Gates of Vienna News Feed 3/29/2023

More than 60% of transgenders in Scottish prisons reportedly transitioned after being incarcerated. Meanwhile, the National Hockey League is considering abandoning “Pride” nights after numerous players refused to wear the rainbow paraphernalia.

In other news, Russian hackers are reportedly preparing for a new cyber-offensive in Ukraine.

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

Thanks to Daniel Greenfield, Dean, DV, László, LP, McN, Reader from Chicago, Roger, SS, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.

Notice to tipsters: Please don’t submit extensive excerpts from articles that have been posted behind a subscription firewall, or are otherwise under copyright protection.

Caveat: Articles in the news feed are posted “as is”. Gates of Vienna cannot vouch for the authenticity or accuracy of the contents of any individual item posted here. I check each entry to make sure it is relatively interesting, not patently offensive, and at least superficially plausible. The link to the original is included with each item’s title. Further research and verification are left to the reader.

Financial Crisis
» Derek Kreifels: SVB’s Collapse is the Canary in the ESG Coal Mine
» Ghana Surprises Analysts by Raising Lending Rate to 29.5% Despite Slowing Inflation
» ‘Patriot Act on Steroids’: Conservatives Slam RESTRICT Act on Social Media
» Report: 44% of Americans Work a Second Job, 13% Increase Under Biden
 
USA
» “Something Very Dramatic Has Changed”: Matt Taibbi Says Democrats Ditched Free Speech
» Alvin Bragg Blinks: Manhattan Trump Grand Jury Set to Break for a Month
» Anthony Fauci Reportedly Sells Memoir to Penguin Random House for Just Under $5 Million
» Berkeley School District Pushes for Reparations for Black Students, Creates Task Force
» Bombshell Vax Analysis Finds $147 Billion in Economic Damage, Tens of Millions Injured or Disabled
» ‘Defund’ Movement Ravages Austin Police Force: ‘We Can’t Sustain This’
» Fox News Poll: Trump’s Lead Grows in GOP Primary Race, Now Over 50% Support
» ‘Killercop’ Twitter Account Suspended After Los Angeles Police Union Sues Owner
» Maine Teenager to Plead Guilty in ISIS-Inspired Terror Plot to Attack Chicago Mosques
» More Than Two Dozen Democrats Join GOP in Opposing Biden Gas Stove Ban
» Oregon Man Charged After ‘Chasing Pedestrians’ With Stolen Forklift, Police Say
» PBS Reporter Jane Ferguson ‘Violently Assaulted’ on New York City Subway: ‘Ear Ringing and Face on Fire’
» Police: Hoax Targets Several Utah Schools With Fake Shooting Threats
» Recent Cases of Voter Fraud Prove Importance of Election Integrity
» Report: Disney Secretly Conducted a Legal Maneuver to Undermine Desantis’ Legislation, Protect Special Benefits
» Senate Votes to Overturn Expansive Biden Water Regulation
» Senate Votes to Overturn Presidential War Authorizations Against Iraq
» Senate Votes to End COVID-19 Emergency
» Tech Leaders and Researchers Call for ‘Pause’ in AI Race
» This Explosion in Space is the Brightest Since the Start of Humanity
» Trump Says He Has a Plan to ‘Solve’ Ukraine War in 24 Hours if Reelected
» US Marshals Were Told Not to Arrest Protesters at Supreme Court Justices’ Homes ‘Unless Absolutely Necessary’
» Videos: Biden Makes Joke When Asked About School Shooting
» Watch: Rand Paul Claims Fauci is Not Really Retired
» WI Supreme Court Candidate Jailed Man 2 Years for Raping Veteran, Said ‘Part of Me’ Wanted to Give Probation
» Woke BLM-Supporting Portland Pizza Chain Closes Most Locations Amid Soaring Crime
 
Canada
» Canada’s Conservative Leader Promises to Repeal Censorship Bill if Elected
» Conservatives Slam Trudeau’s Bail Reforms, Introduce New Bill to Reform Criminal Code
» Independence Party Turfs Leader Artur Pawlowski
» NDP Says Smith Unfit to Lead After Call Leaked Between Smith and Charged Pastor
 
Europe and the EU
» Climate What? EU Presidents Used Private Jet to Get to U.N. Green Great Reset Summit — Report
» Czechs Go on a Shopping Spree in Poland
» EU Ban on Internal Combustion Engine Reveals Absurdity of Decision-Making in Brussels, Says Polish Climate Minister
» France: Le Pen’s Opposition to Pension Reform, Focus on Public Order ‘Pays Off’ in Polls
» France: Teen Girls Brutally Beaten by Mob of ‘Minors’ at Ice Rink
» French Woman Faces Trial, €12,000 Fine for ‘Insulting’ Macron on Facebook
» Germany Uses AI to Target Online Content for Removal, Send Data to Police
» Germany: Berlin Court Rules Anti-White Critical Race Theory Can be Taught in Schools
» Hungary: Scandal in the Army: After a Year’s Unpaid Leave, Soldiers Who Didn’t Take the COVID Vaccine Have Been Sacked
» Hungary: Péter Szijjártó: The IFRC and WHO Headquarters in Budapest Will be Expanded
» Hungary, Poland Reject ‘Extremely Dangerous’ EU Natural Gas Cutback Extension
» Is Insufficient Action on Climate Change a Violation of Human Rights? Europe’s Top Human Rights Court to Consider Landmark Cases
» Italy to Ban Lab-Grown Food to Protect Cultural Heritage and Tradition
» Pope Francis Cancels Audiences, Taken to Hospital by Ambulance Over ‘Respiratory Issues’
» Sanitation Workers in France Set to Return to Work, Number of Pension Protestors Shrinks
» Scotland: Edinburgh Tyre Extinguishers Hit ‘Wealthy’ New Town Area and Deflate Tyres of 40 SUVs Overnight in the City
» Spanish Company Provided CIA With Information Leading to Julian Assange’s Arrest
» Sweden’s Path Into NATO — What Has Happened
» UK: Guardian Newspaper Apologizes for Historic Slavery Links After Report Shows 9 of Its 11 Largest Financial Backers Profited From the Slave Trade
» UK: Julian Assange Supporters Gather in London for Exhibition of Largest Physical Showing of Classified Docs
» UK: Londoners Push Back Against Invasive Traffic CCTV Designed to Enforce “Low Emission Zones”
» UK: Petition Against Use of Famous Dambusters Air Base as Migrant Camp Reaches 50,000 Signatures
» UK: The Motorist Uprising
» YouTube Censorship Slams Hungary, Deletes Popular Television Station’s Channel Despite Protests From Country’s Journalists
 
Israel and the Palestinians
» A Tale of Two Settlements
» Left-Wing Climate Activists Targeted in Massive Email Hacking Campaign: Report
 
Middle East
» Turkey: Missing Children From Earthquakes Risk Human Trafficking, Organ Harvesting, Sexual Abuse
 
Russia
» ‘Marvellous’: Western Tanks Roll Into Ukraine
» President Zelensky Admits He Will be Under Pressure to ‘Compromise’ With Putin if Russian Forces Take the City of Bakhmut, As Ukrainians Start to ‘Feel Tired’ After a Year of War
» Russia’s Diesel Exports Heading for Record Despite EU Sanctions
» Russian Hackers Are Preparing for a New Campaign in Ukraine
» UK Claims Some 220,000 Russian Casualties in War as Ukraine Prepares Counteroffensive
» Zelensky Admits Fear of Waning Support in US: “If They Stop Helping Us, We Will Not Win”
 
Australia — Pacific
» Australian Senators Refuse to Investigate the WHO Pandemic Treaty
» Dan Andrews is Blasted by One of Australia’s Top Doctors Over a Major Double Standard as the Premier Jets Off on a Secretive Seventh Trip to China
» Exclusive: Barack and Michelle Obama Are Given Permission to Break an Important Rule as They Climb the Sydney Harbour Bridge — as the Ex-President Shares a Moment With Tradies and Takes a Swipe at Rupert Murdoch
» Why Australia’s Property Crisis is About to Get Even Worse — as Report Finds How Far Sales of Dwellings Have Fallen
 
Sub-Saharan Africa
» “Global Permission Slip for Every Neocon Fantasy”: Gaetz Intros Bill to Withdraw From Somalia
 
Latin America
» El Salvador’s Gang Crackdown Stretches to One-Year Mark With No Sign of Slowing
 
Immigration
» Germany: AfD Party Launches New Map Tracking Migrant Crime Across the Country
» NGOs Are Only Part of Italy’s Problem With Illegal Immigration
» Polish Border Guard Detains Georgian National Suspected of Smuggling People From Belarus
» Switzerland Finds Just One Asylum Centre Pushing Up Local Crime Statistics
» Video: Ted Cruz Eviscerates DHS Secretary for STILL Refusing to Admit There is Border Crisis
 
Culture Wars
» Burrito Leads to Arrest in Firebombing of Anti-Abortion Group
» Canada: Gender Self-ID for Children as Young as 12 Passed Into Law by British Columbia
» Christian Schools Are Booming While Students Flee Public Universities
» Dem Governor’s Spokesperson Resigns After Appearing to Post Threat Against ‘Transphobes’ Hours After Nashville Shooting
» Kentucky Legislature Overrides Democrat Governor’s Veto on Bill Banning Sex Changes for Minors
» Media Settles on “No Known Motive” Narrative Behind Transgender School Shooting
» NHL May Cancel LGBT ‘Pride’ Nights as Growing Number of Players Refuse to Wear Rainbow Gear
» Rep. Matt Gaetz Tears Into Defense SEC Lloyd Austin on Funding Drag Queen Story Hour on Military Bases
» Revealed: Gun-Toting Transgender Woman Who Has Become the Face of the ‘Day of Vengeance’ Organized by Trans Activists After Nashville Massacre is ‘Former Soldier Who’s Also an Antifa Member’
» Scotland: Over Six in Ten Transgender Prisoners ‘Transitioned’ After Being Jailed
» Tampa School Board Bans ‘This Book is Gay’ From Middle School Libraries: Book Detailed Sex Apps, Hookups
» Trans Activists Criticize Right-Wingers, Christians in Aftermath of Nashville School Shooting
» Washington Post Mocks Parents Requesting Transparency on Gender Identity Curriculum: ‘I Want to Vomit’
» WHO Says Children, Teens Are ‘Low Priority’ For COVID Vaccines
» Wisconsin Biophysics Researcher Arrested Over Jane’s Revenge Firebombing Attack
 

Derek Kreifels: SVB’s Collapse is the Canary in the ESG Coal Mine

Silicon Valley Bank should have concentrated on safeguarding their depositors’ money and making sound investments, but failed bank was too narrowly focused on pushing a progressive agenda.

           — Hat tip: SS [Return to headlines]
 

Ghana Surprises Analysts by Raising Lending Rate to 29.5% Despite Slowing Inflation

ACCRA, March 27 (Reuters) — Ghana’s central bank on Monday surprised analysts by raising its main interest rate to 29.5%, a sign the monetary committee does not yet see the country’s economic situation stabilising despite two consecutive months of slowing inflation.

The cocoa, gold and oil-producing nation, one of West Africa’s largest economies, is facing its worst economic crisis in a generation and is in the process of restructuring its debt in order to secure a $3 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund.

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

‘Patriot Act on Steroids’: Conservatives Slam RESTRICT Act on Social Media

The outrage over the draconian RESTRICT Act, marketed to the public as a “TikTok ban,” is rapidly rising.

The bill has been revealed as something far more expansive that a mere TikTok ban. It grants sweeping powers to the federal government to restrict the online activities of Americans, imposing heavy penalties on any citizen who circumvents it, including criminal fines of up to $1 million, jail sentences of up to 20 years, and the seizure and search of hardware and online accounts, including cryptocurrency accounts.

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

Report: 44% of Americans Work a Second Job, 13% Increase Under Biden

Forty-four percent of Americans work a second job, a 13 percent increase relative to the Trump administration, a LendingClub report revealed Tuesday.

The recent increase under President Joe Biden is highlighted by a survey from FlexJobs, which found 69 percent of employed professionals either have a side job or want one.

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

“Something Very Dramatic Has Changed”: Matt Taibbi Says Democrats Ditched Free Speech

Independent journalist Matt Taibbi — of recent “Twitter Files” fame — has exposed the fact that civil liberties are no longer popular among Democrats. Taibbi appeared on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo” to reiterate his perspective that the modern Democratic Party no longer represents the values of the everyday American.

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

Alvin Bragg Blinks: Manhattan Trump Grand Jury Set to Break for a Month

Former President Donald Trump got another big break and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg got some bad news regarding the Manhattan grand jury that will vote on Trump’s indictment.

After facing massive backlash from even allies on the left, Bragg seems to have gotten cold feet with his impending indictment. At one point barricades were set up in New York in anticipation of a Trump arrest but then nothing.

Even CNN questioned Bragg’s antics with Van Jones telling him he was making a mistake. And now Bragg will have to wait at least another month before making his move because the grand jury is set to take a long break.

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

Anthony Fauci Reportedly Sells Memoir to Penguin Random House for Just Under $5 Million

Dr. Anthony Fauci is reportedly cashing in for big bugs and has sold a memoir for a stunning figure after a two week auction. Fauci’s long and controversial career as a federal bureaucrat spanned multiple presidential administrations.

Fauci always seemed to survive no matter what controversy he was caught up in, from Reagan and AIDS to his behavior during COVID. The book publisher may want their money back if the GOP nails Fauci on gain-of-function research and what in the hell went on at the Wuhan lab because he will go from hero to goat in record time.

True, the mainstream media has largely ignored the NIH funding scandal that happened after Fauci and anyone in the government was prohibited (by Obama) from doing gain-of-function research.

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

Berkeley School District Pushes for Reparations for Black Students, Creates Task Force

Berkeley Unified School District (BUSD) is aiming to become the first school district in the U.S. to offer reparations to Black students following a task force meeting.

The Berkeley community is intending to create a task force to study paying reparations to African-American students who were the descendants of slaves, according to the California school district’s website.

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

Bombshell Vax Analysis Finds $147 Billion in Economic Damage, Tens of Millions Injured or Disabled

A new report estimates that 26.6 million people were injured, 1.36 million disabled, and 300,000 excess deaths can be attributed to COVID-19 vaccine damages in 2022 alone, which cost the economy nearly $150 billion.

Research firm Phinance Technologies, founded and operated by former Blackrock portfolio manager Ed Dowd, Yuri Nunes (PhD Physics, MSc Mathematics) and Carlos Alegria (PhD Physics, Finance), split the impact of the vaccines into four broad categories to estimate the human costs associated with the Covid-19 vaccine; no effect or asymptomatic, those who sustained injuries (mild-to-moderate outcome), those who became disabled (severe outcome), and death (extreme outcome). Data on vaccine disabilities and injuries comes directly from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), while the excess death figures are derived from official figures on deaths in the US via two different methods (methodology here).

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

‘Defund’ Movement Ravages Austin Police Force: ‘We Can’t Sustain This’

Texas state troopers are being forced to step in and help Austin, as the liberal-run capital city is struggling to keep enough police officers on the streets.

The president of the Austin Retired Officers Association said on “Fox & Friends First” Wednesday that the problems started in 2020 with the “defund” movement, with officer departures and retirements surging in the past three years.

“In 2020, the city council, in its infamous wisdom, decided to defund the Austin Police Department and start attacking the fine women and men of the Austin Police Department by cutting 150 positions and siding with the activists who want to abolish the police department,” said Dennis Farris, who added that the ongoing bashing of cops by the city council is contributing to low morale among officers.

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

Fox News Poll: Trump’s Lead Grows in GOP Primary Race, Now Over 50% Support

Former President Donald Trump has expanded his lead in the Republican primary race, while President Joe Biden continues to face uncertainty among Democratic primary voters, according to the latest Fox News national survey.

Republican primary voters were read a list of 15 announced and potential candidates for the 2024 nomination. The survey, released Wednesday, finds Trump has doubled his lead since February and is up by 30 points over Ron DeSantis (54%-24%). Last month, he was up by 15 (43%-28%).

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

‘Killercop’ Twitter Account Suspended After Los Angeles Police Union Sues Owner

Twitter suspended the account of anti-police website killercop.com for violating the social media platform’s rules against inciting violence after a Los Angeles police union sued the website’s owner for allegedly offering a “bounty” for slaying police officers.

Twitter suspended the @killercop1984 account following the lawsuit filed last week by Los Angeles Police Protective League, the Los Angeles Times reported Tuesday.

The union said the account’s owner, Steven Sutcliffe, wrote, “Remember, #Rewards are double all year for #detectives and #female cops,” and included an image of a bounty for murdering an LAPD officer, according to the lawsuit.

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

Maine Teenager to Plead Guilty in ISIS-Inspired Terror Plot to Attack Chicago Mosques

CHICAGO (WLS) — A Maine teenager has signed a plea agreement admitting he had weapons and Isis inspired plans to attack Chicago area Shia mosques last March.

As part of the plan, 19-year-old Xavier Pelkey would rendezvous with underage accomplices from Chicago and Canada to stage an armed invasion of mosques that would include separating and killing adult men worshipers.

The new guilty plea documents obtained by the I-Team reveal Pelkey had already written a public statement to be released when the Chicago attack began.

Pelkey now admits he had amassed and planned to use homemade explosives. Bombs and ISIS paraphernalia were part of a plot, according to Pelkey, targeting Shia Muslims in Chicago whom he and his unnamed terror accomplices considered non-believers in their more radical Sunni Islam world.

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

More Than Two Dozen Democrats Join GOP in Opposing Biden Gas Stove Ban

The House of Representatives approved an amendment — with help from several Democrats — late Wednesday that would prevent the Department of Energy (DOE) from implementing strict new regulations on gas stoves that most stoves on the market today would not be able to meet.

The House voted 251 to 181 in favor of the amendment from Rep. Gary Palmer, R-Ala., to a larger energy policy bill, and 29 Democrats voted with the GOP.

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

Oregon Man Charged After ‘Chasing Pedestrians’ With Stolen Forklift, Police Say

PORTLAND, Ore. — A 31-year-old Oregon man has been arrested and charged after authorities said he chased pedestrians in downtown Portland with a stolen forklift.

Investigators said they were called to the area Tuesday.

The man was described as driving “erratically and chasing pedestrians.”

Officers spotted and arrested the driver after he drove the wrong way on SW Harvey Milk/SW 4th Ave.

           — Hat tip: Roger [Return to headlines]
 

PBS Reporter Jane Ferguson ‘Violently Assaulted’ on New York City Subway: ‘Ear Ringing and Face on Fire’

Award-winning PBS News reporter Jane Ferguson said she was “violently assaulted” by a man on the New York City subway this week, leaving her “ear ringing and face on fire” with a good Samaritan helping get her to safety.

“At 6.30pm today I was violently assaulted on the NYC subway. A man walked up to me in a busy rush-hour car and punched me, hard, on the side of the face. I kneeled down on the floor in shock, and steadied myself, unsure what had just happened, my ear ringing and face on fire,” Ferguson tweeted Monday night.

“The reason I’m tweeting this is, as I knelt on the floor, I felt an arm around my shoulder and a woman pulled me away. The young woman took me off the car at the next stop and to the police there at grand central station before giving me a hug and making sure I got home OK,” she continued before explaining she doesn’t know the person who came to her aid.

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

Police: Hoax Targets Several Utah Schools With Fake Shooting Threats

SALT LAKE CITY — First responders were sent to multiple Utah high schools Wednesday due to calls reporting an active shooter, but police have confirmed none of the threats were credible and no students were in danger.

Authorities said they received calls reporting an active shooter at Box Elder, Provo, Ogden, Spanish Fork and West high schools Wednesday morning.

Ogden police responded to the school and cleared it as a precaution. Ogden School District officials said multiple schools were victims of the same hoax on Wednesday.

           — Hat tip: LP [Return to headlines]
 

Recent Cases of Voter Fraud Prove Importance of Election Integrity

As cases of voter fraud continue to emerge, the need for election integrity measures is growing ever greater, especially as the nation prepares for the critical 2024 election.

In the latest update to The Heritage Foundation’s Election Fraud Database, 10 new cases have been added.

These new cases bring the current count to 1,422 proven instances of election fraud.

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

Report: Disney Secretly Conducted a Legal Maneuver to Undermine Desantis’ Legislation, Protect Special Benefits

The Reedy Creek Improvement District, designed to grant Disney self-governing status and special privileges, reportedly signed last-minute agreements with the company before it was abolished by Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.

DeSantis signed legislation on Feb. 27 to replace the Reedy Creek district with the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District Board, which ended Disney’s self-governing status and revoked various regulatory exemptions.

Ahead of the highly anticipated legislation, Disney and the Reedy Creek district reportedly signed agreements on Feb. 8 to give Disney the district’s development rights and privileges, according to local outlet WKMG. The legislation passed Florida’s Republican-controlled House on the day the agreements were signed.

The agreements have a clause deeming them effective until 21 years after the last survivor of the descendants of King Charles III of England passes away, the outlet noted. Members of the Reedy Creek board spent little time discussing the agreement before approving it, the Orlando Sentinel reported.

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

Senate Votes to Overturn Expansive Biden Water Regulation

The Senate voted 53-43 Wednesday to overturn the Biden administration’s “waters of the United States” (WOTUS) rule, which expands what waters are subject to federal regulation under the Clean Water Act.

Earlier this month, the House voted 227-198 to overturn the rule, with nine Democrats joining Republicans. Critics of the Biden administration’s rule say its broad definition of “navigable waters” subjects landowners and farmers to burdensome regulations, expanding federal control over small streams and wetlands.

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

Senate Votes to Overturn Presidential War Authorizations Against Iraq

The Senate voted Wednesday 66-30 to repeal a pair of resolutions allowing the president to conduct military operations against Iraq, marking the first time in half a century Congress has rescinded the president’s war authorizations.

Republican Sen. Todd Young of Indiana and Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia first introduced legislation overturning the Authorizations for Use of Military Force (AUMFs) for the 1991 Gulf War and 2002 Iraq War in 2019. Although no ongoing military campaigns rely on the two authorizations, proponents of the repeal say it serves as a significant step in reasserting Congress’ authority and reining in the president’s war

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

Senate Votes to End COVID-19 Emergency

The United States Senate on Wednesday voted overwhelmingly to end the COVID-19 emergency declaration which has been in place since the start of the pandemic.

The Senate passed the measure in a 68-23 vote, according to The Hill. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer told Senate Democrats ahead of the vote that Biden had indicated he would not veto it should it reach his desk.

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

Tech Leaders and Researchers Call for ‘Pause’ in AI Race

An open letter signed by Twitter CEO Elon Musk, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, and many others, is warning against ‘profound risks to society and humanity’.

Are tech companies moving too fast in rolling out powerful artificial intelligence technology that could one day outsmart humans?

That’s the conclusion of a group of prominent computer scientists and other tech industry notables such as Elon Musk and Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak who are calling for a 6-month pause to consider the risks.

Their petition published Wednesday is a response to San Francisco startup OpenAI’s recent release of GPT-4, a more advanced successor to its widely-used AI chatbot ChatGPT that helped spark a race among tech giants Microsoft and Google to unveil similar applications.

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

This Explosion in Space is the Brightest Since the Start of Humanity

No, it’s not Treasure Planet: the space BOAT (or ‘the brightest of all time’) is the title earned by an interstellar explosion so bright that it blinded the instruments that detected it.

Gamma-ray radiation from the explosion reached Earth telescopes on 9 October 2022, but has been travelling for about 1.9 billion years. Comparing data collected by the US, Russia and China since the explosion, astronomers can now prove that the BOAT was 70 times brighter than any burst previously seen in space.

Gamma-ray bursts are the most powerful types of explosions in the Universe. Analysis by astronomers at Louisiana State University estimates that bursts this bright happen once in every 10,000 years.

In fact, the BOAT was “likely the brightest burst at X-ray and gamma-ray energies to occur since human civilization began” said Eric Burns, assistant professor of physics and astronomy at Louisiana State University, while presenting at the High Energy Astrophysics Division meeting in Hawaii.

The light was likely emitted by a black hole piercing energy through a massive collapsing star. As a star runs out of nuclear fuel, its core collapses under its own weight and forms a black hole.

The black hole drills jets of particles through the star at the speed of light. These jets, which contain high-energy gamma rays and X-rays, surge through space and collide with their surroundings — forming the afterglow detected by Earth’s astronomers. The more head-on an object is to the particle jet, the brighter it appears — and Earth was in the direct firing line of the BOAT.

Astronomers expect a burst this bright to be followed by a supernova, but so far none have been detected. More observations with NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope and the Hubble Space Telescope are planned over the next few months in an attempt to glimpse the supernova — but it is possible that the black hole swallowed the entire star.

           — Hat tip: McN [Return to headlines]
 

Trump Says He Has a Plan to ‘Solve’ Ukraine War in 24 Hours if Reelected

Former President Trump in a new Monday night interview on Fox News declared he would “solve” the Russia-Ukraine war “in 24 hours” if he’s elected president. His words came following his kickoff campaign rally for his 2024 White House bid held in Waco, TX over the weekend.

He told a crowd of many thousands: “I will prevent World War III, which we’re heading into” — and was met with widespread applause. But in his Monday appearance on Sean Hannity’s show, Trump explained: “If it’s not solved, I will have it solved in 24 hours with Zelensky and with Putin.”

Trump continued in the Fox interview, “And there’s a very easy negotiation to take place. But I don’t want to tell you what it is, because then I can’t use that negotiation; it’ll never work.”

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

US Marshals Were Told Not to Arrest Protesters at Supreme Court Justices’ Homes ‘Unless Absolutely Necessary’

The U.S. Marshals Service, which was dispatched to protect the homes of Supreme Court justices last year, was advised to refrain from arresting protesters “unless absolutely necessary,” according to training documents obtained by the office of Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala.

“Avoid, unless absolutely necessary, criminal enforcement action involving the protest or protesters, particularly on public space,” one portion of the training said.

A whistleblower “concerned about the attorney general’s misleading testimony before the Judiciary Committee” provided Britt’s office with the documents, according to a spokesperson who spoke to Politico.

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

Videos: Biden Makes Joke When Asked About School Shooting

Joe Biden responded to reporters Tuesday asking about the horrific Nashville shooting by making a joke about partisan politics.

Biden was asked if he believes Christians were specifically targeted in the shooting at the private Christian school Monday that killed three children and three teachers.

“I have no idea!” Biden responded, prompting the reporter to note that “[Senator] Josh Hawley believes they were. What do you say to that?”

Biden then smiled and said “Well I probably don’t then!” before laughing, quickly seeing that no one else found it funny and stating “I’m just joking.”

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

Watch: Rand Paul Claims Fauci is Not Really Retired

Senator Rand Paul has claimed that Anthony Fauci is still working for the government in order to take advantage of federal legal protection against claims that he engaged in a cover up on the origins of the coronavirus pandemic.

Appearing on Hannity, Paul stated “There is a massive coverup going on and the lead in all of the coverup has been Fauci.”

The Senator continued, “We now have information that he is still working for the government even though he says he is retired.”

“It is my belief that he is worried about being indicted and so he continues to work so he will get legal protection under the federal government,” Paul asserted.

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

WI Supreme Court Candidate Jailed Man 2 Years for Raping Veteran, Said ‘Part of Me’ Wanted to Give Probation

FIRST ON FOX: Janet Protasiewicz, a Wisconsin judge running for a seat on the state’s Supreme Court, has a long history of giving light sentences to sex criminals, including a man she imprisoned for just over two years after brutally raping a military veteran in 2019.

Robert Guzinski, 42, was accused of pushing a military veteran down onto the icy hood of a vehicle and vaginally and anally raping her in a bar alleyway in January 2019. The victim told the court she suffered from physical injuries, nightmares and crippling anxiety from the attack, which resulted in months of therapy and a mental health-related hospitalization.

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

Woke BLM-Supporting Portland Pizza Chain Closes Most Locations Amid Soaring Crime

Woke pizza chain Hotlips is closing three of its five Portland stores. The company claimed the latest closures were also due to the pandemic, as well as “labor and economic stresses.”

The family-owned business established in 1984 announced Monday that it had shuttered its Civic Stadium, Hollywood, and Killingsworth locations. Dozens of workers will be laid off. Crime has been an increasingly difficult factor for Portland businesses to overcome.

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

Canada’s Conservative Leader Promises to Repeal Censorship Bill if Elected

In his speech at the Canada Strong and Free Networking Conference, the leader of the Conservative Party, Pierre Poilievre, criticized censorship and promised to repeal Bill C-11.

Attacking political correctness, Poilievre said: “It’s about large corporations in regulated oligopolies winning political favor, by throwing around politically correct statements and advancing an agenda that makes no sense to anyone but them.

“This woke movement is an attack on the freedom of speech of ordinary people and the common sense of Canadians, and in Pierre Poilievre Canadians will have someone who will stand up against world corporations and for the rights of every single person to express themselves freely in a free country.”

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

Conservatives Slam Trudeau’s Bail Reforms, Introduce New Bill to Reform Criminal Code

Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre held a press conference Wednesday criticizing the Trudeau government’s bail reforms after several recent attacks in Toronto, Calgary and Vancouver.

“The crime wave is the direct result of Justin Trudeau and the NDP allowing repeat violent offenders onto the streets again,” said Poilievre. “They have flooded our streets with repeat, dangerous offenders and drugs and the results are plain to all eyes.”

This comes after several attacks rattling neighbourhoods across the country.

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

Independence Party Turfs Leader Artur Pawlowski

The Independence Party of Alberta has announced it has removed party leader Artur Pawlowski, a street preacher who was arrested and imprisoned during the Covid-19 pandemic for breaching public health restrictions and partaking in the Coutts border blockade.

In a statement on Tuesday, the party said it decided to part ways with Pawlowski after “serious consideration and deliberation among board members.”

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

NDP Says Smith Unfit to Lead After Call Leaked Between Smith and Charged Pastor

The Alberta NDP says Danielle Smith is “unfit” to remain premier after a phone call between her and Artur Pawlowski was released in which she offers to help the controversial street preacher with his criminal charges.

Pawlowski faces mischief for allegedly inciting protestors to continue blocking the international border crossing at Coutts, Alberta in early 2022. He is also charged under the Alberta Critical Infrastructure Defence Act with wilfully damaging or destroying essential infrastructure, and has a lengthy trail of charges stemming from breaching Covid-19 restrictions.

In a press conference on Wednesday morning, NDP Justice Critic Irfan Sabir called for an independent investigation into the premier’s actions just two months ahead of a provincial vote.

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

Climate What? EU Presidents Used Private Jet to Get to U.N. Green Great Reset Summit — Report

The hardcore green agenda-loving leaders of the European Union reportedly travelled to the U.N.’s COP27 climate change summit on a private jet.

Both of the European Union’s two tree-hugging presidents are said to have travelled to the U.N.’s COP27 via a gas-guzzling private jet earlier this year, a freedom of information request by POLITICO is said to have unveiled.

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

Czechs Go on a Shopping Spree in Poland

Czechs have been made aware that Poland has the cheapest prices among neighboring countries due to an article on the Czech online portal Seznam Zpravy. The Czech news website compared prices of basic products in Polish stores bordering Czechia.

Reporters from the portal went to the Polish town of Bogatynia and wrote that “half of the cars parked in front of the supermarket have Czech license plates. The distinguishing feature of Czech shoppers is also a full shopping cart.”

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

EU Ban on Internal Combustion Engine Reveals Absurdity of Decision-Making in Brussels, Says Polish Climate Minister

Polish Climate and Environment Minister Anna Moskwa has slammed the EU decision-making process, which allowed Germany to have the inside track with the European Commission over the ban on internal combustion engines.

Commenting on the decision to ban internal combustion engines from 2035, despite opposition from Poland and Italy, Moskwa said the last few weeks have been “extraordinary.” According to her, “once again we have a situation where Germany at the last minute tries to overturn a prepared document, not because it opposed the 2035 date, but because it wants to protect the e-fuels they are currently developing from being classified in that engine category.”

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

France: Le Pen’s Opposition to Pension Reform, Focus on Public Order ‘Pays Off’ in Polls

Marine Le Pen’s far-right Rassemblement National (National Rally or RN) party hopes to use the national crisis to continue its long ascent in French politics, adopting a balancing act as its strategy. RN opposes President Emmanuel Macron’s pension reforms along with most of the French public, while presenting itself as the party of order by condemning public disorder.

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

France: Teen Girls Brutally Beaten by Mob of ‘Minors’ at Ice Rink

Two teenage girls were hospitalized after they were brutally attacked by half a dozen ‘minors’ at an ice rink in France, according to reports.

The horrifying incident unfolded in the city of Nice in November, but after the investigation was recently upgraded to ‘attempted homicide,’ a slew of arrests were made last week.

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

French Woman Faces Trial, €12,000 Fine for ‘Insulting’ Macron on Facebook

A woman in northern France is to be put on trial on charges of insulting President Emmanuel Macron after describing him as ‘filth’ in a Facebook post, a prosecutor said on Wednesday. The woman risks a fine of 12,000 euros but not prison if convicted at the trial due to be held in June.

She was arrested on Friday and held in custody for questioning after the state’s local administrative office filed a complaint over her Facebook post, the prosecutor in the northern town of Saint Omer, Mehdi Benbouzid, told AFP.

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

Germany Uses AI to Target Online Content for Removal, Send Data to Police

Germany has a “porn police” — regulators, that is, who are using an “AI” tool called KIVI to find adult content across the internet — on sites and apps like Twitter, YouTube, Telegram, and TikTok.

And when they do, those creating and/or posting this content could wind up in prison or pay fines, and they are notified of their transgression by the actual police.

Porn is not KIVI’s only target — the tool also scans for “political extremism, Holocaust denial, and violence.”

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

Germany: Berlin Court Rules Anti-White Critical Race Theory Can be Taught in Schools

After a father filed an emergency appeal against Critical Race Theory (CRT) in his son’s classroom, the Berlin Administrative Court has ruled that the racist theory is permitted in Berlin’s classrooms.

The court argues that children should “basically be expected to be confronted with the views and values of a pluralistic society — despite a possible contradiction to their own convictions.”

Critical Race Theory, first popularized in the United States, comes in various permutations but is overall defined as anti-White hate theory, which posits that White societies are inherently racist and systematically oppress minorities. The theory arises in the U.S. despite programs like affirmative action, trillions funneled into inner cities to improve minority outcomes in education over the last decades, programs from universities and corporations to recruit minorities to the exclusion of Whites through Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) schemes, government discrimination against Whites, and even preference in medical care for minorities over Whites.

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

Hungary: Scandal in the Army: After a Year’s Unpaid Leave, Soldiers Who Didn’t Take the COVID Vaccine Have Been Sacked

[Machine translation]

More than 150 soldiers were discharged from the army in December for failing to take the Covid vaccination, which was mandatory for them. They were sent on one year’s unpaid leave before being discharged, but were not allowed to work elsewhere. The soldiers have appealed to the Strasbourg Court and are being assisted by the Hungarian Helsinki Committee. ATV Híradó reports.

Zoltán Pálóczi, a retired military officer and former captain, told our reporter that he served in Afghanistan and Kosovo for six months. Then he was serving in Iraq when he was brought back because he had not taken the Covid vaccine. In 2021, vaccination was still mandatory for public sector employees. Those who did not take the vaccine were sent on a year’s unpaid leave. If you didn’t get vaccinated during your forced leave, your employment was terminated.

According to the demobilised military officer, this was compounded within the military by not allowing soldiers to have second jobs. He also noted that the situation was chaotic because some soldiers were allowed to take second jobs.

Several soldiers would have decided to take the vaccine later, but first they wanted to know who would take responsibility for any risks.

           — Hat tip: László [Return to headlines]
 

Hungary: Péter Szijjártó: The IFRC and WHO Headquarters in Budapest Will be Expanded

[Machine translation]

The headquarters of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) and the World Health Organization (WHO) will be expanded in Budapest, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, who is in Geneva for talks, announced on his Facebook page on Wednesday.

[…]

The minister also held talks with the WHO Director-General in Switzerland. He wrote that they had already started to cultivate friendship when Tedros Adhanom Gebreyesus was still Ethiopia’s foreign minister. The World Health Organisation and its Director-General have had a huge task in the fight against the pandemic over the past three years, he said, adding that “they have done a good job and have given us a lot of help in the fight against the epidemic”.

As there is no guarantee that we will not have to face similar challenges again in the years to come, the good functioning of the WHO and our good cooperation with the WHO” will be of great importance, he said.

In this respect, it is good news that the World Health Organisation has also decided to expand its Budapest headquarters, which will employ 100 people instead of 50 from next month, he added. Tedros Adhanom Gebreyesus “has also done well in not allowing the issue of saving people’s health to be politicised, so that the WHO could remain what it is, a world health organisation,” he wrote.

           — Hat tip: László [Return to headlines]
 

Hungary, Poland Reject ‘Extremely Dangerous’ EU Natural Gas Cutback Extension

Hungary and Poland have both voted against the European Commission’s new proposal to extend a regulation that requires a 15 percent reduction in the use of natural gas from member states, said Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjartó at the EU Energy Council in Brussels on Tuesday.

According to a statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Szijjartó said at a press conference at the summit that the European Commission has come up with a proposal that would again require a reduction in natural gas consumption instead of pursuing more worthwhile goals like investing in infrastructure.

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

Is Insufficient Action on Climate Change a Violation of Human Rights? Europe’s Top Human Rights Court to Consider Landmark Cases

The European Court of Human Rights has been asked to consider whether or not a government’s failure to act in response to climate change constitutes a breach of a citizen’s human rights in a landmark case brought before the court by an association of Swiss pensioners.

Members of the KlimaSeniorinnen group stood for photographs on Wednesday ahead of the first public hearing before the Grand Chamber in Strasbourg. The association, which has garnered the support of environmental campaign groups such as Greenpeace, have claimed that what they consider to be the Swiss government’s omission to act in reducing carbon emissions has violated their human rights.

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

Italy to Ban Lab-Grown Food to Protect Cultural Heritage and Tradition

Italian industry will be banned from producing laboratory-grown food and animal feed in a draft law approved by the Italian government on Tuesday.

The conservative administration has vowed to resist the changing climate in food production in an attempt to protect the health of Italians, the country’s food and agricultural sectors, and Italy’s cultural heritage.

Subject to parliamentary approval, the new law would result in a total ban on any food produced “from cell cultures or tissues derived from vertebrate animals,” with violations being subject to fines of up to €60,000.

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

Pope Francis Cancels Audiences, Taken to Hospital by Ambulance Over ‘Respiratory Issues’

Pope Francis was taken by ambulance to a hospital in Rome on Wednesday after suffering from alleged respiratory issues, cancelling several audiences for the next two days as doctors are keeping the head of the Roman Catholic Church for observation.

Pope Francis, 86, had been scheduled for an appointment at the Gemelli Polyclinic in Rome, according to Holy See Press Office director Matteo Bruni, who stated Wednesday in a press release that the Supreme Pontiff had gone to the hospital for “some previously scheduled check-ups.”

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

Sanitation Workers in France Set to Return to Work, Number of Pension Protestors Shrinks

Striking sanitation workers in Paris are set to return to work Wednesday — potentially ending one of the most enduring symbols of resistance to French President Emmanuel Marcon’s controversial pension bill, as nationwide protests also appeared to be winding down.

Clean-up crews were set Wednesday to start picking up heaps of trash that had piled up over their weekslong strike beginning March 6 — as well as debris from the streets following the tenth nationwide anti-pension reform protest a day earlier.

Trash mounds of up to 10,000 tons along the French capital’s streets — matching the weight of the Eiffel Tower — have become a striking visual and olfactory symbol of opposition to Marcon’s bill raising the retirement age from 62 to 64.

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

Scotland: Edinburgh Tyre Extinguishers Hit ‘Wealthy’ New Town Area and Deflate Tyres of 40 SUVs Overnight in the City

The Tyre Extinguishers have claimed they deflated the tyres of 40 SUVs overnight in the Capital.

The climate activists hit Edinburgh’s New Town during the night on Tuesday, March 28. They targeted cars in the ‘wealthy’ area, on streets including Fettes Row, Royal Crescent, Drummond Place, Scotland Street and Dundonald Street. Last night’s action marks the 12th time that Tyre Extinguishers have struck the Capital since March 2022. Previously, the group has deflated SUVS in Bruntsfield, Leith, Portobello, Marchmont and The Grange.

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

Spanish Company Provided CIA With Information Leading to Julian Assange’s Arrest

“Be on the lookout tomorrow to see what you can get… and make it work.” Michelle Wallemacq, head of operations of a Spanish company called UC Global, wrote this message on December 20, 2017, to two technicians monitoring security at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, where Wikileaks founder Julian Assange was living after being granted asylum. She was alerting them to the arrival of Rommy Vallejo, the head of SENAIN, Ecuador’s secret service, who was scheduled to meet the next day with Assange to receive confidential information that could influence the cyberactivist’s future.

Vallejo had hired the services of this small company from Jerez de la Frontera in southwestern Spain to provide security for Ecuador’s diplomatic corps in London but didn’t know that it was planning to record his meeting with Assange. Vallejo was unaware that UC Global had planted hidden microphones throughout the embassy, even in the women’s bathroom. Nor did he know that UC Global’s owner, David Morales, had been sending information about Assange’s meetings with his lawyers to the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) soon after he took refuge in the Ecuadorian Embassy.

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

Sweden’s Path Into NATO — What Has Happened

For over 200 years, Sweden has maintained its non-alignment and neutrality. Although the political parties have been predominantly supportive of NATO, they have refrained from pushing the issue, as public opinion has strongly favored maintaining neutrality. However, after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the time seemed ripe. It suddenly became urgent to join NATO before public opinion shifted back. However, the burning of Qurans and Turkey’s capriciousness have caused complications.

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

UK: Guardian Newspaper Apologizes for Historic Slavery Links After Report Shows 9 of Its 11 Largest Financial Backers Profited From the Slave Trade

Britain’s left-wing Guardian newspaper issued a formal apology on Tuesday as it published the findings of a commissioned report which revealed the extent to which its 19th-century founders profited from the slave trade.

The newspaper’s owner, the Scott Trust, detailed in its “Legacies of Enslavement” report, which the trust itself commissioned back in 2020, that the newspaper’s founder John Edward Taylor, a former cotton merchant, “had multiple links to transatlantic slavery,” as did 9 of the 11 largest financial backers of the newspaper when it was initially established as the Manchester Guardian in 1821.

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

UK: Julian Assange Supporters Gather in London for Exhibition of Largest Physical Showing of Classified Docs

Supporters of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange gathered in London for an exhibition of artwork presented alongside the physical publication of top-secret government documents.

“States of Violence,” which began Friday and lasts until April 8, is an exhibition featuring more than 15 artists and collaborators, including Ai Weiwei, Dread Scott and Vivienne Westwood. The exhibition displays a collaboration between Wikileaks, an arts organization called a/political and the freedom of information organization Wau Holland Foundation.

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

UK: Londoners Push Back Against Invasive Traffic CCTV Designed to Enforce “Low Emission Zones”

Londoners have launched a war against the surveillance cameras being installed to monitor Ultra-Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) expansion in the city by covering the cameras with cardboard boxes and shopping bags, and plastic bags.

The aim of the ULEZ scheme is to reduce air pollution in the city but comes with invasive surveillance of vehicles. Drivers with vehicles that do not meet the minimum emission requirements would be charged £12.50 ($15.42) daily just for using ultra-low emission zones.

Critics have argued that the expansion of ULEZ would affect low-income households as it covers most of the neighborhoods within the M25, the highway that circles most of Greater London.

Others have raised privacy concerns after it was revealed that the British Transport Police and the London Metropolitan Police would have access to the cameras.

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

UK: Petition Against Use of Famous Dambusters Air Base as Migrant Camp Reaches 50,000 Signatures

A petition launched to prevent the English military base used by the famous Dambusters in World War II from being transformed into a migrant detention camp has surpassed 50,000 signatures.

RAF Scampton, located in the county of Lincolnshire, has been earmarked by the British government as a potential site to relocate the more than 52,000 asylum seekers currently residing in hundreds of hotels across the country.

The current policy of block-booking hotels is costing the British government an eye-watering £2.3 billion per year, Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick revealed on Wednesday.

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

UK: The Motorist Uprising

There’s an uprising sweeping the United Kingom, but it’s not being led by any of the usual suspects.

Motorists are mad as hell and they’re not gonna take it anymore.

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

YouTube Censorship Slams Hungary, Deletes Popular Television Station’s Channel Despite Protests From Country’s Journalists

Youtube has deleted a popular Hungarian news channel, PS TV, sparking a major backlash in the country, including from the country’s news publishers, which are decrying the extreme censorship.

According to a statement from the Hungarian National Media Association, “It is unacceptable that a platform provider established to broadcast media content should, in breach of its own contractual terms, remove the channel of a media service provider registered in Hungary, operating in full compliance with Hungarian law and publishing content that does not violate Hungarian law, without any explanation. We assure the editorial staff of our support and urge the publisher of Pesti Sracok to use all legal remedies against global censorship and show the world that the activities of platform providers can be tolerated.”

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

A Tale of Two Settlements

Daniel Greenfield March 28, 2023

A new settlement is going up in Israel.

Architectural schematics show luxury condominiums that would not be out of place in Miami or Santa Monica complete with balcony views, palm trees and sleek modern interiors with a fireplace, an indoor pool and a garden with a swing bench.

There’s just one catch: to live here you have to be a terrorist.

The Palestinian Authority’s latest expansion of its ‘Pay-to-Slay’ program which rewards terrorists for attacking Israelis and all non-Muslims is a luxurious village with unique residency requirements. To be eligible, you need to have spent at least 5 years in Israeli prison.

The terrorist village is scheduled to be built near the Israeli village of Ofra, which has suffered numerous terrorist attacks: including the shooting of a pregnant woman which killed her baby.

The terror settlement isn’t just backed by the PLO’s Palestinian Authority, but also by regional groups like the Arab Fund for Development and the Islamic Development Bank whose memberships encompass most of the region’s major Arab and Muslim nations.

The Islamic Development Bank, operating out of Saudi Arabia, has been a longtime funder of Islamic terrorism. Especially in Israel. Last week, Uzra Zeya, a Biden diplomat, met with members of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to discuss “partnerships with the Islamic Development Bank”. No mention was made of its terror settlement.

           — Hat tip: Daniel Greenfield [Return to headlines]
 

Left-Wing Climate Activists Targeted in Massive Email Hacking Campaign: Report

A group of Indian hackers hired by an Israeli private detective in 2017 allegedly stole emails and other data from several prominent climate groups critical of ExxonMobil, according to The Wall Street Journal Wednesday, citing messages obtained by the outlet.

The groups allegedly included Greenpeace, 350.org, Public Citizen, and, most notably, the Rockefeller Family Fund, a charity which has alleged ExxonMobil hid information about climate change from the public, something Exxon denies, according to the WSJ. Rockefeller Family Fund Director Lee Wasserman alleged that the man who hired the hackers, Aviram Azari, was “clearly working for corporate actors” in the U.S., and told the WSJ that he hoped Azari would come clean about the identity of his clients.

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

Turkey: Missing Children From Earthquakes Risk Human Trafficking, Organ Harvesting, Sexual Abuse

When multiple earthquakes first struck Turkey on February 6, the death toll, according to the Turkish government after a month, reached 48,448. Unofficial sources estimate that the real number is much higher. Around 200,000 people were still waiting to be rescued from under buildings that had collapsed, according to a prediction from early February by geophysical engineer Professor Ovgun Ahmet Ercan.

The death toll was reportedly high not only because of corruption in the construction sector but also because of the government’s lack of timely aid to survivors. The government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan failed to send rescue aid promptly to the earthquake-stricken area. Survivors were ignored for days. After the first earthquake, even access to Twitter was restricted for over 9 hours. More than a month later, survivors are still saying that they have not received enough help. Millions are homeless, in tents, struggling to survive.

The government, it appears, had allowed corrupt builders to erect unsafe buildings all over Turkey. The authorities and the corrupt construction sector there are therefore complicit in the deaths and destruction caused by the earthquakes.

A most alarming problem is the wellbeing of children. Many have been orphaned; some are missing. The orphaned children are extremely vulnerable: they are at risk of human trafficking, organ harvesting and sexual abuse — and Islamist indoctrination.

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

‘Marvellous’: Western Tanks Roll Into Ukraine

Western tanks are now arriving in Ukraine in larger numbers, including consignments of British Challenger 2 and German Leopard 2 Main Battle Tanks this week, donations from NATO members for the fight against the Russian Army.

The first tranche of British-made Challenger 2 tanks have arrived in Ukraine, their government announced, celebrating the arrival of the advanced fighting machines with social media posts. Sitting in the driver’s seat of one Challenger 2, Ukraine’s on-again, off-again defence minister Oleksii Reznikov thanked the United Kingdom for the donation.

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

President Zelensky Admits He Will be Under Pressure to ‘Compromise’ With Putin if Russian Forces Take the City of Bakhmut, As Ukrainians Start to ‘Feel Tired’ After a Year of War

Zelensky said if the eastern city of Bakhmut fell to Russian forces after a protracted battle, president Vladimir Putin would ‘sell this victory to the West, to his society, to China, to Iran’.

           — Hat tip: SS [Return to headlines]
 

Russia’s Diesel Exports Heading for Record Despite EU Sanctions

Russia’s diesel exports are on course to hit a record this month despite European Union sanctions depriving the country of its biggest market.

           — Hat tip: SS [Return to headlines]
 

Russian Hackers Are Preparing for a New Campaign in Ukraine

A spring cyber-offensive is about to be unleashed

Russia’s cyber-offensive last year was fast, furious—and underwhelming. In it, hackers conducted perhaps the largest ever assault on computer networks. Ukraine, well-prepared and supported by foreign tech companies and allies, parried many of these blows, keeping communications and crucial government services online against all expectations. But the cyberwar, like the physical one, is evolving.

Russian cyber-forces, portrayed as lumbering bumblers, have in fact adapted to circumstances, argues Dan Black, who served in NATO’s cyber-threat analysis branch until December and now works for Mandiant, a cyber-security firm within Google. During its offensive in eastern Ukraine between April and July, Russia expanded its cyber-operations in Poland and eastern Europe to collect intelligence on arms shipments to Ukraine. The GRU, Russia’s military-intelligence agency, began using more malware from criminal markets to augment fancier home-made tools…

           — Hat tip: Dean [Return to headlines]
 

UK Claims Some 220,000 Russian Casualties in War as Ukraine Prepares Counteroffensive

The U.K.’s top defense official Wednesday said Russia has seen some 220,000 deaths and injuries since the war began in an estimate that more than doubled figures released less than six months ago.

Defense Secretary Ben Wallace made the pronouncement while speaking with his Swedish counterpart during a London press event, citing figures provided by a U.S. assessment.

Though the Pentagon has not released a casualty estimate quite this high, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley told lawmakers in a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing Tuesday that the U.S. assesses that “the Russians have well over 200,000 casualties.”

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

Zelensky Admits Fear of Waning Support in US: “If They Stop Helping Us, We Will Not Win”

President Volodymyr Zelensky is deeply concerned over ‘Ukraine fatigue’ taking over the West, and especially among the populace of his government’s biggest supporter, funder, and weapons supplier — the United States.

“The United States really understands that if they stop helping us, we will not win,” he told the AP in a fresh interview published Wednesday. Waning support has been especially noticeable among Republican voters, according to recent polls, and as we recently reviewed in an article, “The Trump, DeSantis, Tucker Effect: New Polls Show Republicans Increasingly Done With Ukraine.”

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

Australian Senators Refuse to Investigate the WHO Pandemic Treaty

An Australian senator’s motion to hold an inquiry into the World Health Organization’s (WHO’s) controversial international pandemic treaty was blocked after Labor and Greens voted against it.

The treaty, which will be legally binding under international law, will expand the WHO’s surveillance powers, allow the unelected global health agency to target “misinformation,” and more. The next stage of discussions on the treaty will begin next week.

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

Dan Andrews is Blasted by One of Australia’s Top Doctors Over a Major Double Standard as the Premier Jets Off on a Secretive Seventh Trip to China

Dan Andrews flew out on his seventh trip to China on Monday night for meetings with officials — but is ignoring the plight of a Melbourne mum held in detention by the Chinese after a secret trial.

           — Hat tip: SS [Return to headlines]
 

Exclusive: Barack and Michelle Obama Are Given Permission to Break an Important Rule as They Climb the Sydney Harbour Bridge — as the Ex-President Shares a Moment With Tradies and Takes a Swipe at Rupert Murdoch

The casually-dressed couple scaled the world-famous landmark on Wednesday as they prepared to leave Sydney to continue Mr Obama’s speaking tour in Melbourne.

           — Hat tip: SS [Return to headlines]
 

Why Australia’s Property Crisis is About to Get Even Worse — as Report Finds How Far Sales of Dwellings Have Fallen

Australia’s housing crisis is expected to get worse following a recent report that revealed a drastic fall in new home sales and a critical supply shortage.

           — Hat tip: SS [Return to headlines]
 

“Global Permission Slip for Every Neocon Fantasy”: Gaetz Intros Bill to Withdraw From Somalia

Authored by Dave DeCamp via AntiWar.com

On Tuesday, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) introduced a War Powers Resolution that would direct President Biden to remove armed forces from Somalia that is cosponsored by Reps. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) and Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL).

The resolution would mandate the removal of all US armed forces from Somalia, with the exception of embassy security, within 365 days of the bill being adopted. The resolution is privileged, meaning the House will have to vote on the measure within 18 legislative days.

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

El Salvador’s Gang Crackdown Stretches to One-Year Mark With No Sign of Slowing

El Salvador on Tuesday surpassed the one-year mark since the gang-ridden nation began cracking down on organized crime under an emergency-ordered anti-gang measure that was originally intended to last for just one month.

Monday marked the one-year anniversary since President Nayib Bukele ordered the crackdown following a particularly deadly day on March 27, 2022, in which 62 people were killed by gang violence.

Salvadoran lawmakers continued to renew the emergency powers each month, enabling the government to continue to crack down on gangs and arrest more than 66,400 people over the last year.

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

Germany: AfD Party Launches New Map Tracking Migrant Crime Across the Country

The Alternative for Germany (AfD) opposition party has launched a new case tracker on its party website detailing the increasing number of crimes being committed for foreign nationals across the country.

The case tracker, which is being updated daily, includes an interactive map of Germany pinpointing the location in which crimes being committed by foreign nationals are taking place, and now has well over 100 individual cases it has marked dating back to Feb. 21.

A total of 18 entries had already been submitted this week up until Wednesday evening, including several knife attacks and robberies ranging from Hamburg to Munich.

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

NGOs Are Only Part of Italy’s Problem With Illegal Immigration

Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s track record on illegal immigration does not look very good. For the first quarter of this year, the number of arrivals by sea, at over 27,000, is now four times what it was a year ago. Meanwhile, a new survey published by Quarta Repubblica sounds like a warning call to the governing right-wing coalition: 58 percent of Italians are against welcoming illegal immigrants and only 34 percent are in favor of Italy and Europe’s usual open-door policy; and the proportion of voters opposed to this welcoming policy rises to 92 percent among those who voted for Meloni’s Brothers of Italy, 94 percent among the League’s voters, and 81 percent among those who voted for Berlusconi’s center-right Forza Italia. Those are the three main parties making up Meloni’s governing coalition.

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

Polish Border Guard Detains Georgian National Suspected of Smuggling People From Belarus

A Polish Border Guard unit from detained a 35-year-old Georgian suspected of being a member of an organized group smuggling people from Belarus to Poland and further west in Europe.

The detention of the 35-year-old occurred last week in the Wolomin district, near Warsaw. At the time of the arrest, the Georgian attempted to escape but was unsuccessful, said the spokesperson for the Vistula Border Guard Unit, Captain Dagmara Bielec.

In addition, during a search of the suspect’s residence, officers secured four passports issued by the authorities of Iran and a Slovenian ID card; these have been submitted as evidence in the case and may indicate the criminal activity of the Georgian, stated Bielec.

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

Switzerland Finds Just One Asylum Centre Pushing Up Local Crime Statistics

A single asylum centre in the Swiss canton of Neuchtel has had a major impact on local crime rates, according to statistics from last year showing asylum seekers living there disproportionally involved in criminal activity.

The asylum home in Boudry, a town that lies on the coast of the Lac de Neuchtel, is home to a number of asylum seekers who have been described as prolific criminal offenders.

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

Video: Ted Cruz Eviscerates DHS Secretary for STILL Refusing to Admit There is Border Crisis

During a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing Tuesday, Senator Ted Cruz grilled Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, and described his refusal to answer questions on the border crisis as “disgraceful.”

Cruz asked Mayorkas if he thinks there is currently a crisis at the border, with Mayorkas only responding that there is “a very significant challenge” and refusing to answer with a “yes” or “no.”

Cruz noted that Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz has repeatedly testified that there is a crisis, and asked Mayorkas to “speak with the same clarity.”

“That’s how someone answers a question and does their job,” Cruz asserted, adding “You’re being a politician, misleading the American people.”

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

Burrito Leads to Arrest in Firebombing of Anti-Abortion Group

DNA from a partially eaten burrito links a Boston man to the Mother’s Day firebombing of an anti-abortion group in Wisconsin, investigators say.

Hridindu Sankar Roychowdhury, 29, was held on Tuesday for allegedly using the incendiary device on 8 May 2022.

No-one from the group was in the office in the state capitol of Madison at the time of the attack, and no injuries were reported.

Police say a Molotov cocktail started the fire at Wisconsin Family Action.

Mr Roychowdhury was arrested at Boston’s airport on Tuesday before boarding a one-way fight to Guatemala City, the US Attorney’s Office in Madison says.

He was charged with attempting to cause damage by means of fire or an explosive, a felony. If convicted, he faces up to 20 years in prison.

Someone had spray-painted outside the building during last year’s attack at Wisconsin Family Action: “If abortions aren’t safe then you aren’t either.”

Although DNA was recovered from a Mason jar at the scene, authorities spent nearly a year searching for the person they say committed the crime. They had very few leads — until earlier this month.

That’s when local law enforcement officers, who had identified Mr Roychowdhury as a potential suspect, say they followed him to a car park where he discarded a fast-food bag.

“Law enforcement retrieved the bag from the trash. The contents of the bag included a quarter portion of a partially eaten burrito wrapped in waxed paper,” court documents state.

           — Hat tip: DV [Return to headlines]
 

Canada: Gender Self-ID for Children as Young as 12 Passed Into Law by British Columbia

The British Columbia government unanimously passed an amendment to the province’s Vital Statistics Act Tuesday that allows gender self-identification for children as young as 12 years old.

Bill 15 was introduced on March 9 by NDP Minister for Health Adrian Dix and unanimously passed in the BC legislature on March 28. The law does two things: It allows children as young as 12 to change their legal sex on their birth certificate without the need for a doctor or mental health professional’s involvement, and it also allows residents of BC to be issued with a birth certificate that does not have a sex marker.

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

Christian Schools Are Booming While Students Flee Public Universities

Students have been flocking to Christian colleges in recent years as enrollments in public universities have been declining.

Overall, the national enrollment rate of college students has been falling.

However, Christian colleges and universities are seeing an increase in enrollment, according to higher education experts.

During the fall 2022 semester, the national undergraduate enrollment rate dropped by 1.1 percent.

Since 2020, the rate declined by a total of 4.2%, according to the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center.

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

Dem Governor’s Spokesperson Resigns After Appearing to Post Threat Against ‘Transphobes’ Hours After Nashville Shooting

The spokesperson for Democratic Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs resigned Wednesday after appearing to post a threat against “transphobes” just hours after a transgender individual shot up a Christian elementary school in Nashville.

Hobbs’ spokesperson Josselyn Berry posted an image on Twitter later Monday showing a woman with a handgun from the 1980 movie “Gloria.” The image was captioned “us when we see transphobes.”

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

Kentucky Legislature Overrides Democrat Governor’s Veto on Bill Banning Sex Changes for Minors

The Kentucky legislature overrode Democrat Gov. Andy Beshear’s veto of a bill banning sex change surgeries for minors on Wednesday.

Kentucky Republicans revived the bill last minute, combining a bill banning child sex changes with one that prohibited schools from requiring that teachers use “preferred pronouns” and required parental notification of a child’s gender transition. The bill was passed with just enough time for the legislature to override a potential veto from the state’s Democratic governor.

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

Media Settles on “No Known Motive” Narrative Behind Transgender School Shooting

With police in Nashville now saying they won’t release details of the manifesto left behind by the transgender-identified individual who shot up a Christian school, the media now appears to be settling on the explanation that there is “no known motive” behind the attack.

28-year-old Audrey Hale was shot dead by police after killing three children and three adults at The Covenant School, a private Christian school for students aged three to 11.

With the media initially perplexed as to how to word their reporting of the story given that the culprit is transgender, they now appeared to have closed ranks on the idea that we may never know why Hale did it.

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

NHL May Cancel LGBT ‘Pride’ Nights as Growing Number of Players Refuse to Wear Rainbow Gear

In response to an increasing number of players engaging in silent protests against the NHL’s Pride Nights, a new report claims the league is re-evaluating the events which may lead to them being canceled.

Currently, all of the teams in the NHL hold Pride nights, however some now do so without the themed jerseys as the events are planned by the individual teams, not the league.

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

Rep. Matt Gaetz Tears Into Defense SEC Lloyd Austin on Funding Drag Queen Story Hour on Military Bases

Republican Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz confronted Defense Sec. Lloyd Austin on Wednesday over funding drag queen story hour on military bases.

The U.S. Air Force canceled a drag queen story hour event for children of service members at a library on Ramstein Air Force Base in Germany back in 2022 following pressure from Republicans. Republican Florida Sen. Marco Rubio called such events “inappropriate” and “extremely divisive” because “they place young children in close proximity with adults who are intentionally and explicitly sexualized.”

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

Revealed: Gun-Toting Transgender Woman Who Has Become the Face of the ‘Day of Vengeance’ Organized by Trans Activists After Nashville Massacre is ‘Former Soldier Who’s Also an Antifa Member’

A militant transgender activist who has quickly become one of the most high-profile ‘faces’ of the radical movement is a former soldier, it has been claimed.

Kayla Denker, who runs a YouTube site with videos dedicated to explaining Marxism and guns, posted a video of herself with an assault rifle after the Nashville school shooting.

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

Scotland: Over Six in Ten Transgender Prisoners ‘Transitioned’ After Being Jailed

Over six in ten transgender prisoners in Scotland started to identify as the opposite gender after they were imprisoned, confirming the fears of some that dangerous criminals are using the country’s leftist gender policies to game the criminal justice system.

Freedom of information requests have revealed that as of last month, there were a total of 19 prisoners identifying as transgender in the Scottish Prison System (SPS). Out of these, 12 prisoners (63 per cent) began to claim to be transgender after they were locked up.

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

Tampa School Board Bans ‘This Book is Gay’ From Middle School Libraries: Book Detailed Sex Apps, Hookups

The Hillsborough County school board decided to ban the book ‘This Book Is Gay’ from middle school libraries in a 4-3 vote on Tuesday.

Tampa residents are part of a national uprising of parents speaking out about material they see as offensive in schools. “This Book Is Gay,” a nonfiction book geared toward LGBTQ+ youth, was criticized by many parents for sexually explicit descriptions and diagrams and even promoting the use of hookup apps.

Sex app Grindr was reportedly featured in the book, which some have criticized for having a “flimsy” age verification process. Julie Kvedar wrote in the Southern California Interdisciplinary Law Journal, “As a result of its flimsy age verification process and its indiscriminate marketing, Grindr poses risks to both minors and adults. Minors who sign up for the app risk encountering predatory behavior, while adult users risk inadvertently engaging in criminal activity.”

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

Trans Activists Criticize Right-Wingers, Christians in Aftermath of Nashville School Shooting

Trans activists have criticized “right-wing” groups and Christians following the Nashville school shooting that resulted in the deaths of three children and three adults as well as the 28-year-old transgender shooter.

Audrey Hale, who used male pronouns and occasionally went by the name Aiden, was killed by police Monday after she shot three 9-year-old students and three adults in their 60s at the Covenant School in Nashville, Tennessee, who were later all pronounced dead at the scene. Multiple trans advocates argued Hale was also a victim of the shooting and criticized the media’s portrayal of her and her gender identity.

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

Washington Post Mocks Parents Requesting Transparency on Gender Identity Curriculum: ‘I Want to Vomit’

The Washington Post — whose slogan is “Democracy Dies in Darkness” — mocked parents for requesting public records on what their children are learning on topics relating to gender identity and race Wednesday in a social media post on its TikTok page.

The paper’s associate TikTok producer Chris Vazquez said, “Resources are being shifted away from students academic needs at the exact instant America is facing falling test scores, a teen mental health crisis and a teacher shortage. And because of how much time and money is needed to process these requests, they’re changing what schools are spending their funding on.”

He then proceeded to mock a parent’s complaints about information being left out of the public record requests relating to “race, gender and sexual orientation.”

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

WHO Says Children, Teens Are ‘Low Priority’ For COVID Vaccines

On Tuesday, the World Health Organization’s Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization updated its Covid-19 guidance in light of rising immunity levels in the population.

The revised roadmap separates people into three priority-use groups: high, medium, and low. While the group is still urging elderly and immunocompromised people to get vaccinated and boosted, young healthy people have been deemed “low priority.”

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

Wisconsin Biophysics Researcher Arrested Over Jane’s Revenge Firebombing Attack

A radical leftist biochemist has been charged in connection with the May 2022 firebombing of anti-abortion group Wisconsin Family Action’s office in Madison. Hridindu Sankar Roychowdhury, 29, was arrested at Boston Logan Airport on Tuesday as he prepared to board a one-way flight to Guatemala City.

During the incident in question, two Molotov cocktails were thrown into the office, and graffiti was spray-painted on the side of the building stating, “If abortions aren’t safe then you aren’t either.” Far-left pro-abortion group Jane’s Revenge took responsibility for the attack, claiming that it was “only a warning,” and threatening to destroy the infrastructure of “medical imperialism.”

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

6 thoughts on “Gates of Vienna News Feed 3/29/2023

  1. “Czechs Go on a Shopping Spree in Poland – Czechs have been made aware that Poland has the cheapest prices among neighboring countries due to an article on the Czech online portal Seznam Zpravy.”

    Well – there may have been a small “wave” after some article on Seznam, but the price difference between the Czech Republic and Poland and Germany is simply atrocious, and only supports the overall impression of the Protectorate Bohmen und Mahren being milked dry by every corporation from abroad.

    Just now we were discussing roof tiles made in the Czech Republic, sold for 90 Krona a piece, 68 krona a piece in “special discount” overhere – cost 30 krona in Poland.

    Butter – 60 krona in the Czech Republic, 30 Krona in Poland.

    The Czech Republic is one of the biggest exporters of Electricity per capita – yet the Czechs pay some of the highest prices per kW in the EU.

    Food and Electricity is cheaper even in Germany, even though normal “Czech Wage” is something like 1000 euro a month.

    Czechs are relatively poor, yet they pay some of the highest prices in the EU, and the Ukrainian Government of the Czech Republic doesn’t deal with it in any way, for they can’t: The Czech Republic is just a colony of the Empire. We will be buying F-35’s though, and buying tanks for Ukraine! Hooray 🙂

  2. .
    .
    Why democracy can be abolished, the Swedes think

    Published on March 28, 2023 in Frihetsnytt / translated by LN

    According to a survey presented on Tuesday, Swedes are prepared to give up their democratic rights under certain circumstances.

    The survey shows an overwhelming support especially in certain situations. Ethnology professor Karl-Olov Arnstberg provides an exclusive commentary on the survey to Frihetsnytt.

    In a debate article in Dagens Nyheter, political scientists Professor Sten Widmalm and Associate Professor Thomas Persson of Uppsala University present the results of a survey they conducted as part of the research project “The Open Society” on Swedes’ attitudes to democracy. The study was presented on Tuesday, March 28 by the SOM Institute.

    For the survey, 3 750 people were contacted, of whom 48 percent responded. Of these, a large proportion believe that it is right to restrict democracy, at least temporarily, in order to address various societal problems.

    Frihetsnytt contacted Professor Widmalm to clarify what they mean by restrictions on democracy, whether it is the entire democratic system or certain central parts.

    – “We used democracy as a general term, because we assume that people know the difference between democracy and dictatorship (sic). When we talk about restrictions, we include things like the ability to vote in general elections, and freedom of assembly and demonstration,” he says.

    Decreased confidence in democracy
    The question posed to respondents was “To what extent do you agree that democracy can be temporarily restricted to deal with the following?”. after which they were presented with six different societal problems:
    crime,
    financial crisis,
    integration problems,
    climate and environmental crisis,
    gender discrimination
    pandemic.

    In almost all cases, more than 50% answered YES to the question, except for gender discrimination, where 40.2% considered it justified to restrict democracy.

    In contrast, 70.8% thought that democracy could be restricted for a pandemic, while 62.6% thought it could be done for the climate and 61.4% for serious crime. The result was 52.9% for a financial crisis and 52.3% for integration problems.

    One of the conclusions drawn by Persson and Widmalm is that there is an overwhelming majority of Swedes who believe that democracy and the associated freedoms are subordinate to these problems.

    25 percent considered it acceptable to temporarily restrict democracy for all problems, while 64 percent were prepared to make restrictions for half of the problems.

    Sweden is no longer a democracy

    Frihetsnytt has been in contact with ethnology professor Karl-Olov Arnstberg, who comments on the results of the survey by e-mail.

    – There are two perspectives on the question of whether democracy as a supra-ideology has played out its role. The first and more fundamental one is whether we have a functioning democracy in the sense that politicians see themselves as representatives of the voters and, which is the ‘other half’, the voters are active and aware of the options they have to choose from when it comes to providing answers to difficult societal issues.

    – If we take joining NATO as a “test”, the politicians decide that we should join NATO without asking the people, even though Sweden’s neutrality and non-alignment has been an almost sacred issue. And the people don’t seem to care. No protests, no awkward questions from journalists.

    – The conclusion is that neither politicians, journalists nor voters are interested in democracy as a functioning system. However, on a rhetorical level, everyone agrees that democracy must be preserved at almost any cost.

    Regarding the attitude that it is considered justifiable to restrict democracy in order to deal with certain social problems, Arnstberg’s assessment is as follows:

    – So to the more limited question of whether we should take shortcuts to deal with problems because of urgent social issues.

    – Irrespective of the fact that in practice we no longer have democracy in Sweden (see above), my answer is no. The reason is that our politicians and opinion leaders lack insight into the true nature of the problems.

    – They are stuck in a quagmire of incorrect basic perspectives and are therefore unable to deliver the right solutions and answers to urgent social issues.

    – Giving even more power to incompetent politicians and other people in power makes the problems worse.

    Written by
    Viktor Eriksson

    • It would be illustrative to see a breakdown of these views by gender. I would be willing to bet that those holding the view that it is ok to restrict democracy are overwhelmingly female.

      And since only 48% responded to the survey it is possible that the results are not really that representative of what many Swedes actually think, although the way they tend to vote suggests that the survey actually is representative of what most voters believe.

      Either way, it goes to show that female franchise and democracy itself are both terrible ideas if one wants to keep their liberty.

  3. Transgender change in prison is motivated by the benefits they receive as a result. They get better treatment, more attention and lots of idiots write to them and maybe send them stuff.

  4. Now the new york DA is exercising his Bragg-ing rights with his indictment of Trump. So when will Don play his Trump card?

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