Gates of Vienna News Feed 6/25/2019

Germany’s former intelligence chief Hans-Georg Maassen has called for an official parliamentary investigation into Chancellor Angela Merkel’s migration policy. Mr. Maassen was forced out of his position last year after he publicly questioned the government’s narrative on the “manhunt” in Chemnitz.

In other news, Israel cut off fuel shipments to Gaza after incendiary balloons were launched from there into the Negev. Hamas accused Israel of harming the puir wee bairns of Gaza by interrupting the electricity supply.

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

Thanks to C. Cantoni, Dean, Insubria, JD, KP, 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
» The Fed’s Endless Boom-Bust Cycle
 
USA
» Amazon, Google and Facebook Warrant Antitrust Scrutiny for Many Reasons — Not Just Because They’re Large
» Anderson Cooper Abruptly Goes to Commercial After Trump Accuser E. Jean Carroll Says ‘People Think of Rape as Being Sexy’
» California Panics About Losing Businesses and People (To Texas): What the Housing Market Fears Most is Cropping Up in the Data
» Chick-fil-A Named America’s Favorite Restaurant Chain — Again
» Conditions on the Streets of San Francisco Are Comparable to “The Slums of Mumbai, Delhi, Mexico City, Jarkarta, And Manila”
» Dems Are Planning to Steal the 2020 Election
» Financial Blacklisting: Sleeping Giants and Soros-Backed Group Pressure MasterCard to Censor the Right
» Google Censors Project Veritas Video Exposing Google’s Censorship
» Google Execs Panic! Go Into Hiding — Delete Social Media Accounts After James O’Keefe’s Latest Exposé
» ‘He is the Enemy of Every Entrepreneur’ — Home Depot Founders Blast Socialism, Issue Dire Warning for Bernie Supporters
» Here’s a Compilation of Trump Accuser E. Jean Carroll’s Comments, Decide for Yourself
» James O’Keefe Strikes Again! Google Document Describes Ben Shapiro, Dennis Prager (Both Jews) And Jordan Peterson as Nazis
» Journalists Failed Our Newspapers
» Jussie Smollett Update: Actor Googled Himself More Than 50 Times in Days After Alleged Attack
» O’Keefe Says More Big Tech Insiders Are About to Blow the Whistle
» Project Veritas Website Down After Bombshell Google Exposé
» Reddit Suspends Users Who Post Project Veritas Videos
» Research Psychologist Epstein: Google, Tech Giants Have Ability to Manipulate and Flip 15 Million Votes in 2020 (Video)
» SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy Has Successfully Launched the First ‘Solar Sailing’ Spacecraft Into Orbit. It Will be Powered Purely by Light.
» Surviving the 2020 Presidential Election Campaign 101
» Tech Tyranny: Apple Threatens to Kick Social Media Company ‘Parler’ Off App Store if They Don’t Ban “Offensive” (Conservative) Content
 
Canada
» Alphabet Tries to Salvage Its Smart City Plans in Toronto
» Danforth Shooting Investigation Finds “No Motive”
» Pope Removes Bishop Who Let Nun Say Wedding
 
Europe and the EU
» Bulgaria: North Macedonia Not Ready Yet to Enter in EU
» Calabria’s Evolution: The Ties Between ‘Ndrangheta and Russia
» Dutch Lawmaker Wilders Appeals ‘Fewer Moroccans’ Conviction
» France: Paris District Residents Feel ‘Abandoned’ As Crime Surges
» From the Atlantic to the Mediterranean: Trump’s Plan for the European Union
» Greece: Thessaloniki Denies Public Space to Golden Dawn
» Italy: Pedophilia: Savona Diocesis Faces 5-Million-Euro Lawsuit
» Italy: Salvini Scoffs at ‘Light TAV’ Idea
» Italy: No Whirlpool Closure, No Jobs Lost — Di Maio
» Merkel Ready to Do Her Best to Open EU Talks for Macedonia
» Swedish City Issues Safety Tips to Employees Going Outdoors
» TV Producer: Cancel Classic Comedy ‘Dad’s Army’ Because it Makes Britons Pro-Brexit
» UK: Johnson: It Would be ‘Bizarre’ For EU to Enact ‘Napoleonic’ Trade Barriers After No Deal Brexit
» UK: Lloyds Bank Offers Its Staff “Acid Attack Guidance”
» UK: Tory Remainers Threaten to Bring Down Govt Over a Johnson No Deal Brexit
 
North Africa
» Egypt Reaches Out to Sahel Armies as ISIS Expands Presence
 
Israel and the Palestinians
» Gaza: After Incendiary Balloons, Israel Halts Entry of Fuel
» Israel Restricts Power to Gaza After Balloons Spark Fires
 
Middle East
» Iran Announces Arrest of 16 Oil Ministry Officials for Spying for Cia
» Prince Bandar’s World the Man Behind the Scenes in Saudi Arabia
 
Far East
» Much More Than a Trade War With China
 
Immigration
» A Wall Worse Than Trump’s
» Ann Coulter: Surprise! That ‘Cheap’ Immigrant Labor Costs US a Lot
» Breaking: Acting Border Chief John Sanders Resigns
» Former German Intelligence Boss Demands Investigation Into Merkel’s Migrant Crisis Policy
» Italy: Rights Court Rejects Sea Watch Appeal, Interior Ministry
» Mexico Sends 15,000 Troops to Border to Detain Migrants
» Pelosi: Being in the Country Illegally “Not a Reason for Deportation”
» Sweden: Migrant’s Sex Assaults ‘Not Serious Enough’ For Deportation
» Tucker: Same People Pushing for War Want to Open Our Borders to Migrants From Middle East
 
Culture Wars
» ‘A New and Ugly Australia’: Anglican Archbishop Slams Treatment of Israel Folau and Says Rugby Star’s Homophobic Post Was Full of ‘Deep Conscience and Concern’
» Acceptance of LGBT Sinking Among the Youth, And it’s Obvious Why
» Israel Folau’s New Fundraiser Beats His Deleted GoFundMe in Hours: Defiant Supporters Pour in $1,000 Per Minute for the Rugby Star’s Legal Battle
» New Vermont Law Would Require Taxpayers to Fund Sex Change Operations for Children
» Pedophile Author Says 11-Year-Old Drag Queen Desmond is “Hot”
» Pedophile & Convicted Child Porn Peddler Says ‘Desmond is Amazing’ Is “Hot”
» ‘Political Correctness Gone Too Far’: Transgender Golf Star Slams New Guidelines for Children’s Sports That Tell Clubs to Provide ‘Gender-Neutral Areas’ For Kids
» Teen Vogue Pushing Marxism (Again)
» Teen Vogue is Now Promoting Prostitution to Its Young Female Readers
» The Guardian on Free Speech: ‘Some Debates Should be Shut Down’
» Transgender Surgery Dreams, A Ferrari to Cure Anxiety and Legal Fees for a Divisive Preacher: The Fundraisers GoFundMe Didn’t Take Down — as Furore Over Israel Folau Saga Builds
» White Privilege Survey Posted at NYC School With Virtually No White Students
 

The Fed’s Endless Boom-Bust Cycle

To understand this, we can look back at the past three boom-bust cycles

One cannot grasp the economic big-picture without understanding how Federal Reserve monetary policy drives the boom-bust cycle. The effects of all other government policies work within the Fed’s monetary framework. Money-printing and interest rate manipulations fuel booms and the inevitable attempt to return to “normalcy” precipitates busts.

In simplest terms, easy money blows up bubbles. Bubbles pop and set off a crisis. Rinse. Wash. Repeat.

In practice, when the economy slows or enters into a recession, central banks like the Federal Reserve drive interest rates down and launch quantitative easing (QE) programs to “stimulate” the economy.

Low interest rates encourage borrowing and spending. The flood of cheap money suddenly available allows consumers to consume more — thus the stimulus. It also incentivizes corporations and government entities to borrow and spend. Coupled with quantitative easing, the central bank can pump billions of dollars of new money into the economy through this loose monetary policy.

In effect, QE is a fancy term for printing lots of money. The Fed doesn’t literally have a printing press in the basement of the Eccles Building running off dollar bills, but it generates the same practical effect. The Federal Reserve digitally creates money out of thin air and uses the new dollars to buy securities and government bonds, thereby putting “cash” directly into circulation. QE not only boosts the amount of money in the economy; it also has a secondary function. As the Federal Reserve buys US Treasury bonds, it monetizes government debt. The central bank can also buy financial instruments like mortgage-backed securities as it did during QE1 in 2008. This effectively serves as a bank bailout. Big banks get to remove these worthless assets from their balance sheets and shift them to the Fed’s. Theoretically, this makes the banks more solvent and encourages them to lend more money to ease the credit crunch that occurs when banks become financially shaky.

This monetary policy results in a temporary boom. All of that new money has to go somewhere. It could result in rising consumer prices (inflation), but generally, it pumps up the price of assets such as real estate and stock markets, creating a fake wealth effect. People feel wealthier because they see the value of their assets rapidly increasing. With plenty of debt-driven spending and rapidly increasing asset prices, the economy grows, sometimes at a staggeringly fast rate.

This process also creates inequality. The first receivers of this new money — generally bankers and politically-connected individuals and institutions — get the most direct benefit from the newly-minted dollars. Their decisions on where to spend the money create artificially high demand in the chosen industries or asset classes. Think the housing market in the years leading up to ‘08 or tech companies during the dot-com boom. This amplifies distortions in the capital structure. The first receivers also get to spend the new money before the inflationary effects take hold and prices rise. Those who receive the money later on down the line, say through pay raises, don’t get the same benefits as the first users. Price inflation eats up their gains.

Meanwhile, surging economic growth, shrinking unemployment, and rising stock markets driven by money-creation give the illusion of a healthy economy. But the monetary policy hides the economic rot at the foundation.

In order to sustain an economic expansion, you need capital goods — factories, machines, natural resources. Capital goods are produced through savings and investment. When central banks juice consumption without the requisite underlying capital structure, it will eventually become impossible to maintain. You can print all the dollars you want, but you can’t print stuff. At some point, the credit-driven expansion will outstrip the available stock of capital. At that point, the house of cards begins to collapse.

[Comment: This is how banksters loot nations — squeezing, like a wet dishcloth, all the wealth out for themselves.]

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Amazon, Google and Facebook Warrant Antitrust Scrutiny for Many Reasons — Not Just Because They’re Large

A common retort heard from these companies is that they shouldn’t be subject to antitrust scrutiny because they are all in competition with one another. Indeed, we’ve been talking about “big tech” for so long now that it’s easy to see it as one industry.

But, as I’ve learned in my research on the changing competitive landscape of television, these companies are actually quite different and shouldn’t be seen as competing against one another in one big tech market. Nor do they present precisely the same anticompetitivebehavior and concerns.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Anderson Cooper Abruptly Goes to Commercial After Trump Accuser E. Jean Carroll Says ‘People Think of Rape as Being Sexy’

“You don’t feel like a victim?” Cooper replied.

“I was not thrown on the ground and ravished, which the word rape carries so many sexual connotations,” she said. “This was not sexual. It just — it hurt.”

“I think most people think of rape as a violent assault,” Cooper said.

“I think most people think of rape as being sexy — think of the fantasies,” she added.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

California Panics About Losing Businesses and People (To Texas): What the Housing Market Fears Most is Cropping Up in the Data

But Texans Say, “We’re Full.” And Californians, Buckling Under Housing Costs & Congestion, Tell Wannabe Leavers, “Just Do It”

This is now everywhere in the Media. In San Francisco, it was on Radio this morning, a whole discussion on KQED’s Forum about California and Texas, with a good dose of California-bashing, and some Texas-bashing too. The fear is that business conditions and costs of living are driving businesses and people out of California. The panic here is over this question: What can California do to stem the outflow of businesses and people to Texas? At least that’s the official panic.

And there is suddenly some reason for this panic. According the latest data from the California Employment Development Department, the labor force (people who are either working or are actively looking for work) and the number of employed people declined two months in a row, April and May, to form a fairly steep dip, even on a seasonally adjusted bases as shown in the chart:

[Comment: The trouble with leftists that flee to another state is that they continue supporting the same kind of leftist politicians that ruined the state they just left.]

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Chick-fil-A Named America’s Favorite Restaurant Chain — Again

Chick-fil-A has once again been named the top limited-service restaurant chain in the country, its fourth year in a row claiming the top spot on the American Customer Satisfaction Index.

The ACSI offers as strong of a pulse as one can get on the industry, as it’s based on the input of nearly 23,000 consumers.

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

Conditions on the Streets of San Francisco Are Comparable to “The Slums of Mumbai, Delhi, Mexico City, Jarkarta, And Manila”

BARBARIC acid attacks in Britain’s capital are now at unprecedented levels

Once upon a time, some of the most beautiful cities in the entire world were on the west coast, but now those same cities are degenerating into drug-infested cesspools of filth and garbage right in front of our eyes.

San Francisco is known as the epicenter for our tech industry, and Los Angeles produces more entertainment than anyone else in the world, and yet both cities are making headlines all over the world for other reasons these days. Right now, nearly a quarter of the nation’s homeless population lives in the state of California, and more are arriving with each passing day. When you walk the streets of San Francisco or Los Angeles, you can’t help but notice the open air drug markets, the giant mountains of trash, and the discarded needles and piles of human feces that are seemingly everywhere. If this is what things look like when the U.S. economy is still relatively stable, how bad are things going to get when the economy tanks?

In San Francisco, the homeless population has grown by 17 percent since 2017, and when a UN official recently walked the streets she was absolutely horrified by what she witnessed…

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Dems Are Planning to Steal the 2020 Election

Democrats have an insurance policy for the 2020 Presidential election, and it has nothing to do with the eventual Democratic Party nominee. The original policy was initiated by Obama, Comey, Brennan, McCabe, Hillary, and their ilk, bragged about by Strzok to his paramour, and paid for by the Democrat/media cabal. The mephitic Mueller tried to cash it in, but the hero Marine got slapped down by Barr.

It’s a plan to “win” the election by any means necessary, even by cheating if necessary. Of its components, the “failsafe,” is most intriguing, if for no other reason than it is so devious, underhanded, clever, and inventive, that it’s surprising it comes from the same left which gave us the ridiculously ludicrous Steele dossier and Smollett hoax.

October Surprise.

Notice how quickly E. Jean Carroll disappeared from the headlines? Or, how the same media, which has a conniption fit when Trump asks for an extra scoop of ice cream, scarcely publicized her rape accusation, and then let the matter drop with nary a peep? Perhaps a sealed indictment of Donald Trump (New York has no statute of limitations for first-degree rape) is being processed as we speak, with the purpose of it being leaked just in time for the election.

Or a sealed indictment of Trump for campaign finance violations with respect to the Stormy Daniel payments will be leaked by the Office of the U. S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York — remember, Cohen and others are still “cooperating.” And it’s no secret they’ve been investigating Trump.

In any case, expect a leak of a “sealed indictment” for something; the something is immaterial. They’ve been shown the man; they’ll find the crime. It’s common knowledge a prosecutor can indict a ham sandwich, right? Well, there’s no bigger ham than Trump — all they need do is make the sandwich.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Financial Blacklisting: Sleeping Giants and Soros-Backed Group Pressure MasterCard to Censor the Right

A coalition of far-left political activist organizations known for peddling smears about conservatives held a protest at Mastercard’s annual general meeting (AGM) today, aiming to pressure the international credit card giant to financially blacklist wider sections of the political right. The groups’ proposal to form a “human rights committee” did not sway shareholders, who voted the measure down.

At Mastercard’s AGM this morning, the far-left groups SumOfUs and Sleeping Giants circled the venue with a mobile billboard stating: “Putting hate groups out of business? #Priceless.”

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

Google Censors Project Veritas Video Exposing Google’s Censorship

Google took down Project Veritas’ bombshell viral video exposing how the tech monopoly manipulates their algorithms in the name of “fairness” to advance a “social justice narrative.”

When you click their video (embedded below) it now says: “Video Unavailable: This video is no longer available due to a privacy claim by a third party.”

Here’s a mirror of the video on BitChute:

And a mirror from Project Veritas:…

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Google Execs Panic! Go Into Hiding — Delete Social Media Accounts After James O’Keefe’s Latest Exposé

James O’Keefe and Project Veritas released alarming new undercover video, leaked documents, and testimony from a Google insider revealing the tech giant’s plans to meddle in US politics and “prevent a Trump situation in 2020.”

One aspect of the report features undercover footage of longtime Google employee and Head of Responsible Innovation, Jen Gennai, saying Google has been working diligently to “prevent” the results of the 2016 election from repeating in 2020, meaning they are actively engaging in election meddling and working to elect someone from the Democratic Party.

The exposé was so damaging that Google-YouTube deleted Project Veritas’ video exposing the tech giant’s electioneering.

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

‘He is the Enemy of Every Entrepreneur’ — Home Depot Founders Blast Socialism, Issue Dire Warning for Bernie Supporters

Home Depot founders Bernie Marcus and Ken Langone had strong words for socialism and the politicians who espouse it, particularly 2020 presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, during a Monday interview with Fox News host Neil Cavuto.

The wide-ranging interview with the billionaire businessmen included topics like trade, the company’s history and philosophy, and even tax policy, but Cavuto hit a “red flag” for Marcus when he brought up the topic of Sandersand his socialist campaign proposals.

“He is the enemy of every entrepreneur that’s ever going to be born in this country and has been born in the past,” Marcus said.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Here’s a Compilation of Trump Accuser E. Jean Carroll’s Comments, Decide for Yourself

Last week, a story broke in New York Magazine (which was actually an excerpt from an upcoming book) claiming that President Donald Trump committed rape in a dressing room back in the mid-90s. The author of that book and writer of the article is E. Jean Carroll. She’s also the accuser in this case.

You can read the details of the original claim here.

Given that this is a claim of rape (or something approaching it), initial reactions were that it should be taken seriously. I agree. You can’t just dismiss someone out of hand because they hold different partisan viewpoints, of which Jean Carroll certainly does if you are on the right.

Judgment of credibility comes over time, just as it did with Christine Ford during the Kavanaugh ordeal, and I think we have enough information now for people to begin making up their own minds.

Here’s a compilation of some of the things she’s said in several interviews over the last few days as well as some refusals she’s made to try to substantiate her story.

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

James O’Keefe Strikes Again! Google Document Describes Ben Shapiro, Dennis Prager (Both Jews) And Jordan Peterson as Nazis

James O’Keefe and Project Veritas released alarming new undercover video, leaked documents, and testimony from a Google insider revealing the tech giant’s plans to meddle in US politics and “prevent a Trump situation in 2020.”

One aspect of the report features undercover footage of longtime Google employee and Head of Responsible Innovation, Jen Gennai, saying Google has been working diligently to “prevent” the results of the 2016 election from repeating in 2020, meaning they are actively engaging in election meddling and working to elect someone from the Democratic Party.

The exposé was so damaging that Google-YouTube deleted Project Veritas’ video exposing the tech giant’s electioneering. Google execs were also caught deleting social media accounts to hide their far left bias.

On Tuesday James O’Keefe and Project Veritas released a new email from Google that shows a Google employee and member of Google “transparency-and-ethics” group calling conservative and libertarian commentators, including Dennis Prager and Ben Shapiro, “nazis.”

Shapiro and Prager are Jews.

Project Veritas received this document after the release of its investigation into Google through the “Be Brave” campaign at VeritasTips@protonmail.com.

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

Journalists Failed Our Newspapers

Not all damage was done by the chains and financials. Journalists did much on their own when they turned hard left from liberalism into unabashed, agenda-driven journalism. Maybe it was the soul-sucking ethos of doubt and corporatism, leftist professors, the frustration of failure or something as simple as the influence of groupthink, a sickness that infects nearly all mainstream journalists today.

Whatever it was, things worsened about 5-10 years ago. Like their political party, they woke. The herd veered into identity politics and leftist agitprop. Racism and gender discrimination became industry mantras. And like all wokies, their sworn and openly-disdained enemies became the unwoke. Unfortunately, that’s over half the people who traditionally buy newspapers — one more blow to an industry bleeding subscribers

Unspoken in all this is the quality of those entering these choppy waters. Who chooses a college major in a low-paying, seemingly dead-end industry? By one estimate, 2,400 journalists have lost their jobs so far this year alone.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Jussie Smollett Update: Actor Googled Himself More Than 50 Times in Days After Alleged Attack

CHICAGO (CBS) — In the days after Jussie Smollett said he was the victim of a racially motivated attack, there was a spike in interest in his story—including from the actor himself.

Smollett, shortly after the Jan. 29 incident, Googled himself more than 50 times, a review of his computer search records by Chicago Police found.

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

O’Keefe Says More Big Tech Insiders Are About to Blow the Whistle

Project Veritas head James O’Keefe says more insiders are about to blow the whistle on Big Tech following yesterday’s revelation that Google is actively manipulating its algorithms to prevent Trump winning re-election.

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

Project Veritas Website Down After Bombshell Google Exposé

Undercover report reveals Google’s YouTube uses AI to demote content based on words and phrases deemed ‘right-wing’

The Project Veritas website appears to be down after a viral exposé regarding a Big Tech insider who revealed corporate censorship at Google.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Reddit Suspends Users Who Post Project Veritas Videos

Tech platforms are wiping any evidence of the Project Veritas video exposing Pinterest censorship.

Twitter and YouTube have both taken down mentions of the Project Veritas Pinterest exposé in the past week since its release. Now, Reddit is suspending users who breathe a word of the video. The video is also banned from being shared on Reddit, according to several users who cannot upload the video to the platform anymore.

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

Research Psychologist Epstein: Google, Tech Giants Have Ability to Manipulate and Flip 15 Million Votes in 2020 (Video)

Research psychologist Robert Epstein joined Tucker Carlson on Tuesday night.

In a previous appearance on Tucker Carlson Tonight Epstein revealed that Google can take a 50-50 split among undecided voters and change it into a 90-10 split with no one knowing they had been manipulated and without leaving a paper trail… It has to do with their search suggestions.

On Monday James O’Keefe and Project Veritas released alarming new undercover video, leaked documents, and testimony from a Google insider revealing the tech giant’s plans to meddle in US politics and “prevent a Trump situation in 2020.”

The tech giants already pulled this off in 2018.

In January Dr. Epstein revealed that just one Google shift in search results on Election Day in 2018 shifted from 800,000 to 4.6 million votes to Democratic candidates.

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

SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy Has Successfully Launched the First ‘Solar Sailing’ Spacecraft Into Orbit. It Will be Powered Purely by Light.

One of the biggest impediments to traveling across the galaxy, or to a nearby star, is that our spacecraft can’t carry enough fuel to cross light-years of ever-expanding space.

But a new technology that headed into orbit aboard SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket on Tuesday — along with 23 other satellites, including an atomic clock for NASA and a craft holding the ashes of 152 people — could help eliminate that obstacle to interstellar travel.

LightSail 2 is set to be the first spacecraft in Earth orbit propelled solely by sunlight. Spearheaded by The Planetary Society, the partially Kickstarter-funded “solar sailing” project took to the skies at 2:30 a.m. ET on Tuesday.

           — Hat tip: KP [Return to headlines]
 

Surviving the 2020 Presidential Election Campaign 101

The main strategy of the ‘progressives’ during the 2020 presidential election campaign is to dispirit Hillary’s deplorables. The mantra of the day, backed by polls, seems to be ‘President Donald Trump doesn’t have a chance; no point voting for him’.

To avoid becoming dispirited by what will be be wall-to-wall, one-sided media coverage of the 2020 presidential election campaign, stick to this simple rule of thumb: God 1st, family and country 2nd and third, and politics only when absolutely necessary.

Joe Biden, Liz Warren, Kamala Harris and all 20-plus Democrat primary contenders in what Canada Free Press calls the “caravan of crazies” are the same people they were before they decided to take a run for the presidency.

What they are now is what they have always been, crass and self-serving career politicians who put themselves first and voters last. All of them have lifetime membership in what should be called the political ‘Me-First Society’.

They promise free stuff for all, an ongoing visceral hatred of President Donald Trump, and in the case of the whopper-telling Joe Biden, even a cure for cancer.

For all of those who have already decided that President Trump deserves their vote, hang tough. Mainstream and social media will carry the Democrat message 24-7 for he next 500 or so days.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Tech Tyranny: Apple Threatens to Kick Social Media Company ‘Parler’ Off App Store if They Don’t Ban “Offensive” (Conservative) Content

Build your own platform they said.

Apple threatened to kick social media company ‘Parler’ off of its app store if they don’t remove “offensive” content, which we all know means conservative content.

John Matze, the founder of Parler, a pro-First Amendment platform seen as an alternative to Twitter, revealed that Apple contacted him over a week ago via telephone and told him that his site must ban “offensive” content or they will remove Parler from the Apple app store.

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

Alphabet Tries to Salvage Its Smart City Plans in Toronto

Google’s parent company continues its attempts to sell Toronto on its controversial vision for a utopian city neighborhood. Sidewalk Labs, the urban innovation company of Alphabet, released a 1,524-page report Monday detailing plans to develop part of the Canadian city as a model neighborhood for the digital age.

Sidewalk Labs believes its innovations can make city living more desirable and affordable with less pollution, shorter commutes, better weather and environmentally-friendly buildings. It aims to start with 10 buildings and 2.7 million square feet of residential and commercial space and later expand to more of Toronto’s waterfront.

The project has faced a backlash since its October 2017 announcement. Ontario’s auditor general released a critical report in December describing a rushed process to select Sidewalk Labs to develop the prime waterfront real estate near the heart of Toronto. Several officials, including the head of Waterfront Toronto, the organization leading the process, have resigned.

Critics ranging from politicians to advocacy groups and private citizens have raised privacy questions about the data Sidewalk Labs will collect, and say the company hasn’t provided enough answers.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Danforth Shooting Investigation Finds “No Motive”

On last night’s episode of The Ezra Levant Show, guest-host David Menzies reported on the Toronto Police investigation into last summer’s Danforth Shooting being released to the public.

Last July, Faisal Hussain walked along Toronto’s Danforth Avenue on a Sunday evening. He opened fire selectively, killing two people and injuring 13 more before turning the gun on himself. Not everyone encountered by Hussain that evening was shot, which is why his motivation is a crucial piece of the puzzle.

It took more than 24 hours for the Toronto Police to release the name of the gunman, and then there was the strange press release from Hussain’s parents explaining that their son had been struggling with mental illness.

No radicalization to see here, folks, this is simply mental illness.

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

Pope Removes Bishop Who Let Nun Say Wedding

In Canada

(ANSA) — Vatican City, June 25 — Pope Francis on Tuesday accepted the resignation of a Canadian bishop who allowed a nun to celebrate a wedding two years ago.

Msgr Dorylas Moreau let Sister Pierrette Thiffault lead the wedding service in the diocese of Rouyn-Noranda in 2017.

The bishop said his move was a sign of possible doctrinal changes towards the ordination of women.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Bulgaria: North Macedonia Not Ready Yet to Enter in EU

Premier Borissov, ‘Skopje is not mature for negotiations’

(ANSA) — SOFIA — “North Macedonia is not mature yet to receive a date to start negotiations to enter as membership in European Union”, said Bulgarian premier Boyko Borissov.

He thinks that “Macedonians still have many things to do. I don’t want to be misunderstood but is unacceptable to discuss about Gotse Delcev bulgarian nationality. Borissov asks to Skopje to stop antibulgarian rhetoric, as the discussion about Delcev.

The two countries signed a Friendship Treaty in August 2017 but evidently many bilateral problems remain.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Calabria’s Evolution: The Ties Between ‘Ndrangheta and Russia

Calabria’s gangs are investing in homes, hotels and tourist villages. The companies that move the money are registered in tax haven countries

Domenico Quirico The sky darkens over the plains of Rosarno, revealing the dense mountains that ground the sky and the earth. There is no longer the fierce, blue sea of Calabria next us. In all its glory, nature’s noble, desolate features take over in the heart of Calabria, the Calabria that belongs to the peasants. It’s the land of Corrado Alvaro as much as it is the land of ‘Ndrangheta.

We’re on a sinuous mountain road that swirls into one another like the high tide of an open sea. Idle fumes rise in the distant hills—the first summer fires—and the silence envelops the deserted countryside. There are only migrants here; passing by in tractors, or bent over vegetable gardens, in groups, dressed in multicolored rags. They seem to blend in with the earth and the landscape. Their work is viscerally reminiscent us of woebegone times…

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

Dutch Lawmaker Wilders Appeals ‘Fewer Moroccans’ Conviction

AMSTERDAM (REUTERS) — Dutch anti-Islam politician Geert Wilders on Tuesday called for either an acquittal or a procedural delay in his appeal against a 2016 conviction for inciting discrimination against Moroccans.

“This trial has every appearance of being politically motivated. Stop the witch hunt!” he told judges at the Hague Appeals Court.

Wilders was convicted over a 2014 incident at a campaign rally when he asked supporters whether they wanted more or fewer Moroccans in the Netherlands. When they chanted “Fewer! Fewer! Fewer!” he replied: “We’re going to take care of that.”

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

France: Paris District Residents Feel ‘Abandoned’ As Crime Surges

Despite promises to increase police presence, residents of the heavily migrant-populated 18th arrondissement of Paris say they feel abandoned as crime rises in the area.

Areas within the district such as La Goutte d’Or see regular acts of violence and drug dealing while others like the Porte de La Chapelle are notorious for large migrant squatter camps and violence.

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

From the Atlantic to the Mediterranean: Trump’s Plan for the European Union

by Lorenzo Vita

It’s not true that the United States isn’t interested in Europe any more. It might look that way if you think about Donald Trump as being more isolationist than previous administrations. But the United States can’t be without our continent, and the fact that US bases have remained in Europe since World War II demonstrates this. Similarly, Washington’s influence on the policies of all European countries.

When the Cold War was over, ending with the fall of the Soviet Union and the victory of the Western Bloc, many people at the Pentagon were asking themselves what Europe’s future would be from an American perspective. After NATO’s expansion to the east, what would Europe’s future be from Washington’s perspective? Would it still make sense to keep military bases and soldiers in Europe if there was no enemy to hold back or defeat? The answer to these questions was more or less positive from all the various administrations that took over the helm at The White House. Europe may not have been top of the United State’s list any longer, but even if attention was turning to the Pacific or the Middle East, Europe still remained an essential part of the US’s global strategy. Controlling it inevitably means having control over all global policy. And this is why all superpowers compete to have the upper hand.

Trump is no exception to this theory. There are those who believed that his motto “Make America Great Again” stood for an America withdrawing into itself, an isolated giant which only controlled its “own backyard” no longer thinking about “old” Europe. But the way things look the reality is totally different. This is being demonstrated by the position adopted by his administration with regard to Germany and a Franco-German driven EU, the challenge of Russia, the blockades involving China which is penetrating the Mediterranean through the New Silk Road, but also through a series of bilateral relations with countries which currently represent the most important thorns in the side of the European Union: Italy and the United Kingdom…

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

Greece: Thessaloniki Denies Public Space to Golden Dawn

Far-right party not allowed to use kiosks for election campaign

(ANSAmed) — ROME, JUNE 25 — The municipal administration of Thessaloniki has decided not to let far-right party Golden Dawn use public spaces to campaign ahead of national elections scheduled on July 7, the news agency Ana-Mpa reported on Tuesday.

The administration has decided that 70% of spaces where electoral gazebos can be set up — overall 140 locations across the city, which is the second-largest in Greece — will go to all parties that entered parliament in 2015, with the exception of Xrysi Avgi, Golden Dawn, and the Independent Greeks and Potami, which are not running in the upcoming election.

The remaining 30% of spaces will go to groups that are not currently in Parliament and to other organizations.

The openly Nazi-inspired organization has halved its support (from 9.4 to 4.88%) in the last European elections compared to previous ones held in 2014. The party has been rocked by allegations of violence, internal strife and its leaders have been arrested and are currently on trial for the murder of left-wing rapper Pavlos Fyssas (2013, with the subsequent cut in public funding). The party was also affected by a crackdown on extremism by the current government. Meanwhile part of the votes have gone to ultra-nationalist and pro-Russian party Elliniki Lysi (Greek solution), that garnered 4.18 of the vote in European elections, sending one MP to the European Parliament.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Pedophilia: Savona Diocesis Faces 5-Million-Euro Lawsuit

Suit regards five cases of abuse by clergyman

(ANSA) — Savona, June 24 — The Rete l’Abuso association for the survivors of sexual abuse by members of the clergy said Monday that it has filed a lawsuit for damages of almost five million euros from the Savona diocesis. The civil suit regards to alleged abuse suffered by five people when they were minors at the hands of a priest, Nello Giraudo.

The priest was handed a criminal conviction seven years ago. Three of the five minors had been taken away from their families and put into the care of Giraudo. The suit refers to an explanation of separate decision to rule that a case against one of Giraudo’s had timed out.

That explanation said that the primary concern of Giraudo’s superiors was to protect the image of the Church, rather than safeguard the minors’ mental and physical health.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Salvini Scoffs at ‘Light TAV’ Idea

TAV tender launched, EU funding up to 55% — Piedmont governor

(ANSA) — Rome, June 25 — Deputy Premier and League leader Matteo Salvini on Tuesday scoffed at the idea of a “light” version of the controversial TAV high-speed rail line between Turin and Lyon, which would not go through mountains north of Turin but over them.

“The ‘light’ TAV? Either a train passes under the mountain or not”.

“Tertium non datur. “I like trains that run.

“There is an ongoing project, I hope yesterday’s lesson the Olympics has served for something.” The League’s government partner, the 5-Star Movement (M5S), has blocked the TAV citing costs but Salvini is determined to push it through.

The tender for the Turin-Lyon high-speed rail (TAV) tunnel in Italy was launched on Tuesday with European Union funding for the international stretch rising to 55%, Piedmont Governor Alberto Cirio announced Tuesday.

Speaking after a Paris meeting of the board of directors of TAV company TELT, he said it was “a historic day”.

He said funding for the national stretch was 50%.

The TELT board met with the governor and the Mediterranean Corridor coordinator, Iveta Radicova.

The TAV project has been stalled by disagreements between Italian government partners the 5-Star Movement (M5S), who are against completing it, and the League, who are in favour.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: No Whirlpool Closure, No Jobs Lost — Di Maio

Strategic role of Italy confirmed says Morel

(ANSA) — Rome, June 25 — There will be no closure of a Naples plant belonging to home appliance giant Whirlpool and all the workers will be guaranteed “full employment,”“ Industry Minister Luigi Di Maio said after talks with the multinational, unions, and regional officials Tuesday.

Gilles Morel, President of Whirlpool EMEA and Executive Vice President of Whirlpool Corporation, issued a statement saying “Italy’s strategic role has been confirmed”.

“The company is strongly committed to finding a solution…able to ensure industrial continuity and preserve employment levels,” he said.

This, he said,, would guarantee a “sustainable future for our staff”.

“In line with this pledge, I today asked Minister Luigi Di Maio to open a table of negotiation with all the interested parties to start discussing a solution that benefits the 412 workers in Naples”.

Whirlpool for Italy CEO Luigi La Morgia said “we reiterated the strategic nature of Italy and that we will invest 250 million euros.

“We have confirmed as requested by Minister Di Maio in the last meeting that we are not closing the Naples site and that we will guarantee employment.”

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Merkel Ready to Do Her Best to Open EU Talks for Macedonia

Skopje deserves German Chancellor’s political will

(ANSA) — BRUXELLES, JUNE 21 — German Chancellor Angela Merkel said today at the end of the European Council in Brussels that she will do “anything” she “can possibly do” to “bring a positive decision by October” on the opening of EU talks for North Macedonia.

“Macedonia has done an exemplary job and I will have all my political will behind this”, she added.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Swedish City Issues Safety Tips to Employees Going Outdoors

City workers in Malmö, Sweden, have been issued a list of safety tips and protocols to follow when they are moving about in public spaces, according to local media.

An email sent to government employees was obtained by Expressen and serves as a stark indicator of the deteriorating conditions in one of Sweden’s most troubled cities, despite local officials consistently claiming that all is well in culturally-enriched Malmö.

Some directives in an advisory titled, “Personal safety — tips and advice on how to avoid getting into unwanted situations,” include the following:

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

TV Producer: Cancel Classic Comedy ‘Dad’s Army’ Because it Makes Britons Pro-Brexit

A television producer has said that the BBC should cancel repeats of classic British comedy Dad’s Army because it makes the broadcaster appear pro-Brexit and inspires pro-Leave sentiments in Britons.

Writing in the Radio Times, Daisy Goodwin, writer of the ITV drama Victoria, said that the late 1960s show was affecting Britons’ attitudes about Brexit, writing: “Forget Game of Thrones, Dad’s Army is the show that is embedded in this country’s imagination.”

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

UK: Johnson: It Would be ‘Bizarre’ For EU to Enact ‘Napoleonic’ Trade Barriers After No Deal Brexit

Tory heavyweight Boris Johnson, one of the two men vying to capture the leadership of their party and hence become the next prime minister of the United Kingdom, has warned if the European Union opposed his plan to enact Brexit, they would be affecting a return to Napoleon Bonaparte’s failed 19th-century plan to bankrupt Britain.

Boris Johnson’s comments, strongly implying Europe refusing to be cooperative over Britain’s withdrawal from the European Union would be a deliberate attempt to undermine and weaken the country, came as he was grilled on his plans for enacting Brexit, something he has promised to do by October 31st at the latest.

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

UK: Lloyds Bank Offers Its Staff “Acid Attack Guidance”

Lloyds Banking Group in the UK is offering its staff “acid attack guidance” as corrosive substance attacks continue to rise across the country.

An image posted to social media shows a sheet of instructions telling employees what to do in the event of an attack.

“Immediately wash affected body part of patient with plenty of fresh water,” states the guidance sheet, as well as, “Lean forward so the water does not move the acid to other parts of your face or body.”

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

UK: Tory Remainers Threaten to Bring Down Govt Over a Johnson No Deal Brexit

A former Tory minister has said that nearly a dozen Conservative MPs would be willing to collapse their own government in order to stop potential future prime minister Boris Johnson from taking the UK out of the EU without a deal.

The former minister, speaking anonymously to The Guardian, said: “I do think at least 10 would vote to bring down the government if the government was taking us into no deal.”

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

Egypt Reaches Out to Sahel Armies as ISIS Expands Presence

by Amr Emam

(Cairo) A training of Egyptian and Togolese troops has just wrapped up at a military base in western Egypt, with Cairo working hard to help Sahel and Sahara militaries be up to the security challenges facing them.

The training, part of the second phase of joint Sahel and Sahara military drills in Egypt, was completed at the Mohamed Naguib Military Base, near Egypt’s border with Libya on June 20 after seven days of activities.

Different Egyptian and Togolese army units attended the training, which included joint sessions aiming at unifying military concepts and the exchange of counterterrorism information and techniques…

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

Gaza: After Incendiary Balloons, Israel Halts Entry of Fuel

Israel reacts to attacks from Strip

(ANSAmed) — TEL AVIV/GAZA, JUNE 25 — After several incendiary balloons were launched from Gaza towards the Negev, Israel announced the suspension, until a new order, of the transfer to the Strip of fuel necessary for the local electrical power station, military radio reported today. According to the radio, Palestinian incendiary balloons launched yesterday set on fire in an hour 13 Israeli camps and endangered a nursery school that was at the time empty.

Local sources in Gaza said that the provision of electrical power in the Gaza Strip is extremely limited: eight hours followed by eight hours of black-out. If the Gaza power station ceased its activity, the hours of provision would soon be halved, the sources said, adding that rising temperatures are a sources of concern in this context.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Israel Restricts Power to Gaza After Balloons Spark Fires

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel says it has cut off fuel shipments to the Gaza Strip in response to the launch of incendiary balloons, resulting in new power cuts in the impoverished territory.

COGAT, the Israeli defense body responsible for Palestinian civilian affairs, said Tuesday it would halt fuel supplies until further notice due to recent outbreak of fires in southern Israel.

Gaza’s electricity company says the shortage resulted in a partial shutdown of Gaza’s only power plant, causing an “unpredictable” shortage in “the already disturbed” situation. At full capacity, the plant powers Gaza for 16 hours a day.

Electricity is a contentious issue between Israel and Hamas, Gaza’s militant rulers.

Hamas accuses Israel of not fulfilling pledges to increase power supplies. Israel accuses Hamas of using mass border protests as cover for violence.

           — Hat tip: Dean [Return to headlines]
 

Iran Announces Arrest of 16 Oil Ministry Officials for Spying for Cia

Iranian state media announced on Sunday the arrest of 16 officials in the country’s Ministry of Petroleum, allegedly for sabotaging Iranian energy policy. It is not known whether these arrests are in any way connected with Tehran’s announcement last week that it had dismantled “one of the most complicated” espionage operations by the United States Central Intelligence Agency in several countries. According to the state-owned Fars News Agency, the 16 officials were arrested over the weekend in synchronized pre-dawn raids. All of them had managerial positions in Iran’s oil industry —including in the areas of exploration, production and distribution of Iran’s oil and petrochemical products inside the country as well as abroad.

The report about the latest arrests cited Hossein Ali Haji Deligani, a senior legislator representing the most conservative political wing in the Iranian parliament. Deligani said that the ministry employees “operated under a woman”, whom he did not name. Working in concert, the employees had been “able to influence […] the oil ministry to put off important decisions” and to “make wrong decisions”. These decisions were “in line with the enemies’ goals and against Iran’s national interest”, and ultimately delivered “a blow to the country in the United States economic war against Iran”, said Deligani. He did not elaborate on the topic and did not discuss whether the arrests were linked to the dismantling of an alleged CIA cyber espionage operation, which Iran announced last week.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Prince Bandar’s World the Man Behind the Scenes in Saudi Arabia

He has negotiated weapons deals and instigated armed conflicts: Former Saudi intelligence chief Prince Bandar bin Sultan is one of the most influential men behind the scenes in global politics. His job is to increase the kingdom’s influence in the world.

By Susanne Koelbl

On my January 2018 visit to Prince Bandar bin Sultan in his palace in Riyadh, he is lounging in an overstuffed, sand-colored armchair, smoking a cigar as thick as a tree branch. Bandar has a broad face with sparkling brown eyes, his dark hands contrast with the white thawb he is wearing along with sandals. His keeps his full beard trimmed short, but even though it has gone gray, it is still something of a trademark.

Bandar’s fixes his gaze on two screens, each over one square meter (10 square feet) in size. One of them shows CNN while the other displays a dozen international channels simultaneously, broadcasting from Moscow, Washington, Beirut and Tripoli. This is Bandar’s world — and frequently, he himself is traveling to one of the places shown on the monitors…

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

Much More Than a Trade War With China

As you will see in the paragraphs below, China’s ancient culture developed and perfected techniques for both controlling their own unruly populace and also handling foreigners whom they deemed to be “barbarians.” These “barbarian-handling” techniques are not only about conflict on the battlefield. In fact, they tend to focus on what Thomas J. Wright has dubbed, “all measures short of war.” One cannot assess the ongoing trade war solely in the context of economics. Instead, the trade war must be understood more accurately as a result of China’s aforementioned economic war against the United States—and that economic war is a classic Chinese tool for defeating technically superior foes, such as the United States, over the long-term.

Chinese actions today mirror those dating back 4,000 years, when the Shang Dynasty—China’s first major dynasty—rose to prominence thanks to totalitarianism and imperialism. By assessing these basic patterns over the course of thousands of years, then, one can see how China has identified the United States as a major threat to be toppled. And, it is also why the United States cannot compromise with China in the ongoing trade war—no matter what Beijing offers. For, if the Trump Administration makes a deal, the Chinese will continue their aggressive assault on the American economy—moving from the manufacturing sector to the higher-paying innovation sectors (they already are).

Unlike the United States, China desires to not merely exist as a preeminent power in an anarchic international system. Instead, they view the United States as the hegemonic global power. Such a global power threatens Chinese state security and, as such, China’s leadership cadre believes that they will only be safe if the American hegemon is dismantled and eventually replaced by themselves.

           — Hat tip: KP [Return to headlines]
 

A Wall Worse Than Trump’s

European Policies Create New Dangers on Mediterranean

In just a few years, the dreams of European immigration hardliners have become reality on the Mediterranean. Volunteer sea rescue operations have been shut down, and the route across the sea is more dangerous than ever.

By Steffen Lüdke, Maximilian Popp, Jan Puhl and Raniah Salloum

It was just before midnight when Fabian Heinz lost his faith in Europe. The Alan Kurdi, a ship belonging to Sea Eye, a German sea-rescue organization, was bobbing up and down between Lampedusa, in Italy, and Malta. Heinz, a 29-year-old photographer from Würzburg, remembers holding watch on deck that evening.

He looked up from his post to the dozens of refugees that he and other rescuers had saved from the sea near the Libyan coast. They were sleeping as well as they could, lying crisscrossed on the overfilled deck, wet from the spray of the waves. The Alan Kurdi had been sailing on the Mediterranean for two days at this point, but no country wanted to let the ship dock. Malta had forbidden the crew from making land. Italy’s Interior Minister Matteo Salvini had suggested the boat go to Hamburg. Supplies on board were running low, and there could soon be medical emergencies…

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Ann Coulter: Surprise! That ‘Cheap’ Immigrant Labor Costs US a Lot

A 2017 study by the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) found that illegal aliens cost the American taxpayer — on net — $116 billion a year.

That’s pretty high, but the actual number is more likely triple that.

Straight out of the chute, FAIR assumes that there are only 12.5 million illegal immigrants in the country, approximately the same number we’ve been told for the last 15 years as we impotently watched hundreds of thousands more stream across our border, year after year after year.

The 12 million figure is based on the self-reports of illegal aliens to U.S. census questionnaires. (Hello! I’m from the federal government. Did you break the law to enter our country? Now tell the truth! We have no way of knowing the answer, and if you say yes, you could be subjecting yourself to immediate deportation.)

More serious studies put the number considerably higher. At the low end, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Yale study last year put the number of illegals at 22 million. Yet Bear Stearns investment bank had it at 20 million back in 2005, and Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporters Donald L. Barlett and James B. Steele reported in 2004 that 3 million illegals were crossing each year — so simple math would put it at well over 60 million today.

So, right there, the FAIR study underestimates the tab for illegal immigration by at least a factor of three, meaning the real cost is about $350 billion a year. That’s triple what Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s (D-Mass.) free college tuition plan will cost in a decade.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Breaking: Acting Border Chief John Sanders Resigns

John Sanders, the acting Commissioner of Customs and Border Protection is resigning effective July 5 after backlash.

The New York Times reported that Mr. Sanders is stepping down amid media backlash over the treatment of detained illegals at the southern border.

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

Former German Intelligence Boss Demands Investigation Into Merkel’s Migrant Crisis Policy

Former German domestic intelligence head Hans-Georg Maassen has called for a parliamentary inquiry into Chancellor Angela Merkel’s 2015 migration policy.

The former president of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) said that due to the significant consequences of mass migration in Germany today and going forward, those who made the policies in 2015 must be held to account for any mistakes made, Nordkurier reports.

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

Italy: Rights Court Rejects Sea Watch Appeal, Interior Ministry

Salvini says court ‘confirms Italy’s choice’

(ANSA) — Rome, June 25 — The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has rejected a request presented by migrant search-and-rescue vessel Sea Watch 3 for the ECHR to implement interim measures asking Italy to allow the vessel to disembark migrant, the interior ministry said on Tuesday.

But the court ordered Italy to provide necessary assistance to the migrants on board the Dutch-flagged, German NGO run migrant rescue vessel. It said it expected Italy to assist “persons on board in situations of vulnerability because of their age or state of health”.

Deputy Premier and Interior Minister Matteo Salvini on Tuesday said the Strasbourg-based court “has confirmed Italy’s choice of order, common sense, legality and justice: ports closed to human traffickers and their accomplices”.

“Fewer departures, fewer arrivals, fewer deaths, less waste — no going back”, Salvini said.

The court on Monday said it had received a request from the migrant search-and-rescue vessel which has been stuck in international waters south of Lampedusa since June 12, when it performed a rescue operation off the coast of Libya.

It currently has 43 migrants aboard.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Mexico Sends 15,000 Troops to Border to Detain Migrants

Mexican authorities deploys National Guardsmen to northern border under tariff threat.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Pelosi: Being in the Country Illegally “Not a Reason for Deportation”

Nancy Pelosi infamously denounced walls as “immoral” during the 2018 midterms, and refused to acknowledge the legitimacy of the border crisis — dismissing it as a ‘made up’ emergency after Trump tried to bypass Congress and re-appropriate money to build his border wall from the Treasury and DoD budgets.

Now, the Speaker of the House is taking her hysterical pro-immigration/anti-Trump rhetoric to another level of hysterical inanity by insisting that just because somebody is in the country illegally doesn’t mean they should be deported.

During an event in New York, Pelosi told her audience about a recent phone call with President Trump, where she discussed Democrats’ desire to delay the mass roundups of illegal immigrants (a request to which Trump acquiesced). During the call, Pelosi said she told the president that “a violation of status is not a reason for deportation,” adding that there are over 10 million people who could face deportation because they are here illegally.

Instead of rounding these immigrants up, Pelosi said Washington should focus on creating a path to citizenship.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Sweden: Migrant’s Sex Assaults ‘Not Serious Enough’ For Deportation

A failed asylum seeker from western Africa has been charged with multiple counts of sexual assault but the prosecutor has said the alleged crimes are not serious enough to call for his deportation.

The alleged assaults took place at a disco in a church in Västra Götaland and saw the asylum seeker, who is in his 20s, sexually harass several teenage girls by touching their breasts and buttocks, Nyheter Idag reports.

“We all noticed a guy in the room, he was very nice to everyone and we tried to keep him away. Then he began to touch us,” one of the girls allegedly assaulted by the migrant said.

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

Tucker: Same People Pushing for War Want to Open Our Borders to Migrants From Middle East

“It’s almost like they’re trying to destroy our country.”

Carlson then asked the most prescient question of our time.

“Isn’t it the same people who are pushing us to war in the Middle East, who are also telling us we have to accept the populations of the country in the Middle East coming to our country — how’s that work?” asked Carlson.

His guest agreed that this was “a very strange concept” before Tucker ended by saying, “It’s almost like they’re trying to destroy our country.”

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

‘A New and Ugly Australia’: Anglican Archbishop Slams Treatment of Israel Folau and Says Rugby Star’s Homophobic Post Was Full of ‘Deep Conscience and Concern’

Archbishop of Sydney Glenn Davies has said Israel Folau’s right to express his faith and act according to his conscience is of ‘fundamental importance in any democracy’.

           — Hat tip: SS [Return to headlines]
 

Acceptance of LGBT Sinking Among the Youth, And it’s Obvious Why

Despite decades of effort by the LGBT community to push acceptance, sometimes to the point of force, a recent poll found that approval among the younger generation is on the decline.

According to USA Today, a new Harris poll taken on behalf of GLAAD released on Monday showed that a significant decline has occurred in terms of how those aged 18 to 34 feel about the LGBT community:

The number of Americans 18 to 34 who are comfortable interacting with LGBTQ people slipped from 53% in 2017 to 45% in 2018 — the only age group to show a decline, according to the annual Accelerating Acceptance report. And that is down from 63% in 2016.

Driving the dilution of acceptance are young women whose overall comfort levels plunged from 64% in 2017 to 52% in 2018, says the survey conducted by The Harris Poll on behalf of LGBTQ advocacy group GLAAD.

“We count on the narrative that young people are more progressive and tolerant,” John Gerzema, CEO of The Harris Poll, told USA TODAY. “These numbers are very alarming and signal a looming social crisis in discrimination.”

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

Israel Folau’s New Fundraiser Beats His Deleted GoFundMe in Hours: Defiant Supporters Pour in $1,000 Per Minute for the Rugby Star’s Legal Battle

The original fundraiser was active on GoFundMe for six days and raised approximately $765,000 before the platform suspended the appeal for breaching its terms of service.

           — Hat tip: SS [Return to headlines]
 

New Vermont Law Would Require Taxpayers to Fund Sex Change Operations for Children

Could even allow for surgery without parental permission

A new law in Vermont would require taxpayers to fund sex change operations for minors and could even allow such procedures to occur without parental permission.

Current Vermont law states that a person must be at least 21-years-old to receive taxpayer funds to assist in sex change surgery.

However, Vermont health insurance regulators are proposing a change that would allow minors on Medicaid to receive a gender reassignment free of charge.

The proposal, which was made by the state’s Department of Health Access, would require persons under the age of 18 to get parental approval before any such procedure.

However, the proposal states that if the “minor is emancipated by court order,” permission is not required.

“The proposed law would allow for minors to have access to sixteen different types of genital surgery, including breast augmentation and mastectomies,” reports CBN News.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Pedophile Author Says 11-Year-Old Drag Queen Desmond is “Hot”

“We are getting far more than just a celebration of gender diversity.”

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Pedophile & Convicted Child Porn Peddler Says ‘Desmond is Amazing’ Is “Hot”

An admitted pedophile and convicted child porn peddler has written an article in which he describes ‘Desmond is Amazing’ — the 12-year-old drag queen kid — as “hot”.

Tom O’Carroll is the former chairman of the now disbanded Paedophile Information Exchange (PIE), a group that once campaigned for the age of consent to be lowered to 4 years old.

He was also a prominent member of the International Paedophile and Child Emancipation.

In December 2006, O’Carroll was jailed for 2 and a half years for conspiring to distribute a cache of child pornography obtained from his co-defendant which contained 50,000 indecent images.

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

‘Political Correctness Gone Too Far’: Transgender Golf Star Slams New Guidelines for Children’s Sports That Tell Clubs to Provide ‘Gender-Neutral Areas’ For Kids

A transgender golf star has hit out at new guidelines asking junior sport’s clubs in Australia to provide uniforms for gender-diverse players as going a ‘little bit too far’.

           — Hat tip: SS [Return to headlines]
 

Teen Vogue Pushing Marxism (Again)

Hot off promoting the virtues of sex work as a career choice, Teen Vogue — surely just trying to deflect attention away from that bizarre story and the resulting bad press it generated — has re-upped another recent classic that is sure to make everyone forget they were telling little Susie to try hooking for a living.

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

Teen Vogue is Now Promoting Prostitution to Its Young Female Readers

I wouldn’t say society is a train wreck, but Teen Vogue is doing its level best to bring us there. Between promoting things like anal sex and abortion, it’s consistently proven itself to be the answer to the question “how close can you get to being Hustler magazine without showing any sex?”

In order to really solidify their place as one of the creepiest magazines in America, Teen Vogue is now promoting prostitution and “sex work” with the article “Why Sex Work Is Real Work” and tweeting it out with the line “Yes, sex work is real work!”

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

The Guardian on Free Speech: ‘Some Debates Should be Shut Down’

The UK-based Guardian newspaper explains this week that silencing unpopular opinions is not a violation of free speech because “some debates should be shut down.”

While insisting that censorship of ideas is greatly exaggerated by free speech advocates, writer Martha Gill goes on to make the very argument that defenders of free speech criticize: that the wardens of groupthink have the right to silence opinions that they disagree with.

Coming to the defense of “those who might want to shut down a debate,” Ms. Gill insists that such a measure is not a “mark of intolerance” because “some debates should be shut down.”

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

Transgender Surgery Dreams, A Ferrari to Cure Anxiety and Legal Fees for a Divisive Preacher: The Fundraisers GoFundMe Didn’t Take Down — as Furore Over Israel Folau Saga Builds

Israel Folau’s fundraising campaign to support his legal battle against Rugby Australia was pulled on Monday after the platform concluded it violated GoFundMe terms of service.

           — Hat tip: SS [Return to headlines]
 

White Privilege Survey Posted at NYC School With Virtually No White Students

A survey measuring white privilege was reportedly distributed at the Life Sciences Secondary School, a school with almost no white students, on the Upper East Side in New York.

The “White Privilege Exercise” was found last week by a city worker on a bulletin board near the high school principal’s office, according to Republican city Councilman Joseph Borelli of Staten Island, the New York Post reported Sunday.

It is unknown who posted the survey or why it was posted.

“What could even be the purpose of this in a school that has so few white students? Is it to inflame tensions and single out?” Borelli said.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

4 thoughts on “Gates of Vienna News Feed 6/25/2019

  1. Earlier, I wrote in comments about an unpleasant woman Valentina Chupik – a “human rights activist”, a recipient of UN grants and a person close to the curators of replace migration.

    Today she published a malevolent post about Donald Trump:
    And here is the answer to our Fridrikhovich Donald on his tweets about the “deportation of millions of migrants.” There will be no deportations. There will be repair of migrant detention centers, their proper equipment, food, medical and psychological assistance, as well as strict control over what the immigration police are doing – by the Ministry of Health and human rights organizations
    https://www.facebook.com/groups/836357869854835/permalink/1341326682691282/

    The post was written as a comment on this news.
    Congressmen allocate $ 4.5 billion to help migrants
    http://www.trud.ru/article/26-06-2019/1377472_kongressmeny_vydelili_4_5_milliarda_na_pomosch_migrantam.html

  2. I hope they will investigate this old rug , and she should pay or be punished for unreversed damage to Her own country, citizens and whole continent in the same time, it’s despicable what this crazy government doing now to AFD party , they are blaming AFD for murder if this CDU politician, no words how this freedom of speech and democracy working in Germany this days ..

  3. “Does $500B/Yr Deserve an Explanation?” or “How to Defund the Banker Class?”

    The nation’s entire money system has been placed in the hands of a private, unaudited Federal Reserve (FR). Interest on the national debt is around $500 billion per year. The case can be made that this payment is neither necessary nor legitimate and the sooner this is addressed, the sooner the funding of the political class can be ended, the average person’s mortgage can be cut nearly in half, and taxes can be reduced by hundreds of billions of dollars.

    The supposed purpose of the FR is to regulate the economy. Although China grew at 15% for years, to no detriment, we are told that if a Republican president has an economy above 4%, the FR is needed to increase interest rates and thereby throttle back the economy, to prevent inflation. This in itself would be innocent enough except that this FR mandated interest rate is assigned to FR provided ‘loans’ requiring a half a trillion dollar a year in interest payment from the government to the FR.

    If in fact the FR was needed and a decreasing of financial liquidity was an important function, it seems obvious that decreased liquidity could be just as or more easily accomplished by simply not providing additional funds. Then what money was available for loans would compete on the basis of lending basics, like minimum risk or strategic need, etc. The fact that the method chosen to ‘regulate’ the economy results in gargantuan interest payments to an unaudited ‘private’ entity seems embarrassingly obvious.

    Another point that needs to be highlighted is the concept of deficit spending. Barring a war, every year, our nation’s net wealth increases, like a growing coral reef. If today there is $1000 chasing a 10 homes, each home is worth $100. If 10 homes are added, but no money is added to the money supply, each home would then be worth $50. Money must be added to the total money supply equal to the net aggregation of wealth. Instead of just acknowledging this and declaring deficit spending a normal function of government, the bankers have instead created a private bank called the Federal Reserve, whereby they call increasing the money supply ‘incurring a national debt’ which must then have interest paid to their private bank to the tune of hundreds of billions of dollars. Why?

    The concept of interest on a ‘loan’ arose in the past when loans were the savings of the rich and interest was an incentive to loan and a cost of administration and insurance on the loan. The money the Federal Reserve puts into circulation to account for the growth of society is not the savings of others, but rather just the product of a printing press. The FR has not outlying financial obligation on these funds, so why does the government?

    Incidentally, the concept of paying interest on FR cash infusions is particularly onerous to the citizenry. Interest on mortgages can approach nearly 50% the cost of a house in the first half of a mortgage. Imagine if the larceny of the FR were actually halted. Nearly overnight, the financial burden on citizens would allow bigger houses or shorter mortgages. Imagine if over the life of your home loan, you only paid 110% of the purchase price instead of 300%. Wouldn’t that be great?

    One of two possible realities must be true. Either the hundreds of billions in national debt interest payments are simply an accounting ledger notation, or they exist in paper bonds that are authentic legal tender. If it is not actually a payment, why is it recorded as a payment? If it is a payment, what does the FR do with it, put it in their mattress?

    We have been told that the way it works is that when the federal government ‘borrows’ money from the fed due to deficit spending, the Fed prints bonds equal to the number added to the national checking account. They then collect interest on those ‘bonds’ according to an arbitrary variable interest rate defined by them.What a racket? They have a copyright on our nations currency.

    So it begs the question, “Does the Fed embezzle $500B/yr or not?”. To answer, one must first ask the question “Who among us is above taking $500B/yr if they can get away with it?” I am pretty sure even Jesus, if he were who he claimed, would have difficulty with that temptation. Anyone else, forget it.

    It strikes me as a very strong likelihood that when the FR is paid an interest payment from the government, it is legal tender that can be used in legal financial transactions. If this is true, what is to prevent them from funneling this money to own the world. Not only could they, but they probably have bought controlling interest in all the hallmark, legacy corporations like Boeing and ATT. If so, they probably have provided the funds to crown the current blue chips like Amazon and Facebook. Back when Amazon and Facebook were getting started, there were no less than a dozen companies vying to be the online Wal-Mart or social web king. However, the winners were the one that got the funding.

    For a while now it has struck me as peculiar how all the new titans of industry are universally united around a globalist mantra that advocates for all things bad to the average American. I note that the entire system including academia, Hollywood, the deep state, and the media are virulently opposed to free or even honest press, the first amendment, small government, and low taxes, in a country that is majority conservative. It is almost exactly a blue blood against the peasants dynamic. It seems almost impossible until you throw in the FR.

    The most likely way that this has come about is that a single interest group has had access to the huge levels of resources required to take over everything in society. It is as if one guy rolled the dice ten times for every single roll of the dice of the other monopoly players. The Fed, by being able to siphon off 3% of the Federal governments debt every year, without ever being audited, has been able to buy up everything in society and now run everything by virtue of owning everything, including the controlling interest of the government. This helps explain why it is always the same people on all the different corporate boards. It also explains why nearly every single person in positions of authority are diametrically against the views of any semi-intelligent citizen. In fact, the only people under attack are those with any semblance of a brain left. Just like all totalitarian systems.

    In the end, the truth is there if anyone will look. Why is the FR private? Where do those interest payments go? It sure doesn’t go to pay interest on someone’s savings. What is the legitimacy of paying interest on printed money? Is cash infusion into the economy and control of liquidity something that can be done without making homeowners pay 300% on the price of their house? and most importantly, if $500B/yr can be stolen, only an idiot presumes it wouldn’t be. All readers need to start clamoring for an audit of the Fed. I encourage all to raise their voice and demand an audit of the Federal Reserve or call the white house comment line at 202-456-1111 and demand an audit

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