Gates of Vienna News Feed 1/18/2021

Police tackled and arrested demonstrators at an anti-lockdown protest in downtown Ontario. Meanwhile, a world champion in martial arts was arrested and charged for speaking at a lockdown protest in Quebec.

In other news, a professor of Post-Colonial Literature at the University of Leicester in the UK said that gardening is a racist pastime.

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

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

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

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

USA
» “You’re Really Not Americans Anymore. What You Are, Are Creatures of Big Tech.” — Rudy Giuliani on Big Media and Big Tech Censorship (Video)
» AOC Demands Federal Funding to ‘Deradicalize’ White Supremacists, Conspiracy Theorists
» Are You Getting it Yet? They Don’t Want You to be Free!
» As Tech Companies Purge Users, Here Are Some Alternatives
» Biden to Reimpose COVID-19 Travel Ban on Europe and Brazil
» Biden Indicates He Will Cancel Keystone XL Pipeline on First Day in Office
» Biden to Reverse President Trump’s Policy on Climate Change, To End Travel Ban From Muslim Countries
» Biden to Visit UK First to Plot ‘Destiny of the World’ With Boris Johnson
» Blacks Are Superior to Whites: Said Head of Biden’s Civil Rights Division-Kristen Clarke
» California Shelves Batch of Moderna Vaccines Over Allergy Concerns
» CNN Commentator Pushes for Cable Providers to Suspend Newsmax TV, Others After Capitol Riot
» COVID Vaccine Secret, A Stunner
» Cuomo Set Up Three Layers of Security at State Capitol for Violent MAGA Supporters — Nobody Showed Up But Liberal Reporters
» Detroit: Muslim Cleric Says Allah ‘Humiliated’ The ‘Dictator’ Trump for Assassinating Soleimani and Muhandis
» Even After US Capitol Riot: CNN Poll Shows 75% of Republicans Believe 2020 Election Stolen From President Donald Trump
» Exclusive: Politicians, Trump Allies, Nobel Winners, And More Sent Formal Letter to President Urging Pardon for Assange
» FBI Vetting National Guard in D.C. On Fears of Insider Attack
» Federal Prosecutors Withdraw Allegation That Capitol Rioters Wanted to “Capture and Assassinate” Lawmakers
» Federal Court Dismisses Charges Against Church Deacon Arrested for Singing Outdoors Without a Mask
» Hawley Signs With New Publisher After Simon & Schuster Canceled His Book Deal
» Hundreds of Active Duty Troops Along With 25,000 National Guard Troops Are Authorized for Biden’s Virtual Inauguration Event
» Live Updates: North Dakota Bill Would Allow Lawsuits Over Big Tech Censorship
» Lobby Group Sues Apple to Remove Telegram From App Store for Allowing ‘Hate Speech’
» Meet Biden’s Climate Crisis Army
» Microsoft, Salesforce and Oracle Back Plan to Develop a Digital COVID Vaccination Passport
» More Lawsuits Against New York State COVID-19 Restrictions on Way
» Parler Back Online, CEO Says it Will be Up and Running Soon
» Peer-Reviewed Study “Did Not Find Evidence” Lockdowns Were Effective in Stopping COVID Spread
» Silicon Valley and WEF-Backed Foundation Announce Global Initiative for COVID-19 Vaccine Records
» State Attorneys General Are Planning Another Lawsuit Against Google for Play Store for Androids
» Tennessee Principal Suspended After Criticizing Big Tech Censorship
» The Consolidation of the One-Party Dictatorship
» Trump Plans Elaborate Farewell Event at Joint Base Andrews
» Trump’s 1776 Commission Slams ‘Destructive Scholarship’ In Final Report
» Twitter Exec Says Company Taking Crackdown on Conspiracy Theorists ‘Global’
» US Capitol Goes on Lockdown After Fire Breaks Out in Nearby Homeless Camp
» Video Exclusive: Film Crew Releases Never Before Seen Footage of 2017 Inauguration Riots
» Wyoming Carbon County Republican Party Pass Resolution to Censure Liz Cheney in Unanimous Vote
» YouTube Removes Live Stream of Peaceful Virginia Gun Rights Rally
 
Canada
» “I Make People Healthy. I Am Essential”: Ottawa Gym Owner Gives Update After Repeated Fines
» Sneak Preview: Toronto Cops Grab, Tackle, Arrest Protesters
» World Champion Martial Artist Charged for Speaking at Quebec Lockdown Protest
 
Europe and the EU
» European Commission’s Slap in the Face for Europe’s Indigenous Minorities
» France Issues Charter for Imams Meant to Fight ‘Political Islam’
» Greece: Pakistani Arrested for Raping 17-Year-Old in Athens
» Hungary Drops Income Tax for Citizens Under 25 to Stop Youth Emigration
» Italy: Ex Milan Ward Chief Gets 6 1/2 Yrs for Corruption
» Italy: Conte Appeals to ‘Constructors’ To Save His Govt
» Kaczynski Appeals for Rejection of ‘Evil Attacking Poland’
» Orban and Macron Are the New European Axis
» Over 50,000 Restaurants in Italy Declare “I Am Open” Defying Lockdown Measures
» UK Authorities Shut Down Vitamin D Recommendation for COVID
» UK Authorities Could Force People to Take Selfie Every Day to ‘Prove’ They’re Self-Isolating
» UK Liberal Democrats to Campaign to Bring Back EU Free Movement
» UK Police Chief: ‘Now is Really Not the Time’ For Free Speech, Protest
» UK: ‘Will This Cr*p Ever End?’: Gardening is Racist, Claims National Trust-Backed Professor
» UK: 8-Year-Old Islamic Terror Bombing Victim Could Have Survived With Better Care
» UK: Khan’s London: ‘Up to Forty’ Males Fight Street Battle With Swords, Knives, Broken Bottles
» UK: Left-Wing Guardian ‘Names and Shames’ Tory MPs Who Joined ‘Far-Right’ Parler
» UK: Minister ‘Hopes’ Restrictions Can be Lifted by March… to be Replaced by Tiers Again
» UK: Statues to be Given New Legal Protections Against ‘Baying Mobs’ And Left-Wing ‘Revisionist Purges’
» UK: When Conspiracy Theories Come True: Sunday Times Under Fire for Branding COVID Vax Passports as ‘Freedom Certificates’
» Video: Polish Government Intervenes to Save Comatose Pole in British Hospital
 
Israel and the Palestinians
» Second Dose in Doubt After Pfizer Vaccine Reportedly Leaves Dozen Israelis With Facial Paralysis
 
Middle East
» Sahara Desert Hit by Icy Blast as Snow Blankets Parts of Saudi Arabia
 
Russia
» Putin Opposition Leader Alexei Navalny Detained After Entering Russia for First Time Since Poisoning
 
Caucasus
» Missing Nagorno-Karabakh Woman Found Dead, Tortured
 
South Asia
» Pakistan Wants to Prosecute Online “Blasphemy” Committed Abroad
 
Far East
» Chinese-American Socialite Who Rubbed Elbows With Hillary Clinton Jumps to Her Death
» Global Persecution: The Number of Christians Killed for Their Faith Increased by 60 Percent in Just One Year
» Scientists Observe ‘Quantum Sense’ Which May Explain How Animals ‘See’ Magnetic Fields for First Time
» The Hong Kong Migrants Fleeing to the UK
» US Scientist Who Led Charge Against COVID Lab Leak Theory Admits He Was Trying to Protect Chinese Scientists
 
Australia — Pacific
» Anti-Vaxxers Who Refuse COVID Jab Could be Banned From Pubs, Restaurants or Even Their Workplaces Under Radical New Plan
» New South Wales Records No New Coronavirus Cases Yet Again — As Pressure Mounts on Paranoid Premiers to Open the Borders or Risk Losing Millions
» Queensland Records Zero Local Coronavirus Cases as Police Still Try to Solve the Mystery of How COVID Spread Around the Grand Chancellor Hotel in a Fortnight
 
Sub-Saharan Africa
» Kidnapped Nigerian Catholic Priest Hacked to Death With Machetes
 
Latin America
» Facebook Censors Mexican Cardinal for Denouncing ‘New World Order’
 
Immigration
» Farage: Brexit Britain Must Get a Grip on Immigration
» German Police Detain 23 Illegal Migrants, Hand Them Over to Czechia
» Hungary Reportedly Defying EU Court Ruling and Continues to Deport Migrants to Serbia
» Migrant Caravan Stopped Near Guatemala Border on Their Way to the US
 
Culture Wars
» A Message to Anyone Who Feels Like ‘Winston’ In Orwell’s 1984
» Activists: Biden’s Embrace of Transgender Athletes a Blow to Women’s Rights
» MeWe is Not a Free Speech Platform
 

“You’re Really Not Americans Anymore. What You Are, Are Creatures of Big Tech.” — Rudy Giuliani on Big Media and Big Tech Censorship (Video)

Rudy Giuliani gave another amazing presentation about Big Tech and Big Media censorship. These people are not Americans because Americans cherish free speech.

Rudy Giuliani says at the 8:14 mark in the video below:…

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

AOC Demands Federal Funding to ‘Deradicalize’ White Supremacists, Conspiracy Theorists

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) on Friday called for the federal government to better fund efforts to “deradicalize” white supremacists, conspiracy theory adherents, and others who have supposedly been misled by President Donald Trump.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Are You Getting it Yet? They Don’t Want You to be Free!

People who understand what is going on know the value of liberty. And yet, the government’s message is loud and clear: they do not want you to be free. They demand and desire only your enslavement.

In an incredible video on High Impact Flix, creator Brian details the ways the government has removed the illusion of choice and freedom lately. “If you don’t have freedom, you don’t have anything,” Brian says.

If you haven’t figured out that the United States government has taken more of your rights and freedom than any other entity ever because you believed they have the authority/power to do so, this is going to be a rough year for you. The tyrannical veil has been lifted and it’s time we all wake up.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

As Tech Companies Purge Users, Here Are Some Alternatives

By Simon Black at Sovereign Man

By now you’re probably aware of the various purges taking place across tech platforms and social media. Major companies have used the events of January 6th at the US Capitol as an excuse to delete users and deplatform businesses. But the scope of the purge has gone much further than removing calls for violence.

For example, 147 members of Congress are being blacklisted by banks, insurance providers, and hotel companies because they objected to certifying the results of the election.

The entire social media company Parler was shut down when Amazon banned it from its servers, while Apple and Google dropped the app from their stores.

Twitter executed over 70,000 accounts.

PayPal cut ties with the US President, as well as a Christian website that raised funds to send protesters to DC. Shopify removed accounts “associated” with Trump, and payment processor Stripe joined in the purge as well.

Facebook even suspended Ron Paul’s account for a time, before claiming it was a mistake. Ron Paul, keep in mind, has been an outspoken critic of this administration’s defense and monetary policies.

The message is clear: your access, your data, and potentially your livelihood is not safe in the hands of the biggest tech companies, which we have been conditioned to rely on. Express the wrong opinion, and you may be the next casualty.

What this means:

The good news is there are alternatives, and the purge has been a major driving force for people to move to alternative platforms.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Biden to Reimpose COVID-19 Travel Ban on Europe and Brazil

President Trump on Monday lifted a COVID-19 travel ban on Brazil and much of Europe — but President-elect Joe Biden’s incoming press secretary vowed to reverse the move.

Trump’s new order would have ended the travel restrictions on Jan. 26, six days after Trump leaves office.

Incoming White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki almost immediately tweeted that Trump’s order would be nixed when Biden takes office on Jan. 20.

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

Biden Indicates He Will Cancel Keystone XL Pipeline on First Day in Office

President-elect Joe Biden has signaled his intent to cancel the Keystone XL pipeline project through an executive order on his first day in office.

Biden’s transition team reportedly shared the information with U.S. stakeholders over the weekend. On a circulated list of first-day executive actions for the incoming president, the words “Rescind Keystone XL pipeline permit” appeared.

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

Biden to Reverse President Trump’s Policy on Climate Change, To End Travel Ban From Muslim Countries

President-elect Joe Biden has decided to sign a dozen of executive orders to undo the actions of President Trump, including re-joining the Paris climate accord and ending the travel ban on predominantly Muslim countries, on his first day in office.

According to a memo from incoming chief of staff Ron Klain, President-elect Joe Biden is also expected to sign orders halting evictions and student loan payments during the coronavirus pandemic. Biden administration may also issue a mask mandate on all federal property and expand virus testing.

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

Biden to Visit UK First to Plot ‘Destiny of the World’ With Boris Johnson

President-Elect Joe Biden will reportedly make his first international trip outside of North America to the United Kingdom to plot the “destiny of the world” with Prime Minister Boris Johnson, a source close to the 77-year-old Democrat has claimed.

Insiders within the Biden camp have pointed to the G7 meeting in June, which will be hosted by the UK in Cornwall, as the likely time of the meeting.

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

Blacks Are Superior to Whites: Said Head of Biden’s Civil Rights Division-Kristen Clarke

Joe “Post Turtle” Biden named African-American Kristen Clarke to head the Civil Rights Division of the United States once he becomes president. She said in an interview that her job was simple: “End hate!”

There’s only one problem: she’s an out and out purveyor of racism.

While at Harvard as the president of the Black Students Association, she explained her views on ‘race science’: “Please use the following theories and observations to assist you in your search for truth regarding the genetic differences between Blacks and whites,” Clarke wrote. “One: Dr Richard King reveals that the core of the human brain is the ‘locus coeruleus,’ which is a structure that is Black, because it contains large amounts of neuro-melanin, which is essential for its operation.

“Two: Black infants sit, crawl and walk sooner than whites. Three: Carol Barnes notes that human mental processes are controlled by melanin — that same chemical which gives Blacks their superior physical and mental abilities.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

California Shelves Batch of Moderna Vaccines Over Allergy Concerns

California health officials are calling on COVID-19 vaccine providers to stop using a batch of Moderna’s shots after a handful of people who were inoculated at the same site all had allergic reactions.

Fewer than 10 people reported reactions after recieving doses at a San Diego vaccination site last week, according to FOX5 San Diego.

“All appeared to be experiencing a possible severe allergic reaction during the standard observation period — a type of adverse event that the CDC reports some people have experienced when receiving a COVID-19 vaccine. The vaccine site switched to another lot of Moderna vaccine after closing for a few hours,” the California Department of Public Health said.

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

CNN Commentator Pushes for Cable Providers to Suspend Newsmax TV, Others After Capitol Riot

CNN commentator Oliver Darcy suggested in a column last week that TV carriers should suspend service to right-leaning news networks such as Fox News, Newsmax, and One America News Network.

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

COVID Vaccine Secret, A Stunner

“…the WHO protocols Pfizer used to produce the mRNA [for the vaccine] do not appear to identify any nucleotide sequences that are unique to the SARS-CoV-2 virus. When investigator Fran Leader questioned Pfizer they confirmed: ‘The DNA template does not come directly from an isolated virus from an infected person’.”

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Cuomo Set Up Three Layers of Security at State Capitol for Violent MAGA Supporters — Nobody Showed Up But Liberal Reporters

These crazy leftists live in their own fantasy world.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Detroit: Muslim Cleric Says Allah ‘Humiliated’ The ‘Dictator’ Trump for Assassinating Soleimani and Muhandis

The salient question here is not about Trump, who will be out of office in two days, but about Qazwini’s loyalties, and the loyalties he is inculcating in his followers.

“Detroit Shi’ite Imam Qazwini: Trump’s Humiliation Is Divine Retribution For Assassinating Qasem Soleimani And Abu Mahdi Al-Muhandis,” MEMRI, January 8, 2021.

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

Even After US Capitol Riot: CNN Poll Shows 75% of Republicans Believe 2020 Election Stolen From President Donald Trump

CNN finally publishes a factual report!

Three-in-four Republicans say the 2020 election was stolen from President Donald Trump.

Despite their tyrannical tactics, Americans understand the election was rigged.

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

Exclusive: Politicians, Trump Allies, Nobel Winners, And More Sent Formal Letter to President Urging Pardon for Assange

Politicians, celebrities, journalists, Nobel Peace prize winners as well as current and former heads of state sent a letter to President Donald Trump urging him to pardon WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.

The letter was included with Assange’s formal pardon request that was sent to the White House in December.

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

FBI Vetting National Guard in D.C. On Fears of Insider Attack

The FBI is vetting all 25,000 National Guard troops in Washington, D.C., for the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden amid fear of an insider attack.

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

Federal Prosecutors Withdraw Allegation That Capitol Rioters Wanted to “Capture and Assassinate” Lawmakers

Although prosecutors for the U.S. Justice Department had alleged in a court filing that the rioters who stormed the Capitol building were planning to “capture and assassinate elected officials,”they have now formally walked back that claim.

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

Federal Court Dismisses Charges Against Church Deacon Arrested for Singing Outdoors Without a Mask

Gabriel Rench, a church deacon in Moscow, Idaho, has been exonerated by the Idaho District Court after his September arrest for participating in an outdoor “psalm sing” without wearing a mask.

Following the extension of a mask mandate issued by Moscow’s mayor at the time, Christ Church held a worship celebration outside City Hall. Though the church had previously held similar services under the same mandate without incident, two church members were cited and three others, including Rench, were arrested.

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

Hawley Signs With New Publisher After Simon & Schuster Canceled His Book Deal

Republican Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley will have his book “The Tyranny of Big Tech” published by the conservative publisher Regnery after Simon & Schuster canceled their deal with him after the pro-Trump riot on Jan. 6 at the U.S. Capitol.

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

Hundreds of Active Duty Troops Along With 25,000 National Guard Troops Are Authorized for Biden’s Virtual Inauguration Event

Hundreds of active duty troops have been deployed to Washington DC for the Inauguration Ceremony on Wednesday. The active duty troops with unique skill sets are now arriving. This is on top of the tens of thousands of National Guard troops in the city.

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

Live Updates: North Dakota Bill Would Allow Lawsuits Over Big Tech Censorship

After being shocked by Big Tech censoring President Trump and other conservatives in recent months, Republican state lawmakers introduced a bill that would put social media giants like Twitter and Facebook in legal trouble for restricting political posts in North Dakota.

“I drafted it in December and things have only gotten worse,” state Rep. Tom Kading, R-N.D., the lead sponsor of his state’s bill, told “Fox & Friends” on Saturday.

“I’m frankly shocked at what’s happening to our country and censoring does not create unity, it does not help the situation of division in our country, and it does not de-escalate the situation,” Kading said. “All it really does is make those who have been silenced dig in deeper and be more suspicious of what’s going on.”

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

Lobby Group Sues Apple to Remove Telegram From App Store for Allowing ‘Hate Speech’

A lobbyist group is suing Apple in an effort to get free speech messaging platform Telegram removed from the app store, claiming that it allows ‘extremists’ to spread ‘hate speech’.

Telegram has seen a surge in users since Twitter and Facebook permanently suspended President Trump. Last week the service gained more than 25 million new users in just 72 hours, taking the total users to over 500 million.

The platform promotes itself as a service that believes in free speech and a strong privacy ethic, often polarising itself from the likes of Facebook owned Watts App and Microsoft owned Skype.

Now, amid calls for the platform to be restricted, lobby group The Coalition for a Safer Web has called for it to be completely deleted from big tech app stores.

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

Meet Biden’s Climate Crisis Army

‘I believe in this team, and together, we will show the world that America is once again ready to take a leading role in the fight against climate change,’ Mr Biden said

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Microsoft, Salesforce and Oracle Back Plan to Develop a Digital COVID Vaccination Passport

A digital Covid vaccination passport is being jointly developed by a group of health and technology companies who anticipate that governments, airlines and other firms will soon start asking people for proof that they have been inoculated.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

More Lawsuits Against New York State COVID-19 Restrictions on Way

AMHERST, N.Y. — The Amherst law firm that filed the recent lawsuit on behalf of 90 Western New York restaurants is now preparing for its next legal fight against New York State, which will impact salon employees and kids who participate in youth sports.

Attorney Corey Hogan of HoganWillig law firm said he is representing 40 hair salon owners in Western New York, suing the state over required weekly COVID-19 testing.

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

Parler Back Online, CEO Says it Will be Up and Running Soon

The Parler social platform is back online with a note from CEO John Matze that it will be available again to users soon.

The Twitter rival — used overwhelmingly by conservatives seeking to escape censorship from other social sites — was pulled from both the Apple and Google apps stores and had its servers shut down by Amazon, which had been the platform’s web host.

Matze posted a short note to Parler’s website, which currently only features a singular landing page.

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

Peer-Reviewed Study “Did Not Find Evidence” Lockdowns Were Effective in Stopping COVID Spread

Liberals may be able to argue with Fox News or even Republican politicians. But what happens when a peer reviewed study comes out of one of their coveted and prestigious universities in California potentially showing that their collective reaction to Covid may have been completely worthless and, as a result, may have done exceptionally more harm than good?

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Silicon Valley and WEF-Backed Foundation Announce Global Initiative for COVID-19 Vaccine Records

Silicon Valley’s most influential companies, alongside healthcare companies, US intelligence contractors and the Commons Project Foundation, recently launched the Vaccination Credential Initiative. The initiative’s ambitions reach far beyond vaccines and will have major implications for civil liberties.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

State Attorneys General Are Planning Another Lawsuit Against Google for Play Store for Androids

WASHINGTON — State attorneys general are planning a third lawsuit against Alphabet Inc’s Google, this one focused on the search and advertising giant’s Play Store for Android phones, according to two sources familiar with the matter.

The lawsuit is expected to be filed in February or March, the sources said, and it would follow complaints about Google’s management of its Play Store even though the company was originally seen as more open about its app store than Apple.

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

Tennessee Principal Suspended After Criticizing Big Tech Censorship

A principal in a Tennessee high school has been temporarily suspended for criticizing the recent rampant online censorship that has been taking place after the Washington riots — and for speaking out in defense of free speech.

Local media is reporting that Principal Barton Thorne of the Cordova High School in Tennessee is now on paid administrative leave, until the school district decides what to make of the comments he made to his students, a spokesperson for the district said.

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

The Consolidation of the One-Party Dictatorship

With the centralization of the means of communication in the hands of the state,the consolidation of a one-party dictatorship in the United States is well underway. We have to quickly dispense with the notion that Facebook, Google, Twitter, Amazon, and Apple are “private” entities that can do what they want. They represent the power of the state and their conduct is therefore in violation of the First Amendment.

Big Tech companies, said conservative attorney Mark Fitzgibbons on an edition of America’s Survival TV, have assumed the role of “state actors.” This means they are doing the bidding of Congressional Democrats such as Senator Mark Warner of Virginia. Led by Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, left-wing politicians have, in effect, pressured Big Tech into “helping the government regulate political speech.”

In the Wall Street Journal article, “Save the Constitution from Big Tech,” Vivek Ramaswamy and Jed Rubenfeld argue that, “Using a combination of statutory inducements and regulatory threats, Congress has co-opted Silicon Valley to do through the back door what government cannot directly accomplish under the Constitution.”

Ramaswamy says, “We’ve gone from a 3-branch government to one with a branch office in Silicon Valley. The right answer is to open channels of dialogue, not close them.” But massive censorship is now underway, violating the First Amendment rights of the American people.

The practice is also known as “government censorship by proxy,” in the words of the officer of a competitor, Parler, which went off-line because of actions by other Big tech companies.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Trump Plans Elaborate Farewell Event at Joint Base Andrews

President Trump is planning a final farewell event on Wednesday at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland preceding President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration in Washington, D.C.

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

Trump’s 1776 Commission Slams ‘Destructive Scholarship’ In Final Report

President Trump’s 1776 Commission, formed to promote “patriotic education,” on Monday released a final report touted by the White House as offering “a definitive chronicle of the American founding.”

The 45-page report slams “destructive scholarship” that it says misrepresents the history of slavery and racial discrimination.

“States and school districts should reject any curriculum that promotes one-sided partisan opinions, activist propaganda, or factional ideologies that demean America’s heritage, dishonor our heroes, or deny our principles,” the report says.

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

Twitter Exec Says Company Taking Crackdown on Conspiracy Theorists ‘Global’

Footage released Monday shows a top Twitter executive discussing the company’s recent crackdown on accounts that push conspiracy theories, calling it a “global” initiative.

Vijaya Gadde’s comments to employees were leaked to the right-wing activist group Project Veritas, and a Twitter spokesperson confirmed the video is authentic.

“Beyond de-amplification, we are going to — conspiracy theories — we are going to be permanently suspending those accounts,” Gadde says in the clip.

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

US Capitol Goes on Lockdown After Fire Breaks Out in Nearby Homeless Camp

The United States Capitol went on lockdown Monday morning as a fire broke out in a nearby homeless camp.

Metropolitan Police Department spokeswoman Alaina Gertz told the Daily Caller News Foundation Monday that the capitol went on lockdown as a result of a fire in a homeless camp. The fire has been put out and there are no injuries, Gertz said.

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

Video Exclusive: Film Crew Releases Never Before Seen Footage of 2017 Inauguration Riots

Chicago, Illinois — Documentary film crew releases dramatic, never before seen footage of the 2017 Inauguration riots. The footage was gathered as part of an ongoing documentary about the fight for dominance playing out between establishment and independent news organizations.

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

Wyoming Carbon County Republican Party Pass Resolution to Censure Liz Cheney in Unanimous Vote

Trump-hater Liz Cheney, the daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, serves as the Republican House Conference Chair — the third highest Republican position in the House. It is a shock that she ever was named to that position and rumored that she was put there by former Speaker Paul Ryan to continue the Deep State Republicans’ harassment of President Trump.

Last week Liz Cheney voted to impeach President Trump, without due process, on bogus charges, based on lies that he started a riot at the Capitol on January 6th. Liz announced her decision on House Conference Chair stationary.

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

YouTube Removes Live Stream of Peaceful Virginia Gun Rights Rally

On Monday, YouTube cut independent news outlet Status Coup News’ live coverage of a peaceful gun rights rally in Virginia mid-stream and accused the outlet of violating YouTube’s firearms policy.

Status Coup News was covering the annual Lobby Day rally, which is organized by Virginia’s top gun-rights group, Virginia Citizens Defense League (VCDL). VCDL describes Lobby Day as an event where “normal, everyday Americans go to the Virginia Capitol to tell our state legislators to SAY NO TO GUN CONTROL.”

Status Coup News’ live coverage of the rally documented the event and featured interviews with several of its attendees. But according to YouTube, this coverage violated the platform’s firearms policy because “YouTube does not allow live streams showing someone holding, handling, or transporting a firearm.”

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

“I Make People Healthy. I Am Essential”: Ottawa Gym Owner Gives Update After Repeated Fines

You may recall the story of Zach Boissinot, the owner of A Foot Above Fitness located in Orléans, Ont. Back in October, he received several hundred dollars in fines for having the temerity to open his gym.

Alas, in Doug Ford’s Ontario, breaking a sweat to improve one’s physical and even mental acumen is verboten. Premier “Ontario [NOT] Open for Business” Ford would much rather citizens stay home and bake cherry cheesecake (which will surely help in the fight against such ailments as obesity, diabetes, etc.).

Zach was one of our first Canadian I Will Open cases. But alas, bylaw has been relentless. They continue to visit A Foot Above Fitness and fine Zach for the ‘crime’ of providing a service that his clients so desperately want. Much like Adam Skelly of Adamson Barbecue, it seems as if the authorities want to make an example of Mr. Boissinot.

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

Sneak Preview: Toronto Cops Grab, Tackle, Arrest Protesters

As they have done every weekend since late in April of 2020, the protesters of Yahoo Nation gathered in opposition of Ontario’s COVID-19 restrictions, this time demonstrating against the province’s move into a second state of emergency.

Although police have given some of the organizers and speakers a hard time with tickets, things had largely remained peaceful as the crowd regularly showed support to the uniformed officers as they watched over the rallies each weekend.

This past Saturday, however, things drastically changed. Police blocked off Yonge-Dundas Square with a large presence, while the attendees attempted to carry on with their protest.

After police warned the crowd to disperse, officers began arresting some of those in attendance.

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

World Champion Martial Artist Charged for Speaking at Quebec Lockdown Protest

Dave Leduc is a multiple time world champion in the Burmese martial art of Lethwei, also known as Burmese boxing. It’s a full contact combat sport that involves headbutting, and is done bareknuckle.

Leduc knows about fitness, health and weighing risks. He’s a world-class athlete at the peak of his career, not someone with triple comorbidities who needs to be confined to their home for their own safety from the coronavirus.

Leduc also knows about freedom, having competed in places like the UAE and other more oppressive parts of the world. That’s why he’s been vocal about his opposition to the pandemic lockdown in his home province of Quebec.

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

European Commission’s Slap in the Face for Europe’s Indigenous Minorities

In another sign of disregard for Europe’s indigenous minorities, the European Commission has rejected the recommendations of the Minority Safepack initiative (MSPI), that was designed to safeguard the rights of people who are indigenous to Europe, but for historic reasons are members of linguistic, national or religious minorities in their own countries. The initiative was started by the Federal Union of European Nationalities (FUEN) that has more than 100 member organizations in 35 European countries, and is the largest European umbrella organization of autochthonous, national minorities in Europe.

The main impetus for the initiative had originated in long-standing grievances of some ethnic groups living within European Union member states, as well as EU candidate countries. The worsening situation of some of these national minorities means that they are today facing targeted discrimination and in some cases, threats and acts of violence.

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

France Issues Charter for Imams Meant to Fight ‘Political Islam’

PARIS — Representatives of the French Council of the Muslim Faith (CFCM) said on Monday that they agreed on a “Charter of Principles,” which would define an “Islam of France” after months of tense negotiations among Muslim representatives and with French authorities.

The charter is meant to ensure Muslim religious leaders and organizations align with the core values of the French Republic, emphasizing that Islam and the republic are “perfectly compatible.”

French President Emmanuel Macron pushed for the charter as part of his government’s measures to combat Islamist radicalism, along with a “law reinforcing republican principles” introduced Monday in the National Assembly.

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

Greece: Pakistani Arrested for Raping 17-Year-Old in Athens

A 29-year-old Pakistani man, who in recent months was sexually abusing a 17-year-old girl in Athens, was handcuffed by police from the Juvenile Protection Sub-Directorate of Attica Security.

The Pakistani rapist, according to the complaint made by the minor, chased the girl, stabbed her in the neck, and forced her to have sex with him on August 23 last year near Attiki Square.

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

Hungary Drops Income Tax for Citizens Under 25 to Stop Youth Emigration

Taking a leaf from its Polish allies’ economic policy, Hungary’s ruling conservatives plan to exempt under-25s from paying income tax, Prime Minister Viktor Orban announced on Friday.

“We have decided on this tax reduction because it will strengthen cooperation between people, while the tax increases preferred by the left is choking [economic] performance,” Orban said Friday morning in his regular weekly interview on national station Kossuth Radió.

Poland’s ruling Law and Justice party (PiS) introduced income tax exemption for under-26 employees earning less than 85,528 zlotys on Aug. 1, 2019.

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

Italy: Ex Milan Ward Chief Gets 6 1/2 Yrs for Corruption

Surgeon acquitted of bodily harm over ‘training op’ on woman, 91

(ANSA) — MILAN, JAN 18 — A doctor and former ward chief at one of Milan’s top hospitals on Monday got six and a half years in jail for corruption.

Norberto Confalonieri was convicted of illegally sponsoring prosthetic equipment in exchange for money.

He was acquitted of injuring two patients.

The surgeon was arrested in March 2017 for allegedly breaking a 91-year-old woman’s femur so as to try out a “bikini-style” operation to “train myself”, according to a wiretap.

But Confalonieri, orthopaedics chief at the Gaetano Pini Hospital, was cleared of bodily harm while being found guilty of bid-rigging and corruption.

According to the incriminating wiretap which was found to be insufficient evidence, Confalonieri said of the woman “I didn’t put stitches in, I put in a zip so I can open her up again”.

The alleged ‘training operation’ on the elderly woman gained headlines in Italy.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Conte Appeals to ‘Constructors’ To Save His Govt

Calls for ‘limpid’ support of centrist lawmakers after Renzi defection

(ANSA) — ROME, JAN 18 — The Italian government crisis triggered by the defection of Matteo Renzi’s Italia Viva (IV) party must be resolved by confidence votes in parliament, Premier Giuseppe Conte told the Lower House ahead of the first one Monday.

Appealing to centrist so-called ‘constructors’ who could replace IV, the premier called for the “limpid backing of liberals, popular party members and socialists”.

Conte said former premier Renzi — whom he blamed for a “grave act of irresponsibility — had “opened a crisis that must find in this forum its clarification with transparency with respect to the clear action which marked my mandate”.

Conte is seeking enough so-called ‘constructors’ to replace IV crucially in the Senate where he no longer has a majority and where he will face the second of the two confidence votes on Tuesday.

“We need the widest possible consensus among willing forces,” Conte said as he addressed the possible ‘constructors’ who could save his executive.

Conte said the crisis had “dissipated energies in sterile polemics”; that it was “without any foundation”, and that the government had improved the COVID Recovery Plan which Renzi had cited as the reason for his defection. He said the use of the European Stability Mechanism for health spending “doesn’t come into it”.

The premier said the crisis had damaged the country, and “what has happened cannot be cancelled”, effectively rebuffing Renzi’s tentative overtures to do a U-turn and return to the administration he brought down.

Conte said Italy “deserves a cohesive government” and called on lawmakers to now help it “turn the page”.

He said the Recovery Plan would be “a collective and shared effort”.

Conte said that his aim was to continue to bring about reform, “From the start I worked for the creation of the prospect of a board, courageous design for a new season of reform based on sustainability, social and territorial cohesion and the full development of the human person,” Conte said as he appealed to the lawmakers to back his executive, “That vision is still present today”.

The premier also said the government would promoted a proportional electoral system, appealing to lawmakers in the small centrist groups he needs to replace IV.

He also said he would “reinforce” the government team and would serve put the rest of the legislative term which ends in 2023.

“We will build a government that is open to those who hold dear the country’s state and fate”, said the PM.

Conte is appealing to parliament to keep his government alive after IV party triggered the crisis by pulling its support last week.

The premier faces the first of two crunch confidence votes in the lower chamber, with an even stiffer test coming in the Senate on Tuesday if his executive survives in the House on Monday.

He is set to appeal to so-called ‘constructor’ lawmakers from outside the ruling coalition to vote for the government and stop it collapsing in the middle of the COVID-10 pandemic.

The two senior partners in the ruling coalition, the 5-Star Movement (M5S) and the centre-left Democratic Party (PD), have already rejected the idea of patching things up with ex-premier Renzi.

But the PD has kept the door open to individual IV lawmakers and two have said that they will break ranks from the centrist group.

The centre-right opposition has called for snap elections, arguing that, even if the government survives the confidence votes, if will be too weak to effectively rule the country.

Life Senator and Holocaust survivor Liliana Segre said she will defy medical advice and will be in Rome to vote for the government, describing the crisis as “incomprehensible”.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Kaczynski Appeals for Rejection of ‘Evil Attacking Poland’

Ruling Law and Justice (PiS) leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski, while speaking at a church in Starachowice in southern Poland, warned those gathered that an “evil” is attacking Poland and the Church.

Kaczynski made the remarks during a mass commemorating the 8th anniversary of the death of his mother, who was born in the same town as the church where he was speaking.

He drew attention to all those in the town who in the past had — through their work and activities — rejected evil. He said that it was no accident that he was reminding parishioners about the “evil once again attacking our country, fatherland and nation, as well as the institution which is at the center of our identity: the Catholic Church.”

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

Orban and Macron Are the New European Axis

Despite all appearances to the contrary, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and French President Emmanuel Macron share many views and policies, Swedish economist and author Fredrik Erixon writes in The Spectator in an opinion piece entitled “Orban and Macron, Europe’s new power couple”.

Erixon writes that in a Europe characterized by the waning power of Merkel — and consequently that of Germany — that Macron has, in Orban, found himself an ally “who is far more influential than people give him credit for”.

“Macron and Orban aren’t political twins. But Macron, perhaps sensing which way the wind is blowing, has come a long way since 2017, when he was saluted as the antidote to the nationalism of Brexit and Donald Trump,” Erixon writes. “Just as Orban and his Fidesz party turned their backs on their founding liberalism and identity of youthful revolt, there isn’t much liberalism left in Macron.”

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

Over 50,000 Restaurants in Italy Declare “I Am Open” Defying Lockdown Measures

Via 21stCenturyWire.com,

This weekend, over 50,000 restaurants in Italy began defying the country’s strict ‘anti-Covid’ lockdown measures in a massive act of civil disobedience according to Off-Guardian.

Italian restaurant owners have been spreading their “I Am Open” message through the social media hashtag #IoOpro (“I am opening”) and customers have turned the tables on the government:

ITALY: #IoApro restaurant is open, police arrives. Customers refuse to leave & shout in unison “Get out! Get out! Get out! .we pay your wages from our taxes, you work for us. Get out! Get out! Get out!” #IOpen pic.twitter.com/Wqa0DYz4ls — Robin Monotti (@robinmonotti) January 16, 2021

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

UK Authorities Shut Down Vitamin D Recommendation for COVID

Story at-a-glance:

  • According to new COVID-19 guidance from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, Public Health England and the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition, there’s insufficient evidence to support the recommendation to take oral vitamin D for the sole reason of preventing or treating COVID-19
  • While the panel agreed low vitamin D was associated with more severe COVID-19 outcomes, they claim it’s impossible to confirm causality due to inconsistencies between the studies and because vitamin D deficiency and severe COVID-19 share many of the same risk factors
  • With that, they are backtracking on previous recommendations issued by British health officials who, in November 2020, urged people to take supplemental vitamin D this winter to reduce their risk of respiratory infections, including COVID-19
  • While the new guidance does urge Britons to take a vitamin D supplement between October and March, it only recommends a dose of 400 IUs a day, which is easily 10 times lower than what most people would require for general health and immune function
  • There’s compelling evidence suggesting optimizing your vitamin D level can significantly reduce your risk of COVID-19 and improve your outcome if you do get infected

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

UK Authorities Could Force People to Take Selfie Every Day to ‘Prove’ They’re Self-Isolating

UK authorities are considering a new measure that would force people to send selfies every day to prove they’re self-isolating, photos which would then be cross-referenced using GPS data and facial-recognition software.

The Sunday Times reports that COVID lockdown officials are looking to mirror policies introduced in New Zealand, where all new arrivals to the country are forced to check in to a ‘quarantine hotel’ at the airport for a period of 2 weeks.

Another potential enforcement measure would be to copy Poland’s so-called “enhanced monitoring” system for those who are supposed to be self-isolating.

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

UK Liberal Democrats to Campaign to Bring Back EU Free Movement

The leader of the Liberal Democrats, which branded the Leave vote a “national humiliation”, is campaigning to bring back freedom of movement with the EU, opening up migration to an unlimited number of Europeans to live and work in the UK.

Ed Davey took over as leader of the Liberal Democrats after the party’s embarrassing losses under former leader Jo Swinson, who campaigned to force the UK to stay in the EU if they won enough seats to take control of Parliament. Without regret, after Swinson had lost her own constituency in the December 2019 poll, she said that she was “proud that Liberal Democrats were the unapologetic voice of Remain”.

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

UK Police Chief: ‘Now is Really Not the Time’ For Free Speech, Protest

The chief constable of Dorset Police has urged lockdown protesters to accept that “now is really not the time” for freedom of speech and the right to assembly.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

UK: ‘Will This Cr*p Ever End?’: Gardening is Racist, Claims National Trust-Backed Professor

The British pastime of gardening is rooted in “racial injustice”, a professor who has been active in a BLM-style iconoclastic push in the National Trust has claimed.

In a book entitled the Green Unpleasant Land, the Professor of Post-Colonial Literature at the University of Leicester, Corinne Fowler, pronounced that the British “countryside is a terrain of inequalities”.

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

UK: 8-Year-Old Islamic Terror Bombing Victim Could Have Survived With Better Care

8-year-old Saffie Rose Roussos, the youngest victim of the jihadist terror bombing of an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, England, could have survived with better care, according to medical experts.

Distressing details of the aftermath of the 2017 radical Islamic terror attack reveal that Saffie was not killed instantly when suicide bomber Salman Abedi, who had been ferried to Britain from Libya by the Royal Navy in 2014, triggered his bomb, as was previously believed, but remained conscious for over an hour, and may have survived her injuries if she had received adequate medical attention.

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

UK: Khan’s London: ‘Up to Forty’ Males Fight Street Battle With Swords, Knives, Broken Bottles

A mob of “up to 40” males fought a running battle on the streets of London with swords, knives, and broken bottles, despite England’s draconian anti-coronavirus lockdown.

Metropolitan Police officers covering Ealing reported on social media that they had “responded to a large fight… in [Southall] involving up to 40 males fighting with swords and bottles,” managing to chase two from the scene and detained them after they were “identified as having carried swords during the fight.”

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

UK: Left-Wing Guardian ‘Names and Shames’ Tory MPs Who Joined ‘Far-Right’ Parler

Britain’s leading left-wing newspaper The Guardian has published a list of Conservative MPs and prominent personalities who joined the social media platform Parler, which the newspaper claims is favoured by the “far-right” and “Trump supporters”.

The Observer — the Sunday edition of Britain’s Guardian newspaper — claimed that at least 14 Conservative MPs had joined Parler before it was disappeared off the internet, after being removed from Apple and Google Play app stores, and Amazon Web Services ultimately pulling the company’s access to their internet servers. The social media network has since insisted it will “be back soon”.

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

UK: Minister ‘Hopes’ Restrictions Can be Lifted by March… to be Replaced by Tiers Again

A senior minister has confirmed that lockdown restrictions will go on at least until March, when he “hopes” that they will start to be lifted — and replaced by the tiered system again.

England went into its third lockdown on January 4th and while initially, Prime Minister Boris Johnson would not give a firm deadline — suggesting mid-February “if things go well” — the emergency legislation passed on the House of Commons days later made the measures legally enforceable until March 31st. Though Mr Johnson claimed that he did not believe restrictions would be needed for that long, the UK was effectively put in a state of shutdown for up to three months.

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

UK: Statues to be Given New Legal Protections Against ‘Baying Mobs’ And Left-Wing ‘Revisionist Purges’

Historical monuments and statues in Britain will be granted new legal protections from “baying mobs” and the “revisionist purges” carried out by left-wing Labour Party-controlled councils, Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick announced on Sunday.

Mr Jenrick said that the change in law will mandate that all memorials, monuments, historical statues, plaques, and street names will have to go through an official planning process, rather than being left to the mercy of local Labour-run councils.

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

UK: When Conspiracy Theories Come True: Sunday Times Under Fire for Branding COVID Vax Passports as ‘Freedom Certificates’

The Sunday Times is facing a social media backlash for pushing Covid-19 vaccination passports as “freedom certificates” with many noting that the idea was considered a crazy conspiracy theory only a few months ago.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Video: Polish Government Intervenes to Save Comatose Pole in British Hospital

Krzysztof Szczerski, a key aide to Polish President Andrzej Duda, will intervene with the British Ambassador to Poland in an attempt to help the family of a comatose Pole in a British hospital facing the end of life support.

“Acting on the authority of the Polish president, I will meet British Ambassador Anna Clunes to discuss the case of the Pole in a coma in a Plymouth hospital,” tweeted Krzysztof Szczerski on Sunday.

The middle-aged Polish man who has lived in England for over ten years was admitted to hospital in November having suffered cardiac arrest for approximately 45 minutes, during which, according to the hospital’s authorities, the individual suffered permanent brain damage.

The hospital therefore applied to court for permission to terminate his life support.

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

Second Dose in Doubt After Pfizer Vaccine Reportedly Leaves Dozen Israelis With Facial Paralysis

At least 13 Israelis have suffered mild facial paralysis as a side effect after getting the Pfizer vaccine, media reported, citing health ministry officials.

According to Israeli news site Ynet, doctors estimate that the number of similar cases could be higher and are questioning if they should administer the second dose of the vaccine to those who suffered facial paralysis.

However, the country’s health ministry recommends they should go ahead, but only if the paralysis passes, the report says.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Sahara Desert Hit by Icy Blast as Snow Blankets Parts of Saudi Arabia

The Sahara desert has been hit by an icy blast with temperatures dipping below freezing.

Snow also blanketed parts of Saudi Arabia which saw the mercury hit 28 degrees Fahrenheit.

A photographer has captured images of camels after a snowfall in the Tabuk region in northwestern Saudi Arabia.

The area — which is close to the border with Jordan — experienced unusual weather this month.

The desert kingdom can experience highs of up to 122 degrees during the hot season, but this month temperatures fell below 32 degrees.

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

Putin Opposition Leader Alexei Navalny Detained After Entering Russia for First Time Since Poisoning

Alexei Navalny , staunch critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, was taken into custody Sunday after flying into Moscow, his first return to Russia since allegedly being poisoned by Kremlin agents.

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

Missing Nagorno-Karabakh Woman Found Dead, Tortured

01/16/2021 Nagorno-Karabakh (International Christian Concern) — Local media reports that on January 13, relatives identified the body of 58-year-old Alvard Tovmasyan, found dead in the yard of her home in Karin Tak, a village of Nagorno-Karabakh (Armenian: Artsakh). Relatives left the village on October 29, while Tovmasyan stayed behind. Azeri forces later captured the village and following the ceasefire agreement she was reported missing.

When Tovmasyan’s body was discovered, it had been mutilated nearly beyond recognition. Her brother Samvel only recognized her by her clothing. Relatives also reported that Tomasyan’s feet, hands and ears had been cut off as part of her torture. These types of atrocities are reminiscent of those committed during previous pogroms and genocides against the Armenian Christian community.

Tomasyan is one of many Armenians who were killed needlessly at the hands of Azeri forces in the Nagorno-Karabakh region. Azerbaijan’s dehumanization of Armenian Christians is also influenced by Turkey. It is a combination which builds concern for the remaining Armenian Christian community in Nagorno-Karabakh.

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

Pakistan Wants to Prosecute Online “Blasphemy” Committed Abroad

Pakistan is threatening to prosecute non-Pakistanis in foreign countries for breaking its blasphemy laws online. The country, which is no stranger to censorship, seems to be copying China, which also tries to prosecute foreigners found guilty of criticizing the Chinese communist party.

The decision seems to be focused on Ahmadis, an Islamic sect whose beliefs are considered blasphemous in Pakistan. The Pakistan Telecommunications Authority (PTA) sent a legal notice to the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community USA demanding that it shuts down its website, trueislam.com, or get charged with blasphemy, a crime that carries a ten-year prison sentence.

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

Chinese-American Socialite Who Rubbed Elbows With Hillary Clinton Jumps to Her Death

Chinese-American socialite Luo Lili, 34, jumped to her death from her penthouse in Hong Kong on January 6th.

The police initially kept Luo Lili’s identity under wraps due to an ongoing investigation.

Luo Lili jumped naked from her Hong Kong penthouse holding her 5-month old baby. Both died immediately after the fall.

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

Global Persecution: The Number of Christians Killed for Their Faith Increased by 60 Percent in Just One Year

For years I have been warning that Christian persecution was rising all over the globe, but we have never seen anything like the past year. Christians are being slaughtered all across Africa, they are being taken to concentration camps in North Korea, thousands of churches have been brutally shut down under a new wave of persecution in China, and millions of believers throughout the Middle East must live knowing that each new day may be their last. Of course most Americans have never heard about any of this because the mainstream media won’t cover it.

Thankfully, there are organizations that do keep track of what is happening to Christians around the globe, and one of them is Open Doors USA. According to the group, the number of Christians that were killed for their faith was 60 percent higher in 2020 than it was in 2019…

The watchdog organization Open Doors USA says levels of Christian persecution are at a record high around the world. Open Doors reports that levels of Christian persecution are at a record high, revealing that the number of Christians murdered for their faith rose 60 percent in 2020.

A 6 percent rise in a single year would be bad.

A 60 percent increase is a nightmare.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Scientists Observe ‘Quantum Sense’ Which May Explain How Animals ‘See’ Magnetic Fields for First Time

Scientists from the University of Tokyo claim to have observed a reaction showing quantum physics directly impacting biochemistry, which they suspect explains how certain animals can perceive the Earth’s magnetic field.

Researchers have long suspected that some part of various animals’ visual systems, including migratory birds, allows them to perceive the Earth’s magnetic fields, affording them the ability to navigate vast distances during migratory periods, but have never been able to find the mechanism. Until now, that is.

The University of Tokyo team used a custom microscope, which can detect extremely faint flashes of light, on a culture of human cells which contained an extremely light-sensitive material that can respond to changes in a magnetic field.

Photoreceptors, called cryptochromes, are found in the cells of numerous species, including migratory birds and dogs and, curiously, humans.

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

The Hong Kong Migrants Fleeing to the UK

The UK will introduce a new visa at the end of January that will give 5.4 million Hong Kong residents — a staggering 70% of the territory’s population — the right to come and live in the UK, and eventually become citizens.

It is making this “generous” offer to residents of its former colony because it believes China is undermining Hong Kong’s rights and freedoms.

Not everyone will come. Some of those eligible to leave have expressed their determination to stay and continue the fight for democracy.

In the end, Britain estimates that about 300,000 will take up the visa offer over the next five years.

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

US Scientist Who Led Charge Against COVID Lab Leak Theory Admits He Was Trying to Protect Chinese Scientists

The U.S. scientist behind an effort to stymie debate surrounding the possibility that COVID-19 could have accidentally escaped from the Wuhan Institute of Virology admitted through a spokesman that he did so to protect Chinese scientists from online criticism.

Dr. Peter Daszak, the president of the New York-based EcoHealth Alliance, orchestrated a statement published in The Lancet medical journal in February, prior to any serious research on the origins of COVID-19, condemning “conspiracy theories” that suggest the virus doesn’t have a natural origin.

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

Anti-Vaxxers Who Refuse COVID Jab Could be Banned From Pubs, Restaurants or Even Their Workplaces Under Radical New Plan

New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian has revealed she is considering implementing regulations that would prohibited residents who have not vaccinated from entering certain venues

           — Hat tip: SS [Return to headlines]
 

New South Wales Records No New Coronavirus Cases Yet Again — As Pressure Mounts on Paranoid Premiers to Open the Borders or Risk Losing Millions

New South Wales has reported zero locally acquired coronavirus cases on Tuesday for the second day in a row.

           — Hat tip: SS [Return to headlines]
 

Queensland Records Zero Local Coronavirus Cases as Police Still Try to Solve the Mystery of How COVID Spread Around the Grand Chancellor Hotel in a Fortnight

Queensland reported zero new locally acquired cases of coronavirus on Tuesday.

           — Hat tip: SS [Return to headlines]
 

Kidnapped Nigerian Catholic Priest Hacked to Death With Machetes

A Nigerian Catholic priest abducted last week was hacked to death with machetes by his kidnappers, according to a report Monday.

The lifeless body of Father John Gbakaan, a priest of the Catholic Diocese of Minna, in Nigeria’s expansive Middle Belt, was discovered tied to a tree near the road where he had been kidnapped, so severely disfigured by machetes that recognition was difficult.

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

Facebook Censors Mexican Cardinal for Denouncing ‘New World Order’

Facebook has censored a video of Cardinal Juan Sandoval Iñiguez, archbishop emeritus of Guadalajara, for suggesting that globalist leaders are exploiting the coronavirus pandemic to bring about a new world order.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Farage: Brexit Britain Must Get a Grip on Immigration

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has said that Boris Johnson’s government “must get a grip” not only on legal immigration, but stop the flow of illegal aliens from coming across the English Channel.

The UK saw nearly 8,500 illegals make it from Europe, predominantly France, across the English Channel in small boats last year. A Europol report from last week revealed that the total number of attempted illegal crossings by boat — including successful, intercepted, and where evidence of illegal crossing was found — was 15,000 for the whole of 2020.

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

German Police Detain 23 Illegal Migrants, Hand Them Over to Czechia

German police discovered 23 migrants in three vans they stopped near the town of Selb near the border with the Czech Republic. Twenty men and three women were “crammed into a very small space,” the DPA news agency reported. All migrants and three smugglers were handed over to the Czech Republic.

Police checked the vans on Friday on the A93 motorway between the towns of Selb and Rehau, which lie five and ten kilometers, respectively, from the Czech town of As. According to the German police, migrants and their smugglers were from Moldova. Two smugglers had a criminal record in Germany for theft.

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

Hungary Reportedly Defying EU Court Ruling and Continues to Deport Migrants to Serbia

Despite a European Court of Justice ruling, Hungary continues to deport migrants to Serbia, SCEPTR reports.

According to the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights, Hungary continues to expel people. Hungary has warned in the past that despite the top EU court’s ruling, it would continue to defend its borders.

“The Fidesz-KDNP parliamentary majority and the government will do everything in its power to maintain the [border] fence, live military and police patrols and keep the transit zones operational,” said Hungarian State Secretary of the Defense Ministry Szilard Németh in May of last year.

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

Migrant Caravan Stopped Near Guatemala Border on Their Way to the US

Thousands of Central American migrants trekking to the US are hoping to find a welcome mat at the southern border after President-elect Joe Biden said he would start to unravel President Trump’s border and immigration policies on “Day One” in the White House.

The group of about 8,000 migrants made up of families and young children entered Guatemala on Friday but encountered a line of National Guard troops and immigration officials who used tear gas and batons to halt their march across the country to the Mexican border and eventually into the US.

For now, the caravan remains stalled near the Guatemala border as Wednesday’s Inauguration Day nears.

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

A Message to Anyone Who Feels Like ‘Winston’ In Orwell’s 1984

“The ideal set up by the Party was something huge, terrible, and glittering . . . all thinking the same thoughts and shouting the same slogans, perpetually working, fighting, triumphing, persecuting — three hundred million people all with the same face.”

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Activists: Biden’s Embrace of Transgender Athletes a Blow to Women’s Rights

President-Elect Joe Biden’s promise to embrace transgender ideology will likely include supporting biological men who say their gender identity is female to compete in sports against biological women.

Attorneys representing transgender athletes and women athletes expect Biden’s Department of Education to reverse course in two lawsuits in Idaho and Connecticut that the Trump administration had backed to protect women’s rights.

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

MeWe is Not a Free Speech Platform

Many have flocked to MeWe, a privacy-focused platform that resembles Facebook, after the recent vast censorship from Big Tech giants.

However, the platform doesn’t appear to be happy to be seen as a free speech platform, insisting it is “not an anything goes site like Parler or Gab.”

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

13 thoughts on “Gates of Vienna News Feed 1/18/2021

  1. Biden – Keystone Pipeline:
    Alberta Premier Jason Kenney probably isn’t getting much sleep these days. Only 41 % of Albertans in a recent Angus Reid poll thought his government was doing a good job handling the China virus situation. That is down from the 75% in June 2020.
    A recent poll showed that Albertans voting intention is at 43% for Kenney’s United Conservative Party with the socialist New Democratic Party at 37%.Kenney won the provincial election with a majority but that may be eroding.
    As if the growing unemployment in the province isn’t enough now Kenney has to tend with the possibly a new U.S. President who is a green advocate and anti-pipeline advocate whose cancelling of the Keystone will strike another blow to Alberta’s economy. Kenney may find support from Scott Moe, the Premier of neighboring Saskatchewan, but that is all in Canada. It might help if he can get support from some state Governors. All Trudeau will probably do is sit on his thumb and make a few noises as he usually does as he is so useless. Quite a few Albertans are pro-American but will protest against Biden.
    If 2020 was a “different” year, then 2021 will prove to be really hot one. Not only in the US but also in Western Canada.

  2. “…UK authorities are considering a new measure that would force people to send selfies every day to prove they’re self-isolating…” – This is how it has been monitored in Kuwait over the last year, with selfie-taking every 2-3 hours. Arab science again ahead of the infidels.

    • Creative way to get a lot of data for facial recognition. I would green screen the pictures but they may want pictures with geo data. Western science…
      IN the UK, 68 million people sending selfies everyday. Eventually those would be processed by the AI controlling the facial recognition software. Going nowhere good.

  3. “…Biden’s promise to embrace transgender…” – I do wish him a heartily embrace with a weight-lifter transgender… to leave him dying with a flail chest and hasten the end of US Constitution. It is curious HOW they will announce it null and void. Referendum?

    • Biden is a doofus. There is no such thing as transgenderism because no one can change their DNA. The sickos who make the claim are transvestites.

    • Emergency. Keep this argument between you and me. When they say the constitution is null and void, nothing you do to them is a crime against the United States. It could also be a crime against the state you live in but may just be self defense as there would be no Federal authority. It may be a crime of conscience or against God. This is not legal advice.

    • They’ll just ignore it.

      The Soviet constitution looked pretty good, too, but everyone knew that it was meaningless.

      Actually, in the later days of the Soviet Union, there seemed to be more respect for *procedural* justice than there is in the USA today. Hence promises of answering all letters were kept, and so on. Which meant that one could drive the authorities crazy with letters.

      Where I am now, in Canada, letters to Federal Ministers go ignored. They don’t care. I’m forced to conclude that they care even less than the SU did in its dying days.

  4. The irony…take guns from law abiding citizens but not criminals

    Baltimore’s “Safe Streets” Director Fatally Shot While Visiting Housing Project

    https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/crime/bs-md-ci-cr-man-shot-head-20210117-vfz43kphhjgnnjfdddef4lvmbq-story.html

    Newsom strikes again
    Here’s who actually determines who gets vaccinated in California

    https://www.sfgate.com/coronavirus/article/California-vaccine-COVID-who-decides-when-get-dose-15875101.php?IPID=SFGate-HP-CP-Spotlight

    This dude is on a roll
    The Theatrics of BLM: All Show and No Action and A Disgrace to MLK
    https://torrancestephensphd.substack.com/p/the-theatrics-of-blm

  5. “The FBI is vetting all 25,000 National Guard troops in Washington, D.C., for the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden amid fear of an insider attack”, why are the dhimmicrats acting so very paranoid? My belief is that the dhims know the truth of the 2020 election victory of President Trump. The dhims being illegitimate are not only jealously guarding their rule, but as the tyrants they are, the dhims are suspicious of all. The dhims are hysterical towards any slight that they “see” and they see many, plus they demagogue with hyperbolic language their opponents. They are acting very guilty of fraud and thievery in their election “win”.

    • 3.29 Democrats in Congress demand that the MILITARY TROOPS sent to Washington submit to a POLITICAL PURITY TEST.

      That every soldier professed loyalty to the new regime ! NOT LOYALTY TO OUR COUNTRY, NOT LOYALTY TO OUR CONSTITUTION BUT LOYALTY TO A SPECIFIC POLITICAL PARTY !

      ( Reminds me of “The vow of loyalty under National Socialism – ” Hitler’s new Oath” )

      https://youtu.be/M0l7xH5zbIg

  6. Anyone who has read William L. Shirer “The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich”, would recognized the similarity, kudos to you.

  7. Regarding the note about the professor in Leicester, UK, it might be significant to remember that Leicester had the distinction of being the first city in UK to have white minority.

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