Newly-minted British Prime Minister Boris “BoJo” Johnson began his stint at 10 Downing Street by purging his cabinet of Remainers and replacing them with Brexiteers. Mr. Johnson promised to deliver Brexit within 99 days.
In other news, during his testimony before a congressional committee, former FBI Director and former Special Counsel Robert Mueller appeared confused and uncertain, and did not always seem aware of what was in his own report on his investigation into “Russiagate”.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to AF, Insubria, JD, Reader from Chicago, SS, Upananda Brahmachari, 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.
S&P, Nasdaq Soar to Record Highs, Unfazed by Mueller Testimony
Wall Street investors were unfazed by former special counsel Robert Mueller’s congressional testimony Wednesday about his Russia investigation, as two of the three major U.S. stock indexes closed at record highs.
The blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average fell, dragged down by weak Caterpillar and Boeing earnings, but the S&P 500 notched its 12th record close this year and the 101st record close since Election Day.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
It said she owed $92,600 in fines for overgrown vegetation and a stagnant swimming pool at a house she no longer owned. She must pay in two weeks, the letter said, and it hinted that she could be sued if she didn’t. Including interest charges and other fees, her debt swelled to $103,559, about twice her yearly income.
Three months later, in late 2018, the city of Dunedin sued to collect, setting off another legal fight over how local governments use their power to impose heavy fines on citizens. What Allen, 38, a mother of two, thought had to be a scam turned into a nightmare she said could bankrupt her family.
“I haven’t woken up from it yet,” she said.
Dunedin, a small seaside city outside Tampa, cracks down on code violations, saddling homeowners with massive fines while its revenue grows. In 51/2 years, the city has collected nearly $3.6 million in fines — sometimes tens of thousands at a time — for violating laws that prohibit grasses taller than 10 inches, recreational vehicles parked on streets at certain hours or sidings and bricks that don’t match.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Bernie Sanders: The Bolshevik Party Boy
Amazing footage has been posted by the veteran left-wing magazine, Forward. The video comes from Bernie Sanders’ honeymoon to the Soviet Union in 1988, along with his bride and other officials from Burlington, Vermont, where he was mayor. The footage shows a literally shirtless Bernie partying like a frat boy and swilling booze with the Bolshies while singing — what else, eh? — comrade Woody Guthrie’s collectivist classic, “This Land Is Your Land.”
This Bernie gem was posted by the Forward, under the eye-catching title, “Footage Of Shirtless Bernie Sanders Drunkenly Singing With the Soviets In ‘88 Surfaces.”
And why is this significant, beyond the obvious? Let me offer some historical context, repeating what I’ve shared in the past at The American Spectator:
Bernie married his current wife, Jane, in 1988, and the two then headed for Mother Russia. They honeymooned in the USSR.
Or at least it seemed to be a honeymoon, to rational people. Bernie’s apologists object to framing the sojourn as some sort of Russian romance for the future Democratic Party star who snatched 13 million votes in the 2016 primary.
What was it, Bernie?
In October 2015, an MSNBC reporter, Thomas Roberts, asked Bernie point-blank: “Did you go on your honeymoon to the Soviet Union?” Sanders shrugged: “The fact is that I went to establish a sister city program with Yaroslavl, then in the Soviet Union, now an important city in Russia which is still in existence today. The purpose of that trip was a sister city. Did it take place after my marriage? It did.”
As Bernie’s wife would attest, they not only visited the grumpy city of Yaroslavl, but the party animals cruised the Volga en route to St. Petersburg and Moscow and other undisclosed “landmark sites.” (Lenin’s tomb perhaps?) “We went to St. Petersburg, we went to Moscow, too,” Jane fondly recalls.
Bernie dismissed as “silly” and “absurd” the notion that the trip revealed him as “some type of communist sympathizer.”
Yes, why would anyone think that? Nothing in Bernie’s past would raise, er, red flags.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Bette Midler received major backlash over a racist tweet she posted attacking black Trump supporters.
It’s apparently okay to be racist if you’re a Hollywood leftist.
Midler referred to black Trump supporters who attended Trump’s rally as paid props which she dubbed “blackground.”
BETTE MIDLER: Look, there are African American men in this shot! How much did he pay them to be “blackground”?
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
CNN Admits Mueller Testimony a Victory for Trump
CNN’s White House correspondent Kaitlan Collins appeared to concede that former special counsel Robert Mueller’s testimony represented a victory for President Trump.
“White House officials and the President’s Republican allies are walking away from this morning’s hearing and viewing it as a success,” said Collins, adding that Mueller’s testimony failed to produce effective soundbites for Democrats to use against Trump.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Don’t be Fooled by Bernie Sanders — He’s a Diehard Communist
As polls tighten and self-described socialist Bernie Sanders looks more like a serious contender than a novelty candidate for president, the liberal media elite have suddenly stopped calling him socialist. He’s now cleaned up as a “progressive” or “pragmatist.”
But he’s not even a socialist. He’s a communist.
Mainstreaming Sanders requires whitewashing his radical pro-communist past. It won’t be easy to do.
If Sanders were vying for a Cabinet post, he’d never pass an FBI background check. There’d be too many subversive red flags popping up in his file. He was a communist collaborator during the height of the Cold War.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Google Engineer: Google News Search Results Are Intentionally Biased Against Trump
In an explosive video released by Project Veritas Wednesday morning, Google software engineer Greg Coppola blew the whistle on Google News, explaining how it is biased against President Donald Trump. This confirms the results of an unscientific test on Google News bias run by PJ Media editor Paula Bolyard last year (tweeted out by Trump himself), and a more scientific study also suggesting bias. The Google News slant is not a conspiracy theory, though Google of course denies manipulating results. After all, Google employees heavily favor Democrats in their political donations.
“Google News is really an aggregator of just a handful of sites and all of those sites really are vitriolically against President Trump, which I would really consider to be interference in the American election,” Coppola tells Project Veritas’s James O’Keefe in the video. “Like for example, CNN is the most commonly used source in Google News: 20 percent of all results for Donald Trump are from CNN, when that’s the entire internet of millions of sites.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Ilhan Omar Again Refuses to Condemn Antifa Terror Attack
Rep. Ilhan Omar again refused to condemn last weekend’s Antifa terror attack on an ICE facility in Washington State.
69-year-old Willem Van Spronsen was shot dead when he attempted to firebomb the facility. A manifesto later emerged in which Spronsen used the same “concentration camp” rhetoric espoused by Omar and her colleague Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
“I just wondered if you were willing to condemn the terror attack that was committed by a member of Antifa on an ICE facility,” a reporter asked Omar earlier today.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Meet the Woman Who’s Running Against Ilhan Omar
Patriot sets the example for Americans to reclaim their nation
Danielle Stella has officially thrown her hat in the ring against Democratic Congresswoman Ilhan Omar. Danielle joins Owen to discuss the most important issues now facing her district and how she intends to defeat Omar in the next election.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Michael Moore: Dems Were “Lame” For Putting Faith in “Frail Old Man” Robert Mueller
Left-wing film maker Michael Moore summed up the horror show that Robert Mueller’s testimony was for Democrats today by blasting “lame” Dems for putting their faith in a “frail old man.”
Mueller was roundly criticized for his doddering mannerisms, repeatedly stuttering, looking confused and asking for questions to be repeated.
Numerous commentators said that watching the hearing was “painful,” with some even suggesting that Mueller was physically sick.
According to Michael Moore, the lackluster display only highlights how stupid Democrats were for the past two years to put their faith in expecting Mueller to take down Trump.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
PJW to Appear on the Candace Owens Show
PJW sat down for a lengthy interview with Candace Owens about Big Tech censorship which will be out soon.
Watch a preview below!
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Tlaib: Let’s Take Money From Rich, Give it ‘Back to the People That Earned It’
Far-left “Squad” member Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) spoke at the NAACP convention over the weekend and railed against the GOP tax cuts in a pitch for her anti-poverty BOOST Act, promising to take money from the rich and give it “back to the people that earned it.”
[Comment: Take from those who have and give to those who don’t. Communism 101. ]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Video: Bernie Sanders Struggles to Explain His ‘Honeymoon’ To Russia
A video of Bernie Sanders with just a towel wrapped around his lower body (see below) has raised questions about his ‘very strange honeymoon’ to Russia in 1988.
The Socialist Mayor of Burlington, Vermont had just married and then went on a 10-day visit to the communist country with an entourage of officials and his new bride.
Sanders was recently approached and asked about the trip to the Soviet Union being a ‘honeymoon’. Instead of being receptive to explaining the trip, Sanders was openly irritated and denied it was a ‘honeymoon’.
[Comment: One Congressman pointed out that “he never came back.”]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
What Do the Oligarchs Have in Mind for Us?
[…]
To get a preview of the society the oligarchs want to create, the best place to look is where oligarchal domination is most complete. Wired magazine’s Antonio Garcia Martinez has called Silicon Valley “feudalism with better marketing.” In Martinez’s view, the new aristocratic class is an “Inner Party” of venture capitalists and company founders. Well below them is an “Outer Party” of skilled professionals, well paid, but forced to live ordinary middle-class lives due to high housing prices and high taxes. Below them lies the vast population of gig workers, whom Martinez compares to sharecroppers in the South, “…with the serfs responding to a smartphone prompt rather than an overseer’s command.” Further below still lie those who constitute, in Martinez’s phrase, “the Untouchable class of the homeless, drug addicted, and/or criminal.”
California, and particularly the Bay Area, already reflects this neo-feudal reality. Adjusted for costs, my adopted home state suffers the overall highest poverty rate in the country, according to the US Census Bureau. Fully one in three welfare recipients in the nation live in California, which is home to barely 12 percent of the country’s population, while a 2017 United Way study showed that close to one in three of the state’s families are barely able to pay their bills. Today, eight million Californians live in poverty, including two million children. Roughly one in five California children lives in deep poverty and nearly half subsist barely above that.
For all its protestations of progressive faith, the Golden State now suffers one of the highest GINI rates—the ratio between the wealthiest and the poorest—among the states. Inequality is growing faster than in almost any state—it now surpasses that of Mexico, and is closer to that of Central American banana republics like Guatemala and Honduras than it is to developed countries like Canada and Norway. There’s even the return of medieval diseases such as Typhus tied to the growing homeless encampments. We could soon even see the return of Bubonic plague, although the mainstream media seems to be ready to blame this, like most ills, on climate change as opposed to failed social policy.
| — Hat tip: AF | [Return to headlines] |
Special Counsel Robert Mueller testified before the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday morning.
Mueller looked like a confused, stuttering, agreeable, lost and nervous doddering old man. He frequently paged through his notes.
There is no way Mueller ran this thing!
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Young Conservatives Feel They Can’t Express Themselves on Social Media
WASHINGTON—Students feel they can’t express themselves properly on social media because of big tech censorship and, for some, the fear of being bullied into silence, with many experiencing or witnessing some form of shadow banning—the surreptitious suppression of a user’s content by the platform.
Students at Turning Point USA’s Teen Student Action Summit reported encountering such suppression on social media platforms, including Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube, on July 24, the third day of the summit, in interviews with The Epoch Times. Students came from across the country to hear from the numerous conservative leaders and politicians speaking at the Marriott Marquis hotel.
| — Hat tip: AF | [Return to headlines] |
YouTube Bans Dave Collum’s “Conspiracy Theory” Podcast for “Violating Its Hate Speech Policy”
Over the weekend, we published a write-up about Cornell professor and long time Zero Hedge friend Dave Collum appearing on the Quoth the Raven podcast to share his views about a wide range of conspiracy theories, ranging from 9/11 to the Las Vegas shooting.
The appearance was prompted by a recent tweet Collum put out, in defense of being a conspiracy theorist. The Tweet sparked a massive social media response and outpouring of reactions, both pro and con.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
British Lawmakers Laud Failed Prime Minister Theresa May at Final Commons Session
Theresa May will travel to Buckingham Palace to meet with Queen Elizabeth II and formalise the end of her leadership after her final meeting as Prime Minister with Members of Parliament, where she was lauded with praise.
UPDATE 1430 — Theresa May’s final words as Prime Minister
Speaking before she got in the Prime Ministerial car for, presumably, the final time to see the Queen and make her resignation final, Theresa May hailed the civil service and government employees including NHS workers and teachers, and said she hoped her leadership of the country would inspire young women and girls to lead in future.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
‘Flip-Flop’ Johnson: Five Times Boris U-Turned on Brexit, The EU, And Trump
In the weeks leading up to Boris Johnson’s election as leader of the Conservative Party, thereby becoming the prime minister, the Leave campaigner had pledged to take the UK out of the EU on October 31st, with or without a deal.
However, Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage has expressed doubt whether Mr Johnson will deliver, warning that Johnson’s positions on key issues such as immigration are unclear and that he “flips and flops”.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
German MP: PM BoJo Bad News for Merkel and Berlin Establishment
German populist Alternative for Germany (AfD) MP Petr Bystron has predicted that new British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will be good for the UK, but bad for the German establishment.
In a statement released Tuesday, Mr Bystron, who serves as AfD speaker for foreign policy in the Bundestag, said: “Thanks to the stubborn intransigence of the Merkel government, we will now get a hard-core Leave proponent as PM in Downing Street, who will presumably strive for a No-Deal Brexit on All Hallows’ Eve 2019.”
“While Angela Merkel insists on offending the U.S. President and proclaiming her solidarity with AOC’s [Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s] radical left-wing in the USA, Boris Johnson will presumably revitalise the Special Relationship between the White House and Downing Street, to the benefit of the UK and at the expense of the EU,” he added.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Greece’s New Government: Undoing the Damage of Years of Socialist Rule
The July 7 elections in Greece have ushered in a new era of promise, with the victory of the center-right New Democracy Party leader, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, over the incumbent prime minister, Alexis Tsipras, head of the left-wing Syriza coalition.
The vote represented the Greek people’s frustration and disgust not only with the failures of the Syriza-led government, which wreaked havoc on the economy and state institutions, but with the accompanying widespread corruption and anarchy that overtook the country.
The new government took office with an apparent sense of genuine purpose, seemingly intent on exacting immediate change. The new Minister for Citizen Protection, Michalis Chrysochoidis, for example, set to work with the encouraging pledge to reform the police force. He announced that he would make law enforcement more efficient, through better recruitment policies, backup for anti-crime units and by enabling raids into virtual “no-go” zones, such as Exarchia, a hotbed of drug-dealers, anarchists and illegal immigrants.
Speaking of which, the new government has transferred the handling of illegal immigration from the auspices of the Ministry for Migration Policy to that of the Ministry of Citizen Protection, treating the issue as a national-security threat.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Greta Thunberg: Right Wing French MPs Insult and Boycott Teenage Climate Activist
Right-wing politicians in France mocked the 16-year-old climate change campaigner Greta Thunberg as a “guru of the apocalypse” before boycotting her appearance in the French parliament.
Legislators from the conservative Les Republicains and far-right Rassemblement Nationalparties refused to attend the session and hurled a series of insults at the teenager — calling her the “Joan of Arc of climate change”, the “Justin Bieber of ecology” and a “prophetess in shorts”.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Salvini Urges Toninelli to ‘Unblock’ TAV
Otherwise I don’t understand what he’s doing in govt’
(ANSA) — Bibbiano, July 23 — Deputy Premier, Interior Minister and League leader Matteo Salvini on Tuesday urged 5-Star Movement (M5S) Transport Minister Danilo Toninelli to “unblock” the highspeed rail (TAV) line from Turin to Lyon.
The League is in favour of completing the project but the M5S is against it.
It has been reported that Premier Giuseppe Conte, who hitherto has been closer to the M5S, is veering towards giving the TAV a thumbs up.
Salvini said “it seems to me clear and evident that the TAV will be (completed).
“It’s a fundamental project but it is not the only one that a minister has blocked, and either the minister of blocks unblocks it or I don’t understand what he’s doing in government,” Salvini said.
Salvini has denied reports that he wants Toninelli removed in a reshuffle.
The government commissioned a cost/benefit analysis, which the M5S has seized on but which the League dismisses, showing Italy will lose some seven-eight billion euros with the TAV.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Johnson to Assemble Brexiteer Cabinet That Reflects ‘Modern Britain’
Boris Johnson is said to be forming a Cabinet with Brexiteers in top positions, whilst reports claim that he will be retaining some Remainers.
Mr Johnson, who won the Conservative Party leadership election with two-thirds of the vote on Tuesday, will be summoned to Buckingham Palace this afternoon for an audience with Queen Elizabeth II who will ask him to form a government. Later today, he will begin appointing his Cabinet.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Locals Claim Swedish City Centre Deteriorating Due to Violence and Drugs
Locals in the Swedish city of Gothenburg claim the centre of the city had greatly deteriorated as violence, robberies, and drugs have become more common.
In only a week, two people have been stabbed to death in central Gothenburg and now locals are coming forward, claiming the area of the city has become so dangerous, some refuse to visit the area alone at night, Aftonbladet reports.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Relations between Moscow and EU’s right-wing political parties are a cause for concern, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said during a press conference in Berlin last week.
“Some questions arise here”, she stated. “We have constantly monitored the very strong support that right-leaning parties have received from Russia in one way or the other.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
‘Never Mind Backstop, The Buck Stops Here’: Boris Johnson Takes on Brexit in First Speech as PM
Boris Johnson has vowed to take personal responsibility for delivering Brexit, saying “never mind the backstop, the buck stops here”.
In a speech bound to sting his predecessor, the new prime minister said he would come up with a new Brexit deal and disprove “the doubters, the doomsters and the gloomsters”.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Nigel Farage is Now the De Facto Leader of the UK
According to Nick Boles MP, despite Boris Johnson’s ascendancy to become the Prime Minister of the UK, the real de facto leader of the country is Nigel Farage.
Johnson today handed key cabinet roles to leading Brexiteers after becoming the UK’s new prime minister.
According to Nick Boles MP, “The hard right has taken over the Conservative Party. Thatcherites, libertarians and No Deal Brexiters control it top to bottom.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Boris Johnson has cleared out the Cabinet of hardline remainers and his critics, rewarding allies and appointing a number of Brexiteers to his government.
Prime Minister Johnson has recruited Brexiteers to top roles in his government, signalling that with 99 days to go, he is committed to taking the UK out of the EU on October 31st.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Report: New British Prime Minister Removes “Older White Faces” From Staff Photo
New British Prime Minister Boris Johnson ensured that “older white faces” were removed to make a group photo of his staff look more diverse, according to journalist Robert Peston.
Johnson became the UK’s new leader after he defeated Jeremy Hunt in a poll of Conservative Party members.
Despite Johnson facing criticism over his past comments about minorities, he appeared to be very concerned about “diversity” optics during a photo shoot with his new administration staffers.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Search for Missing Teen Girl Results in Mystery Human Remains Found Under Vatican
Vatican insider breaks down ongoing scandal
Leo Zagami joins Alex Jones live in studio to reveal the dark forces behind the scenes in Rome who have taken over the Vatican from within.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Swedish PM Likes Idea to Rename Country ‘Blandland’
Sweden’s Prime Minister likes an idea to rename the country to reflect it’s multicultural diversity.
That name is Blandland.
Because nothing says washed out, diluted, guilt-ridden, post-nationhood globalist dystopia….quite like Blandland.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Trump Says EU Treats the US Worse Than China, With Germany as ‘Biggest Offender’
Although trade tensions have seemingly calmed between the trans-Atlantic allies since US President Donald Trump first announced plans to impose new import tariffs on European automobiles, his contempt for the bloc apparently hasn’t diminished much.
Trump recently took a swipe at the bloc, saying that it: “rips us off on trade, and we protect them with military”. While giving a speech at the conservative Turning Point USA’s Teen Student Action Summit, Trump went on to describe the EU’s trade policies toward the US as worse than China’s.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Voices Raised for Swedish MP to Resign After Criticising the Climate Doomsday Narrative
Don’t mention climate change in another context than that of the one stating the world is coming to an end. At least not in Sweden. This is something that Jan Ericson, MP at the Swedish conservative party, had to learn in recent days. “They would have burned me at the stake if it were the dark ages”, he tweets.
Amid admitting that climate change probably is real, MP Jan Ericson often criticises the Swedish Government’s fancy for climate measures to halt the development which place a burden upon the Swedes, e.g. increased energy and fuel taxes, record-breaking plastic bag fees and other increased climate taxes at the same time as nuclear plants are being shut down, resulting in shortage of energy which affects the country’s industry.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
The governments of Germany, France, Britain, Spain, Belgium and Poland have all strongly condemned Israel for its demolition of Palestinian homes near Jerusalem.
Following a council meeting on the Middle East, the European governments released a joint statement which said: “We as member states of the European Union strongly condemn the demolition by Israel of Palestinian buildings in the district of Wadi al Hummus, in the south east of Jerusalem,” report the Anadolu Agency and the Agence France-Presse.
“In all but the most exceptional of circumstances, demolition in occupied territories is contrary to International Humanitarian Law and to UNSC resolutions,” the statement continued.
The European Union countries contend that demolitions cause “unnecessary suffering to ordinary Palestinians and is harmful to the peace process.”
The statement follows an announcement made by the Israeli on Tuesday which stated that twelve Palestinian buildings which it considers to have been illegally constructed were demolished on Monday.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Poison Jihad:: Maharashtra ATS files charge sheet against 10 Muslims held for attempting to poison Maha Prasad (Hindu Sacrament) by a group affiliated to Daesh (ISIS), inspired by Zakir Naik.
Vallabh Ozarkar & Somendranath Sharma | Mirror Web | Mumbai | July 24, 2019:: The Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS), which arrested 10 alleged Daesh men in January and foiled their purported plan of mass-killing devotees at the 400-year-old Shree Mumbreshwar Temple in Mumbra, said in the charge sheet that the accused had attempted to poison the temple’s Maha Prasad (Hindu sacraments made of Rice, Pulses, Ghee, Vegetables, Spices, Fruits, Sweets etc after offering the same to the deities).
The charge sheet said that one of the accused, Talha Potrik, had attempted to poison the prasad during the Shrimadh Bhagwat Katha organised at the temple in December last year. Around 40,000 devotees had consumed the prasad that day.
The ATS identified an accused, Abu Hamza, as the leader of the group, and said in the charge sheet that he had conducted blast trials in the hills near Mumbra bypass. Besides Potrik and Hamza, the other accused have been identified as Mohsin Khan alias Abu Marya, Atai Waris Abdul Rashid Shaikh alias Mazhar, Mohammad Takky Khan alias Abu Khalid, Mushahed Ul-Islam, Jamman Khutepad alias Abu Kital, Salman Khan alias Abu Ubeda, and Fahad Ansari. The tenth accused is a minor. Most of them are residents of Mumbra while a couple of them are from Aurangabad.
The charge sheet said that the group was inspired by absconding preacher Zakir Naik, who is an accused in terror-related cases filed by the National Investigation Agency. “Several videos featuring Naik and his images have been recovered from the social media profiles of the accused,” the charge sheet said.
It further said that the group was in contact with its foreign-based handlers, and one of the accused, Marya had attended physical training sessions at a stadium in Mumbra as per the Daesh handbook. “A few months before their arrests, Jamman, Salman, Waris, and Fahad Mohammad had prepared explosives using hydrogen peroxide. Abu Hamza along with other accused had conducted trials of the explosion. They had also surveyed the Mumbra temple,” the ATS charge sheet said…
| — Hat tip: Upananda Brahmachari | [Return to headlines] |
China Hints Its Troops Could be Used to Quell Hong Kong Protests
BEIJING — Warning that protests convulsing Hong Kong were crossing a line, China hinted broadly on Wednesday that it was prepared to use military force in the territory if necessary to retain Beijing’s control.
“The behavior of some radical protesters challenges the central government’s authority, touching on the bottom line principle of ‘one country, two systems,’“ said the chief spokesman for the Ministry of National Defense, Senior Col. Wu Qian. “That absolutely cannot be tolerated.”
It was both the most explicit warning to date since protests began in the former British colony and a stark reminder of who has ultimate control over Hong Kong’s fate.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Chinese Regime Trying to ‘Steal Their Way’ To Economic Supremacy, FBI Chief Says
The FBI has more than 1,000 active investigations into theft of U.S. intellectual property, “almost all leading back to China,” as the communist regime is waging a “generational fight” to achieve economic dominance, FBI Director Christopher Wray told a Senate committee on July 23.
“There is no country that poses a more severe counterintelligence threat to this country right now than China,” Wray told the Senate Judiciary Committee, reiterating previous warnings he made about the Chinese regime.
Beijing is using both state and non-state actors to “steal their way up the economic ladder at our expense,” he said.
“It is a threat that’s deep and diverse and wide and vexing in terms of the kinds of actors that are used, the kinds of techniques used, or the kind of targets that are used,” Wray said. “It affects basically every industry in this country.”
Victims of Chinese economic espionage, Wray said, ranged from Silicon Valley start-ups to Fortune 100 companies, across a variety of fields including agriculture and high-tech.
| — Hat tip: AF | [Return to headlines] |
Scientists Discover New Chinese Firefly Species
Scientists have discovered the first ever species of bioluminescent click beetle in Asia which remarkably appears to have evolved there for the first time.
The extraordinary beetle which can glow using only biological processes was discovered in the subtropical evergreen broadleaf forests in southwest China.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
New Zealand Proposes Tougher Gun Laws Because Gun Ownership is a “Privilege, Not a Right”
The victims of the March mass shootings in Christchurch, New Zealand, had hardly been buried when gun-grabbing politicians rammed through stricter firearms laws. Now they’re at it again, aiming to “enshrine in law that owning a firearm is a privilege and comes with an obligation to demonstrate a high level of safety and responsibility,” in the words of Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.
After the shootings, which took 51 lives at two mosques, Ardern announced a nationwide ban on semiautomatic and “assault” weapons and a mandatory “buyback” of said weapons, provisions that were hastily codified by Parliament. (As expected in a country where firearms ownership is widespread and, unfortunately, taken for granted, the buyback program has thus far been a bust.)
According to the New Zealand Herald, the newly proposed law, which will have to undergo the normal parliamentary process, calls for stricter licensing requirements for both gun dealers and gun owners, more frequent license renewals, a national gun registry, a ban on foreigners purchasing guns in the country, new licensing requirements for shooting clubs and ranges, restrictions on gun advertising, and “new offenses and higher penalties for breaking the rules.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Eight drivers were caught with drugs in their system during a back-to-school crackdown across South Australia.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
Burkina Faso Bishop Denounces Jihadist Slaughter of Christians
Bishop Laurent Birfuoré Dabiré of Dori has condemned the ongoing, targeted slaughter of Christians by Islamic radicals, warning it could lead to the elimination of a Christian presence in Burkina Faso.
“If this continues without anyone intervening, the result will be the elimination of the Christian presence in this area and — perhaps in the future —in the entire country,” Bishop Dabiré told Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), a Catholic group providing assistance to persecuted Christians around the world
Since January 2019, there have been five major jihadist attacks on Christians in the country, ACN reported Tuesday, the last of which occurred in late June.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
The Real Reason China Fears Change in Venezuela
[…]
What’s key to understanding the CCP’s interests in Venezuela is that this incident is not about Maduro. Rather, it’s about the CCP maintaining financial control over Venezuela—and maintaining the influence of the “China model” in Latin America.
The deal that the CCP brings to the table with its “China model,” when dealing with regimes like that of Maduro, is that these regimes can do whatever they want and the CCP will not hold them accountable. The CCP will continue trading with them, despite U.S. sanctions; the CCP will not criticize them for human rights abuses; it also won’t question underhanded means of seizing power.
| — Hat tip: AF | [Return to headlines] |
CARACAS (Reuters) — Venezuelans in Caracas woke up on Tuesday with the lights back on after the worst blackout since March knocked out power in half the country a day earlier, though service remained down in other states and cities.
State power company Corpoelec, in a statement early on Tuesday, said states were recovering service and power had fully returned to Caracas. Tuesday’s blackout left over half of Venezuela’s 23 states in the dark.
Reuters witnesses in the central states of Carabobo and Aragua, along with Lara to the west, said power was still out, preventing residents from accessing running water or phone service.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
France: Migrants Severely Beaten by Angry Mob at the Pool After Sexually Assaulting Underage Girls
Two migrants from the small eastern European country of Moldova were brutally beaten by a mob of people at an outdoor swimming pool in France after they sexually assaulted two underage girls.
According to France’s Le Parisien, the incident happened around four in the afternoon over the weekend in the commune of Draviel, with two Moldovan migrants, both thought to be in their thirties, molesting a 12-year-old and a 15-year-old girl.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Germany: Migrant Suspected of Throwing Young Mother in Front of Train
An Albanian man with a history of criminal violence has been charged with murder after a young mother was thrown in front of a train in Voerde, Germany, local media reports.
Anja N., 34, was allegedly pushed onto the tracks in front of an arriving train by Jackson B., who has been identified as an Albanian from Kosovo, a predominantly Islamic region.
The woman reportedly had no chance to defend herself and was run over by the train and killed.
“He did not know his victim. There was no reason. No quarrel. Nothing,” BILD reports. “Nevertheless, on Saturday morning in Voerde, Jackson B. pushed a young woman in front of a train. Treacherous, driven by pure lust for murder.”
Jackson B. reportedly has an extensive history of terrorizing his local community, despite only living there for a year, and has served multiple prison sentences for assault and theft.
“We were already afraid that something terrible would have to happen before they locked him up,” a local business owner told BILD.
“There’s hardly anyone here who hasn’t already witnessed one of his freakouts,” a neighbor says, with some reports indicating he often stands half-naked and curses at children and passers-by.
Police have reportedly been called to deal with Jackson B. at least a dozen times.
When issuing a warrant for his arrest, Prosecutor Alexander Bayer asserted that the characteristics of “treachery and lust for murder” have been confirmed in the case.
“My wife was murdered today. She was pushed in front of a train by a stranger for no reason,” the victim’s husband wrote on Facebook.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
German NGO Sea-Eye’s “Alan Kurdi” Ship to Resume Its Illegal Migrant Taxi Service
A spokesperson for the German NGO Sea-Eye said that its migrant transport vessel, the “Alan Kurdi”, will begin a new four-week mission off the coast of Libya in international waters.
The NGO said that its boat is currently en route to Libya with eight crew members and twelve volunteers. One physician and one paramedic are also on board, Info Migrants reports.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
On Sunday morning, at the station in Voerde in North Rhine-Westphalia, 28-year-old Jackson B. pushed the 34-year-old victim Anja N., mother of a 13-year-old daughter, in front of a regional train. The woman was run over by the train and died on the spot.
The locomotive driver was unable to stop the train in time. Despite immediate rescue and care by the emergency doctor, the woman died.
Eyewitnesses detained the perpetrator until the police arrived.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Official statistics released by the Dutch governmental institution CBS have revealed that foreigners in the country are committing crimes at much higher rates than native Dutch citizens are.
Dutch Police asked that Statistics Netherlands (CBS) to examine data from 2010 to 2017 to determine “whether persons with a non-Western migration background were over-represented at certain stages of the criminal justice chain compared to people with a Dutch background.”
What they found was alarming.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Ilhan Omar Once Told Somali Immigrant to U.S.: “Why Don’t We Deport You”
Ilhan Omar once told a Somali immigrant to the U.S. “why don’t we deport you” after the immigrant suggested that Somalis shouldn’t import their culture to America.
In a newly uncovered tweet from October 2012, Omar responds to a Somali immigrant to the U.S. who tweeted an article in which the mayor of Maine encouraged Somalis arriving in America to leave their culture at the door.
“We are citizens and can’t be deported,” tweeted Omar, adding, “why don’t we deport you to where ever you came from.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Investigation: Washington Sanctuary County Releases Hundreds of Illegal Aliens Charged With Felonies
Washington state’s central sanctuary county released hundreds of illegal aliens charged with felonies such as homicide, kidnapping, and sexual assault over the course of two years, a new investigation finds.
Records obtained by the Immigration Reform Law Institute (IRLI) reveal that the sanctuary jurisdiction of King County, Washington — which includes Seattle — failed to honor more than 370 Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency detainers that were placed on arrested illegal aliens — including those charged with serious felonies.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Three Arrested for Aiding Illegal Immigration
Case regards alleged fake marriages and prostitution in Sardinia
(ANSA) — Rome, July 24 — Italian police have arrested three Moroccan nationals, two women and one man, believed to belong to a criminal organization in the Sardinian town of Siniscola, in the Nuoro province.
The three individuals allegedly arranged fake marriages between Italian citizens and foreign women for the purposes of Italian citizenship. Once in Italy, however, the women and girls — some of whom underage — were forced to engage in prostitution. The investigation, coordinated by the Nuoro prosecutor’s office, lasted about six months. Those arrested had long been residents in Sardinia and found Italians who, in exchange for money or sexual favours, were willing to go to Morocco to marry very young women and girls.
The group had been operating for several years, during which several women — some of whom are still being identified — were brought to Italy.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Yacht Named Carefree Had 12 Chinese Migrants and 2 Suspected Smugglers, Coast Guard Says
As a U.S. Coast Guard crew patrolled the waters off Fort Lauderdale Tuesday, it spotted a motor yacht named Carefree.
The yacht, the agency says, was not problem free.
According to the Coast Guard, there were 12 Chinese migrants and two suspected smugglers on board.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
PSU Punishes Prof Who Duped Academic Journal With Hoax ‘Dog Rape’ Article
The professor who duped academic journals into publishing bogus articles has now been banned by Portland State University from conducting any and all university-sponsored research and threatened with an administrative review of his “questionable ethical behavior.”
Peter Boghossian made headlines in 2018 after he and two other researchers set out to prove a point about the integrity of “peer-reviewed” academic publications by submitting several fake studies including an analysis of “dog rape culture,” and a piece that was simply a section of Hitler’s Mein Kampf reworked to include a smattering of academic buzzwords.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Testimonies Threaten LGBT Agenda
Focus On The Family has accumulated hundreds of “stories of hope and transformation” of people who have escaped from the LGBT world. At www.focusonthefamily.com/socialissues/sexuality/freedom-from-homosexuality, you will find links to personal testimonies and effective ministries successfully helping those who want to get out of unwanted same-sex attraction.
Also on the website is a thorough discussion of the wide-spread political move to make illegal all such attempts through counseling or therapy.
Homosexual strategists like to take a few events and use them as a lever to change the whole picture. One example is suicide. When a few people kill themselves during the process of therapy, a campaign is mounted against the therapy itself rather than examining other complex factors that may have contributed to the death.
Ignored are the thousands who have succeeded in escaping the homosexual culture of death.
As usual, the attack starts small to avoid attention. In 2012, California banned mental health professionals from providing “sexual orientation change efforts” for minors who are struggling with unwanted same-sex attractions. New Jersey followed the next year and Oregon, Illinois and Washington, DC more recently.
Fortunately, similar legislation introduced in other states has been defeated.
This government intrusion is dangerous in several levels. Freedom of religion and freedom of speech are both threatened by these laws. This also drives a wedge between parents who look to counselors for help and counselors who are forbidden by law to do so.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The Oligarchs of Tech and the Grave Threat to Our Most Precious Resource
What has more influence on people’s thinking than any religion and more control over people’s actions than any government?
According to Tristan Harris, co-founder of Time Well Spent (now the Center for Humane Technology), it’s the big tech companies that hold the metaphorical strings attached to the other end of social media and smartphone technologies.
These companies are very interested and heavily invested in what Harris’s organization calls “the extractive attention economy.” They have discovered ways to distract, extract, and sell the attention of billions of people to advertisers and other interested parties.
| — Hat tip: AF | [Return to headlines] |
Watch: News Anchor in Pain After Trying Out Anti-Manspreading Chair
“I didn’t want any more children anyway.”
A news host who tried out an anti-manspreading chair appeared to be in physical pain and joked, “I didn’t want any more children anyway.”
As we highlighted last week, a British woman was given an award for designing a chair that prevents “manspreading” by forcing men to sit as if they don’t have any balls.
23-year-old Laila Laurel also designed a chair for women that encouraged them to engage in the very same behavior she complains about the men doing.
During an interview with Sky News, Laurel said that manspreading was a “microaggression” against women and can “turn into something that’s far more aggressive.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
“France: Migrants Severely Beaten by Angry Mob at the Pool After Sexually Assaulting Underage Girls” more of this kind of news please, good job, Frenchmen!
Testimonies on LGBT springs from a rabid anti-Catholic Chick Publications. Go there to find hatred towards Catholics. The oldest “acceptable” bigotry in the USA.