England is expecting a surge of “COVID refugees” from Wales and Scotland on New Year’s Eve, because lockdown rules are less strict there, and people can gather to celebrate. Meanwhile, France is reinstating a work-from-home order in an attempt to mitigate the spread of the Omicron variant.
In other news, Ghislaine Maxwell, the long-time girlfriend of the late Jeffrey Epstein, has been found guilty on five of the six charges against her.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to Dean, Fjordman, Reader from Chicago, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.
Notice to tipsters: Please don’t submit extensive excerpts from articles that have been posted behind a subscription firewall, or are otherwise under copyright protection.
Caveat: Articles in the news feed are posted “as is”. Gates of Vienna cannot vouch for the authenticity or accuracy of the contents of any individual item posted here. I check each entry to make sure it is relatively interesting, not patently offensive, and at least superficially plausible. The link to the original is included with each item’s title. Further research and verification are left to the reader.
“Matrix Resurrections” Bombs at Box Office
It turns out the left won’t be “reclaiming the red pill,” after all.
I guess popping all those blue pills (progesterone) didn’t help get the creative juices flowing.
From Showbiz411:
“Matrix Resurrections” is DOA at the box office after 5 days with just $22.8 million. Maybe people are watching it at home on HBO Max, or trying to. On Rotten Tomatoes the audience interest is just 64%. The critics rating is 66. Where was the outcry for this film?
For [Lana] Wachowski this is the fifth clunker in 16 years. She and her sister (formerly brother, they used to be brothers so the films have different credits) wrote and produced “V for Vendetta” in 2006. Prior to that they made the real “Matrix” movies, which were big hits. But this now is just treading water, or drowning in it.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
2 Charged in Oakbrook Center Mall Gunfight
Both were scheduled to appear in bond court Wednesday morning.
Two men have been charged in connection with a gunfight that wounded four people and sent Christmas shoppers running for cover at an Oak Brook mall two days before Christmas.
Tyran Williams, 32, is charged with five counts of aggravated discharge of a firearm and one count of unlawful use of a weapon by a felon, Oak Brook police said.
Steve Lane, 29, is charged with aggravated battery, four counts of aggravated discharge of a firearm and one count of aggravated unlawful use of a weapon, police said.
On Dec. 23, two men began shooting at each other near Oakbrook Center’s Ann Taylor store, then ran into a Nordstrom store close by, according to police. Four people were struck by the gunfire, including one of the suspected shooters, police said. All were expected to survive…
| — Hat tip: Dean | [Return to headlines] |
30,000 Unvaccinated Students Throw Los Angeles District’s Mandate Into Limbo
The nation’s second largest school district was set to implement a COVID-19 vaccine mandate for students, but once school leaders realized they would have to send home thousands of students to learn online it reversed course.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Aaron Rodgers Blasts NFL’s COVID-19 Panic: ‘If Science Can’t be Questioned, It’s Propaganda’
In another explosive soundbite, Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers blasted the NFL’s COVID-19 panic in a routine appearance on “The Pat McAfee Show,” delcaring that “if science can’t be questioned,” then it’s “propaganda.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Breaking: Jake Tapper Producer Caught in Pedo Scandal Resigns From CNN
CNN has confirmed on Wednesday that Jake Tapper’s producer, Rick Saleeby, has resigned from his position after it was revealed that he allegedly solicited sexually explicit photos of an underage girl. Fairfax County police seized devices from his residence.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
A Chicago public school parent is speaking out against remote learning, calling it a “nightmare” after the Chicago teacher’s union surveyed its members mulling a shift back to virtual learning amid a spike in COVID-19 cases.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Critical Race Theory, Left-Wing Ideas Ruining Medical Field, Critics Argue
The medical profession has seen an influx of left-wing ideas about race and identity, according to multiple reports and experts.
Writing in Quilette, Dr. Sally Satel declared that “indoctrinologists” were distracting medical professionals from their rightful purpose. Satel and others have pointed to examples like Boston physicians arguing for racial preferences in admissions.
Fox News has also reported on the American Medical Association’s (AMA) endorsement of critical race theory and using the type of theoretical buzzwords that have emerged in institutions across the country.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Exclusive: Police Issue $200,000 Arrest Warrant to Re-Capture Criminal Seattle Prosecutors Set Free
The Seattle Police Department arrested a violent career criminal in mid-December who is the alleged suspect in multiple serious violent crimes, including attempted murder. Now, there is a $200,000 warrant out for the suspect’s arrest who was released by King County prosecutors after spending only three nights in jail.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Ex-Playboy Actress Charged in Delta Flight Meltdown Has Troubled Past
The Playboy actress charged with assaulting an elderly passenger on a Delta flight last week in a stunning caught-on-video meltdown has been spiraling out of control for years — racking up criminal cases and allegedly threatening to kill her family, court records show.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin is “out of touch and really dismissive,” the father of a slain child said after one of the suspects in the murder recently received just eight years in prison for the crime.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Fauci Stands to Rake in the Biggest Federal Retirement in History
There are plenty of reasons to despise Dr. Anthony Fauci. Who can forget all his ridiculous edicts throughout the pandemic — from suggesting multiple masks to telling people to disinvite unvaxxed family members to holiday celebrations? Remember how he lied about the National Institutes of Health funding gain of function research on the very virus that Fauci has used to try to make all our lives miserable?
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Florida Surgeon General Says Biden Admin ‘Actively Preventing’ Monoclonal Antibody Treatments
Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo accused the Biden administration of “actively preventing the effective distribution of monoclonal antibody treatments” in the United States, according to a Tuesday letter addressed to Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra.
The Biden administration recently paused shipments of COVID-19 antibody treatments manufactured by major drug companies Regeneron and Eli Lilly amid claims that such treatments are not effective against the omicron variant of the coronavirus.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Ghislaine Maxwell Trial: Late Jeffrey Epstein’s Longtime Lover Found Guilty on 5 of 6 Counts
British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell faces up to 65 years in prison after a Manhattan jury found her guilty of five of six counts against her for trafficking teens to be abused by her and late pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
“A unanimous jury has found Ghislaine Maxwell guilty of one of the worst crimes imaginable — facilitating and participating in the sexual abuse of children,” said U.S. Attorney for the Southern District Damian Williams. “Crimes that she committed with her long-time partner and co-conspirator, Jeffrey Epstein. The road to justice has been far too long. But, today, justice has been done.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Illinois Lost 122,000 People in 2021, The Largest Drop Since World War II: Census
Illinois has suffered its largest single-year population decline in decades, according to newly-released estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau.
In 2021, only the District of Columbia and New York lost a higher percentage of residents, the data shows.
“In 2021, 20 states and the District of Columbia lost residents via net domestic migration. Largest domestic migration losses were in California (-367,299), New York (-352,185) and Illinois (-122,460),” the Census Bureau says.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
The question of what Google Chrome’s “Incognito” mode even really does, and how it is perceived by a majority of users, is in the spotlight once again.
The issue has been raised before, with potential problems for Google stemming from the dominant browser users believing, or feeling led to believe by the Big Tech juggernaut, that their online communication carried out via the Incognito mode was in fact private — a belief that happens to be mistaken.
Now Google (Alphabet) CEO Sundar Pichai has been called to a California federal court where he will be quizzed about how the entire thing actually works, in a case filed by users who said they were misled into believing “Incognito” was affording privacy in the form of exempting them from online tracking carried out by Google.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
‘Lack of Leadership’: Chicago 911 Dispatcher Slams Lori Lightfoot Following Weekend Carnage
A Chicago 911 dispatcher ripped into the city’s leadership, including Mayor Lori Lightfoot, for causing staffing shortages that have hampered authorities’ efforts to respond to rising crime.
“What’s horrible is the lack of leadership and the failure of leadership throughout this entire city of Chicago, and it’s ridiculous because it does not have to be this way,” dispatcher Keith Thornton told “Fox & Friends” on Tuesday.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
New York School Bans ‘Jingle Bells’ After Allegations That it is Culturally Insensitive
A Brighton, New York school will be banning holiday classic “Jingle Bells” from being taught at its elementary music curriculum, after allegations that the song is culturally insensitive.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
North Carolina State Coach Dave Doeren Says He Feels ‘Lied to’ After the Holiday Bowl Gets Canceled
North Carolina State football coach Dave Doeren wasn’t happy about the Holiday Bowl getting canceled.
The Wolfpack were slated to play UCLA Tuesday, but the game was called off a few hours before the teams should have been out there warming up because of COVID-19.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
President Biden and Dr. Fauci Consider Vaccine Passports for Domestic Flights
The White House’s chief medical adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci seems determined to stumble from one controversy to the next, and sometimes to revisit past ones: this time, it’s the idea of introducing vaccine passports as a requirement for domestic air travel in the US.
Without revealing if this is already a recommendation made to President Biden, Fauci told MSNBC that introducing Covid passes on domestic flights is something he considers “reasonable.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Rand Paul: Thousands Dying Every Month Because of Fauci’s Obsession With Pushing Vaccines
Senator Rand Paul has warned that thousands of Americans are dying from COVID every month because Anthony Fauci is obsessed with pushing vaccines in place of therapeutic treatments that are effective in treating the virus.
Appearing on his Father Ron Paul’s Liberty Report, the Senator noted that Fauci has displayed a bias toward vaccines since he attempted and failed to produce a vaccine for AIDS and HIV in the 1980s and 90s.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., appeared on NBC’s “Meet the Press” to discuss the subject of critical race theory in schools.
Critical race theory (CRT) became a serious political topic in 2021 as parents continue to appear at school board meetings to criticize its teaching to their children. Throughout the country, several states have since taken steps to remove CRT or CRT-adjacent topics in classrooms.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Former president Donald Trump was asked by Candace Owens recently why he refused to pardon Julian Assange and Edward Snowden and gave an incredibly weak, equivocating response.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Twitter Suspends Key mRNA Vaccine Contributor Dr. Robert Malone
Dr. Robert Malone, a key contributor to mRNA vaccine technology and an outspoken critic of COVID-19 mandates and rules, was suspended by Twitter.
Writing on his Substack page, Malone, who had massed more than 500,000 followers, confirmed that his account was “permanently suspended from Twitter” and said, “We all knew it would happen eventually.”
“Over a half million followers gone in a blink of an eye. That means I must have been on the mark, so to speak,” he wrote on Dec. 29. “Over the target. It also means we lost a critical component in our fight to stop these vaccines being mandated for children and to stop the corruption in our governments, as well as the medical-industrial complex and pharmaceutical industries.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Video: MSNBC Host Claims Phrase ‘Lets Go Brandon’ Is Part of a “Slow-Moving Insurrection”
Following the spectacle of a man saying ‘Lets go Brandon’ on a phone call to Joe Biden last week, MSNBC host Nicolle Wallace ludicrously proclaimed Monday that the phrase is part of a “slow-moving insurrection.”
Wallace played a clip of former Oregon police officer and father of four Jared Schmeck trolling Biden on Christmas eve, noting that Schmeck later appeared on Steve Bannon’s radio show, telling the host that it is important to “voice disapproval” (the horror).
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Viral Video Shows Mom and Kid Kicked Out of Restaurant by Police Due to Lack of Vaccine Passport
When it comes to controversies surrounding Covid mandates, particularly vaccine passes, the rift these are causing in societies around the world will obviously have to get worse before it gets better.
In New York City, a mother and her child were thrown out of a restaurant because she could not show the boy’s vaccine passports to the police sent to the establishment.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Virginia Teachers Fire Back After School District Mulls Implementing More ‘Equitable’ Grading System
Teachers in Virginia are pushing back against a proposal from the Arlington, Virginia school board that would implement more “equitable” grading practices.
The proposal, according to WJLA, would remove late penalties for homework assignments, no longer allow students to earn extra credit, would allow for unlimited redoes of assignments, and would eliminate grading on homework assignments.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Washington State Lawmakers Introduce Bill That Would Reduce Penalties for Drive-by Shootings
Washington state lawmakers introduced a bill this month that would reduce penalties for drive-by shootings with the aim of “promoting racial equity.”
The bill, introduced by Democratic Representatives Tarra Simmons and David Hackney ahead of the state’s 2022 legislative session, would eliminate drive-by shootings as the basis for elevating a first-degree murder charge to aggravated murder in the first degree, which carries a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Yet Another Hate Crime Hoax, This Time in Maryland
As every good Leftist knows and very much wants you to admit, America is a racist, hate-filled country in which people of color, Muslims, and other victim classes are routinely subjected to discrimination, harassment, and even violence. The only problem with our culture of “systemic racism,” which Critical Race Theory advocates claim to be working hard to transform for the good, is that it’s not even close to being backed up by reality. Again and again, the hate crimes that are invoked as evidence of the “white supremacist” violence that the government and media tell us so much about turn out to be fake. Just before Christmas, yet another hate crime was unmasked as a hoax; the Critical Race Theory crowd would be embarrassed by all this fakery, if they were capable of embarrassment.
This latest hoax started on Nov. 16 on The Commons at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC), where, according to UMBC Police Chief Paul Dillon, “a student reported to a Commons staff member that an unknown male attempted to remove her hijab. UMBC Police are investigating, and the Division of Student Affairs is reaching out to students most directly impacted as well as shared governance leaders in our community.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Canadians Are Changing the Way They Buy Food Thanks to Trudeau’s Justinflation
The majority of Canadians are changing the way they buy food as a result of the steepening food prices that are being felt nationwide.
This finding was released in a new report by the Agri-Food Analytics Lab at Dalhousie University, according to CTV News. A total of 10 thousand people took part in this survey, making it one of the most prominent studies on this subject.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Proof: The Royal Bank of Canada Rejected Our Mortgage Because We’re Conservative
We’ve published recordings of RBC banksters admitting to financial de-platforming. Toronto headquarters stopped our mortgage to purchase a home for freedom-oriented Canadian media, activists, and think tanks. But we’re not letting them win, we need your help to fight back.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
President Andrzej Duda has refused to sign the amendment to the bill on radio broadcasting and television which would have locked non-EU foreign owners out of the Polish media market.
The law was seen as a vital effort by many conservatives to remove foreign influence from Poland’s national media landscape. In other countries such as Germany, foreign media owners are severely restricted from owning media outlets, yet German companies own significant shares in Polish media companies, many of them with a hostile viewpoint towards Poland’s conservative parties.
After vetoing the amendment, Duda has now directed the bill back to parliament for further consideration.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Czech Paradox: The Nation of Atheists Has a ‘Christian Government’
Following the recent change of government, half of the members of the government of Petr Fiala are part of Christian churches. Given the fact that Czechia is a nation known for its strong atheist leanings, experts believe that political conflicts may arise over “ethical” issues, which has already occurred during the discussion of same-sex couple marriages.
For many years, Czechia has been described as one of the most atheist and most secularized countries in the world, together with Estonia, Sweden, and the eastern part of Germany. So far, the latest available data from the 2011 census show that only 20.6 percent of the population identify themselves as believers.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Czech MEP Zahradil Wants Orban to Join His Faction in European Parliament
In an interview with the Echo24 daily, Czech MEP Jan Zahradil (ODS) rejected speculation that the European Conservatives and Reformists Group (ECR) might disband. On the contrary, he stated that he would like to bring the party of the Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban to the European Parliament faction.
“The speculation was caused by the fact that our Polish allies convened a wider meeting of parties with a similar opinion several times this year. Parties from the Identity and Democracy group, including Mr. Matteo Salvini, also took part in it,” Zahradil said.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
England Expecting Influx of ‘COVID Refugees’ Seeking Lockdown-Free Fun for New Year’s Eve
Regional border areas in England are to brace for influx of ‘Covid refugees’ from Scotland and Wales, where anti-party restrictions are in place this New Year’s eve, reports claim.
Following strict coronavirus restrictions imposed in Scotland and Wales, “thousands” of New Year revellers are expected to travel to English border ‘party hotspots’, such as Bristol or Newcastle to celebrate the New Year.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
France Enforces ‘Work-From-Home’ Order to Limit Spread of Omicron
France has revived its work-from-home mandate following a surge in Omicron-related cases of COVID-19. The move comes as European nations continue to re-institute previously lifted lockdown measures to curb the spread of the new variant out of fears that it might overwhelm hospitals.
France is now requiring that all citizens who can work from home do so for at least three days a week in January.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
France: Claimed Radical Islamist Arrested for Allegedly Kidnapping and Raping Teen Girl for Days
Police in the French commune of Leers arrested a man described as a radical Islamic extremist on Sunday after he allegedly kidnapped a 15-year-old girl and raped her over a period of several days.
Police were alerted to the situation by a neighbour of the man who spoke to the 15-year-old, who is said to be an Iraqi national, and helped her escape the man’s apartment, where she had been for nearly a week after being abducted off the streets of Douai, a commune south of Leers.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
French Mosque Forced Closed for ‘Inciting Hatred’ And ‘Advocating Jihad’
A Mosque in France has been shuttered for six months after authorities accused it of ‘inciting hatred’ and ‘advocating jihad’.
The great mosque of Beauvais has been ordered to close for six months over sermons that authorities claim were ‘inciting hatred’, ‘violence’ and ‘advocating jihad’.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Germany: Conservative Muslims Pressure Liberal in Berlin Schools: Study
Berlin schools in the multicultural Neukölln district face growing religious intolerance. Conservative Muslims pressure liberal students and teachers to adapt their behavior to stricter interpretations of Islam, according to a survey conducted by the Association for Democracy and Diversity in Schools established by the federal government.
The research, supported by the Ministry for Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women, and Youth at the request of the Neukölln district office, focused mainly on confrontational manifestations of religion and lasted three months.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Hungarian Satire Party Wants Union With Cayman Islands
True to its roots, Gergely Kovacs, the leader of Hungary’s Two-Tailed Dog satire party, says they are running on a ticket of unifying Hungary with the Cayman Islands should they win the general elections scheduled for next spring.
Asked about what he deems to have been last year’s most important domestic policy development, Kovacs said it was the fact that it transpired that Csaba Tóth, leader of the opposition Socialist Party, “is not a horse.”
As to what the expects from next year’s elections, Kovacs said his main expectation was that the elections will actually take place.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Insulate Britain activists who have ground major roads to a halt this year have pledged to continue their disruptive protests into 2022.
It emerged last night that stunts by the group, which demands the Government insulates all UK homes by 2030 to cut carbon emissions, cost police at least £4.3million.
Such a figure would be enough to insulate about 3,500 homes around the country.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden: Paper on Racism in a Coffee Cup Scores a B
Adulterating black coffee with white milk is an act of racism, a tongue-in-cheek Swede has proclaimed in an essay — only to find his work praised by a critical race theory (CRT) teacher at Stockholm University, he claims.
Student Arvid Haag told Swedish news outlet Fria Tider on Monday that he’d enrolled in the course in “Critical whiteness perspectives on Nordic culture” during the autumn term, describing his choice as little more than a joke. Local pandemic grant rules had equipped him and other students with an unexpected financial aid windfall, he said, and he figured he could “get something fun out of it” by taking up what he thought was a harmless if absurd class. However, he claims he soon found his classmates “seriously believed in what was taught.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden: Man Found With Critical Gunshot Wounds on Christmas Day
On Christmas Day, a man was found by police in the town of Sandviken shot with critical gunshot injuries, with investigators believing the incident is linked to yet another shooting in the Scandinavian country.
Police were alerted to the shooting by locals at around 6:40 p.m. on Christmas Day and later received information that a man had been found in critical condition after suffering gunshot wounds.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
US and Poland Hold Talks on Ukraine and NATO
The head of the Polish presidential International Policy Bureau, Jakub Kumoch, and the head of the Polish National Security Bureau, Pawel Soloch, spoke with U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan via a call to discuss the ongoing situation in Ukraine and NATO-Russia relations.
“We are in agreement that talks on the USA-Russia axis should reflect the position of the entire alliance. In particular, this concerns responses to Russia’s most aggressive demands,” Pawel Soloch told the Polish Press Agency (PAP).
Kumoch stated that he had recounted the meeting between the presidents of Poland, Ukraine and Lithuania to Sullivan.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Irish government officials have been accused of showing “utter contempt” for the public after a picture emerged showing at least 20 individuals attending a lockdown-breaking party in a government building.
At least 20 Irish government employees and senior officials attended a champagne party during a period of harsh lockdown in the country in June of last year.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
China Announces Crackdown on Religious Content on the Web
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has adopted new Administrative Measures to restrict the spreading of religious content via the internet, Bitter Winter revealed Wednesday.
The measures, which will go into force on March 1, 2022, include a stipulation that any reference to religion on the web is illegal unless the sender possesses an “Internet Religious Information Service License.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Why is the World Still Accepting China’s Dishonest COVID-19 Numbers?
The venerable South China Morning Post explained Monday that “so far China has reported nine Covid-19 cases caused by the omicron variant, including two who were infected by a man returning from Canada.”
The United States is averaging about 235,000 cases per day, and in the most recent CDC analysis, almost 60% of new cases are from omicron. Assuming the accuracy of those numbers, the U.S. is currently averaging roughly 140,000 Omicron cases per day, while China, with five times the population, is averaging one omicron case per day. Yes, one.
While the numbers in America aren’t totally accurate — folks with positive at-home tests don’t always notify health authorities, and many asymptomatic people are unaware they have the virus — official Chinese statistics are preposterous.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Moroccan Migrant Strips Naked and Threatens Italian Locals With Knife
Police officers in the Italian city of Turin arrested a 25-year-old Moroccan national on Sunday after he brandished a knife at locals while being completely naked at the time.
The incident took place at the Piazza Vittorio Veneto in the centre of the northern Italian city on Sunday evening after the 25-year-old had entered a local Brazilian restaurant where he stole a large kitchen knife.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Pope Francis: Saint Joseph Was a ‘Persecuted and Courageous Migrant’
ROME — Pope Francis presented Saint Joseph, the foster father of Jesus, as a “persecuted and courageous migrant” in a provocative address in the Vatican Wednesday.
The Evangelist Matthew describes Saint Joseph “as a persecuted and courageous migrant,” the pope said during his weekly General Audience in the Vatican. “This particular event in the life of Jesus, which also involves Joseph and Mary, is traditionally known as ‘the flight into Egypt.’“
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Spain: Thirteen Officers Injured as Migrants Storm Melilla Border
Several Guardia Civil agents were injured in the early hours of Wednesday December 29 in Melilla when around 500 migrants attempted to scale the border in the Spanish city.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
DuckDuckGo is Working on a Privacy-Focussed Desktop Browser
Due to how central search is to the business models of massive tech — or, as in the case of Google and Facebook, really ad companies — it’s no wonder that cracking that market is particularly hard for any startup offering alternatives.
However, one that has seen considerable success in recent years has been DuckDuckGo — with its main appeal and “claim to fame” being the focus on privacy of its users in an online world teeming with all kinds of visible and obscure threats to privacy, and security.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Erasing Women: Trans ‘Jeopardy!’ Contestant Takes Crown for Highest-Earning Female Win Streak
Jeopardy! is awarding women’s records to a transgender man, and corporate parent NBC News is hailing Amy Schneider as the “highest-earning female contestant in the game show’s nearly 57-year run.”
“Amy Schneider ties Julia Collins’ record for consecutive games won — the sweater was lucky, indeed!” Jeopardy! tweeted on Tuesday, referring to Schneider’s decision to wear a sweater matching past show winner Julia Collins’ clothes.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Guardian ‘Person of the Year’ Poll Deactivated After J.K. Rowling Takes Lead
An online poll conducted by the staunchly left Guardian newspaper seeking nominations for “Person of the Year” has been turned off, sparking speculation it was shut down when author J.K. Rowling took the lead.
The poll was launched on December 15 and posed a simple question: “Who would be your 2021 person of the year, and why?” It can be found here.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
On Wednesday morning, Standing for Women founder Kellie-Jay Keen and TalkRADIO fill-in host James Max clashed over trans ideology and the right of trans-identified males to enter women’s spaces, with Max arguing that Keen should be “cancelled” for holding the views she does.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Playboy actress had “breakdown” in past so probably has schizophrenia. There is no such thing as a “nervous breakdown” (psychiatrist), they are all psychotic episodes. Sometimes people recover with or without medication, and/or cognitive behaviour theory or lifetime medication. She probably needs more treatment and to take her meds.
Omicron will end all this nonsense soon. Case numbers are high but hospitalisations and death almost nil. Most deaths are still from Delta which has a large number of cases in some countries. South Africa Omicron is 96.%. I’m hoping it means children escape the vaccination as Covid is no longer a threat.
It never was a threat you [epithet]!
For crying out loud!
Different Europe in a 1/2 mille distance..
New Year celebration in Germany and across the border in Poland..Very funny
https://youtu.be/PgiJlJsCkL8
Even funnier is the difference in requirements of the Welsh and Scottish devolved governments to that of the English. Hundreds and hundreds of Scots and Welsh are crossing the borders to celebrate the New Year in England. One country, but three nations.
A superb demonstration of defiance. It does not bode well for the call for independence by the leader of the Scottish National Party.
Where is Edward the Longshanks when you need him most, now there was a guy who knew how to deal with rebellion, especially those pesky Scots.