Last night a gunman entered a dance hall in Monterey Park, a predominantly Asian suburb of Los Angeles, and opened fire, killing ten people and wounding at least ten others at a celebration of the Lunar New Year. After being sought all day today by police, the gunman was eventually surrounded in his vehicle, and shot himself to death before he could be apprehended. Police have identified him as 72-year-old Huu Can Tran, and have not determined a motive for his killing spree.
In other news, extremely cold weather accompanied by a lack of wind has forced Britain to reactivate its coal-powered electric plants in order to keep the lights on.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to Caroline Glick, Daniel Greenfield, Dean, LP, McN, Reader from Chicago, SS, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.
Notice to tipsters: Please don’t submit extensive excerpts from articles that have been posted behind a subscription firewall, or are otherwise under copyright protection.
Caveat: Articles in the news feed are posted “as is”. Gates of Vienna cannot vouch for the authenticity or accuracy of the contents of any individual item posted here. I check each entry to make sure it is relatively interesting, not patently offensive, and at least superficially plausible. The link to the original is included with each item’s title. Further research and verification are left to the reader.
Borrowers who financed their homes with ultra-low fixed-rate mortgages are facing the nightmarish prospect of a huge jump in their repayments when those deals come to an end this year.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
Go Woke, Get Broke: Vox Fires 7% of Staff; Vice’s Valuation Plunges
It’s a terrible time for America’s liberal media — with companies laying off, implementing hiring freezes, and other cost-cutting measures. Some media companies have even collapsed in valuation. Many are blaming increasing macroeconomic uncertainty that has crushed advertising revenues.
A wave of recent layoffs has hit media companies, including CNN, Buzzfeed, Paramount Global (the parent to CBS, MTV, VH1), The Walt Disney Company, Comcast, Roku, Morning Brew, Gannett (parent company to USA Today), and many more in the past year.
Add Vox Media, which owns brands like The Verge, SB Nation, and New York magazine, to the growing list of media layoffs.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
A Nation of Victims is Doomed to Fail
by Daniel Greenfield
America has become a nation of ‘victims’ and ‘survivors’. Everyone is getting over a ‘trauma’ or ‘processing’. They demand special privileges because of the suffering of their ancestors. They trot out studies which prove that they are somehow disadvantaged. They gorge on self-help books and deploy therapy terminology to accuse everyone else of mistreating them.
Our society has turned into a cross between a Marxist academic conference and therapy session where Marxist terminology like “systemic racism” and therapy talk like “gaslighting narcissist” form key parts of the grammar of perpetual victimhood.
Politics has been reduced to victimhood advocacy and we are worse off for it.
Victims are not good people. Postmodern influencer culture conflates ‘victim’ and ‘survivor’, but they are two very different things. Survivors are people who pick themselves up and go on. Victims give up and spend the rest of their lives doing nothing except blaming everyone else.
After the slaves were freed, some made long journeys to major cities, others built families and worked hard to provide for them. They perserved despite lynchings and racism. Over 150 years later, some of their descendants claim that nothing can be expected from them because they’re suffering from Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome even though the only place they’ve seen slavery is on television. That’s the difference between survivors and victims.
After the Holocaust, Jewish people who had seen their entire families killed in front of them remarried, had children and started their lives again. Often they didn’t even talk about what they had experienced until decades had passed. Others helped build a nation out of the desert sands. Now some of their great-grandchildren claim they’re so fragile they need safe spaces…
| — Hat tip: Daniel Greenfield | [Return to headlines] |
Atlanta police arrested at least six people after a peaceful protest Saturday erupted into a night of chaos and violence that included protesters smashing windows and setting a police vehicle on fire, the mayor said.
“Atlanta is safe and our police officers have resolved the disruptions downtown from earlier in the evening,” City of Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens said Saturday evening.
“The City of Atlanta and the Atlanta Police Department will continue to protect the right to peaceful protest. We will not tolerate violence or property destruction,” the mayor added.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Atlanta Domestic Terrorism Suspects Seen Smiling or Stone-Faced in Anti-Police Riot Booking Photos
The six accused domestic terrorists arrested when anti-police protests devolved into violence Saturday night in downtown Atlanta were seen either smiling or stone-faced in their booking photos.
The Atlanta Police Department identified the six suspects — all who came from outside Georgia — to Fox News Digital on Sunday afternoon. They are Nadja Geier, 24, of Nashville, Tennessee; Madeleine Feola, 22, of Spokane, Washington; Ivan Ferguson, 23, of Nevada; Graham Evatt, 20, of Decatur, Georgia; Francis Carrol, 22, of Kennebunkport, Maine; and Emily Murphy, 37, of Grosse Isle, Michigan.
The six are each facing eight misdemeanor and felony charges.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Breaking: Joe Manchin Suggests He May Run for President in 2024
Democratic West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin appeared on Sunday’s episode of Meet the Press and told host Chuck Todd “everything’s on the table” for his political future, including a possible run for president.
Todd asked, “So everything on the table, there’s basically only one other thing: the presidency. Is that something you would do outside the Democratic Party?” Manchin replied, “The only thing I can tell you is what I will do is whatever I can when I make my decision, what I think is the best, that I can support and represent the people of West Virginia, but also be true to this country and the constitution of this country”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Breaking: Jeff Zients to Replace Ron Klain as Biden’s Chief of Staff: Report
Yesterday, it was reported that Joe Biden’s White House chief of staff, Ron Klain, is expected to resign and today the Washington Post reports that Joe Biden is planning to appoint former Counselor to the President Jeff Zients to the chief of staff position.
Zients, who served as Counselor as well as the White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator from January 2021 to April 2022, left the White House after “steering” the administration’s Covid vaccination campaign.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
California Mass Shooter Fatally Shoots Himself
Update (2130ET): As speculated earlier, late on Sunday authorities confirmed that the gunman suspected of killing 10 people late Saturday in Monterey Park, Calif., fatally shot himself Sunday after police officers tried to pull over a vehicle he was driving in the city of Torrance about 30 miles away, authorities said.
As the WSJ reports, LA County Sheriff Robert Luna identified the suspected gunman as 72-year-old Huu Can Tran. Sheriff Luna said investigators were still working to determine a possible motive for the shooting, which also sent 10 people to area hospitals with injuries.
“The suspect responsible for this tragedy is no longer a threat,” the sheriff said in a news conference.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Lori Lightfoot’s challenger in the Chicago mayoral race has dropped the hammer over the city’s out-of-control crime and pledged to tackle the issue head-on.
Lightfoot is trailing the polls after destroying a great American city in under four years in the mayor’s office.
She needed a strong performance in the recent debate to have any hope for re-election and she came up short.
One candidate to replace her, Willie Wilson, overruled the failing mayor on the issue of crime in a telling exchange.
During the debate, Wilson vowed that, if he is elected mayor, he will make one move sure to reduce crime in the city.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Climate Alarmists Panic That Twitter Under Musk Allows More Dissenting Views on Global Warming
Authored by Bryan Jung via The Epoch Times
An organization that says it is a coalition of “climate and anti-disinformation organisations” says Twitter under CEO Elon Musk is allowing more dissenting views on climate change.
Climate Action Against Disinformation (CAAD), released a Jan. 19 study (pdf), accusing Musk of allowing misinformation about the climate crisis to spread on the social media platform.
The study accused Twitter of boosting the hashtag “#ClimateScam” to users when searching the word “climate,” as its top search result.
The hashtag has suddenly spiked on Twitter search results since July 2022, with its appearance increasing ever since, according to CAAD.
The report said that “in 2022, denialist content made a stark comeback on Twitter in particular.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
CNN Guest Who Defended Atlanta’s Violent Protests Promoted GoFundMe for Alleged Cop Shooter
Social media users discovered that David Peisner, the freelance journalist who suggested on CNN that Antifa wasn’t using violence during the Atlanta riots, supported the violent protester at the center of the uproar.
Peisner originally faced intense online backlash after claiming that the fiery uproar seen in Atlanta over the weekend does not necessarily prove that Antifa members are violent.
“You keep using these words ‘violent, violent, violent, violent’… The only acts of violence against people that I saw were actually police tackling protesters,” Peisner said on “CNN Newsroom” Saturday.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Democrats Propose Constitutional Amendment to Overturn First Amendment Decision
Authored by Chase Smith via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours)
Democrats in the House of Representatives have introduced a constitutional amendment to overturn the Supreme Court’s controversial Citizens United v. FEC decision made in 2010.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
EXCLUSIVE — A California district administrator involved in overseeing curriculum, Samia Shoman, called for “privileged White voices” to be removed from influencing against a far-left ethnic studies curriculum.
Shoman oversees curriculum in the San Mateo Union High School district as manager of English learners and academic support programs. The email was dated March 2021 and was obtained via public record request by Zachor Legal.
Shoman contacted the California state superintendent, Tony Thurmond, in March 2021. Shoman blasted “white voices” and said they should have no part in influencing the curriculum.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Election Integrity Watchdog Finds California Lost 10.9 Million Mail-in Ballots in 2022 Midterms
Authored by Rita Li via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours)
An election integrity group said 10.9 million out of a total 22.1 million ballots that had been mailed out to registered voters during the 2022 midterm elections went “unaccounted for,” according to a Jan. 18 report.
“Mail voting practices have an insurmountable information gap,” the Public Interest Legal Foundation (PILF) said on Monday. “The public cannot know how many ballots were disregarded, delivered to wrong mailboxes, or even withheld from the proper recipient by someone at the same address.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Georgia Couple Accused of Sexually Abusing Adopted Boys, Husband Bragged About Molesting Son: Report
A Georgia couple is being accused of sexually abusing their adopted children and using them to produce “homemade” child pornography, prosecutors allege, according to a new report.
Zachary Zulock and William Zulock were arrested on July 27 in Oxford, Georgia, after police raided their home and found video evidence that they were “engaging in sexually abusive acts” with the adopted children.
The couple is now facing a grand jury indictment under charges of felony sexual exploitation of children, aggravated child molestation, felony prostitution of a minor, aggravated sodomy, and incest, amounting to possibly nine life sentences, according to court documents obtained by Townhall.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Gunman Sought in Monterey Park Shooting That Left at Least 10 Dead, 10 Injured
The shooting following a night of Lunar New Year celebrations in the community east of Los Angeles.
A gunman killed 10 people and wounded 10 others Saturday at a Los Angeles-area dance studio following a night of Lunar New Year celebrations, setting off a manhunt for the shooter in the fifth mass killing in the U.S. this month.
Ten people died at the scene in the city of Monterey Park. The wounded were taken to hospitals. Some were in critical condition.
The victims were identified only as five men and five women, Sheriff Robert Luna said. Their ages were not immediately available.
The shooting was reported at approximately 10:22 p.m. at the dance hall in the 100 block of West Garvey Avenue. About 15 to 20 minutes later, authorities responded to another incident at a dance studio in nearby Alhambra, where people gathered there disarmed a man who had a gun.
| — Hat tip: Dean | [Return to headlines] |
Democrat Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) has put Democrat President Joe Biden on notice over his classified document scandal.
Manchin blasted Biden’s mishandling of classified material as “extremely irresponsible and disturbing.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Katherine Clarke’s Daughter Arrested in Clash With Police at Boston Protest
The daughter of House Minority Whip Katherine Clark (D-Mass.) was arrested on Sunday in a clash with police at a protest in Boston, Mass., for allegedly spray-painting a monument and assaulting an officer.
“Last night, my daughter was arrested in Boston, Massachusetts. I love Riley, and this is a very difficult time in the cycle of joy and pain in parenting. This will be evaluated by the legal system, and I am confident in that process,” Clark said on Twitter.
Boston police arrested 23-year-old Riley Dowell on Saturday night after allegedly defacing the Parkman Bandstand Monument in the Boston Common with spray paint, according to a police department release, which used a previous name.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Marjorie Taylor Green Slams Biden AG for Not Going After Atlanta ‘Antifa Terrorists’
On Sunday, Georgia Republican Marjorie Taylor Green slammed Antifa rioters in Atlanta who took to the streets to throw rocks at and light fires outside of the Atlanta Police Foundation, and set a police vehicle ablaze.
“It’s happening again TONIGHT in Atlanta. When will our federal agencies start taking left-wing TERRORISM seriously? Looking at you Merrick Garland… ANTIFA/BLM = DOMESTIC TERRORISTS!
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
NASA Prepares for Virginia Rocket Launch That Will be Visible Across the D.C. Area
WALLOPS ISLAND, Va. — This coming Monday, look up! Rocket launches on Wallops Island, Virginia are happening more frequently, but the one coming up on Monday is a bit different.
“We’re kind of excited about this one, because it is the first Electron rocket to be launched out of the United States,” said Ted Mercer, the CEO of Virginia Space, which is the commission that operates the launch site at Wallops Island.
Electron is a rocket type made by New Zealand-based Rocket Lab.
FOX 5 spoke with its CEO, Peter Beck, who says this type of rocket marks an exciting new chapter for rocket launches in the U.S.
“It’s great to bring a new capability to the nation. The nation doesn’t have a reliable small-launch vehicle launching off US soil. We launch the vehicle off foreign soil, but this is bringing the capability to hometown,” Beck said.
| — Hat tip: McN | [Return to headlines] |
Ron DeSantis Pushes for Sweeping Protections Against COVID-19 Mandates in Florida
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis told “Unfiltered with Dan Bongino” his plan for medical freedom in Florida by proposing protections for residents in the next legislative session.
If approved by the Florida legislature, his measures include a ban on vaccine and mask requirements in schools for students as well as businesses hiring or firing based on one’s vaccine status.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Sears: Leftist Virginia School Officials Would Never Treat Their Own Kids How They Treated Others
On Thursday’s broadcast of the Fox Business Network’s “Evening Edit,” Virginia Lt. Gov. Winsome Sears (R) slammed education officials in Virginia who failed to notify children of merit awards they received by stating that “they don’t live by these kind of rules. I guarantee that if it had been their child who had earned these awards” they would let their kids know.
Sears said, “[H]ere we have schools that are withholding information that [is] crucial to a child’s success. We’re talking about free tuition. We’re talking about recognizing achievement. My God, when did that become controversial, Liz?”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Sheriff: Suspect in Dance Club Shooting Killed Self in Van
MONTEREY PARK, Calif. (AP) — The hunt for a gunman who killed 10 people at a ballroom dance club during Lunar New Year celebrations ended Sunday when authorities found him dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in the van he used to flee after people thwarted his attempt at a second shooting.
Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna identified the man as 72-year-old Huu Can Tran and said no other suspects were at large. Speaking at an evening news conference, he added that the motive remained unclear for the attack, which wounded 10 more.
Luna did not have the exact ages of the victims but said they all appeared to be over 50. Seven of the wounded people remained in the hospital, he said.
The sheriff added that the suspect was carrying what he described as a semi-automatic pistol with an extended magazine, and a second handgun was discovered in the van where Tran was found dead.
| — Hat tip: LP | [Return to headlines] |
Silk Details Diamond’s ‘Sudden’ Death, Raises Alarm: ‘I Want America to Wake Up’
During Saturday’s memorial for Lynette “Diamond” Hardaway, Rochelle “Silk” Richardson revealed that her sister “died suddenly” in front of her.
Silk told attendees about the harrowing moment Diamond collapsed in her kitchen.
During her speech, Silk appeared to suggest to the crowd, which included President Donald Trump and other high-profile guests, that she believed Diamond’s sudden death was linked to the mRNA shot.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Top Heart Doctor Raises Alarm Over Sudden Deaths of Young Athletes
One of the world’s leading heart doctors has spoken out to raise the alarm about the soaring numbers of sudden deaths among young, healthy athletes.
Dr. Peter McCullough of The Wellness Company, a world-renowned heart doctor and epidemiologist, is warning that his research directly conflicts with the government’s narrative that Covid shots are “safe and effective.”
McCullough argues that the shots and “boosters” are responsible for the “explosion” in sudden deaths of young people.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Trump and DeSantis Both Leading Biden in Hypothetical Matchup in 2024, Polling Shows
If the 2024 presidential election were held today, either of the two top presumed Republican contenders for their party’s nomination would defeat President Joe Biden, according to a new survey.
Both former President Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis would beat the current president if he chooses to run again, according to the Harvard CAPS-Harris Poll, which was released Friday.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Unions Faltering: Nationwide Membership Rate Hits Record Low
The proportion of wage and salary workers who are members of unions has dropped to a record low, according to a Thursday data release from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The union membership rate dropped from 10.3% in 2021 to 10.1% in 2022, the lowest mark in a data series that goes back to 1983. Of course, you’d have to go back much farther than 40 years to find a lower rate: University research puts membership in 1964 near 30%.
The new low comes despite a major surge in union-organizing efforts that started during the Covid-19 pandemic. As we reported in July, the number of workplaces filing union petitions hit a six-year high over the first six-months of the year.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
WSJ Shreds Vaccine Makers, Biden Admin Over “Deceptive” Booster Campaign
Wall Street Journal editorial board member Allysia Finley has taken a flamethrower to vaccine makers over their “deceptive” campaign for bivalent Covid boosters, and slams several federal agencies for taking “the unprecedented step of ordering vaccine makers to produce them and recommending them without data supporting their safety or efficacy.”
You might have heard a radio advertisement warning that if you’ve had Covid, you could get it again and experience even worse symptoms. The message, sponsored by the Health and Human Services Department, claims that updated bivalent vaccines will improve your protection.
This is deceptive advertising. But the public-health establishment’s praise for the bivalent shots shouldn’t come as a surprise. —WSJ
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Alliance of Canadian Health Professionals Release Short Video Series Featuring Vaccine Injury
The Canadian COVID Care Alliance (CCCA) has begun releasing a short video series featuring disturbing first-hand accounts of Canadians in anguish from the ill effects of novel COVID-19 injections.
As part of their #StopTheShots campaign, the CCCA will be releasing 11 stories detailing some of the long-term effects of the mRNA injections.
One of the first videos features Charity founder & CEO Kelly-Sue, who was in fit physical shape prior to receiving the novel mRNA injections. Despite experiencing pain in her ankle after the first dose, Kelly-Sue went ahead with the second dose. She suffered nine strokes in the five months following that decision, waking up one morning with no recollection of who she was.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
CBC Cited for Misleading Canadians Yet Again
Canada’s taxpayer-funded state broadcaster has been cited yet again for misleading viewers over a false story published about the Catholic church and a residential school survivor fund.
As first reported by Blacklock’s Reporter, a recent ruling by CBC ombudsman Jack Nagler cited the network’s Saskatchewan editors for breaching the broadcaster’s journalistic standards and ethics rules.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Crown Drops All Charges Against Ontario Pastor Abiding by COVID Restrictions
A pastor in Brantford, Ontario was being charged under the Re-Opening Ontario Act for allegedly exceeding the in-person gathering limit while conducting drive-in church services.
Pastor R. was being represented by the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms who issued a press release stating that all charges had been dropped as of January 16, 2023.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
The Justice Centre is disappointed after the Federal Court of Appeal dismissed its appeal about the constitutionality of quarantine hotels and facilities.
“In Spencer v Canada and Bexte v Canada, the court found that the appeal was moot and refused to hear it on the basis the orders mandating the hotel stays were no longer in effect and that there was therefore no longer a ‘live controversy’ between the parties,” said the Justice Centre in a statement Tuesday.
The release said the Federal Court of Appeal could have heard the appeal as a matter of public interest, despite a lack of live controversy between the parties, but it exercised its discretion not to listen to the appeal.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
On Wednesday, close to 300 people gathered to protest in front of new B.C. premier’s David Eby’s MLA office in the Vancouver-Point Grey riding. The protest, which was organized by a local pro-freedom group called Stand United featured a long line of medical professionals, including physicians, as well as Nechako Lakes MLA John Rustad as speakers.
Premier Eby’s oversight in the passing of the controversial Bill 36 was the driving force behind the protest.
Critics of the bill which is said to radically change how healthcare professionals are regulated in the province have concerns with how the bill may pave the way for the province to mandate vaccinations on healthcare professionals, compel them to release their patients private records to the state without consent, and put medical professionals who dare to give medical opinions that differ than the provinces up to 6 months jail time.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Smith Pledges Review of Kenney’s COVID Response Days After Ending Push for COVID Amnesty
Despite backtracking on COVID amnesty for those charged under the Public Health Act, Premier Danielle Smith is creating a panel to review her predecessor’s COVID legislation and governance to improve their response to future health emergencies.
“There are valuable lessons we learned from the Alberta government’s response to the COVID-19 public health emergency,” said Smith. “We must apply those lessons to strengthen our management of future public health crises, and the panel’s recommendations will be key.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
‘Stroke Season’: CBC Doctor Says Increased Cases of Stroke Likely Linked to the Flu
On Wednesday, Canadian Dr. Raj Bhardwaj, a family physician and urgent care doctor according to the CBC, said that everyone should get ready for “stroke season” which now apparently comes after “flu season.”
Bhardwaj said to CBC’s Rob Brown, “I didn’t know about this either until last year, but It turns out that after flu season, about three or four weeks later, there is a stroke season. And like you said, most of Canada is getting down off of a big hump of flu.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Anti-Monarchists Plan Protests at Coronation of Britain’s King Charles
LONDON (Reuters) — British anti-monarchists said on Sunday that they planned to protest during the coronation of King Charles in May, saying the ceremony was “a slap in the face” for most people struggling with high inflation.
Campaign group Republic said it had been in contact with London’s police force about its plans to hold a peaceful demonstration in Parliament Square, which is overlooked by Westminster Abbey where British monarchs are crowned.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Cold Weather, Wind Not Blowing Sees UK Bring Coal Power Plants Back Online
The United Kingdom is presently calm, cloudy, and cold, leaving the burning of natural gas picking up the slack for becalmed ‘renewable’ generation, and even coal-fired power plants saved from being decommissioned this winter ordered back online to keep the lights on.
Three coal-fired power plants, two at Drax in Yorkshire and one at West Burton in Lincolnshire, were ordered to make themselves ready for use in the early hours of Sunday morning as a cold snap — predictable for winter, perhaps — combined with short cloudy days and very little wind sees solar and turbines producing little energy.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
EU Tells TikTok to Prepare to Censor “Misinformation, “ Harmful Content
The EU’s Commissioner for Internal Market Thierry Breton has discussed TikTok’s compliance with the new rules in the Digital Services Act (DSA), which will take effect in September, with CEO Shou Zi Chew. The DSA requires large online platforms to address “harmful” content.
According to the Associated Press (AP), Breton called Shou to discuss how the company planned to comply with the DSA.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Every Question We Asked Climate Activist Greta Thunberg at the World Economic Forum
After being arrested in Germany earlier this week, the world’s most well-known climate activist travelled to neighbouring Switzerland, just in time to catch the end of the World Economic Forum’s annual summit.
Our team of seven Rebel News journalists has been on the ground in Davos, the exclusive Alpine resort town where the WEF holds its signature event, all week. We’ve been asking the questions that the legacy media would never dare — especially since many are paid members of the WEF itself.
Rebel Commander Ezra Levant, UK reporter Callum Smiles and Calvin Robinson, a commentator from Britain’s GB News who is accompanying us this week, had the chance to grill Thunberg as she walked through the quaint streets of Davos.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Ezra Levant’s Closing Thoughts on the WEF’s 2023 Davos Conference
Last week I led a team of seven Rebel News journalists in covering the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland. Despite not being officially accredited to enter the conference, the Rebel News team managed to gain access to some of the wealthiest and most influential people in attendance. We wanted to be part of the small number of journalists who will actually hold these people to account.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Formerly Peaceful Stockholm Sees Five Incidents Including Bombings, Shootings in One Night
The Stockholm region, formerly a relatively peaceful area, has seen a wave of violence in recent weeks, with this week seeing five major violent gang-related incidents in a single night, including bombings and shootings.
The violence began on Thursday night at around 9:20 pm in the municipality of Botkyrka, just south of the city itself when a woman was forced to jump out of the window of her apartment after a fire, allegedly set after an unknown suspect poured petrol through the mail slot and set it on fire.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Netherlands: Climate Activist Arrested After Calling for Blockade of A12 in the Hague
A 47-year-old climate activist was arrested Thursday for “repeatedly” calling for another blockade of the A12 highway in The Hague next Saturday in protest against climate change. The man from Castricum, Noord-Holland is suspected of incitement of the people, the Public Prosecutor’s Office (OM) announced on Thursday.
“Such a blockade leads to very dangerous situations, not only for the protesters, but also for other road users,” said a spokesperson for the OM. According to the OM, the suspect also called for the closure of the A12 last November, “which even then led to a very dangerous blockade.” At a place where motorists are allowed to drive 70 kilometers per hour, they suddenly found themselves confronted with the activists on the roadway. The resident from Castricum also participated in this blockade, which was organized by the climate activist group Extinction Rebellion.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
‘Power to the People!’: Elon Musk on Rebel News’ Citizen Journalism
Rebel News’ foray into Davos brought us face to face with Greta Thunberg, the poster child of the climate change activist movement. As we reported earlier Friday, we confronted her with unscripted questions she was not prepared to answer.
Our interaction with Thunberg swiftly went viral on Twitter, where we posted the 18-minute face-to-face in its entirety.
“Maybe [Elon Musk] is on to something after all,” wrote Rebel’s Ezra Levant, highlighting three points: citizen journalism; long-form videos published directly to Twitter; and holding the oligarchs at the World Economic Forum to account because of the regime media’s refusal to do so.
Elon Musk, who now owns the platform, recognized Rebel’s contributions to citizen journalism, prompting him to respond, “Power to the people!”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
If, like me, you assumed World Economic Forum meetings were full of altruistic, visionary leaders sourcing the most nutritious bugs for us to eat in our future (rented) EcoPods, you may be shocked at the Mail’s latest article, which claims that, at Davos, “pointing at the ceiling in a bar is all it takes to order sex”.
Here’s an excerpt:
Nearly 3,000 conference delegates were in town for the five-day jamboree, the first in the post-pandemic era, said to provide an £80 million boost to the local economy.
But there is another ‘economy’ in Davos (pop. just over 11,000) which also receives a considerable boost from the summit — a world that exists in parallel with the earnest discussions on the debating floor of the Congress Centre, and that is the so-called ‘oldest profession in the world’.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
More than 16,000 troops left last year while only 12,000 joined up — despite a £70 million Ministry of Defence outlay on recruitment campaigns in recent years.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
A large number of companies headquartered in the European Union and G7 nations have not yet left Russia, according to research from Switzerland’s University of St. Gallen and International Institute for Management Development.
The study by Simon Evenett and Niccolò Pisani showed “a very limited retreat of EU and G7 firms”. This goes against the mainstream narrative of a “vast exodus” of Western firms abandoning the Russian market due to sanctions imposed by the EU. “In effect, many firms headquartered in these nations have resisted pressures from governments, the media, and NGOs to leave Russia since the invasion of Ukraine,” the research institution said in a statement.
At the start of the military operation on February 24, 2022, a total of 2 405 subsidiaries owned by 1 404 EU and G7 companies were active in Russia, according to the researchers. In late November 2022, they found that less than 9 percent of companies had divested at least one subsidiary in Russia and these divestment rates changed very little during the fourth quarter of 2022.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Caroline Glick: Esther Hayut’s War Against Israeli Democracy
Friday morning brought the first piece of good news from Israel’s Supreme Court in years. Yediot Ahronot’s top headline declared that Supreme Court President Esther Hayut intends to resign if the Knesset passes Justice Minister Yariv Levin’s judicial reform package.
Hayut’s stewardship of the court over the past six years has been disgraceful and destructive to both the court and the State of Israel. The Hayut court dropped even the pretense of judiciousness. Hayut cast the court on a course of ideological radicalism and politicization that has no parallel anywhere in the world.
Hayut’s radicalism was well known in the legal community. She wasn’t then-justice minister Ayelet Shaked’s first choice for the court’s top slot. But Shaked had no say in the matter. Israel’s current judicial selection process protects justices from accountability to the public and its elected representatives. Supreme Court justices have a veto over nominees to the court, so everyone who gets the nod from the Judicial Selection Committee, including ostensibly conservative jurists, must embrace the organizational culture and values of the sitting justices.
The justices also control who serves as president. Under the current selection system, the president is the senior associate justice when the sitting president reaches retirement age. By controlling who gets appointed when, the justices are able to predetermine the identity of the president. In 2017, Shaked tried but failed to cancel the seniority selection process, and Hayut was promoted.
Outside observers were exposed to Hayut’s radicalism immediately before she took office. She set it out in a speech before the Bar Association in September 2017. Not one for understatement, Hayut compared herself and her colleagues to God…
| — Hat tip: Caroline Glick | [Return to headlines] |
Turkish Govt’s Anger as Qur’an Burnt in Protest Outside Embassy in Stockholm
The Turkish government has responded with outrage after anti-Islamisation campaigner Rasmus Paludan went ahead with his planned Qur’an burning protest in Stockholm on Saturday.
The burning of the Qur’an outside the Turkish embassy in Stockholm on Saturday afternoon, one of dozens of such protests performed in European countries in recent years by strict anti-Islamisation campaigner Rasmus Paludan, went ahead on Saturday in the face of warnings by the Turkish government to Sweden that the event should be banned. A large police presence looked on as the book was set alight and eventually dropped to the ground.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Corruption Thriller: Zelensky’s Deputy Minister Arrested
Those who are familiar with the EU Court of Auditors’ report on Ukraine from autumn 2021 will not be particularly surprised by the current events in Kiev: Deputy Minister Wassyl Losynsky has been arrested for accepting a six-figure bribe.
“The National Anti-Corruption Bureau searched the home of Deputy Minister for Municipal, Territory and Infrastructure Development Vasyl Losynsky and arrested him,” Ukrayinska Pravda reported.
The ministry has already responded to the report and fired the top official. Losynsky is accused of having received a bribe of 400 000 euros when buying electricity generators. The investigations have been ongoing since September, the government employee apparently wanted to enrich himself by the fact that his compatriots were facing an electricity crisis.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
The Nord Stream Pipeline Could be Repaired Within a Year
Authored by Tsvetana Paraskova via OilPrice.com
The Nord Stream pipeline can be repaired within a year, but it’s unclear whether Germany would want to receive Russian natural gas at all, said Klaus-Dieter Maubach, the outgoing CEO at German energy giant Uniper, which was Russia’s top gas customer before Moscow cut off supply via Nord Stream.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Ukraine Exports Its Digital ID Technology
Ukraine’s government services smartphone app, Diia, has become so “successful” that other countries are interested in replicating it. One of those countries is Estonia, one of the world’s most digitized countries.
During the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, Estonia’s digital development team showcased mRiik, an app for accessing government services built on Ukraine’s Diia app.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
If the Indigenous Voice to Parliament referendum fails it will leave Anthony Albanese in an awkward position because he won’t be able to just legislate the body without defying the expressed vote.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
Indigenous cricket star Ash Gardner has slammed Australia Day as celebrating ‘the beginning of genocide’ as she prepares to play on the controversial holiday.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
Lidia Thorpe has welcomed Daniel Andrews’ decision to cancel the Australia Day parade for the third year in a row in Victoria, after Covid forced the previous two events to be called off.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
Billionaire Bill Gates was spotted with three bodyguards as he exited the Australian Museum in Sydney on Saturday.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
A 17-year-old boy has been charged with murder after a man was allegedly stabbed to death near his Brisbane home. Paramedics were called but the 43-year-old man was unable to be revived.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
Genocide in Nigeria, Armenia and Syria: The Persecution of Christians, December 2022
The following are among the murders and abuses inflicted on Christians by Muslims throughout the month of December 2022:
Genocidal Jihad against Christians
Turkey: Between November 20-25, 2022, Turkey launched 2,500 attacks—air, mortar, drone, artillery, etc.—several miles deep across Syria’s northern border. Governed by the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES), this is also where most of Syria’s religious minorities—Christians, Yazidis and Kurds — live, who were earlier persecuted by the Islamic State (“ISIS”). At least 48 people were killed and dozens wounded. The assault also destroyed or damaged 2,300 civilian homes and buildings, including a children’s hospital, a health center, an electrical power station, essential oil and gas processing facilities, critical grain towers, and a major bakery. Lethal Turkish attacks have continued, prompting Genocide Watch to issue a Genocide Emergency Alert on December 7, 2022:
“These military attacks by Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s regime are part of a wider Turkish policy of annihilation of the Kurdish and Assyrian [Christian] people in northern Syria and Iraq. Turkey has committed war crimes and crimes against humanity, including bombing, shelling, abduction, torture, and extrajudicial killings. The attacks are part of Turkey’s genocidal policies towards Kurds, Christians, and Ezidis.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Greece Expanding Border Wall, Calls for EU Help on Migration
FERES, Greece (AP) — Greece prevented around 260,000 migrants from entering illegally in 2022 and arrested 1,500 traffickers, an official said Saturday.
Citizens’ Protection Minister Takis Theodorikakos was speaking to ambassadors from other European Union countries plus Switzerland and the United Kingdom as he guided them to a still expanding border wall in the country’s northeast.
Theodorikakos emphasized to the 28 envoys that Greece’s border is also the EU’s external border.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Hundreds of Criminals Including Serial Paedophile and Terrorist Among UK Boat Migrants: Report
Hundreds of serious criminals including a convicted murderer, a serial paedophile, and an Islamic State jihadist have been found among the boat migrants landing in Britain unopposed by the tens of thousands, according to a report.
The Sun, the United Kingdom’s highest-circulation non-freesheet newspaper, according to Audit Bureau of Circulations figures going up to 2020, claims to have received a dossier of evidence on almost 1,000 migrants from a whistleblower at a “government security agency that oversees threats to national security”.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Record Number of Border Deaths Occurred Under Biden, Data Shows
U.S. Customs and Border Protection recorded 880 illegal migrant deaths last fiscal year under the Biden administration, marking the highest number of deaths since data became available, according to data obtained by a Freedom of Information Act request.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
A people smuggling kingpin has been jailed over the deaths of seven migrants in the Channel, including a toddler whose body washed up on beach in Norway.
Rauf Perot Rahimifar and three others were convicted of trafficking and manslaughter over the deadly trip from Dunkirk towards England which ended in tragedy when the tiny boat laden with up to 25 migrants capsized.
An entire family was killed, with Rasoul Iran-Nejad and his wife Shiva, both 35, drowning alongside their children Anita, nine, Armin, six, and Artin, 15 months.
Two other migrants also died with the rest, including three children, rescued.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Clarkson Fights Back: Goes on Offensive Against Woke Take-Over
If you haven’t signed the Free Speech Union’s petition urging the CEO of ITV not to fire Jeremy Clarkson, please do so now. Meanwhile, Clarkson has written a blistering attack on the woke takeover of Britain in today’s Sunday Times.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
‘Decapitate TERFs’: Woke Scottish Politicians Endorse Violence Against Women at Far-Left Protest
On Saturday, a group of Scottish politicians posed with trans activists who were displaying signs calling for violence, including the “decapitation” of women during a protest in the UK.
The event saw a crowd of “hundreds” of protestors gathered on Buchanan Street, the center of Glasgow’s shopping district, “to protest against the UK Government moving to block the Gender Reform Recognition Act,” which implements a system of self-identification for people wanting to change their legal sex. Both gender-critical protestors and left-wing trans protestors were in attendance, according to the Scottish Daily Express.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
British shot put champion Amelia Strickler is blasting new rules by World Athletics that will allow male trans athletes to compete against natural-born female athletes.
The two-time national title champion recently tweeted that “if we don’t speak up, women’s sport loses.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Shocking: Drag Queen Performs Nearly Nude in Front of Child at Austin ‘All-Ages’ Event
On Saturday, an “all ages” drag brunch at Moxy Austin University, a hotel and bar in Austin, Texas, hosted parents and at least one child to see drag performers gyrate, dance, and nearly expose themselves to the mostly cheering audience.
Independent journalist Tayler Hansen posted video from the event and wrote, “An ‘All Ages’ Drag Show took place today at Moxy Austin — University, TX. A child in attendance was exposed to male private parts and gyrating directly in front of him. This show is hosted every third Saturday of the month and is always marketed as ‘All Ages’.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Vanderbilt University Pursues ‘Health Equity’ Agenda Grounded in Critical Race Theory
Vanderbilt University is one of many institutions applying Critical Race Theory to the medical field in pursuit of “health equity.”
Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) and Vanderbilt University School of Medicine (VUSM) detail their support for this race-based approach to medicine on their “Office of Health Equity” website.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Video: Sex Educator Tells Youth Where to Buy Sex Toys, Discusses Using Fruits and Vegetables
A Planned Parenthood sex educator is telling young people how to buy sex toys in her TikTok videos.
In some of her videos, Mariah Caudillo reportedly pretended to use one of the toys and talked about her favorites, Fox News reported Friday.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Risk that Sweden will never join NATO
22 January 2023
It is far from certain that Turkey will approve the Swedish NATO application even if the country were to buy American F-16 aircraft, Turkey’s experts and analysts tell Svenska Dagbladet.
The road into NATO
Kristersson’s desperate attempts to appease Turkey
Turkish power party puts an end to NATO application after Koran burning
Satirical drawing of Erdogan published by SVT
Turkey on S government: ‘Not sincere. We saw hypocrisy”
HD stops deportation of coup turk – could cost Sweden NATO membership
It is difficult to say whether Sweden will become a member of NATO as there are many different factors influencing the decision. The text of the application protocol is not crystal clear, which may have contributed to the fact that both Sweden and Turkey could consider signing.
Since then, it has become clear that Sweden and Turkey have different views on what was promised. There are also links to other conflicts, such as the issue of NATO, the PKK and Turkey’s view of terrorists.
According to international analysis, a stronger NATO is in Turkey’s own strategic interest, but President Erdogan may use the NATO issue as a tool to create public opinion ahead of this autumn’s elections.
However, it is not only about the PKK’s terrorist activities, but also about the political movements that the PKK has managed to establish within Scandinavia, as well as US military support to the Syrian PKK branch YPG, which is considered by Ankara as a terrorist group.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavusoglu earlier this week, but there is no indication that the two sides are any closer to a deal.
This is despite the US offering Turkey the old F-16 fighter jet with some upgrades. However, anger remains high in Turkey as the US has choked off deliveries of F-35 fighter jets to the Turks, despite the fact that the aircraft is close to Turkey’s heart as it assisted in the development and funding of the aircraft since 2015.
However, British analyst Timothy Ash of Chatham House does not believe the package of F-16s from the US is really aimed at influencing the NATO process.
In any case, if Erdogan were to back down on the issue of Sweden, it won’t happen before the elections, and perhaps not after. If he lifts the Turkish veto without getting significant concessions from Sweden, criticism from the opposition is expected, according to Ash.
Berkay Mandiraci, a Turkey analyst at the International Crisis Group, tells SvD that the F-16 deal with the US is unlikely to prompt Erdogan to lift the veto.
– To do it just to get the F-16 I don’t think will happen, he tells SvD.
At the moment, however, a Turkish reversal is highly unlikely. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is in a bad position in terms of public opinion ahead of this year’s elections and may use the issue of the NATO veto as a tool to rally the nation behind him.
Raising the number of extradited terrorists required to say yes to Sweden joining Nato, for example, from around 30 to 130, is one way to keep the issue alive.
Provocations from activists like the Rojava committees in Stockholm can also – ironically – give Erdogan votes.
There is really only one way for Erdogan to lose from what is happening, and that would be if he toned down the demands on Sweden or bowed to pressure from the US. Then he risks criticism from the opposition and a loss in the upcoming elections, but in practice only then.
In addition, the Swedish dealings with the PKK are a real problem, which could in practice lead to intervention by the EU and Union authorities against terrorist financing.
A big news item in Turkey last week was the revelation by Avmaskerat that SEB [Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken] provides payment solutions and bank accounts for the Rojava committees’ Swedish PKK web shop, and the organisation’s fundraising for the YPG.
Mandiraci tells SvD that Germany, for example, has done much in recent years to strangle PKK fundraising and to ban the use of PKK symbols and flags in demonstrations, despite the country formally considering itself a democracy. This is why Sweden finds it so difficult to accept the view that Western freedom of expression makes it impossible to intervene against the PKK.
When SvD asks Timothy Ash if he thinks Sweden will be allowed to join NATO after the Turkish elections, he says he thinks the pressure from NATO will be so overwhelming that he will have to give the go-ahead for Sweden and Finland to join, he says.