Gates of Vienna News Feed 5/25/2020

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot ordered a police raid on a church that held a worship service in violation of her coronavirus lockdown orders. Meanwhile, poker rooms in Florida have reopened under new safety restrictions. Also, former Vice President Joe Biden appeared in public for the first time in months, wearing a black mask while laying a wreath at a veterans’ memorial.

In other news, Cyprus will deport 17 migrants who are suspected of having links to terrorism.

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

Thanks to FO, 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.

Financial Crisis
» Hertz, JCPenney, JCrew Joint List of Businesses Filing Bankruptcy
» Italian Government Wants Unemployed to Become Social Distancing Snitches
 
USA
» 500 Doctors Write to Trump Warning Lockdown Will Cause More Deaths
» 9 Killed, 36 Injured in Deadliest Memorial Day Weekend in Chicago Since 2015
» Americans Must Demand Justice in Obamagate
» Biden, Wearing Mask, Makes 1st Public Appearance in Months
» California Churches to Reopen With Limited Capacity
» California Hospital Records More Suicides Than Coronavirus Deaths During Lockdown
» Chicago Mayor Mounts Police Raid on Church’s Sunday Service
» CNN Wants to Know Why Trump’s Tweets Don’t Get a Misinformation Warning Label
» Cruz, Crenshaw Respond After Beto O’Rourke Calls Texas Reopening Economy “Dangerous, Dumb and Weak”
» Embattled Michigan Governor in Hot Water Over Hubby’s Boat Request
» Florida Can’t Stop Poor Felons From Voting, Federal Judge Says
» Florida Poker Rooms Reopen With New Safety Guidelines
» German Health Minister Says Trump “Has a Point” About WHO
» Harvard Sued Over ‘Subpar’ Online Learning Amid Pandemic
» Ilhan Omar: I Will Vote for Biden Even Though I Believe Tara Reade
» Kansas Woman Sues Town Mayor for Deleting Her Critical Facebook Comments
» Michigan Restaurant Owner Violates Governor’s Order, Reopens to Try to Save His Business
» Minnesota Lifts Restrictions on Churches, Allows Services With Up to 250 People
» Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz Questions Whether Worship is Essential
» New Species of Scaly, Deep-Sea Worms Named After Elvis Have Been Found
» NYPD Reports Five Homicides Over Memorial Day Weekend
» NYT Lists Homicide Victim as Coronavirus Death on Sunday Front Page
» Rep. Omar Says Biden Must Pick a Person of Color to be His Running Mate
» Republicans Sue California Over “Illegal” Vote-by-Mail Order
» This Will Defeat Trump in Nov, Not the Economy
» Trump Lays Wreath at Arlington Cemetery in Memorial Day Ceremony
» U.S. Navy Successfully Tests Powerful Laser Designed to Destroy Aircraft
» Video: Woman Driven Out of Grocery Store by Angry Mob for Not Wearing a Mask
» Video of White Woman Calling Cops on Black Man in Central Park Draws Outrage
» Wisconsin Sees Lowest One-Day Increase of Coronavirus Cases in a Week on Monday
 
Canada
» Livestream Memorial for Ravi Zacharias to be Held Friday
» Video: Muslim Association of Newfoundland and Labrador Celebrate Ramadan, Blessed Eid
 
Europe and the EU
» #BooForBoris: British Left Organises Anti-Johnson Two Minutes Hate
» Antifa Protests Against Ending the Lockdown in Germany
» EU ‘Green’ Agenda Calls for Eating Bugs to Save the Planet
» Labour MP Fired for Highlighting ‘British Pakistani Men Raping White Girls’ Joins Grooming Gangs Review
» Mosques Across U.K. Could Begin Daily Broadcasts of Islamic Call to Prayer
» Norwegian State TV to Broadcast Celebration of Islamic Holiday
» One in Five English People Believe COVID is a Jewish Conspiracy — Survey
» Poland’s Supreme Court Chief and Top Government Critic Retires
» Portugal: One Dead, Two Injured in Gang Shootout (Video)
» Report: National Lockdown in Italy Drives 30% Increase in Divorces
» Sweden: Woman Fatally Stabbed by 13-Year-Old
» UK to Explore Self Sufficiency to End Reliance on China
» UK: Cummings Hits Back at Mainstream Media: If People Are Upset, It’s Your Fault
 
Russia
» 1,000 Protest Belarusian President Seeking Another Term
 
Far East
» Wuhan Preacher Seized During Online Gospel Event
 
Australia — Pacific
» Clementine Ford Says She’s ‘Sincerely Sorry’ For Tweeting That Coronavirus ‘Isn’t Killing Men Fast Enough’ After Learning Her Publicly Funded Grant Was at Risk — But Some Don’t Buy the Apology
» Exclusive ‘Labor Needs to Have a Long, Hard Look at Itself’: Left-Wing Politicians Are Slammed for Backing China as Trade Tensions Escalate Amid Fears of a ‘New Cold War’
» Forget the Conspiracy Theorists! A Flock of Angry Cockatoos Attack a 5G Tower by Ripping Out Wires With Their Beaks
» Frightening Photo Shows an Enormous Feral Cat Carrying a 6kg Sand Goanna in Its Mouth in Australia’s Rugged Simpson Desert
» Glamorous Female Prison Officer, 25, ‘Had Sex With a Male Inmate Five Times’ — And is Now Dating a Criminal Turned Rapper
» United States Sends 1,200 Marines to Darwin in a Show of Military Might as Tensions Escalate Between China and Australia Over Who is to Blame for the Spread of COVID-19
» ‘You Will Feel More Pain’: China’s Chilling New Threat to Devastate Australia’s Economy if it Supports the U.S. In a ‘New Cold War’
 
Immigration
» Cyprus to Deport 17 Migrants Suspected of Terror Links
» Greece: Two Knife Attacks at Lesvos Migrant Camp Over the Weekend
» Hungary Lists Illegal Migration and Demographic Change as Top Security Threats in New National Security Strategy
» Italy: 400 North African Migrants Land Illegally in Sicily
» UK: Anti-British ‘Journalist’ Supports Open Borders Amid Lockdown
 
Culture Wars
» David Icke Announces That He’s Now Banned From PayPal
» Google Takes Aim at Qanon Apps
» Journalists Discover Their “Credible” Reporting is Being Caught Up in Twitter’s Misinformation Filters
» Ruminations of a Baby Boomer: Poisoning Our World 24/7
» Twitter Accused of Retaliating Against Journalists by Removing Verified Status
» Twitter Puts a Lot of Effort Into Policing Opinions, But Reports Suggest it Should Focus More on Child Abuse
 

Hertz, JCPenney, JCrew Joint List of Businesses Filing Bankruptcy

WASHINGTON — When the history of the COVID-19 pandemic is written, there will be more than a few words devoted to the retailers the virus decimated as it pounded the economy. The last month, in particular, has brought bankruptcies from well-known brands with deep roots around the country. This weekend, Hertz, the rental car giant, joined the list.

But the impacts of the coronavirus are only half the story. In some cases, such as restaurants and travel companies, the virus is undoubtedly the primary cause of trouble, but in others it looks more like an accelerant — gas on a retail fire that has been burning for quite some time.

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

Italian Government Wants Unemployed to Become Social Distancing Snitches

The Italian government announced intentions Sunday to create an army of social distancing snitches, saying it will recruit 60,000 people to monitor their friends and neighbours’ activities and make sure they are adhering to social distancing policies.

Reports indicate that the government will reach out especially to the unemployed for the roles, in particular those who have applied for benefits recently.

It wants them to become “civic assistants”, who will report infractions on the use of face masks and other state ordered rules in the wake of the coronavirus lockdown.

The informants will not be given uniforms or badges, and will simply be embedded within the population, meaning anyone could be a government snitch.

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

500 Doctors Write to Trump Warning Lockdown Will Cause More Deaths

More than 500 doctors have added their names to a letter to President Trump urging him to end the lockdown, warning that it will cause more death than the coronavirus itself.

In the letter, sent last week, doctors described the lockdown as a “mass casualty incident”.

“We are alarmed at what appears to be the lack of consideration for the future health of our patients. The downstream health effects of deteriorating a level are being massively under-estimated and under-reported. This is an order of magnitude error,” it states.

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

9 Killed, 36 Injured in Deadliest Memorial Day Weekend in Chicago Since 2015

The city of Chicago has already seen 36 people shot and nine killed over Memorial Day weekend, making it the deadliest one since 2015.

Memorial Day Weekend shootings since 2015:

  • 2015: 12 killed, 43 injured
  • 2016: 6 killed, 56 injured
  • 2017: 6 killed 44 injured
  • 2018: 7 killed, 30 injured
  • 2019: 7 killed, 34 injured

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

Americans Must Demand Justice in Obamagate

It is not a “drummed-up criminal investigation” when the evidence shows that the Obama-Biden administration used American intelligence and law enforcement agencies to sabotage the incoming Trump Administration and destroy the career and life of Trump National Security Adviser Michael T. Flynn.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Biden, Wearing Mask, Makes 1st Public Appearance in Months

Former Vice President Joe Biden, wearing a black face mask, made his first public appearance in months on Monday when he participated in a wreath-laying ceremony at a veteran’s memorial near his home in Delaware.

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

California Churches to Reopen With Limited Capacity

The California Department of Public Health and Gov. Gavin Newsom announced new guidelines on Monday, allowing in-person church services with limited capacity.

Churches must limit congregations to 25% of the building capacity or a maximum of 100 parishioners — whichever is lower.

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

California Hospital Records More Suicides Than Coronavirus Deaths During Lockdown

Doctors at a hospital in California say they have recorded more deaths from suicide than coronavirus, with a year’s worth of suicides and suicide attempts being recorded in a 4 week period.

“Doctors at John Muir Medical Center in Walnut Creek say they have seen more deaths by suicide during this quarantine period than deaths from the COVID-19 virus,” reports ABC 7.

Dr. Mike deBoisblanc, the head of trauma at the hospital, said that he’d never seen suicide at this rate and that the numbers were “unprecedented.” He now says its time to fully end the lockdown.

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

Chicago Mayor Mounts Police Raid on Church’s Sunday Service

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot on Sunday launched a police raid on a predominately black church for holding services in defiance of her coronavirus shutdown orders.

Lightfoot allegedly dispatched three marked squad cars and two unmarked police vehicles full of officers to Chicago Cornerstone Baptist Church in the South Side’s Woodlawn neighborhood.

Cornerstone Pastor Courtney Lewis was in the middle of his sermon when he heard loud banging on the church’s front doors. After discovering it was the police, he instructed the men of the church to lock the door and deny the officers entry, Todd Starnes reported.

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

CNN Wants to Know Why Trump’s Tweets Don’t Get a Misinformation Warning Label

CNN, a fierce critic of Donald Trump, has turned against Twitter now for not censoring what’s described as US president’s “appalling tweets.”

This newest controversy has to do with Trump’s tweets about MSNBC host Joe Scarborough, that apparently suggested Scarborough — a former congressman — might have had something to do with the 2001 death of his 21-year-old intern.

The way Trump did this was suggest to his followers on Twitter to read an article on the website True Pundit that seems to look into this case from an angle accusatory of Scarborough.

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

Cruz, Crenshaw Respond After Beto O’Rourke Calls Texas Reopening Economy “Dangerous, Dumb and Weak”

After Democrat Beto O’Rourke openly mocked Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s decision to reopen the state’s economy amid the coronavirus pandemic, Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-TX) and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) responded to the former congressman’s tweet.

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

Embattled Michigan Governor in Hot Water Over Hubby’s Boat Request

The governor of Michigan — whose strict coronavirus lockdown policies have caused infamous revolts in the state — is taking heat after her husband appeared to have flouted some of her own advice about holiday travel.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer pushed some of the strictest regulations in the country as Michigan became engulfed in cases and deaths, prompting widespread protests by some residents, including those who stormed the state house last month bearing nooses, swastikas and guns screaming, “Lock her up!”

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

Florida Can’t Stop Poor Felons From Voting, Federal Judge Says

A federal judge declared unconstitutional parts of a Florida law that would require people with felony convictions to pay off financial obligations before regaining their right to vote, paving the way for hundreds of thousands of Floridians to register to vote.

The decision, which likely will be appealed and could reach the U.S. Supreme Court, comes less than six months before a presidential election, in a crucial swing state where contests often are decided by paper-thin margins.

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

Florida Poker Rooms Reopen With New Safety Guidelines

ORANGE CITY, Fla . — Florida’s poker rooms have reopened and new measures have been put in place with guest safety in mind.

If nothing else, it might be a little bit easier to conceal your bluff, because everyone is going to be wearing a mask at the table now as poker gets restarted in Orange City.

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

German Health Minister Says Trump “Has a Point” About WHO

Jens Spahn, Germany’s Federal Minister of Health, says that American President Donald Trump “has a point” in his criticisms of the World Health Organisation (WHO). The WHO has come under fire from President Trump and others for its failures during the early weeks of the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

Spahn made the remarks in an interview he gave to the Financial Times. “[President Trump] does have a point — the WHO needs to reform its governance and accountability,” Spahn said. “We need to figure out exactly where the money goes.”

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

Harvard Sued Over ‘Subpar’ Online Learning Amid Pandemic

On Wednesday, students sued Harvard University for not refunding tuition and fees after the coronavirus pandemic forced classes online.

This makes Harvard at least the fourth Ivy League school to be targeted for failing to reimburse educational costs, following Brown, Columbia, and Cornell. The school is facing a $5 million federal class-action lawsuit. Students chose to pursue legal action as a result of not having “received the benefit of in-person instruction or equivalent access to university facilities and services.”

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

Ilhan Omar: I Will Vote for Biden Even Though I Believe Tara Reade

Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) on Monday said she will vote for former Vice President Joe Biden in the upcoming presidential election while insisting that she believes his former Senate staffer Tara Reade’s allegations of sexual assault.

“Believing survivors is consistent with my values,” Omar wrote on social media. “Yes, I endorsed against Biden and I didn’t pick him as our nominee. With that said, in this interview I did on May 6th, we talked about that and quotes aren’t always in context. I will vote for him and help him defeat Trump.”

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

Kansas Woman Sues Town Mayor for Deleting Her Critical Facebook Comments

Public officials around the world like to use Facebook to make announcements and share their thoughts on issues — however, not all of them are equally fond of receiving critical feedback.

But now a woman in the US state of Kansas has hit back with a lawsuit after her comments posted on her town’s mayor’s Facebook page disappeared.

We obtained a copy of the lawsuit for you here.

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

Michigan Restaurant Owner Violates Governor’s Order, Reopens to Try to Save His Business

Risking the revoking of his license, the owner of a Michigan restaurant reopened his dining room in an effort to save his business amid his state’s ongoing lockdown.

Jim Cory, the owner of Jimmy’s Roadhouse in the rural town of Newaygo, says Democrat Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s “safer-at-home” mandate has cost him $65,000 since it closed his dining services in March.

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

Minnesota Lifts Restrictions on Churches, Allows Services With Up to 250 People

Just days after Catholic and Lutheran churches announced they would defy the state’s stay-at-home orders that prohibited services with more than 10 people, Minnesota succumbed to the pressure and lifted its restrictions.

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

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz Questions Whether Worship is Essential

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz told reporters this weekend it is not clear that worship constitutes something essential, challenging President Trump’s assertion it is.

“I think the case that the president is making and that may be up for debate in this country of deeming houses of worship essential, essential services and that’s one that we take into consideration,” the Democrat governor said during an hour-long briefing on opening up religious services during the coronavirus lockdown.

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

New Species of Scaly, Deep-Sea Worms Named After Elvis Have Been Found

A new look at the critters known as “Elvis worms” has the scale worm family all shook up.

These deep-sea dwellers flaunt glittery, iridescent scales reminiscent of the sequins on Elvis’ iconic jumpsuits (SN: 1/23/20). “For a while, we thought there was just one kind of Elvis worm,” says Greg Rouse, a marine biologist at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, Calif. But analysis of the creatures’ genetic makeup shows that Elvis worms comprise four species of scale worm, Rouse and colleagues report May 12 in ZooKeys.

Rouse’s team compared the genetic material of different Elvis worms with each other, and with DNA from other scale worm species. This analysis places Elvis worms in the Peinaleopolynoe genus of scale worms, which includes two other known species — one found off the coast of Spain, the other off California.

The four newly identified Elvis worm species are scattered across the Pacific, from P. elvisi and P. goffrediae in Monterey Canyon off California to P. orphanae in the Gulf of California by Mexico and P. mineoi near Costa Rica.

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

NYPD Reports Five Homicides Over Memorial Day Weekend

Memorial Day weekend brought a wave of violence to the Big Apple, with five homicides, including three fatal stabbings and a man bashed to death with a chunk of concrete, police said.

Two of the weekend slayings remained unsolved Monday.

One police source told The Post that the ongoing coronavirus lockdown and rising temperatures could be a recipe for more violence.

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

NYT Lists Homicide Victim as Coronavirus Death on Sunday Front Page

The New York Times issued a correction after one of the names published in a list of deaths from the coronavirus was found to be that of a homicide victim.

The paper listed nearly 1,000 names of those who died from the coronavirus in its Sunday edition under a headline reading “U.S. Deaths Near 100,000, An Incalculable Loss.” The feature was meant to highlight the extraordinary loss of life from the pandemic.

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

Rep. Omar Says Biden Must Pick a Person of Color to be His Running Mate

In an interview with National Public Radio, Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) recommended presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden select a “woman of color” in order to shore up a lack of enthusiasm for his candidacy among progressives.

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

Republicans Sue California Over “Illegal” Vote-by-Mail Order

The Republican National Committee, along with the National Republican Congressional Committee and the California Republican Party, have all filed a lawsuit against California Gov. Gavin Newsom for his executive order to provide all registered voters in the state a vote-by-mail ballot.

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

This Will Defeat Trump in Nov, Not the Economy

Faithless electors, ballot harvesting and mail in ballots are going to be the ONLY way to keep Trump from a second term. The Democrat/Communist Party USA is doing everything in their power to cheat We the People in November.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Trump Lays Wreath at Arlington Cemetery in Memorial Day Ceremony

President Trump on Monday presented a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier to commemorate Memorial Day.

Trump crossed the Potomac River by motorcade to lead the solemn morning ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery.

The president saluted the tomb as the National Anthem played. At his left, Vice President Mike Pence and Defense Secretary Mark Esper stood holding a hand over their chests.

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

U.S. Navy Successfully Tests Powerful Laser Designed to Destroy Aircraft

In a move the commanding officer of the USS Portland says is part of “redefining war at sea,” the U.S. Navy has conducted a successful test of a high-energy laser weapon designed to destroy drones and other aircraft mid-flight.

A video of the test, which occurred on May 16 aboard the Portland somewhere in the Pacific Ocean, shows an intense laser radiating from the deck of the warship and neutralizing a distant, unmanned aerial vehicle.

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

Video: Woman Driven Out of Grocery Store by Angry Mob for Not Wearing a Mask

Video footage out of Staten Island shows a woman being driven out of a grocery store by an angry mob because she’s not wearing a mask.

The clip shows the woman surrounded by other shoppers as they yell and cuss at her.

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

Video of White Woman Calling Cops on Black Man in Central Park Draws Outrage

A video of a white woman calling the cops on a black man because he asked her to leash her dog in Central Park Monday is drawing outrage on social media.

The footage, posted on Twitter by the man’s sister, begins with the masked dog walker marching toward the man and demanding that he stop filming.

“Please don’t come close to me,” the man, who doesn’t appear on camera, is heard responding several times.

She continues to ask him to stop filming — and then threatens to call 911.

When the man invites her to “please call the cops,” she says: “I’m going to tell them there’s an African American man threatening my life.”

“Please tell them whatever you like,” he responds.

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

Wisconsin Sees Lowest One-Day Increase of Coronavirus Cases in a Week on Monday

Just more than 300 more Wisconsinites have tested positive for COVID-19, the lowest one-day increase in a week.

The state Department of Health Services reported Monday that 7,480 more COVID-19 tests were processed and 307 — or 4.1% — came back positive.

Meanwhile, Milwaukee Public Schools employees were poised to return to work Tuesday morning, despite concerns by some that the district can’t keep them safe from the coronavirus.

[Comment: And this comes after the wise ruling by the Wisconsin Supreme Court striking down the governor’s order. ]

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

Livestream Memorial for Ravi Zacharias to be Held Friday

A global livestream memorial service will be held this week in honor of Ravi Zacharias, who died on May 19. The service will be streamed on both YouTube and Facebook.

Zacharias died at age 74 after a battle with cancer. He was the founder and leader of Ravi Zacharias International Ministries, a group of nearly 100 Christian scholars and authors who speak around the world.

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

Video: Muslim Association of Newfoundland and Labrador Celebrate Ramadan, Blessed Eid

[…]

With the mosque closed to the public and normal Ramadan activities disrupted — like everything else in life these past few months by COVID-19 — the association was given approval this week by the city to hold a public recitation of Adhan, a call to prayer which came Thursday at 8:39 p.m.

[ VIDEO ]

With the few members of the association, including president Dr. Mansoor Pirzada, outside in the parking lot, the broadcast came through an outdoor loud speaker as volunteer Imam AbdulHaqq Ibrahim was alone in the mosque prayer room, where his recitations were livestreamed to the Muslim community in their homes…

           — Hat tip: FO [Return to headlines]
 

#BooForBoris: British Left Organises Anti-Johnson Two Minutes Hate

The coronavirus-era phenomenon of weekly public applause for medical workers has taken a less positive turn, as opponents of Britain’s Conservative government have called on followers to indulge in a public shaming ceremony.

Plans to give opponents of the government a chance to vent their frustration in a united public show of “hate” — an emotion invoked by many in their writings about the plan online — has metastasised on social media, apparently in response to the prime minister’s decision to stand by the pro-Brexit special adviser Dominic Cummings.

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

Antifa Protests Against Ending the Lockdown in Germany

Police deployed water cannons on Saturday in an effort to break up an antifa demonstration that was disrupting an anti-lockdown rally in Hamburg, Germany.

The authorities were called to action after 120 antifa counter-protesters, dressed in black hoodies, consistently ignored requests to steer clear of the “Vigil for the Basic Law” rally against the lockdown measures.

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

EU ‘Green’ Agenda Calls for Eating Bugs to Save the Planet

A new EU draft policy announced last week calls for “insect-based proteins” to be extensively promoted as a replacement for animal products, to save the environment.

The European Commission announced the Farm to Fork (F2F) Strategy, touting it as a “fair, healthy and environmentally-friendly” program that will focus on “increasing the availability and source of alternative proteins such as plant, microbial, marine, and insect-based proteins and meat substitutes.”

The draft noted that the program “will not happen without a shift in people’s diets”.

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

Labour MP Fired for Highlighting ‘British Pakistani Men Raping White Girls’ Joins Grooming Gangs Review

A Labour MP fired from the shadow government by Jeremy Corbyn for calling out Pakistani-heritage rapists targeting white girls will help review a government report into the ethnic background of grooming gangs.

Sarah Champion, MP for the rape gang-blighted town of Rotherham, Yorkshire, will help to review a government report into the “characteristics” of grooming gangs, which have repeatedly been found to be made up overwhelmingly of Muslim men, usually of Pakistani heritage victimising overwhelmingly non-Muslim girls, usually white working class.

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

Mosques Across U.K. Could Begin Daily Broadcasts of Islamic Call to Prayer

Mosques across Great Britain could start sounding the daily Islamic call to prayerthrough loudspeakers after they were given permission to broadcast the adhan during the holy month of Ramadan amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The initiative, spearheaded by the London council of Kensington and Chelsea, gave permission to the Al-Manaar mosque — the largest mosque in the area — to broadcast the call to prayer every night during Ramadan.

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

Norwegian State TV to Broadcast Celebration of Islamic Holiday

Norwegian tax-funded radio and television broadcaster NRK has proudly announced that it will be the first TV station in Western Europe to do a live broadcast of Eid — the Muslim holiday that ends Ramadan. The broadcast is set to take place on the evening of Sunday May 24th.

“I’m really looking forward to this. We invite you to a party with good food, beautiful music, and nice and fun meetings with exciting guests. For those celebrating this day, probably things will be a little different this year because of the corona situation. We hope this program can contribute to a sense of community — that we celebrate together. And of course everyone is welcome,” said program director Rima Iraki.

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

One in Five English People Believe COVID is a Jewish Conspiracy — Survey

One in five English people believe that Jews created COVID-19 to collapse the economy for financial gain, a newly-released study by a team of researchers at the University of Oxford has revealed.

The finding came as part of a wider survey in attitudes toward the virus and the measures taken to prevent its spread, which found that there was a strong undercurrent of mistrust over official advice on the virus within the public.

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

Poland’s Supreme Court Chief and Top Government Critic Retires

WARSAW (Reuters) — Poland’s Supreme Court chief Malgorzata Gersdorf ended a six-year term on Thursday, opening the way for the ruling nationalists to pick a supporter of their contested judiciary overhaul to replace her.

After the Law and Justice party (PiS) came to power in 2015, the 67-year-old lawyer emerged as a figurehead for opponents of reforms characterised by the European Union as subverting democratic checks and balances.

Deputy Justice Minister Sebastian Kaleta, a member of PiS, said Gersdorf had overstepped her role with frequent involvement in politics.

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

Portugal: One Dead, Two Injured in Gang Shootout (Video)

One man was killed and two others were injured in a shootout between two rival gangs in Seixal, Portugal yesterday.

The incident took place early Sunday evening in the Cucena neighborhood of Paio Pires. The man who died was 57. His son, 35, was one of the men injured in the fight, according to a report by Correio da Manhã. A video of the chaotic scene that was made immediately after the shootout by a bystander shows that there were many people in the vicinity at the time, several screaming in horror and terror.

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

Report: National Lockdown in Italy Drives 30% Increase in Divorces

ROME — Two and a half months of forced lockdown has pushed many married couples into crisis, Italian media report, and divorce filings have seen a whopping 30 percent increase since the outbreak began.

Marriage counselors took to Skype and WhatsApp to help struggling couples cope with the stress of lost jobs and extended co-confinement during the 67 days of national lockdown but this did not stop the surge in requests for divorce, Corriere della Sera reported last week.

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

Sweden: Woman Fatally Stabbed by 13-Year-Old

Swedish police have arrested a 13-year-old boy who is suspected of killing a 55-year-old woman during a botched robbery in Kungälv outside Gothenburg.

The incident occurred beneath an E6 highway bridge on May 10. The boy brandished a knife and demanded that the woman hand over her cell phone. When she refused, he stabbed her and then ran away, the Swedish newspaper Expressen reports.

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

UK to Explore Self Sufficiency to End Reliance on China

The British government will make plans to reduce the United Kingdom’s reliance on imports from foreign countries like China after a study revealed that the UK is reliant on the communist country for the supply of 71 “critical goods” including pharmaceuticals, personal protective equipment (PPE), and electronics.

Headed by Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Dominic Raab, codename “Project Defend” will examine the resilience of the UK’s economy and supply chain vulnerabilities of “essential supplies” strategic for national security.

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

UK: Cummings Hits Back at Mainstream Media: If People Are Upset, It’s Your Fault

Dominic Cummings has criticised the establishment media for making false reports about his lockdown while suffering from coronavirus, claims which he said resulted in threats of violence against him and his family.

Mr Cummings had rejected media claims that he had driven from London to Durham simply to stay with his parents, rather that he had stayed at an isolated cottage on his father’s farm, “worried if my wife and I were ill, there was no one in London that we could reasonably ask to look after my child”.

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1,000 Protest Belarusian President Seeking Another Term

MINSK, Belarus (AP) — About 1,000 protesters denouncing authoritarian Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko’s seeking of another term in an upcoming election have held the largest opposition demonstration of the year in the capital Minsk.

Many of the demonstrators carried slippers as a symbol of protest leader Sergei Tikhanovsky’s call to “smash the cockroach.”

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

Wuhan Preacher Seized During Online Gospel Event

The preacher of Nanjing Road Church in Wuhan, China, was seized by police in the middle of an online gospel event and interrogated for nearly five hours before being released.

A local minister known only as Luo was leading a Zoom event called the “Proclaim Jesus Gospel Gathering” before police appeared around noon and began searching for evangelistic or published gospel materials.

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

Clementine Ford Says She’s ‘Sincerely Sorry’ For Tweeting That Coronavirus ‘Isn’t Killing Men Fast Enough’ After Learning Her Publicly Funded Grant Was at Risk — But Some Don’t Buy the Apology

The 39-year-old Australian writer issued a rare apology after telling her 133,000 followers coronavirus ‘isn’t killing men fast enough’.

           — Hat tip: SS [Return to headlines]
 

Exclusive ‘Labor Needs to Have a Long, Hard Look at Itself’: Left-Wing Politicians Are Slammed for Backing China as Trade Tensions Escalate Amid Fears of a ‘New Cold War’

Federal Labor’s agriculture spokesman Joel Fitzgibbon has accused the government of ‘demonising’ the communist superpower by calling for an inquiry into the origins of the virus.

           — Hat tip: SS [Return to headlines]
 

Forget the Conspiracy Theorists! A Flock of Angry Cockatoos Attack a 5G Tower by Ripping Out Wires With Their Beaks

The footage, which was shared on Youtube, has fuelled the bizarre theory that signals from the new 5G network being rolled out across Australia causes coronavirus.

           — Hat tip: SS [Return to headlines]
 

Frightening Photo Shows an Enormous Feral Cat Carrying a 6kg Sand Goanna in Its Mouth in Australia’s Rugged Simpson Desert

Researchers captured the cat on film at the Ethabuka Reserve near the Queensland-Northern Territory border.

           — Hat tip: SS [Return to headlines]
 

Glamorous Female Prison Officer, 25, ‘Had Sex With a Male Inmate Five Times’ — And is Now Dating a Criminal Turned Rapper

Melissa Goodwin, 25, is expected to be charged with a number of offences over her relationship with a former prisoner. Goodwin was last month stood down from Sydney’s Remand Centre.

           — Hat tip: SS [Return to headlines]
 

United States Sends 1,200 Marines to Darwin in a Show of Military Might as Tensions Escalate Between China and Australia Over Who is to Blame for the Spread of COVID-19

Marine Rotational Force — Darwin will arrive in Australia in early June but an advance party of 54 has been stationed in the Northern Territory since March and already undergone quarantine.

           — Hat tip: SS [Return to headlines]
 

‘You Will Feel More Pain’: China’s Chilling New Threat to Devastate Australia’s Economy if it Supports the U.S. In a ‘New Cold War’

The United States said on Friday it would ban trade with 33 Chinese companies in a move that could signal the start of a ‘new cold war’, according to Chinese media.

           — Hat tip: SS [Return to headlines]
 

Cyprus to Deport 17 Migrants Suspected of Terror Links

NICOSIA, CYPRUS (AP) — Cyprus will deport 17 migrants who are being held on suspicion of having links to extremist groups or involved in acts of terror, the country’s interior ministry said Monday.

The men are currently being held in a migrants’ detention facility and their deportation will proceed once commercial air traffic to and from the country is restored after the full lifting of all coronavirus restrictions, the ministry told The Associated Press in a statement.

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

Greece: Two Knife Attacks at Lesvos Migrant Camp Over the Weekend

Police on the Greek island of Lesvos have arrested an Afghan male at the Moria migrant camp after he stabbed a fellow Afghan asylum seeker.

According to police, the 21-year-old victim was rushed to the intensive care unit at Mytilini hospital following a knife fight with a fellow Afghan, aged 18, who was taken into police custody on Saturday evening, Proto Thema reports.

It’s the second knife attack to occur at the camp in 24 hours.

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

Hungary Lists Illegal Migration and Demographic Change as Top Security Threats in New National Security Strategy

Right in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic, Hungary has published its new National Security Strategy (NSS), which lists illegal migration, demographic change, armed attacks, and hybrid warfare as some of the biggest threats the country faces.

The country states that NATO is the cornerstone of the country’s security architecture in the 179-point document, which has been expanded from 51 points in the previous one published in 2012. The country regularly updates its NSS every eight years, with additional interim updates if and when warranted.

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

Italy: 400 North African Migrants Land Illegally in Sicily

Roughly 400 North African migrants illegally disembarked on Sunday afternoon on the beach of Palma di Montechiar in Sicily. A mass landing of this size hasn’t occurred in Italy for years.

After being dropped off a few meters from the beach by the mother ship, the migrants dispersed into small groups and attempted to blend in with the normal population. Some were seen walking along the highway while others ran to the countryside area, La Stampa reports.

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UK: Anti-British ‘Journalist’ Supports Open Borders Amid Lockdown

Despite many illegal migrants arriving on Britain’s coast, Novara Media ‘journalist’ Ash Sarkar has advocated for open borders, claiming that criticism of illegal immigration reflected badly on Britain.

In the tweet, she asked ‘what does it say about us as a country that we look at desperate people with fear and disgust, as they make their way to our shores across cold seas in unsafe boats?’ This is in response to the anger that many have felt towards the recent illegal immigration during the coronavirus lockdown, as highlighted by the MSM and in particular former MEP Nigel Farage, who covered the matter for his LBC radio show.

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

David Icke Announces That He’s Now Banned From PayPal

Ever since his viral April 7 interview on London Real was censored by YouTube, author and public speaker David Icke’s content and accounts have been systematically scrubbed from many of the Big Tech platforms.

Today Icke announced that PayPal is the latest of the silicon valley giants to hit him with the ban hammer.

“All that elite ‘power’ and yet they are hysterically knicker-twisted worldwide over ‘little me,’ Icke tweeted when announcing the ban. “So where’s the ‘power’, really? It’s with us not them.

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Google Takes Aim at Qanon Apps

If you didn’t know it, the notion of the existence of such a thing as the “deep state” is treated as a “conspiracy theory” in mainstream US media, and also by Google.

(Knowing what all of us who went to school know about human history over the last 3,000+ years, the existence of “a state within a state” should by no means be a shockingly outrageous and/or impossible idea to explore. Nevertheless, here we are.)

CNET says that Google on Thursday removed three apps from its Play Store for peddling “QAnon conspiracy theory.”

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

Journalists Discover Their “Credible” Reporting is Being Caught Up in Twitter’s Misinformation Filters

Once again, when journalists begin pushing tech companies to censor information, we count the days until those journalists themselves are being caught up in the filters they advocated for and until their own news reporting gets censored.

The technology Twitter has been using to label inaccurate coronavirus information is, of course, making mistakes and all information about certain topics is being labeled as misleading. The mistakes highlight the can of worms that Twitter has opened from the moment it decided it was going to police people’s conversations.

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

Ruminations of a Baby Boomer: Poisoning Our World 24/7

At this point, those huge companies created 70,000 chemicals being used in the world today 24/7. They poison the air, ground water, soil, rivers, and ultimately our oceans. We’re losing over 100 species daily to extinction around the world from those poisons and habitat encroachment.

[Comment: Check out the movie starring Mark Ruffalo, Black Waters. It is about “forever chemicals”.]

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Twitter Accused of Retaliating Against Journalists by Removing Verified Status

A journalist with the news house Mediaite, Rudy Takala, has lost his verified status on Twitter after he reported on President Obama’s abuse of the US government’s surveillance capabilities.

Within an hour of tweeting his column detailing Obama’s allegations on power abuse and spying, Takala lost his blue checkmark on the platform. It’s unclear if the two incidents are related.

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Twitter Puts a Lot of Effort Into Policing Opinions, But Reports Suggest it Should Focus More on Child Abuse

A new report out of the Philippines paints Twitter as nothing most of us will likely think of first when prompted to think about the social media giant. Some find Twitter a useful tool to communicate, others a useless place to argue — but how about it being a den used unchecked by predators making money off of sexual exploitation of children?

According to Rappler, content showing sexual abuse of minors is now changing hands on the platform for “as low as 100 Philippine pesos (2 US dollars).”

The website said it was able to uncover accounts on Twitter that are teasing pedophile content while using a number of specific hashtag to direct their customers toward eventually purchasing this content elsewhere — available to those who wish to pay for the full videos for prices ranging from under 2 to just under 10 US dollars.

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

7 thoughts on “Gates of Vienna News Feed 5/25/2020

  1. Can Cyprus deport any criminals without bringing EU rancor upon themselves?

    Where are Ireland, Sweden or Germany to receive them and reward them for their jihad service?

    • Thanks for posting. Both the video and comment section were quite informative.

      • Yes, it would appear that Sweden was not infact all that pro-Nazi, especially it to countries like Finland and Hungary despite the pressure though they gave some concessions.

  2. “About 1,000 protesters denouncing authoritarian Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko’s seeking of another term in an upcoming election have held the largest opposition demonstration of the year in the capital Minsk.”
    Belarus has 9,5 millions citizens, Minsk alone has almost 2 millions. 1000 is nothing worthy of a headline…

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