The popular conservative commentator Tucker Carlson has been fired by Fox News. Meanwhile, Don Lemon was fired by CNN. Fox News reportedly lost more than 5% of its market value in the wake of Mr. Carlson’s departure. There’s no word yet on whether CNN stock rose in value after Mr. Lemon was fired.
In other news, aboriginal passengers on a domestic Australian flight got into a brawl, and one of the plane’s windows was broken out in mid-flight during the fracas. The plane was forced to make two emergency landings, and several passengers were arrested.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to Dean, DV, Fjordman, JW, LP, Reader from Chicago, SS, Vlad Tepes, 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.
First Republic Bank Lost More Than $100 Billion in Consumer Deposits
First Republic Bank, one of the American financial institutions that struggled the most during a recent banking crisis, has announced that it lost billions in consumer deposits representing more than half the total it held at the end of 2022.
In total, First Republic lost $102 billion in deposits, the New York Times reported. It had held $176 billion at the end of 2022. Its quarterly profit, moreover, fell roughly one-third from the same period in 2022, bringing in $269 million.
The bank received an emergency influx of cash from fellow banks, with financial institutions contribution $30 billion to keep First Republic afloat in mid-March.
Its situation is still precarious and the bank’s stock remains more than 85% down from its pre-crash figure, per the Times.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Competition for rental properties remains fierce with the hottest markets in Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne as renters reveal the extreme lengths they’ve gone to secure a roof over their heads.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
Westpac is expecting house prices in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth to surge in 2024 because of high immigration. Population growth is tipped to underpin a rebound.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
Rich Dad Poor Dad Author Robert Kiyosaki Warns of “Dystopian” CBDCs
Acclaimed author of Rich Dad Poor Dad, Robert Kiyosaki, has issued a stark warning that the US’s possible launch of a central bank digital currency (CBDC) could lead to a surveillance state akin to George Orwell’s dystopian novel, 1984.
Kiyosaki shared his concerns in a recent episode of The Rich Dad podcast, suggesting that a Federal Reserve-backed CBDC would enable an unprecedented level of government surveillance on citizens.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Turkey’s Nebati Says April Inflation to be ‘Notably’ Below 50%
(Bloomberg) — Turkish Finance Minister Nureddin Nebati said he expects April inflation to be below 50% and that citizens will feel the impact before they vote in May’s elections.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
“Where Am I? Where Am I?”: Trump Mocks Biden for Always Getting Lost
During a speech in Florida Friday, Donald Trump highlighted how he will likely be running for President against a man who doesn’t know where he is most of the time.
“He’s all ga-ga,” Trump told the crowd, adding “he doesn’t know what the hell he’s talking about.”
“Sometimes you have to talk tough, and sometimes you have to talk soft, and he’s got a mixed up. He talks tough when you’re supposed to talk soft, and he talks soft when you’re supposed to talk tough,” Trump continued, referring to times when Biden suddenly starts yelling for no reason during speeches.
Trump further noted, “then he walks off the stage, but he’s supposed to walk that way! Where am I? Where am I?!” referring to Biden getting lost practically every time he’s on a stage.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
AI Being Trained on Human-Generated Web Content
Recent developments in AI, especially in chatbots such as ChatGPT, have brought the technology closer to more human-like behavior, such as writing code for a different AI bot, passing the bar exam in the top 10 percent, and tricking a human so that it could pass a CAPTCHA test designed to weed out programs posing as humans.
The capabilities of AI are a result of the program’s ability to intake large data sets, the main source of which is data AI culls from the internet. The Washington Post recently began researching which data these AI pull, as it originates with human beings who created and uploaded the material. It found that much of the data is personal, proprietary, and in some cases consists of “offensive websites.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Ballots Cast by ‘Ineligible Voters’ Found in Wisconsin’s 2020 Election Results
Officials in Wisconsin have made the bombshell admission that ballots cast by “ineligible voters” have been found counted in the state’s 2020 presidential election results.
The news comes after concerns about unsecure voting procedures, voting system failures, and outside election influences during the 2020 election were shot down by the Democrats and their allies in Big Tech and the corporate media.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Biden Appears to Confuse Congresswoman for Man in ‘Teacher of the Year’ Speech: ‘Stand Up Jonah!’
President Biden committed another gaffe on Monday, this time appearing to confuse a congresswoman’s name with a man’s name.
At the beginning of his National and State Teacher of the Year Celebration remarks on Monday, Biden appeared to confuse Democrat Connecticut Rep. Jahana Hayes’ name, referring to her as “Jonah.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Biden Launching Major Crackdown on Power Plants That Fuel America’s Grid
Democrat President Joe Biden’s administration is preparing to launch a major crackdown on key power plants across America, according to reports.
The Biden admin is reportedly finalizing a proposal that would force fossil fuel-fired power plants to substantially curb emissions.
If the plants fail to reduce emissions, they would be legally required to utilize expensive carbon capture technology.
The proposal will soon be published by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), The New York Times is reporting, citing officials briefed on a draft of the plan.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
A Bronx man stabbed to death in a NYCHA apartment stairwell had hoped to marry his accused killer, the victim’s grieving family told the Daily News Monday.
John “Biggie” Levestone, 37, was slain in the same fourth-floor stairwell stairwell he often slept in when girlfriend Crystal Fryson wouldn’t let him into the apartment they shared down the hall in the Highbridge Gardens Houses.
Fryson, 34, is now accused of following her boyfriend into the stairwell after refusing to let him into their home at about 10:30 p.m. Saturday and stabbing him in the torso during a crazed quarrel.
“He told me he loved her with all his heart,” the victim’s brother, Shaun Levestone, 39, told the Daily News. “He wanted to marry that girl. He was trying to make a family. That’s all he wanted was a family. He wanted to share his love.”
| — Hat tip: DV | [Return to headlines] |
Chicago ‘Amber Alert-Like System’ Aims to Warn Citizens About ‘Teen Takeovers’
Chicago is creating an “Amber Alert-like system” to try and warn parents and others of “downtown teen takeovers” as they happen.
From Fox 32 Chicago, “Chicago group aims to curb youth rioting with Amber Alert-like system”:
A pressing issue for the Chicago Police Department and its incoming leadership is the downtown teen takeovers, as another gathering has been advertised on social media for this weekend.
But churches and community groups are now stepping up, in partnership with police, to curb the youth rioting.
Community organizations are now doing their part to help stop the teen takeovers that happened last weekend in Chicago.
A new idea on the table is an Amber Alert-like system to let parents know these gatherings are happening.
Video from last Saturday downtown shows large crowds of young people causing mayhem. There were injuries, two people were shot, and property was damaged.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
CPAC Releases Annual Ratings of Lawmakers, Marking Most Conservative Members of Congress
The Conservative Political Action Coalition on Monday released its annual ratings of members of Congress, compiling lawmakers votes on myriad issues and ranking the most conservative lawmakers.
CPAC perused the choices of all 535 members of Congress on more than 20,000 votes to compile its scores. It bestowed the “Award for Conservative Excellence” to lawmakers earning a 90% or higher on its scale.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Democrats Rip DNC for Not Holding 2024 Primary Debates: ‘Robs the Voters’
Democratic presidential candidate Marianne Williamson and others criticized a lack of Democratic primary debates as “undemocratic” and “unfortunate” as President Biden is preparing to announce his re-election bid.
“The DNC ‘plans no primary debates.’ As though there simply ARE no other candidates … no other ideas we should discuss about ways to win in 2024, or other ideas we should discuss about ways to repair the country. Too many people are too smart to accept this,” Williamson said.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Don Lemon Says He’s Been Fired by CNN: ‘I Am Stunned’
Don Lemon announced Monday that he’s been “terminated” by CNN. The embattled anchor, who joined the network in 2006, faced scrutiny over his alleged sexist behavior, surviving numerous on-air blunders during his tenure, like in February when he declared Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley “isn’t in her prime” at age 51.
“I was informed this morning by my agent that I have been terminated by CNN,” he shared on social media just hours after appearing on-air Monday morning as usual. “I am stunned.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
FEC Began Probing 2020 Hunter Biden Laptop Suppression Weeks Before Ex-Spy’s Stunning Admission
The Federal Election Commission began investigating whether Joe Biden’s 2020 campaign improperly colluded with Big Tech and intelligence experts to suppress accurate stories about Hunter Biden’s laptop weeks before ex-spy Michael Morell’s bombshell revelation that he worked with the campaign to organize a letter that falsely portrayed the laptop as a Russian intelligence dirty trick.
The FEC’s investigation was confirmed in a March 29 letter to Timothy Parlatore, a lawyer for former President Donald Trump who filed a complaint alleging the letter and Twitter’s and Facebook’s suppression of the laptop story in October 2020 amounted to an illegal “in-kind contribution” to Biden’s campaign.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Florida Ex-Con Allegedly Kills Again After Early Release From Prison
A career criminal with an extensive history of violent crimes is the suspect in the brutal murder of an elderly man after being released early from a Florida prison.
Justin Giambanco, 31, who has been described by Palm Bay Police Chief Mario Augello as “pure evil”, allegedly killed a 69-year-old male immediately after serving only 18 months of a 53 month prison sentence, according to Palm Bay police.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Fox Corporation Sheds $962 Million in Market Value After Announcing
Fox Corporation stock fell as much as 5% on Monday and erased $962 million in market value after it was announced that Fox News Media had parted ways with its host Tucker Carlson.
Class A shares of the media company recovered slightly and were trading at $32.65, down almost 3% at 1:32 p.m. ET.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Fox News Media: Tucker Carlson Part Ways
‘We thank him for his service to the network as a host and prior to that as a contributor,’ a FOX News Media spokesperson said
The last edition of “Tucker Carlson Tonight” aired on Friday, April 21. The show began airing in 2016.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Hearing to Look at How FISA Surveillance Laws Became “Weaponized” Against Americans
On Thursday, the House Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing on the weaponization against Americans of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), which allows surveillance of foreigners considered a threat to the national security of the US, but has also been accused of use against US citizens.
The hearing’s notice states: “The hearing, ‘Fixing FISA: How a Law Designed to Protect Americans Has Been Weaponized Against Them,’ will examine the FBI’s abuses of its Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) authorities, discuss the FBI’s failures to implement meaningful reforms to prevent its abuses, and address the broad issue of warrantless mass surveillance on American citizens.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Hunter Biden Team Wants Treasury Probe of Ex-Trump Aide and Congress Action Against MTG
Hunter Biden’s legal team is asking the Treasury Department to investigate a former Trump aide for circulating federal banking records linked to the president’s son and Congress to take action against Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene for her statements about Biden.
Letters sent Monday morning to the House Ethics Committee and the Treasury Department’s Office of Inspector General and obtained by NBC News are among the latest efforts in an increasingly public and aggressive strategy from Hunter Biden’s legal team, led by attorney Abbe Lowell.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Idaho Student Murders: Bryan Kohberger Defense Claims Surviving Roommate Has ‘Exculpatory’ Evidence
A defense investigator working on behalf of University of Idaho student murders suspect Bryan Kohberger asserted in a newly unveiled court filing that a surviving housemate has “exculpatory” information that is “material and necessary” to the alleged killer’s defense.
Kohberger, a former criminology Ph.D. candidate, is accused of entering an off-campus home on Nov. 13 around 4 a.m., after the occupants, all undergrad students at the school, had been out on a Friday night into early Saturday morning.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
In-Store ATMs Dispense Cards — Not Cash — to Make Purchases
Many restaurants and stores are moving to cashless purchases and have begun installing cash-to-card kiosks, or reverse ATMs, so that customers can insert cash into the machine which then dispenses a card they must use at that store, much like the commerce model of Dave & Busters.
According to the New York Post, the founder of the Brooklyn Dumpling Shop in New York City, Stratis Morfogen, said, “Cash is dirty. We realized this during the pandemic. And it’s also not safe for our staff to have cash registers filled with cash. When you carry cash, you are a target for criminals, and I’m not comfortable having my staff with cash.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Independent journalist Matt Taibbi, who was threatened with jail time by a top Democrat on Capitol Hill over testimony he gave about his reporting on the Twitter Files, feels the media would have lost its minds if Republicans did the same to CNN’s Jim Acosta.
“Can you imagine if something like this had happened in the Trump years? If Republicans had threatened someone like Jim Acosta with five years in prison over a minor error? That he didn’t even make in testimony before Congress? You would have had every human rights organization on earth complaining about it but not a peep from my so-called colleagues in mainstream media,” Taibbi said Monday on “FOX & Friends.”
“It doesn’t matter what journalist it is, they should be upset about it because it could be them next,” Taibbi added.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Michigan Democrat Gets 6 Months House Arrest for Ballot Box Sabotage
A local official in Michigan accused of breaking a seal on a ballot box in her own election to ensure that votes couldn’t be recounted was sentenced Monday to six months of house arrest.
Kathy Funk, a Democrat, must wear an electronic monitor and also write a public apology for her actions in 2020 as the Flint Township clerk.
In January, Funk pleaded no contest to misconduct in office. A no-contest plea is not an admission of guilt but is used as such at sentencing.
Funk had won the Democratic nomination by just 79 votes out of about 5,300. A recount was not conducted, and she subsequently won the general election that fall. Investigators say she sabotaged the ballot box after the primary election, an act that would make those ballots ineligible for a recount.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
City leaders of a North Carolina tourist town that has been plagued with rising violent crime in recent years announced a 60-day initiative last week to improve conditions in its downtown district amid a crisis in police staffing.
The City of Asheville said they are taking “targeted steps” to address the rising number of incidents affecting public safety with the initiative slated to begin May 1, according to a news release from city government.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
San Francisco Target Reportedly Puts Products Behind Security Glass Amid Shoplifting Concerns
A Target store in San Francisco is locking up some of its products behind security glass as shoplifting remains a concern for retailers in the region amid an increase in shoplifting.
A Tik Tok user posted images of some products of the store on the city’s Folsom Street behind the glass since at least October, WNCT-TV reported. Many stores lock up valuable items like razors and other expensive products.
In a statement to Fox News Digital, a Target spokesperson said other media reports about all the store’s products being locked up were not true.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Senators Demand Answers on FBI Agents Forced to Sign Nondisclosures Stopping Whistleblowers
Republican Sens. Chuck Grassley (Iowa) and Ron Johnson (Wisc.) sent letters to the Justice Department demanding answers after a former FBI agent said he was forced to sign a nondisclosure agreement that did not include the legally required whistleblower exceptions allowing him to come forward to Congress.
Whistleblower protections have been enshrined in federal law for more than a decade, and federal agencies may not use taxpayer dollars for nondisclosure agreements without including whistleblower exceptions. However, former Special Agent Steve Friend, who came forward in the fall with claims that the FBI used excessive tactics and did not follow its own rules in probing the Jan. 6 riot, provided the GOP senators with the nondisclosure agreement he was forced to sign that did not include the required anti-gag provision.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Susan Rice to Step Down as Biden’s Domestic Policy Chief
President Joe Biden’s domestic policy adviser, Susan Rice, is stepping down from her post next month, multiple current and former senior administration officials told NBC News.
The move brings to a close Rice’s prolific, wide-ranging and at times controversial tenure overseeing Biden’s domestic agenda — including some of the thorniest political issues, such as immigration policy. During her more than two years in the role, Biden has signed executive and legislative actions on health care, gun safety, student loans, policing and other key priorities for Democrats.
Rice’s last day in the White House will be May 26, according to a senior administration official.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Targeted Shooting in San Francisco Leaves 1 Dead, 3 Wounded
A targeted shooting in a San Francisco neighborhood popular with tourists left one man dead and three people wounded, authorities said. A 23-year-old man was killed in the shooting late Sunday in North Beach, the San Francisco Police Department said in a tweet. North Beach is also known as “Little Italy,” a neighborhood dotted with restaurants, nightclubs and bars. The three people wounded are expected to survive, police said. Their condition is unknown.
Read more at: #storylink=cpy
| — Hat tip: LP | [Return to headlines] |
They’re Strangers With a Painful Shared Bond: Robert E. Lee Enslaved Their Ancestors
ARLINGTON, Va. — There was a one-of-a-kind reunion over the weekend at Arlington House, the national memorial to Robert E. Lee that sits atop a hill in Arlington National Cemetery. Descendants of the Confederate general gathered with the descendants of the people the Lee family once enslaved on the property in Virginia.
Many of them are seeing one another in person for the first time after meeting virtually for the last two years in pursuit of racial understanding in what’s known as the Family Circle.
“I’m on this committee, the Family Circle, to bring back the memories of our ancestors, as well as reconcile with the family that enslaved them,” says Cecilia Torres, a retired teacher from California. She’s the great-great-granddaughter of Selina Gray and Thornton Gray.
Selina Gray was the personal house servant to Robert E. Lee’s wife, Mary Custis Lee, at Arlington House. To show how deep the roots are here — Mrs. Lee inherited the plantation home, surrounding land, and the enslaved African Americans working there from her father George Washington Parke Custis. He was Martha Washington’s grandson.
| — Hat tip: Vlad Tepes | [Return to headlines] |
Tom Brady Threatens to Sue Comedians Over AI Parody Video
Tom Brady threatened to sue comedians who posted an AI-generated comedy special featuring him. According to the comedians, Chad Kultgen and Will Sasso, the threat of a lawsuit forced them to take the video down.
The hour-long video featured the NFL star as a stand-up comedian telling jokes. It was removed a few days after it was posted on the comedians’ Patreon page.
On their “Dudesy” podcast, the comedians explained that shortly after posting the video, they received a letter from Brady’s lawyer asking them to cease and desist from publishing the video.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Tucker Carlson Departs Fox News, Pushed Out by Rupert Murdoch
Tucker Carlson, the provocative conservative prime-time host who helped build Fox News into a ratings juggernaut, has been forced out of the network.
Fox News announced the stunning departure of its top-rated host Monday with no explanation, but people familiar with the situation who were not authorized to comment publicly said the decision to fire Carlson came straight from Fox Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch with input from board members and other Fox Corp. executives.
Carlson’s last show was Friday.
“Fox News Media and Tucker Carlson have agreed to part ways,” the network said in a statement. “We thank him for his service to the network as a host and prior to that as a contributor.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Update 1 — Climate Activists Spray Protests on U.S. Bank Offices on Eve of Annual Meetings
NEW YORK, April 24 (Reuters) — Climate protesters spray painted graffiti on Citigroup Inc and Bank of America Corp. offices in New York’s Bryant Park on Monday, accusing the banks of being “climate criminals” a day before the lenders are scheduled to hold their annual shareholder meetings.
“The largest banks in the world invest hundreds of billions of dollars in new fossil fuel infrastructure,” said Jim Gordon, one of the protesters outside the Citigroup office in midtown Manhattan. “I’m not generally a person that likes to go out in the street and do things like this, but I have grandkids and I’m terrified for their future,” Gordon said.
Behind Gordon, a Citigroup employee cleaned windows sprayed with messages, including “Climate criminal” and “Save the Amazon.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Committee Recommends Gov “Not Proceed” With Mandatory Fertilizer Emission Reductions
A House of Commons committee recommended that the federal government pledge to not follow through on any mandatory fertilizer emission reduction policies in a report published this month.
The report titled Feeding the World: Strengthening Canada’s Capacity to Respond to Global Food Insecurity was published by the House of Commons Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food.
Parliamentarians heard from a flood of agriculture experts who raised concerns about how mandating fertilizer emission reductions would jeopardize Canada’s food supply.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Trudeau Claims He Never Forced Anybody to Get Vaccinated
During a speech at the University of Ottawa on Monday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau claimed that his government never forced anybody to get vaccinated despite legislating some of the strictest vaccine mandates in the world throughout the Covid-19 pandemic.
Trudeau made the comments while speaking alongside Germany’s president Frank-Walter Steinmeier during a public discussion between the two.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Police say one teenager was taken to hospital and three have been arrested following the violent brawl near Sainsbury’s in Scarborough, North Yorkshire on Friday.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
The anti-immigration Austrian Freedom Party’s triumphant march continues. On Sunday, the right-wing party achieved the best result in the party’s history in the regional elections in Salzburg, which cements a string of victories for a party that has championed strict immigration, European identity, and an end to sanctions on Russia.
The party’s vote share soared 7.1-percentage points to 25.9 percent, making it the second-strongest party. Incumbent state Governor Wilfried Haslauer’s Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP) was able to defend first place, but the party lost 7.4 points, falling to 30.4 percent.
The ÖVP’s previous coalition partners, the Greens and the left-liberal NEOS, saw big losses. The NEOS was even completely ejected from the state parliament after only securing 4.1 percent, which means they missed the 5 percent threshold. The Greens fell to 8 percent, a drop of 1.3 points. The two parties’ poor results mean that the previous coalition now has no chance of forming.
The already weak opposition Social Democratic Party (SPÖ) continues to lose votes. In fact, the results in Salzburg were the party’s worst since 1945. With 17.9 percent (-2.2 points), it clearly lost its second-place position to the FPÖ. However, there is still a chance for the SPÖ to secure a one-seat majority with the ÖVP. It could also add the Greens to that coalition. The other option is governing with the Freedom Party.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Climate Protesters Attempt to Bring Berlin to a Halt — as Just Stop Oil Stop Traffic in London
German climate activists have glued themselves to streets all over Berlin this morning in a bid to bring traffic to a standstill.
Members of the group Last Generation have repeatedly blocked roads across Germany over the past year to pressure the government into taking further action against climate change.
Activists have glued themselves to the roads on several occasions, enraging some motorists and prompting accusations of extremism from conservative politicians.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Finland Starts Construction of Barrier to Secure Border With Russia
Finland has begun the construction of its planned 200-kilometer border barrier with Russia to boost security.
“We will secure 15 percent of the over the 1,300-kilometer-long border with Russia in critical areas,” Ismo Kurki, the head of the barrier construction project, told Polish Press Agency (PAP).
Although Finland discussed constructing a barrier on its eastern border when Estonia did a few years ago, it was not deemed necessary at the time, explained Kurki, who is the former commander of the Border Guard unit in southeastern Finland from 2016 to 2019.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
The National Federation of Mines and Energy, a French trade union affiliated to the General Confederation of Labour (CGT), has threatened to plunge into darkness the Cannes Film Festival and some other major public events in protest of the controversial pension reform.
“Macron promised 100 days to restore peace, we promise him 100 days of actions and anger. In May, do what you please! The Cannes festival, the Monaco Grand Prix, the Roland-Garros tournament, the Avignon festival could end up in the dark,” the union’s statement read, as quoted by a French broadcaster.
Anna Creti, an economist specializing in energy issues, confirmed the credibility of such threats, telling the broadcaster that the union has the “technical means” to cut the electricity at the Cannes festival.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
A new study by by German researchers has concluded that face masks can cause carbon dioxide poisoning when worn even for short periods and may have contributed significantly to stillbirths when worn by pregnant women, as well as testicular dysfunction and cognitive decline in children, among other destructive health issues.
As reported by the Daily Mail, the research, published in the journal Heliyon, comprises a review of 43 previously published studies on exposure to CO2, mask-wearing, and pregnancy.
The study notes that even short-term exposure to concentrations of CO2 as low as 0.3% caused brain damage, increased anxiety, and impaired memory in both pregnant rats and young mice in one study.
In another, when male mice were exposed to 2.5 percent CO2 for four hours, testicular cells and sperm were destroyed. The equivalent amount for humans would be 0.5 percent of CO2 over the same time period.
Yet another experiment discovered that stillbirth and birth defects occurred in pregnant rats that were exposed to just 3 percent CO2, which would be equal to 0.8 percent for humans.
The study also points to research that found just five minutes of mask wearing resulted in CO2 levels increasing to between 1.4 percent and 3.2 percent.
While they note that the review provides ‘circumstantial evidence’ only, the researchers allude to a surge in stillbirths during the pandemic, saying that masks could have contributed.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
German Cardinal: Ideological Warfare is an Attempt to Partition Poland Once Again
The Catholic faith guarantees Polish unity, which is why Poland is currently living through a period of ideological warfare, which is another attempt to divide the country, “this time not through military force but by ideological means,” according to Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Müller.
Müller made the remarks after receiving an award for his work from the Association of Catholic Publishers in Warsaw, Poland. During his speech, he said he saw Catholicism in the same manner as it was perceived by Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI, who both sought the unity of faith and reason.
He said he viewed the recent attacks on Pope John Paul II being produced by the left-liberal opposition and left-wing press in Poland as evidence that the ideological attacks directed at Poland were intensifying.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Alternative for Germany (AfD) state chairman for Thuringia and parliamentary group leader Björn Höcke is being targeted with a “hate speech” indictment after the state parliament lifted his immunity for the seventh time.
The AfD party has long faced intense repression from the German state, including monitoring of politicians’ and members’ emails and phone calls, police raids, and even ongoing attempts to ban the party. However, as the party has risen in popularity in the polls, pressure has only grown.
Höcke contends that the prosecution was “the preliminary climax of a hunt against a prominent representative of the democratic-patriotic opposition in the country.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
The LionLink will connect Britain and the Netherlands with each other and offshore windfarms between the countries.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
Hungary: Mass Brawl Breaks Out Between Syrians and Jordanians in Budapest Mall
Budapest’s Lurdy shopping mall was the scene of an unusual event — at least for Hungary — when over a dozen Syrians and Jordanians became involved in a mass brawl.
Friday’s fight at Lurdy House pitted members of a Syrian and a Jordanian family against each other reportedly over a long-standing feud. After the altercation, three people were questioned by police and one was detained. The latter was already on probation for violence.
Prior to the fight, the Cultural Association of Egyptians in Hungary had held an event, which was peaceful. The president of the association said that the two families involved have been angry at each other for years. Some people hit others with chairs. One man was hit on the head so hard that he was taken to the hospital with a life-threatening skull injury.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
All of Hungary’s law enforcement and intelligence agencies are coordinating to ensure Pope Francis’ visit goes smoothly, with the various heads of these agencies saying that everything is in place to ensure the safety of the pope during his three-day visit to Hungary between April 28-30.
Security preparations are underway for Pope Francis’ visit to Budapest. At the planned sites for the visit, on the roads surrounding the locations he will visit, and even on the three possible routes from Liszt Ferenc International Airport to St. Stephen’s Basilica, gutter covers are being welded and lamp posts are being checked.
All the sewer networks along the roads leading to all the sites of the papal visit are being thoroughly checked for explosives and weapons. Bomb detection robots will be used in the sewer sections under the public areas where the pope will journey between April 28 and April 30. At the points where people can enter to see or meet the pope, all visitors will be checked, primarily by the bomb squad of the Counter Terrorism Centre (TEK), Hungarian newspaper Magyar Nemzet writes.
In addition to welding down the sewer covers, sewer construction specialists are also closing some sewer sections underground, and the authorities are constantly monitoring the closed points.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Moroccan National Killed in Shoot-Out With Italian Police
A Moroccan national who stole the gun of one Italian police officer and shot at another while shouting “Allahu akbar” has been killed.
The incident occurred shortly after 11 a.m. on Monday morning in Fara Vicentino, a small town in the northeastern province of Vicenza.
According to local media, the North African attacker was causing a disturbance in the street and alarming passers-by as he continuously shouted “Allahu akbar,” leading some eyewitnesses to alert the local police.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Netherlands: Chaotic ING Shareholders’ Meeting Due to Climate Activists Protests; at Least 1 Arrest
The ING shareholders’ meeting was very chaotic on Monday due to protests by climate activists angered by the bank’s fossil investments. The meeting in the Muziekgebouw aan ‘t IJ in Amsterdam was halted several times/ and the police were present to remove activists. At least one person was arrested over the course of the day.
Dozens of demonstrators from Milieudefensie and Extinction Rebellion were able to attend the meeting because they own ING shares. During the meeting, the activists shouted slogans, sang songs, blew whistles and held up banners. The police made arrests, and security guards in the room, of which there were many, removed activists from the hall. Activists were also standing with banners outside the Muziekgebouw.
One person arrested contiuously blew a whistle and shouted that he would remain seated on the floor until ING stopped investing in fossil fuels. The other activists in the room shouted in support during his arrest, saying that “he is not alone.” Campaigners also shouted in Dutch, “This is what democracy looks like,” and yelled that they “want climate action now.”
Hans Wijers, the Supervisory Board Chair, suspended the meeting several times because of the unrest. Wijers said that the portests “have nothing to do with democracy,” and are just “pure obstruction,” preventing other shareholders from speaking. Calm gradually returned after most of the activists had been removed from the room, although noise could occasionally be heard by remaining demonstrators. Those people were then also removed from the room.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Polish Opposition Struggles to Find a New Leader
Donald Tusk has not been having a good streak lately. The building of a united opposition has become bogged down in disagreements, resulting in setbacks for the opposition rather than progress.
The ruling Law and Justice (PiS) emerged victorious in the so-called “winter battle” — there were no power or heat outages and energy prices remained under control — and the party is enjoying very good results in the polls.
There is growing support among opposition members for a change in leadership and a push to bring Warsaw’s Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski to the forefront.
However, it won’t be easy for Trzaskowski. According to a survey by the Social Changes agency for wPolityce.pl conservative news outlet, Tusk is firmly entrenched as the opposition leader.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
The end of the conflict in Ukraine must see Russia wholly defeated and withdrawn from all Ukrainian territories including Crimea, or the West risks legitimizing the hostile tactics of “authoritarian lunatics who think that it is okay to invade their neighbors,” the prime ministers of Poland, Slovakia, and Czechia warned in an article published on Monday.
Writing for the U.S. magazine Foreign Affairs, the leaders of three of the Visegrad Group nations claimed that a partial victory for Ukraine “will solve nothing,” and urged Western allies to continue supporting Ukraine “until Russian forces withdraw from its territory entirely, putting a definitive end to the Kremlin’s revanchism and imperialism.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Police caught the group of four after an attack in London ‘s West End that saw a victim put in a chokehold before being pulled to the ground as they tried to steal his watch.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
Rev Canon Dr Andrew Bishop said the state that Grade I listed Croydon Minster had been left in had been a ‘real shock to the system. Thirty gravestones have been destroyed.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Have Scientists Found a Way to Reverse Sight Loss? A Jab of Skin Cells Could Hold the Key
An estimated 250,000 people in the UK live with severe visual problems due to dry age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and there is no treatment.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Labour MP Suspended for Claiming Jewish People Aren’t Subjected to Racism
A serving Labour MP in the United Kingdom has been suspended by the party pending an investigation after claiming that Jewish people do not suffer racism but merely experience prejudice similar to redheads.
Diane Abbott, who was the first Black lawmaker in the U.K. parliament and is a close compatriot of former hard-left Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, offered the remarks in a letter to The Observer newspaper published on Sunday.
In her letter, titled “Racism is black and white,” Abbott admitted that minorities including Jewish people and the traveling community “undoubtedly experience prejudice,” but claimed this is not the same as racism.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Vaccine Injuries Become Dominant Theme of German Reporting on COVID Jabs
Last month, German Health Minister and renowned virus pest Karl Lauterbach gave a remarkable interview in which he denounced “exorbitant” pharmaceutical profits, deplored “dismaying” vaccine injuries, and called for the manufacturers to set aside funds for those who have been harmed.
He did so amid a growing wave of reporting on vaccine injuries in the German press — a wave which his statements have now turned into a tsunami. In the weeks since, vaccine injuries and side effects have become the dominant theme of German press coverage on the jabs, from local papers to national media.
It’s been a serious shift, the likes of which I’m not sure has unfolded in any other country. To give you a taste of it, I’ve assembled a representative selection of stories from the last eight weeks or so, in roughly reverse chronological order. As you read through them, remember that these are all links to publications read by ordinary people; I’ve excluded all media with overt Covid-sceptic associations.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Russia Claims Ukrainian ‘Exploding Drone’ Made it Within 19 Miles of Moscow
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian-appointed authorities in Crimea said the military fended off a Ukrainian strike on a main naval base on Monday, while an exploding drone was also reportedly found in a forest near Moscow — attacks that come as Ukraine is believed to be preparing for a major counteroffensive.
The Moscow-appointed head of the port city of Sevastopol in Crimea, Mikhail Razvozhayev, said the military destroyed a Ukrainian sea drone that attempted to attack the harbor in the early hours and another one blew up. He said the powerful explosions shattered windows in several apartment buildings but didn’t inflict any other damage.
The attack was the latest in a series of attempted strikes on Sevastopol, the main naval base in Crimea that Russia illegally annexed in 2014.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
US Convinced Ukraine to Hold Off Carrying Out Anniversary Attack on Russia
Ukraine had reportedly made plans to conduct a heavy anniversary attack behind enemy lines in Russia on February 24, but the US was apparently monitoring Kyiv’s considerations, fearing that to attack in this way would lead to a massive offensive by the Kremlin, according to the Washington Post.
The report noted that Ukrainian Maj. Gen. Kyrylo Budanov, head of the military intelligence directorate, the HUR, had told one of his officers “to get ready for mass strikes on 24 February … with everything the HUR had.” This information was apparently communicated through a classified report out of the US National Security Agency.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Pakistan: Explosions Kill 12 in Swat Valley Counter-Terror Office
At least 12 people have been killed in two explosions at a counter-terrorism office in north-west Pakistan, officials say.
Police said that there is no evidence of an attack and that it could have been as a result of an electrical fault igniting ammunition in the centre.
Most of the dead are police officers.
The explosion happened in the Swat valley, which was controlled by Islamist militants before they were forced out in 2009.
More than 40 people were injured and buildings have collapsed.
A spokesman for provincial police in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, which neighbours Afghanistan, said that ammunition caught fire, “most probably due to an electric short-circuit”.
“No evidence of an attack from outside has been established so far.”
| — Hat tip: JW | [Return to headlines] |
Biden Administration ‘Annoyed’ at Macron for Seeking Ukraine Peace Deal With China: Report
The White House is reportedly “annoyed” with French President Emmanuel Macron’s attempts at trying to go around Washington and strike a peace deal in Ukraine with the aid of Communist China.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
China Loves Coal: World’s Largest Polluter Continues to Devour Fossil Fuels
China’s love for coal is insatiable. That was the simple, despairing message Monday from climate alarmists Greenpeace as the world’s single largest polluter rushed to embrace fossil fuels in the first quarter of 2023 while ignoring calls (and its own pledges) to reduce emissions.
AFP reports Greenpeace lamented the second-largest economy on the planet is also its biggest emitter of the greenhouse gases driving “climate change,” such as carbon dioxide (CO2), and Beijing’s emissions pledges are seen as essential to keeping global temperature rise well below two degrees Celsius.
Trouble is China says one thing and then does the other.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Anzac Day should remind us what real sacrifice looks like before that spirt is lost
Retired Special Forces major Heston Russell wants Australians to remember the legacy of all our veterans who risked their lives by putting service to their nation above all else.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
Activist Monica Smit, who was vocal in opposing vaccine mandates during Victoria’s lockdowns, posted to social media Sunday that she had recently been to one of the events.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
An Aboriginal man was caught off-guard after running into his foster mum on the street, who he hadn’t seen in years.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
ABC Q&A host Stan Grant has unleashed on his own employer, revealing he felt ‘betrayed’ by the public broadcaster when the Queen died.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
Terrifying Moment Plane Window is Smashed in Mid-Air Brawl That Sparked an Emergency Landing
Footage of the second incident shows a man allegedly raising a bottle above his head and using it to strike another passenger.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
Another Kabul? Citizens Feel Abandoned as Diplomats Airlifted Out of Sudan
Western nations are rushing to evacuate their embassy staff as a struggle for power between rival military factions intensifies. Still, some voice concerns lessons from the chaotic evacuation of Kabul have not been heeded.
The United States, United Kingdom, Japan, France, Germany, and Italy are among Western countries who have extracted embassy staff from Sudan over the weekend, a major logistical feat in a surging conflict which has seen aircraft burnt out and fighting at the capital Khartoum’s airport, and a runway damaged. The United States said it had conducted a military operation to extract government personnel from Khartoum, the United Kingdom said it had used special force soldiers to retrieve their people in a “complex and rapid evacuation”.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Muti killings involve the removal of body parts while the victim is traditionally still alive which are then taken to ‘sangomas’ to provide potions for their clients.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
South Africa: Man Stabbed to Death at St George’s Park
Police in Gqeberha are investigating a case of murder after a man was stabbed to death at St George’s Park on Monday.
Spokesperson Colonel Priscilla Naidu says the police attended to a complaint of murder at about 16.45.
A post on social media showed a local security company securing the crime scene.
Naidu says the unknown man was stabbed in his neck and hand.
She says they estimate the victim to be in his early twenties.
Naidu says the suspects and the circumstances surrounding the incident are under investigation.
| — Hat tip: Dean | [Return to headlines] |
Mob in Haitian Capital Burns 13 Suspected Gangsters to Death
A mob in the Haitian capital beat and burned 13 suspected gang members to death with gasoline-soaked tires Monday after pulling the men from police custody at a traffic stop, police and witnesses said.
The horrific violence underlined the increasingly lawless situation in Port-au-Prince where criminal gangs have taken control over an estimated 60% of the city since the July 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moïse.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
819 Migrants Arrive on Lampedusa
(ANSA) — ROME, APR 24 — Some 819 migrants and refugees arrived on Lampedusa during the day on Sunday and in the early hours of Monday morning in a total of 21 landings after being rescued by the Italian Goast Guard in the Italian search and rescue area or in territorial waters.
The arrivals, which came after a four-day hiatus linked to bad weather, took to 1,094 the number of people in the hotspot, against an official capacity of just under 400.
On Sunday morning there were 315 people in the hotspot. (ANSA).
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Federal Court Upholds Florida Immigration Law Banning ‘Sanctuary Cities’
On April 13, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta overturned a previous ruling delivered by a district judge in southern Florida which had, in turn, blocked portions of a Florida law banning “sanctuary cities” in the state.
A “sanctuary policy” is when a city, county or state government declares that it will not cooperate with federal immigration authorities. It’s been going on for decades.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
In 2021, nearly 1,350 associations were subsidized or remunerated by the French government to the tune of €750 million, with the funds earmarked under the “mission” of Immigration, asylum and integration.
These funds, along with funding from outside actors such as the Open Society Foundations, create massive incentives for France to continue its open borders policies. As French magazine Valeurs Actuelles reports, the number of associations designed to promote and help migrants have rapidly multiplied, with opportunistic actors cashing in on France’s rapidly changing demographics.
These associations, such as France Terre d’Asile, La Cimade, GISTI, and the Refugee Forum, are tasked with helping illegal immigrants from the moment they arrive in France, including providing them with food and housing and walking them through the steps required to apply for asylum and other benefits.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
The British government will reportedly introduce mandatory age checks for illegal migrants who claim to be children as a migrant claiming to be 17 to better his chances at receiving asylum was revealed to be a 42-year-old former ISIS fighter with a full beard.
In a concession to the right wing of his party, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has reportedly agreed to amend the upcoming Illegal Migration Bill to require that migrants claiming to be minors undergo physical checks, such as x-rays of teeth and hands or MRI scans of knee and collar bones to determine whether or not they are in reality an adult, the Times of London reported.
The issue of illegals claiming to be children in order to better their chances of receiving asylum has been a longstanding issue in Britain, with an average of 355 alleged child migrants being exposed as adults between 2012 and 2020, even before mandatory age tests. Campaigners have long been calling for tests — many European nations have used them for years to detect fraud, as child migrants understandably receive preferential treatment — but the idea has been repeatedly rejected as somehow inhumane.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Britain’s plan to send migrants to Rwanda is unlawful because the African country is an ‘authoritarian one-party state’ which has been known to murder its opponents, lawyers for a group of asylum seekers told the Court of Appeal yesterday.
Home Secretary Suella Braverman wants to send thousands of migrants more than 4,000 miles away to Rwanda as part of the £140m deal agreed last year.
The first planned flight to Rwanda last June was blocked by a last-minute ruling by the European Court of Human Rights.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Indians now form the second-largest nationality crossing the Channel by small boat, figures have revealed.
Home Office data showed 675 Indian nationals arrived by small boat between January and March in what sources said was a surge in attempts to evade work visa restrictions.
Only 683 Indians arrived by small boat during all of last year.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
On Sunday, three members of Antifa were arrested outside of a Fort Worth, Texas family-friendly drag show after allegedly attacking protestors of the event.
Samuel Fowlkes was arrested on charges of resisting arrest, search, or transport, assaulting a peace officer, evading arrest or detention, and four counts of assault causing bodily injury, according to booking documents.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Bill Maher Humiliates Hollywood a-Listers, Spills Beans on Secret ‘Cancel Culture’ Meeting
Liberal host Bill Maher has humiliated Hollywood A-listers by calling them out for their hypocrisy and cowardice on his hit HBO show “Real Time.”
Maher came clean about a secret meeting he had with a “who’s who of A-listers and stars” at a major producer’s mansion.
The Hollywood elites had gathered to discuss cancel culture and how to fight back against it.
They all agreed that the Left’s efforts to censor speech have been a disaster and must be stopped.
However, they refused to act and kept their views about cancel culture hidden.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Bud Light Rivals Stealing Sales After Dylan Mulvaney Controversy
Amid ongoing consumer backlash to the Dylan Mulvaney marketing campaign, Bud Light’s dollar share for the latest week lost almost the same amount as competitors like Miller Lite and Coors Light gained, according to a report from Beer Business Daily.
Data compiled for the week showed Coors Light and Miller Lite’s dollar share went up 3.5% and 3.1% respectively, suggesting Bud Light’s losses in dollar share resulted directly from consumer recoil rather than a lapse in beer demand, the report continued.
Over the same period, Coors Light cases went up 10.6% and Miller Lite jumped 11.5%.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Canada: Waterloo Catholic Trustee Calls Christian Males “Threats, “ Concerned Parents Speak Out
Parents as First Educators (PAFE) is calling for the resignation of a Waterloo Catholic school board trustee who publicly commented on Twitter that the “most dangerous creature on the planet is the white Christian male.”
In a now-deleted Tweet, the first-term Waterloo Catholic District School Board (WCDSB) trustee Wendy Ashby called Christian males a “threat to anyone that is not them.”
PAFE Project Director Amelia Willis says that Ashby’s comments have alarmed parents, who are concerned about the well-being of their children in the classroom.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Getting Started With Damus: A Censorship-Resistant, Nostr Social Media App for iPhone, iPad, and Mac
Nostr (Notes and Other Stuff Transmitted by Relays) is an open-source protocol that enables decentralized and censorship-resistant social media without relying on a central authority.
Damus is a popular client for interacting with the Nostr protocol that’s available on iOS, iPadOS, and macOS (the latest Macs with the M series of chips.)
This post will show you how to set up a Nostr account in Damus and start using the app.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Head of Vatican Life Academy Gives Nod to Legal Assisted Suicide
ROME — The president of the Pontifical Academy for Life said he is personally opposed to assisted suicide but would not exclude it for others who wish to avail themselves of it.
In an April 21 debate on end-of-life issues at the Journalism Festival in Perugia, Italy, Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia said that he endorses “accompaniment” and care as the best approach to assisting the terminally ill but recognizes the legitimacy of laws permitting assisted suicide as furthering the common good.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
How to Use Amethyst: A Nostr Android App That Enables Censorship-Resistant Social Media
If you’re tired of Big Tech platforms scooping up your data and mass censoring the posts on their platform, Nostr (Notes and Other Stuff Transmitted by Relays) is a great alternative. It’s an open-source protocol that makes social media decentralized and resistant to censorship. It also gives users full control of their account and data.
Amethyst is a full-featured Android app that lets you connect to Nostr, create an account, and start exploring this decentralized social media protocol.
Keep reading to discover how to set up your Nostr account in Amethyst, find some accounts to follow, and explore what Nostr has to offer.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
J.K. Rowling Calls Out Canadian Male Politicians for Prancing Around in High Heels
Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling and other prominent women are calling out Canadian male politicians for prancing around in high heels in an effort to raise awareness about domestic violence.
“Keep us posted on how many femicides this prevented,” said Rowling in a quote tweet of a video posted by Liberal transport minister Omar Alghabra. The British author revealed back in 2020 that she is a survivor of domestic violence and sexual assault.
The video shows Alghabra along with other male ministers and MPs walking around a committee room in pink high heels. Other elected officials seen in the video include Liberal housing and diversity and inclusion minister Ahmed Hussein, Green Party MP Mike Morrice and Conservative MP Larry Brock.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
The president of the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) has penned a letter in which the celebrity gender surgeon compares bans on experimental child sex changes to racial discrimination and claims that nature lacks a definitive answer to the question of what a woman is.
In the message to WPATH members sent on April 21, Dr. Marci Bowers accuses Republican lawmakers of using “anti-trans-messaging as a winning political posture,” citing recent bans on adolescent sex changes passed in 11 states, as well as Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey’s emergency declaration that aims to put guardrails around the experimental procedures for people of all ages.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
New Zealand’s Strongest Man Enters Women’s Weightlifting Competition to Protest Transgender Athletes
New Zealand’s strongest man has registered to compete in a women’s weightlifting competition after the organizers agreed to allow biological male transgender athletes to compete as females.
52-year-old Dale Shepherd entered the Global Powerlifting New Zealand Day of the Deadlifts as a woman to protest the competition’s self-identification rules on gender.
The event allows men to compete as females if they claim to be transgenders who “identify” as “women.”
Shepherd has been weightlifting for roughly four decades and holds nearly two dozen national records in the sport.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
A 42-year-old man has been arrested after he was caught taking photos of underage girls in a school’s female restroom.
The suspect was identified as Walter César Solis Caler, a biological male who claims to be a transgender “woman.”
Caler was arrested by police in Peru after he was caught dressing as a schoolgirl and filming children inside the girls’ restroom.
The incident took place at the “Rosa de América” all-girls school in the city of Huancayo, Peru.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Protesters Storm Montana Capitol Over Censure of Transgender Lawmaker
Protesters entered the Montana House of Representatives on Monday in support of a transgender lawmaker whom state Republicans censured over contentious remarks during a debate over a ban on certain gender-related treatments.
Democrat state Rep. Zooey Zephyr, a transgender individual, said that supporters of the bill would have “blood on their hands.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Second Anheuser-Busch Marketing Executive on Leave Following Dylan Mulvaney Controversy
A second Anheuser-Busch marketing executive has taken a leave of absence in the wake of the controversy surrounding its partnership with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney.
Daniel Blake, who oversees marketing for Anheuser-Busch’s mainstream brands, is also being placed on leave. Over the weekend, news broke that Bud Light’s marketing VP, Alissa Heinerscheid, had taken a leave of absence amid the backlash to the Mulvaney fallout and a widespread boycott from Bud Light drinkers.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Trans activist Tara Jay in a now-deleted TikTok clip told her 2,400 followers that she would not allow anyone to block her from using the female restrooms.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
A 2016 medical article documenting the tragic death of one of the participants in the linchpin Dutch study upon which the entire child sex change experiment is based indicates that puberty suppression was to blame for the young person’s death.
The case is that of an 18-year-old trans-identified male whose puberty was blocked by the Dutch researchers at a very early stage, meaning there wasn’t enough penile tissue for surgeons to use to create a “neo-vagina.” Therefore, a more risky procedure using a section of the patient’s bowel was necessary, which resulted in fatal necrotizing fasciitis.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
If a man can identify as a woman, why can’t a 59-year-old bloke identify as a 6 year old girl?
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
What is Nostr and is it the Future of Decentralized Social Media?
The quest for censorship-resistant social media platforms, but also for their viability in terms of reach, continues and one of the new contenders being talked about is an open and decentralized protocol called Nostr.
Decentralization is ensured by allowing the use of self-owned accounts and identities.
Other than protecting users from what’s become rampant censorship on major centralized social media, Nostr is also seen as a possible way to deal with some of the shortcomings of most, if not all decentralized alternatives: a smaller number of users, and no easy way to also transfer followers and content to a new platform.
As a protocol, Nostr is supposed to be used in creating a network that shares data around the world, based on user clients rather than centralized servers. However, the “use and feel” element is meant to allow people to use it much like they do platforms like Twitter: posting, liking posts, following, unfollowing others, and reposting their content (“notes”).
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Russia Must be Driven Into Submission or Europe Risks Further Bloodshed, Warn Polish, Slovak and Czech Pms
The Original Article:
The Free World Must Stay the Course on Ukraine
A Frozen Conflict or Partial Victory Will Solve Nothing
By Petr Fiala, Eduard Heger, and Mateusz Morawiecki
April 24, 2023
…
One just has to love the hypocricy and audacity of the Ukrainian Prime Minister of the Czech Republic, who has no scruples when it comes to illegal censorship of the free speech, to claim to be a part of “the free world!”
Chicago ‘Amber Alert-Like System’ Aims to Warn Citizens About ‘Teen Takeovers’
Chicago is creating an “Amber Alert-like system” to try and warn parents and others of “downtown teen takeovers” as they happen.
SO… the purge is happening?
If you want to see who the criminals in [Chicago] are google
Hey Jackass.
.
.
SAVE HUMANITY
Den 29 April 2023 samlas människor i Madeburg
på Domplatz för Reformation 2.0. Lyssna till
Prof. Dr. Sucharit Bhakdis anmaning.
—
On April 29, 2023, people will gather in Magdeburg
on Domplatz for Reformation 2.0. Listen to
Prof. Dr. Sucharit Bhakdi’s address.
—
https://voca.ro/1g89goXc7lhC
.
.
Large demonstration in Magdeburg with Prof. Bhakdi on 29.04.: “In my whole life I never had more important things to say than now.”
Prof. Bhakdi encourages people to join him and come to Magdeburg. On 29.04. there will be a large demonstration in front of the cathedral square. He said he has never had more important things to say in his entire life. Also people like Dr. Wodarg, Dr. Yeadon, Dr. Griesz-Brisson, Dr. Javid-Kistel, Anselm Lenz and Michael Ballweg are invited there as guests. Demonstrations will be held for a Reformation 2.0, Lauterbach’s liability, stopping the Green ID passport and leaving the WHO. Prof. Bhakdi says in his short video contribution: “Come to the cathedral square in Magdeburg, experience in front of God’s house, how brutes have dared and managed to commit this inconceivable outrage and to give themselves the super-divine omnipotence. Here in this place, 700 years ago, Magdeburgers stood up to be the first to initiate the Reformation. Now the hour of the Reformation 2.0 strikes and this time it is about everything. Namely, the salvation of mankind. All those who are united here today in Magdeburg: stand up once again after 700 years, for God, for truthfulness and for humanity”.
Big demonstration in Magdeburg with Prof. Bhakdi on 29.04.: “In my whole life I never had more important things to say than now.”
Prof. Bhakdi encourages people to join him and come to Magdeburg. On April 29, a large demonstration will take place there in front of the cathedral square. He said he has never had more important things to say in his entire life. Also people like Dr. Wodarg, Dr. Yeadon, Dr. Griesz-Brisson, Dr. Javid-Kistel, Anselm Lenz and Michael Ballweg are invited there as guests. Demonstrations will be held for a Reformation 2.0, Lauterbach’s liability, stopping the Green ID passport and leaving the WHO. Prof. Bhakdi says in his short video contribution: “Come to the cathedral square in Magdeburg, experience in front of God’s house, how brutes have dared and managed to commit this inconceivable outrage and to give themselves the super-divine omnipotence. Here in this place, 700 years ago, Magdeburgers stood up to be the first to initiate the Reformation. Now the hour of the Reformation 2.0 strikes and this time it is about everything. Namely, the salvation of mankind. All those who are united here and today in Magdeburg: stand up once again after 700 years, for God, for truthfulness and for humanity”.
+++
Prof. Bhakdi addresses the population with a new video. He calls for people to meet in Magdeburg on 29.04.202. Who is there “will understand why it is now about everything”. In 15 minutes he wants to summarize the inconceivable.
In my whole life, I never had more important things to share than now.
Prof. Bhakdi
Come to the cathedral square in Magdeburg, learn in front of God’s house how brutes have dared and managed to commit this inconceivable sacrilege and give themselves the superdivine omnipotence. Here in this place, 700 years ago Magdeburgers stood up to be the first to initiate the Reformation, now the hour of Reformation 2.0 strikes and this time it’s about everything. Namely, the salvation of mankind. All those who are united here today in Magdeburg, stand up once again after 700 years, for God, for truthfulness and for humanity.
Prof. Bhakdi
Alle Informationen dazu findet ihr auf den Websiten von „Reformation 2.0“ und der „Bewegung Halle“.
Guests
Prof. Sucharit Bhakdi
Dr. Wolfgang Wodarg
Dr. Michael Yeadon
Dr. Magareta Griesz-Brisson
Dr. Daniel Langhans
Dr. Carola Javid Kristel
Dr. Bodo Schiffmann
Dr. Christina Baum
Anselm Lenz (Journalist)
Pfarrer Martin Michaelis
Michael Ballweg (Ehrengast)
Lars Hünich (Parl. C-Ausschuss)
Frank Liske (Vorsitzender Unternehmerverband ASU)
Udo Merx (Friedensaktivist)
Dirk Hoffmann (Reformation 2.0)
Beate Bahner (RAin)
Wolfgang Greulich
https://corona-blog.net/2023/04/25/grossdemonstration-in-magdeburg-mit-prof-bhakdi-am-29-04-in-meinem-ganzen-leben-hatte-ich-nie-wichtigeres-mitzuteilen-als-jetzt/
+++
Reformation 2.0 in Magdeburg am Dom (29.04.2023)
https://youtu.be/rPWcJ1oUDes
+++
https://diebasis-st.de/event/reformation-2-0-in-magdeburg-am-dom/
+++
PS
Not 700 years, 499 years – Bhakdi is Thai