Gates of Vienna News Feed 3/1/2020

The news on the Wuhan Coronavirus is now so extensive that it’s hard to summarize succinctly. I’ve made the following list by culling various news reports:

Country   Cases   Deaths
Canada   24   0
China   89,000   2,912
Iran   978   54
Italy   1,700   34
UK   36   0
USA   74   2
 

In other news, the Turkish interior minister said that more than 76,000 migrants were headed to Turkey’s land border with Greece.

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

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

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

Caveat: Articles in the news feed are posted “as is”. Gates of Vienna cannot vouch for the authenticity or accuracy of the contents of any individual item posted here. I check each entry to make sure it is relatively interesting, not patently offensive, and at least superficially plausible. The link to the original is included with each item’s title. Further research and verification are left to the reader.

USA
» American Obesity Rates Continue to Rise, Hitting 40 Percent
» Bloomberg to Run Three Minute Coronavirus ‘Address to the Nation’ On NBC and CBS Sunday Night in Prime Time
» Busted: Facebook Labels Politico Story ‘False’ After Claiming Trump Called Coronavirus a Hoax
» Buttigieg Exits Presidential Race Ahead of Super Tuesday, Cementing Collapse After Strong Iowa Showing
» Democrats Distort Coronavirus Readiness
» Democrats’ Attempt to Remove Trump Not Over, Part 3
» Donald Trump Jr.: Hold to Your Second Amendment Rights ‘At All Costs’
» Gun Confiscations R US: California County Proposes New ‘Gun Removal Team’
» Intellectual Froglegs Came Out With Another Great Video This Week Labeled “Crash and Bernie”.
» Mike Bloomberg Spreads Edited Video of Trump, Falsely Claims He Said Coronavirus Was Hoax
» Minnesota Archbishop Tells Priests Not to Vote in Primaries
» New MTA Numbers Show Subway Robberies on the Rise
» Panicked New York Shoppers Stock Up at Costco Amid Coronavirus Fears
» Rep. Louie Gohmert Remembers His Friend Philip Haney on House Floor (Video)
» Trump Confirms He Was Talking About Democrats and Their Latest “Hoax” On Coronavirus — Media Pushes Lie Anyway (Video)
» We Are Being Warned That the Coronavirus Could Cause “Shortages” And “Empty Shelves” Here in the United States
 
Canada
» 4 New Cases of COVID-19 in Ontario Bring Canada’s Total to 24
» Breaking: Wet’suwet’en Chiefs Reach Agreement With Trudeau Government
 
Europe and the EU
» Boris Warns Coronavirus Will Spread More as 36th Case Confirmed in UK — First in Scotland
» Britain Doesn’t Need Farmers, Reveal Leaked Emails From Senior Government Official
» Emma Thompson Quits ‘Grey Old Island’ of Britain for Venice Post-Brexit
» Finland: Leftist Quits After Allegedly Calling for Death of ‘Climate Deniers’
» Health Chiefs Urge Over-60s to Avoid Crowds as Coronavirus Panic Spreads With Berkshire Infant School Worker Announced as One of Three New UK Patients and Ireland Revealing Its First Case
» Health Minister of France Bans Mass Gatherings to Combat Coronavirus
» Italian Coronavirus Deaths Rise to 34, Number of Cases Hits Almost 1,700: Official
» Scotland: Teen in Serious Condition After Gang of ‘Asian Boys’ Stamp Head in Street
» Slovakia’s Scandal-Plagued Leftist Party Defeated in Elections: Populist Opposition Wins
» Starkey Talks to Breitbart: Britain is the First Country to Turn Back the Liberal Tide
» Sweden: Populists Lead in Polls, Social Democrats See Worst Ever Results
» UK: Boris Johnson and Girlfriend Carrie Symonds Announce Engagement, Pregnancy
» Watch: Delingpole Trolls Greta Fans at Climate Change Protest
 
Israel and the Palestinians
» Caroline Glick: Gaza, Elections and the Corbynization of the Democratic Party
» Israeli Elections: Netanyahu vs Gantz — Take 3
 
Middle East
» Iran Elections: The Least Bad Outcome
» Iran’s Coronavirus Death Toll Increases by 11 in Single Day
» Syria — Deadly Bomb Strike Warns Turkey to End Its Escapades
» Syria War: Turkey Intensifies Idlib Onslaught After Air Strike
 
Far East
» Autopsies Show Severe Damage to COVID-19 Patients’ Lungs and Immune System, According to a Doctor in Wuhan
» Chinese Scientists Raised Alarm Over Coronavirus in December But Government Ordered Cover-Up, New Report Claims
» Coronavirus Live Updates: New York State Reports First Case, China’s Cases Cross 80,000
» Health Chiefs Urge Over-60s to Avoid Crowds and Stay Away From Shops, Public Transport and GP Surgeries as Coronavirus Panic Spreads
» Senator Marco Rubio: China’s Coronavirus Deception Put World at Risk
 
Australia — Pacific
» How to Beat Australia’s Coronavirus Travel Ban — You Just Have to be Rich and Important: Almost 100 Business Leaders Are Allowed in Despite Visiting China
 
Sub-Saharan Africa
» Nigeria Says 100 Have Been Exposed to COVID-19 Patient
 
Latin America
» Ecuador Confirms Five New Cases of Coronavirus, All Close to Initial Patient
 
Immigration
» Austria Says it Will Stop Any Migrants Trying to Rush Its Border
» Denmark: Over Half of African and Middle Eastern Migrants Are Convicted of a Crime Before Age 30
» Erdogan Made Good on a Longstanding Threat to Open Borders
» France: African Migrants Set Fires Near Paris’s Gare De Lyon Station Over DRC Conflict
» Germany Opens Its Job Market to Skilled Non-EU Workers
» Greece Suspends Asylum Applications as Migrants Seek to Leave Turkey
» Italy: Migrant Landings Up 948 Per Cent Under Post-Salvini Leftist Govt
» Turkish Minister: 76,358 Migrants Headed to Greek Border
 
Culture Wars
» Franklin Graham Prohibited From Preaching in U.K.
» Parents Sue School District for Allowing Children to Change Gender Identity Without Parental Notice
» The New Tolerance
 

American Obesity Rates Continue to Rise, Hitting 40 Percent

Government researchers have found that four out of ten Americans are obese and one out of ten are severley obese.

A survey of over 5,000 US adults was conducted from 2017-18 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that measures people’s height and weight discovered the staggering numbers.

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

Bloomberg to Run Three Minute Coronavirus ‘Address to the Nation’ On NBC and CBS Sunday Night in Prime Time

Three minutes. Three minutes of watching and listening to billionaire businessman and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg pontificate on why he is a much better leader to handle the coronavirus. Three minutes. In prime time. That’ll give folks time to let the dog out, fix a snack from the fridge, see what’s on ABC or Fox and let the dog back in—if they don’t fall asleep from boredom in the first ten seconds of the ad running if they don’t get off the couch in time. You think I’m kidding? See for yourself. The ad was posted in advance on YouTube Saturday. All three minutes.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Busted: Facebook Labels Politico Story ‘False’ After Claiming Trump Called Coronavirus a Hoax

Despite Facebook’s well-documented history of media bias, the tech-juggernaut intervened in stopping the spread of the world’s second most discussed virus of 2020: fake news.

A viral story by Politico falsely claiming that President Donald Trump called the coronavirus a hoax was shot down and flagged as a false claim after the fact-checking site Check Your Fact labelled the story as false.

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

Buttigieg Exits Presidential Race Ahead of Super Tuesday, Cementing Collapse After Strong Iowa Showing

Pete Buttigieg told supporters he’s ending his presidential campaign on Sunday, campaign sources confirmed to Fox News, in an abrupt and surprising pullout that further narrows the field of Democrats less than a month after he declared victory in the contested Iowa caucuses.

Buttigieg had been scheduled to headline a rally in Dallas on Sunday night. The charter plane has been rerouted to South Bend, Ind., where Buttigieg will announce that he is dropping out, Fox News has learned.

Buttigieg’s withdrawal comes just days before 14 states are set to head to the polls on Super Tuesday, where one-third of all delegates for the nomination will be at stake. His exit likely will harm frontrunner Bernie Sanders by providing a coalescing boost to more moderate candidates, as Buttigieg had gone on the offensive against the Vermont senator and sought to appeal to the centrist base of the party.

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

Democrats Distort Coronavirus Readiness

Democratic presidential contenders are describing the federal infectious-disease bureaucracy as rudderless and ill-prepared for the coronavirus threat because of budget cuts and ham-handed leadership by President Donald Trump. That’s a distorted picture. For starters, Trump hasn’t succeeded in cutting the budget.

He’s proposed cuts but Congress ignored him and increased financing instead. The National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention aren’t suffering from budget cuts that never took effect.

A look at some of the Democrats’ remarks:…

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Democrats’ Attempt to Remove Trump Not Over, Part 3

The Democrats will not stop until they are pulled from power or until they remove Trump from office. When the Republicans retake the majority in the House this fall all this will stop but the Democrats will have other plans up their sleeve to try to force Trump from office.

I believe that the Democrats are really stupid in their quest to remove Trump. The plans they have laid out are very detailed and require an enormous amount of cooperation from an enormous amount of people so in that sense they are very smart. But the reality of it is they’ve spent millions on trying to dig dirt on him only to expose the dirt on themselves. This will not bode well for them in the end. They’ve pulled out all the stops in hopes that they’ll be successful and then all that has been exposed about them will simply go away. But the likelihood of them being successful is so remote that they would be better off trying to prove unicorns actually exist. After all, they’ve spent at least $45 million between the Mueller Report and the impeachment investigation and found nothing he did wrong. They’ve gone too far to stop.

In January of this year a psyco, er, excuse me, a ‘psychiatrist’ called for a mental health hold on Trump after he, wait for it, ordered a drone strike n a military leader that has maimed thousands of Americans and killed about 600. Now that’s really something that we need a mental health exam for, killing our enemies. This proves that they are just grasping at straws, but they forgot they outlawed straws.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Donald Trump Jr.: Hold to Your Second Amendment Rights ‘At All Costs’

“I can assure you we are up against a big juggernaut here.”

[Comment: Good advice. Democrat/Communist wet dream of democide of conservatives and deplorables cannot begin until the potential victims are disarmed.]

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Gun Confiscations R US: California County Proposes New ‘Gun Removal Team’

Gun confiscation is a slippery slope. Authorizing and funding law enforcement to put together a team to go in and take guns away is an iffy proposition at best. It might be starting with people — and the occasional woman — who’ve had a restraining order issued against them, but where does it end? And what about the restraining orders that are wrongly put in place?

If the 21 days passes between the TRO being issued and the court date, and the judge decides it should never have happened, is the person going to get their guns back? Good luck with that. I seriously doubt it.

The gun confiscation team isn’t a perfect solution it’s more like a wolf in sheep’s clothing. For an added touch of irony, Deputy District Attorney Marisa McKeown said “…the very voluminous California laws on guns mean nothing if we don’t adequately and smartly enforce them.”

Exactly. Law enforcement can already take firearms from people when they serve a firearms-specific restraining order, so why do they need a dedicated team? They don’t. Enforce the existing gun laws — of which there are far too many in California already — and move on.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Intellectual Froglegs Came Out With Another Great Video This Week Labeled “Crash and Bernie”.

Joe Dan Gorman is as funny as ever. This entertainer is one of the greatest hidden talents in America.

Enjoy.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Mike Bloomberg Spreads Edited Video of Trump, Falsely Claims He Said Coronavirus Was Hoax

They just can’t stop.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Minnesota Archbishop Tells Priests Not to Vote in Primaries

Archbishop Bernard Hebda of St. Paul and Minneapolis has asked the priests and deacons of the archdiocese to “abstain” from voting in the upcoming presidential primaries, saying that voting “could be seen as ‘partisan’ political activity.”

In an email circulated by KSTP-TV, Archbishop Hebda said that the entire Minnesota Catholic Conference has asked that clergy refrain from voting in the “Super Tuesday” Democrat primaries that will be held on March 3.

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

New MTA Numbers Show Subway Robberies on the Rise

NEW YORK — Robberies are on the rise in the subway system, according to new numbers released by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

The MTA says 75 robberies were reported last month, up from 35 in January of last year.

That’s an increase of 114 percent.

The 75 robberies were the most for a January since 2012.

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

Panicked New York Shoppers Stock Up at Costco Amid Coronavirus Fears

Hundreds of on-edge shoppers packed a Brooklyn Costco on Sunday to stock up on water, rice and other supplies amid fears of a coronavirus epidemic.

Panicked purchasers — many of them wearing face masks — jammed into the Sunset Park warehouse, eagerly grabbing cases of bottled water in case they’re forced to quarantine at home as the virus spreads in the US.

“The corona virus has them panicked… they think the world is coming to an end,” the store’s manager, who would only give his name as Jerry, told The Post.

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

Rep. Louie Gohmert Remembers His Friend Philip Haney on House Floor (Video)

“He Was Going to Name Names… And Ends Up with a Bullet in Him”

Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) spoke out on the House floor this week to remember his friend Philip Haney.

Rep. Gohmert did not come right out and say Phillip Haney was murdered. But he did do an excellent job of explaining why members of the Obama administration would have excellent motives to have done so.

Rep. Louie Gohmert: “I had a friend I met here years ago. His name is Phil Haney and he was one of the kindest, most patriotic, competent people I’ve ever known in my life… We had a mutual pact. If it’s said that either one of us end up having committed suicide then the other is going to make sure that truth wins out… He saw things that were a threat to this country, he said something, and he was severely punished for it, because apparently the Obama administration had some radical ties that they did not want anybody, including Philip Haney, to expose… He was gonna name names of people that put this country at risk…and he ends with a bullet in him?”

Vlad Tepes has the entire speech.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Trump Confirms He Was Talking About Democrats and Their Latest “Hoax” On Coronavirus — Media Pushes Lie Anyway (Video)

As reported by Kristinn Taylor last night — In yet another example of why President Trump calls the media the ‘enemy of the people, the media is falsely accusing Trump of calling the coronavirus a hoax in a speech at a campaign rally in North Charleston, South Carolina Friday night.

What Trump actually did was recount an aide telling him the Democrats’ criticism of his handling of the coronavirus was “the new hoax” after trying to take him down with the Russia hoax and then the impeachment hoax.

The lying liberal media ran with it anyway and continued to repeat the lie that President Trump called the coronavirus a hoax.

On Saturday at his press conference the president set the record straight.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

We Are Being Warned That the Coronavirus Could Cause “Shortages” And “Empty Shelves” Here in the United States

We have already seen it happen all over the globe. In China it is becoming increasingly difficult for ordinary citizens to get essential supplies, there have been very long lines to buy face masks in Hong Kong and elsewhere, and in Italy crazed residents have stripped store shelves empty of pasta and other staples in recent days. As the number of confirmed cases continues to rise at a very frightening pace, the “panic buying” that we have been witnessing is going to get even worse. Meanwhile, global supply chains are becoming increasingly strained due to this coronavirus outbreak, and it has already become quite difficult for many stores to get certain things for their customers.

Here in the United States, we have never experienced anything like this. We are accustomed to stores that are absolutely teeming with products, and any “shortages” are usually very temporary.

But now we are being warned to expect empty store shelves in the months ahead if this outbreak becomes a worldwide pandemic…

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

4 New Cases of COVID-19 in Ontario Bring Canada’s Total to 24

Four new cases of the novel coronavirus were confirmed in Ontario on Sunday.

Each of the patients were diagnosed at hospitals in the Greater Toronto Area, health officials said.

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

Breaking: Wet’suwet’en Chiefs Reach Agreement With Trudeau Government

The Trudeau government and Yeah the Wet’suwet’en chiefs have reached an agreement regarding the Costal GasLink pipeline, according to CTV News.

This comes after weeks of crippling protests, which have paralyzed Canadian infrastructure across multiple provinces.

Despite coming to this agreement, the government would not go into further detail, saying it had to first be reviewed by the Wet’suwet’en people.

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

Boris Warns Coronavirus Will Spread More as 36th Case Confirmed in UK — First in Scotland

BORIS JOHNSON has warned Britons the deadly coronavirus will spread more across the UK on the day 13 more cases of the deadly disease were confirmed in Britain.

Public Health England (PHE) has confirmed the number of cases of the coronavirus in the UK has now soared to 36. The Prime Minister during a visit to a PHE centre in North London, warned COVID-19 is “likely to spread a bit more” but reassured the public he was “very, very confident” the “fantastic” NHS was able to tackle the disease. Mr Johnson said: “As you know, we’ve found about 35 people in this country who have, or have had, the illness.

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

Britain Doesn’t Need Farmers, Reveal Leaked Emails From Senior Government Official

One of the Government’s most senior officials has made the incendiary suggestion that Britain does not need its own farming industry.

In leaked emails obtained by The Mail on Sunday, powerful Treasury adviser Tim Leunig argues that the food sector is not ‘critically important’ to the economy — and that agriculture and fishery production ‘certainly isn’t’.

In his astonishing remarks — which comes as the UK prepares to enter crunch post-Brexit trade talks with Donald Trump — Dr Leunig implies that the UK could follow the example of Singapore ‘which is rich without having its own agricultural sector’.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Emma Thompson Quits ‘Grey Old Island’ of Britain for Venice Post-Brexit

Dame Emma Thompson has quit the home country she once described as “a tiny little cloud-bolted, rainy corner of sort-of Europe, a cake-filled misery-laden grey old island” for Venice, Italy, in the wake of Brexit.

An ardent European Union loyalist, the 60-year-old Love Actually actress was appalled by the British people’s voted for Brexit.

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

Finland: Leftist Quits After Allegedly Calling for Death of ‘Climate Deniers’

A senior member of Finland’s Left Alliance has resigned over allegations he used an anonymous Twitter account to call for the murder of climate deniers and fascists.

The Left Alliance announced the resignation of Misha Dellinger as Executive Vice President in the west of Finland after reports emerged that he may have called or the death of political opponents, broadcaster Yle reports.

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

Health Chiefs Urge Over-60s to Avoid Crowds as Coronavirus Panic Spreads With Berkshire Infant School Worker Announced as One of Three New UK Patients and Ireland Revealing Its First Case

The World Health Organisation also urged people aged over 60 to skip routine appointments amid coronavirus panic. A worker at an infant school was one of three further cased yesterday.

           — Hat tip: SS [Return to headlines]
 

Health Minister of France Bans Mass Gatherings to Combat Coronavirus

PARIS (AP) — France is banning all indoor public gatherings of more than 5,000 people to slow its snowballing spread of coronavirus cases and recommending that people no longer greet each other with kisses.

The number of French cases almost doubled, to 100, on Saturday. Of those 86 are hospitalized, two have died and 12 have recovered, said the head of France’s national health service, Jerome Salomon.

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

Italian Coronavirus Deaths Rise to 34, Number of Cases Hits Almost 1,700: Official

ROME (Reuters) — The death toll from an outbreak of coronavirus in Italy has risen by five to 34 over the past 24 hours, the Civil Protection Agency said on Sunday, with the accumulative number of cases totaling some 1,694.

The head of the agency said that of those infected, 83 people had recovered. The contagion came to light 10 days ago and is focused on a handful of hotspots in the north of Italy with isolated cases reported in many other regions.

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

Scotland: Teen in Serious Condition After Gang of ‘Asian Boys’ Stamp Head in Street

A Scottish teenager is in “serious” condition after a gang of “Asian boys” dragged him into the middle of the road and stamped on his head in the centre of Glasgow.

The 16-year-old was was “assaulted by a group of youths who dragged him to the ground and stamped on his head leaving him with serious injuries”, according to a Police Scotland appeal for information.

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

Slovakia’s Scandal-Plagued Leftist Party Defeated in Elections: Populist Opposition Wins

BRATISLAVA, Slovakia (AP) — The center-right populist opposition claimed victory in the parliamentary election in Slovakia, ending the reign of the country’s long dominant but scandal-tainted leftist party that governed on an anti-immigration platform.

According to nearly complete results released by the Statistics Office early Sunday, the Ordinary People group captured 25% of the vote and 53 seats in the 150-seat parliament in a move that steered the country to the right and could make a local ally of France’s far-right National Rally party led by Marine Le Pen a part of the governing coalition.

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

Starkey Talks to Breitbart: Britain is the First Country to Turn Back the Liberal Tide

The United Kingdom bucked the global trend by being the first nation to reverse the march of liberalism but the “profound danger” of woke politics backed by a displaced religious zeal threatens these developments, constitutionalist Dr David Starkey has said.

Speaking to Breitbart London’s James Delingpole, British historian and broadcaster Dr David Starkey noted the sudden and remarkable appearance of woke culture in British and American universities.

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

Sweden: Populists Lead in Polls, Social Democrats See Worst Ever Results

Sweden’s ruling Social Democrats saw their worst-ever results in a new poll released by Ipsos this week, as they remain behind the populist Sweden Democrats.

The results for the Social Democrats, 22 per cent, are the worst Sweden’s governing party has ever seen. The relatively new, anti-mass migration Sweden Democrats are now ahead of them by 0.3 per cent, Nyheter Idag reports.

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

UK: Boris Johnson and Girlfriend Carrie Symonds Announce Engagement, Pregnancy

Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his girlfriend Carrie Symonds have revealed they are now engaged and expecting a baby in the summer.

A spokesman for the Tory power couple announced that “The Prime Minister and Miss Symonds are very pleased to announce their engagement and that they are expecting a baby in the early summer.”

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

Watch: Delingpole Trolls Greta Fans at Climate Change Protest

“How many narwhals do you think have died of climate change?” I asked a nice lady who had come dressed as a narwhal for the Greta Thunberg rally in Britain’s greenest city, Bristol.

The narwhal lady said she wasn’t sure but she thought that at least several must have died because of “Arctic ice melt.”

But I wasn’t convinced. “If I had to guess how many narwhals had died of climate change, do you know how many I’d say? I’d say: ‘Zero narwhals have died of climate change.’“

And there, in a nutshell, you have the problem with the Greta Thunberg rally in particular and the global warming scaremonger movement in general: it is fuelled by a dangerous combination of well-meaning passion and the most abject scientific ignorance.

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

Caroline Glick: Gaza, Elections and the Corbynization of the Democratic Party

The hundred rockets and missiles that Gazan terrorists launched into Israel this week served as yet another reminder that we have an account to manage with Gaza.

“Manage,” not “settle,” because we lack the opportunity to settle our score with Gaza. There is not today, and for the foreseeable future, there will not be any regime in Gaza that will agree to set aside its war with Israel and leave us alone.

Gaza, like Judea and Samaria, is a long-term problem that requires management, not resolution.

To understand what needs to be done, we have to focus on the two sides of the problem.

First, Gaza is a military problem. To successfully and permanently quell the security threat Gaza poses to Israel, the IDF requires the capacity to operate freely in Gaza — as it does in Judea and Samaria. Israel built its capacity to operate throughout Judea and Samaria during Operation Defensive Shield in 2002.

In 1995, Israel signed the Interim Agreement with the PLO. The deal set out the basis for the transfer of authorities and powers to the Palestinian Authority in Judea and Samaria.

The PLO agreed to combat terrorism in all the areas transferred to its authority. Area A, which encompasses the Palestinian cities in Judea and Samaria was an area under full Palestinian security and civilian authority. In Area B, which includes the Palestinian villages, the PLO received full civil authority and police authorities, while Israel retained what was referred to as “overriding security authority,” or, in plain English, the authority to conduct counterterrorism operations at will.

Area C encompasses the rest of Judea and Samaria, including all Israeli military installations, Israeli cities, towns and villages and Jordan Valley. There the PLO received limited civil authority and no military authority.

From 1996, when the PLO set up shop in Judea and Samaria until Operation Defensive Shield in 2002, the PLO transformed Area A into one large terrorist infrastructure. The suicide bombers that massacred Israeli civilians on a near-daily basis from 2000 through 2002 were trained and equipped in the bomb factories and terror bases in Area A.

Following a month in which 130 Israelis were slaughtered in suicide bombings and shootings, including 30 in the Seder massacre at the Park Hotel in Netanya, in April 2002, the government ordered the IDF to destroy the terrorist infrastructure in Judea and Samaria…

           — Hat tip: Caroline Glick [Return to headlines]
 

Israeli Elections: Netanyahu vs Gantz — Take 3

Israelis cast their ballots for the third time within a year on Monday. But polls suggested there will also be no clear winner this time around, so talk has turned to the possibility of a fourth election.

Instead of being abuzz with election campaigning, Israeli news has increasingly focused on the global coronavirus threat. What has become an epic battle between Prime Minister Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu and Benny Gantz — now in its third edition — has at times, slipped down the news agenda. Israel has enacted strict measures to prevent the spread of the virus and Israelis have been advised to abstain from non-necessary overseas travel. Authorities have also restricted entry for visitors from several Asian countries and Italy. Israelis returning from countries with a coronavirus outbreak have been told to undergo a 14-day quarantine.

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

Iran Elections: The Least Bad Outcome

Describing the latest exercise in voting in Iran’s “elections” may require a high degree of indulgence. When all candidates are pre-approved by the authorities and no one is declared a winner without the stamp of the “Supreme Guide”, to speak of elections would mean stretching lexical flexibility to breaking point. And, yet, the rigmarole in question merits attention for a number of reasons.

To start with, the lowest percentage of eligible voters chose to go to the polls. After days of hesitation, the authorities decided to report a turnout of 42 percent, the lowest in the history of the Islamic Republic.

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

Iran’s Coronavirus Death Toll Increases by 11 in Single Day

Iran’s death toll from the coronavirus climbed Sunday to 54 — as the number of people in the country confirmed to have the deadly bug jumped overnight to 978 people, health officials said.

The new figures represent 11 more deaths than reported Saturday and 386 newly confirmed cases, the majority of which are in Tehran, according to the health ministry’s spokesman, Kianoush Jahanpour.

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

Syria — Deadly Bomb Strike Warns Turkey to End Its Escapades

The last three days of the Idleb campaign were quite eventful.

The Turkey supported Jihadis threw everything they had against Saraqib where the M4 and M5 highways join. This enabled the Syrian army to take some 40 towns and cities at the southern front. The whole Ghab plain is now in liberated and the frontline has been massively shortened.

Saraqib fell to the Jihadis but they paid a very bloody price for it as the Syrian and Russian airforce continued to intensively bomb the approaches to the city. A new defensive line has now been established around Saraqib and the Syrian army is preparing to recover it.

To take the large area in the south in difficult terrain and against little resistance was more important than the temporary loss of Saraqib.

Yesterday saw a extraordinary escalation as the Russian airforce bombed a Turkish infantry battalion which went south of the M4 highway and came near to the southern frontline. Metin Gurcan deciphered the event:…

At least 35 Turkish soldiers, some say 55, were killed and some 60+ were wounded.

The incident was a signal to Turkey that its escapades have to end.

Throughout the last weeks Turkey had used large armed drones to attack the Syrian army. The Turkish troops in Idelb governorate had additionally used man portable air defense missiles (MANPADs) against Syrian helicopters and Russian bombers. Enough was enough.

Turkey does not have permission to use drones within the Syrian airspace. On Wednesday Syria’s air defense destroyed one of them.

To use manpads against Russian planes is an act of war. The Russian strike was a reminder to the Turks that it is quite able to wage one.

Russia denied that its planes had launched the attack and Turkey accused Syria of doing it. But these statements are designed to deescalate and to allow for continued peaceful relations between Russia and Turkey. Both sides know very well what really had happened.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Syria War: Turkey Intensifies Idlib Onslaught After Air Strike

Turkey shot down two Syrian fighter jets on Sunday as it intensified military action in northern Syria.

The pilots parachuted to safety over Idlib province, where Turkish troops and rebels have been clashing with Syrian government forces.

Turkey, which backs the opposition, said it had also targeted Syrian air defence systems and dozens of tanks.

Tensions in Idlib escalated sharply last week when at least 33 Turkish soldiers were killed in an air strike.

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

Autopsies Show Severe Damage to COVID-19 Patients’ Lungs and Immune System, According to a Doctor in Wuhan

Autopsies show severe damage to COVID-19 patients’ lungs and immune system, according to a doctor in Wuhan reached by the Global Times, who called for measures to prevent fibrosis of the lungs at an early stage of the disease.

“The influence of COVID-19 on the human body is like a combination of SARS and AIDS as it damages both the lungs and immune systems,” Peng Zhiyong, director of the intensive care unit of the Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University in Wuhan, told the Global Times on Friday.

Peng said he had just talked to Liu Liang, a forensic specialist from the Tongji Medical College at Huazhong University of Science and Technology. Liu’s team has reportedly conducted nine autopsies on deceased COVID-19 patients as of February 24.

[Comment: If site is being blocked, use tor-browser.]

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Chinese Scientists Raised Alarm Over Coronavirus in December But Government Ordered Cover-Up, New Report Claims

It is understood that local officials did not tell representatives from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention when they visited Wuhan on January 8 about the outbreak.

           — Hat tip: SS [Return to headlines]
 

Coronavirus Live Updates: New York State Reports First Case, China’s Cases Cross 80,000

China’s National Health Commission reported 202 new cases, and 42 additional deaths, as of March 1.

Macao’s gaming revenue plunged 87.8% in February as compared with a year ago, according to Reuters.

Factory activity in China plunged far worse than expected in February as the country dealt with the economic impact of the virus outbreak, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics on Saturday.

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

Health Chiefs Urge Over-60s to Avoid Crowds and Stay Away From Shops, Public Transport and GP Surgeries as Coronavirus Panic Spreads

Over-60s have been urged by the World Health Organisation to avoid crowded areas including trains, buses, and even supermarkets to prevent catching coronavirus.

           — Hat tip: SS [Return to headlines]
 

Senator Marco Rubio: China’s Coronavirus Deception Put World at Risk

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., blamed China’s failure to share necessary information that could have contained the coronavirus for putting the world at risk as more countries reported their first death from the virus over the weekend.

“The way you deal with a global pandemic is, you become transparent and you share information beginning with the actual virus,” Rubio told “Sunday Morning Futures.”

“You share the virus because researchers around the world can start working on the bases of that and developing treatments and vaccines… they didn’t do that,” he added.

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

How to Beat Australia’s Coronavirus Travel Ban — You Just Have to be Rich and Important: Almost 100 Business Leaders Are Allowed in Despite Visiting China

The Australian Border Force Commissioner has given 99 foreign business leaders, diplomats and other foreign visitors the green light to enter Australia in the last month.

           — Hat tip: SS [Return to headlines]
 

Nigeria Says 100 Have Been Exposed to COVID-19 Patient

LAGOS: Nigerian authorities have contacted around 100 people who may have been exposed to an Italian man who is the country’s first coronavirus patient, a Lagos state official said on Sunday, in a bid to stop an outbreak in Africa’s most populous country.

The case, the first in sub-Saharan Africa, has prompted fears the virus could spread quickly in Lagos. The densely populated commercial capital of 20 million people is the biggest city in a country of some 200 million inhabitants.

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

Ecuador Confirms Five New Cases of Coronavirus, All Close to Initial Patient

GUAYAQUIL, March 1 (Reuters) — Ecuador has confirmed five cases of the new coronavirus in patients who all had direct contact with an elderly woman who brought the virus to the Andean country from Spain, health minister Catalina Andramuño said on Sunday.

The woman, an Ecuadorean citizen who resides in Spain, arrived in Ecuador on a direct flight from Madrid on Feb. 14 without presenting symptoms, but soon began to feel ill and was admitted to one of the public hospitals the government equipped to deal with the new virus.

The announcement brought the total number of confirmed cases in the country to six. The five new cases are all relatives of the woman who had direct contact with her since she arrived, Andramuño said, adding that they were all quarantined at their homes.

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

Austria Says it Will Stop Any Migrants Trying to Rush Its Border

VIENNA (REUTERS) — Austria will stop any migrants attempting to rush its border if measures to halt them in Greece and through the Balkans fail, conservative Interior Minister Karl Nehammer said on Sunday.

Greek police fired tear gas to repel hundreds of stone-throwing migrants who tried to force their way across the border from Turkey on Sunday, with thousands more behind them after Ankara relaxed curbs on their movement. It was the second straight day of clashes.

The rush echoes Europe’s migration crisis in 2015-2016, when Austria served as a corridor into Germany for hundreds of thousands of migrants who traveled through Greece and the Balkans. Austria also took in more than 1% of its population in asylum seekers in the process.

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

Denmark: Over Half of African and Middle Eastern Migrants Are Convicted of a Crime Before Age 30

A survey by the Danish Unitos think-tank (referenced in the Jutland Post) has shown that more than half of young men with African or Middle Eastern backgrounds living in Denmark have committed a crime before age 30.

The figures refer to crimes that have been punished by law, not those that migrants haven’t been convicted of.

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

Erdogan Made Good on a Longstanding Threat to Open Borders

KASTANIES, Greece (AP) — The United Nations said Sunday that at least 13,000 people were massed on Turkey’s land border with Greece, after Turkey officially declared its western borders were open to migrants and refugees hoping to head into the European Union.

Turkey’s decision to open the borders with Greece came amid a military escalation in Syria’s northwest that has led to growing direct clashes between Turkish and Syrian forces.

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

France: African Migrants Set Fires Near Paris’s Gare De Lyon Station Over DRC Conflict

Paris’s ‘Gare de Lyon’ station had to be evacuated on Friday after Congolese migrants set fire to bins, vehicles, and scooters — then prevented firefighters from putting the fires out — to express their anger that the Congolese singer Fally Ipupa was performing at the concert hall Bercy.

The violent clashes between ethnic Congolese communities that broke out in the center of Paris were triggered by militants from the Congolese diaspora who accuse the controversial singer Fally Ipupa of being too close to the central government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Le Figaro reports.

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

Germany Opens Its Job Market to Skilled Non-EU Workers

A new law that allows for the migration of skilled workers from outside of the EU to come to Germany comes into effect today, Heise Online reports.

Thomas Liebig, an OECD expert warns:

“The name itself is a clear signal that we are opening up to specialists from abroad”.

“It would be more important to pay attention to the adaptability and high motivation of immigrants than to formal qualifications”

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

Greece Suspends Asylum Applications as Migrants Seek to Leave Turkey

Greece has blocked any new asylum applications for the next month after Turkey “opened the doors” for migrants to travel to the EU.

Greek officials earlier said they had stopped nearly 10,000 migrants crossing the land border with Turkey.

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said Greece had increased “the level of deterrence at our borders to the maximum.”

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

Italy: Migrant Landings Up 948 Per Cent Under Post-Salvini Leftist Govt

Since January 1st of 2020, a total of 2,553 migrants have arrived in Italy under the leftist coalition government, with February also seeing a surge in new arrivals.

The new figures, particularly those for February, which saw 1,211 migrants enter the country illegally, dwarf those of 2019 — when populist League leader Matteo Salvini was still Interior Minister — when just 60 migrants arrived in the country.

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

Turkish Minister: 76,358 Migrants Headed to Greek Border

Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu, a man who last August said European governments wouldn’t survive six months if Turkey ‘opened the gates’ and flooded the continent with millions of migrants, on Sunday morning wrote that 76,358 migrants were headed toward Greece.

Soylu claimed that thousands of migrants — most of whom are without a doubt fighting-aged males — passed through the border city of Edirne on Sunday morning and were headed for the Turkish-Greek border, Greece’s daily morning newspaper Ekathimerini reports.

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

Franklin Graham Prohibited From Preaching in U.K.

Rev. Franklin Graham has just learned that his preaching tour of the UK has been CANCELLED. By who?? No surprise here. By the LGBTQU, a mentally sick organization of misfits who want to keep Sodom and Gomorrah in place and stated that Dr. Graham’s views are incompatible with LGBTQU views. You bet they are. But it is to be recognized that God forgives sin.

ACC Liverpool, where Graham was scheduled to speak in June as part of a tour of the UK, made the announcement with this crazy statement: “We can no longer reconcile the balance between freedom of speech, and the divisive impact this event is having in this city.” How’s that again?

This is garbage! Rev. Graham and his father Evangelist Billy Graham have consistently done the opposite. They have brought people together as they learn that we were created by God who made us all in His likeness and has a purpose for each and every life on earth, meaning we must respect one another.

“I’m not coming to the U.K. to speak against anybody,” Rev. Graham said in a public statement. “I am coming to speak for everybody. The Gospel is inclusive. I’m not coming out of hate, I’m coming out of love.”

Remember, Franklin Graham was not coming to just talk to LGBTQU folk even though they would be welcome to come. They are a minority of the citizenship of any country. There are thousands upon thousands of regular people who want to hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ, but apparently, if the LGBTQU folk say, ‘you folks are not allowed to see or hear this cause it offends us and we don’t like it, then so be it’….this is the wishes of a divergent group of people that affects ALL of us. This is insane!

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Parents Sue School District for Allowing Children to Change Gender Identity Without Parental Notice

A group of parents in Madison, Wisconsin, has filed a lawsuit against the Madison Metropolitan School District (MMSD) for violating parental rights by implementing a policy that allows children to change their gender identity without parental notice or consent.

The Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty (WILL) filed the lawsuit in Dane County Circuit Court on behalf of the parents. According to a press release from WILL, the school policy, issued in April 2018, also instructs district employees to “conceal and even deceive parents about the gender identity their son or daughter has adopted at school.”

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

The New Tolerance

In America tolerance once meant that everyone had a right to express their viewpoint and everyone had a right to disagree with a viewpoint. Today tolerance means that everyone has a right to express a viewpoint as long as it is a socially acceptable viewpoint. In other words, if you hold a viewpoint that is contrary to what the society at large believes, you are not free to express yourself. If you are brave enough to try then you will be met with a very hostile “shout down” by the more enlightened people in our midst.

This has clear implications for telling other people about Jesus Christ. It has become increasingly impolite and in fact culturally incorrect to speak about anyone “needing” Jesus. The Christian faith is being systematically muted by self-appointed “elites” and apparently many Christians are OK with this development.

Tolerance used to mean defending the right of everyone to state their opinion in the public square of debate. Today tolerance has been redefined to mean that only opinions that are consistent with those ideals espoused by cultural elitists are permitted. Attempts are made to silence all contradictory viewpoints and some are silenced through the weapon of choice for these elitists — government activism. Here are some examples.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

19 thoughts on “Gates of Vienna News Feed 3/1/2020

  1. https://twitter.com/Holbornlolz/status/1234219024822800385

    Refugees? Yeah, real helpless, those allah-akbar-screaming-border-destroying-fire-setting-young-male “refugees”

    https://twitter.com/V8POW/status/1233859406242205697

    an image thats been going around in the msm is of an African woman screaming for help. Welp, it was staged. Not that it doesn’t debunk itself with the mere fact she is an AFRICAN “syrian” refugee. What on earth is she doing in Turkey? An awful long way to travel for asylum. hmmm

    https://twitter.com/Holbornlolz/status/1234404590361153537

    Migrant shot dead after trying to illegally cross into greece, after being warned repeatably the border were closed. Wow, someties you have to result to deadly means to enforce the law, SHOCKER! *yawn*

    • What a pity they only shot one of them.

      All those poor oppressed migrants fleeing war; life must be so hard for them since they only have the newest I-phones to record the video clips with. Lots of helpless women and children with them too…

  2. https://www.onvista.de/news/merz-an-fluechtlinge-wir-koennen-euch-hier-nicht-aufnehmen-333765987

    CDU politician and would-be successor Chancellor Friedrich Merz is saying the message should be sent the refugees are not welcome in Germany, and Germany should retake control of its borders if necessary

    FDP and AfD politicians are calling for Germany to support Greece’s efforts at the border like Austria is doing.
    Merkel is staying silent trying to sign a new deal with Turkey, but she has no support for welcome culture this time

  3. Don’t take the mandatory vaccine from misanthropes posing as philanthropists.
    All of these alphabet soup agencies failed to contain it in the first place because it is intentional.

  4. https://www.dailysabah.com/world/syrian-crisis/merkel-urges-cease-fire-in-syrias-idlib-calls-for-safe-zone-on-turkish-border

    Merkel’s attempt to regain the refugee pact has backfired spectacularly. You can she feels cornered.

    Speaking sincerely here, I think that Erdogan ditching his refugee deal and saying there is no going back is the best thing that could possibly happen to Europe. The EU’s border with Turkey is protected at the moment thanks to our Greek friends, Merkel’s own party couldn’t support a mass-intake again, and the FDP and AfD are both vigorously opposed to it. Merz is talking about closing down Germany’s southern border if somehow they did get thru. And even somehow after everthing we’ve seen Merkel tried another stunt like 2015, the visegard countries aren’t just going to wave people through this time, Austria and Hungary have made it clear they will stop people at the border, period. Then there is how Britain just left the EU, it’s just Germany and France now as the big two. And on top of all this there is a raging epidemic. No-one could convince most of the European public under the current conditions, especially when measures are already in place and the will for pushing migrant flows back is already on display in Greece.

    By being forced to publicly back the EU external border, or ceding the chancellorship to someone who will (or maybe even better in Merz case seal Germany’s southern border), it will then become mainstream to publicly demonstrate borders do matter again. Of course, if it’s okay to defend your borders from mindless refugee hoards again, then what about other people that come “legally” but don’t respect the laws of the land or the customs? You can guess where i’m going with this. Any way it goes, Merkel is absolutely screwed, because it requires unequivocal admittance that the way everything has been dealt with in the last 5 years has been FUBAR. The CDU is not a leftist party in its roots, but Merkel has doubled down on multiculturalism as a face-saving maneuver. Then it can be discussed how the people from 2015-16 can be repatriated, which has already subtly been worked toward with the idea of a safe zone in Syria that Turkey was planning on – legal basis is there since almost none are employed or have citizenship (courtesy of citizenship laws that require you not to be dependent on social welfare and have German language fluency to apply, which is why most Turks still don’t have it). Turkey can be worked with to stabilize a safe zone in Syria if that is required, but at a distance, and Erdogan has now played his only card – Europe will be dominant in the relationship, or he can get thrown to the Russian wolves!

    All of this is naive maybe? Dreamlike? Convoluted? Perhaps, and it very well maybe that things continue the way that they are for a lot longer or simply the opposite altogether happens. But I really can’t see a more perfect opportunity to pierce through the repressive atmosphere about immigration in Western Europe, especially in Berlin.

    Exciting times my friends.

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