Russian missile strikes against Ukrainian power plants and transmission lines have cut the country’s power generation capacity by 30%, according to the Ukrainian government. Meanwhile, China announced that it needs to save its natural gas supplies for the coming winter, and will no longer export any gas to Europe.
In other news, a Somali immigrant went on a stabbing rampage in Germany, killing two people and wounding a third.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to Dean, JW, Reader from Chicago, Roger, SS, Upananda Brahmachari, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.
Notice to tipsters: Please don’t submit extensive excerpts from articles that have been posted behind a subscription firewall, or are otherwise under copyright protection.
Caveat: Articles in the news feed are posted “as is”. Gates of Vienna cannot vouch for the authenticity or accuracy of the contents of any individual item posted here. I check each entry to make sure it is relatively interesting, not patently offensive, and at least superficially plausible. The link to the original is included with each item’s title. Further research and verification are left to the reader.
Biden to Release 15 Million More Barrels of Oil From US Reserve
President Biden is set to order the release of 15 million barrels of oil from America’s strategic reserve in a last-ditch bid to tame prices at the pump three weeks before the midterm elections.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre teased the announcement Tuesday and Biden aides confirmed the details on an evening press call, saying the president would make it official Wednesday.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
France Begins Nationwide Strike Amid Soaring Inflation
PARIS — French trade unions began a nationwide strike on Tuesday, asking for higher salaries amid decades-high inflation and posing President Emmanuel Macron one of his stiffest challenges since his reelection in May.
The strike, which will primarily affect public sectors such as schools and transportation, is an extension of the weeks-long industrial action that has disrupted France’s major refineries and put petrol stations’ supply in disarray.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
IMF Meeting: CBDC Should be Tied to Digital IDs to “Push Society Into to New Equilibriums”
Governments and financial institutions are increasingly warming to the idea of introducing Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) — central banks’ digital tokens, pegged to a country’s fiat money, and controlled and backed by the authorities in ways they never could other money they issue.
There’s a lot to like about that if you’re banks and governments, but opponents of CBDCs keep warning that the same doesn’t apply to regular citizens, whose privacy, personal data safety and true ownership of their assets may be better served by decentralized solutions.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
IMF Ponders Ways to End People’s Hesitancy to Move Away to Cash
One of the speakers at the 2022 International Monetary Fund (IMF)/World Bank Group (WBG) Annual Meetings, Kristalina Georgieva, IMF’s managing director, has revealed that this financial institution doesn’t like people using cash and wants to change that preference.
And while some rights and consumer protection groups as well as citizens might now be trying to understand why this would be IMF’s policy — the IMF, too, wants to “understand” some people’s “strong preference for cash.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
IMF Praises India’s Controversial Digital ID System, Aadhaar
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) praised India’s digital ID system, Aadhaar. The IMF supports digital IDs as they are key in the development of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs).
Asked about the expectation of India taking the presidency of G20 next year, IMF director Kristalina Georgieva praised the country’s “digital access” enabled by Aadhaar.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
IMF’s Deputy Managing Director Bo Li Lauds CBDC’s Ability to Control What People Buy
At the IMF-World Bank Annual Meeting on Friday, the IMF’s deputy managing director, and former deputy governor of the People’s Bank of China, Bo Li, said CBDCs would help financial programmability.
“A CBDC can allow government agencies and private sector players to program, to create smart contracts, to allow targeted policy functions,” he explained.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Palm Print Payments Are Rolling Out in China and the US
Tencent’s WeChat now allows users to pay using their palm print. The app already supports facial and fingerprint biometrics.
According to a report by Tech Planet, the palm print technology has been trialed by merchants in Shenzhen, China’s fourth largest city by population.
To use the technology, users must first enroll their palm print, after which they will be able to use their palm to make payments at stores with contactless palm print scanners.
In related news, Amazon’s palm print payment technology Amazon One is now available at three more concession areas at Climate Pledge Arena, home to Seattle’s Women’s National Basketball Association, and National Hockey League teams.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Poll: Majority of Americans Blame Biden for Economic Disaster
Most Americans believe the economy is going downhill fast and that the Biden administration is directly to blame, according to a CBS poll.
While Biden and his handlers continue to blame anything and everything else for the U.S. spiralling into recession, the public does not concur.
The poll found that more than 70 percent of voters believe Biden’s policies are responsible for the current state of the economy, with 45 percent saying he is to blame “a great deal.”
Just 15 percent said they believe the economy is getting better (who the hell are they kidding?) while 65 percent believe the economy is getting worse, with 20% saying it is staying the same (again what are they smoking?)
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Stocks Rise as Recession Odds Hit 100% for “Strong as Hell” Economy”
Over the weekend, President Biden declared the US economy “is strong as hell”…
Then, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre then doubled-down on that narrative in today’s briefing, suggesting: “Economic indicators are not pointing to a recession…”
There’s just one thing… THEY ARE pointing to a recession.
As Bloomberg reports, The latest recession probability models by Bloomberg economists Anna Wong and Eliza Winger forecast a higher recession probability across all timeframes, with the 12-month estimate of a downturn by October 2023 hitting 100%, up from 65% for the comparable period in the previous update.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Stella Coulthurst, landlady of The White Hart Inn in Hamstead Marshall, Berkshire, will close her pub next week and will not reopen until spring after her electricity bill jumped three-fold.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
The person of interest, Joe Kennedy, was found in Florida, officials said.
Four close friends who mysteriously disappeared in Oklahoma were killed in a “violent” shooting at a scrapyard, dismembered and thrown in a river, according to police.
The owner of the scrapyard, Joe Kennedy, is a person of interest in the quadruple murder, Okmulgee Police Chief Joe Prentice said at a news conference Monday. Prentice stressed that Kennedy has not been named a suspect.
Police said Monday that Kennedy was missing. On Tuesday, police said he was found in Daytona Beach Shores, Florida, and arrested for allegedly driving a car that had been reported stolen in Okmulgee County.
The victims, Mark Chastain, 32, Billy Chastain, 30, Mike Sparks, 32, and Alex Stevens, 29, were last seen leaving one of their homes in Okmulgee on the night of Oct. 9, reportedly riding bicycles, according to Okmulgee police.
“I’ve worked over 80 murders in my career … but this case involves the highest number of victims and it’s a very violent event,” the chief said.
The victims planned to commit a crime that night, Prentice said Monday, citing an individual who had been asked to participate but declined. Police do not know what the alleged planned crime involved.
Their four dismembered bodies were found in a river on Friday.
| — Hat tip: Roger | [Return to headlines] |
ACLU Files Ballot Counting Lawsuit to Nevada’s Supreme Court
The Nevada chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union filed an emergency petition to the state Supreme Court on Monday challenging Nye County and its interim clerk’s plan to count election votes by both hand and machine, a method crafted by elected officials and candidates acting on false claims of election fraud.
The complaint is nearly identical to the ACLU lawsuit that was recently dismissed in Nye County District Court due to technicalities. The district judge there did not receive a record of the publicly available county commission meeting referenced in the petition from the ACLU. She said it was unreasonable for the court to go through a 7 1/2-hour meeting, among other issues.
The ACLU asked the court to rule by Friday, five days before Nye County officials plan to start early hand-counting of mail-in ballots and one day before early in-person voting starts statewide.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Biden Ridiculed for Spelling Out ‘Dot’ In Website URL: ‘He Will Literally Read Any Words’
President Joe Biden faced backlash from yet another embarrassing gaffe on Monday while trying to share a website to stop fraud in his student debt handouts plan.
Biden announced the launch of an online application portal for those earning less than $125,000 per year to receive up to $10,000 in handouts. Regarding criticisms of the plan, Biden also promoted the Federal Trade Commission’s website for reporting fraud.
However, Biden stumbled along promoting the FTC’s website, spelling out the word “dot” while giving the URL.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Bidens’ $5M Interest-Free China Loan Part of ‘Pay-to-Play’ Scheme: Sen. Grassley
A $5 million interest-free loan the Biden family received from a Chinese energy conglomerate in 2017 should have been probed by the FBI as part of a possible “pay-to-play” plan, Sen. Chuck Grassley told top law enforcement officials last week.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Authored by Jack Phillips via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours)
Boston University issued a statement Tuesday defending its research of a COVID-19 Omicron strain when they took the variant’s spike protein and attached it to the original COVID-19 strain, leading to a higher mortality rate in a certain species of mice, triggering concern among lawmakers.
“The Omicron S-bearing virus robustly escapes vaccine-induced humoral immunity, mainly due to mutations in the receptor-binding motif… while Omicron causes mild, non-fatal infection, the Omicron S-carrying virus inflicts severe disease with a mortality rate of 80 percent,” the preprint study said.
One lawmaker, Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.), said that the research entailed “lethal gain of function virus research” that creates the “potential to kill more people than any singular nuclear weapon.” Marshal, a doctor, added that “viruses have managed to escape even the most secure labs” and said such “research must stop immediately while the risks and benefits can be investigated.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
A University of llinois Chicago official was seen on video demanding an anti-Marxist display set-up by conservative students be removed from a sidewalk at the public university.
“There’s a difference between public property and state property,” an official at the college, identified by the Young America’s Foundation as associate director of UIC’s Center for Student involvement, Vance Pierce, said in the video. “Public property is anybody can set up outside on the sidewalk, there’s no issue. But inside, we do have some policies that we’re trying to share with you.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Extreme Cold May Trigger Power Blackouts Across New England
Last month we informed readers, “New England’s Power Crisis Set To Return.” Fast forward to today, as US Northeast temperatures steadily decline as heating demand increases, New England power producers warn grid strains are inevitable as natural gas supplies tighten.
New England consists of six states in the US Northeast, Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. The region faces a power crisis every winter because its power grid relies on NatGas and lacks pipeline infrastructure for domestic flows. Over the years, NatGas pipeline infrastructure has been delayed, blocked, or abandoned, which means the region’s power-grid operators have to compete in international markets for supplies.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
HOUSTON — The mother of George Floyd’s daughter has filed a $250 million lawsuit against rapper Kanye West following his recent comments on Floyd’s death.
In a news release from Witherspoon Law Group and Dixon & Dixon Attorneys at Law, Floyd’s family issued a cease-and-desist letter to West, also known as Ye’, for his comments about the 2020 death of the man at the hands of Minneapolis police that sparked a worldwide movement against police brutality.
In West’s recent appearance on the Drink Champs podcast, West made controversial statements about Floyd’s death, saying he died as a result of fentanyl use.
Hennepin County Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Andrew Baker said during his testimony that while Floyd’s heart disease and use of fentanyl were contributing factors to his death, they were not the direct cause.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis hand-delivered $1,000 bonus checks to first responders who worked through the Hurricane Ian response.
The checks are part of the state’s “Freedom First Budget,” which was signed by DeSantis on June 2 and includes a $1,000 bonus payment for local government first responders in the state, according to a press release.
The checks were intended to be mailed to first responders before Hurricane Ian made landfall in the state, but couldn’t be delivered to areas that were impacted by the Category 4 storm.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Gov. Ron DeSantis Slams Ukrainian Politicians for Ingratitude Towards Elon Musk
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis slammed Ukrainian officials over their hostility towards Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who provided the country with thousands of Starlink internet devices for free.
In a statement at a press conference on Monday, DeSantis took Ukraine to task for their ingratitude and said that they should be thankful for Musk’s contributions to their country.
“Elon Musk positioned his satellites over Ukraine and gave them these things,” DeSantis said. “So, they’ve actually been using his devices to be able to defend their country, and I guess some of the people in the government were attacking Musk.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Kyle Rittenhouse Starts New YouTube Channel Devoted to Guns, Second Amendment
Cleared Kenosha killer Kyle Rittenhouse has started a YouTube channel devoted to guns and Second Amendment rights.
The teen who shot dead two people and injured another while defending himself during Black Lives Matter riots in Kenosha, Wisconsin, started the channel on Sunday — quickly notching more than 34,000 subscribers.
“Hello! I am super excited to announce I will be starting a Youtube channel!” he wrote alongside a 35-second teaser in which he promised some “great content” to come.
“I look forward to creating content about guns and talking about the 2nd amendment with all of you!” wrote the now-19-year-old gun rights advocate.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
This is the second part of a Fox News Digital series on the Arabella Advisors-managed dark money network and its operations. Part one.
A left-wing group aiming to shift public opinion against firearms quietly launched at the largest liberal dark money network in America, Fox News Digital has found.
Project Unloaded, an anti-gun group, hopes to create a “new cultural narrative that guns make us less safe” by undertaking campaigns targeting teens and young adults, according to its website.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Moderna’s CEO Admits Only the Vulnerable Need a COVID Booster and Likens the Virus to Flu
The company’s CEO Stéphane Bancel said his shots are mainly targeted at over-50s and people with underlying health conditions. His comments seem to be at odds with the CDC in the US.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
OnlyFans Model Courtney Clenney Pleaded for Help From Miami Cops Before Killing Beau
The OnlyFans model charged with fatally stabbing her boyfriend during a fight in April pleaded with authorities to help her, according to newly released bodycam footage of an incident two days before the killing.
Courtney Clenney, 26, was hit with a second-degree murder charge in the death of Christian Obumseli after the couple got into a volatile fight on April 3. Clenney’s legal team has argued the social media influencer who has 2 million Instagram followers and had a once thriving OnlyFans business only killed her beau in self-defense.
Clenney can be heard saying on footage recorded by a City of Miami police officer and obtained by WSVN, “[He was], you know, stalking me.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Portland Antifa Accuse Comrade of Sexual Abuse
On Monday evening, an anonymous letter was posted by Antifa members in Portland accusing a prominent figure in their community, Jahdi Levvi, of grooming young women and emotionally abusing a former romantic partner.
The letter states that it includes information from an ex-partner of Levvi, and covers accusations of non-consensual sexual acts, grooming, “Jahdi’s consistency in being anti-sex/anti-sexworker,” and “how he prioritizes profit/clout over people.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Rumble Launches in-App Notifications on IOS and Android
Creators that live stream on the neutral video sharing platform Rumble can now send instant iOS and Android notifications to their subscribers whenever they go live.
Rumble described the new feature as “a significant opportunity for creators to increase their audiences, drive engagement, and generate more earnings.”
The feature also makes it easy for Rumble viewers to see when their favorite creators have gone live.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Snake on Plane Sends Passengers Screaming at Newark Airport
A snake on a United Airlines flight sent passengers into a panic on Monday after the slithery stowaway was spotted as the plane pulled into Newark International Airport.
The plane had just landed around 1:15 p.m. after a two-hour flight from Tampa and was taxiing towards its gate when shrieks were heard from the plane’s business class section, News 12 New Jersey reported.
Terrified passengers reportedly pulled their feet up to avoid the serpent as it moved about the cabin.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Steele Dossier Source Igor Danchenko Acquitted of Lying to FBI in Latest Durham Trial
A key source for the salacious and discredited Trump-Russia dossier was acquitted by a federal jury Tuesday, in a case that nevertheless produced several bombshells about the FBI’s handling of its probe into the 45th president’s 2016 campaign.
The Virginia panel cleared Igor Danchenko of four counts of lying to the bureau following approximately 10 hours of deliberation across two days after the case judge dropped a fifth count against him last week.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Monday’s report in the Daily Mail that the University of Boston has engineered a chimeric COVID that has an 80% kill rate in humanized mice has caused quite the stir.
To review, in an effort to research what makes Omicron so transmissible — and funded in part by grants from the NIH and Anthony Fauci’s NIAID — a team of researchers cobbled the Omicron spike protein to the original strain of Covid-19. The resulting virus was five times more infectious than Omicron.
“The Omicron spike (S) protein, with an unusually large number of mutations, is considered the major driver of these phenotypes. We generated chimeric recombinant SARS-CoV-2 encoding the S gene of Omicron in the backbone of an ancestral SARS-CoV-2 isolate and compared this virus with the naturally circulating Omicron variant,” reads the pre-print.
The authors speculate that their chimeric strain is unlikely to be as deadly in humans as it was in the mice because the specific breed used in testing are more susceptible to severe Covid.
Gain of Function?
“The research is a clear example of gain of function research of concern and enhanced potential pandemic pathogen (ePPP) research,” said Dr Richard Ebright, a chemist at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey, adding “‘It is especially concerning that this new US-government ePPP research — like the previous US-government ePPP research on chimeric SARS-related coronaviruses at Wuhan Institute of Virology that may have caused the pandemic — appears not to have undergone the prior risk-benefit review mandated under US-government policies.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Tulsi Gabbard Joins Forces With Kari Lake and Blake Masters
Former Democrat and Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard is joining forces with Republicans to campaign for GOP candidates Kari Lake and Blake Masters, both of whom are running for office.
On Monday night, GOP gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake announced that Gabbard intends to join her and GOP Senate candidate Blake Masters at a Young Republicans forum in Arizona on Tuesday.
Gabbard released her own announcement on Monday night, explaining her decision to campaign for Lake, who is running as an anti-establishment candidate and a populist alternative to the Democrats and neoconservatives in the state of Arizona.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
ArriveCAN Costs Quickly Ballooned From $80k to Over $54 Million
What began with the ArriveCan app being floated as an $80,000 project ballooned to a bill of over $54 million for taxpayers.
The glitch-plagued application, which until recently was mandatory for any travellers entering Canada, is now facing scrutiny in the House of Commons.
According to the Globe and Mail, the House of Commons government operations committee released a summary of contracts in connection with the app.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
OTTAWA (LifeSiteNews) — Documents show that the Canadian federal government received regular updates indicating the Freedom Convoy protests in Ottawa were non-violent in nature, despite the Trudeau administration’s claims otherwise.
According to Blacklock’s Reporter, Internal Department of Public Safety reports show that on the same day Prime Minister Justin Trudeau enacted the Emergencies Act (EA) to clear out the protesters, a report stated the protests were peaceful.
“No concerns at this time,” noted a February 14 report from the Canadian Security Intelligence Service.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Canada’s Yukon Territory Refuses to Participate in Trudeau’s Gun Grab Scheme
WHITEHORSE, Yukon (LifeSiteNews) — The majority of Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs) from the Canadian territory of Yukon have voted to push back against a semi-automatic gun buyback program enacted by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s federal government.
Last Wednesday, all MLAs from the Yukon Legislative Assembly from the Yukon Party and even the Yukon NDP voted for a motion calling for its government to not go along with Trudeau’s gun grab.
The motion read, “this House urges the Yukon government to ensure that territorial policing resources are not diverted to assist in the implementation of the Government of Canada’s gun buy-back program.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Danielle Smith Promises to Amend Alberta’s Human Rights Code to Protect Unvaxxed From Discrimination
EDMONTON, Alberta (LifeSiteNews) — On her first day on the job, Alberta’s new premier vowed that she will forge ahead and amend the province’s human rights code so that discriminating against a person because of his or her vaccine status would be illegal.
While speaking to reporters last week after being sworn in as provincial premier, Danielle Smith said (1:00:47 mark) that “If I need to make the point that this discrimination is unadaptable, the best way to do it is by changing the Human Rights Act.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Ontario Man Applies for State-Sponsored Suicide Over Homelessness
A 54-year-old man from Ontario, Amir Farsoud, is applying for Canada’s state-sponsored euthanasia program, Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD), because he is about to lose his house and does not want to be homeless.
According to City News Everywhere, Farsoud told the outlet, “I don’t want to die but I don’t want to be homeless more than I don’t want to die.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Ontario Police Force Says Trudeau’s Use of Emergencies Act Was Unnecessary
OTTAWA (LifeSiteNews) — The legal counsel for the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) has said the force did not think the Emergencies Act (EA) was needed to clear out the “Freedom Convoy” protesters.
In a statement made last Thursday during the opening day of the public inquiry into Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s federal government’s use of the EA, OPP lawyer Christopher Diana noted that the force has “significant experience in responding to protests, blockades, and similar activities” that made the invocation of the EA unnecessary.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
There is currently an independent commission being held to investigate the events that unfolded during the Freedom Convoy and how Justin Trudeau handled and deployed the Emergencies Act back in the early winter.
The Freedom Convoy, which began in late January and ended mid-February, had multiple bureaucrats and politicians desperately trying to distort what the protests represented in order to implement as many measures as possible.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
2 Killed in Stabbing in Southwest Germany, Suspect Detained
Two people were killed and another seriously wounded in a stabbing Tuesday in southwestern Germany, police said. The suspected assailant was detained.
BERLIN — Police said that they were alerted to the stabbing in a suburb of the city of Ludwigshafen on Tuesday afternoon. The 25-year-old suspect, a Somali citizen, initially fled the scene and was detained in a drugstore.
Officers used their firearms in the process and he was seriously injured, but not in life-threatening condition, police said.
Police later said the victims who were killed were two German men, ages 20 and 35. The severely injured person is a 27-year-old German.
Neither the names of the victims nor of the perpetrator were given, in line with German privacy policy.
Further information on the incident and possible motives of the attack weren’t immediately available. Police said there was no danger to the public.
| — Hat tip: Dean | [Return to headlines] |
Czechia is Close to an Agreement With Germany on Gas Sharing, Czech Trade Minister Reveals
The Czech Republic is close to an agreement with Germany on gas sharing in the event of an emergency, Industry and Trade Minister Jozef Sikela revealed following a meeting on Monday in Prague with German Minister of Economy and Climate Robert Habeck.
According to Sikela, Czechia is eminently interested in a stake in the emerging German LNG terminals.
“I believe we have made significant progress, and soon we will be able to conclude our joint agreement,” Sikela said without further details. He said that the Czech economy is closely connected with Germany’s, and that “when German industry is doing well, it also helps Czechia.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Eastward Gas Flows Via Yamal and Russia-EU Flows Via Ukraine Steady
Oct 18 (Reuters) — Eastbound gas flows via the Yamal-Europe pipeline from Germany to Poland were steady on Tuesday after a brief halt on the previous day.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
EU May Cut Call Funds to Poland in Dramatic Escalation, €110 Billion at Stake
The European Commission may stop all EU funding for Poland, which would not only amount to €35 billion from the EU Recovery fund but also €75 billion from the multiannual EU budget, according to reports in the Financial Times and Polish daily Rzeczpospolita.
Despite frantic Polish government attempts at negotiating a way out, the EU commission has apparently confirmed that, for the time being, it will not be refunding realized or planned investments.
The move would amount to the most dramatic escalation yet between the left-liberal establishment in Brussels and conservative governments in Central Europe.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
EU News Websites: ‘Pay Us or We’ll Track You’
Some leading websites in Europe are giving users the option to pay a monthly subscription to avoid tracking cookies. The option, dubbed “cookie paywall,” could make surfing the internet very expensive for those who want privacy.
Websites say they are introducing cookie paywalls so that they can comply with the EU’s strict privacy law, the GDPR, and still remain profitable. The General Data Protection Regulation, requires websites to get consent before tracking users. It requires consent to be given freely, but regulators in France and Austria have concluded that cookie paywalls are not illegal.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
France: Jihadi Beekeeper Arrested for Using Honey Profits to Finance Overseas Terror
French authorities have arrested a beekeeper recently expelled from Malaysia where he was allegedly using profits from honey sales to finance terror groups in Syria.
The 42-year-old, nicknamed “Abu Bee” was arrested on October 11 by officials from the French anti-terrorist sub-directorate and indicted for financing terrorism and association with a criminal terrorist group, and placed in pre-trial detention at the request of the National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor’s Office.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Out of all EU member states, Hungary alone stayed out of a training program for the Ukrainian military approved by the bloc on Monday. The program calls for the training of 15,000 Ukrainian military personnel at member states’ own bases.
“This abstention is allowed by Community law, so Hungary has not prevented the mission, but it will not participate in it and will not contribute to the costs of its operation,” Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjartó told news agency MTI during a break in the meeting of the EU foreign ministers.
“We do not think it is a good idea to do anything that leads to escalation, which could lead to the risk of the central or western half of Europe being drawn into the conflict,” he added.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
If the EU Cuts All Funding to Poland, Then Poland Must Retaliate With Its Veto, Says PiS MEP
Reports of Brussels blocking not only billions in EU Recovery Funds for Poland but also the structural and cohesion funds show that the European Commission is hell-bent on pressuring Poland into conceding its power to a European superstate, said MEP Bogdan Rzonca from Poland’s ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party during an interview with news portal DoRzeczy.pl.
According to him, all states opposed to a federalized Europe ruled from Brussels are set to receive “special treatment.” Rzonca defines this “special treatment” as being a form of discrimination. In order to punish Poland, the European Commission is breaching its powers and imposing on Poland sanctions far greater than those being imposed on Russia by the EU.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
New Images Reveal Extent of Damage Done to Nord Stream After Explosion
The first images taken of the damaged Nord Stream pipelines have been revealed, showing the extent of the damage done to them.
The Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines, which transported gas from Russia to Germany underneath the Baltic Sea, suffered a rupture late last month. On Tuesday, the Swedish newspaper, Expressen, published the first underwater photos and videos of the damaged pipeline taken by an underwater drone.
The new images appear to show tears on the seabed near the site of one of the ruptured pipes. The Nord Stream structure itself appeared to have suffered more severe damage than suspected, with a chunk of the pipeline completely torn apart, not just cracked open. Roughly 50 meters of the structure are estimated to be missing due to the attack.
| — Hat tip: JW | [Return to headlines] |
Nord Stream Blast ‘Blew Away 50 Metres of Pipe’
At least 50 metres (164ft) of an underwater pipeline bringing Russian gas to Germany is thought to have been destroyed by a blast last month.
Video shot by a Norwegian robotics company, published by Swedish newspaper Expressen, appears to show the massive tear in the Nord Stream 1 pipe.
Danish police believe “powerful explosions” blew four holes in the pipe and its newer twin, Nord Stream 2.
It is still unknown who or what caused the blasts amid suspicions of sabotage.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Poland Has Funded Over Half of the Starlink Terminals for Ukraine
The Starlink terminals created by Elon Musk’s firm SpaceX enable the Ukrainian army and civilians to use the internet. Out of the 20,000 of these terminals being used in Ukraine, 11,700 were purchased by Poland.
The terminals help the Ukrainian military conduct surveillance and communicate. The systems are also used by civil society organizations and infrastructure operators. They are connected to satellites, enabling the Ukrainians to bypass any attacks on their own internet infrastructure that Russia might launch.
Just after the start of the war, Musk’s company granted access to Starlink for the Ukrainian authorities. However, in reality, 85 percent of the 20,000 terminals were funded from U.S., Polish, and British sources, as acknowledged by SpaceX in its communications with the Pentagon.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Reuters Stumbles in Attempt to “Fact Check” Pfizer COVID Transmission Scandal
A viral video with over 2 million views posted by True North featuring a Pfizer executive admitting that the vaccine manufacturer never tested their covid vaccine on stopping transmission of the virus is among several posts that were recently “fact-checked” by Reuters and marked as “misleading”.
But, based on online reaction, Reuter’s has stumbled at its attempt, which is in turn being portrayed as misleading.
In an October 10 hearing in the European Parliament, Dutch MEP Rob Roos asked Pfizer’s President of Developed Markets Janine Small if Pfizer had tested the vaccine on stopping transmission of the virus before entering the European market.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Somali Suspect Arrested During Deadly Stabbing Rampage in Germany
Police in Germany arrested an African male after he allegedly stabbed three people on Tuesday, killing two and injuring one, according to reports.
The horrifying incident unfolded at around midday in Ludwigshafen, a city in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate.
Authorities responded to the scene of bloody rampage in the Oggersheim district.
They found two men, aged 20 and 35, suffering from fatal stab wounds, Focus reports.
The suspect, who fled the scene, attacked a third male victim at a drug store, seriously injuring him.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Farage: Conservative Party ‘Is Now Dead’, Globalist Hunt and Labour ‘Virtually Identical’
Brexit champion Nigel Farage has said that, following the “globalist coup” against the very moderately free market conservative Liz Truss, the Conservative (Tory) Party serves no purpose.
“Twelve years of Tory misrule,” Farage lamented in a direct to camera-piece starkly titled ‘Why the Conservative Party needs to be replaced’.
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UK: Just Stop Oil: 26 Arrested After Police Unglue Protesters Near Barons Court
Police unglued protesters blocking a busy London road during rush hour and arrested 26 people in the latest protest by campaign group Just Stop Oil.
Demonstrators lined up on the A4 and brought traffic grinding to a halt during a series of co-ordinated protests which also included blocking the QE2 Bridge linking Kent and Essex.
The environmental activist group demanded that the Government “halts all new oil and gas licences and consents”.
Shortly after 8:30am police arrested 26 activists blocking Talgarth Road near Barons Court Tube station.
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Elnaz Rekabi: Concerns Grow for Female Climber From Iran Who Competed Without Hijab
Concerns are growing for a female Iranian athlete, who took part in a climbing competition in South Korea without wearing her nation’s mandatory headscarf covering.
The decision by Elnaz Rekabi, a 2021 climbing world championship bronze medalist, to forgo the headscarf, or hijab, came as protests sparked by the 16 September death of a 22-year-old woman have entered a fifth week. Mahsa Amini was detained by the country’s morality police over her clothing.
The Iranian Embassy in Seoul said Rekabi, 33, left the country on Tuesday morning.
It has been reported that she was due to leave on Wednesday, but that her departure was brought forward by Iranian authorities.
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One-Third of Ukraine’s Power Stations Destroyed as Who Warns of “Brutal” Winter Ahead
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced Tuesday that up to one-third of all power stations have been attacked by Russian missile and drone strikes over the past week, causing “massive blackouts across the country.”
He called these ongoing strikes against energy infrastructure “terrorist attacks” and said this means there’s “No space left for negotiations with Putin’s regime,” according a tweet.
For more than a week Russia has stepped up an aerial bombardment campaign against dozens of cities and towns which has included widespread use of suicide drones. Ukraine and its Western backers suspect these are Iranian-made drones, cause the EU to threaten new sanctions against Tehran on Tuesday.
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Ukraine War: Power Supplies ‘Critical’, Iran Pledges More Drones, Zaporizhzhia Prisoner Swap
1. Some 30% of Ukrainian power stations have been destroyed, says Zelenskyy
Ukraine’s government has described the situation as “critical” after new Russian strikes pounded the country’s power plants on Tuesday, causing major blackouts as winter approaches.
The latest assaults look like a coordinated attempt to destroy Ukraine’s electricity and water supplies before winter, with energy facilities struck in or near several cities, including Kyiv, Dnipro, Kharkiv and Zhytomyr.
Two people have been killed in the attacks on the capital, while a man died after a Russian missile struck a block of flats in the southern port of Mykolaiv, the authorities said.
“Another kind of Russian terrorist attacks: targeting (Ukraine’s) energy & critical infrastructure,” President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote on Twitter.
“Since 10 October, 30% of Ukraine’s power stations have been destroyed, causing massive blackouts across the country. No space left for negotiations with Putin’s regime.”
“The situation is critical now throughout the country, because our regions are dependent on each other,” presidential official Kyrylo Tymoshenko said on television, saying it was “necessary for the whole country to prepare for the possibility of power, water and heating outages”.
It comes the day after several people were killed in another wave of attacks using missiles and so-called “kamikaze drones”.
Another victim was reportedly pulled dead from the rubble of a building in Kyiv, raising the total number of those killed in Monday’s strikes to 10.
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Hindu Janajagruti Samiti spokesperson warned that if the conditions are not met within one week, the Hindu Janajagruti Samiti will not hesitate to start a nationwide protest.
B Upendran | HENB | Bengaluru | Oct 18, 2022:: Devout Hindutva organisation Hindu Janajagruti Samiti (HJS) has called for a halal-free Deepawali here on Tuesday.
Speaking to the media, HJS Karnataka state spokesperson Mohan Gowda said that other states such as Maharashtra, and Goa have started ‘Halal Muqt Deepawali Abhiyaan’ (Halal free Diwali Campaign). “We have also launched a similar campaign in Karnataka urging Hindus to boycott halal-certified meat,” he said.
Gowda mentioned fast food outlets such as KFC, McDonald’s and Pizza Hut serve halal-certified food. “Why are Hindus forced to eat halal food? It is against our Dharma shastras and culture,” Gowda said.
Gowda further asked managers of the fast food chains to make available ‘non-halal’ food for Hindus. “We need a separate outlet for Hindus. The managers should make sure to mention non-halal food in the menu cards.”
Gowda warned that if the conditions are not met within one week, the Hindu Janajagruti Samiti will not hesitate to start a nationwide protest.
Meanwhile, the Karnataka police department is taking no chances with the development and considering the sensitivity of the issue, tight vigilance has been arranged across the state to maintain a law and order situation.
The ‘Halal Free Diwali’ campaign in Karnataka has gained momentum and has been supported by many Hindu organisations including Sri Ram Sena as reports came in.
Ramesh Shinde, the National Spokesperson of HJS participated in the Bengaluru protest campaign with many other dignitaries.
| — Hat tip: Upananda Brahmachari | [Return to headlines] |
Communist China Cuts Off Europe From Its Natural Gas Supplies: Report
The communist government in Beijing has reportedly told state-owned energy-importing companies to cease reselling supplies of natural gas to the energy-strapped European nations and others to shore up domestic stocks before the winter months.
Further complicating the situation for the European Union ahead of what is spelling to be a cold and difficult winter, the Chinese Communist Party’s National Development and Reform Commission has reportedly told state-owned energy giants CNOOC, PetroChina, and Sinopec to halt shipments of liquified natural gas to foreign buyers in Europe and Asia, Bloomberg reported on Monday.
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Bank App Tracks How Many Trees You’ve ‘Destroyed’ With Your Carbon Footprint
The Commonwealth Bank has begun advising customers how much damage they have done to the environment with their carbon footprint based on monthly spending.
Customers are now shown on their banking app how many trees have been destroyed as a result of their consumerism, and they are offered the chance to pay a fee to offset the destruction they have caused.
The information is being provided to customers in a bid to push them toward more sustainable purchases.
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Dr Nick Coatsworth has issued a brutal wake up call to the Australian doctors responsible for deliberately defrauding Medicare of an eye-watering $8billion.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
Australians earning an average-full-time salary of $92,000 can now buy a house a short drive from the city centre. While $664,000 buys a house in Melbourne and Brisbane, there is nothing in Sydney.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
New Zealand Finally Scraps COVID-19 Vaccine Mandates
Vaccine mandates will be scrapped in an overhaul of the New Zealand government’s Covid powers.
Acting Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said the government’s power to enforce gathering limits and lockdowns would also be removed.
Other Covid rules to be abandoned in coming weeks included the need for vaccine passes, QR code displays and Covid related border entry requirements.
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France: Singer Mikaben Dead at 41 After Collapsing on Stage During Paris Concert
Haitian singer Mikaben collapsed and died on stage died from a suspected heart attack or cardiac arrest in Paris late Saturday. He was 41 years old.
Mikaben was performing as a guest of Haitian konpa group CaRiMi at the 20,000-seat Accor Arena when social media footage showed him attempting to walk offstage and staggering before collapsing.
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The main suspect in the brutal rape and murder of the 12-year-old Parisian schoolgirl known only as Lola was residing in France on an expired student residence permit and had been ordered to leave the country within 30 days almost two months ago, local media reported late on Monday.
The 24-year-old female suspect known as Dahbia B., who is an Algerian national, had come to France legally in 2016 on a student residence permit, BFMTV reported. Her permit, however, had expired, and on Aug. 21, she had been detained by border police at a French airport and issued an order to leave the country within 30 days.
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Breaking: NYC Mayor Eric Adams Not ‘Capable Enough’ To Handle Illegal Immigrant Crisis Per Top Aide
A new video from Project Veritas Action has revealed that New York City Mayor Eric Adams’ top aide has doubts about the mayor’s ability to handle the ongoing illegal immigrant crisis in the city, a result of the border crisis created by the Biden administration.
Chris Baugh, a member of the Advance Team for Adams, spoke with an undercover Project Veritas journalist, revealing how delicate the situation is in the city currently.
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Confidential Memo: Dutch Asylum Crisis Continues With 10,000 Homeless in January
The crisis surrounding the reception of asylum seekers will certainly not be resolved before the end of the year. There is expected to be a shortfall of at least 10 000 reception places by 1 January. This is according to the transition plan of the Central Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers (COA) seen by RTL News‘ political editor.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
France in Shock: Algerian Migrants Charged for Brutal Rape and Murder of 12-Year-Old Paris Girl
Two Algerian migrants have been indicted for the rape, torture and murder of a 12-year-old girl named Lola who was discovered dead on Friday in the courtyard of the building where she lived.
The body of 12-year-old Lola Daviet was found at around 11:20 pm on Friday after her parents had reported her missing to the police in the afternoon when Lola had not returned from school to her home in the 19th arrondissement (district) of Paris.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
German Government Coalition Launches Asylum Program for Afghans, To Import 1,000 Afghans a Month
Germany’s centre-left “traffic light coalition,” a coalition of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), the Free Democratic Party (FDP), and Alliance 90/The Greens, have launched an asylum program for refugees, with Afghans as the target demographic. Afghans have the poorest integration record of any migrant group in the country.
The plans involve bringing in 1,000 Afghans per month, particularly those exposed and at risk because of service to their former government, which collapsed after U.S. President Joe Biden’s botched withdrawal from the country that fell under the control of the Taliban immediately afterward.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
German Red-Greens Want to Change Language on Immigration
Policing language on immigration is the latest idea from the Greens, the Left Party and the SPD. The CDU/CSU, however, find the attempt to introduce “speech bans” on asylum issues problematic but have no means to stop such measures.
Julian Pahlke has been active in sea rescue for almost six years on the rescue ship Iuventa operating the Mediterranean. His volunteers operating a migrant taxi service, have already picked up 14 000 illegals.
According to Pahlke, it doesn’t matter whether someone is fleeing bombs from Ukraine or Syria, because “there are no social tourists” as “no one leaves their country because of a little welfare”. There is also no illegal immigration, because there is no legal immigration from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan either.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Twitter is Fine With Pfizer Propaganda, But Comic Books About the US Border Crisis Are Not Allowed
Only a couple weeks ago, corporate Pharma giant Pfizer partnered with Marvel and widely promoted a new one-shot comic book featuring classic Avengers heroes leaping into action as children watch from the sidelines in a hospital. The children learn that in order to become like the Avengers they don’t need to fight villains, all they need to do is get their new covid mRNA vaccines. The propaganda campaign was all over Twitter’s social media platform and the ethics of the source was never questioned.
The book has been immediately dated due to Pfizer’s recent admission under oath at the EU Parliament that their covid vaccines were never tested in the prevention of viral transmission, upending months of claims that getting the vax meant saving grandma and grandpa from exposure to the disease. The claim that the vaccines were “proven” to prevent transmission was also used as the basis for covid passport schemes in nations across the west, trampling the personal rights of millions.
Pfizer essentially gets to say and do what they want on Twitter, and Marvel has the same luxury. Neither company has anything to fear in terms of their voices being censored due to the political leanings they might exhibit, the issues they address or the fallacies they might spread. Some groups are protected because they have the “correct” politics.
In yet another incident which showcases the ideological bias of a platform which has long claimed to have never targeted conservatives, it appears that Twitter is not so favorable towards comic books that veer away from leftist ideology.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Albanian small boat migrants have been fast-tracked out of Britain just days after crossing the Channel.
The Home Office confirmed 11 Albanians were sent home on a charter plane last week as part of a pilot scheme.
When the migrants arrived from northern France earlier this month they were taken to a former RAF airbase at Manston, Kent, which is being used to process Channel migrants.
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Britain has paid the Rwandan government an extra £20million for the stalled asylum deal — even though not a single migrant has yet been deported.
Immigration minister Tom Pursglove said the sum was for ‘initial set-up costs’, on top of £120million in April.
The new sum will pay for caseworkers, translators and other costs including accommodation. Under the plan, some migrants will be given a one-way ticket to Rwanda to claim asylum there.
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Around 300 migrants crossed the English Channel by small boat before midday today.
While the government is yet to release the official figures for Tuesday, three Border Force boats — each carrying around 100 people — arrived in Dover, Kent, this morning.
The latest group were escorted into the harbour at around 12pm on Border Force cutter Hurricane.
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“Only Women Have a Cervix” — Biomedical Scientist is Struck Off Over Twitter Posts
67-year-old retired biomedical scientist Malcolm Needs in the UK was struck off from the profession after a tribunal concluded that his social media posts were “inflaming gender discrimination.”
In one of the posts, Needs wrote: “Only women have a cervix. There, I said it, it’s not difficult. Women also have a right to women-only spaces. Speaking up in defense of women’s rights doesn’t mean we can’t respect how others wish to live their lives.”
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A map charting the locations of clinics and hospitals offering medicalized gender transitions and other gender identity-centric treatments has come under attack by gender ideology proponents, who say that this map is “dangerous.”
The map was taken down by Google after trans activist backlash, Alix Aharon told The Post Millennial. Documentation from a group of parents of trans-identified children and teens confirms that they worked to get Google to take it down as well. They called the map the creation of a “terrorist organization.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Following an injury to a female player at a high school volleyball game last month caused by a biologically male athlete, a school board in North Carolina has blocked further games with a school, citing student safety concerns.
During a tournament, a Hiwassee Dam High School student was hit in the face with the ball, sent over the net by a Highlands High School student.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Video of Drag Queen Gyrating in Front of Child Has Texas Pols Pushing for Legislative Action
An explicit viral video of a raunchy Texas drag queen show performed in font of a little girl sparked a social media backlash — and has state lawmakers pledging legislative action.
The video filmed by BlazeTV host Sara Gonzalez shows a drag queen lifting her skirt and gyrating while lip-synching lyrics to the song “P—y” by Lady as a confused kid looks on from one of the nearby tables.
“My p—y good / p—y sweet /p—y good enough to eat,” go the lyrics as the drag queen gyrates.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Women Are Boycotting Estée Lauder After Featuring a Trans Woman in TikTok Ad
The makeup brand Estée Lauder is under fire again for a TikTok video they posted in March 2022.
The video caption reads, “What is Cricket’s favorite part about being a woman? Living in FULL COLOR ????,” and has garnered over 10,000 views on the social media app.
It features a transgender woman named Cricket Temple who is a scientist for the company. In the 21-second video, Temple describes what the most enjoyable aspect of being a woman is. Additionally, Cricket says, “I lead the change by bringing to attention the things that people would rather not see, both in science and in society.”
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Re the German care/ invader homes run by the Korian Group: ( from their website)
“Korian’s strength lies in its European network and the dedication of its 57 500 employees. Korian is unique in the way it delivers compassionate and long-term care services to elderly or vulnerable people, with an emphasis on preserving their independence. Korian also cares about the quality of life of its residents and employees. Everything Korian does is guided by the Group’s resilient, socially inclusive and sustainable vision.“