An explosion caused the collapse of the building housing a nightclub in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, killing at least one person. Officials believe a gas leak caused the blast, but the investigation is ongoing.
In other news, many analysts are concerned that Russia may resort to the use of tactical nuclear weapons due to its slow progress in its invasion of Ukraine.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to Dean, DV, JW, 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.
Inflation Will Cost American Households an Additional $5,200 in 2022
According to Bloomberg Economics, skyrocketing inflation will cost American households an additional $5,200 in 2022, which breaks down to an added $433 a month. U.S. inflation reached a 40-year high this past January, accelerating to a 7.5% annual rate.
“Inflation will mean the average U.S. household has to spend an extra $5,200 this year ($433 per month) compared to last year for the same consumption basket,” wrote Bloomberg economists Andrew Husby and Anna Wong. The Bloomberg team predicted that “excess savings built up over the pandemic and increases in wages” will help to “cushion” the impact of such a dramatic increase. “But accelerated depletion of savings will increase the urgency for those staying on the sidelines to join the labor force, and the resulting increase in labor supply will likely dampen wage growth,” the team continued.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Inflation in the Netherlands Rises to Almost 12 Percent
The price that Dutch citizens have to pay because the US wants Ukraine to join NATO, is becoming quite steep.
Prices in the Netherlands have risen extremely fast since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine. According to the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), inflation rose to almost 12 percent last month.
In February inflation was 7.3 percent. An initial calculation shows inflation in March at 11.9 percent. Ukrainian president Zelensky has meanwhile found time to also admonish the Dutch cabinet for which he received a standing ovation.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Italian inflation rose to 6.7 per cent in March as the Russian invasion of Ukraine led to a surge in energy prices, marking the highest inflation the country has seen since July of 1991.
Italy’s statistical agency Istat released the new inflation figures this week, which show a 6.7 per cent increase in inflation, led by a 6.9 per cent rise in the price of energy goods, which has increased by 52.9 per cent compared to last year.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Poll: Nearly Half of Voters Say They Are ‘Financially Worse’ Off Than One Year Ago
Nearly half of U.S. voters say they are “financially worse” than they were one year ago, shortly after the end of former President Trump’s four years in office, Harvard/Harris Poll’s March survey found.
The survey asked respondents, “Would you say that your personal financial situation is improving or getting worse?”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
101 Police Officers Shot in Line of Duty, A 43% Increase From 2021
The National Fraternal Order of Police (FOP), the world’s largest organization of law enforcement officers, has counted 101 officers shot in the line of duty as of April 1, including 17 fatally, so far in 2022.
The latest figure marks a 43% increase compared to the number of officers shot at the same time period in 2021 and a 63% increase compared to 2020, FOP reports.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
5 Cited Under Boston’s New Protest Ordinance
BOSTON — Five people were issued fines for protesting outside of Boston Mayor Michelle Wu’s home on the first day a new city ordinance that limits when protesters can gather in residential neighborhoods took effect, police said.
The protesters were issued fines on Friday, the day after Wu signed the ordinance into law, and two days after it was approved by the City Council in a 9-4 vote.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Apple and Meta Handed Over User Data to Fake Emergency Law Enforcement Requests
Using compromised police departments and government agencies’ emails, hackers are forging Emergency Data Requests (EDRs), which they send to online platforms, mobile carriers, and ISPs and get sensitive user data.
Big Tech companies such as Apple and Meta are falling for the hoax and are complying with the fake orders.
Before providing user data, ISPs and tech platforms require a subpoena or a search warrant. However, they can also provide the data if they are sent an EDR, provided the police department or government agency proves the urgency of the requested data.
On Tuesday, KrebsOnSecurity reported about the increase in fraudulent EDRs, noting that there is no way for a company to know if an EDR is fake. Hackers are exploiting that loophole, with some creating fake EDRs and selling them online to other criminals.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Erik Kikkert Arrested for Threatening Sen. Ted Cruz: ‘I’m Gonna Blow Your F**king Brains Out’
A Washington state man was arrested after making a series of threats to kill Senator Ted Cruz.
“I’m gonna blow your f**ing brains out dude, literally,” the man said in a voicemail message, according to a federal criminal complaint first reported by The Daily Beast.
Erik Kikkert, a convicted felon and military veteran, was taken into custody Thursday. The complaint alleges that the Kings County resident threatened the prominent Texas Republican in a series of voicemails, text messages and emails over the past month.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Google Adds New “Fact Checking” To News, Will Push Users to “Credible” Sources
Google has announced new features for Search and News, aimed at directing users to “credible sources” of information.
Last June, the company started applying labels to search results for “rapidly evolving topics” such as breaking news and viral videos. The labels suggest checking back later when there are more details.
Starting from today, in the US, users will start seeing more labels to help access if the information they are seeing is credible, as determined by Google.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Instagram and TikTok Censor Comedian Alex Stein
Several clips of podcaster and comedian Alex Stein’s appearance on Infowars founder Alex Jones’s show have been purged by Instagram and TikTok.
Instagram removed a clip of Stein telling Jones that his mom was diagnosed with COVID and died after she was given the antiviral medication Remdesivir.
Instagram branded this clip “harmful false information.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Permanent Waukesha Parade Memorial to be Built in Grede Park
WAUKESHA, Wis. — It’s been four months since a driver killed six people and injured more than 60 others at the Waukesha Christmas Parade.
Now a permanent memorial will be built in Grede Park to honor those impacted and offer a space to heal and reflect.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla Describes Vaccine Skeptics as ‘Criminals’
Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla described people who question his company’s experimental vaccine as “criminals” during an interview earlier this week. The Pfizer CEO recently lobbied the FDA to approve a fifth shot in the fall, which is expected to be approved.
An interviewer first drew attention to the “challenges” being faced by big tech companies in combatting “vaccine information” during a sit-down with Bourla. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe I’ve heard you talk about those who would deliberately peddle misinformation as ‘criminals.’ Is that something that you stand by?” Bourla was asked.
“Yes, I do,” replied the Pfizer CEO. “Because they are literally [costing] lives. They know what they are saying is a lie, but they do it despite that.” Bourla then referenced a vaccine injury story and characterized all vaccine injuries as “lies.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Poll: Trump-Backed Candidate Leads Murkowski in Alaska Senate Race
According to a new poll, that was distributed by Breitbart News, former Alaska Department of Administration commissioner Kelly Tshibaka is leading incumbent Senator Lisa Murkowski in the state’s U.S. Senate race. Murkowski has had numerous votes that have angered the GOP base, including her refusal to confirm Judge Brett Kavanaugh and her “yes” vote on a Democrat plan to federalize elections that are currently state run.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Post Office Social Media Surveillance Program Found to be Illegal
A review conducted by the Postal Service Office of Inspector General found that the Postal Service surveillance program iCOP exceeded its legal authority by surveilling Americans during protests between 2018 and 2021.
In 2021, Yahoo News reported the existence of the secret program, prompting outrage from lawmakers and constitutional experts who noted the program operated without oversight from Congress. Soon after the Yahoo News’ report, Congress requested the Inspector General’s office to launch an investigation into iCOP (Internet Covert Operations Program).
“We determined that certain proactive searches iCOP conducted using an open-source intelligence tool from February to April 2021 exceeded the Postal Inspection Service’s law enforcement authority,” the March 25, 2022, Inspector General report stated.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
In a number of past cases involving child pornography, Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson handed down light sentences that were well below prison recommendations, citing what she sees is a need for a new standard in the criminal evaluation for trials involving child sexual abuse images in the digital age.
An investigation from the New York Post looked into eight child porn cases in which Jackson handed down the lightest possible punishments after hearing harrowing details of “sadomasochistic” torture of young kids including “infants and toddlers,” according to transcripts of sentencing hearings.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Sarah Palin Announces Run for Congress in Alaska
On Friday, former Alaska governor and ex-vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin threw her hat into the ring for the special election, announcing she’s now a congressional candidate bidding for a vacant House seat in her home state.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Tennis World Shocked After Scores of Players Drop Out of Miami Open
Fifteen players have already dropped out of the Miami Open, an unprecedented number for a major sports event.
The tennis world reacted with shock after favorites Paula Badosa and Jannik Sinner had to retire during the quarterfinals of the Miami Open. Badosa, soon to be the number three in the world, became unwell during her match against Jessica Pegula and left the court in tears.
Badosa, who was comforted by her American opponent, decided to stop after consultation with her physiotherapist. Pegula reached the semifinals of the Miami tennis tournament for the first time in her career after Badosa’s resignation, reported Yahoo Sports.
In the men’s tournament, the Italian phenomenon Jannik Sinner was forced to withdraw. He gave up after 22 minutes in the game against Francisco Cerundolo, the number 103 in the world ranking. “When I served at 3-1 and 30-0, I saw him bend over. It was very strange,” Cerundolo said during an interview. “I hope he’s okay, he’s a great player.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Twitter Founder Jack Dorsey Expresses Regret for ‘Damaging’ The Internet
Twitter founder Jack Dorsey expressed “regret” Saturday and admitted that the creation of his Big Tech platform may have been to the detriment of online services. Specifically, he expressed remorse over having played a part in what he described as the “centralization of discovery and identity into corporations.”
“[T]he days of usenet, irc, the web…even email (w PGP)…were amazing. centralizing discovery and identity into corporations really damaged the internet. I realize I’m partially to blame, and regret it,” Dorsey tweeted Saturday afternoon.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Virginia: Child COVID Cases Have Dropped by 93% Since Youngkin Lifted School Mask Mandates
Newly reported cases of COVID-19 in Virginia’s children have dropped by a whopping 93% since Governor Glenn Youngkin ordered an end to school mask mandates upon taking office this January.
A graph from the Virginia Department of Health charting newly reported COVID-19 cases in Virginians aged 0-19 was recently released showing the wild success of Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin’s executive order bringing an end to Virginia’s school mask mandates, which were enforced on children against the will of their parents.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Virginia: Loudoun County Supervisors Want Control of Law Enforcement
Loudoun County, Virginia’s far-left Board of Supervisors is pushing to strip the local sheriff’s office of most of its law enforcement duties and transition the county to a police department, which would be beholden to politicians rather than the people and the Constitution.
The plan to transition the county’s law enforcement duties from a constitutionally elected sheriff and the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office to a new, hypothetical county police department actually spun out of the left’s anti-police fervor of 2020. At the time, while other municipalities were looking for ways to defund law enforcement, Loudoun County’s far-left board of supervisors was looking for a way to control law enforcement.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
A Convoy From Quebec to Ottawa for the Next Generation’s Future
On Saturday, March 26, a demonstration took place in the form of a convoy in Lévis, Quebec. It was in memory and support of the Freedom Convoy, that occupied Parliament Hill and its surroundings in Ottawa and was unfortunately dismantled when Justin Trudeau invoked the Emergencies Act last month.
The demonstrators wanted to revive the pro-freedom movement in order to send a message to the public that the state of health emergency is still present. The future of their children was also one of the main interests of this movement.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
B.C. Supreme Court Refuses to Stop Province From Firing Unvaxxed Employees
After deferring her decision for a week, a B.C. Supreme Court judge has refused to grant an injunction preventing the government from firing suspended public servants for not providing proof of COVID vaccination.
Justice Carol J. Ross dismissed a petition on Friday brought forward by four non-union B.C. public servants to temporarily pause their imminent terminations. The group had requested the injunction to keep from being fired before their constitutional case against the province’s vaccine mandate could be heard in May.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Prime ministerial hopeful Pierre Poilievre says, if elected, he would unlock the potential of Canada’s Arctic as part of a larger plan to end reliance on overseas oil.
As geopolitical uncertainty continues to impact the energy sector, calls for Canada to end reliance on foreign oil have increased.
Poilievre says he has a plan to achieve just that.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Canada’s Heritage Minister Says Online Censorship Bill Will Help Free Speech
To advise the Heritage Minister on regulating Canada’s internet, a panel of experts, most of them academics, has been appointed. One of the government’s internet regulation plans, alongside the online censorship bill, is to create a federal internet censorship agency.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Opposition Warns Against “Bankrupting” $85 Billion Guaranteed Income Plan
A Conservative MP is blasting a basic income plan making its way through the Senate, saying it’s a disaster in the making for the Canadian economy.
If passed, Bill S-233 — otherwise known as “An Act to develop a national framework for a guaranteed livable basic income” — would task the Minister of Finance with creating a national framework to give a guaranteed basic liveable income to people over the age of 17, temporary workers, permanent residents and refugee claimants.
“The framework must include measures to determine what constitutes a livable basic income for each region in Canada, taking into account the goods and services that are necessary to ensure that individuals can lead a dignified and healthy life, as well as the cost of those goods and services in accessible markets,” the law reads.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Europe’s AI Act Contains Powers to Order AI Models Destroyed or Retrained, Says Legal Expert
The European Union’s planned risk-based framework for regulating artificial intelligence includes powers for oversight bodies to order the withdrawal of a commercial AI system or require that an AI model be retrained if it’s deemed high risk, according to an analysis of the proposal by a legal expert.
That suggests there’s significant enforcement firepower lurking in the EU’s (still not yet adopted) Artificial Intelligence Act — assuming the bloc’s patchwork of Member State-level oversight authorities can effectively direct it at harmful algorithms to force product change in the interests of fairness and the public good.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
French Military Intelligence Chief FIRED for Failing to Predict Russian Invasion
French military intelligence chief General Eric Vidaud is to lose his job over the failure to predict Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, in a rare example of Western high officials facing real consequences for institutional failure.
General Vidaud, who has headed the Directorate of Military Intelligence (DRM) for seven months, will depart immediately due to “insufficient briefings” and a “failure to master the issues,” according to French Ministry of the Armed Forces report cited by European Union-funded news outlet Euronews.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Lithuania to Ban Russian Gas Imports
Lithuania announced on Saturday that the country would no longer allow Russian gas imports as Europe continues to reduce its reliance on energy imports from Moscow.
“From this month on — no more Russian gas in Lithuania. Years ago my country made decisions that today allow us with no pain to break energy ties with the [aggressor.] If we can do it, the rest of Europe can do it too!” Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda said in a post on Twitter.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Offensive Tweet Leads to 150 Hours of Community Service for UK Man
A Twitter user who was convicted of posting a “grossly offensive tweet” has been sentenced to 150 hours of community service. Joseph Kelly, a 36-year-old man from Scotland, posted a tweet last year about Captain Sir Thomas Moore, a British war veteran who became a national hero for raising money for healthcare workers in 2020, according to the New York Post.
A day after Moore died, Kelly wrote that the “only good British soldier is a dead one” in a tweet. Kelly was drunk and deleted the tweet within 20 minutes, his attorney Tony Callahan told The National. “His level of criminality was a drunken post, at a time when he was struggling emotionally, which he regretted and almost instantly removed,” Callahan reportedly said, noting that Kelly had a miniscule number of followers.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Swedish Poltician Dies After Trying to Stop Deadly Gang Shooting
Frederik Andersson, a member of the Civic Collection party, has died as a result of gunshot wounds he received at a gym in central Stockholm earlier this week as he attempted to stop a suspected gang shooter from killing another man.
The Civic Collection party, a small conservative-populist party founded in 2014, released a statement on Wednesday confirming the fatal shooting of Andersson, who served as the party’s chairman in the municipality of Solna.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
UK Govt Allows Sale of Largest Microchip Factory to Communist Chinese-Owned Firm: Report
The British government has reportedly approved the sale of the United Kingdom’s largest microchip factory to a firm owned by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), despite concerns over national security.
Newport Wafer Fab (NWF) in Wales, which was forced last year to sell its factory to after failing to pay its debts, will apparently be allowed by the government to be sold to the Chinese-owned firm Nexperia.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
UK: ‘Zero Accountability’ — Police Cleared in Rotherham ‘Grooming’ Rape Gangs Scandal
The investigation into the police’s handling of the Rotherham grooming gang scandal, in which an estimated 1,400 young girls were sexually abused, has failed to impose any criminal penalties or see any officers fired for misconduct.
In a decision widely condemned by victims’ rights activists, politicians, and lawyers, the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) has cleared former detective David Walker of any wrongdoing in the Rotherham child sex abuse scandal. The decision to not punish Walker means that all 47 officers who were investigated following the 2014 Jay Report in grooming gang failures have not faced punishment.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Eco-Extremists Claim Credit for Deflating Tyres of 2,000 SUVs
A group of eco-extremists have taken credit for deflating the tyres of thousands of SUVs across Britain to supposedly help save the environment.
A climate change activist group who refer to themselves as the Tyre Extinguishers claim that, over the past month, they have taken the air out of 2,000 Sports Utility Vehicles (SUVs).
[Comment: I despise extremist environmental wackos.]
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Man Arrested After Elderly Woman Stabbed to Death in East London
Woman in her 80s pronounced dead at scene after emergency services were called to address in Newham
Police have arrested a man after an elderly woman was stabbed to death in east London.
Emergency services were called at 9.56am on Saturday to an address in Landseer Avenue, Manor Park, Newham, to a report of a woman in her 80s with stab injuries. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
A man in his 30s was detained nearby and taken into custody after police searched the surrounding area. Police believe that the arrested man and the victim were known to each other.
The Metropolitan police said the woman’s family had been informed and a postmortem examination would take place soon. Inquiries to establish the circumstances continue.
The Met’s murder investigation is led by detectives from the homicide branch of the specialist crime command,,.
| — Hat tip: DV | [Return to headlines] |
UK: No Bulls**t: Genus Plc to Breed Eco-Friendly, Low-Farting Cows
A British genetics firm plans to create less-gassy cows — meaning fewer climate-heating emissions.
Genus Plc’s breeding program is intended to create “envirocows” with less-gaseous digestive systems, the Sunday Times of London reported.
On Monday the firm will launch a genetic test to identify the least-gassy female calves.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Islamised Hagia Sophia Holds First Ramadan Prayers for 88 Years
The Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, formerly Constantinople, held its first Ramadan prayers in 88 years on Friday to mark the start of the Islamic month of fasting, after being converted into a mosque in 2020.
The Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque — once the Church of the Holy Wisdom, before the Turks’ violent conquest of its city — held its first tarawih prayer since 1934, when the cathedral-turned-mosque was converted into a museum by the secularising government of Kemal Atatürk.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Ukraine Situation Report: Kyiv Region Now Fully in Government Control According to Defense Official
Ukraine has reportedly recaptured all of Kyiv Oblast, namely the war-torn towns of Bucha, Hostomel, and Irpin northwest of the capital. This news comes as Russian forces have rapidly withdrawn from this front of the ongoing invasion of Ukraine after weeks of intense fighting and significant losses.
The sixth week of the war in Ukraine came with what appears to be a hasty Russian retreat from the stalemate to the north and west of Kyiv, with Ukrainian troops finding the campaign’s charred remnants in their wake.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Ukraine War: Could Russia Use Tactical Nuclear Weapons?
Soon after Russia invaded Ukraine, President Vladimir Putin said he was moving his “deterrent forces” — meaning nuclear weapons — to “combat ready” status.
This has raised fears that Moscow could use “tactical” nuclear weapons — not an all-out nuclear war, but still a dramatic development.
What are tactical nuclear weapons?
Tactical nuclear weapons are those which could be used over relatively short distances.
This distinguishes them from “strategic” nuclear weapons. In the Cold War, these were the bombs which the two superpowers, the US and Soviet Union, could launch over long distances at each other’s homeland.
The term “tactical” nevertheless incorporates many types of weapon, including smaller bombs and missiles used as “battlefield” weapons.
What tactical nuclear weapons does Russia have?
Russia is thought to have about 2,000 tactical nuclear weapons.
These can be placed on various types of missiles which are normally used to deliver conventional explosives.
They can even be fired as artillery shells on a battlefield.
They have also been developed for aircraft and ships — for instance torpedoes and depth charges to target submarines…
| — Hat tip: Dean | [Return to headlines] |
Huge Explosion Rips Though Nightclub in Azerbaijan Capital Baku, Killing at Least One
Rescue workers were digging through the rubble of a nightclub in Azerbaijan’s capital early on Sunday after an explosion ripped through the building, killing at least one person and injuring dozens of others, according to government officials.
The explosion at the Location club in Baku was believed to have been caused by a gas leak but the investigation was ongoing, interior ministry spokesman, Ehsan Zahidov, told Associated Press.
The prosecutor general’s office reported one death and said 31 people suffered various injuries. Health ministry spokesman, Parviz Abubekirov, said 24 people had been hospitalised, most of them with burns.
The emergency services issued a statement saying firefighters were called to the club in the centre of the city at 3am and extinguished the fire before it could spread.
Video posted on social media showed dozens of people in a panic, some of them injured, outside the club, which appeared to have been heavily damaged by the explosion.
| — Hat tip: JW | [Return to headlines] |
Jabbed Kids Get Free Sydney Easter Show Tickets While Unvaxxed Kids Charged Full Price
Sydney’s Royal Easter Show has come under fire after organisers announced that vaccinated children will be allowed free entry, while unvaccinated kids would be charged full price to enter.
Kids aged five to 11 will be given a free ticket to the show by rolling up their sleeves for the jab at Sydney’s Olympic Park vaccination centre.
The Royal Easter show runs from Friday April 8 to Easter Tuesday on April 19.
An all-day ticket for a child to attend the show costs $23.50.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Pope Francis: Migrants Are Not ‘A Virus From Which We Need to be Protected’
ROME — Pope Francis called for greater openness to migrants Saturday, appealing for a change of narrative from the primacy of national security to the primacy of welcome.
Addressing civil authorities on the first day of his visit to the island nation of Malta, the pontiff urged his hearers to open their hearts and “rediscover the beauty of serving our neighbors in need.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
California Corporate Diversity Law Ruled Unconstitutional
LOS ANGELES — A Los Angeles judge ruled Friday that California’s landmark law mandating that corporations diversify their boards with members from certain racial, ethnic or LGBT groups is unconstitutional.
The brief ruling granted summary judgment to Judicial Watch, a conservative legal group that sought a permanent injunction against the measure that was signed into law last year. The ruling didn’t explain the judge’s reasoning.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
A flood of families are canceling their Disney memberships — from amusement parks to Disney+ streaming — over the woke entertainment company’s leftist, LGBTQIA+ agenda, with one parent noting, “Walt would turn over in his grave” if he saw what Disney has become.
Loyal Disney consumers and saying the company has gotten out of control with its wokeness in recent years and now they believe there’s a left-wing political agenda in virtually every facet of the company — from its movies, streaming service shows, to its theme parks and other offerings from its entertainment and media conglomerate.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Leaked Messages From Disney ‘Cast Members’ Show Many in Favor of Florida’s Anti-Grooming Law
Much noise has been made by Disney corporate and executives about their displeasure with the new Parental Rights in Education law passed in Florida, but many who work at Disney not only see no problem with the law but, like most parents in the state, are in favor of it. Disney corporate had said they would “work to repeal” the state’s anti-grooming law.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
New Google Docs Feature to Flag “Potentially Discriminatory or Inappropriate Language”
Google Docs has announced that it will start flagging “potentially discriminatory or inappropriate language” and prompting users to make their writing “more inclusive and appropriate” on some of its plans.
For plans that have the feature, Google Docs will enable these prompts by default and use a purple underline to flag anything that it deems to be potentially discriminatory or inappropriate. The feature will also flag text where it has suggestions for alternate wording, using active voice, or making sentence structure more concise. Clicking or tapping the flagged text will display the suggestions.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
NYC’s Top Doc Apologizes to Black and Hispanic ‘Birthing People’ For Calling Them ‘Mothers’
Dr. Michelle Morse, the chief medical officer at New York City’s Department of Health, has received sharp criticism for describing pregnant women differently along lines of race, choosing to call pregnant white women “birthing people” while referencing pregnant women of color as “mothers” in a late March tweet.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
UK ‘Conversion Therapy’ Ban Will Not Cover Transgenders After Multiple Govt U-Turns
An upcoming ban on LGBT “conversion therapy” in England will not cover transgenderism after multiple U-turns by Boris Johnson’s government on the issue.
The Conservative Party government has long been planning to impose a ban on conversion therapy, sought voluntarily or otherwise, in an attempt to curry favour with left-liberals, but started to get cold feet after concerns were raised that it might lead to the criminalisation of parents, social workers, and health professionals who did anything other than affirm the identity of supposedly transgender children.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
From a town retaken by the Ukrainian military: bodies of civilians lying on the streets, 280 found in a mass grave. (Also were reports of naked bodies of women found partly-burned)… A town I passed through last year, on a journey between Kyiv and Warsaw:
https://www.google.com/amp/s/hindustannewshub.com/world-news/russia-war-crimes-the-world-shocked-by-the-brutality-of-the-russian-army-on-the-streets-of-kyiv-just-the-sight-of-dead-bodies-and-destruction-everywhere/%3famp=1
I refrained from submitting to the news feed reports about Butcha because I’m not fully confident that its not a false flag.
Is there anything to suggest it might be a false flag?!
Those who claim its a false flag, from what I gather from the internets, make the following points:
1.cartoonish, comical, caricature of Russians
2.an event meant to trigger raw emotional responses only
3. Russians have nothing to profit from the event, and their adversaries everything to profit.
4. The timelines were wrong (bodies found in public places only several days after Russia left)
5. Visual proof of anomalies (the dead wearing pro-Russia white armbands, not pro-Ukraine blue armbands), and then video evidence to emerge of Azov battalions in the area in the days before, boasting about killing civilians without blue armbands.
Bucha was liberated on March 31. (Thursday).
The first reports, which I saw were on April 2:
https://mobile.twitter.com/IAPonomarenko/status/1510340664063664128
Regarding 5, do you have any links? From what I read, Azov were down in Mariupol.
Anyway, these kinds of reports of massacres were not only in Bucha, but Irpin, Borodyanka and other villages including one where the mayor’s family was found killed. And in other parts of Ukraine. Likewise, reports of looting, rape and targetting civilians are likewise coming from every front in Ukraine.
And points 1, 2 and 3 were also the kind of arguments being made, about reports of the Holocaust before 1945. People were reluctant to believe something like that was true. And why would point 3 apply only now, and not in WW2, Syria, Chechnya or any other conflict that these kinds of atrocities were known to happen?!
Just a follow up on Tommy Robinson’s deportation from Mexico at the request of the UK government. They assaulted him when he got back to the UK to provoke something they could arrest him for. Apparently too many witnesses and recordings. Such a petty and vindictive government but because you haven’t killed him yet I guess that makes you civilized.