Gates of Vienna News Feed 6/20/2021

The driver of a pickup truck ran his vehicle into pedestrians at the Stonewall Pride Parade in Florida, killing one person and wounding at least one other. Although the incident was initially reported as a “hate crime”, it later emerged that the driver was a member of the Fort Lauderdale Gay Men’s Chorus, and had lost control of his vehicle.

In other news, authorities in Kuwait raided a number of lockdown-violating parties where large crowds of revelers gathered despite the country’s COVID restrictions.

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

Thanks to Dean, Insubria, LP, Reader from Chicago, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.

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

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

Financial Crisis
» Californian Unemployment Recipients Will Have to Start Looking for Work Again
 
USA
» Amazon Studios Announces New ‘Inclusion Policy, ‘ Establishes Racial Quotas for Productions
» Arizona Police Shoot Motorist Who Drove Truck Into Bike Race
» Atlanta Mayor Blames City’s Rising Violence on Lifting of Lockdown Restrictions
» Bret Weinstein Streams With Odysee After YouTube Suspension
» Chris Rufo Exposes WaPo’s ‘Flat-Out Lies’ About His Research on Critical Race Theory
» DeSantis Edges Donald Trump in 2024 Straw Poll at Top Conservative Conference
» District 49 Proposal Would Ban Teaching of ‘Critical Race Theory’
» District Attorneys Drop Most Looting Cases From Last Year’s Riots in NYC, Leaving Business Owners ‘Disgusted’
» Family of Victim Shocked and Dismayed After Dismembered Man Found in Minneapolis
» Florida Mother Blasts Critical Race Theory as ‘Not Teaching the Truth’
» Former Obama, Trump White House Physician Demands Biden Submit Cognitive Test
» Google’s Artificial Intelligence Team Building on Critical Race Theory, Documents Show
» Gov. Kristi Noem Blasts Pop Star’s Call to Replace American Flag With Woke Version
» Gov. Abbott Defunds Texas Legislature After State Democrats Stage Walk-Out to Block Voting Bill
» Instagram Blacklists Conservative Filmmaker Maggie Vandenberghe
» Joe Rogan Slams Defund the Police Movement
» Lawsuit: California Government Colluded With Twitter on Censorship
» Libertarian Mag Reason Censored by YouTube, Continues to Defend ‘Private Company’s’ Right to Censor
» Mark McCloskey, Who Pulled Gun on St. Louis BLM Protesters, Shows Off New Rifle
» Report: Fmr. Florida COVID Dashboard Manager Allegedly Falsified Claims of Sexual Harassment
» Sen. Tom Cotton: ‘Low-Level’ Twitter Employee Threatened to Lock Account Over Riot Tweets
» Trump Wishes a Happy Father’s Day to ‘Losers’ and ‘RINOs’
» Videos Show Leftist Mob Harassing and Attacking Conservative Conference Attendees
» Washington Post Promotes Karen Attiah to ‘Race and Culture’ Columnist a Year After She Said White Women Were ‘Lucky’ That Black People Are ‘Just Calling Them Karens and Not Calling for Revenge’
 
Canada
» Actor Fired for Attending Freedom Rally
» Breaking: Penticton Cancels Canada Day
» Legal Update: Rebel News’ Lawyer on COVID Jails Charter Challenge and Our Plan to Appeal
» Lethbridge Tattoo Shop Headed to Court After Ongoing Harassment From Public Health
» University to Host Webinar on How to ‘Dismantle’ ‘Systemic Islamophobia’ With Critical Race Theory
 
Europe and the EU
» France: Main Defendant in Champs-Élysées Terror Attack Case Gets Just Ten Years in Prison, No Terror Conviction
» Germany Responds to Rise in Antisemitic Attacks: Bans Hamas Terrorist Flags
» ‘I’m Not Going to Stay Alive’ — French Lesbian Teenager Targeted by Islamists Talks About Her Future
» Left Party Backs Confidence Motion That Could Bring Down Swedish Government
» Regional German Minister Threatened With 10k Euro Fine for Calling Newspaper Far Right Extremist
» Study Sounds Alarm on Depopulation of EU’s Rural Areas
» Too Few Protected Areas, Berlin Was Referred to the EU Court
» UK: Anti-Brexit Ex-Speaker John Bercow Finally Joins the Labour Party
 
Middle East
» Kuwait: Wild Parties Raided
» Mass Executioner Raisi Wins Iran’s Sham Presidential Election
 
South Asia
» India: Three Women Accused of Forcefully Converting Dalit Girl to Islam, Video of Her Reading Namaz Sent to Father: Report
» India: ‘Muslims Must Kill 4-6 Persons Before Dying’: Congress’ New Minority Cell Head Imran Pratapgarhi and His Hate-Filled ‘Shayari’. Details
 
Far East
» China Selects Wuhan Institute as Candidate for ‘Outstanding Science and Technology Achievement’ Award
» Chinese Propaganda Outlet Trots Out Anonymous Scientists to Combat Lab-Leak Theory
 
Immigration
» Four Illegal African Migrants Convicted for Sexual Assault, Murder of Italian Teen Desiree Mariottini
» Greek Police Arrest Foreign Nationals for Human Trafficking
» Polish Border Guards Detain Two Groups of Illegal Migrants From Afghanistan
» Swedish Priest Guilty of Smuggling Migrant Out of Detention Centre in Suitcase
 
Culture Wars
» Activists Gather in Montreal to Protest Life-Altering Hormone Treatments in Children
» Double Toasted Faces 7-Day YouTube Livestream Suspension for Reacting to Videos Allowed on Other Channels
» Eric Clapton Says His Musician Friends Cut Him Off After He Spoke About His ‘Disastrous’ Vaccine Side Effects: ‘I Just Don’t Hear From Them Anymore’
» Hate Crime Debunked: Driver in Fatal Stonewall Pride Parade Crash is Gay Choir Member
» Odysee Launches Its Playlists Feature
» UK: LGBT Charity Calls on Teachers to Say ‘Learner’ Instead of ‘Boy’ And ‘Girl’
 

Californian Unemployment Recipients Will Have to Start Looking for Work Again

Starting on Jul. 11, recipients of unemployment benefits from the government will have to prove that they are actively seeking work.

The announcement was made on Thursday that things would be going back to the way they were before the pandemic. The state government had previously waived the requirement temporarily back in Mar. 2020.

“Claimants for unemployment benefits must start job hunting July 11 so they can attest that they are doing so when certifying their eligibility a week later with the state Employment Development Department, the agency announced Thursday,” wrote the LA Times.

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

Amazon Studios Announces New ‘Inclusion Policy, ‘ Establishes Racial Quotas for Productions

Amazon Studios released a policy this week that aims to increase diversity, inclusion, and equity in all of its productions.

The policy, which Deadline reported on Wednesday, includes requirements that creative teams and characters meet certain diversity requirements, and that characters are played by actors whose identity aligns.

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

Arizona Police Shoot Motorist Who Drove Truck Into Bike Race

Arizona police shoot motorist who drove truck into bike race participants (Show Low Police Department)Police shot a motorist who allegedly drove his truck into a group of participants in a bike race.

Officials say that seven victims were taken to hospital after the incident in Show Low, Arizona.

One of the victims was transported by air ambulance, and police say that of the other six, four are in critical condition and two in critical but stable condition.

Police say that the suspect is also in critical but stable condition, and that there were up to three walk-in victims who are in a stable condition.

Authorities say that the suspect, who was driving a Ford F-150 truck, hit multiple bicyclists at around 7.25am on Saturday at the event 180 miles northeast of Phoenix.

When the suspect, a 35-year-old white man, fled the scene officers gave chase and shot him behind a hardware store…

           — Hat tip: Dean [Return to headlines]
 

Atlanta Mayor Blames City’s Rising Violence on Lifting of Lockdown Restrictions

Democratic Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms is claiming that the spike in the city’s crime rates can be blamed on the early easing of COVID-19 restrictions in Georgia by the statehouse GOP, according to an interview with MSNBC on Friday.

According to data from Atlanta Police Department used in the broadcast, shooting incidents are up 40 percent, rape is up 97 percent, and homicides are up 58 percent from 2020 to 2021. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution states that there were 157 homicides last year, up from 99 in 2019.

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

Bret Weinstein Streams With Odysee After YouTube Suspension

Are YouTube — and those behind it — actually confident that once a channel is banned there and on similar tech giant-controlled places — it actually disappears from the web?

If so, how short-sighted they must be. These days — not thanks to YouTube’s own dismal policies and the seemingly general trend towards perilous centralization of the internet — alternatives like Odysee, LBRY’s blockchain file-sharing and payment network website, are emerging as viable alternatives.

One of the shows that have been driven off YouTube is biology professor Bret Weinstein and co-host Heather Heying’s DarkHorse Podcast. But a tweet from LBRY announced this saying that the hosts will now be broadcasting exclusively on Odysee. And that you, the listener… can always #FollowTheSilence.

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

Chris Rufo Exposes WaPo’s ‘Flat-Out Lies’ About His Research on Critical Race Theory

Investigative journalist Christopher Rufo exposed the Washington Post‘s “flat-out lies” about his critical race theory research printed in the publication’s hit piece.

In recent months, Rufo has revealed numerous cases of critical race theory teachings in companies across the United States, like Disney and Lockheed Martin.

Rufo lays out five lies in a Twitter thread that the outlet printed Saturday.

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

DeSantis Edges Donald Trump in 2024 Straw Poll at Top Conservative Conference

Former President Donald Trump, by most accounts, is currently atop the list of potential GOP presidential candidates for 2024. However, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has been catapulted into the conversation of major contenders for the Republican Party in 2024, thanks in large part to his leadership during the coronavirus pandemic. A new poll gave DeSantis a slight edge over Trump as the preferred GOP candidate for the 2024 presidential race.

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

District 49 Proposal Would Ban Teaching of ‘Critical Race Theory’

A battle over “critical race theory” is raging at school boards across the nation and in Colorado Springs, where one board member this month asked a question on many minds: What is it?

District 49’s Board of Education recently voted to draft a resolution that would ban teaching the theory in its classrooms.

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

District Attorneys Drop Most Looting Cases From Last Year’s Riots in NYC, Leaving Business Owners ‘Disgusted’

District attorneys in New York City have dropped looting cases against hundreds of suspects, who were charged during last summer’s riots in the wake of George Floyd’s death, according to a new report. Allowing the looters to get off scot-free has disgusted some NYC business owners who had their stores ravaged by last year’s protests and riots that occurred on a regular basis.

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

Family of Victim Shocked and Dismayed After Dismembered Man Found in Minneapolis

MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) — 24 hours after dismembered body parts were identified by authorities, family members are reeling after learning 36-year-old Adam Johnson was murdered.

Behind the gruesome and shocking headlines is a man that JoJo, who requested to be identified as such to protect her privacy and safety, says was a valuable part of her family…

           — Hat tip: LP [Return to headlines]
 

Florida Mother Blasts Critical Race Theory as ‘Not Teaching the Truth’

NORTHEAST FLORIDA (KUSI) — Quisha King, Co-chair of the Northeast Florida Moms 4 Liberty, recently blasted critical race theory as racist during a Florida school board meeting.

CRT has since been banned in Florida schools.

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

Former Obama, Trump White House Physician Demands Biden Submit Cognitive Test

Republican Rep. Ronny Jackson, the former White House physician for Presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump has penned a letter to Democrat President Joe Biden on Thursday demanding that the president immediately submits a cognitive test as his “mental decline and forgetfulness have become more apparent over the past eighteen months.”

The letter, which was signed by over a dozen lawmakers, told Biden that he should “follow the precedent set by former President Trump to document and demonstrate sound mental abilities.”

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

Google’s Artificial Intelligence Team Building on Critical Race Theory, Documents Show

Google’s artificial intelligence (AI) work builds upon critical race theory, documents show, best described as a form of race essentialism that demands its adherence recognize and identify race-based oppression in every interaction.

Christopher Rufo, an independent journalist spearheading efforts against race essentialist indoctrination describes critical race theory as “an academic discipline that holds that the United States is a nation founded on white supremacy and oppression and that these forces are still at the root of our society. Critical race theorists believe that American institutions, such as the Constitution and legal system, preach freedom and equality, but are mere ‘camouflages’ for naked racial domination. They believe that racism is a constant, universal condition: it simply because more subtle, sophisticated, and insidious over the course of history.”

A screenshot of an internal company page, obtained by the Daily Wire shows under the title “Ethical AI”:

We focus on AI at the intersection of Machine Learning and society, developing projects that inform the general public; bringing the complexities of individual identity into the development of human-centric AI; and creating ways to measure different kinds of biases and stereotypes. Out [sic] work includes lessons from gender studies, critical race theory, computational linguistics, computer vision, engineering education, and beyond!

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

Gov. Kristi Noem Blasts Pop Star’s Call to Replace American Flag With Woke Version

South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem is the latest leader in a growing chorus of voices against singer Macy Gray’s call for a new American flag to replace “Old Glory.”

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

Gov. Abbott Defunds Texas Legislature After State Democrats Stage Walk-Out to Block Voting Bill

Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott vetoed funding for the state legislature Friday, fulfilling the promise he made last month after a Democrat-led walk-out was staged in an attempt to block election reform legislation.

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

Instagram Blacklists Conservative Filmmaker Maggie Vandenberghe

Maggie VandenBerghe, a conservative filmmaker whose videos attacking the political left have gained millions of views and have been featured on Fox News and the Blaze, was banned from Facebook-owned Instagram earlier this week after reposting a tweet from journalist and author Jack Posobiec.

In a comment to Breitbart News, an Instagram spokeswoman confirmed that VandenBerghe’s account had been blacklisted for “exceeding the number of violations we allow.”

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

Joe Rogan Slams Defund the Police Movement

Joe Rogan, the host of one of the world’s largest podcasts, has slammed the left-wing “Defund the Police” movement tied to Black Lives Matter groups during a show with comedian Annie Lederman.

The pair discussed the “tent cities” and failed policies that have allowed the homeless to “camp out.” Rogan stated that those who are in charge of helping the homeless are failing, despite being paid hefty six-figure salaries.

“Cops don’t do anything if someone jumps into someone’s backyard, they don’t arrest them — like, you have to do like $900 worth of theft before they’ll even arrest you,” Rogan said in relation to the “Defund the Police” movement in cities like San Francisco, California, The Blaze reported. “If they do arrest you, they’ll just put you right back out on the street again…”

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

Lawsuit: California Government Colluded With Twitter on Censorship

Twitter and the Democrat-run government of California are facing a lawsuit alleging that they colluded to suppress the First Amendment rights of Rogan O’Handley, a popular pro-Trump activist who was banned from the platform earlier this year. The complaint includes emails showing California officials directing Twitter to remove political commentary about the 2020 election from its platform.

Twitter banned O’Handley, also known by his online moniker “DC Draino,” after he tweeted the statement “most votes in history.” He had over 440,000 followers on the platform prior to his ban, which was permanent.

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

Libertarian Mag Reason Censored by YouTube, Continues to Defend ‘Private Company’s’ Right to Censor

Google-owned YouTube has censored Reason, taking down a video from the leading libertarian magazine reporting on biohackers working on DIY coronavirus vaccines. Reason condemned the censorship but continued to defend the tech monopoly’s right as a “private company” to censor them.

The video, titled “Biohackers Are on a Secret Hunt for the Coronavirus Vaccine” was uploaded in March, and reports on biohackers, who

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

Mark McCloskey, Who Pulled Gun on St. Louis BLM Protesters, Shows Off New Rifle

The gun-toting St. Louis lawyer who pleaded guilty to pulling a gun on Black Lives Matter protesters is flaunting his new rifle.

Mark McCloskey picked up a brand new AR-15-style gun — after surrendering his old one last week as part of a plea deal with prosecutors.

“Checking out my new AR!” the controversial attorney, who is running for Senate, boasted on Twitter in two photos, one with his wife Patricia, giving the thumbs up inside a gun store.

McCloskey is seen smiling with the weapon in front of a wall of semi-automatic rifles.

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

Report: Fmr. Florida COVID Dashboard Manager Allegedly Falsified Claims of Sexual Harassment

A damning report has been released by the National Review which shows how Rebekah Jones, the former COVID dashboard manager for the Florida state health department, falsely claimed that higher-ups in the DeSantis administration instructed her to input different COVID data than what they received, and allegedly then turned to make claims of sexual harassment to target a Ph.D. candidate at the Florida Atlantic University College of Business who challenged how the mainstream media was reporting the numbers of COVID-related deaths.

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

Sen. Tom Cotton: ‘Low-Level’ Twitter Employee Threatened to Lock Account Over Riot Tweets

Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) says a “low-level” Twitter employee called his office and threatened to permanently lock his account over his tweets related to the George Floyd riots.

According to Cotton, the Twitter employee was upset over a June 1 tweet in which the Arkansas Senator called for “no quarter for insurrectionists, anarchists, rioters, and looters.”

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

Trump Wishes a Happy Father’s Day to ‘Losers’ and ‘RINOs’

Former President Donald Trump on Sunday sent a Father’s Day message to his political adversaries — who he blasted as “losers” — and said he hoped US residents across the political spectrum could “come together.”

Trump, who is banned from Twitter and Facebook, released the statement through his political action committee, which was tweeted by his supporters.

“Happy Father’s Day to all, including the Radical Left, RINOs, and other Losers of the world. Hopefully, eventually, everyone will come together!,” the statement read.

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

Videos Show Leftist Mob Harassing and Attacking Conservative Conference Attendees

A group of leftists aggressively harassed and attacked attendees of the Colorado Christian University Centennial Institute’s Western Conservative Summit in downtown Denver on Friday night.

One video, posted by The Blaze’s Elijah Schaffer and shared by freelance journalist Andy Ngo, shows a protester pushing a person walking to the Western Conservative Summit.

“F*** you,” the protester, who is reportedly tied to the leftist group antifa, said in the video.

“You want some? You want some?” he echoed as he shoved the attendee. “You better back your a** up.”

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

Washington Post Promotes Karen Attiah to ‘Race and Culture’ Columnist a Year After She Said White Women Were ‘Lucky’ That Black People Are ‘Just Calling Them Karens and Not Calling for Revenge’

Washington Post has promoted Karen Attiah to write a regular column, a year after she stirred controversy by saying white women were ‘lucky’ that black people are ‘just calling them Karens and not calling for revenge’.

Attiah, 35, will be writing on ‘race, international affairs, culture, and human rights’ for the Post’s new Voices Across America initiative, the newspaper said in a statement on Thursday.

The journalist, who had been the Post’s founding Global Opinions editor, tweeted that the regular columnist job was ‘a dream I have had for a long time.’

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

Actor Fired for Attending Freedom Rally

Meet the man who goes by the name Mukesh Freedom.

Until recently, Mukesh was an actor on a Star Trek spinoff series being shot in Toronto. He enjoyed his time on the set and was thankful for the work he received. But one day, Mukesh was abruptly frog-marched out the studio.

Why? Well, someone in the production crew had spotted Mukesh taking part in an anti-lockdown demonstration, and this COVID-Karen promptly ratted him out.

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

Breaking: Penticton Cancels Canada Day

Penticton, BC, is following the lead of Victoria in cancelling its Canada Day celebrations as a means of expressing reconciliation over the recent discovery of unmarked graves of Indigenous children at the site of a former residential school in Kamloops.

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

Legal Update: Rebel News’ Lawyer on COVID Jails Charter Challenge and Our Plan to Appeal

The idea that healthy people should be forced to pay an inordinate fee to be effectively imprisoned in a hotel and served inadequate food in the name of health makes no sense. It is unscientific, and worse still, it is a massive violation of our fundamental rights.

Even if you were to believe that these measures might slow the spread of COVID, the fact that people exhibiting COVID symptoms are often sent home instead of being forced to stay at one of these COVID jails completely defeats the purposed function of this program.

It is troubling that no tourism agencies, human rights groups or other business groups have challenged this problematic program. Only Rebel News and the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms have called out this madness.

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

Lethbridge Tattoo Shop Headed to Court After Ongoing Harassment From Public Health

Will Woods, the owner of the Peppermint Hippo tattoo shop in Lethbridge, Alberta, has been dealing with ongoing harassment from Alberta Health Services (AHS) and government authorities since the onset of COVID-related restrictions.

Peppermint Hippo Tattoo has been operating in Lethbridge as a respected business for over a decade. They have contributed over $150,000 to the community through sponsorships and donations, and they have never failed a single health inspection. Furthermore, Will told us that AHS have confirmed that not a single case of COVID-19 has been directly linked to tattoo shops in Alberta. Considering all of this, many are wondering why this shop has been singled out.

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

University to Host Webinar on How to ‘Dismantle’ ‘Systemic Islamophobia’ With Critical Race Theory

The Peace and Reconciliation Centre is at the University of the Fraser Valley (UFV) in British Columbia, although the university’s website explains that the university is “situated on the unceded traditional territory of the Stó:lO peoples. The Stó:lO have an intrinsic relationship with what they refer to as S’olh Temexw (Our Sacred Land); therefore, we express our gratitude and respect for the honour of living and working in this territory.”

Dr. Keith Carlson, director of Peace and Reconciliation Centre, and his colleagues certainly would never dream of suggesting that the Stó:lO peoples practice “systemic Islamophobia” on their unceded traditional territory, but those evil white Canadians certainly do, apparently, and so the good Dr. Carlson is here to fix the problem. To do so, this webinar offers a hodgepodge of the currently trendy academic shibboleths and superstitions.

The webinar will “draw on lived experience, post-colonial studies, and critical race theory to help understand the roots of Islamophobia and the structures that continue to sustain it.”

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

France: Main Defendant in Champs-Élysées Terror Attack Case Gets Just Ten Years in Prison, No Terror Conviction

The main surviving defendant in the 2017 Champs-Élysées terror attack has been convicted for his role in the killing of a Paris police officer and sentenced to 10 years in prison — far below the 18 years requested by prosecutors.

Nourredine Allam, 31-year-old, was accused of selling a Kalashnikov assault rifle to jihadist Karim Cheurfi which allowed Cheurfi to “make his terrorist project a reality” when he used the firearm to attack policemen on April 20th on the famous Parisian boulevard, killing officer Xavier Jugelé. Police shot Cheurfi dead at the scene.

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

Germany Responds to Rise in Antisemitic Attacks: Bans Hamas Terrorist Flags

The German government responded Sunday to a rise in antisemitic attacks by banning flags of the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas.

The move was spurred by numerous anti-Israel riots in Berlin, Hamburg and other German cities in May of this year, the Sunday newspaper Welt am Sonntag reported.

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

‘I’m Not Going to Stay Alive’ — French Lesbian Teenager Targeted by Islamists Talks About Her Future

Mila, the 17-year-old French teenager who has been the subject of tens of thousands of death threats since she made insulting remarks about Islam in January 2020, is still surprised by the lack of support from the feminist and LGBT community.

“These associations don’t want to support me. They try to find all sorts of reasons not to defend me. They accuse me of sexist, transphobic comments when I’ve never made such comments. These are pretexts. All those accusations are doing a lot of harm around me,” the teenage girl said in a television show on June 15, accusing the association world of “cowardice and malice.”

Yet, the vulgar remarks she made on social networks about Islam were an angry reaction to a Muslim Internet user who had attacked her homosexuality also with great vulgarity.

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

Left Party Backs Confidence Motion That Could Bring Down Swedish Government

Sweden’s Left Party has threatened to bring down the Social Democrat-led government in a confidence vote expected as early as Monday.

Nooshi Dadgostar, the leader of the Left Party, has threatened to bring down Prime Minister Stefan Löfven’s government over a disagreement on proposals to deregulate Sweden’s rental housing market.

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

Regional German Minister Threatened With 10k Euro Fine for Calling Newspaper Far Right Extremist

North Rhine-Westphalia’s Interior Minister Herbert Reul could face fines of up to €10,000 (£8,590/$11,864) for referring to reading a conservative German newspaper as a sign of far-right extremism after a new court ruling.

The Administrative Court in Düsseldorf has ruled that the assertions of the interior minister, a member of German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU), interferes with freedom of the press by alleging conservative newspaper Junge Freiheit is far-right extremist.

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

Study Sounds Alarm on Depopulation of EU’s Rural Areas

Ad hoc measures needed to reverse the trend — ESPON

(by Alessandra Briganti) (ANSA) — BRUXELLES, 16 GIU — The policies adopted up to now to reverse the trend of depopulation of rural areas has not delivered tangible results and the phenomenon will continue in the coming decades unless there are new ad hoc interventions, according to the ‘Escape’, research project conducted as part of the ESPON programme specializing in the analysis of regional policies. The study said that three rural regions out of five in Europe — or 40% of the territory with 30% of the population — have been hit by demographic decline or will be in the coming decades.

Although long considered a fundamental challenge for many EU member States, the depopulation of rural areas has not been addressed in a specific way, except for a few operations seeking to limit its scale.

The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and the cohesion policy are the main tools Europe has created to address issues linked to rural depopulation, the researchers explained.

On the one hand, the CAP provides funding that aims to diversify employment and improve basic services, giving support to farmers and rural communities in planning and implementing initiatives that respond to a series of economic, environmental and social challenges.

On the other, the cohesion policy aims to reduce the disparity of less developed areas, in particular regions affected by industrial and agricultural decline, via national, regional and cross-border projects.

In both cases, these policies seek to mitigate rural decline by stimulating demographic and economic growth.

The growth-support measures, however, have not put the brakes on rural depopulation which, on the contrary, is an increasingly common phenomenon.

The belief that this trend cannot be reversed in some regions is gaining sway.

The researchers said that the policies used up to now at the European and national level have not taken into account a fundamental aspect of the issue: the non-uniform nature of the phenomenon.

Indeed, there are “substantial differences” not just between regions, but also within the regions themselves, that should not be ignored.

These differences can be explained in the light of elements ranging from long-term changes in the size and structure of the economy, to the outcome of political events such as joining the EU or the return of a conflict.

Not taking account of these elements is a sign of the failure to consider the profound causes of depopulation and its effects, the researchers concluded. Therefore, the EU’s intervention should, on the one hand, seek to combat the differences that exist in the decline of the rural regions and, on the other, adopt the necessary measures to increase the quality of life and well-being of the populations living in areas affected by the phenomenon.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Too Few Protected Areas, Berlin Was Referred to the EU Court

Last step of the infringement procedure against Germany

(ANSA) — BERLIN, 18 FEB — The European Commission has decided to refer Germany to the European Court of Justice for violating the European law on the conservation and protection of natural habitats. That’s the last step in an infringement procedure opened in 2015.

Germany has not yet designated a “significant number of areas as Special Protection Areas,” Brussels announced.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Anti-Brexit Ex-Speaker John Bercow Finally Joins the Labour Party

Former Speaker of the House John Bercow has announced that he will be joining the Labour Party, declaring that it is the “only credible vehicle” to remove the Conservative government. Others have suggested that the defection is a cynical ploy to secure a position in the House of Lords.

John Bercow, who served for ten years as the Speaker of the House of Commons until his resignation in 2019, has announced that he has joined the Labour Party. Despite previously serving as a Conservative MP, Bercow said that his “values are left of centre” and that he does not “identify with the Conservative Party”.

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

Kuwait: Wild Parties Raided

KUWAIT CITY, June 5: Personnel from the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) — Morals Sector — have launched extensive security campaigns on chalets, farms and what it called the “suspicious places”, where a large number of people go to hold parties and ‘evenings out’ in violation of the laws which forbid gatherings and failure to adhere to health requirements, says Al-Seyassah. A security source told the Al-Seyassah daily the detectives have instructions to monitor all the sites that the prone to illegal gatherings especially during the weekends, whether on the farms, stables, or chalets, as these illegal gatherings will be raided, especially since some of these places are used to hold ‘wild parties’.

According to security sources such parties are frequented by cross-dressers and others reported absconding. The sources stressed the security authorities have permission to refer all those arrested to the competent authority to take necessary action. The sources added the CID men last week raided one such party in Kabad during which young men and women were arrested and referred to the concerned authorities

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

Mass Executioner Raisi Wins Iran’s Sham Presidential Election

Iran has declared the regime-favored candidate, Ebrahim Raisi, as the winner of the Friday’s presidential election. Raisi, also known as the “Butcher” for ordering mass executions of Iranian dissidents, reportedly won 62 percent of the vote in the sham election, the Iranian foreign ministry declared today.

Raisi organized the mass execution and torture of thousands of Iranian dissidents, including helpless women and children, reports say. He launched his political careers as a member of the four-men “Death Committee” which sent at least 5000 Iranians to their deaths in the late 1980s.

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

India: Three Women Accused of Forcefully Converting Dalit Girl to Islam, Video of Her Reading Namaz Sent to Father: Report

The family of a Dalit girl from Greater Noida’s Jewar Basti has lodged a complaintagainst three women and a man for allegedly kidnapping and forcefully converting their daughter to Islam, reports Live Hindustan.

The father of the girl in his complaint stated that his daughter used to work as a tailor in a private company with three women from the Muslim community as co-workers who used to pressurize her to convert to Islam.

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

India: ‘Muslims Must Kill 4-6 Persons Before Dying’: Congress’ New Minority Cell Head Imran Pratapgarhi and His Hate-Filled ‘Shayari’. Details

From being the single dominant party in India to its pathetic performance in literally all state and national elections, the Congress party has been on a steady downhill trajectory. Despite chances being bleak, the only election in which Congress hopes to redeem itself in the upcoming assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh in 2022. For this, the party has once again decided to go back to playing its favourite minority appeasement card.

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

China Selects Wuhan Institute as Candidate for ‘Outstanding Science and Technology Achievement’ Award

The Wuhan Institute of Virology was listed as one of the Chinese Academy of Sciences candidates for the 2021 Outstanding Science and Technology Achievement Prize released Friday.

According to the Global Times, a tabloid newspaper under the auspices of the Chinese Communist Party’s flagship People’s Daily newspaper that comments on international issues from a nationalistic perspective, the award is given to “individuals or research groups who have made or demonstrated significant achievements in the past five years.”

CAS, the national academy for the natural sciences of the People’s Republic of China, awards 10 such individuals and research groups every year.

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

Chinese Propaganda Outlet Trots Out Anonymous Scientists to Combat Lab-Leak Theory

A Chinese propaganda outlet is using anonymous sources—described as virologists “close to the China-WHO joint investigative research mission”—to push back against the growing suspicion that the COVID-19 pandemic started as a result of a lab leak.

An unsigned piece in Global Times, one of China’s leading propaganda outlets, quotes multiple anonymous sources who have “decided to break their silence” to deny any possibility that a lab leak caused the pandemic.

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

Four Illegal African Migrants Convicted for Sexual Assault, Murder of Italian Teen Desiree Mariottini

ROME (AP) — An Italian court late Saturday convicted four African men in the drugging, aggravated sexual assault and murder of an Italian teen in Rome, a crime that spurred calls in Italy for quick expulsions of migrants illegally living in in the country, state TV and private Italian media said.

After some nine hours of deliberation, the court delivered its verdict and sentenced two of the defendants to life imprisonment, Italy’s stiffest criminal punishment, and meted out prison sentences of 27 and 24.5 years to the other two, the LaPresse news agency said.

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

Greek Police Arrest Foreign Nationals for Human Trafficking

Greek police authorities have arrested three foreign nationals yesterday, in three separate cases, in the prefectures of Evros and Rodopi, charged with human trafficking after they smuggled a total of 33 illegal immigrants into Greece.

According to a police announcement, in the first case, in Evros early Sunday morning, police officers of the Border Guard Force of the Alexandroupolis Police Department arrested one suspect, who was driving a car carrying twelve illegal immigrants. The vehicle failed to stop at the checkpoint which led to a police chase. The suspect at one point ditched his car on a side road and tried to escape on foot but was arrested by police. The police investigation that followed revealed that the vehicle had fake license plates.

In the second case, in the early morning hours, on the National Road Alexandroupolis — Komotini (near Komotini), police officers of the Crime Prevention Squad of Komotini’s Security Department arrested the second trafficker, again driving a car attempting to smuggle fifteen illegal immigrants, whom he had hidden in the body of the truck.

In the third case, Saturday noon, in Koptero Rodopi, police officers of the Border Guard Force of Sapon of the Rodopi Police Directorate arrested the third trafficker, who had smuggled six illegal immigrants with his vehicle.

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

Polish Border Guards Detain Two Groups of Illegal Migrants From Afghanistan

Border guards of the Podlaska region in Poland have detained two groups of illegal migrants who had crossed the Polish-Belarusian border in violation of the law. They are all citizens of Afghanistan.

The patrol of the frontier post in the village of Krynki found traces of border crossing on the border from Belarus to Poland. A few kilometers from the border, guards, detained 11 foreigners: 6 men aged 15 to 49 and 5 women aged 9 to 47. All of them crossed the border on foot, said the Department of Border Guard Service.

The second group was arrested in Sokolka. The officers of the border post, together with the police, detained 11 citizens of Afghanistan. Foreigners aged 18 to 45 years confessed to illegally crossing the Polish-Belarusian border.

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

Swedish Priest Guilty of Smuggling Migrant Out of Detention Centre in Suitcase

A female Swedish priest and another woman have been found guilty of smuggling an asylum seeker out of a migrant detention centre by hiding him in a large suitcase.

The Gävle district court found the two women guilty on Friday for their role in helping to smuggle a migrant from a deportation facility.

The defence lawyer for one of the women, Anna Wahlström, said her client, who was sentenced to probation and daily fines, may appeal, broadcaster Sveriges Radio reports.

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

Activists Gather in Montreal to Protest Life-Altering Hormone Treatments in Children

Activist Chris Elston was back in Montreal recently to protest the use of puberty blockers in children. The good news: this time around, he wasn’t pummelled by members of the tolerant, loving left who think it’s a jolly good idea for children to transition prior to puberty. Yanky Pollak joined David Menzies to discuss all the disturbing details.

This is only a clip of Friday’s episode of Rebel Roundup, a weekly show where David Menzies speaks directly with Rebel reporters about the biggest stories of the week. To watch the full episode, become a subscriber to RebelNews+.

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

Double Toasted Faces 7-Day YouTube Livestream Suspension for Reacting to Videos Allowed on Other Channels

This has been a question asked for a long time, and it’s not going away any time soon: are YouTube’s ever-changing — or just simply, never properly thought-out in the first place — rules fair towards independent creators?

The question has now become omnipresent enough of a concern even for movies and game review and reaction channels like Double Toasted, with north of 200K subscribers, to take pause and consider the issue.

The suspension will last a week, the channel’s host, Korey Coleman, said on Saturday. The reason? “Some complete bullshit.”

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

Eric Clapton Says His Musician Friends Cut Him Off After He Spoke About His ‘Disastrous’ Vaccine Side Effects: ‘I Just Don’t Hear From Them Anymore’

Legendary guitarist Eric Clapton said his musician friends stopped communicating with him after he recently spoke out about his “disastrous” COVID-19 side effects.

“I’ve tried to reach out to fellow musicians,” Clapton said during a video Q&A mostly about his COVID-19 vaccine experience and his reaction to the powers-that-be afterward. “I just don’t hear from them anymore. My phone doesn’t ring very often. I don’t get that many texts and emails any more. It’s quite noticeable.”

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

Hate Crime Debunked: Driver in Fatal Stonewall Pride Parade Crash is Gay Choir Member

One victim is dead and another was injured Saturday after a truck drove into spectators at the Stonewall Pride Parade in Wilton Manors, Florida. It’s been revealed that the driver of the pickup truck is a member of the Fort Lauderdale Gay Men’s Chorus who told police that the fatal crash was an accident.

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

Odysee Launches Its Playlists Feature

Popular decentralized video sharing platform Odysee has introduced its new playlists feature which gives you more control over your video playback experience and makes it easy to categorize the videos you want to watch later or save for future reference.

By default, Odysee creates two private playlists for users — “Watch Later” and “Favorites.”

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

UK: LGBT Charity Calls on Teachers to Say ‘Learner’ Instead of ‘Boy’ And ‘Girl’

The LGBTQ+ charity Stonewall has told teachers in Britain to ditch the terms boys and girls and refer to pupils with the gender-neutral “learners”.

Stonewall, which has been supported financially by the nominally Conservative government in the UK, told schools that all “gendered” language should be removed from the classroom and that sports should no longer be divided by sex.

The leftist charity said in advice reported by The Telegraph that “it is unnecessary to say ‘boys and girls’ when referring to learners of all genders, you could instead say ‘learners’.”

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

One thought on “Gates of Vienna News Feed 6/20/2021

  1. I’m feeling a bit aggrieved of late. The GoV news feeds report that, worldwide, there are myriad parties, all of them ‘wild’ or ‘ drug fueled’ or ‘sex drenched’ (some all three!) and I’ve received an invite to nary a one. When the heck do I get MY turn to flout the rules and engage in debauchery? Sigh…

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