Angry residents of Seattle told Antifa and BLM activists to “get the f*** out”. Meanwhile, rioters in Portland attempted to break down the door of the Portland Police Association.
In other news, the BBC has been banned from China for its reporting on the Uyghurs and the government’s handling of the coronavirus crisis.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to C. Cantoni, Fjordman, Insubria, JD, MC, Reader from Chicago, Steen, 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.
The economic downturn that we are currently experiencing is making the last recession look like a Sunday picnic. Yes, 2008 and 2009 were bad, but they weren’t anything like this.
Unprecedented intervention by the Federal Reserve has allowed the rich to get even richer during this crisis, but meanwhile millions upon millions of ordinary Americans are deeply suffering. Unfortunately, what we have gone through so far is just the beginning.
As a child, I was a big fan of Sesame Street, and one of the characters that really stood out to me was Count von Count. I loved the fact that he was always counting things, and that is what I am going to do in this article in order to illustrate how bad economic conditions have now become.
Let’s start with the number 7. According to the Congressional Budget Office, approximately 7 million more Americans would have jobs right now if the COVID pandemic had never happened…
But in fact, what the CBO is projecting is dire: around 7 million people out of work in 2021 whom CBO thought before the pandemic would be working. That’s dire — and a call to immediate action, not calm, not wait-and-see.
Personally, I think that estimate is way too low.
In fact, the Federal Reserve says that 152 million Americans were working before the pandemic started, and only 142 million Americans are working now.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Biden’s DOJ Investigating Redditors for ‘Manipulating’ Markets at Expense of Hedge Funds
The US Department of Justice is investigating whether “market manipulation” of GameStop stocks fueled the sudden rise in its stock prices, The Wall Street Journal reports.
The stock prices of GameStop skyrocketed from $20 to $483 in just two weeks beginning in January when a number of Redditors on the subreddit r/WallStreetBets realized that the stock was being heavily shorted. The Redditors mass-invested in the stock, driving up the price, in what is known as a “short squeeze.” The rise in stock prices ended up costing hedge fund short sellers billions of dollars.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Italian Borrowing Costs Hit New Record Low
Amid optimism on expected Draghi govt
(ANSA) — ROME, FEB 11 — Italy’s borrowing costs hit a new all-time low on Thursday amid continued optimism on the expected government of former European Central Bank President Mario Draghi.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury bond fell to a new low of 0.47%.
The spread between Italian and German 10-year bond yields fell to 93 points.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Severe Economic Suffering is Taking a Very Heavy Toll on Millions of American Families
Have you ever been at such a low point in your life that it seems like there is no hope of ever turning things around no matter how hard you try? Right now, there are millions upon millions of Americans that have been emotionally crushed by this economic downturn, and many of them have completely lost all hope. Those around them may be telling them to “hang in there”, but month after month goes by and nothing ever seems to get better.
For a moment, I would like for you to consider a scenario. Imagine that you own a successful small restaurant somewhere in the country. Despite the odds, the restaurant has been successful enough over the years for you to make a living, but now during the COVID pandemic it has been bleeding red ink for months. You keep putting more of your own money into it to keep it alive, but now your own bank account is running dangerously low. The office job that your wife had was always a steady source of income for the family, but she lost that job shortly after the pandemic began. Unless your wife can find a comparable job very quickly, you won’t be able to pay the mortgage in a couple of months. Meanwhile, the drug company that produces the medicine that your son depends upon to survive just raised prices for the third year in a row and your family doctor just told you that your daughter desperately needs surgery. At the same time, your hot water heater needs to be replaced and something is wrong with your vehicle but you are afraid to take it to the mechanic because of how much it might cost.
Does any of that sound familiar?
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
“Something Isn’t Right”: Last Words of Virginia Grandmother Who Died Hours After Pfizer mRNA Shot
A 58-year-old mother and grandmother is dead after choosing to receive the Pfizer mRNA shot to “protect herself and coworkers.”
Ms. Drene Keyes received her first dose of the so-called “vaccine” on Saturday, January 30. She waited the required 15 minutes and walked out of the facility with a coworker. Ms. Keyes was about to get into a car to leave. But the coworker told WTKR Channel 3 in Norfolk that Ms. Keyes said, “something is not right. Something isn’t right.” She collapsed seconds later.
Emergency medical workers administered CPR and an EpiPen when Ms. Keyes suddenly stopped breathing. She was rushed to VCU Tappahannock Hospital as her condition worsened. ER doctors told her daughter that Ms. Keyes was suffering from anaphylaxis, a severe, life-threatening adverse reaction to mRNA shots. Ms. Keyes’ lungs quickly filled with fluid. This additional reaction/condition is known as flash pulmonary edema. She died within hours, essentially drowning in the fluid resulting from the allergic reaction.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Are Trump’s Lawyers Tanking the Impeachment Trial on Purpose?
Do they secretly want Trump to lose?
To me, that appears to be the best explanation for the utter incompetence that has been displayed by Trump’s lawyers so far. Yes, they didn’t have that much time to prepare.
But these are very experienced attorneys that have spent decades perfecting their skills in court.
Even with minimal preparation, these veterans should have been able to put up a competent defense.
But instead, we witnessed the sort of a performance that we might expect from Lionel Hutz from the Simpsons. Something seems really off, and that does not bode well for Trump.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
At least 36 people have developed a rare, life-threatening blood disorder, called thrombocytopenia, after receiving either of the two COVID-19 vaccines authorized in the US.
One of them, Miami obstetrician Dr Gregory Michael, died after thrombocytopenia caused his platelets to drop to virtually zero. He was just 56 and died of a brain hemorrhage just 16 days after receiving Pfizer’s shot.
And doctors ordered Luz Legaspi, 72, not to leave her bed for over a week, for fear a bump, bruise, fall or other minor injury could lead to a similar hemorrhage and prove fatal for her.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Biden Team Warns Herd Immunity Will Not be Reached Until Thanksgiving
Top members of President Biden’s coronavirus response team are internally warningthat herd immunity may not be reached in the United States until Thanksgiving or the start of winter, according to two senior administration officials.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
CDC Now Says Wearing 2 Masks Provides Greater Protection
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced Wednesday new recommendations about how best to avoid coronavirus exposure, and they include double masking. The CDC said that results of a new study demonstrate that double masking provides greater protection for the wearer than just a singular cloth.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Continued Lockdowns Are Crushing Female Workforce
An additional 275,000 women left the U.S. workforce in January, according to the National Women’s Law Center, bringing the total number of women who have done so since February 2020 to 2.3 million and cutting women’s participation in the workforce to 57%, the lowest rate since 1988.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Democrats Caught Using Fake ‘Evidence’ At Impeachment Trial
Democrats were caught Wednesday using fake evidence during their impeachment clown show, and were forced to withdraw it, proving that they don’t care about the truth, and only about trying to punish President Trump.
Impeachment managers led by Rep. Raskin charged that following the Capitol storming on January 6, Trump called Senator Mike Lee by accident when he really meant to speak to Alabama Senator Tommy Tuberville.
Impeachment manager David Cicilline said “He dialed Senator Lee by accident, and Senator Lee describes it that he had just ended a prayer in the Senate chamber.”
Cicilline then charged that Trump asked Tuberville to “make further objections” to Biden’s election vote count, while Senator Lee “stood by.”
It soon emerged that then entire claim was bullshit, when Senator Lee confirmed it never happened.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
House impeachment manager Rep Jamie Raskin falsely claimed that Trump supporters took part in the “burning of a church” and “impaled” police officers during his speech in the Senate yesterday.
“That’s before the second Million MAGA March — a rally that ended in serious violence, and even the burning of a church,” said Raskin.
That statement is manifestly false. Trump supporters never set fire to a church.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Exposed: Occult Symbolism in the Super Bowl LV Halftime Show
Brian Wilson exposes occult symbolism hidden in plain sight during the Super Bowl 55 halftime show.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Facebook Was Social Media Most Used by Capitol Rioters, Analysis Shows
Facebook was the social media most frequently used by Capitol rioters, according to an analysis of data from the Department of Justice.
A Forbes analysis of indictments of 223 people charged with participating in the January 6 riots at the Capitol, collected by the Program on Extremism at George Washington University, found that Facebook was used by 73 of the people charged, more than any all other social media sites combined.
Youtube was the second-most referenced at 24, followed by Instagram at 20, and Parler at eight.
The analysis contradicts what tech leaders have previously said.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Gina Carano did nothing wrong. She was totally correct.
The mob is mad at her because in a world of insipid conformity and ruthless ideological servility — she has the bravado to think for herself.
She represents the threat of a good example.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
A recent hand recount in the Rockingham District 7 NH House Race in Windham, New Hampshire, found that the Dominion voting machines shorted EVERY REPUBLICAN by roughly 300 votes.
The Dominion machine counted results were wrong for all 4 Republicans by almost exactly 300 votes.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Joe Biden mumbled through his face mask and blamed Trump for his own administration’s failure to administer vaccines to hundreds of millions of Americans.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
100 Percent Fed Up — In 2016, Bruce Springsteen held a free concert for Crooked Hillary, before that, the dyed-in-the-wool Democrat supported Barack Obama’s candidacy.
After Joe Biden became the Democrat presidential candidate, 70-year-old Springsteen immediately threw his support behind the 77-year-old lifetime politician.
Biden wasn’t Springsteen’s first choice. The rocker who preached “unity” in his recent Super Bowl ad admitted his desire to see the country move even further left, saying, “If we want to have the America that we envision, it’s going to need some pretty serious systemic changes moving leftward.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Kristi Simmonds: North Carolina Nurse Latest to Suffer Uncontrollable Convulsions After mRNA Shots
Ms. Kristi Simmonds has been a registered nurse since 2007. Her hard work and dedication to the profession led to a clinic manager position at Kindred at Home Care Services in October. Ms. Simmonds wanted to lead by example. She received the Moderna mRNA shot on January 19, according to her Facebook page. The goal was to protect her patients and co-workers, while also demonstrating that the shots are safe. She is now warning people to exercise due diligence before getting the jab.
Ms. Simmonds throat and tongue swelled up so much that she could barely breath. She went to the hospital on January 21. Doctors prescribed her Benadryl and sent her home. Ms. Simmonds rested for four days and returned to work, thinking the worst was over. Her whole world changed that night when she got home. Ms. Simmonds started having uncontrollable convulsions and muscle spasms.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Mental Health of America’s Teens Significantly Hurt by School Closures, Experts Confirm
The mental health of children, especially teenagers, is taking a hit as school closures drag on in many parts of the country, experts say.
Missing out on social interactions and formal, in-person education is exacting a toll.
Kids’ mental health emergencies have increased significantly, according to data from JAMA, the Journal of the American Medical Association. In Clark County, Nevada, the school system reopened in January following a nine-month suicide rate that was double that of the previous 12 months.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
The Newton County Commission in Missouri has passed an ordinance that criminalizes the enforcement of any federal law that infringes upon the 2nd Amendment right to keep and bear arms.
The “Second Amendment Preservation Act of Newton County Missouri” cites the state of Missouri’s own constitution to further justify the legislation.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
More Than 100-Car Pileup Results in “Mass Casualty Incident” In Fort Worth
Several people were trapped in their cars and at least five have been killed in an pileup of more than 100 vehicles in Fort Worth, Texas, that has shut down I-35W.
“Information will change going throughout the day as we get more information,” said Mike Drivdahl, Fort Worth Fire Department public information officer. “We are going vehicle, by vehicle, to make sure that anybody that is still trapped in their vehicle has been extricated, if possible. There’s a lot of vehicles to go through.”
Dozens of vehicles and multiple 18-wheelers were smashed, toppled over, and stacked on top of each other due to overnight freezing rain and sleet. According to first responders, the crash is a “mass casualty incident.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
MSM Predictive Programming: “Experts” Warns Lockdown Restrictions Are Being Lifted Too Soon
Could the ruling class be about to make another move? It kind of looks that way based on the headlines. “Experts” (appointed by the rulers) are saying the lockdown restrictions are being lifted too soon, as “mutant strains” of the COVID-19 virus continue to spread.
The mainstream media appears to be using predictive programming to reveal to us that we’ll all be under severe lockdowns again as the mutant variants continue to spread.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
NBA Changes Tune, Says Teams Must Play National Anthem Before Games
One day after saying teams could decide on their own whether to play the national anthem before games, the NBA reversed course Wednesday, declaring teams must play the anthem “in keeping with longstanding league policy.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Never-Trump Republicans Looking at Forming Third Party
A group of about 120 anti-Trump former Republican officials is considering forming a third party after coming to the realization that the party is now led by President Trump and his supporters, according to a report published Wednesday by Reuters. The third party effort is being co-led by Evan McMullin, who ran as an independent presidential candidate in 2016. Names being considered are the Integrity Party and the Center Right Party. Trump spokesman Jason Miller told Reuters, “These losers left the Republican Party when they voted for Joe Biden.”
[Comment: What a joke.]
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
The Big Tech purge continues.
Project Veritas was suspended from Twitter on Thursday after being censored by the social media platform for tweeting about Facebook censorship.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Newsom Recall Effort Reaches Signature Threshold
The recall effort organized to remove California Gov. Gavin Newsom from office announced late Wednesday that it had reached the required 1.5 million signature mark. Once those signatures have been verified, a recall election will be scheduled for later this year.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
A Philadelphia public elementary school forced 5th grade students to simulate a “black power rally” to “free Angela Davis from prison.”
Last year, a teacher at the William D. Kelley School designed a social studies curriculum celebrating Davis, a militant communist with ties to the Black Panther Party — as whose guns were used in an armed takeover of a courtroom that left four people dead.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
President Biden and the Muslim Brotherhood Trap
by Amb. (ret.) Yoram Ettinger
President Biden is about to reembrace the Muslim Brotherhood — in the mold of the Obama/Biden Administration — in defiance of all pro-US Arab countries, which consider the Muslim Brotherhood a clear and present, existential terrorist threat.
President Biden may benefit from the following advice, provided by Sir John Jenkins, a top British specialist on the Muslim Brotherhood, political Islamism and the Middle East, and former Executive Director of the British International Institute for Strategic Studies — Middle East branch: “[The West] should resist the temptation to seek to understand the Muslim Brotherhood through our own cultural or epistemological [knowledge] categories…. [Jenkins cautions against] viewing the world through lenses ground by an exclusivist Western modernity, shaped in the distorting crucible of European nationalism….
“Islamism — to which the Muslim Brotherhood is central — like other totalizing, anti-rational and authoritarian ideologies is a profound ideological challenge to the modern Western conception of the rational state and its foundational principles….”
| — Hat tip: MC | [Return to headlines] |
Rioters Try Breaking Down Door of Portland Police Association
Rioters are attempting to break down the door of the Portland Police Association, law enforcement said on Wednesday evening.
“A protest has developed near North Lombard Street and North Campbell Avenue, where participants have tried to break down the door the Portland Police Association,” the Portland police tweeted. “We are monitoring the situation.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Lawyer Robert F. Kennedy Jr., son of Robert F. Kennedy and the nephew of former U.S. president John F. Kennedy, has been banned from Facebook owned Instagram just days after he penned a comprehensive account of Bill Gates’ attempt to monopolise and dominate global food production and public health programs.
Kennedy had 800,000 subscribers on the platform, which has said that he was banned for “repeatedly sharing debunked claims about the #coronavirus or #vaccines.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Sen. Hawley’s Wife Responds to Attack on Their Home by Angry Anti-Trump Protesters
Erin Hawley, the wife of Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO), said in a piece for Fox News that a recent attack on her home by angry, anti-Trump protesters was “not civil discourse.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Seniors Who Already Beat COVID-19 Are Dying After Taking the Vaccine
Eight senior citizens in two American states died soon after receiving the COVID-19 vaccine, according to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System.
The Health and Human Services tracker for adverse reactions to the COVID vaccine reveals four elderly people in Kentucky died on the same day of their vaccination, on December 30th, 2020.
Three of the four Kentuckians had already defeated COVID-19.
Perhaps vulnerable people who already beat the virus should not be forced to take the experimental jab.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
SPLC Removes Black Separatist Listing on Hate Map: ‘Black Dissent Isn’t Black Violence’
According to the SPLC’s holistic “Equity Through Accuracy” updates, the hate map’s restructuring will “better capture the power dynamics endemic to white supremacy.” The decision comes after “many internal and external conversations.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
A family has opened up about the devastating personal toll of coronavirus, after an 8-year-old girl found the body of her 12-year-old brother who committed suicide when lockdown left him feeling lonely.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The China Model Has Come to America
Too few Americans understand the threat that China’s governing philosophy and structures pose to the US
by Bruce Abramson February 11, 2021
China envy runs strong among America’s progressive elite. The Communist Party of China’s hold on power and centralized decision-making has long appealed to progressives infuriated with their inability to mandate solutions to global warming (and other progressive priorities).
Tom Friedman, an established bellwether of elite opinion, has been voicing this exasperation for more than a decade. Last weekend he reduced the genocide in Xinjiang to “bad stuff with the Uighurs,” of less concern than Chinese excellence in high-speed rail.
Far too few Americans grasp the implications of such a view taking root among their own elite. Though more and more Americans are awakening to the challenges inherent in China’s growing economic, technological, and military capabilities, few understand the threat that China’s governing philosophy and structures pose to the US.
As David Goldman has explained, though the CPC is nominally Communist, China is what it has been for millennia: an empire run by oligarchic mandarins. The appeal to an American elite that sees itself as a worthy meritocracy enamored of governance by bureaucratic experts is obvious.
Americans need to understand that beyond mere appeal and envy, there is a growing convergence of interests between China’s entrenched communist oligarchs and America’s emerging progressive oligarchs…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Twitter says that the Lincoln Project founder who allegedly sexually harassed boys as young as 14-years-old on the platform did not violate the company’s rules against unwanted sexual advances.
Lincoln Project co-founder John Weaver allegedly harassed and engaged in predatory behavior with 21 individual young men, some of which occurred through Twitter’s direct messaging platform, the New York Times reported.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Twitter Nets $1.14 Billion Loss for 2020
Twitter’s net income for 2020 was down $1.14 billion as compared to 2019, the company announced Wednesday.
“2020 net loss was $1.14 billion, representing a net margin of —31 percent and diluted EPS [earnings per share] of —$1.44,” a company statement reads, in part. “This compares to 2019 net income of $1.47 billion, representing a net margin of 42 percent and diluted EPS of $1.87.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Two Black Lives Matter protesters, both men, were arrested after they rubbed a dirty diaper on a conservative reporter’s face and then smashed an egg on her head.
Conservative reporter Tara Szczepanski was also knocked with an umbrella and the victim of a skateboard attack.
They did this to a female Trump supporter!
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Video: Graham Asks ‘What Did Pelosi Know’ About Capitol Riot
Senator Lindsey Graham suggested Wednesday that Nancy Pelosi knew about the pre-planned riot at the Capitol in January.
In an appearance on Hannity, Graham said “Here’s what I want to know: What did Nancy Pelosi know and when did she know it?”
Graham pointed to FBI communications that have revealed authorities knew there was a threat and that agitators were heading to Washington DC to start a “war”, and had placed pipe bombs in the area the night before.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Watch: Fed-Up Seattle Residents Tell Antifa to ‘Get the F**k Out’
Seattle residents have apparently had enough of months of activists marching and rioting through the city that they called them out during a protest Wednesday night.
“You’re taking advantage of the death of a black man. Get the f**k out,” said two residents who can be seen in the video confronting BLM and Antifa activists who marched through Seattle.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
The COVID Blog, part of COVID Legal USA which is “a team of paralegals, legal writers and researchers helping Americans represent themselves in legal matters against oppressive, dangerous COVID mandates,” has reported on the miscarriage of a Wisconsin doctor shortly after receiving one of the experimental COVID mRNA injections…
Dr. Sara Beltran Ponce graduated from the Medical College of Wisconsin in 2019. She is completing her residency in Radiation Oncology at the same Milwaukee college. Her profile on a website called SheMD says she is “passionate about medical education, public health, and mentorship, particularly for women interested in radiation.” She is married with one daughter and had another child on the way — until yesterday.
Dr. Beltran Ponce tweeted on January 28 that she is 14 weeks pregnant and “fully vaccinated.” She repeated many of the most common talking points related to COVID-19 and vaccines in the tweet chain.
The miscarriage happened at 14 1/2 weeks, indicating it was three days after she got the first or second mRNA shot. She did not say if it was the Pfizer or Moderna shot. Dr. Beltran Ponce has since locked her Twitter account so only verified followers can see her tweets. (Full article.)
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
“So, Germans Are Suddenly Ready to Discuss Reparations?” Asks Polish Deputy FM
Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Marcin Przydacz has reacted with criticism to German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier’s statement about continued support for the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline tied to atonement for German actions against the Russia during World War II.
Steinmeier basically outlined how he believes that due to German war crimes, the country has a debt towards Russia and Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline is meant to be one of the “bridges” between Europe and Russia. Steinmeier also indicated that Germany is obliged to maintain good relations with Russia due to the millions of people who lost their lives during the German invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941.
“If this project is meant to be treated that way, then we can see that Germany is ready to discuss reparations,” said Przydacz.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Adolf Hitler’s personal toilet seat from his mountain hideaway has sold for £13,750 at auction.
The bizarre Second World War relic sparked a bidding frenzy between collectors flush with cash at the sale in the U.S.
The eventual winning bid for the Nazi khazi was $15,000, with the buyer’s premium taking the final purchase price to $18,750 (£13,750).
The white wooden seat, with lid, was looted by an ‘enterprising’ young US soldier from the dictator’s private bathroom at the Berghof, his retreat in the Bavarian Alps.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
On Wednesday, the World Economic Forum (WEF), along with Russia’s Sberbank and its cybersecurity subsidiary BI.ZONE announced that a new global cyberattack simulation would take place this coming July to instruct participants in “developing secure ecosystems” by simulating a supply-chain cyberattack similar to the recent SolarWinds hack that would “assess the cyber resilience” of the exercise’s participants.
On the newly updated event website, the simulation, called Cyber Polygon 2021, ominously warns that, given the digitalization trends largely spurred by the COVID-19 crisis, “a single vulnerable link is enough to bring down the entire system, just like the domino effect,” adding that “a secure approach to digital development today will determine the future of humanity for decades to come.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Brexit Can Still be a Win-Win, Says Hungary’s Central Bank Governor
The economic disaster that Brexit has so far proven to be can still be turned into a win-win situation, but both sides need serious regulatory changes for this to happen, Hungarian Central Bank governor György Matolcsy writes on Hungarian business portal Növekede’s.
“In the beginning, both the EU and the UK will suffer huge losses due to Brexit. It is not a lose-win situation, the UK’s losses are not the EU’s wins. Blatantly, it is still not a win-win situation either. However, it could be,” Matolcsy wrote. He was reflecting on a recent article in the Financial Times by Miriam Gonzalez Durantez, a Spanish international trade lawyer and vice chair of UBS Europe, entitled “EU must act to profit from the UK’s Brexit losses”. Gonzalez Durantez is the wife of former British Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg.
[Comment: Brexit is a win-win.]
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Former Belgian Pro-Sharia Islam Party Candidate Sentenced Over Death Threats
A former municipal elections candidate in Belgium who stood for the pro-sharia Islam party has been sentenced after a court found him guilty of making death threats.
Philippe Latteur had dropped out of the 2018 race in Woluwe-Saint-Lambert because he could not acquire enough signatures to get on the ballot. Several other candidates had reported Latteur had threatened them, and police charged him with writing threats, cyber-harassment, and carrying a prohibited weapon.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: 3 Care Home Staff Arrested for Mistreating Clients
Suspects ‘shook, slapped, threatened’ residents say police
(ANSA) — SAVONA, JAN 25 — Italian police on Monday arrested three female care home staff near Savona in northwestern Italy on suspicion of mistreating their elderly clients.
The three operators, aged 48,58 and 64, are suspected of pushing and shoving, shaking, slapping and threatening their charges, police said.
The allged mistreatment took place at the La Villa Care Home at Varazze.
Police said the accused staff members carried on physically abusing residents despite the latters’ weeping, pleas to stop and cries of pain.
The probe lasted several months, during which police found numerous episodes of physical and verbal violence, judicial sources said.
The staff member are also accused of ignoring their clients’ calls for service and treatment.
Police said the suspects threatened to tie clients to their beds and not to feed them if they disturbed them.
“The conduct with which the arrestees are charged is of absolute gravity and harshness,” said the local police command.
The three women also took advantage of the frailty and vulnerability of their clients, police said.
Police searched the homes of the suspects in Savona, Varazze and Genoa looking for clinical records and other information.
La Villa’s supervisor, Michele Assandri, said the arrests were a “bolt from the blue” and said “we had no inkling of what was going on”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Giving Kids Dad’s Name Patriarchal, Must Change Says Court
Get rid of baggage from patriarchal conception of family
(ANSA) — ROME, FEB 11 — Naming children after their fathers is “baggage from a patriarchal conception of the family” and must be changed, Italy’s highest court said Thursday in setting itself up to rule on the change.
The constitutional principle of gender parity must be respected in the potential change, said the Constitutional Court.
The top court made a similar pronouncement in 2006.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Slew of Migrant Attacks May Force Suspension of Train Service to Swedish City
The Swedish city of Kumla may see its train services suspended amid an increase of violent incidents involving migrants, according to reports.
SJ, a state-run train operator, announced a surge of attacks and threats against employees and passengers could force them to temporarily cease service to the city, where migrants gangs are reportedly roaming freely and terrorizing locals.
“Due to the current situation, SJ has taken a number of measures such as increased staffing on the trains, security efforts and increased cooperation with the police,” SJ explained in a statement.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Speedboat Britain: UK Has Now Vaccinated More People Than Whole of EU Combined
The United Kingdom has overtaken the European Union in the total number of people given a vaccination shot against coronavirus, despite having less than a sixth of the population to innoculate.
While the shock and outrage across European capitals over the continental power bloc’s failures to acquire enough vaccines to protect European Union citizens have dominated headlines for weeks, until now the EU had actually managed to vaccinate more people than the United Kingdom, although it was far behind proportionally.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden’s Electricity Shortage Has TV Station Telling Viewers to Avoid Vacuuming
As Sweden grapples with electricity shortages, Sweden’s SVT television station advises Swedes not to vacuum during the weekend due to the lack of electricity.
According to SVT, the reason behind the electricity shortage in the country is the cold weather. At the same time, the Holmen forestry company decided to shut down parts of its production over the electricity price, Nyheter Idag reports.
However, the operations manager of Svenska kraftnät, the electricity transmission system operator, Pontus de Maré, believes that the higher electricity price is good for the environment and shows that the market works.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
The Corrupt Communist Regime and the News Media
by Dr. Ileana Johnson Paugh
The Corrupt Communist Regime and the News MediaIn his cold war classic, Red Horizons, Lt. Gen. Ion Mihai Pacepa, the highest defector from a communist regime, wrote that “the Romanian revolution of 1989 was the first one in history to have been started by the news media and won by the television cameras.”
The misery and starvation subsistence that Romanians had to endure for decades, while the media, political apparatchiks and the Ceausescus rolled in the lap of luxury, finally exploded into revolt.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Three Syrians Arrested in Denmark and Germany Over ‘Attack Plot’
German and Danish police have arrested three Syrian men accused of planning an attack with several kilogrammes of explosive chemicals, prosecutors said Thursday.
The three men are brothers, according to a report in Germany’s Der Spiegel weekly, which also said police found an Islamic State flag at the Dessau address.
| — Hat tip: Steen | [Return to headlines] |
UK: ‘I Know Survivors Who Are 70’ — Rotherham MP Reveals Huge Scope of Rape Gang Abuse
The Member of Parliament for Rotherham has revealed that she knows survivors of mostly-Muslim rape gangs who are now 70-years-old, suggesting the scope of the abuse is far vaster than many suspected.
Sarah Champion MP was sacked from the opposition Labour’s front bench by former leader Jeremy Corbyn after writing that “Britain has a problem with British Pakistani men raping and exploiting white girls” in 2017. Much like police officers and council workers in the city, who like the authorities in other areas had long failed to tackle the issue due to fears they would be branded racist for intervening, the left-wing party found the issue too sensitive to confront head-on.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
UK: ‘Woke Ignorance’: School Cancels Winston Churchill, J.K. Rowling for ‘Intolerance’
A secondary school in England has removed the names of Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling and British wartime leader Sir Winston Churchill from school houses after teenage students branded the famous Brits as “intolerant”.
Students at the Seaford Head School in East Sussex claimed Sir Winston — the man generally credited with marshalling the efforts to defeat the Nazis and routinely thought of as one of the greatest Britons ever — was a “figure who promoted racism and inequality, unfairly imprisoning and torturing many”. The school claimed that honouring him would go against the school’s policy against “intolerance and discrimination”.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Farage: We Are Fast Becoming a Police State
Brexit leader Nigel Farage has criticised Health Secretary Matt Hancock for being “drunk on his own power” after introducing a law making it a criminal offence to lie about having travelled from a coronavirus ‘red list’ nation, which could result in ten years in prison.
The health secretary announced the new measures on Tuesday, putting the potential sentence on a par with prison terms handed out for serious crimes such as poisoning or making threats to kill.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
US Military Flexes in Norway in “Show of Force Unseen Since the Cold War”
Amid mounting tensions between Russia and the West and as the Kremlin has lately placed strategic emphasis on its military readiness in the far north Arctic Circle, AFP reports that “The United States is deploying long-range B-1 bombers to Norway to train in the strategically important High North in a new show of force unseen in the region since the Cold War.”
As we described last week ahead of the deployment, the US Air Force announced that for the first time ever it will send multiple B-1 Lancer bombers along with 200 airmen to Norway, which comes amid greater NATO calls to “confront Russia.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Of the 16 federal German states, only Saxony and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania produce police reports that, in general, reveal the nationalities of crime suspects, but another state may soon join them.
The Saxon Ministry of the Interior stated that disclosing nationalities is “the principle of transparent communication.” Currently, North Rhine-Westphalia is preparing a similar decree as the one in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, which requires police to always name nationalities of suspects, according to Junge Freiheit. North Rhine-Westphalia has one of Germany’s largest migrant populations and has been dealing with a rise in Arab clan crime in recent years.
Meanwhile, Baden-Württemberg and Bremen announced that they would investigate whether there was a justified public interest in revealing such information.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
2 Publicly Flogged in Indonesia for Drinking, Gambling
Two Christian men were publicly flogged Monday in Indonesia’s ultra-conservative Aceh province for drinking alcohol and gambling, in a rare instance of non-Muslims facing a punishment frequently condemned by rights groups.
The caning comes less than two weeks after a male couple were flogged nearly 80 times each for having gay sex, which is outlawed under local Islamic law.
On Monday, the two accused received 40 lashes each from a masked sharia officer who beat their backs with a stick.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Then when India offers refuge to non-Muslims facing persecution in the neighboring Islamic states via the Citizenship Amendment Act, the international media claims that the act is a terrible human rights abuse. But the international media will remain silent about this.
“Communal tension in Delhi’s Mangolpuri after Bajrang Dal activist stabbed to death after arguments over Ram Mandir donation drive,” OpIndia, February 11, 2021.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Breaking: BBC Banned From China After Reporting on Uyghurs, Handling of COVID
The Chinese Communist Party has banned the BBC on Thursday, purportedly because of a documentary aired by them on the Xinjiang region.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Vucic at Summit With China, We Both Agree on Multilateralism
Serbian President, let’s strengthen ties with Beijing
(ANSA) — BELGRADE, 10 FEB — Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said he agrees with the Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s stance in favor of multilateralism and ever more significant and more intense cooperation on a global level to face and overcome the biggest common challenges together. Speaking at the annual summit between China and 17 Balkan and Central Eastern European countries, which took place yesterday online, Vucic recalled the Chinese President’s speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, in which Xi stressed that a divided world could not overcome the common challenges which the whole of humanity is facing. Then Vucic commented positively on the substantial increase in trade between the countries of central and south-eastern Europe and China. Last year, Vucic said, China was Serbia’s third-biggest trading partner, for an amount of 3.7 billion dollars, an increase of 30% compared to 2018. Vucic then underlined the importance of Chinese investments in Serbia in recent years, citing, in particular, those in the large steel plant of Smederevo, in the Bor mining area, and the construction of the Belgrade underground.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Nigeria’s Military Executes 6 Christian Soldiers Framed for Crime, Human Rights Leaders Say
Nigeria’s government executed six Christian soldiers in the city of Abuja based on false charges, according to a lawyer working for the families of one of the victims.
The soldiers were framed for a crime committed by one of their superior officers, International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law Chair Emeka Umeagbalasi told The Christian Post.
A Muslim colonel stole weapons from an armory, then blamed the 12 soldiers on duty for the theft. The military then accused the six Christian soldiers who were all members of Nigeria’s Igbo tribe, said Umeagbalasi.
They died on Jan. 25, not because of their actions, but because they were both Igbo and Christian, he said.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Biden’s Deadly Immigration Violations Will Implode His Administration
While the Biden & Harris administration can count on the fake news to lie about their support levels, the true approval levels for their numerous wrongdoings are plummeting in America as word spreads of their dastardly immigration deeds.
As American patriots and activists, it is our job to circulate this accurate information about the Biden administration to help facilitate and accelerate the downfall of Biden / Harris, and many of you should be ready to act after our survey said 95% of you already want Biden impeached!
The lower the public approval levels are for a President, the less likely it is that President can get legislation like the current push for Amnesty for tens of millions of illegal aliens through Congress. Therefore, it is ALIPAC’s strategy to help inform Americans of things the Biden administration is doing on immigration that most Americans disapprove of. (See talking points below)
The truth is that Biden’s unlawful and unConstitutional Executive Orders on immigration will result in more injuries, crimes, loss, and deaths for US Citizens.
Please familiarize yourself with Biden’s actions and take steps to circulate this information in your emails and social media posts to others, your calls in to talk radio shows, and your communications with members of the media, candidates, and lawmakers.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Former ICE Official: ‘Biden Has Declared the Entire Country a Sanctuary Jurisdiction’
Many people have already warned of the grim consequences that President Joe Biden’s radical immigration policies could have. Now, an expert on the topic is weighing in.
Former Immigration and Customs Enforcement acting Director Tom Homan painted a worrying picture of the country under Biden’s policies in an interview with Fox News.
“President Biden has declared the entire country a sanctuary jurisdiction,” he said on “Fox & Friends” Wednesday.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Germany: Muslim Migrants Assemble Chemicals, Plot Jihad Massacre
Remember: anyone who questions the wisdom of open-door mass migration on national security grounds is just a racist, bigoted “Islamophobe,” to be shunned by all decent people.
“Three terror suspects caught,” translated from “Drei Terrorverdächtige gefasst,” Hessenschau, February 11, 2011 (thanks to Medforth).
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
German Police Release Migrant Suspected of Helping Murder Hungarian Housekeeper
A 31-year-old Syrian migrant was arrested in Kaiserslautern for the murder of a 48-year-old Hungarian housewife, but he was eventually released, Hungarian news portal Origo reports.
The German prosecutor’s office said no evidence had been found that the man had been directly involved in the murder of the woman only identified as Diana, but the man was still being investigated whether he had been involved in the crime as an accomplice. Although he is still being investigated, that did not stop the police from releasing him.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Governor Ron DeSantis has issued a response to the news that the Biden administration is considering domestic travel restrictions targeting the state of Florida. In a press conference Thursday afternoon, it was clear the Sunshine State’s chief executive was less than pleased about the news out of Washington.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Illegal border crossings at the US southern border doubled in January compared to the previous year.
The US Customs and Border Patrol released the figures this week.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Migrants Deliberately ‘Endangering Lives’ To Force Entry to Britain
It appears British authorities are still not able to get a handle on the illegal migrant influx despite a clear and loud mandate to do so in the Brexit referendum. The pace of illegal crossing via the La Manche Channel or inside trucks is steadily growing, prompting opinions that border controls and the UK asylum system continues to be in disarray even after the UK’s exit from the European Union.
Lending credence to the argument are alarming figures that show over 8,400 migrants have crossed the English Channel in 2020, which is quadruple the numbers from 2019.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Tucker: Biden Immigration Policy Designed to Punish Americans
Tucker Carlson explains the motive behind not COVID testing people coming across the border.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Australian Christians in Shock: Ten Year Jail Sentence for Preaching Repentance
The parliament of Victoria (Australia) is about to conclude the process of the Change or Suppression (Conversion) Practices Prohibition Bill.
The law has been approved by both the Lower House and the Legislative Council of the Victorian parliament and could be soon ready to be implemented.
Any practice that aims to “change or suppress a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity” will now be illegal.
According to Australian evangelical magazine Eternity News, this ban includes “prayer conversations suggesting change, and counselling when targeted at an individual”.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Australian Province Makes it a Crime to Pray for the Deliverance of LGBT People
Under an expansive new “conversion therapy” ban passed by the Australian province of Victoria, lawmakers “down under” have attempted to forbid praying for someone to obey scriptural teaching on sexuality.
The Change or Suppression (Conversion) Practices Prohibition Act of 2021 includes prayer in its list of forbidden practices that might contribute to another person suppressing their sexuality.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Instagram to Permanently Ban Users Who Send ‘Hate Speech’ In Private Messages
Instagram has announced that they will now be permanently banning users who send “hate speech” in private messages.
The platform announced their new speech policing policy on Wednesday.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Netflix is Altering History to Confirm to Current Woke Trends
Neflix’s period dramas alter the historical perception of hundreds of millions of viewers who otherwise have little or no knowledge of the respective eras, rewriting it to fit trending ideologies, Zoe Strimpel writes in an opinion piece in The Spectator.
The first thing you’ll notice about the Bridgerton family, Netflix’s great winter blockbuster in England, is how bad it is, Strimple writes, calling it an expensive collection of clumsiness that stinks of Americans’ interpretation of the British aristocracy. The dialogues are lousy, the grimaces of the ladies are infuriating. Strimpel says that it sends viewers an invitation to let go and enjoy it even if the dialogue is over the top. So far, “Bridgerton” has been viewed by more than 80 million households.
Strimpel considers the series to be the most cheeky of any historical drama to date, as in her opinion the period drama is dominated by a vision of the past roughly rewritten by the sensitivities of the present.
“People are worried about fake news. I am worried about pseudo-history,” Strimple writes.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Pigs Can Play Video Games With Their Snouts, Scientists Find
Pigs can play video games, scientists have found, after putting four fun-loving swine to the test.
Four pigs — Hamlet, Omelette, Ebony and Ivory — were trained to use an arcade-style joystick to steer an on-screen cursor into walls.
Researchers said the fact that the pigs understood the connection between the stick and the game “is no small feat”.
And the pigs even continued playing when the food reward dispenser broke — apparently for the social contact.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
“So, Germans Are Suddenly Ready to Discuss Reparations?”
Ha! This is very funny. Let them first return the lands that Joe Stalin gave them, and then talk about reparations.
…The term “Returned Lands”, as conceived by its authors, was to reflect the Slavic and, in particular, the Polish historical past of these regions, which underwent a long, including violent, Germanization in the Middle Ages and Modern Times. Poland was actually able to return to its borders in the 10th – early 11th centuries, during the Piast dynasty.
https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%92%D0%BE%D0%B7%D0%B2%D1%80%D0%B0%D1%89%D1%91%D0%BD%D0%BD%D1%8B%D0%B5_%D0%B7%D0%B5%D0%BC%D0%BB%D0%B8
I want my family lands back in East Prussia first, then we can have a chat.
“The Chinese Communist Party has banned the BBC on Thursday, purportedly because of a documentary aired by them on the Xinjiang region.”
I have heard this story a bit differently:
“China Bars BBC Programs After British Ban on Chinese Broadcaster CGTN”
I have no Idea why my comment ended up here, it was not meant to be reply…
The RINOs want to start a 3rd party. This will split the Republican Party giving the Democrats the win. The RINOs are a fifth column.
The rino’s are going to get primaried out and they know it, the people are very angry that they turned on them.
The democrats don’t need the vote split to win, considering they already have the best vote fraud system that money and big tech overlords can buy. Likely it would be a positive to separate the RINOs from the patriots. They do more harm running and winning as republicans while they wait for their moment to betray us in our hour of need.
This fight isn’t going to be won by the ballot box anyway. What kind of possible compromise could ever be made with woke mobs and globalist tech oligarchs that want to be elite royalty in a neo feudalism with 90+ percent of us exterminated as useless eaters? The only possible means of unbiased and non fraudulent voting remaining to us will be exercised through the cartridge box with extreme prejudice once those government handouts stop coming. Let the evil RINOs rearrange the deck chairs on the Titanic. Their time is almost up.