Gates of Vienna News Feed 1/4/2021

The president of Mexico announced that his country would give asylum to Julian Assange, the founder of Wikileaks, to prevent Mr. Assange from being extradited from Britain to the USA. However, a British court ruled that Mr. Assange would not be extradited, rendering the issue moot.

In other news, the Paris Opera has decided to ban the ballets Swan Lake and The Nutcracker because they are white supremacist works.

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

Thanks to JD, MC, 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.

Financial Crisis
» 2020 Was a Snack, 2021 is the Main Course
» Breadlines Stretch Across America: This Economic Collapse is Much Worse Than You Are Being Told
 
USA
» Activists Are Trying to Get School Board Member Fired Over “Crack the Whip” Phrase
» Biden Inaugural Parade Has Been Canceled
» Breaking: Project Veritas Exposes Scheme to Register Homeless Voters in Georgia Using Same Address
» ‘Conspiracy Theorist’ Pharmacist Who Allegedly Ruined Vaccine Thought it Would Mutate DNA
» Cruz: Google is the ‘Most Dangerous Company on the Face of the Planet’
» Cuomo Threatens Fines of Up to $100K if Hospitals Don’t Speed Up COVID-19 Vaccinations
» Dominion’s CEO Says the Voting Technology Company is Going to Sue Sidney Powell for Defamation and is Considering a Lawsuit Against Trump
» Explained: The Thinking Behind the 32GB Windows Format Limit on FAT32
» Former Miss Virginia Declared Dead From COVID-19 Reportedly Comes ‘Back to Life’
» Franklin Graham: If Progressives Rule, ‘We Won’t Even Recognize This Nation’
» Georgia Data Reveals 30,000+ Trump Votes Removed, Another 12,173 Switched to Biden: Data Scientists
» Gov. Cuomo Quotes Bible, Pledges to Not Get Vaccine Before Minority Communities
» How the Feds Used Cell Data to Track Ghislaine Maxwell to Secret Compound
» In Bizarre Flipflop, NYSE Ignores Trump Executive Order, Refuses to Delist China Telcos
» Kamala Harris Accused of Stealing ‘Fweedom’ Story From MLK Interview in Playboy
» More Than 225 Google Employees Successfully Unionize, Say They Want Company to “Reflect Their Values”
» National Guard Deployed to Kenosha on Eve of Jacob Blake Decision
» Nevada High School Sued Over “Critical Race Theory” Indoctrination
» New Mexico Man Sues State for Right to Touch His Wife in a Nursing Home
» Not ‘The Onion’: Democrat Ends Prayer With “Amen… and a-Woman”
» Pelosi Wins Slim Majority to Remain Speaker of the House
» SolarWinds Mess Flared in the Holidays — Company Confirms Malware Targeted Crocked Orion Product
» Statistician: Lockdowns Don’t Work Because They Force People to Congregate in Fewer Places
» Suspect Accused of Hitting Cop With Truck in Portland Escapes Holding Cell
» Suspect Arrested at Portland Antifa’s New Year’s Eve Riot Was Released From Jail Earlier the Same Day
» The United States Has Become a Banana Republic
» Watch: The Prayer to Open the 117th Congress Ended With ‘Amen’ And ‘A-Woman’
» Who is Stealing America?
» Woke Lancet Journal Calls on Biden to Vastly Increase Funding to U.N., W.H.O.
» YouTube Rewind 2020: Jihad Edition
 
Canada
» BLM Calls for Toronto to Defund Police by $340 Million
 
Europe and the EU
» Can Scotland Hope to Rejoin the EU Post-Brexit?
» England Goes Back Into National Lockdown Amid Another COVID-19 Surge
» Italian Opposition Gathers 100,000 Signatures Calling for the Resignation of PM Conte
» Just Two Per Cent of Suspected Terrorists Are Still Being Tracked by UK Govt’s Anti-Extremism Programme
» Pamela Anderson Posts Tribute to WikiLeaks Founder Julian Assange After Court Win
» Piketty: The Western EU is Enriching Itself at the Cost of the East
» Scotland to Enter Another National Lockdown
» The EU’s Double Standard Toward Spain and Poland’s Judicial Systems
» UK Allows Mixing COVID-19 Vaccines as Experts Warn of Risks
» UK: Assange Wins Case Against Extradition to US
» UK: Bad Deal Confirmed? Tony Blair Backs BoJo’s Brexit
» UK: BBC Slaps “Discriminatory Language” Warning on Dad’s Army Classic
» UK: COVID Cops Fine Londoners for Playing Dominoes in Restaurant
» UK: New Lockdown Will be Enforced With ‘More Fines and Less Tolerance’: Police Officers Say They Will Get Tough With £200 Fines for Each Breach of Rules But Fear Being Cast as ‘Villains’
» UK: Police Demand Elderly Lady Stop Feeding Pigeons Under COVID Lockdown Rules
» While Germany Lectures Poland and Hungary, Soaring German Arms Exports Fuel War in the Middle East
 
Israel and the Palestinians
» We’re Winning Vaccine Race, But Losing the War to the Mutation
 
Middle East
» Saudi Arabia to End Feud With Qatar in Jared Kushner-Brokered Deal
» Turkey: Agia Sophia’s Conversion Into a Mosque Was the Crown of 2020, Says Erdogan
 
South Asia
» India: Uttar Pradesh: Muslim Man’s Family Reverts to Hinduism in Rae Bareli, Members of Madarsa, Village Head Try to Burn Them Alive
» Singapore Confirms That Police Can Access Coronavirus Contact Tracing Data
 
Far East
» Alibaba Billionaire Jack Ma Missing Since Criticizing Chinese Government in October
» Christian Persecution Likely to Rise in India and China in 2021
» US National Security STILL Believes Coronavirus Leaked From Chinese Lab
 
Australia — Pacific
» Queensland Police Pay Home Visit to Author Who Bragged on Twitter About COVID-Violating Jog
 
Sub-Saharan Africa
» Oxford Professor Fears COVID Vaccine May Not Work Against South African Mutation
 
Latin America
» Mexico Offers Julian Assange Political Asylum to Avoid Extradition to US
 
Immigration
» Canary Islands Sees More Than Eight-Fold Increase in Migrants in 2020
» Charity Rescue Ship With 265 Migrants Anchors Off Italy
» UK: First Migrants Cross the Channel Since Brexit as Dinghy Carrying 10 People is Intercepted by Border Force Patrol in —1c Freeze After Record 8,410 Made Treacherous Journey in 2020
 
Culture Wars
» Cosmopolitan Cover Promotes Plus Size Women as ‘Healthy’
» France: Paris Opera to Ban the Nutcracker, Swan Lake, And the Yankee Princess for Promoting ‘White Supremacy’
 

2020 Was a Snack, 2021 is the Main Course

Though 2020 is widely perceived as “the worst year ever,” it was only a snack. The real banquet of consequences will be served in 2021. The reason 2020 was only a snack is that systems didn’t break down in 2020. The reason 2021 is the main course is that systems will break down, and once broken, they cannot be restored.

I made the chart below to explain how systems fail and why they cannot be restored.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Breadlines Stretch Across America: This Economic Collapse is Much Worse Than You Are Being Told

The economic collapse of 2020 has undeniably widened the wealth gap.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Activists Are Trying to Get School Board Member Fired Over “Crack the Whip” Phrase

A school board member in the US state of Washington is in danger of losing his job for expressing his worry about low graduation rates by using an idiom in an online meeting that has apparently become politically incorrect.

At least it has for the person behind the initiative to fire Clover Park School District School Board member Paul Wagemann for saying that the board needed to “crack the whip” in dealing with the problem.

But Taniesha Lyons, who ran against Wagemann in the last board election and lost, sees the idiom as racist and now wants Wagemann to resign for his alleged racism and bigotry. According to Lyons, who last month started a petition to this end, the expression has its roots in slavery.

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

Biden Inaugural Parade Has Been Canceled

According to numerous reports, the inaugural parade for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris planned for the January 20 inauguration has been canceled.

An email that was distributed to multiple military leaders informed them that the event had been canceled and their participation was no longer requested.

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

Breaking: Project Veritas Exposes Scheme to Register Homeless Voters in Georgia Using Same Address

Project Veritas has released a hidden camera video where Georgia Central Outreach and Advocacy Center executive director Kimberly Parker admits to registering homeless people to vote by using the same address.

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

‘Conspiracy Theorist’ Pharmacist Who Allegedly Ruined Vaccine Thought it Would Mutate DNA

A Wisconsin pharmacist who was arrested for destroying more than 500 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine is an “admitted conspiracy theorist” who thought the shots would mutate human DNA, police and prosecutors allege.

Steven Brandenburg, 46, a pharmacist with Advocate Aurora Health, also believed the world was “crashing down,” and had been hoarding food, authorities charge in court documents released Monday.

Prosecutors allege he purposely spoiled 57 vials of the Moderna vaccine over Christmas — enough to inoculate at least 500 people.

“He’d formed this belief they were unsafe,” Ozaukee County District Attorney Adam Gerol said at a virtual hearing.

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

Cruz: Google is the ‘Most Dangerous Company on the Face of the Planet’

Senator Ted Cruz has continued his campaign against the unregulated expansion of Big Tech by labelling Google ‘the most dangerous company’ on the planet.

Cruz made the comments to reporters Saturday at a campaign event for the Georgia Senate runoff.

“I think hands down Google is the most dangerous company on the face of the planet. Google is the most dangerous because it’s the biggest by far. It is the most powerful by far. It controls the vast majority of searches people do,” Cruz noted after describing big tech as the “single greatest threat” to “free and fair elections.”

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

Cuomo Threatens Fines of Up to $100K if Hospitals Don’t Speed Up COVID-19 Vaccinations

NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — Gov. Andrew Cuomo is threatening some New York hospitals with fines if they don’t speed up their COVID-19 vaccinations.

During his daily briefing Monday the governor pointed the finger at hospitals that have vaccines sitting on the shelf.

“We want those vaccines in people’s arms, we need them to administer vaccines faster,” Cuomo said. “I don’t want the vaccine in a freezer, I want it in somebody’s arm.”

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

Dominion’s CEO Says the Voting Technology Company is Going to Sue Sidney Powell for Defamation and is Considering a Lawsuit Against Trump

Dominion Voting Systems CEO John Poulos said the company is weighing a defamation lawsuit against President Donald Trump and plans to move forward with a separate lawsuit against his former campaign lawyer Sidney Powell.

“Our focus right now is on Sidney Powell,” Poulos said in an interview with Axios on Monday. “She is by far in our opinion the most prolific and egregious purveyor of false information about Dominion. Her statements have caused real damage.”

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

Explained: The Thinking Behind the 32GB Windows Format Limit on FAT32

There is at last a definitive answer to the question of why the Windows UI slapped a 32GB limit on the formatting of FAT32 volumes and it’s “because I said so,” according to the engineer responsible…

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Former Miss Virginia Declared Dead From COVID-19 Reportedly Comes ‘Back to Life’

A former Miss Virginia who was declared dead from COVID-19 came back to life, reports say.

Barbara Guthrie Lay, who was Miss Virginia 1958, had been taken to a hospital in Georgia by her husband Dec. 20 because she developed trouble breathing after contracting the coronavirus, local ABC-TV affiliate WSET said.

Lay, 82, who lives in Roswell, Ga., with her husband, Tony Lay, was pronounced dead by the hospital two days later, on Christmas Eve. Tony hadn’t been allowed in her room in the ICU and wasn’t at the Roswell hospital at the time, the Martinsville Bulletin of Virginia said.

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

Franklin Graham: If Progressives Rule, ‘We Won’t Even Recognize This Nation’

Celebrated evangelical pastor Franklin Graham warned new “gender-inclusive language” in the House of Representatives threatens the most fundamental human relationships.

Representatives Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Jim McGovern (D-MA) announced a set of changes to the House rules “to enshrine what they call gender-inclusive language,” Reverend Graham wrote on Twitter Sunday. “Can you believe that they actually propose to strike the use of words including father, mother, son, aunt, uncle, & wife?”

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

Georgia Data Reveals 30,000+ Trump Votes Removed, Another 12,173 Switched to Biden: Data Scientists

Georgia election data indicates at least 30,000 votes were removed from President Donald Trump and another 12,173 votes were switched to Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, data scientists testified on Dec. 30 during a state Senate hearing.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Gov. Cuomo Quotes Bible, Pledges to Not Get Vaccine Before Minority Communities

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Sunday that he would not take the COVID-19 vaccine before “black, Hispanic, and poor communities,” citing his commitment to “social and racial justice” and quoting several Bible verses.

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

How the Feds Used Cell Data to Track Ghislaine Maxwell to Secret Compound

Newly unsealed court papers detail how FBI agents used cellphone data to track Jeffrey Epstein cohort Ghislaine Maxwell to her New Hampshire hideout one day before her arrest.

The disclosure was made in an affidavit for a search warrant filed July 1 in New Hampshire, one day before 24 FBI agents stormed the remote $1 million Bradford compound, where she’d been holed up for months.

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

In Bizarre Flipflop, NYSE Ignores Trump Executive Order, Refuses to Delist China Telcos

In a bizarre turn of events, NYSE has decided to reverse its previous decision (from last Thursday) to follow President Trump’s Executive Order to delist three Chinese Telecom giants (China Mobile, China Telecom, and China Unicom Hong Kong) identified as “affiliated with the Chinese military”.

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

Kamala Harris Accused of Stealing ‘Fweedom’ Story From MLK Interview in Playboy

In October, Vice Presidential candidate Kamala Harris claimed she told her mother that she wanted “fweedom” when she was a child and had just fallen out of her stroller at a civil rights march in Oakland, California, in an interview with ELLEmagazine where she appeared on the cover.

Activist Andray Domise pointed out that Harris’ story was lifted from a January 1965, Playboy interview with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. about a girl in Birmingham, Alabama.

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

More Than 225 Google Employees Successfully Unionize, Say They Want Company to “Reflect Their Values”

More than 225 Google employees announced the formation of a company-wide union on Monday, a first for an international technology company.

The Alphabet Worker’s Union — referring to Google’s parent company, Alphabet — was organized quietly for more than a year and is being supported by the Communications Workers of America, a union representing tech and media workers in the U.S. and Canada.

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

National Guard Deployed to Kenosha on Eve of Jacob Blake Decision

Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers is deploying 500 National Guard troops to Kenosha in anticipation of unrest as prosecutors announce whether there will be charges in the shooting of Jacob Blake.

City workers on Monday finished installing security fencing around the Kenosha Courthouse and cops closed off side streets in anticipation of protests, Kenosha News said.

City police said in a statement Sunday that the measures were among the “planned precautionary efforts to ensure safety.”

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

Nevada High School Sued Over “Critical Race Theory” Indoctrination

In a move with national implications, a Nevada family is striking back against the leftist machine pushing the “critical race theory” (CRT) on our youth. William Clark, a mixed-race student, and his black mother, Gabrielle, along with the Illinois-based group Schoolhouse Rights, filed a civil-rights lawsuit in federal court against the publicly funded charter school Democracy Preparatory Academy at Agassi Campus(DPAC), along with one of William’s teachers, Kathryn Bass.

The Clarks brought the suit after they worked for several months to have William excused from the required class “Sociology of Change,” which the plaintiffs claim violated his Constitutional rights.

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

New Mexico Man Sues State for Right to Touch His Wife in a Nursing Home

A judge has ruled that the COVID-19 restrictions issued by New Mexico’s Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham are too broad after a man sued the state for being prohibited from touching his wife in a care home.

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

Not ‘The Onion’: Democrat Ends Prayer With “Amen… and a-Woman”

On Sunday, a Democratic representative — who also happens to have been a pastor for 37 years — gave an official prayer to open the 117th Congress. With great pomp and circumstance, he closed his prayer by invoking “the monotheistic god,” Brahma, and the god who supposedly goes by many names. He then concluded with the most asinine thing I have ever heard. He ended with “amen … and a-woman.”

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Pelosi Wins Slim Majority to Remain Speaker of the House

Nancy Pelosi was elected to her fourth term as Speaker of the House of Representatives Sunday, garnering a slim 216-209 majority vote. Pelosi has led the Democrat caucus since 2003 and is the first Speaker since 1955 to regain the gavel after losing it once to the opposition party.

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

SolarWinds Mess Flared in the Holidays — Company Confirms Malware Targeted Crocked Orion Product

CISA flags ‘further hardening’ advice as Microsoft reveals internal account compromises

The extent and impact of the SolarWinds hack became even more apparent — and terrifying — over the holiday break…

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Statistician: Lockdowns Don’t Work Because They Force People to Congregate in Fewer Places

Author and statistician William M. Briggs argues that lockdowns don’t work because they force people to gather in fewer places like supermarkets and therefore spread viruses faster than if people were allowed to spread out.

Writing for LockdownSkeptics.org, Briggs states, “A lockdown will spread this bug faster than allowing people to remain at liberty.”

The author notes that a lockdown is not the same as a quarantine. Under lockdown, people only have a limited selection of venues at which they are allowed to gather, meaning those locations are busier and therefore make a virus more transmissible.

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

Suspect Accused of Hitting Cop With Truck in Portland Escapes Holding Cell

An Oregon man accused of ramming a stolen truck into a Portland police officer, seriously injuring her, has escaped from a holding cell, police said.

David Dahlen, 24, was arrested Saturday in the attempted murder of Portland police Officer Jennifer Pierce on Dec. 24, police said in a statement.

Dahlen, who was apprehended after a short foot chase, was taken to the department’s detective division, where cops noticed he escaped from a holding cell at about 5:30 p.m. that evening, department officials said.

Dahlen was still not in custody as of Monday morning, a Portland police spokesman told The Post.

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

Suspect Arrested at Portland Antifa’s New Year’s Eve Riot Was Released From Jail Earlier the Same Day

Police only arrested three suspects at the New Year’s Eve riot in downtown Portland where over a hundred Antifa militants came armed with explosives, Molotov cocktails, hammers and hatchets. One of the suspects had been released from jail just hours before allegedly participating in the riot.

33-year-old Joshua M. Steele was taken into the Multnomah County Detention Center on felony second-degree burglary and felony first-degree theft charges. He was filmed at the riot charging through a line of officers and later holding a hatchet. He had been arrested and released earlier the same day for a trespassing offense. And on Dec. 28, he was arrested for felony unauthorized use of a vehicle and felony possession of a stolen vehicle. He was quickly released without bail. Steele also attended the Antifa Soccer League games the night before the riot in downtown Portland.

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

The United States Has Become a Banana Republic

If we continue destroying the U.S. dollar at our current pace, toilet paper will eventually be more valuable than U.S. dollars. I know that sounds absolutely crazy, but it is true. Once the COVID pandemic hit the United States, those that control the levers of power in this country decided to go “full Weimar” and they never looked back.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Watch: The Prayer to Open the 117th Congress Ended With ‘Amen’ And ‘A-Woman’

On Sunday, United States Representative Emanuel Cleaver, II (D-MO) delivered the opening prayer for the 117th United States Congress.

The Democrat congressman concluded the prayer with “We ask it in the name of the monotheistic God Brahma and God known by many names by many different fates, amen and a— woman.”

Reaction came swiftly on social media. Many realized that this alteration of language didn’t actually make any sense, since “amen” has nothing to do with biological sex at all.

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

Who is Stealing America?

It started with an unprecedented global pandemic caused by the CCP virus, and is concluding with the globally captivating U.S. presidential election-the results of which will not only decide the future of the United States, but also determine the future of the world.

However, the US election has been plagued with allegations of irregularities. So following election night, The Epoch Times’ investigative team quickly went to work. In an attempt to uncover the issues behind the election, senior investigative reporter Joshua Phillip traveled across the country to swing states to interview whistleblowers, big data experts, and election experts.

And this is what he uncovered…

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Woke Lancet Journal Calls on Biden to Vastly Increase Funding to U.N., W.H.O.

The once prestigious Lancet medical journal has called on the Biden administration to significantly increase U.S. funding of the United Nations and the World Health Organization (W.H.O.) to reestablish American global health leadership after four years of “disruption” by Donald Trump.

In its January 2 op-ed titled “A global health action agenda for the Biden administration,” whose authors include Donna Shalala, former president of the Clinton Foundation, the Lancet proposes that Mr. Biden will be able to rebuild trust among global partners by ponying up large sums of money to international organizations.

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

YouTube Rewind 2020: Jihad Edition

Here’s a quick review of the Islamic terrorist attacks that were carried out in 2020. The ideology that drives these attacks is currently being shielded from criticism by the Trust and Safety Teams of YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

For the list of terrorist attacks in this video, click here: https://thereligionofpeace.com/attack…

To order Robert Spencer’s “The History of Jihad: From Muhammad to ISIS,” click here.

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

BLM Calls for Toronto to Defund Police by $340 Million

A new report out from Black Lives Matter Toronto calls for defunding the police to 25 percent, which would be $340 million of the total police budget of $1.209 billion.

Black Lives Matter Toronto claims that defunding the Toronto Police Service by 25 percent and sending civilians to respond to non-serious calls would end the “over policing” of black and indigenous communities and reduce overall social cost.

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

Can Scotland Hope to Rejoin the EU Post-Brexit?

As the clock on Big Ben chimed midnight, the transition period between the European Union and the United Kingdom had officially ended. Many in England had celebrated the country’s long planned and hard-fought departure from the EU’s embrace, yet across the borders in Scotland the celebrations were markedly muted. While in the 2016 referendum English voters were mostly for independence, Scotland had overwhelmingly voted to stay within the EU.

Nigel Farage, who is often regarded as the main driving force behind the successful Brexit campaign, celebrated Britain’s regained independence with a social media post, writing “this is a big moment for our country, a giant leap forward. Time to raise a glass.” In contrast, Scotland’s first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, bid farewell to a bleak 2020 that had seen Scotland’s healthcare and economy devastated by the coronavirus epidemic on the one hand, and its departure from the EU along with the rest of the UK on the other. Although the coronavirus is still spreading in Scotland at an alarming rate, just as it does in the rest of the UK, in her remarks, she had set the stage in rectifying the other grievance by promising to rejoin the EU in the future.

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

England Goes Back Into National Lockdown Amid Another COVID-19 Surge

England is going back to a full national lockdown in an effort to stem a surge in COVID-19 cases driven by a contagious new mutation, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced Monday.

The new “stay at home” order will go into effect Wednesday and is expected to last until at least mid-February.

“With most of the country already under extreme measures, it’s clear that we need to do more, together, to bring this new variant under control while our vaccines are rolled out,” Johnson in a televised address.

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

Italian Opposition Gathers 100,000 Signatures Calling for the Resignation of PM Conte

The year in Italian politics began with the threat of a government crisis after the smallest ruling party, Living Italy, issued an ultimatum to Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte that he must answer by Thursday, and the opposition collected 100,000 signatures in one day that call for the resignation of the prime minister.

According to Italian press reports, the fate of Giuseppe Conte’s government will be decided by Jan. 7. The generally well-informed affaritaliani news portal estimated the chances of a government crisis at more than 90 percent. Other sources, however, are considering the possibility of a change of government.

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

Just Two Per Cent of Suspected Terrorists Are Still Being Tracked by UK Govt’s Anti-Extremism Programme

The British government’s anti-radicalisation programme is only monitoring two per cent of all suspected terrorists flagged with the security services, Home Office data has revealed.

In 2019, 6,287 people were listed on the rolls of the Prevent programme, which seeks to deradicalise primarily young people who are at risk of becoming terrorists or supporting terrorism.

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

Pamela Anderson Posts Tribute to WikiLeaks Founder Julian Assange After Court Win

Pamela Anderson posted a tribute to her “dear friend” Julian Assange early Monday to celebrate his pivotal court victory against extradition to the US.

“A special sunrise for my dear friend #JulianAssange,” the 53-year-old former “Baywatch” star wrote alongside a nine-second clip of her panning over the ocean.

“Stay tuned, the fight is not over — but, a hopeful moment to breathe in,” she added in her post just hours after a UK judge refused to extradite the WikiLeaks founder to the US over suicide fears.

“I can only imagine Julian (in court, still in that mask), taking that breath,” she wrote of her one-time rumored boyfriend who was facing up to 175 years in prison on espionage charges if extradited.

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

Piketty: The Western EU is Enriching Itself at the Cost of the East

Between 2010 and 2016, Poland received European Union funds equalling 2.7 percent of its GDP; during the same period 4.7 percent of GDP was drained from Poland, according to French economist Thomas Piketty in his book “Capital and Ideology”.

Owing to the success of his previous book “Capital in the 21st Century”, Piketty was able to acquire several contacts which gave him access to government data and historic documents which were previously inaccessible.

Among the countries Piketty gained access to was Poland’s data. The most interesting part of his book, “Capital and Ideology”, is the comparison between the average annual transfers of financial resources from the EU to Poland, Czechia, Slovakia, and Hungary to their outflow abroad.

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

Scotland to Enter Another National Lockdown

Scotland will on Monday enter another effective national lockdown, likely to last until spring, The Times newspaper reported.

Scottish government leader Nicola Sturgeon said earlier her cabinet would meet on Monday to discuss possible further steps to limit the spread of the virus, and ordered Scotland’s parliament to be recalled.

It is expected the reopening of schools will be pushed back beyond Jan. 18, the newspaper reported.

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

The EU’s Double Standard Toward Spain and Poland’s Judicial Systems

The ongoing conflict around the Judicial Council in Spain, which Spain’s governing coalition wants to reform, reminds us of a fact ignored by mainstream media outlets and apparently also by European institutions: for the last few decades, its members have been appointed by Spain’s parliament.

Why is that fact exceptional?

It is in fact the same method for appointing judges in the much decried reform of Poland’s Judicial Council by the Law and Justice (PiS) party.

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

UK Allows Mixing COVID-19 Vaccines as Experts Warn of Risks

Madness.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Assange Wins Case Against Extradition to US

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange will not be extradited to the US after a shock ruling in his favour at London’s Old Bailey courthouse.

District Judge Vanessa Baraitser ruled that extradition at this point to the US to face 18 counts of espionage would worsen Assange’s already extremely fragile mental state.

“Faced with conditions of near total isolation … I am satisfied that the procedures (outline by U.S. authorities) will not prevent Mr. Assange from finding a way to commit suicide,” she said.

[Comment: Assange could be Epsteined if he was in the US. According to Urban Dictionry, ‘Epsteined’ means: When someone is murdered because they hold important information that could incriminate many people, but the death is ruled as a suicide.]

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

UK: Bad Deal Confirmed? Tony Blair Backs BoJo’s Brexit

Arch-Remainer Tony Blair has said he would have voted for Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal if he was still in Parliament, causing some Brexiteers to question whether it is the fantastic victory the Tory leader has claimed.

“I would have backed the leader on this,” the Iraq War architect said, referring to Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer’s decision to vote in favour of Johnson’s deal, in an interview with Times Radio highlighted by the left-wing Guardian.

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

UK: BBC Slaps “Discriminatory Language” Warning on Dad’s Army Classic

BBC’s war on classic comedy series continued when the broadcaster decided to “censor” a 1971 film version of classic sitcom Dad’s Army.

The way the BBC has gone about this is to place a label warning viewers of “discriminatory language.” The sitcom takes place in the WW2 setting, makes references to Nazis and uses the word “frogs” — a jargon expression for the French — reports are now recalling, trying to figure out what the discriminatory language might be.

The warning also refers to the term “fuzzy-wuzzies,” used by British soldiers to describe people from the Sudan.

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

UK: COVID Cops Fine Londoners for Playing Dominoes in Restaurant

London’s police busted a group of 12 people who were playing dominoes in a restaurant under Tier 4 coronavirus restrictions.

The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) revealed on Sunday that last week it had raided a restaurant on Whitechapel Road, east London, where they found 12 people “hiding in a dark room”.

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UK: New Lockdown Will be Enforced With ‘More Fines and Less Tolerance’: Police Officers Say They Will Get Tough With £200 Fines for Each Breach of Rules But Fear Being Cast as ‘Villains’

Britons were warned last night they ‘should expect more enforcement’ from police under the new lockdown.

John Apter, chairman of the Police Federation of England and Wales, predicted there would be more fines handed out and less tolerance from officers as there are ‘no excuses’ for not knowing the rules this time.

But he also warned police could be cast as ‘villains of the pandemic’ as they bear the brunt of the public’s lockdown fatigue and frustration.

Mr Apter said the record number of fines handed out on New Year’s Eve demonstrated that increasing numbers of young people were prepared to break the rules.

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UK: Police Demand Elderly Lady Stop Feeding Pigeons Under COVID Lockdown Rules

Video footage out of London shows an elderly lady being dispersed by police under COVID restrictions for the sin of feeding some pigeons.

Yes, really.

The old woman throwing pieces of bread to the pigeons was apparently some kind of violation as it pertains to gatherings of people, but quite how God only knows.

“Seriously, do the birds have COVID as well?” asked one onlooker.

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While Germany Lectures Poland and Hungary, Soaring German Arms Exports Fuel War in the Middle East

Germany has taken a hardline stance on rule of law issues after it assumed the rotating presidency of the European Council in 2020, but in the same year, the German government approved €1.16 billion in arms exports to countries involved in the Yemeni and Libyan conflicts that have killed hundreds of thousands of people.

Germany, known for its strong arms export industry, has sent arms to repressive autocratic regimes throughout the Middle East for decades. In fact, Germany is one of the five largest arms exporters in the world, along with the United States, Russia, France and China. Together, the five countries account for 76 percent of the world’s arms exports.

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We’re Winning Vaccine Race, But Losing the War to the Mutation

While Israel continues its efforts to vaccinate the population, the percentage of coronavirus tests coming back positive soared over the weekend, spiking at 6.6% on Sunday.

In a tweet Monday morning, Edelstein warned that while Israel was making progress distributing the vaccine it was in danger of “losing the war” against the fast-spreading mutation of the COVID virus first identified in the UK.

“We have 1,224,000 people vaccinated thus far. We are winning the vaccine race, but unfortunately are losing the war against the mutation. The rise in the infection rate should worry every public official who needs to remember: our first concern is the public health.”[…]

[or maybe the vaccine is ineffective or the tests are wrong, or both…]

           — Hat tip: MC [Return to headlines]
 

Saudi Arabia to End Feud With Qatar in Jared Kushner-Brokered Deal

Saudi Arabia and its allies are expected to sign a deal Tuesday officially ending their feud with Qatar in an agreement negotiated by White House senior advisor Jared Kushner, a government official confirmed Monday.

The détente — designed to further isolate Iran — follows a slew of historic Middle East peace deals brokered by the Trump White House in recent months normalizing relations between Israel and some of its Arab neighbors.

Tuesday’s deal will set in motion the end of a four-year-old blockade of Qatar by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Bahrain who in 2017 accused Qatar’s leaders of supporting terrorism and aligning itself with Iran.

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Turkey: Agia Sophia’s Conversion Into a Mosque Was the Crown of 2020, Says Erdogan

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan kicked off the New Year with a provocative reference to Agia Sophia, calling the iconic structure, a Christian Orthodox Basilica turned UNESCO Museum and recently converted to an Islamic mosque, the jewel of 2020.

While acknowledging the devastating impact of the COVID-19 pandemic internationally, Erdogan made a note of listing his country’s so-called achievements in the face of the global health crisis.

The Agia Sophia, supposedly protected by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site, is one of the holiest sites in Orthodox Christianity.

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India: Uttar Pradesh: Muslim Man’s Family Reverts to Hinduism in Rae Bareli, Members of Madarsa, Village Head Try to Burn Them Alive

In Uttar Pradesh’s Rae Bareli, an attempt was made to burn alive family of a Muslim man which reverted to Hinduism about three months back. As per reports, on Saturday night, some men gathered outside their house and locked up the family inside. They then set the house on fire. Some how the man managed to break open the back door and escaped with his children.

Upon being informed, the police and fire brigade reached the spot and put out the fire. Five, including the village head, have been booked.

Had reverted to Hinduism three months back

Mohammad Anwar, a resident of the village, about three months back had reverted to Hinduism. He changed his name to Dev Prakash Patel. He even changed names of his children to Devnath, Deendayal and Durga Devi. In September 2020, as per the vedic rituals, he had reverted to Hinduism.

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Singapore Confirms That Police Can Access Coronavirus Contact Tracing Data

Singapore has updated the privacy policy for its TraceTogether COVID-19 contact tracing program and admitted that local police will be able to access this contact tracing data as part of criminal investigations.

The program’s privacy policy previously stated: “We are committed to safeguarding your privacy and will only use your data for contact tracing purposes.”

Over 4.2 million of the country’s citizens (around 78% of the population) had opted in to the TraceTogether program under this privacy policy by downloading the TraceTogether contact tracing app or using a wearable contact tracing token.

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Alibaba Billionaire Jack Ma Missing Since Criticizing Chinese Government in October

Jack Ma, the Chinese billionaire and co-founder of international e-commerce site Alibaba, has reportedly not been seen in public for more than two months and has had many of his assets seized by the Chinese government.

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Christian Persecution Likely to Rise in India and China in 2021

(Release International) — Christian persecution in 2021 is set to rise in India and China, forecasts Release International, which has just published its annual Persecution Trends survey. Release International supports persecuted Christians around the world. “Our partners tell us that attacks are on the rise under Communism in China, Islam in Iran and Malaysia,…

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

US National Security STILL Believes Coronavirus Leaked From Chinese Lab

Top US National Security officials still believe that the most credible theory on the origin of COVID-19 is that it escaped from a Chinese laboratory.

The comments were made by National Security Adviser Matthew Pottinger, during a recent Zoom meeting with UK officials, according to reports.

Pottinger, a former China correspondent for Reuters and The Wall Street Journal, pointed to the Wuhan Institute of Virology, and said that “China’s leaders openly admit their previous claims that the virus originated in a Wuhan market are false.”

“Even establishment figures in Beijing have openly dismissed the wet market story,” Pottinger noted, as he also blasted the World Health Organization’s ongoing investigation into the origin of the outbreak as a distraction.

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Queensland Police Pay Home Visit to Author Who Bragged on Twitter About COVID-Violating Jog

Queensland Police in Australia responded to a man who bragged on Twitter about going on a jog that violated lockdown rules by paying him a home visit.

“Sneaky run across the border and back. Avoided the CCP virus police,” tweeted author Lyle Shelton along with some pictures of a beach.

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Oxford Professor Fears COVID Vaccine May Not Work Against South African Mutation

A professor at the University of Oxford fears that the COVID vaccine may not work against the new South African strain of the virus, meaning lockdowns could continue indefinitely.

The South African variant is said to be even more “problematic” that the UK strain which led to dozens of countries banning Brits from entering last month.

According to Professor John Bell, Regius Chair of Medicine at the University of Oxford, there’s huge doubt over whether the coronavirus vaccines currently being rolled out will protect against the South African mutation.

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Mexico Offers Julian Assange Political Asylum to Avoid Extradition to US

Mexico on Monday offered political asylum to Julian Assange to further protect him from extradition to the US.

President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said it was his nation’s “responsibility” to offer protection after the US announced it was appealing a UK court decision not to extradite the WikiLeaks founder, who faces up to 175 years in prison for espionage charges.

“Assange is a journalist and deserves a chance. I am in favor of pardoning him,” Lopez Obrador said. “We’ll give him protection.”

Assange remains in custody until at least Wednesday, when his lawyers plan to fight for his release at a bail hearing.

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Canary Islands Sees More Than Eight-Fold Increase in Migrants in 2020

MADRID (Reuters) — The number of undocumented migrants arriving in Spain’s Canary Islands on rickety boats was more than eight times higher in 2020 than the previous year, the Spanish Interior Ministry said on Monday.

As north and sub-Saharan Africans grew desperate after losing incomes from tourism and other industries because of the COVID-19 pandemic, 23,023 migrants arrived in the archipelago last year, up from 2,687 in 2019, the ministry said.

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Charity Rescue Ship With 265 Migrants Anchors Off Italy

ROME — Italy allowed a Spanish-flagged charity ship with 265 rescued migrants aboard to anchor off Sicily on Monday.

The Open Arms vessel had brought the migrants safely aboard in separate rescues last week in the central Mediterranean. Port officials in Porto Empedocle, Sicily, said rough seas Monday evening were for the time being delaying the transfer of minors, reported to number 50, to a shelter on land after they tested negative for the coronavirus.

The remaining adults were expected to be transferred to a ferry chartered by Italy earlier in the COVID-19 pandemic so the migrants can do two weeks of quarantine as others rescued at sea have done.

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UK: First Migrants Cross the Channel Since Brexit as Dinghy Carrying 10 People is Intercepted by Border Force Patrol in —1c Freeze After Record 8,410 Made Treacherous Journey in 2020

The first migrants to cross The Channel since the UK’s new Brexit deal came into force have been brought into Dover — after more than 8,400 made the dangerous crossing last year.

One boat carrying around 10 people was intercepted and brought into Dover Marina, Kent shortly before 5am on Saturday.

Border Force towed the blue and white rigid hulled inflatable boat into the harbour before escorting the migrants up the gangway to be processed.

The men, wearing face masks, red lifejackets and wrapped in white blankets for warmth, appeared to be shivering from the bitter —1C temperature.

Former MEP and Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage posted about a video of the rescue operation on Twitter, saying: ‘The first migrant boat of 2021. Brexit Britain needs to stop this.’

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Cosmopolitan Cover Promotes Plus Size Women as ‘Healthy’

“This is healthy!” reads the cover of the February 2021 UK Cosmopolitan magazine, which features plus size models and an article that argues that “wellness” does not mean “one size fits all.”

“‘Healthy’ can be a loaded word. We asked these women to open up about their personal journeys to reclaim ‘healthy’ as their own,” explained Cosmopolitan, which goes on to share the stories of “11 women who prove wellness isn’t ‘one size fits all,’“ some of whom are plus-size models.

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France: Paris Opera to Ban the Nutcracker, Swan Lake, And the Yankee Princess for Promoting ‘White Supremacy’

he recently appointed director of the Paris Opera House, Alexander Neef, plans to remove three of the best-known ballet choreographies from the repertoire on account of those allegedly promoting White dominance, Neef told Le Monde.

The three ballets in question are The Nutcracker, Swan Lake and Die Bajadere (English title: The Yankee Princess), all choreographed by the late Rudolf Nureyev, considered the best ballet dancer of his generation, according to Origo.

The conflict goes back to September, incidentally, the month when Neef was appointed director. Then the artists of the Paris Opera House issued a manifesto entitled “On racial issues at the Paris Opera”, in which they said, among other things, that performers of colored skin will refuse to be masked as white when, for instance, dancing the role of a white swan.

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13 thoughts on “Gates of Vienna News Feed 1/4/2021

  1. Doesn’t the imbecile of a director at the Paris Opera realize that two of those three banned works were composed by a homosexual? And that they were extensively performed in the Soviet Union?

    Hopefully somewhere in Paris there awaits a lamppost with his name upon it.

  2. What will be left if all ” white supremacist works” will be eliminated from theaters and opera houses?
    But yes, we would finally see and hear the underrated “Khinshasa suite” by Wolfgang Mbebele Mozartatschi and ” The Voodoo- Dämmerung” by Rikarta Wagshanti.
    But irony left aside: all ” white” cultural achievements are a slap in the face of those who have not gained those heights. They may have others, be it.
    Some commenter on PI- News wrote about the N- word: why is it negatively connotated? Were fine cars, hightech products and medical advancement generated in Africa, everybody would speak of it appreciatively as in ” made in…”
    And wow, is that african sedan of yours a new purchase? Let me take a ride.
    A personal experience of mine( and many french coeds from the seventies) : the students from Africa were mostly upper class from their countries and incredibly arrogant racists. Compared to them, the Etonian upper class scions were pleasant to be with buddies.

    • Westerners look at Africans and see them as all equally black, but the natives have a gift of discernment and are quite capable of effectively discriminating amongst their numerous shades. Innumerable stupid tribal conflicts and frequent genocides attest to the axiom that without Western governance, law, and order they are incapable of living amongst one another peacefully.

      • Indeed. I used to work with an Ethiopian woman (Christian) who looked down on our fellow-volunteer, from the DRC, as “African”.

  3. Islamic State: a French jihadist reportedly bought sex slaves thanks to consumer credit in France and CAF benefits

    https://www.fdesouche.com/2021/01/03/etat-islamique-un-djihadiste-francais-aurait-achete-des-esclaves-sexuelles-grace-a-des-credits-a-la-consommation-en-france-et-les-prestations-de-la-caf/

    In 2019, 63% of those accused of sexual violence and 93% of perpetrators of simple flights on public transport in the Ile de France are of foreign nationality

    https://www.fdesouche.com/2020/12/21/en-2019-63-des-mis-en-cause-pour-des-violences-sexuelles-et-93-des-auteurs-de-vols-simples-dans-les-transports-en-commun-en-ile-de-france-sont-de-nationalites-etrangeres/

    Spain: a Moroccan migrant “professional snitch” who committed a hundred crimes and sentenced about sixty times, is “always released”

    https://www.fdesouche.com/2021/01/05/espagne-un-migrant-marocain-braqueur-professionnel-auteur-dune-centaine-de-delits-et-condamne-une-soixantaine-de-fois-est-toujours-remis-en-liberte/

  4. A new report out from Black Lives Matter Toronto calls for defunding the police **to** 25 percent, which would be $340 million of the total police budget of $1.209 billion.

    Black Lives Matter Toronto claims that defunding the Toronto Police Service **by** 25 percent and sending civilians to respond to non-serious calls would end the “over policing” of black and indigenous communities and reduce overall social cost.

    COULD PEOPLE PLEASE BE A BIT MORE CAREFUL WITH OUR LANGUAGE?

    Thanks.

  5. They will ban us from our culture. We can no longer read the books we want to,watch the movies we want to,watch the ballet we want to, the opera we want to… everything will be censored. Eventually no one will remember these things, they will erase every trace like the Nazi burning books. Back then there were many copies and they could not burn them all. Now things are electronic it is easy to erase the pasta and deny it was true and unless you saw it yourself it will be called fake news. They will deny it ever existed. Old people will be called liars for talking about things that never happened and then they will die and even those memories will be gone.

  6. Just read an interview with Mr. Neef in the ” Frankfurter Allgemeine”.
    He is not behind this policy but rather giving in to whims of staff members.
    The Opéra has 124 dancers, an incredibly high number, of which many will share Mr. Tschaikowsky’s mating predelections. Mr. Neef seems to be a reasonable person after all. A woke idiot would never be director of this house.

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