Gates of Vienna News Feed 1/27/2021

The German government is considering closing the border and banning most air travel in an attempt to slow the spread of COVID-19. Meanwhile, police raided illegal lockdown-violating parties in Zimbabwe, the UK, Thailand, Iceland, and Israel.

In other news, lawyers for Ghislaine Maxwell filed a motion to have the charges against their client dismissed, due to the fact that the jury empanelled to hear her case is too white.

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

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

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

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

Financial Crisis
» Biden Administration is “Monitoring” Marketwide Short Squeeze
» Discord Bans WallStreetBets for “Hate Speech”
» Financial Elite Big Mad as Gamestop Saga Accelerates!
» Gamestop: Wall Street Rattled by Populist Takeover!
» In Unprecedented Move, TD Ameritrade Puts “Restrictions” On Transactions in GME, AMC
» Most Shorted Names Soar After WallStreetBets Reopens
» Most Shorted Stocks Update: Here Come the Microcaps
» Reddit Takes on Wall Street as Elites Are Angry Internet Users Can Meme a Stock to New Heights
» Stunning Short-Squeeze Sparks Hedge Fund Hell, Bitcoin & Big-Tech Battered
» The Next Melvin? Maplelane Loses 33% on Shorts This Month, Steve Cohen Down 15%
 
USA
» “Experts” Now Say Americans Should Wear Three Masks
» Biden Chief of Staff Offers Support for Teachers’ Unions Refusing to Reopen Schools
» Biden Administration Sued for Halting Oil, Gas Leasing on Federal Lands
» Biden Assembling Commission to Study Supreme Court Reform
» Biden Signs Executive Order to Ban the Term ‘China Virus’
» Bill Gates Shocked by “Crazy Conspiracy Theories” About COVID-19
» Cicada Mania Begins This Spring; Hungry Americans May be Eating Insects
» Conservative Journalist Andy Ngo Flees the Country Over Antifa Death Threats
» DHS Issues New Terror Advisory on “Domestic Violent Extremists” Who “Object to Presidential Transition”
» Did America’s Anti-Cop Movement Lead to Largest Homicide Increase in US History?
» Facebook Suspends Users for Criticizing Biden’s Transgender Policy, Calls it “Incitement”
» Flashback: Biden Said ‘You Can’t Legislate by Executive Orders Unless You’re a Dictator’
» Florida Man Arrested Over 2016 Election Memes Designed to “Trick” Hillary Voters
» Florida Teachers Working Remotely Amid COVID Caught ‘Partying, Traveling and Failing to Wear Masks’
» Food Network Show Winner Who Railed Against “White Privilege” Charged With Killing Her Adopted, White Daughter
» Ghislaine Maxwell Tries to Get Charges Dropped by Claiming Jury is Too White
» Google Stops Donations to Republicans Who Questioned Election Results
» Man Pleads Guilty in Conspiracy to Kidnap Gov. Gretchen Whitmer
» Mississippi Homeowner Meets 2 Armed Men at His Front Door, Shoots and Kills 1
» Newsweek Edits 2015 News Article to Justify Recently-Published Hit-Piece
» No President in History Has Been Treated So Badly
» Petition Calls for the Resignation of a School Board Member After Retweet About Dr. Rachel Levine
» Proud Boys Leader Was ‘Prolific’ FBI Snitch: Court Docs
» Rand Paul: Dems Are ‘Angry, Unhinged, Deranged by Their Hatred’ of Trump
» Seeing Through the Fog
» Sen. Kennedy: ‘Mad Max’ Scenes in DC Are Elite’s Way of Demanding Fear
» Twitter’s “Birdwatch” Misinformation Feature is Already Off to a Biased Start
» Two Brothers Reveal Obama’s “Moral Compass” Raped Them When They Were 12
» Video: Biden Struggles to Put Pen in Suit Pocket, Eventually Gives Up and Puts it in His Pants
 
Canada
» Court Date! RCMP Issue Summons to Whistle Stop Cafe Owner for Defying Alberta Lockdown
» Security Kicks Shopper With Cerebral Palsy (And a Legal Mask Exemption) Out of Manitoba Walmart
 
Europe and the EU
» 131 Arrested on ‘Calmer’ Night of Dutch Coronavirus Curfew
» ‘Barbaric Murder’ — Comatose Polish Man Dies in UK Hospital After Life Support Removed
» Belgium: Young Muslims Three Times More Likely to be Antisemitic, Homophobic Than Atheists Counterparts: Study
» Conservative MP Calls for GPS Tracking of Brits to Ensure COVID Compliance
» Farage: ‘Nasty, Vindictive’ EU Threats on Vaccines Shows UK Was Right to Vote Leave
» French Police: YouTuber Stages Video of Police Attack to Obtain Victim Status
» French Rural Areas See ‘Explosion’ of Delinquency and Violence
» Germany Looking at Air Travel Ban and Border Shutdowns in Bid to Curb Spread of COVID-19 Variants
» Germany: Meet Angela Merkel’s Second Successor
» Germany: Anti-Immigration Party AfD Party Labeled ‘Suspected Case’, Paves Way for Mass Surveillance of Members in Saxony-Anhalt
» Govt Minister Tells Breitbart Poland Will Regulate Big Tech to Protect Freedom of Speech
» Hungary Readies New Anti-Censorship Law Against Global Tech Giants
» Iceland: Reykjavik Police Raid Illegal Party
» Italy: ER Doctor Arrested for Giving Lethal Drugs to 2 Patients
» Survey: Amid COVID-19 Pandemic Increasing Number of Poles Fear Losing Their Jobs
» UK: 92 Fines Handed Out in Scarborough for Indoor Gatherings
» UK: HS2 Protesters Reportedly Still Inside Secret Tunnel Network Despite Evictions
» UK: Khan’s London: Shootings Rise in ‘Gun-Free’ Capital Despite Lockdown
» UK: South Woodford Flat ‘Has Parties Several Times a Week During Lockdown’
 
North Africa
» Libya: CNN Says Russian Mercenaries Digging Giant Trench
 
Israel and the Palestinians
» Police Break Up Illegal Gatherings in Beit Shemesh, Beitar Illit
 
Middle East
» New York Times Writer Arrested as Secret Iran Agent Acknowledges He Was Paid by Iranian Government
» Syria: 2.5 Million Children Without School, UNICEF
 
Russia
» Putin Warns of Conflict That Would Mean “End of Our Civilization”
 
South Asia
» 89 Foreigners, Including US Citizens, Arrested at Thai Bar Flouting COVID-19 Rules
» India to Impose Permanent Ban on 59 Chinese Apps, Including TikTok
 
Far East
» Google Claims North Korean Hackers Penetrate Security Researchers’ ‘Up-to-Date Windows 10 Versions’
 
Australia — Pacific
» Australia is Set to Fight Forced Muslim Labour in China With Import Bans on Goods Made in ‘Re-Education Camps’
» Climate Activists Block Railway Track in Coal Transportation Protest
» Families at a Beautiful National Park in Victoria Are Left Horrified by Group of ‘Neo-Nazi Skinheads’ Singing Waltzing Matilda, Performing Nazi Salutes and Getting Drunk While Shouting ‘White Power’
» Google Revives Plans to Launch Its Own Australian News Website as Early as Next Month Amid Fight With Government to Force Search Giant to Pay Providers for Content
» Police Charge FOURTEEN Teenagers After a Man Was Allegedly Stabbed Multiple Times During a Gang-Related Fight at a Sydney Train Station
» Tarras Airport Plan: Climate Activists Disrupt Christchurch Council Meeting in Protest
» Why Aussies Are Suddenly Afraid of Flag Waving, Bucket Hats and Showing National Pride — as ‘Invasion Day’ Goes Mainstream and Anyone Celebrating January 26 is Publicly Shamed
 
Sub-Saharan Africa
» Zimbabwe: More Lockdown Violators Arrested at Another Party
 
Immigration
» Study: 14.5M Illegal Aliens Living in U.S., Costing Americans $134B a Year
 
Culture Wars
» Christian Professor Attacked for “Transphobia” At Baylor University
» Conservative Outlet Epoch Times Demonetized by YouTube
» More Evidence Proves Lockdowns Are a Dangerous Lie
» The Police State is Coming for “Religious Extremists”, “Evangelical Christians”, “Pro-Life” Activists and “Libertarians”
» YouTube Strips Rising Media Company Epoch Times of Ability to Monetize Video Content
 

Biden Administration is “Monitoring” Marketwide Short Squeeze

Following the last several sessions of massive short squeezes in numerous stocks, including Gamestop, AMC Entertainment Holdings, BlackBerry Limited, among others, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki addressed these issues with reporters on Wednesday afternoon, saying that the Biden administration, including Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, are “monitoring” the situation in the stock market (which, needless to say, is a bit odd — the president rarely monitors the market when a cabal of hedge funds manages to ramp a stock 100%, 200%, or more, yet when retail investors do it… time for alarm).

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

Discord Bans WallStreetBets for “Hate Speech”

Over the last couple of days, stories of internet users meming stocks to new heights have dominated the news cycle. In response, entrenched powerful institutions such as the mainstream media have scrambled to find ways to clamp down on this phenomenon.

One of the tactics these mainstream media outlets have deployed is amplifying calls for regulators to step in and “manage the situation.” Such calls place pressure on Big Tech platforms to take action and suppress the conversations themselves to stave off the implied threat of regulation.

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

Financial Elite Big Mad as Gamestop Saga Accelerates!

Media talking heads are calling for a crackdown on a Reddit community that launched a “financial French Revolution” against Wall Street.

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

Gamestop: Wall Street Rattled by Populist Takeover!

Hedge fund billionaires are fuming as a Reddit-driven populist takeover of Wall Street sent shockwaves through the financial establishment!

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

In Unprecedented Move, TD Ameritrade Puts “Restrictions” On Transactions in GME, AMC

With the move higher in GME seemingly unstoppable…

[…]and with the SEC silent and refusing to step in and bailout the millions of shorts who remain trampled by the short squeeze stampede, the exchanges have decided to step in and moments ago TD Ameritrade was the first brokerage to announce that “in the interest of mitigating risk for our company and clients”, the company has put in place several restrictions in GME, AMC and other securities.

The brokerage said that it imposed these unprecedented unilateral — as in not mandated by either a regulator or the government — actions “out of an abundance of caution amid unprecedented market conditions and other factors.”

Expect many more exchanges to follow suit, because hedge funds clearly need to be protected when faced with the retail daytrading mob.

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

Most Shorted Names Soar After WallStreetBets Reopens

Update 745pm ET: And just like that, 1 hour after reddit locked down its notorious r/WallStreetBets forum, it has returned, and not only that but the chaos over recent events just assured that tomorrow it will have a record day in new members.

The forum’s return came shortly after another notorious daytrader, Dave Portnoy vowed revenge for the downing of the portal, and in addition to revealing that he owns $1MM of AMC and NOK and may buy more, said that tomorrow would be the biggest day yet.

More importantly, however, after tumbling earlier following the news of WSB’s lockdown, the most shorted stocks have again exploded higher with GME surging from a low of $220 back to $300…

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

Most Shorted Stocks Update: Here Come the Microcaps

Late on Friday, in what could be the most profitable post in our 12 year history, we hinted (since we are not “advisors”) to all those who had missed what we thought at the time was the “unprecedented” move in GME stock (which in retrospect was merely an appetizer to the main course which has since sent the stock 6x higher to $385 today) to look at all the other most shorted small cap companies in the Russell 3000 — specifically those with a short interest at 50% or more of float listed below…

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

Reddit Takes on Wall Street as Elites Are Angry Internet Users Can Meme a Stock to New Heights

The internet has allowed everyday people to seize control in a way they haven’t before — and that’s why powerful entities are always looking to stop it.

Whether it’s citizen journalism or memeing a president into The White House, media, hedge funds managers, bankers and others are always trying to silence the people in an attempt to maintain control.

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), mainstream media, and hedge funds are trying to find a way to control online conversations where they concern suspected posting of information whose goal is to “hype stocks.”

This is going to open another front in the “war on misinformation” on the internet, likely equally as controversial as all the previous ones, as reports suggest the SEC will have a hard time discerning legitimate opinion about a certain stock and freely sharing that opinion, from somebody’s premeditated scheme to drive the price up.

It’s no coincidence that these musings on regulating the internet in this context come as the fascinating story of the GameStop retailer has been developing in recent weeks.

The company’s shares more than quadrupled in that time, with the buying driven and given a huge boost by commentary posted on online communities like Reddit’s WallStreetBets.

Playing the stock market game by the rules established by entities like hedge funds, a large number of retail traders have now come together to benefit from those same rules in the GameStop case.

By using market tools available to them, they realized that they can “overpower any institution or short seller in the world, outside of the Fed, of course,” Timothy Collins wrote for Real Money, commenting on the GameStop phenomenon.

But even though the brick-and-mortar business, described in reports as a “beloved meme stock” over on WallStreetBets, is enjoying success in the stock market, one group of players has been hurting, at least for the time being: those billionaire hedge funds who had decided to short GameStop’s stock.

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

Stunning Short-Squeeze Sparks Hedge Fund Hell, Bitcoin & Big-Tech Battered

An index of the “most-shorted” stocks in the US equity market is up a stunning 54% in January. For context, it was up 49% in the entirety of 2020, one of its greatest years ever.

And as shorts were squeezed drastically, hedge funds were forced to liquidate their favorite longs (and likely most liquid) to cover the margin calls and/or losses on the shorts…

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

The Next Melvin? Maplelane Loses 33% on Shorts This Month, Steve Cohen Down 15%

Yesterday, in the aftermath of the spectacular collapse of Melvin Capital which only exists because Citadel’s Ken Griffin and Point72’s SAC’s Steve Cohen gave it $2.75BN to pay for a margin call, we speculated that the option heavy, short-focused Maplelane Capital (established in 2010 by a former PM at the disgraced tech-focused hedge fund Galleon) and was full to the gills with puts on names that had exploded in recent days, could be the next major hedge fund to blow up.

Today, Bloomberg read our article and reported that — as we expected — “Maplelane Capital, a $3.5 billion stock hedge fund, lost about 33% this month through Tuesday in part because of a short position on GameStop Corp., according to investors.”

While we didn’t know the exact number, it’s clear that it would be bad.

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

“Experts” Now Say Americans Should Wear Three Masks

Citing researchers at Virginia Tech, CNBC says that Americans should consider wearing THREE face masks in order to protect against the spread of COVID-19.

After Dr. Fauci asserted that wearing two face coverings instead of one would be “more effective” in stopping the virus, CNBC’s Contessa Brewer went even further.

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

Biden Chief of Staff Offers Support for Teachers’ Unions Refusing to Reopen Schools

Authored by Zachary Stieber via The Epoch Times

President Joe Biden’s chief of staff on Tuesday backed teachers’ unions that are refusing to return to schools for in-person learning, contradicting studies that show little virus transmission is taking place inside schools.

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

Biden Administration Sued for Halting Oil, Gas Leasing on Federal Lands

Authored by Jack Phillips via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours)

The Biden administration was sued on Jan. 27 over its executive order to halt oil and gas leasing on federal lands and waters.

The lawsuit (pdf) was filed in the U.S. District Court in Wyoming by the Western Energy Alliance, a group representing fossil fuel producers on federal lands. They say President Joe Biden exceeded his authority with the recent order.

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

Biden Assembling Commission to Study Supreme Court Reform

The Biden administration is moving forward on the creation of a ‘bipartisan’ commission which will study potential reforms to the Supreme Court and the federal judiciary, according to Politico.

Housed under the purview of the White House Counsel’s office, the commission will be filled out with “behind-the-scenes help of the Biden campaign’s lawyer Bob Bauer.” While the commission’s mandate is ‘still being decided,’ we can only imagine it’s the first step towards Democrats ‘packing the court’ to overcome its current conservative bias.

According to people familiar with the discussions, several members have already been selected — including Yale Law School professor Cristina Rodriguez — who served as a deputy assistant attorney general in the Obama DOJ, and has been tapped to co-chair the commission. Others include “Caroline Fredrickson, the former president of the American Constitution Society, and Jack Goldsmith, a Harvard Law School professor and a former deputy assistant attorney general in the Bush Department of Justice,” according to the report.

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

Biden Signs Executive Order to Ban the Term ‘China Virus’

The latest of Joe Biden’s THIRTY SEVEN executive orders signed in the first week of his presidency states that the term ‘Chinese virus’ or ‘China virus’ is now banned.

Yes, this is real.

The White House website confirms that Biden signed this EO.

CBS News reported ‘Biden to address racism toward Asian Americans during pandemic with executive action’.

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

Bill Gates Shocked by “Crazy Conspiracy Theories” About COVID-19

Microsoft founder Bill Gates says he is shocked by the “crazy conspiracy theories” surrounding COVID-19 and that social media networks should take more steps to minimize them.

Noting that the combination of social media and a pandemic is something that’s never existed before, Gates said “nobody would have predicted” the attention he and Dr. Fauci have received.

The billionaire said “really evil theories” about whether he had created the pandemic or tried to profit from it had been allowed to circulate.

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

Cicada Mania Begins This Spring; Hungry Americans May be Eating Insects

Billions of cicadas, tiny winged insects that have spent nearly two decades underground, are set to emerge this year across the easter half of the U.S, according to Newsweek.

Periodical cicadas — unlike annual cicadas — emerge every 17 or so years — and that cycle of reemerging is this spring.

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

Conservative Journalist Andy Ngo Flees the Country Over Antifa Death Threats

Conservative journalist Andy Ngo has fled the United States after receiving death threats from Antifa terrorists.

The Portland-based journalist — a regular presence documenting violent Antifa activity in the Pacific Northwest (and having been assaulted for his coverage) — has fled to the United Kingdom.

“My hometown of Portland, Oregon is the epicenter of American Antifa,” Ngo told Sky News Australia in a Saturday interview. Ngo noted tthat US politicians who rightly condemned the January 6 riots at the Capitol were “at best silent last year when my city was literally under siege.”

“At worse they actually promoted some of the crowd funded campaigns,” he added.

Ngo described the increasingly violent death threats he’s received, telling Sky “For a number of months now, there’s just been increasing threats of violence against me, promises by Antifa extremists to kill me.”

“It’s pained me a lot, temporarily having to leave the country and home that settled my parents who came there as political refugees,” he added.

Ngo, editor-at-large of The Post Millennial, was beaten and robbed by Antifa terrorists in July, 2019, after which his assailants — apparently not the “Unity” brand of Democrats — soaked him in liquids which police believed to be quick-drying cement. He was hospitalized following the incident.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

DHS Issues New Terror Advisory on “Domestic Violent Extremists” Who “Object to Presidential Transition”

On Wednesday the Department of Homeland Security issued a new “National Terrorism Advisory System Bulletin” or NTAS for the United States.

Past updated bulletins in more “normal” times typically mention not being aware of a specific or credible threats, or there’s often vague warnings of a potential “Iranian threat” — such as was the case last spring in the wake of the killing of Iranian IRGC General Qassem Soleimani.

But the newest DHS posting emphasized the “domestic threat” of “ideologically-motivated violent extremists” with objections to “the presidential transition”— a clear reference to the Capitol Hill riot of January 6, as well as to the “predicted” follow-up mass demonstrations and assaults on D.C. which never materialized (resulting in thousands of bored National Guardsmen sauntering around Washington).

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

Did America’s Anti-Cop Movement Lead to Largest Homicide Increase in US History?

Did America’s ‘defund the police’ movement result in the largest percentage increase in homicides in US history? Heather Mac Donald, a fellow at the Manhattan Institute and author of “The War On Cops” makes a strong argument that it likely did.

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

Facebook Suspends Users for Criticizing Biden’s Transgender Policy, Calls it “Incitement”

Facebook suspended the accounts of Robert A.J. Gagnon and Laurie Higgins for seven days for opposing President Biden’s new transgender policies. According to Facebook, the criticism was an incitement and promotion of violence.

President Biden’s new policy is controversial, leading the way for transgender women to compete in women’s sports and access women’s changing rooms.

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

Flashback: Biden Said ‘You Can’t Legislate by Executive Orders Unless You’re a Dictator’

This video from the 15th October 2020 speaks for itself.

During a town hall broadcast by ABC News just over a fortnight before the election, Joe Biden was discussing his tax proposals when he declared that in order to see them implemented he would need votes and approval from Congress.

“I have this strange notion. We are a democracy,” Biden sardonically declared, pointing out that “Some of my Republican friends, and some of my Democratic friends occasionally say ‘well if you can’t get the votes, by executive order you’re going to do something’“.

“You can’t do it by executive order, unless you’re a dictator,” Biden declared, adding “We’re a democracy, we need consensus.”

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

Florida Man Arrested Over 2016 Election Memes Designed to “Trick” Hillary Voters

A 31-year-old Florida man was arrested in West Palm Beach on Wednesday on federal charges that he conspired with several other people to use memes and social media platforms to trick Hillary Clinton voters into voting via text message, and that voting for Hillary would mean people’s daughters would be drafted to fight establishment resource wars under a Clinton presidency.

Douglass Mackey, a.k.a. “Ricky Vaughn,” faces up to 10 years in prison for ‘spreading election disinformation’ using several Twitter accounts, one of which had approximately 58,000 followers before Twitter suspended him on November 2, 2016.

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

Florida Teachers Working Remotely Amid COVID Caught ‘Partying, Traveling and Failing to Wear Masks’

Florida teachers working remotely who argue they fear too much for their safety to return to work have been caught on social media “partying, traveling and failing to wear masks,” the Sun-Sentinel reports.

In response, the teachers union accused administrators of spying on them.

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

Food Network Show Winner Who Railed Against “White Privilege” Charged With Killing Her Adopted, White Daughter

Ariel Robinson, the 29-year-old former middle school teacher and winner of last season’s “Worst Cooks in America” program on the Food Network, has been charged with the death of a 3-year-old South Carolina girl she had adopted.

Robinson and her husband, Jerry Robinson, 34, have both been arrested for homicide by child abuse after their adoptive daughter Victoria Smith was found unresponsive by police. She had suffered “a series of blunt force injuries.”

The Robinsons, who are black, had at least two biological sons before adopting three white children, including Smith. Ariel Robinson posted online often about her dedication to upending “white privilege” and loyalty to the Black Lives Matter movement.

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

Ghislaine Maxwell Tries to Get Charges Dropped by Claiming Jury is Too White

Lawyers for accused child sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell tried to get the charges against the Jeffrey Epstein confidante dropped by claiming the federal grand jury that indicted her was too white.

Yes, really.

The grand jury was empaneled in White Plains, New York instead of Manhattan due to COVID restrictions, but lawyers said this meant non-whites were underrepresented.

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

Google Stops Donations to Republicans Who Questioned Election Results

Google has cut contributions to Republicans in the US Congress who voted against certifying the results of the disputed 2020 presidential election.

Google said on Tuesday it would halt political contributions for lawmakers who voted against certifying the election of President Joe Biden, citing the deadly US Capitol violence earlier this month.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Man Pleads Guilty in Conspiracy to Kidnap Gov. Gretchen Whitmer

A man charged in an alleged plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer pleaded guilty to conspiracy on Wednesday.

Ty Garbin, one of six men charged in the plot, admitted that the group came up with a scheme to take Whitmer while she was at her lakeside vacation home and destroy a bridge in an attempt to slow down police.

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

Mississippi Homeowner Meets 2 Armed Men at His Front Door, Shoots and Kills 1

One man was killed after he tried to invade a Mississippi home and was met by the gun-carrying homeowner.

Two armed men in Moss Point, Mississippi, targeted a residence for a home invasion Sunday evening. According to police, the men encountered the homeowner as they walked up to the front door of the residence. One of the armed suspects fired multiple times, striking the homeowner at least once. The homeowner then returned fire, striking one of the intruders, who collapsed and died in the road.

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

Newsweek Edits 2015 News Article to Justify Recently-Published Hit-Piece

Newsweek is under fire criticizing Senator Tom Cotton describing himself as a “Ranger” for being a graduate of Ranger School and then editing a 5-year-old article where they themselves also referred Ranger School graduates as “Rangers.”

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

No President in History Has Been Treated So Badly

Unbeknownst to most of the American people, that Establishment and Deep State and their corporate, union, socialist, environmental and globalist enablers, fully infected with the Progressive virus, have been building up for decades and its entrenched power, like a wounded lion, will attack anything that threatens it. Donald J. Trump was a direct threat to the Establishment and Deep State, even after he left office. That is why they have to crush he and his movement with impeachment, de-platform him from social media and silence him and his entire cabinet and support staff forever. That’s why they talk of labeling Trump supporters as domestic terrorists and the immediate imperative to re-program them.

The Establishment and Deep State are deathly afraid that Trump might still have political power and be able to keep the MAGA movement going. Hell hath no fury than a freedom-loving, well-armed American when scorned and has his or her rights taken away. Might he or she not think of insurrection, civil war, or revolution? With enough pressure, thoughts become actions and the Progressives know it. The only thing the Establishment and Deep State (the Swamp) fear from the freedom crowd is the possibility that they just might decide to challenge The Swamp’s power with violence, en masse. Why else would they arm the U. S. capitol with 26,000 troops during Biden’s inauguration?

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Petition Calls for the Resignation of a School Board Member After Retweet About Dr. Rachel Levine

A petition on Change.org and a cancellation campaign involving calls to the school is demanding the resignation of a board member at Upper Perkiomen High School over retweeting a tweet about Dr. Rachel Levine, the nominated Assistant Secretary of Health.

At press time, the petition had over 4,000 signatures.

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

Proud Boys Leader Was ‘Prolific’ FBI Snitch: Court Docs

While US officials claim that ‘far-right extremism’ is one of the largest threats facing America, the leader of the group most commonly singled out as an example — the Proud Boys — was a ‘prolific’ informant for federal and local law enforcement, according to Reuters, citing a 2014 federal court proceeding.

Enrique Tarrio repeatedly worked undercover for investigators following a 2012 arrest, court documents reveal.

Curiously, Tarrio was ordered to stay away from Washington D.C. one day before the January 6 Capitol riot after he was arrested on vandalism and weapons charges — upon a request by government prosecutors that he be prohibited from attending. At least five Proud Boys members were charged as part of the riot.

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

Rand Paul: Dems Are ‘Angry, Unhinged, Deranged by Their Hatred’ of Trump

Senator Rand Paul argued against the impeachment of Donald Trump Tuesday, urging that “Democrats are about to drag our great country down into the gutter of rancor and vitriol the likes of which has never been seen in our nation’s history.”

Paul proclaimed that Democrats are “angry, unhinged partisans, deranged by their hatred of the former president.”

“Shame on those who seek blame and revenge, and who choose to pervert a constitutional process while doing so,” Paul said on the Senate floor, adding “I want this body on record — every last person here.”

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

Seeing Through the Fog

An abundance of evidence suggests that locking down the healthy and mandating mask usage for those without symptoms is irrational, at best, and dangerous, at worst, considering both masks and lockdowns are associated with ill effects of their own. According to Tucker:

“With solid evidence that asymptomatic spread is nonsense, we have to ask: who is making decisions and why? Again, this brings me back to the metaphor of fog. We are all experiencing confusion and uncertainty over the precise relationship between the strategies and the goals of panoply of regulations and stringencies all around us.

Even the rationale has become elusive — even refuted — as frustration and disorientation have displaced what we vaguely recall as clarity and rationality of daily life.”

Living in such a fog can be intimidating, but the purpose of this article is not to spread more fear but, rather, to empower you with information. The fog of war, after all, is not always an impediment. It can also be used to gain advantage, and seeing through the fog is the first step to winning the war…

[We’ve been ‘had’ by people we should be able to trust and rely on — after all, its what we pay them to do]

           — Hat tip: MC [Return to headlines]
 

Sen. Kennedy: ‘Mad Max’ Scenes in DC Are Elite’s Way of Demanding Fear

Appearing on Tucker Carlson Tonight Tuesday, Senator John Kennedy described the ongoing military presence in Washington DC as like something out of ‘Mad Max’, and urged that it is designed to scare Americans into submission.

“[The] inauguration is over, but if you look around Capitol Hill, parts of it look like a scene from Mad Max,” Kennedy told Carlson.

“I mean, there’s razor wire, fences, barricades, humvees, automatic weapons, at one point they had tanks, and the news media is always filming this stuff,” the Senator added.

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

Twitter’s “Birdwatch” Misinformation Feature is Already Off to a Biased Start

Twitter’s Birdwatch anti “misinformation” initiative, though still in it’s early first pilot phase is already generating a lot of controversy and fears that it might serve to establish even more bias on the platform.

Namely, it is emerging that Twitter is preventing users from joining the pilot if they had previous violations there, meaning that the population of early adopters could prove to be biased in a way that’s conforming to Twitter’s policies, including politically motivated decisions.

This came to light as conservative radio host and former spokesperson for National Rifle Association Dana Loesch announced on Twitter she was unable to sign up for Birdwatch because of a prior violation — a tweet about her reporting based on New York Post’s article about Hunter Biden’s shady dealings abroad, and the involvement of his father, Joe Biden.

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

Two Brothers Reveal Obama’s “Moral Compass” Raped Them When They Were 12

Barack Obama’s former spiritual adviser, Rev. Michael Pfleger, repeatedly raped a pair of brothers when they were just 12-years-old, according to new testimony.

The sick pedophile used to be Obama’s “moral compass.”

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Video: Biden Struggles to Put Pen in Suit Pocket, Eventually Gives Up and Puts it in His Pants

“Leader of the Free World” lacks hand-eye coordination required to return writing implement to its proper place.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Court Date! RCMP Issue Summons to Whistle Stop Cafe Owner for Defying Alberta Lockdown

The Whistle Stop diner has been officially issued a summons for breaching an order of the Chief Medical Officer of Health.

The diner in Mirror, Alberta — population 500 — opened last Thursday, defying the mod December order that closed all dine-in service. The Whistle Stop has been packed for morning til night, everyday, as people from all across the province have poured into the tiny cafe to support it.

And the police presence has been nearly constant with RCMP patrolling and collecting evidence on behalf of Alberta Health Services inspectors who have issued two closure orders to owner Chris Scott.

However Scott refuses to close his doors, even though he now has to appear in Stettler provincial court on April 22, 2021.

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

Security Kicks Shopper With Cerebral Palsy (And a Legal Mask Exemption) Out of Manitoba Walmart

Alex Lytwyn was in the Christmas spirit. He wanted to head out to Walmart in Dauphin, Manitoba, to buy a friend a box of chocolates as a Christmas gift. But not long after entering, he was accosted by security for not wearing a mask.

Alex suffers from fairly advanced cerebral palsy. As per the mask mandate set out by the Province of Manitoba, anyone who is unable to safely put on or remove his or her mask on their own is exempt from the mandate. Alex visibly falls into this category.

While Alex suffers from a physical disability, his mind and cognitive ability are completely sound. So when security belittled Alex’s intelligence and spoke to his support worker instead of him, it made him feel even more ashamed than he already was for being stopped and harassed for simply trying to go about his Christmas shopping.

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

131 Arrested on ‘Calmer’ Night of Dutch Coronavirus Curfew

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Dutch police said Wednesday that the fourth night of the Netherlands’ coronavirus curfew passed more peacefully than the previous three nights marred by rioting. Even so, officers arrested 131 people, mainly for public order offenses and incitement.

“It was calmer around the curfew on Tuesday night than the days before,” police said in a statement.

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

‘Barbaric Murder’ — Comatose Polish Man Dies in UK Hospital After Life Support Removed

On Tuesday, the family of the Polish man who was disconnected from life support in Great Britain’s Plymouth hospital announced the man’s death after diplomatic attempts by the Polish government to transport him home failed.

“Unfortunately, we received one of the worst possible forms of news today. This is a huge tragedy for all of us — all those people who did everything they could here in the embassy in London to help our countryman. We did everything, unfortunately our efforts did not come to fruition in the Plymouth hospital,” Deputy Foreign Minister Piotr Wawrzyk announced.

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

Belgium: Young Muslims Three Times More Likely to be Antisemitic, Homophobic Than Atheists Counterparts: Study

Young French-speaking Muslims in Europe’s capital Brussels are at least three times as likely to be antisemitic, homophobic and sexist compared to their atheist counterparts, according to a Belgian study.

The study was highlighted by signatories to a letter published by newspaper L’Echo condemning a recent move to allow the wearing of the Islamic veil in Belgian schools by several secular and feminist activists this week.

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

Conservative MP Calls for GPS Tracking of Brits to Ensure COVID Compliance

Conservative MP Jeremy Hunt has called for the government to use GPS tracking technology to ensure Brits are complying with COVID quarantine measures.

Under the law, Brits who re-enter the country have to self-isolate for 10 days before leaving their home for any reason.

However, the difficulties, both practical and financial, of complying with this mandate, mean that as many as 75% are not following the rules.

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

Farage: ‘Nasty, Vindictive’ EU Threats on Vaccines Shows UK Was Right to Vote Leave

Brexit leader Nigel Farage has criticised the “nasty, vindictive” EU for threatening to block the export of vaccines purchased by Britain because Brussels is falling behind in its own vaccine programme.

Earlier this week, both Pfizer and AstraZeneca announced delays to the delivery of their Belgian-made coronavirus vaccines to its EU customers due to manufacturing problems. In response, the bloc’s health commissioner Stella Kyriakides said that Brussels might use its powers to ban the export of vaccinations to non-EU countries such as the United Kingdom, even if the pharmaceutical company has signed a contract with that nation.

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

French Police: YouTuber Stages Video of Police Attack to Obtain Victim Status

A young man from Nogent-sur-Oise, with more than 100,000 social media followers, wanted them to believe that he had been attacked by the police. When he was placed in police custody last week for the fake video, he admitted to investigators that it was a staged event and that he had not really been attacked, Le Parisien reported.

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

French Rural Areas See ‘Explosion’ of Delinquency and Violence

The mayor of a small French town has warned of the growing problems rural communities across France face with delinquency, violence and drug dealing and has called on the government to do more.

Antoine Valentin, the mayor of the small town of Saint-Jeoire, has sounded the alarm about the growing insecurity in rural French areas and highlighted the way in which local drug dealers are not only well-known by locals but act largely with impunity.

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

Germany Looking at Air Travel Ban and Border Shutdowns in Bid to Curb Spread of COVID-19 Variants

The German government is considering border closures and a ban on almost all air traffic in an attempt to limit the spread of more transmissible Covid-19 variants, Interior Minister Horst Seehofer said on Tuesday.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Germany: Meet Angela Merkel’s Second Successor

Armin Laschet, premier of North-Rhine Westphalia, Germany’s most populous state, has been chosen as the new leader of the ruling Christian Democratic Union (CDU). He is now in a position to succeed Angela Merkel as German chancellor after general elections this September.

Laschet, a Merkel loyalist and continuity candidate, narrowly beat conservative Friedrich Merz by 521 to 466 votes in a run-off vote by party delegates on January 16. The CDU had previously chosen Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer to succeed Merkel, but she stepped down as party leader in January 2020 after a series of regional electoral defeats cast doubt on her ability to retain the chancellorship.

Like Merkel, Laschet is pro-EU, pro-Russia and pro-China. Past statements

suggest that he hails from the realist school of international relations, which often prioritizes economic interests over human rights concerns when dealing with authoritarian countries.

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

Germany: Anti-Immigration Party AfD Party Labeled ‘Suspected Case’, Paves Way for Mass Surveillance of Members in Saxony-Anhalt

In a case that raises questions about civil liberties and democratic norms in Germany, the Office for the Protection of the Constitution in Saxony-Anhalt has classified the Alternative for Germany party (AfD) as a “suspected case”, which means German intelligence services are permitted to place the 2,200 party members in the eastern state under extreme surveillance.

As the Mitteldeutsche Zeitung reported, this surveillance includes, among other things, the recruitment and use of informants, the tracking of financial flows, as well as wiretapping, reading, and monitoring the communication of AfD members and officials.

After Thuringia and Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt is the third state in which the party will be observed by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution as a “suspected case”, according to Junge Freiheit. All three eastern states are where support for the AfD are the strongest in Germany. The report indicates that this status has been in place since Jan. 12. As a reason behind its decision, the Office accused the AfD in Saxony-Anhalt of attacks on human dignity and rejecting the democratic rule of law.

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

Govt Minister Tells Breitbart Poland Will Regulate Big Tech to Protect Freedom of Speech

When other countries moved to regulate social media, it was to force networks to delete content. Poland is turning that concept on its head, legislating to protect freedom of speech on online platforms, government minister Sebastian Kaleta told Breitbart News.

The Polish deputy minister for Justice, Sebastian Kaleta, who has shepherded the nation’s new online freedom of speech bill through conception to a pending vote in the Sejm — national Parliament — joined Breitbart News Network editor in chief Alex Marlow on the Breitbart News Daily show on Tuesday to discuss the law and why it matters.

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

Hungary Readies New Anti-Censorship Law Against Global Tech Giants

Hungary will draft a bill forcing global technology giants to implement more transparent operations that conform to rule of law criteria and ensure freedom of expression, Justice Minister Judit Varga told daily newspaper Magyar Nemzet on Tuesday.

“We have consulted with the relevant state institutions this morning, we will start work in the Ministry of Justice, and we would like to submit a bill to the Parliament in the spring,” Varga said, adding that the new law will have three distinct goals: guaranteeing that the rule of law can also be enforced online, a transparency requirement, including the right to a fair trial and third, the freedom of expression and opinion of Hungarian citizens must be protected.

“It is obvious that the domestic regulator can only examine domestic practice. Our goal is to hold the constitutional framework accountable to techies working in Hungary,” Varga said.

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

Iceland: Reykjavik Police Raid Illegal Party

Last night police broke up a party in central Reykjavik, charging revellers and the managers of a local business with breaches of the law.

At around 21:00, police received a report of the party which was taking place in a building next to a restaurant. Party-goers were taking alcohol from the restaurant into the event, according to Visir. This violates alcohol laws, and consequently managers of the restaurant now face charges.

The Epidemic Prevention Act currently forbids gatherings of more than 20 people. Around 25 individuals at the party were charged under the act, although it isn’t clear how many were there in total.

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

Italy: ER Doctor Arrested for Giving Lethal Drugs to 2 Patients

COVID patients ‘murdered during first virus wave in March’

(ANSA) — MILAN, JAN 25 — AN Italian ER doctor was arrested Monday on suspicion of administering lethal drugs to two COVID-19 patients at a public hospital at Montichiari in the province of Brescia north of Milan.

The doctor, acting ward chief Carlo Mosca, has been charged with murder, police said.

He is suspected of deliberately giving the two patients anaesthetic and nerve and muscle-blocking drugs, causing their deaths.

The deaths occurred during the first wave of the pandemic, in March, police said.

The man has been placed under house arrest and police say there is a risk he may reoffend.

His suspected victims were aged 51 and 80.

Mosca is suspected of murdering the two patients to try to ease the pressure on the ER, which was being overwhelmed during the critical early days of the pandemic in northern Italy.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Survey: Amid COVID-19 Pandemic Increasing Number of Poles Fear Losing Their Jobs

Survey data shows that more Poles are worried about losing their job, but overall, such fears remain subdued with only 14 percent of Poles believing that their jobs are under threat, according to the Randstad Job Market Monitor.

Still, this is the highest such index in the last 10 years, not counting the start of the pandemic (second quarter of 2020) when 16 percent of surveyed Poles feared being fired.

The latest poll from Monitor from December 2020 also proves that Poles’ evaluation of their perspectives for finding new employment have worsened. While such fear sentiments are still low given that 79 percent believe that they would find a new job in half a year, this is the lowest number since 2016 (by the end of 2019, 88 percent of Poles believed they would find new employment).

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

UK: 92 Fines Handed Out in Scarborough for Indoor Gatherings

More than half the fines issued for illegal indoor gatherings and parties during the latest coronavirus lockdown in North Yorkshire have been handed out in Scarborough.

North Yorkshire Police has once again had to dish out fixed penalty notices for indoor gatherings on the coast as people continue to flout Covid-19 restrictions.

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

UK: HS2 Protesters Reportedly Still Inside Secret Tunnel Network Despite Evictions

PROTESTERS campaigning against the HS2 rail development are continuing to dig tunnels in a central London park despite evictions taking place, fellow demonstrators have claimed.

At least four people are said to still be in the 100 foot network of tunnels that activists have dug under Euston Square Gardens as bailiffs attempt to clear the area.

HS2 Rebellion, an alliance of groups and individuals campaigning against the planned high-speed railway, claims the small green space outside Euston Station will be built over with a temporary taxi rank before being sold to developers.

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

UK: Khan’s London: Shootings Rise in ‘Gun-Free’ Capital Despite Lockdown

The number of shootings in London rose in 2020, despite the city being placed under draconian coronavirus lockdown measures for a large part of the year.

Scotland Yard revealed that there were 288 shootings in the British capital last year, up from 266 firearm incidents in 2019.

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

UK: South Woodford Flat ‘Has Parties Several Times a Week During Lockdown’

A group of South Woodford residents are urging Redbridge Council to take action against a flat they claim is hosting near-constant house parties in lockdown.

Tenants in Scenix House, Chigwell Road claim one flat is having parties several times a week, sometimes until 6am, and has been since at least November.

One resident, who wanted to remain anonymous for fear of repercussions, said council officers visited once last year, which did nothing to stop the parties, but have not been back since.

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

Libya: CNN Says Russian Mercenaries Digging Giant Trench

UN plan foresees withdrawal of foreign militias by Saturday

(ANSAmed) — ROME, JANUARY 22 — Khalifa Haftar’s forces “are digging an enormous trench from Sirte to the Jufra air base, and Russian mercenaries from the Wagner group are operative in the area”, US intelligence sources told CNN.

A UN-led road map towards elections in December foresees the withdrawal of foreign militias by Saturday.

The trench can be seen from satellites, and the defensive line, strengthened by fortifications, extends for more than 70 km.

CNN said the construction is raising fears that foreign fighters will not withdraw from the country by Saturday, but instead intend to remain.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Police Break Up Illegal Gatherings in Beit Shemesh, Beitar Illit

Police broke up a wedding with dozens of guests in Beit Shemesh on Wednesday and handed fines to the participants.

Officers who arrived at the scene to enforce coronavirus regulations were attacked by guests who threw eggs and stones at them. They also spotted an educational institution that operated illegally at the site.

Also on Wednesday, police found a yeshiva in the ultra-Orthodox town of Beitar Illit that operated in violation of health regulations. Officers levied a NIS-5,000 fine on a man who was in charge of the institution, which hosted dozens of students.

When the officers left, rioters blocked a road. Police arrived and handed them fines.

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

New York Times Writer Arrested as Secret Iran Agent Acknowledges He Was Paid by Iranian Government

The frequent New York Times opinion contributor who was arrested earlier this month and charged with acting as an unregistered foreign agent of the Iranian government acknowledges that he was paid by the Iranian mission at the United Nations.

“I received checks from the Mission’s UN account and it never occurred to me that I was doing anything illegal,” the New York Times opinion writer, Kaveh Afrasiabi, wrote in a statement to the Algemeiner.

“My conscience is clear, and if the US government had an iota of sense of appreciation, they would thank me for all my tireless activities for the cause of detente, non-proliferation, human rights, inter-religious dialogue and understanding,” Afrasiabi said.

He called the government’s claim that he was a secret Iranian agent “absurd” and “wild.”

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

Syria: 2.5 Million Children Without School, UNICEF

After 10 years of war, one in three schools out of use

BEIRUT — A few weeks before the tenth anniversary of the start of armed violence in Syria, UNICEF said “there are over 2,4 million children who are not going to school, 40% of whom are girls”. “This number has probably increased in 2020 due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic that has exacerbated the interruption of education in Syria”.

In a newly released statement, the organization said that “children in Syria continue to bear the brunt of the crisis” in a context in which the “education system is overburdened, underfinanced, fragmented and unable to provide safe, fair and sustainable services for millions of children”.

“One in three schools cannot be used because they have been destroyed, damaged or used for military purposes. Children who are able to attend school often learn in overcrowded classrooms and in buildings with inadequate sanitary facilities, electricity, heating or ventilation”.

The UN, UNICEF recalled, has so far been able to confirm that 700 military attacks have been carried out over the last years against school facilities and personnel. In 2020, the UN documented 52 attacks against Syrian schools.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Putin Warns of Conflict That Would Mean “End of Our Civilization”

During a virtual appearance at the World Economic Forum, Russian President Vladimir Putin warned that the world’s failure to resolve its conflicts could lead to a war that would mean “the end of our civilization.”

Putin asserted that the coronavirus pandemic as well as increasing political polarization has exacerbated preexisting global problems and that there is “every reason to believe that the tensions might be aggravated even further.”

Citing experts who have likened the current global environment to the situation in the 1920’s and 30’s, the Kremlin leader cautioned that the world was heading down a potentially disastrous path.

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

89 Foreigners, Including US Citizens, Arrested at Thai Bar Flouting COVID-19 Rules

BANGKOK — Police raided a party at a bar on a popular resort island in southern Thailand and arrested 89 foreigners for violating coronavirus regulations, officials said Wednesday.

The Tuesday night raid on the Three Sixty Bar on Koh Phangan also led to the arrest of 22 Thais, including one identified as the bar’s owner and another who sold drinks there, said police Col. Suparerk Pankosol, superintendent of the provincial immigration office.

He said the gathering was illegal under a national state of emergency declared last March to combat the coronavirus.

Those arrested were from more than 10 countries, including the U.S., Britain, Switzerland and Denmark, Suparerk said. Photos of the raid distributed by police showed a dark, crowded room with casually dressed partygoers, almost all wearing face masks.

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

India to Impose Permanent Ban on 59 Chinese Apps, Including TikTok

India’s ministry of electronics and information technology has issued fresh notices to make permanent a ban imposed on video app TikTok and 58 other Chinese apps in June, Indian media reported late on Monday.

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

Google Claims North Korean Hackers Penetrate Security Researchers’ ‘Up-to-Date Windows 10 Versions’

In mid-August 2020, the UK-based Clear Sky cybersecurity company claimed that North Korea-affiliated hackers had managed to compromise Israel’s defence networks. The Google Threat Analysis Group (TAG) has spotted a hacking attack on cyber security researchers that was allegedly conducted by those related to the so-called Lazarus Group, believed to be linked to the North Korean government.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Australia is Set to Fight Forced Muslim Labour in China With Import Bans on Goods Made in ‘Re-Education Camps’

South Australian senator Rex Patrick wants to ban Chinese imports made with the forced labour of Uighur Muslims. Former US President Donald Trump banned tomatoes, cotton made that way.

           — Hat tip: SS [Return to headlines]
 

Climate Activists Block Railway Track in Coal Transportation Protest

Environmentalists chained themselves to railway tracks just metres away from large freight trains thundering past in a protest against the transportation of coal.

Six Extinction Rebellion activists took up their position outside Dunedin Railway Station at 7am on Thursday, supported by about a dozen other placard and flag-waving supporters and watched by police, KiwiRail staff and onlookers.

Jana Al Thea, of Extinction Rebellion Otepoti, said the protest was not over freight but about KiwiRail transporting coal from Western Southland through Dunedin.

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

Families at a Beautiful National Park in Victoria Are Left Horrified by Group of ‘Neo-Nazi Skinheads’ Singing Waltzing Matilda, Performing Nazi Salutes and Getting Drunk While Shouting ‘White Power’

Nate Hart was hiking in the Grampians National Park, west Victoria, with a friend on Saturday when he passed about 30 young men huddled in a cave small while singing ‘Waltzing Matilda’.

           — Hat tip: SS [Return to headlines]
 

Google Revives Plans to Launch Its Own Australian News Website as Early as Next Month Amid Fight With Government to Force Search Giant to Pay Providers for Content

Misha Ketchell, editor of The Conversation, said on Wednesday he was approached by Google ‘to resume discussions about launching the News Showcase product as soon as possible.’

           — Hat tip: SS [Return to headlines]
 

Police Charge FOURTEEN Teenagers After a Man Was Allegedly Stabbed Multiple Times During a Gang-Related Fight at a Sydney Train Station

Fourteen teens have been charged after a man was allegedly stabbed during a gang fight on a busy train travelling in Sydney’s inner west on Australia Day.

           — Hat tip: SS [Return to headlines]
 

Tarras Airport Plan: Climate Activists Disrupt Christchurch Council Meeting in Protest

Climate activists have stood in Christchurch City Council chambers with duct-taped mouths and called for 30-seconds of silence to “grieve the loss of democracy and transparency” at the council.

Extinction Rebellion Otautahi are protesting the council’s plans to build a new international airport at Tarras in Central Otago.

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

Why Aussies Are Suddenly Afraid of Flag Waving, Bucket Hats and Showing National Pride — as ‘Invasion Day’ Goes Mainstream and Anyone Celebrating January 26 is Publicly Shamed

Not so long ago, Australia Day inspired an outpouring of national pride across the nation — think sun-soaked images of Aussies partying on beaches with flags draped across their shoulders.

           — Hat tip: SS [Return to headlines]
 

Zimbabwe: More Lockdown Violators Arrested at Another Party

POLICE in Bulawayo have arrested 12 people, including eight minors for attending an illegal party in Pumula South suburb.

The organiser of the “super-spreader” event, Future Sitoboli (23), left his guests at the mercy of the police as he slipped away when officers raided on Monday.

Police have launched a manhunt for Sitoboli.

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

Study: 14.5M Illegal Aliens Living in U.S., Costing Americans $134B a Year

Roughly 14.5 million illegal aliens live across the United States, costing American taxpayers about $134 billion every year, a new study reveals.

An annual study released by the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) finds that the illegal alien population in the U.S. has grown by at least 200,000 since 2019and has cost taxpayers an additional $2 billion since last year.

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

Christian Professor Attacked for “Transphobia” At Baylor University

A recurring lecturer for Baylor University’s English department, Christina Crenshaw, is under fire for tweeting what students on the Baptist school’s campus define as “transphobic content.”

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

Conservative Outlet Epoch Times Demonetized by YouTube

The conservative-leaning Epoch Times has been demonetized by YouTube, allegedly on the grounds that it had promoted material contesting the results of the 2020 presidential election.

“YouTube demonetized the Epoch Times and related accounts last week,” said publisher Stephen Gregory. “This is the latest example of big tech suppression of free speech, a step on the road to communist-style censorship.”

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

More Evidence Proves Lockdowns Are a Dangerous Lie

Story at-a-glance

  • A recent analysis compared states with restrictive interventions (lockdowns) against those with less restrictive strategies and found lockdowns are not an effective way to reduce the spread of COVID-19
  • Lockdowns have forced 60% of businesses to close; during the lockdown there has been an increase in the number of suicides, child abuse, rape and domestic abuse
  • The drug overdose epidemic has grown more complicated and deadly during the lockdowns, yet there is no historical precedence for lockdowns during a pandemic
  • More than 6,000 medical practitioners and medical and public health scientists signed a petition to halt the lockdowns citing “irreparable damage”

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

The Police State is Coming for “Religious Extremists”, “Evangelical Christians”, “Pro-Life” Activists and “Libertarians”

Tulsi Gabbard is one of the most prominent Democrats in the House of Representatives, and last year she ran for president. But even though she is a Democrat, she is warning that this new law appears to be “a targeting of almost half of the country”…

“What characteristics are we looking for as we are building this profile of a potential extremist, what are we talking about? Religious extremists, are we talking about Christians, evangelical Christians, what is a religious extremist? Is it somebody who is pro-life? Where do you take this?” Gabbard said.

She said the proposed legislation could create “a very dangerous undermining of our civil liberties, our freedoms in our Constitution, and a targeting of almost half of the country.”

It is fundamentally un-American to specifically target people for their religious beliefs, and so that is extremely alarming.

Gabbard is also warning that people with certain political perspectives are likely to be targeted as well…

“You start looking at obviously, have to be a white person, obviously likely male, libertarians, anyone who loves freedom, liberty, maybe has an American flag outside their house, or people who, you know, attended a Trump rally,” Gabbard said.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

YouTube Strips Rising Media Company Epoch Times of Ability to Monetize Video Content

YouTube, the video platform service that is a Google subsidiary, has banned The Epoch Times, a rising, conservative-leaning media outlet, from earning money off its videos.

“YouTube demonetized the Epoch Times and related accounts last week,” Stephen Gregory, publisher of The Epoch Times confirmed to Just the News on Tuesday in an email. “This is the latest example of big tech suppression of free speech, a step on the road to communist-style censorship.”

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

6 thoughts on “Gates of Vienna News Feed 1/27/2021

  1. “The Whistle Stop diner has been officially issued a summons for breaching an order of the Chief Medical Officer of Health.”

    A lot of czech restaurants, pubs and bars are slowly opening up as well, only to have 15 policemen descend on them to close them back again.

    In the future, I predict that the stories told by the restaurant owners will get on par with the 1948 De-privatisation in Czechoslovakia, when the communist siezed profitable businesses “for the people”. This time, however, We gonna get more McDonald’s chains for those old pubs and restaurants.

  2. Some so-called “experts” claim Americans should wear three masks?

    Here’s a suggestion.

    How about anyone that believes this tripe or voted for Sleepy Joe & Horizontal Harris take to wearing a trash bag over their head; tightly, with three rubber bands to secure it around the neck. That should be enough to ensure no viruses get in, plus it also has the added benefit of keeping the stupidity from leaking out and infecting the rest of us who have a brain.

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