The Welsh government has ordered supermarkets not to sell toys between now and Christmas in order to slow the spread of the Wuhan Coronavirus. Meanwhile, a proposed French law would require passengers using public transportation to show proof that they have been vaccinated against COVID-19.
In other news, the crew of a Polish container ship fought off pirates who tried to hijack the vessel in the Gulf of Guinea.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to Dean, 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.
IMF Proposes Using Peoples’ Browsing History to Determine Credit Score
The International Monetary Fund (IMF), that staunchly supports and props up central banks and consequently physical banks operating with centralized currencies, seem to be studying ways to make sure their financial services are solidified, as they could be looking for inspiration in “fintech” and Big Tech behind it.
But IMF researchers chose to focus on those points where the image of the likes of Apple, Facebook, Amazon, Alibaba, etc., tends to suffer the most, and that is their habit of tracking and profiling users for money.
Although these days this mostly happens so that user data can be sold to advertisers, the IMF sees potential in Big Tech’s access to all this data, such as someone’s browser history, in determining their credit rating in much more efficient ways than traditional banks are capable of doing right now.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
President Trump Asks Congress to Amend COVID-19 Relief Bill, Wants Bigger Stimulus Checks
WASHINGTON (NewsNation Now) — President Donald Trump called on Congress to amend the COVID-19 relief bill, saying he wants $600 stimulus checks to be increased to $2,000.
“The bill they are now planning to send back to my desk is much different than anticipated,” Trump said in a video posted on Twitter Tuesday. “It really is a disgrace.”
U.S. government operations are being funded on a temporary basis through Dec. 28, waiting for the $1.4 trillion in federal spending for fiscal 2021 that is also part of the bill.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
This year, the Saturday before Christmas did not live up to its “Super Saturday” nickname for brick-and-mortar stores.
Even with dwindling online shipping options to have packages delivered before Christmas, shoppers continue to turn to online shopping in droves. Many are motivated by the coronavirus pandemic, fearing to enter crowded stores or unable to do so because of restricted store hours or total business shutdowns.
Physical stores saw 39.1% less foot traffic on December 19, 2020, than on Super Saturday 2019, according to data from Sensormatic Solutions. For the full weekend, traffic was down 40%. Sensormatic Solutions sells camera and software to track in-person traffic at retail locations.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
After SCOTUS Rulings, Los Angeles County Lifts Ban on Indoor Worship Services
Following two rulings from the U.S. Supreme Court last week that sided with houses of worship over state government coronavirus restrictions, Los Angeles County lifted its ban on indoor church services.
In a press release issued Saturday, the county declared it was “modifying” its Health Officer Order.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Airlines to Test Each Passenger for COVID-19 Before Flying to NY
Virgin Atlantic, British Airways, and Delta Airlines are now requiring a COVID-19 test from each passenger before allowing them to board planes traveling from the U.K to New York. Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced this new policy in the wake of the new variant of the COVID-19 virus found in the U.K.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Antifa Rioter Tries to Weasel Out of Andy NGO Lawsuit. This Judge Isn’t Having it
On June 29, 2019, Portland antifa rioters physically assaulted Andy Ngo, editor-at-large at The Post Millennial, who was reporting on the riot at the time. After police apparently failed to investigate the assault, Ngo took matters into his own hands in June, filing a lawsuit against Rose City Antifa and members of the mob who allegedly beat up Ngo. Benjamin Bolen, the antifa rioter whom Ngo blamed for one of the assaults, attempted to weasel out of the lawsuit via an Anti-SLAPP motion. Multnomah County Judge Kathleen Dailey rightly refused this move.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Biden Receives Pfizer’s COVID-19 Vaccine
Former Vice President Joe Biden on Monday received a dose of the COVID-19 vaccine created by Pfizer and BioNTech.
A nurse practitioner at a Delaware hospital administered the vaccine to Biden, and the event was televised.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Chris Christie Says He Would “Consider” Running Against Trump in 2024
Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie (R) said recently that he would not rule out a run for president in 2024, even if President Trump runs again.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Detroit is Countersuing Black Lives Matter Protesters for ‘Civil Conspiracy’
The city of Detroit is suing Black Lives Matter protesters after a group of organizers sued the local government.
Detroit’s suit alleges that demonstrators who participated in the racial justice protests this summer were a part of a “civil conspiracy” in which they attempted “to disturb the peace, engage in disorderly conduct, incite riots, destroy public property,” and resist police orders, among other “illegal acts.” The suit was filed in September, about a month after activists filed their own suit, alleging Detroit police officers “repeatedly responded with violence,” according to the Intercept.
The city has accused the protesters of defaming police officers, although the city isn’t suing for defamation outright.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Explosive Scene at Oregon State Capitol: Riot Declared, MRAPs and Pepper Spray Deployed
During a special session of the Oregon legislature called by Democrat Gov. Kate Brown, protesters descended on the building to attempt to enter. Several police agencies responded with officers in riot gear, MRAPs, and pepper spray to enforce the governor’s order to close the building due to concerns about the Wuhan CCP coronavirus pandemic. Patriot groups organized a gathering to protest the continued draconian lockdowns across the state, as well as the unconstitutional legislative session that excluded public oversight.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Gab Launches YouTube Alternative Gab TV
Gab, that is known as an alternative and free speech social network, has decided to make a foray into video sharing.
CEO Andrew Torba says the goal of the new platform is to represent new media that belongs to their independent creators and users, with free speech as the center.
The decision to launch GabTV comes amid what is referred to as the tyranny of Big Tech but also of legacy, corporate media whose censorship is aimed at promoting those behind them and suppressing all other voices.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Leading Virologists Concerned New Strains of COVID Could Make Vaccines “Ineffective”
Two leading virologists are concerned that new strains of the COVID virus could make vaccines currently being rolled out “ineffective,” according to NBC News reporter Richard Engel.
“Two leading virologists (one UK, one USA) tell me this mutation won’t be the last and worry about a change that fundamentally alters the virus structure, making the vaccines in progress ineffective. Reverting back to animals, then reemerging in humans one big concern mentioned,” Engel tweeted.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
New York: Muslim Boxer on the Run After Killing Activist Daughter Extradited From Kuwait
A Muslim boxer named Kabary Salem accused of murdering his 25-year old daughter has been extradited to New York from the Middle East where he was tracked down by the New York Police Department’s (NYPD) Regional Fugitive Task Force on December 3.
According to the New York Post, the body of the victim named Ola Salem was found in a park in Staten Island in New York last year. The boxer was indicted by a Staten Island grand jury on November 5 for the murder of his daughter. He was brought back from Kuwait to New York on Friday.
Victim’s body was found dumped in a park
Salem had reportedly fled the United States soon after the body of his daughter was recovered in October last year by a person jogging in Bloomingdale Park in Staten Island’s Prince Bay neighbourhood. The body that was found covered in leaves had been dragged through the woods around 30 feet. Ola Salem, who lived in Rosebank, advocated for Muslim women suffering from domestic violence through her volunteer work at the New York-based organisation Asiyah Women’s Centre.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Paul Slams Republicans Voting for COVID Bill: ‘You Are No Better Than Socialist Dems’
Senator Rand Paul slammed Republicans Monday for voting in favour of a huge $900 billion coronavirus relief bill, saying that they are no better than the Democrats they routinely label as ‘socialists’.
“To so-called conservatives who are quick to identify the socialism of Democrats: If you vote for this spending monstrosity, you are no better,” Paul urged in a speech on the Senate floor.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Rasmussen Poll: Fewer Americans Say They Are “Very Likely” To Get Coronavirus Vaccine
A new Rasmussen poll has found that significantly fewer Americans are “very likely” to get the coronavirus vaccine compared to when they were asked back in April.
When the question was first posed, 70% of Americans said they were likely to get the vaccine, including 53% who said they were “very likely” to get it.
Eight months later and with strict lockdowns still a reality for many Americans, that number has now dropped significantly.
A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey found that 62% of Americans said they were likely to get the vaccine, with just 39% indicating they were “very likely” to do so.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Report: Google and Facebook Have Plans to Collude Against Antitrust Action
The WSJ recently reviewed an unredacted version of the lawsuit filed by ten US states in the last week against Google.
These internal documents revealed a great deal about an alleged pact between Google and Facebook, where both the companies agreed to “cooperate and assist one another” if any antitrust investigation were to be launched against either of them. This pact was actually a part of a larger alleged agreement between Facebook and Google to work together in the realm of online advertising.
This agreement calls for Facebook to not compete with Google in advertising tools, with Google providing special treatment each time Facebook chooses to use Google’s advertising tools. What’s more, Google apparently used Star Wars language to denote the pact with Facebook, which according to the draft version of the lawsuit is “Jedi Blue.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Sex-Crazed Roaring ‘20s Awaits Post-Pandemic — But Not Until 2024, Claims Yale Professor
The coronavirus pandemic will give way to another Roaring ‘20s rife with lavish spending, sex-crazed parties and a departure from religion, a Yale University professor has predicted.
Dr Nicholas Christakis, a social epidemiologist who specializes in behavior patterns, put forward his prediction for life after the pandemic in his new book Apollo’s Arrow: The Profound and Enduring Impact of Coronavirus on the Way We Live.
He explained how similar health crises across history show a pattern of people slipping into isolation to protect themselves from sickness, and then desperately seeking out social interaction when the threat has passed.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Study That Outraged Twitter Users by Concluding Women Do Better With Male Mentors Gets Retracted
A study published in the peer-reviewed journal Nature Communications that said careers of female scientists who have had female mentors suffer as a result, came under fire on Twitter from those outraged by its findings.
About a month ago, the journal directly reacted to this pressure by saying it would “investigate” as a matter of priority the paper authored by researchers from the New York University in Abu Dhabi, and the result now is that it has been retracted by its authors.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Televangelist Pat Robertson on Possible Trump 2024 Run: “It is Time to Move on”
On Monday’s edition of “The 700 Club,” 90-year-old televangelist Pat Robertson said he does not think President Trump should run for another four years in office in 2024.
When asked whether he thinks Trump should run again, he replied that he thinks “it is a sideshow.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
U.S. Government Sues Walmart, Accuses Company of Pharmacy Practices That Fed Nation’s Opioid Crisis
The U.S. Department of Justice filed a lawsuit Tuesday against retail giant Walmart, saying tactics at the mega chain helped to further America’s opioid crisis.
According to a Wall Street Journal report, the lawsuit alleges that Walmart purposely understaffed its pharmacies, slashed prices on opioids, pressured pharmacists to work quickly, and long denied pharmacists who sought to ban, en masse, opioid scripts from prescribers they suspected were problematic.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Alvin Quackenbush, an adjunct professor of the University of Central Florida, is now under fire for referring to coronavirus as the “Wuhan Corona virus” and is being accused of being “racist” as well as “biased” in grading of assignments. The university students along with a lawmaker have started a campaign, both at the college and on social media, of persuading the university to investigate Quackenbush. Several students are also calling for the professor’s termination from the university.
Quackenbush, apart from teaching in the UCF’s School of Politics, Security, and International Affairs, also chairs the Valencia College’s political science department.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
US Formally Charges Chinese Former Zoom Employee That Censored on Behalf of China
A former Zoom employee is being charged with disrupting virtual meetings discussing the June 4 anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Massacre. US prosecutors allege that the employee disrupted the meetings on behalf of the Chinese government.
In April 1989, the largest pro-democracy protest in China’s history took place in Tiananmen Square, a plaza in China’s capital, Beijing. About one million people participated in the protests that lasted about six weeks.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Video Shows Huge Propane Truck Explosion on Queens Highway
NBC New York’s Ida Siegal speaks with a man who was one of the first people at the scene and recorded wild video of a propane truck explosion in Queens.
| — Hat tip: Dean | [Return to headlines] |
YouTube Censors Ron Paul Liberty Report Episode Covering “Fire Fauci” Chants at a Trump Rally
An episode of former Congressman Ron Paul’s political talk show, the Ron Paul Liberty Report, has been struck down by YouTube for “medical misinformation.”
During the episode, which was titled “‘Fire Fauci!’ — Trump Rally Explodes Over Coronavirus Doom And Gloomer,” Paul and his co-host Daniel McAdams, Executive Director of The Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity, discussed the “Fire Fauci” chants that erupted during a pre-election Trump rally, Fauci’s pre-election praise of Biden, the media building up Fauci, and Biden’s “doom and gloom” approach to COVID-19.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
British Government Contracts Firms to Make COVID ‘Freedom Passports’
The British government has contracted two firms to develop COIVD ‘freedom passports’, that would be used to segregate society between those who have been tested or vaccinated against COVID and those who have not.
While the government is still saying that it will not introduce such a system, the firms have been given instructions to develop an app based system to integrate a QR code linking to a digital passport.
The QR code would be used to gain entry into pubs, clubs, venues, cinemas, basically anywhere in public.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Czechia and Slovakia Block an Important Document for EU Enlargement
The Czech Republic and Slovakia have blocked an important document concerning the further enlargement of the European Union. The reason is the Bulgarian veto on the opening of accession talks with North Macedonia. According to the Czech Minister of Foreign Affairs Tomas Petricek, the document could further complicate accession negotiations.
“I am sorry, but we had to block the EU Council Conclusions on Enlargement,” Slovak Foreign Minister Ivan Korcok said in a statement. “This document inadequately introduces sensitive historical issues into the agenda in relations between EU member states and candidate countries,” the Slovak minister said, adding that such an approach undermines the credibility of the enlargement process and motivation of candidate countries to meet tasks and accession criteria.
According to Petricek, the text also contains, among other things, passages that change history, which could be detrimental to the enlargement process in general.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Finland Admits to Repatriating Islamic State Members From Prison Camp
Finland’s Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto has admitted that the country has repatriated Islamic State members from a prison camp in Syria with the assistance of Germany.
Finland facilitated the return of two Islamic State women and six children from the al-Hol prison camp in Northern Syria where Kurdish forces have kept members of the terrorist organisation in custody.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
France, China Developing Biologically Engineered Supersoldiers: Report
Just two weeks after it was announced China was developing biologically enhanced super soldiers, France has joined the fray in creating terminator troops that can be “bred to kill” according to a new report.
Last week, France gave the go-ahead for augmented soldiers, and some fear the super troopers could be the new norm in the recent future.
The French seek to improve “physical, cognitive, perceptive and psychological capacities,” and could allow for location tracking or connectivity with weapons systems and other soldiers. Among the ministry’s research were drugs to keep troops awake for long periods of time and combat stress, and even surgery to improve hearing.
The new species of augmented soldiers, dubbed “homo robocopus” could also have altered DNA to give them enhanced speed and strength as well as robotics.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
French Law Would Ban People Who Don’t Get COVID Vaccine From Using Public Transport
People in France who refuse to take the COVID-19 vaccine will be banned from using public transport and engaging in other activities under a newly introduced law.
The law, which is set to be submitted to parliament, mandates that citizens have proof of a negative COVID test or “preventative treatment, including the administration of a vaccine” in order to “access transport or to some locations, as well as certain activities.”
The law has sparked “angry protests from opposition politicians,” according to AFP.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
German Geneticist Says People Who Refuse COVID Vaccine Should be Denied Medical Treatment
A German geneticist says that people who refuse to take the COVID-19 vaccine should be denied emergency medical treatment.
Wolfram Henn, a member of Germany’s Ethics Council, told Bild newspaper that vaccine refusniks should not be able to access ventilators and other emergency measures.
“Whoever wants to refuse the vaccination outright, he should, please also always carry a document with the inscription: ‘I don’t want to be vaccinated!’“ said Henn.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Islamic State Brides Fly Home to Germany Via Chartered Jet Paid by Tax Payers
On Sunday, Germany’s foreign office has confirmed the repatriation of a number of so called Islamic State (IS) brides from Syria to Germany, together with their children. Three women, all German citizens, and 12 children, have been flown back on a charter plane. It is understood that some of the children are that of the repatriated females while others are orphans. They have been kept in special refugee camps for IS terrorists and their family members in an area under Kurdish control. Another group of individuals thought to be women and children have been flown to Finland.
They are only the first group of IS volunteers and their children to be flown to Germany, while there is reportedly 100 other individuals with German nationality remaining in Kurdish camps. They are also likely to benefit from the German foreign office’s initiative to get their citizens, who have joined foreign terrorist groups, back to the country.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
‘Jews Can Safely Walk the Street of Hungary,’ Israeli Ambassador Says
Hungary is one of the few countries in Europe where Jews can safely walk the streets, Israeli ambassador to Budapest Yacov Hadas-Handelsman told daily Magyar Nemzet in an interview.
“I have been serving in Hungary for a year now, and I have been all over the county. I also know Europe well, so I can safely say that on the continent, Hungary is almost the only place where a practicing religious Jew can walk the streets freely without having to fear anything,” Havas-Handelsman said.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Nolte: British Censors Slap ‘Flash Gordon’ With ‘Offensive Warning’
“Viewers have been warned about an ‘outright offensive’ character in the iconic movie Flash Gordon,” reports the Daily Mail.
Over the character of Ming the Merciless, who is played by the late Max Von Sydow in the 1980 movie, the British Board of Film Classification (BBCF) has reclassified a perfectly harmless movie with a 12A rating because Sydow is a Swedish actor and Ming the Merciless is “coded as an east Asian character” which is now considered “dubious if not outright offensive.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Pandemic Alert in Hungary May Remain Until End of 2021, PM Orban Says
Hungary will probably only return to pre-pandemic conditions around the end of next year, Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Monday when handing out the appointments to the leaders of the newly created National Hospitals Directorate.
Before the end of 2021, “we won’t be over the crisis,” the prime minister stressed, adding that there may be easier stages after the first dose of the vaccine and then after the vaccine arrives en masse, “but by the time everything returns to normal, it will take at least a full year”.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
PM Babis to be Among the First Vaccinated in Czechia
Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis will be vaccinated against coronavirus on Sunday, Dec. 27, which will be the very first day the doctors in the Czech Republic start the vaccination process. He reiterated that vaccination will start in four Prague and two Brno hospitals.
“I don’t know who will be the first one in line, but the important thing is that we start vaccinating as soon as possible,” stated Babis, who, until recently, said that he has to consult his general practitioner as he had his spleen resected.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
The deputy mayor has expressed fears there could be a rise in illegal raves and house parties in Greater Manchester over the Christmas period.
Beverley Hughes told a press conference led by Andy Burnham on Tuesday that there is intelligence to suggest the region ‘could see a return’ of the raves and parties seen over the summer.
A series of illegal ‘lockdown’ events this year saw young people hospitalised due to drug overdoses, reports of sexual assaults, and even resulted in the death of one teenager.
Mr Burnham’s deputy for crime and policing urged young people and their parents to be aware that those behind the events are likely to be members of organised crime groups.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Farage: Boris Johnson Can be an Overnight Hero if He Gives Britain a Real Brexit
The deal Europe is trying to push Britain into signing at the last minute would leave a “Sword of Damocles” hanging over the UK in perpetuity, Nigel Farage warns, stating the only chance Prime Minister Boris Johnson now has to save his own skin is to tell Brussels thanks — but no thanks.
The British prime minister has a one-time-only opportunity to transform himself into a “hero overnight” by delivering a full Brexit to the British people, longtime independence campaigner and Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage has said, in a reflection on the very poor present state of negotiations that seem ready to deliver the UK into perpetual bondage at the hands of the European Union.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Govt Scientists Suggest Tier 4 Lockdown Could Become Nationwide, Last Until Easter
Tier 4 lockdown restrictions could be enforced across the whole of England as a new strain of the Chinese coronavirus spreads across the country, the government’s chief scientific adviser has said. The architect of the first lockdown claimed that Tier 4 could last until April.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson forced England into a three-tier system at the beginning of December, after the country had just come out of a second national lockdown in November. The tiered system resulted in around 99 per cent of the population under the two strictest levels, Tier 2 and Tier 3.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Police Rule Out Knocking on Doors to Break Up Illegal Christmas Gatherings
Police will not stop Brits from travelling over Christmas, nor will they knock on doors to break up unlawful gatherings, a top officer has declared.
Chairman of the Metropolitan Police Federation Ken Marsh said on Monday there was “no way” officers would be conducting door-to-door checks to ensure Tier 4 households are complying with the rules.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Police Crackdown on London Illegal Ravers and Pub Landlady Breaching Tier 4 Rules
The Met’s lead for Covid has warned Londoners who think Tier 4 rules don’t apply to them “they are very mistaken” as the force released footage of a party in Chelsea being broken up and illegal east London raves being shut down.
The body-worn camera footage shows a pub landlady in Tottenham being berated by officers for serving pints to customers supposedly in to order take-away food.
“I know, I understand that’s a breach” she pleads with officers who tell her she just needed to Google Tier 4 restrictions to stay up to date with coronavirus rules.
Revellers are marched out of an illegal rave one-by-one in Barking at the weekend, some carrying sound equipment shepherded by police.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
UK: University Develops Precognition System to Stop ‘Disinformation’ On Social Media
How to stop pesky ‘conspiracy theories’ (information they don’t like) from gaining traction online has become the number one preoccupation of social media overlords. Now they may have a solution.
Researchers at the university of Sheffield in the UK have developed a ‘precognition’ system that they say can predict who will spread ‘disinformation’ online before they even do it.
The ‘artificial intelligence-based algorithm’ can “accurately predict (79.7 per cent) which Twitter users are likely to share content from unreliable news sources before they actually do it,” a press release states.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Radical Islamic preacher Zakir Naik, who has been on the run from the law enforcement authorities in India, is not new to bizarre commentaries. In a video from April 2019 that has now gone viral on social media, Zakir Naik was seen admonishing a Muslim boy named Adel Ahmed for committing ‘sin’.
Ahmed’s mistake was that he wished his Christian friends, ‘Merry Christmas’. This is despite the fact that Christians constitute the majority population in the United Kingdom, of which Ahmed is a resident, and greeting people on festivals is a common practice throughout the globe. But for the hate preacher, such a gesture is against the tenets of Islam.
“To reach your goals, you cannot use wrong means brother. What is Haram to them is also Haram to you. When you are wishing Merry Christmas to them, you are agreeing that he is the son of God and that is Shirk (sin). Because they believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God. Irrespective of whether they are practising Christians or not, they celebrate the day because of His birthday,” Zakir Naik emphasised.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
London Assembly Member David Kurten was questioned by police while giving an interview to Breitbart News, in which he characterised Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s response to the coronavirus as fascistic.
During an anti-lockdown protest on Saturday, London mayoral candidate David Kurten told Breitbart London that “riot” police came in to bust up a group of people surrounding him for supposedly breaching the city’s lockdown rules.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Music icon Van Morrison is once again blasting mandatory coronavirus closures, noting that politicians “haven’t missed a paycheck” since the forced shutdowns began.
Van Morrison fired off a tweet on Monday criticizing political elites for their hypocrisy. “Remember, those who are shutting down our economy haven’t missed a paycheck since lockdown began. We are not in this together,” the Northern Ireland singer-songwriter wrote.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Welsh Govt Bans Supermarkets Selling Toys Before Christmas
Welsh Assembly leader Mark Drakeford has targetted children’s Christmas presents by banning supermarkets from selling toys in his latest extreme lockdown.
The Labour politician announced on December 19th, days before Christmas, that the Celtic country would enter a Level 4 lockdown from Sunday. So-called non-essential businesses were forced to close, with the left-wing government imposing stay-at-home orders for the following two weeks. The Welsh government had initially granted citizens five days of lockdown freedom over the festive period, reducing that to only Christmas Day.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
On Sunday, Pakistani Human rights activist Rahat Austin shared a video on Twitter, wherein the father of a 13-year-old minor Christian girl narrated his ordeal. According to him, the girl identified as Mehwish was forcefully abducted, raped and converted to Islam by Sajid Ali, Sumaira and Tarav in Thokar Nayaz, Kanjrah Lahore. “Police have investigated the matter. After examining the documents, the cops said that the papers are forged. Despite this, no action has been taken till now. We will know after they take action,” said the father of the victim. He informed that the documents made by the accused, following the girl’s marriage and forceful conversion, are fake.
On being asked whether he sought help from any political leaders, the man lamented, “Initially, we tried to meet Minister Jahaz Alam Ghasti on two occasions but failed. However, we met him later on 3 different occasions. He said that he cannot do anything about it… If Prime Minister, Ministers, Chief Justice and Parliamentarians do not listen to me or ensure the safe return of my child, then, I will be forced to kill my entire family.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
China Used Stolen Data to Expose CIA Operatives in Europe and Africa
Around 2013, U.S. intelligence began noticing an alarming pattern: Undercover CIA personnel, flying into countries in Africa and Europe for sensitive work, were being rapidly and successfully identified by Chinese intelligence, according to three former U.S. officials. The surveillance by Chinese operatives began in some cases as soon as the CIA officers had cleared passport control. Sometimes, the surveillance was so overt that U.S. intelligence officials speculated that the Chinese wanted the U.S. side to know they had identified the CIA operatives, disrupting their missions; other times, however, it was much more subtle and only detected through U.S. spy agencies’ own sophisticated technical countersurveillance capabilities.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
China’s trade punishment against Australia is failing with iron ore prices expected to remain high until at least the end of 2022. The steel-making commodity is by far Australia’s biggest export.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
Dr Vincent Candrawinata from Sydney uploaded a video to his Facebook page captioned with the two words but was shocked to discover the division it created.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
New South Wales residents are on tenterhooks ahead of Gladys Berejiklian’s crisis meeting on Wednesday, when she will decide what restrictions will be imposed on Christmas.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
On Wednesday morning the premier had a three-hour ‘crisis meeting’ with health bosses and police chiefs to discuss which restrictions to impose on five million residents of Australia’s biggest city.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
Polish Sailors Stop Pirate Hijacking of Their Ship
Pirates attempted to capture the M/S Port Gdynia container ship on Monday morning, but were thwarted by the ship’s Polish sailors in the Gulf of Guinea near Africa.
The head of the Polish Ocean Lines (PLO), Dorota Arciszewska-Mielewczyk, stated that the pirate attack took place as the ship was sailing to the port of Bata in Equatorial Guinea. The vessel was traveling under a Maltan flag and its crew was comprised of 20 Polish sailors.
“Fortunately, nothing bad happened to anyone. The sailors behaved very bravely. Due to the investigation, we cannot currently reveal details of the encounter,” the head of PLO explained.
[Comment: Polish people coming to the defense of Western civilization yet again.]
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Tanzanian Human Rights Activists Are Being Censored on Twitter by Bogus Copyright Claims
After the entertainment and gaming industry, and politically affiliated entities in the US — authoritarian and repressive regimes elsewhere in the world are discovering the “usefulness” of Twitter’s copyright system based on, for the most part, the harmful US DMCA copyright law.
And it isn’t just the US election that Twitter is deliberately or unwittingly meddling in — thanks to the DMCA itself, the company’s own poor policies and complaints review process.
In places like Tanzania, fake copyright claims are used to silence political criticism coming from insiders and whistleblowers like “Kigogo” — whose account has close to 400K followers.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Umar Kyakulaga, a Muslim man in Uganda who caught his wife in possession of two Bibles — one in English and the other in a tribal language — beat her and forced her to drink pesticide.
After finding the Bibles, Kyakulaga asked his wife, Zubeda Nabirye, if she had converted to Christianity. Nabirye told him that she had been reading the Bible in order to compare it to the Quran.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Brazilian Woman Rescued After Being Enslaved as a Maid for Nearly 4 Decades
A Brazilian woman has been rescued after almost four decades of being enslaved as a maid and forced into marriage.
The 46-year-old woman, who had been enslaved since the age of eight, was found in a small apartment in Patos de Minas. She had worked for the family for most of her life without pay or any time off, according to labor inspectors.
According to inspectors, the victim was given up as a child and given to the family of a university professor at Unipam, Dalton Cesar Milagres Rigueira. There, the woman worked for most of her life without pay or any time off.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
France: Migrants Attacked Jews Celebrating Hanukkah in Paris No-Go Suburbs
Police arrested four people, two of them illegal immigrants, in the Paris no-go suburbs of Seine-Saint-Denis on suspicion of assaulting a Jewish family which was celebrating Hanukkah.
The incident took place in the commune of Aubervilliers, Seine-Saint-Denis, on Thursday at around 8:40 pm when the Jewish family was in their vehicle listening to Hebrew music and “messages of peace”.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Spain: Illegal Migrant From Morocco Destroys Car of a Woman Who Refused to Give Him Money (Video)
A video clip of an illegal migrant from Moroccan trashing the car of a Spanish woman who had previously refused to give him money has emerged and is currently circulating on social networks.
Rubén Pulido, the spokesman for Spain’s right-wing populist party Vox, uploaded the shocking footage to social media where it’s been shared thousands of times.
“A few minutes ago, in Aguadulce (Almeria). Cultural enrichment due to the refusal, by the vehicle owner, to give a tip for the ‘parking service,’“ Pulido wrote on social media.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Swedish Academic Rejects Alleged Economic Benefits of Mass Migration
Swedish Professor of Economics Mats Hammarstedt has rejected claims that mass migration can be economically beneficial over the long term, citing problems of integration.
Professor Hammarstedt, who teaches at the Linnaeus University in Växjö and the Institute for Business Research, said that integration failures, particularly of asylum seekers, have contributed to a much higher unemployment rate among migrants over the long-term.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
UK: 37,000 Migrants Lost After Skipping Bail or Fleeing Detention Centres
The British government has lost track of over 37,000 migrants after they skipped bail or absconded from detention centres, a freedom of information request has revealed.
Home Office figures revealed that the majority of the migrants are classified as “in-country absconders” after having failed to report to immigration officials or simply escaped from detention centres. An estimated 134 are categorised as “port absconders”, meaning that they evaded border controls in order to enter the UK.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Billie Jean King, Megan Rapinoe and Candace Parker Support Brief Against Idaho Anti-Transgender Law
Several amicus briefs were filed Monday in support of Hecox v. Little, a challenge to Idaho’s law banning transgender athletes from participating in women’s sports in school.
Tennis icon Billie Jean King, World Cup champion Megan Rapinoe and WNBA legend Candace Parker were among the more than 175 athletes who joined Athlete Ally and the Women’s Sports Foundation in signing a brief filed by Lambda Legal with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. The brief highlights the athletes’ beliefs in the importance of equal opportunity for girls and women to participate in sports at all levels.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Image of Virgin Mary Wearing Pro-Abortion Symbols in Polish Magazine Sparks Investigation
A Polish magazine featuring an image of the Virgin Mary wearing the symbols of the pro-abortion Polish Women’s Strike has faced sharp criticism, and prompted MEP Dominik Tarczynski from the ruling conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party to file charges with the Polish Prosecutor’s Office.
“Wysokie Obcasy” (High Heels) magazine, which is in Saturday’s addition to the ultra-liberal Gazeta Wyborcza newspaper, released a scandalous image as its cover. The image depicts the Virgin Mary with a black umbrella and a hygienic mask with a red lightning bolt. Both are two openly displayed symbols of leftist and radical feminist activists which are part of the Polish Women’s Strike.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Leaving the Blight of Higher Education: Part I — Farewell, Students
In May of 2020, my wife and I took our retirement after more than 30 years of teaching college, the last 20 years of which we spent at what I will call Upstate Consolation University, a mid-tier state college somewhere in the Northeast. My wife taught French and I, a wide variety of courses, some 23 altogether over the years, in the English Department — concerning which, more to come.
Apart from wanting what remained of our active lives to be ours and not the institution’s, the main motive for our decision was the intolerable decline of Upstate. It had gone from a more or less serious academic organization, typically liberal but not yet politically correct or “woke,” into a copy of the ideological collective that, in the manner of Star Trek ‘s “Borg,” has digested and transformed virtually every center of post-secondary education in the nation.
“Resistance is futile — you will be assimilated.”
In the following paragraphs, I review my Upstate gig while highlighting the major symptoms of the aforesaid decline I observed. While my situation was specific to Upstate, Upstate is typical. My observations, therefore, have application well beyond the place where I gathered them.
Although all state colleges and universities shout “diversity” and preach “tolerance” at the top of their lungs, they in fact demonstrate monolithic bigotry and homogeneous narrow-mindedness.
I begin, however, with students, or rather with the accoutrement, apparently mandatory, to being a student on a contemporary college campus-— the backpack. The backpack by no means offers itself an obvious place to begin a survey of the academy’s moral condition. I would nevertheless call attention to its ubiquity on campus.
Most college students would likely feel naked without a backpack and suffer embarrassment for lacking it. The backpack has grown in my perception as a symbol of the way in which the increasingly inhuman desert of four-year university life alienates and demoralizes students…
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Polish Town Repairs Unwanted LGBT-Colored Benches
Despite opposition from the town’s inhabitants, authorities in Kielce, located in southern Poland, put up several LGBT-colored benches that have ended up being repainted in the colors of the local football team.
Fifteen benches were meant to be installed in Kielce by the end of the year as a part of the Participatory Budget, which is a special budget designated to help pay for citizens to realize their ideas and projects. Their total cost was €33,000.
The project generated pushback from most of the town, and as a result, changes were introduced to the Participatory Budget regulations. In May 2020, Kielce’s City Council, at the behest of Poland’s ruling conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party, introduced amendments which entail that the budget’s projects must be “compatible with the rules of social co-existence and ideologically neutral.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Europe:
In Great Britain, European truckers are being held against their will by the police, because France won’t let them travel home.
In German Airports, travelers from the UK, British and Europeans, are restrained, prevented from entering the country.
On German streets, innocent German citizens are being arrested for walking the dog.
At the same time, Merkel’s government chartered a private jet to fly ISIS terrorists “home”.
Secret operation by private jet: government takes ISIS prisoners back from northern Syria
19th December 2020
For the first time, the federal government is bringing captured German ISIS members from northern Syria back to Germany this weekend.
The Federal Foreign Office chartered a plane for the long-planned return transport of three women and their children as well as several orphans from Kurdish camps, and federal police officers are accompanying the flight. According to BILD information, the three adults are Leonora M. (21) from Sangerhausen, Merve A. (24) from Hamburg and Yasmin A. from Bonn.
The federal government had so far refused to repatriate captured Germans with reference to the political situation in Syria, only repatriated three orphans and one seriously ill toddler in summer 2019. A few weeks later, through American mediation, a German citizen and her children were handed over to the Foreign Office and brought back.
The current repatriation was actively pursued by the federal government and had been planned for a long time, but had been delayed due to the corona pandemic and negotiations with the Kurdish side.
According to BILD information, there are still around 70 adult Germans in Kurdish captivity, plus 150 children of German parents. Almost two dozen Germans have fled captivity in northern Syria since last year, and ten of them returned to Germany.
Source:
https://www.mmnews.de/politik/156729-geheimaktion-per-privatjet-regierung-holt-gefangene-isis-mitglieder-aus-nordsyrien-zurueck
Terrified!!, Germany is lost !!, everything is bad news , and I think after Merkel, it wouldn’t much better, at least AFD step in , this whole Bundestag is a laughing stock , in the horrific way for Germans..very sad .,
Germany is far from lost! Your defeatist attitude is why we are losing, because you won’t get up off your [fundament] and do something about it! I hear lots of caterwauling and wringing of hands, but I see very little opposition, So ? Sheep? Or Wolf? You decide!
they were arrested on arrival. Let us see what the outcome is.
arrested for walking a dog? Is that a scene from a 40 ies Hollywood flick? Honestly, this is a joke.
If you have proof, let me know.Dogwalkers lifes matter.
A Very Happy Christmas to all here, and I very much hope a more cheerful New Year.
Same to you. Enjoy the holidays everyone.