Gates of Vienna News Feed 8/27/2021

A team of 20 British SAS troops was extracted from Afghanistan in a dramatic secret nighttime air rescue mission. Meanwhile, the United States mounted a drone strike against an Islamic State target in Afghanistan.

In other news, a prominent footballer and BLM activist in Britain has been charged with four counts of rape.

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

Thanks to Dean, DV, Fjordman, Insubria, Mark H, 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
» Almost One-Third of Recent College Grads Moved Back in With Their Parents: Survey
» Anti-Mandate Protesters Rally During NYC Mayor Bill De Blasio’s Visit to Ballpark
» Biden Unveils 2.7 Percent Pay Raise Plan for Federal Employees
» Critical Race Theory — ‘Not in Sparta,’ Residents Voice Concerns About New Curriculum Standards
» Fatal Overdoses From Illicit Tranquilizers Jumped 6-Fold During Pandemic
» Google Provided Mass Surveillance Data on Kenosha Rioters
» Judge Slaps Down DeSantis Order Banning Mask Mandates in Florida
» Protests Continue Against Vaccine Mandate for Health Care
» Reducing Sugar in Packaged Foods Can Prevent Disease in Millions
» Reuters Writes Glowing Profile of Antifa Member Charged With Multiple Violent Crimes
» Robert F. Kennedy’s Assassin Sirhan Sirhan Granted Parole
» Rumble Launches Its Live Tipping Feature, Rumble Rants
» Seattle Won’t Remove Homeless Encampment From School Grounds Before Students Return to Campus
» Social Media Platforms Often Censor CBD and Hemp Products, Despite Being Legal
» South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem Says it’s Not “Conservative” To Ban Vaccine Passports
» Texas Homeowner Strikes Burglar ‘In the Face’ With Machete, Cops Say
» Texas House Advances GOP Voting Restrictions Bill After Democrats’ Protests
» Time’s Up Board of Directors Helped Cuomo Cover Up Sexual Harassment Allegations
» Watch: Trump Tells Hannity World Leaders Are ‘Laughing at Us’
» YouTube Deletes Popular Alex Jones Interview
 
Canada
» Breaking: Trudeau Announces Billion-Dollar Fund for Provinces to Create Vaccine Passports
» O’Toole Conservatives Now Lead Trudeau Liberals 37 Points to 31: Poll
 
Europe and the EU
» 4 Among EU Countries With Best Pandemic Situation
» A Graying Italy Looks to Euthanasia to Solve Its Demographic Problems
» Brexit Britain Breaks From GDPR, Will End Annoying Cookie Banners But Questions Are Raised Over Data Protection
» Denmark to Scrap All COVID-19 Restrictions
» Former Afghan Government Minister Now Works as Food Delivery Driver in Germany
» Man Stopped in Sicily After Kidnapping 3 Daughters in France
» Migration, Climate, And Gender Policy to Top European Agenda in Coming Years
» Scottish Govt Embeds ‘White Privilege’ And Woke Ideology in National Education
» UK: BLM Activist Soccer Player Charged With Four Counts of Rape
 
Israel and the Palestinians
» ‘This Ends the Debate’ — Israeli Study Shows Natural Immunity 13x More Effective Than Vaccines at Stopping Delta
 
South Asia
» Elite SAS Troops Rescued in Dramatic Desert Operation
» Kabul Airport Bomber Carried Unusually Large Explosive Pack
» Kyrgyzstan Uses the Guise of “Misinformation” To Enact New Internet Censorship
» Marine Corps Officer Fired After Demanding Accountability From Biden Admin Over Kabul
» Obama Defense Secretary Already Calling for Fresh Military Occupation of Afghanistan
» Pentagon: Kabul Attack Done by Only One Bomber
» ‘Pineapple Express’: US Vets Volunteer to Secretly Rescue Allies in Afghanistan
» Retreating British Embassy Left Behind Afghan Staff’s Paperwork for Taliban to Read
» Taliban Says 28 of Its Members Killed in Blasts, Blames US for “Chaotic Evacuation”
» U.S. Retaliate Against ISIS Drone Strike in Afghanistan
» UK Won’t Process Any More People for Evacuation as Military Mission in Afghanistan Enters Final Hours
» US on Alert for More Attacks in Kabul After 13 US Service Members, 90 Civilians Killed
» Video: Biden Admits ‘Kill List’ of Americans May Have Been Given to Taliban
 
Far East
» Exclusive: Media’s ‘Lab Leak’ Denial Darling is Actually Ex-Chinese Communist Advisor
» Hong Kong Faces Significant Increases in Movie Censorship
» US Intel Agency Has “Moderate” Confidence COVID Escaped From Wuhan Lab: Origins Report
 
Australia — Pacific
» Chilling: Vaccinated Australians to be Granted New “Freedom”; Government Sanctioned “Hour of Recreation”
» Will He Ever Stop? The Excuse Dan Andrews Will Use for Keeping Millions in Lockdown Even as New Modelling Shows Reopening Australia at PM’s Vaccine Benchmarks Will Not Cause More COVID Deaths — Regardless of Case Numbers
 
Latin America
» YouTube Demonetizes 14 Brazilian Channels for Election “Misinformation”
 
Immigration
» 900 Migrants Occupy Reception Centre for Just 250 as Italian Island Sees More Landings
» Afghan Exodus Could Shift Migration Routes From Sea to Land Once Again
» Deported Criminal Afghans Back in Sweden After Boarding Kabul Evacuation Flight
» France Wants Migration Deal — So They Can Send More Asylum Seekers to Britain
» Migrant-Besieged Lithuania, Poland Urged to Open Their Borders by Globalist UN, Council of Europe
» PM Morawiecki: Tusk’s Statement on the Polish-Belarusian Border Crisis Should be Directed at His Own MPs
 
Culture Wars
» Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker Signs Sex Ed Bill Requiring Kindergartners to Define Gender Identity
 

Almost One-Third of Recent College Grads Moved Back in With Their Parents: Survey

The last thing a graduate wants to do after college is move back in with her parents. But when the COVID worldwide pandemic hit, a surprising number of college graduates chose this option.

In a recent survey, the consumer credit reporting company Experian asked 2,000 recent graduates who graduated between fall 2020 and June 2021 how the pandemic impacted their financial decisions.

Almost one-third of recent graduates, 30 percent, choose to move back in with their parents, the survey found.

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

Anti-Mandate Protesters Rally During NYC Mayor Bill De Blasio’s Visit to Ballpark

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — A group against coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine mandates rallied Thursday during Mayor Bill de Blasio’s visit to Richmond County Bank Ballpark at St. George.

Led by a group of conservative politicians — including mayoral candidate Bill Pepitone, borough president candidate Leticia Remauro, and City Council candidate George Wonica — the crowd voiced their opposition to a variety of city mandates meant to encourage people to get the vaccine.

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

Biden Unveils 2.7 Percent Pay Raise Plan for Federal Employees

The White House formalized their bid for a 2.7 percent federal pay raise for federal public sector staff.

The letter written by President Biden was quoted by the Washington Post.

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

Critical Race Theory — ‘Not in Sparta,’ Residents Voice Concerns About New Curriculum Standards

SPARTA, NJ— Critical Race Theory is not being taught in the Sparta schools. The issue was addressed in public during committee and liaison reports at the August board of education meeting held on Cassels Field at Sparta High School.

Curriculum Committee Chair Niamh Grano said, “Mrs. Rossi is working on creating curriculum around the new [state curriculum] standards, but it’s been found that Critical Race Theory is not a state standard or part of any curriculum.”

Her comments drew applause from many in the bleachers.

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

Fatal Overdoses From Illicit Tranquilizers Jumped 6-Fold During Pandemic

Overdose deaths linked to illicit “designer” benzodiazepines have surged in the United States, as underground labs crank out new synthetic variations on prescription tranquilizers like Valium, Xanax and Ativan.

Overdose deaths involving illicit benzos increased more than sixfold — 520% — between 2019 and 2020, rising from 51 to 316, according to data from 32 states and the District of Columbia.

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

Google Provided Mass Surveillance Data on Kenosha Rioters

Google continues to comply with law enforcement requests to hand over user location data harvested in mass surveillance dragnets made possible by geofencing.

Google does this when faced with a warrant — and the number of these has been increasing each year. They come from law enforcement looking for a suspect in a physical area, which is virtually defined, i.e., geofenced.

Anybody who happens to be inside that digital perimeter is a potential suspect, and therefore data is collected from every location-aware device. Controversial to say the least, this type of investigative technique was used as the police probed the Kenosha rioting, and Google was cooperating, unsealed court documents show.

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

Judge Slaps Down DeSantis Order Banning Mask Mandates in Florida

It looks like another pandemic-related issue is headed to the Supreme Court, after a Florida judge struck down a ban on mask mandates issued by Governor Ron DeSantis, according to the Associated Press.

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

Protests Continue Against Vaccine Mandate for Health Care

Chants continued today from health care workers and those supporting them as they protested the mandates they’re facing to get the COVID-19 vaccine.

On Thursday, hundreds of people stood in support at South Shore University Hospital.

Today, the group met at the New York State office building in Hauppauge to protest.

Health care workers are required to get their first doze of the COVID-19 vaccine by Sept. 27.

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

Reducing Sugar in Packaged Foods Can Prevent Disease in Millions

Cutting 20% of sugar from packaged foods and 40% from beverages could prevent 2.48 million cardiovascular disease events (such as strokes, heart attacks, cardiac arrests), 490,000 cardiovascular deaths, and 750,000 diabetes cases in the U.S. over the lifetime of the adult population, reports a study published in Circulation.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Reuters Writes Glowing Profile of Antifa Member Charged With Multiple Violent Crimes

In an exclusive, glowing and lengthy profile, Reuters is promoting an Antifa extremist who calls for violence and has ongoing charges for violent crimes.

The expose published Wednesday by the multinational media conglomerate is titled “American Antifa: A woman’s journey from Girl Scout to anarchist street warrior.” In the “special report” by Reuters Investigates, the establishment news outlet touts 37-year-old Nicole Barbara Armbruster, a violent suspect in several ongoing criminal cases. “Antifascism is more than just punching Nazis in the face,” Reuters quotes Armbruster for the article’s promotional tweet on Twitter, adding in the story: “Nonetheless, she believes violence can serve a purpose.”

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

Robert F. Kennedy’s Assassin Sirhan Sirhan Granted Parole

The late Sen. Robert F. Kennedy’s assassin was granted parole Friday after two of the slain political icon’s sons said they supported his release.

Douglas Kennedy, who was a toddler when his father was gunned down in 1968, said he was moved to tears by Sirhan Sirhan’s remorse during a parole hearing that prosecutors didn’t attend.

“I’m overwhelmed just by being able to view Mr. Sirhan face to face,” he said.

“I think I’ve lived my life both in fear of him and his name in one way or another. And I am grateful today to see him as a human being worthy of compassion and love.”

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

Rumble Launches Its Live Tipping Feature, Rumble Rants

YouTube competitor Rumble has introduced its live tipping feature, Rumble Rants, on all live streams.

“Now is the time to change the creator economy by tipping to your favorite creators on Rumble, instead of the competition,” Rumble said when announcing the feature. “Do it only for 1 reason; creators deserve more. Rumble will take a smaller fee than YouTube.”

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

Seattle Won’t Remove Homeless Encampment From School Grounds Before Students Return to Campus

Six weeks after Seattle Public Schools hosted a public meeting to address a dangerous homeless encampment on a public school property, pinning their hopes on one-man organization with an extensive criminal record to solve the problem, it was announced that the encampment behind Broadview Thomson K-8 School will not be removed before classes start on Sept. 1.

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

Social Media Platforms Often Censor CBD and Hemp Products, Despite Being Legal

A coalition of the top hemp-derived CBD brands has launched an initiative to stop the censorship of CBD products on social media. Despite the legal status, social media companies continue to censor CBD products adverts.

According to Nathalie Bougenies, a lawyer at Harris Bricken who focuses on the regulation of hemp-derived CBD, over the past one-and-a-half years, accounts advertising hemp-derived CBD products have been punished with warnings, suspensions, and even bans.

Yet, at the federal level, hemp, and by extension hemp-derived CBD, is legal, following the passing of the 2018 Farm Bill.

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

South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem Says it’s Not “Conservative” To Ban Vaccine Passports

Gov. Kristi Noem of South Dakota defended her decision not to block businesses from enforcing divisive vaccine passports, alleging that it would be government overreach to do so.

Other Republican governors, like Florida’s Ron DeSantis, have taken the opposite approach and prohibited the enforcement of vaccine mandates in their states.

In an Instagram video posted on August 25, Gov. Noem explained her decision not to support the COVID-19 Vaccine Freedom of Conscience Act.

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

Texas Homeowner Strikes Burglar ‘In the Face’ With Machete, Cops Say

A machete-wielding homeowner in Texas seriously injured a suspect who attempted to break into his home early Wednesday, authorities said.

El Paso police said the homeowner awakened around 4:15 a.m. to the sound of glass breaking. He walked outside and found a man holding a metal rod breaking the front windows of his house, police said.

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

Texas House Advances GOP Voting Restrictions Bill After Democrats’ Protests

The Texas House on Thursday moved forward a GOP-backed elections bill following Democrats’ more than a monthlong boycott of the legislation set to impose sweeping restrictions on voting in the state.

The state House voted 79-37 to advance a slightly revised version of the Senate-passed bill following 12 hours of floor debate, during which Democrats offered more than three dozen amendments to the legislation, according to The Texas Tribune.

The bill, which Democrats argue would impose unfair restrictions on marginalized groups like people of color and those with disabilities, is expected to receive final approval by the House on Friday.

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

Time’s Up Board of Directors Helped Cuomo Cover Up Sexual Harassment Allegations

The Washington Post reported that the Time’s Up women’s advocacy group worked closely with former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo’s top aide and decided against issuing a statement in support of Cuomo’s first sexual harassment accuser. Time’s Up was founded by a group of political insiders and Hollywood elites to combat sexual misconduct in the workplace.

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

Watch: Trump Tells Hannity World Leaders Are ‘Laughing at Us’

Former President Donald J. Trump joined Fox News’ Sean Hannity for an exclusive interview on Thursday in which he slammed the Biden administration over the tragedy in Afghanistan that took the life of more than a dozen service members and critically wounded others, as the death toll is expected to rise.

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

YouTube Deletes Popular Alex Jones Interview

A popular interview of Infowars’ Alex Jones author and YouTuber Jack Ducey was removed by YouTube. In what appears to be the foresight of the censorship, Ducey had uploaded the video on the alternative video-sharing platform Rumble.

A report on Infowars shows screenshots showing the reasons for the video’s removal.

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

Breaking: Trudeau Announces Billion-Dollar Fund for Provinces to Create Vaccine Passports

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau held a press conference on Friday in Mississauga, Ontario, where he announced that his party, if re-elected, would create a $1 billion COVID-19 “proof-of vaccination” fund, which would provide funding to provinces that move forward with vaccine passports.

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

O’Toole Conservatives Now Lead Trudeau Liberals 37 Points to 31: Poll

A new poll by Mainstreet Research released on Friday shows that the Conservative lead continues to grow over Trudeau’s beleaguered Liberal party, as Election Day draws closer.

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

4 Among EU Countries With Best Pandemic Situation

Poland, Czechia, Romania, Slovakia, and Hungary currently possess the best pandemic situations in the European Union. The ECDC has marked them as green on its report map.

On the other hand, Spain, Portugal, France, Southern and Western Germany, Sweden, Bulgaria, Greece, Lithuania, and Estonia have been marked red on the map.

The situation is slightly better in Italy, Austria, Croatia, Finland, and Latvia which have all been marked as orange.

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

A Graying Italy Looks to Euthanasia to Solve Its Demographic Problems

ROME, Italy — Over 750,000 Italians have signed a petition for a public referendum on legalizing euthanasia, guaranteeing its presence in the next national elections, local media reported this week.

The three-quarters of a million signatures collected so far comfortably surpass the 500,000 needed to force an Italian referendum on the issue, and observers suggest the referendum could be voted on as early as next year.

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

Brexit Britain Breaks From GDPR, Will End Annoying Cookie Banners But Questions Are Raised Over Data Protection

Oliver Dowden, Britain’s Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, has unveiled a planned overhaul of the country’s data protection rules in this time after it has left the European Union.

Dowden presented this as a package of measures that will allow the UK to use data to push growth and trade and also “improve public services.”

The post-Brexit UK was considered to be among those modeling their own regulation of these issues after EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), and others include California’s Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA).

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

Denmark to Scrap All COVID-19 Restrictions

Denmark will on September 10th stop classifying Covid-19 as an “illness which is a critical threat to society”, meaning all remaining special pandemic restrictions will expire, The Local reported. In a press release issued on Friday morning, the country’s health minister Magnus Heunicke said that the high level of vaccination in Denmark, particularly among the vulnerable, had radically altered the risks posed by the virus.

“The epidemic is under control, we have record high vaccination rates,” he said in a statement. “As a result, on September 10th, we can drop some of the special rules we have had to introduce in the fight against Covid-19.”

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

Former Afghan Government Minister Now Works as Food Delivery Driver in Germany

Former Afghan Minister of Communications Shah Sadaat, who served under toppled Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, now works as a food delivery driver in the German city of Leipzig.

Born in Afghanistan, Sadaat had previously left the country with his family and studied electrical engineering in Oxford but during a trip to Afghanistan in 2016, he was offered a ministerial post by former President Ghani.

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

Man Stopped in Sicily After Kidnapping 3 Daughters in France

Trying to take them back to Tunisia

(ANSA) — MAZARA DEL VALLO, AUG 27 — A 40-year-old Tunisian man was arrested in Sicily Friday after kidnapping his three daughters from a village in the south of France where their mother has exclusive custody of them.

The man was arrested in the fishing port of Mazara del Vallo near Trapani as he was about to board a bus.

He was trying to take the girls to Tunisia, police said.

The man has been detained in a Trapani jail, in the sex offenders unit.

POlice said that three weeks ago he carried out a burglary in France with three accomplices and raped the owner’s wife to force him to hand over al his valuables.

French police had issued an international warrant for aggravated robbery, group sexual violence and kidnapping.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Migration, Climate, And Gender Policy to Top European Agenda in Coming Years

Hungarian diplomats must concentrate their efforts on three of the key topics that will define the European agenda in the coming years: migration, climate and gender policy. according to Justice Minister Judit Varga, who remarked on the issue while speaking at the annual conference of Hungarian ambassadors on Thursday.

“The European landscape in the future will be determined by three major issues: migration, climate policy and gender,” Varga said.

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

Scottish Govt Embeds ‘White Privilege’ And Woke Ideology in National Education

Scotland’s left-separatist government has published its astonishing new agenda for “Embedding race equality in schools”, pushing documents which teach woke ideology on “white privilege”, “white fragility”, “decolonising the curriculum”, “structural racism”, and the alleged non-existence of “reverse racism” as fact.

One of the resources the Scottish government now directs to as part of a “new package of support materials for teachers and staff [to] embed anti-racism and race equality into all aspects of school life” is a Scotdec ‘Anti-racist toolkit for teachers’ penned Titilayo ‘Titi’ Farukuoye, an “organiser, anti-racist educator, youth worker and writer… passionate about issues of identity, social justice, and the climate” — as well as a slam poet.

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

UK: BLM Activist Soccer Player Charged With Four Counts of Rape

Prominent footballer and Black Lives Matter activist Benjamin Mendy has been charged with four counts of rape and one count of sexual assault.

The Manchester City star is accused of rape and sexual assault by three women, according to the BBC, including a minor. The alleged attacks took place between October 2020 and August 2021.

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

‘This Ends the Debate’ — Israeli Study Shows Natural Immunity 13x More Effective Than Vaccines at Stopping Delta

Dr. Anthony Fauci and the rest of President Biden’s COVID advisors have been proven wrong about “the science” of COVID vaccines yet again. After telling Americans that vaccines offer better protection than natural infection, a new study out of Israel suggests the opposite is true: natural infection offers a much better shield against the delta variant than vaccines.

The study was described by Bloomberg as “the largest real-world analysis comparing natural immunity — gained from an earlier infection — to the protection provided by one of the most potent vaccines currently in use.” A few days ago, we noted how remarkable it was that the mainstream press was finally giving voice to scientists to criticize President Biden’s push to start doling out booster jabs. Well, this study further questions the credibility of relying on vaccines, given that the study showed that the vaccinated were ultimately 13x as likely to be infected as those who were infected previously, and 27x more likely to be symptomatic.

[Comment: In my epistemology, scientific claims are not final. But I get the headline’s point.]

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

Elite SAS Troops Rescued in Dramatic Desert Operation

A team of 20 UK Special Air Service soldiers were surrounded by Taliban hordes in Kandahar province

The Hercules transport from RAF 47 Squadron flew low and slow, heading for a secret coordinate deep in Afghanistan, in pitch darkness.

The crew — sporting special digital night-vision equipment — were looking for a makeshift desert airstrip. One they hoped they could into and out of, without getting shot up or suffering some other kind of unforseen disaster.

The situation on the ground, was indeed getting desperate.

A team of 20 elite Special Air Service soldiers (SAS) were left stranded in the province of Kandahar, hundreds of miles from friendly forces when militants took over, according to a report in the UK’s Daily Mail online.

As enemy Taliban fighters closed in for the kill — there would be no mercy in this part of the world — they sent an SOS request to Special Forces bosses back in Britain calling for immediate extraction.

But they could not use Kandahar airfield, once home to 26,000 international troops at the height of the military campaign, because it had already been overrun by Taliban.

The SAS unit was forced to fight their way to a secret desert location where they went into hiding. The coordinates of the location were then relayed back to Special Forces headquarters in a series of coded messages.

According to a source who spoke to the Daily Mail: “It was a very hush, hush mission. Kandahar had fallen to the Taliban on Friday and the guys were down there for five days after that. The enemy were rampant and killing a lot of Afghan Special Forces whom the SAS had been working with. So it was a very urgent mission.”

The dramatic desert rescue operation, which was put together by the Joint Special Forces Aviation Wing, all depended on the C-130J and its crew. If not, 20 of Britain’s most highly trains special forces would be dead within a week…

           — Hat tip: Mark H [Return to headlines]
 

Kabul Airport Bomber Carried Unusually Large Explosive Pack

Kabul airport bomber carried 25 pounds of explosives, loaded with shrapnel: US official

The suicide bomber who killed as many as 169 Afghans and 13 US service members at the Kabul airport carried about 25 pounds of explosives, loaded with shrapnel, a US official said Friday.

The massive amount of explosives and spray of shrapnel created such a large blast that it killed US troops who were inside the airport gate as well as troops and Afghans outside, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss preliminary assessments of the bombing…

           — Hat tip: DV [Return to headlines]
 

Kyrgyzstan Uses the Guise of “Misinformation” To Enact New Internet Censorship

In July of 2021, the interim parliament of Kyrgyzstan enacted the law on “False and Inaccurate Information Protection.” Like many countries, platforms and institutions, the guise of “misinformation” is being used to shut down debate and diversity of opinions.

This legislation is an updated version of an earlier proposal and stipulates that an unidentified “authorized state body” can shut down or ban websites carrying material found to be false or inaccurate without a court order if it receives a complaint from either an individual or a formal organization.

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

Marine Corps Officer Fired After Demanding Accountability From Biden Admin Over Kabul

At roughly 9 PM last night, Marine Lieutenant Colonel Stuart Scheller posted a video on social media that criticized Biden’s failings with the Afghanistan withdrawal.

The military man of seventeen years also acknowledged he was risking his career speaking out. It was a prediction that came true, in a story spotted by Task & Purpose.

“To all my friends across the social networks. I have been relieved for cause based on a lack of trust and confidence as of 14:30 today,” Scheller announced on Facebook.

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

Obama Defense Secretary Already Calling for Fresh Military Occupation of Afghanistan

The chaos in Afghanistan created by the appalling organisation of withdrawing from the country by the Biden administration has already prompted globalists to begin fresh calls for a new US military occupation of the country, with Obama’s former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta declaring that US forces will have to return.

In an interview on CNN, Panetta, also a former CIA head, proclaimed “The bottom line is, our work is not done. We’re going to have to go after ISIS.

Following the suicide bombings Thursday that killed over 100 people, 13 of them US marines, Panetta said “We’re going to have to go back in to get ISIS. We’re probably going to have to go back in when Al Qaeda resurrects itself, as they will, with this Taliban. They’ve gave safe haven to Al Qaeda before, they’ll probably do it again.”

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

Pentagon: Kabul Attack Done by Only One Bomber

There were reports on Thursday of two explosions in the attack and that there were two suicide bombers.

The US department of defence on Friday said there was only one explosion at the Kabul airport attack that killed more than 100 people, including 13 American troops.

“We do not believe that there was a second explosion at or near Baron hotel. It was one suicide bomber,” major general Hank Taylor told reporters. “We’re not sure how that report was provided incorrectly, but we do know it’s not any surprise… we felt it was important to correct the record.”

There were reports on Thursday of two explosions at the Kabul airport and that two suicide bombers were involved.

One of them reportedly took place at Abbey Gate of Hamid Karzai International Airport, and the other was said to have happened near Baron Hotel, which is close by.

Taylor pointed out that the exact details of the terror attack were still being collected…

           — Hat tip: Dean [Return to headlines]
 

‘Pineapple Express’: US Vets Volunteer to Secretly Rescue Allies in Afghanistan

A group of highly trained US military veterans has been secretly rescuing hundreds of allied operatives from Afghanistan — volunteering over fears those allies would otherwise be left for dead, according to a report.

The weeklong secret operation dubbed “Pineapple Express” has been carried out by a group of special ops veterans including retired Green Berets and SEAL Team commanders, they told ABC News.

They were driven by deep frustration “that our own government didn’t do this,” former Navy SEAL Jason Redman told ABC.

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

Retreating British Embassy Left Behind Afghan Staff’s Paperwork for Taliban to Read

The British embassy in Kabul left the information of Afghan staffers and job applicants “scattered on the ground” for the Taliban to find, according to reports.

Papers identifying seven people were found at the now-Taliban controlled compound by journalists at The Times — it is unknown how many similar papers may be awaiting discovery, or have already been discovered — including phone numbers, with reporters able to call them up and find themselves connected to former staffers.

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

Taliban Says 28 of Its Members Killed in Blasts, Blames US for “Chaotic Evacuation”

The total death toll from Thursday’s devastating twin suicide bombing attacks has climbed to over 100 dead by Friday. At least 13 American troops were killed, most of them Marines, in what’s being widely acknowledged as the deadliest single day of America’s military presence in the country since 2011. Previously in August 2011 a Chinook helicopter was shot down over Afghanistan, killing 31 Americans and 7 Afghan allied troops.

The Taliban is subsequently claiming that at least 28 of its own members were killed in the Thursday attacks at the airport. “We have lost more people than the Americans,” an unnamed Taliban official was cited in Reuters as saying on Friday. The Taliban vowed to step up its security around the airport perimeter amid reports that ISIS-K is preparing to mount more attacks.

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

U.S. Retaliate Against ISIS Drone Strike in Afghanistan

U.S. military forces conducted a drone strike on Friday against the Islamic State terrorist group in Afghanistan in an apparent retaliatory attack against those who claimed responsibility for the attack Thursday outside Kabul’s airport.

“U.S. military forces conducted an over-the-horizon counterterrorism operation today against an ISIS-K planner,” said Capt. Bill Urban, spokesman for U.S. Central Command, in a statement. “The unmanned airstrike occurred in the Nangarhar Province of Afghanistan. Initial indications are that we killed the target. We know of no civilian casualties.”

The ISIS-K claimed responsibility for the “martyrdom attack” on Thursday that involved a suicide bomber who detonated an explosive belt at the airport’s gate, killing 13 U.S. service members and more than 110 Afghans. More than 100 were wounded in the blasts.

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

UK Won’t Process Any More People for Evacuation as Military Mission in Afghanistan Enters Final Hours

The UK’s defence secretary, Ben Wallace, has announced that the government’s evacuation from Afghanistan is down to a “matter of hours” after closing the Kabul processing centre ahead of America’s full withdrawal from the country.

Speaking to British media, Wallace announced that the military mission was entering its “final hours” following the closing of its processing centre at the Baron Hotel, Kabul, near the site of one of Thursday’s Islamic State Khorasan (IS-K) terrorist attacks. No more individuals will be called forward by the UK to be evacuated from the country, with the airport entrance at Abbey Gate having been closed at 4:30am local time (12:00am GMT).

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US on Alert for More Attacks in Kabul After 13 US Service Members, 90 Civilians Killed

The death toll in Afghanistan has risen to more than 100 fatalities a day after two suicide bombings terrorized Kabul’s international airport. The US is continuing evacuations despite concerns over further attacks.

Head of US Central Command General Frank McKenzie said that more attacks by the Islamic State could be imminent, and may be in the form or car bombs or rockets.

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Video: Biden Admits ‘Kill List’ of Americans May Have Been Given to Taliban

After details emerged that Biden officials handed the Taliban a list of names of Americans and Afghan allies they wanted evacuated, as well as allowing biometric devices containing fingerprints, eye scans and personal details of those allies to fall into Taliban hands, the president was charged with having ‘blood on his hands’ after he admitted that “that very well could have happened.”

The existence of what has been dubbed a ‘kill list’ was first reported on by Politico via three congressional officials.

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Exclusive: Media’s ‘Lab Leak’ Denial Darling is Actually Ex-Chinese Communist Advisor

Deborah Seligsohn — an American academic frequently cited by Western media outlets to debunk the COVID-19 “lab leak” theory — has extensive ties to the Chinese Communist Party, including delivering lectures at the regime’s Central Party School and accepting fellowships from state-run universities.

When cited, mainstream media outlets routinely fail to disclose Seligsohn’s deep ties to Beijing, which call into question her ostensible status as a neutral arbiter of COVID-19’s origins. Currently an Assistant Professor in the Political Science Department at Villanova University, Seligsohn was formerly in charge of science and health issues at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing during the SARS epidemic in the early 2000s.

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Hong Kong Faces Significant Increases in Movie Censorship

Concerns have arisen over tighter censorship regulations in Hong Kong. A new bill announced on Tuesday will give the Film Censorship Authority the power to prohibit films that conflict with “national security” objectives.

A television and radio show guest, Mabel Cheung Yuen-ting, said that she does not believe the local film industry is interested in jeopardizing national security when she appeared on a local radio show, The Standard reported. She is concerned that films may be stuck in the review process indefinitely.

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US Intel Agency Has “Moderate” Confidence COVID Escaped From Wuhan Lab: Origins Report

An unclassified version of the US intelligence community’s coronavirus origins report includes an assessment from one agency which has “moderate confidence” that Covid-19 emerged from a Chinese government lab in Wuhan, while four other agencies assessed with “low confidence” that the virus has a natural origin. The rest of the US intelligence community (which was awfully confident Donald Trump was working with Russia) declined to commit one way or another.

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Chilling: Vaccinated Australians to be Granted New “Freedom”; Government Sanctioned “Hour of Recreation”

In a chilling development, Australians in New South Wales, which includes the city of Sydney, are to be granted extra “freedom” if they are fully vaccinated, with residents allowed to “leave home for an hour of recreation on top of their exercise hour.”

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Will He Ever Stop? The Excuse Dan Andrews Will Use for Keeping Millions in Lockdown Even as New Modelling Shows Reopening Australia at PM’s Vaccine Benchmarks Will Not Cause More COVID Deaths — Regardless of Case Numbers

Dan Andrews has flagged he will keep Victorians in lockdown thanks to ‘selfish’ actions he claims residents are up to, despite new modelling show opening up at 70 per cent jabbed rate won’t increase deaths.

           — Hat tip: SS [Return to headlines]
 

YouTube Demonetizes 14 Brazilian Channels for Election “Misinformation”

YouTube has announced that it has demonetized 14 Brazilian content creators over “election misinformation.”

The channels had been accused by the country’s Superior Electoral Court of promoting incorrect information.

The Alphabet-owned company had this to say in a press release: “We reinforce our committedness to collaborating with the enactment of authorities in Brazil and to proceed to put successful policies, resources and products to support the YouTube assemblage from harmful content.”

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900 Migrants Occupy Reception Centre for Just 250 as Italian Island Sees More Landings

After 18 new migrant boat landings in just two days, the reception centre on the island of Lampedusa now houses 900 people, despite only having space for 250.

In 24 hours alone, some 600 migrants arrived on the island as weather conditions that made sections of the Mediterranean impassable have improved in recent days and the island saw 18 vessels, mainly small boats and rubber boats, land.

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Afghan Exodus Could Shift Migration Routes From Sea to Land Once Again

The situation in Afghanistan could significantly change the migration routes to Europe in the coming months. In recent years, refugees have been heading mainly across the Mediterranean to countries such as Greece, Italy, and Spain. Now, the so-called Balkan route, which begins in Turkey and leads through Greece and Macedonia or Bulgaria to Serbia and then deeper into Europe, could make a major comeback.

In the first half of this year, over 39,000 migrants came to Europe. The vast majority of them reached the continent via the Mediterranean Sea. Only less than 3,000 refugees have chosen the “dry” land route, which leads along the aforementioned Balkan route.

This follows from the data of the Czech Ministry of the Interior, which also mention that people from Afghanistan are already among the most common nationalities coming to Europe by land.

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Deported Criminal Afghans Back in Sweden After Boarding Kabul Evacuation Flight

Two Afghan nationals who were deported after being convicted of crimes are now back in Sweden after boarding evacuation flights from Kabul.

The two men were immediately arrested at Arlanda airport in Stockholm upon entry back into the country for violating their travel ban that was issued after they had served the sentences for the crimes they had committed.

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France Wants Migration Deal — So They Can Send More Asylum Seekers to Britain

The French government is seeking a new deal with Britain on illegal immigration — not so that boat migrants can be returned to their shores, but so that they can direct even more migrants on to the UK.

France’s push to “expel, or direct a certain number of migrants to the UK so they can request asylum” marks the latest humiliation for Home Secretary Priti Patel MP, the government minister with broad responsibility for border control, policing, and national security in the Boris Johnson administration.

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Migrant-Besieged Lithuania, Poland Urged to Open Their Borders by Globalist UN, Council of Europe

Poland and Lithuania, battling border crises reportedly engineered by the Lukashenko regime in Belarus, are under pressure from the United Nations and the Council of Europe to let the migrants in.

The two European Union border states have endured a sudden surge in illegal immigration in recent months, thought to have been engineered by Alexander Lukashenko as punishment for their sheltering Belarusian opposition politicians and dissidents victimised by his quasi-Stalinist regime.

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

PM Morawiecki: Tusk’s Statement on the Polish-Belarusian Border Crisis Should be Directed at His Own MPs

Civic Platform (PO) leader Donald Tusk published a statement on Wednesday on illegal migrants and the current Polish-Belarusian border crisis. Although Tusk admitted that Poland was dealing with a provocation from Belarus’s side and the country was organizing “streams of migrants” in the direction of the EU’s borders, he also used the opportunity to accuse Polish authorities of being powerless in face of the crisis.

“The government, but also all of us, are responsible for speaking seriously and responsibly about how to prevent this crisis, how to help those in need, and how to secure our borders,” he said in reference to the situation on the Polish-Belarusian border, where a group of migrants has been stranded for three weeks.

On Thursday, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki responded to Tusk’s words, pointing out that the Civic Platform leader was noticeably slow to react to the crisis.

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

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker Signs Sex Ed Bill Requiring Kindergartners to Define Gender Identity

Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D) of Illinois signed SB 818 into law last Friday, claiming the new sex ed standards that require kindergartners to learn to define gender identity “will help keep our children safe.”

“Modernizing our sex education standards will help keep our children safe and ensure important lessons like consent and internet safety are taught in classrooms,” Pritzker said in a statement. “By working together, we’ll continue to strengthen our education system and deliver the bright future our kids deserve.”

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

5 thoughts on “Gates of Vienna News Feed 8/27/2021

  1. Vlad Tepes blog has been down most of the day.

    It says for “maintenance.”

    I hope everything is OK.

    Let us know please.

  2. This what I get when seeking https://vladtepesblog.com/

    The website is undergoing scheduled maintenance.
    Sorry for the inconvenience.
    Come back a bit later, we will be ready soon!

    I first thought it may have been constrained by the likes of New Zealand’s Prime Minister Ardern’s adhan for the “Christchurch Call” to censor what they do not like, via country agreements and the “social media” giants.
    The media in New Zealand receive’s a constant top up of government money, and once bought, they stay bought, well any “controlled opposition” seems to get another top-up.

    So nothing in the mainstream, about vaccine issues, or first & early treatments.
    A leakage around the sides, via blogs, rumble etc.. but the media pack on to destroy any person’s credibility as being a spreader of “mis-information”
    ]
    Thanks to Baron, for keeping so many sources open and the connections to Vlad Tepes. 🙂

  3. New Zealand and the so “kindly” Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, along with its Medical autocracy believes it can eliminate Covid from New Zealand again, for the declared “well being” of New Zealanders.

    After 53 years of marriage.
    In an earlier lock down a friend of mine was treated like this too.

    “I said to the undertakers, ‘when my wife is ready to be put in the ground, what happens if I go there?’”
    “He said ‘we’ve been instructed if anybody comes on the cemetery ground, we are to put the casket down wherever it goes, and they will call the police and they will take you away.’”

    https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/lockdown-burial-northland-man-will-watch-from-road-as-wife-laid-to-rest/W3GJVPXLDNHWRQYZ3XLSZCIHRQ/

    In New Zealand;- first the Border workers are mandated to take the Pfizer, then all the front line health workers, and so the Mission Creep, to even declare it is safe for pregnant woman, and down to 16 year olds.

    Sadly the horrific pain will be coming, while the “tyrannical democracy” is being set in place.
    No talk is allowed about first and early treatment.
    Nothing is allowed about vaccine doubts, and you become a “vaccine pariah” if you have “hesitancy”.
    So far only about 20% vaccinated, mainly due to disorganization and Pfizer doing a slow delivery, that may be the only kindly thing, but New Zealand needs more information, data, and the suppression, censorship removed to allow discussion & debate.

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