Almost 200 people have been arrested for setting bushfires in Australia, and at least two dozen have been charged. The only name of a suspect that I have seen so far is Omar Zeno.
In other news, Iran fired more than a dozen surface-to-surface missiles across the border into Iraq, targeting U.S. bases. Initial reports indicated that there were no American casualties.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to C. Cantoni, Fjordman, Insubria, JD, Reader from Chicago, SS, Upananda Brahmachari, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.
Notice to tipsters: Please don’t submit extensive excerpts from articles that have been posted behind a subscription firewall, or are otherwise under copyright protection.
Caveat: Articles in the news feed are posted “as is”. Gates of Vienna cannot vouch for the authenticity or accuracy of the contents of any individual item posted here. 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.
Hungary Jobless Rate Steady at 3.5 Percent
Hungary’s three-month rolling average jobless rate was 3.5 percent in September-November, unchanged from the previous period, the Central Statistical Office (KSH) said on Tuesday.
A year earlier, the unemployment rate was 3.6 percent.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
The U.N. & Central Banks: A Rockefeller & Rothschild Coup
The central banks have recently become obsessed with two things. As Zero Hedge points out, one of these objectives is climate change. The other is blockchain technology and the digitization of currency.
But why would the global central banks suddenly be obsessed with climate change and blockchain? Shouldn’t they, instead, be concerned with debt and insolvency? In this report, we take a peak behind the curtain, as we examine the connections between the United Nations, the central banks and their collaboration to usher in a new sustainable global financial system.
Instead of debating the science behind Climate Change, let’s follow the money and see who stands to gain. Rich and powerful billionaires like the Rockefellers, the Rothschilds, Bill Gates and George Soros among many others, have all thrown their weight and money behind this global agenda which, if successful, will forever change the world as we know it.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
5G: Next Gen Health Dangers (Documentary)
Find out what the establishment wants to hide about the new technology.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
AOC’s Impending Eviction From Congress
Could the young Democrat be out of office soon?
AOC recently learned that her seat may be squeezed out due to the open border policies she supports.
As the City reported, “A review by THE CITY, building on data and analysis by The Texas Tribune, suggests Ocasio-Cortez’ district could be particularly vulnerable to undercount because a little over a quarter of those living there are non-citizens. That’s a higher percentage than any other congressional district in the state. A Census undercount in Ocasio-Cortez’ district and elsewhere in the state could lead to the elimination of congressional districts — potentially setting off politically charged redistricting battles. New York already is on track to lose up to two congressional seats during reapportionment due to population decline and slower rate of growth, according to a December report by Election Data Services.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
CAIR, Democrats Spread Fake News That Iranian-Americans Are Being Detained
Claims that many have been refused entry are untrue
The US border patrol has categorically denied that it is detaining American Iranians, after fake news was spread on social media, reportedly by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).
Officials with Customs and Border Protection (CBP) issued a statement outlining that rumors of Iranian-Americans being targeted under a nationwide order are totally false.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Chinese Caught Surveilling Same US Military Base Twice in 2 Weeks
The FBI arrested two Chinese nationals over the weekend for illegally photographing a US Navy base in Florida, according to a criminal complaint filed Monday in federal court. It was the second Chinese surveillance operation authorities uncovered in less than two weeks, both on the grounds of Naval Air Station Key West.
Naval Air Station Key West is home to the Joint Interagency Task Force South, which monitors illicit trafficking in the air and at sea. It also houses a sensitive storage facility for weapons and ammunition. In December 2018, authorities stopped a third attempt, by a Chinese student, who was capturing images of buildings and antenna arrays at the same Navy installation.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
CNN Settles Lawsuit With Nick Sandmann
COVINGTON, Ky. (FOX19) — CNN agreed Tuesday to settle a lawsuit with Covington Catholic student Nick Sandmann.
The amount of the settlement was not made public during a hearing at the federal courthouse in Covington, Kentucky.
Sandmann’s lawsuit sought $800 million from CNN, the Washington Post and NBC Universal.
Trial dates are still not set for Sandmann’s lawsuit against NBC Universal and the Washington Post.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
The Daily Beast posted an article that all but fantasized about Iran launching a terror attack on the President’s “beloved” Trump Tower.
Yesterday, Hesameddin Ashena, a top adviser to Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, implied that Trump-owned properties could be targeted in response to the killing of Qassem Soleimani by tweeting a link to a Forbes magazine profile that listed the properties.
Earlier today, the Daily Beast’s Michael Daly penned an article entitled ‘Attacking Trump Tower? Would Iran Be That Reckless?’ with the subheadline ‘His Pride and Joy’.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Epstein’s Autopsy Photos Are Just More Evidence That He Was Murdered
The release of dead pedophile Jeffrey Epstein’s autopsy photos have only added more to the growing piles of evidence that the billionaire didn’t hang himself, as the establishment wants us to believe. According to former New York City Medical Examiner Dr. Michael Baden, who observed the autopsy, the wound is more consistent with murder than suicide.
If the photos were supposed to squash “conspiracies” about Epstein’s death, they have failed to do so miserably. Now, more than ever, there’s too much evidence that he was murdered and did not commit suicide. Yet we are still expected to believe that the ruling class didn’t “off” him because he knew too much.
Dr. Michael Baden lays out the forensic reasons why he’s skeptical of the medical examiner’s ruling that Jeffrey Epstein killed himself. **This video contains graphic images.**
“I have never seen three fractures like this in a suicidal hanging,” Baden said, adding, “Going over a thousand jail hangings, suicides, in the New York State prisons over the past 40, 50 years, no one had three fractures.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
One of the most important things we can do in this election year is continue to force states and counties across the nation to comply with the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (NVRA).
And we are. We have sent notice-of-violation letters to 19 large counties in five states that we intend to sue unless they take steps to comply with the law and remove ineligible voter registrations within 90 days. Section 8 of the act requires jurisdictions to take reasonable efforts to remove ineligible registrations from their rolls.
Despite our successful litigation to bring counties and states into compliance with the NVRA, voter registration lists across the country remain significantly out of date. According to our analysis of data released by the U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC) this year, 378 counties nationwide have more voter registrations than citizens old enough to vote, i.e., counties where registration rates exceed 100%.
These 378 counties combined had about 2.5 million registrations over the 100%-registered mark, which is a drop of about one million from our previous analysis of voter registration data. Although San Diego County removed 500,000 inactive names from voter rolls following our settlement with Los Angeles County, San Diego still has a registration rate of 117% and has one of the highest registration rates in the county.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Dennis Prager targets editor claiming he ridiculed Anne Frank
If decent people working in mainstream American media want to know why many Americans do not trust them and are willing to use the term “fake news” to describe the mainstream media, I offer one of the most glaring examples of a lie in my lifetime.
Last week, Newsweek headlined the following: “Conservative Radio Host Ridicules Anne Frank: ‘I Don’t Get My Wisdom From Teenagers.’“
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
State Department Urges Americans Abroad to ‘Keep a Low Profile’
ROME — The U.S. State Department has issued a series of alerts for American citizens abroad, citing “heightened tension in the Middle East” after the drone strike on Irani General Qasem Soleimani.
In Italy, for example, the U.S. Embassy in Rome sent out an email message to Americans urging them to “keep a low profile” since increased tensions in the Middle East “may result in security risks to U.S. citizens abroad.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Trump Slams Democrats, Media for Describing Terrorist Soleimani as “Wonderful Human Being”
“He was designated as a terrorist by Obama, and then Obama did nothing about it.”
President Trump made an impromptu call to conservative talk radio host Rush Limbaugh’s show Monday, and slammed the Democrats’ and the establishment media’s attempts to frame Iran Gen. Qasem Soleimani as anything but a murderous terrorist.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Virginia Vows to Shut Down All Gun Ranges Not Owned by the State
The state appears to want them to act as a data collecting operation, creating a state-controlled list of who is using the range as well as their photo ID and home address.
If it wasn’t bad enough watching the action unfold surrounding unconstitutional gun laws and the militias being formed to fight against them, now it seems like Virginia is trying to pull yet another move threatening the rights of law abiding gun owners.
They want to shut down every gun range in the state that isn’t owned by the government.
According to House Bill 567, any indoor shooting range would be prohibited by law — UNLESS it was inside of a building owned or leased by the state.
And any business owners who decided to defy the law could be facing up to a $100,000 fine and potential additional civil penalties.
According to the bill, which has not yet been voted on or approved, would prohibit “the operation of an indoor shooting range, defined in the bill, in any building not owned or leased by the Commonwealth or federal government.”
For those that would be staying open, the state appears to want them to act as a data collecting operation, creating a state-controlled list of who is using the range as well as their photo ID and home address.
Let’s be clear. This is a very real threat against the rights laid out in the Constitution. Americans have the right to defend themselves. And the state is literally trying to stop gun owners from training and improving their skills.
This is an attack on our liberties.
And not only is it unfair to those who wish to train, it’s also a blow to small business owners across the Commonwealth.
Staff writer and retired officer Leah Ayana brought you more about the Commonwealth’s unreasonable moves to restrict gun owners’ rights to bear arms.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Warning! Stage Set for Trump Assassination
Could the Deep State use threats from Iran to complete their coup against President Trump?
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Watch: Smartphone Radiation vs. Steel Wool — It Also Disrupts Blood-Brain Barrier
Humans aren’t made of steel wool. Neither are animals or plants. However, research has already determined that exposure to cell phone and WiFi radiation can cause harm to humans, animals, and plants. Symptoms, severity, and tolerance to exposure vary (see 1, 2). American Academy of Pediatrics and other health experts warn that children are more vulnerable to exposure (see 1, 2, 3).
Research has even determined that exposure can disrupt the blood-brain barrier, cause it to leak, and kill brain cells.
Anything metallic can act as a conductor to cell phone radiation. Here’s what it does to steel wool:…
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Canadian Media Fawns Over Trudeau’s New Beard
Trudeau’s new beard is causing Canadian media to have another serious case of so-called “Trudeau Mania”.
The Canadian Press, a wire service in which client news outlets pay a monthly fee and are able to redistribute their content, wrote an article about Trudeau’s new scruff, and much of the mainstream media ran the piece.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Climate Activists Shut Down Traffic in Toronto
Twenty-nine climate activist youths occupied the offices of several figures of the Coastal Gaslink pipeline in Toronto today. The group also had a protest on Bay Street which temporarily shut down traffic.
According to reports from ClimateJustice T.O., a group focused on achieving “climate justice,” 29 youth occupied the offices of the prime financiers of the Coastal GasLink pipeline in Toronto “in solidarity with Wet’suwet’en peoples.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
UCalgary Prof: I Will Fail Students Citing Jordan Peterson
Assistant professor of sociology at UCalgary and self-described “anti-fascist” Ted McCoy has threatened on Twitter to fail any students citing Dr. Jordan Peterson.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Farage: Remainers Refusing ‘Losers’ Consent’ Did ‘Untold Damage’ To UK
Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage has slammed Remainers for holding back the country for three-and-a-half years by stalling Brexit, saying it had done “untold damage” to the United Kingdom.
Speaking to talkRADIO host Julia Hartley-Brewer, Mr Farage praised the near-realisation of the June 2016 referendum result, calling it a “victory for ordinary people”.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Five Years After Terror Attack ‘The Charlie Hebdo Spirit Has Completely Disappeared’
French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo survived the attack that decimated its editorial office in Paris on January 7, 2015. But the “Charlie spirit” is dead, says Swiss press cartoonist Thierry Barrigue with the bitter observation that “Fear has triumphed”.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
France: Charlie Hebdo Marks 5-Year Terror Attack Anniversary With Internet Censorship Criticism
To mark the five-year anniversary of the terror attack that saw twelve people killed at their Paris magazine office, satirical publication Charlie Hebdo has hit out against social media censorship in a new special issue.
The cover of the January 7th edition of the magazine shows a man with a pencil and paper being crushed by a mobile phone with the logos of Twitter, Facebook and Snapchat and the caption “new censorship, new dictatorships,” and represents criticism of the censorship of free expression according to the magazine.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Germany to Offer ‘Hush Money’ To People Forced to Live by Wind Farms
The government of Germany will consider a proposal by the Social Democratic Party (SDP) to pay citizens money who are forced to live next to wind turbines.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
German Solar Industry, Politicos Want to Punish Climate Dissent
Climate science and energy policy dissenters may need to be prepared to get fined, may be sent to a mental institution or even imprisoned. German climate crazies are calling for it!
Solar industry lobby wants to punish climate emergency critics for sabotaging emergency measures
By Kalte Sonne (Translated/edited by P. Gosselin)
German public broadcaster Deutschlandfunk on December 25, 2019:
Climate scientist Johan Rockström thinks the declaration of a climate emergency is justified.
Rockström (Potsdam Institute Director):
The declaration of a “climate emergency” would make it possible to make really big decisions. …such as making things possible that are necessary but have not been considered realistic.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
German Govt. Offering ‘Hush Money’ For Living Near Wind Farms
The Social Democratic Party (SPD) has proposed a new answer to people complaining about wind farms in Germany: offering money to those willing to live near them.
“Those people who accept windmills in their neighborhood, and so make the expansion of renewable energy possible, should be rewarded,” SPD environment spokesman Matthias Miersch told the Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung newspaper.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Hungary: November Retail Sales Up 6.8 Percent
Retail sales growth in Hungary accelerated to 6.8 percent year on year in November from 6.2 percent in the previous month, the Central Statistical Office (KSH) said on Tuesday.
Adjusted for calendar year effects, retail sales grew by 7.3 percent.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Cosenza Prefect Arrested in Graft Probe
Placed under house arrest in Taranto home
(ANSA) — Cosenza, January 2 — Cosenza Prefect Paola Galeone was arrested Thursday in a graft probe.
Galeone, 58, was placed under house arrest in her home in Taranto in Puglia, across the country from her post in the northern Calabrian city.
She is accused of taking a bribe of 700 euros from a local businesswoman.
Police said she had not been charged with corruption but of “inducing someone to give or promise assets”.
The businesswoman reportedly reported the case to the police, the Gazzetta del Sud newspaper reported on New Year’s Eve.
Police reportedly filmed the alleged bribe being handed over.
Galeone has been Cosenza prefect since July 23 2018.
She had previously been prefect in Benevento, another southern city.
Galeone was hired by the interior ministry’s civil service in 1987 and assigned to the prefecture in Taranto, another southern city, where she carried out various jobs.
Cozenza has a population of about 250,000.
It is the capital of the Province of Cosenza.
The ancient town is the seat of the Cosentian Academy, one of the oldest academies of philosophical and literary studies in Italy and Europe.
To this day, the city remains a cultural hub, with museums, theatres, libraries, and the University of Calabria.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Major German Dictionary Adds ‘Inshallah’ To Lexicon
The Duden dictionary, the equivalent of the Oxford English Dictionary in Germany, has decided to add the Arabic word “inshallah” to the German language lexicon.
The world, which translates from Arabic as “God wills it” was added to the website of Duden, although it was spelt “inschallah,” rather than the accepted English-language spelling of Inshallah, Turkish newspaper the Daily Sabah reports.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Polish Bishops Rally Behind Prelate Who Dissed Greta Thunberg
A group of Polish bishops have rushed to the defense of Krakow Archbishop Marek Jedraszewski, who has been slammed for his criticism of climate icon Greta Thunberg and the ecological movement she represents.
On Christmas Eve, Archbishop Jedraszewski gave an interview to Poland’s TV Republika in which he said that the Christian tradition is undermined by new movements such as “ecologism,” which seeks “to impose itself as a binding doctrine,” and threatens the Christian understanding of man’s place in creation.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Spain Poised for First Coalition Government Since Franco
Spain has been stymied by political uncertainty for more than a year. But now the country is on track to finally have a government.
Spanish caretaker prime minister and leader of the Socialist Party (PSOE), Pedro Sanchez, is expected to win the second vote on his investiture on Tuesday (7 January), after he failed to get an absolute majority in the first-round on Sunday in an extremely tight result.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Swedish-Palestinian Journalist Dies Just Before He Exposes Soros and Aschberg
An investigative journalist, who went undercover to infiltrate violent leftist groups such as Antifa, has been found dead. Bechir Rabani infiltrated Antifa and was about to expose billionaire people trafficker George Soros when he died.
Bechir Rabani was a hugely popular Swedish independent reporter, well known for his daring expose’s. He was found dead at his home on Friday night in “suspicious circumstances” according to Police. He was currently working on an investigation into radical leftist mainstream journalist Robert Aschberg and his connection to George Soros funded extremist organizations when he was killed.
Shortly before he died, Rabani revealed he was about to lift the lid on mass corruption that linked Soros and Aschberg. Bechir Rabani gained popularity when he tried to confront Expressen’s (left-wing newspaper) editor in chief Thomas Mattson and journalist Diamant Salihu in their homes in Stockholm.
In August 2017 Rabani released a documentary ‘I skammens skugga’ (In the shadow of shame), describing the rape epidemic and perils Swedish girls face from Muslim invaders. In late September 2017, Rabani infiltrated an ANTIFA demonstration in Gothenburg.
In the video, Antifa activists are seen using slings to throw rocks towards the police and retreating in panic when the police slowly march towards them. Rabani’s latest project was an investigation into Robert Aschberg, a Jewish journalist living in Sweden, and board member of the Expo Foundation.
EXPO is an anti-racist foundation with one of its many goals being the registering of all right-wing people. Aschberg is also friends with Jacques Wallner, a man who in 1982 murdered a 21-year-old Swedish man in cold blood, “because he was racist”. Jacques Wallner later was employed by Dagens Nyheter newspaper.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK Football Star Tom Pope Investigated for Saying ‘Rothschilds Own a Lot of Banks’
Tom Pope, a Port Vale forward, is facing a Football Association (FA) investigation for appearing to share a Rothschild ‘conspiracy theory’, hours after he scored in his side’s FA Cup defeat at Manchester City:
Tom Pope wrote early on Sunday morning: “We invade Iran then Cuba then North Korea then the Rothchilds [sic] are crownded champions of every bank on the planet — the end”.
He later appeared to suggest the Rothschilds family’s ownership of banks was “fact”…
That tweet created a storm on social media, leading other users to ask his predictions on other world events.
He tweeted the “Rothchilds” message, which has since been deleted, in response to a request to predict the end of a notional Third World War.
The Press Association news agency said it understands the FA “is looking into the matter” and could launch an investigation.
When warned by other Twitter users that his comments could be seen as racist, Pope responded: “I mentioned them owning the banks which is fact and now I’m facing all this”.
He added in another: “How is it racist?? Seriously is someone out to destroy me or what?”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Alleged ‘Asian’ Grooming Gang Including Policeman Appears in Court
16 mostly Asian-origin men including a police constable have appeared in Bradford Magistrates’ Court on charges related to drugs and child sexual exploitation in Halifax, England.
The charges against Amjad Ditta, who as a Positive Action Co-ordinator had been responsible for increasing police diversity, and the other accused men were deemed “too serious” for the Magistrates’ Court by District Judge Charlotte Holland, who has referred them to the higher Crown Court.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Brexiteers Push for Big Ben to Bong on Brexit Day, BoJo Plans Celebration
Brexiteer MPs have tabled an amendment to Boris Johnson’s Brexit bill requiring Big Ben to chime at 11 pm on January 31st, the hour that the UK officially leaves the EU.
Queen Elizabeth Tower, which holds Big Ben, is currently under renovation meaning the bells have been silent since 2017. As MPs return to the House of Commons after the Christmas break to discuss the Withdrawal Agreement Bill, Mark Francois and Nigel Evans have revealed that they are seeking support to pass an amendment to the bill to require the Westminster landmark to ring in the UK’s independence.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Corbyn 2.0: Leadership Contender Says Labour Needs ‘Proud Socialist Leader’
Corbyn loyalist Rebecca Long-Bailey and contender for Labour leader has said that her party needs a “proud socialist leader”.
Writing in Tribune magazine, Ms Long-Bailey, who is being groomed by the far-left group Momentum to take over from socialist Jeremy Corbyn as Labour leader, said that rather than return Labour to the centre or realign itself with working-class concerns, “we need a leader that can be trusted with our socialist agenda. A leader who is totally committed to the policies and has the political backbone to defend them.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Khan’s London: Islamic Student Association Brands U.S. ‘Terrorist State’ at Embassy Protests
Pro-Iran protesters from the Union of Islamic Student Association in Europe branded the United States a “terrorist state” outside the American embassy in London.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
EU Millions Pouring Into Libya Lining Pockets of Warlords and Criminal Gangs
A new review of European Union (EU) money being spent in Libya to help curb the flow of migrants has shown that the money is actually lining the pockets of warlords and people-smuggling networks.
The EU has spent millions of euros in recent years in order to stop the large-scale flow of illegal migrants from Libya. But according to a review of where the funds have ended up, much of the money has gone towards the very groups helping to facilitate illegal migration, Sverige Radio reports.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
‘All is Well’ Trump Tweets After Iran Targets U.S. Forces in Missile Attack in Iraq
“All is well!” and “so far, so good,” President Donald Trump tweeted Tuesday night after Iran launched ballistic missiles at U.S. and coalition forces in Iraq.
The president also said he would make a statement Wednesday morning.
“Missiles launched from Iran at two military bases located in Iraq. Assessment of casualties & damages taking place now. So far, so good!” the president tweeted.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
CNN Gives Platform to Iranian Who Once Said She’d Shoot U.S. Hostages in the Head
CNN gave a platform to an Iranian government official who once said that she wouldn’t hesitate to shoot American hostages in the head.
Masoumeh Ebtekar, the current Vice President of Iran for Women and Family Affairs, was formerly the spokesperson for the extremist students who stormed and occupied the U.S. Embassy during the Iran hostage crisis of 1979, where 52 Americans were held hostage for 444 days.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
“If they had the power, they would, they would destroy every single one of our cultural sites and build a mosque on top of it.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Iran Threatens to Attack Trump’s Private Properties
“Death to America, means death to Trump”
An Iranian Presidential advisor tweeted out a list of properties belonging to President Trump, along with a declaration that Iran has ‘no problems with the American people’, insinuating that the country wants to attack Trump personally.
The Iranian adviser Hesameddin Ashena tweeted a link to a Forbes article which listed all of Trump’s properties in New York, hotels and resorts across America and golf courses in the US and the UK.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Iran Launches 15 Ballistic Missiles Into Iraq Targeting US, Coalition Forces, Officials Say
Iran fired as many as 15 ballistic missiles into Iraq, targeting U.S. military and coalition forces early Wednesday, officials said, in a major retaliation by the rogue regime after the U.S. airstrike that killed Iranian Quds Force Gen. Qassem Soleimani last week.
Ten missiles hit Al-Assad Air Base, one missile hit a military base in Erbil and four missiles failed to hit their targets, according to a U.S. military spokesman for Central Command, responsible for American forces in the Middle East. The attacks unfolded in two waves, each about an hour apart.
Initial assessments showed “no U.S. casualties,” a U.S. military official in Baghdad told Fox News.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Nancy Pelosi to Introduce Resolution Implying Pre-Emptive Surrender to Iran
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) wrote a letter to her Democrat colleagues in the House on Sunday to reveal a new “War Powers Resolution” that amounts to a pre-emptive surrender to Iran in ongoing hostilities.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Pentagon leaders defended the U.S. military strike against Soleimani, saying intelligence showed he was planning “imminent” combat operations.
Army Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters at the Pentagon:
I’ll stand by the intelligence I saw that was compelling, it was imminent, and it was very very clear in scale and scope. Did it exactly say who, what, when, where? No. But he was planning, coordinating and synchronizing significant combat operations against U.S. military forces in the region and it was imminent.
“Those of us who were involved in the decision-making of that, we would have been culpably negligent to the American people had we not made the decision we made,” he added.
Milley also pushed back against reports claiming the intelligence justifying the strike against Soleimani was “razor-thin.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The Dark World of Private Military Contractors
by Lorenzo Vita
A growing system that could revolutionise, if it has not already done so, the way in which war is waged. Private military contractors are no longer simple mercenaries paid by some small emirate or warlord. These paramilitary organisations have become fully-fledged parallel armies used increasingly by the superpowers in order to manage conflicts in which they do not want to (or cannot) deploy their own soldiers and control areas of strategic interest in which the authorities of allied states have difficulties (economic, logistical or simply military).
There is nothing romantic, if there ever was, in the mindset of the contractors. But once the field has been cleared of ethical questions (which every use of these men entails), it should be clear that they can no longer be deemed secondary when it comes to understanding wars. Their use is now not only well-established but also extremely widespread. And the industry that has been created with their deployment (the Italian newspaper La Repubblica has reported that the business is worth almost USD 400 billion) confirms the utmost importance of a sector that now has a political, diplomatic and economic value equivalent to that of fully-fledged armed forces parallel to those of national authorities.
Contractors in the pay of Moscow
The question has become particularly important in the last few weeks because numerous investigations have brought to light the presence of Russian nationals (who cannot be defined as soldiers because they do not belong to the armed forces) within the ranks of General Khalifa Haftar. The strong man of Cyrenaica has always enjoyed a privileged relationship with the Kremlin which has been confirmed by numerous visits to Moscow as well as by relationships based on interwoven interests not only with the Russian energy giants but also with various sectors of Russian intelligence and diplomacy (and the allies of Vladimir Putin). Further, this relationship was confirmed in the siege of Tripoli when, with the announcement of the so-called “zero hour” by the Field Marshal, the presence of Russian “mercenaries”, in particular the Wagner Group, became clear. Their presence had already been feared by the British secret services who had pointed out the possible presence of Russians in Derna well before the advance on Tripoli and the simultaneous possibility of a Syrian scenario for Libya. This was a possible scenario in respect of which MI6 had obviously conducted an in-depth analysis, given that the reality is not, it would seem, far from London’s warning…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
U.S. Archbishop on Iran: Military Pursues ‘Those Who Cause Harm’
The Catholic Archbishop for the U.S. Military Services, Timothy P. Broglio, issued a nuanced statement Monday on the situation in the Middle East, signalling support for the recent drone strike on Irani General Qasem Soleimani.
“Disturbing news continues to arrive from the Middle East,” Archbishop Broglio stated in his message to the Catholic faithful. “Having just returned from there, I know that those deployed recognize the danger and continue to fulfill the demands of their mission for the protection of the innocent and the pursuit of those who cause harm.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Learn what was behind the historic decision
Before the propaganda spin machine brainwashes America regarding President Trump’s bold move to attack the heads of the Iranian snake, Alex Jones looks at why he did what he did.
There is a long sordid history between the “Death to America” shouting Iranians and a host of American presidents.
Some presidents have responded with strength and some have responded with cowardice.
History reflects those results.
But never in that history has a previous administration meddled in the foreign policy on such a dangerous level as was demonstrated by the Obama Administration.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Charred Body of Hindu Minor Girl Recovered in S Dinajpur (WB), Suspected Rape Jihadi Arrested
Hyderabad like rape-murder-burn incident in Kumarganj, West Bengal… Mahabur Rahman and his gang raped-murdered-burnt brutally Hindu minor student Pramila Barman in an Islamic way.
Arpan Bhakta | HENB | Balurghat | January 7, 2020:: A Hyderabad-like rape and murder incident has taken place at Kumarganj, South Dinajpur in West Bengal.
A body of a young girl was found in an open field under a culvert which is said to be nearly 90 per cent burnt. Reports say that stray dogs were playing with the body parts and locals found smokes coming out from the culvert holes.
The body was recovered from Belkhore-pakurtala a place between Safanagar and Ashokegram under Kumargunj Police jurisdiction.
The police have recovered the body and sent it to Balurghat District Hospital for an autopsy. Prima facie it reveals that the woman might have been gang-raped, body cut into pieces and then set on fire.
However, the police are yet to ascertain the angle of rape.
Off late it has come to know that the minor girl was identified as Pramila Barman a Hindu girl student of class Xth Standard of a local school who went to Fulbari Market on Sunday noon to buy a winter scurf and went missing till then.
On Monday morning, the local farmers who went to fields first gazed the horrific scene and buzzed an alarm to the police…
| — Hat tip: Upananda Brahmachari | [Return to headlines] |
A Mysterious Virus is Sickening People in China
A mysterious pneumonia has sickened dozens of people in China, and one of the only things health officials know for sure is that it isn’t being caused by a past bogeyman like the SARS virus.
According to health officials, the Associated Press reported Sunday, 59 people had been diagnosed with the mystery illness as of January 5, with all known cases seeming to originate from Wuhan, the capital city of the Hubei province. Victims have commonly experienced fever, though several have developed breathing problems as well. In at least a few patients, medical imaging has found clear signs of a serious lung infection, with at least seven people currently in critical condition.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
24 People Charged for Setting Fires in New South Wales; Arrest Toll Hits 183
Two dozen people in the Australian state of New South Wales have been charged with starting brushfires in the past two months, the New South Wales Police said in a statement Monday.
In addition, the state said had taken legal action against 183 people for brushfire-related charges.
The police announcement comes as Australia deals with devastating wildfires that have killed 24 people, killed hundreds of thousands of animals and have burnt millions of acres of forest.
According to the New South Wales police, 24 people have been arrested for deliberately starting brushfires since Nov. 8 — a charge that carries a maximum sentence of 21 years in prison should the suspect be proven to be “reckless about its spread.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
A Nation on Fire: Astonishing Graphic Shows the True Scale of Bushfires Across Australia
The brightest spots on the graphic are in New South Wales and Victoria, where more than 2,000 homes have been damaged or destroyed by the raging infernos.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
Patea was sentenced to eight years in jail in 2018 for the manslaughter of Greg Dufty but was released on parole from the Woodford Correctional Centre in Queensland on Monday.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
Bushfire risk in the foothills north-east of Melbourne has reached levels last seen before 173 were killed in 2009, according to Victoria’s Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
A shocking video has brought home the plight of Australian farmers who have been forced to dig mass graves for the hundreds of livestock they have lost to the bushfires.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
A drug-addled plumber accused of embarking on a fire-lighting rampage across Melbourne’s CBD has been kept behind bars because of the ongoing dangerous threat posed by fires in Australia.
[Name: Omar Zeno]
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
Canadian Meaghan Wegg, 34, and her Australian-born husband Tim Buckley, 37, camped at the theatre in the East Gippsland region of Victoria with their daughter Georgia and son Jackson.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
Stuart McKenzie, from Sunshine Coast Snake Catchers 24/7, shared a horrifying image on Facebook of a Python with a suspicious bulge in its stomach which was found to be a family’s cat.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
Environment East Gippsland, in Victoria, said ‘really good news’ had come out of the horrifying bushfire tragedy when the Eden Woodchip Mill, NSW, burned down on Monday.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
Gut-wrenching pictures show the scale of bushfire devastation to both thousands of Australian homes and the defenceless wildlife which surrounded them.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
Turia Pitt, who lives on the NSW south coast, launched an Instagram campaign called Spend With Them so business owners can promote their products or services via the platform.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
American science commentator Kyle Hill sparked online debate when he shared an image to Twitter comparing the land mass of the two countries.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
Model Says She Raised $1M by Sending Nudes to Australian Wildfire Donors
A model based out of Los Angeles is sending nude pictures of herself to people who donate to the wildfires in Australia. 20-year-old Kaylen Ward says she has encouraged enough people to donate to the cause that she has helped raise an estimated $1 million.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
A motorcyclist who has been caught speeding a whopping 62 times in just three months has been handed equivalent of 392 demerit points and $54,000 in fines.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
It started as the name of a western Sydney street gang and was adopted by Australia’s first drill group — and now the word ‘OneFour’ is poison to police.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
The Busbys Pond in Centennial Park is normally a lush oasis home to scores of birds and other wildlife — but today it lies empty, cracked and dry.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
Report: Arson Epidemic, Not Climate Change, Behind Australia’s Bushfires
Australian law enforcement has arrested over 180 people for arson in connection with the nation’s raging bushfires, as alarmists try to pin the blazes on “climate change.”
All of the 183 alleged arsonists have been arrested since the start of this year’s bushfire season, the Australian reported Tuesday, adding that 29 fires were deliberately started in the Shoalhaven region of southeast New South Wales (NSW) in just three months.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Australian shoppers have opted for a creative new way to protest against Scott Morrison by creating messages using water bottles to slam the PM.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
More than 10,000 camels will be killed by professional shooters in helicopters from Wednesday after an order from Aboriginal leaders in South Australia.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
Sukhwinder Kaur, 35, from Melbourne, had scheduled a trip back to her home town to visit her sister who is in a coma after she suffered a stroke.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
The Truth About the Australian Bushfires
The Australian bushfires have nothing to do with ‘climate change’.
In fact, green policies that outlawed controlled burns & fire breaks made the situation far worse.
Many of the fires were also deliberately started.
The media refuses to even acknowledge this.
They’re lying to you on a gargantuan scale.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Tourists watched in horror as the feeding frenzy unfolded at Twilight Beach, Western Australia, on Tuesday afternoon as the animals thrashed around the body in the turquoise waters
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
Watch Venezuela’s Dramatic Economic Plunge Under Democratic Socialism
Economist Mark Perry has been putting together a series of intriguing animated charts to show changes over time in everything from recorded music formats, Social Security spending, to top manufacturing nations.
Over the weekend, Perry posted his latest animated chart, this one showing per capita GDP among Latin American countries. Pay close attention to the highlighted bar, which represents Venezuela.
“The initial, temporary success of democratic socialism in Venezuela that was predictably followed by the precipitous economic decline illustrated in the visualization above provides a cautionary tale for those today in America who are attracted to the socialism being repackaged as ‘democratic socialism’ and peddled by Bernie Sanders and AOC.”
Of course, Venezuela is just the latest example of socialism’s failure. Despite the lure of “fairness” and “economic security” and “taking on the rich” — sound familiar? — every socialist country ends up in the same desperate ditch.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Belgium to Send Back ‘Asylum Shoppers’
Minister of Asylum and Migration Maggie De Block announced on Saturday two new measures aimed to prevent Belgium from welcoming asylum seekers who have bypassed EU asylum rules.
The goal, according to the minister, is to guarantee a welcome of “true newcomers” during the winter months.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Europe Under Siege From People-Smuggling Gangs
Hungarian police recently discovered two tunnels used to smuggle migrants into Hungary from Serbia. The tunnels were found at the same time that Hungarian police reported a five-fold increase in the number of migrants attempting to enter Hungary.
Hungary is not alone: Border authorities in countries across the European Union are struggling to stanch renewed flows of illegal migration. More than 126,500 migrants from Africa, Asia and the Middle East illegally entered the EU during 2019, according to the International Organization for Migration.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
‘Germany Needs 500,000 New Immigrants Every Year’
Germany is grappling with a ticking demographic time bomb. The Local spoke with FDP politician Christian Dürr who says immigration is the key to the country’s future.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
BERLIN (AP) — German prosecutors have filed terror charges against a Syrian man accused of commanding a unit of Islamic State group fighters in his homeland.
Prosecutors in Frankfurt said Monday that the 33-year-old, whose name they didn’t release, was charged with membership in a foreign terrorist group and violating weapons laws.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Hollywood Heaps Praise on Michelle Williams for Pro-Abortion Golden Globes Acceptance Speech
Hollywood celebrities are singing the praises of actress Michelle Williams for her Golden Globes acceptance speech in which she said having an abortion made it possible for her to live the life and career of her own making.
Michelle Williams, who won a Golden Globe Sunday for her performance in the FX limited series Fosse/Verdon, revealed to the audience of Hollywood A-listers assembled at The Beverly Hilton hotel that she had an abortion, though she didn’t say when.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
No mention of the sentence, but Fadi and Abraham Zreika, both 18, able to happily walk out of court.
Sounds like assured by his defence councilor to keep a straight face when in front of the judge.
Afterwards you will be free.
https://www.pacificpundit.com/2020/01/07/fadi-zraika-brother-grass-fires-australia/
A cultural enrichment, of adapting to Aussie fire works, or the loud explosions and bangs helped him to “feelz at home”.
Rehabilitation? or you have a nice car there, a nice dry lawn there?
Just not to worry about the laws, or grass and bush fires.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80Vdh0-N1pM
Muslims pray at the Lenin Mausoleum. What the policeman does there is unclear. Either protects, or asks not to do this.
Germany needs 500,000 new immigrants every year:
“… if we fail to facilitate legal immigration, illegal immigration will rise….”
I hope someone can explain that claim. The author ostensibly wants legal, productive immigrants: to increase Germany’s long term wealth. Is he suggesting that getting more of them will reduce the influx of dissipative, illegal ones? Or that making the illegal legal will make them productive?
Facebook group “Мы, мигранты” (We Migrants) discuss article
Germany needs 500,000 new immigrants every year
Experts believe that immigration is the key to the country’s future.
Iskender Zhorobekov (Kyrgyz name):
Guys learn german and go
Parviz Shokh (Tajik name):
They need male (intimate) sex donors, otherwise it’s not enough …
These are only excuses to rationalize their illegal, subversive actions. The key to understand this i.m.o. is in the German pension system being called a “generations’ contract”, whereby every currently working generation pays the pensions of the previous ones out of its income. Sounds “good” but in practice, this is a gigantic Ponzi scheme which collapses as soon as the base is no longer expanding. With this “rationale”, you can justify the need for immigration. However, you need to seek quality over quantity for it to succeed. Chinese, for example, who we really know to be frantic workers, sympathetic of our grand scheme notwithstanding official differences, and many of whom even learned German already which is a huge advantage. But these aren’t the ones we’re inviting. Why? Either incredible stupidity, or the consipracy theories are correct and there are powers who work to destroy our ethnicity for good, be it a continuation of the Comintern or whatever. But even these powers, unless they already sold themselves to live out their traitor lives under Islamic rule, aren’t reckoning with the nature of that destructive force they’re hauling in by the millions. They and the sheeple believing official crap live under the delusion that Muslims ever will pay the pensions of, or any form of taxes to the benefit of unbelievers after having reached a position of power through their numbers. Both Islam and the Left are using each other as useful idiots, or so they believe, but once the final conflict breaks out, we here know who will have drawn the short straw. There once was a “revolution that ate its children”. This revolution will eat its parents, whether they acted wilfully or not.
Don’t Germans have some kind of need for their females to have babies in order for their nation to survive?
Thats the new intelligence of germany.
Also a CDU politician sayed that there are Problems in NO GO ZONES with Immigrants,so we must gave them German Passports so there are no more problems with foreigners…
Some years ago somebody sayed to the Security checks at the airport(when they were no checks!)Not checking people is also a form of checking…
And for the 0,5 Million-yeah thats because of the Pension system.But the Idiots dont understand.You need people who work…also somebody sayed that with this system Germany needs in 2050 200 Million people…
Japan and Southkorea had also more deads than babys but they invest in Robots.Germany Invests in Refugees….All in germany is in decline,streets,schools,mobile phone..
“Ucalgary prof” I hear they have a nice MSA branch there.
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/iran-refuses-hand-over-crash-data-stoking-speculation-plane-was-accidentally-shot-down
Apart from the speculation about the cause of this crash, something else struck my mind: The report says, “among the dead were citizens of Iran, Canada, Germany, the UK, Sweden and Afghanistan.” Before reading on and not having seen the full passenger list which was still scrolled outside the screen, I was immediately asking myself what “citizens” of Canada, Germany, the UK or Sweden would be motivated to travel in and out of Iran in these times. Then I saw the list. Not one of the names sound like anyone having originated (in the ethnic sense) in Canada, Germany, or the UK. A single Swedish family name is there, seemingly several members of the same family, with one given name sounding Iranian, plausibly the mother/wife. There are two ways of interpreting this, one which paints a picture of decent people who had already fled the brutal regime and built their lives elsewhere, now tragically caught in the wrong moment on a visit to their ancient home and trying to escape the mounting trouble, or a bunch of social security tourists seizing on the chance of meeting with likely increased compassion. In the case of Iran, I am inclined to the former explanation because this country is so much more under the surface of its brutal Mullah class, but what I can’t find myself acceding to is that there might be some of both. It is either-or. This in itself I find an unfortunate polarization these times are molding us into. Under the spectre of conflict, you will choose sides and seek the help of prejudice to simplify heuristic decisions, no matter what you used to believe or claim. It is within human nature, a gut reaction, and not a conscious moral consideration which could be culpable in a civilized world. We all live on a slippery slope.
Omar Zeno? Man those Amish youth are on the prowl even down under!
When will the government do something about this menace?
I posted a hashtag and voted plus my stupidphone makes me like all smart n’ stuff.
Here in Australia one media site was reporting on Monday, 06 January, 2020 “NSW Police Force has taken legal action against more than 180 people for bush fire related offences since late last year……
Of note
24 people have been charged over alleged deliberately -lit fires
53 people have had legal actions for allegedly failing to comply with a total fire ban,
and
47 people have had legal actions for allegedly discarding a lighted cigarette or match on land.”