London and Rome have tightened their Christmas COVID lockdowns, limiting personal holiday interactions to a strict minimum. Meanwhile, restaurants in New York City, which have been hit hard by the statewide indoor dining shutdown, have permanently banned Governor Andrew Cuomo from their premises.
In other news, a 17-year-old female suicide bomber, possibly an adherent of Boko Haram, killed at least three people and wounded a number of others in a jihad attack in northeastern Nigeria.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to Dean, 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.
It’s for the greater good.
George Gascon, the new George Soros-backed Los Angeles District Attorney, was sworn in on Monday, and immediately ended the use of cash bail for most crimes. The committed leftist ousted Jackie Lacey, the first African American woman to hold the office, with the support of millions from Soros.
On Friday DA George Gascon was overheard at the Pomona courthouse saying, “It’s unfortunate that some people do not have enough education to keep their mouth shut so we can talk.”
He said this as a family member of a tortured and murdered victim yelled at him.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
General Mike Flynn, the former National Security Adviser to President Trump, joined Lou Dobbs on Friday night to discuss the SolarWinds cyber attack and the Trump campaign’s strategy to expose the massive fraud in the stolen 2020 election.
General Flynn: What I would say is SolarWinds is an entry point into the rest of our entire US critical infrastructure. So everything that touches the United States government, if you enter through this SolarWinds attack that we perceive you basically have keys to the vault… You’re able to rummage around and do damn near anything. So it’s a very, very serious attack… We’ve known about it for about six months as I understand it. So when we talk about our election security, Lou, I think this is all part of it because there’s a relationship between these SolarWinds attacks which has basically penetrated our entire infrastructure as well as our election securities… We know we have evidence of foreign influence in the election and this too. You know we’re talking about countries like China, countries like Iran, countries like North Korea, like Russia. These are adversaries that want to basically dominate with their ideology this country…
General Flynn then went on to say intelligence agencies from other countries were watching our elections and have important intelligence to share.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
17 Shot, 2 Fatally in Chicago So Far This Weekend
Six people were wounded in a single shooting early Saturday at a business on the South Side.
At least two people have been killed and 15 others injured in citywide shootings so far this weekend, including a half dozen people who were wounded in a single attack at a South Side gathering.
They were at a beauty salon about 12:25 a.m. Saturday in the 8900 block of South Cottage Grove Avenue when a person walked in and started shooting, Chicago police said.
Six people were wounded — one of them seriously — before the gunman took off, police said.
A 41-year-old man was shot in his abdomen and taken to University of Chicago Medical Center in serious condition, police said. Two men, both 48, were struck in the leg and went to the same hospital in fair condition.
A man, 32, was shot in his foot the foot, and a woman, 36, was shot in her leg, police said. Both were taken to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn in fair condition. The sixth victim, a 28-year-old man, was struck in the hand and taken to South Shore Hospital in fair condition.
In the weekend’s latest fatal shooting, a 23-year-old man was killed in South Shore…
| — Hat tip: Dean | [Return to headlines] |
The FBI on Friday briefed GOP Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and Speaker Pelosi on Democrat Rep. Eric Swalwell’s relationship with Chinse spy Fang Fang.
McCarthy emerged from the briefing Friday afternoon and told reporters at the Capitol that Swalwell ‘should not be on intel’ committee.
“I just think there are definitely 200 other Democrats that I know could fill that place,” McCarthy said.
Swalwell currently sits on the House Intelligence Committee and has access to some of the nation’s most highly classified information.
Fang was a “bundler” for Eric Swalwell and other Democrat candidates but it was also believed the Chinese spy and honeypot had an intimate relationship with Swalwell.
Rep. Swalwell however refused to confirm if he had an intimate relationship with Fang Fang.
On Friday, a source on Capitol Hill confirmed to the Federalist that Swalwell indeed had a sexual relationship with Fang Fang.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
The Turning Point USA Conference is being held this weekend in Florida.
Several top conservative speakers are scheduled to speak at this year’s conference.
Senator Rand Paul spoke on Saturday.
We received word from our correspondent at the convention that Palm Beach County locked attendees out of the convention hall today.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
The legendary Sarah Palin has made a touching video calling for Julian Assange to be pardoned.
Palin has been an unlikely supporter of the organization, as WikiLeaks published Palin’s own hacked emails during the 2008 election while she was a presidential candidate.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Georgia: Raffensperger Orders a Statewide Signature Matching Audit
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R), is now relenting to demands that a statewide signature-matching audit take place.
On Thursday, Raffensperger’s office announced that they would capitulate to a litany of requests for a statewide audit of signatures on mail-in and absentee ballots. President Trump’s team has repeatedly asked for this to take place only to be sidestepped.
Raffensperger said the review of these ballots will take place in all 159 Georgia counties, and is meant to rebuild trust in the election process.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
It’s Time to Expose and Punish Traitors
Although we believe the CIA and FBI should be abolished completely, as a result of their roles in subverting the Trump presidency, America’s Survival, Inc. (ASI) has campaigned to save the NSA from congressional restrictions that would undermine its surveillance programs. This stand has not been popular in left-wing and some libertarian circles. But it is the right thing to do. It is more important than ever before.
The dramatic hacking of federal government and private networks demonstrates the threat. What many won’t concede is that these hackers, apparently originating in Russia and/or China, also have the demonstrated ability to hack into our electronic voting systems, and undoubtedly did so.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
New Confrontations Reported Between Antifa and Right-Wing Groups
On Saturday afternoon, Antifa and right-wing militias squared off again in downtown Sacramento, a city where violent confrontations continue.
“Another Antifa vs right wing street fight in Sacramento, Cal. today. Video by @BGOnTheScene. #AntifaRiots”
Independent journalist Andy Ngo retweeted video footage from Brendan Gutenschwager, another independent journalist. The confrontations in Sacramento have been carrying on for several days now.
In the video, an angry verbal confrontation can be seen between the two groups. Then, an Antifa member pulls a can of mace out of his pocket and sprays an opponent.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
New Low? Black Lives Matter Monsters Terrorize Child Cancer Fundraiser in Wisconsin (Video)
In what might actually be a new low for Black Lives Matter monsters, a group of “protesters” in Wisconsin terrorized people who went to look at the lights in a child cancer fundraiser on Friday evening.
“Black Lives Matter goons are currently at Candy Cane Lane in the Milwaukee area and are terrorizing people who have come to look at the lights in a child cancer fundraiser. Yes, Black Lives Matter goons are actually terrorizing a child cancer fundraiser,” radio host Dan O’Donnell tweeted with a video.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Pompeo: Massive Cyber Attack “Pretty Clearly” From Russians
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the massive cyberattack discovered this week was “pretty clearly” done by Russians.
“[T]here was a significant effort to use a piece of third-party software to essentially embed code inside of U.S. Government systems and now it appears systems of private companies and companies and governments across the world as well,” Pompeo said. “This was a very significant effort, and I think it’s the case that now we can say pretty clearly that it was the Russians that engaged in this activity.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
President Trump Signs Bill to Bar Chinese Companies From US Stock Exchange
President Donald Trump signed the Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act on Friday in an effort to prohibit foreign companies from being on the US stock exchange.
The act “requires certain issuers of securities to establish that they are not owned or controlled by a foreign government.” In order to establish this, the companies will have to cooperate with audits by the U.S. Public Accounting Oversight Board.
If the board can’t “inspect the issuer’s public accounting firm for three consecutive years, the issuer’s securities are banned from trade on a national exchange or through other methods,” according to the Congress website.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Washington, DC—Yesterday, Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (HI-02) introduced H.Res.1267, the Pandemic Crisis Excess Profits Tax, which calls on Congress to levy a limited-time tax on the excess profits of large corporations who profited beyond their average profits over the past several years due to the COVID-19 pandemic and to direct the funds collected to support small businesses.
“Big tech corporations and big box retailers are among those who have made excessive profits during the COVID-19 pandemic, while mom and pop shops are being forced to close their doors due to government-mandated restrictions. Because of this, these large corporations will be better positioned with a competitive advantage over small businesses in a post-pandemic economy. Congress must reinstate the WWII-era excess profit tax used at that time to prevent war-time profiteering, and dedicate the funds collected to helping small businesses recover,” said Rep. Tulsi Gabbard. “Small businesses are the backbone of our economy and have borne the brunt of this crisis. We need to support our small businesses and make sure that they are able to thrive and compete.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
The Associated Press reported earlier this week that President Trump has been asking about a special counsel to investigate Hunter Biden and another special counsel to look into the Democrat voter fraud.
Attorney Sidney Powell reportedly met with Trump in Oval Office Friday evening where the President discussed naming Powell as special counsel to investigate massive Democrat voter fraud that took place in the 2020 election.
General Flynn also joined Sidney Powell on Friday and deploying the military was reportedly raised in the meeting but nixed.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Struggling New York City Restaurant Owners Ban Andrew Cuomo From Establishments
Half of New York City bars and restaurants may close for good due to the despotic pandemic rules by state leaders.
9 of 10 restaurants in New York City can’t pay the full rent.
Now New York City restaurant owners are permanently banning Governor Andrew Cuomo from eating at their establishments.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Trump Promises “Big, “ “Wild” Election Protest on Jan. 6 in D.C.
President Trump said on Saturday it is “statistically impossible to have lost the 2020 election,” after posting a 36-page report on alleged election fraud.
Trump promised a “[b]ig protest in [Washington, D.C.] on January 6th.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Trump: SolarWinds Breach ‘May be China, ‘ MSM Won’t Admit Due to ‘Financial Reasons’
President Donald Trump suggested on Twitter that China ‘may be’ responsible for the recently announced SolarWinds cyber attack, adding that “Russia, Russia, Russia is the priority chant” when anything happens, because mainstream media outlets have “financial reasons” to not cover China’s potential involvement.
President Trump also said that the cyber attack could have impacted “our ridiculous voting machines” during the 2020 US election, adding that the election was a “corrupted embarrassment for the USA.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Nearly $50K in Fines Possible After London, Ont., Gathering Exceeding Limits
Total fines could be quite steep after London police say officers responding to a noise complaint found 10 people in a residence.
With the region currently in the red zone under the province’s COVID-19 response framework, indoor gatherings are limited to five people, unless everyone is from the same household.
According to police, officers were called to a noise complaint at a residence on King Street, east of Adelaide Street, at around 3:30 a.m. Thursday.
Police say officers found 10 people inside and none appeared to be wearing masks.
As a result of the investigation, 10 Londoners ranging in age from 21 to 25 are facing charges under the Reopening Ontario Act.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Brexit: Finnish Politician ‘Envious’ of Brits, Tells ‘Unattractive’ EU to ‘Look in the Mirror’
Finnish politician Laura Huhtasaari told the European Parliament she envies Britain, and that the EU should “look in the mirror” to discover why it wants to leave and countries like Norway and Switzerland have no interest in joining.
“I am envious of the Brits because they can actually do something in the world now,” she told fellow Members of the European Parliament (MEPs), suggesting that the EU’s demand that Britain submit to EU rules interpreted by EU judges and continued EU control over Britain’s territorial fishing waters.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
French Academic Under Police Protection After Criticising Islam
A French law professor has been placed under police protection after referring to religions, including Islam, as “sexually transmitted” during a lecture to around 600 students in October.
The 50-year-old associate professor, who works at Aix-Marseille University (AMU), is alleged to have said both Islam and Judaism are, after a fashion, sexually transmitted.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
US crowdfunding platform GoFundMe was handed down a hefty fine by the Italian competition regulator, which found its advertising and the way it takes a cut from donations to be deceptive and a violation of consumer rights.
The platform was ordered to pay €1.5 million ($1.8 million) for hiding the costs of donations from Italians using it to fund various causes. The California-based company was accused of deceiving people about how much they would actually pay when donating through the platform, by hiding transaction fees and the voluntary ‘tips’ that went to the company itself.
The platform had a default setting for how big its cut from each donation would be and saw its share of donations plummet as soon as it set it to zero for new campaigns after the Italian probe was launched.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Italy’s Leftist Govt Announces National Lockdown Over Christmas
MILAN (AP) — Italian premier Giuseppe Conte on Friday announced there will be a partial lockdown nationwide for most of the Christmas holiday season, citing concerns that gatherings of families and friends could re-ignite the virus’s spread.
The new decree puts strict limits on movements on holidays and weekends from Dec. 21 through the Jan. 6 Epiphany holiday, with a slight easing on four weekdays. To allow a glimmer of Christmas cheer, personal visits to friends or family members of no more than two people are allowed on any given day.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
A French fashion agent who is suspected of having sex with a teenager was today facing multiple prison sentences after being charged with the ‘rape of minors’ and ‘sexual harassment’.
Jean-Luc Brunel, 74, was indicted late on Friday night amid allegations including those of a woman who separately claims she was also trafficked as a teenager to Prince Andrew.
Brunel was interviewed over two days by an examining magistrate and specialist police from an anti-paedophilia unit, prosecutors in Paris confirmed.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
The Dutch government has imposed a ban on commercial flights from the UK to the Netherlands after it reported a first case of the new fast-spreading Covid-19 strain. The ban will be in effect at least till January.
The travel restrictions will apply to all passenger flights from the UK bound to the Netherlands starting 6:00 am Sunday local time, the government said in a statement, issued several hours before the ban was to come into force.
The government described the sweeping ban on air travel for the whole Christmas period as a “precautionary measure”,needed to “limit” potential further exposure of the population to the new strain of the virus, which was first detected in the UK and is allegedly highly contagious.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Over 95 Per Cent of Fish Taken From British Marine Protected Area Went to EU
Over 95 per cent of the fish taken out of Britain’s marine protected areas is ending up in the European Union, according to researchers.
Britain’s Conservative Party-led government has already agreed to pay the EU a multi-billion “divorce” settlement — despite having paid far more into the EU budget than t had taken out over the decades — and submit the British province of Northern Ireland to EU regulations in an attempt to secure a Brexit deal, but the bloc is still refusing to agree one, with its demands for continued control over Britain’s national fisheries a key sticking point.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Here is a fine example of rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. Nine years, twelve years — how are three more years going to make the slightest difference if no effort is made while Fatah Abdullah is in prison to disabuse him of his jihadist sentiments? And no such effort will be made, since it would be “Islamophobic.”
“Newcastle man jailed for life for terror offences could have minimum term increased,” by Kieran Murray, Chronicle Live, December 16, 2020.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
POLICE were reportedly “pelted with missiles” when they tried to break up an “illegal rave” in a posh suburb of London last night.
A “huge police presence” was seen in Putney, south-west London, with reports saying there were several helicopters flying overhead and police dogs had been brought in.
Revellers flouting the new tier 4 restrictions which were announced by Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Saturday were said to be gathering at the old M&S store just off the high street.
It’s thought the illegal gathering had kicked off approximately an hour before the new restrictions came into force at midnight.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Manchester bomber Salman Abedi gave a pocket-size Koran to a taxi driver and said ‘please pray for me, brother’ before he killed 22 people in a suicide attack, an inquiry has heard.
Abedi, 22, handed the gift to driver Tariq Nadeem who picked him up from Piccadilly rail station on May 22, 2017.
Later that same evening, he triggered the blast that killed 22 people and injured hundreds at the end of an Ariana Grande concert.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Retired Supreme Court Justice Brands Lockdowns ‘Useless’, ‘Immoral’
Lord Sumption, who served as a Justice of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom until 2018, has branded lockdowns “useless” and a “profoundly immoral” imposition on the young.
Jonathan Philip Chadwick Sumption, who still serves on the Supplementary Panel of Britain’s top court, suggested that Boris Johnson’s government has “adopted a succession of on-off lockdowns or semi-lockdowns” because “a permanent lockdown would have been politically impossible, socially intolerable and economically terminal” in an article published by the Telegraph.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Tier Four: Boris Cancels Christmas in Much of Southern England
Boris Johnson has scrapped planned lockdown easing in London and much of south-east England over Christmas and moved the region into new “tier four” restrictions, saying a new, more contagious strain of the Chinese coronavirus is spreading there.
After England’s second national lockdown ended the country moved to a system of regional lockdowns, with most of the population finding themselves in the third tier — entailing restrictions which are in some ways even more restrictive than previously.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Wales: ‘Rave-Style’ Parties Dyfed-Powys Police Warning for Home Renters
Rental home owners are being warned that groups are renting properties for ‘rave-style’ parties, breaching Covid rules.
The Dyfed Powys Local Resilience Forum — a group made up of local councils, health boards and emergency service representatives — is working together to protect communities in relation to large groups staying in rental properties.
The forum is appealing to owners following an incident where a rented farm was used to host an illegal rave-style party, in clear contravention of coronavirus rules.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Hoping to lead by example, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu got a jab of Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine in an event broadcast live, as the polls showed a high level of mistrust to the immunization drive among Israelis.
The ceremonial injection took place at the Sheba Medical Center near Tel Aviv on Saturday, with Netanyahu sticking to his earlier promise and becoming the first person in the country to be vaccinated against Covid-19.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
PA Mufti: No Room for Non-Muslims on Temple Mount
The Palestinian Authority Mufti of Jerusalem, Sheikh Mohammed Hussein, on Tuesday warned of attempts by Jewish groups to establish a presence on the Temple Mount.
Hussein told the Palestinian news agency Khabar that the entire holy site is Islamic and belongs only to Muslims.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Sharia financing is inextricably tied to Islamic expansionism and the jihad, both violent and stealth. Jihadists also exploit zakat on a large-scale basis, and Qatar Charity offers an easy zakat payment service. “The litigants specifically accused Qatar Charity of funneling at least $28 million to the two terror groups, including payments to the families of ‘martyrs.’“
If the claims made in this lawsuit are true, the financial institutions involved reveal the full extent of the threat from Qatar, particularly given the alleged ties of these institutions to Qatar’s royal family.
“Second US lawsuit hits Qatar National Bank over terrorist finances,” Al Monitor, December 16, 2020.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Pope Francis is doubtless on his way to Srinagar right now to find this lad and explain to him that “authentic Islam and the proper reading of the Koran are opposed to every form of violence.”
“Missing Srinagar Boy Joins Militant Ranks, Audio Viral on Social Media,” BK News Service, December 17, 2020 (thanks to The Religion of Peace):
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
China: The Conquest of Hollywood
In October, for the first time, China overtook North America as the world’s largest film market. “Movie ticket sales in China for 2020 climbed to $1.988 billion on Sunday, surpassing North America’s total of $1.937 billion, according to data from Artisan Gateway. The gap is expected to widen considerably by year’s end,” wroteThe Hollywood Reporter on October 18. “Analysts have long predicted that the world’s most populous country would one day top the global charts. But the results still represent a historic sea change”.
“The day has finally arrived when China is the world’s No.1 film market, surpassing the box office total of North America for 2020,” said the authorized government portal site to China, published under the auspices of China’s State Council Information Office, also known as the CCP’s Foreign Propaganda Office, China.org.cn, in a self-congratulatory article, “China officially the world’s biggest film market.” The article, published on October 20, went on to mention the Chinese blockbuster, The Eight Hundred, a WWII movie about a group of Chinese soldiers under siege by the Japanese army, which was the highest grossing film in the world in 2020, as well as a handful of other Chinese-made films scheduled for release in the final quarter of 2020.
That is what the CCP has been working towards for at least a decade; a communiqué it released back in October 2011, spoke of “the urgency” of enhancing China’s “soft power and the international influence of its own culture” and the wish to “build our country into a socialist cultural superpower”.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
DOJ Accuses Zoom Exec of Leaking User Data to Beijing Officials
The Department of Justice (DOJ) accused China-based Xinjiang Jin, who reportedly was Zoom’s chief liaison with Chinese law enforcement and intelligence, of sharing user data at the request of the communist Chinese government.
“The allegations in the complaint lay bare the Faustian bargain that the [People’s Republic of China] government demands of U.S. technology companies doing business within the PRC’s borders, and the insider threat that those companies face from their own employees in the PRC,” said Acting United States Attorney Seth DuCharme.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
As the Northern Beaches prepares to enter four days of lockdown from 5pm Saturday, shoppers flocked to supermarkets clearing shelves of essential items such as toilet paper.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
Queensland and Victoria have introduced tough new restrictions for Sydneysiders less than a week before Christmas — as traces of coronavirus were detected in sewage samples in Queensland.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
A 19-year-old known to the two 17-year-old girls who were stabbed in Parramatta in Sydney’s west on Friday night has been charged with murder.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
Samuel Edward Shenstone, 25, was charged with supplying almost 800g of MDMA and more than 75g of Ketamine with a street value of $1.5million to Sydney undercover police.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
Teenage Female Suicide Bomber Kills 3 in Northeastern Nigeria
A 17-year-old female jihadist, presumably of the Boko Haram terror group, killed at least three people and injured another seven in a suicide attack in northeastern Nigeria on Saturday.
The girl detonated her explosives amidst a group of men in the town of Konduga in Borno State, some 24 miles from the regional capital of Maiduguri.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Panama is about to reinstate nationwide movement restrictions by ordering men and women to do Christmas shopping on different days, in an attempt to stem the spread of the coronavirus, the health minister announced.
“As of Monday 21, with the aim of reducing mobility, purchases will be made by gender,” Luis Sucre, Panama’s health minister, said in a televised address on Friday. On Christmas Day and New Year’s Day, there will be total quarantine across the country for men and women alike, he added.
The announcement came after the Central American state set daily records for the number of Covid-19 infections and deaths, with 3,348 new cases and 42 fatalities on Thursday.
Panama already imposed a gender-based quarantine between April and September in an attempt to halve the number of people on the streets. During this period, women could leave their home only on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, while the men’s days were Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. The person’s gender was established by the information in the ID card.
But the intervention of the authorities in Panama City has garnered harsh criticism from human rights groups and LGBTQ activists. Gender-based restrictions have “failed to recognize diverse gender identities, and may reproduce inequalities and injustice for non-binary individuals, with unknown long-term effects,” a study by the London School of Economics insisted.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Mexico Police Break Up Underground Parties to Enforce COVID-19 Rules
ECATEPEC, Mexico: Police in one suburb of Mexico City are playing cat and mouse with revelers at underground parties that flout coronavirus restrictions.
On Friday (Dec 18), for instance, authorities in the town of Ecatepec raided the same house for the third time to break up a party with mask-less people drinking beer and dancing to a DJ. The festivities, like others held on the sly, had been advertised on social media.
“Do you know how bad the coronavirus is?” an officer asked the host of the party, as guests filed out to the street under the gaze of some 30 police, soldiers, firefighters and members of the National Guard.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Cruz Blocks Democrat-Backed Bill That Would Open Pipeline of Migrants From Hong Kong to U.S.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), at the last minute on Friday, blocked a Democrat-backed bill that would have created a pipeline for Hong Kong citizens to come to the U.S. under Temporary Protection Status or asylum, which virtually would allow for a massive transfer of migrants into the country.
The bill, the Hong Kong People’s Freedom and Choice Act, Cruz said, would allow Democrats “to advance their long-standing goals on changing [US] immigration laws.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Greek Police Arrest Three Pakistanis for Holding People Hostage for Ransom
Police arrested three Pakistani migrants in Thessaloniki, Greece, after they had allegedly held eight people hostage, ransoming their freedom.
The three men, aged 19, 20, and 22, are accused of several charges such as forming a criminal organisation, illegal imprisonment, kidnapping, aiding illegal migration, and uttering threats.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Spain is Transferring Illegal Immigrants From the Canary Islands to Mainland Europe
Since mid-November, the government of Pedro Sanchez has been silently transferring hundreds of young illegal immigrants to bring some relief to the Canary Islands, which has witnessed a 900 percent increase in arrivals this year, which has seen arrivals increase to 21,452 arrivals between Jan. 1 to Dec. 15 this year compared to only 2,168 all of last year.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Syrian Found With Turkish-Made Guns at Greek Border
Police arrested a 22-year-old Syrian migrant in the Evros region near the Greek border with Turkey in possession of ten Turkish-made Zoraki pistols.
The arrest took place on Tuesday in the village of Gemisti, which lies just minutes away from the border with Turkey. According to investigators, the migrant was also found with 8,000 ecstasy pills.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
More about London and Rome. King Covid BoJo until recently very openly and strongly made the case for Turkey to be admitted to the EU.
“What are we saying if we perpetually keep Turkey out of the EU just because it’s Muslim? First, it’s a denial of the huge achievements of men like Kemal Ataturk who created a secular Westernising country that just happens to be populated by Muslims. “ Where did that Bojo go?
He sails with the wind, as always.
BoJo is a moron and a clown. If there was a Churchill in the house the reply would be that we are keeping Turkey out precisely because they are muslims.
Everything Ataturk did to drag the Ottoman Turks out of the dark ages the Goat Boy of Ankara is busily undoing.
First of all Bojo’s grandfather was Turk.
Does he know how many christians Kemal killed?
3 million,Armenians,Assyrians,and Greeks.
Kemal was not a Turk,he was born in a village in north Greece and it is said that he was a jew who became muslim.
Matt Hancock Supports the Great Reset
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wekfstd5hXY
Re: UK: Tier Four: Boris cancels Christmas in much of Southern England.
Please excuse a personal perspective, but my beloved and I, both in our seventies, have been in a relationship for over five years, but prefer not to live together; usually we spend alternate weekends at each others’ places in north and south London, and meet up on Wednesdays for a drink and a meal, when pubs and the like are open- which now they’re not, yet again.
Now, as a “support bubble” (don’t ask!), we can still visit, but not stay overnight, so it’s ok to travel on public transport to meet several times in a week (except on Xmas Day, when it doesn’t function here- oh, to be German, at least this once), so potentially exposing both of us to increased risk of catching, and spreading, infection. Of course, I plan to stay with her over the holiday as planned, risking a fine, but this situation confirms my suspicion that our clown of a PM is here to make Donald Trump look competent.
one has nothing to do with the other. they are two completely different people, Mark H. Our President Donald J. Trump is human and has flaws but he is more competent than all the last Presidents until Ronald Reagan,
You need to compare Boris to your other Prime Ministers, Mark, and stop slandering Trump.
How could a creature like “Johnson” be around for so long and eventually become the PM of a great cointry? To many he is more like a relic from a 1960’s London East End kitchenware market like Petticoat Lane. As a PMEU he must have some kind of crooked financial scam up his ill fitting sleeves. Some thing he just could not get done in the EU. JC wept. The Labor voters that supported this incompetent old Muslim sicko. Trump is a real man. Flaws and all.
Boris Johnson converts to Islam | Boris Johnson | The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/uk/davehillblog/2009/sep/08/boris-johnson-islam-east-london-mosque
Hi Mark,
public transport the german way? Allright, but you would not miss the NHS either I am told. The beer is fine,too.
Stay good and enjoy life.
Trump is competent, all of your PM’s since Powel were and are not. Heck I say, have the Queen march the army to that den of scum and villainy parliament and take them to the Tower of London for an appointment with the hangman and put in an express lane, and don’t forget to televise it.
Re: UK: Boris cancels Christmas in much of Southern England.
Please excuse a personal note, but my beloved and I, having been in a relationship for over five years, but preferring not to live together, usually spend alternate weekends at each others’ places, in north and south London. Under the new regulations, we may still visit, as a “support bubble” (don’t ask!), but not stay overnight; so it’s ok to visit several times a week (except on Xmas Day, when there’s no public transport), increasing the risk of infection, but not to stay!
Excuse partial duplication here- I thought the earlier comment hadn’t been posted.
RIP Britain
https://mobile.twitter.com/Nigel_Farage/status/1340395740523356162
Suicidal pathetic country
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SM9Pfba4Kqw