Gates of Vienna News Feed 2/17/2020

The officially acknowledged death toll in China from the Wuhan Coronavirus has now risen well past 1,800. Meanwhile, more than 450 people have been diagnosed with the disease on the cruise ship quarantined off the coast of Japan.

In other news, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán spoke to President Trump today on the phone about border protection, mass immigration, and other topics of interest to both leaders.

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

Thanks to Insubria, JM, 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.

USA
» Bail Reform Analysis by Cook County Chief Judge Based on Flawed Data, Undercounts New Murder Charges
» Bloomberg Caught on Tape Saying the Elderly Should be Denied Medical Care Because of Cost Overruns
» Bloomberg Says Many ‘Black and Latino Males’ Don’t ‘Know How to Behave in the Workplace, ‘ in Newly Uncovered 2011 Video
» Brawl Breaks Out at Bernie Sanders Rally Over ‘Black Guns Matter’ Shirt
» Don’t Look Now, But There Was a Huge Second-Amendment Victory in Virginia Today
» It’s Looking More and More Like Nevada Will be Another Democratic Clusterfark
» ‘Obama Personally Asked the FBI to Investigate Someone on Behalf of George Soros,’ Says Alan Dershowitz
» Orban in Phone Talks With Trump
» Trump Continues to Troll Democrats by Holding Nevada Rally a Day Before Caucuses
 
Canada
» CN Rail Forced to Lay Off Employees as Anti-Pipeline Protests Continue
» Extinction Rebellion Vancouver Island Planning Citizen’s Arrest to Disrupt NC Budget Speech
» Thousand Islands Bridge Reopens After Anti-Pipeline Protests
» Watch: Transport Minister Confirms Anti-Pipeline Protestors Tampered With Railroad Crossings
 
Europe and the EU
» 200,000 Brits Ditch BBC TV Tax in One Year: Report
» Arabic is First Language in Six of Nine Preschools in Ronneby, Sweden
» Danish Police Arrest 27 Foreigners in Massive 100 kg Cocaine Bust
» Danish Teen Attacked by Nine Men Who Tried to Force Him the Railroad Tracks in Islamized Suburb
» Eurocrats ‘Fighting Like Ferrets in a Sack’ Over Brexit Budget Hole
» Extinction Rebellion Targets Commodity Traders in Geneva
» German Engineer Leaves €7 Million Fortune to Nationalist Populist AfD Party
» ‘House the Irish First’ — Protesters Block Housebuilding for ‘Non-National Families’
» Is Belgium Heading for New Elections?
» Islamic Scholar Tariq Ramadan Faces Two New Rape Charges in France
» Italy: 5,300 Lay-Offs Asked in Auchan-Conad Deal
» Italy: Priest Blackmailed for Swapping Sexy Pix With Boyfriend
» U.S. Seeks to Free Central Europe From Its Dependence on Russian Energy
» UK: Cambridge’s Trinity College Lawn Dug Up by Extinction Rebellion
» UK: Climate Freaks Dig Up Trinity College Green, Threaten Newton’s Apple Tree
» UK: Extinction Rebellion’s Murder of Crows Descends on Falmouth Streets
» WikiLeaks Twitter Account Suspiciously Locked Just Days Before Assange Extradition Hearing
» Zuckerberg Tells World Leaders to Decide What People Are Allowed to Say
 
South Asia
» 21 New Species Added to Indonesian Bird Collection
» New Species of Orchid Discovered in Arunachal Pradesh
 
Far East
» Armed Criminals Steal 600 Rolls of Toilet Paper in Hong Kong
» Chinese Health Officials Dispute Reports of Wuhan Doctor’s Death
» Coronavirus Live Updates: China Death Toll Hits 1,868, As More Than 450 on Cruise Ship Test Positive
» Mini Tanks Deployed to Disinfect Coronavirus-Hit Areas in China
» Senator Cotton: China Refusing to Hand Over Evidence About Wuhan Biolab
» The Chinese Vloggers Documenting the Coronavirus Outbreak Have Vanished
» WHO Holds Secret Talks With Tech Giants to Stop Spread of Coronavirus “Misinformation”
 
Australia — Pacific
» Chilling Moment Accused Predator Follows a Woman Moments Before She Was Allegedly Choked With a Belt and Sexually Assaulted After Leaving a Sydney Train Station
» Emotional Scenes as Australians Evacuated From the Coronavirus Epicentre Return Home — and Reveal What Two Weeks in Quarantine on Christmas Island Was Really Like
» Uber Driver Accused of Raping a Female Passenger, 17, Says the Drunk Girl Came Onto Him and Suggested They Had Sex at a Bondi Car Park
 
Latin America
» Brazil Homicides Fall to Lowest Level in at Least 12 Years
 
Immigration
» 1,000 Migrants Returned to Mexican Interior Under New Trump Program
» LA Mayor and Police Chief Record PSA Assuring Illegals They Can Get Away With Breaking American Laws
» Spain: European Court Approves Summary Deportations of Illegal Migrants
» Trump: Europe is ‘Losing Its Culture’ Because of Immigration
 
Culture Wars
» Atheist Dawkins Says ‘Eugenics Would Work’
» CNN Promotes “The Benefits of Being Single” As Birth Rates Plunge
» Indiana Attorney General Holds Mass Funeral for Remains of 2,411 Aborted Babies
» UK: Teen Fined, Under House Arrest for Asking Trans Police Officer’s Gender
 

Bail Reform Analysis by Cook County Chief Judge Based on Flawed Data, Undercounts New Murder Charges

Cook County Chief Judge Timothy Evans for months has defended the bail reform he ordered by citing an analysis produced by the office he runs.

His report, released in May, noted that Chicago saw no increase in violent crime after judges began implementing those reforms by reducing or eliminating monetary bail for many pretrial defendants. Far more of these defendants were released from custody, yet only “a very small fraction” were charged afterward with a new violent offense, the report states.

But a Tribune investigation has found flaws in both the data underlying Evans’ report and the techniques he used to analyze it — issues that minimize the number of defendants charged with murder and other violent crimes after being released from custody under bail reform.

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

Bloomberg Caught on Tape Saying the Elderly Should be Denied Medical Care Because of Cost Overruns

Monday wasn’t a good day for Mike Bloomberg. In fact, it was a really, really bad day.

Just a few hours after a video began circulating online showing the former NYC mayor and current 2020 presidential candidate suggesting that American farmers and factory workers lacked the IQ of tech workers, a second clip began making the rounds on social media showing Bloomberg saying society should deny medical care to the elderly to keep health care costs from “bankrupting us.”

“If you’re bleeding, we’ll stop the bleeding. If you need an x-ray, you’re gonna have to wait,” Bloomberg told a Jewish family, explaining his view on how our medical system should work.

“All of these costs keep going up, no one wants to pay any more money,” he continued. “And at the rate we’re going, health care is going to bankrupt us. So not only do we have a problem, it’s gonna be [unintelligible] and say which things we’re gonna do and which things we’re not. No one wants to do that.”

“If you show up with prostate cancer, and you’re 95 years old, we should say, ‘Go and enjoy…Lead a long life. There’s no cure, we can’t do anything.’ A young person, we should do something about it. Society’s not willing to do that yet.”

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

Bloomberg Says Many ‘Black and Latino Males’ Don’t ‘Know How to Behave in the Workplace, ‘ in Newly Uncovered 2011 Video

While promoting a $127 million, three-year initiative to help minorities in the workplace in 2011, then-New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg declared that there’s “this enormous cohort of black and Latino males” who “don’t know how to behave in the workplace” and “don’t have any prospects.”

The head-turning comments in a resurfaced interview were just the latest headache for the multibillionaire’s campaign. In the past week, Bloomberg has been confronted with his previous claims that farming doesn’t take much intelligence and that “anybody” could do it, as well as his insistence that the way to get guns “out of the kids’ hands is to throw them up against the wall and frisk them.” Additionally, Bloomberg has taken heat for suggesting that a functioning health care system must let the elderly die.

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

Brawl Breaks Out at Bernie Sanders Rally Over ‘Black Guns Matter’ Shirt

A brawl broke out at a Bernie Sanders rally in Colorado on Sunday when a supporter of the Vermont senator confronted another man for wearing a T-shirt that read “Black Guns Matter,” a report said.

The man sporting the shirt, who is black, told CBS Denver that he was recording the presidential hopeful at the Colorado Convention Center when another rally attendee called him “racist” because of his shirt.

“He had a problem with the shirt I was wearing,” the man, who was not identified, told the news station.

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

Don’t Look Now, But There Was a Huge Second-Amendment Victory in Virginia Today

Take that, Mini Mike.

Former New York City mayor, former Republican, current presidential candidate, and never a fan of the Bill of Rights, Mike Bloomberg just saw part of his gun-control agenda suffer a major misfire in Virginia this morning.

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

It’s Looking More and More Like Nevada Will be Another Democratic Clusterfark

With less than a week to go before the Nevada caucuses, it’s looking like the Democrats will have another wholesale disaster on their hands — and for the same reasons they screwed up in Iowa.

Politico:

In interviews, three caucus volunteers described serious concerns about rushed preparations for the Feb. 22 election, including insufficient training for a newly-adopted electronic vote-tally system and confusing instructions on how to administer the caucuses. There are also unanswered questions about the security of Internet connections at some 2,000 precinct sites that will transmit results to a central “war room” set up by the Nevada Democratic Party.

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

‘Obama Personally Asked the FBI to Investigate Someone on Behalf of George Soros,’ Says Alan Dershowitz

In an interview with Breitbart News, Alan Dershowitz claimed he is in possession of documents that will show Barack Obama asked the FBI to investigate an unnamed person on behalf of George Soros. Those documents, he says, will come out during a lawsuit that will be filed in the future. Dershowitz said the only difference between Trump and other presidents influencing the Department of Justice is that Trump is open about it while the others “whispered.”

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

Orban in Phone Talks With Trump

Prime Minister Viktor Orban on Monday had talks with US President Donald Trump by phone, the PM’s press chief told MTI.

Orban and Trump discussed foreign policy issues such as the importance of combatting illegal migration and border protection, Bertalan Havasi said.

The two leaders also touched on the situation in the Middle East, he said, adding that Trump had asked Orban to relay his appreciation to the “successful and great Hungarian people”.

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

Trump Continues to Troll Democrats by Holding Nevada Rally a Day Before Caucuses

Donald Trump has been shadowing Democrats as they begin the cross country trek of primaries and caucuses to choose his challenger. He has shown up a day or two before the Democratic nominating contests, teasing, mocking, and humiliating his potential opponents.

In both Iowa and New Hampshire, Trump’s awesome digital ground game revved up the GOP turnout machine that is now putting the fear of god — or Trump — into Democratic candidates. Trump is smashing the vote total records of both Obama and Bush, proving he is light years ahead of the Democratic Party. His campaign’s digital prowess is, to coin a phrase, “yuuuuge.”

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

CN Rail Forced to Lay Off Employees as Anti-Pipeline Protests Continue

On Thursday, an announcement was made by CN Rail that it is ceasing operations of its whole network east of Toronto due to ongoing pipeline protests close to Belleville, Ont. Eastern Canada staff are now being laid off as a result according to CBC News.

This comes after VIA Rail has cancelled over 400 trains throughout the country and has affected more than 83,000 passengers.

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

Extinction Rebellion Vancouver Island Planning Citizen’s Arrest to Disrupt NC Budget Speech

Extinction Rebellion Vancouver Island has announced they plan to make a citizen’s arrest to disrupt the B.C. government budget speech on Tuesday.

A citizen’s arrest is an arrest made not by a law officer but by a citizen who derives authority from the fact of being a citizen.

“Reconciliation is dead. The events of the past week on Wet’suwet’en territories have been an extreme demonstration of colonial violence, approved by the Trudeau and Horgan governments in contravention of Wet’suwet’en, Canadian and international law,” Extinction Rebellion Vancouver Island wrote in a media advisory.

“Extinction Rebellion Vancouver Island (XRVI) will undertake a peaceful lockdown and execute a citizen’s arrest to disrupt the BC government budget speech on Tuesday, which will fund further injury to the Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chiefs and peoples. Citizens are empowered by a duty to act, and prevent a greater indictable harm; therefore XRVI will be undertaking a lockdown and citizens arrest to prevent further genocidal ‘crimes against humanity’ toward the Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chiefs and peoples (under S.C. statute 2000, c. 24).”

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

Thousand Islands Bridge Reopens After Anti-Pipeline Protests

The Thousand Islands Bridge, which had been closed down due to a blockade from people protesting the Coastal GasLink pipeline, has been reopened. The bridge is located in Gananoque near Kingston Ont.

The bridge allows access to US from Canada however both ways had previously been restricted due to the protests. The traffic restrictions were lifted as of 3 p.m. Monday.

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

Watch: Transport Minister Confirms Anti-Pipeline Protestors Tampered With Railroad Crossings

Transport Minister Marc Garneau has confirmed that anti-pipeline protestors tampered with railroad crossings, specifically, the lights that indicate a coming train.

Garneau appeared on CBC’s Power and Politics on Monday, explaining the situation “I have with concerns with respect to safety here. There have been instances with the railroads where people have climbed on railway cars, that happened over the weekend. There have been instances where unexpected blockade was put in an area where a train was, in fact, operating and the railway company was not aware of that, and that can be extremely dangerous,” said Garneau.

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

200,000 Brits Ditch BBC TV Tax in One Year: Report

Nearly 200,000 Britons have cancelled their television licence in one year, a report has revealed, while several Tories have called on Downing Street to stop its “vendetta” against the BBC by proposing that the broadcaster earn its own money.

The BBC is currently sustained by the £154.50 a year licence fee, which is a mandatory TV tax for anyone who watches live television, whether or not they consume BBC media.

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

Arabic is First Language in Six of Nine Preschools in Ronneby, Sweden

Since newly arrived migrants and their families tend to live in just a few areas in the municipality, sixty to eighty-nine percent of preschoolers at six of the nine schools in central Ronneby, Sweden have a mother tongue other than Swedish.

“Sometimes when conflicts arise, it can be a problem, it may well be a challenge”, Monica Berggren, the Headmaster at Skogsgläntan’s preschool told Sveriges Radio.

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

Danish Police Arrest 27 Foreigners in Massive 100 kg Cocaine Bust

HELSINKI, Finland (AP) — Danish police say they have arrested 27 people for suspected drug smuggling after finding some 100 kilograms of cocaine on a Bahamas-registered cargo vessel plying Danish waters.

Copenhagen police said Sunday in a statement that the cocaine was seized during an internationally coordinated bust on Saturday on the container ship Duncan Island while it was sailing south of the town of Gedser.

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

Danish Teen Attacked by Nine Men Who Tried to Force Him the Railroad Tracks in Islamized Suburb

Unprovoked, racially-motivated attacks against native European teens by migrant gangs are an increasing problem that traditional center-left and center-right parties continue to ignore.

Late last Friday evening, 17-year-old Marcus Aroli, a Dane, was with his sister at Tåstrup train station in western Copenhagen when they decided to take a train to Albertslund station to buy a soda at the 7/11 since there’s no shop of this kind in Tåstrup, Norwegian news site Document.no reports.

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

Eurocrats ‘Fighting Like Ferrets in a Sack’ Over Brexit Budget Hole

European leaders are said to be “fighting like ferrets in a sack” over how to fill the €12 billion annual hole left by the UK’s exit from the EU.

When the UK left the EU on January 31st, the bloc was faced with the multi-billion pound budgetary black hole and will have to look elsewhere to fill it. The bloc’s other rich countries, like Denmark and the Netherlands, will likely have to fill the gaps whilst Brussels makes cutbacks to the subsidies of its poorer member states.

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

Extinction Rebellion Targets Commodity Traders in Geneva

(Bloomberg) — Scores of climate change protesters from a Swiss branch of the Extinction Rebellion campaign group staged protests against commodity houses in Geneva, occupying the office of Vitol Group, the biggest independent oil trader.

About 50 protesters breached the offices of Vitol near the Hotel des Bergues in Geneva on Monday, where they used tape to create human outlines on the ground resembling a murder scene.

The actions show that disruptive climate activists are now looking beyond crude producers and to the role of commodity traders in buying, transporting, storing and selling fossil fuels. Vitol handles more than 7 million barrels of oil a day and Switzerland is a hub for the industry, with more than 500 firms based there.

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

German Engineer Leaves €7 Million Fortune to Nationalist Populist AfD Party

A German engineer has bequeathed his €7 million fortune, including gold and property, to the national populist Alternative for Germany (AfD) party in his will, Deutsche Welle reports.

The endowment is one of the largest ever given to a German political party.

The populist party was the only benefactor under the engineer’s will, and in addition to gold coins, gold bars, and real estate, the will also contained several patents that the engineer had taken out during his lifetime.

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

‘House the Irish First’ — Protesters Block Housebuilding for ‘Non-National Families’

Desperate Irish protesters whose families have been waiting up to 15 years for social housing have blocked the construction of new homes for “non-national families”, demanding “local houses for local people”.

“We watch these houses being built, and none of our children on the list are getting them,” one middle-aged woman, who asked to remain anonymous, told The Irish Times.

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

Is Belgium Heading for New Elections?

Koen Geens, the Belgian minister of justice, has resigned as royal envoy in government formation talks, pointing to potential new elections.

His departure, on Friday (13 February), came after King Philippe appointed him two weeks ago to try to finally forge a coalition, almost nine months after the last vote in May 2019.

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

Islamic Scholar Tariq Ramadan Faces Two New Rape Charges in France

Islamic scholar Tariq Ramadan has been charged with raping two women besides two others he was already facing accusations over, his lawyer told AFP Thursday.

The 57-year-old Ramadan, a Swiss national, was already charged in France with raping a disabled woman in 2009 and a feminist activist in 2012. He denies the charges.

On Thursday, as Ramadan appeared before investigating magistrates in Paris, more charges were added relating to two other women who were identified by investigators from photos found on his computer.

[Comment: Article dated February 13, 2020.]

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

Italy: 5,300 Lay-Offs Asked in Auchan-Conad Deal

Up from 3,105 in October

(ANSA) — Cagliari, February 13 — Italian supermarket giant CONAD has asked for 5,300 lay-offs in its takeover of French supermarket chain Auchan, unions said Thursday.

In October CONAD said its “rescue” of Auchan called for laying off 3,105 workers who would be offered “different occupational solutions’.

Some of these options will be relocation within the Conad or other networks through a plan aiming to safeguard employment, Conad said in a statement.

It noted that it had secured posts for 13,035 of the 16,140 employees that were working with the Auchan group at the time of its acquisition.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Priest Blackmailed for Swapping Sexy Pix With Boyfriend

Woman arrested in Catania

(ANSA) — Catania, February 13 — A 28-year-old Italian woman was arrested in Catania Thursday for allegedly blackmailing a local priest for trading pictures and videos of a sexual nature with his boyfriend.

The woman allegedly extorted 7,600 euros from the cleric in a series of instalments.

The priest reported her to police after he got tired of paying up.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

U.S. Seeks to Free Central Europe From Its Dependence on Russian Energy

Written by: Remix News

The United States have pledged to support the Three Seas energy investments with $1 billion, said Polish Foreign Minister Jacek Czaputowicz during the press briefing at the 56th Munich Security Conference, adding that American support is a “very important declaration which proves how seriously the United States treats the Three Seas initiative.”

Czaputowicz stated that the U.S. wants to show their support by engaging with the development of Central-European infrastructure of the Three Seas countries, which include the 12 countries of Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia.

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

UK: Cambridge’s Trinity College Lawn Dug Up by Extinction Rebellion

Climate activists have dug up a lawn outside a Cambridge University college over its role in a major development in the Suffolk countryside.

Extinction Rebellion members said the action at Trinity College was taken against the “destruction of nature”.

Activists then took dug-up mud to a local Barclays Bank branch.

Innocence Farm in Trimley St Mary has been part of plans, involving Trinity, for a lorry park. The college said it supported work to fight climate change.

A Cambridgeshire Police spokeswoman said the force was liaising with the college and that “a crime has been recorded for criminal damage”.

A spokeswoman for Barclays Bank confirmed activists carrying wheelbarrows full of mud had spread it across the banking hall of its St Andrew’s Street branch.

She added the branch had been kept open and staff ensured customers were safe…

           — Hat tip: JM [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Climate Freaks Dig Up Trinity College Green, Threaten Newton’s Apple Tree

Extinction Rebellion activists are digging up the lawn outside Trinity College this morning.

Extinction Rebellion has taken to the lawn around Newton’s Apple Tree and is digging up the ground with spades. One protester has chained themselves to the tree.

Grass and soil dug up from the Trinity College lawn were then dumped on the floor inside Barclays Bank on St Andrew’s Street.

The group says they are taking action to highlight the college’s “collusion in the destruction of nature” at Innocence Farm in Suffolk.

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

UK: Extinction Rebellion’s Murder of Crows Descends on Falmouth Streets

A murder of crows descended on the streets of Falmouth as part of a protest against banks investing in fossil fuels.

Extinction Rebellion held yet another dramatic protest on Saturday (February 15).

Dressed as black crows and wearing plague doctor masks, campaigners staged ‘die-ins’ at banks to get them to stop investing in fossil fuels. Die-ins are used a lot in Extinction Rebellion events — they are a form of protest in which participants drop to the floor and simulate being dead.

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

WikiLeaks Twitter Account Suspiciously Locked Just Days Before Assange Extradition Hearing

Twitter has locked the account of WikiLeaks.

The publisher’s editor-in-chief Kristinn Hrafnsson has taken to Twitter to demand answers after their official account was suspiciously locked just days away from the extradition hearing of its founder Julian Assange.

Hrafnsson exclaimed that the @wikileaks Twitter account had been locked “shortly before Assange extradition hearing” and for seemingly no apparent reason.

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

Zuckerberg Tells World Leaders to Decide What People Are Allowed to Say

Mark Zuckerberg has given in to government pressure to regulate speech on the internet.

During a meeting with world leaders, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has asked governments to define what people are allowed to say online.

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

21 New Species Added to Indonesian Bird Collection

Twenty-one new species have been added to the list of bird species endemic to Indonesia as of the beginning of 2020, bringing the country’s total to 1,794 bird species.

Achmad Ridha, a research and communication officer at nonprofit bird conservation organization Burung Indonesia, said that the additional species included seven newly described bird species — including the Alor myzomela (Myzomela prawiradilagae) and the spectacled flowerpecker (Dicaeum dayakorum) — as well as 14 species that were split off from previously discovered species.

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

New Species of Orchid Discovered in Arunachal Pradesh

GUWAHATI: Spathoglottis, S. arunachalensis (Orchidaceae), a new species of orchid has been discovered in Arunachal Pradesh.

Details of the discovery have been reported in international journal of plant taxonomy, Phytotaxa, coauthored by Dr Jambey Tsering of the Orchid Research Centre (ORC), Tipi, and Dr Kothareddy Prasad of the Botanical Survey of India, Hyderabad.

“The species is now confirmed as new and named after the state Arunachal Pradesh, where this novelty occurs,” they said.

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

Armed Criminals Steal 600 Rolls of Toilet Paper in Hong Kong

Armed criminals in Hong Kong stole 600 rolls of toilet paper at knifepoint as fears grow over shortages linked to the coronavirus.

The South China Morning Post reported that criminals stole 50 packs of the paper worth around $130 from a delivery truck near a shop.

Government reassurances that supplies of staple products are stable hasn’t stopped Hong Kongers engaging in “frenzied” panic buying.

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

Chinese Health Officials Dispute Reports of Wuhan Doctor’s Death

The head of Wuchang’s city hospital in Wuhan is still being treated for coronavirus according to health officials. According to the Chinese government, Dr Liu Zhiming is said to be undergoing resuscitation after contracting the deadly virus but is alive, despite some reports claiming he had died. Many Chinese citizens remain skeptical of the news that Dr Liu remains alive due to previous attempts to cover up deaths of medical personnel.

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

Coronavirus Live Updates: China Death Toll Hits 1,868, As More Than 450 on Cruise Ship Test Positive

This is a live blog. Please check back for updates.

All times below are in Beijing time.

10:09 am: More than 80% of state-owned firms’ manufacturing subsidiaries have resumed work

As of Monday, more than 80% of the central state-owned enterprises’ roughly 20,000 manufacturing subsidiaries have resumed work, according to China’s State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission.

The commision said that more than 95% have resumed work in petroleum and petrochemicals, telecommunications, power grid and power generation, and transportation. In mining, steel and equipment manufacturing more than 80% have resumed work. — Evelyn Cheng

9:33 am: More than 450 people on Diamond Princess cruise ship test positive

Out of a total of 1,723 passengers and crew members tested on board the quarantined Diamond Princess cruise ship off the coast of Japan, 454 people were confirmed to have been infected, Japan’s health ministry said. That included 189 asymptomatic carriers, or those who tested positive but did not show any symptoms, according to the ministry.

Countries, including the United States, have started repatriating their stranded citizens on chartered planes. U.S. officials said they received notice that 14 passengers had tested positive and they were allowed to be evacuated while kept in isolation from other passengers.

The ship had been quarantined since Feb. 3 after a previous guest tested positive for the disease six days after disembarking.

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

Mini Tanks Deployed to Disinfect Coronavirus-Hit Areas in China

Authorities in China have resorted to using remote-control operated mini tanks to disinfect city streets amid the deadly coronavirus outbreak that’s sickened over 70,500 in the country and killed at least 1,770. The tank, which was developed by Shanxi Tianyi Technology Co. Ltd., was originally designed to disinfect prisons and can cover up to 540,000 square feet in just an hour, according to AsiaWire.

It’s one of two currently being controlled by hazmat-wearing teams that are patrolling city streets.

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

Senator Cotton: China Refusing to Hand Over Evidence About Wuhan Biolab

Senator Tom Cotton says that China is refusing to hand over evidence concerning the bio-safety level 4 research lab in Wuhan despite a new report from biological scientists at the South China University of Technology saying it may have been the source of the coronavirus outbreak.

During an appearance on Fox News, Cotton told Maria Bartiromo that new evidence confirmed the source of the virus was not the meat market in Wuhan.

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

The Chinese Vloggers Documenting the Coronavirus Outbreak Have Vanished

From day one, you knew they were lying. The Chinese figures on the coronavirus are garbage. This is an authoritarian state. They monitor most, if not all, internet communications coming in and out of the country. This is a very ethnocentric nation. National pride is major—and the state being unable to contain a viral outbreak and needing Western help is a blow to that mindset. So, it shouldn’t shock us, sadly, that the two brave Chinese vloggers who documented the outbreak have disappeared. One of them is said to have been forced into quarantine protocols by the government, but who knows (via NYT).

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

WHO Holds Secret Talks With Tech Giants to Stop Spread of Coronavirus “Misinformation”

The World Health Organization has held talks with tech giants to stop the spread of coronavirus “misinformation,” despite the fact that some things once labeled “misinformation” have since turned out to be true.

The meeting was organized by the WHO but hosted by Facebook at its Menlo Park campus in California. Attendees included representatives from Amazon, Twilio, Dropbox, Google, Verizon, Salesforce, Twitter, YouTube, Airbnb, Kinsa and Mapbox.

According to the WHO’s Andy Pattison, an “infodemic” of misinformation has accompanied the coronavirus outbreak and big tech giants need to respond by censoring “fake news” content.

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

Chilling Moment Accused Predator Follows a Woman Moments Before She Was Allegedly Choked With a Belt and Sexually Assaulted After Leaving a Sydney Train Station

Muhummad Hassan, 23, was charged with a string of offences after he allegedly followed a woman from Chester Hill train station in Sydney’s south-west on Thursday.

           — Hat tip: SS [Return to headlines]
 

Emotional Scenes as Australians Evacuated From the Coronavirus Epicentre Return Home — and Reveal What Two Weeks in Quarantine on Christmas Island Was Really Like

Australians who were quarantined on Christmas Island over the coronavirus crisis have expressed relief and gratitude as they return home.

           — Hat tip: SS [Return to headlines]
 

Uber Driver Accused of Raping a Female Passenger, 17, Says the Drunk Girl Came Onto Him and Suggested They Had Sex at a Bondi Car Park

Onur Dedeoglu, 39, is on trial in Sydney’s Downing Centre District Court over the alleged sexual assault of the teenager, who can’t be named for legal reasons.

           — Hat tip: SS [Return to headlines]
 

Brazil Homicides Fall to Lowest Level in at Least 12 Years

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro celebrated Friday after a crime index showed homicides fell to their lowest level in more than a decade during the first year of his term.

Brazil had 41,635 killings in 2019, down 19% from the prior year and the least number of homicides since 2007, when the so-called Violence Monitor index was launched. It is a partnership between the non-profit Brazilian Forum of Public Security, the University of Sao Paulo’s Center for the Study of Violence, and news website G1, which published the data Friday.

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

1,000 Migrants Returned to Mexican Interior Under New Trump Program

U.S. Immigration and Customs and Border Protection agents teamed up to return more than 1,000 Mexican migrants deep into their country’s interior under a new Trump Administration program.

During the peak of the 2019 migrant border crisis, the Trump Administration negotiated an agreement to return Mexican nationals found illegally in the United States into Mexico’s interior, according to information obtained from U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials. Under previous agreements, Mexican nationals were simply returned to across the border—making it easy to simply re-cross elsewhere.

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

LA Mayor and Police Chief Record PSA Assuring Illegals They Can Get Away With Breaking American Laws

In what can only be described as giving the middle finger to the United States of America and law and order, the mayor of Los Angeles and his equally law-breaking police chief recorded a public service announcement letting illegal aliens know they will not be held accountable to U.S. laws while living in .LA.

“Regardless of your immigration status, I want every Angeleno to know your city is on your side,” said Mayor Eric Garcetti. “Here in Los Angeles, our police department does not coordinate with ICE or participate in immigration enforcement.”

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

Spain: European Court Approves Summary Deportations of Illegal Migrants

In a landmark decision that will have potentially seismic implications for immigration policy in Europe, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has ruled that Spain acted lawfully when it summarily deported two migrants who illegally tried to enter Spanish territory.

The Strasbourg-based court — which has jurisdiction over 47 European countries, and whose rulings are binding on all 27 member states of the European Union — ruled that in order for migrants to benefit from certain human rights protections, such as access to lawyers, interpreters and the right to remain in Europe, they must first enter European territory in a legal, as opposed to an illegal, manner.

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

Trump: Europe is ‘Losing Its Culture’ Because of Immigration

U.S. President Donald Trump has warned that Europe is “losing its culture” because of immigration, arguing that bringing in more than a million migrants from alien cultures has “changed the fabric of Europe” permanently — and “not in a positive way”.

In a recent interview with the British tabloid The Sun, Trump lamented the fact that European leaders have allowed so many migrants into their countries.

Trump, as the son of parents from two EU countries, says that the situation in Europe pains him personally.

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

Atheist Dawkins Says ‘Eugenics Would Work’

“Facts ignore ideology”

In a set of rather bizarre tweets on Sunday, notorious atheist Richard Dawkins argued that eugenics, the practice of selective breeding supported by the Nazis, would work perfectly well if applied to humans, because it works on animals.

“It’s one thing to deplore eugenics on ideological, political, moral grounds. It’s quite another to conclude that it wouldn’t work in practice,” Dawkins wrote.

“Of course it would. It works for cows, horses, pigs, dogs & roses. Why on earth wouldn’t it work for humans? Facts ignore ideology,” he added.

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

CNN Promotes “The Benefits of Being Single” As Birth Rates Plunge

CNN marked Valentines Day weekend by promoting “the benefits of being single,” even as birth rates across America and Europe continue to plunge.

In an article entitled ‘Singles Awareness Day: The benefits of being single’ — the news network highlights the fact that “The number of American men and women who have never been married, are divorced or living alone has been on an upward trend for several years.”

The piece cites research by Dr. Elyakim Kislev, professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, who believes “being single can be an advantage instead of a source of agony.”

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

Indiana Attorney General Holds Mass Funeral for Remains of 2,411 Aborted Babies

Indiana’s attorney general held a service for the remains of more than 2,400 unborn babies found in a late abortionist’s home and car last year.

According to the Daily Caller, Indiana Attorney General Curtis Hill held a funeral service on Wednesday where he laid to rest the 2,411 unborn babies whose fetal remains were kept hidden by abortionist Ulrich Klopfer.

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

UK: Teen Fined, Under House Arrest for Asking Trans Police Officer’s Gender

A teenager with Asperger’s was handed a hefty fine and placed under house arrest for asking a trans police support officer, “is it a boy or is it a girl?”

Declan Armstrong, 19, allegedly offended the transgender support officer, Connor Freel, who was reportedly left “upset and embarrassed” by the question.

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

7 thoughts on “Gates of Vienna News Feed 2/17/2020

  1. “Unprovoked, racially-motivated attacks against native European teens by migrant gangs are an increasing problem that traditional center-left and center-right parties continue to ignore.”
    The significant feature of these attacks is that the predominently muslim attackers outnumber their indigenous victims, in this case by 9 to 1. Muslim men never engage in one to one confrontations mainly because they are cowards.
    When are the indigenous males going to catch onto this and retaliate in a similar manner? Nothing else seems to work and the legal system operates in favour of theoffenders.

    • I believe it is just so far outside the average western european’s frame of reference; the concept of using violence to respond to violence.

      I remember a scene with Wesley Snipes from the movie Demolition Man which I saw with my father at the theater when I was a boy, unbeknownst to my mom. Snipes’s character was strolling down the street in a future city just beating and killing at random with even the police powerless to stop him because they themselves had no idea what to do when confronted by a criminal that refused to obey their orders. Every time I read one of these stories out of Europe, I am reminded of that scene.

      I used to wonder the same thing, namely, when would western european males find their testicles and hit back when they are struck instead of cowering meekly like curs with their tails between their legs. I think it is this lack of framework or concept, or even the idea or thought to use violence in response to a threat or as an act of retaliation or revenge to an affront that explains the passive and limp actions of european males to provocations. I am sure there are native western european gangs but they are few and far between and have been ruthlessly displaced by far more virulent and aggressive african and muslim gangs. This says a lot about the weakness of the young males in western european societies and why their is no organized response by young men when one of their own is set upon by gangs of muslim and african men, even after the fact as an act of retaliation.

    • This needs to be better publicized. They would not be able to get away with this madness if it was wider known.

      It seems to be a feature and not a bug that fortunes of deceased great men are perverted and corrupted by descendents, heirs, charities, and any assortment of schemers and corrupters which are drawn to such unclaimed pools of marooned wealth as flies are drawn to piles of ordure. It is depressingly ironic how such fortunes, honestly earned in their creator’s lifetimes are put to such evil uses after their deaths. Perhaps the practice of leaving such wealth to trusts should be banned after a set number of years due to inevitable corruption.

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