The official death toll in China for the Wuhan Coronavirus has risen to 213, with almost 9,700 cases diagnosed. The State Department is advising Americans not to travel to China. Within the USA, the first human-to-human infection with the disease was confirmed in Illinois. Meanwhile, a cruise ship carrying 6,000 passengers was denied landing permission in Italy due to possible cases of the coronavirus on board. However, the Chinese couple suspected of carrying the virus were subsequently tested and cleared, and passengers were then allowed to land.
In other news, Greta Thunberg is applying for a trademark on her name.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to Andy Bostom, Dean, DV, 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.
Economy Grows 2.1% in the Fourth Quarter as GDP Gets Boost From Falling Trade Deficit
The numbers: The U.S. economy grew slightly faster than 2% in the final three months of 2019, aided by a temporary plunge in imports and a resurgent housing market. The modest rate of growth likely foreshadows what lies ahead.
Gross domestic product, the official scorecard for the economy, expanded at a 2.1% clip in the fourth quarter. Analysts polled by MarketWatch had forecast a 1.9% increase.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
EU Unemployment at 20-Year Low
Eurostat, the EU’s statistical office, has released figures showing that unemployment in the EU is at its lowest since 2000. The unemployment rate in the 28 EU states was 6.2 percent in December 2019, the lowest in almost 20 years. The Czech Republic (2.0 percent) as well as Germany and the Netherlands (both 3.2 percent) had the lowest while Greece (16.6 percent) and Spain (13.7 percent) had the highest.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Avoid Burnout Before You’re Already Burned
If you’re feeling tired, cranky, stressed out and overwhelmed, you’re likely heading quickly down the slippery slope to burnout. Burnout, which is a term used to describe physical or emotional exhaustion that’s typically the result of prolonged stress or frustration,1 is a common human condition, but definitely not a desirable one.
A 2018 Gallup study of nearly 7,500 full-time employees found that 23% feel burned out at work always or very often, while another 44% said they sometimes feel burned out. That amounts to about two-thirds of full-time employees feeling burnout while they’re at work.2 Yet, work is only one route to burnout.
Other areas of life, such as control, reward, community, fairness and values — and how well each of these is served in your life — also correlate with burnout, some of which are more easily tackled and changed than others. Perhaps the best lesson on burnout, however, is to take action against it before it has consumed you.
Once you’re officially burned out, it can be hard to dig yourself out of the hole. But if you make proactive changes ahead of time, on a regular basis and certainly if you feel yourself start to slide downhill, you may be able to avoid burnout entirely, staying emotionally and physically strong instead.
Three Anti-Burnout Foundations: Sleep, Diet and Exercise
Taking care of your body on a physical level is the foundation of avoiding burnout, and this starts with the three pillars of health: proper sleep, diet and exercise. Data from the U.S. CDC suggests one-third of U.S. adults are not getting the recommended seven hours of sleep each night,4 and most people likely need closer to eight hours to be healthy.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Bernie Sanders Takes Commanding Lead in California Primary Race
In a statewide survey conducted by UC Berkeley’s Institute of Governmental Studies for the Los Angeles Times, Sanders has 26 percent of support among likely voters in the state’s primary election that is scheduled for March 3. Warren still places second with 20 percent support — a two-percent drop from 22 percent in November, and a nine-percent drop from 29 percent back in September.
While nationwide polls say former Vice President Joe Biden remains the Democrat frontrunner, he trails Sanders and Warren in California, garnering 15 percent support in third place.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Boom: Carter Page Sues DNC Over Bogus Steele Dossier: ‘This is Only the First Salvo’
Fox News reported Thursday morning that former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page has filed a lawsuit in federal court against the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and the law firm Perkins Coie for their role in funding the unverified Steele dossier that was used to justify surveillance against him.
Page’s attorneys described the suit, which was filed in U.S. District Court in the Northern District of Illinois’ Eastern Division on Thursday, as the “first of multiple actions in the wake of historic” Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) abuse.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
The World Health Organization (WHO) named the coronavirus outbreak that originated in Wuhan, China, a public health emergency of international concern.
Outside of China, there are now 98 confirmed cases in 18 countries, including eight person-to-person transmissions in Germany, Japan, Vietnam, and the U.S., according to comments made by Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO’s director-general, on Thursday afternoon. At least 170 people have died in China, and nearly 8,000 have been sickened. “Our greatest concern is the potential for the virus to spread to countries with weaker health systems and which are ill-prepared to deal with it,” Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention earlier on Thursday had confirmed the first U.S. case of person-to-person spread of coronavirus, among a married couple in Illinois.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Democrats Demand YouTube Censor “Climate Misinformation” Videos
A Democrat Congressional committee is demanding YouTube censor videos that contain “climate misinformation” as part of a new purge that would basically eliminate skepticism about man-made global warming from the platform.
In a letter sent to Google CEO Sundar Pichai, the U.S. House of Representatives Select Committee on the Climate Crisis claims that YouTube has “been driving millions of viewers to climate misinformation videos every single day.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Elizabeth Warren Suggests Making it a Crime to Spread ‘Disinformation’ Online
Presidential candidate and Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren has declared her intentions to see the spread of ‘disinformation’ online become a crime if she is elected president, CNBC reports.
In a campaign statement, Warren said that she will “push for new laws that impose tough civil and criminal penalties for knowingly disseminating this kind of information,” which she claims “undermines the basic right to vote.”
Her statement is largely directed at the Big Tech companies themselves, including Facebook, Twitter, and Google, but she did not differentiate between punishing the companies and punishing individual users as well. She also gave no specifics about what exactly would account for “disinformation” in her definition.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
After getting caught lying to the Courts about its actions related to Seth Rich, Christopher Wray’s FBI lies again and claims it did nothing wrong.
Attorney Ty Clevenger reported to the courts on Monday that despite numerous assurances from the FBI that they had no information related to Seth Rich, the FBI had been caught and therefore was lying to him all this time.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Feds Back Off Jailing Michael Flynn After Stunning New Evidence That Gov’t ‘Lied’ And ‘Framed’ Him
The government lied, “framed,” hid favorable evidence, and showed “contempt for the law at every turn” in their treatment of Michael Flynn, the retired three-star Army general and former Trump White House national security adviser.
Those charges were contained in a new filing in the government’s case against Flynn. And his attorney, Sidney Powell, was just getting started.
In the 27-page-filing, an add-on to her previous motions, Powell demanded charges be dropped against Flynn based on previously withheld exculpatory documents by the government and the IG report on FISA abuse.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
First Person-to-Person Transmission of Coronavirus in US
The first known coronavirus case in the US involving someone who had not traveled to China has surfaced in Illinois, health officials said Thursday.
The patient, who was not identified, is the husband of the Chicago woman who became infected after making a trip to the Chinese city of Wuhan, the epicenter of the outbreak, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Officials said the man, who is in his 60s, is in good condition and is being treated in isolation at a local hospital…
| — Hat tip: Dean | [Return to headlines] |
[…]Update: Federal Prosecutors Soften Stance
General Michael Flynn and his attorneys filed a motion on Wednesday to withdraw his guilty plea and call on the court to dismiss the case against him based on egregious government misconduct.
General Flynn’s Attorney Sidney Powell announced the developments today on her website.
General Flynn filed two bombshell motions today: one further supporting his request to withdraw his plea, and the other seeking to dismiss his case for egregious government misconduct. Read the motions below:…
General Michael Flynn and his attorneys filed a motion on Wednesday to withdraw his guilty plea and call on the court to dismiss the case against him based on egregious government misconduct.
General Flynn’s Attorney Sidney Powell announced the developments today on her website.
General Flynn filed two bombshell motions today: one further supporting his request to withdraw his plea, and the other seeking to dismiss his case for egregious government misconduct. Read the motions below:
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
John Roberts Blocks Rand Paul’s Question on Whistleblower
Sen. Rand Paul’s (R-Ky.) attempt to ask about the whistleblower whose report helped spark the impeachment inquiry is running into a roadblock in the form of Chief Justice John Roberts.
A source confirmed that Roberts has indicated he would not read a question from Paul regarding the whistleblower at the center of the House impeachment inquiry.
The question from Paul is expected to name the individual. Because Roberts is responsible for reading the questions that would put him in the position of publicly outing the person on the Senate floor.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Michael Bloomberg Releases Bizarre ‘Big Gay Ice Cream’ Campaign Ad
Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg (D-N.Y.) released a strange campaign ad on Tuesday that almost immediately drew criticism and mockery on social media, Fox News reports.
In the 10-second ad, Bloomberg asks “where is my ice cream?” After someone off-screen hands him a carton of ice cream, he takes a single spoonful of it and then simply says “big gay ice cream is the best.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
NewsGuard is the Latest ‘Truth Arbiter’ To Deceive You
NewsGuard is setting itself up as the self-appointed global arbiter of what information is “trustworthy” — based on nine, self-described “credibility and transparency” factors — not only for information viewed for pay on private electronic devices, but also for information accessible for free in public libraries and schools.
Librarians will even provide instructions to patrons on how to install the NewsGuard extension on their personal computers, tablets and cell phones. If you install the plugin on your computer or cellphone, it will display its rating next to Google, Bing and other web searches as well as on articles displayed on social media. What are the nine criteria NewsGuard is using to “protect” you from fake news?
- Does not repeatedly publish false content (22 points)
- Gathers and presents information responsibly (18 points)
- Regularly corrects or clarifies errors (12.5 points)
- Handles the difference between news and opinion responsibly (12.5 points)
- Avoids deceptive headlines (10 points)
- Website discloses ownership and financing (7.5 points)
- Clearly labels advertising (7.5 points)
- Reveals who’s in charge, including possible conflicts of interest (5 points)
The site provides the names of content creators, along with either contact or biographical information (5 points)
A score lower than 60 points gets a red rating, while higher scores get more favorable results, which is intended to provide readers with a “signal if a website is trying to get it right or instead has a hidden agenda or knowingly publishes falsehoods or propaganda.”12
These icons are meant to influence readers, instructing them to disregard content with cautionary colors and cautions. While the warnings may be enough to prevent someone from clicking these links, I believe the true intent is to bury this content entirely from search results and social media feeds.
It is very likely Google, Facebook, Twitter and other platforms will use these ratings to lower the visibility of content — making nonconformist views disappear entirely.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Police Searching for Maryland Man Who Robbed Bank in Blackface
Police are searching for a man who robbed a bank in eastern Maryland while wearing blackface.
The Perryville Police Department sent out a Facebook post to the public asking for assistance identifying the man captured by surveillance footage. The man allegedly robbed a PNC Bank in Cecil County on Tuesday night.
Police describe him as “a white male, with paint on his face, approximately 5’0”-5’5” and late 20s to early 30s.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Senator Calls for Immediate Shut Down of All Flights From China to U.S.
Senator Tom Cotton is calling for an immediate shut down of all flights from China to the U.S., warning that Beijing is lying about the full extent of the coronavirus outbreak.
The death toll from the virus, which has now reached every region in mainland China, has risen to 170 with 7,711 confirmed cases of people being infected.
Republican Senator Tom Cotton is urgently calling for stronger action to prevent the virus spreading in the United States.
“Russia has closed its ENTIRE 2,600-mile border with China. Time to shut down travel between China and US,” Cotton tweeted.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Super Bowl Security Threats Range From Terrorism to the Coronavirus
Security teams will be swarming Miami from the sky, ground and water this weekend where thousands of fans are expected to crowd Hard Rock Stadium for Super Bowl LIV. CBS News’ Manuel Bojorquez got a firsthand look at how law enforcement will be monitoring all sorts of threats ranging from terrorism to the coronavirus.
Miami, though a beautiful host city, comes with unique security challenges, said Todd Gayle, an Air and Marine Team agent from Customs and Border Patrol.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Tennessee State Rep. Files Bill to Officially Designate CNN as Fake News
Now that’s legislation everyone can get behind!
In a move that is sure to please President Trump, a State Representative in Tennessee has introduced legislation that would officially designate CNN, as well as The Washington Post, as fake news.
Republican Rep. Micah Van Huss filed the bill Wednesday, with the summary describing it as “A RESOLUTION to recognize CNN and The Washington Post as fake news and condemn them for denigrating our citizens.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
The Great Displacement of Americans: Devolving Western Civilization
In an interview with my longtime friend, top immigration specialist Fred Elbel, he gave a frightening look at America’s future. He said, “In the United States, the culture war can loosely be defined as the battle between those who adhere to conservative, traditional, and constitutional views and leftists who espouse political correctness, diversity identity group politics, and belief in more than two biological sexes. (www.Cairco.org)
“Mass immigration is a tool of the global elites and of the Left — that is, of the Democrat party — to fragment American society and to displace those who adhere to traditional American values and the foundational premise of our Constitutional Republic. In other words, to disempower Whites, who will become a minority in their own country by mid-century. This isn’t a slur on Blacks or any other nationality, but in essence it is White Europeans who invented and perpetuated Western Civilization. This great displacement of Whites is therefore synonymous with the displacement of Western Civilization.”
If you don’t think this displacement isn’t going on right under your eyes, take a trip to Detroit, Michigan; Minneapolis, Minnesota; Miami, Florida; New York City; Los Angeles, Atlanta, Georgia and most other large cities with welfare offices and refugee centers. Be prepared to see a deformation of American culture into strange and incompatible cultures taking root.
“In Canada, it’s the same, only worse,” said Elbel. “There is no fundamental protection of freedom of speech as there is in the U.S. Indeed, Canada has hate speech laws which are readily interpreted to restrict criticism of mass immigration and the agenda of political Islam.” (Trudeau has his country’s free speech by the throat.)
One trip to Vancouver, British Columba, now known as “Hongcouver”, 65 percent pure Chinese have run native Canadians out of that city and, in time, will run them out of that province. Soon enough, the Chinese will secede from Canada. At that point, you will see millions immigrate from China to newly named “Chinese Columbia.”
“Western Europe is much like Canada, only worse still,” said Elbel. “European nations have been systematically overwhelmed with hostile, unassimilable Islamists — Muslims. For the most part, individuals are prohibited from discussing and objecting to the invasion.
“In all of these nations, the outcome is converging on displacing the native population (e.g., Whites) who perpetuate Western Civilization. The fabric of Western Civilization is under significant threat. While we like to think that the great works of art, music, and architecture of Western Civilization will be revered and preserved forever, all of it is on the chopping block.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Twitter, which earlier decided to not accept political advertising for this election cycle, is now enacting a new policy allowing users to report accounts for allegedly posting misleading voter information or voter suppression.
Will the new Twitter policy be used to censor or take down President Trump’s account?
On the surface the new policy appears a benign effort to prevent misleading voters about the fundamentals of voting—date, place, deadlines and to protect them from hoax accounts, however reporting tools are routinely abused by liberals to silence conservative accounts with the help of sympathetic moderators at the liberal dominated big tech firms.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Understanding the World’s Greatest Source of Jew-Hatred
A sober examination of Islam’s historical treatment of Jews.
by Allon Friedman
During a public U.S. Congressional hearing held in April 2019, data was presented from a worldwide survey performed between 2014 and 2017 by the Anti-Defamation League that found the 16 nations with the highest prevalence of extreme antisemitism to all be Muslim countries in the Middle East. In response to the presentation of these data, the ADL’s Senior Vice President for Policy Eileen Hershenov had this to say: “vulnerable, marginalized communities have bigotry within them.”
If explaining away Muslim Jew-hatred as somehow a result of vulnerability and marginalization in societies that are overwhelmingly Muslim strikes one as troubling, well it should; especially if the person doing the explaining represents an organization that claims “its timeless mission is to protect the Jewish people.” Any person with a healthy sense of self-preservation might ponder other questions that arise from this case. Like, for instance: Why is extreme antisemitism so ubiquitous in the Arab Muslim world? Or: Why is a prominent Jewish advocacy organization so intent on apologizing for Islamic Jew hatred?…
| — Hat tip: Andy Bostom | [Return to headlines] |
Watch Live: President Trump Hosts Campaign Rally in Iowa
President Donald Trump will host a campaign rally in Des Moines, Iowa on Thursday.
The president is expected to begin speaking at 7 p.m. CST.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Breaking: CTV Parts Ways With Journalist After Coronavirus Joke
On January 26, CTV investigative journalist Peter Akman tweeted a photo of himself standing in front of an Asian man wearing a mask with the caption “Hopefully ALL I got today was a haircut.”
The now-deleted tweet was poorly received, quickly amassing dozens of accusations of anti-Chinese racism and insensitivity in the face of what has just been declared a global health emergency by the World Health Organization.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Rebel News founder Ezra Levant is under investigation and was interrogated by former members of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, that specialized in terrorism cases, over his best-selling book on Justin Trudeau’s corruption.
The officers, Paul Couture and Timothy Mackin, who are now under contract as investigators with the Commissioner of Canada Elections, didn’t know it at the time, but Levant filmed the entire interrogation, which took place at the high security headquarters of Elections Canada in Ottawa.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Wuhan Virus: Toronto Arrivals From China Say No Special Screening at Pearson Airport
A recent visit to the arrivals terminal at Pearson International Airport had us flummoxed.
For starters, travelers arriving from China said they didn’t endure hardly any additional screening. They weren’t even asked if they were suffering from coughing bouts or fever — they were merely asked if they had visited Wuhanrecently (ground zero for the coronavirus outbreak).
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
‘Blackish’ Compares Greta Thunberg to Alexander the Great
Blackish is known for being a politically and racially charged show, and this week’s episode was no different.
In Tuesday’s episode, “Adventure to Ventura,” the show compares Greta Thunberg, the 16-year-old climate change activist/fanatic, to Alexander the Great, one of the world’s, well, greatest and most successful military commanders in history and the teenage inventor of Braille.
Let’s just say, the comparison misses the boat.
Dre: Kids. Tiny, fragile, needy. But they are still capable of amazing things. Alexander the Great was a military leader at age 20. At 16, Greta Thunberg inspired millions to fight climate change.
She even sailed across the ocean to prove her point. Louis Braille was 15 when he invented his reading system. 15. And blind!
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte has confirmed the country’s first cases of the coronavirus after two tourists from China tested posted positive for the illness.
The country’s leader said the two individuals, who had been stating at the Paltino hotel in Rome before they were placed in isolation, had landed in the nation’s capital earlier this week.
Mr Conte, who has suspended air travel between Italy and China, added that he would be arranging a meeting with the Council of Ministers on Friday to discuss ‘further measures’.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Germany: Nearly One Thousand Violent Crimes Reported in Single Berlin No-Go Zone in 2019
The no-go area of Alexanderplatz in the German capital of Berlin has recorded over 900 violent crimes in 2019 despite an increased police presence in the area.
The new statistics from the Berlin senate state that there were 910 violent crimes in the area in 2019 — an increase of 198 compared to the previous year — with serious and dangerous physical attacks making up 669 of the reports, Bild reports.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Greta(tm): Thunberg Moves to Trademark Her Name and ‘Fridays for Future’
Swedish climate alarmism activist teen Greta Thunberg has made steps to trademark her name and the “Fridays for Future” term, claiming both were being used by others to make a profit.
Thunberg announced her intentions to trademark the terms “Fridays for Future,” “Skolstrejk för klimatet,” and her own name on social media platform Instagram, complaining that, “my name and the #FridaysForFuture movement are constantly being used for commercial purposes without any consent whatsoever.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: 6,000 Passengers Held on Cruise Ship for Fear of Coronavirus Cases
Concerns that passengers on board a cruise ship may have contracted coronavirus caused around 6,000 people to be held on the ship until further notice.
The cruise ship is called the Costa Smeralda and is being held in Civitavecchia, Italy. Nobody is able to get off the ship until health officials are able to investigate after worries that two passengers on the ship could have the virus.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Pope Meets With Microsoft and IBM to Push for Ethics in Artificial Intelligence
A year ago in the Vatican, the pope met with Brad Smith, president of Microsoft.
Both believe Artificial Intelligence research should be based on firm ethical foundations.
As a result, they will meet again at the end of February to sign the “Call for Ethics.”
[Comment: This is cloud fantasy — any A.I. would make up its own “ethics” and “justifications”.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Surgical Masks Sold Out Across UK Amidst Coronavirus Fears
Surgical masks have almost sold out across the United Kingdom over fears of coronavirus despite the fact that there hasn’t been a single confirmed case of it in the country.
Pharmacy retailer Boots says that its six-pack of “safe & sound” surgical face masks is sold out, as is another box of 50 masks.
The company said it was “working to make additional stock available for customers to purchase in store and on boots.com which we hope will land over the next week.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Boris Johnson Cuts Out Mainstream Media, Will Address Nation Via Social Media for Brexit Day
The BBC has reportedly been angered by the Prime Minister cutting out their role in deciding what constitutes news, after Boris Johnson announced he would be addressing the public directly on Brexit day through the medium of social, rather than the mainstream media.
Boris Johnson has already taken some plays out of the President Trump playbook during his time as Prime Minister, reaching out directly to the voting public through viral social media posts as a substitute for briefings with journalists. One such example of this is his weekly People’s Prime Minister’s Questions, a video Livestream where followers can Tweet questions directly to Mr Johnson.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Just 30% of Remainers Have Reached ‘Acceptance’ In 5 Stages of Brexit Grief
Only three in ten Remain voters have reached the phase “acceptance” in the five stages of Brexit grief, according to a poll by YouGov.
Comparing responses from November 2016 and January 2020, Remain voters have made little progress in accepting the democratic will of the people, according to data publishedon Thursday.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Katie Hopkins Temporarily Suspended From Twitter After Activists Call for Censorship
One of Britain’s most prominent political commentators, Katie Hopkins, has found her Twitter account temporarily suspended.
Hopkins’ tweets are frequently shared by the President Donald Trump and she is often accused by media outlets as “spreading hate”.
It was revealed that Hopkins’ Twitter account was banned temporarily on grounds of violating the site’s “hateful-conduct policy”, according to which promotion of violence and hateful behavior based on religion, race, gender identity, or national origin is not allowed.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Stonehenge Breakthrough? ‘Real Function’ of Prehistoric Monument Exposed in New Theory
In the fields of Wiltshire stands a ring of colossal stones, measuring around 13 feet in height, by seven feet in width, dating back as far as 3,000 years, which has encapsulated the imagination of the world for centuries. One of the most famous landmarks in the UK, most archaeologists believe Stonehenge was used as a burial ground for more than five centuries and possibly a place of worship for the longest and shortest days of the year. But Colin Berry, a retired scientist, has told Express.co.uk that the answer is much simpler than that, after attempting to decode the mystery for almost a decade.
He claims the complex, which sits on raised ground, was a defence fort for an ancient settlement, protecting their goods from poachers in the summer, which doubled as a major trading hub in the winter.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Bill and Melinda Gates’ daughter Jennifer, 23, is engaged to 28-year-old Egyptian showjumper Nayel Nassar. Gates posted a photo of herself looking surprised as she was hugged by Nassar.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
Fired Ukrainian Prosecutor Files Federal Complaint Against Biden, Charging He ‘Abused His Power’
Multiple sources have confirmed a report by French news site Les Crises that former Ukrainian Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin has filed a complaint with Ukraine’s National Bureau of Investigation this week demanding an investigation be launched against Joe Biden, who successfully pressured the Ukrainian government to fire him and protect Burisma Holdings, the company his son Hunter sat on the board of, making $83,000/month, despite having no experience related to their business.
Shokin alleges in his filing that Biden orchestrated his ouster as prosecutor general in order to prevent the completion of his investigation of the notoriously corrupt natural gas company, Burisma Holdings.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Apple Admits China is the Country it Most Censors the App Store For
China is the country with the largest number of apps removed from Apple’s App Store, and although the company has not revealed the causes, experts say it could be due to the situation of censorship in the nation.
Conflicts between Apple and China
Every six months, Apple releases the so-called “transparency report”, where the company indicates the actions they have taken concerning users and government requests.
Among the data offered is the number of apps removed from government requests.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Scientists in China have used a new mix of human and pig genes to create lab grown skin samples that they hope will be used to treat burn victims and others in need of skin grafts.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
Chinese YouTuber Faces Backlash for Years-Old Bat-Eating Video
Chinese YouTuber Wang Mengyun went viral back in 2016 after a video was shared of her eating bat soup.
Apparently, some on the internet are now blaming her for the outbreak of the coronavirus.
Amidst all the sensationalist news coverage of the coronavirus, which has taken 170 lives and infected 8,000 people since the outbreak began on January 1st, some research seemed to indicate it came from bats, despite earlier research suggesting it came from snakes.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Coronavirus Update: Japanese Bus Driver Who Has Not Been to China Comes Down With Virus
A bus driver in Japan was diagnosed with the coronavirus on Tuesday.
This was the first person in Japan diagnosed with the virus who did not travel to the Chinese city of Wuhan.
The bus driver did drive tourists from Wuhan twice in December. So Wuhan travelers were spreading the virus in Japan back in December.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Coronavirus Model Predicts 183 Million Infections Before the End of February
A model that predicts the number of coronavirus infections that will occur if the outbreak isn’t contained shows that based on current projections, there will be over 183 million infections before the end of February.
The chart, produced by data firm Bianco Research, shows that if the current rate of infections remains consistent, 183,943,221 people will have been infected by the virus within the next three weeks.
Given that the virus has already infected a minimum of 7,711 people and killed 170 (a fatality percentage of just over 2per cent), if 183 million people were infected, statistically upwards of 3.6 million would die.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Coronavirus: UK Foreign Office Tells Brits in China to Get Out While They Still Can
The UK Foreign Office is anticipating the Chinese government enforcing further travel bans on the country and is consequently advising British citizens to get out the country before it is too late.
While the Chinese government has come under fire for its initially slow response to the outbreak of Coronavirus in the city of Wuhan, it appears to be attempting to make up for lost time now, with sweeping authoritarian measures that have seen tens of millions of residents in several cities placed on near or total lockdown.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Coronavirus Instagram Influencers Are Apparently a Thing Now
The media — both traditional and the new, digital kind — often say they are about a lot of noble things, including common interest, justice, truth, and democracy. But in reality, there are very few things any kind of media love more than disaster and war.
And it’s entirely rational, if not exactly pretty: these events create not only highly engaging content, but also attention, and all that sells ads, and in turn, makes them money.
So when you think about “influencers” — you might think of them as more effective than traditional media in monetizing products, no doubt also because they don’t have to try to hide the fact they are shilling “sponsored content” — whereas a “reputable” website or publisher still goes to some lengths to obscure that.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Coronavirus Live Updates: China Says Death Toll Hits 213, Confirmed Cases Rise to 9,692
This is a live blog. Please check back for updates.
All times below in Beijing time.
11:00 am: China sending chartered planes to bring home Hubei residents from overseas
The Chinese government will send chartered planes to bring back Hubei residents who are overseas, according to state media, citing the country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. That’s in view of the “practical difficulties” that residents in Wuhan or Hubei — the epicenter of the outbreak — have been encountering overseas, the ministry said, according to the report.
10:00 am: US raises travel warning advisory for China to level 4
The U.S. Department of State raised its travel advisory for China from Level 3 to Level 4, which means “do not travel to China.” That came just days after it changed its alert level to 3 on Monday, which means “reconsider travel to China due to the novel coronavirus.”
“Travelers should be prepared for travel restrictions to be put into effect with little or no advance notice. Commercial carriers have reduced or suspended routes to and from China,” the notice said. “Those currently in China should consider departing using commercial means. The Department of State has requested that all non-essential U.S. government personnel defer travel to China in light of the novel coronavirus.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
How Viral Pandemic Benefits the Globalist Agenda
A global pandemic, whether a natural event or deliberately engineered, actually serves the purposes of the globalist establishment in a number of ways. First and foremost, it is a superb distraction. The general public, overcome with fears of an invisible force of nature that can possibly kill them at any moment, will probably forget all about the much bigger threat to their life, liberty and future — the subsequent collapse of the massive ‘Everything Bubble’ and the globalist “solution” that a pandemic can trigger.
The coronavirus is only a moderate threat in comparison to an economic crisis. That said, I want to confront a few issues concerning the virus itself before we get to the economic question.
Virus Disinformation
I have seen a lot of delusional assumptions and outright disinformation being spread by people in regards to this potential pandemic. First, the notion that it was caused by Chinese citizens “eating bats” or being exposed to a live animal market is rather ridiculous. We’ve seen NO hard evidence whatsoever that this is true, and I believe the narrative is a cover for the fact that the city of Wuhan where the virus outbreak began is the home of not one but TWO level 4 biohazard labs.
I have a hard time ignoring the strange “coincidence” of the high-level biohazard labs in Wuhan in favor of the idea that the virus was launched by chance due to the odd diets of central Chinese people. Given the evidence, it appears that the coronavirus was gestated in a lab, not in someone’s bat and snake soup. In 2017, scientists outside of China warned that these labs were not secure and that a virus might escape one of the facilities.
I would use the term “escape” loosely, as there is a possibility that this event was created intentionally. The virus itself has certain hallmarks of being engineered (including its long-dormant period without visible symptoms) and the current strain is probably derived from the one the Chinese stole a year ago from a lab in Winnipeg, Canada.
But it gets even weirder.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The decision comes as more than 7,000 people have been infectedwith the virus. At least 162 people have now died, most of whom lived in Wuhan — the deserted city at the heart of the outbreak.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
The citizens are in China and are not seeking consular support, Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt told reporters on Thursday.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
WHO Declares Coronavirus Global Emergency as Death Toll Rises
China’s health commission says the number of confirmed coronavirus cases rose to 9,692 with at least 213 deaths.
The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the outbreak sparked by the coronavirus in China as a global emergency on Thursday, after the number of cases spiked more than tenfold in a week, while the death toll rose to 213.
This developed as China’s health commission reported on Friday that the confirmed cases of infection have reached 9,692.
Another 102,000 people were also reportedly under medical observation with possible symptoms of the respiratory ailment.
The UN health agency defines an international emergency as an “extraordinary event” that constitutes a risk to other countries and requires a coordinated international response…
| — Hat tip: DV | [Return to headlines] |
Fire and Rescue NSW Station 384 Moruya, on the New South Wales South Coast, took to Facebook on Thursday to share images of the vandalism on their building.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
Authorities have warned a 10,000 hectare fire believed to have been started by a defence helicopter’s landing light is the worst Canberra has faced since 2003.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
Bradley Daniele, 26, last year posted CCTV footage to Facebook showing himself approach Hamzeh Bahrami, 33, in a bathroom of Adelaide Watch House.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
Wyong Hospital, on NSW’s Central Coast, has been plagued by complaints over low nurse numbers and emergency wait times. But the hospital board has refused the Wallarah 2 Coal Project’s offer.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
The 60-year-old man died from a cardiac arrest outside a Masuya Suisan restaurant in Sydney’s Chinatown on Tuesday night.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
Coronavirus: Nigeria to Quarantine Chinese Returnees
The Lagos State Government said on Thursday it had reached an agreement with the China Embassy in Nigeria to quarantine all Chinese returning to Lagos from their country to prevent the outbreak of coronavirus.
The state Commissioner for Health, Prof. Akin Abayomi, said at a press conference that the Chinese government, through her embassy in Nigeria was working with Lagos State Government to prevent the entry of coronavirus into the state.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
France: Paris Migrant Camp Cleared for 60th Time Since 2015
Police cleared 1,436 migrants from a makeshift migrant camp in northern Paris this week in what marks the 60th ejection of migrants from the area since 2015.
The evacuation in the Porte d’Aubervilliers, located in the north of Paris, took place at 8:30 am on Tuesday with a large number of officers being deployed under the command of the police headquarters of the Ile-de-France region, BFMTV reports.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
German Cities Demand Right to Accept More Asylum Seekers From Federal Government
Around 130 cities and municipalities have demanded the German federal government let them take in more asylum seekers and refugees.
One of the politicians demanding more asylum seekers is Stephan Neher, a member of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU), from the small town of Rottenburg am Neckar, which has a population of just 5,800 people but has taken in 850 refugees, Le Figaro reports.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Hungary: Number of Soldiers Protecting Border to be Doubled After Attempted Break-Through at Röszke
The government has decided to double the number of soldiers protecting Hungary’s southern border, the head of the prime minister’s office said on Thursday.
The pressure of migration has increased on the border section in question, with an attempt by 80 migrants to break through on Tuesday, Gergely Gulyas said. Five of them managed to get through but they were all arrested and a criminal procedure was launched against them, he added. If found guilty, they can be expelled from the country, he said.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
More Than 5,000 Violent Migrants — Murderers and Child Rapists — Have Been Kicked Out of Australia
An American national who punched his heavily pregnant ex girlfriend in the stomach is one of 5,000 migrants kicked out of Australia in the past five years.
Figures from the Department of Home Affairs show that of those deported 452 were child sex offenders, 220 were rapists, and 93 were murderers.
The deportation figures show that visa cancellations have grown to almost three a day since changes were introduced five years ago, according to the Australian.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
To the surprise of few, yet another official in feces-ridden San Francisco has been arrested as part of an FBI investigation. The man who’s in charge of cleaning up the feces who’s in jail. Mohammed Nuru *was* San Francisco’s “Director of Public Works.”
The FBI hauled him in on bribery and wire fraud charges. They also picked up restaurateur Nick Bovis as part of the scheme.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
After a widespread online outrage against the novel “American Dirt”, the author Jeanine Cummins and her publisher Flatiron Books have decided against the scheduled author tour intended to promote the book.
“Based on specific threats to booksellers and the author, we believe there exists real peril to their safety,” wrote the president and publisher of Flatiron Bob Miller after a series of online threats.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Catholic Bishop: LGBT Outreach Must Call Out ‘Sinful Behavior’
Bishop Joseph Strickland of Tyler, Texas, has urged LGBT advocate Father James Martin SJ to call his followers to conversion rather than affirming them in their sinful behavior.
Responding to an ad sent by Father Martin promoting his upcoming “Outreach 2020” conference for LGBTQ Catholics, Bishop Strickland reminded the Jesuit priest that true Catholic ministry to gays must proclaim the Church’s teaching on human sexuality in its fullness.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Delingpole: Top Newsreader Alastair Stewart Fired for Quoting ‘Racist’ Shakespeare
One of Britain’s most popular and respected newsreaders has been sacked after using on Twitter a Shakespeare quotation that a black activist complained was ‘racist’.
Alastair Stewart, who had been a newsreader at Independent Television News (ITN) for 40 years, was engaged in a Twitter debate with a vexatious nonentity called Martin Shapland, a former Liberal Democrat activist of no known distinction.
Stewart responded to one of Shapland’s sallies with a quotation from Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure:
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
It’s so drearily obvious. Saving The Planet is the best excuse ever dreamed up for a ruling class to do anything it wants. Beggar us with taxes. Rub out our civil liberties. And then, when absolutely no catastrophe occurs, look us in the eye, smirk from ear to ear, and say “See? Nothing happened! All those new rules we imposed on you—they worked! We’ve saved the planet! And no, you can’t have your air conditioning back; and in order to keep on Saving The Planet, we’re going to have to cut your meat ration by another 88 percent…”
What they’re after, of course, is a global government with themselves in charge of it. No more pesky populism! And after all, it takes a global government to do all the things a government should do—and could do, if only people would stop getting in the way—abolish war and poverty and disease and income inequality and no more thinking bad thoughts… The only reason those things haven’t been done already is because you, with your archaic notions of religion and freedom and all the rest of it—you wouldn’t let us! Using technology wisely—and we, your government, do everything wisely—why, we can direct the course of human evolution! It says so, right there in the Humanist Manifesto. And that’s **Science, so there!
So while Greta “demands” instantaneous divorce from fossil fuels, the Davos crowd elevates her to an ersatz sainthood even as they themselves revel in private jets, stretch limos, mansions fit for maharajahs, and any other kind of conspicuous consumption that their hot little hands can reach out and grab. The austerities, the hardships—those are for us, not them. Never them.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
People and Paintings Are Both at Risk
This war is not properly called a “Global War on Terror.” I wish it were, because the reality of what we’re up against is far more terrifying than that. Islam is one of the world’s great religions, and it didn’t get that way by being what George W. Bush liked to call it: “a religion of peace,” hijacked on 9/11 by a few terrorist renegades. Before that dreadful day, I had never given the matter three minutes’ thought, and I doubt Bush had, either. I also doubt that he or any infidel understands Islam better than the men did who had been living and breathing it all their lives and had just killed 3,000 of us in a single morning.
I call the war a culture war because, like Otto von Bismarck’s original Kulturkampf, it is a struggle over whose values, beliefs, and practices will prevail. And it’s far worse than most culture wars, for while such wars waged domestically are largely a matter of polemics and politics, the global culture war is a shooting war, and it’s been one for a very long time.
It has been going on for centuries, ever since Mohammed marched on Mecca. Thus say students of Islam such as Ibn Warraq, Andrew Bostom, Raymond Ibrahim, and Robert Spencer. Uncounted thousands of lives over the years have been lost to it, and it may yet claim millions. We didn’t start the war, and we may never see its end. But we can’t wriggle out of it. We must fight and, please God, win. And, pace Saffran, we may find that in this war, paintings are sometimes more important than people.
That’s what those French Resistance fighters thought, anyway. Oh, I forgot, they were fictional. But when the Taliban demolished the Buddhas of Bamyan, I wondered: What would become of the world’s other cultural treasures should such people ever gain control over us?
Would any paintings at all survive? What are they worth to us? How many lives would it cost to keep the jihadists’ hands off the Sistine Chapel and the Mona Lisa?
I worry about music, too. Some Muslims hold that only vocal music is permissible, that instrumental music is forbidden. Would this put paid to the compositions of Mozart, Handel, Schubert, the “three-Bs” and the rest? Such music is, as the saying goes, “to die for.” Is it also music to kill for?
And if the classics seem too musty and high-brow for you, check out Mark Steyn’s take on this popular tune:…
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
How Sugar Changes Your Brain Chemistry
If you’re like most people, chances are you’re consuming unhealthy amounts of sugar on a regular basis. Even if you’re not big on candy, most processed foods will provide you with an excessive amount of added sugars.
As noted in the BBC One report “The Truth About Sugar,” a serving of Pad Thai noodles contains 9.5 teaspoons of sugar and a package of sweet and sour chicken with rice contains 12.5 teaspoons, which is more than a can of soda.
A can of baked beans contains 6 teaspoons of sugar, which would ideally be your grand total for the day, so it’s important to realize that it’s not merely cakes, cookies, candy and ice cream that get people into trouble.
Even many baby foods contain shocking amounts of sugar, which can set your child on the path of lifelong sugar addiction and the health problems that go along with it. The idea that sugar is addictive is not new. A number of studies have shown it acts much like other addictive substances.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Trademark the climate change’s poster child? For Greta about it! We now have infected Mexican beer from China to worry about, it’s now Corona virus being served at the Super Bawl, or was that bowl. Forget the bowl, I will fill my plate this Sunday with pork hamburgers in celebration of Ground Hog day.
“Greta Thunberg is applying for a trademark on her name.”
She could not have done that, she is a minor.
More likely her father did that. I presume to merchandise his daughter.
Let’s face it the kid is not the sharpest knife in the drawer.
She never had an original thought in her life.
Not for nothing she is being schooled in an institution for intellectually challenged children.
She will never be able to hold a job and support herself.
So her father is pulling out all the stops to financially secure his daughters future.
Like selling little Greta dolls with a string coming out of her head.
Pull the string and the doll will say “how dare you… how dare you”
$19.95 in a Wallmart near you.
In Omsk, a military court examined a criminal case about comments on social networks justifying terrorist attacks in mosques in the New Zealand city of Christchurch, and calls for the overthrow of power in Russia. The accused passed a private taxi driver Dmitry Pavelchuk. He fully pleaded guilty and requested that the hearings be held in a special order, which guarantees a milder sentence. As a result, Dmitry Pavelchuk was assigned two and a half years of imprisonment and was arrested in the courtroom.
https://www.kommersant.ru/doc/4235069
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0hgbZHwLiHk&feature=emb_logo
In Moscow, at the mixed martial arts competitions, a mass brawl took place. As the head of the Renaissance social movement Ivan Ivanov said, several Russian athletes suffered as a result of the massacre hosted by fans from Central Asia. The head coach of the club “Vityaz-Noginsk” Pavel Murtazin described in detail what was happening at that moment in the hall. According to him, enraged by the score of the fight, the fans attacked the Russian guys, drove one by one in groups and beat even young athletes who came with their parents to watch the fight.
… According to participants in the events, representatives of Central Asia even started a fight and threatened to kill Russian guys.
“As a result, many were injured and injured – three were forced to seek emergency care at medical facilities, and one was robbed,” Murtazin said.
The massacre at the competition for fans who have dismissed their arms now threatens to turn into serious problems.
In the public movement “Renaissance”, whose participants are several of the injured athletes, have already appealed to law enforcement agencies with a request to understand the incident.
The executive director of MOD RIGOS Vozrozhdenie Ivan Ivanov said that the relevant statements were sent to the Moscow Central Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia, as well as to the Moscow prosecutor’s office, demanding an investigation into the bodily injuries of the Vityaz-Noginsk club, robbery, and extremist statements against the indigenous Russian people and threats of murder.
Ivanov in his video message also added that the rights and interests of the participants in the Renaissance movement will be protected by all available legal means. The perpetrators will be established, and cases against them will be brought to court.
Representatives of the Central Asian diasporas have not yet commented on the accusations against them. As soon as their position appears, the editors will supplement the material, as well as comments by law enforcement agencies.
https://tsargrad.tv/news/bodalis-zagonjali-gruppami-ugrozhali-ubit-razjarennye-iz-za-schjota-bolelshhiki-iz-srednej-azii-nabrosilis-na-russkih-sportsmenov_236615
https://twitter.com/gemmaod1/status/1223218911212122113
what in god’s name is wrong with these corrupt elites? why are they such scum? And why do they all behave the same no matter the country