Gates of Vienna News Feed 6/14/2019

The Brexit party continues to top the polls in the UK. The latest results indicate that it would win 26% of the vote if elections were held today. Meanwhile, Boris “BoJo” Johnson says that when he is elected prime minister, he may have to postpone Brexit for a few weeks after the October 31 deadline.

In other news, the Italian Council of Ministers has approved Matteo Salvini’s decree that would penalize NGOs for illegally importing migrants into Italy.

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

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

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

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

Financial Crisis
» Italy: CONSOB Chief Calls for Calm to Restore Confidence
 
USA
» “Squash Amash!” — Hundreds of Trump Voters Turn Out to Protest Anti-Trump Republican Justin Amash in Michigan
» America’s First Black Priest Moves Toward Sainthood
» As Ticket Requests Top 100k, Trump Campaign Announces All-Day ‘45 Fest’ Tailgate Party at Orlando Campaign Kickoff Rally
» Brexit Leader Farage Pledges to Campaign for Trump in 2020
» ‘Gun Free Zone’ Law Disarmed Virginia Beach Shooting Victim, Attorney Says
» IDW Loses Another $3.7 Million, $1.6 Million From Publishing; No Mention of Wynonna Earp
» It’s Florida Man Friday
» Left-Wing Journalist Says Delay of Harriet Tubman $20 Dollar Bill Proof of “White Supremacy”
» Memphis Riot Over Fatal U.S. Marshal Shooting Injures 24 Police Officers
» New Analysis Identifies 30 New Species of Leptospira
» Poll: Most Voters Say Celebrity Political Endorsements Don’t Matter
» US Army War College Bows to Terror-Tied CAIR — Drops Speech by Terror Expert After CAIR Cites ‘Anti-Muslim Racism’
» Valedictorian Thanks ‘Alcoholic Teacher’ And Negligent Counselor for Teaching to ‘Fend for Herself’
» Video: Brooklyn New York Mosque Broadcasts Islamic Call to Prayer to 20 Block Radius
 
Europe and the EU
» After Whistleblower, Pope Calls Nuncios to Undivided Loyalty
» Brexit Party Maintains Commanding Lead in Westminster Polling, Labour and Tories Continue to Fall
» Church Bombing in Sweden. Anti-Christian Hate Crime?
» Denmark’s Elections
» Eurocrat Admits There’s ‘Not Really a Court’ To Force UK to Pay £39bn ‘Divorce’ Bill
» Italy: Judge and Son Probed Over Zamparini ‘Mole’
» Italy: Toti Stands for FI Leader, Says Berlusconi Era Over
» Italy: Financier Proto Arrested for Defrauding Disabled Woman
» Italy: Bus Terror Hero Boys to Get Citizenship
» Italy: Sex Shop Tax Breaks Preserved in U-Turn
» Italy: Man Arrested for Raping Student
» Julian Assange’s Extradition Trial Won’t Take Place Until Next Year — Publisher Says He Never Cracked Any Passwords
» Pope Francis Urges Carbon Penalties to Avert Climate ‘Catastrophe’
» Report: Johnson Could Delay Brexit ‘By a Few Weeks’ if Elected Prime Minister
» Sweden’s School Violence Problem is Part of an International Trend
 
Middle East
» Japanese Tanker Owner Denies Ship Hit by Mine, Says Crew Saw “Flying Objects” Before Attack
» Salvini Tells CNN He ‘Shares Trump’s Concerns’ on Iran
» US Releases “Smoking Gun” Video of Iran’s Navy Handling Mine on Tanker Hull
» World’s Oldest Temple Göbeklitepe Attracts Record Visitors
 
Far East
» A ‘Win’ For Hong Kong’s Protesters? City Council Weighs ‘Pause’ On Controversial Extradition Bill
 
Australia — Pacific
» Farmers Say They Are Living in Fear From Vegan Activists After an Explosive Fire Caused $100,000 Worth of Damage to Their Property
» ‘Give Me 15 Minutes With Him’: Mosque Hero Slams the Accused Christchurch Shooter for Smiling in Court While the Victims and Families of the Massacre Watched on
» ‘I Don’t Want to Talk About it!’ Moment Woman Who Attacked a Pensioner at a Bus Stop is Confronted on TV — as Her Victim Speaks Out
» ‘I’m Happy With the Result’: Wannabe Jihadist Who Gave an ISIS Salute as He Left Court Says He Wants to ‘Move on With His Life’ After Being Freed From Jail
» ‘Two Years Jail is Enough’: Sydney Jihadist Who Gave the One-Finger ISIS Salute During His Trial for Trying to Joining the Terror Group Walks Free From Jail — Because the Judge Says He’s of Good Character
» When West Meets Shire: House Inspection is Brought to an Abrupt Halt as a Fleet of Wedding Cars and Middle Eastern Drummers Take Over a Street for Some Very Sydney Nuptials
» Wild Brawls, Thugs Armed With Crowbars and Knives and Foul-Mouthed Gangs of Teenagers Running Amok: Inside Australia’s Nastiest Shopping Centre
 
Immigration
» Italy: Sea Watch ‘Playing’ With Migrants Says Salvini
» Number of ICE Detainees Under Quarantine for Mumps and Chicken Pox Spikes to 5,200
» Salvini Receives Go-Ahead to Begin Restricting Migrant Transport NGOs in Italy
» Sweden: Church in Migrant Heavy Area Targeted With Explosion for Second Time
» Swedish Migration Board Approves Deporting Radical Imams
» Three Explosions in Migrant-Rich Malmö in 24 Hours
 
Culture Wars
» Desmond is Amazing’s Mother Defends Decision to Allow 12-Year-Old ‘Drag Kid’ To Perform at Gay Bar for Tips
» Press F to Pay Respects
» Seriously? Biological Male Who Won Women’s NCAA Championship Says Female Runners Actually Have the Advantage (Video)
» Twitter is Now Banning Conservatives for Investigative Journalism About Big Tech’s Abortion Activism
» YouTube Censors Tim Pool Video on Project Veritas’ Pinterest Exposé
 

Italy: CONSOB Chief Calls for Calm to Restore Confidence

‘Authorities fostering speculation on BTP’

(ANSA) — Milan, June 14 — The president of Italian stock-market regulator CONSOB, Paolo Savona, said Friday that “it is as if Italy were in ‘Socrates’ cave’, where” a distorted image of reality is produced. He added that the “constant shouting in a single direction stuns. Those in high political, economic and media positions have the duty to strengthen the light and lower the tones to reestablish confidence in the future of the country.” Savona stressed that “the power to assess reimbursement risks” for Italian state bonds “has been transferred to the market without sufficient anti-speculation measures”.

He added that speculation was often “fostered by the authorities’ attitude to use it as an external bond to induce member states to comply with fiscal parameters agreed at the European level.” Savona said that “suspicions about the possibility of insolvency for our public debt are objectively baseless”.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

“Squash Amash!” — Hundreds of Trump Voters Turn Out to Protest Anti-Trump Republican Justin Amash in Michigan

HUNDREDS OF TRUMP SUPPORTERS turned out for the “Squash Amash” protest outside his Michigan office.

The protest was called after the RINO Michigan Representative called for President Trump’s impeachment following the Mueller witch hunt.

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

America’s First Black Priest Moves Toward Sainthood

ROME — Pope Francis has placed the first American black Catholic priest on track for sainthood, declaring him to be “venerable” on Wednesday.

Father Augustine Tolton’s (1854-1897) new titled of “venerable” signifies that the Church has scrutinized his life and found that he practiced “heroic virtue,” a condition for beatification and canonization.

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

As Ticket Requests Top 100k, Trump Campaign Announces All-Day ‘45 Fest’ Tailgate Party at Orlando Campaign Kickoff Rally

The reelection campaign for President Trump announced an all-day ‘45 Fest’ tailgate party will be held outside the Amway Center in Orlando on June 18 in conjunction with the 45th President’s campaign kickoff rally being held there that evening. Ticket requests for the 20,000 seat arena have topped 100,000, Trump told Fox & Friends in an interview Friday.

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

Brexit Leader Farage Pledges to Campaign for Trump in 2020

LONDON — Nigel Farage, Britain’s populist champion of Brexit, says he will campaign alongside President Trump during next year’s election if he is invited to help the 2020 effort.

Farage’s role in an against-the-odds Brexit referendum win in 2016 led to him speaking at a Trump campaign event in Mississippi last time around.

“We reached those people who have never voted in their lives but believed by going out and voting for Brexit they could take back control of their country, take back control of their borders, and get back their pride and self-respect,” he said with Trump standing beside him.

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

‘Gun Free Zone’ Law Disarmed Virginia Beach Shooting Victim, Attorney Says

The night before Kate Nixon and 11 others were murdered by a disgruntled co-worker, the decade-long Virginia Beach city employee talked with her husband about bringing a gun to work for self-defense — a decision that was taken out of her hands by the city’s ban on employees carrying firearms at work, a Nixon family lawyer said.

Now, Nixon’s family is calling for an independent investigation into events leading up to the May 31 shooting and what could have been done differently before and during it, particularly given the explicit concerns about shooter DeWayne Craddock.

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

IDW Loses Another $3.7 Million, $1.6 Million From Publishing; No Mention of Wynonna Earp

IDW Media Holdings has reported its second-quarter financials for 2019, and it doesn’t look like good news. Overall, the company had a net loss of $3.7 million, with $1.6 million of those losses coming from IDW Publishing, the branch of the company that publishes comic books. The news comes on the heels of a massive stock offering IDWM undertook in an effort to secure funding to pay off debts incurred largely to fund their various television projects, as well as to raise capital to pay for future television projects, including the much-anticipated fourth season of Wynonna Earp, for which it was said the writers room could open by June (this month). However, despite hitting their $23 million funding goal, statements by IDW Media Holdings Chairman, CEO, and controlling stockholder, Howard Jonas, make no mention of Wynonna Earp whatsoever.

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

It’s Florida Man Friday

It’s another thrilling week of adventure and mayhem with America’s favorite couple: Florida Man and Florida Woman.

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

Left-Wing Journalist Says Delay of Harriet Tubman $20 Dollar Bill Proof of “White Supremacy”

A left-wing journalist with the Atlantic and scores of others believe that the delay of the new $20 dollar bill — which was set to see abolitionist and political activist Harriet Tubman replace Andrew Jackson — is evidence of the Trump’s administration’s “white supremacy”.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin revealed last month that the design of the note would be delayed for technical reasons by six years.

The New York Times claims (with no evidence) that Trump “had intervened to keep his favorite president, Andrew Jackson, a fellow populist, on the front of the note.”

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

Memphis Riot Over Fatal U.S. Marshal Shooting Injures 24 Police Officers

Violent clashes with protesters in Memphis, Tennessee resulted in at least 24 police officers with injuries. The protests came following the shooting death of a man killed by US Marshals during an attempted arrest, according to Reuters.

Two journalists were also injured when a protesting crowd attacked police with bricks and rocks.

Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland said:

“At least 24 officers and deputies were injured — six were taken to the hospital. Multiple police cars were vandalized. A concrete wall outside a business was torn down. The windows were broken out at fire station 31.”

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

New Analysis Identifies 30 New Species of Leptospira

A new analysis of the bacteria Leptospira reveals the genus is much more diverse than previously realized. The research also yields new information about the evolution of the emerging zoonotic disease caused by the bacteria—insights that might someday make it easier to diagnose and treat it.

Leptospira is ubiquitous in the environment, but some strains are infectious to humans and animals. The bacteria is believed to spread through the urine of reservoir animals. Humans who come into contact with infectious strains of the bacteria through soil or water can become infected. The resulting disease, Leptospirosis, can lead to a range of symptoms, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Some patients experience no symptoms at all; others experience symptoms that appear similar to other common diseases. If left untreated, the disease can lead to kidney and liver damage, meningitis, respiratory disease, and, in some cases, death.

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

Poll: Most Voters Say Celebrity Political Endorsements Don’t Matter

A large majority of registered voters say political endorsements from celebrities have no impact on their voting, according to a new poll.

A Hill-HarrisX survey released Friday found that 65 percent of respondents said political pronouncements from Hollywood stars have no bearing on their decisions at the ballot box.

Twenty-four percent said endorsements would make them less likely to vote for a particular candidate, while 11 percent said the celebrity endorsements made them more likely to vote a certain way.

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

US Army War College Bows to Terror-Tied CAIR — Drops Speech by Terror Expert After CAIR Cites ‘Anti-Muslim Racism’

The US Army War College bowed to terror-tied CAIR and disinvited an expert on Islam from giving a speech after CAIR branded him an ‘Islamophobe.’

Ray Ibrahim, an expert on Islamic terrorism and the history of Islam was scheduled to speak on June 19 and his speech was titled, “Sword and Scimitar: Fourteen Centuries of War Between Islam and the West.”

The Philadelphia chapter of CAIR [Council on American Islamic Relations] protested and wrote a letter to the college superintendent Army Maj. Gen. John S. Kem, and provost James G. Breckenridge demanding they cancel the speech.

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

Valedictorian Thanks ‘Alcoholic Teacher’ And Negligent Counselor for Teaching to ‘Fend for Herself’

A California valedictorian went off script during her commencement address, slamming an alcoholic teacher who was ‘escorted out of school’ and a guidance counselor who she thanked for ‘letting me fend for myself’ due to being ‘always unavailable to my parents and I despite appointments.’

San Ysidro High School senior Nataly Buhr opened her June 6 speech in typical fashion — thanking her parents for their “endless love,” acknowledging the memories shared with her friends, and mentioning a handful of teachers for being ‘invested in the students.’

Then, Buhr went scorched earth.

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

Video: Brooklyn New York Mosque Broadcasts Islamic Call to Prayer to 20 Block Radius

A resident of Brooklyn posted a Facebook live video documenting how the Islamic call to prayer was being broadcast to a 20 block radius by a local mosque.

“I am in downtown Brooklyn, but I swear it’s Saudi Arabia, y’all hear that?” asks Derrick Gibson as the words “No God but Allah, Mohammad is his messenger” are broadcast.

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

After Whistleblower, Pope Calls Nuncios to Undivided Loyalty

ROME — Pope Francis demanded absolute loyalty from his ambassadors Thursday, following months of pressure after a former nuncio accused the pontiff of covering up for serial sex abuser Theodore McCarrick.

In his written address to papal envoys gathered in the Vatican, the pope said that in all circumstances a nuncio must be unconditionally “the pope’s man.”

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

Brexit Party Maintains Commanding Lead in Westminster Polling, Labour and Tories Continue to Fall

Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party is maintaining its position as the number one party favoured by the public should the country face a General Election to choose its next government, even as the traditional governing parties continue to slip down the rankings.

The Brexit Party would come first place with 26 per cent of the vote in a General Election if responses were replicated at the ballot box for the second consecutive week, a new YouGov poll has found.

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

Church Bombing in Sweden. Anti-Christian Hate Crime?

Guest post by Peter Imanuelsen, more commonly known as Peter Sweden

Early Friday morning there was an explosion near the St. Afrem church in Swedish city Geneta. This is the second time the place has been bombed, the previous attack happened in September last year. No-one was arrested in connection with the previous attack.

The church is a Syrian Orthodox church. The building that was targeted is the party rooms owned by the church, and are located nearby the church itself.

“Because this is the second time it happens, it appears to be a motive against the church, but it is hard to know for sure” says Zakay Cicek, responsible for security at the church to Expressen.

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

Denmark’s Elections

In Denmark’s general election on June 5, the Danes gave the center-left and far left parties on the political spectrum — the Social Democratic Party, Det Radikale Venstre (the Danish Social Liberal Party), Socialistisk Folkeparti (the Socialist People’s Party), and Enhedslisten (the Red-Green Alliance) — 91 seats in parliament, a majority out of the 179 available seats. In doing so, the Danes waved goodbye to the current liberal-conservative government. The largest party on the left, the Social Democratic Party with 48 seats, and led by Mette Frederiksen, is currently trying to form a government.

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

Eurocrat Admits There’s ‘Not Really a Court’ To Force UK to Pay £39bn ‘Divorce’ Bill

European Commission finance chief Günther Oettinger has admitted that there is “not really a court” that could force the UK to pay the EU the Brexit ‘divorce bill’.

The admission came after Conservative Party leadership candidate Boris Johnson said last week he would withhold the payment in exchange for a better exit deal from the EU.

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

Italy: Judge and Son Probed Over Zamparini ‘Mole’

In Palermo

(ANSA) — Palermo, June 13 — A preliminary investigations judge (GIP) and his son were placed under investigation Thursday in a probe into an alleged mole who tipped off former Palermo President Maurizio Zamparini that he was about to be arrested for corruption.

Cesare Vincenti, president of the Palermo GIPs, is accused of revealing confidential information and corruption.

His son Andrea is accused of corruption too, judicial sources said.

Former Palermo Calcio President Giovanni Giammarva is accused of handing on the information to Zamparini.

The homes of the GIP and his son were searched in the probe Thursday.

In the original investigation, tax police raided the offices of Palermo soccer club in a probe into suspected false accounting, misappropriation and money laundering. Police also searched Zamparini’s home and the premises of his Zamparini Group, which owns Emmezeta department stores. Zamparini reportedly said the club was 40 million euros in debt.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Toti Stands for FI Leader, Says Berlusconi Era Over

Silvio must understand time has gone says Liguria governor

(ANSA) — Rome, June 13 — Liguria Governor Giovanni Toti on Thursday said he would stand as leader of three-time ex-premier and media magnate Silvio Berlusconi’s centre-right Forza Italia (FI) party, saying the Berlusconi era was “over” after an all-time low result in the European elections last month.

“We need primaries, Silvio must understand that an era is over,” said the former Berlusconi network newsman.

“Berlusconi cannot stand to lead the centre right,” said Tori.

The media mogul, 82, founded FI in 1993 and the following year led it to the first of its three general-election victories, defeating the post-Communist Left.

Following a lengthy office ban for tax fraud that ruled him out of last year’s general election, the FI leader won a seat in the European Parliament in last month’s European elections.

He returned to the fore as FI leader during that campaign, campaigning energetically, but FI scored a disappointing 6.3% in the vote, far below their result in the previous EP elections and down from 14% at last year’s general election.

The EP result was the same as that of a far-right nativist party and ally which FI once dwarfed, Brothers of Italy (FdI).

By contrast the nationalist League, new top dog on the centre right, scored 34%, double what it got in the general election in March last year.

The League is still a local ally of FI and FdI but is allied on the national government stage with the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement (M5S), whose scored halved to 17% in the EP vote with respect to its general-election result.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Financier Proto Arrested for Defrauding Disabled Woman

‘Scammed 130,000 euros from cancer victim’

(ANSA) — Como, June 12 — Italian financier Alessandro Proto was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of defrauding a disabled woman suffering from cancer, sources said.

The Milanese financier, 44, is accused of defrauding her of 130,000 euros.

Proto, who is resident in Switzerland, allegedly invested the profits of this and other alleged scams in online gambling sites.

In February 2013 Proto was first arrested, for alleged fraud and market manipulation in Milan.

The Italian realtor to Hollywood stars is an ex-primary candidate in former premier Silvio Berlusconi’s now-defunct People of Freedom (PdL) party.

Proto, who has handled luxury Italian property purchases for Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie and Leonardo DiCaprio, has been under investigation for deals at his Proto Consulting firm.

Proto first made headlines in Italy in 2012 for expressing interest along with four investors in buying up the Benetton family’s shares in the loss-making RCS publishing house.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Bus Terror Hero Boys to Get Citizenship

Hijacker video ‘too risky to publish’

(ANSA) — Rome, June 11 — Two Egyptian boys who helped avert a massacre on a hijacked bus near Milan in March will receive Italian citizenship, sources said Tuesday. The citizenship proposal for Ramy Shehata and Adam El Hamami was approved by cabinet on Tuesday evening.

Adam’s mother said the citizenship would be “a value for the future”.

Meanwhile a video emerged Tuesday of Senegalese hijacker Ousseynou Sy saying “long live panAfricanism, we’re fighting the corrupt governments and we’re criticising European policy that exploits Africa”.

Prosecutors said they would not publish the video for fear of encouraging copycats.

Seventeen of the 50 hijacked children suffered post traumatic stress disorder, doctors said Tuesday.

Interior Minister Matteo Salvini recently met Sherata and El Hamami at the interior ministry in Rome.

Salvini, who has changed his mind and decided to award them Italian citizenship, also met with the 49 other children from Crema and the Carabinieri who rescued them thanks to the pair’s phone calls.

He then took the group for a stroll and an ice cream.

Egyptian Sherata, 13, will be granted his wish for Italian citizenship after hiding his phone from the Senagalese-Italian schoolbus hijacker and calling in police to rescue the 51 kids before the man torched the vehicle outside Milan.

Tunisian El Hamami, 12, who called the police after Sherata, is also set for citizenship for special merits.

Salvini drew flak after initially turning Sherata’s wish down, saying he should be elected if he wanted to change Italy’s law allowing foreigners born in Italy to apply for citizenship only after they turn 18.

The case prompted Italy’s centre-left opposition to again call for a ius soli (law of the soil) law granting citizenship to kids much earlier.

Salvini rejected all talk of a ius soli law, which narrowly failed to get through the last centre-left-led parliament.

Receiving the group, Salvini said “I have had the disgusting sensation that the Crema kids were used by some people to wage a political battle”.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Sex Shop Tax Breaks Preserved in U-Turn

After PD accused govt of being ‘obscurantist’

(ANSA) — Rome, June 11 — Tax breaks to incentivise the opening of sex shops were preserved in an amendment to the government’s growth decree, in a U-turn after opposition criticism.

Initially sex shops were excluded from the new incentives, along with pawnbrokers and betting shops, but the centre-left opposition Democratic Party (PD) accused the government of “legislating on citizens’ sexual preferences” and “returning to the obscurantist State”.

In the end the rapporteurs re-inserted sex shops into the amendment, which regards the reopening of shops in towns with fewer than 20,000 inhabitants.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Man Arrested for Raping Student

In Bologna park

(ANSA) — Bologna, June 11 — A 31-year-old Brazilian born naturalised Italian man was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of raping a 24-year-old Italian student in a Bologna park on June 2.

The woman was returning from a night out with friends when she was attacked at dawn.

The man was named as Orianderson Venturi.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Julian Assange’s Extradition Trial Won’t Take Place Until Next Year — Publisher Says He Never Cracked Any Passwords

The extradition trial for imprisoned WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange will not begin until February of next year.

Assange appeared in a London court through a video link on Friday.

Judge Emma Arbuthnot decided that Assange, a 2019 Nobel Peace Prize nominee, will face a five day trial beginning on February 25 to determine if he will be extradited to the United States, where he would face charges under the controversial Espionage Act. If he is convicted, he could be sentenced to up to 175 years in prison for the award-winning publications.

Assange, of course, will still get a trial — despite what mountains of fake news are claiming. Many outlets have now implied that a decision to send him to the US was already made, based on a procedural signature acknowledging receipt of the extradition request by Home Secretary Sajid Javid. Obviously, this decision still lies with the courts and their reporting is false.

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

Pope Francis Urges Carbon Penalties to Avert Climate ‘Catastrophe’

ROME — Pope Francis warned of disastrous consequences if humanity does not immediately react to the threat of climate change, since the world has reached a “critical moment” and there is no time to waste.

“Dear friends, time is running out!” the pope told a group of participants in a Vatican-sponsored conference on energy transition Friday. “We cannot afford the luxury of waiting for others to come forward or of prioritizing short-term economic benefits. The climate crisis requires decisive action from us, here and now.”

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

Report: Johnson Could Delay Brexit ‘By a Few Weeks’ if Elected Prime Minister

A Boris Johnson supporter has claimed that the Leave campaigner could delay Brexit again if he becomes prime minister.

Speaking to The Sun, the unnamed Boris-backer said that Mr Johnson may ‘have to’ delay Brexit by a few weeks, after the leading candidate had said that the UK must leave the EU by the October 31st deadline.

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

Sweden’s School Violence Problem is Part of an International Trend

by Simon Chandler

Being a teacher has never been easy, and in many parts of the world, it’s becoming increasingly difficult. This would seem to be true in Malmö, Sweden, where the local education authority has just announced that it will ask the guardians of 30,000 primary school children to sign a contract, requiring them and their children alike to adopt a ‘positive attitude’ towards teachers. The main reason: reports of violent incidents against teachers and other pupils in Swedish schools has been on the rise, increasing by 121% between 2012 and 2018, according to the Swedish Work Environment Authority (SWEA).

However, while some right-wing accounts of the rise in violence in Sweden has pinned the blame on immigration and a failure to ‘integrate’ migrants predominantly from war-torn Syria, the truth of the matter is considerably more nuanced and complex. Because as similar rises in school violence in the UK, the US, Australia and elsewhere attest, such factors as poverty, inequality and cuts in public spending play a more significant role.

Reported assaults against teachers have been rising in Sweden since at least 2011, several years before the country began witnessing significant immigration from Syria. And since 2011, there has been a steady increase in reports of school violence, rising from 393 in 2012 to 870 in 2018. But despite this equalling a growth rate of 121%, the number of foreign citizens living in Sweden rose by only 39.7% over the same period, from 667,232 in 2012 to 932,266 in 2018. Their share of the overall Swedish population increased by roughly 2%, from 7% to 9.1%. This undermines the notion of a direct, one-to-one correlation between migration and school violence…

           — Hat tip: C. Cantoni [Return to headlines]
 

Japanese Tanker Owner Denies Ship Hit by Mine, Says Crew Saw “Flying Objects” Before Attack

For a moment on Thursday, it appeared that the US Navy had produced the ‘smoking gun’ to which Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had alluded during his statement from earlier in the day: CENTCOM footage which the Navy said purported to show Iran’s IRGC ‘caught in the act’ of trying to remove an unexploded mine from the Kokuka Courageous, one of the two tankers damaged in Thursday’s attacks.

CENTCOM said the video it released showed the IRGC removing an unexploded limpet mine from the side of one of the tankers, suggesting Tehran had sought to remove evidence from the scene.

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

Salvini Tells CNN He ‘Shares Trump’s Concerns’ on Iran

‘Believes it can wipe another off the face of the Earth’

(ANSA) — Washington, June 14 — In an interview with CNN on the eve of his visit to Washington, Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Matteo Salvini said that he shared US president Donald Trumps’s concerns on Iran. He noted that Italy had stopped working with Iran at the economic level and said that Iran “believes it can wipe another country (Israel, Ed.) off the face of the Earth. This cannot be someone that we dialogue with”.

He added that the nuclear accord should be reconsidered.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

US Releases “Smoking Gun” Video of Iran’s Navy Handling Mine on Tanker Hull

In a perhaps positive sign that could slow the attempts of hawks within the administration to push for war over Thursday’s mysterious attacks on two tankers in the Gulf of Oman, US Central Command issued a statement just hours after Pompeo officially blamed Tehran, saying in a CENTCOM press release that “a war with Iran is not in our strategic interest, nor in the best interest of the international community.”

The statement further called for a formal UN investigation into the incident, something for which there’s already international momentum. Iran has “categorically” denied having anything to do with the attack, saying through FM Zarif “Suspicious doesn’t begin to describe what likely transpired”.

The entire bizarre event had immediately evoked unusual levels of public skepticism from media pundits to social media users to even CNN.

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

World’s Oldest Temple Göbeklitepe Attracts Record Visitors

Located in southeastern Turkey, Göbeklitepe, the world’s oldest known temple, was visited by nearly 26,000 people during the recent nine-day Muslim Eid al-Fitr holiday, according to an official at the ancient site.

Celal Uludag, head of excavation at the 12,000-year-old site, said the ruins have been open for years but this year they attracted a record number of visitors, and they drove tourist traffic in March and April.

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

A ‘Win’ For Hong Kong’s Protesters? City Council Weighs ‘Pause’ On Controversial Extradition Bill

Are Hong Kong’s student demonstrators winning the battle again Beijing to kill the hated extradition bill? It’s starting to look that way…

According to the South China Morning Post, the city’s largest English language newspaper, the city council are considering ‘pausing’ their plans to pass the bill — which would likely slow, but not stop, the process.

This comes after dozens were injured and nearly one dozen arrested on Wednesday,the most violent day of the protests so far. The city’s advisors are reportedly “torn”, with some advocating that city executive Carrie Lam offer a sop to the protest movement that has badly shaken the city, while others believe the government must push ahead with its plans.

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

Farmers Say They Are Living in Fear From Vegan Activists After an Explosive Fire Caused $100,000 Worth of Damage to Their Property

The owner of one of South Australia’s biggest dairy farms suspects vegan animal activists sparked a fire that burnt down a shed and destroyed equipment and a tonne of feed.

           — Hat tip: SS [Return to headlines]
 

‘Give Me 15 Minutes With Him’: Mosque Hero Slams the Accused Christchurch Shooter for Smiling in Court While the Victims and Families of the Massacre Watched on

Abdul Aziz, 48, called accused shooter Brenton Tarrant (pictured) a ‘coward’ for smiling as he pleaded not guilty to shooting dead 51 worshippers in Christchurch on Friday.

           — Hat tip: SS [Return to headlines]
 

‘I Don’t Want to Talk About it!’ Moment Woman Who Attacked a Pensioner at a Bus Stop is Confronted on TV — as Her Victim Speaks Out

Cori Glencross, 23, allegedly assaulted Judith Green, 75, while she was waiting a bus at Market Square Shopping Centre in Geelong, Victoria in April.

           — Hat tip: SS [Return to headlines]
 

‘I’m Happy With the Result’: Wannabe Jihadist Who Gave an ISIS Salute as He Left Court Says He Wants to ‘Move on With His Life’ After Being Freed From Jail

Western Sydney man Moudasser Taleb, 24, was arrested at the Sydney Airport after being caught in an undercover police operation.

           — Hat tip: SS [Return to headlines]
 

‘Two Years Jail is Enough’: Sydney Jihadist Who Gave the One-Finger ISIS Salute During His Trial for Trying to Joining the Terror Group Walks Free From Jail — Because the Judge Says He’s of Good Character

Moudasser Taleb, who had no plane ticket and little money when arrested in June 2017, was found guilty in April of preparing to travel to Syria for the purpose of engaging in hostile activities.

           — Hat tip: SS [Return to headlines]
 

When West Meets Shire: House Inspection is Brought to an Abrupt Halt as a Fleet of Wedding Cars and Middle Eastern Drummers Take Over a Street for Some Very Sydney Nuptials

Hundreds of wedding guests spilled onto Carina Road at Oyster Bay, in Sydney’s south, last month, interrupting an open house inspection.

           — Hat tip: SS [Return to headlines]
 

Wild Brawls, Thugs Armed With Crowbars and Knives and Foul-Mouthed Gangs of Teenagers Running Amok: Inside Australia’s Nastiest Shopping Centre

Police have vowed to crackdown on a shopping centre dubbed Australia’s worst mall. Market Square Shopping Centre, in Geelong, Victoria, has become a no-go zone for terrified locals.

           — Hat tip: SS [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Sea Watch ‘Playing’ With Migrants Says Salvini

NGO vessel has refused to take rescued migrants to Tripoli

(ANSA) — Rome, June 14 — Deputy Premier and Interior Minister Matteo Salvini on Friday launched a fresh attack on the Sea-Watch NGO after it refused to take 52 migrants it rescued off Libya this week to Tripoli. The Sea Watch 3 ship, which is close to the Italian island of Lampedusa, at one stage seemed to have turned towards Malta, but Salvini said it is not going there. “No Malta,” the League leader said via Twitter. “The #SeaWatch NGO ship has changed route again: it is swaying in the Mediterranean playing a game on the backs of the immigrants, even though it asked for a port and obtained it in Tripoli”. Sea-Watch has said Tripoli is not a port of safety. “Forcibly taking rescued people back to a war-torn country, having them imprisoned and tortured, is a crime,” the German NGO said.

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.

“We are witnessing the umpteenth show,” Salvini said.

“They say they are good, but they are kidnapping women and children in the middle of the sea.

“#closedports for them!”. Premier Giuseppe Conte said that “we want certain behaviour to be a bit more transparent on the part of the NGOs too, I don’t want to lay it on but we are asking for greater transparency.

“The coast guard intervenes, it has already made several interventions, it seems in this last case there has not been full tranparency from the parties”.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Number of ICE Detainees Under Quarantine for Mumps and Chicken Pox Spikes to 5,200

ICE has placed 5,200 detainees under medical quarantine at 39 separate detention facilities for exposure to mumps and chicken pox, an ICE official tells Axios.

Why it matters: Mumps, a fast-spreading but relatively mild virus that sometimes causes serious complications, is on the rise in ICE facilities. In March, an ICE official told Reuters that 2,287 detainees were medically quarantined in the U.S. There were no confirmed reports of mumps among ICE detainees before 2018, per an ICE official.

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

Salvini Receives Go-Ahead to Begin Restricting Migrant Transport NGOs in Italy

The Italian Council of Ministers — the principal executive organ of the Italian government — has authorized a new security decree drawn up by national populist interior minister Matteo Salvini that will restrict the activities of NGOs responsible for transporting illegal migrants into the country.

According to a report from Il Giornale, new provisions will grant the Italian government the authority to seize sea vessels from ‘civil society groups’ which breach government sanctions or that try to illegally enter Italy’s territorial waters with illegal migrants on-board.

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

Sweden: Church in Migrant Heavy Area Targeted With Explosion for Second Time

A church in a migrant-heavy area of Sweden was targeted for a second time by a loud bomb blast that woke up shocked residents in the middle of the night.

Police were called to the site of the Syrian Orthodox Church St. Afrem in Södertälje after residents reported hearing a huge explosion at 3am.

According to reports, authorities quickly concluded that a device had been detonated in a building adjacent to the church which is rented out as a party room.

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

Swedish Migration Board Approves Deporting Radical Imams

The Swedish Migration Board has granted approval for the deportation of radical Imam Abo Raad after a request from the Swedish security service Säpo who had previously arrested several Islamic leaders.

Imam Abo Raad, who lived in Gävle, is one of two Imams scheduled for deportation following the decision by the Migration Board along with another man. All three were arrested as part of the Act on Special Aliens Control which grants Swedish police and security services the ability to request for the deportation of those deemed a security threat, Swedish broadcaster Sveriges Radio reports.

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

Three Explosions in Migrant-Rich Malmö in 24 Hours

This week, Malmö, a city in southern Sweden known by many for its large migrant population and no-go zones, saw three explosions in a 24-hour span with multiple locations targeted including a nightclub and residential area.

According to the Swedish online newspaper, Nyheter Idag, the first explosion occurred on Tuesday, around 2 o’clock in the morning in the suburb of Rosengård — an area that has been described as a no-go zone — which caused a number of windows in a multi-family building to shatter.

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

Desmond is Amazing’s Mother Defends Decision to Allow 12-Year-Old ‘Drag Kid’ To Perform at Gay Bar for Tips

The mother of ‘Desmond is Amazing’ — a 12-year-old ‘drag queen kid,’ has defended her decision to allow her son to perform on stage at a gay club in New York while patrons tossed money at the boy.

After revealing that 7 different agencies had conducted investigations into whether Desmond was being abused, his mother Wendy told hosts of an Australian TV show that there was nothing wrong with the show.

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

Press F to Pay Respects

Social media giants have sided with authoritarians who want to humiliate, muzzle & destroy the lives of dissident thinkers.

That’s not taking the moral high ground, that’s being complicit in allowing hateful, intolerant bullies take over society.

Here’s what we must do next.

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

Seriously? Biological Male Who Won Women’s NCAA Championship Says Female Runners Actually Have the Advantage (Video)

A biological male who identifies as a woman won the NCAA women’s track championship last month.

CeCe Telfer, a biological male (transgender), won the women’s 400 meter hurdles last month and trounced the second place competitor by over a full second.

The coach praised CeCe Telfer for being the first student-athlete in Franklin Pierce history to collect an individual national title.

Now CeCe Telfer, a biological male who crushed his female competition, is complaining that he’s at a disadvantage competing against women and the it’s the “cisgender females” (women who were born female) who actually have the advantage.

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

Twitter is Now Banning Conservatives for Investigative Journalism About Big Tech’s Abortion Activism

After investigative reporters at Project Veritas published information from a whistleblower in Pinterest headquarters, revealing the social media site’s bias against pro-lifers, Twitter joined in the censorship. On Wednesday, Twitter banned Project Veritas for violating its “rules against posting private information.”

In this case, the “private information” was screenshots of Pinterest’s internal communications and Slack messages, which showed one Pinterest employee calling Ben Shapiro a “white supremacist” and adding him to the “sensitive terms list.”

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

YouTube Censors Tim Pool Video on Project Veritas’ Pinterest Exposé

YouTube took down a video from independent journalist Tim Pool discussing Project Veritas’ recent interview with an insider at social media platform Pinterest, who exposed anti-Christian bias at the company.

Pool said that unlike other video takedowns, YouTube tried to remove his video quietly, without notifying him.

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

7 thoughts on “Gates of Vienna News Feed 6/14/2019

  1. Postponing Brexit for a few weeks said BoJo. Nothing to worry about people its only a few weeks. Then of course it will be a few months. And after that due to some minor hiccup a few years and after that…… Oh I can’t be bothered with that!

    • Copywriter: That’s exactly the deadly fault of so-called democracy:

      Postponement, dragging their legs, slap on the wrist for heinous crimes, no punishment for BIG FISH CRIMINALS, indecisive, hesitant, lack of reason, AND Among othetr things:

      REAL PANIC PHOBIA of islam and groveling at muslim feet to get abject peace. Then gloss it in a mask of hypocrisy out of weakness and stupidity: Diversity is our strength.

      Unlike the LION of Judea who grab the ox by the horn. Face to face and not treachously from behind like THE PIRATES, And put the western “democracies” to shame by comparison. That’s why western “democracies” hate Israel Boycotting and divesting.
      “Postponing Brexit for a few weeks said BoJo. Nothing to worry about people its only a few weeks. Then of course it will be a few months.

      In other news, the Italian Council of Ministers has approved Matteo Salvini’s decree that would penalize NGOs for illegally importing migrants into Italy.

      Oh Bravo but no Bravo.

      Does the invasion of one’s country need discussion and long deliberation? With some objecting to keep the wolves away? Like recent election in Denmark.

      ALL PARTIES opposing invasion did POORLY. OH Europe. Strange is thy death throes. Slow death approaching from ignorance and not from the “Age of Reason” as Richard Dawkins stupidly claims.

      Hey Richard, when Europe became godless it did not only lose their reason, brain and mind, they also lost themselves. “If you find yourself you lose it.”

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMqTEfeqvmM

  2. Re: Left wing journalist says delay of Harriet Trubman $20 bill…

    Ignoring the conspiracy theory, and the merits of the lady herself, how can it possibly take six years to redesign a banknote? Especially as (to a mere outsider) US ones look remarkably similar!

    • … how can it possibly take six years to redesign a banknote?

      Testing, lad. Testing. The finished product must be subjected to rigorous field trials. Especially, in this case, for crumpling, folding, and wadding, plus the note’s ability to hold up during both directions of forward and backwards wiping.

  3. Left-Wing Journalist Says Delay of Harriet Tubman $20 Dollar Bill Proof of “White Supremacy”

    If these revisionist SOB sisters think things are waycist right now, just wait until they try to foist their propaganda on American patriots. As in: They’d better have a passel of extra sawbucks bundled up because I, for one, will never use any of the new twenties … unless I run out of toilet paper, that is.

  4. There is a case for Judicial Review that will be heard within a few weeks that states that Britain legally left the EU on 29th March at 11 pm. Top lawyers in Britain say that there is a very good chance of winning – unless the judges decide otherwise after instructions from the elite.

Comments are closed.