Gates of Vienna News Feed 5/2/2022

A massive explosion and fire broke out at a Russian defense ministry facility just across the border from Ukraine, injuring one person but causing no fatalities. Meanwhile, more than 5.5 million people have reportedly fled Ukraine since the Russian invasion began.

In other news, according to recent government reports, more than 70% of “child” migrants in Belgium are actually adults.

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

Thanks to C. Cantoni, Dean, DV, Insubria, JAS, Reader from Chicago, SS, Upananda Brahmachari, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.

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

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

Financial Crisis
» Australian House Values Suffer the Biggest Fall Since the COVID Lockdowns With Interest Rates Tipped to Rise Tomorrow — Which Could See Borrowers Soon Owe $800 More a Month
» Banking Expert Warns More Than a Million Aussies Will Go Broke as Interest Rates Rise: ‘Biggest Housing Bubble in Australian History’
» Italy: Real-Terms Salaries Have Fallen 8.3% in 10 Years — Study
» Less Than a Third of Americans Approve of Biden’s Performance on Economy
 
USA
» “All’s Well That’s Orwell” — Musk Tosses Tactical Nukes at ‘Ministry of Truth’ And Trust-Fund Journo
» Biden ‘Disinfo’ Boss Nina Jankowicz Once Belted Out a Raunchy Parody Christmas Song
» Biden ‘Disinfo’ Czar Nina Jankowicz Ripped Over Cringeworthy Mary Poppins TikTok
» Bill Gates Wants Global Surveillance Pact With W.H.O. to Forestall ‘Even More Fatal’ Coronavirus Variants
» BLM Leader Physically Removed From Mayoral Debate, Suggests Race Played a Factor: Video
» Boston University Professor Touts Theory That Police ‘Inherently Are Harmful’
» Breaking: Federal Govt Source Reveals Known Terrorists Walk Freely in US Following Biden Afghanistan Pullout
» Breaking: Lehigh County Finds Numerous Election Code Violations With Ballot Drop Boxes
» Critical Race Theory Curriculum in K-12 Schools is Going ‘Horribly Wrong, ‘ Teachers Say
» DC School Gave 4-Year-Olds ‘Anti-Racism’ ‘Fistbook’ Asking Them to Identify Racist Family
» ‘Deep State’ Was Working Against Trump on COVID-19 Response: Dr. Paul Alexander
» DeSantis Rips Trevor Noah for ‘Lying’ About His Presence at Correspondents’ Dinner
» DeSantis Accuses Disney of Cozying Up to CCP, Making ‘A Fortune’ Without Mentioning Atrocities
» Disinformation Board May be Illegal and Require Vote of Congress, Senator Tells DHS
» Durham Wants Records From Clinton 2016, Fusion GPS for Sussmann Trial
» Gov. DeSantis: Florida to Make $15-$20m in Profit When Twitter Completes Sale to Elon Musk
» LA Antifa Member Chad Loder Sued by Woman for Falsely Claiming She’s a Criminal Convict
» Manchin Endorses W.Va. Republican in Latest Slam of Biden’s Build Back Better
» Mom Accused of Shooting and Trying to Kill 2 Children in Bucks County
» New Maine GOP Platform Includes Banning Sex Education, Critical Race Theory in Schools
» Noam Chomsky: Trump is Only Western Statesman Pushing to End War in Ukraine
» Ohio School District Cancels ‘Diversity Day’ After Critical Race Theory Uproar
» Panicked CNN Guest Wonders “How We’re Going to Control the Channels of Communications in This Country”
» Supreme Court Rules Boston Discriminated Against Christian Group’s Cross Flag
» ‘Sweet Florida’ Song Praises DeSantis
» Texas Mom Shoots Home Intruder While Her Three Kids Sleep
» Trump Drops Big Hint He Will Run Again in 2024
» UWS Students Protest Conservative Speaker on Campus
» Why I’m Suing My Former Employer, a School District, Over Critical Race Theory
 
Canada
» Breaking: Criminal Charge Dropped Against Alberta Pastor Who Opened His Church Against COVID Restrictions
» Canada Moves Forward With Plans to Implement Digital IDs
» Communist Protestors Smash Windows in Downtown Montreal
» Elon Musk Snaps Up Twitter: Torontonians React to a Corporate Takeover in the Name of Free Speech
» Feds Admit $8m Frozen in Convoy Crackdown With No Analysis of the Impacts to Banking Stability in Canada
» Hamilton to Fire Unvaccinated Employees at End of May
» Heavy Police Presence as Rolling Thunder Convoy Wraps Up in Ottawa
» Horgan Spreads Misinfo About Non-Existent Hate Crime at BC Mosque
» Ottawa Police Investigating Potential ‘Hate-Motivated’ Event Against Rolling Thunder Protest
» Police on High Alert as Biker Convoy Rolls Into Ottawa
» RCMP Targeted 170 Crypto Wallets During Ottawa Convoy Crackdown
» The RCMP Did Not Charge Anyone Involved in the Convoy to Ottawa Using the Emergencies Act
» Why Did the “Freedom Fighters” Return to Ottawa?
 
Europe and the EU
» 65% of Poles Back Supplying Ukraine With Tanks and Heavy Artillery
» After Russian Cuts Gas to Poland, The Polish-Lithuanian Gas Pipeline is Activated
» Czech PM Drives a Wedge Between Hungary and Poland
» Czech Weapons Flow Into Ukraine
» Czechia: Coal Makes a Comeback
» EU Launches Antitrust Crackdown Against Apple Pay
» France: Clean-Up in Paris After May Day Protests
» France: Watch: Electric Bus in Paris Spontaneously Explodes
» France Introduces Digital ID After Macron’s Re-Election
» Germany Backs EU Embargo on Russian Oil Despite Faltering Economy
» Germany Transfers Child Benefits Worth €459 Million to Foreign Countries
» Hungary Throws EU Neighbors Under Bus, Says 10 Nations Technically Buying Gas-for-Rubles From Putin
» ‘New Soviet Union’ — Euro MPs Warn of EU ‘Federal Superstate’ After Conference Recommendations
» ‘Poland and Europe Are Now Passing the Real Test of Maturity, ‘ Says PM Morawiecki on the Anniversary of Poland’s EU Membership
» Possible Explanation for Deaths From Myocarditis in Vaccinated Athletes
» Russian TV Warns Britain Can be ‘Drowned in Radioactive Tsunami’ By Single Nuclear Sub Strike
» Thousands of Troops Will Take Part in Massive Defender Europe 2022 Exercises on NATO’s Eastern Flank
» UK: Inside Ocado’s Giant ‘Hive’ Warehouse in South-East London Where an Army of 2,000 Robots Pick Up to 2 Million Food Items Per Day — Five Times Faster Than a Trained Human Worker
» Vatican Chief Criticizes Pope Who Battled Ottoman Turks
 
Balkans
» Serbia: Tesla’s Musk Interested in Stake in Water Producer
 
North Africa
» Algeria Top Country for Oil Well Exploration in Africa
 
Middle East
» France to Send Saudi-Funded Aid to Lebanon
» US Military Choppers Reported Rescuing Cornered ISIS Terrorists in Iraq
 
Russia
» Heroic ‘Ghost of Kyiv’ Fighter Doesn’t Actually Exist, Ukraine Admits
» Huge Fire Breaks Out at Russian Defence Ministry Facility Along Ukraine Border, Local Governor Confirms
» Latest News in the Russia-Ukraine War
» Rafael Nadal Slams Wimbledon Banning Russian Players
» Sachs: “On Ukraine: Joe Biden Doesn’t Want to Compromise”
» UK Intel: Quarter of Russian Forces in Ukraine Rendered ‘Combat Ineffective’, Elite VDV Will Take ‘Years’ To Rebuild
» Ukrainian Govt Compiling Public ‘Registry of Collaborators’
» Viktor Orban Included on Ultra-Nationalist ‘Enemies of Ukraine’ Kill List
 
South Asia
» India: Muslim Boyfriend Arrested for Killing Teen Aged Hindu Girl
 
Australia — Pacific
» Watch: Senior Constable Quits Victoria Police to Fight for Aussie Values
 
Sub-Saharan Africa
» Nigeria Army Chief Promoted Terror
 
Immigration
» Belgium Reveals 7 Out of 10 ‘Child Migrants’ Actually Adults
» UK: Channel Migrants: At Least 350 Intercepted in Two Days
 
Culture Wars
» Pastor James Coates on His New Book, ‘God vs. Government’
» Supreme Court Set to Overturn Roe v Wade, Leaked Draft Opinion Shows
» UK: Norfolk Police Issue List of 37 Sexual Identities and Genders to ‘Help Officers Deal With the Public’
 

Australian House Values Suffer the Biggest Fall Since the COVID Lockdowns With Interest Rates Tipped to Rise Tomorrow — Which Could See Borrowers Soon Owe $800 More a Month

House prices in Sydney and Melbourne have suffered the biggest fall since the 2020 lockdowns, amid fears interest rates will rise on Tuesday and keep going up into 2023.

           — Hat tip: SS [Return to headlines]
 

Banking Expert Warns More Than a Million Aussies Will Go Broke as Interest Rates Rise: ‘Biggest Housing Bubble in Australian History’

Roger Brown, who leads lawsuits against Australian banks, is warning of the ‘biggest bubble in history’ as interest rates rise from record-low levels.

           — Hat tip: SS [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Real-Terms Salaries Have Fallen 8.3% in 10 Years — Study

In-work poverty up say Censis and UGL

(ANSA) — ROME, APR 29 — Italian salaries dropped by 8.3% in real terms between 2010 and 2020, according to a study released by research institute Censis and the UGL trade union on Friday.

The report also highlighted the problem of in-work poverty in Italy.

It said 13.2% of employed workers and 7.6% of the self-employed had earnings below the poverty threshold in 2020, compared to 10.2% and 5.2% respectively in 2010.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Less Than a Third of Americans Approve of Biden’s Performance on Economy

Less than a third of Americans approve of President Biden’s handling of the economy — and an overwhelming majority admit they are “upset” or “concerned” by soaring inflation, according to the latest unflattering poll.

More than nine in 10 Americans (94%) say they are worried about spiking prices as inflation climbs to a 40-year high under the 46th president, according to the most recent ABC News/Washington Post poll conducted last week.

As a result, only a meager 28% “approve” of Biden’s job performance when it comes to the economy.

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

“All’s Well That’s Orwell” — Musk Tosses Tactical Nukes at ‘Ministry of Truth’ And Trust-Fund Journo

There’s kicking the hornet’s nest, then there’s unleashing a tactical nuke…

After Elon Musk’s early-Monday massacre of MSNBC‘s “Republicans are Nazis” narrative, the richest man in the world batted away a David Brock-esque bot who had a ‘gotcha’ queued up that included quotes from Nina Jankowicz — the head of the Biden administration’s new ‘ministry of truth.’

“All’s well that’s Orwell,” Musk replied.

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

Biden ‘Disinfo’ Boss Nina Jankowicz Once Belted Out a Raunchy Parody Christmas Song

President Biden’s new disinformation czar Nina Jankowicz once belted out a raunchy parody version of a Christmas song — changing the lyrics to ask who she needed to “f—k” to be “famous and powerful,” according to resurfaced YouTube footage.

“I want to be rich, famous, and powerful! Step on all my enemies and never do a thing,” Jankowicz sang in the clip from 2015. “Who do I f—k to be famous and powerful? I’ve done everything I can and now the rest is up to you,” her version of “My Simple Christmas Wish (Rich, Famous, and Powerful)” went.

The lyrics from Jankowicz were her own spin on the original 1998 song from David Friedman with “Who do I f—k” replacing the original line of “who do I have to fake?”

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

Biden ‘Disinfo’ Czar Nina Jankowicz Ripped Over Cringeworthy Mary Poppins TikTok

The person tapped to head President Biden’s new Big Brother-like disinformation board drew fresh disdain Friday over her flippant attitude toward misinformation — and her own history of spreading it.

Nina Jankowicz’s ability to be taken seriously in her role on Homeland Security’s new Orwellian “Disinformation Governance Board” was thrown into question after a cringeworthy TikTok video resurfaced of her adapting the Mary Poppins tune “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” to be about fake news.

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

Bill Gates Wants Global Surveillance Pact With W.H.O. to Forestall ‘Even More Fatal’ Coronavirus Variants

Begin preparing now for the appearance of “even more fatal” variants of coronavirus in the future. That’s the advice from billionaire globalist Bill Gates who warned Sunday that international health surveillance driven by increased funding for the World Health Organization (W.H.O.) is one way to forestall pandemic outbreaks.

The Microsoft founder said he did not want to sound “doom and gloom” but warned there was a risk an “even more transmissive and even more fatal” variant could be generated.

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

BLM Leader Physically Removed From Mayoral Debate, Suggests Race Played a Factor: Video

A dramatic video circulating online shows the moment a Black Lives Matter leader in Los Angeles was forcibly carried out of an arena where mayoral candidates were holding a debate.

The video was shared by Melina Abdullah, a BLM leader and a Cal State Los Angeles professor, who said she was “brutally removed” from the closed event as she did not possess a ticket to be there, the Los Angeles Times reported.

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

Boston University Professor Touts Theory That Police ‘Inherently Are Harmful’

Boston University professor and Critical Race Theory advocate Ibram X. Kendi touted the theory that “police inherently are harmful” during a panel over the weekend about abolishing policing in the U.S.

Kendi, director and founder of BU’s Center for Antiracist Research, mediated the panel featuring Elizabeth Hinton, an associate professor of history at Yale University, and “Becoming Abolitionists” author Derecka Purnell during BU’s National Antiracist Book Festival on Saturday.

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

Breaking: Federal Govt Source Reveals Known Terrorists Walk Freely in US Following Biden Afghanistan Pullout

Records from a federal source obtained by Project Veritas confirm that several individuals who entered the US during the Biden Administration’s fumble in exiting Afghanistan, are national security threats.

Several people currently in the US, including some who are ranked under Tier 1 Armed and Dangerous for using firearms or explosives, after being admitted into the US and granted work visas.

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

Breaking: Lehigh County Finds Numerous Election Code Violations With Ballot Drop Boxes

An upcoming court filing, a draft of which was reviewed by The Post Millennial, to be filed in the Court of Common Pleas, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, Civil Division, will ask for an injunction against that county’s Board of Elections “from receiving and counting invalid and void ballots.” The Board was scheduled to begin accepting those ballots on Monday, May 2 in anticipation of an upcoming May 17 primary for the hotly contested midterm elections that may cost Democrats control of the US House of Representatives.

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

Critical Race Theory Curriculum in K-12 Schools is Going ‘Horribly Wrong, ‘ Teachers Say

Critical race theory originated in the family of critical studies and seeks to promote what its adherents believe is a pervasive and inescapable racist legacy in the U.S. legal system. The theory has been packaged to children in K-12 schools and teaches them that America is a fundamentally racist country.

An Illinois high school history teacher, Frank McCormick, told “Fox & Friends” that he decided to blow the whistle on what was being taught at his school because parents are being “gaslit into this lie that CRT does not exist in [K-12] education.”

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

DC School Gave 4-Year-Olds ‘Anti-Racism’ ‘Fistbook’ Asking Them to Identify Racist Family

A public elementary school in Washington, DC, gave children as young as 4 a lesson on “anti-racism” that asked them to identify racist members of their family.

According to a Nov. 30 letter from Janney Elementary School Principal Danielle Singh, students in Pre-K through 3rd grade participated in an “Anti-Racism Fight Club” presentation by speaker Doyin Richards.

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

‘Deep State’ Was Working Against Trump on COVID-19 Response: Dr. Paul Alexander

Authored by Harry Lee and Roman Balmakov via The Epoch Times

According to Paul Alexander, when former President Donald Trump was trying to tackle COVID-19 in 2020, the “swamp” or the “deep state” was working against him, using flawed data to tarnish him, locking down society, and keeping schools closed.

“Can you imagine the president of the United States fighting against the [teachers’] union, fighting against the [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)], fighting against his own task force?” Alexander told EpochTV’s “Facts Matter” program in an interview that will air on May 3.

“They’re working against him. So you need to be there to understand when he said ‘the swamp’ — and he talked about deep state — it is real. I dealt with them. It is the bureaucracy. The entrenched bureaucracy is real.”

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

DeSantis Rips Trevor Noah for ‘Lying’ About His Presence at Correspondents’ Dinner

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis ripped comedian Trevor Noah for “lying” about his presence at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner last week, noting that his interest in the annual event is nil.

Noah said the Republican firebrand was in the audience at one point during the show before tossing a few jabs at the phantom Floridian.

“One of my favorites, Ron DeSantis, is here,” Noah declared. “Oh man, I’m actually surprised that he found the time. You know he has been so busy trying to outmaneuver Trump for 2024. I see you, Ron. I see you, player.”

DeSantis clarified Monday that he was not present.

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

DeSantis Accuses Disney of Cozying Up to CCP, Making ‘A Fortune’ Without Mentioning Atrocities

The feud between Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Disney continues as the governor slammed the company for profiting off of its relationship with Communist China, without condemning its human rights abuses, and warned that the country is “flexing muscle” over the Western Hemisphere in part due to President Biden’s “floundering” leadership.

“Disney has done a lot to partner with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and has really made a fortune over there without raising a peep about any of their atrocities,” DeSantis said Monday during a press conference announcing $30 million for manatee protection.

“I think China is the number one geopolitical threat that this country faces,” he said. “I think that we need to have strong alliances with the Japanese, South Koreans, I think India needs to be in our orbit to try to check China’s influence around the world, but particularly when you start talking about the Western Hemisphere, it’s a big problem. It’s not just South America, you see them in the Caribbean flexing their muscle.”

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

Disinformation Board May be Illegal and Require Vote of Congress, Senator Tells DHS

WASHINGTON — The Biden administration’s new Disinformation Governance Board may be illegal and subject to a vote in Congress, a Republican senator is warning Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.

In a letter to Mayorkas Monday, Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.) outlined a legal critique that could set in motion the board’s undoing — as the White House sought to tamp down public concern about the Big Brother-like panel and its controversial head, who has her own past of spreading disinformation.

Hagerty wrote that the board may violate the Antideficiency Act, which says the executive branch can’t spend money unless Congress authorizes it, and that its creation also may be subject to the Congressional Review Act.

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

Durham Wants Records From Clinton 2016, Fusion GPS for Sussmann Trial

Special counsel John Durham is pressing for access to records from Hillary Clinton’s failed presidential campaign and others tied to the FBI’s probe into a purported “secret channel” between former President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign and Russia.

All sides are scheduled to appear in court Wednesday for a hearing on defense contentions that the materials shouldn’t be used in the upcoming trial of lawyer Michael Sussmann.

He’s charged with lying about his ties to the Clinton campaign when he told the FBI about since-debunked research into suspected cyber communications between Russia’s Alfa-Bank and the Trump Organization.

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

Gov. DeSantis: Florida to Make $15-$20m in Profit When Twitter Completes Sale to Elon Musk

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Gov. Ron DeSantis said on Monday that Florida stands to make a $15 to $20 million profit once Elon Musk completes his purchase of Twitter for $44 billion and takes it private.

Florida is an investor in the social media platform through the state’s pension fund and would see the profit thanks to Musk’s offer of $54.20 per share — about 20% higher than the $45.08 closing price the day he made the offer. Shares of Twitter opened Monday at $48.62 a share, still $5.58 shy of Musk’s offer. Twitter shares hit an all-time high of $77.63 in March 2021.

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

LA Antifa Member Chad Loder Sued by Woman for Falsely Claiming She’s a Criminal Convict

An Antifa member from Los Angeles with a history of advocating deadly violence is being sued by one of his victims for defamation after he falsely accusing her in viral tweets that she is a convict of various crimes.

Robin Nicole Patch, a UCLA’s masters in public policy alumna, filed a claim against Chad Loder in small claims court in Los Angeles County earlier this year alleging she had lost work opportunities due to his defamatory statement that she is a convicted burglar and vandal.

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

Manchin Endorses W.Va. Republican in Latest Slam of Biden’s Build Back Better

Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin endorsed Republican Rep. David McKinley in West Virginia, defending him against accusations that he supported President Biden’s Build Back Better social spending package that Manchin blocked.

Rep. Alex Mooney, who is endorsed by President Donald Trump, has accused McKinley of effectively laying the foundation for Build Back Better when he voted to approve the $1.2 billion infrastructure bill that provided funds for roads, bridges, airports and broadband.

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

Mom Accused of Shooting and Trying to Kill 2 Children in Bucks County

Two children, 9 and 13 years old, were taken to a Bucks County hospital with gunshot wounds to their heads. They have not yet died, but the county district attorney said they are on life support until they donate their organs. Once that occurs, the mother will be charged with murder, the DA said.

On Monday at 7:05 a.m., police responded to a home on Timber Ridge Road in Upper Makefield Township for a report of an armed person. When they arrived they were met by a 22-year-old man.

The man told police that his neighbor, 38-year-old Trinh Nguyen, spoke with him earlier that day. She handed him a box of photos and asked him to give the box to her ex-husband who he worked with, investigators said.

When the man turned around to face Nguyen, she allegedly pointed a black revolver at his face and pulled the trigger twice. The gun did not fire however, police said.

The man then wrapped Nguyen in a bear hug and disarmed her, according to investigators. Nguyen then fled the area in a white Toyota Sienna minivan. Officials issued a BOLO / wanted bulletin for her.

After being told that Nguyen had two children, ages 13 and 9, police and a neighbor searched through her home for them. They then found both boys suffering from gunshot wounds to their heads.

Both children were taken to Saint Mary Medical Center and at least one of them underwent surgery. Sources told NBC10 neither boy is expected to survive. Bucks County District Attorney Matthew Weintraub said at a press conference that their organs will be donated…

           — Hat tip: DV [Return to headlines]
 

New Maine GOP Platform Includes Banning Sex Education, Critical Race Theory in Schools

AUGUSTA, Maine (WGME) — Maine Republicans adopted new positions Friday that could change what kids learn in school.

The Maine GOP laid out its platform on several issues over the weekend during the Republican State Convention, including gubernatorial candidate Paul LePage’s proposal to eliminate state income tax. Also outlined Friday were Republicans’ long-standing goals, including welfare reform and enactment of “right to work laws” that limit the power of labor unions.

It was culture war issues in schools that dominated the changes to the state party platform. Some of the specifics include banning sex education and critical race theory in schools, as well as banning teaching genders other than male or female, with the party calling it “child sexual abuse.”

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

Noam Chomsky: Trump is Only Western Statesman Pushing to End War in Ukraine

Leftist intellectual Noam Chomsky asserted during a recent interview that there is only “one western statesman of stature” pushing to end the war in Ukraine — Donald Trump.

The professor of linguistics made the remarks in a recent interview, a clip of which was posted to Twitter by journalist Glenn Greenwald.

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

Ohio School District Cancels ‘Diversity Day’ After Critical Race Theory Uproar

An Ohio school board voted to cancel a local high school’s planned “Diversity Day” after several parents and board members raised concerns the event would incorporate aspects of critical race theory.

In a Sunday afternoon meeting, the board for Forest Hills School District near Cincinnati, Ohio, voted to bar Turpin High School from holding its planned “Racial Diversity Awareness Day” during school hours or with district funds, citing parental concerns.

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

Panicked CNN Guest Wonders “How We’re Going to Control the Channels of Communications in This Country”

A CNN talking head declared Sunday that if Elon Musk is allowed to buy Twitter, the platform will have to be government regulated to prevent ‘discourse’ being open and free, and not subject to establishment controlled censorship.

While discussing the Musk take-over on CNN’s potato time with Brain Stelter, “media analyst” David Zurawik proclaimed that Musk is “dangerous” and shouldn’t be allowed to restore free speech on the platform.

Zurawik suggested that the U.S. look to Europe, which has recently brought in new laws to limit social media, and even threatened to ban Twitter if Musk doesn’t play ball.

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

Supreme Court Rules Boston Discriminated Against Christian Group’s Cross Flag

A unanimous Supreme Court ruled on Monday that Boston violated the free speech rights of a Christian group when it refused to allow them to fly a flag bearing the image of a cross on it from City Hall.

Justice Stephen Breyer, penning the 9-0 decision, said Boston discriminated against Camp Constitution and its director, Harold Shurtleff, overturning a lower court’s ruling that the city did not infringe upon its right to free speech.

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

‘Sweet Florida’ Song Praises DeSantis

A new song about Florida heaps plenty of praise upon Gov. Ron DeSantis.

The song, titled “Sweet Florida,” was written by Jacksonville rockers Johnny and Donnie Van Zant, of “Lynyrd Skynyrd” and “38 Special” fame.

DeSantis, who is featured in the accompanying music video, was equally praising of the song on his re-election campaign’s official Twitter handle, thanking the brothers for their new single.

“I have a feeling this might be the song of the summer,” DeSantis tweeted Friday morning.

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

Texas Mom Shoots Home Intruder While Her Three Kids Sleep

In what authorities currently believe was a clear-cut case of self-defense, an unidentified mom in San Antonio shot and killed a man who had just broken into her family home.

The mom, believed to be between 30 and 40 years of age was with her three children at around 10 pm on Thursday night in her home on 600 Kashmuir Place in Southeast San Antonio when the incident occurred.

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

Trump Drops Big Hint He Will Run Again in 2024

Donald Trump dropped a big hint that he is preparing to run for president again in 2024 during a ‘Save America’ rally in Greenwood, Nebraska.

Trump appeared at the event, which was attended by thousands of his supporters, to publicly endorse gubernatorial candidate Charles Herbster.

The former president showed off his iconic dance moves to ‘Hold On, I’m Comin’ by Sam & Dave, a performance that many of his supporters took as confirmation that he will throw his hat in the ring once again.

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

UWS Students Protest Conservative Speaker on Campus

SUPERIOR — Roughly 45 University of Wisconsin-Superior students and community members gathered outside Old Main to protest a speech on campus by Matt Walsh, a conservative political commentator with the Daily Wire.

The speaking engagement was sponsored by the UWS chapter of Young Americans for Freedom, a student organization that was founded in 2021. The group’s main goal is to help spread conservative thought and ideals on campus, according to chapter President Aidan Jones.

“We invited Matt Walsh to speak at UW-Superior because we hoped to offer an alternative to the left-wing ideologies that are accepted as established facts on our campus,” Jones said.

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

Why I’m Suing My Former Employer, a School District, Over Critical Race Theory

The first days of returning to school after the COVID-19 pandemic were overwhelming. Like other educators across the country, those of us working in Albemarle County, Va., public schools were suddenly faced with fresh challenges that required our full attention and energy: implementing new health and safety procedures, helping students who had fallen behind academically during virtual learning and doing our very best to restore a productive learning environment for all.

It was at this exact time our school district decided to introduce controversial policies and mandatory teacher training based on critical race theory. The goal was laudable — to “become an anti-racist school system” — but the curriculum, in fact, produced the opposite result.

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

Breaking: Criminal Charge Dropped Against Alberta Pastor Who Opened His Church Against COVID Restrictions

The trial for Tim Stephens on the remaining six charges of violating public health orders has been delayed until the fall as the court awaits a decision on another case.

Stephens broke the news to the mailing list of his church, Calgary’s Fairview Baptist.

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

Canada Moves Forward With Plans to Implement Digital IDs

“While Alberta and Ontario have already rolled out their digital ID, Saskatchewan recently scrapped its plan to launch one after polling citizens who wanted nothing to do with it. Instead, the provincial government now says they’ll monitor uptake and feedback from colleagues in other jurisdictions…

Alberta Premier Jason Kenney’s decision to pursue the implementation of a digital ID is curious as he infamously called out the World Economic Forum (“WEF”), its founder Klaus Schwab, and The Great Reset agenda in late 2020, saying it’s not a conspiracy theory and that people have a right to be concerned…

Citizens of Ontario will be issued a government digital ID that will give them access to a slew of amenities like banking, making medical appointments, and even obtaining a marriage license…

The Ontario Party, led by Derek Sloan, has presented a petition to the Ontario Legislature that proposes a ban on digital IDs.

“The dangers that this new program poses to upholding civil liberties and privacy rights, and the clear opportunities for abuse of governmental authority it presents in terms of surveillance and compelled behaviour, using access to basic resources as a tool of coercion, are ominous. They point toward progression to a dystopian communist Chinese-style ‘social credit’ system,” the petition states.”

           — Hat tip: JAS [Return to headlines]
 

Communist Protestors Smash Windows in Downtown Montreal

The annual Montreal May Day disfunction took place in the city’s downtown this weekend near Place du Canada, with the event turning violent.

Montreal police (SPVM) said that the use of “chemical irritants” became necessary after protestors began throwing rocks.

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

Elon Musk Snaps Up Twitter: Torontonians React to a Corporate Takeover in the Name of Free Speech

Elon Musk is best-known as the creative genius behind Tesla and Space X. he’s also the richest man on the planet. And he’s now got a new company in his growing portfolio: Twitter. The off-the-lot price tag: US$44-billion.

But it’s safe to say Musk’s motivation for acquiring Twitter had far less to do with making money and a whole lot more to do with restoring Twitter to its former glory — namely, a platform for free speech rather. In recent years, Twitter has increasingly become a censorious hub. What does it say that former U.S. President Donald Trump is banned from Twitter yet terrorists advocating harm are somehow tolerated?

Indeed, going back more than a decade, Twitter was marketed as the free speech wild west. Come one, come all, said the Twitter founders in the company’s infancy. (Oh, and please provide us with free content!)

But once Twitter achieved a critical mass, it became far choosier when it came to who’s who in the Twitter zoo. Which is to say, those with right-of-centre viewpoints were increasingly suspended or banned outright from the social media platform. Little wonder that so many people on the left are reacting with outrage and anguish over Musk’s acquisition of the company. After all, the left may be gung-ho about diversity, but they are not giddy about a diversity of opinions. Classical liberalism is dead, replaced by the censorious adherents of cancel culture and “wokeism”.

But what a pleasant surprise we encountered at Yonge-Dundas Square the other day.

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

Feds Admit $8m Frozen in Convoy Crackdown With No Analysis of the Impacts to Banking Stability in Canada

The accounts were seized as part of the invocation of the never-before-used Emergencies Act which gave authorities extraordinary powers of search, arrest and seizure of funds and property as the Liberals sought to end the nearly month-long peaceful Convoy to Ottawa protest against remaining COVID-19 restrictions.

The reply to the inquiry of ministry tabled in the House of Commons broke down the dollar value of financial assets frozen under the Act.

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

Hamilton to Fire Unvaccinated Employees at End of May

The City of Hamilton is moving forward with its plans to terminate unvaccinated city staff.

On Wednesday, the city council voted to keep the policy in place despite a staff report that recommended scrapping the policy. Hamilton employees will have until May 31 to show proof of vaccination.

A staff report released in April recommended the city drop its vaccine mandate for staff. The report argued that the city’s policy should be in line with the province.

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

Heavy Police Presence as Rolling Thunder Convoy Wraps Up in Ottawa

The Rolling Thunder motorcycle convoy in Ottawa has concluded, with Saturday and Sunday going relatively smoothly, despite some dramatic incidents.

Motorcycles were able to make their way to the city’s downtown, despite the rally’s initial plans having been jeopardized after the Ottawa Police Service (OPS) said it would create “vehicle exclusion zones” to restrict “vehicle-based or supported protests.”

Saturday started with the bikers taking part in the motorcycle rally meeting in the parking lot of the St Laurent Shopping Centre, located in Ottawa’s East End.

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

Horgan Spreads Misinfo About Non-Existent Hate Crime at BC Mosque

In the now-deleted tweet, British Columbia’s New Democratic Party premier John Horgan immediately assumed that a drive-by act which took place at the Jamia Masjid Mosque was a racially-charged crime.

On April 27, 2022, just before 11:00 p.m., Surrey RCMP received a report that water had been thrown from a moving vehicle at three pedestrians from the Muslim community, who were walking in the area of 124 Street and 72A Avenue.

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

Ottawa Police Investigating Potential ‘Hate-Motivated’ Event Against Rolling Thunder Protest

Ottawa police are investigating a “hate-motivated mischief” incident at a church in Vanier, Ontario. Graffiti was discovered three hours before a church service was being held as a part of the “Rolling Thunder” freedom rally that rode into the capital this weekend.

Colton Praili of CTV News reports that graffiti on the building read “no haven for fascism” on its walls. Additionally, thumb tacks were discovered in the parking lot of the church.

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

Police on High Alert as Biker Convoy Rolls Into Ottawa

With the announcement of the upcoming Rolling Thunder convoy in Ottawa, police quickly put together an action plan to prevent a repeat of what happened during the Freedom Convoy last February.

The Rolling Thunder event was to be a biker’s rally to celebrate freedom. The organizer has said from the beginning that they were not responsible for any other attempt to hold a convoy in Ottawa as that was not their goal.

Nevertheless, late Friday, a small convoy ended up on Rideau Street, where all exit points had been blocked by police.

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

RCMP Targeted 170 Crypto Wallets During Ottawa Convoy Crackdown

The information about the attempted seizure of the cryptocurrency assets of individuals or businesses associated with February’s Convoy to Ottawa protest was divulged in a response to an order paper inquiry posed by Alberta Conservative MP Jeremy Patzer (@JeremyPatzerMP) to Public Safety.

The Liberal government invoked the Emergencies Act to give authorities unusual powers of search, arrest and seizure to end the convoy protest that remained in Ottawa peacefully protesting against COVID-19 restrictions for nearly four weeks.

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

The RCMP Did Not Charge Anyone Involved in the Convoy to Ottawa Using the Emergencies Act

The new information about the lack of necessity for the use of the Emergencies Act on February’s peaceful truckers’ convoy to Ottawa comes from an inquiry of several ministries posed by Alberta Conservative MP Jeremy Patzer (@JeremyPatzerMP) into the federal government’s use of the never-before-used law, on the books to give authorities extraordinary tools to deal with Pearl Habour or 9/11-style attacks on Canada.

The tabled response confirms that the OPP used the Emergencies Act, but only for seven towing requests.

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

Why Did the “Freedom Fighters” Return to Ottawa?

Over the weekend, thousands of Canadian “freedom fighters” gathered in Ottawa for the Rolling Thunder bike convoy.

While most public health restrictions have been lifted in Canada, many Canadians are still unable to live their lives freely because of heavy-handed government mandates. Many of the protesters at this weekend’s events are demanding their freedoms back.

True North’s Elie Cantin-Nantel was on the ground and asked demonstrators what they were trying to accomplish and why they came back to Ottawa.

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

65% of Poles Back Supplying Ukraine With Tanks and Heavy Artillery

Two-thirds of Poles support the move by the Polish government to supply heavy weaponry to Ukraine, fresh polling has revealed.

Polish Radio reported on Friday that Poland had sent 200 T-72 tanks to Ukraine and several dozen armored vehicles, and the delivery of arms and vehicles to its neighbor has the backing of a majority of the electorate.

According to a SW Research poll for Rzeczpospolita daily, almost 65 percent of respondents were behind the move, with just under 13 percent against. Twenty-three percent of those asked did not offer an opinion.

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

After Russian Cuts Gas to Poland, The Polish-Lithuanian Gas Pipeline is Activated

As European gas prices soared following Russia deciding to cut gas to Poland, Poland is moving forward with efforts to secure its energy independence with the Polish-Lithuanian gas pipeline.

“As according to plan, from today gas from Lithuania is coming to Poland,” tweeted Anna Moskwa, Poland’s minister for climate and environment. The gas pipeline is just over 500 kilometers long and will be working at full capacity in October of this year.

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

Czech PM Drives a Wedge Between Hungary and Poland

It is a common understanding that the Achilles’ heel of the historic Polish-Hungarian friendship and political alliance has always been Poland’s antagonistic relationship towards Russia. This has been exacerbated by the fact that preceding the invasion of Ukraine in February, Hungary has maintained a balanced — some might say cordial — relationship with Moscow that has been seriously overblown by Western media into a grotesque “Putin puppet” narrative.

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

Czech Weapons Flow Into Ukraine

So far, the Czech Republic has provided Ukraine with military assistance worth almost 3 billion korunas (€122 million), announced the Czech Ministry of Defense on Friday.

According to unofficial sources, the Czech Republic sent ammunition, small arms, and heavy equipment to Ukraine. The heavy equipment included Dana self-propelled howitzers, Grad RM-70 salvo rocket launchers, Soviet-made T-72 tanks, and infantry fighting vehicles. However, the government does not publish details of the weapons sent for security reasons.

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

Czechia: Coal Makes a Comeback

The energy crisis and Putin’s closing of the gas taps are leading to governments and economists to take a second look at coal, once nearly universally condemned as “dirty,” as at least a partial solution to the ongoing energy crisis. The Czech government has in fact already gone down this path, leaving environmental and climate activists a little confused about this decision, economist Jan Ferenc writes in his commentary for the iDNES.cz news outlet.

In 2022, coal mining at the Stonava mine at OKD, the dominant mining company in the Czech Republic, was due to come to an end. The operation, however, will now be extended until the middle of next year.

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

EU Launches Antitrust Crackdown Against Apple Pay

After a short-lived lull, the EU’s antitrust regulators are reviving their campaign against American megatech companies — and the latest crackdown probably couldn’t have come at a worse time, considering the Nasdaq just suffered its worst monthly drawdown since the great financial crisis.

In its latest campaign against Apple, the EU antitrust regulators led by Margrethe Vestager accused Apple of abusing its dominance in the consumer electronics space by refusing access to PayPal and other competitors to technology within its iPhones and Apple Watches that would allow users to make payments with a quick tap.

The latest charges against Apple, which were announced by Vestager on Monday, are the culmination of an investigation that began in 2020. In a statement, she highlighted the importance of mobile payments to the modern economy.

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

France: Clean-Up in Paris After May Day Protests

A day after May Day demonstrations, dozens of shops clear broken windows and clean graffitied walls, after being vandalised by protesters. The shops targeted include bank and real estate agencies, insurance companies and a McDonald’s restaurant.

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

France: Watch: Electric Bus in Paris Spontaneously Explodes

Readers have heard of Teslas spontaneously exploding over the years (read: here) but never an electric bus until now.

Last Friday, a video surfaced online of French public transport operator RATP’s bus bursting into flames within seconds in Paris. The fire illustrates the dangers of EVs. Luckily the bus wasn’t crowded, and passengers were able to exit quickly.

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

France Introduces Digital ID After Macron’s Re-Election

The “Digital ID Guarantee Service” (SGIN) was signed into decree following his victory over Marine Le Pen, which will allow France to be ‘compliant’ with the European Union’s digital ID.

           — Hat tip: JAS [Return to headlines]
 

Germany Backs EU Embargo on Russian Oil Despite Faltering Economy

The leftist coalition government of Germany has thrown its support behind the move for the European Union to impose an embargo on Russian oil, despite the country’s heavy reliance on energy imports from Moscow.

On Sunday, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock revealed that Germany would back a ban on Russian oil from the bloc, however, she noted that such a move should be imposed gradually.

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

Germany Transfers Child Benefits Worth €459 Million to Foreign Countries

As Germany’s foreign population grows, so does the transfer of social benefits outside the country., including nearly half a billion in child benefit payments.

In 2021, a record amount of such payments flowed out of the country, with €459 million paid from Germany out to foreign accounts to those entitled to child benefits, according to data from the Federal Employment Agency.

The information was only made public once the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party requested it, according to German newspaper Junge Freiheit.

In 2020, German authorities transferred almost €430 million euros in child benefits abroad. In 2015, only €261 million was sent abroad. Data from previous years is not available.

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

Hungary Throws EU Neighbors Under Bus, Says 10 Nations Technically Buying Gas-for-Rubles From Putin

The Ruble has ‘mysteriously’ surged to six-month highs against the dollar (and even stronger relative to the Euro) over the last few weeks since Russian President Putin demanded Rubles-for-Gas…

But now, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s chief of staff, Gergely Gulyas, appears to have spilled the beans on what is really going on among the Russia-dependent European nations.

Gulyas told public radio on Sunday that while multiple European leaders have publicly proclaimed they won’t comply with Putin’s demand that they buy Russian gas in rubles, 10 EU countries are technically going along with Putin’s plan.

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

‘New Soviet Union’ — Euro MPs Warn of EU ‘Federal Superstate’ After Conference Recommendations

A number of public representatives have warned that the European Union is heading towards super-statehood as a result of recent recommendations which would see the bloc seize many powers from national governments.

Elected members of the European Union’s parliament have warned that the bloc could be heading towards federal super-statehood thanks to recent recommendations made by the so-called ‘Conference on the Future of Europe’.

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

‘Poland and Europe Are Now Passing the Real Test of Maturity, ‘ Says PM Morawiecki on the Anniversary of Poland’s EU Membership

On the 18th anniversary of Poland joining the European Union, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki declared that the dream of solidary Europe needs to be defended.

“Poland and the entire Europe is passing a real test of maturity in this time. A united, solidaric Europe was a dream of generations of Poles. We need to defend this dream for the future generations,” posted Morawiecki on social media.

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

Possible Explanation for Deaths From Myocarditis in Vaccinated Athletes

As FWM reported, numerous top athletes died in 2021 from heart problems related to the SARS-CoV-2 injections. A study has set out to explain the mechanism, thus suggesting a causal connection.

In 2021, increased cases of myocarditis were detected in young people and athletes. The number of sudden deaths among professional athletes is now above average. Studies show a significant association with mRNA vaccines. The problem is particularly pronounced in male and young athletes.

A preprint study published in February examined the possible causes of these complications after the SARS-CoV-2 injections. The authors report autopsy findings from adolescents who died of myocarditis three to four days after administration of the Pfizer preparation. Cardiologist Alessandro Capucci drew attention to the study on La Bussola Quotidiana.

According to the study, the reason for these deaths could be an increased level of catecholamines. Catecholamine responses, which are already high in young male athletes, are overexpressed in vaccinated athletes, when compared to pre-vaccination levels and non-vaccinated athletes.

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

Russian TV Warns Britain Can be ‘Drowned in Radioactive Tsunami’ By Single Nuclear Sub Strike

A recent Russian state TV program has stirred outrage and made headlines across the United Kingdom after a television presenter featured a simulated demonstration of how the Russian navy’s nuclear submarines would take out the UK with ease.

The segment aired late last week on public broadcaster “Channel One” and featured the chairman of the nationalist Rodina political party, Aleksey Zhuravlyov, who declared that “one Sarmat missile and the British Isles will be no more.”

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

Thousands of Troops Will Take Part in Massive Defender Europe 2022 Exercises on NATO’s Eastern Flank

A total of 18,000 troops from over 20 countries will take part in the Defender Europe 2022 and Swift Response 2022 military exercises, including about 7,000 troops on the territory of Poland.

The exercises will take place between May 1 and May 22, 2022, mainly in Poland, the Baltic states, Norway, Romania, and North Macedonia. The Polish Ministry of Defense announced that the military drills are a part of a “series of regular defensive exercises, they are not directed at any country, and they have no connection to the current geopolitical situation in the region.”

National and international process of planning the exercises already began in 2021.

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

UK: Inside Ocado’s Giant ‘Hive’ Warehouse in South-East London Where an Army of 2,000 Robots Pick Up to 2 Million Food Items Per Day — Five Times Faster Than a Trained Human Worker

British grocery giant Ocado is using its army of robots at its 563,000 sq ft warehouse in Erith, south-east London to gather up items for customer orders.

           — Hat tip: SS [Return to headlines]
 

Vatican Chief Criticizes Pope Who Battled Ottoman Turks

ROME — Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin criticized Saint Pius V Sunday, a 16th-century pope known for defeating the Ottoman Turks at the crucial Battle of Lepanto.

Pope Pius V was a strong personality with a solid faith, Cardinal Parolin said during a celebration marking the 450th anniversary of the saint’s death, “but certainly he also made some errors typical of his time, of that historical moment of religious contrasts, marked by cruel wars and divisions.”

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

Serbia: Tesla’s Musk Interested in Stake in Water Producer

Tesla Motors eyes at Minaqua

(ANSA) — BELGRADE, APR 28 — Tesla Motors, owned by the tycoon Elon Musk, has approached the Serbian mineral water producer Minaqua about a potential cooperation that would include an acquisition of a stake in the company, based in Novi Sad, the Serbian news agency Tanjug reported. Minaqua’s manager Tatjana Malbasa said that the offer would be considered seriously, Tanjug said, quoting local media. Musk, currently world’s richest man, had also contacted several other European producers of mineral water containing natural iodine and that more details would be announced soon, Malbasa said.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Algeria Top Country for Oil Well Exploration in Africa

Three fields found by Sonatrach, gas output rising too

NAPLES — Algeria was the top-ranked country in Africa for oil and gas exploration in its own territory in the first quarter of 2022, reported the Algeria Press Service in citing a statement issued by the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC) after the discovery by the Sonatrach group of three oil explorations.

Sonatrach made the first discovery in the Berkine basin at “Zemlet El Arbi”, with initial estimates of around 140 million barrels, and the second at “West of Oglet Naceur 2”, at Touggourt, with volume estimated at 961 million barrels.

The third discovery was in the region of El Ouabed, where 925 barrels of oil per day and 6456 cubic meters of gas per day are expected to be produced.

The search for more energy sources in Algeria has taken on greater importance recently against the backdrop of the war in Ukraine and the battle at the energy level — especially as concerns gas — between Russia and European countries.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

France to Send Saudi-Funded Aid to Lebanon

Paris and Riyadh focus on ‘stability’ of country amid collapse

BEIRUT — Saudi Arabia and France announced Thursday that they would be sending more humanitarian aid to Lebanon, hit hard by the worst financial crisis in recent decades.

Lebanese media reported the news, saying that the agreement between Paris and Riyadh calls for French aid to be paid for in half with Saudi funds.

The Saudi humanitarian cooperation agency KSrelief has signed an agreement with the French government for Saudi Arabia to pay for 36 million euros in French food and health-related aid.

The French embassy in Beirut has said that France will also send 30 million euros worth of aid that it will pay for.

Saudi Arabia resumed investing in Lebanon after having in recent weeks ended a lengthy political crisis with Beirut.

Among the Lebanese institutions that will receive this aid is a hospital in the northern city of Tripoli, which in recent days suffered another surge of tension after at least six migrants drowned off the Lebanese coast when their boat headed for Cyprus capsized.

The incident occurred over the night between Saturday and Sunday and the search continues for about 30 people still missing.

A financial crisis that began in late 2019 led to the country declaring default in March 2020 and the crash of the banking system resulted in the local currency losing 90% of its value over two years.

The UN said that over 80% of the population in Lebanon is now living in poverty.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) announced in early April that it had reached a preliminary accord with the Lebanese government to provide the country with 3 billion dollars in aid so long as the Lebanese authorities meet a series of conditions, most of which related to the banking and fiscal system.

Parliamentary elections are scheduled for May 15 and analysts say that the vote will help the governing class regain legitimacy after almost two years of protest from broad sectors of the population.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

US Military Choppers Reported Rescuing Cornered ISIS Terrorists in Iraq

As the Isis resurgence has been increasingly noticed since the assumption of power by the Biden liberal administration, a new harrowing report with dated images from Iraqi agencies directly accuses US military choppers of transporting cornered Isis terrorists…

US military occupation helicopters are transporting ISIS terrorists in Iraq who were surrounded and cornered by the Iraqi Army!! This is not the first time US military aircraft have transported ISIS terrorists who were losing battles against Iraqi Security Forces…

The seemingly impossible to stop Isis caliphate only came to an astonishing end, with all territory being regained, after the Trump administration came into power and cooperated with Russia to bomb the hell out of them.

This policy was in contrast to Obama who had fought to stop Russia from bombing them and their freely moving under Obama’s watchful drones, thousands of oil tankers that freely sold Iraq oil to Turkey at the time earning $1 million a day for the terrorists.

           — Hat tip: JAS [Return to headlines]
 

Heroic ‘Ghost of Kyiv’ Fighter Doesn’t Actually Exist, Ukraine Admits

The “Ghost of Kyiv” is a myth, Ukrainian officials admitted over the weekend.

After several news outlets last week identified the legendary, mysterious hero fighter pilot as a 29-year-old dad recently killed in battle with the Russians, military officials acknowledged Saturday that there was no such person.

“The ghost of Kyiv is a superhero-legend, whose character was created by Ukrainians!” Ukraine’s Air Force Command wrote on Facebook.

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

Huge Fire Breaks Out at Russian Defence Ministry Facility Along Ukraine Border, Local Governor Confirms

A fire has broken out at a Russian defence ministry facility near to the border with Ukraine following a reported explosion, injuring one person according to a regional governor.

A huge explosion in the area of Streletskoe and Tomarovka was reported by Russian media earlier today, video footage shows plumes of smoke and fire bellowing from a building believed to be near to Belgorod.

It is currently unclear what caused the fire, and there has been no official comment from the Russian defence ministry yet.

It is thought it is an weapons depot that has caught fire, as there have been secondary explosions heard — possibly of ammunition exploding in the heat of the fire.

Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said only one resident suffered minor injuries but his his life was not in danger and that seven homes had been damaged…

           — Hat tip: Dean [Return to headlines]
 

Latest News in the Russia-Ukraine War

Ukraine: Ukraine said it sank two Russian boats in the Black Sea with drone strikes. Explosions rang out once again in Russia’s border region of Belgorod. Heavy fighting continued in eastern Ukraine.

Russia hit a strategically important bridge in the Odessa region of southwestern Ukraine, and another Russian strike hit a church in Odessa, killing civilians including a 13-year-old, local officials said.

Buses carrying around 100 civilian evacuees from Mariupol under United Nations supervision are expected to arrive in Zaporizhzhia on Tuesday, after a pause in Russian-held territory, officials said.

Russia: Israel condemned comments by Russia’s foreign minister comparing Mr. Zelensky, who is Jewish, to Hitler and accusing Jews of anti-Semitism, called the comments unforgivable and summoned the Russian ambassador.

Moscow is assembling a package of economic relief for Russian individuals and businesses that aims to soften the blow of sanctions and the financial fallout of Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Europe: The European Union is likely to propose an end this year to purchases of Russian oil. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi met with Polish President Andrzej Duda and pledged to strengthen NATO after having visited Mr. Zelensky in Kyiv on Saturday.

Refugees: More than 5.5 million people have fled Ukraine since the outset of war, the United Nations said Monday.

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

Rafael Nadal Slams Wimbledon Banning Russian Players

Tennis legend Rafael Nadal has slammed Wimbledon’s decision to ban all Russian and Belarusian players from their tournament, asserting, “It’s not their fault what’s happening in this moment.”

Last month, Wimbledon organizers confirmed that players from both countries would be barred from competing in the tournament even if they have vocally opposed the war in Ukraine.

The announcement means that top players like Daniil Medvedev and Andrey Rublev will not be able to compete at SW19 this year.

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

Sachs: “On Ukraine: Joe Biden Doesn’t Want to Compromise”

di Federico Fubini

Jeffrey Sachs on the West’s “proxy war” in Ukraine and America’s failure to support post-soviet Russia. He thinks America forgot Keynes’s lesson on the long-term costs of humiliating a defeated enemy

Jeffrey Sachs, 68, director of The Earth Institute at Columbia University and a member of the Pontifical Academy for Social Sciences, played a leading role in advising the Kremlin’s economic policy in the early 1990s. In this interview, he reflects on the West’s approach to the war in Ukraine and what he sees as America’s tragic mistakes that helped set post-soviet Russia on the road of extreme, resentful nationalism.

Do you think imposing ever-tighter sanctions on Russia is the appropriate course of action for the US and the EU?

“We need to have a diplomatic track alongside the sanctions. It is possible to negotiate peace, based on Ukraine’s independence and no NATO membership. The big mistake of the Americans is to believe that the NATO alliance will defeat Russia. This is typical American hubris and shortsightedness. It’s even hard to know what ‘defeating Russia’ means since Putin has thousands of nuclear weapons. Do US politicians have a death wish? I know my country well. The leaders are prepared, as is sometimes quipped, to “fight to the last Ukrainian.” It is vastly better to make peace than to destroy Ukraine in the name of ‘defeating’ Putin”.

But Putin doesn’t want to make peace. He has repeatedly shown he is not interested in negotiating in good faith and he is moving ahead with full-out war, making little difference between military and civilians in Ukraine. How can negotiations work in such a situation?

“My guess is that the US is more resistant to a negotiated peace than is Russia. Russia wants want Ukraine’s neutrality, and also access to Ukraine’s markets and resources too. Russia stated clear negotiating aims. To be sure, some of them are unacceptable, but they are negotiating aims nonetheless. The US and Ukraine have never stated clear negotiating terms. The US wants Ukraine firmly in the US-EU camp, militarily, politically, and economically. That’s what this war is mainly about. The US has never shown a single sign of compromise, not in the lead-up to the war, and not since the outbreak of the war”.

Can you provide examples?

“When Zelensky floated the idea of neutrality, the US leadership was dead-silent. Now, the US is talking the Ukrainians into the belief that they can actually defeat Putin. The entire concept of defeating Putin is madness. What does it mean to defeat a foe with thousands of nuclear warheads? A death-wish? I have scoured the news daily to find a single instance where a senior US official endorses the aim of negotiating a settlement. I don’t know of a single utterance”.

Should the EU and the US engage with Putin to broker a peace or should they just declare him a war criminal and wait out the demise of his regime?

“They should engage, definitely. If they want to try Putin for war crimes, they need to add George W. Bush and Richard Cheney for Iraq, Barack Obama for Syria and Libya, Biden for confiscating Afghanistan’s own foreign exchange reserves and thereby stoking hunger in Afghanistan, and the list goes no. I am not meaning to exonerate Putin. I am meaning to emphasize the need to make peace, recognizing that we are in the midst of a proxy war between two expansionist powers, Russia and the US. Take note that few countries outside of the US and Europe, just US allies such as Japan and South Korea, are siding with the West on this. The others are staying neutral. They see big-power geopolitics at work”.

Don’t you think Russia carries responsibility for being the unprovoked aggressor here?

Russia launched the war, of course, but in no small part because it saw the US making irreversible inroads into Ukraine. In 2021, as Putin was calling on the US to negotiate over NATO enlargement, Biden doubled down diplomatically and militarily with Ukraine. Not only did Biden reject outright any discussion about NATO enlargement, but he actually had NATO recommit to enlargement at the 2021 NATO Summit, and then twice signed high-level US agreements with Ukraine to commit to the process. The US also continued large-scale arms shipments and military exercises. It’s interesting to see how the US and Australia are making somersaults over a security pact between China and the tiny Solomon Islands, 3,000 kilometers away from Australia. This new agreement is viewed as a dire security threat by the West. How then does Russia feel about NATO enlarging to Ukraine? Of course, this all plays into crazy election politics. The opposition Labor Party in Australia recently called the Solomon Islands pact the “worst failure of Australian foreign policy in the Pacific” in 80 years! Practically speaking, to save Ukraine we need to end the war, and to end the war, we need a compromise, in which Russia goes home and NATO does not enlarge. It’s really not that hard, but the US doesn’t broach the idea — because it is against it. The US wants Ukraine to fight to protect NATO prerogatives. What a disaster already, and much greater risks ahead until there is a reasonable and rational settlement.

I am not convinced by the NATO enlargement argument. Ukraine didn’t even have a Membership Action Plan (roadmap) for accession. And chancellor Olaf Scholz of Germany declared in Moscow, in front of Putin, that Ukraine would certainly not enter NATO “while we are in office” (meaning, at least until 2036). Not really a reason to invade now, is it?

“Actually, the idea that ‘Ukraine won’t join’ looks like a US ruse. In fact, the US was making major efforts at Ukraine’s military interoperability with NATO so that NATO enlargement would be a fait accompli. As Lavrov himself recently said in an interview, Ukraine’s Defense Ministry was swarming with NATO advisors. The idea that it wouldn’t happen is actually more public relations than truth. It was the chosen path of the US, as exemplified in every actual policy. What is key is that the US refuses to discuss the issue! That’s the hint”.

Would you say sanctions should be open-ended or should they be tied to tangible results — with maybe some restrictions to be lifted if, say, Russia accepts a ceasefire or withdraws from Ukraine?

“Sanctions should be lifted as part of a peace agreement. The war in Ukraine is terrible, cruel, and illegal, but it is not the first such war. The US has also been involved in countless reckless adventures — Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Afghanistan, Iran (1953 coup and dictatorship), Chile, Iraq, Syria, Libya, Yemen — just to name a few, as there are many more. The US was not permanently banished from the community of nations. Russia should not be permanently banished either. The US talks about permanently isolating Russia. This, again, is typical US hubris”.

How about the oil-and-gas sanctions on Russia under discussion in the EU, in order to break Putin’s military machine financially?

“The EU should move much more aggressively to push a peace agreement. A full oil-and-gas embargo would probably throw Europe into an economic contraction. I don’t recommend it. It would not decisively change the outcome of the war and a peace agreement, but it would hurt the EU massively”.

Are you also concerned cost-of-living issues may fuel populism in the West as voters blame sanctions, not Putin’s war, for inflation?

“Yes, the war and sanctions regime are already causing political difficulties in many countries, and a sharp rise in outright hunger in the poorest countries, notably in Africa, which depend heavily on imported grains. Biden too will pay a political price in the November elections for the inflation. Note that these supply shocks are occurring after a long period of monetary expansion, therefore there is ample headroom for inflation. We are in for a difficult macroeconomic period”.

To what extent the failures of Yeltsin era’s reforms are to blame for paving the way to Putin’s aggressive dictatorship? Is this a failure akin to the one described by Keynes in 1919 about Germany?

“I served as an economic advisor to Gorbachev in 1991 and to Yeltsin in 1992-3. In that capacity my main goal was to help the Soviet Union, and then Russia, as an independent country after December 1991, to end an intense financial crisis so as to stabilize society and improve the chances for peace and long-term reform. Remember that the Soviet economy had crashed and entered into an intense downward spiral in the late 1980s. In those years, I referred often to John Maynard Keynes’ remarkable 1919 book The Economic Consequences of the Peace. That book was probably the most important book for my professional career, as it made one essential point in my view: in order to end an intense and destabilizing financial crisis in a country, the rest of the world should pitch in, before the situation gets out of hand. That was true in the aftermath of World War I. Instead of putting harsh reparations payments on the German people, Europe and the US should have engaged in cooperation for a recovery for all of Europe, which would have helped to prevent the rise of Nazism”.

Do you mean to say that the way the West managed Russia in the early 1990s contributed to making it a sort of Weimar Republic 2.0?

“When I argued the case for international financial assistance for Poland in 1989, including emergency loans, a currency stabilization fund, and debt relief, my arguments were accepted by the White House and European countries. When I made the very same arguments vis-Ã -vis the Soviet Union, under Gorbachev in 1991, and Russia under Yeltsin in 1992-3, the White House rejected them. The problem was geopolitics. The US viewed Poland as an ally, while it mistakenly viewed the Soviet Union and the newly independent Russia as a foe. This was a huge mistake. If you treat another country badly or humiliate that country, you will create a self-fulfilling reality. That country will indeed become a foe. Having said all of this, there is no simple determinism in history, and certainly not over a long period of 30 years. The harsh Versailles Treaty of 1919 did not guarantee by itself the rise of Hitler in 1933. Indeed, Hitler or his ilk would never have come to power but for the Great Depression in 1929, and even then, but for Hindenburg’s and von Papen’s dreadful miscalculations in January 1933. Similarly, the financial mistakes of the US and Europe vis-Ã -vis Gorbachev and Yeltsin certainly did not dictate events thirty years later. Even to suggest so is absurd. But the harsh financial situation in the Soviet Union and Russia in the early 1990s left a bad taste. It contributed to the fall of the reformers, the rise of corruption, and ultimately the rise of Putin to power. Even then, the situation could easily have been salvaged. Putin might well have cooperated with Europe. A big problem came with US hubris that adopted NATO’s eastward enlargement after promising in 1990 not to enlarge NATO eastward, and then to the absolutely dangerous and provocative idea of George W. Bush Jr. to promise that NATO would expand to Georgia and Ukraine. That promise, made in 2008, dramatically worsened US-Russian relations. The US support for the ouster of Ukraine’s pro-Russian president Viktor Yanukovych in 2014 and the subsequent arming of Ukraine on a large scale by the US dramatically worsened the relations between Russia and the US”.

You were involved in advising the Russian government in 1992-1993, through your role in the then Harvard Institute for International Development. During the 1990s, big-bang market liberalization trumped institutions’ building and democratic reform. Do you think that proved to be a mistake?

“Such complaints are academic chatter, not the real world. My expertise in 1990-1992 was to help Poland, Estonia, Slovenia, and other countries to avoid a financial catastrophe, and that was my aim to help the Soviet Union and Russia too. I recommended measures that proved their success in many countries — currency stabilization, a debt standstill, longer-term debt relief, emergency funding, emergency social support measures. The US accepted such arguments for some countries, such as Poland, US turned them all down in the case of Gorbachev and Yeltsin. Politics and geopolitics dominated the White House, not good economics. Of course, institution building and democratic reforms would take years, indeed decades. After all, Russia had never had a true democracy in a thousand years. Civil society had been destroyed by Stalin. But in the meantime, there was an intense financial crisis. People needed to eat, live, survive, have shelter, have healthcare, while the long-term changes would gradually be introduced. That’s why I recommended large-scale financial support for Russia for many years. That’s why I referred repeatedly to Keynes’s lessons”.

With the benefit of hindsight, should the approach to reforms have been more democratic and gradual, but less focused on “shock therapy”?

“Again, my role was to address the financial crisis. I knew full well — from Poland, Czechoslovakia, and elsewhere — that many reforms would take a long time. My goal was to prevent a hyperinflation and financial collapse. I never argued for quick privatization for example. I knew that such policies require years, even decades to complete”.

It’s true that Poland and other central-eastern European countries were far more successful by applying the same script as Russia. But then Poland got currency stabilization help from the US and institution-building and law reform from the EU, don’t you think?

“Of course, that’s the point! The ability to make reforms depends on the international context! Everything was going to be much harder with Russia than in Central and Eastern Europe for countless reasons of history, politics, economic geography, transport costs, the existence of civil society, and geopolitics. The dissolution of the Soviet Union, as with the dissolution of Yugoslavia, also dramatically complicated the situation, and added to instability and economic contraction. Yet for all of those reasons, the West should have been much more prepared to help Russia financially, rather than to declare ‘victory’ and ignore the harsh conditions in Russia”.

Was the problem shock therapy as such or in the refusal by Germany to forgive Russia’s foreign debt and by the US to provide aid like for Poland? Was shock therapy with little external financial support the wrong mix?

“The so-called shock therapy meant ending price controls at the start of 1992, as Poland had done in 1990. The reason was that with the collapse of the command economy, and with the massive financial instability and price controls, all transactions were essentially in the black market. Even food grains were not reaching the cities. The point is that the step of price deregulation should certainly have been combined with large-scale financial support from the US and Europe and social policy measures, as was the case in Poland. And that is precisely as I advised every day. But the US and Europe did not follow through. That failure of the Western governments was shameful and awful. If stabilization had been actively supported by the West, that would have set the groundwork for the next stages of reform, which in turn would have led onward to other reforms, all over a period of years and decades”.

Andrei Shleifer, then at Harvard Institute of International Development, was in charge of advising the Russia on a bing bang of privatizations. How was your interaction with him?

“My role for Gorbachev and Yeltsin was as a macro-financial advisor. I was advising on how to stabilize an unstable economy. I was not an advisor on privatization. Shleifer was an advisor of privatization, as you said. I did not advise on voucher privatization and did not advise on abuses such as ‘loans for shares’ (a scheme designed in 1995 that allowed oligarchs to finance Yeltsin’s reelection in exchange for large shares in State-owned companies at distressed prices). I advised Gorbachev in 1991, and then Yeltsin in 1992 and 1993 on financial issues. Interestingly, after the first year of trying to help Russia, I quit, saying that I was not able to help since the US was not at all agreeing to what I was advising. My stay would have been a single year, 1992. But then, a new finance minister was appointed, Boris Fyodorov. He was a wonderful person who died young. He strenuously asked me to remain as an adviser to help him. I agreed, reluctantly, and stayed one more year, and then resigned at the end of 1993. It was a short, frustrating period, because I deeply regretted the neglect and incompetence of both the Bush White House in 1991-1992, and the incoming Clinton White House in 1993. When I learned that Shleifer was making personal investments in Russia, I dismissed him from his position in the Harvard Institute of International Development. Of course, I had nothing to do with his investment activities or his advice on Russian privatization. Moreover, just in case there is any question, I did not receive a single kopek for my work, nor a single dollar. All of my advising for governments from the start 37 years ago in Bolivia has been without compensation beyond my academic salary. I do not advise governments for personal gain”.

1 maggio 2022 (modifica il 1 maggio 2022 | 10:00)

(c) RIPRODUZIONE RISERVATA

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

UK Intel: Quarter of Russian Forces in Ukraine Rendered ‘Combat Ineffective’, Elite VDV Will Take ‘Years’ To Rebuild

LVIV, Ukraine (AP) — The British military believes more than a quarter of all troops Russia deployed for its war in Ukraine are now “combat ineffective.”

The comment Monday came as part of a daily briefing on Twitter the British Defense Ministry has offered about the ongoing war in Ukraine. The British military believes Russia committed over 120 so-called “battalion tactical groups” into the war since February, which represents 65 per cent of all of Moscow’s combat strength.

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

Ukrainian Govt Compiling Public ‘Registry of Collaborators’

KHARKIV, Ukraine — Ukrainian authorities are cracking down on anyone suspected of aiding Russian troops under laws enacted by Ukraine’s parliament and signed by President Volodymyr Zelensky after the Feb. 24 invasion.

Offenders face up to 15 years in prison for acts of collaborating with the invaders or showing public support for them.

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

Viktor Orban Included on Ultra-Nationalist ‘Enemies of Ukraine’ Kill List

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has been added to a list of enemies of Ukraine compiled by the far-right website, Mirotvorec.

The site has already published the names of tens of thousands of people with personal information, such as their date of birth, passport number and home address. According to experts, the operators of the website could not have accessed such data without the assistance of the Ukrainian internal security service.

The Mirotvorec website was created in 2014 following the Russian annexation of Crimea and its de facto occupation of Donbass.

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

India: Muslim Boyfriend Arrested for Killing Teen Aged Hindu Girl

Another beautiful ‘inter-faith’ love story (if you call it ‘Love Jihad’ you will definite be a communal one) that ended so well for the Hindu girl! Mohd Ansari, a Bakery owner in Goregaon strangled Sonam Shukla, who was all set to appear for NEET to be a doctor!

Mumbai cops discovered the victim’s decomposed body only on Thursday when it washed ashore at Barista Lane in Versova.

Sunita Mali | HENB | Mumbai | May 1, 2022:: A 23-year-old Muslim man was arrested on Saturday for allegedly killing his 19-year-old Hindu girlfriend, whose partially-decomposed body was found stuffed in a sack, with her hands and legs tied, at Versova beach on Thursday (April 28).

The accused, identified as Mohammed Shahjeb Ansari, was arrested after the police scanned through the call data records of the victim, Sonam Shukla.

Shukla, who was a resident of Premnagar in Goregaon west, had an affair with Ansari who also stays in the same neighbourhood. Police officers said after questioning, Ansari confessed that he strangled the teenager with a cable wire after a fight over a trivial issue.

The police have arrested Ansari under sections 201 (disappearance of evidence) and 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code.

The officers said that after the girl left her house at 4pm on April 25 for her tuition and ended up at a friend’s place as Ansari was busy. At 9pm, when Ansari was alone at his house, Shukla went to meet him, telling her friend that she was going home.

However, after 9.30pm, the two got into a fight over a petty issue after which, in a fit of rage, Ansari strangled her with the wire.

On realising that Shukla was dead, he stuffed her body into a gunny bag with her hands and legs tied and carried it in his scooter to dump it in the mangroves between Goregaon and Malad, assuming that the body would be eaten by fish or would drift away.

At 11pm, when her parents called her up as she was late, they found that her phone was switched off, said Siraj Inamdar, senior police inspector of Versova police station.

The sack with the girl’s body was found floating on the beach shore near Barista Lane in Versova at around 5.30 pm by locals who alerted the Versova police.

After the police found the body, they uploaded the photo of the deceased on their WhatsApp group and after a few minutes, they received a reply from the Goregaon police that the girl was reported missing by her parents two days ago.

During interrogation, Ansari, who is pursuing his graduation alongside running a bakery, confessed to killing Shukla at his home in Prem Nagar when his parents and siblings were not there.

The victim’s father said: “My daughter was aiming to become a doctor. My child’s bright future has been cut short. We celebrated her 18th birthday in February and she was supposed to appear for NEET in two months. She used to put in at least 7 to 8 hours daily preparing for the entrance. Those involved in the killing should be given harsh punishment.”

“The Goregaon police just took a missing complaint instead a missing complaint instead of registering a case of abduction and reacted late. The victim’s parents were harassed at the police station by the cops,” said activist Saroj Gupta, as quoted by TOI.

           — Hat tip: Upananda Brahmachari [Return to headlines]
 

Watch: Senior Constable Quits Victoria Police to Fight for Aussie Values

Referring to Covid enforcement, the long-serving police officer and military veteran told Rebel News that he’s “been disappointed how things have gone the last two years”.

“This is not what I signed up for. That’s why I’ve left Victoria Police. You’re getting more and more cops leaving. For example, in my Gazette that just went out, you had 28 cops leaving and only 13 in. So you’ve had a loss of 15, and that’s just in one fortnight, and that’s happening every fortnight.”

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

Nigeria Army Chief Promoted Terror

Nigeria Army Chief Promoted Terror by Looting $20,000 Every Two Days from Day He Resumed Office…

Upon retirement after a tenure unduly extended by president Muhammadu Buhari, Buratai was again appointed as a Nigerian Ambassador to Benin Republic.

           — Hat tip: JAS [Return to headlines]
 

Belgium Reveals 7 Out of 10 ‘Child Migrants’ Actually Adults

The majority of migrants arriving in Belgium who claim to be underage are actually adults, according to new reports about data collected by the government.

More than 3,300 ‘unaccompanied foreign minors’ entered Belgium last year.

Belgian authorities conducted age determination testing on approximately three-quarters of those migrants and discovered nearly seven out of ten were, in fact, adults.

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

UK: Channel Migrants: At Least 350 Intercepted in Two Days

At least 350 migrants have been brought ashore from the English Channel in the past two days, according to witnesses and official figures.

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) said it found seven boats carrying 254 migrants on Sunday — witnesses said about 100 migrants have arrived so far on Monday.

The government is addressing the issue by “cracking down on people smugglers”, the MoD said.

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

Pastor James Coates on His New Book, ‘God vs. Government’

On a recent episode of The Ezra Levant Show, GraceLife Church’s Pastor James Coates joined Sheila Gunn Reid to talk about his new book, titled God vs. Government: Taking a Biblical Stand When Christ and Compliance Collide.

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

Supreme Court Set to Overturn Roe v Wade, Leaked Draft Opinion Shows

A leaked draft of a US Supreme Court decision reveals that the majority of the court has decided to overturn Roe v. Wade by a vote of 5-4, according to Politico, which calls it a “full-throated, unflinching repudiation of the 1973 decision which guaranteed federal constitutional protections of abortion rights and a subsequent 1992 decision — Planned Parenthood v. Casey — that largely maintained the right.”

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

UK: Norfolk Police Issue List of 37 Sexual Identities and Genders to ‘Help Officers Deal With the Public’

Yes, this is real — Norfolk Constabulary has issued a gender and sexual identities list designed to “help officers deal with the public,” as reported by the Daily Mail. Many critics (including myself) are calling it a waste of taxpayer money.

This document outlines the “+” in LGBTQ+ to help explain to officers current terminologies alongside a diagram of a “genderbread person.”

Some terms have been used in a lot of online discourse such as “questioning” or “asexual,” whereas there are a few more sexual identities and genders that the police force has to be clued up on. For example, gynosexual, which means a person who is attracted to “feminine gender presentation” or even “grey asexual” which means someone who rarely experiences attraction.

Ann Widdecombe, the former Shadow Home Secretary, weighed in with her opinion and said, “this is absolute madness and a complete waste of rate-payers money. Even if the force didn’t produce the guide itself, it has still cost time and money to make it available to staff.”

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

5 thoughts on “Gates of Vienna News Feed 5/2/2022

  1. EU summit advice:
    “Launder your clothes instead of washing them”

    Published 1 May 2022 at 18:41

    European Commission Vice President Frans Timmermans will offer advice on how citizens can adapt to electricity shortages and climate change and help fight Putin, Remix News reports.

    – Cut down on heating, cycle and air your clothes instead of washing them, Frans Timmermans said during a meeting on Thursday with the European Parliament’s environment committee, which is responsible for climate issues.

    In this way, citizens of EU countries can show their support for the Union’s sanctions against Russia, the Dutch top bureaucrat explained. You can also take shorter showers, he continued.

    MEP Edina Tóth of the Hungarian ruling Fidesz party raised the issue that Italy has now, among other things, banned schools from cooling their premises below 25 degrees in summer. In winter, public buildings are no longer allowed to be heated above 19 degrees. Will such rules be introduced at EU level, Tóth wondered.

    In response, Frans Timmermans rejected the notion that he was putting unnecessary pressure on European households through his advice. Instead, he insisted that he was simply explaining to “citizens that they too can do something to put less money in Putin’s pocket,” writes Remix

  2. Australia – we have talking about this bubble for nearly 20 years fuelled not only by low interest rates but also Chinese buyers. Everyone enjoyed getting rich on paper, but now the chickens come home to roost and not so pretty. When rates go up to 5% like US many will be out of the market. The Chinese don’t need to sell as many pay cash, even millions of dollars in cash. I’ve said for a while that Australians will be pushed out of their own country and it is no longer “lucky” for migrants. They are just the new “cannon fodder”. I’ve said to people move to QLD where costs are much lower to make their “last stand” in this country and 30,000 left Victoria last year. House prices in QLD increased 37% so that solution will get harder in future. The next step will be to leave the country and those with dual citizenship often do. I call it “aliya”, going home.

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