According to a new report, the production of automobiles in Europe is projected drop by more than a million vehicles in the next few quarters, due to the energy crisis. Meanwhile, the flow of Russian oil through the Druzhba pipeline to Europe has returned to normal after it was repaired by the Polish operator.
In other news, 41 people were killed and another eleven injured by an explosion in a Turkish coal mine.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to Dean, DV, JW, Reader from Chicago, Roger, SS, Steen, 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.
Nearly Every CEO Bracing for Recession Over Next 12 to 18 Months: Survey
CEO confidence has plunged to its lowest levels since the Great Recession as central banks scramble to tame decades-high inflation, according to the results of a key survey.
A whopping 98% of US-based CEOs say they are preparing for an economic recession over the next 12 to 18 months, according to the quarterly survey of business leaders conducted by the Conference Board released Thursday. The number rose even higher, to 99%, for CEOs based in Europe.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Chancellor Jeremy Hunt Confirms More Tory Tax Hikes After ‘Mistakes’ of PM’s Thatcherite Push
Newly installed Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt has confirmed that once again a Conservative government will raise taxes, signalling a potential death blow to the prospect of Prime Minister Liz Truss governing as a Thatcherite.
Doing the rounds on the Saturday morning media circuit, Jeremy Hunt, who has become perhaps the most powerful politician in the country after Liz Truss was was forced by parliamentary party pressure into sacking her chief ally, former Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng, said that “mistakes” were made in pursuing tax cuts.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Alaska Snow Crab Season Canceled for First Time After Population Crash in Bering Sea
One year ago to this week, we pointed out, “Alaska Snow Crab Harvest Cut By 88% After Population Crash In Bering Sea.” Back then, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game set catch limits for fishermen. Now the agency has canceled the season altogether because of a continued population collapse.
ADF&G published an advisory notice this week titled “2022/23 Bering Sea Snow Crab Season Closed,” which outlines the snow crab season in the Bering Sea will be closed for the first time.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Big Oil Heiress Funding ‘Just Stop Oil’ Group That Threw Soup on Van Gogh Painting
A Big Oil heiress is a key funder of a sprawling global network of grassroots climate groups, including the U.K.-based Just Stop Oil, which staged a protest Friday vandalizing a famous painting.
Aileen Getty, the granddaughter of the Getty Oil founder, is the founding donor of the Climate Emergency Fund (CEF), a Los Angeles-based organization that finances several high-profile climate protest groups around the world. Getty, who is a prolific environmental philanthropist, wired $500,000 to CEF shortly after it was founded in 2019, according to the Chronicle of Philanthropy.
Boosted by Getty’s initial and continued contributions, CEF has awarded millions of dollars to radical groups that have engaged in disruptive protests worldwide. Among CEF’s grantees is the A22 Network, which is made up of Just Stop Oil, the U.S.-based Declare Emergency and groups in nine countries including Germany, France and Canada.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
In oral arguments in Mexican Gulf v. US Department of Commerce, the panel of the US Appeals Court for the Fifth Circuit argued that a federal regulation requiring charter boats taking clients on recreational fishing trips to be tracked by the government 24/7 via GPS tracking is a violation of the constitution. The tracking is required whether the charter boats are being used for non-fishing and personal reasons.
The case hinges on the “closely regulated” exception to the Fourth Amendment. The exception was created because certain industries are so closely regulated that the expectation of privacy has been diminished.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Court: Facebook “Fact-Check’ Label Does Not Mean That the Assessment is “Objective Fact”
US TV host and journalist John Stossel sued Facebook (Meta) and its third-party “fact-checkers” — specifically, Science Feedback, as several of these groups’ parent companies, and its site Climate Feedback — for defamation.
But the US District Court, Northern District of California has granted both Meta’s motion to dismiss the defamation complaint with prejudice (meaning that it cannot be refiled), as well as Meta’s and Science Feedback’s anti-SLAPP motions.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
‘Creepy’ Joe Biden Offers Unsolicited Dating Advice to Young Girl in Awkward Photo Op
President Biden raised eyebrows this week when he got a bit too close for comfort to a young woman during an event in Irvine, Calif.
After delivering remarks Friday at Irvine Valley College where he talked about his administration’s plans to reduce inflation and lower drug costs, Biden stopped for photos with a young woman, put his arm on her shoulder and offered her some unsolicited dating advice.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
DC Tent Cities Stain the Nation’s Capital
The marble monuments of the nation’s capital have become neighbors to abject squalor — ever-expanding tent cities that are the most disgraceful examples of a trend bedeviling Democrat-led cities around the US.
In the past two years, homeless encampments have exploded in Washington D.C., as both the city and federal governments lifted enforcement measures during the COVID-19 pandemic — and made it a no-brainer for itinerants to lay down roots by providing for their every need.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
DOJ Appeals Appointment of Special Master Reviewing Trump Docs
The Justice Department on Friday appealed a Florida judge’s appointment of a special master to review documents seized by FBI agents during a raid on former president Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate.
The third-party arbiter, Brooklyn federal judge Raymond Dearie, was appointed last month to determine whether the troves of documents seized from Mar-a-Lago on Aug. 8 were covered by Trump’s claims of attorney-client privilege, executive privilege, or other protections.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Domestic Left-Wing Extremist Groups More Dangerous Than ‘MAGA Republicans’: Experts
Authored by Scott Wheeler via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours)
National security analysts, scholars, and a federal indictment reveal that threats from left-wing extremist groups in the United States are more dangerous than right-wing and “MAGA Republican” groups recently cited by the Biden administration as “threats to democracy.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
East Chicago Teacher Charged After Having Alleged ‘Kill List’ of Students’ Names, Records Say
EAST CHICAGO, Ind. (WLS) — An East Chicago, Indiana, teacher is in custody after allegedly telling a student she had a “kill list.”
The details of that list are horrifying, showing names of students and staff that she says she wanted to kill at her school.
Classes at St. Stanislaus Catholic School are being held remotely Friday as the investigation continues into one of its teachers.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Ex-FBI Agent Tim Thibault Won’t Testify to House Judiciary Committee on Hunter Biden Probe
Former FBI agent Timothy Thibault will not participate in the House Judiciary Committee’s investigation into the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s handling of matters related to Hunter Biden, according to a letter sent by his lawyer earlier this month.
Thibault has been at the center of controversy involving both President Joe Biden’s family as well as investigations into former President Donald Trump’s 2020 campaign. The FBI agent, who left the agency this summer, has labored under suspicions of partisan bias for his role in both investigations. Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley has accused Thibault of trying to shut down federal inquiries into Hunter Biden.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Federal Prosecutors Charge Former AT&T Illinois President With Madigan-Related Corruption
Federal prosecutors have charged the former president of a telecommunications company with unlawfully influencing the former Illinois House Speaker.
Paul Schizza conspired with former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan and others in 2017 to corruptly arrange for $22,500 to be paid to a Madigan ally, according to the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois in a five count indictment unsealed Friday.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
How ‘Woke’ Policies Turned Downtown San Francisco Into an Urban Drug-Den
Earlier this month, old-fashioned Xeroxed copies of a newspaper article appeared across the Mid-Market neighborhood in Downtown San Francisco. The article, from the San Francisco Chronicle, featured the headline: “S.F. D.A. Brooke Jenkins says she’ll consider murder charges for fentanyl dealers.” The article was taped to walls on neighborhood corners regularly frequented by drug dealers. At least one of those Xerox copies had the headline translated into Spanish — all the better for the dealers in question, most of whom are Honduran nationals, to get the message.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Man Stabs Woman, Then Gets Shot by Another in East Garfield Park
The woman who was stabbed was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital in good condition. The man was taken to the same hospital in critical condition.
A man stabbed a woman and then was shot by another woman Friday night in the East Garfield Park neighborhood on the West Side.
About 8:20 p.m., a 33-year-old woman was trying to enter a residential building in the 700 block of North Spaulding Avenue when a a man approached her and stabbed her in the hand and thigh, Chicago police said.
Another woman, 54, arrived and shot the man multiple times, police said.
The younger woman was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital in good condition, officials said. The man, 62, was taken to the same hospital in critical condition.
The older woman was taken to Area Three headquarters, police said. No charges have been announced.
| — Hat tip: Roger | [Return to headlines] |
North Carolina Judge Sends Juror to Jail for Refusing to Wear Mask
A North Carolina man was thrown in the slammer for 24 hours after refusing a lefty judge’s order to wear a mask in court — despite no such local mandates in place.
“I never thought I would show up to jury duty and end up behind bars,” Gregory Hahn told Fox News’ “Tucker Carlson Tonight.”
Hahn, a 47-year-old US Navy veteran and single father, was among 98 jury candidates called to Harnett County court Monday who showed up not wearing a mask, WRAL reported.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Pfizer Board Member Scott Gottlieb Flagged Alex Berenson Tweet to Twitter
Journalist Alex Berenson has accused Pfizer board member Scott Gottlieb of contributing to him getting kicked off Twitter. The former New York Times reporter was temporarily suspended in 2021.
“When I came back on the platform last year, in August, I was asking even harder questions about the vaccines, at a time when the Biden administration knew they were going to be pushing for mandates and boosters, they still wouldn’t ban me,” Berenson said on Fox News.
“And then,” he added, “Scott Gottlieb, director of Pfizer on the executive committee of Pfizer, which has made tens of billions of dollars from selling these vaccines, went to Twitter and said this guy is a problem and then they banned me.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Prosecutors: U.S. Election Firm Gave Chinese Workers ‘Superadministration’ Access to Election Data
A U.S. election technology company currently embroiled in scandal gave Chinese subcontractors high-level security access to American election data, according to a warrant filed by prosecutors this week in Los Angeles.
Authorities earlier this month arrested Eugene Yu, the CEO of the election software company Konnech, on charges of grand theft and embezzlement related to his work with that firm. Controversy has also swirled over Konnech’s alleged storage of poll worker data in servers located in the People’s Republic of China.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Sixth Circuit Rules Government Cannot Seize $300,000 in Home Equity to Pay $22,000 Tax Debt
As co-blogger Jonathan Adler points out, the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit recently ruled, in Hall v. Meisner, that the government cannot seize $300,000 in home equity to pay off a $22,000 property tax delinquency. Such “home equity theft” qualifies as a taking and therefore requires payment of “just compensation” under the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment. The ruling was written by prominent conservative Judge Raymond Kethledge, who is sometimes considered a potential Republican Supreme Court nominee.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Truck Drivers Win Lawsuit Against BNSF Railway for Collecting Biometric Data Without Their Consent
Jurors in a district court in Illinois sided with truck drivers in a class-action lawsuit that alleged that BNSF Railway collected drivers’ biometric data without their consent and without explaining how the data would be used. Both are requirements under Illinois’ Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA).
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Twitter’s Claim Elon Musk Under Federal Investigation is ‘Misdirection’ Says Attorney
Authored by Caden Pearson via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours)
Elon Musk’s attorney on Saturday said Twitter’s claim in a court filing that the billionaire is under federal investigation is a “misdirection” and that it’s actually executives of the social media company being investigated.
“Twitter’s executives are under federal investigation. This misdirection was sent by Twitter to try and uncover which of their assorted misconduct they are under investigation for,” Musk’s attorney Alex Spiro said in a statement to The Epoch Times.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Vice Principal Lets Armed Gunman Into Ohio School to Protect Them From Police: Report
On September 14, four masked teenagers armed with guns arrived at Garret Morgan High School in Cleveland, Ohio and despite 911 dispatcher and school security advising against it “two assistant principals from leadership let the males into the building” to protect them from police arriving on the scene.
Local Fox 8 News reports that one of the vice principals said, “I confirmed the interior doors were locked and instructed the four suspects to come to the vestibule because it was unsafe to be outside because I saw police officers.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Ontario Top Doctor Threatens Return of Mask Mandates
Ontarians may be forced into wearing masks again this winter if they don’t start doing it voluntarily, according to the provinces top doctor.
Ontario medical officer of health Dr. Kieran Moore said rising Covid case-numbers and lacklustre booster uptake could trigger a turn of the province’s mask mandate.
Moore pointed to the lacklustre uptake of Covid-19 booster shots among Ontario’s elderly population in particular.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Quebec Doctor Recommends Infanticide Under Canada’s Euthanasia Laws
A Quebec doctor has directed a spotlight onto Canada’s Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID) program with his suggestion that infants under one year of age with “severe deformations” and “very grave and severe medical syndromes” should be eligible for assisted death.
In a video recording from an Oct. 7 MAID Special Joint Committee meeting, Dr. Louis Roy of the Quebec College of Physicians said that teenagers should be able to request assisted death, and babies who are born with “severe deformations” should also be considered for medical death “to ensure they do not suffer.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
After Two Years, Swedish Child Marriage Law Sees Just Two Prosecutions
After being in force for two years, Sweden’s laws against child marriage have only seen two prosecutions. Prosecutors claim they have incredible difficulty in proving their cases.
Since July of 2020, Sweden has tightened its law on child marriage to allow for the prosecution of parents who allow their children to enter into any such relationship, even if there was supposedly no coercion of the child.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Crisis of Faith: Sweden’s Liberal Church Faces Hundreds of Closures
As fewer and fewer Swedes attend churches belonging to the Church of Sweden, it faces closing hundreds of churches in the coming years, with many likely being sold off.
The Church of Sweden faces having to sell hundreds of churches in the coming years and has already been forced to sell over a hundred due to a lack of income as the Swedish population participates less and less in its services.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
EU Prosecutor Says it is Conducting ‘Investigation’ Into COVID Vaccines, Refuses to Provide Details
The top prosecutor for the European Union says it is conducting an investigation into COVID-19 vaccines in Europe, an undertaking for which the office is currently refusing to provide details.
The European Public Prosecutor’s Office on Friday confirmed that “it has an ongoing investigation into the acquisition of COVID-19 vaccines in the European Union,” the EPPO said on its website.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Europe’s Car Output to Plummet by Millions, S&P Predicts
by Monica Raymunt
European carmakers could see output drop by more than 1 million vehicles per quarter starting late this year and continuing through 2023, as soaring energy costs weigh on the supply chain, according to a report.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
Former British deputy prime minister turned Facebook (now known as Meta) executive Sir Nick Clegg has been accused of accepting bribes from the adult website OnlyFans in court filings in San Francisco.
According to legal action brought forward by a group of adult entertainers, Sir Nick Clegg and two other executives at Mark Zuckerberg’s Silicon Valley tech giant have been accused of accepting bribes from the OnlyFans website to blacklist and censor the pornography site’s competitors.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
From Immigration to the Environment: Five Things We Learned About Sweden’s New Right-Wing Government
Sweden’s new government formation should be approved by parliament in Stockholm on Monday, bringing the Moderates, led by likely Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, into a formal three-party coalition deal with the Christian Democrats and Liberals.
But it’s the far-right Sweden Democrats, the biggest of the four parties in terms of MPs, who will be a not-so-silent partner outside the government technically but holding the reigns of power in practice.
The new government has released its 62-page policy agenda, so what have we learned about the direction Sweden will take? Here’s our look at five key areas:
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Germany: Watch: Cologne Mega Mosque Blasts Islamic Call to Prayer Over Loudspeakers for First Time
Cologne’s massive central mosque broadcast the Islamic call to prayer for the first time ever this week following a German court ruling granting permission to do so.
The Islamic call to prayer was publicly broadcast from the mosque for Friday prayers this week for five minutes at a time between noon and 3 p.m. determined by the position of the sun in the Ehrenfeld district of Cologne.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
UK Police to Use Behavioral Data to Stop “Would-be” Offenders From Committing Crime
Scotland Yard seems to be dabbling in some dystopian concepts, not that far removed from the one known as “precrime” described in the book and movie “Minority Report.”
This is about law enforcement’s fictional ability and willingness to use technology to detain people for crimes they never actually committed, but were predicted to commit.
Now media reports cite London Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley as announcing that the force under his command plans to utilize behavioral data collected from and about possibly tens of thousands of men to predict who might commit violent crimes against women — and using that “evidence” to prevent crime.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Animal Rebellion Stage Milk Protests at Marks and Spencers Shops, Harrods and Fortnum and Masons
Animal rebellion protesters have poured milk on to the floor in shops across the country.
The group co-ordinated the action in stores including Waitrose, Whole Foods and Marks and Spencer in London, Norwich and Edinburgh just before 12pm on Saturday.
Footage shows several protesters pouring milk from the shelves in the Norwich Marks and Spencer in front of horrified shoppers.
One group poured milk out in Harrods’ food hall in Knightsbridge.
Another was filmed emptying milk bottles on to the floor and across a table laden with cheeses in Fortnum and Mason in Piccadilly.
Animal Rebellion said it is calling for a plant-based future and highlighting the need to support farmers in transitioning to a sustainable plant-based food system.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Climate Extremists in Court After Vandalising Van Gogh With Tinned Soup
LONDON (AP) — Three climate activists appeared in a London court on Saturday on charges of criminal damage after protests including throwing soup over Vincent van Gogh’s Sunflowers painting in the National Gallery.
Two women, age 20 and 21, were charged in relation to the soup-throwing protest on Friday, while a third was charged over paint sprayed on a rotating sign at the Metropolitan Police’s headquarters in central London. The three women pleaded not guilty to criminal damage at Westminster Magistrates’ Court during two brief hearings Saturday.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Home Secretary to Crack Down on Disruptive Protests With New Bill
The home secretary has unveiled plans for a major crackdown on disruptive protests carried out by environmental groups such as Extinction Rebellion.
Suella Braverman says the new Public Order Bill will stop demonstrators holding the public “to ransom”.
Ministers will be empowered to block protests causing “serious disruption” to key infrastructure and goods.
Activists said they would not be intimidated by law changes aimed at “silencing non-violent people”.
Environmental groups including Just Stop Oil and Extinction Rebellion have staged various protests and demonstrations in recent months, causing disruption to commuters and traffic in central London.
More than 350 Just Stop Oil protesters — demanding halts to all new oil and gas licences and consents — have been arrested in London since the start of October, according to Home Office figures.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Israeli Company Introduces 3D Printed “Meat” as the Future of Food
Despite plunging interest and falling stock prices, multiple companies around the globe are still attempting to promote fake meat substitutes into a highly limited market that does not want them. Impossible Burger and Beyond Meat were the last failed attempts to use soy, bean and pea proteins to simulate the burger experience, going so far as to partner with fast food franchises like Burger King And McDonald’s, only to have these programs cancelled because of lack of sales.
Artificial meat and the removal of meat from the public diet has been an ongoing agenda of the UN for several years, based on the claim that animal farming releases too many greenhouse gases that contribute to “climate change.” There is still no concrete scientific evidence to support this conclusion, given that the world’s overall temperature has only increased less than 1 degree Celsius in the past century according to the NOAA. Nevertheless, the establishment marches forward with its goal of a vegan population by 2050.
Israeli company Redefine Meat is entering the field in Europe with a method for 3D printed lab grown steaks instead of the typical burger alternative.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Protests Rage Again in Iran as Massive Fire Reported at Prison Housing Political Opponents
Iranians continued to demonstrate on the streets Saturday night against their ruling mullahs as a massive fire broke out at Tehran’s notorious Evin prison where political opponents of the regime are kept.
Social media footage showed flames and smoke billowing from the prison in Tehran as gun shots rang out. Demonstrators also surrounded the detention center, honking horns, blocking traffic and chanting Death to the dictator!”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Turkey Coal Mine Explosion Kills 41, Injures 11
Forty-one people have died following an explosion in a coal mine in northern Turkey, the country’s president says.
The discovery of the final missing body brings the rescue operation to an end, more than 20 hours after Friday’s deadly blast.
Earlier the interior minister said 58 people working in the mine when the blast went off were rescued or got out by themselves.
Suleyman Soylu said 10 people remained in hospital and one was discharged.
Around 110 people were in the mine at the time of Friday’s blast, almost half of them at more than 300m (984ft) deep.
Emergency crews had worked through the night, digging through rock to try to reach survivors.
| — Hat tip: DV | [Return to headlines] |
Bakhmut: The Ukrainian City Where Russia is Still Advancing
Almost eight months on from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, its forces are struggling while Ukraine has advanced and regained territory in the east and south. In the eastern Donbas region, the city of Bakhmut remains a Russian target, however, and its troops are making progress.
The city reverberates to the sound of constant shelling, day and night. It’s been going on for weeks.
Most of Bakhmut’s 70,000 citizens have already fled. Those who remain are mostly the elderly. They’re living without running water or electricity.
A small queue had formed for the latest evacuation, with volunteers still bravely driving a minibus in and out of the city.
Olena, who’s nearly 70 years old, was among those waiting to leave.
“People are exhausted,” she said, as yet another barrage rocked the city. Everyone reacts differently, she said — some reach for a cigarette, or something to chew on, while others just sit and cry. .
| — Hat tip: Dean | [Return to headlines] |
Before Ukraine Blew Up Kerch Bridge, British Spies Plotted it
Authored by Kit Klarenberg via TheGrayZone.com
The secret British intelligence plot to blow up Crimea’s Kerch Bridge is revealed in internal documents and correspondence obtained exclusively by The Grayzone…
The Grayzone has obtained an April 2022 presentation drawn up for senior British intelligence officers hashing out an elaborate scheme to blow up Crimea’s Kerch Bridge with the involvement of specially trained Ukrainian soldiers. Almost six months after the plan was circulated, Kerch Bridge was attacked in an October 8th suicide bombing apparently overseen by Ukraine’s SBU intelligence services.
Detailed proposals for providing “audacious” support to Kiev’s “maritime raiding operations” were drafted at the request of Chris Donnelly, a senior British Army intelligence operative and veteran high ranking NATO advisor. The wide-ranging plan’s core component was “destruction of the bridge over the Kerch Strait.”
Documents and correspondence plotting the operation were provided to The Grayzone by an anonymous source.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Musk: “To Hell With It… We’ll Just Keep Funding Ukraine Govt for Free”
Update: just after 2pm ET, Elon Musk said he will continue to fund Starlink satellites in Ukraine “for free” after a recent standoff with the US Department of Defense over the cost of their deployment. The world’s richest man tweeted “The hell with it… even though Starlink is still losing money & other companies are getting billions of taxpayer $, we’ll just keep funding Ukraine govt for free.” It wasn’t clear if he was sincere or sarcastic, but it appears that the blowback to his earlier course of action may have gotten to the billionare.
He followed up with a later tweet to a follower saying, “Even so, we should still do good deeds.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
NATO Initiates 10-Year Plan to Rebuild Ukraine’s Military & Defense Industry
NATO has a 10-year plan to rebuild Ukraine’s army and defense industry, Politico has reported, and the first meeting between the alliance and the Ukrainian government to work toward realizing this goal is to be held next week. Moscow will only take this as further evidence the Western military alliance is intent on expanding its military infrastructure right up to its border.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Oil Flow From Russia to Germany Resumes After Polish Operator Fixes Pipe Leak
Both lines of the Druzhba pipeline are operating normally, operators said.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
Russia Says 11 Killed in Shooting at Military Base in Belgorod
Gunmen open fire on volunteer soldiers at a Russian military training ground in Belgorod, killing 11 and wounding 15 others.
Gunmen have opened fire at a Russian military training ground near Ukraine, killing at least 11 people and wounding 15 others, according to Russia’s Defence Ministry.
The ministry said the “terrorist” attack took place on Saturday in the southwestern Belgorod region that borders Ukraine.
It said the two assailants — nationals from an unspecified former Soviet republic — fired on volunteer soldiers during target practice and were killed by return fire.
The shooting comes amid a hasty mobilisation ordered by President Vladimir Putin to beef up Russian forces in Ukraine — a move that triggered protests and caused hundreds of thousands to flee Russia. It also comes a week after a blast damaged a bridge in Crimea, the peninsula annexed by Russia from Ukraine in 2014.
“During a firearms training session with individuals who voluntarily expressed a desire to participate in the special military operation (against Ukraine), the terrorists opened fire with small arms on the personnel of the unit,” the defence ministry statement said.
| — Hat tip: JW | [Return to headlines] |
Zelensky Thanks Biden for ‘Another $725 Million Security Aid Package’
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has personally thanked U.S. President Joe Biden for supplying Kyiv with another “security aid package” worth $725 million.
“Sincerely grateful to [the President of the United States and] the [American] people for providing another $725 mln security aid package,” the Ukrainian head of state said in a message posted on the Twitter microblogging site.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
India Expected to Overtake China as World’s Most Populous Country This Year
Humankind is now double the size it was in 1973.
Of course, that growth has been far from uniform, and the ranking of the world’s most populous countries continues to evolve.
Using the latest data available from the United Nations, Visual Capitalist’s Nick Routley looks at which countries have the largest share of the planet’s eight billion people.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
22 Days in Jail for Journalist Who Reported on Anti-Lockdown Protests: Monica Smit
At the height of Australia’s COVID-19 lockdowns (which were among the strictest in the world), a wave of anti-lockdown protests emerged. These protests saw tens of thousands of people take to the streets, demanding their government lift the restrictions.
The response from the government was a mix of apathy and heavy-handed police tactics.
Caught up in this was an Australian woman named Monica Smit—who was both a citizen journalist and the founder of an organization called Reignite Democracy Australia.
Despite her having paperwork from the government that granted her permission to report on the protest, Smit was arrested multiple times, fined, and given 22 days in jail.
We met up with Smit while in Amsterdam, and she told us her story
| — Hat tip: Steen | [Return to headlines] |
France: Delinquents Take Over Petrol Station Near Paris
In Villiers-le-Bel (Val d’Oise), a group of “youths” requisitioned a Total petrol station this week while filtering access to motorists.
The scene was hardly believable. Several individuals with a migration background (known as “youths” in France) took control of a petrol station in Villiers-le-Bel and to ensure the distribution of fuel to their own advantage.
Thus, while the inhabitants of the neighbourhood were allowed to help themselves freely, the others were offered cans filled by the delinquents, the price of which was set by them. Some motorists who refused “their services” were assaulted and asked to leave the queue, CNews reported. Some even had their vehicles pelted with rocks.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Greece Says Turkey Forced Naked Migrants to Cross Border
ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greek authorities on Saturday accused Turkey of forcing 92 migrants to cross into Greece and stripping them naked before doing so.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
‘Powder Keg’ for ‘Disaster’: As Migrant Surge Sweeps NYC, Here’s Where They’re Being Housed
Queens is taking the largest share of migrants into emergency shelters set up by the city — fueling what the borough’s president on Thursday called a “powder keg” of crises and creating a “recipe for a social and economic disaster.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Biden to Make Taxpayers Pick Up Tab for Federal Employees’ Sex Change Surgeries
The Biden administration has announced the expansion of taxpayer-funded “gender-affirming” healthcare for transgender and “gender diverse” federal employees.
The updated healthcare package was rolled out in early October by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), an independent government agency that acts as the chief of human resources and personnel policy manager for the federal government. The OPM’s “Federal Benefits Open Season” fact sheet for people covered under the Federal Employee Health Benefits (FEHB) program states that the agency is “pleased to deliver enhanced health benefit offerings” in the form of “gender affirming care and services.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
New York Congressional Candidate Releases 14-Minute Porno to Highlight ‘Sex-Positive’ Politics
A New York congressional candidate has released a brief pornography film in an effort to bolster his self-described image as a sex-positive political crusader.
Mike Itkis, who is running for New York’s 12th Congressional District, this week released the tape of his sexual encounter with porn star Nicole Sage. The long-shot candidate told City & State that the undertaking was a “huge learning experience, and it actually influenced items on my platform.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Socialised Healthcare: UK’s NHS Spending £40m Per Year on Diversity Officers
Britain’s socialised healthcare system, which constantly complains it is in need of more cash, is reportedly splashing out more than £40 million per year on diversity and inclusion staff.
According to the findings of Freedom of Information requests sent to all 223 NHS trusts and 42 integrated care boards of NHS England, The Sun newspaper reported that there are currently at least 812 “diversity officers”, which cost the taxpayer some £40.7 million annually.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
In Belgorod, two Tadizhks were shooting. A number of telegram channels write that the conflict was on a national-religious basis
https://t.me/astrapress/14142
“Lieutenant Colonel Lapin said that Allah is a weakling. An hour and a half later they shot him.”
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You are so smart. Translate it yourself. And I’m lazy. And I’m very out of sorts.
”You must save us”: Europe Requires Norway to Sacrifice Itself for the Sake of Saving the EU
https://youtu.be/fHoqV5X1zhM