Despite the chaotic and incomplete results from the Democrat caucuses in Iowa, Pete Buttigieg has declared victory. Early results put him in the lead, with Bernie “Honeymoon in Moscow” Sanders close behind, and former Vice President Joe Biden a distant fourth.
In other news, the official death toll in China for the Wuhan Coronavirus has risen to 490.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to 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.
AOC Announces That She Will Not Attend Trump’s State of the Union Address
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, infamous Democratic rep from New York’s 19th district, has stated her intention of not attending President Trump’s State of the Union address tonight.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Breaking: James O’Keefe of Project Veritas Suspended From Twitter
On Tuesday evening, journalist and Project Veritas firebrand James O’Keefe was temporarily suspended by Twitter for reporting on the radical activities of Bernie Sanders campaign staff.
The tweet that garnered the suspension was a retraction request directed at Dave Weigel of Washington Post, asking him to retract factually inaccurate information about disgraced Sanders staffers Kyle Jurek and Martin Weissberger.
“To prove the inaccuracy our tweet linked to a page found on the Federal Election Commission website showing the ‘volunteer’ was, in fact, a paid staffer of the Sanders campaign. The Post reporter retracted his story. The information we reported is in the public domain, there is nothing ‘private’ about it,” O’Keefe told The Daily Wire.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Pete Buttigieg is narrowly leading the Democratic presidential field in the Iowa caucuses, according to initial returns that the party at last began reporting late Tuesday afternoon following a massive delay linked to technical breakdowns.
But Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders is close behind the former South Bend, Ind., mayor, with 62 percent of precincts reporting in the first batch released by the embattled state party. Sanders is also ahead in the popular vote, with 26 percent to Buttigieg’s 25 percent, Elizabeth Warren’s 20 percent and Joe Biden’s 13 percent.
It was still not clear when the party would release the complete vote totals.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
California Husband and Wife Infected With Coronavirus ‘Suddenly Much More Ill’
Two people diagnosed with the deadly Wuhan coronavirus became “suddenly much more ill” on Sunday evening, and a couple was taken to a hospital in San Francisco by Monday, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
The two patients, a husband and wife hailing from San Benito County, were diagnosed with the coronavirus after the husband had returned from traveling to China. Along with one additional case in Santa Clara County, the husband and wife made up the three new cases reported in California on Monday.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Creator of US Bioweapons Act Says Coronavirus is Biological Warfare Weapon
The WHO knows full well what is occurring
In an explosive interview Dr. Francis Boyle, who drafted the Biological Weapons Act has given a detailed statement admitting that the 2019 Wuhan Coronavirus is an offensive Biological Warfare Weapon and that the World Health Organization (WHO) already knows about it.
Francis Boyle is a professor of international law at the University of Illinois College of Law.
He drafted the U.S. domestic implementing legislation for the Biological Weapons Convention, known as the Biological Weapons Anti-Terrorism Act of 1989, that was approved unanimously by both Houses of the U.S. Congress and signed into law by President George H.W. Bush.
In an exclusive interview given to Geopolitics and Empire, Dr. Boyle discusses the coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan, China and the Biosafety Level 4 laboratory (BSL-4) from which he believes the infectious disease escaped.
He believes the virus is potentially lethal and an offensive biological warfare weapon or dual-use biowarfare weapons agent genetically modified with gain of function properties, which is why the Chinese government originally tried to cover it up and is now taking drastic measures to contain it.
The Wuhan BSL-4 lab is also a specially designated World Health Organization (WHO) research lab and Dr. Boyle contends that the WHO knows full well what is occurring.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Dubious Coin Flips Hand Buttigieg Delegates in Iowa
With the South Bend Mayor already being accused of cheating, dubious coin flips helped hand Pete Buttigieg more delegates in Iowa.
Buttigieg is receiving heat for declaring victory despite votes not being counted due to a “reporting issue.” The app used to tally the votes is owned by a parent company which is owned by a Buttigieg supporter.
However, another method of deciding delegates also has some people crying foul — coil flips.
Breaking delegate ties by a coin flip is nothing new, but the video below has caused some consternation.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Five Mosques Used as Iowa Caucus Sites for First Time in American History
Five mosques were used as Iowa Democrat Caucus sites for the first time in United States history in an attempt to drive up voter participation among Muslim voters.
On Monday evening, five mosques in the Des Moines, Iowa, area were approved as official caucus sites to increase Muslim voter participation. Iowa has a Muslim population of about one percent.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Iowa Democratic Party Blames Caucus Chaos on App’s ‘Coding Issue’
The Iowa Democratic Party blamed delayed results in Monday evening’s caucus contest on a “coding issue” found in the app used to record and report votes.
“While the app was recording data accurately, it was reporting out only partial data. We have determined that this was due to a coding issue in the reporting system,” party officials said in a Tuesday morning statement.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Leftists Blame Russian Bots for Fallout From Iowa Caucus Shambles
Some leftists are blaming “Russian propaganda accounts” for the embarrassing fallout from the Iowa caucus, fulfilling a prediction by President Trump that they would do precisely that.
The results from last night’s caucus were delayed to to a “reporting issue” related to an app called Shadow, the owner of which Tara McGowan is a Mayor Pete Buttigieg supporter and is married to one of his advisers.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
‘Mayor Cheat’: Pete Buttigieg Accused of Trying to Steal Iowa Caucus
Mayor Pete Buttigieg is being accused of cheating for bizarrely claiming he won the Iowa primary despite the results not being counted and internal results indicating Bernie Sanders won.
The delay in delivering results was based on a “reporting issue,” but this didn’t stop Buttigieg from claiming victory.
“By all indications, we are going on to New Hampshire victorious,” he told supporters. “Tonight, an improbable hope became an undeniable reality.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Meme Police: Twitter Announces Crackdown on Memes
As images and videos depicting President Trump and his political rivals in Congress come under increasing scrutiny by the likes of BuzzFeed and CNN, Twitter has announced its latest effort: cracking down on “manipulated photos or videos that can cause people harm.” In other words, the platform will be tackling political memes it determines to be harmful.
Do memes poking fun at Joe Biden’s bleeding eyes, his confused demeanour, and concerning predilection towards non-consensual touching constitute as harm—particularly if they only affect his reputation as a serious Democratic candidate for President? Perhaps so. To limit this so-called “harm,” Twitter revealed today that it is introducing a new rule and a label to address and “give people more context” around tweets the platform determines requires a closer look.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
New Thalattosaur Species Discovered in Southeast Alaska
Scientists at the University of Alaska Fairbanks have identified a new species of thalattosaur, a marine reptile that lived more than 200 million years ago.
The new species, Gunakadeit joseeae, is the most complete thalattosaur ever found in North America and has given paleontologists new insights about the thalattosaurs’ family tree, according to a paper published today in the journal Scientific Reports. Scientists found the fossil in Southeast Alaska in 2011.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Nolte: The Real Story Out of Iowa is Dismally Low Democrat Turnout
The real story out of Monday’s night’s Iowa Caucus has nothing to do with the Democrat Party’s vote-counting debacle and everything to do with the Democrat Party’s dismally low voter turnout.
A presidential election is won and lost on only three things: 1) enthusiasm, 2) enthusiasm, and 3) enthusiasm. Presidential elections are base elections, meaning you have to get the party’s base of supporters to turn out everywhere. What happened last night in Iowa was our first chance to gauge support and excitement on both sides, not to mention organizational strength.
As my colleague John Binder reported earlier, one vote count that was not screwed up last night was the count of overall Iowa Democrats who showed up to caucus. Unfortunately for Democrats, turnout is right around 2016 levels, or about 171,000.
That’s a terrible number, a number that foretold Hillary Clinton’s 2016 loss to Donald Trump.
For context, back in 2008, the most recent (prior to 2016) up-for-grabs Democrat primary not involving an incumbent, 240,000 Democrats turned out in the contest between Barack Obama and Hillary — a record high.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Prof Attacks ‘Racist, ‘ ‘Evil’ Rush Limbaugh Hours After Cancer Announcement
Hours after conservative talk radio host Rush Limbaugh announced he has lung cancer, University of California-Riverside Professor Reza Aslan took to Twitter to imply that the world would be a “better place” without Limbaugh in it.
“Ask yourself this simple question: is the world a better or a worse place with Rush Limbaugh in it?” Aslan tweeted.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
The White House is reportedly preparing an executive order that would direct all new federal buildings to be built in the classical architectural style.
The Architectural Record has obtained a preliminary draft of the order, entitled ‘Making Federal Buildings Beautiful Again’, under which “the White House would require rewriting the Guiding Principles for Federal Architecture, issued in 1962, to ensure that “the classical architectural style shall be the preferred and default style” for new and upgraded federal buildings.
The order would reverse favoring Brutalist and Deconstructivist styles advocated by the General Service Administration’s (GSA) Design Excellence Program and would instead favor the architectural styles of “democratic Athens” and “republican Rome.”
The executive order trashes brutalist buildings such as the U.S. Federal Building in San Francisco, the U.S. Courthouse in Austin, Texas, and the Wilkie D. Ferguson, Jr. U.S. Courthouse in Miami as having “little aesthetic appeal.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Trump Expanding Base of Black, Hispanic, Suburban Voters, Has 51% Approval
The improving economy and voter anger with the partisan impeachment process have helped to boost President Trump’s support among blacks, Hispanics, independents, and suburban women, according to a new survey.
The latest Zogby Analytics poll, shared exclusively with Secrets, also showed that the president’s job approval rating continues to edge up despite his impeachment and the ongoing Senate trial.
“The president continues to receive a high approval rating near or slightly above 50% for the third straight poll. He has rebounded with Independents, women, suburban voters and suburban women,” said pollster Jonathan Zogby in his analysis.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Canada Proposes Gov Licenses for News Sites & Social Media Companies
Trudeau administration set to go full authoritarian.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Canadian Minister U-Turns on Compulsory Media Licensing After Massive Backlash
Canadian Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault has done a 180-degree turn on comments suggesting media organisations would be forced to have government licences after a huge backlash.
Minister Guilbeault clarified his and the government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s stance on the matter, saying that the government had no intention to force media companies to require licenses to operate in Canada, CTV reports.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Dr. Patrick Moore, PhD Ecology, Not Good Enough for the Climate Change Warriors
The environmentalist left is attacking Dr Patrick Moore again, this time trying to unperson him from a keynote speaking engagement about sustainability in Regina Saskatchewan in May.
On paper, Moore is the ideal speaker for a government hosted sustainability conference. He’s a founder of Greenpeace with a PhD in ecology. He even calls himself an environmentalist.
Except there’s one big problem.
Moore doesn’t think that CO2 is the thermostat knob for global temperatures. And because of this, Moore is constantly under attack from the radical environmentalist left. Last year, after a tweet from Trump mentioned Moore as a founder of Greenpeace, the mainstream media and the radical left got to work trying to rewrite the history of Greenpeace to disappear Moore from it.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
WestJet Flight Lands After Canadian Man Claims He Has Coronavirus
A WestJet flight headed to Montego Bay, Jamaica from Toronto had to make a U-turn back to Pierson Airport after a man announced he had coronavirus mid-flight.
During the flight, a man stood up, told passengers he was recently in China and that he had contracted the coronavirus.
“That announcement was shared by the flight crew to the captain and a decision was made for the plane to return back to Pearson,” Const. Bancroft Wright told the CBC.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Anti-Brexit Activist Vows to Continue Protesting Until UK Rejoins EU
Steve “stop Brexit” Bray has pledged to continue his protest outside of the Houses of Parliament until the UK rejoins the EU.
After initially conceding defeat and pledging to hang up his blue and gold hat after December’s landslide victory for the Conservatives, Mr Bray has told the BBC he is preparing for the “longest protest ever”.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Chechen Dissident Stabbed to Death in France
A Chechen blogger and critic of Chechnya’s president Ramzan Kadyrov died of multiple stab wounds in an attack at a hotel in northern France last week, AFP writes. Imran Aliev, a 44-year old, lived in Belgium where he had political asylum. Several of Kadyrov’s critics have been killed in suspicious circumstances in recent years. Last August, a Chechen rebel commander was shot and killed in Berlin.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Coronavirus: Entrants to Hungary Checked at Major Border Crossings
The Hungarian police and the National Ambulance Service (OMSZ) are checking travellers entering Hungary for coronavirus at six major border crossings across the country, the spokesman of the national police force said on Tuesday.
Kristóf Gal told a press conference at the border crossing at Tompa, on the Hungary-Serbia border, that the crossings at Ártand, Csanadpalota, Röszke, Tompa, Udvar and Letenye are also entry points into the Schengen area. Experience shows that most buses taking Chinese tourists to Hungary cross at these points, Gal said.
Their temperature is being taken and those with a fever will be isolated and, if necessary, sent to a hospital with the facilities to receive them, Gal said.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
First Case of Coronavirus in Belgium
One Belgian national has been diagnosed with the coronavirus, the Belgian minister of health, Maggie De Block, confirmed in a statement. On Sunday nine Belgians came back from the Wuhan province in China and were tested in the military hospital of Neder-Over-Heembeek. Eight tested negative, but “one person seems to infected by the new coronavirus”, De Block said.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Greta ‘Put Them Against the Wall’ Thunberg Nominated for Nobel Peace Prize
Climate alarmist’s nomination triggers backlash
17-year-old Climate alarmist Greta Thunburg has been nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize, prompting the internet to attempt to re-balance the scales of sanity back from bat-shit-crazy.
Thunberg has been nominated for the 2020 prize by two leftist Swedish lawmakers, Jens Holm and Hakan Svenneling, according to reports.
The pair argued that Greta “has worked hard to make politicians open their eyes to the climate crisis.” and that her efforts have contributed to “reducing our emissions and complying with the Paris Agreement.”
The liberal politicians claim that this is “therefore also an act of making peace.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Hungary: Orban: Economic Success Prerequisite for Conservative Policy
Prime Minister Viktor Orban, addressing a conference on conservatism in Rome on Tuesday, said economic success was a prerequisite for conservative policy.
Achieving economic success is the only way for nationally minded conservative and Christian democratic leaders to “survive”, Orban told a podium discussion at the National Conservatism Conference. But if a conservative political leader makes a mistake and economic indicators fall as a result, the leader “is murdered the next morning”, he added.
The prime minister said the Hungarian economy has been growing at a rate of 4-5 percent in recent years, adding that the unemployment rate had fallen to 3 percent with the public debt also shrinking. Highlighting Hungary’s stability, he noted that it was the only country in Europe not to have held early elections since 1990.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Hungary: Fidesz’ EPP Membership Suspended Indefinitely
Donald Tusk, president of the European People’s party, said at an EPP meeting in Brussels on Monday that the party group’s ad-hoc body of so-called ‘wise men’ has completed their report on the situation in Hungary and the party has decided to keep Fidesz suspended for the indefinite future.
The Evaluation Committee was created after Fidesz’s suspension from the EPP back in March to monitor and assess whether the Hungarian governing party meets the democratic values laid down in the official documents of the People’s Party, namely whether they have respect for the rule of law, EPP values, as well as the implementation of the EPP emergency resolution on “Protecting EU Values and Safeguarding Democracy.” The committee is chaired by former Prime Minister Herman Van Rompuy (Belgium), and its members include former European Parliament President Hans-Gert Pöttering (Germany), and former Chancellor Wolfgang Schüssel (Austria).
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Hungary: ‘More Patriotic’ National Curriculum Accepted Amid Significant Protest
The new amendment to Hungary’s national curriculum (NAT) has finally been accepted. The government is positive that the changes will grant “Hungarian youth to rise among the world’s best by 2030.” However, many critics of the amendment say there are serious problems with the new curriculum, especially with the humanities which they think are too ideologically driven.
The amendments to Hungary’s national curriculum have been finalized and will incorporate the most efficient international practices along with Hungarian values and traditions, Human Resources Minister Miklós Kasler announced in a press conference on Friday, MTI reports.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Hungary: Chinese Passenger Hospitalised With Fever Feeling Better But No Diagnosis Given Yet
The Chinese woman, who was taken to hospital after testing with fever at Budapest’s Liszt Ferenc International Airport on Monday, is feeling better, Janos Szlavik, department head at the National Institute of Hematology and Infectology, said on Tuesday.
The woman had only mild fever in the morning and stopped coughing, Szlavik said, adding that a final diagnosis can be given once laboratory tests are concluded.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Hungary: Coronavirus Prevention: All Patients in Quarantine ‘Are in Good Health’
All people who are under observation in a Budapest hospital after being suspected of carrying the coronavirus are in good health, an official of the hospital where the patients are being quarantined said on Tuesday.
Seven Hungarian women returned home from China on Sunday, while on Monday a Chinese woman arrived in Budapest with a fever, Janos Szlavik, head of the National Institute of Hematology and Infectology at South Pest Central Hospital, told a news conference. In addition, a student was quarantined on Saturday on arrival at Budapest’s Liszt Ferenc International Airport.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Irish PM Tells Boris to ‘Tone Down Nationalistic Rhetoric’
Ireland’s prime minister, Leo Varadkar, has told the UK to “tone down” its “nationalistic rhetoric” during forthcoming negotiations with the European Union.
Speaking to the BBC’s Andrew Marr, Mr Varadkar told viewers: “Let’s not repeat some of the errors that we’ve made in the past two and a half years. Let’s not set such rigid red lines that it makes it hard to come to an agreement, and let’s tone down the kind of nationalistic rhetoric.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Mila: ‘No Regrets’ For French Teen Targeted for Criticising Islam
A teenager has sparked a national debate about blasphemy in France after an Instagram post calling Islam a “religion of hate”.
Mila, 16, posted her comments online after receiving homophobic abuse from a Muslim commenter.
She received death threats and has not attended school since.
But Mila has refused to back down, saying in her first television interview that she “wanted to blaspheme”.
She has since deactivated her Instagram account.
The post has sparked a huge debate in France over freedom of speech. The country has no national blasphemy laws and has a rigidly secular constitution.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Spokesman for Violent Islamist Group Arrested on War Crimes Charges, Was in France on Student Visa
French authorities have arrested a former spokesman for an armed Syrian Islamist group for complicity in war crimes who was in France on an Erasmus student visa.
Investigators arrested Majdi Mustafa Nameh, who was using the alias Islam Alloush, in Marseille last week on torture and war crimes charges. On Saturday, Islamist group Jaysh al-Islam demanded his release, newspaper Le Figaro reports.
Nameh had acted as a former spokesman for Jaysh al-Islam which operates in Syria and fought against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in the Damascus region during the Syrian civil war.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
UK: ‘Hamilton’ Star Giles Terera May Face Legal Action Over Alleged Hate Hoax
Last November, British actor and “Hamilton” musical star, Giles Terera, claimed in a viral tweet that he and a group of eight other black actors were refused entry at a London pub after being “racially profiled.” However, the blues bar immediately refuted the allegations of racism in a Facebook post, saying that some members of Terera’s group did not have IDs. Now, it appears that the “Ain’t Nothin’ But Blues” bar in central London may be taking legal action against Mr. Terera.
On Nov. 29, 2019, Mr. Terera claimed in a series of tweets that his group of black actors was denied entry while a separate group of white people was allowed into the bar. He tagged the bar and the Evening Standard newspaper.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Govt Minister: We Don’t Need a Trade Deal With the EU
Cabinet minister Michael Gove has backed comments by Boris Johnson’s Treasury secretary that the UK does not need a deal with the EU to trade with it.
On Monday, Chief Secretary to the Treasury Rishi Sunak said on Sky News that the UK does not “need” a trade agreement with the bloc, saying: “We have left. There are lots of other ways that countries trade with each other.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Liberals Fear Post-Brexit Shortage of Foreign Au Pairs to Look After Their Kids
The middle class are finding it harder to draft in cheap foreign au pairs from the European Union to look after their children and homes since the Brexit vote.
Agencies which place au pairs have seen their labour supply shrink by 75 per cent since the 2016 referendum on European Union membership. They fear it will shrink even more after Britain properly exits the bloc at the end of the 2020 “transition” period, during which Britain is formally out of the EU but still subject to all of its rules and its migration regime.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Weather Warning: Earth May be Hit by Mini ICE-Age as Sun ‘Hibernates’
Sunspot activity on the surface of the Sun follows a well-known but little understood 11-year cycle. Activity rises and falls creating the so-called solar maximum and then a solar minimum. During a solar maximum, the Sun is more powerful and is littered with sunspots.
Conversely, when the Sun enters a solar minimum — which it did about two years ago — energy from our host star begins to lessen.
However, one expert has warned that the Sun will enter a period of “hibernation” this year, in what as known as a Grand Solar Minimum (GSM).
Prof Valentina Zharkova, from the department of mathematics, physics and electrical engineering at Northumbria University, warned this could cause global temperatures to drop by one degrees Celsius.
While that sounds like an insignificant drop, it could have major ramifications for the planet, including a slow down in agricultural production.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Pope Francis Celebrates 1st Anniversary of Catholic-Muslim Accord
ROME — Pope Francis marked the first anniversary of the Abu Dhabi joint accord Tuesday by calling for “a future free from hatred, resentment, extremism and terrorism.”
“I greet all of you present and especially greet all the people who with humanity help their poor, the sick, the persecuted and weak brothers and sisters regardless of the religion, color, or race to which they belong,” the pope said in a video-message to participants in an anniversary ceremony in Abu Dhabi.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
India: Suspected ISIS Operative Abu Musa Hurls Shoe at Judge During Hearing
Alleged ISIS operative Abu Musa, who is being tried under the stringent UAPA, on Tuesday hurled a shoe at a judge hearing the case at Bankshall court here.
he footwear, however, missed judge Prasenjit Biswas and hit National Investigation Agency (NIA) counsel Tamal Mukherjee.
Mukherjee claimed he was injured in the attack.
Musa, arrested in 2016 for his alleged links with ISIS and the Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), is in judicial remand and being tried for his purported role in radicalising young men.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Suspected is Operative Musa Hurls Shoe at Hindu Judge in Kolkata Court
Subrata Paul | HENB | Kolkata | February 4, 2020:: Suspected Islamic State (IS) operative Mohammad Masiuddin alias Musa created a flutter by hurling a shoe at the judge during a court hearing here Tuesday, prompting the National Investigative Agency (NIA) to seek his trial in-camera.
Musa, who was arrested in 2016 for having alleged links with foreign extremists including the IS and Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), suddenly got agitated while making a submission to the judge in the NIA court. He bowed down, took off one of his shoes and threw it at the judge. The missile, however, missed the judge and hit a lawyer.
Musa, who is now under NIA custody in the Presidency Jail here, had attacked the warden of the Alipore Central Correctional Home some time back, slashing his throat with a spoon that the militant had sharpened into a weapon.
After Tuesday’s incident, the NIA counsel pleaded to the judge to allow Musa to be tried from the prison through a video link.
Musa was nabbed July 4, 2016 by the CID from aboard a train in Burdwan. The probe into his links with foreign militants was subsequently taken over by the NIA. Musa is suspected as a key person in Khagragarh Bomb Blast including some jihadi activities happened in Bengal and other states in India.
It is gathered from the jail and court sources, the suspected Islamic terrorist Md. Masiuddin alias Musa is a devout follower of Islam and five time Namaji (offers Namaj for five times).
Before and after hurling the show Musa was murmuring, “I believe only in Quran. How a Kaffir or Murtad Judge can try me. Only Sharia can try me, as per my faith. I have no faith in Indian law & judiciary.”…
| — Hat tip: Upananda Brahmachari | [Return to headlines] |
Chinese Doctor WHO Sounded Alarm on Coronavirus Says He Was Detained — Then Got Sick
A Chinese doctor who claimed he quietly warned of the coronavirus outbreak that has besieged the country and resulted in hundreds of deaths said he was detained by authorities and eventually sickened.
Li Wenliang shared his concerns via a private chat with his fellow medical school graduates after several patients had contracted something similar to severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), a respiratory illness that killed hundreds in China from 2002 to 2003, The Washington Post reported.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Coronavirus: Ten Passengers on Cruise Ship Test Positive for Virus
At least 10 people on board a cruise ship docked in the Japanese port of Yokohama have tested positive for coronavirus, health authorities said.
Almost 300 of the 3,700 people on the Diamond Princess have been tested so far. The number of infected could rise as testing continues.
The checks began after an 80-year-old Hong Kong man who had been on the ship last month fell ill with the virus.
All 10 cases are in those over the age of 50, Japanese broadcaster NHK said.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Coronavirus Update: China Toll Skyrockets, But Markets Calm Amid Government Cash Infusion
China’s coronavirus outbreak hit a deadly new milestone on Tuesday, with the number of confirmed cases topping 20,000 amid over 400 deaths.
Monday’s steep post-Lunar Year market drop was curbed on Tuesday, as the central bank injected an additional $71 billion into markets — on top of $171 billion that lubricated assets over the weekend.
Macau is shutting down all casinos to help control the spread of the virus, officials said Tuesday. Meanwhile, Hong Kong and the Philippines have each reported a death — currently the only two coronavirus fatalities outside of China.
As China scrambles to contain new infections, businesses are still pulling back from operating in its crisis-battered economy. On Tuesday, auto giant Hyundai announced it would suspend production lines at its South Korean factories, due largely to disruption in its China supply chain. Separately, major air carriers have suspended flights into the world’s second largest economy.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
This is a live blog. Please check back for updates.
All times below are in Beijing time.
11:25 am: Second hospital in Wuhan due to be completed on Wednesday
A second, 1,600-bed hospital for coronavirus patients in Wuhan is set to be completed on Wednesday, according to Chinese state media CGTN.
That follows the city’s first, 1,000-bed hospital which was completed and started admitting patients on Monday. Both hospitals were constructed rapidly in a roughly week-long process, watched by millions of viewers via live-streaming.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
How China’s Xi Jinping Destroyed Religion and Made Himself God
Catholic churches torn down or denuded of their crosses and statues. Images of the Madonna and Child replaced with pictures of “People’s Leader” Xi Jinping. Signs posted outside evangelical churches forbidding anyone under the age of 18 from entering. The Ten Commandments painted over with quotes from Xi.
These are just some of the ways that the Chinese Communist Party is persecuting Christians in China.
But it’s not just Christians. In China’s Far West, over a million Muslims languish in concentration camps — Beijing cutely calls them “vocational training centers” — while mosques are being torn down, religious signs removed and ancient cemeteries leveled.
Elsewhere in China, Buddhist temples are being turned into shrines celebrating Xi Jinping, China’s President For Life. His picture adorns the walls, his recorded voice booms out of the loudspeakers, and it is his “Thought” — not Buddha’s — that the monks are now required to meditate upon.
Not even the Taoists, China’s ancient folk religion, have escaped this new Cultural Revolution. Temples that have stood for over 1,000 years have been closed and ancient statues smashed, all on the orders of “Religious Affairs” officials.
Perhaps some of those who are concerned about protecting cultural sites in Iran could spare a thought for the daily demolition derby now going on in China.
A demolition derby that is about to get worse, a lot worse.
On Feb. 1, 2020, new restrictions on all forms of religious activity came into force.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Report: Woman in China Shot Dead for Attempting to Break Through Coronavirus Roadblock
A video out of China purports to show a woman who was shot dead by authorities for attempting to break through a coronavirus roadblock.
The clip, posted by Jennifer Zeng, is captioned “At Wuzu Town, Huangmei County in #Hubei , a woman was said to have shot dead after she attempted to break the blockade set up to contain #coronavirus.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
WHO Demands Countries Not Impose Travel Restrictions to Avoid “Fear and Stigma”
The World Health Organization has again warned countries against imposing travel restrictions to tackle the coronavirus outbreak, asserting that doing so would create “fear and stigma.”
Despite the coronavirus now infecting more than 20,000 people, with tens of thousands more suspected to be infected, the WHO is apparently more concerned with maintaining the relentless flow of travel and migration.
Director-General of the World Health Organization Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a statement that travel restrictions “can have the effect of increasing fear and stigma, with little public health benefit.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
More homes have been lost in New South Wales in raging bushfires as affected communities brace for more wild weather.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
Eastwood in Sydney’s north west has become a veritable ghost town amid fears of the deadly coronavirus.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
China is one of the biggest buyers of Western Australia’s rock lobster but due to the closure of the Chinese live animal trade, fishing industries are fearing the worst.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
A real estate office in Adelaide has closed temporarily after it emerged two people who tested positive for coronavirus attended one of its auctions.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
Chinese sex workers in New Zealand are choosing to change their nationality to Asian in sex directory advertisements online and cut down rates.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
The small hobby farm in Kellys Plains, near Armidale in northern New South Wales, was snapped looking worse for wear in September as the state was riddled by an unrelenting drought.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
Adam Bandt, the 47-year-old MP for Melbourne, was today elected unopposed to take over from Ricahrd Di Natale who resigned to spend more time with his family.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
What we are witnessing in east Africa and across much of the Middle East right now is hard to believe. 360 billion locusts are eating everything in sight, and UN officials are warning that this plague of “Biblical proportions” could get many times worse over the next several months. Desert locusts can travel up to 93 miles a day, and each adult can consume the equivalent of its own weight in food every 24 hours. These voracious little creatures are traveling in absolutely colossal swarms that are up to 40 miles wide, and they continue to push into new areas. If urgent action is not taken on a massive scale, millions upon millions of people could soon have next to nothing to eat.
I have previously written about the horrors that this plague is causing in east Africa, but many people don’t realize that this plague is devastating crops throughout the Middle East as well.
In fact, the government of Pakistan just declared a national emergency because of these locusts…
In Saudi Arabia, the swarms have been so thick at times that they have completely blocked out the sun, and video footage coming out of that country is getting attention all over the world…
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
At least one Central American migrant has been reported dead and 45 others suffered injuries when the cargo truck transporting them crashed in a highway in Mexico.
Authorities said the driver of the truck lost control of the vehicle at 8am on Tuesday on highway 180 in San Andre’s Tuxtla, a municipality in the southeastern state of Veracruz.
The driver was allegedly ferrying a total of 70 migrants to the southern United States border.
The identities and nationalities of the asylum seekers, including the lone casualty, were not provided by the Mexican government.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Church of Sweden Launches Migration Activist Network for ‘Influence Work’ Across Europe
Church continues to experience rapid decline in membership.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Police have cleared the last migrant camp in Paris, moving 427 people to shelters as part of a government promise to rid the French capital of the unsanitary, makeshift refuges.
The migrants, including four women, had been living in 266 tents and rickety shelters on the Canal Saint-Denis in a camp ‘strewn with waste and refuse, overrun by rats and giving off a pestilent and foul-smelling odour of urine and excrement’, according to the regional authority.
The operation to tear down the camp began at 6am local time (5am GMT) and lasted for two hours. French authorities have been engaged in a push to remove camps from the city.
One containing 1,400 migrants, including 93 children, based nearby was cleared last week while a second containing 1,600 people at La Chapelle was removed just weeks before.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
‘Gay’ Migrant Fleeing ‘LGBT Persecution’ Fathers Two Kids in Ireland
Authorities believe man used fake alias and backstory to secure asylum.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Illinois Offers Financial Aid Workaround for Illegal & Trans Students WHO Don’t Register for Draft
Illinois Democratic lawmakers are making state financial aid for college more accessible to illegal immigrant students and transgender students through the new Monetary Award Program (MAP), an alternative to the Federal Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA.
According to the Chicago Sun-Times, Democratic State Rep. Lisa Hernandez sponsored the RISE Act which she says, “expands opportunity to all students, regardless of race, immigration status or gender identity.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
In Sweden, Just One in Sixteen New Migrants Have a Job That Isn’t Being Subsidised by Taxpayers
The Swedish Employment service has revealed that just 6.1 per cent of new arrival migrants were able to find full-time work not subsidised by the government last year.
The figures further illustrate the failure of new migrants to Sweden, which has one of the most generous welfare states on earth, to find real work while the vast majority remain totally unemployed. The number reflects those migrants who have been in the Employment Service’s establishment programme for at least 90 days and is down from 2018 which saw 6.6 per cent of migrants in work not subsidised by the government, Swedish broadcaster SVT reports.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Italian Police Attacked With Bricks in Turin Migrant Centre
Eleven police and two army soldiers were attacked with bricks at a migrant repatriation centre in Turin over the weekend in just the latest case of violence at the centre.
The migrants in the centre tore bricks off the walls of a structure and climbed onto the roof of a housing module before raining the bricks down on police officers, wounding 13 people, Il Giornale reports.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Non-Citizens, DACA Illegal Aliens Organize for Democrats in Iowa Caucus
Non-citizens and illegal aliens shielded from deportation by Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program are helping to organize behind 2020 Democrat presidential candidates in the Iowa caucus.
A report by HuffPost highlighted non-citizens’ involvement in the 2020 Democrat caucus in Iowa, with DACA illegal aliens and foreign nationals living in the United States working on behalf of candidates like Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg.
None of the foreign nationals, except for a newly naturalized citizen mentioned in the piece, are eligible to actually caucus in the Iowa caucus.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Identity politics will sink Warren campaign, he warns
Undercover video from Project Veritas shows a staffer for Elizabeth Warren’s 2020 presidential campaign criticizing her platform for prioritizing gender pronouns over practical issues in hopes of wooing the far-left.
In Part 5 of Project Veritas’ #Expose2020 campaign, Iowa Field Organizer Angel Alicea explains how Warren’s campaign is positioning itself to lose over social justice issues most Americans don’t care about.
“At the end of the day, if we’re gonna prioritize pronouns over making sure people have a decent standard of living, that’s wrong,” Alicea told the PV journalist.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Pelosi has burned her bridges and killed any chance of her Marxists retaining control of the “People’s House”.
Pick a Marxist and work for their defeat in November.
“Greta ‘Put Them Against the Wall’ Thunberg Nominated for Nobel Peace Prize” Haven’t they tried this last year already? Luckily it went to Ethiopia’s PM (if I remember correctly). I don’t think she has a chance now. Even climate change devotees are seeing the problem with her attitude.
https://www.npr.org/2020/02/04/802669731/germany-has-a-new-receipt-law-and-bakeries-are-getting-sweet-revenge
Germans have an underrated since of humor
We now know that the Corona Virus was engineered and the DNA ‘fingerprints’ as reported by India’s health department has pointed to the likely perpetrator. If the virus was meant to be weaponized, then why was it released on the people that would benefit from the weaponization? One likely answer is that the Chinese are being used as the proverbial test tube. Those who survive the exposure will then be ‘specially examined’ in order to obtain the necessary components for the antigen that will be used by the troops who deploy the virus to the enemy, which will more than likely be us.
The above seems logical to me but I would welcome any voices of reason that could challenge this hypothesis.
Read a news aggregator page article about a Chinese woman giving birth to a healthy baby even though she is infected with the virus.
The antigen will be extracted from these hardy souls and stored away for the use of the so called “elites” only.
Must be effective. Following the masterminds of Communist China, Islamic Republic of Iran has apparently decided to employ the same strategy: Dirt cheap fourth-worldish soft measures, lying about the spread of the virus, increasing the flights to China, downplaying the danger and asking population not to wear masks, because it’s frightening. Soon the armies of Shia Caliphate will be equipped with the antigens and will break out to avenge the killing of the lovely lollipop goat-smelling top general.
Only God knows how many infected in Iran right now.
ah yes, Jihad, and with a microscopic sword. BTW, wasn’t the Black Death brought to Europe by Arab sailors who didn’t care about cleanliness and sanitation and let the fleas live with them?
Yea but Petey Buttplug paid Shadow Inc. $10k+ over the past few months.
Shadow is owned by a Hillary Clinton ballwasher and staffed by Google code search copy paste Indians.
Nothing is ever as it seems.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/feb/05/centre-right-german-parties-vote-with-afd-to-oust-thuringia-premier-bodo-ramelow
waaahh waaahhh
oh bohoo
Two funny news.
Russia, Chechnya region.
Turpal-Ali Ibragimov, the head of the administration of the Shali district of Chechnya, known by the nickname Bystry, came to work last Thursday shaved and demanded that his subordinates also get rid of their hair on their heads. Dissenters, he asked to quit.
More than forty direct employees of the district administration went bald the next day. One person who did not obey the order was fired on the same day.
https://www.kavkazr.com/a/30414427.html
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Turkmenistan
In state institutions and enterprises of the Lebap province, male workers over the age of 40 were forbidden to dye their hair black.
The correspondent who reported this ban said that at the same time, those who have natural hair color are required to give them a grayish tint.
He added that the heads of state organizations explain this with “gray hair” of President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov.
“The heads of institutions say that if Arkadag (the nickname of the president of Turkmenistan) arrives in Lebap province, then mostly gray-haired people will be allowed to meet with him,” the correspondent referred to the words of a budget worker and Farap etrap.
Public sector men complain that when Berdymukhamedov himself dyed his hair black, they were also required to hide gray hair under black paint, and now they demand the exact opposite.
https://rus.azathabar.com/a/30418028.html
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You have your own idiocy: with Greta and transgender people and LGBT people. And we have our own idiocy!
Prayer for salvation from coronavirus will be served in Moscow weekly
https://ria.ru/20200131/1564119675.html
Who gives two [excrements] about peter butterbutt? He doesn’t have a chance. He “won” the caucus because the democrat’s politburo hates Burnie even worse than I do. They kicked him in the [manly appurtenances] in 2016. Stand by for a repeat. Buy an iron cup, commie bastard freak.
Had a good laugh over this one
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGAAhzreGWw
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-italy-migrants-salvini/italys-salvini-risks-new-trial-over-alleged-migrant-kidnapping-idUSKBN1ZY2CG
I’ve just about had it reading tripe this. “””stranded at sea””” just stop. STOP
I sincerely apologize. In the future I will keep a civil tongue.