Gates of Vienna News Feed 7/12/2021

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that the lockdown would end on schedule on July 19. Meanwhile, the National Health Service acknowledged that the number of patients on its waiting list could reach 13 million in the next few months as a result of the backlog from the Wuhan Coronavirus and the subsequent lockdowns.

In other news, the Cuban government has imposed an Internet blackout in an attempt to suppress anti-communist street demonstrations.

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

Thanks to C. Cantoni, Dean, Fjordman, MM, Reader from Chicago, SS, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.

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

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

USA
» “Utterly Unacceptable”: Judge Blasts DC Jail for Not Allowing Jan. 6 Capitol Defendant Access to Evidence
» Boston University Hosts Annual ‘21 Days of Unlearning Racism and Learning Antiracism’ Event
» Columbia University President: ‘Critical Race Theory’ is ‘Urgent and Necessary’
» Google Accused of Censoring Mike Cernovich Article on Alleged SPLC Link to Mass Shooter
» GOP Slams Dems in Ad About All-Star Game Being Moved From Atlanta
» New Research Suggests Explosive Volcanic Activity on Venus
» Nikki Haley Calls for Every Governor in America to Ban Funding for Critical Race Theory in Schools
» Okla. Board of Education Passes Rules After Law Bans Critical Race Theory From Being Taught in Public Schools
» Principal Faces Faculty Rebellion After Complaint That She ‘Has Something Against White People’
» Rand Paul Pushing for Investigation Into NSA Spying on Tucker Carlson
» Report: The DNC Wants Phone Companies to Police Text Messages for Vaccine Misinformation
» Ron DeSantis Urges Cops to Move to Florida for Better Workplace ‘Culture’
» Sen. Lankford Wants to Prohibit Funding on Critical Race Theory Training for Service Members
» Statue of Lewis, Clark and Sacagawea Toppled in Charlottesville
» Texas Lawmakers Tackle Critical Race Theory in Special Session
» Texas Democrats Plan to Flee State to Prevent Passage of GOP Election Integrity Bill
» The Politics of Gun Ownership Change as Millions of First-Time, ‘Anti-Gun’ Americans Bought Firearms
» Trump Backs Cuban Protesters, Demands Biden Stand Up to Communist Regime
» Trust in US Mainstream Media Hits Rock Bottom
» Video: Fauci Declares it “Horrifying” After CPAC Crowd Applauds Young People Being Aware of Vaccine Side Effects
» Walt Whitman Statue, A Target of Protests, To be Removed From Center of Rutgers—camden Campus
» Watch: White House to ‘Support’ Vaccine Mandates by Private Sector Entities, Universities, And Local Leaders
» YouTube Deletes Trump Video, Issues Seven-Day Ban to ACU
 
Canada
» Suspect Arrested in Random Stabbing of Woman in Downtown Calgary
 
Europe and the EU
» British Government Will Have to Force People to Eat Less Red Meat to Meet Climate Change Targets
» Delta Forever: Just Days After Ending Lockdown, France Looks at Reimposing Restrictions Again
» ‘Epidemic of Loneliness’: One-Fifth of UK Under-35s Have Just One or No Close Friends
» France: Senator Esther Benbassa Accused of Harassment by Collaborators
» German Who Ran Think Tank Arrested for Spying for China
» Heineken’s ‘The Night Belongs to the Vaccinated’ Ad Campaign is ‘Ludicrous’, Say UK MPs
» Icelandic MPs Urge US to Drop Charges Against Assange
» Illegal Dancing in Greek Nightclubs Sends Partying Underground
» UK MP Diane Abbott: Social Media Companies Should Collect Names and Addresses of All Social Media Users
» UK: ‘Winter is Coming’: Prepare for New Restrictions, Warns Anti-Lockdown MP
» UK: Boris Johnson Confirms Lockdown to End on July 19th
» UK: Decolonise COVID? Top University Claims Study of Viruses is Rooted in ‘White Supremacy’
» UK: Extinction Rebellion Founder Gail Bradbrook Denies Criminal Damage at Barclays Bank
» UK: Firm Funding Extinction Rebellion Given £3.1m Last Year But Blew Over £3.5m on Stunts
» UK: Machete Attack on London Train
» UK: NHS Waiting List Could Hit 13 Million Due to Coronavirus Backlog
» UK: Police Commissioner Bans Contact With BLM That Wants to ‘Defund Police’, ‘Put Officers in Hospital’
» YouTube Fined 100,000 Euro After German Court Rejects Its “Misinformation” Excuse for Deleting Anti-Lockdown Protest Video
» YouTube Deletes Channel of Spain’s Political Party, Vox
 
Australia — Pacific
» Dozens of Residents Locked Up Under Police Guard in ‘Hunger Games’ Bondi Apartment Block That’s Already Had Eight Positive Cases Across Five Families Reveal the Hellish Conditions Inside — as One Writes Note Begging: ‘Where is the Vaccine?’
 
Sub-Saharan Africa
» Watch: Vigilantes Open Fire on Rioters as Mob Violence Rocks South Africa
» Zuma Jailed: Arrests as Protests Spread in South Africa
 
Latin America
» Cuba Protests: Arrests After Thousands Rally Against Government
» Cuba’s President Wants ‘Revolutionary’ Citizens to Counter Protest Anti-Communist Protestors
» Cuban Government Issues Internet Blackouts in an Attempt to Suppress Protests
» Free Cuba Rally Held in West Palm Beach
» Jamaica Plans to Seek Reparations From Britain Over Slavery
» Miami Mayor Blasts Far-Left Silence on Cuban Protests, Says Crisis Exposes Fallacy of Socialism
» Suspected Mastermind of Haiti Presidential Assassination Arrested
» ‘We Need Intervention’: South Florida Leaders Call on US to Support Cuban Protesters
 
Immigration
» Amid Belarus Migrant Row, Lithuania to Open New Camp for 500 People
» Arizona AG Seeks Injunction to Reverse Biden Administration’s Ending of Border Wall Construction
» Austria Urges EU to Take Action Against Attempts to Use Migrants as Weapons
» Eighteen Arrested in Global Sting Against Migrant Smugglers
» EU Deploys Border Force in Lithuania as Belarus Opens Pathway for Migrants
» Germany: Afghan Migrant Injures Four in Knife Attack in Hamburg
» Irregular Migrants Reaching Spain by Sea Up by 50 Percent So Far This Year
» Lithuania to Propose Sanctions on Belarus for Flying Illegal Migrants to EU Border
» Nearly 70 Migrants Arrive in Dungeness After Crossing English Channel
» Over 100 Men Jump Fences in Spanish City in North Africa
» U.S. “Concerned” by Flow of Migrants From Belarus to Lithuania … — Latest Tweet by Reuters
 
Culture Wars
» Sports Illustrated Annual Swimsuit Show Focused on ‘Body Positivity, ‘ Featured Women of All Backgrounds
» Twitter Suspends Malcolm Flex for Violating Its “Abuse and Harassment” Rules
» U.N. Rights Chief Demands Reparations for ‘Slavery, Colonial Rule, And Racism’
» UK Library Forced to Apologize After Hiring Man in Monkey Dildo Costume to Perform in Front of Children
 

“Utterly Unacceptable”: Judge Blasts DC Jail for Not Allowing Jan. 6 Capitol Defendant Access to Evidence

Authored by Jack Phillips via The Epoch Times

A federal Washington D.C. judge faulted a district jail on Thursday for failing to provide evidence to a defendant who was arrested for allegedly being involved in the Jan. 6 Capitol breach and has been held there for months.

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

Boston University Hosts Annual ‘21 Days of Unlearning Racism and Learning Antiracism’ Event

Boston University launched its second annual month-long event of “unlearning racism and learning antiracism.” Anti-racist texts and multimedia material will be made available during the three-week period to “better prepare” the campus community for “a more diverse, equitable academic environment.”

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

Columbia University President: ‘Critical Race Theory’ is ‘Urgent and Necessary’

Lee Bollinger, president of Columbia University, believes that Critical Race Theory is “urgent and necessary.”

Columbia News interviewed several Columbia Law School professors to explain CRT, as well as efforts from Republicans to “demonize” it.

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

Google Accused of Censoring Mike Cernovich Article on Alleged SPLC Link to Mass Shooter

The image of the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) may have been steadily tarnished over the past years, but Google appears to still be doing its part in protecting the group and preventing critical or investigative content from gaining a place of prominence in its search results.

The SPLC — which says that it monitors and exposes white supremacists and radical right-wingers in the US, and is a self-appointed curator of a controversial “hate groups census” — in 2019 had to part ways with its founder, Morris Dees, amid explosive accusations of the non-profit fostering a toxic workplace rife with gender and race-based discrimination.

Now independent journalist Mike Cernovich has published an article linking the organization’s work and what the report sad is a far-left mass shooter — but searching for its title, “How a Convicted Terrorist used the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Website to Identify Targets,” on Google links users to — the SPLC website, rather than the story itself.

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

GOP Slams Dems in Ad About All-Star Game Being Moved From Atlanta

The Republican National Committee is playing hardball in a new ad that blames Democrats’ lies about Georgia’s new election laws for causing Major League Baseball to move its All-Star Game from Atlanta to Denver.

MLB announced in April that it was moving the Midsummer Classic to Coors Field in Denver, from Atlanta’s Truist Park, after Democrats and President Biden likened Georgia’s new election law to “Jim Crow” and urged a boycott — despite Colorado having stricter voting laws than the measures passed in Georgia.

“It was supposed to be Atlanta’s night. But we were robbed,” the Rev. Melvin Everson of Georgia says in the 30-second ad that was released Monday but will air at Tuesday night’s game.

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

New Research Suggests Explosive Volcanic Activity on Venus

Traces of the gas phosphine point to volcanic activity on Venus, according to new research from Cornell University.

Last autumn, scientists revealed that phosphine was found in trace amounts in the planet’s upper atmosphere. That discovery promised the slim possibility that phosphine serves as a biological signature for the hot, toxic planet.

Now Cornell scientists say the chemical fingerprint support a different and important scientific find: a geological signature, showing evidence of explosive volcanoes on the mysterious planet.

“The phosphine is not telling us about the biology of Venus,” said Jonathan Lunine, professor of physical sciences and chair of the astronomy department at Cornell. “It’s telling us about the geology. Science is pointing to a planet that has active explosive volcanism today or in the very recent past…

           — Hat tip: MM [Return to headlines]
 

Nikki Haley Calls for Every Governor in America to Ban Funding for Critical Race Theory in Schools

Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley on Monday eviscerated critical race theory, calling for “every governor in the United States” to “ban” the racially charged academic movement.

“Think about a 5-year-old that starts kindergarten and they don’t know anything about color. If she’s White, you’re telling her she’s bad. If she’s Brown or Black, you’re telling her she will never be enough and she’s always a victim. That’s harmful for the well-being of our children,” Haley told “America Reports.”

Haley’s comments come as school districts nationwide have been scrutinized by parents in recent months over CRT-themed topics being taught in some classrooms and CRT seminars being offered to teachers and administrations.

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

Okla. Board of Education Passes Rules After Law Bans Critical Race Theory From Being Taught in Public Schools

The Oklahoma State Board of Education is weighing in on how HB 1775 and how it will be enforced in the classroom.

House Bill 1775 was signed into law and banned Oklahoma public schools from teaching certain concepts associated with “Critical Race Theory.”

Board members discussed recommendations given on how to apply the controversial law.

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

Principal Faces Faculty Rebellion After Complaint That She ‘Has Something Against White People’

A high school principal from the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan is facing a probe by the New York City Department of Education following allegations that she discriminated against white teachers.

The Daily Mail reports that accusations by faculty members at the High School for Law and Public Service led to the probe being launched. They accuse her of discriminating against white staff and conspiring to get a white colleague fired.

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

Rand Paul Pushing for Investigation Into NSA Spying on Tucker Carlson

Senator Rand Paul is seeking an investigation into claims that the NSA has been monitoring Tucker Carlson’s private communications and leaking details to left-wing journalists.

Axios reports that Paul sent a letter to the head of the NSA, Gen. Paul Nakasone asking for an explanation, “casting doubt on the NSA’s public denial of spying on Carlson and defending the Fox News host as a journalist who should be protected by the First Amendment.”

The report further notes that Paul, who is on the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, wrote that a “long train of abuses” by the spy agency means a tweet denying Carlson’s charges isn’t enough.

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

Report: The DNC Wants Phone Companies to Police Text Messages for Vaccine Misinformation

The Democratic National Committee reportedly wants Short Message Service (SMS) carriers to step in and police private text messages as part of a new push against COVID-19 vaccine misinformation.

Allies of President Joe Biden, including the DNC, plan to “engage fact-checkers more aggressively” and work alongside phone companies to combat misinformation about vaccines shared via social media and private SMS messages, according to a Monday report from Politico.

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

Ron DeSantis Urges Cops to Move to Florida for Better Workplace ‘Culture’

Florida supports cops, DeSantis said.

In Green Cove Springs Monday, Gov. Ron DeSantis urged disenchanted cops from elsewhere in the country to come to Florida.

One reason? The “culture is better” compared to other states.

“I do think you will see; I think you’ve already seen. But there are people in these police departments in various other parts of the country who, if they can get a job in Florida, they want to come to Florida to be able to do it,” DeSantis said. “Because the culture is better, and they understand they’re going to be supported much more resolutely than what they do.”

“Make no mistake: the reason that you have such huge spikes in crime in many parts of the country is because of not standing up for law enforcement, having weak policies where you’re letting people out, and you’re not prosecuting people who are committing habitual offenses,” he added. “That is clearly causing disastrous consequences.”

The Governor said that in many jurisdictions, arrests are down “because they’ve decided not to prosecute” crimes on the books.

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

Sen. Lankford Wants to Prohibit Funding on Critical Race Theory Training for Service Members

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Senator James Lankford (R-OK) is requesting the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee prohibit funding for training on critical race theory for US service members in its Fiscal Year 2022 bill.

Lankford notes in his letter to the Subcommittee chairman that he heard from several Oklahomans about concerns service members are being taught critical race theory and are targeted for personal beliefs.

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

Statue of Lewis, Clark and Sacagawea Toppled in Charlottesville

The city of Charlottesville, Va., followed up its removal of two controversial Confederate statues Saturday with the lightning-fast toppling of a third local landmark: a monumental tribute to explorers Meriwether Lewis, William Clark and Sacagawea.

In an emergency meeting called with 20 minutes’ notice, the Charlottesville City Council voted unanimously to cancel another piece of public art targeted by left-wing activists.

“I feel that it should just be melted down,” Rose Ann Abrahamson, a Sacagawea descendant, said during the council meeting, The Daily Progress reported. “I feel that it’s entirely offensive and it should be obliterated.”

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Texas Lawmakers Tackle Critical Race Theory in Special Session

TYLER, Texas (KLTV) — Cracking down on critical race theory is a top priority for Gov. Greg Abbott in the special session, and an East Texas lawmaker has filed a bill that looks to shape what schools can teach when it comes to race in America.

“I’m just going to be blunt about what it teaches,” said Sen. Bryan Hughes of Mineola. “It’s racism.”

That’s how State Senator Bryan of Hughes (R-Mineola) describes critical race theory. It’s a major point of discussion across the country and state, and an important issue for Gov. Greg Abbott in the special session.

“We don’t want to teach those little white children that they should feel guilty because of what previous white people did generations ago, and we don’t want to teach those little black children that they’re doomed, that they can never succeed in America,” Hughes said. “We don’t want to teach that America is inherently racist and can never recover.”

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

Texas Democrats Plan to Flee State to Prevent Passage of GOP Election Integrity Bill

58 or more Texas State House Democrats are plotting to flee the state on Monday in an effort to block a GOP-backed election integrity bill from passing.

This unusual but not unprecedented move—something similar was attempted in 2003—would make the Texas House not able to operate until the lawmakers return or until the end of the current legislative session.

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

The Politics of Gun Ownership Change as Millions of First-Time, ‘Anti-Gun’ Americans Bought Firearms

According to this Washington Post article, the percentage of Americans who own guns has jumped from 32% to 39% in the past year. That’s due to huge waves of new, first-time gun owners, of all political and cultural persuasions, deciding that owning a firearm is a good idea.

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

Trump Backs Cuban Protesters, Demands Biden Stand Up to Communist Regime

Former President Donald Trump released a statement Monday signaling heartfelt support for the Cuban protesters and demanding President Joe Biden stand up to the communist regime or “history will remember.”

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

Trust in US Mainstream Media Hits Rock Bottom

The latest Digital News Report, compiled by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, has found that trust in the news industry in the US is now at the lowest point, measured against results globally.

And while the study that covered 46 news markets around the world found that “trust in most news most of the time,” as the question was formulated, was up six percent with the pandemic, returning to the 2018 level — in the US, this number is only 29% (against the global average of 44%, and Finland, where trust in the industry is the highest, 65%.)

On the other hand, 44% of respondents in the US strongly disagreed that “most news can be trusted most of the time,” leaving 27% unable to decide either way.

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

Video: Fauci Declares it “Horrifying” After CPAC Crowd Applauds Young People Being Aware of Vaccine Side Effects

Appearing on CNN Sunday, Anthony Fauci described it “horrifying” that a crowd at the CPAC gathering applauded when a guest speaker declared that young people are educating themselves about the side effects of the COVID vaccine.

Conservative writer Alex Berenson was speaking about the government’s attempts to indiscriminately push the vaccine on people of all ages, including young people who are statistically more at risk from the vaccine than from the virus.

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

Walt Whitman Statue, A Target of Protests, To be Removed From Center of Rutgers—camden Campus

Rutgers University-Camden will remove a statue of the famous poet Walt Whitman from the center of campus as a result of activists’ petitions and a recommendation from a committee of scholars.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Watch: White House to ‘Support’ Vaccine Mandates by Private Sector Entities, Universities, And Local Leaders

Fox’s Peter Doocy asked Jen Psaki on Monday about the federal government’s position regarding vaccine mandates, including local mandates and those in the private sector.

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

YouTube Deletes Trump Video, Issues Seven-Day Ban to ACU

Google-owned video sharing platform YouTube temporarily suspended the channel run by the organization behind the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) over a video featuring Trump. YouTube claimed the video contained “medical misinformation.”

The YouTube channel of the American Conservative Union (ACU), which organizes CPAC, was slapped with a 7-day suspension, over a video it uploaded on July 9 featuring Trump announcing his lawsuit against the Big Tech companies that suspended his social media accounts after the Jan. 6 riot.

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

Suspect Arrested in Random Stabbing of Woman in Downtown Calgary

Police say they’ve arrested a man suspected in the random stabbing of a woman in downtown Calgary on July 6.

The incident occurred around 11:40 p.m. when a man approached the woman from behind on the corner of Seventh Avenue and First Street S.W. and stabbed her multiple times.

The suspect fled and the woman was taken to hospital in stable condition.

Police say an officer recognized the suspect from security camera footage, which led to the search of a home in the 2700 block of 12th Avenue S.E. on Sunday.

The suspect was subsequently arrested, according to police…

           — Hat tip: Dean [Return to headlines]
 

British Government Will Have to Force People to Eat Less Red Meat to Meet Climate Change Targets

Christopher Snowdon of the Institute for Economic Affairs warns that the British government will only achieve its climate change targets by forcing people to eat less red meat.

Snowden made the comments during an appearance on GB News after a leaked report by the National Food Strategy (NFS) which encouraged people to consume “edible algae and fermented protein alternatives such as microbes and plant biomass.”

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

Delta Forever: Just Days After Ending Lockdown, France Looks at Reimposing Restrictions Again

PARIS (AP) — Is France’s summer over already?

Just three days ago, the country threw open its nightclubs for the first time in 16 months, completing a protracted national effort at returning to a pre-pandemic normal just in time for summer vacation. But with the delta variant now driving resurgent infections, potential new restrictions loom.

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

‘Epidemic of Loneliness’: One-Fifth of UK Under-35s Have Just One or No Close Friends

More than one-fifth of Britons aged under 35 say that they have just one or no close friends, according to a poll which is said to reveal that young people are “suffering an epidemic of loneliness”.

The report Age of Alienation conducted by the British think tank Onward and published on Thursday found that the proportion of those aged 18 to 34 who say they have no or just one close friend had tripled in a decade from seven per cent to 22 per cent. In that time, those who claim to have four or more close friends had fallen from 64 per cent to 40 per cent.

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

France: Senator Esther Benbassa Accused of Harassment by Collaborators

Pressure, blackmail, humiliation… Senator Europe Ecologie-Les-Verts (EELV) Esther Benbassa, is accused of harassment by collaborators cited in an investigation by Mediapart. A case that pushed his group in the Senate to meet Thursday, July 8, in the evening. The chosen one denounces “A dependent investigation” and present “ [s]es excuses “ to the people she has “Could hurt”.

In its investigation, the online media reports the testimonies of eight former collaborators and six former students that the elected representative employed at the Practical School of Higher Studies. All evoke a climate of “Terror” introduced by the senator, made of pressure, blackmail for employment and systematic humiliation, often during e-mails, individual or collective, and SMS consulted and transcribed in part by Mediapart.

“There is a feeling, I respect it, but this article is dependent”, Esther Benbassa told Agence France-Presse…

           — Hat tip: C. Cantoni [Return to headlines]
 

German Who Ran Think Tank Arrested for Spying for China

BERLIN (AP) — A German man who ran a think tank has been arrested on suspicion of being an informant for Chinese intelligence for years, German prosecutors said Tuesday.

Federal prosecutors said the suspect, identified only as Dr. Klaus L. in line with German privacy rules, was arrested on suspicion of espionage Monday following an indictment that they filed at a Munich court in May.

They said he is a political scientist and had run a think tank, which they didn’t identify, since 2001. According to prosecutors, employees of a Chinese intelligence service contacted him when he went on a lecture trip to Shanghai in June 2010.

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

Heineken’s ‘The Night Belongs to the Vaccinated’ Ad Campaign is ‘Ludicrous’, Say UK MPs

The vaccine pressure campaign from Heineken has been branded “ludicrous” by British MPs who are wary of corporations discriminating against people who haven’t had a coronavirus vaccine.

Dutch beer maker Heineken released a video entitled ‘The Night is Young’ which celebrated people who have had the jab with the slogan: “The night belongs to the vaccinated, time to join them”. Subverting the norm of nightclubs and reflecting the present situation where elderly, vulnerable people rushed to get vaccinated but young people have taken it up more slowly, the video shows a bar full of older patrons dancing and drinking.

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

Icelandic MPs Urge US to Drop Charges Against Assange

Ten Icelandic MPs representing five different parties have sent the US Ambassador in Iceland a letter urging the country to drop its charges against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, national broadcaster RÚV reported.

The signatories claimed that the US charges against Assange are an attempt to criminalise investigative journalism that sets a bad precedent for freedom of the press throughout the world.

The letter also cited a report by Nils Melzer, the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, which found that as a result of the charges, Assange has been subjected to isolation, disgrace, and stripped of his fundamental human rights.

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

Illegal Dancing in Greek Nightclubs Sends Partying Underground

A crackdown on Greek nightclubs, bars and restaurants since July 8, which has made it illegal to stand, dance or mingle, is part of the Greek government’s effort to stop the spread of the coronavirus.

But that doesn’t mean the party is over — it’s just gone underground, off the government’s radar — as the party migrates to private villas that are accessed by paid invitation only.

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

UK MP Diane Abbott: Social Media Companies Should Collect Names and Addresses of All Social Media Users

UK Labor Member of Parliament (MP) Diane Abbott has called for social media companies to keep a record of their user’s names and addresses and then report them to the police if they’re deemed to be “violent, racist, misogynists.”

Abbott made the comments during an appearance on GB News where she was asked by presenter Mercy Muroki about the racist comments about some English football players that were posted to social media in the wake of England’s Euro 2021 defeat by Italy.

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

UK: ‘Winter is Coming’: Prepare for New Restrictions, Warns Anti-Lockdown MP

A Conservative MP has warned that “winter is coming” and predicted the government could impose fresh restrictions on Britons in the coming months.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson is expected to announce this evening that all remaining social distancing measures will be lifted on July 19th.

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

UK: Boris Johnson Confirms Lockdown to End on July 19th

LONDON (AP) — All remaining lockdown restrictions in England will be lifted in a week despite a sharp rise in coronavirus cases, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson confirmed Monday. He said it was “the right moment to proceed” as schools close for summer vacation but urged people to “proceed with caution.”

Johnson said although risks of the pandemic remain, legal restrictions will be replaced by a recommendation that people wear masks in crowded places and on public transport. Nightclubs and other venues with crowds should use vaccine passports for entry “as a matter of social responsibility,” he added.

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

UK: Decolonise COVID? Top University Claims Study of Viruses is Rooted in ‘White Supremacy’

White supremacy and European colonialism are embedded in the study of viruses and other diseases according to the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), which has vowed to decolonise its curriculum after advising the British government on the coronavirus pandemic.

The alma mater of the Chief Medical Officer for England Chris Whitty, who has led the government’s scientific response to the coronavirus, has vowed to reform its curriculum in order to make the study of tropical diseases “anti-racist”.

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

UK: Extinction Rebellion Founder Gail Bradbrook Denies Criminal Damage at Barclays Bank

Extinction Rebellion co-founder Dr Gail Bradbrook told a judge today that she believes the manager of a Barclays bank branch in Gloucestershire would have given her permission to smash one of its windows if he had known why she was doing it.

The 49 year old environmental campaigner, of Farmhill Lane, Stroud, said she intends to claim during her trial that she did the damage out of ‘necessity’ or ‘duress’ — and that if Barclays management had known the reasons they would have consented to her actions.

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

UK: Firm Funding Extinction Rebellion Given £3.1m Last Year But Blew Over £3.5m on Stunts

A FIRM funding eco-group Extinction Rebellion was given £3.1million last year — but blew more than £3.5million on stunts.

Compassionate Revolution Ltd, which has XR founder Gail Bradbrook as a director, landed the cash in mystery grants and donations.

The huge sum is treble its previous year’s haul, though members of the eco-fanatics claimed lockdown saw donations plummet.

The private company lists its “support” for the climate change activists, who have led blockades on printing plants and the BBC.

But it did not detail in Companies House records for 2019/2020 where funding came from.

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

UK: Machete Attack on London Train

A man was left with ‘half his head hanging off’ after a suspect wielding a foot-long machete went on a rampage aboard an underground train in London, England, according to reports.

The attack unfolded at around 6:30 p.m. on Friday evening in central London.

British Transport Police were notified that a man had been slashed on a busy train on the Jubilee Line near Green Park underground station.

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

UK: NHS Waiting List Could Hit 13 Million Due to Coronavirus Backlog

The health secretary has admitted that National Health Service (NHS) waiting lists could rise to 13 million in the next few months due to lockdowns and the Chinese coronavirus pandemic.

The revelation comes just days after it was revealed that NHS England waiting lists had reached a record high for the second month in a row, with 5.3 million people waiting for treatment.

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

UK: Police Commissioner Bans Contact With BLM That Wants to ‘Defund Police’, ‘Put Officers in Hospital’

The new Police and Crime Commissioner for Leicestershire has banned his staff from communicating with Black Lives Matter UK (BLMUK) activists because the Marxist group “wants to defund the police, has put police officers in hospital, and desecrated the cenotaph in London”.

Conservative Party candidate Rupert Matthews was elected as the Police and Crime Commissioner for Leicestershire and Rutland in the May 2021 local election, taking the role from the Labour Party’s Willy Bachs. A PCC is responsible for holding the chief constable to account and, as an elected official, is the voice of the local community in policing matters.

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

YouTube Fined 100,000 Euro After German Court Rejects Its “Misinformation” Excuse for Deleting Anti-Lockdown Protest Video

Google’s YouTube has been forced to pay a €100,000 fine for censoring a video from a protest against Covid lockdowns.

The Dresden Higher Regional Court ruled that YouTube was wrong to delete the video, filmed in Switzerland.

The court first, in late April 2020, issued an injunction ordering the behemoth to restore the video immediately — but YouTube ignored the ruling for almost an entire month before complying on May 14, 2020. The German court found this behavior to be a “deliberate and serious violation” and fined the giant.

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YouTube Deletes Channel of Spain’s Political Party, Vox

YouTube has deplatformed Spain’s fast-rising conservatives gathered around VOX, currently the second-largest opposition party in the country’s parliament.

A notice on the party’s now-deleted channel reads that it was terminated over multiple copyright infringement claims.

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Dozens of Residents Locked Up Under Police Guard in ‘Hunger Games’ Bondi Apartment Block That’s Already Had Eight Positive Cases Across Five Families Reveal the Hellish Conditions Inside — as One Writes Note Begging: ‘Where is the Vaccine?’

Dozens of people living in the 29 units on Botany Street in Sydney’s eastern suburbs were plunged into isolation on Saturday after people across five different households returned positive test results.

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Watch: Vigilantes Open Fire on Rioters as Mob Violence Rocks South Africa

Violence is sweeping parts of South Africa, with the government deploying the military to support police in some provinces amid looting and several deaths, according to developing reports.

Mass looting is taking place in KwaZulu-Natal province, in particular, home of former South African president Jacob Zuma, 79, who is facing corruption charges and has been sent to prison for contempt of court after refusing to attend an inquiry into “state capture” when he held office.

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Zuma Jailed: Arrests as Protests Spread in South Africa

Dozens of people have been arrested in South Africa as violence spreads following the jailing of former president Jacob Zuma.

Pro-Zuma protesters first took to the streets after the 79-year-old handed himself to authorities on Wednesday to begin a 15-month sentence.

But police now say criminals are taking advantage of the chaos, which spread from his home province of KwaZulu-Natal to Johannesburg, in Gauteng.

More than 60 people have been arrested.

On Sunday, protesters armed with sticks, golf clubs and branches were seen marching through Johannesburg’s central business district.

The night before, some 300 people had barricaded a major highway in Johannesburg, according to NatJOINTS, the national intelligence body. Images showed buildings and cars on fire.

About 800 people were also involved in an incident in which one police officer was shot in Alexandra, a township in Johannesburg — South Africa’s economic hub. Two other officers were hurt.

Police also responded to reports of looting in both Johannesburg and KwaZulu-Natal.

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Cuba Protests: Arrests After Thousands Rally Against Government

Dozens of people have been arrested in Cuba after thousands joined the biggest protests for decades against the island’s Communist government, media and opposition sources say.

Cubans have been angered by the collapse of the economy, food and medicine shortages, price hikes and the government’s handling of Covid-19.

The protests are significant as critics face harsh punishment for dissent.

The island’s president called for his supporters to “fight” the protesters.

One of those at Sunday’s protests, named only as Alejandro, told BBC Mundo: “There is no food, no medicine, there is no freedom. They do not let us live.”

Protesters shouted “freedom” and “down with the dictatorship” in demonstrations across Cuba, including the capital Havana.

“We are not afraid. We want change, we do not want any more dictatorship,” an unnamed protester in San Antonio told the BBC.

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Cuba’s President Wants ‘Revolutionary’ Citizens to Counter Protest Anti-Communist Protestors

Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel wants revolutionaries to counterprotest the largest demonstration against the communist regime in decades.

The protests, which saw thousands of Cubans took to the streets of Havana over the weekend, are calling for an end to the communist dictatorship.

Fox News reports that in response to the protest, Diaz-Canel said in an address that “The order to fight has been given — into the street, revolutionaries!”

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Cuban Government Issues Internet Blackouts in an Attempt to Suppress Protests

The government in Cuba has switched off internet access in an attempt to quash protests mounting in the country.

Thousands took to the streets in several cities in Cuba in protest of the authoritarian communist government. The pandemic has worsened the already-difficult situation in Cuba, with the protesters calling for more vaccines and food.

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Free Cuba Rally Held in West Palm Beach

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (CBS12) — South Floridians are taking to the streets to rally for freedom in Cuba.

This ‘freedom rally’ took place Sunday afternoon near Forest Hill Boulevard and Military Trail.

Gov. Ron DeSantis took to Twitter to stand in solidarity with Floridians marching to shed light against the ‘tyrannical regime in Havana.’

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Jamaica Plans to Seek Reparations From Britain Over Slavery

Jamaica plans to ask Britain for compensation for the Atlantic slave trade in the former British colony, a senior government official said, under a petition that could seek billions of pounds in reparations.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Miami Mayor Blasts Far-Left Silence on Cuban Protests, Says Crisis Exposes Fallacy of Socialism

Miami Republican Mayor Francis Suarez called out the far-left’s silence over the pro-democracy protests in Cuba, which has been ruled by decades of Communist dictatorship, and told Fox News the latest unrest exposes the “false promise” of socialism.

Suarez, whose father Xavier was the city’s first Cuban-born mayor, told “Your World” guest host Sandra Smith on Monday that it is unbelievable that anyone would fail to condemn Communist ideology.

“[It] has failed not just in Cuba but in the history of humanity—this is an ideology that promises to create equality. The only equality it has delivered is equal misery for all of its citizens in every country that its been tried,” he said. “It’s time for the United States to understand that. It’s time for us to understand this could affect American cities if we’re not careful.”

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Suspected Mastermind of Haiti Presidential Assassination Arrested

The plot thickens by the day as a Haitian-born doctor who lived in Florida for more than two decades was arrested Sunday with suspicions of being the ring leader in the assassination of Haiti’s President Jovenel Moïse last Wednesday, Haiti’s police chief said Sunday, according to Miami Herald.

On Sunday, National police chief Leon Charles announced Christian Emmanuel Sanon,63, was arrested for allegedly recruiting the mercenaries as their mission would be to protect him.

Sanon landed in Haiti on a private jet in early June with “political objectives,” Charles said. The team Sanon hired was recruited through South Florida firm CTU Security.

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‘We Need Intervention’: South Florida Leaders Call on US to Support Cuban Protesters

South Florida leaders and members of the Cuban exile community continued their calls Monday for support of protesters in Cuba following one of the biggest anti-government demonstrations in the island’s recent history.

Thousands marched in Havana and other cities and towns throughout Cuba Sunday, chanting “Freedom,” “Enough” and “Unite” to protest against the government of Miguel Diaz Canel as the country is going through its worst economic crisis in decades.

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Amid Belarus Migrant Row, Lithuania to Open New Camp for 500 People

VILNIUS (Reuters) — Lithuania will open a new camp to house illegal migrants, the interior minister said on Monday, amid accusations from the Baltic state that Belarus is flying in migrants from abroad to send them illegally into the country.

“This week we will launch a camp in Dieveniskes, fit to house 500 people,” said Interior Minster Agne Bilotaite after a meeting of the Lithuanian leadership to discuss the migration crisis.

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Arizona AG Seeks Injunction to Reverse Biden Administration’s Ending of Border Wall Construction

Arizona’s attorney general on Monday announced that his office is seeking a preliminary injunction against the Biden administration’s efforts to end border wall construction and the Trump-era Remain-in-Mexico policy — claiming the moves violate environmental law.

Attorney General Mark Brnovich’s office first sued the Department of Homeland Security in April, alleging the administration has not complied with its obligations under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) when it ended border wall construction and the Remain-in-Mexico policy — which kept migrants in Mexico until their hearings were processed.

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Austria Urges EU to Take Action Against Attempts to Use Migrants as Weapons

VIENNA (Sputnik) — The European Union must respond to Belarus, Afghanistan and Turkey that attempt to use migrants as a weapon against the bloc, Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg said on 12 July.

The minister noted he had been aware of reports of Afghanistan’s intention to suspend deportations for three months, calling it absolutely unacceptable given the agreements between the country and the EU.

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Eighteen Arrested in Global Sting Against Migrant Smugglers

An investigation led by the Spanish National Police, with close cooperation with the Albanian Police and law enforcement and immigration authorities in Austria, France, Italy, Slovenia, Kosovo, Portugal, the United Kingdom and the United States and supported by Europol, led officers to dismantle an organized crime group involved in migrant smuggling and document fraud.

The action day on June 29 in Tarragona, Spain resulted in 18 arrests and two house searches. Seizures included counterfeit documents such as passports, financial documentation, records of the illegal activities, electronic equipment, cash and various drugs (cannabis, cocaine and synthetic drugs).

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EU Deploys Border Force in Lithuania as Belarus Opens Pathway for Migrants

The EU’s border protection agency on Monday said it was mobilizing a rapid intervention force to Lithuania, where the government has accused neighboring Belarus of allowing hundreds of migrants to cross illegally into the country.

The allegations that Belarus is “weaponizing” migrants in retaliation for EU sanctions and support for political opponents of the country’s long-time leader, Alexander Lukashenko, were discussed Monday in the European Parliament and in the EU Foreign Affairs Council.

“It seems like the Belarusian authorities now facilitate irregular migration possibly in retaliation to EU restrictive measures and as a response to the Lithuanian support for the civil society in Belarus,” the EU’s commissioner for home affairs, Ylva Johansson, testified during a joint hearing of the Parliament’s home affairs and foreign affairs committees.

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Germany: Afghan Migrant Injures Four in Knife Attack in Hamburg

A 20-year-old Afghan migrant has been arrested by police in Hamburg after allegedly attacking four people in the outdoor area of a local restaurant with a knife.

The incident is said to have taken place on Sunday evening in the St. Goerg area of the city, well-known as a hotspot for the LGBT community, and saw the 20-year-old engage in a dispute with another man before pulling out a knife.

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Irregular Migrants Reaching Spain by Sea Up by 50 Percent So Far This Year

The total of 13,000 does not include the 10,000 who entered Ceuta overland in a mass crossing this May.

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Lithuania to Propose Sanctions on Belarus for Flying Illegal Migrants to EU Border

VILNIUS, July 11 (Reuters) — Lithuania will propose on Monday expanding European Union sanctions on Belarus for sending illegal migrants across the border into the EU, its foreign affairs minister’s spokeswoman told Reuters on Friday.

“We will propose to consider gradually expanding sectorial sanctions”, the spokeswoman said. European Union foreign ministers are meeting in Brussels on Friday.

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Nearly 70 Migrants Arrive in Dungeness After Crossing English Channel

Around 70 migrants were brought ashore by Border Force officers today after they made the perilous crossing across the English Channel.

A group of around 20 men, many of whom appeared to be in their 20s, were brought into harbour on the beach at Dungeness, along the coast of Kent, by the Border Force cutter Speedwell at around 10.30am.

They were soon followed by around 50 migrants who were brought into the harbour by emergency teams.

The Home Office is yet to confirm exactly how many arrived on Sunday or how many have made the 21-mile crossing today but more than 7,000 migrants are believed to have crossed the Channel by small boat so far this year.

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Over 100 Men Jump Fences in Spanish City in North Africa

MADRID (AP) — Authorities in Melilla said on Monday that 119 African men have entered the autonomous city from a group of over 200 who tried to jump over the double fence that separates the Spanish enclave in northern Africa from Morocco.

At least five Civil Guard officers and one of the migrants were injured during the crossing attempt in the early hours of Monday, a spokesman with the Spanish government’s delegation in Melilla said.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to be named in media reports, said the rest of the migrants were stopped by guards on the Moroccan side of the border.

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U.S. “Concerned” by Flow of Migrants From Belarus to Lithuania … — Latest Tweet by Reuters

The latest Tweet by Reuters states, ‘U.S. “concerned” by flow of migrants from Belarus to Lithuania …’

[Comment: I’m concerned about the flow of migrants to the US southern border.]

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

Sports Illustrated Annual Swimsuit Show Focused on ‘Body Positivity, ‘ Featured Women of All Backgrounds

Sports Illustrated swimsuit models hit the runway in Miami on Saturday for the annual show which featured women of all different sizes, ages, and ethnicities, adding to the steamy magazine’s most diverse group of women to date in an effort to promote inclusivity.

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Twitter Suspends Malcolm Flex for Violating Its “Abuse and Harassment” Rules

Political commentator and former D1 athlete Malcolm Flex (@Malcolm_fleX48) has been suspended from Twitter for responding to another user with: “This doesn’t seem to be your area of expertise…. Come back when I ask for input on menopause, thinning hair, crow’s feet, and selecting what bras can conceal full eggs-hanging-on-a-nail boob saggage.”

According to Twitter, the tweet violated its “abuse and harassment” rules and was enough to warrant an account suspension.

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U.N. Rights Chief Demands Reparations for ‘Slavery, Colonial Rule, And Racism’

The U.N. human rights chief on Monday demanded comprehensive reparations be made to compensate countries that have suffered what she called the deadly legacies of slavery, colonial rule and racial discrimination.

Former Chilean Socialist President Michelle Bachelet presented to the U.N. Human Rights Council a report she hopes will change the definition of racism and highlight its impact.

It comes after her intervention last month calling on the world to immediately dismantle systemic racism against people of African descent and “make amends” to the oppressed while groups like Black Lives Matter should receive “funding, public recognition and support.”

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

UK Library Forced to Apologize After Hiring Man in Monkey Dildo Costume to Perform in Front of Children

A library in London was forced to apologize after a man dressed in a rainbow-colored bare-bottomed monkey costume with a fake penis was hired to perform in front of children.

Yes, really.

“Footage shared on social media on Saturday showed members of the Mandiga Arts Group at Redbridge Libraries Summer Reading Challenge event at Goodmayes Library in east London,” reports the London Evening Standard.

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

9 thoughts on “Gates of Vienna News Feed 7/12/2021

    • What a shame that only their fellow orcs have the cojones to kill another orc. Although this is still something of a feel-good story in that there is now one less live orc on the planet.

  1. “Jamaica plans to ask Britain for compensation for the Atlantic slave trade in the former British colony, a senior government official said, under a petition that could seek billions of pounds in reparations.” My usual response to comments of this nature is ‘Who will pay what and to whom?” In this case, why should anybody pay anything to anyone? Who is being or has been enslaved recently? who has been enslaving them? It’s time those woke academics grew up and exercised some common sense.

    • Indeed, meanwhile the deliberately provocative demands for reparations suggests Brits captured and forcibly removed Africans from Africa but makes no mention that for the most part it was actually Africans , Arabs and Berbers who enslaved Africans and then sold them to Europeans as part of an established slave-trade that had existed for many, many centuries before Brits went anywhere near Africa.

      Jamaican greivance-mongers should be claiming reparations from Africans or Arabs while paying reparations TO Britain because it spent more money abolishing the foul slave-trade than it ever made from it.

      While individuals and a few companies did of course profit from slavery, Britian’s wealth was not built on slavery, Caribbean plantations as a whole for example, were not profitable and depended on well-heeled political connections (seats in Westminster could be bought at the time), tariffs against cheaper sugar, while the cost of naval protection was borne by the taxpayers.

      Sadiq Khan’s claim that much of Britain’s ‘wealth was derived from the slave trade’, is not only a lie but arguably just incitement of hatred against Britain from a man who has made lots of money defending racist and violent Muslims, sorry I mean defending their human rights*.
      *may contain sarcasm.
      In Africa and the Arabian peninsula however there are far fewer pathetic, self-flagellatory, self-loathing liberals who will buy into such disingenous rubbish and those demanding reparations not only know it but also recognise the weakness of white liberals – which is probably the real reason certain Jamaicans are making these demands.

  2. A real “Russian” scope!
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Q2S1NF_7iM
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5g64x67fr5k

    More than a hundred people were detained after a mass brawl of migrants in Moscow

    The cause of the mass brawl in Moscow was the conflict over the girls

    According to the newspaper, it all started on July 11th. Three natives of Kyrgyzstan, working as couriers, saw their fellow countrywomen in the company of Tajiks and made a remark to them. In response, the companions of the girls attacked the couriers with a knife. The injured Kyrgyz were hospitalized.

    Information about the incident reached representatives of the diasporas, after which chats appeared in messengers, where citizens of Kyrgyzstan offered to avenge their fellow countrymen.

    On the night of July 12-13, near the Kuzminki metro station, more than a hundred migrants staged a mass brawl. Officers of the Russian Guard arrived at the scene. Most of the participants in the conflict have been detained.

  3. Africans have been blown up to the way beyond. One more time. This time I imagine the Chinese will captivate them. One more time the Muslims will be employed one way or another. To see all those African Muslims swaggering around in their Arab gear could be hilarious. Africans like being slaves it sometimes seems.

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