The Estonian Prime Minister warned that the country may experience blackouts if Russia cuts the flow of electricity through its grid connections to Estonia. Meanwhile, Poland is cancelling New Year’s Eve celebrations and cutting back on Christmas lighting to save energy this winter.
In other news, Pink Floyd co-founder Roger Waters cancelled his tour of Polish cities after making controversial remarks criticizing Ukraine and supporting Russia.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to Dean, DV, LP, Reader from Chicago, Roger, 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.
Norway Central Bank Raises Key Rate to Fight Inflation
COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Norway’s central bank on Thursday raised its key policy interest rate by a quarter-percentage point to 2.25%, as other banks around the world also move to bring down inflation.
Norges Bank said inflation — which reached 6.5% in August — “has risen rapidly over the past months and has been far higher than projected.”
“Inflation is markedly above our target of 2%, and there are prospects that inflation will remain high for longer than projected earlier,” Governor Ida Wolden Bache said in a statement.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Polish City Cancels New Year’s Eve and Cuts Christmas Lights Amid Sky-High Energy Costs
The traditional New Year’s Eve celebrations in the city of Wroclaw will not take place this year, while Christmas illuminations will be confined to the city’s main market square, as city officials scramble to save on electricity bills amid skyrocketing energy prices and accelerating inflation.
Other lighting and the temperature and water in public buildings will also be reduced, while various events and festivals have been cancelled, Wroclaw mayor Jacek Sutryk has said in a press conference.
A tender to supply electricity to the city has been cancelled after the only offer — from a subsidiary of the state-owned company PGE — was over six times the current cost.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Accused Killer Back in Jail Saturday After Allegedly Committing Drive-by Shooting While Out on Bond
BATON ROUGE — A murder suspect is back in jail Saturday after allegedly shooting another victim while he was out on bond last month.
Luke Simmons, 39, was arrested back in December 2021 on allegations that he shot and killed a man on Spanish Town Road earlier that same month. Court records show Judge Eboni Johnson Rose set his bond at $115,000, and he was released from jail in February.
Simmons was taken back into custody Saturday, this time for an Aug. 25 drive-by outside a home on N. 19th Street which put a man in the hospital. An arrest warrant said that the victim was shot in the back and lost all feeling in his legs after the shooting.
Baton Rouge Police Chief Murphy Paul announced Thursday officers were once again looking to arrest him following the drive-by.
| — Hat tip: LP | [Return to headlines] |
Apple’s Privacy Claims Are Undermined by Turning Over Data to Law Enforcement With Little Challenge
Apple has long touted itself as privacy-focused. However, experts say the company can do more to protect user data, especially since the company is quick to turn data over to law enforcement with little pushback or oversight.
Law enforcement agencies in the US have increasingly requested user data from tech companies for investigations and prosecutions in recent years. Privacy advocates have raised concerns about law enforcement agencies’ access to digital data stored by tech companies, arguing it is a violation of the Fourth Amendment, which protects people from unreasonable searches.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
‘Central Park Karen’ Loses Wrongful Termination Lawsuit Against Former Employer
Karen posted her latest L.
A New York Judge on Wednesday dismissed a lawsuit filed by Amy Cooper, also known as “Central Park Karen,” ending the wrongful termination and defamation Cooper launched against her former employer, Franklin Templeton.
Amy Cooper was blasted on social media in 2020 for calling 911 on a black birdwatcher in Central Park.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Conservatives Infiltrate Silicon Valley School Board Races
Silicon Valley’s school board races have become the focus of a local right-wing group, and experts and school officials worry the outcomes could become politically polarizing.
The infiltration of far-right candidates in local school board races could have an impact on curriculum and day-to-day district governance.
The Silicon Valley Association of Republican Women is recruiting and grooming a slate of school board candidates on the ballot this November. The effort is part of a national movement to put more conservative voices in down-ballot seats.
Dozens of candidates are running in more than 30 school board races in districts that serve hundreds of thousands of students. If elected, board members will be responsible for millions in funding and tackling issues like school safety and police on campus, as well as education disparity and teacher housing.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Joe Rogan Weighs in on New Illinois Cashless Bail Law: ‘It’s Crazy’
Apodcast host with a listenership nearly the size of the entire state of Illinois called the state’s controversial SAFE-T Act “crazy” and that “everyone’s freaking out,” an issue being seized upon by a political action committee in its onslaught against Gov. J.B. Pritzker in the final weeks of the election.
For weeks, People Who Play By The Rules PAC have been releasing ads against Pritzker and Democrats over the SAFE-T Act. One recent ad some stations pulled shows surveillance video of a woman being mugged in broad daylight in Chicago. Friday, Pritker condemned the ad.
“I think it’s terrible to run a commercial showing the crime against a woman who said she would not like that shown on television, that she would like that taken down,” Pritzker said. “I think we should have a debate and discussion about crime, but that is ridiculously over the top.”
Later Friday, the PAC highlighted organic promotion of SAFE-T Act criticism from a recent Joe Rogan Experience podcast with an estimated reach of 11 million people.
“On the September 21st edition of the Joe Rogan Experience (Audience size: 11 million plus, more than CBS’s 60 Minutes), he and Illinois native Will Harris were discussing crime in L.A. and then nationally, and Harris brought up his home state.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Key Lawmaker Worried FBI Whistleblowers Facing Retaliation as Evidence of Politicization Mounts
An FBI whistleblower who alleges the bureau has been diverting resources to create a false political narrative that America has a violent domestic extremism problem has been suspended, raising concerns about retaliation for cooperating with Congress.
Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan, the top Republican on the House Judiciary Committee and its likely chairman if the GOP wins the House in November, confirmed to Just the News that Steve Friend, a whistleblower whose identity was outed on TV recently, is facing some form of disciplinary action.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Los Angeles County Drops Mask Mandate for Public Transit
Los Angeles County lifted the masking requirement for mass transit starting Friday, as coronavirus cases continue to decline.
The county was the only jurisdiction in California to still mandate face masks for public transit. Now, masking will only be “strongly recommended” on transit vehicles and hubs.
Los Angeles County is now under the federal government’s “low” COVID-19 activity level and the weekly infection rate in the area is below 100 new cases per 100,000 residents.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
New York Judge Rules COVID Vaccine Mandate for NYPD Union Members Invalid
A New York judge ruled Friday that the city’s mandate requiring members of the New York City Police Department to be vaccinated against COVID-19 is invalid as applied to members of the Police Benevolent Association of the City of New York.
In the decision, State Supreme Court Justice Lyle Frank, sitting in Manhattan, ordered that members of the union that were caused to be “wrongfully terminated and/or put on leave without pay a result of non-compliance” be reinstated.
The filing said that the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene’s “conduct of unilaterally creating a condition of employment is improper,”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Nobody Cares: Trump Approval Rating Remains Stable Despite Multiple Investigations
Despite the best efforts of the January 6th committee and Biden’s ‘weaponized’ DOJ (which took 18 months to stage a public raid on the former President’s home), Americans just don’t care.
According to the most recent New York Times/Siena College poll — voters held nearly identical views from those earlier in the summer when it comes to a favorable view of Trump, whether they think he committed serious federal crimes, and who they would support in a potential 2024 Trump-Biden rematch.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
CARRINGTON, N.D. — During its homecoming game, the North Dakota high school where Cayler Ellingson recently graduated held a moment of silence in remembrance of the 18-year-old who was killed on Sunday after a political argument.
The moment of silence was held during Carrington High School’s homecoming football game on Friday night. Ellingson graduated from the high school in 2022.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
NYC: ‘I Killed Two Police Officers and My Religion Made Me Do It’
In his notorious black-and-red Reichstag Fire speech on September 1, Old Joe Biden declared: “Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans represent an extremism that threatens the very foundations of our republic.” But while Joe and his far-Left henchmen move to criminalize political dissent and fundamentally transform the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave into an authoritarian hellhole, they remain mum and indifferent regarding a genuine “extremism” that really does threaten “the very foundations of our republic.” Their silence is easy to explain: the real extremists are their friends and allies, as we saw again on Thursday, when a man named Dzenan Camovic was sentenced to 30 years in prison for attacking police officers during the George Floyd riots in New York City.
Camovic was not your average skeevy Antifa member with a well-developed drug habit and a glancing (at best) acquaintance with personal hygiene. The New York Post reported Wednesday that he was sentenced “for stabbing an NYPD cop in the neck and shooting two other officers in an ambush.” Camovic likely didn’t hit his stabbing victim, Officer Yayon Frantz Jean Pierre, in the neck at random. Camovic is a devout Muslim, and the Qur’an tells believers: “When you meet the unbelievers, strike the necks” (47:4). He has made no secret of his Islamic commitment: as he attacked the cops, he screamed “Allahu akbar.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
PLAINFIELD — The man accused of killing two people and wounding two others in a shooting earlier this month at a Plainfield motel may have yelled a racist remark toward the victim before opening fire on them, a court document alleges.
Witness statements indicate that Dalonny Rodgers, 28, also repeatedly taunted the victims — who are all Hispanic — while they were socializing. He then walked away twice and then came back. The third time he returned was when he opened fire, according to a probable cause affidavit.
The shooting resulted in the deaths of Alfredo Garcia, 52, and Jose Rolando Castenada Varela, 36. Two other men were hospitalized. One suffered several gunshot wounds to his right arm and both legs while a second suffered at least two gunshot wounds to his abdomen and leg. The latter had to have multiple surgeries for his injuries, according to the affidavit.
| — Hat tip: DV | [Return to headlines] |
On last night’s episode of the Ezra Levant Show, guest host Sheila Gunn Reid was joined by Rebel’s Katie Daviscourt to discuss how Seattle’s Chinatown neighbourhood is rebelling against municipal authorities over proposed plans to construct a massive homeless “megaplex” in their community.
The Chinatown-International District is already plagued by crime, so residents and business owners appear to have had enough with Seattle City Council imposing policies that could very well threaten their safety.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Senator Wyden: US Military Bought Mass Monitoring Tool That Includes Email and Browsing Data
Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) has revealed that the US Naval Investigative Service (NCIS) has a contract for “Augury” — a mass monitoring tool that reportedly covers 93% of the world’s internet traffic and provides access to petabytes of current and historical data.
Wyden made the revelation in a recent letter that urged officials at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Department of Defense (DOD), and Department of Justice (DOJ) to investigate their department’s “warrantless purchase and use of records revealing the websites Americans have accessed online.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Trump: ‘Vote Republican’ To Stop the ‘Decline and Fall of America’
Former President Donald Trump held a rally in North Carolina on Friday, seeking to build support for his endorsed candidates in the upcoming midterm election, urging the crowd to “vote Republican” to stop “the destruction of our country.”
Speaking for about 90 minutes at the Wilmington rally, Trump slammed the Democratic Party, and sarcastically encouraged onlookers to vote for them if they want to see the “decline and fall of America.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
University of Utah Student Arrested After Posting Nuclear Reactor Joke Online
The University of Utah police department arrested a student for making a joke about a nuclear reactor and the university’s football team.
On the social media platform Yik Yak, which allows students to communicate without revealing their names, Meredith Miller posted, “if we don’t win today, I’m detonating the nuclear reactor on campus.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
YouTube CEO is Questioned Over Censorship of US Senator
In a letter to YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki, Senator Ron Johnson demanded answers on the platform’s COVID-19 moderation policies because of repeated censorship of a sitting senator.
“YouTube has displayed a troubling track record of censoring a sitting United States Senator, the proceedings of the United States Senate, journalists that interview me, and the display of data that is entirely generated from U.S. government health agencies,” Johnson wrote.
The Wisconsin Republican and ranking member of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee asked YouTube to provide the committee with documents “concerning the development and implementation” of its COVID-19 content moderation policies.
The letter highlights several cases, starting in October 2021, where YouTube censored content or suspended the senator.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Hurricane Fiona: Canada Hit by ‘Historic, Extreme Event’
Hundreds of thousands of people have been left without power, after Storm Fiona hit Canada’s coastline.
Fiona was downgraded from a hurricane to a tropical storm on Friday.
But parts of Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick still experienced torrential rain and winds of up to 160km/h (99mph), with trees and powerlines knocked down.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the situation was critical, and promised to provide support through the army.
Officials have yet to share reports of fatalities or serious injuries, but authorities are dealing with extensive flooding.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Medical Doctors Denounce Trudeau’s Border Measures and Mandates as Useless
Today, a group of medical doctors held a conference condemning the remaining travel and border restrictions that remain in place by the Canadian federal government as ineffective.
The conference was hosted by the Canadian Tourism and Travel Roundtable, which consists of leaders from the travel and tourism industries across Canada.
The group of presenting medical doctors assessed the effectiveness of the federal government’s border measures and other travel restrictions in managing the COVID-19 pandemic.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
The Cost of ArriveCAN Exceeded $17 Million to Maintain This Year
The controversial software mandated for those entering Canada came in at nearly $400,000 over the budgeted $16,837,274 for fiscal year 2021-2022.
According to data tabled this week in the House of Commons in response to an inquiry of ministry, total expenditures on ArriveCAN hit $17,271,523 this year.
ArriveCAN’s mandatory use ends September 30, but it will not be decommissioned and the data collected will not be expunged. Instead, the app, and the privacy issues with it, will remain as a so-called “optional tool” for customs and immigration officials.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
After 90 Years, German Bakery to Close as Energy Costs Soar
COLOGNE, Germany — For 90 years, Engelbert Schlechtrimen’s family has been baking wheat rolls, rye bread and chocolate cakes in this western German city. Next month, they will turn off the ovens for good, because they can no longer afford rising energy prices resulting from Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Schlechtrimen’s grandparents founded the bakery in Cologne before World War II. The 58-year-old took over the business 28 years ago from his father and turned it into an organic store that uses traditional recipes and bans chemical additives in the bakehouse.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Denmark’s New Digital ID System Risks Locking Some People Out of Society
Denmark has introduced a new digital ID system (MitID) that became the default on September 22. However, there are concerns that the rushed phaseout of the previous system (NemID) will have a negative impact on Danes that do not own smartphones and the digital illiterate.
Danes will need to use the MitID system to access financial and government services. When accessing services like tax filings, they will be prompted to use the MitID app to generate a code for secure access.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
UNITED NATIONS, New York — Hungary would likely benefit from seeing former President Trump return to office as the two countries enjoyed the “best-ever political relationship” during his administration, the Hungarian foreign minister told Fox News Digital.
“Definitely, we work together with those who are elected here in the U.S.,” Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto told Fox News Digital at the United Nations. “Well, but we have to be honest: If you look at the relationship, the political relationship under conservative or Republican administration and under Democratic administration, there’s a big change.
“Under the term of President Trump, we had the best-ever political relationship between the two countries, [the] best-ever relationship,” he continued. “We respect President Trump a lot.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Explosion Rocks Another Building in Sweden
An explosion shook the Swedish capital on Saturday, spreading fear among locals following another blast a little over a day earlier, local media reported.
The blast took place at an apartment building just past midnight in Stockholm, just a day after a major explosion that devastated another apartment building in Solna, north of the capital.
It is unclear if anyone died or was injured in the second explosion. There were reportedly no casualties from the first blast.
Police are trying to establish if there is a connection between the two explosions.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Italy’s parliamentary election on Sunday is expected to make history as a right-wing candidate who campaigned on a nationalist platform is expected to become the country’s first female prime minister.
Italians will head to the polls on Sunday to elect a new parliament and determine who will govern the country next. Polls forecast the country’s Brothers of Italy party will take 25% of the vote on Sunday, and elect party leader Giorgia Meloni as the country’s first female prime minister.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Climate-change zealots are plotting to paralyse Parliament during a six-week campaign of chaos, an investigation by The Mail on Sunday can reveal.
Activists from Just Stop Oil will block key roads and bridges around Westminster next month in a direct challenge to Liz Truss’s Conservative Government.
Organisers are preparing for 3,000 of their volunteers to be arrested during days of protest and disruption designed to stretch the police to breaking point and clog the capital’s courts.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Meloni: Establishment Left is Afraid of Right-Wing Election Victory This Weekend
Brothers of Italy (FdI) leader and conservative firebrand Giorgia Meloni has said that the establishment left is afraid of her right-populist coalition winning the Italian national election this weekend, promising a new era of freedom for Italians.
Meloni made her comments this week during a rally in the Piazza del Popolo in Rome, saying: “Italy is better than the left-wing governments it has had in recent years. The left is there to blather that everyone is afraid, but the only ones who are afraid are them because they have understood that their system of power is about to end.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Norway: 2nd Suspect Sought in Pride Festival Shootings
COPENHAGEN, Denmark — Authorities in Norway are seeking a second suspect in a deadly shooting attack during the Norwegian capital’s annual LGBTQ Pride festival, police said Friday.
A 42-year-old Norwegian citizen originally from Iran was arrested after the June shootings in Oslo’s nightlife district that killed two people and wounded more than 20. A second Norwegian man in his 40s now is being sought for a suspected role in the attack, police said.
“The hypothesis that the attack was carried out with terrorist intent has been strengthened,” prosecutor Børge Enoksen said during a press conference.
The wanted man was well-known to police and currently outside Norway, but “we do not want to comment on which country the person is currently in,” Enoksen said. Norwegian broadcaster TV2 reported it was Pakistan.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Poland Condemns EU Chief Von Der Leyen’s “Scandalous, Anti-Democratic” Remarks
Poland’s ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party has condemned the “scandalous” remarks this week by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen about Poland, Hungary and Italy. It says they are further evidence of the EU’s “anti-democratic” interference in the domestic politics of member states.
In a speech at Princeton University, von der Leyen addressed concerns over the national-conservative governments in Budapest and Warsaw — which have regularly clashed with Brussels over the rule of law — and the potential victory of hard-right parties in Italy’s upcoming election.
“If things go in a difficult direction [in Italy] — and I’ve spoken about Hungary and Poland — we have tools [to deal with it],” said the commission president.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden’s Churches Closing, Saunas Switching Off to Save Energy
Sweden is closing churches and switching off saunas in many of its cities in an effort to lower its energy consumption and reduce costs this winter.
Andreas Mansson, an engineer who oversees the energy needs of churches in the Lund diocese, said 150 out of 540 churches in the diocese will be fully or partially closed this winter as part of national efforts to reduce energy consumption.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden Reports Record Number of Fatal Shootings
A record-high 48 people were shot dead in Sweden this year, Swedish media reported Friday.
The latest shooting incident took place Thursday night in Kristianstad when a man was shot dead, police said.
“Unfortunately, we cannot say more than that he is in his 20s and we have no suspects at the moment,” Mikael Lind, an officer on duty at the Stockholm region South, told the daily Smalandsposten.
This means that Sweden has already reached a new record in terms of fatal shootings and the number is expected to be much higher before the end of the year.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
UK Govt May Scrap China-Like Crackdown on ‘Legal But Harmful’ Speech From Online Safety Bill
Britain’s new culture secretary has strongly hinted that Prime Minister Liz Truss will drop China-like restrictions on “legal but harmful” speech from the controversial Online Safety Bill.
A proposed law looking to force social media companies to crack down on free speech online even more drastically now looks likely to be amended, with the United Kingdom’s new culture secretary, Michelle Donelan, strongly hinting that the part of the bill mandating companies regulate so-called “legal but harmful speech” will be scrapped.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Iran Protests: Raisi to ‘Deal Decisively’ With Widespread Unrest
Iran’s president has vowed to take action against protesters after more than a week of anti-government demonstrations.
President Ebrahim Raisi pledged to “deal decisively” with the protests, which have now spread to most of Iran’s 31 provinces.
Officials say some 35 people have been killed since protests broke out over the death of Mahsa Amini in police custody.
Clashes continue in several cities.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Dmitry Bulgakov: Putin Fires Deputy Defence Chief Amid Supply Failures
Vladimir Putin has fired the general charged with managing the Russian military’s faltering logistics operations in Ukraine.
Gen Dmitry Bulgakov, a deputy defence minister, was removed from his role on Saturday, the defence ministry said on Telegram.
The ministry said the 67-year old was “released” to transfer into a new role.
He will be replaced by Col Gen Mikhail Mizintsev, who managed Moscow’s brutal siege at the port city of Mariupol.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Estonian Premier Warns of Blackouts if Russia Cuts Grid Access
Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas warned that Russia could be preparing to disconnect the three Baltic countries from its electricity grid, leading to potential blackouts amid a broader energy crisis.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
Finland Shuts Borders With Russia as Conscription Age Men Flee Putin Order
Finland on Friday said it would “significantly restrict” the number of Russian “tourists” it will permit to cross its borders as an exodus of Russian men attempt to flee and avoid conscription.
The Finnish government said its decision was made over concerns that issuing swaths of visas to Russian men would cause “serious damage to Finland’s international position.”
Few details were released on the restrictions that Helsinki will now enforce, though its decision comes after other neighboring nations took steps earlier in the week to block Russian tourists from crossing their borders.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Pink Floyd Founder Cancels Poland Concerts After War Remarks
WARSAW, Poland — Pink Floyd co-founder Roger Waters has canceled concerts planned in Poland amid outrage over his stance on Russia’s war against Ukraine, Polish media reported Saturday.
An official with the Tauron Arena in Krakow, where Waters was scheduled to perform two concerts in April, said they would no longer take place.
“Roger Waters’ manager decided to withdraw … without giving any reason,” Lukasz Pytko from Tauron Arena Krakow said Saturday in comments carried by Polish media outlets.
The website for Waters’ “This Is Not a Drill” concert tour did not list the Krakow concerts previously scheduled for April 21-22.
City councilors in Krakow were expected to vote next week on a proposal to name Waters as a persona non grata, expressing “indignation” over the musician’s stance on the war in Ukraine.
Waters wrote an open letter to Ukrainian first lady Olena Zelenska early this month in which he blamed “extreme nationalists” in Ukraine for having “set your country on the path to this disastrous war.” He also criticized the West for supplying Ukraine with weapons, blaming Washington in particular.
Waters has also criticized NATO, accusing it of provoking Russia.
| — Hat tip: Dean | [Return to headlines] |
Putin Was ‘Pushed’ To Try to ‘Replace the Zelensky Govt With Decent People’ — Berlusconi
Former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi has courted controversy on the eve of the Italian elections by saying that Russian president Vladimir Putin was “pushed” into war with Ukraine.
“Putin was pushed by the Russian population, by his party and by his ministers to invent this special operation,” the three-time Italian premier claimed on Italian television, in comments quoted by the BBC.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Ukraine War: Hundreds Arrested as Russian Draft Protests Continue
Hundreds of people have been arrested by authorities as protests against Russia’s new “partial mobilisation” continue across the country, an independent rights group has said.
OVD-Info said 724 people were detained across 32 different cities on Saturday.
Widespread demonstrations have broken out since President Vladimir Putin announced plans to draft 300,000 men to fight in Ukraine.
Unsanctioned rallies are banned under Russian law.
But Mr Putin’s move to draft civilians into the military has sparked large scale protests in urban areas, with more than 1,000 people being detained at demonstrations earlier this week.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Ukraine War: ‘Referendums’ Continue, Sanctions, Captured Sri Lankans
Voting at gunpoint: ‘Referendums’ continue in occupied areas
Moscow-installed officials in occupied east Ukraine are continuing with a referendum on whether to join Russia.
The voting process was described as “an opinion survey under the gun barrel” by a local Ukrainian official, adding that Moscow-backed local authorities sent armed escorts to accompany election officials and to take down the names of individuals who voted against joining Russia.
Election officials accompanied by police officers carried ballots to homes and set up mobile polling stations, citing safety reasons. The votes are set to wrap up Tuesday.
Ukraine and its Western allies say the referendums underway in Kherson and Zaporizhzhia in the south and the eastern Luhansk and Donetsk regions have no legal force. They alleged the votes were an illegitimate attempt by Moscow to seize Ukrainian territory stretching from the Russian border to the Crimean Peninsula.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged Ukrainians in occupied regions to undermine the referendums and to share information about the people conducting “this farce.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
India: 44-Year-Old Man Stabs and Injures Wife in Gurugram After She Refuses to Quit Work
The victim alleged that her husband stabbed her several times following a fight that broke out between them. A neighbour rushed her to the hospital after getting alarmed by her screams, during which time Mahesh managed to escape
A woman was allegedly stabbed multiple times by her husband in the presence of their eight-year-old daughter, police said on Saturday. The incident took place in Sirhaul, Sector-18 on Thursday where Sita Devi (40), the victim, lived on rent with her two minor kids.
Her husband, Mahesh Ram (44), allegedly kicked her out of their conjugal home almost a year ago because she refused to quit working. Mahesh visited Sita on Thursday to allegedly reconcile matters but ended up stabbing her when she again refused to quit her job.
An FIR could not be registered initially as doctors deemed her medically unfit to record a statement. Sita is being treated at a private hospital in Sector 12 where she remains to be critical. An FIR was finally registered against the suspect under sections 323 (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt), 324 (voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapon or means) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code at Sector 18 police station on Friday night after cops managed to record her statement.
She alleged that he stabbed her several times following a fight that broke out between them. A neighbour rushed her to the hospital after getting alarmed by her screams, during which time Mahesh managed to escape.
| — Hat tip: Roger | [Return to headlines] |
China Accuses NSA of Hacking Into Government-Funded University
Three months after US security agencies warned that Chinese-backed hackers had been targeting “major telecommunications companies and network service providers” for over two years, Chinese state media on Thursday accused the National Security Agency (NSA) of infiltrating a government-funded university and gaining access to ‘China’s telecommunications network,’ CNBC reports.
Citing an unnamed source, the Global Times accused the NSA of phishing — a hacking technique which uses malicious links or other methods to trick users into providing access credentials — to gain access to Northwestern Polytechnical University, where they allegedly stole “core technology data including key network equipment configuration, network management data, and core operational data,” along with other files.
The report goes on to claim that the NSA infiltrated Chinese telecom operators in an effort to “control the country’s infrastructure.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Outraged residents of a smart Bronx area have lashed NYC Mayor Eric Adams’ plan to house 1,000 illegal immigrants in tents in the parking lot of a treasured local beauty spot.
Over the next few weeks, the migrants will begin to be housed in tents in a parking lot in the Orchard Beach section of the borough, next to waspy Westchester County.
According to the mayor, this is part of the city’s response to the humanitarian crisis created by thousands of migrants flooding into New York.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
German City of Hanover to Reserve One-Third of Jobs for Migrants
The local government in Hanover, Germany will be reserving a third of newly-advertised jobs exclusively for migrants in order to increase the proportion of people with foreign backgrounds working for the city.
The Hanover integration committee recently set a goal to significantly increase the number of migration-background employees working for the city and presented a draft resolution stating that “[i]n order to achieve this goal within five years, 30 per cent of all vacancies must be filled by people with a migration background. Accordingly, the target figure for all new hires is 30 per cent.”
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Greek and Bulgarian Ministers Inspect Border Fence
Citizen Protection Minister Takis Theodorikakos and Bulgarian Deputy Prime Minister for Public Order and Security and Minister of Interior Ivan Demerdzhiev paid a visit on Wednesday to the border fence near the village of Poros in Evros, the the border region with Turkey.
The two ministers had met earlier in the day at the port city of Alexandroupoli, with Theodorikakos commenting that Greek and Bulgarian relations were excellent, including the two countries’ cooperation against irregular migration.
Demerdzhiev was briefed by the minister counterpart on some technical specifications of the fence, which can halt a migration influx of some 1,500-2,000 people in a single day. The Bulgarian minister added that it was important for him to see in person the fence’s effective deterrence, and called for coordinated actions to defend the borders of both countries, as well for support from the European Union.
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Switzerland and Italy Step Up Joint Border Controls
Checks are being stepped up on the Swiss and Italian sides of the border to combat irregular immigration. Italian-Swiss patrols are now operating near Lake Maggiore, it was reported on Thursday.
Italian-Swiss border patrols will check car and rail traffic as part of the cross-border cooperation between the two neighbours to combat irregular immigration, the Federal Office for Customs and Border Security said in a statement.
Up to now, joint border patrols were active on the Italian side, east of Lake Maggiore, in the provinces of Varese and Como. From now on, the scope of these patrols will be extended to the Locarno region and the Verbano-Cusio-Ossola region in Italy on the western shore of Lake Maggiore.
The relaxation of pandemic-era restrictions has brought an increase in the numbers of migrants taking the Balkan route into Europe’s prosperous heartland.
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Is Kerry Luc Lemieux Transitioning Into a Woman — or is He Pranking the HDSB?
This just in regarding Mr. Kerry Luc Lemieux, a.k.a., Ms. Kayla Lemieux, that teacher at Oakville Trafalgar High School who is now conducting shop classes while sporting enormous fake breasts: could it be that Mr. Lemieux is not truly transitioning into a woman, but rather, is exacting a measure of revenge against the uber-woke educrats employed at the Halton District School Board?
Consider this recent post on social media sent along to me by my west coast colleague Alex — which may or may not be true: “This dude is gaming the system. An anon here yesterday was in this dude’s class. This teacher was almost fired for ‘toxic’ masculinity last year, as well as not embracing woke culture. He’d drop red pills to his class, such as how silly gender-neutral bathrooms are. The school board hate him. He’s now upping the ante to exploit the very clown world the school and society itself created. His long game is most likely to get fired and then sue for discrimination. There is no other explanation… no better way to troll clown world than to be an over-the-top caricature of a woman.”
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Memphis Museum Cancels ‘Family-Friendly’ Drag Show Due to Protest
A “family-friendly” drag show for “all ages” that was scheduled to take place Friday night at the Memphis Museum of Science and History (MOSH) in Tennessee was canceled moments before it was set to start, due to a protest outside of the museum that was shut down by police.
The “intergenerational dance party” was to culminate MOSH’s “Summer of Pride” event, but attracted religious protestors as well as some members of the conservative Proud Boys organization, who were reportedly unexpected by the Memphis Police Department.
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Meta’s President for Global Affairs said that if the company removes a lot of content from its platforms, it risks becoming “the greatest industrial-scale censor ever in human history.”
Clegg, a former deputy prime minister of the UK, made the comments during an event hosted by Semafor, in response to a question about how the company chooses what “abusive” content to censor. He said that the company’s focus is to remove content that can have real-world consequences.
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Following protests and social media outrage about Canadian Kayla Lemieux, a biologically male teacher who went viral for teaching classes while wearing obscenely large prosthetic breasts and a wig, the Ontario minister of education requested that the governing body of the province’s schools reevaluate “provisions with respect to professional conduct.”
The story originally made its way to the internet when students at Oakville Trafalgar High School posted pictures and video footage of the trans-identified male teacher decked out with a ridiculously tight top that was stretched so thin by the fake breasts that the nipples protruded.
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If Pink Floyd is not going to perform in Poland they are welcome to come over to my place.
Maybe we can have a party here
Dear Baron, I note your lack of interest in the Italian election tomorrow. It’s clear to me Italian politics are as complicated as a frittule recipe. Do you have any hopes the “far right” will produce any tangible results for the citizens of Italy and the EU?
I think we’ve got a video or two in the works about Italy. And you must have seen the Giorgia Meloni videos I’ve posted in the last few weeks.
No, unfortunately, I don’t think the new government will be able to steer the Italian bus away from plunging over the cliff. It’s too late for that, and Ms. Meloni, God bless her, will have to contend with the Deep State at every step, just like Trump did.
Bingo. The Left has so thoroughly hired fellow leftists to staff all levels of all governments that they can block any policy they don’t like. making peaceful change impossible.
So Roger Waters can’t spew his Jew- hatred in Poland, what a pity ( sarc)
“COLOGNE, Germany — For 90 years, Engelbert Schlechtrimen’s family has been baking wheat rolls, rye bread and chocolate cakes in this western German city. Next month, they will turn off the ovens for good,”
This is extremely sad. I think he could go back 100 years to see what people did then in Europe and elsewhere: he could allow people to bake their own goods in his ovens for a price. Not only bread but meals etc. I remember in Morocco in the 70’s, you would go to a restaurant, they would tell you to go to the butcher and choose your meat, then they put it in a large pot with other peoples meat and cooked it together. Then it would be fished out and served. We never bothered to check as the whole process made us laugh. But surely this could be adapted for now and would save ordinary people from having to heat up their ovens etc.