The inflation rate in Austria remained above 9% during August, while the annual inflation rate exceeded 10% in the whole of the European Union. Meanwhile, Argentina raised its interest rate to 75% in an attempt to curb rampaging inflation.
In other news, another 50 illegal immigrants have been bused from Texas to Vice President Kamala Harris’ residence in Washington D.C.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to Dean, DV, JW, Reader from Chicago, SS, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.
Notice to tipsters: Please don’t submit extensive excerpts from articles that have been posted behind a subscription firewall, or are otherwise under copyright protection.
Caveat: Articles in the news feed are posted “as is”. Gates of Vienna cannot vouch for the authenticity or accuracy of the contents of any individual item posted here. I check each entry to make sure it is relatively interesting, not patently offensive, and at least superficially plausible. The link to the original is included with each item’s title. Further research and verification are left to the reader.
After Von Der Leyen’s Speech, The Price of Electricity Increases by Seven Percent
It was a well-aimed shot in the foot: After Ursula von der Leyen’s speech, the price of electricity spiked… again.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Argentina Jacks Up Interest Rates to 75% in Attempt to Hold Down Sky-High Inflation
The Argentinian national bank this week raised interest rates to 75% in a desperate bid to tamp down on the country’s still-spiraling consumer inflation rate.
The Banco de la Nación Argentina hiked the rates after national data indicated a year-over-year inflation rate of just under 80%, a crushing spike that has desperately squeezed consumers in the South American country.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Austria’s Inflation Remains Above 9 pct in August
Inflation in Austria remained over the high level of 9 percent in August, Statistics Austria said on Friday.
At 9.3 percent, inflation in August was 0.1 percentage points lower than the revised July inflation rate of 9.4 percent. However, energy and food prices have continued to soar despite anti-inflation government policies, Statistics Austria said.
The slight month-on-month decline was due to fuel prices, which fell by 10.4 percent compared to July. However, although statistics Austria said the August inflation rate would have stood at 9.9 percent without the decline in fuel prices, they remain the strongest driver of annual inflation.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Breaking Down UK’s ‘Cost of Living’ Crisis
It’s becoming increasingly difficult to reach the minimum standard of living in the United Kingdom.
As Statista’s Anna Fleck details in the chart below, using data from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, the amount you need to live a basic lifestyle has gone up by around 20 percent for all selected groups and by nearly 27 percent for a single working adult.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Fuel Retailers Demand End to Hungary’s Price Cap, But Massive Inflation Threat Looms
The Hungarian fuel price cap achieved its goal, but now it is necessary to abolish it completely, the secretary general of the Hungarian Mineral Oil Association has said.
During an interview, Ottó Grad said that “in the last 10 months, the measure has achieved its goal, so there is no other alternative, it must be completely phased out.”
According to the general secretary, the losses can no longer be financed and there are supply problems in the domestic and regional markets, so excessive consumption should be reduced as soon as possible. He added that he thought removing the price cap would definitely reduce demand.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
German Bakery Handed €330,000 Bill for Gas Consumption
The energy company E.on has demanded a significantly higher gas bill from the Hanoverian bakery owned by Eckehard Vatter, sending his company a bill of €330,000 for gas consumption over the past four months. In addition, the man has to pay the amount within 14 days, German news outlet Junge Freiheit reported.
“Are they crazy?” Vatter reacted indignantly, according to the Bild newspaper. “A year ago, we paid €5,856 per month in gas costs for our large furnaces and heating,” he explained.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
It was almost exactly one year ago that Goldman took a scalpel to its heretofore euphoric 2022 GDP forecasts, which among other things saw the bank’s Q1 and Q2 2022 GDP estimates cut from 5.0% and 4.5% to 4.5% and 4.0% respectively, and forecast full year 2022 GDP would be 4.0% (down from 4.4% previously).
Yet despite the “big” cut, which Goldman attributed to “fiscal drag and slowing consumer spending“ the bank still expected brisk mid-single digit growth because the hilariously wrong concept of “ excess savings” (alongside ““transitory inflation”) would fuel consumption for much of 2022. We disagreed completely, writing the following last October:… one area where we disagree profoundly with Goldman is the bank’s generous modeling of an upside boost to growth from “pent-up savings” which the bank expects to offset a substantial portion of the fiscal hit. As we will show in a subsequent post, the excess savings — in as much as they still exist — mostly benefit the top 1%, with the bulk of the population benefiting from only 30% of the total accumulated amount. As such the contribution to consumption from excess savings will end up being far smaller than most Wall Street strategists predict (since the propensity of the top 1% to spend their savings which are instead invested in the market, is far less than the broader population).
We concluded saying that as a result, reader should “expect even more aggressive cuts to GDP growth in coming quarters — from both Goldman and its peers — even as inflation continues to rise, cementing a painful period of non-transitory stagflation for the US as the mid-term elections approach.”
What happened then? Well, Q1 GDP was negative (vs Goldman’s 4.5% estimate), Q2 GDP was negative (vs Goldman’s 4.0% estimate), and the Atlanta Fed just slashed its Q3 GDP forecast to below 1% and look likely to push it below zero in the coming days. But don’t call it a recession: “special economic operation” please. And yes, our major warning to Goldman’s Oct 2021 GDP haircut was 100% correct as the US is now in a painful stagflation with inflation still soaring, economic growth sliding, and most banks tripping over themselves to slash their GDP forecasts monthly if not weekly.
Which brings us to today, and — drumroll — Goldman’ latest trim of its GDP estimate which is a far, far cry from what the bank expected less than a year ago.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Inflation Tops 10% in European Union
Eurozone inflation reached 9.1% in August, more than tripling year-on-year, with food and energy prices remaining on an upward curve, the European Statistical Office (Eurostat) said in a report published on Friday.
“The euro area annual inflation rate was 9.1% in August 2022, up from 8.9% in July. A year earlier, the rate was 3.0%,” the EU statistical office said.
In August, the largest contributor to the annual euro area inflation rate was energy, followed by food, alcohol and tobacco, services and non-energy industrial goods, Eurostat said.
“European Union annual inflation was 10.1% in August 2022, up from 9.8% in July,” Eurostat said, adding that a year earlier, this figure was 3.2%.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Winter of Discontent: ‘Social Unrest’ Possible if Europe Sees a Cold Winter — IMF
Europe is now looking at the possibility of “social unrest” should the continent be hit with a cold winter this year, the head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has now warned.
“Social unrest” is now very much a possibility in Europe this winter over the continent’s dire energy and economic situation, with the head of the IMF warning on Wednesday that a cold winter could be what puts the continent over the edge.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Breaking: Ludacris’ Manager Chaka Zulu Charged With Murder in June Shooting
Chaka Zulu, the longtime manager for rapper Ludacris, was charged with murder this week following a June shooting that killed a 23-year-old man, according to police.
The music executive, whose real name is Ahmed Obafemi, was also injured in the June 26 shooting in the parking lot of a Buckhead shopping center in the 2200 block of Peachtree Road. The shooting killed Artez Jamil Benton, a DeKalb County native and a recent college graduate.
Atlanta investigators later identified Zulu as a suspect in Benton’s death. On Tuesday, Zulu surrendered and was booked into the Fulton County jail on four charges, including murder, aggravated assault, simple battery and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, booking records showed. He was released the same day on $200,000 bond, according to jail records.
It was the first arrest in the case since the night of the shooting.
| — Hat tip: DV | [Return to headlines] |
Colleges Mandate New Boosters for Students Despite Expert Doubts About Extent of Testing
As colleges nationwide require their students to receive new “bivalent” COVID-19 boosters, thus far tested only on eight mice, the feds are taking a greater interest in vaccine-related adverse events and owning up to earlier misrepresentations.
Less than a month after approving the non-mRNA vaccine Novavax for adolescents, a higher-risk group for post-vaccine heart inflammation, the FDA revised the conditions of its emergency use authorization Sept. 13.
Novavax must now report cases of myocarditis and pericarditis to the Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System regardless of whether they meet the definition of “serious adverse events” (SAEs), the revised EUA letter says.
SAEs go beyond heart inflammation. National Institutes of Health researchers recently found “a variety of neuropathic symptoms” within a month of COVID vaccination in a small observational study.
Coauthors of a new peer-reviewed study that found an “excess risk” of 1,250 SAEs per million COVID vaccinations wrote an essay this week warning that regulators were tolerating far greater risks than for previous vaccines, which have a rate of 1-2 per million.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Dallas Launches City-Wide ‘Racial Equity Plan’
Manhattan Institute senior fellow and journalist Christopher Rufo revealed that the City of Dallas has implemented a “racial equity plan.”
Rufo wrote, “The City of Dallas has adopted a new ‘racial equity plan’ that uses the language of critical race theory and argues for replacing the goal of “equality” with the goal of “equity,” or equality of outcomes.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
DeSantis Crushes Gubernatorial Fundraising Record
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’ political operation has raised $177.4 million through Sept. 9, breaking the all-time fundraising record for a US governor’s campaign, and trailing a 2010 record for fundraising + self-financing held by former Ebay and Hewlett Packard CEO Meg Whitman by just over $1 million.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Election Deniers? 82 Democrats Who Called GOP Election Wins Questionable, Illegitimate or Stolen
Democrats and their media allies have sought to stigmatize Republicans concerned about 2020 voting irregularities as “election deniers,” yet scores of leading Democrats have themselves raised concerns about elections won by Republicans since 2000, including claiming elections were stolen and attempting to change the outcome of presidential elections by objecting to the certification of state electoral college votes.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
‘I’ll Bring My Hair Gel’: Gavin Newsom Challenges Ron DeSantis to a Debate
California Governor Gavin Newsom challenged Florida Governor Ron DeSantis to a debate via Twitter on Friday, just days after DeSantis successfully migrated 50 illegal aliens from Florida to Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts.
Newsome wrote, “Hey @GovRonDeSantis, clearly you’re struggling, distracted, and busy playing politics with people’s lives. Since you have only one overriding need—attention—let’s take this up & debate. I’ll bring my hair gel. You bring your hairspray. Name the time before Election Day. @CNN
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Killing Your Kid: Scientists Find That COVID Shots Are Up to 98 Times Worse Than the Virus
It was last year already that a researcher predicted that for every child “saved” by the Covid “vaccines,” 117 would be killed by them. Such warnings not only fell on deaf establishment ears, but also often meant censorship for those echoing them. But now nine researchers from establishment institutions, such as Harvard University, are essentially sounding the same alarm.
In fact, they assert that Covid “vaccines” are for college students up to 98 times as dangerous as the disease itself.
Thus is forcing the shots upon these young people “ethically unjustifiable,” these experts say.
Titled “Covid-19 Vaccine Boosters for Young Adults: A Risk-Benefit Assessment and Five Ethical Arguments against Mandates at Universities” and published September 12, the study was conducted by researchers from eight different establishment institutions, including Harvard, Oxford, and Johns Hopkins universities. Opening their “abstract” (summary) by noting that students “at North American universities risk disenrollment due to third dose Covid-19 vaccine mandates,” the experts then state, “We present a risk-benefit assessment of boosters in this age group and provide five ethical arguments against mandates.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Meta Oversight Board Says Facebook’s Image Auto-Censorship Tech is Broken, Harming Free Speech
Meta’s Oversight Board said the company should improve its automated image takedown system. The system mistakenly removed posts featuring a cartoon image showing police violence in Colombia.
The image was added to Meta’s Media Matching Service database. Once an image is added to the database, it is automatically taken down when it is posted.
According to the Oversight Board, 215 people appealed the removal of the image, and 98% of them were successful. Despite the successful appeals, Meta did not remove the image from the database.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
New Software Negates Latest “Ghost Gun” Rules
A new software program (protected under the First Amendment) is protecting the Second Amendment. The software allows a 3D printer to create a “jig,” a simple but necessary piece of plastic that is used in assembling a firearm at home.
After the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) issued its latest infringement on the Second Amendment, software developers quickly created open source (free to the world) software to allow owners of 3D printers to print out their own jig. In essence this is an end-run around the latest ATF transgression of precious rights.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Parler Restructures, Purchases Cloud Hosting Company Dynascale
Parler, an alternative to Twitter that allows more free speech, will now operate under a new parent company Parlement Technologies, after it acquired Dynascale, a company that provides cloud services. The vision is to provide businesses with internet infrastructure without the risk of getting censored by Big Tech.
Parler’s CEO George Farmer told the Wall Street Journal that Parlement is “talking to a large range of conservative businesses” about providing them with cloud services.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
US Army’s Recruiting Crisis Worsens as Test Scores Drop, Disqualifications Rates Surge
The US Army has a major recruiting problem and can’t find enough young people who meet the basic requirements to enlist, according to Army Times.
Lt. Gen. Maria Gervais, second in command for Army Training and Doctrine Command, sounded off Thursday about the troubling developments. She highlighted disqualification rates for potential recruits jumped from 30-40% (pre-Covid) to a whopping 70% this year due to obesity, low test scores, and/or drug use.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Canada’s Proposed Online Streaming Bill Raises Privacy Concerns, Commissioner Admits
Canada’s federal privacy commissioner Philippe Dufresne told the Senate transport and communications committee that Bill C-11 (the online streaming bill) poses privacy issues. The committee is reviewing the bill, which would force streaming companies to push mainstream Canadian content.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Global News Reportedly Hanging on by a Thread
Global News, one of the largest news networks in Canada, is reportedly facing up against the prospect of a difficult future amid seemingly no longer being financially viable.
Even though the network has received generous grants from the Trudeau government, a new report from Blacklock’s details how some inside the company view it as essentially hanging on by a thread.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Live Updates: Protesters Rally Worldwide for Freedom
The Worldwide Freedom Rally is currently in action in cities across Canada as well as the rest of the world. Rebel News reporters are in the field and providing up-to-date coverage of the lively protests in Toronto, Calgary, Edmonton and Montreal.
You can find all of our live coverage throughout the day inside the protests below.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Pastor Artur is in Politics! Meet the New Leader of Alberta’s Independence Party
On September 10, 2022 Artur Pawlowski was officially elected as the newest leader of the Independence Party of Alberta.
As the new leader, Arthur goes in-depth about how this campaign has personally affected him, and what plans he has for the future to help return prosperity to Alberta.
Over the course of the last few weeks, former leadership hopeful Katherine Kowalchuk and Artur Pawlowski went head-to-head in leadership debates which took place all over the province of Alberta.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Independent Canadian media outlet Rebel News and its co-founder Ezra Levant have been served with a lawsuit threat from an associate professor who previously suggested the outlet should be shut down for “spreading false information.”
The lawsuit threat was issued by solicitors representing Dr. Jean-Christophe Boucher, an associate professor at the University of Calgary, and claims that some of the statements Rebel News and Levant made about Boucher in a June 2022 article and its associated audio and video segments are “false and defamatory.” It also includes notice of intention to bring a defamation lawsuit.
The Rebel News article and its associated segments criticized Boucher’s past tweets about Rebel News and a June 2022 “Disinformation and Russia-Ukrainian war on Canadian Social Media” briefing paper from the University of Calgary that Boucher co-authored.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Unmarked Graves Narrative to be Exposed in Exclusive Documentary
On last night’s episode of Rebel Roundup, Rebel News reporter Drea Humphrey joins host David Menzies to talk about the upcoming release of the documentary Kamloops: The Buried Truth. The documentary follows the investigative journalism of Drea Humphrey and Matt Brevner, who expose the truth about the narrative surrounding the discovery of 215 unmarked graves in Kamloops, British Columbia.
Drea provided us with some extra details about the lack of police investigation into the ‘unmarked graves’ from the RCMP. She talked about how they originally asked some critical questions about the graves, and then backed off after being told by the discoverers of the graves that their questions were ‘too intimidating.’ The Rebel reporter spoke about the implications of the widespread misleading narrative, including the burning or vandalization of almost 70 churches, which were either ignored or justified by the government and mainstream media.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Aimed at China? EU Proposes Ban on Goods Made With Forced Labour
The European Union has now formally proposed a ban on all goods made with forced labour from being sold within the bloc, a move that is seen as being aimed at China’s abuse of minorities.
A ban on the sale of all goods manufactured with the use of forced labour is now a step closer to being implemented in the EU, with the European Commission releasing a draft proposal detailing the measure on Wednesday.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Berlin Police Drawing Up Emergency Plans for Energy Grid Collapse
Police in the German capital of Berlin are preparing emergency plans in anticipation of a possible collapse of the energy grid.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
Chief Editor of Polish TV Channel Blocked by YouTube: Big Tech Realizing Communist Dream
YouTube has blocked the PCh24 (Polonia Christiana) TV channel for a week for publishing a film about Bill Gates, the chief editor of the channel, Krystian Kratiuk, revealed in an interview with portal dorzeczy.pl.
YouTube has stopped any publication by the TV channel for one week and threatened to block the account entirely should it “re-offend” in the next three months.
This is not the first such instance of censorship the channel has experienced. When PCh24 wanted to publish material for its film on the aims of the sexual revolution, a ban was imposed; but this time the channel has faced preventative censorship for a film that raises public domain information about Bill Gates, such as the fact that he had been promoting mass vaccination as if predicting pandemics.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Days after we reported, the German government is in talks to take over troubled natural gas importer Uniper SE. Takeover discussions are allegedly expanding to two other large NatGas importers in a move by the government to prevent a ‘Lehman-style’ collapse in Europe’s largest economy.
Uniper, VNG AG, and Securing Energy for Europe GmbH (formerly Gazprom Germania GmbH) are the three NatGas importers the German government is in advanced takeover talks, according to Bloomberg, citing people familiar with the matter.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Germany: In Pictures: Oktoberfest Returns Following 2 Year Hiatus
Oktoberfest is back in Germany following a two-year hiatus due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Revellers surged into venues at 9:00 a.m. local time to get prime seats for the epic beer festival, which began with Munich’s mayor tapping the first keg and announcing “o’zapft is,” or “it’s tapped” in the Bavarian dialect.
Now in its 187th incarnation, Euronews has compiled a selection of some of the best Oktoberfest photographs, showing the bicep-challenging beer mugs, pretzels the size of dinner plants, men and women in traditional dress, plus much more.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Germany Announces Takeover of Russian-Owned Oil Refineries
Germany has announced the takeover of three Russian-owned oil refineries ahead of the European Union’s deadline to embargo Russian oil on January 1, 2023.
As energy prices continue to skyrocket in Germany and the rest of Europe amid Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine, the German government announced Friday that it has taken control of Rosneft Deutschland GmbH and RN Refining & Marketing GmbH. The two companies were owned up until now by Russian oil and gas company Rosneft.
The German government said the move is to ensure the continued production of oil as the country and much of Europe seek to cut their dependence on Russia.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Netherlands: Princess Amalia, Prime Minister Rutte Potentially Targeted by Organized Crime
Security measures have been heightened for Princess Amalia and Prime Minister Mark Rutte amid fears that an organized crime group will attack or kidnap one of them, De Telegraaf reports.
The police and Public Prosecution Service (OM) are on high alert because of indications that the group’s leaders will target the princess or prime minister. Authorities are also concerned with the recent close contact between two high-profile inmates of the Extra Secure Institution in Vught, Ridouan Taghi and Mohammed B.
Taghi is an alleged criminal leader, while B. is serving a life sentence for the murder of Theo van Gogh. B. was transferred due to concerns that the two were becoming too close. However, they have since exchanged letters that may have contained encoded messages, according to De Telegraaf.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Netherlands: Many People Have Lost Faith in Current Cabinet: Poll
More people have lost faith in the current Cabinet than any other Cabinet under Prime Minister Mark Rutte, according to a poll from EenVandaag. Two thirds of respondents said they wanted new elections.
The Cabinet received a score of 3.3 from 30,000 respondents on EenVandaag’s Opinion Panel. The energy, purchasing power and migrant crises were the some of the reasons many people felt the current Cabinet was ineffective. The nitrogen controversy and gas extraction in Groningen were also important issues to the panelists.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Poland to Tighten Border With Russia’s Kaliningrad
Poland will tighten up security on its border with Russia’s Kalininigrad region as it increasingly sees Russia as an unstable neighbor.
Deputy Minister of the Interior Bartosz Grodecki told the Polish Press Agency on Thursday that Poland’s Border Authority was engaged in a project of introducing an effective and modern system of perimeter security to protect Poland’s border with the Kaliningrad region. He referred to Russia as an “unstable neighbor.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Man, 24, Charged After Two Police Officers Stabbed in Leicester Square on Friday
A 24-year-old man has been charged by detectives investigating the stabbing of two police officers in Leicester Square on Friday morning.
In a statement on Saturday night, the Met said: “Mohammed Rahman, 24, (31.12.97) of Westbourne Park Road, W2 was charged on Saturday, 17 September, with attempted murder and Section 18 GBH with intent.”The attempted murder charge relates to a male police constable, the GBH to a female police constable.
“He was also charged with assault (ABH) and two counts of threatening a person in a public place with a bladed article.”These charges relate to three other police constables.”In addition, he was charged with robbery and possession of a bladed article.”
| — Hat tip: Dean | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Watch: Man Tackled to Floor After Attacking the Queen’s Coffin
A man who rushed out of a queue of mourners to attack the Queen’s coffin as it lies in state at Westminster Hall was slammed to the ground and dragged from the premises by police and parliamentary security.
The attacker, a black-haired, dark-skinned man still unidentified as of the time of publication, is reported to have bowled over a seven-year-old girl as he dashed at the catafalque bearing the Queen’s coffin.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
‘Unarmed’ Black Male Shot by UK Cops Drove Car at Officers: Claim
A drill rapper whose fatal shooting by police has sparked Black Lives Matter protests drove his car at officers before he was fired on, reports claim.
23-year-old Chris Kaba, previously imprisoned for firearms offences but not carrying a gun at the time of his death, was shot dead by law enforcement after being blocked in by police following a dangerous car chase.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Iran: Mahsa Amini: Women Take Headscarves Off in Protest at Funeral
Protests have broken out at the funeral of a woman who died after being arrested by Iran’s morality police.
Mahsa Amini, 22, died on Friday, days after eyewitnesses said she was beaten in a police van in Tehran — allegations denied by police.
Some women at the ceremony reportedly removed their headscarves in protest at the compulsory wearing of hijabs.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
A Rejection of the Unipolar World in Samarkand
It was more than a symbolic gesture: At a meeting in Uzbekistan, Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin and Chinese head of state and party Xi Jinping swore by the “boundless friendship” between their two countries. They underscored the common goal of a new world order not dominated by the West.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Ukraine War: Russia’s New Defences in Northeast, Polish Waterway Opened, ‘War Crimes’ Tribunal
1. Russian doubling down after Ukraine advances
Russia’s troops are setting up a new defensive line in northeastern Ukraine as Kyiv’s troops press on with their offensive.
In a daily intelligence update, Britian’s Defense Ministry (MoD) said the line will probably be between the Oskil River and Svatove, some 150 kilometers from Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city.
“Russia likely sees maintaining control of this zone as important because it is transited by one of the few main resupply routes Russia still controls from the Belgorod region of Russia,” the MoD said.
“Russia will likely attempt to conduct a stubborn defence of this area, but it is unclear whether Russia’s front line forces have sufficient reserves or adequate morale to withstand another concerted Ukrainian assault,” it added.
Russian forces new defensive position comes after a rapid Ukrainian counteroffensive, which punched a hole through the old front line in the war, allowing Kyiv to recaptured large swaths of land in the northeastern Kharkiv region bordering Russia.
Ukraine is continuing to press into territory once held by Russia, having launced the offensive a week ago.
Kharkiv was captured by Russia early on in the war and has remained in Russian hands ever since.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
US Arms Manufacturing Companies Gain at the Cost of Russia-Ukraine War
Even as the overall US stock market is going down, shares of these companies have been rising since the war started in February.
United States-based arms manufacturing companies are reaping benefits of the Russia-Ukraine war as, even as the overall US stock market is going down, the shares of these companies have been rising since the war started in February.
The Joe Biden administration, since the start of the war between Ukraine and Russia, has provided Ukraine with a total military aid worth $25 billion which is six times more than what the United Kingdom has given, the second country on the list of military assistance providers to Ukraine. The war between the two countries is now eight-month long. Of the $25 billion given by the US—as per “Ukraine Support tracker”, which is an initiative of the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, a think tank based in Kiel, Germany—$8.6 billion is what has been described as “Weapons and equipment (specific items committed)”, while the remaining $16.4 billion is described as “Financial aid with military purpose (e.g. to finance future weapon purchase).
The war, which began in February end, has coincided with the earnings and the share price of top US and UK-based arms companies witnessing a sharp jump, despite the overall market in these two countries experiencing a slowdown due to multiple reasons.
In February, when the war was about to begin, the share price of Lockheed Martin was $385. It crossed $470 within days of the first shot being fired (an increase of 23%) and is now hovering around $430. Similarly, the share price of Northrop Grumman Corporation, a global aerospace and defense company, which was $386 in February end, rose to $485, an increase of 26% within months and right now is trading at $470.
The fortunes of the France-based Thales group, which is listed at the Paris stock exchange, too, improved after the war started. Its share was trading at 84 Euro when the war began, now it is being traded at 125-130 Euro, a rise of 55%. Among others, it manufactures Javelin surface-to-air missiles, more than 8,500 of which the US has sent to Ukraine.
The shares of the US-based AeroVironment, which manufactures Switchblade Tactical Unmanned Aerial Systems, 700 of which the US has given to Ukraine, were trading at $59 in February end, it touched a high of $110, an increase of 86% and is now being bought and sold at $100-$105.
Similarly, the war has come as good news for the shares of BAE Systems which manufactures Howitzer artillery guns. The shares, which were hovering in the early $30s during the start of the war, are trading for more than $40. Another defence company that has benefited from this war is General Dynamics Corporation, whose share rose from $200 at the starting of the war to more than $240.
To put things in perspective, the value of the Standard and Poor’s 500, or simply the S&P 500, which is a stock market index tracking the stock performance of 500 large companies listed on exchanges in the United States, has gone down by 11.49 % in the same time period.
| — Hat tip: JW | [Return to headlines] |
Hong Kong Man Jailed for “Sedition” For Criticizing Government Online
53-year-old Raymond Chen has been sentenced for four months for violating Hong Kong’s “sedition” law. He had shared 23 posts online, criticizing Beijing and the Hong Kong government. Some of the posts called for the independence of Hong Kong.
Chen pleaded guilty to sharing posts criticizing the government. He shared the posts on his Telegram Channel between July 2020 and June 2022.
The Telegram Channel, called “HK’s upcoming War of Independence,” had over 500 users. Some of the posts had the slogan “Liberate Hong Kong, revolution of our times.” The slogan was the used for the 2019 pro-democracy protests.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Lithium Prices Skyrocket, Posing Headache for Electric Vehicle Manufacturers
Lithium prices are skyrocketing worldwide, driving up the cost of electric vehicle manufacturing at a moment when car developers are re-orienting huge portions of their output to developing EVs.
Lithium “hit a fresh record of 500,500 yuan ($71,315) a ton in China Friday, according to data from Asian Metal Inc,” Bloomberg reported this week.
That represents roughly a tripling of lithium prices in that country over the past year. Disruptions to the electric grid in Sichuan—where one-fifth of China’s lithium processing takes place—have contributed to the soaring prices.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Pope Francis Throws Hong Kong Cardinal Joseph Zen Under the Bus
ROME — Pope Francis has decided not to protest the Hong Kong trial of Cardinal Joseph Zen, arrested last May for his part in the nation’s pro-democracy movement.
This week a reporter asked the pope whether Cardinal Zen’s arrest and trial constitute a violation of religious freedom, to which the pontiff basically answered that Zen got what was coming to him.
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TikTok Won’t Promise to Stop Transferring US Data to China: COO
TikTok COO Vanessa Pappas refused to commit to stopping the transfer of US data to China.
During testimony in front of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, Pappas was asked by Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH) if the company would commit “to cutting off all data and data flows to China, China-based TikTok employees, ByteDance employees, or any other party in China that might have the capability to access information on US users?”
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“The Truth About Ivermectin”: The Motives Behind the War on Life-Saving Medicine
“Of all the harmful misinformation spread over the past couple of years, one of the most disturbing false narratives was targeted at the Nobel Prize winning HUMAN medicine, Ivermectin,” opens the short film “The Truth About Ivermectin” by Mikki Willis (video embedded below).
Of all the seemingly erratic and inconsistent elements of the “Covid pandemic response,” the most bewildering part is the well-organized and coordinated smear campaign against and active suppression of the repurposed drugs that showed efficacy against Covid. One of those repurposed drugs is ivermectin, a decades-old antiparasitic and antiviral drug that was first approved for human use in 1987.
After being administered hundreds of millions of times to vulnerable populations around the globe, the drug took center stage in April 2020 when Australian researchers from Monash University found that just a single dose could stop SARS-CoV-2 — a virus that causes Covid — from growing in cell culture.
“We found that even a single dose could essentially remove all viral RNA by 48 hours and that even at 24 hours there was a really significant reduction in it,” Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute’s Dr. Kylie Wagstaff revealed.
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Australian Study Treats Climate Change Skepticism as a Mental Disorder
A team of psychological researchers from Australia is delving into the mindset of those who refuse to buy the notion that man-made climate change is quickly creating an unlivable, barren wasteland on Earth. Researchers from the University of the Sunshine Coast looked to explain why such “cranks” continue to deny what they call “the reality of climate change, its causes, impacts and the need for mitigatory action.”
The study’s authors — Breanna Fraser, Patrick Nunn, and Rachael Sharman — set out to discover why climate change skeptics think the way they do, beyond what they call “sociodemographic and value factors.” Instead, the study proposed to look at psychological factors involved in climate change skepticism. The study asked 390 Australian participants why they refused to buy the climate change narrative.
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Another bus transporting migrants from the southern border has arrived at the Washington DC residence of Vice President Kamala Harris, while three more buses arrived in New York City.
On Saturday morning at the Naval Observatory in DC, a charter bus with Texas plates dropped off about 50 people, mostly from Venezuela, including several children and a one-month-old infant, Fox News reported.
Aid workers quickly swooped in to remove the group from the vice president’s doorstep, taking them to a local shelter for support services.
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DeSantis Calls Virtue Signaling of Sanctuary Cities ‘A Fraud’
Authored by Jannis Falkenstern via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours)
Gov. Ron DeSantis responded to criticism about his sending illegal aliens to affluent Martha’s Vineyard by calling out the cities that “beat their chest” proclaiming they’re a sanctuary for those crossing the border illegally.
“All those people in DC and New York were beating their chests when Trump was president saying they were so proud to be sanctuary jurisdictions— saying how bad it was to have a secure border. The minute even a small fraction of what those border towns deal with every day is brought to their front door, they all of a sudden go berserk and they’re so upset that this is happening,” DeSantis said at the press conference on Sept. 15 in Okaloosa County. “It just shows, you know, their virtue signaling is a fraud.”
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Five of the Venezuelan migrants shipped from Martha’s Vineyard to Joint Base Cape Cod today enjoyed a shopping trip to a nearby mall — as revealed in DailyMail.com pictures.
A family of three and two young males — among the 50 originally flown to the exclusive Massachusetts island by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis on Wednesday — strolled around a Target excitedly gazing at the goods.
They were dropped off at smart Cape Cod Mall in Hyannis in the same yellow coach that had whisked them by ferry from Martha’s Vineyard the previous day to the massive military base on the mainland.
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Tucker Carlson on Friday night mocked the residents of Martha’s Vineyard for their response to the arrival of 50 Venezuelan migrants, and pointed out that the $43,000 raised in a GoFundMe was not even going directly to those affected.
The migrants were flown to the holiday island from Texas on Wednesday, on flights chartered by Florida’s governor Ron DeSantis. On Friday morning, the 50 left Martha’s Vineyard, bound for a Cape Cod air base which was better equipped to house them.
Carlson laughed at the residents for what he saw as hysteria over the newcomers, and noted that their donations to help were not being used to help the immediate situation.
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How Many Migrants Have Arrived in Chicago Since the First Bus From Texas Was Sent?
It’s been over two weeks since the first bus of asylum-seeking migrants arrived in Texas from Chicago as part of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s “Operation Lone Star”, which has sent migrants to New York City and Washington, D.C. as well.
Since then, Chicago has received 654 migrants from Texas on 12 buses, with an additional 48 migrants arriving in the city on Friday.
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Despite the White House fury that GOP governors face for sending migrants to sanctuary cities, El Paso’s Democrat-led city government has been doing the same for weeks — and is asking for the Biden administration to pay for it.
Led by Mayor Oscar Leeser, a Democrat, the Texas border city has dispatched at least 28 charter buses filled with migrants to New York City since August 23, at a cost of more than $600,000, KFOX-TV reported this week.
City officials say that they expect the buses to be paid for by Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), as part of a quarterly reimbursement process covering emergency food and shelter for migrants.
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Sweden Democrats Will be ‘Watchdog’ on Immigration and Crime Reforms, Vows Prominent Swedish MEP
The Sweden Democrats, a right-wing, populist and Eurosceptic party that will form part of Sweden’s new government will be a “watchdog for change,” according to one of its leading MEPs.
In an interview with Britain’s Nigel Farage on GB News, MEP Charlie Weimers revealed that his party — which received the second-highest number of votes in Sunday’s election in Sweden — will lobby for stricter immigration controls, reforms to fight crime, and support for nuclear energy as a solution to the country’s energy crisis.
“We will be a change watchdog,” Weimers told the British news outlet. “We will make sure that action is actually taken to control migration, an area where the previous government failed utterly, and that we actually start to implement reforms to fight crime.
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Texas Public Policy Foundation Seeks Official Declaration of Invasion at Southern Border
Texas Public Policy Foundation CEO Greg Sindelar is encouraging Texas to declare an invasion at the southern border to protect Texas sovereignty and Texans “from cartel forces and their allies.”
The Center Square reported:
Sindelar says the foundation is advocating for the state of Texas to declare that “an invasion [is] underway, from cartel forces and their allies, under the U.S. Constitution’s Article I, Section 10.” It’s also calling on the federal government to designate Mexican cartels as terror organizations, among other policies it will be proposing.
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Virginia Education Regulators Shift Control of Transgender Issues Back to Parents
Virginia public schools will no longer be allowed to provide gender affirming counseling services to students without first consulting with their parents, per new guidelines from the Virginia Department of Education.
In a shift away from the previous administration, the new guidelines state parents must be informed and given the opportunity to object before the school provides counseling services related to gender. The guidelines say schools should designate a counselor to speak with the student and parents together if requested by the parents.
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At a conference in Warsaw, a high-ranking NATO official appeared in socks with an inscription offensive to Russians. The director of the NATO Strategic Communications Center (StratCom) in Riga, Janis Sarts, wore Ukrainian-made socks with the Russophobic slogan “Treading Rusnya” to the public meeting. (disparagingly the name of the Russians)
https://life.ru/p/1524502
Cometh the Horsemen:
Pandemic, Famine, War | Michael Yon | #274
1 264 033 visningar – 28 juli 2022
We are heading into one of the most epic famines in world history,
where the poor will freeze in the dark and burn in the sun while they starve. …
Jordan B Peterson
https://youtu.be/R7gAEkzIgvw
Kyrgyz use Turkish Bayraktars against Tajiks .
It is logical that the Tajiks will start using Iranian Shaheeds, the production of which has been established in Tajikistan. True, the Turks are better at PR than the Iranians, which can be seen in numerous viral videos …
Iran vs Turan, a new reading.
https://t.me/whattackwhat/3964
Meanwhile, Pelosi in Yerevan promises to protect this country from the Turks and Azerbaijanis.
Hm. The post-Soviet space is no more. You know, Russians (by origin, not by citizenship) are very happy about this.