Police in London raided a school where an illegal wedding attended by 400 guests was taking place. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that it was too early to say whether the COVID lockdown would be over by spring.
In other news, in the space of five days the bomb squad in Englewood, Colorado recovered two devices, one of which was an active pipe bomb at a high school.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to Caroline Glick, Dean, JD, LP, Reader from Chicago, 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.
Polish Central Bank: Mild COVID Hit for Poland’s Economy
Thanks to structural and political reasons, Poland has enjoyed a less severe recession than that experienced in other European states, according to Jacek Kotlowski from the Analytics Department at the National Bank of Poland (NBP).
Before the pandemic, the economy was enjoying robust growth while the sectors hardest hit by the pandemic accounted for only 2 percent of the nation’s economy.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
699 People Died of Drug Overdoses in San Francisco Last Year Compared to 235 From COVID-19
San Francisco saw nearly three times as many people die from drug overdoses than from the coronavirus last year, a staggering data point that highlights the city’s dire drug epidemic fueled by the powerful painkiller fentanyl.
A record 699 people died of overdoses from January through December in 2020, according to a new report from the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. This number may seem surprising amid the global COVID-19 pandemic when San Francisco has shuttered schools and businesses to prevent deaths. In S.F., 235 people passed away from complications of the coronavirus in 2020.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Breitbart reports that a recent video by Don Winslow, who is apparently a novelist (who knew?) and left-wing activist who is calling upon his fellow lefties to become “cyber detectives” whose mission is to stalk Trump supporters for the purposes of reporting them to authorities for…something.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Americans Are Fleeing Lockdown States in Droves
Data shows that Americans are fleeing states with harsh lockdown policies like California in droves and moving to states which are more open like Arizona.
According to figures released by North American Moving Services, Americans are moving at higher rates than 2019 despite the lockdown restrictions, suggesting that their mobility is likely because of them.
As Jeffrey A. Tucker highlights, the pattern clearly indicates that there is an exodus of people from liberal states that continue to enforce draconian lockdown measures and that they’re all moving to areas where authorities have largely resisted imposing harsh restrictions.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Arizona Moving Toward Second Amendment Sanctuary Status
The Washington Examiner is reporting that “A handful of Arizona Republicans are behind a push to make their state the fifth to keep state resources from assisting in any federal activity they consider contrary to the Second Amendment.” The notion of making the Grand Canyon State a Second Amendment “sanctuary” seems to be gathering a bit of momentum, especially now that Joe Biden has been sworn into office.
According to the Examiner article, the man behind the movement is State Rep. Leo Biasiucci, a Lake Havasu Republican. He filed the Second Amendment Firearms Freedom Act back on Jan. 14.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Biden’s Presidency Will be a Catalyst for Secession — and Perhaps Civil War
Over the past few months I have written a handful of articles which discussed what would probably happen if Joe Biden actually entered the White House and launched his administration. My initial belief was that Trump would refuse to concede and that this would be a trigger for national chaos blamed on conservatives, but I have also noted that Biden’s entry is almost just as disruptive, as it sends a signal to the political left that it is “open season” on anyone that disagrees with their ideology.
Of course, conservatives are not going to simply sit still and be purged and abused, they are going to strike back, and this sets the stage for a number of events and outcomes, some of which are completely unpredictable, even for establishment globalists.
First, though, we need to address how Biden and the globalists are going to create chaos so that they can then demand their own brand of “order”.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Biden Just Picked a CIA Director With a 7-Year-Long Relationship With Chinese Communist Party Fronts
Bill Burns — Joe Biden’s pick to lead the Central Intelligence Agency — serves as the President of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace which has over a decade-long relationship with the China-United States Exchange Foundation and other Chinese Communist Party-linked groups.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Biden plans to appoint radical anti-Second Amendment activist to highest law enforcement position in the country.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Bomb Squad Retrieves Two Devices — One an Explosive — In Five Days in Englewood
Twice in five days, Arapahoe County’s bomb squad retrieved suspicious devices from locations in Englewood just 11 blocks apart.
| — Hat tip: LP | [Return to headlines] |
California Restaurants and Wineries Sue Gov. Newsom Over Ban on Reopening
Over 50 restaurants and wineries in California’s Sonoma and Napa counties are suing to reverse Democrat Governor Gavin Newsom’s ban on in-person dining.
According to the Los Angeles Times, The Wine Country Coalition for Safe Reopening filed the suit earlier in the week against Newsom and Tomas Aragón, the director of the California Public Health Department.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
A parenting blogger has faced backlash online and threats to boycott her business after screenshots were posted suggesting her family donated to the Trump campaign.
Someone shared screenshots showing she and her husband had made several donations to President Donald Trump’s reelection campaign. Fellow mommy bloggers and other influencers on Instagram have criticized and distanced themselves from her, campaigning against her and telling millions of followers not to buy any of her products.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Caroline Glick: America’s Great Purge (And Israel)
President Joe Biden and the small crowd assembled on the Washington Mall for his inauguration Wednesday celebrated the event as “democracy’s day.” But in truth, the state of democracy in America today is nothing to celebrate.
The talking heads on TV, Democrats and a smattering of anti-Trump Republicans insist that the fault for all of America’s political woes lies with former president Donald Trump and the senators and congressmen who joined him in questioning the results of the election in several swing states. For refusing to set aside evidence of widespread election fraud, they stand accused of inciting an insurrection and so endangering the foundations of American democracy. Trump was impeached for his statements at the January 6 rally. And Democrat lawmakers are calling for Senators Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley to be expelled from the Senate for questioning the electoral college votes from states with widespread allegations of election fraud.
The accusers forget conveniently that Democrat leaders from Nancy Pelosi to Hillary Clinton have insisted since November 2016 that Trump’s electoral victory was “illegitimate” and the job of good Americans was to “resist” his “regime.”
They forget as well that Democrat lawmakers objected to the certification of the electoral college ballots in 2016. And when their objections failed to overturn the election results, a protest broke out in the visitors’ gallery of the Capitol. Several protesters were arrested.
No one in the media or in the coastal elite ever accused Pelosi and Clinton of inciting an insurrection even as hundreds of thousands of protesters filled the streets demanding that Trump be overthrown.
Republicans still unafraid of being called domestic terrorists and insurrectionists insist that if the violent protesters in the Capitol on January 6 were insurrectionists, their “insurrection” was but a pale glimmer of the insurrection mounted in the streets of America’s cities throughout the spring and summer, with the enthusiastic support and financial backing of Democrat leaders and their corporate sponsors. 700 police officers were injured, dozens of citizens were killed, tens of thousands of businesses were destroyed and vandalized during the Antifa and BlackLivesMatter riots. Property damage and losses were assessed at $2 billion. Government buildings were besieged, burned to the ground and vandalized.
The truth is that both Democrats and Republicans are wrong. Politicians from all sides and at all levels of government have long questioned election results. And no matter how strident their rejection of the results may have been, their actions never undermined America’s democratic foundations.
Likewise, America has been the site of mass protests since before the Revolution. The right to protest is considered so sacred that it is protected in the First Amendment of the Constitution. There are laws governing where the line between protests and lawbreaking lies. And policing protests is as American as the protests themselves. Protests do not threaten American democracy…
| — Hat tip: Caroline Glick | [Return to headlines] |
Chicago Teachers Begin Vote to Refuse in-Person Teaching
The Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) has begun a vote to refuse in-person teaching due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The union announced Wednesday that over 80 percent of its 600-member House of Delegates voted to pass a resolution authorizing all of its members to conduct remote work only beginning Jan. 25.
The resolution now goes to the entire unit for a vote on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. CTU represents more than 25,000 teachers working in Chicago Public Schools (CPS).
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Chicago Cardinal Slams Bishops’ Critical Statement on Joe Biden as ‘Ill-Considered’
Chicago Cardinal Blase Cupich said late Thursday that the U.S. Bishops’ statement criticizing Joe Biden for his overt support for abortion was “ill-considered” and should not have been issued.
Cardinal Cupich, a persistent critic of President Trump during his four years in office, issued his own separate statement warmly welcoming President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. In the statement, Cupich refrains from mentioning issues where Biden’s platform directly contradicts Church teaching, such as abortion, school choice, gender issues, and religious liberty.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Facebook Agrees to Give FBI Private Messages, IP Logs, Personal Information of Capitol Rioters
Facebook is reportedly giving the private information of suspects in the U.S. Capitol riot to federal authorities, according to a criminal complaint filed on Wednesday.
The complaint was filed against New York resident Christopher Kelly and showed that the FBI filed a search warrant for Kelly’s Facebook account.
In addition to his private messages, Facebook gave the FBI his IP log — which showed his travel movements on January 6 — email address, and phone number.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Florida Man Friday: Unforgettable Anti-Mask Bagel Shop Outrage Video
I usually try to write a cute little intro for Florida Man Friday, but the wild and outrageous stories came in such a flood this week that’s there’s just no time.
So without further ado, here is you…
Florida Man Friday!
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Former White House Stenographer: Joe Biden Unfit to Become President
Here is an interview with Mike McCormick, author of Joe Biden Unauthorized: And the 2020 Crackup of the Democratic Party
For six years he was Joe Biden’s stenographer. And since he was hired by the press office rather than the Vice President’s office, he never had a non-disclosure agreement. He wrote this book early in 2020 and tried to get word out but nobody would put him on television. He confirms that Joe Biden is totally corrupt because he heard all the private conversations and was even with him on his trips where Biden was working on his son Hunter’s business deals! Unbelievable that this only comes out and he starts getting noticed on inauguration day after the guy already took the oath of office.
Here is an interview with him:…
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt Accused of Attempting to Buy His Way Into the Biden White House
And just like that, former Google CEO Eric Schmidt raises his head — in multiple roles — as the US embraces its new administration.
But it is not Schmidt’s way to do this very openly and directly — and so reports are now investigating the manner in which he may be involved, and benefit from the new configuration of power in Washington — other than as the chairman of the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence, an advisory board to the White House and Congress.
There, he is apparently already veering close to a conflict of interest situation, while pushing for more spy and defense agencies to adopt what is at this point the only truly viable — though small — subset of the often maligned Artificial Intelligence (AI) industry: machine learning (ML).
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Fury as National Guardsmen in D.C. Forced to Sleep Outside and in a Garage
Photos and video have emerged of thousands of National Guardsmen in D.C. forced to sleep OUTSIDE and in a parking Garage near the Capitol building after a Democratic lawmaker complained that ONE guardsmen was not wearing a face mask.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Gov. Whitmer Eases Restaurant Restrictions to Allow in-Person Dining
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer announced she will be easing restaurant restrictionsand will allow for in-person dining to resume on February 1.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Hate Crime? Police Say Criminal Freed From Jail, Shoots and Murders a Man Walking His Dog
One of two men allegedly involved in the January 13th murder of a 25-year-old Temple University graduate who was simply walking his dog when he was fatally shot, was said to have bonded out of jail 16 days prior to the murder via dramatically reduced bail amounts granted by two judges.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Industrial-Scale Election Fraud — Did it Happen?
The 2020 presidential election had massive, organized, discoverable fraud in most of the swing states.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Joe Biden’s Administration Hid Secret Job Offer on White House’s Website
Joe Biden’s administration has hidden a secret job offer on the White House’s website. One social media user first noticed that the website has a function, which paints every white section into black. Responding to the tweet, another netizen said that he discovered that the website’s code has a secret message which reads: “If you’re reading this, we need your help building back better.” Next to the message there was a link to the website of United States Digital Service (USDS).
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Man Suspected of Setting Fire to Church and Painting ‘Jesus is Black’ Kills Cop in Shootout
In the wee hours of the morning on Monday, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, an arsonist spray-painted the message, “Jesus is Black” in a Roman Catholic Church in Toledo, Ohio, while setting fire to parts of the church. Police later caught up to the suspect, 27-year-old Christopher A. Harris. Harris shot and killed a police officer in a shootout that also claimed his life. Harris’s Facebook account includes multiple posts with the message, “Jesus is Black,” and one post evoking King’s assassination days before the church arson.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Microsoft Granted Patent to Reanimate Dead People as 3D ‘Chatbots’
Microsoft has been granted a patent for technology that would “reanimate” the dead by re-creating them via social media posts, videos and private messages that could even be downloaded into a 3D lifelike model of the deceased.
Not creepy at all.
“The tech giant has raised the possibility of creating an AI-based chatbot that would be built upon the profile of a person, which includes their “images, voice data, social media posts, electronic messages,” among other types of personal information,” reports IGN. “It’s understood that the chatbot would then be able to simulate human conversation through voice commands and/or text chats.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Mother Alone With 8-Year-Old Shoots Alleged Home Invader
A mother in Sugar Land, Texas shot a man invading her home early this morning.
KHOU 11 says the woman told police that she heard a noise coming from the back door, she saw it was someone trying to get in and shot him in the chest.
The suspect then ran off, but was later taken to hospital after having been found in the streets.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Update (1020ET): National Guardsmen have been allowed back into the Capitol Complex after outrage erupted over their Thursday eviction to nearby parking garages.
According to CNN, one Guardsman said that they are now allowed to rest in the US Capitol Visitor Center.
Meanwhile, Donald Trump has reportedly given permission for troops to stay at Trump Hotel DC if needed.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Nearly Half of Portland Antifa Inauguration Day Riot Arrestees Were Arrested at Riots Last Year
Many of the suspects charged at the Inauguration Day Black Lives Matter-Antifa riots in Portland, Ore. on Wednesday were previously arrested and released at other riots throughout 2020.
On Jan. 20, BLM-Antifa rioted in Portland in coordination with other pre-announced Antifa-themed violent protests in Seattle and Denver.
Around 150 Antifa dressed in black first rallied in the afternoon at Revolution Hall in southeast Portland behind banners that read, “WE DON’T WANT BIDEN—WE WANT REVENGE,” “WE ARE UNGOVERNABLE” and “A NEW WORLD FROM THE ASHES.” The banners were accompanied with symbols of communism, anarchism, a Kalashnikov rifle and the Iron Front logo.
Antifa then marched unimpeded to the headquarters of the Democratic Party of Oregon where they proceeded to smash windows one-by-one using hammers, batons and other tools. They then pulled dumpsters into the street and started a fire.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
PayPal Shuts Down Account of Capitol Rioter After She Solicits Funding for Legal Fees
A Texas woman who reportedly flew a private plane to the Capitol riot has had her Paypal account shut down. Jenna Ryan claims that she raised $1,000 for legal fees and other losses as a result of her arrest, which prompted Paypal to take her account down.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
People Are Flocking to South Dakota
47th by population size. 4th by influx
A survey by United Van Lines this month ranked the state fourth in the nation as a destination for people moving across state lines. That’s pretty significant considering that South Dakota ranks 47th in states by population.
Other states that people moved to were those like Tennessee, Florida, and Arizona, while people were fleeing states like New Jersey, California, New York, and Illinois.
I wonder why that could possibly be?
The survey closely resembles a similar report from U-Haul this month, showing people flocking away from lockdowns and regulations and toward places where they can be free. It turns out, people have a penchant for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
People in These Five States Say ‘Get Me Outta Here’
Key Takeaways from the 2020 Migration Report
- People are fleeing California for Texas and Idaho
- Illinois, New York, and New Jersey are the three states with the most outbound moves.
- The top five inbound states in 2020 are Idaho, Arizona, Tennessee, South Carolina, and North Carolina, with Tennessee overtaking South Carolina from the 2019 results.
- Florida, Texas, and Colorado round out the top eight states for inbound moves.
- Despite pandemic, people continued to move at rates comparable to 2019
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Pipe Bomb Found at Colorado High School
A suspicious package located on an Englewood high school football field has been deemed an active explosive device according to the Denver Post. The pipe bomb was found at around 4 p.m. on January 16 at the Englewood Alternative High School located at 300 W. Chenango Avenue. Police announced on Thursday that the discovery of the suspicious package was in fact an active explosive.
| — Hat tip: Dean | [Return to headlines] |
The media has been airing discussion of hosts and leading figures like Katie Couric on “deprogramming “Trump supporters or treating Trump supporters as a cult, including a CNN interview with an actual “cult expert.” Since that would include over 70 million Trump voters, the hyperbolic language can be dismissed as just more examples of our rage-filled political environment. After all, a few days after the election, a law professor declared that even questioning the Biden electoral victory was tantamount to being a holocaust denier. One professor however has taken this call even further in declaring such supporters are worse than the Nazis and heralding the need for the same type of purging seen with the Nuremberg trials, including the apparent elimination of the Republican Party. Smith College Professor Loretta Ross, who teaches women’s and gender studies, rejected calls for unity and instead called for punitive action against supporters in Congress, universities, and “regular jobs.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Rep. Marjorie Greene Officially Files Articles of Impeachment Against Joe Biden
Following through on a promise she made the day Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi pushed through the second impeachment of then-President Donald Trump, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) officially filed articles of impeachment against President Biden on Thursday.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Right on Cue for Biden, WHO Admits High-Cycle PCR Tests Produce COVID False Positives
Were the ‘conspiracy theorists’ just proven right about the “fake rescue plan” for COVID?
Did the ‘science-deniers’ just get confirmation that it was political after all?
The short answer to both of these questions regarding the COVID-19 ‘casedemic’ and the fallacy of asymptomatic PCR testing is YES and YES!
We have detailed the controversy surrounding America’s COVID “casedemic” and the misleading results of the PCR test and its amplification procedure in great detail over the past few months.
As a reminder, “cycle thresholds” (Ct) are the level at which widely used polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test can detect a sample of the COVID-19 virus. The higher the number of cycles, the lower the amount of viral load in the sample; the lower the cycles, the more prevalent the virus was in the original sample.
Numerous epidemiological experts have argued that cycle thresholds are an important metric by which patients, the public, and policymakers can make more informed decisions about how infectious and/or sick an individual with a positive COVID-19 test might be. However, as JustTheNews reports, health departments across the country are failing to collect that data.
In fact, as far back as October, we brought the world’s attention to the COVID-19 “casedemic” and the disturbing reality of high-cycle threshold PCR tests being worse than useless as indicators of COVID-19 “sickness”. PJMedia’s Stacey Lennox said at the time:
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Schumer Agrees to Delay Trump’s Second Impeachment Trial Until February 8
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced Friday that the impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump will be delayed two weeks, as requested by Republicans. Republican Minority Leader Mitch McConnell had asked for the delay to allow the former president’s lawyers an opportunity to prepare his legal defense.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Sen. Grassley Criticizes Biden for Silence on Recent Violence in Portland and Seattle
Iowa Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley is criticizing President Biden for remaining silent about the recent criminal actions of radical activists in Portland, Oregon, and Seattle, Washington.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Sen. Cruz Dons “Come and Take It” Face Mask for Biden’s Inauguration
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) wore a mask depicting the historic Gonzales flag to President Joe Biden’s inauguration on Wednesday.
The iconic Texas flag memorializes the words of Texans in the town of Gonzales in 1835 when Mexican General Santa Anna told them to surrender their cannon. The line “come and take it” has been used throughout history, including American soldiers at Fort Morris in Georgia during the Revolutionary War. The phrase is said to originate with King Leonidas of Sparta when he was asked to lay down his weapons by the invading Xerxes of Persia.
Cruz’s decision to wear the mask was seen as a direct challenge to Biden’s gun policies, including his promises to ban the sale of “assault weapons” and “high capacity” magazines and implement a $200 tax on every existing rifle and magazine that fit his definitions.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Students in Anchorage Will be Forced to Kneel for Hours, No Recess
Some of the youngest students returning to classes today in Anchorage will enter a dystopian classroom world, where they must kneel for hours on end on the floor while masked, and have no recess or art or physical expression.
Pre-K-2, K-6, self-contained special needs programs, and the Whaley School (clarification, not pictured in this article) are returning to in-person learning at Anchorage School District classes on Tuesday, Jan. 19.
Parents who viewed the classroom above that their students will be returning to expressed shock: All desks have been removed. Students will kneel on gardening pads and use chairs as their desks for 5.5 hours.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Study: Lockdowns Caused 15 Thousand Deaths of Despair Among US Men Aged 15 to 55
If Covid isn’t killing younger people then the only other major explanation would be deaths of despair. Deaths caused by suicides and drug abuse due to the life-crushing effects of lockdowns. When you force the entire country into social isolation and upend people’s lives, people tend to get emotionally distraught. That’s why younger people are dying at higher rates than usual. To be fair the author writes,
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Texas Governor Orders Return of National Guardsmen After Parking Garage Scandal
After at least a thousand National Guardsmen were told they could no longer use space in the U.S. Capitol Complex and were moved to a nearby parking garage, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott ordered the return of Texas’s Guard troops to the state.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
The “Most Popular President in U.S. History” Isn’t Doing Too Well on YouTube
Despite being “the most popular president in U.S. history,” Joe Biden isn’t faring too well on YouTube since his inauguration, where every single video posted to the official White House channel this week has massive downvote ratios.
The media heralded Biden after he pulled off the *stunning* achievement of garnering the most votes in presidential history with over 81 million, beating Barack Obama’s previous record of 69.5 million.
However, Biden being the most popular person to win the Oval Office in history doesn’t seem to translate to enthusiasm for his speeches, which are typically watched online by a paltry amount of viewers.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
The EU Funded Open Society NGOs With Over $35 Million 2019
As part of an all-out attack on American freedom and conservative politics, Joe Biden has called for the Justice Department to reinstate a controversial Obama-era “slush fund” for left-wing organizations. A new report from the EU reveals how over $35 million in taxpayer money went to fund George Soros’ Open Society network 2019.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The New Domestic War on Terror is Coming
No speculation is needed. Those who wield power are demanding it. The only question is how much opposition they will encounter.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The Purge is on! Former CIA Chief Signals Deep State Coming for Conservatives
A new ‘MIAC report’ targeting Trump supporters is taking shape.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Trump Offers to Let National Guard Stay at the Trump Hotel D.C. After Parking Garage Outrage
Former President Trump has reportedly offered to let the National Guardsmen still stationed at the Capitol stay at his Trump Hotel in Washington D.C.
“Trump has given permission for the troops to stay at Trump Hotel DC if any of them need, an advisor told the One America News Network.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Twitter Suspends ‘Antifa’ Accounts With More Than 71k Followers
Twitter has suspended several popular accounts with alleged ties to Antifa — which have more than 71,000 followers combined — following the Inauguration Day riots.
At least four accounts tied with the militant group have been yanked offline — including @TheBaseBK, the account for the anarchist center in Bushwick, Brooklyn.
Archived web pages of the accounts show they shared more than 71,000 followers and dated as far back as 2012.
Their pages now read “Account suspended” for violating Twitter rules.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
In July 2019, the Washington Post published a feature on then-presidential candidate Kamala Harris and her sister which opened with a bizarre statement from Harris where she compared the challenges of the campaign trail with a prisoner begging for food and water.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Canadian Leaders Says Biden’s Decision to Halt Keystone Pipeline is “Deeply Disturbing”
Canadian lawmakers have voiced their disapproval of President Biden’s recent order to stop the installation of the Keystone XL pipeline, saying the decision was “deeply disturbing.”
In one of his first acts after taking office on Wednesday, Biden rescinded approval for the Keystone XL pipeline, an addition to the Keystone Pipeline System, which runs from Alberta, Canada, through North Dakota. The newest pipeline would have carried more than 830,000 barrels of crude oil a day.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Anti-Woke Party Calls on UK Govt to Follow Poland and ‘Outlaw Censorship’ Online
A newly founded British political party which says it wants to fight woke-culture is calling for Britain to follow Poland’s example by “outlawing censorship” online.
Reclaim, founded by actor Laurence Fox — who rose to prominence after he told a left-wing heckler on the BBC that “to call me a white, privileged male” and deny his right to an opinion on certain topics “is to be racist”, triggering a furious denouncement by an actors’ union — issued the call in a submission to the House of Lords Communications and Digital Committee.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Prime Minister Boris Johnson would not criticise President Joe Biden for removing the bust of Winston Churchill from the Oval Office — a symbol of strong Anglo-American relations — despite having done so when former President Barack Obama made the same gesture years before.
Mr Biden removed the bust of the wartime British leader, whose mother was American, from his White House office on Wednesday, replacing it with several other figures including those of Rosa Parks, Cesar Chavez, and Eleanor Roosevelt.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Brussels Judge Rules Mask Mandate Unconstitutional
A judge in Brussels has ruled government decrees ordering mask-wearing in most public areas of the Belgian capital are unconstitutional and violate the principles of “equality and non-discrimination,” according to reports.
In what is being called an “extremely remarkable verdict” that sets a landmark legal precedent in Belgium, judge Lionel Van Damme acquitted a man cited and fined by police in August for not wearing a face mask at a public market in Anderlecht.
“The judge ruled that making a mouth mask mandatory everywhere and at all times is disproportionate and contrary to the universal right to freedom of movement,” Het Nieuwsblad reports.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
EU Calls on Joe Biden to Crack Down on Online “Hate Speech”
As a number of EU member-states are expressing their consternation at the way speech is being suppressed on Big Tech companies’ social media arms in the wake of the unrest on Capitol Hill in Washington on January 6 — so the bloc’s “chief” — i.e., the head of the EU Commission, is hoping for more coordination with Biden’s incoming administration on regulating “hate speech and disinformation” online.
There, in the center of the operation, in Brussels and during a session of the European Parliament dedicated to the Biden inauguration, Germany’s former defense minister, now the head of EU’s 27-member executive branch, Ursula von der Leyen, offered some comments apparently hopeful that more coordinated online censorship might follow.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Emmanuel Macron’s government will drop a 2017 electoral reform promise, with former Interior Minister Christophe Castaner stating it would only help Marine Le Pen’s populist party.
Emmanuel Macron had pledged to reform the French election system to proportional representation during his candidacy for the presidency, but his government has now backed off from the idea, just a year before the next French presidential election.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Germany’s right-wing opposition party could be placed under surveillance for threatening the country’s political system and violating the constitution.
The Alternative for Germany (AfD) has been the subject of a two-year investigation over fears it has become more radical.
The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution — a body inspired by Allied forces who helped write a new German constitution after the Second World War — has identified cases of party politicians denigrating Muslim migrants to the country and trivialising its Nazi past, NPR reports.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
German Divers Find Six Enigma Machines in Baltic Sea
German divers accidentally found six Enigma encryption machines at the bottom of the Baltic Sea, Hungarian news agency MTI reports.
The historical finds were discovered near the island of Schleimünde, announced the Archaeological Office of Schleswig-Holstein. Christian Hüttner, who discovered the devices, said they were looking for a lost propeller when they came across the Enigma machines. He added that the encoders were apparently partially rendered unusable before they were disposed of.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Germany: Muslim Arrested for Getting Donations in Europe to Finance Jihad Group in Syria
Three other people were detained on similar charges last week. Apparently Merkel’s marvelous new multicultural Germany is a hub of jihad terror financing.
“German police arrest man as part of investigation into terrorist financing in Syria via Turkey,” News.am, January 16, 2021.
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Infectious Diseases Expert Says UK Lockdown is Not Working
Authored by Paul Joseph Watson via Summit News
Infectious diseases expert Professor Steven Riley says current data shows that the national lockdown in the United Kingdom is not working.
Riley, who is professor of infectious disease dynamics at Imperial College London, cited a React study which shows “the prevalence of infection increased between 6 and 15 January,” after the national lockdown was announced on January 4.
“It’s long enough that, were the lockdown working effectively, we would certainly have hoped to have seen a decline,” said Riley.
The professor added that current research “certainly doesn’t support the conclusion that lockdown is working.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Macron Decides France Won’t Apologize to Algeria for Colonization
French President Emmanuel Macron wants to take “symbolic steps” to come to terms with France’s colonial past in Algeria but is not considering an official apology, the president’s office reported. Macron thus responds to the results of a report on colonization and the war in Algeria, which he personally commissioned historian Benjamin Stora to write.
Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune said last year that his country expected an official apology from France for the colonial occupation, the AP agency said.
The 150-page report, which Stora has been working on since July last year, aims to provide “a fair and accurate inventory of progress in France on the memory of colonization and the Algerian War,” wrote AFP.
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Nissan Boss: ‘Brexit Gives US the Competitive Advantage’
Nissan’s chief operating officer has said that Brexit “is a positive” for the carmaker, and that it will be moving battery production from Japan to Britain.
“Brexit for Nissan is a positive. We’ll take this opportunity to redefine the auto industry in the UK. In certain conditions, our competitiveness is improved. For some of the cases, it is at par. It depends on which car, but competitiveness is definitely improved in electric vehicles,” said Ashwani Gupta, speaking from Yokohama, Japan.
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One Year Too Late: UK Govt Considering Border Closure
One year after the world media started reporting on cases of a deadly virus in China, the British government has said it is “considering” sealing its borders.
Environment Secretary George Eustace told Sky News on Friday that “everything is always kept under review”, when asked whether the government would shut down the UK’s external borders to foreign travellers in order to stop importing new cases or strains of the Chinese coronavirus.
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Polish Government Wants Diplomatic Status for Comatose Pole in UK’s Plymouth Hospital
Polish Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau has stated that he has requested that the United Kingdom grant diplomatic status to a Polish citizen who is in a Plymouth hospital suffering from brain damage, which will enable Polish consul to visit him.
The Polish citizen, who has lived in Britain for over a decade, suffered from cardiac arrest, leading his heart to stop for 45 minutes. As a result, he suffered brain damage which has led British doctors to recommend that life support be turned off.
That recommendation has been approved by the British courts and the man’s wife and children, but has been contested by the man’s mother and sisters. The mother and sisters are fighting to ensure life support remains, and if necessary, for their relative to be transported to Poland. The Polish government has indicated that it is willing to transport and receive the patient for care.
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Portuguese PM Sets Worrying Tone for Portuguese Presidency of European Council
In his speech delivered in the European Parliament, Portuguese Prime Minister António Costa has outlined his vision for the coming Portuguese presidency, including issues regarding migration, the rule of law and tackling the pandemic.
The socialist politician has emphasized what he called a “strategic autonomy” that Europeans must follow, effectively outlining a vision of weaning Europe off a fractured American foreign policy, and also following its own path in finding a strategy to fight the global coronavirus crisis. Although he had referred to the inauguration of US President Joe Biden that was being held almost simultaneously in warm words, he had signaled the formation of a new, more independent EU, that would compete on the world stage with the US and other major powers on equal terms.
In his reference to the question of migration, he has emphasized that Portugal intends to give a “maximum political impulse” to the New Pact on Migration and Asylum.
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Police have been contacted and politicians outraged after “racist” and “offensive” posters saying ‘it’s okay to be white’ and ‘white lives matter’ were seen in Edinburgh, Scotland.
The stickers were discovered in the Morningside — a well-known and well-to-do area in the Scottish capital with a reputation for snootiness — by a local woman, who moved quickly to rip them down and contact the city council and community council, who referred the matter to the police.
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UK Police Officer Charged After Posting George Floyd Meme
In the UK, a police officer has been officially charged for sending an “offensive” George Floyd meme to a WhatsApp group for colleagues. The death of George Floyd last May sparked racial injustice protests worldwide, including the UK.
Sgt. Geraint Jones, of the Devon and Cornwall police force in southwest England, allegedly sent a meme of George Floyd to fellow officers in a WhatsApp group. The meme was sent on May 30, five days after the death of Floyd. The image was reported to higher-ups by a fellow police officer.
We have not been able to obtain a copy of this meme to determine how “offensive” the meme supposedly was.
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UK: Boris Says it’s ‘Too Early’ To Say if Lockdown Will End by Spring
The British government continues to avoid giving a deadline to the end of England’s third lockdown, with Prime Minister Boris Johnson saying it is “too early to say” if restrictions could even begin to be lifted by Spring.
Asked by the BBC on Thursday whether shutdown could be lifted by the next season, Mr Johnson said: “I think it’s too early to say when we will lift some of the restrictions.”
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A classic car company in Darlington, north England, has been forced to pay a settlement of almost £30,000 to a former employee who was terminated over a Facebook post. The court ruled that the employee was dismissed unfairly.
Michael Austin, who worked as a paint sprayer, won an employment tribunal case against A1M Retro Classics, his former employer. His termination followed a Facebook post where he complained about his boss, the manager of the company, Matthew Robinson.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Although the numbers of deaths attributed to the virus in the UK are higher than they’ve ever been, in total, not many more people are dying than in any other cold season. Is the mainstream media finally waking up to this?
A recent article in the Telegraph is one of the first in a mainstream outlet to even suggest a challenge to the official coronavirus narrative. These days, that narrative claims that the ‘second wave’ is actually deadlier than the first. (Recently, some Branch Covidians have been claiming a ‘third wave’, but there is not yet a united front on that.)
The basic reasoning of the article is sound, even if it is long overdue. It laments how every day, the media solemnly reports the latest figures on Covid deaths. Presenting this figure in isolation results in graphs such as this one, which does indeed seem to show that we are at the height of a second, worse phase of a pandemic. But, like any statistics, daily death numbers are meaningless without context, which the media rarely provides.
They do not provide context because, if they did, the public might see a graph such as this one, from the Telegraph article. It quite clearly shows the spring spike in overall mortality, which was caused by Covid (plus lockdowns). After that ends in summer, we see… nothing. Overall mortality ever since, even through this winter, hovers at around the five-year average. And overall mortality, as I’ve repeatedly pointed out, is the only true way to know whether you are in a pandemic or not — all other figures can easily be fiddled.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Police Raid Wedding in London School With 400 Guests
British police said on Friday they had raided a wedding with 400 guests in a London school, as the government began a crackdown on illicit parties flouting national lockdown laws.
Under current lockdown rules in England, weddings can only take place in “exceptional circumstances” with up to six people present.
Officers found hundreds of people at the school, whose windows had been covered up, with Detective Chief Superintendent Marcus Barnett calling it “a completely unacceptable breach of the law”.
The organiser could face a £10,000 ($13,600, 11,200-euro) fine, police said. While many of the guests fled the scene, five were fined £200.
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Back to the Endless Wars: US Military Convoy Enters Northeast Syria
This is one of the primary reasons why Trump is no longer president: he took on the military-industrial complex that finds these wars profitable. They proved too powerful and too well-connected to be defeated. And so now Americans will once again expend their blood and treasure in conflicts that cannot conceivably be solved by American intervention and in which we have no national security or any other interest.
“US military convoy enters northeast Syria: report,” i24News, January 22, 2021.
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ISIS Takes Credit for Baghdad Bombings
The Islamic State has claimed it carried out the twin suicide bombings that took place in Baghdad this week, killing 32 people and wounding 110 others.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Twitter Suspends Iran’s Supreme Leader’s Account After Threatening Post
Twitter has suspended the account of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei after he posted a photoshopped image of a figure meant to look like former President Donald Trump on a golf course being targeted by a missile strike.
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“As for those who disbelieve, I will punish them with a heavy punishment in this world and the hereafter, and they will have no helpers.” (Qur’an 3:56)
“Posters Circulating from Imam Syuhada’s Da’wah Call Christmas the Source of Natural Disasters,” translated from “Beredar Poster Pendakwah Imam Syuhada Sebut Natal Sumber Bencana Alam,” by Fachri Djaman, Terkini.id, January 19, 2021 (thanks to The Religion of Peace).
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Japan Seeks to Completely Cancel Tokyo Olympics Due to COVID-19
Japanese authorities have quietly discussed canceling completely the Tokyo Olympics that were originally planned for summer 2020 due to COVID-19, hoping to secure a new bid in the near future to host the games.
Polls show that 80% of the Japanese population is also against hosting the Olympics at this time. A sharp increase in coronavirus cases this winter has added to the negative sentiment.
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It is virtually certain that no authorities in the Philippines, or anywhere else, are investigating how and why this understanding of Islam is so prevalent worldwide and so persistent, and why the true, peaceful Islam that non-Muslim officials around the world assume exists is unable to withstand challenge from this supposedly twisted, hijacked version.
“Philippine Commander: Suspected Indonesian Bomber Says Parents Forced Her to Join IS,” BenarNews, January 15, 2021.
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There is no doubt that al-Shabaab is operating with increasing impunity inside Kenya; see, for example, here and here. Al-Shabaab is also flush with cash, collecting more every month than the Somali government. That means that even if Roba is exaggerating, al-Shabaab is emboldened, and will be even more by the weakness and appeasement of jihad groups that the Biden administration will initiate soon.
“Mandera is at risk of being under Shabaab,” by Ali Roba, The Standard, January 12, 2021 (thanks to Oliver).
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Brazil Says ‘No’ To Great Reset: ‘Totalitarian Social Control is Not the Remedy for Any Crisis’
Brazil’s minister of foreign affairs says “no” to the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) proposed “great reset” agenda, telling the United Nations (UN) special session on COVID-19 that “totalitarian social control is not the remedy for any crisis.”
On December 3, Brazil’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Ernesto Araujo rebuked the WEF’s technocratic “great reset” of society and the global economy in a recorded speech before the special session of the UN.
Although Araujo did not say the words “great reset” or “World Economic Forum” during his speech to the UN, he made it abundantly clear in a tweet the following day that he was referring to the “great reset” agenda in his speech.
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Denmark Sets a Target of Zero Asylum Seeker Applications to Protect ‘Social Cohesion’
Denmark’s prime minister today set a target to drive down the country’s asylum seeker applications to zero to protect ‘social cohesion’.
The country is already seeing the lowest number of asylum seekers since 1998, with 1,547 people applying in 2020. By comparison, applications in the UK were 32,423 last year.
‘We cannot promise zero asylum seekers, but we can set up that vision,’ Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said in parliament.
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France: Prosecutors to Indict Nine Migrants for Death of Transgender Prostitute
The Paris prosecutor’s office is seeking to indict nine migrants for the murder of 36-year-old transgender prostitute Vanesa Campos who was killed in August 2018.
Campos, originally from Peru, was found dying by other prostitutes in the Bois de Boulogne park in Paris’s 16th district on the night of August 16th.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Given the hostility to the police that they’re already demonstrating, what are the chances that the new arrivals will become loyal Spanish citizens? What does that say about the future of Spain?
“The Police warn of the risk of ghettos forming in the Canary Islands: ‘There is a lack of troops,’“ translated from “La Policia advierte del riesgo de que se formen guetos en Canarias: “Faltan efectivos”,” by Cynthia Diaz Nobile, OK Diario, January 19, 2021 (thanks to Andrés).
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
An Iranian asylum seeker who twice tried to ferry a total of 36 fellow migrants across the Channel in overloaded dinghies — the UK’s biggest people smuggling bid using rubber boats — has been jailed for two years.
Fouad Kakaei was sentenced after being found to be in charge of piloting the cramped vessels during the attempted crossing.
The 30-year-old steered the inflatable boats from France to the UK coast — first with 27 people, then after that bid failed, with another 11 passengers.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Even if You Don’t Get the Joke, Online Parody is Protected Speech
What’s good for the goose — must be good for the gander, too? The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) grapples with the idea.
Comedy in general, satire, parody, new forms of these expressions contained, for example, in memes — many of those have been suffering under the boot of mounting online censorship for years now.
Most of the time we hear about these being suppressed to stifle conservative voices — but guess what, there’s still the “1 percent” that falls into another category. Yet when all’s said and done — it should be about people looking at the problem of censorship, overreach, and authorities’ overreaction in and of itself — rather than looking at each other, as some sort of “sworn enemies.”
But now, a group like the EFF feel the need to clarify, in announcing an amicus brief — a filing offering expertise that a court will then decide to either consider or reject — that even if you don’t get or like the joke, it still has the right to exist.
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Odysee is a video sharing app that’s built on the open-source, decentralized, blockchain-based LBRY network.
The use of this LBRY network as a foundation gives Odysee several distinct advantages over centralized video sharing platforms where a single company controls the data. These advantages include greater resilience to censorship, lower fees on tips and donations, and more transparency around how its features work.
Since its beta launch in September 2020 and full launch in November 2020, Odysee has become the most popular LBRY app and already has millions of users and uploads.
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Canadian Leaders…Keystone Pipeline
Trudeau, like his old man Pierre, merely shrugs at Biden’s decision. It’s basically “If that’s his campaign promise, then he has a right to do it”. Trudeau doesn’t give a damn about anything west of Toronto and that’s a fact. He might fly into Vancouver to ski on some mountain there but that’s it. Trudeau literally thinks Canadian history began when his old man became prime minister in 1968 and all that other stuff that happened a 100 years before isn’t the “real” Canada. I’m not making this up but Trudeau in 2017, when Canada was having it’s 150th anniversary, actually thanked the Muslim community for their 150 years of contributions to Canada !! As if John A. Macdonald, or even later Wilfred Laurier, were letting them into the country to “contribute” anything to the country. Were Canadians, struggling under the 1930s depression , begging Mackenzie King to let Muslims in so they could “contribute” to the nation ? Trudeau has no idea what Canada is or it’s history. Yet he’s the PM because Toronto, Montreal and the leftists in the Maritimes vote him in. There’s rumors of him calling a Spring election and I have no doubt the Liberals will “win” again.
The only major leaders in Canada who will stick up for the pipeline are Jason Kenney (premier of Alberta) and Scott Moe (premier of Saskatchewan). I think they’re getting some support from the Montana and Oklahoma governors – but with Mad Joe in the White House it probably won’t do any good.
From now on, they will always win… Some countries in Europe still hand count real ballots. But that too is changing.