a new security decree drafted by populist interior minister Matteo Salvini that will restrict the operations of migrant transport NGOs in the country.
New provisions include the ability for the Italian government to seize vessels from civil society groups which violate Italian government sanctions or that attempt to illegally enter Italian territorial waters with illegal migrants, Il Giornale reports.
— Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Nancy Pelosi Opposes Mexico’s Promise to Keep Migrants
The top Democrat in the House, Rep. Nancy Pelosi, is opposing Mexico’s comprehensive immigration reform deal with U.S. President Donald Trump.
The deal expands the “Remain in Mexico” policy which returns illegal migrants back to Mexico until they can be bussed to their asylum-court hearings in the United States. The policy is now keeping just 8,000 migrants in Mexico, out of roughly 330,000 who crossed the border in the last three months.
“We are deeply disappointed by the Administration’s expansion of its failed Remain-in-Mexico policy, which violates the rights of asylum seekers under U.S. law and fails to address the root causes of Central American migration,” said the statement from House Speaker Pelosi.
But it is not clear how Pelosi can block Mexico’s agreement with the “Remain in Mexico” policy. It has already survived one review by judges, and Mexico’s offer of jobs and healthcare to the migrants will make it difficult for pro-migration lawyers to argue that Trump’s deal violates the legal asylum rights of illegal immigrants.
— Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Obama Admin Purged 12 Years of ICE Speeches on Immigration Crisis Hours Before Trump Inauguration
“With a couple of clicks of a mouse, access to a federal government web resource containing 12 years of primary source materials on ICE’s history was lost.”
Hours before President Trump took office, the Obama administration scrambled to purge 12 years worth of transcripts spanning hundreds of speeches from the Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) website, according to the Daily Caller’s Jason Hopkins.
[Comment: Getting rid of the evidence of border problems.]
— Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Pope Francis: God Will Destroy ‘Walls’ Between Nations
Pope Francis said Thursday that walls between nations cannot endure because in the end God will tear them down.
“We can build any number of walls and close our doors in the vain effort to feel secure in our wealth, at the expense of those left outside. It will not be that way for ever,” the pope said in his message for the third annual World Day for the Poor.
“The ‘day of the Lord,’ as described by the prophets, will destroy the barriers created between nations and replace the arrogance of the few with the solidarity of many,” Francis said.
— Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
We Build The Wall, Inc. stunned Americans when almost overnight, they completed a large section of the privately-funded wall along the Mexico-New Mexico border on private land owned mostly by farmers. The local and international government are proving that they’re not willing to let the privately funded wall be built without a fight. It certainly makes one wonder who’s behind their desire to keep our borders open?
According to The Hill — Officials have ordered a privately funded section of wall on the U.S.-Mexico border to keep its gate open indefinitely, saying organizers failed to obtain required permits, according to BuzzFeed News.
— Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Two San Antonio Migrant Centers Forcefully Removed Reporters
Americans losing opportunities to learn the truth
Journalists are being expelled from migrant processing centers in Texas.
— Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Where Did the Congolese Illegals Go? We’ve Got the List of Cities [Video]
What brings hundreds of Congolese illegals to the southern border of the US?
The answer is great freebies compliments of the US taxpayer and a free pass into the US.
Has your city been notified that they are receiving these illegals? The list of cities was provided by the city of San Antonio to KENS5:
— Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Antifa Vows to Defend Drag Queen Story Time at Texas Library
Far-left prepares to gender-bend your children by force
Antifa has pledged to protect a Drag Queen Story Time event at a Texas library to ensure that protesters will not interrupt the children’s exposure to the far-left’s trans agenda.
Austin’s Antifa chapter called ATX Resistance Action announced their call to action on Facebook ahead of the Drag Queen event set to take place at the Leander Public Library on Saturday, June 15th, hosted by the Open Cathedral Church.
“The time of the fascist event opposing story time is 1 pm. We need to be there at 12:30 so we have enough bodies to take the space. Story time is from 3 to 3:45 pm,” the ATX Resistance Action stated.
“Our purpose is to create a sound and visual barrier of bodies between the fascists and those coming to the library. Must be done in a kid friendly way so the children think it’s all fun and aren’t afraid of seeing people with guns behind us.”
Ryan Hart, the pastor of Open Cathedral, has made several Facebook posts expressing anti-Trump and far-left views, even referring to God as an “undocumented queer.”
— Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Brazil: Lesbian Couple Who Tried to Force Transgender Surgery on 9-Year-Old Boy Stab Him to Death
A lesbian couple in Brazil who tried to force transgender surgery on a 9-year-old boy have been arrested after stabbing him to death.
Rhuan Maycon was murdered by his mother, Rosana da Silva Candido, and her partner Kacyla Damasceno Pessao on May 31st.
Maycon had been suffering for a year as a result of a botched gender re-assignment operation performed by the pair with no medical supervision after his mother decided he should be a girl.
— Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Christianity is Under Siege in America
The left’s goal is to replace religious faith with the progressive socialist agenda as the ruling norm in their new world order
In this great country, it’s not a crime to be a Christian — at least not yet. But the left is working on it. Free expression of religion is not just shunned. It is ridiculed and mocked. Anti-Christian bigotry is the only form of acceptable intolerance remaining in this country — to be encouraged and incited by our “tolerant” liberal friends in academia, the media, and entertainment.
Christian principles were foundational to the American Republic. Yet what matters to the left is silencing the Christian influence of this nation. The battle to destroy Christianity is really the battle to destroy America. The intolerant left is replacing the structure of an orderly and benevolent norm with falsehoods, distortions, intimidation, and violence. Unfortunately, traditional American Christians have been on the losing end of the culture war for a long time.
Bible-bashing and Christian-mocking are a favorite pastime on television, in movies, and on social media, complete with ugly insults and death wishes…
— Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Dem Congresswoman Smears Pro-Life Men as ‘Sex-Starved Males’ [Video]
During a debate on the House floor today about a spending bill for the Department of Health and Human Services, Rep, Nancy Torres was attempting to argue pro-lifers should stop speaking on the floor when she got really nasty and went way too far with a comment about pro-life men:
Rep. Nancy Torres tried to say that pro-life men are ‘sex-starved males’ but was immediately shut down by Georgia Republican Rob Woodall:
Torres said: “Mr. Speaker, it’s tiring to hear from so many sex-starved males on this floor talking about a woman’s right to choose…”
RepublicanWoodall immediately asked her if she wanted to take back the comment: “Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask my friend if she would like to change her last statement.”
What did she do? She repeated her vile comment!
— Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The jury just rendered its verdict on punitive damages in the Gibson’s Bakery v. Oberlin College case.
Daniel McGraw, our reporter in the courtroom, reports that in addition to the $11.2 million compensatory damages awarded last Friday, the jury awarded a total of $33 million in punitive damages, which will probably be reduced by the court to $22 million because of the state law cap at twice compensatory (it’s not an absolute cap, but probably will apply here). That brings the total damages to $33 million. We will have the breakdown soon. The jury also awarded attorney’s fees, to be determined by the judge.
— Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
‘Queer Bible Hermeneutics’ Course Teaches Students About ‘Queerness in the Church’
A course at a theological school purports to teach students about LGBT issues contained in the Bible and in Christian theology. The instructor says the course is “always well-enrolled.”
“Queer Bible Hermeneutics” at Southern Methodist University’s Perkins School of Theology is a “study of the historical, political, cultural, and religious-theological discourses about gender and sexuality in the context of the interpretation of the Hebrew Bible,” the course’s website states.
The course “develops self-critical perspectives about the influence of biblical meanings on hermeneutically dynamic, politically and religiously charged conversations over socio-cultural practices related to LGBTQ communities.”
— Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Stop This Wicked Transgenderism
Our culture has gone “transgender”-mad. Not that there’s any such thing as “transgender.” There are only profoundly disturbed people, and liars who encourage them, who say they’re “transgender.” I have to put quotes around it because it isn’t real.
Nowhere does “transgender” fly so high as in our public schools. For instance:
Recently at the Frank Allis Elementary School in Madison, Wisconsin, the principal ordered all the students to see a video made to “celebrate” some fat-head of a male science teacher’s “transition” into a “woman”. He is not a woman. Every chromosome in every cell of his body is still male.
Parents, of course, were not notified of the principal’s plan to screen the video. See, school officials explained, anyone who doesn’t hop on board the trans bandwagon is guilty of “hate” and “fear.” “Hate” being any opposition, any criticism, any reluctance to embrace anything that any bunch of leftists wants to do.
The still-male science teacher even has a brand-new title: not “Mr.” or “Ms.”, but “Mx.” That’s what the kids will have to call him. “Mx” as in “mixed-up.”
I would really like to know if that principal truly, honestly, whole-heartedly believes this, er, science teacher really has “become a woman.” If he does believe it, then he or she is as wacko as the other guy. But if the principal doesn’t believe it, and is just pushing what he knows to be a lie, then the principal is a depraved liar. In either case, this person is not fit to be the principal of anything.
This promotion of “transgender” by the public schools is a form of child abuse.
— Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Armytage directed criticism at the retail giant during the Thursday morning segment after the store blamed the stuff-up on a system error.
— Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
The Guardian to Enforce Pro-Abortion Language
The UK-based Guardian newspaper has declared war on the pro-life movement, adopting a reproductive rights lexicon as dictated by the abortion lobby.
“The Guardian will no longer use the term ‘heartbeat bill’ in reference to the restrictive abortion bans that are moving through state legislatures in the US,” the paper announcedlast week, as part of its commitment to keep abortion-on-demand legal.
— Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
The Normalizing of Pedophilia: ‘We Can’t Prove Sex With Children Does Them Harm’
There’s a worldwide movement to normalize pedophilia.
Several years ago, conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh sounded the alarms over the normalizing of pedophilia in America:
“There is a movement on to normalize pedophilia, and I guarantee you your reaction to that is probably much the same as your reaction when you first heard about gay marriage,” Limbaugh said Monday on The Rush Limbaugh Show. “What has happened to gay marriage? It’s become normal—and in fact, with certain people in certain demographics it’s the most important issue in terms of who they vote for.
“So don’t pooh-pooh. There’s a movement to normalize pedophilia. Don’t pooh-pooh it. The people behind it are serious, and you know the left as well as I do. They glom onto something and they don’t let go,” he added.
Limbaugh made these comments as he was discussing a recent article published in the U.K.’s The Guardian, titled, “Paedophilia: bringing dark desires to light.” The article, written by Jon Henley, addresses the issue of pedophilia in a modern society and discusses research done on the brains of pedophiles.
The Republic Standard recently warned about how the liberal media is working to normalize pedophilia.
“Having sex with people who are neither physically nor mentally mature enough to consent to it is rape. This is apparently an increasing controversial hill on which to die, but so be it. If you read the left-wing press, whenever they tackle the issue of pedophilia it is unanimous that pedophiles are just misunderstood.”
Vice Canada tweeted an article that appeared in their publication in an attempt to normalize pedophiles…
In 2011, at a conference sponsored by B4U-ACT, a group of pro-pedophile mental health professionals and sympathetic activists was held in Baltimore, MD.
At the conference, child advocate Dr. Judith Reisman, a visiting professor at Liberty University’s School of Law, said the conference was part of a strategy to condition people into accepting pedophiles.
“The first thing they do is to get the public to divest from thinking of what the offender does criminally, to thinking of the offender’s emotional state, to think of him as thinking of his emotional state, [and] to empathize and sympathize,” Reisman said. “You don’t change the nation in one fell swoop; you have to change it by conditioning. The aim is to get them [pedophiles] out of prison.”
According to Reisman, empirical data show that pedophiles typically molest many children before finally being caught.
[Comment: Globalist elite are behind the push to normalize this evil since many of their ranks are infested with pedophiles.]
— Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
YouTube Bans Creator With Half a Million Subscribers After He Criticized Vox’s Carlos Maza
Black Pigeon Speaks warned independent voices were being “silenced — relentlessly, pathologically and ruthlessly” by Silicon Valley.
— Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
YouTube Censors Project Veritas Video Exposing Pinterest’s ‘Anti-Christian Censorship’
Investigative journalism exposing Big Tech is not allowed
Google-owned YouTube decided to censor Project Veritas’ viral video exposing Pinterest for allegedly censoring “pro-life and Christian content” by pulling the video down for “privacy violations.”
Twitter also temporarily suspended Project Veritas from posting “for tweeting internal communications from Pinterest which show them calling Ben Shapiro a ‘white supremacist,’“ James O’Keefe said.
— Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Jihadists are masters at putting people on the defensive and the term “Islamophobia” is a potent weapon constantly used by them. Essentially, it shuts down any comment about Islam that is not favorable. Initially it is the back door to censorship. Ultimately, it is to establish the Islamic takeover of the West because it obfuscates factual evidence of many of the heinous aspects of sharia law and societies under Islamic rule.
It was “[a]t the end of the 1970s, [when] Iranian fundamentalists invented the term ‘Islamophobia […]’ The aim of this word was to declare Islam inviolate.” The term, which is “worthy of totalitarian propaganda, is deliberately unspecific about whether it refers to a religion, a belief system or its faithful adherents around the world.”
The lack of specific definition, of course, leaves the door wide open to multiple interpretations, all to the benefit of the jihadists who would use the word to suit their vile purposes. Thus, “the term ‘Islamophobia’ denies the reality of an Islamic offensive in Europe all the better to justify it [and] it attacks secularism by equating it with fundamentalism.” It silences all those Muslims who question the Koran, who demand equality of the sexes, who claim the right to renounce religion, and who want to practice their faith freely […]”
Repeatedly, freedom lovers have demonstrated how the term Islamophobia has served its purpose spectacularly well. It allows Islamic apologists to “silence any criticism of Islam.”
— Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
“The US government says that Iran was responsible for the attacks.” then it’s probably safe to asume it was the US, just like with other attacks used to start a war in the same region.
“The Normalizing of Pedophilia: ‘We Can’t Prove Sex With Children Does Them Harm’” I hate to say it, but research (not very welcomed by the governments) does show the vast majority of underage rape victims indeed do continue life without any problems further down the line.
That said, however, such research should by no means be used as an excuse to make pedophilia legal!
In my opinion the issue should be handled as follows:
1) an abuse victim should be questioned by the police or psychiatrist once and then be completely left out from the judicinal process. I’m basing this on the testimonies of child molestation victims I’ve read over the years and pretty much all of them began to have psychological issues only after social pressure from the adults around them. They didn’t consider what happened to them to be something bad. This isn’t about child rape as we see it from muslims on a regular basis, mind you, this is about those “kind uncle” types of abuse.
2) many years ago several victims that featured in child pornography offered their footage to be given to pedophiles in order to give them some form of outlet that would protect other children from suffering the same fate (as we all know, there’s no tie between watching or playing something and acting on it in real life). So I think it would be a good solution if pedophiles can go to a psychiatrist and, among other things, receive some form of outlet like mentioned above. BUT on the other hand, if a pedophile still decides to act out his sexuality, I’m for the hardest sentences possible, with mandatory castration being part of even the lowest ones and the death sentence being the highest.
As for rape cases, regardless whether they’re perpetrated by sadists, religious or ethnic groups or supposedly ill people, there should be only one sentence and I’m fairly sure all the readers here will know which one I have in mind.
Or, at the very least, leave the laws as they are, instead of abolishing them in favour of molesters.
Even as notable a man as Jesus favored the millstone-around-the-neck-cast-into-the-sea punishment for those who molested young children. The perfect man otoh, preferred to marry them before molesting them. I am certain we are not too far off from the time when religious observance will be a valid defense against accusations of pedophilia.
“vast majority of underage rape victims indeed do continue life without any problems further down the line.”
I tend to disagree in the sense that you don’t know that, because it is a “what if” scenario…
The children don’t know that what happened to them is an abuse, because if you live in it, you think it is normal, even though it is not. The primary problem I see there is the “sexualisation of children”. Because children are by their nature not sexual, yet someone somewhere wants to, dare I say “egoistically” play their own sexuality on those asexual creatures – a very very one sided relationship, and I believe it may play out into deppression only after the children grow up and realise what really happened to them, and that is why some people say “it is only after others told them…”
(Although I do agree that sometime, some people like to press the victimhood onto the victims so much so, they create more harm than good – that is on the other side of the pendullum swing)
GERMANY
Prefix the links with this URL for translation:
https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=
This little story is quite interesting.
Today, yet another ISIS-supporter was arrested in Germany. No, not a Günther but a “Hassan”.
https://www.bild.de/regional/hamburg/hamburg-aktuell/wohnung-gestuermt-isis-terrorist-verhaftet-62587138.bild.html
The national “refugees welcome” tabloid newspaper (BILD) chose to publish only a short summary.
According to the official public prosecutor’s website:
https://www.generalbundesanwalt.de/de/showpress.php?themenid=21&newsid=835
BILD “forgot” to mention, that this Jihadi had also :
– sent money to other Jihadis in Europe.
– even sent “his own money”.
– been using Facebook to spread ISIS-propaganda
– using the islamic HAWALA
– came from KOSOVO
This is rather interesting:
BILD does not report fully. Why not? Would it hurt their refugee welcome stance?
Are they in cahoots with Facebook, because the generate income there they don’t want to mention Facebook’s involvement?
Facebook has been providing this Jihadist a platform since 2015 to spread his hate speech and propaganda for ISIS.
And in the past 4 year, one can only assume. Facebook did not find a single hate comment that would warrant account closure? From an ISIS-Sympathiser?
At a time, when there is a Facebook cull of conservative voices and views, ISIS, Al-Nusra and co. can do as they please. They face no problem of having their account closed. Facebook tolerates this and their partners in crime the newspapers won’t even report about it.
They did not report about the islamic HAWALA banking system. Which is obviously flourishing in Germanys Jihadi black market. Further cementing Islams hold on Europe.
A system within a system. While 500 EUR bank notes have been banned “to curb criminal financing” (in preparation to ban cash and therefore freedom?).
Hassam and his friends are able to transfer billions, unseen by European governments and banking regulators. As explained in this German article.
https://www.welt.de/politik/ausland/article149961276/So-funktioniert-der-geheimste-Geldtransfer-der-Welt.html
BILD failed to state where, if at all this guy works. Is the man, like Millions of Muslims in Germany and Europe living on welfare benefits? If the welfare system being used to finance Islamic operations in the middle east?
Is the German taxpayer and government indirectly paying to have Christians beheaded in the middle east? It would appear so.
On public prosecutors office website, reads like a whos who if Islam: u.a. IS / ISIS / ISIG, ISIL, Jabhat Al-Nusra, Taliban, PKK, Türkische Graue Wölfe, DHKP-C, Ahrar al-Sham, Turkish TKP, Junud al-Sham, Jaish al-muhajarin, Al-Shabab, Al-Kaida ,Dschunud al-Scham, Lashkar-e Taiba, FDLR (Ruanda), Tamil Tigers, Osmanen Germania (Turks), Bahoz (Kurds), Banditos.
All operating successfully on German soil.
BILD also “forgot” to mention that the ISIS-Man is from KOSOVO. That very same islamic state within Europa, that Erdogan and the Saudis have been pumping billions into, and who now announce they want to build their own army. Which the EU is supporting.
The Serbians, who live in the north fear for their life. The Serbian government are sounding the alarm bells. But nobody is listening.
Which side will Uncle Sam stand on this time? Shoulder to shoulder with the Jihadis like last time in Yugoslavia? Hitting another nail into Europes coffin.
“While 500 EUR bank notes have been banned “to curb criminal financing” (in preparation to ban cash and therefore freedom?).”
Almost. The 500 euro notes have not been banned and will remain legal tender indefinitely. Instead, no new notes will be printed and the existing notes will be withdrawn from circulation as banks receive them.
Please make of that as you will.