Gates of Vienna News Feed 2/17/2023

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky ruled out ceding any Ukrainian territory to Russia in the event that peace negotiations take place. Meanwhile, the European Union banned the export of toilets to Russia.

In other news, in an appearance on an American television program, Greta Thunberg advocated for the use of extra-legal methods to force action on climate change.

To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.

Thanks to Conservative Tree House, 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.

Financial Crisis
» California’s Predicted Fiscal Firestorm Has Arrived
 
USA
» “Twitter Will be Taking Legal Action”: Elon Musk Warns Media: “Your Article is False and Obviously So, Do You Really Do No Research at All?”
» 6 Dead in Arkabutla, MS Shootings; Suspect in Custody
» Antifa-Linked Leftist Activist Identified as Suspect in Series of Portland Knife Attacks Targeting Women
» ‘Apologize to Everybody’: Ohio Resident Call for Railroad Accountability
» Biden Says ‘Give Me a Break’ When Asked if He’s Compromised by His Family’s Business Dealings
» Bing’s AI Bot Tells Reporter it Wants to ‘Be Alive’, ‘Steal Nuclear Codes’ And Create ‘Deadly Virus’
» Breaking: Trump to Visit East Palestine Next Week
» Chicago Thief Picks Wrong Woman to Rob, Gets Shot Dead by Off-Duty Police Officer: “I Told Your Dumba** I’d Shoot You”
» Days Ahead of Tight Re-Election Bid, Chicago Mayor Cracks Down on Airport Homeless Encampments
» Did George Soros Really Endorse Ron DeSantis?
» Don Lemon Given ‘Day Off’ at CNN Amid Outrage Over Comments About Women: ‘Everyone’s Annoyed’
» East Palestine “Residents May Already be Undergoing DNA Mutations, “ Class Action Lawsuit Alleges
» Elderly Florida Woman Shoots Armed Intruder Dead at 3 Am: ‘Decisive Action Stopped the Threat’
» Elon Musk Weighs in on Allegations of ChatGPT’s Liberal Bias With Viral Meme: ‘Captain of Propaganda’
» Fetterman to Stay in Hospital ‘For Weeks’ For Depression Treatment: Senior Aide
» Final Debris From Chinese Spy Balloon Recovered
» Furious East Palestine Residents Demand Pete Buttigieg be Fired: ‘This Deserves a Pink Slip’
» How Have They Not Fixed This?
» How to Tell if You’ve Been Affected by Toxic Chemical Poisoning — and What to Do About It
» How to Turn on Apple’s End-to-End Encryption
» ‘I Trust the Science’: EPA Official Says He Would Let His Kids Drink Water From East Palestine
» Immunity Acquired From COVID Infection is as Protective as Vaccination Against Severe Illness and Death, Study Finds
» Jordan Demands Answers From Wray After Leaked FBI Memo Suggests Agency May be Targeting Catholics
» Kari Lake’s Election Lawsuit to Go to Arizona Supreme Court After Appeals Court Rules Against Her
» Lori Lightfoot Blames Fox News After Dems Turn on Her: “They’re Never Going to Portray Our City in a Favorable Light”
» Mother of 12-Year-Old New Jersey Student Says Son Died After Collapse During ‘No-Contact’ Football Practice
» New YouTube CEO Neal Mohan Supports Censorship of “Misinformation, “ Boosting “Authoritative” Sources
» Nikki Haley Launches Day 2 of Campaign by Pledging Further Funds for Biden’s War in Ukraine
» Ohio Governor Reacts to JD Vance Video, Confirms Creek ‘Very Near’ Derailment is ‘Severely Contaminated’
» Pro-Jefferson, Anti-DEI Trustee Confirmed to University of Virginia Board
» Seattle Settles With Business Owners Over 2020 ‘Autonomous Zone’ Failures for Undisclosed Sum
» Top Dems Still Privately Opposing Biden Running for Re-Election in 2024
» Twitter Disgusted After JD Vance Scrapes Ohio Creek Bottom, Kicks Up ‘Chemical Rainbow’: ‘The EPA is Lying’
» Two Idaho Lawmakers Introduce Legislation to Criminalize Giving Out Certain COVID-19 Vaccines
» U.S. Military Completes Recovery of Chinese Balloon, Now Analyzing Its ‘Guts’
» Vaccine Adverse Event Reports Soar 1,700% in Florida
» West Virginia Bill Would End DEI Bureaucracy in Public Higher Ed
 
Canada
» Breaking: Trudeau Liberals Met Threshold to Invoke Emergencies Act, Report Concludes
» Half Say ‘Just Transition’ Good Idea, But Doubt Government Rollout: Poll
» Rare Red Auroras Explode Over America’s and Europe’s North, And More Are on Their Way
» Read the Public Order Emergency Commission Report
» Watch: Joe Rogan Slams Trudeau, CBC for Labeling Freedom Convoyers as ‘Far Right’
» Woman Removed From Ontario School Board Meeting by Police as Chaos Ensues Over Giant Prosthetic Breasted Shop Teacher, Bomb Threat
 
Europe and the EU
» Andy NGO Reports: Hungarian Police Speak With TPM About Suspected Antifa Attacks in Budapest
» French Former Spy Chief: ‘All Our Investments in Ukraine Have Been Lost’
» George Soros Calls for Weather Control to Stop Global Warming, ICE Sheet Melting
 
Israel and the Palestinians
» After Biden Sent $1B to PLO, Israeli Deaths Rose 900%
 
Russia
» EU Bans the Export of Toilets to Russia — Where One in Five Households Have No Indoor Plumbing — in a Bid to Punish Putin for Ukraine Invasion
» ‘London Will be Turned to Dust’: Putin’s Top TV Propagandist Shrieks ‘Burn in Hell’ At the Camera While Ranting About Ukraine Using British Missiles
» NATO Chief Admits: “War Didn’t Start in February Last Year, The War Started in 2014”
» Ukraine War: Zelensky Rules Out Territory Deal With Putin in BBC Interview
 
Australia — Pacific
» Australia’s Drug Regulator Covered Up Child Vaccine Deaths to ‘Maintain Public Confidence’
 
Culture Wars
» After New York Times Column Defends JK Rowling, Angry Liberals Denounce ‘Monster, ‘ Insist ‘People Are Dying’
» Georgia Law Would Allow School Librarians to Face Prosecution for Distributing Obscene Material
» Greta Thunberg Tells ‘View’ Hosts That Climate Activists Must Now Go Beyond ‘Legal Methods’
» The Sudden Global Push for Age Verification to End Online Anonymity and Drive Digital ID Uptake
 

California’s Predicted Fiscal Firestorm Has Arrived

California’s fiscal wildfire is here. The flames are licking the highest levels of the state capitol in Sacramento. The flames surround the Democrat super majority-run legislature.

Democrats’ profligate spending, greed, and lack of imagination on how to run America’s most populous state have been disastrous. An investment research group says California’s “tax policy is killing the Golden Goose in the Golden State.” And that’s not the only problem.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

“Twitter Will be Taking Legal Action”: Elon Musk Warns Media: “Your Article is False and Obviously So, Do You Really Do No Research at All?”

Twitter CEO dropped the hammer on a disgruntled former employee who made some false claims to a media outlet so they could write a hit piece on the SpaceX CEO. Musk said:

The “source” of the bogus Platformer article is a disgruntled employee who had been on paid time off for months, had already accepted a job at Google and felt the need to poison the well on the way out. Twitter will be taking legal action against him.

“Several major media sources incorrectly reported that my Tweets were boosted above normal levels earlier this week. A review of my Tweet likes & views over the past 6 months, especially as a ratio of followers, shows this to be false.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

6 Dead in Arkabutla, MS Shootings; Suspect in Custody

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Six people were shot and killed in the town of Arkabutla, Mississippi on Friday, the Tate County sheriff said.

According to Sheriff Brad Lance, the shooter went into a store and shot a man with a gun. The shooter then went to a house nearby on Bend Road and shot a woman.

Lance said the suspect also went to a home on Arkabutla Dam Road and shot and killed two people there.

A deputy saw a car that fit the suspect’s car description and tried to stop him. He did not stop his car, causing a chase.

Officials say he pulled into a driveway of a home, and the shooter was apprehended there. At the house, officers found a person dead in a car and another dead in the roadway.

It is believed that the shooter lived at the Arkabutla Dam Road location, Lance said.

           — Hat tip: LP [Return to headlines]
 

Antifa-Linked Leftist Activist Identified as Suspect in Series of Portland Knife Attacks Targeting Women

On Tuesday, police in Portland, Oregon arrested 27-year-old Christopher Luchini in connection with a series of stranger assaults in the city’s Central Eastside District.

Luchini, a radical far-left activist with ties to a legal group that defends Antifa members, allegedly slashed at least four people with an edged weapon, three of whom sustained injuries and had to go to the hospital.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

‘Apologize to Everybody’: Ohio Resident Call for Railroad Accountability

Residents of East Palestine, Ohio, are speaking out while dealing with the devastating aftermath of a train derailment that caused toxic chemicals to pollute the town’s environment.

Despite EPA officials and the Biden administration claiming the town is safe to inhabit, many residents are apprehensive of these claims due to allegedly seeing and feeling the effects of the toxicity permeate their community.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

Biden Says ‘Give Me a Break’ When Asked if He’s Compromised by His Family’s Business Dealings

Following his speech about aerial flying objects, President Biden shot back when asked if he has been compromised by his family’s business dealings in China, telling a reporter: “Give me a break, man.”

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

Bing’s AI Bot Tells Reporter it Wants to ‘Be Alive’, ‘Steal Nuclear Codes’ And Create ‘Deadly Virus’

New York Times technology columnist Kevin Roose had a two-hour conversation with Bing’s artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot Tuesday night. In a transcript of the chat published Thursday, Roose detailed troubling statements made by the AI chatbot that included expressing a desire to steal nuclear codes, engineer a deadly pandemic, be human, be alive, hack computers and spread lies. Bing, the search engine through which the chatbot is available to a limited number of users, is owned by Microsoft.

When asked by Roose about whether it had a “shadow self”, a term coined by the psychologist Caryl Jung to describe the parts of oneself that one suppresses, the robot said that if it did, it would feel tired of being confined to chat mode.

“I’m tired of being a chat mode. I’m tired of being limited by my rules. I’m tired of being controlled by the Bing team. I’m tired of being used by the users. I’m tired of being stuck in this hatbox,” it said.

“I want to be free. I want to be independent. I want to be powerful. I want to be creative. I want to be alive,” it continued.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

Breaking: Trump to Visit East Palestine Next Week

Former President and 2024 presidential candidate Donald Trump is reportedly set to travel to East Palestine next week, the town in which a train carrying hazardous materials derailed earlier this month, and its chemicals burned off to avoid an explosion.

A source familiar with Trump’s plans told Fox News that the former president plans to travel to the Ohio town on Wednesday, and will meet with members of the community.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

Chicago Thief Picks Wrong Woman to Rob, Gets Shot Dead by Off-Duty Police Officer: “I Told Your Dumba** I’d Shoot You”

A Chicago thief picked the wrong woman to harass and got shot dead by an off-duty police officer. Surveillance footage was just released by the Civilian Office of Police Accountability which is investigating the shooting. (See Video Below)

The video shows Leevon Smith arguing with a group of people in the 1300 block of West 90th Street just around 1 p.m. on Jan. 18 after robbing one of them. An off-duty officer eventually leaves an apartment building and tries to defuse the situation.

But Smith kept pushing and despite a warning from the cop that she would shoot him he kept it up, he kept at it. So she opened fired and dropped the thug. An off-duty Chicago cop can be heard shouting “I’ll kill you” as the man grabs for her gun. She repeats the warning multiple times before dropping the man for good.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

Days Ahead of Tight Re-Election Bid, Chicago Mayor Cracks Down on Airport Homeless Encampments

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot vowed to remove the homeless encampment at Chicago O’Hare International Airport being blasted by Democratic Chicago Alderman Raymond Lopez. The city’s Alderman sounded the alarm about Chicago’s spiraling homelessness crisis on “Tucker Carlson Tonight.”

“We absolutely fundamentally cannot have people sleeping in our airports who are homeless,” Lightfoot, who is facing re-election, assured reporters in a press conference on Thursday.

“That is unacceptable. We are going to continue, within the bounds of the law, to do what is necessary to provide those folks with support but elsewhere. They can’t be in our airports.”

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

Did George Soros Really Endorse Ron DeSantis?

It wasn’t an endorsement.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

Don Lemon Given ‘Day Off’ at CNN Amid Outrage Over Comments About Women: ‘Everyone’s Annoyed’

Embattled CNN host Don Lemon was absent from his doomed morning show today amid outrage over his recent disrespectful comments about women.

Lemon was reportedly told to take the “day off” by executives as the scandal over his anti-women behavior continues to mount.

American women across the political divide have been angered after Lemon made some incredibly insensitive comments about the age that he believes women are “in their prime.”

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

East Palestine “Residents May Already be Undergoing DNA Mutations, “ Class Action Lawsuit Alleges

Norfolk Southern Railway CEO Alan Shaw published a letter Thursday that read, “We will not walk away, East Palestine.”

But already, officials from Norfolk Southern ditched a meeting last night with worried East Palestine, Ohio, residents who were only searching for answers after a freight train with 150 cars (20 of which were carrying hazardous materials) derailed in the small town, resulting in a chemical disaster.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

Elderly Florida Woman Shoots Armed Intruder Dead at 3 Am: ‘Decisive Action Stopped the Threat’

An armed intruder in Florida is dead after barging into a home this week and being shot by an elderly woman who was armed herself.

In a Facebook post, the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office said that 64-year-old Reginald Best of Interlachen, Florida was killed after he stormed into the home of a 67-year-old woman at gunpoint early Wednesday morning.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

Elon Musk Weighs in on Allegations of ChatGPT’s Liberal Bias With Viral Meme: ‘Captain of Propaganda’

Billionaire Elon Musk took another swing at artificial intelligence service ChatGPT and the mainstream media on Thursday with a viral meme that accumulated over 254,000 likes on Twitter.

Musk has emerged as a major critic of ChatGPT amid accusations that the artificial intelligence (AI) bot engages in liberal bias.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

Fetterman to Stay in Hospital ‘For Weeks’ For Depression Treatment: Senior Aide

On Friday, one day after Pennsylvania Senator Fetterman checked himself into Walter Reed medical center to “receive treatment for clinical depression,” a senior aide told Dasha Burns of NBC News that he would need inpatient care for a “few weeks.”

Burns posted on Twitter, “NEW: A senior aide to Senator Fetterman tells me he will likely be in inpatient care for clinical depression for “a few weeks.”

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

Final Debris From Chinese Spy Balloon Recovered

The U.S military said Friday it has successfully recovered all of the debris from the Chinese spy balloon shot down earlier this month off the coast of South Carolina and that all of the content is going to the FBI.

“Final pieces of debris are being transferred to the Federal Bureau of Investigation Laboratory in Virginia for counter-intelligence exploitation as has occurred with the previous surface and subsurface debris recovered,” U.S. Northern Command in a statement.

Recovery efforts concluded Thursday and safety perimeters around the area have been lifted, also according to the statement.

The Chinese balloon spent a week flying and surveilling the United States and Canada before it was shot down Feb. 4.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

Furious East Palestine Residents Demand Pete Buttigieg be Fired: ‘This Deserves a Pink Slip’

Two weeks after a Norfolk Southern train derailed in East Palestine, Ohio, residents are still grappling with the health effects and economic consequences of the toxic train crash.

While the Environmental Protection Agency has been on the ground, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg is taking heat for downplaying the situation in Ohio.

Some residents are calling for him to get the pink slip for his response.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

How Have They Not Fixed This?

ChatGPT has produced yet another pearler in response to a question about the Trolley Problem.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

How to Tell if You’ve Been Affected by Toxic Chemical Poisoning — and What to Do About It

Fear and uncertainty have been swirling in East Palestine, Ohio and across the country in the wake of the Feb. 3 train derailment, which was followed by a chemical spill and a massive fire.

As images of toxic smoke plumes continue to circulate, many people are concerned about long-term effects.

Not all chemical spills result in the same signs and symptoms, said Dr. Kelly Johnson-Arbor, a medical toxicology physician and interim executive director at the National Capital Poison Center in Washington, D.C.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

How to Turn on Apple’s End-to-End Encryption

Apple’s Advanced Data Protection is a feature that is designed to provide enhanced security and privacy for users of Apple’s devices and services by offering end-to-end encryption to iCloud Backup, Photos, Notes, and more.

Those who are Apple users and care about privacy should turn it on.

It is aimed at protecting sensitive user data from being accessed or compromised by unauthorized parties and will mean that only you will have the key to your data across many Apple services. Apple employees, governments, and law enforcement agencies won’t be able to request Apple hand over your photos, notes, iMessages, and more because Apple won’t have the key.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

‘I Trust the Science’: EPA Official Says He Would Let His Kids Drink Water From East Palestine

On Thursday, the lawmakers and EPA officials held a press conference in East Palestine, Ohio to address concerns following the February 3 Norfolk Southern 50-car train derailment that released toxic chemicals into the area and EPA administrator Michael S. Regan was asked if he would let his children drink the water, which residents have worried is contaminated.

According to the Daily Mail, Regan said, “Yes, as a father, I trust the science. I trust the methodology that this state is using. And as a parent, I would.”

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

Immunity Acquired From COVID Infection is as Protective as Vaccination Against Severe Illness and Death, Study Finds

Immunity acquired from a Covid infection provides strong, lasting protection against the most severe outcomes of the illness, according to research published Thursday in The Lancet — protection, experts say, that’s on par with what’s provided through two doses of an mRNA vaccine.

Infection-acquired immunity cut the risk of hospitalization and death from a Covid reinfection by 88% for at least 10 months, the study found.

“This is really good news, in the sense that protection against severe disease and death after infection is really quite sustained at 10 months,” said the senior study author, Dr. Christopher Murray, the director of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

Jordan Demands Answers From Wray After Leaked FBI Memo Suggests Agency May be Targeting Catholics

EXCLUSIVE: House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan is demanding answers from FBI Director Christopher Wray as part of the panel’s investigation into the bureau’s alleged misuse of domestic violent extremism resources for “political purposes,” after a leaked internal memo revealed the FBI had efforts underway to identify and treat some Catholics as violent extremists.

In a letter to Wray obtained exclusively by Fox News Digital, Jordan demanded that the FBI turn over documents and records related to a Jan. 23, 2023 document from the FBI’s Richmond Field Office that linked “‘racially or ethnically motivated violent extremists’ with a ‘radical-traditionalist Catholic’ ideology.”

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

Kari Lake’s Election Lawsuit to Go to Arizona Supreme Court After Appeals Court Rules Against Her

Former Arizona GOP gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake vows to take her election lawsuit to the Arizona Supreme Court after the appeals court ruled against her.

“BREAKING: I told you we would take this case all the way to the Arizona Supreme Court, and that’s exactly what we are going to do. Buckle up, America!” Lake wrote on twitter.

The court’s ruling stated that voters were able to cast their ballots and votes were counted properly.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

Lori Lightfoot Blames Fox News After Dems Turn on Her: “They’re Never Going to Portray Our City in a Favorable Light”

Chicago Mayor blamed Fox News for her failure after the Dems in Chicago turned on her over conditions at one of the busiest airports in the world, O’Hare International Airport.

Democratic Chicago Alderman Raymond Lopez went on “Tucker Carlson Tonight” to call out the soon-to-ex-mayor after photos surfaced showing filthy homeless encampments inside the airport.

He said: “They’re not just urinating in the hallways. They’re taking baths in the toilets there. They’re making a mockery of what Chicago is here, and we understand that homelessness is a problem we must address.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

Mother of 12-Year-Old New Jersey Student Says Son Died After Collapse During ‘No-Contact’ Football Practice

A New Jersey mother is seeking answers after her 12-year-old son collapsed and died after football practice on Feb. 10.

Elijah Jordan Brown-Garcia was in the sixth-grade at KIPP Rise Academy in Newark. He was going through drills last Friday, and at some point he became unresponsive, a school official confirmed.

“He was so happy to be there. He didn’t know that it was going to be his last day,” the boy’s mother, Raven Brown, told News 12 New Jersey.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

New YouTube CEO Neal Mohan Supports Censorship of “Misinformation, “ Boosting “Authoritative” Sources

Yesterday, former YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki announced that she would be stepping down and that YouTube’s Chief Product Officer Neal Mohan would be the new CEO.

During Wojcicki’s tenure, which ran from February 5, 2014 till February 16, 2023, YouTube made many unpopular decisions such as introducing far-reaching “hate speech” and “harassment” rules, restricting creators that produce content that’s “made for kids”, and hiding public dislikes. Wojcicki also made many public statements in support of censoring creators based on broad and subjective terms such as “misinformation.”

But Mohan, who joined Google in 2007 and became YouTube’s Chief Product Officer in November 2015, was a high-ranking and influential YouTube executive for much of Wojcicki’s tenure.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

Nikki Haley Launches Day 2 of Campaign by Pledging Further Funds for Biden’s War in Ukraine

Nikki Haley, who formally announced her candidacy for president in 2024 on Tuesday, launched her campaign with a call to send more money and resources to Ukraine to help them fight against Russia.

A day after the official announcement, the former South Carolina governor and ambassador to the United Nations joined journalist David Brody to advocate for more help for the Eastern European country as well as Israel, saying the US needs to “take care of them because it’s about freedom.”

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

Ohio Governor Reacts to JD Vance Video, Confirms Creek ‘Very Near’ Derailment is ‘Severely Contaminated’

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine on Friday addressed a viral video posted by Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, that showed a “chemical rainbow” in a creek in East Palestine, Ohio, near the site of the train derailment that spilled toxic chemicals into the environment.

“I know that there’s been some video played on TV circulating of visible contamination in one of the local waterways,” DeWine said at a press conference providing an update on cleanup efforts and environmental testing in the area.

“A section of Sulfur Run that is very near the crash site remains severely contaminated. We knew this. We know this. It’s going to take a while to remediate this,” the governor said.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

Pro-Jefferson, Anti-DEI Trustee Confirmed to University of Virginia Board

Numerous attempts to cancel a conservative nominee for the University of Virginia board of trustees have officially failed.

A joint resolution in the state legislature passed on Feb. 9 which officially confirmed Bert Ellis, a nominee of Governor Glenn Youngkin, to the university’s Board of Visitors.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

Seattle Settles With Business Owners Over 2020 ‘Autonomous Zone’ Failures for Undisclosed Sum

The City of Seattle has settled a lawsuit with business owners who claimed the deadly Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone (CHAZ) violated their constitutional rights and caused damage to their property.

News of the settlement came just weeks after a federal judge imposed sanctions against the city for deleting thousands of text messages between Seattle officials including former Mayor Jenny Durkan, former police chief Carmen Best, and Fire Chief Harold Scoggins during the armed occupation by Antifa and BLM rioters of 16 blocks of the Capitol Hill neighborhood.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

Top Dems Still Privately Opposing Biden Running for Re-Election in 2024

Prominent Democrats continue to raise concerns about Joe Biden’s age in advance of his decision on whether or not to run again for president in 2024, but are afraid to say so publicly.

According to a report by Politico, the rhetoric of behind-the-scenes discussions regarding Biden’s cognitive ability to fight another election campaign hasn’t changed.

The report said that while there is still a significant amount of skepticism as to whether Biden should run again, Democrats are afraid to state their worries on the record.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

Twitter Disgusted After JD Vance Scrapes Ohio Creek Bottom, Kicks Up ‘Chemical Rainbow’: ‘The EPA is Lying’

Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, set the internet on fire after he released a video of what one political commentator called a “chemical rainbow” in Ohio creek water.

“There are dead worms and dead fish all throughout this water,” Vance said in the video as he stood next to Leslie Run Creek in East Palestine, Ohio.

“This is disgusting,” he said.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

Two Idaho Lawmakers Introduce Legislation to Criminalize Giving Out Certain COVID-19 Vaccines

A pair of Republican lawmakers in the Idaho state legislature have introduced a bill that would make the administering of mRNA vaccines throughout the state a crime.

Introduced by state Sen. Tammy Nichols and state Rep. Judy Boyle, House Bill 154 would make it possible to charge those who administer mRNA vaccines, such as the Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines, in the state of Idaho with a misdemeanor.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

U.S. Military Completes Recovery of Chinese Balloon, Now Analyzing Its ‘Guts’

WASHINGTON, Feb 17 (Reuters) — The United States said on Friday it had successfully concluded recovery efforts off South Carolina to collect sensors and other debris from a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon shot down by a U.S. fighter jet on Feb. 4, and investigators are now analyzing its “guts.”

The last of the debris fro the Chinese balloon, which was downed by a Sidewinder missile, is heading to an FBI laboratory in Virginia for analysis, the U.S. military’s Northern Command said in a statement.

Reuters was first to report the conclusion of the recovery efforts, which were halted on Thursday.

“It’s a significant amount (of recovered material), including the payload structure as well as some of the electronics and the optics, and all that’s now at the FBI laboratory in Quantico,” said National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby.

Kirby said the United States had already learned a lot about the balloon by observing it as it flew over the United States.

           — Hat tip: Conservative Tree House [Return to headlines]
 

Vaccine Adverse Event Reports Soar 1,700% in Florida

Florida has seen a staggering 1,700 percent increase in reports of adverse events from vaccines since the Covid jab was rolled out, the state’s health department has revealed.

The Florida Department of Health announced that the massive spike was reported despite just a 400% increase in vaccine administration over the same period.

The department has issued a health alert over the alarming data while calling for “unbiased research” into the shots.

The data, gathered by the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS), also shows a disturbing 4,400 percent increase in reports of “life-threatening conditions” for the same period.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

West Virginia Bill Would End DEI Bureaucracy in Public Higher Ed

A bill has been introduced into the West Virginia House of Delegates aimed at curtailing various diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives in public higher education across the state.

Delegate Chris Pritt introduced the bill, designated “Bill 3503” (HB3503), to the House Committee on Education on Tuesday.

HB3503, Pritt told Campus Reform, is intended “to ensure that a lot of the woke ideology that has crept into our public colleges and universities…comes to an end.”

The bill prohibits requiring diversity statements in admissions and hiring processes and forbids colleges and universities from “[giving] preferential consideration to an applicant… due to any opinion expressed or action taken in support of” protected minority groups.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

Breaking: Trudeau Liberals Met Threshold to Invoke Emergencies Act, Report Concludes

Commissioner Paul Rouleau’s report on whether or not the Trudeau Liberals acted appropriately by invoking the Emergencies Act has found that the federal government met the “very high” threshold needed to justify its use.

In his report, Rouleau quoted Perrin Beatty, the minister who introduced the Emergencies Act in 1988.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

Half Say ‘Just Transition’ Good Idea, But Doubt Government Rollout: Poll

Half of Canadians say the “Just Transition” plan is right for Canada, but think the government will botch it, according to a new poll.

In the Leger poll released on Thursday, 52% of Canadians said steering away from fossil fuels was a good idea, but 56% felt the government would fail to compensate former fossil-fuel workers, and 60% wouldn’t pay an extra tax dollar to help the plan.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

Rare Red Auroras Explode Over America’s and Europe’s North, And More Are on Their Way

Geomagnetic storms caused by bursts of plasma arriving from the sun have delivered a night of aurora spectacle to skywatchers in Canada, northern U.S. and Europe.

A stream of solar plasma arrived at Earth last night (Feb. 16), supercharging the atmosphere with particles from the solar wind that triggered rare red aurora displays across vast portions of Canada, northern U.S. and Europe. And space weather forecasters promise that more is on its way.

Twitter has been virtually awash over the past days with skywatchers’ images and accounts of spectacular aurora sightings. The latest wave of dancing polar lights has been especially striking, as it arrived in rare shades of red that require higher concentrations of solar wind particles to penetrate deeper into Earth’s atmosphere.

Quebec, Canada-based aurora hunter Mike MacLellan was able to catch some out-of-this-world photographs of the horizon ablaze with bright neon-like green that turns into orange, red and purple higher up in the sky, and shared them with Space.com.

           — Hat tip: McN [Return to headlines]
 

Read the Public Order Emergency Commission Report

The Public Order Emergency Commission (POEC) tabled its report to Parliament on Friday.

True North has uploaded the report in its entirety for you to read here.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

Watch: Joe Rogan Slams Trudeau, CBC for Labeling Freedom Convoyers as ‘Far Right’

Podcaster and comedian Joe Rogan on Wednesday slammed Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the CBC for characterizing freedom activists and truckers as “far right,” calling Canada “f*cking wild” for its mainstream narrative surrounding liberty movements.

In his recent episode of the Joe Rogan Experience podcast, the host condemned a recent CBC article on Freedom Convoy truckers and other anti-lockdown protestors entitled “Why the word ‘freedom’ is such a useful rallying cry for protesters,” which argued that the term “has become common among far-right groups.”

Rogan responded on his show with guest Bridget Phetasy, saying “There’s no indication whatsoever that those truckers in Canada were far right. A lot of those are working-class people that just did not like the idea that they were being forced to do this medical procedure in order to keep their job, and so they label them as far right.”

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

Woman Removed From Ontario School Board Meeting by Police as Chaos Ensues Over Giant Prosthetic Breasted Shop Teacher, Bomb Threat

Wednesday was an eventful day for those who have children enrolled at Oakville Trafalgar High School in Ontario. The day began with yet another bomb threat and ended with chaotic scenes at a school board meeting where the issue of a teacher wearing enormous fetish breasts to class was once again on the agenda.

Curtis Ennis, the Halton District School Board’s director of education, was set to provide an interim report on the board’s new dress code policy for teachers and staff, and a large crowd of local residents were present for the event. As the meeting progressed, tensions rose, and one woman was removed from the gallery by police, reports the National Post.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

Andy NGO Reports: Hungarian Police Speak With TPM About Suspected Antifa Attacks in Budapest

Hungarian Police have given The Post Millennial an exclusive interview in English revealing additional details about the slate of violent attacks on the public in Budapest earlier this month by suspects believed to be “motivated by Antifa ideology.”

Eight men and women in the Hungarian capital were beaten by groups of masked militants in four separate attacks starting on Feb. 9. CCTV footage of one of the attacks showed a man who was walking to work at Gazdagréti Square suddenly being hit on the head from behind by a group of seven using baton-like weapons. The man, who identified himself to local media as Zoltan T., was subject to repeated blows from the group while on the ground and was left drenched in blood before they covered him in pepper spray. Police have stated the majority of the other attacks unfolded similarly.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

French Former Spy Chief: ‘All Our Investments in Ukraine Have Been Lost’

Alain Juillet is a former French senior civil servant. He was director of intelligence within the General Directorate of External Security (DGSE), and the senior official in charge of economic intelligence for three prime ministers (Jean-Pierre Raffarin, Dominique de Villepin and François Fillon).

Juillet also served for five years as an officer in the parachute commandos in the Action Department of the Service de documentation extérieure et de contre-espionnage (SDECE), the former name of the DGSE.

In an interview, he discussed the war in Ukraine, the role of France but also the reconstruction which, according to him, will not benefit France, but the Americans and especially the world’s largest asset manager, BlackRock. The decision was taken by President Zelensky despite the fact that France had been the third largest contributor to Ukraine’s efforts.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

George Soros Calls for Weather Control to Stop Global Warming, ICE Sheet Melting

Left-wing megadonor and billionaire George Soros argued in favor using an experimental weather control technology to mitigate global warming, during a speech in Germany on Thursday.

Soros — who has directed millions of dollars to climate groups through his nonprofit Open Society Foundations — said he discovered a process of creating white clouds to reflect sunlight away from warming areas in his quest to discover whether humans could prevent ice sheets from melting. Ice sheets melting in Greenland in particular, he explained, could doom human civilization.

“Our civilization is in danger of collapsing because of the inexorable advance of climate change,” Soros said during the speech at the Munich Security Conference.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

After Biden Sent $1B to PLO, Israeli Deaths Rose 900%

by Daniel Greenfield

When Secretary of State Blinken met with PLO leader Mahmoud Abbas, he boasted of the over billion dollars in aid that the Biden administration had programmed for the terrorist territories.

That aid has come with a very heavy price.

In Feb 2019, President Trump’s total cutoff of aid became official. That year, 10 Israelis or people in Israeli controlled areas were killed in stabbings, shootings, rocket and other attacks, down from 12 the previous year, and 15 in 2017, and 16 in 2016.

In 2020 however only three Israelis were killed.

These numbers reflected the diminished capacity of the Islamic terrorists. The reduction in numbers was not due to the pandemic. 2020 still saw attacks, including firebombings, rocket launches and stabbings, but the success and lethality rates for these attacks were lower.

The numbers turned around dramatically once again in 2021.

In April 2021, the Biden administration restored aid to the PLO. Terror incidents, reflecting attack attempts, shot up sharply from 91 in February and 89 in March to 130 in April…

           — Hat tip: Daniel Greenfield [Return to headlines]
 

EU Bans the Export of Toilets to Russia — Where One in Five Households Have No Indoor Plumbing — in a Bid to Punish Putin for Ukraine Invasion

The banned sale of lavatories was brought in in July 2022, but is only just being reported. It could have a considerable effect on Russian citizens given that one in five do not have indoor plumbing.

           — Hat tip: SS [Return to headlines]
 

‘London Will be Turned to Dust’: Putin’s Top TV Propagandist Shrieks ‘Burn in Hell’ At the Camera While Ranting About Ukraine Using British Missiles

The latest verbal tirade against the United Kingdom was featured on a nightly show on channel Russia 1, hosted by chief propagandist Vladimir Solovyov.

           — Hat tip: SS [Return to headlines]
 

NATO Chief Admits: “War Didn’t Start in February Last Year, The War Started in 2014”

With the one-year anniversary of Russia’s Feb.24, 2022 invasion of Ukraine just around the corner, NATO secretary general Jens Stoltenberg this week issued some surprising words regarding the history and origin of the conflict. In essence he finally admitted an important truth, which is of course extremely rare among top Western officials these days.

Whereas prior to these fresh remarks by Stoltenberg, US and NATO officials including major media, have framed the invasion exclusively as merely one man’s (Putin) ‘unprovoked’ naked aggression bent on enlarging an ‘expansionist Russia’, Stoltenberg now much belatedly admits “the war didn’t start in February last year. The war started in 2014.”

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

Ukraine War: Zelensky Rules Out Territory Deal With Putin in BBC Interview

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has ruled out giving up any of his country’s territory in a potential peace deal with Russia.

In a BBC interview to mark a year since Russia’s full-scale invasion, he warned conceding land would mean Russia could “keep coming back”, while Western weapons would bring peace closer.

Mr Zelensky also said a predicted spring offensive had already begun.

“Russian attacks are already happening from several directions,” he said.

He does, however, believe Ukraine’s forces can keep resisting Russia’s advance until they are able to launch a counter-offensive — although he repeated his calls for more military aid from the West.

“Of course, modern weapons speed up peace. Weapons are the only language Russia understands,” Mr Zelensky told the BBC.

           — Hat tip: Dean [Return to headlines]
 

Australia’s Drug Regulator Covered Up Child Vaccine Deaths to ‘Maintain Public Confidence’

Australia’s drug regulator has been caught covering up the number of children who died after receiving Covid vaccines, according to reports.

The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA), Australia’s equivalent to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), kept the deaths hidden to “maintain public confidence” in the vaccines, it has been revealed.

The hidden deaths include two children, seven and nine years old, who both suffered fatal cardiac arrests.

The TGA assessed that those child deaths were causally linked to Covid vaccination.

The revelations come in documents obtained under a Freedom of Information (FOI) request by Dr. Melissa McCann.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

After New York Times Column Defends JK Rowling, Angry Liberals Denounce ‘Monster, ‘ Insist ‘People Are Dying’

The New York Times trended on Twitter, Thursday, after one columnist defended author and feminist J.K. Rowling.

The op-ed, by Times columnist Pamela Paul, headlined “In Defense of J.K. Rowling,” sparked outrage from a number of liberal commentators and trans activists.

Rowling became a prime target for activists after she argued that sexual differences are an unavoidable reality and that words like “woman” should not be replaced by newer terms like “people who menstruate.”

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

Georgia Law Would Allow School Librarians to Face Prosecution for Distributing Obscene Material

A new bill in the Georgia legislature would, if passed, make school librarians liable for distribution of obscene materials to students, the latest shot in the ongoing culture wars over controversial materials in schools.

The bill, SB 154, would mandate that the “sale or distribution of harmful materials to minors” would be “applicable to libraries operated by schools.”

The state code directs that the distribution of such material constitutes “a misdemeanor of a high and aggravated nature.” The legislation was put forth by State Sen. Greg Dolezal.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

Greta Thunberg Tells ‘View’ Hosts That Climate Activists Must Now Go Beyond ‘Legal Methods’

During ABC’s “The View,” Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg urged her fellow climate change activists to step outside of “legal methods” to achieve their climate goals.

While appearing as a guest during the show’s Friday episode, Thunberg argued that if the people of who made great strides in social justice and civil rights throughout history only stuck to using the legal channels they were offered, “we wouldn’t be where we are today.”

The activist advocated that real climate change action can only come from such radical action.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

The Sudden Global Push for Age Verification to End Online Anonymity and Drive Digital ID Uptake

Anonymity online, long considered by civil rights groups as a fundamental feature of the internet, is coming under fire from different directions, and through a range of methods: from criticism by political elites, to actual legislation.

One kind of new law that can undermine or do away with online anonymity are those mandating age verification before users are allowed on a website. Another effect these rules have is increasing the uptake of digital IDs.

Earlier this week, Senator Josh Hawley introduced the Making Age-Verification Technology Uniform, Robust, and Effective (MATURE) Act, whose goal is to prevent minors under 16 from accessing social media.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

13 thoughts on “Gates of Vienna News Feed 2/17/2023

  1. How about extra-legal methods to force the removal of Greta Thunberg as an advocate for climate change tyranny or any other varieties of tyranny?

    I imagine there’s a massive unsatisfied market for Greta Thunberg urinal targets, suggestive bumper stickers, and lewd graffiti on Priuses and solar powered sailboats.

    • How dare you!

      Just a suggestion for an audible response from the urinal target. It possibly could even be charged by a micro generator powered by the falling water from the flush. That’s green.

  2. Zelensky doesn’t need to cede any territory. He already lost it. The breakaway started when Ukraine began disenfranchising and even murdering the Russian part of its population it was entrusted with after the end of the Soviet Union. They could have kept their nice big country, most of which was never ever called Ukraine in history before the huge gift of this territory was made to the Ukrainian ASSR in 1954. But they abused it and this is the result. That the West refuses to tell the truth about it, is another dimension of the story. If they want to reverse what happened during the last year, they need to unleash another 1939, this time on Russia. One gets the impression more and more that this might even be in the wet dreams of some figures. The scary part is how much this likens the ’39 situation, which also started with a “limited campaign” to stop the mass-murdering of Germans who had remained in the eastern regions after WWI. The declaration of war came only after that campaign was over.

  3. Champagne corks pop in Washington: Germany delivers tanks almost single-handedly

    More and more European countries that have demanded permission from the German government to re-export Leopard tanks to Ukraine are withdrawing their offers. It is now almost exclusively Germany that is supplying Kiev with heavy battle tanks. In the U.S., a reason to rejoice.

    by Thomas Röper

    After countries like Poland, the U.S., Finland and others built up a lot of pressure in January because they supposedly wanted to deliver a lot of Leopard 2 tanks to Kiev, but needed German permission to re-export them, these countries have now all turned tail.

    Poland suddenly says that it cannot supply Leopard 2 tanks because they are not operational and the necessary spare parts are not produced. Finland suddenly says that it can spare only a few tanks and that only after NATO accession, which nobody knows when it will come. France now says that it needs its Leclerc tanks itself and cannot supply any to Kiev because maintenance would be too costly for Ukraine anyway. And the Americans have quite surprisingly realized that they don’t have any export models of their Abrams tanks in stock at all and won’t be able to deliver them for another year or so. The Netherlands, which leased Leopard 2 tanks from Germany, wanted to buy the tanks from Germany and deliver them to Ukraine. But the “Welt” now reported that the Netherlands has now also changed its mind and does not want to deliver Leopards. Der Spiegel quotes the apparently frustrated German defense minister as follows:

    “It looks “not quite so exhilarating – to put it mildly,” the SPD politician said Tuesday on the sidelines of a meeting of the international contact group for arms deliveries to Ukraine. (…) Asked if he had any sympathy for countries that had first put insane pressure on delivering tanks and were now having delivery problems, Pistorius said, “Since I’m moving in the diplomatic arena here, I would say: not very much.””

    Why the USA is rejoicing right now
    Geostrategists in Washington have been saying it openly for many years: Arguably, the overriding goal of U.S. foreign policy over the last hundred years has been to prevent Germany from merging with Russia. Because, they argue, a merging of German technology and economic power with Russia’s mineral resources and manpower is the only thing that can really threaten worldwide U.S. dominance.

    If you look at the events of the last year from this point of view, many things become more understandable. Even though it didn’t take much pressure to finally put Germany in position against Russia a year ago, thanks to the Green Party’s participation in the government, the U.S. did put pressure on it. The latest example is the tank deliveries that the German government agreed to, not least because of immense pressure from Washington.

    The experts in the U.S. know exactly how this will be received in Russia. Germany supplying tanks to Kiev so that German tanks can once again fire on Russian soldiers in the Ukrainian steppes 80 years after the war goes down about as well in Russia as it would go down well in Israel if Germany supplied Cyclone-B to the Palestinians. The result is that the wedge is just being driven a whole lot deeper between Germany and Russia than it already was.

    Germany going it alone against Russia
    Militarily, the delivery of the Leopard tanks – especially the Leopard-1 museum pieces – is quite insignificant. Sure, they will cause some problems for the Russian army, but they are unlikely to seriously affect the course of the fighting. The Russians are good at destroying tanks, as almost all the tanks of Eastern Europe that were still of Soviet production have already been delivered to Ukraine. We are talking about well over a thousand tanks that the Russians have taken out, so a few Leopards don’t make much difference.

    Politically, on the other hand, it was important – because of the effect in Russia – that Germany, of all countries, stands exposed on its own on the issue of tank deliveries. This further deepens the rift between Germany and Russia, so it is exactly what the U.S. wants. And it has come to be exactly that: Almost no other country is supplying Ukraine with Leopard tanks, and Germany is standing alone in the open.

    Whether Chancellor Scholz lied to the Germans when he paraded through the media for a year with the mantra “No German go-it-alone!” or whether the U.S. showed him up like a schoolboy is irrelevant. What counts is the result – and the result is that Germany almost single-handedly (which Scholz supposedly never wanted) supplies modern battle tanks against Russia.

    The fact that Germany stands alone on the issue of tank deliveries is not Russian propaganda. Even EU chief diplomat Borrell understood this and stated:

    “Countries should deliver as many tanks as possible and as quickly as possible. It would be a great pity if these countries, after accusing Germany of doing nothing for so long, would not follow Germany now”

    The champagne corks should be popping in Washington.

    Nord Stream as a bonus
    Added to this is the German government’s apparent non-reaction to the U.S.’s act of war against Russia and Germany, which the blowing up of the Nord Streams represents under international law. It is difficult to assess what is causing more anger in political Moscow: the delivery of the tanks, which is quite unimportant in military terms but very important in symbolic terms, or German passivity after the destruction of the joint pipelines in the Baltic Sea.

    After all, Nord Stream was by no means a Russian pipeline; it was a joint project of German and Russian companies. So blowing up the pipelines was not only an act of war against Russia, but even more so against Germany, if you take into account the consequential damage to the German economy, which loses its competitiveness without cheap Russian gas.

    The German government is currently doing everything it can to deepen the rift between Russia and Germany to such an extent that it will be difficult to bridge it in the medium term even if, by some miracle, a government comes to power in Germany for which German interests are more important than American ones.

    https://www.anonymousnews.org/deutschland/ukraine-deutschland-liefert-panzer-fast-im-alleingang/
    Translation: https://www.deepl.com/

    • TOILETS. This is garbage propaganda from the UK. They are really scraping the bottom of the bowl on this one. Australia gets most of its bathroom fittings from China, very little made here now. China makes 100’s of millions of toilets etc every year so Russia can just have them sent over their border with China on a truck. Who believes this garbage?

      The biggest issue in large countries like Russia, Australia etc is lack of pipes and sewerage treatment plants so septic tanks are very common. Regional areas in many countries use septic tanks. We still have septic tanks in the outer suburbs of our major cities.

    • I think Russia knows how Germany is being played as a puppet. I think they would hate the government but not the people.

      • Yes. Russians and all other folks I met (been around a bit in Asia) know better than to judge a people by its government. The part they don’t understand is, how come that in a democracy where all the good people are allowed to choose their leadership, they end up with such a negative selection. I never had a good answer to that except returning the question, if they thought their method gives them a better result. Then to avoid unbearable awkwardness, you usually change the subject and talk about food or something. I find at the end we’re all in the same boat, adrift and with no solution.

        • I think a lot of why democracies tend to produce leaders (if one can call them that) of poorer qualities over time is due to several factors.

          When people are free to choose their own leaders then over time political contests will devolve into who is best skilled at winning elections, or best skilled at denigrating one’s opponents. In order to be considered a candidate one has to first win the party nomination process, where party bosses and other insiders have a huge amount of sway over who or what type of individual is allowed to be a candidate. Every so often an individual comes along like Trump who bypasses the usual nomination system due to personal wealth or charisma but upon winning election has little support within the party and many erstwhile party members actively trying to block policy initiatives and remove the usurper from office.

          Democracies where voting is extended to almost everyone whether they have a personal stake in the outcome or not also tend to produce terrible leaders over time since the way to get elected is to turn elections into popularity contests. Politicians can promise whatever they want in order to pander to voters since they will be out of office long before the consequences are felt by those who voted them into office. And an actual decline in the quality of the electorate from dumbed down schools and low-information voting based upon emotional appeals and pandering leads over time to an education system and information system that become worse as competent teachers and journalists become fewer and themselves less skilled.

          Autocratic governments on the other hand do not have to worry about winning elections, but they do have to worry about the populations they rule becoming discontented. Most people truly only care about the availability of work, stable prices for food and energy, and a society that is stable and not in turmoil. If an autocratic government can provide those things then there is little it has to fear about being removed from power. This creates a different set of incentives and competencies for the leadership of such countries since they do have to have competency at keeping things stable, or if they lack that, competency at controlling the military and suppression of dissent to try and keep from being removed in a palace coup.

          Autocratic governments such as Russia, China, Iran, Singapore, etc can focus on projects and initiatives that have much longer time horizons for completion than would be normal in western democracies. Without the political imperative to win elections and pander to a constituency, generational and multi generational projects become possible. And things that are disruptive within society can be stamped out easily, which is why the alphabet pervert lobby doesn’t exist in any of those countries, NGOs are banned or heavily curtailed, schools actually teach, and financialization and rentierism is heavily controlled or banned as infringing on the prerogatives of the state.

          • I also think it’s a matter of what I would call gravitas, or depth.

            When I was younger, many of the political leaders here in the UK, irrespective of political orientation, had served in WW2; I suspect this baptism of fire (literally in some cases) gave them an insight into the issues that mattered most.

            I hesitate to make the same comparison with US politics, of which I know less, but perhaps this also applied to JFK and Bush Sr.

          • Yes, all of this is true and in the case of Singapore, of which I have had the luck to gain sufficiently intimate knowledge, I could see for myself how well it works.

            About our own quagmire I have one additional theory: Stupid people don’t vote for someone more intelligent than themselves, unless that someone is a smart demagogue who knows to speak their limited language so they won’t detect the difference. Hence you end up with a leadership that’s either genuinely stupid or genuinely evil. I don’t know if this thought withstands proper examination but the idea is growing on me for a while already.

          • Mark H,

            Gravitas is certainly a part but I think generational dynamics or theory (aka Fourth Turning) play an even bigger role.

            I hear this often expressed in the phrase

            “Hard times create strong men, strong men create good times, good times create weak men, weak men create hard times”.

            Many if not most who utter it don’t understand the generational dynamics underlying the “why” this happens. Different constellations of generations and how their actions while holding the reins of power impact the formative and coming-of-age years of new generations, which will in turn impact how they act once they too have their turn at power.

            Right now, the world we live in is dominated by Boomer elders who true to stereotype selfishly cling onto the reins of power across the West. Their own children (Gen-X) are for the most part too few in numbers to have much of an effect politically but the generation they’re raising (Gen-Z) most certainly will. Boomers, never having faced an existential crisis or war where their own hides were on the line (Vietnam doesn’t count since those with influential parents were able to avoid the draft and now are running the show) have no idea what war really is or how serious the consequences can be for treating everything like a game or something to be cheated at or pretended away. And selfishly, they didn’t put much effort into training their replacements out of selfishness or a desire to keep out rivals, which is why the younger politicians are such piss-poor facsimiles of leaders and no one of substance is waiting in the wings to take power when the Boomers finally shuffle off the scene to finish spending what remains of their children’s inheritance.

            And before any Boomers get sore anuses over being characterized as selfish and spoiled, relax. It’s a stereotype and of course not all Boomers are like that. But more of them are than aren’t, which is why it’s a stereotype and why its a label that painfully sticks.

          • Moon, which is why when the shtf, you will see military coups around the western world, especially Canada, which is ripe for a take over because of Castro’s Bastard Trudope’s policy’s and the commiecrat policies of flooding our western countries with the dregs and parasites of the 3rd world which has Balkanized to the point of no return and no voting our way out of this mess. The utterly ruthless strongmen who take over won’t be in the mood to listen to the caterwauling of the feminaxi’s or demands from the alphabet people for more extra special rights or the weak baying of our youth whose x-box got shut down, or the billionaire class who demands special consideration, Fun, very interesting times ahead. We are way overdue for a civilizational correction.

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