A 67-year-old gunman named Chunli Zhao entered two work locations in Half Moon Bay, California, and opened fire, killing seven people and wounding at least one other person. It was the second mass killing in as many days in which an Asian Californian was the perpetrator. The gunman in Monterey Park targeted Asians; it’s not yet clear whether the victims in Half Moon Bay were also Asians. Mr. Zhao is now in police custody.
In other news, a man was stabbed in the buttocks while he was eating at a McDonald’s in midtown Manhattan by two perpetrators who fled the scene. The victim is in the hospital, and is expected to recover.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to Dean, DV, JW, Reader from Chicago, Roger, SS, TB, 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.
Robert Reich, former Secretary of Labor during the Clinton administration and a prominent progressive academic, was criticized for blaming increased egg prices on corporate greed on Friday.
The price of eggs were up 60% in December from a year prior after nearly 58 million birds were affected by the Avian flu virus in 2022 and consumers have noticed. In the search for answers, Reich offered his own theory.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
French Pension Reform: 150,000 Young Demonstrators According to Organisers
Two days after the day of protest against pension reform called by the unions, it was the turn of youth organisations to march in the capital on Saturday. “We are 150 000. The #March21January is a huge success,” wrote Colin Champion, president of the union La Voix Lycéenne, on Twitter, while L’Alternative, another student union, hailed “a very massive mobilisation at the call of the youth”.
This figure was also taken up by La France insoumise (LFI), a supporter of the demonstration, and other youth movements within the parties present in the march. Jean Luc Mélenchon criticised the Occurrence tally. According to Occurrence carried out for a group of media, including AFP, the procession was made up of only 14 000 people between the Place de la Bastille and the Place de la Nation.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Japan Posts Record Trade Deficit of 19.97 Trillion Yen in 2022
TOKYO (Kyodo) — Japan ran its biggest annual trade deficit of 19.97 trillion yen ($155.27 billion) in 2022, as higher energy and raw material prices along with the yen’s precipitous fall boosted import costs, offsetting growth in exports as the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic waned, government data showed Thursday.
The value of imports jumped 39.2 percent to a record 118.16 trillion yen, led by crude oil, coal and liquefied natural gas, while exports grew 18.2 percent to 98.19 trillion yen, also a record high, due to increased shipments of cars and steel, the Finance Ministry said in a preliminary report.
The annual deficit of 12.82 trillion yen reported in 2014 was previously the country’s largest. Comparable data became available in 1979.
The record red ink underscores the vulnerability of resource-scarce Japan, which has to rely on imports to meet domestic needs.
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
The country is reeling from multiple blows as food, fuel and power prices soar, families struggle to buy a home and dozens battle over every rental property — but economists insist the pain is the point.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
7 People Have Been Killed in 2 Related Shootings in Half Moon Bay, California
A man killed seven people at a mushroom farm and a trucking firm in San Mateo County, south of San Francisco, on Monday, law enforcement said.
The shooter was believed to be a worker at the farm, San Mateo County Sheriff Christina Corpus said.
An eighth person was at Stanford Medical Center in critical condition, she said.
The suspect was identified as Chunli Zhao, a 67-year-old Half Moon Bay resident, the sheriff’s office said. He is in custody and cooperating.
The two locations are about a mile away from each other. Law enforcement does not have a motive for the shooting.
| — Hat tip: Dean | [Return to headlines] |
75-Year-Old Woman Charged in Stabbing Death of Husband in Pleasant Grove
A 75-year-old Jefferson County woman has been charged with murder in the stabbing death of her husband.
Pleasant Grove police and fire medics responded at 3:17 a.m. Monday to the couple’s home in the 400 block of 13th Place North. They arrived to find Rudolphus Wynn suffering from sharp force injures.
Rudolphus Wynn was pronounced dead on the scene at 3:39 a.m.
His wife, Shirley Ann Wynn, was charged with murder on Monday afternoon. Police said the man was killed during a domestic incident.
Court records show the couple had been married since 1990. They filed for divorce in 2020, but later reconciled.
| — Hat tip: DV | [Return to headlines] |
Alec Baldwin Criticized for First Instagram Post Following Involuntary Manslaughter Charges
Alec Baldwin received some criticism over the caption of his first Instagram post since it was announced that he would be charged with involuntary manslaughter in the death of Halyna Hutchins.
The first caption read, “The old ‘let me give you a back rub’ ploy,” according to Page Six. However, many in the comments called out the actor for the “sexualizing” caption.
“Sexualizing children is always so weird but your own child? Yikes,” one wrote.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Chat GPT3, an artificial intelligence bot, outperformed some Ivy League students at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business on a final exam. In a paper titled “Would Chat GPT3 Get a Wharton MBA?”, Wharton Professor Christian Terwiesch revealed that the AI system would have earned either a B or B— on the graded final exam.
Wharton is widely regarded as one of the most elite business schools in the world. Its alumni include former President Trump, Robert S. Kapito, the founder and president of BlackRock, Howard Marks, the founder of Oaktree Capital, Elon Musk, billionaire founder of SpaceX and current chief executive officer of Twitter, and others.
“OpenAI’s Chat GPT3 has shown a remarkable ability to automate some of the skills of highly compensated knowledge workers in general and specifically the knowledge workers in the jobs held by MBA graduates including analysts, managers, and consultants,” Terwiesch wrote.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Attacks Against Catholic Churches Approach 300 Incidents Since May 2020: Report
Hundreds of Roman Catholic churches have been attacked since the violence that erupted nationwide following George Floyd’s death in May 2020, according to a Catholic nonprofit.
Since May 2020, there have been nearly 300 attacks against U.S. Catholic churches as far afield as Emmonak, Alaska, with the most recent tally at 275 as of Sunday, according to a tracker from CatholicVote.
The religious nonprofit organization noted that “while the riots and looting mostly died down in the summer of 2020, the attacks on Catholic churches have continued and escalated.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
California Democrats Consider Wealth Tax — Including for People Who Moved Out of State
California lawmakers are pushing legislation that would impose a new tax on the state’s wealthiest residents — even if they’ve already moved to another part of the country.
Assemblyman Alex Lee, a progressive Democrat, last week introduced a bill in the California State Legislature that would impose an extra annual 1.5% tax on those with a “worldwide net worth” above $1 billion, starting as early as January 2024.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Charles McGonigal, Indicted Ex-FBI Head, Helped Trigger ‘Russiagate’ Probe
The former FBI official busted Monday for allegedly taking illegal foreign payments played a key role in the bureau’s controversial “Russiagate” probe of former President Donald Trump — and a “defensive briefing” of ex-rival Hillary Clinton’s lawyers.
Charles “Charlie” McGonigal, 54, was among the first FBI officials to learn that Trump campaign adviser George Papadopoulos told an Australian diplomat that Russia had “political dirt” on Clinton.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
DC Mayor Demands Biden Require Federal Workers to Go ‘Back to the Office’
During her January 2 inaugural address, thrice-elected DC Mayor Muriel Bowser told Joe Biden that he needed to either bring his administration’s remote workers back to their offices downtown or give up the space used by the White House over to Bowser so she could convert it into living quarters.
Fox News reports Bowser said, “The federal government represents one-quarter of DCs pre-pandemic jobs, and owns or leases one-third of our office. We need decisive action by the White House to either get most federal workers back to the office most of the time or to realign their vast property holdings for use by the local government, by non-profits, by businesses and by any user willing to revitalize it.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
DOJ Poised to Sue Google Over Digital Ad Market Dominance
Th Justice Department is poised to sue Alphabet Inc’s Google as soon as Tuesday regarding its dominance over the digital advertising market, Bloomberg News reported on Monday, citing people familiar with the matter.
The lawsuit would be the second federal antitrust complaint filed against Google, alleging violations of antitrust law in how the tech giant acquires or maintains its dominance. The Justice Department lawsuit filed against Google in 2020 focuses on its monopoly in search and is scheduled to go to trial in September.
The Justice Department did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment, while Google declined to comment on the report.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
DOJ Weighs Expanding Biden Document Search to Other Locations: Report
The Justice Department is considering additional searches for classified documents at other locations connected to President Biden — as the commander-in-chief escaped to his beach house over the weekend, according to a report.
On Friday, federal agents found more classified materials stashed away at the 80-year-old president’s Wilmington, Del., home — including some dating back to his time as a senator.
Now, DOJ officials are considering extending the search for the sensitive documents to other places, CBS reported Saturday, citing a source familiar with the investigation.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals Holds Congress’ State Tax Cut Ban Unconstitutional, in NCLA Win
Washington, DC (January 20, 2023) — The Eleventh Circuit handed down a ruling today in West Virginia v. U.S. Department of the Treasury, upholding the district court’s decision to permanently enjoin the Secretary of the Treasury from enforcing a “Tax Cut Ban” against the 13 states that sued her: West Virginia, Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Iowa, Kansas, Montana, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, and Utah. The ruling marks NCLA’s second amicus win on appeal—following Commonwealth of Kentucky and State of Tennessee v. Janet Yellen, et al.—in lawsuits contesting Congress’s attempt to usurp state taxing authority.
On March 11, 2021, President Biden signed the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) into law, allocating nearly $200 billion to states, purportedly to mitigate the fiscal effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. But Congress attached an historically unprecedented condition on receiving these funds: states must surrender their core taxing power. A provision in ARPA, the Tax Cut Ban, prohibits states from using funds “to either directly or indirectly offset a reduction in the net tax revenue … resulting from a change in law, regulation, or administrative interpretation … that reduces any tax.” ARPA authorizes Treasury to claw back any funds spent in violation of the Tax Cut Ban.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
George Soros Spent $40M Getting Lefty District Attorneys, Officials Elected All Over the Country
George Soros is the most dangerous man in America. The investor is intent on remaking the country to his liberal image, from our foreign policy priorities to undermining our criminal justice system. This week, The Post takes a look at the reach of Soros’ billions, starting with his backing of prosecutors who don’t prosecute. Matt Palumbo, author of “The Man Behind the Curtain: Inside the Secret Network of George Soros,” explains how the 92-year-old has gone around legislatures to decide which laws will be followed.
To see just how much law and order has eroded under George Soros-backed “progressive prosecutors,” consider Loudoun County, Virginia.
The top prosecutor there, Commonwealth Attorney Buta Biberaj, announced last week that her office wouldn’t be directly involved in the prosecution of misdemeanor charges — including hit-and-run, eluding police, reckless driving, trespassing, public drunkenness and failure to appear, among others.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Ghislaine Maxwell Drops Bombshell: Jeffrey Epstein ‘Was Murdered’
Ghislaine Maxwell has just dropped a bombshell by claiming her sex trafficking accomplice Jeffrey Epstein “was murdered.”
Maxwell, who is currently in prison after being convicted of her role in Epstein’s trafficking ring, made the comments in a new interview with TalkTV’s Jeremy Kyle.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Houston Judge Sparks Outrage With $1 Bond for Violent Kidnapping Suspect: ‘Simply Defies Logic’
A Houston judge is being criticized after a Texas man with eight prior felony convictions was given a $1 bond after allegedly beating a woman over several days as he held her inside his car.
Andy Kahan, director of Crime Stoppers in Houston, is pushing for the Texas Legislative Session to pass a new bill to prevent violent criminals from getting out of jail with a “get out of jail free card.”
Kahan joined “Fox & Friends First” Monday after the suspect was arrested again for allegedly threatening the same victim.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
How George Soros Co-Opts the Media and Keeps Criticism Down
George Soros is the most dangerous man in America. The investor is intent on remaking the country to his liberal image, from our foreign policy priorities to undermining our criminal-justice system. This week, The Post takes a look at the reach of Soros’ billions. In this second essay, Matt Palumbo, author of “The Man Behind the Curtain: Inside the Secret Network of George Soros,” examines Soros investments in liberal propaganda.
A new report from the Media Research Center has exposed connections between billionaire liberal financier George Soros and 54 prominent media figures. As documented by its authors Joseph Vazquez and Dan Schneider, these include reporters, anchors, columnists, editors, news executives, and journalists.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Jury Convicts Four Oath Keepers of Seditious Conspiracy Over Jan. 6 Roles
Four members of the right-wing group, the Oath Keepers, were convicted of seditious conspiracy on Monday following a five-week trial.
Prosecutors had painted group members Roberto Minuta, Joseph Hackett, David Moerschel, and Edward Vallejo as participating in the events of Jan. 6 as part of a wider effort to stop the transfer of presidential power, according to NBC.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Chicago’s embattled Democrat Mayor Lori Lightfoot has blamed Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx for the city’s out-of-control crime rates.
Incumbent Lori Lightfoot currently finds herself in third place in the mayoral race, according to the polls.
The election is at the end of February and if no candidate gets 50% of the vote, the top two will face off in a runoff election that will be held on April 4, 2023.
Crime is the number one issue facing the city and all agree Lightfoot has made it worse by going after the police department.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Majority of Americans Want Fauci Investigated, National Study Shows
The majority of Americans say they want to see Dr. Anthony Fauci fully investigated for his handling of the pandemic and the inconsistent statements he’s made during testimonies, a new national study has revealed.
The study, conducted by the Trafalgar Group, questioned over 1,000 likely voters in the general election during a national survey.
Respondents were asked if they support an investigation by Congress into Fauci’s “inconsistent testimony about his research leading up to the COVID-19 pandemic” and his “actions in managing the pandemic.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Man Stabbed in Buttocks While Inside Midtown McDonald’s
MIDTOWN, Manahttan (WABC) — A man was stabbed in the buttocks while inside a McDonald’s in Manhattan.
It happened inside 946 8th Avenue around 4:40 p.m. Monday.
The victim was taken to the hospital where he is expected to survive.
The suspects, two men, fled the scene.
| — Hat tip: Roger | [Return to headlines] |
Man Who Propped Feet on Pelosi’s Desk During Jan. 6 Riot Convicted on All Charges
The Arkansas man who became infamous for placing his feet up on then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s desk during the Jan. 6 Capitol riot was found guilty Monday on all eight charges.
Jurors deliberated the case against Richard “Bigo” Barnett for two hours before coming to a decision, according to CBS News.
Among the felony charges against the 62-year-old Barnett were civil disorder and obstruction of an official proceeding.
Prosecutors say Barnett brought a stun gun, tucked into his waistband, into the capitol.
Barnett’s attorney Joe McBride said the D.C. jury that the case went before was not reflective of the rest of the country, as the District of Columbia is notoriously liberal.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Mike Pompeo Drops Hammer, Says John Bolton Should “Be in Jail for Spilling Classified Documents”
Former secretary of state Mike Pompeo has a new book, Never Give an Inch: Fighting for the America Love, which will hit the shelves next week. In it, Mike takes a swipe at Nikki Haley, Jared Kushner, and Trump’s former National Security Adviser John Bolton.
Pompeo accuses Haley of plotting with Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump to get rid of Mike Pence and get herself named vice-president. Pompeo claims Haley “played” Trump’s then-chief of staff John Kelly.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Musk’s Father Says He’s ‘Really Afraid Something Might Happen to Elon’
Elon Musk’s father Errol has revealed that he’s “really afraid that something might happen” to his son because of the “enemies he’s making.”
Errol Musk made the comments during a new interview where he discussed his son’s recent expose’s of Big Pharma, media, health agencies, social media companies, and high-profile government officials and politicians in his release of the “Twitter Files.”
In recent weeks, Musk has released Twitter’s internal communications from the past few years after he took over the company in late October.
The files prove Democrat President Joe Biden’s administration, the federal government, and giant pharmaceutical corporations worked directly with the old guard at Twitter to censor information and ban prominent users.
The Twitter files have embarrassed many powerful individuals, despite efforts from the corporate media to ignore the bombshell revelations.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
New York, California Suffer Biggest Blow as More Americans Flee to Low-Tax States
The exodus from high-tax states accelerated in 2022.
A growing number of Americans migrated from predominantly blue states with steep taxes like California and New York to red states with lower taxes like Florida and Texas last year, according to a Bank of America analyst note that is based on findings from U.S. Census Bureau data and U-Haul rates.
Although the entire U.S. population as a whole grew by just 0.4% between July 2021 and July 2022, the data underscores major differences in population growth at the state level.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Number of Children Committing Crimes Skyrockets Across US After Decades of Decline
Homicides committed by juveniles in the U.S. have soared since the pandemic began, reversing a decades-long decline in juvenile crime.
According to the Wall Street Journal, homicides committed by juveniles acting alone increased 30 percent in 2020 over the past year, while those committed by multiple juveniles jumped 66 percent. Most recent federal data shows that the number of killings committed by children is the highest it has been for two decades.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Our Lawsuit Uncovers More Shocking Evidence Team Biden Used Big Tech to Censor
The First Amendment is the bedrock of American liberty. Our citizens have the right, if not civic duty, to engage in open, dynamic discourse, and no government has the right to limit, suppress, censor or otherwise control it.
Yet as we dig deeper into discovery in our Big Tech censorship case — Missouri and Louisiana v. Biden — we uncover ever-more truly appalling abuses of power that President Joe Biden’s director of digital strategy, Rob Flaherty, admitted come from “the highest (and I mean highest) levels of the” White House.
Such evidence proves the Biden administration is leveraging its power to coerce social-media companies to suppress the speech of thousands, if not millions, of Americans who disagree with its political narratives.
Naturally, the First Amendment prohibits censorship. Yet the Biden team has worked to circumvent this fundamental constitutional protection by inducing, threatening and colluding with private companies to suppress speech. It’s illegal; but when Big Government enters into such a conspiracy with Big Business to violate your rights, it’s also known by another name: fascism.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Pioneering Law Prof Offers Legal Strategy for Va. Students Denied National Merit Award Notices
As Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares investigates potential civil rights violations in the widespread withholding of timely National Merit Scholar award notifications to students in suburban Washington, D.C., possibly on “equity” grounds, a local law professor known for public health crusades is floating a novel legal strategy for aggrieved students.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
House Republicans have introduced multiple bills that seek to “address” the “overreach” by “tyrannical government officials” who sought to “maintain control over Americans” during the pandemic.
The effort is led by Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ) who announced the move in a press release on Monday.
“Now with a Republican majority in the House, we have a better opportunity to pass legislation that reverses COVID vaccine and mask mandate policies set by fanatics who seek to maintain control over Americans,” Biggs said.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Seattle Morgues Overwhelmed With Dead Bodies Due to Fentanyl Overdoses
Due to the record number of fentanyl overdose deaths in King County, Washington, the medical examiner is running out of places to store the dead bodies.
Seattle-King County Public Health Director Dr. Faisal Khan said during a recent Board of Health meeting, “The Medical Examiner’s Office is now struggling with the issue of storing bodies because the fentanyl-related death toll continues to climb. Obviously, they have finite space in the coolers they use and that space is now being exceeded on a regular basis.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
The city of Seattle has been hit with sanctions by a federal judge for deleting thousands of text messages between officials, including the former mayor, police chief, and fire chief during the deadly three-week-long Capitol Hill Occupied Protest, also known as the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone, or what was termed the CHAZ or CHOP.
US District Judge Thomas Zilly sent the Hunters Capital lawsuit, on behalf of over a dozen businesses that were in the Capitol Hill area that was taken over by protestors and essentially abandoned by the city, to trial for two of five claims, but dismissed three others.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Supreme Court Asks Biden Admin to Weigh in on Florida, Texas Social Media Laws
The Supreme Court called upon the Biden administration to weigh in on cases involving Florida and Texas laws aimed at limiting what sort of content social media platforms can censor.
Litigation over Florida’s SB 7072 and Texas’s HB 20 pit the states’ goal of maintaining the free expression of ideas online — amid concern that social media giants unfairly censor conservative ideas — and social media companies’ own free speech interests in being able to keep and remove content on their own sites.
“The Solicitor General is invited to file briefs in these cases expressing the views of the United States,” the Supreme Court said in a one-sentence order Monday morning.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
‘This Isn’t Oregon’: Georgia AG Promises Atlanta Antifa Domestic Terrorists Will be Held Accountable
On Monday, Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr spoke with local AccessWDUN radio to denounce the Antifa riot on Saturday night in downtown Atlanta, saying he was “confident” their crimes counted as domestic terrorism.
“I am confident that the facts will show that these individuals have engaged in domestic terrorism. It provides for a serious punishment and for a longer term if convicted,” Carr said.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
TikTok Employees Can Decide Who (Or What) Goes Viral at the Click of a Button
TikTok told Forbes that some of its employees in the US can choose what videos to boost to “introduce celebrities and emerging creators to the TikTok community.”
TikTok admitted that after Forbes reported about the platform’s “Heating” button, which is used to place selected videos on the For You pages of users. That function helps boost the views of videos that have not been selected by the algorithm TikTok uses to recommend content.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
A disabled man was shot multiple times by a North Carolina SWAT team despite being unarmed and obeying orders to put his hands up.
Surveillance footage from inside his trailer shows Jason Harley Kloepfer, 41, being shot by Cherokee County police who wrongfully believed that he was a gunman with a hostage, the Daily Mail reports.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Alberta Government Review Finds No Evidence of Claims Made in CBC Story
The Alberta government says there’s no evidence of emails between the Alberta Crown Prosecution Service and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith’s office.
The government initiated the review after the CBC published a story on Thursday alleging that staff in Smith’s office emailed Crown prosecutors challenging their assessment and direction on cases stemming from the Coutts border blockades and protests. The story cited anonymous sources.
Smith said an independent Crown prosecution service, free from political interference, is integral to the preservation of public confidence in the justice system.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Campus Watch: Nova Scotia University Says Six New Faculty Members Must be Non-White
Halifax’s NSCAD University is looking to hire six new faculty members who, the school specifies, must be non-white as part of its “ongoing development of anti-racist practices.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Canada Joins a Second Climate Coalition During WEF Davos Week
After an “informal ministerial meeting” in Davos last week, Canada joined a second global coalition taking aim at climate change, Minister of International Trade Mary Ng announced Saturday.
The “Coalition of Trade Ministers on Climate” launched in Davos, Switzerland last Thursday on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum’s annual summit. Members say the coalition aims to fight climate change with trade policies built on global collaboration.
Canada is committed to important action in this new realm, the government release said.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
European MP Who Backed Freedom Convoy to Tour Canada
A European politician who rebuked Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in front of the European Union Parliament last year has announced a Canadian tour to meet the people she says are the bravest in the world.
German MEP Christine Anderson has booked tour venues in Alberta, Quebec and Ontario this February because she says she has grown fond of Canadians since seeing their resistance to what she describes as a totalitarian regime in Canada.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Ottawa Police Preparing for Possible Weekend Protests on ‘Freedom Convoy’ Anniversary
Ottawa police Chief Eric Stubbs says resources, tow trucks and staffing plans are in place as the city prepares to mark the one-year anniversary of the start of the “Freedom Convoy.”
On Jan. 28 and 29, 2022, thousands of people arrived in Ottawa with trucks and big rigs, protesting COVID-19 restrictions and the Liberal government on streets in front of Parliament Hill.
Ottawa police say they are ready for the possibility that the anniversary could spark another demonstration, and Stubbs told a meeting of the police services board Monday evening that the force will not tolerate any vehicle-based protests
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
After Hundreds of Bombings Swedish Law Nets Just Five Hand Grenades in Five Years
A Swedish law enacted in 2017 to halt the importation of hand grenades intercepted just five in five years, meanwhile the country saw hundreds of bombings and explosions, many of which are known to have been caused by smuggled grenades.
Swedish customs has reported seizing only five hand grenades since the law came into effect in 2017, or an average of one per year. Amid that failure, grenades have become a weapon of choice in recent bombing attacks in the Stockholm area during an ongoing gang war.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Andrew Tate Prison Plea: ‘Cockroaches, Lice and Bed Bugs Are My Only Friends’
He claims his prison cell is being “bugged.”
Controversial influencer Andrew Tate, who is currently jailed in Romania over sex-trafficking allegations, is complaining that his prison cell is squalid, dark and infested with cockroaches and lice.
The imprisoned ex-kickboxer aired his complaints in an email to fans after a Romanian court recently ruled that he would remain in custody for another month, Jam Press reported.
In the message to his website subscribers — entitled “My first email from imprisonment” — the British-American businessman wrote, “They are trying to break me. Thrown inside a cell without light.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Czech presidential candidate Andrej Babis has accused the mainstream media of twisting his words to suggest the former Czech prime minister would not honor the country’s NATO obligations and send troops to defend Poland or the Baltic nations should they be attacked.
During a televised debate on Sunday evening, Babis was asked whether the Czech Republic would send soldiers into an open conflict in the event of an attack on Poland or the Baltic states, to which he replied, “Where do you mean? To war? Certainly not.”
When pressed on the matter, the presidential candidate asked, “And why should we have an open conflict? I want peace.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Energy Shortages: Britons to be Paid to Not Use Electricity Between 5pm and 6pm on Monday
More than a million UK households will be offered money for them to cut their electricity use between 5pm and 6pm on Monday in a move that follows the National Grid bringing back mothballed coal plants today to ensure supply.
Update: Demand Flexibility Payments Happened Monday and Will Happen Again on Tuesday, Says Grid
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Four-Year-Old Becomes UK’s Youngest Mensa Member
This 4-year-old British boy puts us all to shame.
High-achieving Teddy Hobbs has become the UK’s youngest member of Mensa — after he taught himself to read as a toddler and can count to 100 in seven languages.
The brainy boy’s mom, Beth Hobbs, of Portishead, North Somerset, said he learned to read when he was just 26 months old “by watching children’s television and copying the sounds of letters,” the BBC reported.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
France: Man Loses Testicle After Clubbing by Paris Police: Report
PARIS — Doctors amputated the testicle of a young man who got clubbed in the groin by a police officer during a huge Paris demonstration and who plans to file a lawsuit, daily French newspaper Liberation quoted him as saying in an article published Sunday.
The incident occurred during a spurt of violence at a mostly peaceful march Thursday by tens of thousands of people opposed to a hotly contested government pension reform plan. About 1 million people marched in cities around France that day.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
As the war in Ukraine rages on, there is little doubt that the human cost has been enormous for Ukraine, including what is likely more than 100,000 soldiers who have died in combat operations. However, there was one man who predicted much of what has come to pass in the battle in the east of Europe: George Soros.
The billionaire oligarch financier, often portrayed as a humanist, promoted a hard-nosed geopolitical strategy in his 1993 piece entitled “Toward a New World Order: The Future of NATO.” In the piece, he outlines how Eastern Europeans could be used as the “manpower” in coming conflicts in an effort to reduce the number of deaths in Western countries, which Soros argues the West would not politically tolerate, unlike the east of Europe.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Germany Will Not Block Poland Giving Ukraine Tanks, Minister Says
The Ukrainian government has said it needs advanced tanks to continue its defence against Russia´s invasion and war.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
Germany: Fewer and Fewer People Can Afford to Buy Homes
The proportion of affordable homes in Germany fell further last year. For couples with a net monthly income of around €3,700, only 28 percent of all homes on offer were even considered in terms of cost, according to a study by the Cologne Institute for Economic Research (IW). At the beginning of the year, this figure had been approximately 40 percent.
Even for the top 20 percentile of all households, the purchase possibilities sank from 62 percent to 47 percent, and real estate prices are rising particularly dramatically in metropolitan areas. There, the share of affordable offers for the group of high earners has more than halved. Even in regions adjacent to metropolitan areas, about 46 percent of the advertised properties were no longer affordable for them.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Green Party Moves to Ban Certain Pets in Germany
The Green party is moving to ban certain pets from Germany, with the party working to create a list that clarifies which animals are allowed to be kept in households.
German Agriculture Minister Cem Özdemir (Greens) announced he is moving forward with a ban on certain pets, saying, “Why does someone need exotic animals that are difficult to keep, such as snakes or a chameleon, at home? I never understood that.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Hungary Must Stay the Course and Avoid War, PM Orban Says
Hungary should stay its course and not allow itself to be dragged into war, Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Sunday, the Day of Hungarian Culture, which occurs on Jan. 22 every year.
“We cannot be lured into a trap by siren voices telling us to side with the good side of history,” said Orban.
“The Hungarians have learned that the good side of history is determined by the great powers that prevail, and they are not interested in what is good for Hungarians,” he added. The prime minister indicated that “this is why we (Hungarians) are not getting lost in the vortex of the increasingly bloody war, and this is why we want a ceasefire, negotiations, and peace.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Macron Scholz Attempt to Patch Up Rough French-German Relations
Franco-German cooperation is the engine of Europe’s future, said German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and French President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday. Their comments came at a ceremony at Sorbonne University in Paris, attended by the governments and representatives of both countries to mark the 60th anniversary of the Élysée Treaty between France and Germany.
Scholz described the cooperation between the two countries as a “compromise machine that allows opposite and divergent interests to be transformed into cohesive action.”
Macron said that Germany and France, having paved the way for cooperation, should act as pioneers in providing a new foundation for Europe.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Netherlands to Shut Down EU’s Largest Gas Field — Official
The Dutch government is set to stop production at the Groningen gas field later this year, the state secretary for the extractive industries, Hans Vijlbrief, told the Financial Times.
The site is already producing only a fraction of its capacity, and it is “very dangerous” to keep operating it, according to the official.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Niall Ferguson Pushes Back Against Davos Green Agenda
Like most central planning efforts by governments, green energy schemes have been a failure, historian Niall Ferguson says. Ferguson pushed back against the prevailing green narrative at the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos last week and elaborated in an interview with True North’s Andrew Lawton.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Poland to Send German Battle Tanks to Ukraine After Berlin’s Approval
On Sunday, Germany’s foreign minister Annalena Baerbock told French television LCI that Berlin would not “stand in the way” of Poland sending German-made Leopard 2 battle tanks to Ukraine as Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki has said Poland will continue to build a coalition of European countries to aid Ukraine, with or without Germany’s help.
The New York Times reports Morawiecki said to the Polish Press Agency on Sunday, “We will build a smaller coalition of countries ready to donate some of their modern equipment, modern tanks. We will not passively watch Ukraine bleed to death.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Polish Farmers Say Country is Being Flooded With Cheap, Low-Quality Ukrainian Grain
Polish farmers have indicated that the country is being flooded by low-quality Ukrainian wheat while high-quality Polish wheat is exported abroad.
“Healthy Polish grain is sent to the West, and we eat grain with unauthorized chemical agents used in Ukraine,” said Bronislaw Weglewski, the chairman of the Agricultural Chamber of Lódzkie Region, as quoted by the portal cenyrolnicze.pl.
Now, Polish farmers are demanding tariffs and duties be slapped on Ukrainian grain, as the cheaper grain is harming Polish farmers, according to news network Wprost.pl.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden Redeploys 100 Police Officers to Stockholm to Combat Wave of Shootings and Bombing
Swedish authorities have redeployed 100 police officers from across the country to Stockholm to help secure the capital city, which has been rocked by multiple shootings and bombings in the latest crime wave.
Bombings across Stockholm are already well into the double digits for the year, while shootings continue to be recorded at an alarming rate, picking up where the record year of 2022 for fatal shootings across the country left off.
The crime wave has been linked to the ongoing conflict between criminal gangs fighting to control the trade of illicit activity in the city.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Extinction Rebellion’s former spokeswoman today compared the group to a ‘cult’ — as she claims protesters were told to cry on television and bring their children to demonstrations as part of a ‘masterclass on how to manipulate emotion’.
Zion Lights wrote that the group’s founder, Roger Hallam, ‘referred to himself as a prophet’ and liked to claim that war and murder are around the corner as part of a bid to inspire ‘terror and devotion’ among followers.
The 38-year-old criticised Just Stop Oil — which Hallam founded — saying it had ‘nothing to do’ with saving the world but was about ‘one man, his ambitions for revolution and power, and the innocent children he has brainwashed to do his bidding’.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
‘Ukraine and Europe Will Win This War, With or Without Germany, ‘ Says Polish PM Morawiecki
Commenting on the meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group at the Ramstein Air Base on Friday and its failure to reach a decision on the transfer of Leopards 2 tanks, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki called German’s stance on helping Ukraine “unacceptable.”
“The war in Ukraine has lasted almost a year, and the evidence of Russia’s war crimes can be found on Youtube or on television,” Morawiecki said in an interview with the Polish Press Agency (PAP).
“What else do Germans need to open their eyes and start acting adequately in regard to the potential of the German nation? They do not need to use 100 percent of their assets; 30 percent is enough. Even 10 percent would be an improvement,” added Morawiecki. He said Germans raise doubts about sending heavy weapons to Ukraine and “waste time on discussions while the enemy is in the East.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
WEF Hears About Technology That Allows Your Thoughts to be Monitored
The annual World Economic Forum (WEF) gathering has always been a testing ground for some bizarre ideas, which nonetheless serve a purpose: to introduce, and if possible normalize all kinds of mass surveillance and sometimes extremely privacy-invasive technologies.
And monitoring people’s brain activity, including via implants — surely, it doesn’t get much more invasive than that.
Yet this was one of the technologies presented at an event in Davos this year by Duke University Professor Nita Farahany.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Boris Johnson ‘Worth More Than a Squadron of Tanks’, Says Ukraine Defence Ministry
Boris Johnson may no longer be Prime Minister of the United Kingdom but that has done nothing to diminish his standing in Kyiv, as he makes yet another visit to Ukraine after leaving the WEF meeting in Davos.
Making a surprise visit to Kyiv and meeting with President Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday, Boris Johnson said it was a “privilege” to be back in Ukraine just days after he was given ‘honorary Citizenship’ in a ceremony at Davos last week.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
As the Ukrainian army faces massive losses in the east of the country, the armed forces are increasingly turning to ethnic Hungarians living in the west of the country to fill the army’s battered ranks, with some critics worrying that the mass mobilization effort amounts to ethnic cleansing.
“If this continues, there won’t be any Hungarians left in Transcarpathia,” said Füssy Angéla during a report from the region for Hungarian news portal Pesti Sracok.
Reports are coming in that the Transcarpathia region of Ukraine, home to nearly 150,000 Hungarians, is seeing large mobilization efforts, with residents reporting there has not been such an effort since the initial outbreak of the war. Currently, hundreds of Ukrainian soldiers and policemen have descended on the region and are rounding up and conscripting whoever they can grab, including members of the Roma gypsy population.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Russia Holds Drills Focused on “Repelling Air Attacks” on Moscow
Days after widespread reports that Russia had erected Pantsir-S1 anti-air defense systems on top of some key buildings in Moscow, which triggered speculation that Russia is expecting more attacks from Ukraine on its soil, the Kremlin ramped up anti-air exercises outside Moscow.
The defense ministry confirmed in a Saturday statement, “In the Moscow region, a training session was held with the personnel of the anti-aircraft missile brigade of the Western Military District on repelling air attacks on important military industrial and administrative facilities.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Ukraine Pledges Sweeping Personnel Changes as Allies Jostle Over Tanks
The corruption scandal could dampen Western enthusiasm for his government just as European countries bicker over sending German-made Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said personnel changes were being carried out at senior and lower levels, a move that follows the most high-profile graft allegations since Russia’s invasion nearly a year ago.
Ukraine has a long history of corruption and shaky governance. On Sunday, anti-corruption police said they had detained the deputy infrastructure minister on suspicion of receiving a $400,000 kickback over the import of generators last September, an allegation the minister denies.
Separately, a newspaper investigation accused the Defence Ministry of overpaying suppliers for soldiers’ food. The supplier has said it made a technical mistake and no money had changed hands.
“There are already personnel decisions — some today, some tomorrow — regarding officials at various levels in ministries and other central government structures, as well as in the regions and in law enforcement,” Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address on Monday.
| — Hat tip: JW | [Return to headlines] |
The Philippines Pushes Digital ID for Vulnerable People
To increase the adoption of its digital ID, the Philippines carried out mobile registration of the Philippine Identification System (PhilSys) for the homeless, vulnerable families and children, and indigenous people.
The Philippines is one of the many countries that are all trying to push forms of digital ID.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Australians Were Once Prosecuted for Claiming Face Masks Worked Against Viruses
Australians who tried to sell surgical face masks on the back of claims they worked against viruses were once threatened with prosecution and massive fines by the government.
Yes, really.
An article titled ‘Farce mask: it’s safe for only 20 minutes’ published by the Sydney Morning Herald in 2003 explained how, “Retailers who cash in on community fears about SARS by exaggerating the health benefits of surgical masks could face fines of up to $110,000.”
The article quotes a public health experts who said that face masks are largely useless at stopping the spread of viruses and could even worsen the situation.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
The iconic central Australian city of Alice Springs has become a lawless community where up to 200 children roam the streets at night breaking in to houses, and stealing and burning cars.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
Sudden Heart Attack Deaths Soar 17% in Australia for 2022
The number of sudden deaths caused by heart attacks in Australia soared by 17 percent last year, according to reports.
During the first eight months of 2022 alone, more than 10,200 Australians died of ischemic heart disease, official data shows.
The number is a massive increase from the figures that would normally be expected, according to an analysis of mortality data by the Actuaries Institute, Australia’s peak actuarial body.
Roughly 2,300 deaths from ischemic heart disease over 2021 and 2022 are considered excess, meaning they fall outside the expected natural range.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Australian Open security guards have been branded ‘racist’ for bizarrely trying to confiscate a Serbian flag from fans, after mistaking it for a Russian flag.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
38 People on Terror Watchlist Nabbed at Southern Border Since Oct. 1
Border enforcement officials apprehended more than three dozen people named on the federal terrorism watchlist at the US-Mexico frontier in the final three months of 2022 — after a record number of terror suspects were caught in the 12 months ending Sept. 30 last year.
According to US Customs and Border Protection, 38 people identified as known terrorists, suspected terrorists or associates of both were stopped while attempting to cross into the US between official points of entry since Oct. 1.
In fiscal year 2022, CBP apprehended 98 people whose names appeared on the terror watchlist trying enter the US illegally. That number is on pace to top 150 in fiscal year 2023.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
EU Asylum Applications Soar to Nearly 1 Million in 2022
A total of 923,991 asylum applications were registered in the EU’s 27 member states in 2022, representing a 46.5 increase over 2021, according to European Commission data.
Once again, Germany was the top destination, with the country seeing 226,467 applications. France came in second with 154,597 applications, followed by Spain (116,952) and Austria (108,490).
However, these asylum applications do not include the nearly 5 million Ukrainian refugees who fled into Europe over the course of the year. Germany, for instance, saw anywhere between 1.2 and 1.5 million migrants arrive in the country last year, which has overwhelmed reception centers and led to growing anti-immigration sentiment in the country.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
France: Raging Migrant Injured Four Officers at Detention Center Over Lack of Hot Water
Multiple police officers were injured when an illegal migrant flew into a rage at a detention center in France last week, according to reports.
The disturbing incident unfolded on Thursday in Sète, a commune in the department of Hérault.
A man being held at a CRA detention facility was complaining about a lack of hot water in his room when he spiraled into a violent fury, kicking and punching officials in his presence.
Two officers were brutally beaten, as well as two more who arrived to help their colleagues.
The migrant was eventually subdued, but four officers were injured during the melee.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Japan Lambasted for Not Allowing Mass Immigration
The BBC published an article attacking Japan for not embracing mass immigration.
The article also notes how Japan is a “peaceful” country with “the lowest murder rate,” “little political conflict” and how it “still feels like Japan.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
An Afghan asylum seeker today convicted of murdering an aspiring Royal Marine has been unmasked as a killer of two who fled in Serbia to the UK claiming he was a 14-year-old schoolboy.
Lawangeen Abdulrahimzai, 21, murdered Thomas Roberts, 21, during an argument over an e-scooter in Bournemouth town centre in March last year.
Abdulrahimzai had hoodwinked Border Force and the Home Office after arriving in Dorset on a Brittany Ferries service from Cherbourg on Boxing Day 2019, telling authorities he was 14.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Almost 450 migrants risked their lives in sub-zero conditions to illegally cross the English Channel over the weekend — in the biggest surge of asylum seekers this year.
People smugglers took advantage of the calm conditions on Saturday evening to sail a mass of asylum seekers from France — as temperatures in the south of England plunged to —5C.
A total of 10 boats were intercepted by UK Border Force cutters early on Sunday morning as the dinghies attempted to sail the treacherous 21-mile crossing of the Dover Straits.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Silent Migrant Crisis: French Asylum Requests Approached Pre-Pandemic Records in 2022
Statistics from the French refugee office Ofpra have revealed that France saw around 131,000 asylum requests in 2022, a number approaching the record numbers seen prior to the Wuhan coronavirus pandemic.
The 131,000 asylum applications are just short of the 132,000 applications seen in 2019, the year prior to the pandemic and the year that set the record for asylum claims in France. The 2022 numbers are also a 27 per cent jump from those seen in 2021.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Vermont Supreme Court Upholds Law Allowing Non-Citizens to Vote in Local Elections
The Vermont Supreme Court ruled in favor of a law permitting non-citizens to vote in local, municipal elections.
The state legislature in 2021, backed bills to change the local charters of Montpelier and Winooski to permit non-citizen voting in local elections. Though Republican Gov. Phil Scott vetoed those measures, the Democratic legislature overrode his objections, the Associated Press reported.
The city of Montpelier has nine registered noncitizen voters, per the outlet.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Yuma, Arizona Near Collapse Due to Biden’s Border Crisis
The border city of Yuma, Arizona, is nearing the point of collapse as wave after wave of migrants overload hospitals and food banks and threaten food security, A Yuma official told Fox News.
“Policies need to be changed when you see an unprecedented amount of people coming across the border that even supersedes what we saw under any of the other presidents for the past 30 years,” Yuma County Supervisor Jonathan Lines told Fox News. “And they’re coming because they said that Biden told them to come, that we have an open border.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Twitter users took the Associated Press to task over its tweet claiming there’s a major “divide” among Hispanics over the use of the woke term “Latinx.”
A report published Sunday drew attention to an executive order from Republican Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders that would ban the state government from using “Latinx,” declaring the word “culturally insensitive” to Hispanics broadly and citing a Pew Research poll that shows just 3% of the Hispanic population uses the term to describe themselves.
According to the AP, Sanders’ order has “prompted complaints from some critics who view it as yet another attack by Republicans on the LGBTQ community,” and “Many in the LGBTQ Latino community have embraced the word, but it has been slow to catch on more widely, with some Latino figures calling the term unnecessary.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
In a book by the late Pope Benedict XVI, published posthumously, the pontif wrote that homosexual clubs openly operate in Catholic seminaries, which prepare candidates to become priests. Much of this activity is specifically in the United States, he wrote.
Benedict’s posthumous writings also heavily criticize current Pope Francis, who Benedict says is pushing a progressive agenda. Benedict, who died on December 31 at 95, wrote that the church was on the verge of “collapse” and said that priests and bishops were being permitted to watch porn at the seminaries.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Kamala Harris Slammed for Omitting Right to ‘Life’ When Referencing Declaration of Independence
Vice President Kamala Harris outraged anti-abortion conservatives by leaving out the right to “life” while referencing the Declaration of Independence in a Sunday speech.
Her omission of one of the three “unalienable Rights” mentioned in the seminal document of America’s founding came during remarks she delivered in Tallahassee, Florida, on the 50th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
M&M’s Ditches ‘Spokescandies’ — for Now — After Steps to Promote Inclusivity Deemed Too Polarizing
M&M’s dropped bittersweet news on Monday, announcing that the “beloved spokescandies” are too polarizing and that the cartoon chocolates would be put on an “indefinite pause” after widespread backlash to recent changes that were widely considered “woke.”
The candy maker has taken steps to become more inclusive, but those plans have melted away — at least until the Super Bowl on Feb. 12.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Soros needs to be Epsteined.
It is a travesty of justice that he is still allowed to breathe air instead of Zyklon-B while he poisons everything he touches.
You would have thought that the Russian SVR would have poisoned Soros by now???
Re: China man shoots seven.
As far as I know, most mass shootings are done by youngsters who have too much testosterone flowing through their body.
But a 67 year old?
The answer is obvious. He can’t get it up anymore, therefore he is involuntarily celibate.
AN INCEL, you fools!… 🙂
Åkesson: Government’s pandering to Erdogan “very, very worrying”
Published 23 January 2023 in Fria Tider
Sweden Democrats’ party leader Jimmie Åkesson is now harshly criticizing Ulf Kristersson’s statement on the Koran burning that took place in Stockholm on Saturday.
“Burning books that are sacred to many is a deeply disrespectful act. I want to express my sympathy for all Muslims who are offended by what has happened in Stockholm today.”
So wrote Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson (M) in a statement on Twitter after Rasmus Paludan’s Koran burning outside the Turkish embassy in Stockholm on Saturday.
The wording makes SD leader Jimmie Åkesson see red. On Facebook, he calls the outburst “very, very worrying”.
“Extremely dangerous”
It is an “extremely dangerous road to go down” to start “understanding” and “feeling sorry for” the forces in Sweden that, with reference to religious dogma, want to abolish our freedom of speech, Åkesson continues.
According to Jimmie Åkesson, there is a limit to how a government should express itself, “not least because Sweden has a domestic Islamist threat that cannot be underestimated”.
“I will raise this issue with the Prime Minister and let him know how I and the Sweden Democrats view this kind of evasiveness towards Islamist forces, inside and outside Sweden,” he continues.
“The Sweden Democrats will never contribute to compromising the foundations of our Swedish democracy because people who have chosen to move here feel offended,” the SD leader concludes.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Erdogan: Turkey will not support Sweden’s NATO application
Published 23 January 2023
Turkish President Erdogan now says Sweden will not receive any support from Turkey in its NATO application. The reason is Rasmus Paludan’s Koran burning outside the Turkish embassy in Stockholm on Saturday.
-The outrageous act in Sweden is an insult to all those who respect the fundamental rights and freedoms of people, especially Muslims, Erdogan said, according to Anadolu news agency.
He continues:
– Those who allow such blasphemy in front of our embassy can no longer expect our support for their NATO membership.
– If Sweden loves terrorists so much, perhaps they should leave the defence of their country to them instead, the Turkish president added.
– If you do not respect the religious beliefs of the Republic of Turkey or Muslims, you will not receive any support from us regarding NATO, Erdogan said.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
THANK YOU, PRESIDENT ERDOGAN;
90% of the Swedish people are against joining NATO.
A comment by Peter Frey, apolut.net
Published on: 21 January 2023
See
https://apolut.net/angriffskrieg-von-peter-frey/#pills-video
Listen
https://apolut.net/angriffskrieg-von-peter-frey/#pills-podcast
—
part 1 of 2
War of aggression…
… is there one in Ukraine? And who is fighting it?
But above all, why should the US-led NATO view in the West have a problem with this?
It doesn’t. Its spokespeople are hypocrites, mad moralists and mirror turners.
Every war in the West was not only a war of aggression, but also largely directed against civilian infrastructure, than Russia could ever do in Ukraine.
It is enough to recall the wars against Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, Libya and Syria (the list is incomplete).
Every war in the precious West has been a war of aggression. But never have the political hacks in the media dared to say so openly.
But now, in the Ukraine conflict, where we are dealing with an enemy that cannot just be “bombed back to the Stone Age” “if necessary”, it has become a manic compulsion to speak of a “Russian war of aggression”.
The millions of civilian deaths in Korea, Vietnam and Iraq were, of course, only “collateral damage” in the context of “humanitarian interventions”, “counter-terrorism” (1) or even “police operations” (see the Korean War).
The denial of the “precious West’s” responsibility for its own wars far away from its own borders shows in the silence.
In addition to all this, the “value West” set a precedent for Yugoslavia in the late 1990s. The war against this state in the Balkans violated virtually all the rules of international law, which the aggressors had also undertaken to follow – mendaciously, as can be seen.
The very fact that it was launched was a crime under international law. None of those responsible has ever been held to account for it. The newspaper which forced the opinion never dared to mention the crime as such, let alone condemn them (2). Instead, the representatives of the attacked state were brought before dependent and biased courts in the spirit of the victor.
Russia is in no way doing in Ukraine what NATO did in Yugoslavia, Libya, Iraq or Syria. But even if one were to assume this, the ugly propaganda of the “value west” becomes very clear when one sees the pattern by which it judges war ideologically.
A pattern that can be summed up as follows: ‘When two do the same thing, it is far from the same thing. What we are doing is undoubtedly good, necessary, appropriate and without alternative.
If you do it, it is criminal and deserves the horror and disgust of good men. And the good guys, of course, are us, and only us.”
The inherently mendacious double standard of the “value vest” would like to be proven with an example. On May 25, 1999, NATO spokesman Jamie Shea was asked a number of questions at a press conference about the status of the brutal war of aggression against Yugoslavia. We would like to address one of these, together with the NATO spokesman’s response.
Firstly, to remind you that it was perfectly okay to bomb power stations in Yugoslavia (3, 4), because of “dual use”, you know. After all, power plants are operated indirectly for military purposes. These bombings were morally legitimised by the perpetrators and their media spectators.
Now the Russian leadership and its military are arguing in exactly the same way about similar attacks in Ukraine and are being morally delegitimized for it by the “values west”.
So now to the question: “If you say that the [Yugoslav] army has many power plants, why do you deprive the country not only of 70% of electricity but also of water supply, since you [NATO], according to you, only attack military installations?” (5)
Answer : “Unfortunately, command and control systems also depend on electricity. If Milosevic really wants his citizens to have water and electricity, all he has to do is accept NATO’s conditions and we will stop this campaign. As long as he does not, we will continue to attack the targets that supply his army with electricity. If there are consequences for the population, that is his [Milosevic’s] problem.
Water and electricity were used against the Serbian population, we have ‘cut them off’ permanently or for a long time to protect the lives of the 1.6 million Kosovo Albanians who have been displaced from their homes and whose lives have been seriously damaged. Not everyone will like this difference, but for me the fundamental difference is.” (5i)
NATO’s conditions, by the way, included the abandonment of Yugoslavia’s sovereignty and its further dismemberment. And shortly after this wretched war against the country ended in victory for US-NATO, they built the largest US military base in Europe, Camp Bondsteel, in the province of Kosovo, which had been stolen from Yugoslavia.
I am not aware that the Western media were outraged and condemned the NATO spokesman’s justification for bombing civilian infrastructure in Yugoslavia.
part 2
But now, in the Ukraine conflict, the drool of indignation is pouring out of their speakers – double standards, mendacity, ideological blindness and boundless opportunism.
There was no case of NATO alliance in 1999; no member state of the pact had its sovereignty threatened. In short, it was a criminal war of aggression that violated international law.
It was no different when the US, in alliance with Britain and a “coalition of the willing”, invaded Iraq on trumped-up pretexts. A country with which they have no common border, a country thousands of kilometres from their own territories.
This criminal war of aggression is largely unfinished to this day and has cost the lives of over a million Iraqis, the vast majority of them civilians.
Where were the calls from German politicians and newspapers for massive sanctions against the invaders? There weren’t.
It cannot be possible. Because then the tail would have wagged the dog. For one was never sovereign in one’s decisions. Moreover, we were bound to the ideology of the truly powerful, whom we served as vassals.
The Libyan tragedy is also clearly the responsibility of the precious West, which launched a criminal war of aggression against the North African country on just as feeble a pretext as in the case of Iraq, and which, as in Iraq, had its leaders murdered.
No sanctions, no legal proceedings, not even the word ‘war of aggression’ crosses the lips of the opinion leaders to be published in the case of the wars of the Western states mentioned above.
But now they are putting the screws to their double standards
and are puffed up with bellicosity to deplore a conflict in Eastern Europe, which they themselves define extremely narrowly, as a Russian war of aggression. It is basically a pathetic and disgusting notion.
This brings us once again to the public broadcasters in this country, who speak from the mouths of those in power and bite their tongues more than ever before when it comes to conveying the truth, including (for example) the truth about the wars in Yugoslavia, Iraq and Libya, and consequently the truth about the war in Ukraine.
—
publikumsservice@tagesschau.de,
tagesschau@ndr.de,
To the editorial staff of ARD Tagesschau,
Good afternoon,
My request in this open letter is rather brief and the answer from you should therefore not be too difficult to answer:
Why do you constantly use the vocabulary “Russian war of aggression”, “Russian aggressor” and even “criminal war of aggression against a democracy” (6) in your reporting on the Ukraine conflict?
Regarding the latter, I wonder if you really believe that there is even a semi-functioning democracy in Ukraine (7-20).
In order for you to better understand what I mean, I would like to point out that if this vocabulary has a factual and thus standard journalistic background, it is extremely “unequal” compared to your reporting on other conflicts. For example, your reports on the wars of aggression waged by the US against Yugoslavia, Iraq, Libya and Syria (21-23).
We await a response, which will be published soon.
Peter Frey
—
Stay tuned, dear readers.
Anmerkungen und Quellen
(Allgemein) Dieser Artikel von Peds Ansichten ist unter einer Creative Commons-Lizenz (Namensnennung – Nicht kommerziell – Keine Bearbeitungen 4.0 International) lizenziert. Unter Einhaltung der Lizenzbedingungen – insbesondere der deutlich sichtbaren Verlinkung zum Blog des Autors – kann er gern weiterverbreitet und vervielfältigt werden. Bei internen Verlinkungen auf weitere Artikel von Peds Ansichten finden Sie dort auch die externen Quellen, mit denen die Aussagen im aktuellen Text belegt werden. Letzte Bearbeitung: 16. Januar 2023.
(1) 30.10.2008; Deutsche Welle; Ein trauriger Haufen: Bushs „Koalition der Willigen“; https://www.dw.com/de/ein-trauriger-haufen-bushs-koalition-der-willigen/a-3752994
(2) 27.03.2019; MDR; NATO-Einsatz in Jugoslawien: Der Sündenfall?; https://www.mdr.de/heute-im-osten/interview-zwanzig-jahre-nato-angriff-jugoslawien-100.html
(3) 23.05.1999; CNN; NATO strikes at Yugoslav power plants; http://edition.cnn.com/WORLD/europe/9905/23/kosovo.01/
(4) 25.05.1999; Washington Post; Philip Bennett, Steve Coll; NATO Warplanes Jolt Yugoslav Power Grid; https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/inatl/longterm/balkans/stories/belgrade052599.htm
(5, 5i) 25.05.1999; NATO, Brüssel; NATO-Sprecher Jamie Shea; https://www.nato.int/kosovo/press/p990525b.htm
(6) 12.09.2022; ARD, monitor; Georg Restle; Der Tagesthemen-Kommentar von Georg Restle zu Waffenlieferungen in die Ukraine vom 12.09.2022; https://www1.wdr.de/daserste/monitor/interaktiv/kommentar-waffenlieferungen-ukraine-100.html
(7) 21.08.2021; ORF; Ukraine: Oppositionelle Internetseite geschlossen; https://orf.at/stories/3225731/
(8) 30.07.2022; The Grayzone; „These are animals, not people“: Zelensky frees convicted child rapists, tortures to reinforce depleted military; https://thegrayzone.com/2022/07/30/zelensky-militants-convicted-child-rape-torture-military/; deutsche Übersetzung entnommen bei: https://www.barth-engelbart.de/?p=238390
(9) 04.03.2022; The Grayzone; Alexander Rubinstein, Max Blumenthal; How Ukraine’s Jewish president Zelensky made peace with neo-Nazi paramilitaries on front lines of war with Russia; https://thegrayzone.com/2022/03/04/nazis-ukrainian-war-russia/
(10) 30.12.2021; taz; Bernhard Clasen; Sender verboten und verschwunden; https://taz.de/Pressefreiheit-in-der-Ukraine/!5824760/
(11) 03.02.2021; ORF; Drei oppositionelle Nachrichtensender in Ukraine verboten; https://orf.at/stories/3200001/
(12) 13.07.2019; Deutsche Welle, dpa; Ukrainischer Sender mit Granatwerfer beschossen; https://www.dw.com/de/ukrainischer-fernsehsender-mit-granatwerfer-beschossen/a-49580901
(13) 01.11.2018; OSZE; OSCE Representative disappointed after third extension to Kirill Vyshinsky’s pre-trial detention in Ukraine, reiterates call for his release; https://www.osce.org/representative-on-freedom-of-media/401867
(14) 19.03.2022; Ukrainische Regierung; DEKRET №153/2022 DES PRÄSIDENTEN DER UKRAINE; https://www.president.gov.ua/documents/1532022-41765
(15) 06.10.2022; Twitter-Konto des ukrainischen Oberbefehlshabers; https://twitter.com/CinC_AFU/status/1578083916296192000?
(16) 08.11.2021; Ottawa Citizen; David Pougliese; Canadian officials who met with Ukrainian unit linked to neo-Nazis feared exposure by news media: documents; https://ottawacitizen.com/news/national/defence-watch/canadian-officials-who-met-with-ukrainian-unit-linked-to-neo-nazis-feared-exposure-by-news-media-documents
(17) 04.03.2022; The Grayzone; Alexander Rubinstein, Max Blumenthal; How Ukraine’s Jewish president Zelensky made peace with neo-Nazi paramilitaries on front lines of war with Russia; https://thegrayzone.com/2022/03/04/nazis-ukrainian-war-russia/
(18) 11.01.2016; Ukraine Human Rights; Von Nationalisten erbautes Konzentrationslager in Lysyanka; https://de.ukraine-human-rights.org/dec/informationen/racism/
(19) 30.09.2022; Correctiv; Kimberly Nicolaus; Ja, auf diesem Foto trägt ein ukrainischer Soldat einen Totenkopf-Aufnäher mit SS-Motiven; https://correctiv.org/faktencheck/2022/09/30/ja-auf-diesem-foto-traegt-ein-ukrainischer-soldat-einen-totenkopf-aufnaeher-mit-ss-motiven/?utm_source=pocket-newtab-global-de-DE
(20) 14.09.2022; Telegram; Wolodymir Selenskyj; nachträglich von seinem Telegram-Kanal entferntes Bild mit sichtbarem Totenkopfabzeichen am Arm; https://web.archive.org/web/20220914123205/https://t.me/s/V_Zelenskiy_official
(21) 17.05.2018; ARD-Tagesschau; Der Kosovo-Krieg; https://www.tagesschau.de/jahresrueckblick/meldung125906.html
(22) 18.01.2006; ARD-Tagesschau; Krieg gegen den Irak; https://www.tagesschau.de/jahresrueckblick/meldung105450.html
(23) 20.12.2010; ARD-Tagesschau; Der Krieg im Irak; https://www.tagesschau.de/jahresrueckblick/meldung140226.html
The Yugoslavian War was Madame Hilarity’s escapade as the Red Queen with Bill Clinton as the Black Knight. The scene in the most recent Alice in Wonderland with the Black Knight leering at the Red Queen said it all. Of course, the movie allowed them to be exiled when they should have been hung. Jah, Alles en Underland mein herr.