The German state of North Rhine-Westphalia has banned the use of nitrate fertilizers in much of its farmland as part of an effort to save the planet. Meanwhile, record numbers of French citizens have surrendered their guns in response to the government’s latest initiative to crack down on private ownership of firearms.
In other news, residents of the Welsh city of Cardiff are said to be eating pet food due to the cost of living crisis.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to Dean, DV, JW, LP, Reader from Chicago, Roger, SS, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.
Notice to tipsters: Please don’t submit extensive excerpts from articles that have been posted behind a subscription firewall, or are otherwise under copyright protection.
Caveat: Articles in the news feed are posted “as is”. Gates of Vienna cannot vouch for the authenticity or accuracy of the contents of any individual item posted here. I check each entry to make sure it is relatively interesting, not patently offensive, and at least superficially plausible. The link to the original is included with each item’s title. Further research and verification are left to the reader.
Inflation in Poland Drops for First Time Since February
Prices of consumer goods and services in Poland increased by 17.4 percent year-over-year in November 2022, compared to 17.9 percent in October. While inflation still remains stubbornly high, the new data represents the first decrease since February, when the anti-inflation shield was introduced.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Wales: Cost of Living: People in Cardiff ‘Eating Pet Food’
People are having to eat pet food while others try to heat food on a radiator, a community worker with 20 years’ experience has said.
Mark Seed now runs a community food project in Trowbridge, east Cardiff.
BBC Wales analysis of new Census data suggests six of Wales’ most deprived communities are in the city.
A charity warns that struggling households do not just appear in areas long associated with poverty and policy needs to focus on people not places.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
It appears Sam Bankman-Fried is using the ‘Simple Jack’ defense…
Bankman-Fried started the interview by saying he’s deeply sorry about what happened.
He claims he was shocked by what happened this month.
Which makes us wonder — if he didn’t have the data, who did?
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
100-a-Day: Chicago Vehicle Thefts Explodes as Safe-T Act Changes Debated
Authored by Matt Rosenberg via Wirepoints.org
One hundred motor vehicle thefts a day.
That’s the recent daily count in Chicago in October as motor vehicle thefts spiked dramatically in the last three months. Compare that to the first half of the year when Chicago was averaging “just” 35 thefts a day.
It’s just one part of the Great Unraveling of Chicago’s justice system that stems from emboldened criminals, a demoralized police force and a leadership class obsessed with soft-on-crime legislation like the SAFE-T Act. Late amendments to the Act under consideration today in the final day of the fall veto session could lessen the damage somewhat but key flaws and a lawsuit challenging the Act will remain.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
4 Reasons Police Haven’t Arrested or Named a Suspect in the Idaho 4 Murders
On November 13, sometime between 3 a.m. and 5 a.m., four University of Idaho students were brutally murdered by stabbing as they slept after a late night out on the town. The true crime community is on fire over this tragic event, and rumors and theories are swirling. As of today, Moscow police have not named or arrested a suspect, which has led to much speculation and fear in the normally sleepy college town. As internet sleuths comb for clues and have begun to criticize the police, it’s a good time to remind everyone that good policing takes time and real crime cannot be wrapped up in a neat forty-five-minute Netflix episode. There are very good reasons for this that the media and those aspiring to be investigators should take into consideration. Now is not the time to panic.
For the sake of the families who just lost four beloved children on the cusp of their adult lives, this is a developing story that should be handled with extreme care. Already, just 17 days into the investigation, the parents are starting to question the forthrightness of the police and their emotions are raw going into the first holiday season without their children. It would be helpful for them if the true crime die-hards didn’t fan the flames of upset for clicks and views. I’ve spent the day going over the facts of this case and to me, it’s looking like very good police work in a very difficult situation.
Here are some very good reasons why the Moscow police have not named anyone or made any arrests… yet.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Alyssa Milano Gives Up Game, Says Elon Musk is ‘Destroying’ Twitter But Admits Nothing’s Changed
“Woke” Hollywood star Alyssa Milano tried to smear Twitter CEO Elon Musk on “The View” but ended up exposing her own ignorance instead.
Milano is one of several leftist celebrities who are melting down over Musk’s free speech plan for Twitter.
Some have been threatening to boycott the platform, others have closed their accounts, and many are trashing Musk nonstop (on Twitter).
However, despite the meltdowns over “the current thing,” critics can’t highlight anything that has changed on the platform since Musk bought it.
While Milano and her allies claim Musk is “destroying” Twitter, the social media platform is recording record numbers of users.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Arizona Governor-Elect Hobbs Ultimatum to County Board: Certify Her Election or Face Felony Rap
The office of Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, now the governor-elect, threatened the Mohave County Board of Supervisors with legal action and criminal referral unless they certified the 2022 vote in their county.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Biden’s Student Loan Forgiveness Program Remains Blocked for Now, Supreme Court Says
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court agreed Thursday to decide whether the Biden administration can broadly cancel student loans, keeping the program blocked for now but signaling a final answer by early summer.
That’s about two months before the newly extended pause on loan repayments is set to expire.
The administration had wanted a court order that would have allowed the program to take effect even as court challenges proceed. The justices didn’t do that, but agreed to the administration’s fallback, setting arguments for late February or early March over whether the program is legal.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
The Democratic chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee claimed Wednesday that Joe Biden and his administration are trying not to openly support anti-lockdown protesters in China too much in order to avoid the Communist government claiming that it’s all a “western plot”.
Appearing on CNN, Mark Warner stated that if the CCP is “able to portray this as kind of an anti-Chinese or western plot, that undermines the very protesters that we’re trying to stand with.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Florida’s Republican Governor Ron DeSantis has hit Wall Street where it hurts by terminating a $2 billion contract with Larry Fink’s BlackRock over its “woke” ESG policies.
Environmental, Social, and Governance standard (ESG) refers to non-financial standards used by asset managers in financial decision-making and is often referred to as social or corporate credit rating.
Florida Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Jimmy Patronis announced that the Florida Treasury will begin divesting $2 billion worth of assets currently under management by BlackRock.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
East Coast’s First Countywide Gas Ban Passed in Md.
Montgomery County, Md., moved yesterday to become the first county on the East Coast to ban natural gas as a source of heat in new buildings, pleasing green groups even as critics warned of higher energy costs.
The gas limits, backed in a 9-0 vote by the Montgomery County Council’s Democratic members, are expected to go into effect by the end of 2026 as part of local building codes. About 1.1 million people live in Montgomery County, which adjoins the District of Columbia and is the state’s largest county.
Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich — who needs to sign the provisions before they can be enacted — has previously voiced support for the gas ban.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Filmmaker Dies ‘Suddenly in His Sleep’ at 45, Despite ‘Good Health’
A celebrated filmmaker from Philadelphia has “died suddenly in his sleep” at just 45 years old, despite his family insisting that he was in “good health.”
Frank Tartaglia was a filmmaker and beloved fixture in the south Philadelphia arts scene.
The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that Tartaglia died suddenly last week.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Fox News Leaves Rivals in Dust, Beats CNN and MSNBC Viewer Numbers Combined
Fox News dominated the TV ratings again during the month of November, beating rivals MSNBC and CNN’s viewer numbers combined for the fourth straight month.
The conservative network beat the left-wing rivals in both day viewers and primetime.
Fox News also had 93 of the top 100 cable news shows in November.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
A reparations committee in California has suggested that descendants of slaves in the state could be compensated $223,200 each for ‘housing discrimination’.
The nine-member Reparations Task Force was formed by California Governor Gavin Newsom as part of the country’s largest ever effort to address reparations for slavery.
A focus of the California task force has been ‘housing discrimination’ — it has been estimated that it would cost around $569billion to compensate the 2.5 million Black Californians for setbacks between 1933 and 1977, according to the New York Times.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Georgia Judge Throws Book at Man Convicted of Voter Fraud, Sentences Him to 25 Years in Prison
A Georgia judge has thrown the book at a Walker County man who was found guilty of voter fraud charges.
William Chase, 62, was convicted by a Walker County jury of forgery in the first-degree, illegal acts regarding election documents, unlawful acts regarding elector’s vote, and repeat voting in the same election.
He was convicted on charges related to illegal voting in the 2021 Georgia Senate runoff election.
Chief Judge Kristina Graham sentenced Chase to 25 years in prison.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Girl Who Murdered 13-Year-Old Friend Could Avoid Juvenile Detention
One friend stabbed the other to death during a fight over a secret that appeared to have gotten out.
CINCINNATI (WXIX) — A judge this week suspended the sentence of a 15-year-old found guilty of murder, meaning the teenage girl, if she behaves, could avoid juvenile detention.
Janiah Page was convicted last month of murder and felony assault in the death of Nyaira Givens.
Both Page and Givens were 13 years old in April 2021 when Page stabbed Givens in the neck during a fight over a secret of Givens that appeared to escape Page’s confidence.
Hamilton County Juvenile Court Judge Kari Bloom wrote in her decision last month that the pair had been friends for several years.
Bloom noted at the time Givens could be sentenced to juvenile detention for up to six years, or until she turns 21. But this week, she probated her to a lockdown facility instead.
Missy Redd, Givens’ cousin, can hardly believe it. “My family didn’t get the justice,” Redd said. “I don’t think it’s right; I don’t think it’s fair.”
Redd was at the scene when Givens was stabbed.
“She was scratching on my leg, telling me the last words to come out of her mouth was she loved me, and I knew she was dead, because her daddy was screaming her name, telling her to wake up,” Redd recalled.
| — Hat tip: DV | [Return to headlines] |
GOP Senators to Withhold Support for Defense Funding Until They Get Vote to End Military Vax Mandate
Senate Republicans says they’ll withhold their support for the National Defense Authorization Act if they don’t get a vote on ending the military’s COVID-19 vaccination mandate for service members.
Seven GOP senators made the vow Wednesday at a Capitol Hill news conference, saying they would withhold the support if leaders of the Democrat-led chamber don’t allow a floor vote on their proposal, according to NBC News.
Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul said the group will not vote to get on the NDAA “unless we have a vote on ending this military vaccine mandate.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
‘I Like Hitler’: Kanye Doubles Down in Wild InfoWars Stream
Kanye West declared his “love” of Nazis and admiration for Adolf Hitler on Thursday, sparking outrage as another commercial partner announced it was splitting from the troubled superstar.
In an extraordinary hours-long appearance on Infowars, the show fronted by conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, West — now known as Ye — wore a black mask completely covering his face, as he ranted about sin, pornography and the devil.
“I like Hitler,” West said several times.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
‘I Would Do it Again: ‘ Man Admits to Stabbing His Mother, Sister, Osceola Deputies Say
OSCEOLA COUNTY, Fla. — A man admitted to stabbing and killing his own mother and hurting his sister during an attack at a home near Kissimmee, according to the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office.
Deputies identified the accused killer as Matthew Sisley, 21, on Wednesday afternoon.
Deputies said they arrived at a home near the intersection of Myrtle Oak Lane and Oak Hill Trail, just north of Champion’s Gate, Tuesday, where they found a woman had been stabbed to death and another woman with severe cuts on her hands.
Sisley was nabbed by deputies a few blocks from the home, according to Sheriff Marcos Lopez.
When questioned about the attack, Sisley confessed to killing his mother and “accidentally stabbing” his sister, according to a news release.
Sisley said he killed his mother “because she never pushed me to be a man,” and added that he “would do it again.”
Sisley currently faces a charge of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon. Deputies said additional charges are forthcoming.
| — Hat tip: Roger | [Return to headlines] |
U.S. House Rep Jim Jordan (R-OH) went scorched earth today demanding answers from former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, former Director of the CIA John Brennan, former executive director for the Department of Homeland Security’s Disinformation Governance Board Nina Jankowicz, and the Executive Assistant Director of the FBI’s Human Resource Branch, Jennifer Moore.
Jordan wants information from Clapper and Brennan about the infamous statement many national security experts signed claiming the story about Hunter Biden was Russian disinformation. The letter gave the media cover to denounce the story and Twitter cover to suppress it.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Kari Lake Talks Arizona Lawsuit Timeline and Plans
Election integrity fans are following the action in Arizona, as Republican nominees for statewide office, led by gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake, take a stand against the perennial shenanigans in Maricopa County. The county’s shoddy sh*tshow of an election has delayed counting and produced trust-defying results (that somehow always magically end up favoring Democrats) for far too long. With Americans’ faith in our electoral system hitting dangerous lows while the Democrat ballot sow-and-reap system grows ever more entrenched, we’re just about at the end of the line for opportunities to fix this mess.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Kevin McCarthy Puts Liz Cheney on Notice, Warns Her to ‘Preserve All Records’ of Jan 6 Probe
Republican House Minority Leader Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) has put Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) on notice, telling the outgoing GOP congresswoman and her allies on the anti-Trump Jan. 6 Committee to “preserve all records and transcripts.”
The warning comes as McCarthy promises to launch a full investigation into the special committee supposedly probing the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
McCarthy wrote a letter to the committee that said: “You’ve spent a year and a half and millions of taxpayers’ dollars conducting this investigation.
“It is imperative that all information collected be preserved not just for institutional prerogatives but for transparency to the American people.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Moms Demand Action’s Shannon Watts claims that defensive gun uses don’t happen. They’re just an urban myth. A fantasy perpetrated by crazed gun nuts. Then again, “gaslighting” is the 2022 word of the year.
Bright and early last Friday morning, two separate neighbors with concealed carry guns in Michigan, seeing a “disturbance” turn into a home invasion of a nearby residence with a mom and two children inside, acted quickly to stop the mayhem before police eventually arrived and tok the suspect into custody.
Like most good guys with guns, the two CCW holders used good judgement and didn’t fire a shot. But they made it clear to the lunatic in question that if he continued, he’d suffer some ballistic bodily alteration. At the sight of the guns and the determined men willing to use them, the drug-addled 32-year-old home invader, according to police, experienced a sudden change of demeanor.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Los Angeles County May Reimpose Indoor Mask Mandate if COVID Transmissions Climb
Los Angeles County could re-introduce its mask mandate, health officials said Thursday.
Los Angeles County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said required masking indoors could come back if the county reaches the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) high transmission rates and hospital bed occupancy categories.
“If both hospitalization indicators, new COVID-19 admissions and the proportion of staffed in-patient beds occupied by COVID patients, surpass the threshold for high, LA County will return to universal indoor masking,” she said.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Fox Business star Maria Bartiromo asked Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) whether disgraced FTX “fraudster” Sam Bankman-Fried is getting TV interviews rather than getting arrested because he donated a massive amount of cash to the Democrats.
“I didn’t ever try to commit fraud on anyone,” Bankman-Fried said.
“I was excited about the prospects of FTX a month ago. I saw it as a thriving, growing business. I was shocked by what happened this month, and reconstructing it, there are things I wish I’d done differently.”
Sen. Lummis said: “Well, I think that these were well-educated, sophisticated fraudsters. I think it’s obviously fraud. So the Justice Department needs to get involved.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Neuralink Brain Chip to Begin Human Trials in 6 Months —musk
STORY: “He’s not actually using a keyboard. He’s moving the cursor with his mind…”
At Elon Musk’s much-awaited “show and tell” event for his brain-implant company Neuralink, the world’s richest person shared video of a monkey typing telepathically, as he seeks to begin clinical trials for a wireless brain chip in human beings.
“The monkeys actually enjoy doing the demos, and they get the banana smoothie and it’s kind of a fun game.”
The billionaire said he expects approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to conduct human trials in six months, after the company missed earlier timelines set by him.
“We’ve been working hard to be ready for our first human and obviously we want to be extremely careful and certain that it will work well before putting a device into a human…”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
New CNN CEO Drops Hammer, Fires Trump Critic Chris Cillizza and Guts Network
CNN’s new CEO Chris Licht has reportedly fired a fierce critic of former President Donald Trump. Politics Reporter and Editor-at-Large Chris Cillizza has been let go from CNN according to Variety. He has worked at CNN since 2017.
Other CNN staffers getting the axe include Alison Kosik, Martin Savidge, Alex Field, and Mary Ann Fox. Licht earlier terminated Trump critics Brian Stelter’s Reliable Sources and axed White House Correspondent John Harwood.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
NPR Latest Outlet to Flip Out on Elon Musk: ‘Endangering Millions of People’s Lives’
Taxpayer-funded outlet NPR rounded up the opinions of human rights advocates to alarm readers that Twitter under Elon Musk’s ownership could exacerbate “political, ethnic and religious conflicts” around the world.
NPR’s piece is the latest in a long line of media hit pieces finding danger in the Tesla CEO’s handling of the social media platform.
On Tuesday, the Washington Post’s Taylor Lorenz spoke to “experts” who claimed Musk’s decision to remove Twitter’s COVID misinformation policy in recent weeks would lead to “more deaths.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Portland Antifa Fugitive Wanted on Felony Charges Arrested and Released Again Without Bail
A Portland Antifa member who had been considered a wanted dangerous fugitive earlier in November has been arrested and released without bail.
23-year-old Jarrid Huber was arrested on November 30, for a litany of charges including felonious criminal mischief, arson, and rioting stemming from a May 25, 2021 incident. He was released that day without bail.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
A study by Investment Metrics in September found that 78% of funds focusing on ESG principles fell more than 15 percent below their benchmarks.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
Rumble Files Lawsuit to Challenge New York’s Social Media Censorship Law
Free speech video sharing platform Rumble and its subscription platform Locals have sued New York Attorney General (AG) Letitia James to challenge a social media censorship law that they say would force platforms to target constitutionally protected speech.
Rumble and Locals are being represented by the free speech nonprofit Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) and are joined in the lawsuit by constitutional law professor Eugene Volokh, the co-founder of the Volokh Conspiracy legal blog.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Sen. Marsha Blackburn Says There Will be Oversight Hearings Regarding Big Tech Censorship
Tennessee GOP Sen. Marsha Blackburn said that with the GOP-controlled House of Representatives coming up in 2023, there will be oversight hearings regarding big tech censorship.
“I think that Silicon Valley is finally figuring out that with Republicans in charge of the House, that there are going to be some oversight hearings,” Blackburn said on the John Solomon Reports podcast.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Tara Reade is Ready to Testify Before Congress Against Joe Biden
With the GOP set to take over the House at the start of next year, things could get a bit more difficult for Joe Biden. Running up to the 2022 election, Republicans promised hearings and investigations into a number of issues and situations involving the president.
According to former Joe Biden aide Tara Reade, in 1993, when the president was still a senator, he pinned her against a wall, reached under her clothing, and sexually violated her. A police report was filed, but there was no investigation into the incident.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Teen Charged in California-Kirkbride Homicide Also Accused in Funeral Service Shooting
A Pittsburgh teenager who police say opened fire on a Brighton Heights funeral service in late October has been charged in connection with a homicide that took place more than two months earlier.
The Aug. 7 shooting in the city’s California-Kirkbride neighborhood left one man dead and three others injured.
Heze’kiah Nixon, 16, faces charges of criminal homicide, criminal conspiracy, three counts of aggravated assault and firearms violations. He has been held at Allegheny County Jail since being denied bail after his arrest in connection with the Brighton Heights shooting.
Casey White, an attorney for Nixon, said the teenager’s family “is still trying to wrap their heads around” the charges against Nixon.
| — Hat tip: LP | [Return to headlines] |
The Washington Post Will End Its Sunday Magazine, Eliminate Positions
The Washington Post will stop publishing its stand-alone print magazine, one of the last of its kind in the country and which has been published under different names for more than six decades, the newspaper’s executive editor, Sally Buzbee, announced Wednesday.
The Sunday magazine has 10 staff members, who were told in a meeting that their positions have been eliminated, according to Shani George, The Post’s vice president for communications.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Twitter’s Elon Musk is Now Gavin Newsom’s Main ‘Target’
California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Elon Musk have been going at it for the last couple of years over regulations and taxes, but now the governor has declared he will focus his time and the taxpayers’ money on “targeting” — getting — Elon Musk for buying Twitter. Newsom’s vow is in concert with the White House, which vows to “keep an eye on” and “monitor” how Musk is running his own company in order to make sure he censors “misinformation” to the White House’s satisfaction.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Two Democrats Jailed for Voter Fraud in Louisiana
Two Louisiana Democrats have been jailed after being convicted on voter fraud charges in Louisiana, according to reports.
Former Amite Police Chief Jerry Trabona and current Councilman Kris Hart were sentenced to prison for conspiring to buy votes and multiple counts of buying votes.
As Slay News previously reported, the two men pleaded guilty to the charges in July.
Trabona and Hart were sentenced to 12 months in prison each for their roles in the vote-buying scheme.
The two Democrats were caught paying prospective voters for their votes in a federal election.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Unsolved Murder Rate in US Highest in Decades Amid Police Staffing Shortfalls
A new investigation from CBS has revealed that murders across the US are going unsolved at a historic pace.
The murder clearance rate — the share of cases that are solved or closed for other reasons — has fallen to its lowest point in more than half a century, as underfunded and understaffed police departments across the country struggle to keep up.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Uvalde Survivors Sue Law Enforcement Agencies for Their Failure to Act in School Shooting
Survivors and the families of victims from the massacre at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas on May 24 that saw 19 children and two teachers killed have banded together to file a $27 million class action lawsuit against several law enforcement groups over their failures that day.
CNN reports that the lawsuit was filed Tuesday and said, “Instead of swiftly implementing an organized and concerted response to an active school shooter who had breached the otherwise ‘secured’ school buildings at Robb Elementary school, the conduct of the three hundred and seventy-six (376) law enforcement officials who were on hand for the exhaustively torturous seventy-seven minutes of law enforcement indecision, dysfunction, and harm, fell exceedingly short of their duty bound standards.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
White House “Isn’t Taking a Side” On Cause of Anti-Lockdown Protests in China
The Biden White House says it “isn’t taking a side” on the cause of anti-lockdown protests in China, a ‘walking on eggshells’ remark seemingly designed to protect the administration from charges of hypocrisy.
Over the past week, multiple major cities across China have seen massive protests against lockdowns, with the normally compliant Chinese exploding into rage in response to their government’s ‘zero COVID’ policy.
Much of the unrest blew up in response to an incident in Xinjiang’s capital Urumqi, where at least 10 people, some say up to 40, were killed during an apartment fire because lockdown rules stopped residents from fleeing the burning building.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Canada Advances Law to Jail Doctors for ‘Misinformation’
Lawmakers in Canada are advancing new legislation that seeks to punish doctors with jail time if they are caught spreading so-called “misinformation.”
The new legislation, Bill 36 — Health Professions and Occupations Act (HPOA), will make it a crime for medical professionals to give their patients advice that conflicts with the government’s official narrative.
During the pandemic, several doctors in the Canadian province of British Columbia (BC) made headlines around the world for speaking out against the government’s Covid measures.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Western Students Relieved to See Vaccine Mandate Lifted — But Still Want Mask Mandate Gone
University of Western Ontario students tell True North they’re happy to see the school end its controversial vaccine mandate, but also say that the university should end mandatory masking and issue an apology.
On Tuesday Nov. 29, Western quietly ended its vaccination policy that would have required students to take a booster shot by Jan. 9, 2023.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Red Cross nurse Antje T, 39, (pictured in court) jabbed thousands of patients at a vaccine centre in Germany with saline instead of the BioNTech Pfizer vaccine.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
Dropbox has announced that it has acquired the technology from German cloud privacy company Boxcryptor to bring end-to-end encryption to its business users. The company stopped accepting new users on November 29.
Dropbox does encrypt files transferred between its servers and the destination. However, the file-sharing service has access to the encryption keys, meaning it can access the files if it chooses.
Boxcryptor provides an additional layer of protection, the “zero knowledge” encryption, that gives users control over who can decrypt their files and it had been a popular tool for encrypting files before uploading them to cloud storage providers such as Dropbox, Google Drive, iCloud and more. This extra layer allowed people to take advantage of Big Tech cloud storage but to also have the benefit of preventing the providers from seeing their files.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
European Commission Proposes Freezing €7.5 Billion of Hungary’s Cohesion Funds
The European Commission has adopted the Hungarian recovery program, paving the way for a transfer of €5.8 billion, but will propose to the European Council to suspend €7.5 billion from the cohesion funds, the Commission Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis announced on Wednesday.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
France Has No More Weapons to Send to Ukraine
France has unofficially admitted that it is unable to provide Ukraine with more weapons due to dwindling stocks, but promised to continue helping Kiev in other ways, Politico has reported, citing an anonymous source.
“Off the record, the French admit they can’t give more weapons to Ukraine due to the state of their own supplies,” the outlet said in its Brussels Playbook briefing on Thursday. It added that Paris “hopes to make up for it with civilian aid.”
It comes amid reports that most NATO members have also run out of weaponry to give to Ukraine.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
French Surrender Firearms in Record Numbers During Government Crackdown
French gun owners are surrendering their weapons in record numbers at police collection points across the country as a round up of unlicensed firearms winds down.
France is keen to limit the number of illegally owned firearms — as many as six million, authorities estimate — and the Macron government is offering an amnesty in an effort to limit their distribution.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Great Reset: Germany Bans Farmers From Properly Fertilising Land to Serve EU Green Agenda
Germany has banned farmers in one of its federal states from properly fertilising large swathes of land at the behest of the EU’s green agenda.
As of Thursday, the use of nitrate fertilisers has been greatly restricted for large swathes of farmland in North Rhine-Westphalia, with the green agenda change greatly angering farmers as it is likely to drastically reduce yields.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Into the Paddy Wagon: Ireland Imposing Up to 5-Year Prison Term for ‘Hate Speech’
Twitter jail just got a lot more literal. Ironically, the country that spent hundreds of years fighting for freedom from foreign tyranny is now imposing tyrannical free speech restrictions on its own people. The Irish government announced last month that hate speech violations come with a prison sentence. Because nothing says “compassion” like tossing rude people in jail.
The Irish government issued a press release at the end of October about the Criminal Justice (Incitement to Violence or Hatred and Hate Offences) Bill 2022. The release quoted Irish Minister for Justice Helen McEntee saying that “hate speech is not about free speech.” The new legislation specifically includes “hate speech in an online context” and is tied to “the role that companies will play in managing hate speech on their platforms.” How dare you make someone uncomfortable, you dangerous criminal!
I think we all agree that we condemn actual violence, such as the Chinese Communists calling for the destruction of other countries on Twitter (there can be a debate about whether such calls should be censored). But woke leftists never stop with child porn and governments endorsing genocide. They always end up targeting people they merely disagree with.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
New Poll Offers Some Good News for Polish Conservatives
The United Right coalition, which currently rules Poland, has seen its support rise to 40 percent in the latest poll conducted by Social Changes for the wPolityce.pl news outlet.
The United Right, which is made up of Jaroslaw Kaczynsk’s Law and Justice (PiS) and Solidarity Poland, achieved its best result in many months, with its lead over Civic Coalition increasing to 12 percentage points.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Norway Bolsters Security of Vulnerable Undersea Cables After Nord Stream Pipeline Sabotage
Norway is bolstering its security of undersea cables after the recent sabotage of the underwater Nord Stream pipeline system exposed critical vulnerabilities.
The Norwegian government announced it is boosting security around vulnerable undersea fiber optic cables.
The cables are vital to the country’s oil and gas production.
Officials said the country is taking action due to the recent explosions of the Nord Stream pipelines being found to be an act of sabotage.
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Police Stations on Standby to House Inmates in Local Lock-ups as UK’s Prison Population Soars
The British government has requested to temporarily use lock-ups at police stations to house inmates as it seeks to ease the burden on overcrowded prisons.
More than 1,000 new offenders have entered the U.K. penal system in the last two months after a surge in court hearings as criminal barristers returned to work following an industrial action over legal aid fees.
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Polish-Danish-Norwegian Baltic Pipe Gas Pipeline Reaches Full Capacity
The vital Baltic Pipe gas pipline, which stretches from Norway to Poland, is now operating at full capacity, according to Danish operator Energinet, which completed the process of connecting the gas compressor at the Danish Zealand island to the Baltic Pipe network.
Poland’s operator, Gaz-System, stated that the 10 billion cubic meters of gas per year may account for 60 percent of Poland’s gas needs.
In addition, since January, Poland has increased the capacity of the LNG terminal in Swinoujscie and activated connectors with Lithuania and Slovakia.
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Suspicious Parcel Detonated at U.S. Embassy in Madrid After Ukrainian Embassy Blast
MADRID (AP) — Police in Spain detonated a suspicious parcel discovered at the U.S. Embassy in Madrid, Spanish officials said Thursday, a day after a similar package sent to the Ukrainian Embassy ignited upon opening and injured an employee.
“We can confirm a suspicious package was received at the U.S. Embassy in Madrid, and are aware of reports of other packages sent to other locations throughout Spain,” the American embassy said in a response to an Associated Press inquiry.
“We are grateful to Spanish law enforcement for their assistance with this matter,” it added.
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Sanna Marin, 37, who is in the country to discuss a free trade agreement between the European Union and Australia, appeared on ABC to criticise Russia.
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A former Google executive will play a key role in developing new “online safety” rules in the United Kingdom (UK) as a new censorship and surveillance law is expected to come into force.
Gill Whitehead, who was previously a member of Google’s UK Management Group and previously led Google’s consumer and market insights function across several continents, was appointed as the Group Director of Online Safety at the UK communications regulator, Office of Communications (Ofcom), yesterday.
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The BBC has publicly stated its intention to dumb down its own television programming.
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Videos: Climate ‘Protesters’ Thrown Around Like Rag Dolls by Angry French Motorists
Everyday French people have had it with climate ‘protesters’ sitting in the road and blocking traffic, as the following footage shows.
Just like in Britain, people trying to drive to work are sick and tired of their daily commute being continually disrupted by people in orange vests crowing about the world ending in 800 days and gluing themselves to the road.
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Man Celebrating U.S. Soccer Win Shot Dead in His Car by Iranian Police
When the last whistle blew in the World Cup soccer match between Iran and the United States signifying the game was over and the U.S. had come out on top 1-0, a strange thing happened in the streets of Iranian cities.
Thousands of people began to celebrate their country’s loss.
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Biden and Macron Say Russia Must Leave Ukraine for War to End
US President Joe Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron agreed that they would never pressure Ukraine to negotiate an end to the war with Russia, saying the US and France stand as united as ever with their NATO allies against Moscow’s invasion.
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Dozens of current and former fighters serving with the Ukrainian foreign legion say commanders stole rifles, anti-tank launchers, grenades and ammunition with the intent to sell them.
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Russia Claims Advances in Donbas, ‘Liberation’ of Several Settlements
Russia claims its forces are advancing in the Donetsk region of the Donbas, and that it has “liberated” a number of settlements.
Donbas is now the main focus of Russia’s offensive operations, with its forces having abandoned the northern front against Kyiv (Kiev) back to Belarus early in the war, been routed from the Kharkiv (Kharkov) region, and withdrawn from Kherson back to the east of the River Dnieper, or Dnipro to the Ukrainians.
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The prosecutor-general said his office was investigating reports of more than 49,000 war crimes and crimes of aggression in Ukraine since Putin’s invasion started in February.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
Zelensky Entrusts Management of Private Investments in Ukraine to BlackRock
The Ukrainian government is teaming up with American investment firm BlackRock to “reboot its economy”. A Memorandum of Understanding was signed on November 10, the Ukrainian Economy Ministry announced the next day. This agreement concerns the creation of a platform to attract private capital.
The Memorandum of Understanding, which was signed in Washington, means that an investment platform is made available to the Ukrainian government. The establishment will take place according to “a roadmap that Financial Markets Advisory, a company in the BlackRock group, will develop in consultation with the Ministry of Economy”.
The statement stated that BlackRock’s advice will focus on the “platform structure, mandate and governance”. The platform “will focus on mobilizing investments in key sectors of the Ukrainian economy,” the statement continued.
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CCP Encourages Chinese Tech Companies to Increase Online Censorship
Chinese tech companies have been told to expand censorship of protests and to curb access to virtual private networks as the Chinese Communist Party continues to shut down protestors after nationwide demonstrations broke out across the country last week against the CCP and its Zero Covid policies.
They asked them to add more staff to their internet censorship teams and were told to pay more attention to protest-related content, and anything being shared about protests at universities and a highrise fire in Xinjiang that killed ten after residents were locked into their units by the CCP. The Cyberspace Administration of China and ByteDance didn’t respond to requests for comment from the Wall Street Journal. Tencent declined to comment.
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Citizens in China Delete Chat History After People Are Contacted by Police Over Protest Support
Chinese residents who attended the anti-lockdown/anti-government protests over the weekend claim that they have been called by the police.
During the weekend, thousands of Chinese residents took to the streets to demand an end to the strict zero-Covid policies, with some even calling for the end of President Xi Jinping’s rule.
In an effort to crack down on the protests, the police have been contacting those who attended the protests. It is unclear how the police discovered the identities of protesters.
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Lindsey Graham Warns Apple Making Big ‘Mistake’ by Helping Chinese Communist Party
Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) has warned Apple that the tech giant is making a big “mistake” by helping the Chinese Communist Party suppress anti-lockdown protesters in China.
Speaking during an interview with Fox News on Wednesday, Graham accused Apple and other American corporations of kowtowing to the brutal Communist regime.
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The police gang squad has issued an appeal to find three men ‘of African appearance’ after terrifying smash-and-grab jewellery robbery at a suburban Melbourne shopping centre on Thursday.
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The number of migrants to cross the English Channel in small boats has edged closer to 44,000 so far this year as dozens more asylum seekers arrived illegally into the UK today.
Around 50 migrants were rescued and brought into the harbour at Dover, Kent, before dawn after making the dangerous crossing of one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes overnight.
Wrapped in blankets and wearing facemasks, they were brought ashore at the former jetfoil terminal in the Western Docks before being moved to the controversial immigration processing centre 20 miles away at Manston, near Ramsgate.
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Belgium’s World Cup Football Riots: A Symbol of the Failure of the Migration Policy
Violent clashes took place in Belgium after the Morocco-Belgium football match during the World Cup in Qatar.
Riots took place in Brussels, Antwerp and Liege, where a police station was attacked by about 50 “youths”, and also in several cities in the Netherlands. Beyond these incidents, the popular jubilation in the predominantly Moroccan neighborhoods of Brussels, especially in Molenbeek, revealed that in these areas, the Moroccan identity has remained much stronger than the Belgian one, even though most of the inhabitants have dual nationality.
One would have to be blind and trying to fit reality into the ideology of “living together at all costs” not to see that the sympathies of Moroccans in Belgium were with the Moroccan team and not with the team of their “second homeland”. Some journalists tried to do so, with headlines like “No matter who wins between Belgium and Morocco, it will be a party”.
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Michel Houellebecq has come out and said the Great Replacement, which describes the replacement of European natives with non-Europeans across the West, is a “fact” during a wide-ranging discussion with influential French philosopher Michel Onfray.
“The Great Replacement, I was shocked it’s called a theory. It’s not a theory, it’s a fact,” said Houellebecq. “When it comes to immigration, nobody controls anything, that’s the whole problem. Europe will be swept away by this cataclysm.”
“It’s objectively what the figures say,” added Onfray, who said he thinks that the decline of the West is primarily a demographic decline.
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French Police Bust Major Migrant Smuggler Network in Southern City
French border police have dismantled a major migrant smuggling network operating in the area of the southern city of Perpignan which is accused of smuggling over 200 migrants into France.
The investigation into the activity of the network began in June of 2020 after police were informed of the existence of a network smuggling North African migrants illegally across the border with Spain in Le Perthus, a commune just south of Perpignan.
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Frontex: Migrant Taxi NGO Activity Encourages Migrants to Risk Deadly Mediterranean Crossing
Frontex, the European Union border agency, has claimed that the activities of migrant taxi NGO ships in the Mediterranean Sea have acted as an attraction for migrants to make the dangerous voyage to Europe.
Frontex claimed that the NGOs, which pick up boats of migrants in various parts of the Mediterranean Sea, actually increase the number of migrants able to cross as people smugglers are often aware of the locations of the vessels and can work that into their plans.
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Germany: Dresden: Mission-Lifeline is a ‘Smuggler Organization’
The Dresden Regional Court has dismissed a lawsuit brought by the alleged sea rescuers from Mission Lifeline based in Dresden, Germany. In the election campaign for the office of Dresden mayor, the AfD-Dresden had criticized the “funding of smuggling organizations with tax money” in a leaflet, among other things.
The text went on to say: “With this money, this organization finances the passage of North Africans across the Mediterranean Sea into our social systems.”
The association wanted to have these statements banned in court. This week, they were defeated by a ruling which dismissed the lawsuit as unfounded. The statements were “not objectionable” the court found.
In addition, the “text passage does not constitute an inadmissible factual statement” and the terms “smuggler” or “smuggler organization” fall under the “protected area of freedom of opinion”.
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German Chancellor Falsifies Data to Defend Pro-Migration Policy
Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) has campaigned for a reform of citizenship laws and easier naturalizations, but has argued in favor of this with extremely exaggerated figures. At an event organized by the federal government’s integration minister, Reem Alabali-Radovan (SPD), entitled “Germany: An immigration country,” he doubled the number of foreign nationals actually working in Germany, according to a fact-check by German newspaper, Junge Freiheit.
Scholz said, “Nine million citizens live and work in our country without having German citizenship.” Subsequently, almost all media have adopted this claim. But in fact, according to the Federal Statistical Office, only 4.5 million foreign nationals living in Germany are employed, and are thus subject to social insurance contributions. This is only half as many as the German chancellor claimed.
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Asylum seekers have revealed they have been staying in £100-a-night taxpayer-funded hotels for as long as 15 months while accepting £5-an-hour cash-in-hand jobs.
As the Home Office struggles to cope with the migrant crisis and growing asylum backlog, officials are spending an eye-watering £6.8million a day on hotel rooms for migrants.
There is a shortage of official accommodation due to a backlog of applications which has now soared past 120,000.
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Woman in Wheelchair Raped by ‘Underage’ Illegal Migrant in France
An African illegal migrant claiming to be ‘underage’ was arrested for raping a disabled woman in France last month, according to reports.
The horrifying incident unfolded on the evening of November 12 in Mauges-sur-Loire, a commune in the department of Maine-et-Loire.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Love Actually director Richard Curtis has slammed his own movie for its lack of diversity, saying the predominance of white actors “makes me feel uncomfortable and a bit stupid.”
In an interview with ABC’s Diane Sawyer to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Christmas favorite, Richard Curtis said the movie sometimes feels “out of date.”
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More than 2,000 employers across the country have signed an anti-woke pledge to promise that they will not discriminate against their workers’ free speech rights and personal beliefs.
The initiative is led by RedBalloon, a conservative-leaning job services company.
RedBalloon is promoting an “Employee Bill of Rights” that seeks to protect employees from “woke” ideology in the workplace.
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UK: Four Out of 10 Transgender Criminals in Prison Are Guilty of Sex Crimes, New Data Shows
Some 97 of the 230 inmates — 42%- living under a different gender identity are in jail for sex crimes. They include 44 jailed for rape and 14 who forced under-age children into sexual activity.
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Who cares about the care workers, David Goodhart?
The laptop class has reaped most in the last decades, while people who work with hand and heart are lagging behind. In a forthcoming book David Goodhart argues this must be rebalanced.
Ivar Arpi in conversation with friends and enemies. Without filters or blinders.
https://ivararpi.substack.com/p/who-cares-about-the-care-workers?utm_source=podcast-email%2Csubstack&publication_id=330775&post_id=88093159&utm_medium=email#details
After the Gov. seized guns in New Zealand we now have an epidemic of gun related crime. It makes no difference taking guns from law abiding citizens except to render them helpless.
Indeed. If (legitimate) gun ownership were a reliable indicator, Switzerland would have one of the highest murder rates on the planet.
No nitrates equals poor crop yield. Extra pesticides and herbicides will be needed as well, as weeds and bugs can overwhelm the weaker cash crops.
The government of North Rhine-Westphalia are following a cult (faith beyond reason) , they are unlearned, and act as destructive barbarians.
““If both hospitalization indicators, new COVID-19 admissions and the proportion of staffed in-patient beds occupied by COVID patients, surpass the threshold for high, LA County will return to universal indoor masking,” she said.”
So they fire staff via mandates, then use lack of staff to justify more potential mandates? Some logic!
Anonymous: Following is the LA County Health Commissioner’s educational background, from Wikipedia (good enough, for basic facts). Do you see anything “scientific” or “medical”? Neither do I.
“After graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in community studies from the University of California, Santa Cruz, Ferrer went on to earn a Master of Public Health from Boston University and a Master of Education from the University of Massachusetts, Boston. Ferrer earned her PhD in social welfare from Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University in 1994”
I will make a guess that the misguided French citizens surrendering their old shotguns and rifles to the state will be white. The new sort of French citizens who live in the banlieues will be hanging on to their AKs. The time will come when the white French will regret disarming themselves, but by then it will be too late. It always is.