Thirty illegal immigrants were arrested in Slovakia after they entered the country by hiding under a freight train. Some of them were discovered under the train, while others were detained after they escaped on foot.
In other migration news, more than 300 migrants were rescued in the Mediterranean by the Libyan navy in a series of separate operations.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to C. Cantoni, DR, Insubria, JD, Reader from Chicago, 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. I 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.
ABC, NBC Provide Cover for Antifa Terrorism, Claim They’re ‘Counter-Protesters’
Mainstream media carries water for violent domestic terrorist group
The domestic terrorist organization known as Antifa carried out attacks at a “right-wing” rally in Portland, Oregon on Saturday by targeting peaceful rally goers, police, and members of the press. As the liberal media have done in the past, ABC’s Good Morning America and NBC’s Sunday Today, carried water for the extreme left-wing terrorists by downplaying their actions and by suggesting they’re simply “counter-protesters”.
Throwing water bottles was arguably among the least of Antifa’s tactics. According to footage of their attacks, Antifa assaulted a bus filled with the “right-wing” marchers (as they were trying to leave the event) and tried to bean people in the head with a hammer.
[Comment: DNC propaganda arm supporting the DNC brownshirt brigade. What a surprise.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Anthony Scaramucci and Bill Kristol in Private Talks to Find GOP Candidate to Replace Trump in 2020
Former The Weekly Standard editor Bill Kristol confirmed that he has spoken with former White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci about finding a Republican candidate to succeed Trump as the GOP’s 2020 nominee.
In an exchange of text messages with CNBC, Kristol said he has been in contact with Scaramucci since his public Twitter altercation with the president a few weeks ago.
Kristol has been a fierce critic of Scaramucci in the past and would not divulge his full interactions with the hedge fund boss, calling them “private.” He did, however, confirm that the pair have discussed the matter.
“Have chatted with him, but working with him would be an exaggeration,” Kristol said.
[Comment: Establishment RINOs and globalsit puppets seek a controllable puppet to replace Trump.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Antifa Attacks Little Girl and Her Father
Shot heard around the world, Antifa is a terrorist organization.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Author James Patterson Was Fascinated and Appalled by Jeffrey Epstein
His true-life probe into the behaviour of his billionaire Florida neighbour may be his most chilling thriller
James Patterson, one of the world’s most successful authors whose novels regularly top the best-seller charts, happens to live half a mile from Jeffrey Epstein’s home in Palm Beach, Florida. Over the years he had become fascinated and appalled in equal measure by Epstein and determined to investigate just how and why so many young women found their way to his home on a secluded street. This is the deeply disturbing story of what he discovered…
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Beto O’Rourke: ‘We’ll Lose America’ if Trump Stays in Office
Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” 2020 presidential hopeful former Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-TX) predicted if President Donald Trump won a second term, “we’ll lose America.”
[Comment: Beto must be refering to himself and his fellow traveller comrades aka commies. They are the ones who would lose their wet dream of a USSA (Union of Socialist Sates of America) if Trump stays in office.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Beto: Trump Leading a ‘Concerted, Organized Attack Against’ People of Color
Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” 2020 presidential hopeful former Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-TX) said President Donald Trump was engaged in a “concerted, organized attack against immigrants, against people of color.”
[Comment: Globalist puppet seeking to trigger a race war. Strategy = Lie, then lie again. After that, lie some more. Then to top it off, lie again, but louder.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
CNN Article Says Intel Agencies Are Recruiting Teens in High School
A recent article in CNN tells the tale of teens whose friends think they are spying on their phone conversations because they work for the National Security Agency (NSA) at the complex at Fort Meade in Maryland.
CNN expresses that three 18-year-old teens who graduated from high schools in Maryland — Summer, Brianna, and Simon — are among more than 150 high schoolers in a work-study program at the NSA. These students are then given TS/SCI or Top Secret security clearance access to U.S. secrets.
“Recruiters at the NSA (and other intelligence agencies, like the CIA, have similar programs) know that when it comes to hiring smart, driven, STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math)-minded young people, they are competing with the flashiness and deep pockets of Silicon Valley. So, they aim young and try to dazzle the teens with the work, rather than the paycheck,” CNN wrote.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Cover Up? Epstein Shipped $100K Cement Mixer to ‘Pedo Island’ Weeks Before Crushing Exposé
Computers, equipment also removed before FBI raid of private island
Approximately three weeks before a series of damning articles hit in the Miami Herald, Jeffrey Epstein paid up front to have a $100,000 cement mixer express-shipped to his infamous Little St. James ‘pedo island’ at great expense, according to the Daily Mail…
Epstein was in such a hurry that he paid for the machine up front so it would arrive sooner — even though it meant being responsible if it got damaged in transit.
Three weeks later the Miami Herald published a series of articles called ‘Perversion of Justice’ on November 28, which eventually led to Epstein being arrested in July.
Shipping experts told DailyMailTV that the possibility that it was ‘used to literally cover up evidence cannot be discounted’. —Daily Mail
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Elizabeth Warren, Gabby Giffords Partner for Gun Control
Democrat presidential hopeful Elizabeth Warren says it is “an honor to fight alongside Gabby Giffords” in the push for more gun control.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Former Antifa Member Says Group Must be Condemned: “Adopt a Zero Tolerance Policy”
Antifa should be condemned. It’s a must-read in light of the Antifa violence today in Portland, Oregon (see videos below).
Gabriel Nadales wrote:
“Enough is enough. Antifa is emboldened by its power on our college campuses. It’s now spilling into our communities and if our colleges and law enforcement don’t take action and adopt a zero tolerance policy when it comes to Antifa, trust me, the attack in Portland is only the beginning as we head into the 2020 election cycle.”
Nadales believes that Antifa violence is a form of voter intimidation:
The reality is, Antifa violence is nothing more than an attempt to intimidate conservatives from organizing political groups and being part of the political process. Its actions are a form of voter intimidation. Failure to see Antifa for what it is, and take action to protect the American public from it, puts the democratic process and our republic in serious jeopardy.
Gabriel Nadales says Antifa has become far more violent than when he was involved a decade ago. All you need to do is watch the violent video below to know that Antifa is out of control.
Nadales spoke with Laura Ingraham about why Antifa hates President Trump:
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Get Off the Socialist Bus Before They Throw You Under it
Desperado Dems want you to believe the presidential election—some 15 months away—is already over.
All 20-plus spittle-flecked contenders in the DNC primaries are riding on a bus touting a ‘Utopia or Bust!’ banner. They’re travelling at break-neck down the road leading to Socialism, confident that they’ve conned the masses into thinking they are ‘progressives’ at heart.
Get off the Democrats’socialist bus before they throw you under it.
They’re planning to toss all plebes under the bus as soon as they’re elected.
Down to the last one, all 20-plus Democratic presidential wannabes promise voters Free Stuff that they’ll NEVER get. ‘I couldn’t get enough votes to pass the bill’ will be their collective post-election alibi.
Truth is they’re asking the masses to throw their whole country out for unattainable Free Stuff.
In other words, the Free Stuff they offer comes with a horrible price tag: The tragic end of a sovereign United States of America.
At no other time in Western History has the term ‘Buyers Beware!’ been so meaningful.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Katy Perry Accused of Sexual Harassment by a Second Person
It comes after model in ‘Teenage Dream’ video made a series of allegations earlier this week
A second person has come forward accusing Katy Perry of sexual harassment.
Earlier this week, model Josh Kloss who starred alongside the singer in her 2010 music video for ‘Teenage Dream’ made a series of allegations on his Instagram page. He claimed that Perry — who was a crush of his at the time — once yanked at his underwear without his permission at a party, in turn revealing his genitals to people stood near him.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham went on Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo this morning to discuss possible legislation in the upcoming Senate session.
The left ought to LOVE THIS!
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Los Angeles.
12 million rats.
The return of bubonic plague.
Homelessness & crime surging.
Rent & home prices unaffordable.
6 lanes of traffic going nowhere.
A sneering, arrogant elite and a resentful, drug-addled underclass.
Another progressive utopia!
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Man Dies From Extremely Rare Disease After Eating Squirrel Brains
A man in New York developed an extremely rare and fatal brain disorder after he ate squirrel brains, according to a new report of the man’s case.
In 2015, the 61-year-old man was brought to a hospital in Rochester, New York, after experiencing a decline in his thinking abilities and losing touch with reality, the report said. The man had also lost the ability to walk on his own.
An MRI of the man’s head revealed a striking finding: The brain scan looked similar to those seen in people with variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD), a fatal brain condition caused by infectious proteins called prions. Only a few hundred cases of vCJD have ever been reported, and most were tied to consumption of contaminated beef in the United Kingdom in the 1980s and 1990s. (In cows, vCJD is commonly called “mad cow disease.”)
But in this case, the man had another dietary habit that could have raised his risk for vCJD: His family said he liked to hunt, and it was reported that he had eaten squirrel brains, said Dr. Tara Chen, a medical resident at Rochester Regional Health and lead author of the report. It’s unclear if the man consumed the entire squirrel brain or just squirrel meat that was contaminated with parts of squirrel brain, Chen said. [27 Oddest Medical Cases]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
“We’re going to win with people who believe that climate change is real.”
[Comment: Wow.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
New Report Shows Leprosy on the Rise in Los Angeles County
Ahh, the joys of open borders and Democrat leadership.
California is not just a public toilet but now there is evidence that leprosy is on the rise in Los Angeles County.
Barack Obama changed US law in 2016 and allowed immigrants with blistering STDs and leprosy to migrate to the US.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Portland Police Arrest 13, All Antifa; Confiscate Weapons, Bear Mace. Protests Wrap Up
What the media and politicians painted as “violent right wing white supremacists chomping at the bit to engage in violence” turned into yet another left wing antifa riot-like scene, as the Proud Boys and other Trump supporters proved, as usual, to be peaceful and law abiding while the far left protesters came unhinged and once again terrorized Portland.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Reminder That Deborah Jeane Palfrey (The “D.C. Madam”) Also “Committed Suicide by Hanging”
She also had a news conference were she explicitly stated she was not suicidal days before her supposed hanging.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Reps. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) and Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) both reportedly shared an antisemitic cartoon by an artist who participated in Iran’s Holocaust denial contest on their respective Instagram accounts on Friday, according to Forward editor Batya Ungar-Sargon.
Ungar-Sargon noticed that Omar and Tlaib had each shared the image on their Instagram “stories.” Both were barred from entering Israel Thursday because of their support for the “boycott, divestment, sanctions” (BDS) movement. Tlaib then applied for a humanitarian visa so she could visit her grandmother in a Palestinian village, promising not to promote boycotts of Israel while traveling there. Her request was granted, but she then turned down the offer Friday, claiming that Israel was trying to silence her.
The cartoon Omar and Tlaib reportedly shared shows Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with his hand over Tlaib’s mouth, and U.S. President Donald Trump with his hand over Omar’s mouth. Both leaders are shushing the congresswomen. A Star of David — the symbol of the Jewish faith — appears in the center of the image, implying that Jews are responsible for the act of silencing.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Some Jail Staffers Not Cooperating With DOJ Investigation Into Epstein Suicide, Source Says
Personnel at the New York City prison where accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein committed suicide last week have not been initially cooperative with investigators from the Department of Justice, a federal source told Fox News Friday.
Attorney General William Barr sent two senior DOJ officials to personally visit the Metropolitan Correctional Center and speak with staff from the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) in order to gather information on Epstein’s death after Barr said officials uncovered “serious irregularities” at the jail, a senior DOJ official told Fox News. The officials have been on site since Thursday and the FBI and the Justice Department’s inspector general are investigating conditions at the MCC.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
The Southern Poverty Law Center is a Hate-Based Scam That Nearly Caused Me to be Murdered
While I was missing lunch, a crime scene played out in the office lobby below me. My coworker and friend Leo wasn’t armed, but he’d played the quick-thinking and inadvertent hero, disarming a young man on a mission to kill me and as many of my colleagues as possible. The gunman had packed his backpack with ammo and 15 Chick-fil-A sandwiches — later admitting that he’d planned to smear them on our lifeless faces as a political statement. Leo took a bullet in the arm but managed to disarm and hold the attacker until law enforcement arrived.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
This article contains content that some may find distressing.
Jeffrey Epstein “was” apparently a serial molester of children. He had manipulation down to an art form, as many molesters do. He seemed to be an expert at figuring out a girl’s weak point, whether it was poverty, a deceased family member, or feeling alienated from her peers.
This is a common ploy. Many molesters seek out children or teens who have lost a parent and use this as a way to build a friendship. Then, because children don’t think like adults, they are manipulated, coerced, or threatened into sexual activity.
The story below could be told a hundred thousand times with only tiny changes. The names and the faces would be different. The settings might not be a mansion in Manhattan or in Palm Beach but rather a quiet part of a church, a school, or some kind of activity for teens. The setting could be in the house next door to you, where someone with evil intent befriends a vulnerable young person with the stated goal of helping them, but an end result that couldn’t be further from reality.
How 14-year-old Jennifer Araoz met Jeffrey Epstein:…
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
President Trump sent out blistering tweets this morning focusing on the “evil propaganda” the media is pumping out trying to destroy him.
They went from Russia collusion 24/7 to the “racism witch hunt” 24/7.
It’s obvious that our media is the propaganda machine for the Democrats who are desperate to win the White House in 2020.
President Trump is spot on in his assessment of what’s going on: The Failing New York Times, in one of the most devastating portrayals of bad journalism in history, got caught by a leaker that they are shifting from their Phony Russian Collusion Narrative (the Mueller Report & his testimony were a total disaster) to a Racism Witch Hunt….
“Journalism” has reached a new low in the history of our Country. It is nothing more than an evil propaganda machine for the Democrat Party. The reporting is so false, biased and evil that it has now become a very sick joke…But the public is aware!
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Video: Antifa Viciously Attacks Little Girl Plus Leaked NYTimes Documents Shock the World
Big Tech and the Deep State hope their fascist brownshirts aren’t exposed — spread this video link!
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
A Doomed Comet Just Fell Into the Sun. Here’s the Video.
Yesterday (Aug. 15), the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) watched a comet meet its demise as the dirty snowball dove directly into the sun, according to Space Weather astronomer Tony Phillips.
In the video captured by SOHO, you can see a number of objects zooming around the sun, which is blocked by an opaque disk to reduce glare. Seemingly right on top of the sun is Venus, which is bright and easy to spot. Left of center and not quite as bright as Venus, you can also see Mars. Just about 10 seconds into the video, the sun-bound comet suddenly becomes obvious and easy to detect.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Taxi drivers in Austria refuse to transport blind people with guide dogs despite the fact that it violates the law. The reason is that Allah has branded dogs as “impure”.
Gabriele Jandrasits from Innsbruck wanted to pre-order a taxi to the airport — and take her little dog, a Beagle Jack Russell mongrel, with her in an aircraft-compatible transport cage.
But even though she called the evening before, she was told by the radio taxi office that there was no guarantee of transport for the next morning — the reason being that most drivers would refuse to take dogs with them on religious grounds.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
British ISIS Fighter ‘Jihadi Jack’ Who Fled to Syria is ‘Stripped of UK Citizenship’
The Muslim convert dubbed “Jihadi Jack”, who travelled to Syria to join Isis, has been stripped of his British citizenship, it has been reported.
Jack Letts was 18 when he left his Oxfordshire home and joined the terrorists in 2014 — marrying in Iraq and moving to Raqqa in Syria.
Captured by the Kurdish YPG forces as he attempted to flee to Turkey in May 2017, the 24-year-old has since been held in jail in northern Syria.
According to the Mail on Sunday, Jack — who is a dual UK-Canadian national — has had his British citizenship revoked, a move which was one of the last actions of Theresa May’s government.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Court: German Populists Can Only Field 30 Candidates in Regional Election
The Saxony Constitutional Court has ruled that the populist Alternative for Germany (AfD) will only be allowed to field 30 candidates in next month’s regional election.
The court ruling comes after a previous ruling by the Saxony election authority last month which stated that irregularities during the candidate selection process voided the selection of the majority of the party’s nominees, Die Welt reports.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
French Teen Tortured With Blowtorch to Genitals Over Drug Dispute
A 16-year-old boy has claimed to be the victim of brutal torture after receiving third-degree burns to his arms and genitals in what is believed to be a drug gang-related crime.
The teen was dropped off at a hospital in Marseille on Tuesday by two unknown individuals who left the young man naked on the ground in front of the hospital and fled the area, Le Parisien reports.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Islamic State Fighter ‘Jihadi Jack’ Has Citizenship Stripped by British Government
A Muslim convert who left Britain to join the Islamic State terror group in 2014 has had his citizenship revoked by the Home Office.
Jack Letts, known as ‘Jihadi Jack’ in the media, was 18 when he left his home and school in Oxford to travel to Syria in order to join the radical Islamic terrorist insurgency. He was imprisoned upon being captured by Kurdish forces while attempting to flee to Turkey in May of 2017.
Under international law, governments are nots supposed to strip anyone of their citizenship if it would leave them “stateless” — but Letts was also held Canadian citizenship through his father.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Salvini Offering Di Maio PM’s Job ‘Fake News’ Says M5S
Will verify majority with Mattarella alone says Zingaretti
(ANSA) — Rome, August 16 — The notion of anti-migrant Euroskeptic League leader and Deputy Premier Matteo Salvini trying to end the government crisis he triggered by offering the premiership to erstwhile partner and anti-establishment 5-Star Movement (M5S) leader and Deputy Premier Luigi Di Maio is “fake news”, the M5S said Friday.
The idea started circulating in centre-left opposition Democratic Party (PD) circles and was picked up by several news outlets.
“What some press organs are reporting is totally false,” the M5S said in a statement.
“Furthermore, none of the dailies contacted official M5S sources with the aim of verifying this clamorous fake news.
“They fell into someone’s trap, but we’re used to that by now.
“We’re not interested in posts, we’re not interested in palace games”.
The M5S reiterated that cutting the number of Italy’s MPs and Senators by 345 was “important” to them.
Di Maio added that the parties who vote no confidence in Premier Giuseppe Conte next Tuesday will avoid cutting Mp numbers.
As for the reports on alleged “posts and roles”, he said that “only absurdities” had been reported.
Salvini triggered the crisis in the 14-month, first all-populist government by saying the alliance with the M5S was over after a dramatic split in votes on a high-speed rail (TAV) link with France, and his League tabled a no confidence vote in Conte.
Earlier PD House Whip Graziano Delrio said a German-style written government accord is needed between the PD and the M5S for a possible new government.
“What is needed is a German-style accord, like that between the CDU and the SPD, something written down,” said Delrio, former PD chairman.
“We sit down, we negotiate, we analyse point by point for the good of the country, calling on the best minds, to give a different approach.
“This country has thus far been obsessed by issues that have not brought anything good, like immigration.
“I’m glad that (Premier Giuseppe) Conte has recognised this”.
Anti-migrant Euroskeptic League leader Matteo Salvini is “sorry but the damage is done” after pulling the plug on Italy’s first all-populist government over policy differences with the M5S, M5S leader Luigi Di Maio said Sunday night.
Citing persistent divisions over a high-speed rail link with France, Salvini’s League filed a no confidence motion in Premier Conte on August 9, effectively ending the 14-month alliance with the M5S.
Di Maio reiterated that Salvini had done so because the League was riding high in the opinion polls with 38%, compared to 17% in the March 2018 general election, whereas the M5S’s support has slipped from 33% to 16%.
Di Maio said the M5S, the biggest parliamentary group, would vote against the no confidence motion in Conte on August 20, spelling its probable failure since the second-biggest group, the centre-left opposition Democratic Party (PD), is also expected to vote against it.
That would leave President Sergio Mattarella, the arbiter of the government crisis, in a quandary.
He may try to appoint a PD-M5S caretaker government if those parties can iron out their own apparently irreconcilable policy differences.
An M5S-PD alliance faces strong internal opposition from many in both paries.
Di Maio and PD leader Nicola Zingaretti have thus far not said anything in public about such a possible tie-up, although former PD leader and ex-PD leader Matteo Renzi, still a force in the party, has come out in favour of it.
On Friday Renzi said the PD should wait and see what the M5S does after Salvini “offered Di Maio everything” after allegedly becoming “really scared” of the government crisis he triggered.
“Everything is great and also absurd,” said Renzi on Facebook.
“I’ve never seen a (government) crisis managed like this. If it weren’t a serious thing it would be laughable! “Salvini feels his post slipping away and realises that only with power can he still have a (brief) future. The captain is really scared. And so he offers everything to Di Maio. Scenarios that put the soccer transfer market in the shade.
“Now we’ll see what the M5S will do: anything can really happen.
“We have only one lodestar: respecting the institutions. Only that”.
Zingaretti said the PD would verify a new majority with President Mattarella alone and was not in favour of “any hypothesis of a botched together and short-lived government”, born out of the fear of a general election.
Sources at his office said the PD was not interested in “little governments just to pass the budget” but only in “high-profile” ones “to give Italy hope”.
“Let’s prepare for the vote if Salvini and Di Maio take us to the polls,” they added.
“We will verify the conditions for another majority with President Mattarella”, they said.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Drunken Man Arrested After Trying to Kidnap Female Babies
Arrested in recent months for harassing woman train conductor
(ANSA) — Bologna, August 14 — A drunken 38-year-old man of Indian origins was arrested Monday in Forlì after trying to kidnap two infants from their strollers. In one of the cases, the man tried to grab the 11-month-old from her stroller and caused her to fall to the ground when her father reacted to the attempt immediately.
The infant girl suffering minor bruising. Police on patrol noticed the commotion ensuing and detained the man shortly thereafter. They later found that he had tried to do the same with a 4-month-old infant in a shop. In recent months the man had been arrested after severely harassing a female train conductor.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: New Majority Must be Explored, Says PD House Whip
M5S with League unlikely, ‘don’t think they are suicidal’
(ANSA) — Rome, August 14 — In order to get past the current government crisis, there is the need to weigh alternative majorities, Democratic Party (PD) House Whip Graziano Delrio said Wednesday.
“In a parliamentary democracy,” he said in an interview published by the Italian daily Corriere della Sera, “if there is a government crisis, then there is the possibility also for the same parliament to ensure alternative majorities. Otherwise you vote.” He added that management of crises is, “luckily, the task of the head of state”. Delrio noted that Interior Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini “was the true creator of the disasters of the coalition government” between the Five Star Movement (M5S) and the League. “He was the main one, very much more than (Prime Minister Giuseppe) Conte or (Deputy Prime Minister and M5S leader Luigi) Di Maio,” he added, noting that he thinks that any return of the same coalition is highly unlikely. The crisis “came into being because Salvini brought it into being, officially. You cannot go back from here. And I do not thank that M5S want to commit suicide.” On the possibility of creating a PD-M5S government, he said that he had never been against the idea of “assessing agreement on political programs”. An agreement, however, “seems very complicated to me and, if there is one, it will be based on what is best for Italians. And it will certainly not be made at any cost”, he added.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Populists Declare Salvini a ‘Traitor’ as Government Collapse Looms
Italy’s populist Five Star Movement (M5S) held a summit on Sunday to attempt to set a course for the future as their coalition with the far-right League party appeared dead in the water. Although the party was divided on a number of issues, one thing was clear after the meeting: The M5S does not want to work with League party leader Matteo Salvini ever again.
As one M5S member told Italian daily Corriere della Sera, it was mostly Salvini, and not the League that had the government on the brink of collapse. “After the mistakes he made, we can no longer speak with Salvini. Too bad, because there are other possible partners within the League.”
[Comment: Looks like that Savini’s party will overtake the Five Star Movement in the next election.]
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
London police were alerted to allegations Jeffrey Epstein was trafficking minors to the United Kingdom for sex, but they declined to conduct a “full investigation” and “the matter was closed”.
Peter Saunders, of the National Association for People Abused in Childhood, said papers originally lodged in the United States led him to believe “there almost certainly were probably British victims [of trafficking] here” and that he forwarded the relevant documentation to New Scotland Yard, according to an investigation by Channel 4 News.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Macron Govt Claims it Doesn’t Know Why Suicides Are Rising Among French Police
Three riot police officers, a police commander, a police academy teacher — all are among eight French police officers who have killed themselves recently. That makes 64 so far this year — and the number just keeps on climbing.
Deaths by suicide for French police now outnumber deaths in the line of duty. The protectors need protecting, say police unions, which are demanding more help to stop the problem.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Maltese Bishop Says it ‘Pains Him’ to See Salvini Holding a Rosary
ROME — The bishop of Gozo, Malta, said this week that it “pains him” to watch Italian interior minister Matteo Salvini holding rosary beads while calling for a stop to the “Islamic invasion.”
Speaking on Catholic radio on Saturday, Bishop Mario Grech alleged that “people who use Christian beliefs to bolster populism are manipulators,” the Times of Malta reported.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
The EU’s Latest Assault on Internet Freedom, Soon Online Speech Will be Regulated by Brussels
As things stand, what you can and cannot say on the internet is largely a matter for national law, decided by national parliaments. This means that every nation in Europe currently has different laws and practices.
But the EU has quietly been moving to change this. Take last year’s Copyright Directive, which more or less demands the introduction of automated content filters on social-media platforms. And last month, it became clear that an impatient Brussels wants to turbocharge this process by bringing internet regulation to the EU level, where it can pull the necessary strings.
The EU Digital Services Act sounds innocent on the surface. It is ostensibly aimed (in Euro-speak) at enhancing the so-called Digital Single Market by harmonising national laws and removing competitive barriers. Member states have not yet been consulted or made aware of any specific proposals in the Act. But thanks to the leak of an internal briefing to the Digital Single Market steering group, obtained German digital freedom activists Netzpolitik, we can see what Brussels has planned.
One of the EU’s key concerns, as the briefing makes clear, is the lack of EU-wide rules and regulations covering what people can see and say online. The fight against online hate speech, for example, is said to be ‘expensive and inefficient across the Single Market’. There are also no EU-wide rules on online advertising, nor does the EU have oversight of online services as a whole.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Corbyn’s Please Make Me “Temporary PM” Scheme Fails
The Liberal Democrats and key Tories both rejected Corbyn’s scheme to make him a caretaker PM to stop Brexit.
Two days ago I noted Corbyn Seeks to Stop Brexit Via “Make Me Temporary PM” Pretty Please Offer.
My ending comment was “There is little chance Corbyn’s ‘Make Me PM Pretty Please’motion does anything but fall flat on its face. But if by some miracle it passed, I expect Johnson would refuse to resign until October 31. Happy Halloween.”
Well, that did not take long.
The Guardian reports No-deal Brexit edges closer as key Tories refuse to back Corbyn
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Ex-Brexit Secretary David Davis: Hammond’s Treasury ‘Actively Prevented Preparation’ For Brexit
Philip Hammond, the Remain voter who ran Britain’s finance ministry throughout Theresa May’s premiership, “actively prevented preparation” for a No Deal Brexit, according to the country’s first Brexit Secretary.
According to David Davis, the inaugural Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union who walked away from his department over Mrs May’s Chequers strategy for a negotiated settlement with the EU, allegedly pieced together behind his back, ‘Remainer Phil’ tried to use his former position as Chancellor of the Exchequer to make No Deal unviable, by sabotaging efforts to prepare for it.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
A GCSE pupil was disqualified after examiners mistook her vegetarian views on Halal meat for Islamophobia.
Abigail Ward, 16, who attends Gildredge House school in Eastbourne, East Sussex, was told by exam board OCR that she had made ‘obscene racial comments’ while answering her Religious Studies exam in June.
On the subject of halal butchers, the student had written, ‘…which I find absolutely disgusting.’
In an appeal, her school explained that her comment was in relation to her vegetarian beliefs, not her opinions on Muslims.
Her mother, Layla Ward, said the examiner has been ‘over-zealous, over-righteous’.
Speaking to The Sunday Telegraph, the 36-year-old said the family were shocked by the decision to disqualify her daughter, and the exam board has since been overturned the decision.
She said: ‘Abbey is an animal lover and a very strict vegetarian.
‘It made me angry … when asked a question in the exam, you can’t even express your feelings.
‘It’s great that it has been overturned, but it should never have happened.’ …
| — Hat tip: DR | [Return to headlines] |
Rashida Tlaib’s Delightful Grandmother Speaks Out on Trump: “May Allah Ruin Him”
Rashida Tlaib’s Muslim grandmother, who was preparing to slaughter a sheep to celebrate her granddaughter’s taxpayer-funded visit, is striking back.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Why Israel Made the Right Move With Omar and Tlaib
Omar and Tlaib both support the BDS movement and voted against a bill, passed in the House of Representatives 398-17, that condemned BDS. The BDS movement is anti-Semitic as it applies a double standard to Israel, the only state for the Jews. BDS activists, including cofounder Omar Barghouti, have frequently asserted that the intention of the BDS movement is not to force Israel to leave Judea and Samaria (commonly referred to as the “West Bank”), nor is it to promote a two-state solution, but to bring about the destruction of Israel itself.
True, after Israel’s initial refusal to let Omar and Tlaib into the country, Tlaib later promised not to promote the boycott of Israel if she were allowed to see her grandmother. Israel approved her request. But Tlaib flipped, calling the terms “oppressive” and intended to “humiliate” her. This duplicity further highlighted Tlaib’s true malicious intentions toward the Jewish state.
Contrary to what Omar would like you to believe, Israel’s decision to deny entry to Omar and Tlaib is not a “Muslim ban.” Over 72,000 Muslims visited Israel last year, most of which are from countries that have no diplomatic relations with the Jewish State. Given the incessant diplomatic, trade, and cultural boycott of Israel from most of the Muslim world, this number is quite impressive and shows a growing number of Muslims willing to break from the hatred of their co-religionists. Some of the higher profile Muslim visits to Israel included:
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Could This be the Year of Persian Poetry?
Whatever you may think of Iran, you are likely to acknowledge it as one of the oldest homelands of poetry. Any list of top poets from all over the world is likely to include at least one or two Persian names — say Omar Khayyam or Molavi (Rumi). Goethe believed that poetry has reached its peak of beauty with Hafez of Shiraz.
I know of only two countries, Iran and Russia, where poetry still finds a mass audience and poets could attain celebrity status.
Ask any Iranian who the persons they most admire are and you are likely to hear a list of poets — from Ferdowsi and Saadi centuries ago to Iraj Mirza and Forugh Farrokhzad more recently. For the average Iranian, the poet is not only a creator of beauty but also the guardian of the nation’s conscience. Iran is one of few countries in the world where the list of celebrities at any given time includes a number of poets and where poetry recitals draw crowds that compete with those of pop-music concerts.
Because of that deference to, not to say reverence for, poetry, Iranian poets often managed to escape the worst effects of repression during centuries of despotic rule. No autocrat, no potentate, dared send a poet to prison, let alone have him killed.
Yet, that time-honored tradition has been broken by Iran’s current “Islamic” regime created by the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in 1979.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
The Extinction of Christians in the Middle East
Convert, pay or die. Five years ago, that was the “choice” the Islamic State (ISIS) gave to Christians in Mosul, then Iraq’s third-largest city: either embrace Islam, submit to a religious tax or face the sword. ISIS then marked Christian houses with the Arabic letter ن (N), the first letter of the Arabic word “Nasrani” (“Nazarene,” or “Christian”) . Christians could often take no more than the clothes on their back and flee a city that had been home to Christians for 1,700 years.
Two years ago, ISIS was defeated in Mosul and its Caliphate crushed. The extremists, however, had succeeded in “cleansing” the Christians. Before the rise of ISIS, there were more than 15,000 Christians there. In July 2019, the Catholic charity, Aid to the Church in Need, disclosed that only about 40 Christians have come back. Not long ago, Mosul had “Christmas celebrations without Christians”.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Joy Turns to Horror as ISIS Bomber Kills 63 at Kabul Wedding
Joy and celebration turned into horror and carnage when an Islamic State suicide bomber targeted a packed Afghan wedding hall, killing at least 63 people in the deadliest attack to rock Kabul in months, officials and witnesses said Sunday.
The massive blast, which took place late Saturday in west Kabul, came as Washington and the Taliban finalise a deal to reduce the US military presence in Afghanistan and hopefully build a roadmap to a ceasefire.
The groom recalled greeting smiling guests in the afternoon, before seeing their bodies being carried out hours later.
The attack “changed my happiness to sorrow”, the young man, who gave his name as Mirwais, told local TV station Tolo News.
“My family, my bride are in shock, they cannot even speak. My bride keeps fainting,” he said.
“I lost my brother, I lost my friends, I lost my relatives. I will never see happiness in my life again.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Kashmir ‘Definitely a Nuclear Flashpoint, ‘ Pakistan Armed Forces Spokesman Warns
Territorial dispute between India and Pakistan reaches critical phase
Tensions between Pakistan and India over the disputed territory of Kashmir could spark a nuclear conflict, Pakistan’s military spokesman said. The warning comes amid reports of more fighting along the Line of Control between them.
“Kashmir is definitely a nuclear flashpoint,” Major General Asif Ghafoor, chief spokesperson of the Pakistan Armed Forces, said on Saturday. He added that Pakistani armed troops are ready to repel any time, describing the dispute as a long-term struggle.
Ghafoor’s remark comes just hours after reports of another fatal exchange of fire along Kashmir’s Line of Control (LoC). An Indian soldier is said to have been killed in the skirmish, in what Indian media have called an unprovoked ceasefire violation from the Pakistani side.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Left Fuels Nuclear Hostilities in Kashmir
The leftist media, backed by the marching orders of the United Nations is waging a propaganda campaign against India’s hard fought claim to the region of Kashmir. Conflict dominated the region for decades as India and Pakistan fought over its ownership. The stalemate reached during the ceasefire negotiated by the United Nations in 1965 gradually resulted in the slow rollout of a full blown exodus of Hindus, Christians and Buddhists. As China backed the Muslim takeover of the north of India. Now Pakistan and India, both nuclear weaponized countries, are rattling their sabers toward war.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Hong Kong Activist Urges Christians to Take ‘Major Role’ In Protests
A popular student leader said Catholics and other Christians should take a more visible role in protests against the government’s plans to allow extradition to mainland China.
“For this movement, it’s a great chance for the Catholics and [other] Christians to cooperate with each other,” said Edwin Chow, acting president of the Hong Kong Federation of Catholic Students
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Hong Kong Demonstration Draws Crowd of More Than 1.7 Million Against Government Orders
Hong Kong protest organizer Civil Human Rights Front estimates more than 1.7 million people gathered in the rain Sunday for the city’s 11th consecutive week of demonstrations.
Government officials told protesters to stay in Victoria Park, but the large, pro-democracy crowd eventually took to the streets to protest an extradition bill that would allow suspected criminals in Hong Kong to be tried in China, the South China Morning Post reported.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Lessons of Hong Kong the West’s Guiding Light Has Dimmed
In Hong Kong, protesters are courageously fighting for democracy, rule of law and human rights — values that the West used to promote. But not anymore, showing just how dramatically the world order has changed.
A DER SPIEGEL Editorial by Dirk Kurbjuweit
They want what the Germans, French, British and Americans already have: democracy, rule of law, human rights. And they are fighting for it, courageously, tirelessly. Although they live in far-away Hong Kong, their cause is the Western one. They likely won’t be able to pull it off alone. But who will help them?
If, to quote the historian Heinrich August Winkler, the “normative project of the West” still existed, Western countries would be expected to provide significant support to the protesters. The French and American revolutionaries of the late 18th century were the first to establish democracy, the rule of law and human rights, even if only partially or temporarily. But it spurred the notion that Western values should be a guiding norm — both inwardly and outwardly.
But those wishing to assert values outwardly need power — the hard power of arms and economy and, in this case, also the soft power of being a good role model. The West, though, isn’t doing particularly well in either of those areas…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Red Alert! Insider Raises Alarm on Google’s AI Project in China
Big Tech’s alliance with ChiComs exposed.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
ICE Arrests Illegal Immigrant Accused of Rape 2 Months After He Was Released on Bond
A North Carolina sheriff has been accused by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials of ignoring an ICE detainer in the case of an illegal immigrant who was captured this month — two months after he was released on bond in a rape case.
“By releasing a previously deported alien facing serious criminal charges, Mecklenburg County chose to release a serious public safety threat onto the streets of Charlotte where he was free to potentially harm others for nearly two months until his capture by ICE,” the agency officials said Friday.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: TAR Lifts NGO Migrant Rescue Ship Entry Ban Irking Salvini
Open Arms heading for nearest safe port
(ANSA) — Rome, August 14 — The regional administrative court (TAR) of Lazio on Wednesday lifted a ban on NGO migrant rescue ship Open Arms entering Italian waters, sparking the ire of Interior Minister and anti-migrant League leader Matteo Salvini who is enforcing a closed ports policy.
The TAR said the NGO’s contention that Salvini’s policy breached international rescue norms was “not unfounded”.
The decision was announced by the Spanish NGO.
It said it was now heading for the closest safe port to safeguard the rights of the 147 migrants on board who have been on board for 13 days since being picked up off Libya.
The TAR cited in its ruling the “situation of exceptional gravity and urgency” aboard the ship after viewing medical and psychological reports.
Premier Giuseppe Conte wrote a letter to Salvini Wednesday morning urging him to let minors from the Open Arms land.
Salvini reacted by saying he would sign an order again banning the Open Arms from landing its migrants in Italy.
“In the next few hours I will sign my No because I don’t want to be an accomplice of migrant traffickers,” he said.
“Tell me if it isn’t a strange country where a a Spanish ship in Maltese waters can resort to an administrative court to ask to land in Italy.
“There is a plan to go backwards in time and reopen Italian ports, to turn our country into Europe’s refugee camp.
“But I’m not going back in time”.
Salvini also said no to a possible “unnatural pact” between former ally the 5-Star Movement (M5S) and the centre-left opposition Democratic Party (PD) to reopen Italy’s ports to NGO migrant rescue ships.
“We will be careful over the coming days that an unnatural alliance is not created in Rome, a couple against nature between the PD and the 5 Stars, between (ex-premier and former PD leader Matteo) Renzi and (M5S founder and comic Beppe) Grillo, to reopen Italian ports,” he said.
“We will try to oppose with all energy we have in our bodies so that decent people arrive in Italy, but we can send back home the too many criminals that the Left has allowed in”.
Salvini sparked a government crisis last week by filing a no confidence motion in Conte after a dramatic split with the M5S on votes on a highspeed rail line between Turin and Lyon.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Libyan Navy Says More Than 300 Migrants Rescued
Tripoli (AFP) — The Libyan navy said Sunday 335 migrants had been rescued and one body recovered in separate operations off the coast, as they tried to cross the Mediterranean to reach Europe.
Nine children were among 57 migrants in a wooden boat rescued Saturday about 40 nautical miles from the town of Zuwara, west of Tripoli, navy spokesman General Ayoub Kacem told AFP.
He said they were from Ethiopia and Egypt.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden: Uzbek Migrant Celebrated as a Model Integrationist Arrested on Suspicion of Terrorism
On Wednesday, an Uzbek migrant was arrested by authorities Östersund, Sweden on the suspicion that he was about to commit a terrorist act.
At one point, the Uzbek migrant was held up as a shining example of migrant integration by a local Swedish newspaper, according to Nyheter Idag.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
The Latest: Slovakia Police Detain 30 Migrants
ROME (AP) — The Latest on migration issues in Europe (all times local):
8 p.m.
Slovakia police say they have detained a group of 30 migrants who attempted to get to the country from neighboring Hungary hidden under a freight train.
Police say 18 migrants from Afghanistan were detained in the southern border station of Sturovo. They were traveling from Hungary under the carriages.
Police say another group of 12 was detained later when they continued their journey by foot. No further details have been immediately provided.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
“They haven’t studied the issue.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
A Sudanese migrant who came to the UK four years ago has been jailed for the savage murder of a young woman who refused to have sex with him.
On Thursday, a British court sentenced 29-year-old Karar Ali Karar to life in prison after he plead guilty to the murder of 21-year-old Jodi Miller in Leeds in February after the young woman had refused his sexual advances.
According to the Metro, the military-aged Sudanese migrant stabbed Jodi with a kitchen knife 15 times in a manner so violent that the knife he used broke into three pieces.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Bernie Sanders Vows to Go to ‘War With White Nationalism and Racism’ As President
Saturday at the Young Leader’s Conference in Atlanta, 2020 presidential hopeful, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) pledged to go to war against white nationalism and racism if he wins the presidency.
[Comment: Translation:”I’ll will be acting as in the days of the glorious Soviet. Patriots, Christians, Republicans, white males, and political opponents will be tossed in Lubyanka, oops I mean jail.” The label “white nationalist” would include Trump and all his supporters. The Democrat party is a full blown Communist party.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Cher Spreads Fake News to Declare Trump ‘More Than a White Supremacist’
Left-wing pop icon Cher took to social media over the weekend and cited a smear from MSNBC host Rachel Maddow. Cher then declared that President Donald Trump’s “actions and his rhetoric” leave her wondering “How can Trump be president of America.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
College Settles Anti-Male Bias Lawsuit Rather Than Face a Jury
One of the longest-running Title IX lawsuits stemming from the Obama administration’s “Dear Colleague” sexual-misconduct guidance has settled.
A federal judge ruled last month that a jury would decide whether Grinnell College violated an accused male student’s Title IX rights and breached his contract by treating him differently than his female accusers.
That apparently prompted the Iowa liberal arts college to settle with “John Doe.” A joint notice of settlement published Friday says they plan to file a stipulation of dismissal next week, preempting the jury trial scheduled to start Sept. 16.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Foreign Policy Goes Into Propaganda Overdrive: ‘White Supremacists Want a Nuclear Weapon’
The media is recycling the same propaganda they used to lie us into the war in Iraq but now they’ve replaced Saddam Hussein with “white supremacists” as the new terror threat on the brink of killing us all.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Liberal U.S. Nuns Rebuke President Trump for ‘Divisive’ Rhetoric
A group representing leftward-leaning Catholic nuns in America has issued a rebuke to President Trump, urging him to “end all divisive and polarising rhetoric.”
The group, called the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR), has distinguished itself over the years for its own “divisive and polarizing rhetoric,” sponsoring initiatives such as Nuns on the Bus, and with members calling for ordination of women to the priesthood and a softer approach to abortion.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Social Justice’ Majors, Courses, Events Are New Norm on College Campuses
Social justice majors and other social justice-themed activities are becoming an increasingly regular occurrence on college campuses.
But it’s not just on college campuses. As recently reported by Campus Reform, the University of Michigan School of Education is partnering with a local Detroit school district to open a social justice high school. Now that social justice education is expanding beyond college campuses, Campus Reform takes a look at other social justice initiatives.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Newly Discovered Organ May be Lurking Under Your Skin
Identified in mice, the simple organ most likely exists in humans, too, offering fresh insight into how we experience painful pressure and pricks.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
British ISIS Fighter ‘Jihadi Jack’ Who Fled to Syria is ‘Stripped of UK Citizenship’
Merkel’s Canadian girlfriend with the technicolour fingernails, false eyebrows and pouty effeminate mannerisms is said to be apoplectic about this but Ze is not long for the political scene anyway. They have an election coming up over there and the girly boy is facing serious charges of misconduct (corruption) in public office. We’ll talk trade, defence and technical co-operation with its successor – no rush.