Gates of Vienna News Feed 12/29/2019

A man named Grafton Thomas attacked a Hanukah celebration in New York City with a machete, wounding at least five people. Meanwhile, a gunman entered a church in Texas, shooting one person dead and wounding another before being shot dead by a congregant.

In other news, a suicide bomber blew his vehicle up in Mogadishu, killing at least ninety people.

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

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

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

Caveat: Articles in the news feed are posted “as is”. Gates of Vienna cannot vouch for the authenticity or accuracy of the contents of any individual item posted here. 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.

Financial Crisis
» A “Market” Crash is Baked in — Here’s Why
» Bank of America: Trend for 2020s Will be the “End of Globalization”
 
USA
» “Any Answers Nancy?”: Trump Suggests Pelosi Has Her Own Ukrainian Corruption Scandal
» An American Oligarch’s Dirty Tale of Corruption
» GOP Demands Apology After Liberal PAC Features ‘Regretful’ Trump Voter Who Didn’t Vote in 2016
» Grafton Thomas, Monsey Stabbing Suspect, Was Covered in Blood When Caught
» Kentucky’s Muslim Population Prepares for First-Ever Muslim Day at the State Capitol
» ‘Mass Stabbing’ At Jewish Hannukah Celebration in New York, At Least 5 Injured
» Monsey Stabbing Suspect Grafton Thomas May be Linked to Earlier Synagogue Attack
» NYPD Investigating 9th Anti-Semitic Attack Reported This Week
» Suspect Held After Five Stabbed at Hanukkah Celebration in New York Suburb
» The ‘Guardian Angels’ Are Back to Patrol Crown Heights
» Top Google Whistleblower’s Wife Dies in Tragic Car Crash
» Twitter Scrubs Viral Trump Retweet of Alleged Hoaxblower’s Name; Blames Glitch Before Banning User
» Two Dead in Texas Church Shooting, Highlighting the Need for Good Guys With Guns in Places of Worship
» Veterinarian Says the Impossible Whopper ‘Will Make Men Grow Breasts Because of Soy Proteins’
» Woman Hears Glass Shatter, Shoots Burglary Suspect Dead
» Yale Psychiatrist Who ‘Diagnosed’ Trump as Unfit Has Dirty Secret That’s Just Been Exposed
 
Canada
» “Mr. Opoku, Have You Apologized to the Victims?” Toronto’s Alleged Feces Flinger Back in Court
» Albertans Feel Worse Off, Spend Less: Poll
» Over 100 Pigs Stolen From Ontario Farm
 
Europe and the EU
» Anti-Macron Yellow Vests Protests Continue Unabated in France
» Crowdfunding and Solidarity: How French Rail Workers Sustain a Record-Long Strike
» Farage: Boris Needs to be Tough in the Coming Negotiations, But Britain is Now Heading in the Right Direction
» France: Nativity Play in Toulouse Attacked by Far-Left, Anti-Christian Mob
» German Public Television Apologizes After Telling Children to Sing a Song Calling Their Grandma a Pig
» Italy: Rome Cuts Ties With Cartoonist Over EU, Auschwitz Strip
» No Let Up in France’s Travel Turmoil as Railway Strikes Become Longest in Recent History
» UK: BBC a ‘Secular Church’ That ‘Preaches’ On Climate Change, Against Brexit: Guest Editor
 
North Africa
» No More Bomb Sniffing Dogs Sent to Muslim Countries
 
Middle East
» Caroline Glick: Iran’s Undivided and Indivisible Regime
» Turkey Launches Submarines, As Eastern Mediterranean Tensions Pile Up
» USAF is Spending Millions to Upgrade Turkey Bases Amid Turkish Threats to Kick Them Out
 
South Asia
» India’s Capital Delhi Suffers ‘Coldest December Since 1901’
» PM Khan’s Handicapped Foreign Policy Ambitions
 
Far East
» Hong Kong Christian Denounces China’s ‘War on Christmas’
» Taiwan President Channels HK Protests in Appeal for Votes: ‘Don’t Believe the Communists’
 
Australia — Pacific
» No Way Out: More Than 30,000 Tourists Who Defied Orders to Cut Their Holidays Short and Leave East Gippsland as Raging Bushfires Close in Are Now ‘Trapped’ By Flames and it’s Too Late for Them to Leave, Fire Chief Says
 
Sub-Saharan Africa
» Nigeria’s Almajiri Children: Abused, Abandoned and Brainwashed
» Pope Francis Condemns ‘Horrible Terrorist Attack’ In Somalia
» Suicide Bomber Slays at Least 90 in Somalia Attack
 
Immigration
» Pregnant Woman is Among Dozens of Migrants Rescued From English Channel as at Least Three Trafficking Boats Are Intercepted by Border Force Guards
 
Culture Wars
» Delingpole: The 2010s Were the Twilight of the Elites
» Marketwatch: Electric Cars and Vegetarianism ‘Pointless Virtue Signaling’ Against Climate Change
» Net: ‘The World is on Fire’ Because… Climate Change
 
General
» UN Moves Towards Handing Dictatorships Power to Control the Internet
 

A “Market” Crash is Baked in — Here’s Why

Few look at markets as obeying systems-level dynamics that have little to do with “news” or conventional metrics. The media makes money by reporting every tiny change in mood, metrics, rumors, etc. as if these drive markets. But we all know that the reality is much simpler: The Federal Reserve is the “market.”

In other words, the “market” is no longer a functioning (real) market; it is a central-planning signaling utility of the Fed and other central banks. This hollowing-out of the real market in favor of a central-planning, top-down controlled “market” destroys the system-level functions of markets.

If you want a refresher on the legitimate functions of a market, please read The White Man’s Burden: Why the West’s Efforts to Aid the Rest Have Done So Much Ill and So Little Good, which explains why all the hundreds of billions of dollars of top-down, central-planning “aid” to impoverished nations has failed, enriching kleptocrats and autocratic regimes while assuaging the guilt of the poverty-pimps in the IMF, UN, and all the philanthro-capitalist foundations.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Bank of America: Trend for 2020s Will be the “End of Globalization”

Bank of America says that one of the dominant trends for the 2020s will be the “end of globalization” as countries increasingly realize that the phenomenon has brought unsustainable “social disruption.”

In a report mapping out what to expect over the next decade, BofA analysts said that largely unchecked globalization, which ran roughly from 1981-2016, “is coming to an end.”

This change will take place due to “the widespread recognition that while globalization has meant lower consumer prices, it has also meant slower growth, precarious employment and social disruption.”

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

“Any Answers Nancy?”: Trump Suggests Pelosi Has Her Own Ukrainian Corruption Scandal

“Wow Crazy Nancy, what’s going on? This is big stuff!”

President Trump pressed Nancy Pelosi Sunday to respond to reports suggesting that she may be involved in her own Ukrainian corruption scandal, while pushing to impeach Trump for much more innocuous involvement with the East European nation.

A report by conservative network One American News Network caught Trump’s eye over the weekend, prompting him to tweet “Wow Crazy Nancy, what’s going on? This is big stuff!”

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

An American Oligarch’s Dirty Tale of Corruption

Rarely does the world get a true look inside the corrupt world of Western oligarchs and the brazen manipulations they use to enhance their fortunes at the expense of the public good.

The following comes from correspondence of the Hungarian-born billionaire, now naturalized American speculator, George Soros. The hacker group CyberBerkut has published online letters allegedly written by Soros that reveal him not only as puppet master of the US-backed Ukraine regime.

They also reveal his machinations with the US Government and the officials of the European Union in a scheme where, if he succeeds, he could win billions in the plunder of Ukraine assets. All, of course, would be at the expense of Ukrainian citizens and of EU taxpayers.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

GOP Demands Apology After Liberal PAC Features ‘Regretful’ Trump Voter Who Didn’t Vote in 2016

An allegedly regretful Trump voter in Pennsylvania, highlighted in videos by a Democratic political action committee and by The New York Times, never actually voted in 2016.

News organization JET 24, an ABC affiliate, found after checking county voting records that Mark Grahamof Erie County, Pennsylvania, did not vote in the presidential election three years ago.

Mr. Graham is featured in videos funded by America Bridge, a Democratic PAC, as part of a $5 million advertising campaign in the battleground states of Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan.

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

Grafton Thomas, Monsey Stabbing Suspect, Was Covered in Blood When Caught

The suspect in a machete attack on Jewish worshipers celebrating Hanukkah was ordered held on $5 million bail after a prosecutor alleged Sunday that he was found covered in blood by the NYPD cops who arrested him in Harlem.

Grafton Thomas, 38, is also suspected of trying to cover up his alleged Saturday night rampage in suburban Monsey by dousing himself with bleach, Rockland County Assistant District Attorney Michael Dugandzic said in court.

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

Kentucky’s Muslim Population Prepares for First-Ever Muslim Day at the State Capitol

Kentucky’s Muslim community will gather in Frankfort next month for the inaugural Muslim Day at the state capitol.

Muslims from all over the state will tour the building on January 22, meet with legislators, pray in the Rotunda, and receive training on how to advocate for issues affecting the Muslim community.

Waheeda Muhammad, chair of the Kentucky chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations, said one of the goals of the event is to clear up misconceptions about the Islamic faith.

“One thing that really helps is for people to know a Muslim one-on-one, and that’s part of encouraging Muslims to get out, to be involved in society, because if people know you personally, that’s their image of Islam,” Muhammad told WKU Public Radio.

She says the event will encourage Muslims to get involved in government, including running for office.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

‘Mass Stabbing’ At Jewish Hannukah Celebration in New York, At Least 5 Injured

One of the victims was stabbed at least 6 times.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Monsey Stabbing Suspect Grafton Thomas May be Linked to Earlier Synagogue Attack

Authorities are investigating whether Grafton Thomas, the man charged in a machete attack on Hanukkah celebrants in Monsey, is tied to a recent stabbing near a village synagogue, a law-enforcement official told The Post on Sunday.

Details of the incident under investigation were unclear, but a 30-year man was beaten and repeatedly knifed while walking to the Mosdos Meharam Brisk Tashnad religious center in Monsey around 5:30 a.m. on Nov. 20, the Journal News reported at the time.

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

NYPD Investigating 9th Anti-Semitic Attack Reported This Week

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — New information was released Saturday morning about another anti-Semitic incident in Brooklyn.

It follows a series of anti-Semitic attacks this week and an increase in overall hate crimes around the city.

Mayor Bill de Blasio said that acts of hate shouldn’t be belittled or explained away when he toured the Chabad World Headquarters in Brooklyn on Friday.

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

Suspect Held After Five Stabbed at Hanukkah Celebration in New York Suburb

A Hanukkah celebration in a New York suburb turned into horror late Saturday night after a man entered and began stabbing people, witnesses say. Five victims were taken to nearby hospitals, according to police.

The Orthodox Jewish Public Affairs Council for the Hudson Valley Region said in a tweet victims inside the Monsey residence were Hasidic Jews. Two people are in critical condition, co-founder of the council, Yossi Gestetner, told CNN.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has since called the stabbing attack at the rabbi’s home an “act of domestic terrorism.”

“Let’s call it what it is: these people are domestic terrorists.” Watch:…

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

The ‘Guardian Angels’ Are Back to Patrol Crown Heights

The unarmed crime-prevention group Guardian Angels, who have fought crime in New York City since their founding in 1979, have resumed their patrol of Crown Heights following a series of anti-Semitic attacks.

Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa and his iconic red-clothed members were seen on Eastern Parkway on Sunday morning stating they will also be patrolling the Jewish neighborhoods of Williamsburg and Boro Park.

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

Top Google Whistleblower’s Wife Dies in Tragic Car Crash

Dr. Robert Epstein exposed Google’s 2016 and 2018 election meddling.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Twitter Scrubs Viral Trump Retweet of Alleged Hoaxblower’s Name; Blames Glitch Before Banning User

Twitter blamed a computer glitch after President Trump’s retweet of a post containing the name alleged whistleblower Eric Ciaramella mysteriously disappeared from his timeline. After ‘fixing’ the issue and restoring the retweet, the user was simply banned from the platform so that nobody could see the tweet, which quickly went viral.

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

Two Dead in Texas Church Shooting, Highlighting the Need for Good Guys With Guns in Places of Worship

Two people are dead and another is in critical condition after a Sunday morning shooting at a church in White Settlement, Texas. The shooter is reportedly one of the deceased.

The attack happened at around 11 a.m. local time at the West Freeway Church of Christ, according to reports.

A witness told CBS 11 News the gunman walked up to a server during communion with a shotgun and then opened fire. According to the witness, another church member — identified as a former FBI agent and part of the church’s security — shot the suspect.

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

Veterinarian Says the Impossible Whopper ‘Will Make Men Grow Breasts Because of Soy Proteins’

Dr. James Stangle of Milesville, South Dakota, suggested that Burger King’s plant-based Impossible Whopper has enough estrogen from soy proteins for men to grow breasts.

           — Hat tip: SS [Return to headlines]
 

Woman Hears Glass Shatter, Shoots Burglary Suspect Dead

A Las Vegas homeowner shot and killed a burglary suspect Saturday after hearing glass shatter and then allegedly being confronted by the suspect.

8NewsNow reports that the “woman called police around 11:15 a.m. to report a man who broke into her home.” The woman first heard a knock on her door but did not answer. Thereafter she heard the sound of glass shattering and was soon confronted in her bedroom by the suspect.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Yale Psychiatrist Who ‘Diagnosed’ Trump as Unfit Has Dirty Secret That’s Just Been Exposed

Desperate liberal politicians found a comrade in Dr. Lee, who has not only repeatedly diagnosed Trump in television and newspaper interviews but also published a New York Times bestseller titled The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump: 27 Psychiatrists and Mental Health Experts Assess the President. However, Dr. Lee’s 15 minutes of fame are quickly backfiring now that the truth about her “diagnosis” has come out.

After openly diagnosing Trump in multiple interviews, Dr. Lee has been accused of violating “the Goldwater Rule,” in which the American Psychiatric Association (APA) declared it “unethical for a psychiatrist to offer a professional opinion” on a public figure for whom they have neither given a face-to-face examination nor received legal consent to disclose said patient’s medical information, according to the Los Angeles Times.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

“Mr. Opoku, Have You Apologized to the Victims?” Toronto’s Alleged Feces Flinger Back in Court

Confronting Samuel Opoku: Thanks to yet another publication ban regarding the nitty-gritty details pertaining to alleged feces-tosser Samuel Opoku, we are limited in what we can report in terms of what is actually said in court.

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

Albertans Feel Worse Off, Spend Less: Poll

A new Ipsos poll shows Albertans are feeling worse off than before, and are spending less than any other Canadian province.

According to Global News, 28 percent of Canadians said they were spending less than before; the number in Alberta was 38 percent.

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

Over 100 Pigs Stolen From Ontario Farm

A whole lot of pigs have been stolen.

According to the Ontario Provincial Police, 130 pigs have been reported stolen from Southwest Oxford Township.

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

Anti-Macron Yellow Vests Protests Continue Unabated in France

Although it’s not exactly considered frontpage news by the leftist mainstream media, the so-called Yellow Vests continue to protest every single weekend against President Macron’s horrendous policies. Don’t believe me? Well, just watch this rather inspiring video.

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

Crowdfunding and Solidarity: How French Rail Workers Sustain a Record-Long Strike

Now in their 25th day, France’s nationwide strikes against the government’s pension reform plans are the longest in more than 30 years. How are strikers coping after nearly four weeks without pay?

On the eve of the New Year, the strikes led by French rail and transport workers are poised to become the longest of their kind in the country’s history. The last time workers at the national rail company SNCF went on strike for this long was in December 1986. That walkout, too, spanned the winter holidays: Employees returned to work only on January 15, 1987, after a full 28 days off the job.

With no retreat in sight from either the government or the unions, today’s strikes could soon beat that record, forcing strikers to find creative ways to cope.

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

Farage: Boris Needs to be Tough in the Coming Negotiations, But Britain is Now Heading in the Right Direction

The United Kingdom has turned a corner under Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Brexit leader Nigel Farage has said, as he reflected on what awaits the nation in 2020.

Long-time pro-independence campaigner and Brexit frontman Nigel Farage — who was snubbed for official recognition for his enormous impact on British politics in the New Year’s honours list despite widespread speculation he would be knighted — was full of praise for the Prime Minister, but warned he would have to negotiate hard in the coming year.

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

France: Nativity Play in Toulouse Attacked by Far-Left, Anti-Christian Mob

A Nativity play in the French city of Toulouse had to be cut short after a mob of fifty anti-Christian, far-left militants insulted and attacked the event’s participants and spat on a priest.

The anti-Christian attack occurred on Saturday, December 14th at the Place Saint-Georges living nativity scene. The performance had been organized to celebrate the traditional spirit of Christmas and to emphasize the non-consumeristic aspects of the holy day, Infos Toulouse reports.

The celebration was quickly interrupted by a mob of 50 so-called “anti-fascists” who hurled vicious insults at the event’s crowd, participants, and priests while they shouted anti-Christian slogans. Members of the far-left group argued “that the event was illegal” because France is a secular state.

As a result of the attack, organizers were forced to shut the event down and to evacuate the frightened children.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

German Public Television Apologizes After Telling Children to Sing a Song Calling Their Grandma a Pig

A German public broadcaster has decided to make a choir of young girls sing a ‘very modern’ eco-friendly grandma-bashing song with a clear Greta Thunberg twist. What could possibly go wrong?

The German regional broadcaster WDR proudly presented a new video featuring the channel’s all-girl children’s choir. “They can sing and they can be naughty,” read the announcement published on the WDR 2 Facebook page on Friday evening.

A minute and a half long footage demonstrated some three dozen young girls happily singing a remake of a German humorous song from the 1920s. Its text was updated to match the trends of 2019 lambasting an imaginary ‘grandma’ for allegedly excessive fuel burn rate and undue taste for meat. The song has a refrain calling the unfortunate grandma “an old environmental pig” and features such unchildish lines as “My grandma drove a range rover to a doctor and ran over two grandpas with a rollator.”

The song ends with children, suddenly as grave as a judge, speaking in the voice of the teen climate change speaker Greta Thunberg warning the grown-up that they “will not let you get away with this.”

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Rome Cuts Ties With Cartoonist Over EU, Auschwitz Strip

Improta portrayed Brexit as prisoner getting out of death camp

(ANSA) — Rome, December 16 — Rome Mayor Virginia Raggi has revoked a free collaboration with artist Mario Improta following his controversial cartoon comparing the EU to the Auschwitz concentration camp, well-informed sources said Monday.

The mayor spoke on the phone with the cartoonist and asked him to immediately suspend the collaboration, the sources said.

Improta’s cartoon represented a smiling man resembling British Prime Minister Boris Johnson waving a British flag as he flees the EU portrayed as the concentration camp.

This followed Johnson’s electoral victory in Britain last week.

The illustration, which was subsequently changed by the artist to compare the EU to a toilet, prompted a wave of indignation, with Rome’s Jewish Community and the Auschwitz Memorial among those to condemn it.

The illustrator was set to draw a series of educational cartoons for schools in the capital.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

No Let Up in France’s Travel Turmoil as Railway Strikes Become Longest in Recent History

by Alasdair Lane

You could forgive the French for feeling less than festive this holiday season. For almost a month now, railway workers have been on strike, bringing the nation’s transport network to a grinding halt. The protesters’ fury is focused on President Emmanuel Macron’s divisive pension reform plans—but with roads at gridlock, buses overcrowded, and pavements packed, it is regular citizens who are bearing the burden.

Major Impact Of France’s Rail Strike

On December 5, a full 85 percent of French train drivers—employees of the SNCF national rail operator—refused to work. Two-thirds of planned journeys had to be cancelled, forcing hundreds-of-thousands of commuters to search for transport alternatives. Since then, the chaos has continued and increased. On Christmas day, fully 40 percent of the nation’s train schedules were cancelled, spelling heartbreak for those whose festive homecoming depended on rail travel.

In the weeks that followed the first walkout, almost half of staff returned to work, but a steadfast contingent have remained unmoved. This union-backed core have yet to signal an end to their action, which is now the longest running strike in France in the past thirty years.

What Are The Main Reasons For The Strike?

Strikers unhappiness flows from Macron’s pension overhaul proposals. The beleaguered president intends to modernize France’s current system, which—with its combination of 42 distinct schemes—is often deemed outdated and cumbersome. A single point-based policy will be more efficient, fairer on low earners, and compatible with the country’s ageing population, Macron argues…

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

UK: BBC a ‘Secular Church’ That ‘Preaches’ On Climate Change, Against Brexit: Guest Editor

A Today guest editor has accused the BBC of being a “secular church” that “preaches” on climate change, telling listeners of the difficulties he had getting underrepresented voices on the issue onto the programme.

During Christmas week, the BBC notionally hands over the editorial management of its flagship Radio 4 news and current affairs programme to guest editors. Such curators this year have included Lady Hale, the President of the Supreme Court which ruled against Brexiteer Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s suspension of parliament.

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

No More Bomb Sniffing Dogs Sent to Muslim Countries

Even though Jordan and Egypt are considered ‘allies’ of The United States, they are still controlled by Islam. This means it is a mistake to trust them. The United States unwisely sent them bomb-sniffing dogs to ‘protect the people.’ It was reported that the State Department repossessed 10 dogs from Morocco after learning that the dogs were NOT being used for their intended purpose. Should this be any surprise. Doesn’t Muslim history stand for anything?

There was a cost to this knuckle-headed scheme which would somehow buy favor with Muslims. When the dogs are send to these countries, it costs the U.S. State Department $500,00 annually (starting in 2017), as well as $540.000 to keep a veterinarian (which started in 2018). Knowing Muslim history, that money was not used for the animals but to help further Islam.

What is worse, reports by a whistleblower shows horrific animal abuse. The Wall Street Journal reported that two dogs died in Jordan as a result of neglect and mistreatment this year, including one death caused by heat stroke and another by poisoning from an insecticide. A veterinarian testified that heat stroke was a preventable and especially terrible way for a dog to die.

What is worse, the dogs were not fed properly, many being reduced to skin and bones. We have a photo of an emaciated dog on duty for the Muslims that we felt was disturbing enough not to publish. No dog should ever be sent to an Islamic country.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Caroline Glick: Iran’s Undivided and Indivisible Regime

This week, we saw the true face of the Iranian regime at home and abroad.

For forty years, Western policymakers have been lying to themselves about the nature of the Iranian regime and basing their Iran policies on the lies they tell themselves. The main lie has been that there is an ongoing, existential struggle for power and control within the ranks of the regime’s leadership.

On the one hand, the fantasy goes, you have the “hardliners.” They are the ones behind all the terrorism. They are the ones working to develop nuclear weapons and the warheads to deliver them. They are the ones who call out “Death to America, Death to Israel.”

Facing them are the “moderates.” If the moderates seize the reins, the Iranians will eschew terror. They will walk away from their nuclear program. And the aspiration for an Islamic global empire will become no more than a children’s fairytale.

The conceptual framework for American and Western policy relating to Iran since the 1979 revolution has been that all you need to do to end the conflict with Iran and bring it back into the family of nations is to find the right mix of concessions to enable the moderates win their power struggle against the hardliners.

On Monday, Reuters published a report about how the regime brutally repressed the countrywide protests last month that put paid this delusional notion…

           — Hat tip: Caroline Glick [Return to headlines]
 

Turkey Launches Submarines, As Eastern Mediterranean Tensions Pile Up

by Amr Emam

Turkey has launched the first of six new submarines, within a plan to upgrade its fleet of 12 submarines.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan launched the new underwater craft on 22 December, from a dry dock in the town of Gölcük on the Marmara Sea. The Piri Reis submarine would come into service by 2022.

It is the first of six German-designed Type-214 submarines Turkey plans build and operate by 2027.

The new submarines will substitute six of Turkey’s Type-209 submarines, also based on a German design. The launch of the new submarine comes at a time of high tension in the Eastern Mediterranean…

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

USAF is Spending Millions to Upgrade Turkey Bases Amid Turkish Threats to Kick Them Out

Turkey says it could shut down American military facilities if the United States sanctions it over buying Russian arms and its intervention in Syria.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

India’s Capital Delhi Suffers ‘Coldest December Since 1901’

India’s capital city has recorded its coldest December in over a century, with its lowest average temperatures since 1901, Firstpost reported Saturday.

“The mean maximum temperature for December was less than 20 degrees Celsius only in 1919, 1929, 1961 and 1997,” stated an official from the India Meteorological Department. “In December this year, the mean maximum temperature (MMT) till Thursday was 19.85 degrees Celsius. It is expected to dip to 19.15 degrees Celsius by December 31.”

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

PM Khan’s Handicapped Foreign Policy Ambitions

by Fayaz Mahessar

In his sixth visit since assuming office less than two years ago, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan was in Riyadh last week to meet with the Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) to “discuss recent developments in the regional context.”

The meeting comes on the heels of the upcoming Kuala Lumpur Summit — an initiative led by the Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammad. The summit seeks to rival the almost-defunct Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and aims to bring together the leaders of Indonesia, Iran, Qatar, Turkey, Pakistan and Malaysia and counter the anti-Islam narrative around the world.

Mahathir, while announcing the summit claimed to create a united Islamic forum to bring the plight of Muslims especially Kashmiris, Uighurs and the Rohingyas to the forefront and condemn the leaders responsible for these atrocities.

The summit, scheduled between Dec 18-21, plans to build a parallel leadership forum in the Islamic world minus the Saudi Arabia and the UAE to fill the leadership vacuum, has laid bare the simmering rift within the Islamic countries…

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

Hong Kong Christian Denounces China’s ‘War on Christmas’

China’s war on Christmas “spreads a rhetoric of hate and division,” jeopardizing religious liberty and indoctrinating children, writes Peter den Hartog in the South China Morning Post Saturday.

A Christian himself, den Hartog says it was “hurtful and heartbreaking” to receive videos circulated on WeChat “depicting schoolchildren in China denouncing the celebration of Christmas, claiming it was a ‘Westerners’ festival’ and that it was ‘a shame’ for Chinese to celebrate the holiday.”

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

Taiwan President Channels HK Protests in Appeal for Votes: ‘Don’t Believe the Communists’

TAIPEI (Reuters) — Citing a letter from a young Hong Konger appealing for people “not to believe the Communists”, Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen said on Sunday the island’s democratic way of life was at risk from the danger China posed to Taiwan.

The months of anti-government protests in Chinese-ruled Hong Kong have taken centre stage in Taiwan ahead of the Jan. 11 presidential and parliamentary elections, with Tsai in particular warning Taiwan would be next if it gives into Chinese pressure and accepts Beijing’s rule.

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

No Way Out: More Than 30,000 Tourists Who Defied Orders to Cut Their Holidays Short and Leave East Gippsland as Raging Bushfires Close in Are Now ‘Trapped’ By Flames and it’s Too Late for Them to Leave, Fire Chief Says

Holidaymakers refusing to leave Victoria face being trapped by fires as authorities prepare to shut a major highway.

           — Hat tip: SS [Return to headlines]
 

Nigeria’s Almajiri Children: Abused, Abandoned and Brainwashed

by Hanah Lola Johnson

Northern Nigeria’s Almajiri unstable Islamic educational system leaves children vulnerable to sexual and commercial exploitation and prime fodder for Islamist militant groups like Boko Haram.

“A Scar On The Face Of Northern Nigeria”

In September 2019 the Nigerian police rescued more than 300 boys and men found chained at an Islamic School in Kaduna, Northern Nigeria. The victims—some as young as five—were not only chained, but beaten, with multiple scars and sores on their backs. Reuters reported that some of the students had come from neighboring West African countries, including Ghana, Burkina Faso and Mali.

The Kaduna students’ rescue is one episode of many rescues of people—many of them children—from harsh Islamic schools in Northern Nigeria, as Nigerian authorities launched a crackdown on informal Islamic schools and rehabilitation centers in September. Nearly 1,500 people have been rescued in schools in Kaduna, Daura, Ilorin and Ibadan…

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

Pope Francis Condemns ‘Horrible Terrorist Attack’ In Somalia

ROME — Pope Francis promised prayers Sunday for the victims of Saturday’s “horrible terrorist attack” in the Somali capital of Mogadishu, which claimed the lives of more than 90 people.

“Let us pray to the Lord for the victims of yesterday’s horrific terrorist attack in Mogadishu, Somalia, where more than 70 people were killed in a car bomb explosion,” the pope said following the weekly Angelus prayer in Saint Peter’s Square Sunday. “I am close to all the family members and to those who mourn their passing.”

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

Suicide Bomber Slays at Least 90 in Somalia Attack

A suicide bomber driving a car laden with explosives killed at least 90 persons and injured over 125 more in an attack in the Somali capital of Mogadishu Saturday.

The explosion reportedly took place at the Ex-Control junction, and police officer Mohamed Hussein said that the attack targeted a tax collection center during the morning rush hour.

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

Pregnant Woman is Among Dozens of Migrants Rescued From English Channel as at Least Three Trafficking Boats Are Intercepted by Border Force Guards

A pregnant woman was among dozens of migrants to be rescued from the English Channel today as at least three trafficking boats were intercepted by officials.

French authorities rescued the expectant mother along with 19 other people from an inflatable boat that was taking on water near Dunkirk this morning.

Meanwhile, another vessel with ten men and one woman on board was intercepted off the coast of Kent at 5.34am.

[Comment: Article dated December 29, 2019.]

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

Delingpole: The 2010s Were the Twilight of the Elites

This was the Decade of the Twilight of the Elites. From Brexit to the U.S. presidential election, from Bolsonaro in Brazil to the people’s revolutions that swept Europe, the arrogant, corrupt and complacent political establishments of the old order fought desperately to uphold their rotten hegemony only to be crushed, schooled and humiliated to the point of near-irrelevance by a mighty wave of populism. Here were some of the key moment…

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Marketwatch: Electric Cars and Vegetarianism ‘Pointless Virtue Signaling’ Against Climate Change

Efforts to rein in global warming by eating less meat, driving electric cars, or subsidizing solar energy are completely ineffective, writes a professor at the Copenhagen Business School, and constitute nothing other than “pointless virtue signaling.”

“It is absurd for middle-class citizens in advanced economies to tell themselves that eating less steak or commuting in a Toyota TM-0.18% Prius will rein in rising temperatures,” states Bjørn Lomborg, the director of the Copenhagen Consensus Center and author of The Skeptical Environmentalist.

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

Net: ‘The World is on Fire’ Because… Climate Change

Leaders of the biggest carbon-emitting nations like the United States just “sip their coffees and put their feet up” while the world burns from climate change, according to the newest alarmist screed on CNET.

“Against the backdrop of fire and smoke,” leaders keep ignoring the science, writes CNET’s science editor, Jackson Ryan, in a fanciful, apocalyptic essay this week, in what seems a desperate effort to ignite fury against climate change skeptics.

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

UN Moves Towards Handing Dictatorships Power to Control the Internet

Legitimizing web blackouts and free speech censorship.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

15 thoughts on “Gates of Vienna News Feed 12/29/2019

  1. “Waheeda Muhammad, chair of the Kentucky chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations, said one of the goals of the event is to clear up misconceptions about the Islamic faith.”
    Curious, isn’t it? No other world faith needs special days to “clear up misconceptions”.

    • MISUNDERSTANDING THE NAZIS
      Once upon a time there were some people called Nazis.
      They have been given a biased, hate-filled, and bigoted press.
      A few became “radicalised”.
      They misunderstood their peaceful ideology.
      They pursued a warped and twisted extremist interpretation.
      The whole community was blamed for the actions of the few.

      • Michael: and they must have read an inapropriate translation of Mein Kampf or misunderestimated( excuse the pun, GeorgeW) its profound meaning.I mean, seriously, young people often tend to uncouth behaviour and this may result in invasions of neighbouring countries or bullying of minorities.

  2. 7 of the congregation pulled weapons out. Very fast reflexes in Texas. Weasel Zippers has a good video clip.

    • One has to be an absolute moron or have a death wish to try a stunt like that in Texas. A pity he managed to kill two before his wish was granted.

  3. Re: UK: BBC a “secular church…”

    I’m not going to disagree, though it’s probably happenstance rather than conspiracy; the media attract liberal arts graduates, who tend to be politically left of centre.

    There was a reference to today’s guest editor on Radio 4’s “Today”, the Blessed Greta, and I heard some of it. Her father was interviewed, and explained that his daughter had been very depressed a few years ago, but became animated and enthusiastic over the issue of “climate change”, so he and his wife made radical changes to their lives over an issue which hadn’t previously concerned them.

    You may take this with a large pinch of salt, as I’m inclined to do, but it could be the truth, which doesn’t excuse others with their own agendas exploiting her.

    • Bwahaha! About what one would expect from a cloud bubble dweller. She thinks these crocodiles will eat my countrymen and never get to me.
      I’m looking forward to when USSA goes full banana republic and some obscure government agency such as the ministry of agricultural affairs rolls around in jeeps with machine guns and generalissimo outfits on.

Comments are closed.