A Russian train hit an explosive device on the tracks and derailed near the Ukrainian border, catching on fire but causing no casualties. So far there is no firm evidence that connects Ukraine with the incident.
In other news, federal regulators seized the assets of the troubled First Republic Bank before selling it to JPMorgan Chase.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to Daniel Greenfield, Dean, DV, Reader from Chicago, Roger, SS, Upananda Brahmachari, 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.
27 States Revolt Against Biden’s ‘Unconscionable Policy’ for Mortgages: ‘Will be a Disaster’
27 states are revolting against Democrat President Joe Biden’s new plan to make good-credit borrowers help subsidize mortgages from higher-risk borrowers.
Top finance officials from the states are demanding Biden ends his “unconscionable” plan before it turns into a total “disaster.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Regulators Seize First Republic Bank, Sell Its Assets to JPMorgan Chase
NEW YORK — Regulators seized troubled First Republic Bank and sold all of its deposits and most of its assets to JPMorgan Chase in a bid to head off further banking turmoil in the U.S.
San Francisco-based First Republic is the third midsize bank to fail in two months. It is the second-biggest bank failure in U.S. history, behind only Washington Mutual, which collapsed at the height of the 2008 financial crisis and was also taken over by JPMorgan.
“Our government invited us and others to step up, and we did,” said Jamie Dimon, chairman and chief executive of JPMorgan Chase.
First Republic’s 84 branches opened Monday as branches of JPMorgan Chase, which acquired the bank’s $92 billion in deposits and $203 billion in loans and other securities. The bank’s shareholders are likely to be wiped out as part of the deal.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
US Recession Probability Reaches 67%
Via Political Calculations blog
What month will the National Bureau of Economic Research someday get around to saying marked the beginning of the next recession in the U.S.?
The NBER is notoriously slow in identifying when the business cycle in the U.S. either peaks before going into recession or troughs when coming out of one, often lagging behind these events by many months. That’s because they take a number of data series into consideration and will wait until many go through revisions before determining if the national U.S. economy has truly changed direction from growth to contraction or vice versa according to their model of the economy.
Because they’re so slow, analysts have built models to try to predict the timing of when the country’s business cycle has changed when evidence is building that it has, long before the NBER makes its “official” determination. Some of these models are oriented toward recession forecasting. They have been built to use currently available data to try to anticipate the most likely timing of when the NBER will be likely to say the business cycle changed from boom to bust.
In a sense, they’re using models to predict when the NBER’s business cycle model will someday find the U.S. economy went into recession! That brings us to a recession forecasting model whose results we’ve been featuring since October 2022, when a leading recession indicator first flashed a red warning light.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Bernie Sanders: Government Should Confiscate All Wealth Over $999 Million
Authored by Thomas Lifson via AmericanThinker.com
No billionaires at all!
Not American ones, at least.
That’s the newly proclaimed policy of Bernie Sanders, who most definitely is not challenging the Democrats to nominate him for president in 2024, as he did in 2020. Nope, Bernie is perfectly comfortable with the policies being followed by President Biden’s handlers.
Presumably, in exchange for not rocking the boat as he did in 2020, forcing the party’s controllers to pick an already senescent Joe Biden just because he was easy to control with all these bribes that could be exposed when needed (cough! Stay tuned as Biden’s desire for re-election now appears to be a kamikaze mission), Bernie has assurances that the hard left vector will continue no matter who is leading the party as presidential nominee in 2024.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Bipartisan Social Media Bill Plans to Introduce Digital ID Age Verification
A bipartisan bill that would require social media companies to check users’ ID and verify the age of users to prevent children under the age of 13 from signing up has been introduced in the Senate.
While the bill does advocate for ways to do this anonymously, and while the bill is aimed at protecting kids, it has privacy and free speech concerns as it could kill online anonymity, meaning people have to show ID to use social media.
The “Protecting Kids on Social Media Act” was introduced by Senators Tom Cotton (R-AR), Katie Britt (R-AL), Chris Murphy (D-CT), and Brian Schatz (D-HI).
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
BlackRock Installs Brain Chips in 50 Americans
During Monday’s live edition of The American Journal, Harrison Smith dove into an article describing a Blackrock-manufactured brain chip being placed into human brains in the state of Utah.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Brave Search Cuts Ties With Bing to Fully Break Away From Big Tech
Privacy-focused search engine Brave Search has announced it has ditched all third-party indexes like Bing and will be exclusively using its own. The move appears to be an effort to stop relying on technology solutions provided by Big Tech.
“By default, Brave Search users will now receive 100% of results from the Brave Index, giving users fully independent results. As always, our results will preserve user privacy,” Brave said in a blog post announcing the move.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Breaking: Biden’s COVID Vaccine Mandates for International Travelers to End on May 11
The Biden regime has announced it will be ending its Covid vaccine requirements for most international travelers, federal workers and contractors, healthcare workers, and Head Start educators effective May 11.
This is also the same day that the Biden regime will terminate the public health emergency related to the pandemic.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Breaking: Jay Inslee Will Not Seek 4th Term as Washington’s Governor in 2024
Washington state Governor Jay Inslee (D) announced Monday that he will not seek re-election in 2024.
“Today I announced I will not be running for a fourth term. We’ve made Washington a beacon for progress, and now it’s time to pass the torch,” Gov Inslee said on Twitter. “I’m proud of the progress we’ve made on so many fronts: climate, financial aid, paid family leave, legal justice system reforms, gun safety, reproductive freedom… Now is the time to intensely focus on all we can accomplish in the next year and a half. I intend to do just that.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Breaking: Vice Preparing to File for Bankruptcy
Vice Media, the edgy and woke digital media company once valued at $5.7 billion, is reportedly preparing to file for bankruptcy in the coming weeks, according to sources familiar with the matter.
Vice had been seeking a buyer to avoid bankruptcy, and five companies had expressed interest in acquiring it, The New York Times reports.
However, the chances of a deal being struck are becoming increasingly slim. Vice has experienced a precipitous fall from grace, having secured millions in investment from media giants like Disney and Fox, before falling on hard times.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Bride Dies at Beach When Speeding DUI Driver Slams Golf Cart
FOLLY BEACH, S.C. (AP) — A bride who had just got married was killed when a woman driving under the influence and well over twice the speed limit slammed into the back of a golf cart on a South Carolina beach road, authorities said.
Data retrieved from Jamie Lee Komoroski’s rental car indicated she was driving 65 mph (105 kph) and only briefly hit the brakes before she hit the golf cart around 10 p.m. Friday on Folly Beach, investigators said.
The speed limit on the island near Charleston is 25 mph (40 kph).
Samantha Miller, 34, of Charlotte, North Carolina, died in the wreck, according to the Charleston County Coroner’s Office.
Miller had just got married, Folly Beach Public Safety Department Director Andrew Gilreath said.
Three others on the golf cart were injured. Gilreath said the golf cart had lights and was legal to drive at night.
Komoroski, 25, is charged with reckless vehicular homicide and three counts of driving under the influence causing death. She faces one to 25 years in prison on each DUI count.
| — Hat tip: Roger | [Return to headlines] |
Crime Spree Ends When Store Clerk Shoots Robbery Suspect During Police Pursuit
A robbery suspect was neutralized by an armed store clerk in Georgia after a high-speed pursuit that began in Florida last week, according to authorities.
The harrowing incident unfolded at around 3:30 a.m. on Friday in Palm Coast, FL.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Democrat Senator Calls it Quits: ‘It’s Time’ to Retire
Democrat Senator Ben Cardin (D-MD) has announced that he is retiring and won’t seek reelection next year.
“It’s time,” the 79-year-old Maryland Democrat said.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
DeSantis Claps Back at Disney: ‘They’re Not Going to Have Their Own Government’
Gov. Ron DeSantis said he doesn’t expect to lose his battle against Disney World after the board he appointed announced it would countersue the amusement park.
“I said very clearly they’re going to live under the same laws as everyone else,” the Florida Republican said at a press conference on Monday. “They’re not going to have their own government.”
The Central Florida Tourism Oversight District board announced its countersuit Monday, responding to a lawsuit Disney filed against the board, its members and DeSantis last Wednesday. Disney’s suit alleges that the governor was waging a “targeted campaign of government retaliation” after the board nullified an agreement between the entertainment giant and a previous board.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
DeSantis-Appointed Board Sues Disney Over Reedy Creek Theme Park’s ‘Backroom Deal’
On Monday, the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District board sued the Walt Disney Company to void a development agreement reached by the company’s previous board that reeks “of a backroom deal.”
The lawsuit stated that following the Florida Legislature’s establishment of an independent board to govern the former Reedy Creek Improvement District (RCID), “Disney covertly cobbled together a series of eleventh-hour deals with its soon-to-be-replaced puppet government” in an effort to “stymie Florida’s elected representatives.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Election Integrity’s Biggest Threat: Big Tech
Why Republicans Cannot Win; Monitor Tech Manipulations, Make Findings Public
by Robert Epstein
If I could show you some of the data that we collected, you would be astounded.
There is a lot more that we can find. The bottom line on this is going to be that the types of monitoring systems that we have been developing since 2016, I am pretty sure at this point that they need to be permanent, large scale, and operating in all 50 states to protect our free-and-fair elections from interference by tech companies, which can flip elections any and all ways they please without anyone knowing.
Tech will always be far ahead of laws and regulations, but monitoring is also tech. If we are monitoring them, we are doing to them what they do to us 24/7.
When you monitor, you can catch them in their shenanigans, and you can get them to back down. As you’re going to see, apparently, we got Google to back down by exposing some of the manipulations that they were engaging in before the 2020 presidential election.
The Wall Street Journal in 2018 published some emails that had leaked out of Google in which one Google employee is saying to others, “How can we use ephemeral experiences to change people’s views about Trump’s travel ban?”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Elon Musk Says There Should be ‘Some Sort of Regulatory Oversight’ of AI
Billionaire Elon Musk pushed for regulation on artificial intelligence (AI) during a recent media appearance.
Musk said to Bill Maher, the host of HBO’s “Real Time with Bill Maher,” that he thought “we should have some sort of regulatory oversight” on AI. The CEO of Tesla, Twitter and SpaceX tweeted footage of their conversation late last week.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Florida Crime Rate Drops for Record 50-Year Low: Report
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Crime is down across Florida for a 50-year low, according to the 2021 Annual Uniform Crime Report.
The report covers 2021 and shows Florida’s total crime volume dropped 8.3 percent, or 38,524 fewer reported index crimes, compared to 2020.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
It’s NOT Funny Because it’s Just Fact: Biden Jokes About Never Taking Questions and Doing Nothing
Joe Biden attempted to do stand up comedy over the weekend, and it went much as you would expect.
Biden was appearing at the annual White House Correspondent’s dinner, which bizarrely seems to have become the only time where everyone just drops the bulls*** and says what they really think.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Jack Dorsey Says Elon Musk Should Have Never Bought Twitter: ‘It All Went South’
Jack Dorsey is doing an about-face on Elon Musk’s Twitter takeover.
On Friday night, Dorsey, the Twitter co-founder, expressed displeasure with Musk’s leadership of the social-media company, The Washington Post reported over the weekend. Among other comments, Dorsey said Musk shouldn’t have gone through with the deal to buy Twitter.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Lori Lightfoot Rejects Randi Weingarten’s Spin on School Closings: ‘Not the Reality’
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot seemed to reject American Federation of Teachers president Randi Weingarten’s claim about unions working to re-open schools and said that it was “not the reality” on the ground in cities like Chicago.
CNN’s Poppy Harlow asked Weingarten on Monday to respond to a clip of Weingarten claiming, “we spent every day from February [2021] on trying to get schools open.” Harlow said Trump adminstration education secretary Betsy Devos accused Weingarten of “revisionist history.”
“That may have been what Randi was saying at the national level and I believe that to be true. I had conversations with her at the time that lead me to believe that’s what she wanted to do. That’s not the reality that was happening on the ground in cities like Chicago, like Los Angeles, and other places. We needed to get our kids back in school. I’m unapologetic about the fight to make sure we put our kids and our parents first,” Lightfoot responded.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
MSNBC host Mehdi Hasan lashed out after his tweet about racial crime stats were fact-checked by Twitter’s community notes on Friday.
Hasan shared a clip from his show where he criticized HBO host Bill Maher for his comments about crime being out of control in places like Chicago and the Democratic Party not doing much to solve it and for the media not discussing it.
“White people kill other white people at almost the same rate black people kill other black people & yet you never hear anyone complaining about ‘white on white crime’. These aren’t points of sage wisdom from Maher. They are classic racist dog whistles,” Hasan tweeted.
Shortly after his tweet, Twitter’s Community Notes feature fact-checked the post by linking to FBI crime statistics from 2019 which showed Black on Black crime was proportionately higher than White on White crime.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Nolte: Report Says James Corden’s Late Night Show Lost Millions
James Corden’s Late Late Show was losing millions, proving the ongoing suicide of divisive, toxic left-wing late-night television is inevitable.
For nine years, Corden was a midnight staple on CBS … a staple almost no one watched. Last month the 44-year-old signed off for his last show, and multiple reports now say CBS is leaning towards not replacing him as he returns to his English homeland.
With a low-rating epidemic sweeping all of late night, the format is no longer financially sustainable.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Not Too Old? Actuaries Chime in After Nikki Haley Says Biden ‘Likely’ to Die Within 5 Years
Last week, Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley said that 80-year-old President Joe Biden is likely to die within the next five years, and that his supporters would have to assume VP Kamala Harris would take his place.
“He announced that he’s running again in 2024, and I think that we can all be very clear and say with a matter of fact that if you vote for Joe Biden you really are counting on a President Harris, because the idea that he would make it until 86 years old is not something that I think is likely,” the 51-year-old Haley told Fox News.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Oregon Democrats Push to Decriminalize Public Camping Amid Worsening Homeless Crisis
Democratic lawmakers in Oregon have proposed a bill that would decriminalize camping on public property and would allow homeless individuals to sue for up to $1,000 if they are “harassed” or told to relocate.
This is despite Oregonians begging for help from the government to deal with the ever-growing homeless crisis.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
RFK Jr: Bill Gates & WEF Are Using ‘Climate Change’ to Control Population
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has issued a warning to the American people about the tyrannical measures that are being ushered in by the World Economic Forum, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, and other “mega billionaires.”
Speaking during a new interview with Kim Iverson, RFK Jr. warned that the global power elite is using “climate change” to usher in totalitarian population control.
Kennedy made the comments shortly after launching his campaign to challenge President Joe Biden in the Democrat 2024 presidential primary.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Rupert Murdoch Held Secret Talk With Zelensky Before Firing Tucker Carlson
Fox News Executive Chairman Rupert Murdoch held a secret call with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky shortly before he made the shocking decision to fire star anchor Tucker Carlson, according to a new report.
Carlson is the most outspoken critic of the war in American corporate media.
The troubling report comes from veteran journalists at Semafor.
The Ukrainian president also had a conversation with Lachlan Murdoch, Rupert’s heir apparent, on March 15.
That conversation was already confirmed by Zelensky.
According to Semafor, “Senior Ukrainian officials had made their objections to Carlson’s coverage known to Fox executives, but Zelensky did not raise it on the calls with the Murdochs, according to one person familiar with the details of the calls.
“The Murdochs have not revealed which of Carlson’s many provocations triggered his firing, and there’s no particular suggestion that Zelensky — whom Carlson had called a ‘dictator’ — delivered the final blow.
“But Carlson’s firing will immediately relieve pressure on key Capitol Hill Ukraine supporters whom Carlson had criticized on air — and sometimes pressed behind the scenes to change their positions on the war.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
San Francisco public school system’s equity-driven policy barring students from taking algebra before high school is driving families to enroll their children in outside tutoring and expensive online courses to stay on track — an option not available to poorer households — according to an education expert that spoke to Fox News.
“It’s one of the sillier policies I can remember,” Thomas B. Fordham Institute’s editorial director, Brandon Wright, said. “It was really just the affluent families who sort of were just inconvenienced and had to jump through all these silly hoops. The less advantaged kids didn’t benefit at all.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Supreme Court Accepts Case That Has Potential to Erode Power of Federal Regulators
The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear a dispute between a group of New Jersey fishermen and the federal government that could decide the much larger issue of whether costly federal regulation has overstretched its legal boundaries.
Last year, the fishermen petitioned the Supreme Court to take up a lawsuit challenging a regulation issued by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) that requires fishermen to pay up to $700 per day to fund the salary of a contractor who monitors their boat to ensure compliance.
The fishermen say that the regulation is out-of-bounds for a federal agency, and such a burdensome requirement should be imposed by Congress only.
Lower courts have rejected arguments that the rule goes too far by leaning on the Supreme Court precedent set in Chevron U.S.A., Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc.
But on Monday, the Supreme Court accepted the fishermen’s petition and said it will need to determine if Chevron should be overturned.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Texas Mass Shooting: Manhunt Enters 3rd Day for Neighbor Who Allegedly Killed 5
The suspect, Francisco Oropesa, 38, is likely armed with an AR-15-style rifle.
CLEVELAND, Texas — Authorities are continuing the search for the suspect connected to an “execution-style” shooting that killed five family members in Texas, including an 8-year-old boy.
The carnage began Friday night after neighbors asked the suspect, Francisco Oropesa, 38, to stop shooting his gun in the yard of his home in Cleveland, Texas, about 50 miles north of Houston, investigators said.
The San Jacinto County Sheriff’s Office received a call around 11:31 p.m. Friday detailing harassment, San Jacinto County Sheriff Greg Capers told reporters on Sunday. When deputies arrived at the home, they found five victims at the property, Capers said.
Three minors who were found uninjured but covered in blood were transported to a local hospital, authorities said. Two of the female victims were discovered in the bedroom lying on top of two surviving children, authorities told ABC News.
| — Hat tip: DV | [Return to headlines] |
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced he’s launching an investigation into whether the major pharmaceutical companies engaged in gain of function research and misled the public about it.
Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson, the manufacturers of the experimental COVID mRNA vaccine, will be investigated for potential violations of the state’s Deceptive Trade Practices Act, the New York Post reported.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Trump to Participate in CNN Town Hall on May 10
Former President Donald Trump is scheduled to participate in a May 10 presidential town hall hosted by CNN in New Hampshire, the network announced Monday.
“The event, hosted by ‘CNN This Morning’ anchor Kaitlan Collins and airing at 9 p.m. ET on May 10, will feature the former president taking questions from New Hampshire Republicans and undeclared voters who plan to vote in the 2024 GOP presidential primary,” reads a statement from the network.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Tucker Carlson accused Fox Corp of betraying him in leaked footage of a call.
Carlson was filmed taking a call behind the scenes during the filming of one of his shows.
The footage, which was obtained by Media Matters, shows Carlson frustrated with the network’s running of its streaming service, Fox Nation.
Carlson says that Fox is working his team “like animals” and says he doesn’t “want to be a slave to Fox Nation.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Vast Majority of Americans Believe Media Increasing Country’s Political Divide: Poll
A new poll found that nearly three-quarters of Americans believe the media is increasing polarization in the U.S. and that only 16% of adults have a “great deal” of trust and confidence in the news media.
The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research and Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights survey found that 74% of overall adults believed the news media was increasing the political divide in this country.
“Is the news media doing more to increase political divisions in the United States, decrease political divisions, or does it not have any impact?” the poll asked adults 18 years or older.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin Declines 2024 White House Bid After Months of Speculation
Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin of Virginia confirmed Monday that he will not be launching a 2024 bid for the White House less than two years after his surprising victory in the state’s gubernatorial election in Nov. 2021.
“No,” Youngkin told Wall Street Journal editor-at-large Gerard Baker at a Milken Institute “Governing America” event when he asked the rising Republican star if he would be “dusting off” the signature fleece jacket he became known for during his race for governor.
Youngkin added that his focus would be on the Virginia legislative elections taking place this year and helping state Republicans hold their majority in the Virginia House of Delegates and take back the Democrat-controlled state Senate.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
BATESVILLE, Ark. — The attorneys for Lunden Roberts, an ex-stripper and the mother of Hunter Biden’s unacknowledged four-year-old daughter born of wedlock, spoke to members of the media Monday following a court hearing in the open child support case between the two parents.
“We feel like it went well, and we appreciate Judge Meyer and her impartiality and her directness,” attorney Clint Lancaster said when asked how he thought the proceedings went.
The team of lawyers remained tight-lipped for most of the media’s questions, refusing to comment on certain aspects of the case, including the $20,000-per-month payments Biden’s attorney said during the hearing her client is paying Roberts in child support.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Watch: RFK Jr. Obliterates Piers Morgan’s Lies About COVID Vaccines
Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. called out anchor Piers Morgan for misrepresenting his stance on vaccines during a Saturday interview.
During his show “Piers Morgan Uncensored,” Morgan tried to portray Kennedy as an anti-vaxxer and asked him to clarify his position on the experimental COVID mRNA shots before RFK Jr. set the record straight.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Pentagon emails in the hours before protests in response to the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis turned destructive show leaders were warned the situation could turn deadly and that the Minnesota National Guard was ready to help.
“We were abandoned,” a local government official said of the response to the protests in a Wilder Research report ordered by the state in the aftermath of the protests, according to a Military.com report Sunday. “By the time the National Guard even came, most everything had quieted down.”
Emails obtained by the Minneapolis Star Tribune show that on the morning of May 28, 2020, just days after the death of Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police, U.S. Gen. Joseph L. Lengyel warned top Pentagon leaders that the situation in the city was likely to become dire. Minneapolis police expected roughly 75,000 protesters to descend on the city the weekend after Floyd’s death, which had already sparked mass outrage.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Woody Harrelson Discusses ‘SNL’ Backlash: ‘I Don’t Look at That S — —’
Woody Harrelson is not changing his ways.
In a recent interview with Esquire, Harrelson got candid about his “Saturday Night Live” monologue that circulated the internet and sparked backlash from some viewers.
Harrelson hosted the NBC comedy sketch series in February and stirred controversy after he appeared to poke fun at COVID-19 vaccine mandates.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Breaking: Fox News Doc on Trudeau Tyranny Will Not Air Following Tucker Exit
A planned Fox News documentary, spearheaded by Tucker Carlson, about a possible US invasion of Canada, aimed at freeing Canadians from the tyranny of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberals, will not air after all, the network says.
The documentary, called “O, Canada,” was set to feature People’s Party of Canada Leader Maxime Bernier and members of the “Freedom Convoy” movement, discussing the country’s oppressive COVID-19 restrictions, introduced at the federal level by the prime minister.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Public Workers Reach Deal With Feds, Ending National Strike
The Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) has reached a tentative contract agreement with the federal government, ending the two-week strike that disrupted a number of public services.
On Monday, PSAC announced that it had reached an agreement for more than 120,000 Treasury Board workers. The union says these workers will return to work on Monday or their next scheduled shift after that date.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
ChatGPT Available in Italy Again
(ANSA) — ROME, APR 28 — ChatGPT is available in Italy again, a spokesman for the OpenAI parent company said Friday ahead of an April 30 deadline set by Italy’s privacy watchdog to comply with an order it issued suspending the chatbot’s activities in Italy on suspicion of illicitly harvesting users’ data earlier this month.
ChatGPT is again available for users in Italy,” said the spokesman.
“We are enthusiastic to welcome them again and we remain committed to protecting their privacy.
“We have met or clarified the issues raised by the Watchdog”.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
On April 18, the Waclaw Felczak Institute of Polish-Hungarian Cooperation held a conference on the need for V4 cooperation and joint defense of the region’s interests in relations with Brussels. Unfortunately, the topic was somewhat overshadowed by a discussion about the different approaches of Hungary, on the one hand, and the other three V4 countries, on the other, to the war unleashed by Russia in Ukraine. In your opinion, how deep are the real divisions within the V4 and how much is the media simply providing a distorted picture of them?
This is a question that is a bit complicated to answer.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
A flagship program of Poland’s United Right government led by Law and Justice (PiS) was to be the 500+ benefit, a monthly allowance for each child. This program has had a very positive effect in terms of fighting poverty, which in Poland very often affected families with many children. On the other hand, when it comes to the pro-natalist impact, which was also heralded as a major goal, after some initial success, this effect is somehow no longer visible and the fertility rate in Poland remains below 1.4 children per woman. Could this be simply because 500+ has lost value, there is high inflation, and the 500 zloty allowance per child has never been revalued?
I think this is not a matter of the allowance having lost some of its value, nor is it about the fact that the effect of this program was temporary. All experts agree that for pro-natalist, pro-family policies to be effective, they must be long-term, stable, consistent and comprehensive.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Farage: UK’s Post-Brexit ‘Globalist’ Government is a ‘Disaster’ for Businesses
Nigel Farage has slammed the UK’s “globalist” post-Brexit era government as being a “disaster” for businesses.
The UK government’s regime of high taxation, large-scale regulation and globalist-leaning policies have been a “disaster” for companies in post-Brexit Britain, Nigel Farage has said.
Such a denunciation comes at a time when the UK government is defending its business credentials after the country’s competition regulator barred Microsoft from completing its purchase of games publisher Activision Blizzard.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
French Police Fire Teargas as Clashes Erupt at May Day Pension Protests
Police fired teargas in Paris and other cities as protesters turned out for May Day rallies across France on Monday amid anger over the passage of President Emmanuel Macron’s unpopular pension reform. Interior ministry figures estimated the number of protesters at 782,000 nationwide; unions put the number much higher, at 2.3 million. Read our live blog to see how all the day’s events unfolded. All times are Paris time (GMT+2).
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
German Law Legalising Prostitution Has Failed, Politicians Judge
Germany’s experiment in legalising prostitution and taxing their income has failed, and a better approach is needed a group of lawmakers have said.
Laws attempting to regulate prostitution in Germany have reportedly failed abysmally according to opposition politicians in the country, who are now calling for the selling of sex to be once again made illegal.
Prostitution has been largely made legal in the country since the early 2000s, with the selling of sex in organised brothels regulated by local authorities in the hopes of maintaining decent working conditions for women.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Greek Flight Attendant Robbed, Stabbed in Neck Outside Hotel in France
A flight attendant from Greece was robbed and stabbed in the neck by thieves outside her hotel in France last month, according to reports.
The disturbing incident unfolded in late April in Lille, a city in the north of France near the border of Belgium.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Netherlands: Explosion at Rotterdam Coffeeshop Brings Total to Around 50; Amsterdam Man Arrested
An explosive went off at a coffeeshop on Witte de Withstraat in Rotterdam city center early on Monday morning, bringing the total number of blasts in the city to around 50 this year. The police arrested a 26-year-old man from Amsterdam on Sunday for possible involvement in these attacks on Rotterdam homes and stores.
The latest explosion happened at 4:30 a.m. According to Rijnmond, the blast made a big dent in the coffee shop’s roller shutter and shattered a window across the street. The explosion was heard in a wide area in the city’s center. The police cordoned off the street for investigation and called on witnesses to come forward.
The coffeeshop was also the target of an attack on April 13. Two men tried to set off a firebomb in front of the roller shutter. They managed to get a jerry can with fuel alight. But passersby extinguished the fire before it could set off an adjacent explosive, according to Rijnmond.
The motive for the almost nightly explosives remains unclear, but Rotterdam Mayor Ahmed Aboutaleb expects that they are drug-related.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Netherlands: Court Orders Sperm Donor With 550 Kids to Stop
A Dutch sperm donor with hundreds of children must immediately stop donating sperm, the court in The Hague ruled on Friday. Jonathan M. (41) says he has about 550 children.
The summary proceedings were filed by Stichting Donorkind, a nonprofit organization that advocates for people whose biological parent was a donor, and a mother who has a child conceived with M.’s sperm. They wanted M. to immediately stop donating sperm and an overview of all the clinics worldwide where M. donated. The sperm still in storage should be destroyed, except if it was already reserved for parents, they demanded.
“According to guidelines at clinics, a donor can donate for a maximum of 25 children or 12 families to prevent inbreeding, incest, and psychological problems for donor children,” the organization said earlier when it filed for an injunction preventing the man from continuing to donate his sperm. He has violated these rules by donating sperm to 13 clinics in the Netherlands and abroad, but also by reaching out and making contact directly with prospective parents.
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Ordinary people and pastors alike should step outside their comfort zone and be open to the world, Pope Francis said at an open-air mass in downtown Budapest, the main event of his three-day visit to Hungary.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
A city in Sweden is in hot water for producing a promotional commercial that featured too many white people.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Switzerland: Climate Activist Interrupts Live Political Debate in Geneva
Tempers frayed on Sunday after a climate activist from the group Extinction Rebellion interrupted a live political debate in Switzerland.
It was to the sounds of public disapproval that a climate activist from the Extinction Rebellion group stormed the set of the Léman Bleu channel and glued himself to the presenter’s desk on Sunday.
The protest came as Geneva had just finished its second round of elections which would determine the makeup of the city’s local council.
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A conservative candidate for council in Long Eaton, a town in Derbyshire, England, was suspended over social media posts supporting Andrew Tate and Covid vaccine skepticism.
19-year-old Paris Coulson was suspended by the Conservative Party just a few days before the election.
On his social media accounts, he has liked posts by online personality Andrew Tate.
In December, he published a post suggesting that Covid vaccine had caused a series of “sudden deaths.”
Conservative Vaccines Minister Maggie Throup, also Coulson’s member of parliament, said the comments were “wholly unacceptable.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Furious commuters have blasted eco-zealots from Just Stop Oil who ‘stopped them from working’ after the group held yet another slow matching protest through the capital on Bank Holiday Monday.
More than 90 activists from the Extinction Rebellion (XR) offshoot marched across four different locations in central London amid threats from the group to grind the capital to a standstill over the summer.
In a video clip shared by the group, eco-fanatics are seen marching slowly down London’s world-famous Strand, near Trafalgar square, causing mayhem.
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UK: Oi Mate, Got a License for That Offensive Joke?
A police force in the UK has warned people not to get drunk and tell ‘offensive jokes’ in pubs and clubs.
Meanwhile, actual crime in the UK just hit an all time record high.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Wikipedia Facing Potential UK Ban Over ‘Online Safety’ Censorship Bill
The world’s most popular online encyclopedia, Wikipedia, could be potentially banned from the United Kingdom as a result of impending censorship legislation, the charity that hosts the website has warned.
The British government’s latest foray into censoring the internet could see UK readers and contributors to Wikipedia see their access blocked, with the hosting Wikimedia Foundation charity saying that it will not comply with some of the diktats in the so-called Online Safety Bill.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Russian Freight Train Derails in Sabotage Attack as Airstrikes Pummel Ukraine for 2nd Day
An apparent sabotage attack with an “explosive device” has resulted in a disastrous train derailment in the Russian region of Bryansk which borders Ukraine.
“An unidentified explosive device went off, as a result of which a locomotive of a freight train derailed,” Bryansk governor Alexander Bogomaz announced on Telegram Monday.
The governor further confirmed there were no casualties and that the train struck the device “on the 136th kilometer” of the railroad between regional hub Bryansk and the town of Unecha, as cited in AFP.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Ukraine Thanks West for Patriot Missile Batteries, But Says it Needs ‘Much More’
Ukraine is grateful to the West for the deployment of advanced anti-air missile systems but they are not enough and “much more” is needed.
New air-defence weapons systems given to Ukraine by Western nations are now deployed and “on combat duty” says Air Forces spokesman Yurii Ihnat, who used the statement to reflect on the arrival of new equipment to also call for more. The comments came as fresh Russian airstrikes injured at least 34.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Video Shows Derailed Russian Train in Flames After Hitting Explosive Device
Video posted to social media on Monday showed the aftermath of a Russian freight train striking an explosive device near the Ukrainian border.
The train struck the device while moving along the Bryansk-Unecha railway in the eastern Unechsky District, causing it to derail, Bryansk governor Alexander Bogomaz wrote in a Telegram post on Monday, noting that no one was killed in the explosion.
“As a result of the incident, two locomotives and seven wagons derailed. The rest of the cars were driven to a safe distance,” Bogomaz wrote. “There were no casualties.”
| — Hat tip: Dean | [Return to headlines] |
The Fate of Many Hindu Girls: The Trap of Islamic Love leads to Burqa, Sex-slave & finally thrown out in Talaq.
Upendra Bharti | HENB | Morabadad | May 1, 2023:: A married Muslim man trapped a Hindu girl living in Moradabad in a love trap by hiding his religion. First, he married her and then converted the woman to Islam. After three years of marriage, the Muslim accused threw the wife out of the house by giving triple talaq. In view of the victim’s ordeal and serious allegations, the Majhola police have started investigating the incident while registering charges against the accused.
The Hindu woman, who runs a beauty parlor in the Majhola area of Moradabad in Uttar Pradesh, told the police that three years ago she had befriended a young man named Sonu through the phone. The accused had described himself as a Hindu and a resident of Amroha.
A few days later, the accused proposed marriage to her. Both got married. After this, along with the victim, the accused started living in the Majhola area. Suddenly the accused disappeared for a span of time. The woman reached Amroha while searching for him. After going there, it was found that Sonu’s real name is Jamal Khan and he is a married person and has children. Jamal Khan married his first wife some 18 years back and he has two sons.
Seeing all this, when the woman protested, Jamal threatened to kill her. The accused forcibly converted the victim. Meanwhile, the victim woman gave birth to a baby girl. All of a sudden, the accused asked the woman to give five lakh rupees to run his business. When the victim denied to give that huge amount, the said Jamal Khan started torturing her including indulging in unnatural sexual activities. CO Civil Lines Arpit Kapoor said that a case has been registered according to the complaints filed by the victim Hindu woman.
The in charge of the Majhola police station says that after the complaint of the woman, an FIR has been registered against the accused Jamal Khan for dowry harassment, rape, assault, and triple talaq under the Prohibition of Religion Conversion Act.
The accused is still at large. Police are trying to nab Jamal Khan by setting up two teams.
| — Hat tip: Upananda Brahmachari | [Return to headlines] |
India’s Supreme Court Tells States to Crack Down on “Hate Speech, “ Even if There Are No Complaints
India’s Supreme Court ordered all states and Union Territories to file hate speech cases even without the targeted parties filing a complaint.
“Respondent Nos…(all states and UTs) shall ensure that immediately as and when any speech or any action takes place which attracts offenses such as Sections 153A, 153B and 295A and 505 of the IPC etc., suo motu action will be taken to register cases even if no complaint is forthcoming and proceed against the offenders in accordance with law,” the Supreme Court said.
The Supreme Court said that authorities who refuse to file hate speech cases will be in contempt of the court and the appropriate action will be taken.
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Chinese ‘Green’ Biodiesel Sent to EU Likely Fake, Climate Orgs Claim
Allegedly “green” biodiesel being shipped into Europe from China is likely fake, various climate orgs have discovered.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
‘Hungry’ South Korean Student Finds Banana Artwork Very Appealing: Report
A South Korean art student consumed a $120,000 piece of art that comprised a banana duct-taped to a wall because he was “hungry,” according to media reports.
Noh Huyn-soo was filmed removing and peeling the fruit at the Leeum Museum of Art in Seoul in front of stunned onlookers, The Guardian reported. He then attached the banana skin to the wall with the same duct-tape and walked off.
When asked by museum officials why he ate the fruit, he said he was hungry after skipping breakfast, the Korea Herald reported. He also reportedly told KBS, a broadcast station, that “damaging a work of modern art could also be [interpreted as] artwork.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
TikTok ‘Monitors’ Platform and ‘Suppresses’ Posts About Trump, Documents Show
The Chinese Communist Party-linked social media app TikTok is actively censoring content related to President Donald Trump, according to a new report.
TikTok’s parent company ByteDance, which is aligned with China’s communist regime, reportedly “monitors” the platform for content related to Trump and the persecuted Chinese Uyghurs and then “suppresses” such posts.
The effort was exposed in internal company records acquired by Forbes.
The documents reveal that ByteDance has personnel in China that use a moderation system that includes word lists designed to identify or restrict content related to a broad range of topics.
ByteDance keeps track of and sometimes suppresses content related to the Chinese government, trade between China and the U.S., the persecuted ethnic minority group Uyghurs, President Donald Trump, and TikTok competitor YouTube.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Amateur boxer charged over alleged attack on referee at soccer match has been refused bail.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
New Zealand’s Prime Minister Wants His Country to Become a Republic
New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins said Monday he personally favors his country becoming a republic, but it’s not a change he intends to push for as leader.
Hipkins made the comments to reporters hours before he was due to depart for this week’s coronation of King Charles III in London.
New Zealand, a former British colony, is self-governing but Charles retains a largely ceremonial role as head of state and king. Charles is represented in New Zealand by a governor-general.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
TV Chef Jock Zonfrillo Dies Suddenly at 46, Family ‘Completely Shattered’
TV chef Jock Zonfrillo has died suddenly at just 46 years old, his devastated family has revealed.
Zonfrillo, originally from Glasgow Scotland, was a judge on the hit show MasterChef Australia.
He died leaving a wife and four children on the eve of his show’s new season premiere.
His body was reportedly found by authorities after he died unexpectedly in a Melbourne hotel room.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Sudan Shows Leaving Americans Behind Enemy Lines is the New Normal
by Daniel Greenfield
In 2006, 25,000 Americans were trapped behind enemy lines in Lebanon. Hezbollah had attacked Israel and the Shiite Muslim terror group which had overwhelmed the formerly Christian nation had once again dragged it into a destructive war.
The Bush administration responded by hiring a cruise ship, the Orient Queen, which brought over 1,000 Americans to Cyprus. The massive cruise ship was part of a rescue flotilla that included the USS Nashville (as captured in an episode of Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations who was evacuated aboard the cruiser), the USS Trenton, on one of its final voyages, along with hired civilian vessels from other nations that got Americans out.
Vice Adm. Patrick Walsh, commander of the U.S. 5th Fleet, announced that the Iwo Jima Expeditionary Strike Group was being moved into position so “that we have the capability to extract people, no matter where their location is.”
The Biden administration has taken a very different approach with the estimated 16,000 Americans trapped in Sudan…
| — Hat tip: Daniel Greenfield | [Return to headlines] |
Paraguay Elections: Conservatives Sweep Presidency, Congress, Governorships
Santiago Peña of Paraguay’s incumbent conservative Colorado Party won the presidency of the South American nation in Sunday’s general elections with 42.74 percent of the votes, defeating leftist opposition candidate Efrain Alegre by a roughly 15-point margin.
The long-ruling Colorado Party also obtained a majority in both houses of the Paraguayan Congress and won in 15 out of the nation’s 17 state governor races.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
US Defense Department Tracking Another Balloon Traveling Between Hawaii and Mexico
The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) is tracking another high-altitude balloon that crossed over Hawaii and is heading toward Mexico.
The DoD and Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) detected and tracked an unmanned balloon off the coast of Hawaii on April 28, which was floating at about 36,000 feet, a DoD spokesman said.
The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) is tracking another high-altitude balloon that crossed over Hawaii and is heading toward Mexico.
The DoD and Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) detected and tracked an unmanned balloon off the coast of Hawaii on April 28, which was floating at about 36,000 feet, a DoD spokesman said.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
DHS Recognizes Mass Fraud in Huge White-Collar Visa Program
oe Biden’s migration agency has recognized blatant fraud in the visa worker program used to divert wealth from myriad U.S. graduates.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
The mayor El Paso, Texas on Monday declared a ‘state of emergency’ amid overcrowding from an influx of migrants, amid concerns arrivals will spike further with the end of Title 42 protections.
Those COVID-related restrictions are due to expire May 11 after delays, leading to fears the influx will spike ore in the intervening days.
The border cities of Laradeo and Brownsville also have declared states of emergency.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Illegal Migrant Stabs French Gendarme While Trying to Cross Channel
A migrant attempting to cross the English Channel illegally on Saturday stabbed a French gendarme who was trying to block their group from setting sail.
In the early hours of Saturday morning, as people smugglers began to try to release the next wave of illegal migrants to the shores of Britain, a member of the gendarmerie tasked with patrolling a beach in the Calais region — a longstanding hotspot for migrant camps given its proximity to Dover — was stabbed with a knife by one of the migrants.
The gendarme suffered a wound in the hand during the attack, forcing him to receive surgery to repair the damage caused by the migrant knifeman.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
Ted Cruz Demands Death Penalty for Illegal Alien Who Murdered 5 in Texas
Republican Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) has issued a furious response to the murder of five people in Texas who were shot dead by a five times-deported illegal alien.
38-year-old Francisco Oropesa is wanted for murdering five neighbors after they asked him to stop shooting his gun because their baby was sleeping.
In a statement Sunday, Cruz demanded the death penalty for Oropesa and blasted Democrat President Joe Biden for allowing dangerous criminals to cross the border.
Cruz issued the response after Fox News correspondent Bill Melugin reported that officials have confirmed that Oropesa is an illegal alien who has previously been deported from the U.S. multiple times.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Texas Gov. Abbott Tells Chicago Mayor to Take Complaints on Border Crisis to the White House
Texas Gov. Gregg Abbott sent a letter to outgoing Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot on Monday, suggesting if she does not like busloads of migrants being sent to the Wind City, then she should contact the White House about its open-border policies.
Abbott began sending migrant buses to Chicago and other sanctuary cities like New York City and Washington, D.C., last fall in response to the increase of migrant crossings at the southern border.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Three Times Deported Mexican Who Shot Neighbors Described by Media as “Texas Man”
A three times deported Mexican national who allegedly shot and killed five of his neighbors, including a child, is being described by the media as a “Texas man”.
The illegal immigrant is accused of gunning down five Honduran nationals on Friday night in Cleveland, Texas and is still on the run.
Francisco Oropesa’s neighbors complained that him shooting his gun in the garden was keeping their baby awake. Oropesa responded by invading their home and killing them, including an 8-year-old child.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Dozens of suspected migrants trying to enter the country in small boats have been picked up today — just hours after Albania’s Prime Minister launched another scathing attack on the UK.
A boat carrying approximately 80 people believed to be migrants was seen entering Dover this morning and at least one small child was seen disembarking.
Figures showed that at least 13,000 Albanians entered Britain on small boats last year — just under a third of all arrivals.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Chelsea Clinton Comes Out in Favour of Porn for School Kids
Bill and Hillary Clinton’s daughter Chelsea Clinton appears to have taken on a new activism project, defending attempts to force kids as young as Kindergarten age to be exposed to sexually explicit “LGBTQ+” material at school.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Coca-Cola Shareholders Vote Down Proposal That Targets Pro-Life States
Coca-Cola shareholders recently voted against a proposal to conduct a survey into how state laws restricting abortion impact the company’s business performance.
“Shareholders request that Coca-Cola’s Board of Directors issue a public report prior to December 31, 2023, omitting confidential information and at a reasonable expense, detailing any known and potential risks or costs to the company caused by enacted or proposed state policies severely restricting reproductive rights, and detailing any strategies beyond litigation and legal compliance that the company may deploy to minimize or mitigate these risks,” the proposal stated.
The proposal was introduced by As You Saw, a nonprofit that promotes ESG policies in corporations. Eighty-seven percent of controlling shares voted against the measure.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Trans-abled.
People with no physical handicap identifying as disabled.
Yes, this is actually a thing.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Actor and comedian John Cleese tweeted Sunday that men have an “unfair advantage” against biological women in sports, a sentiment shared by an increasing number of left-leaning voices as the issue becomes increasingly controversial.
Responding to a tweet from GB News journalist Martin Daubney, Cleese called out transgender cyclist Cara Dixon, who recently won the women’s category at the Dirty Riever gravel race in the U.K.
Dixon outpaced the competition, beating second place by over an hour.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Trudeau-Funded Kids Help Phone Releases Ad Featuring Drag Performers ‘Fay’ and ‘Fluffy’
The Trudeau-funded charity Kids Help Phone has released a new ad featuring popular children’s drag performers Fay and Fluffy, one wearing a strapless dress with a hairy chest on display and the other cuddling a teddy bear.
The two men talk about how they handle having “lots of feelings,” with one saying “sometimes I like to hold my favourite stuffy,” and the other explaining liking to draw. Then the two start dancing while delivering the message, “give your feelings a place to go.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
.
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Why we have censorship
By Lars Hedegaard / snaphanen.dk
When someone wants to decide what others can say, it is always the result of a power struggle that those in power cannot win in a free exchange of opinions.
So they have to resort to prohibitions and punishments. This does not mean that they have won, only that they have driven critical opinions out of the open dialogue, and no one changes their opinion by being forbidden to say it.
When censorship becomes the rule of the day – as we now see in the EU and throughout the West – you are on a course that can only go in one direction: towards more censorship and repression, more prohibition and more punishment.
At the end of the road is a totalitarian society, which can be labelled fascist or communist, depending on your preference.
The censors will always justify their interventions on the basis of the common good.
It is not good for you or me or society to have people going around spreading “misinformation”, “disinformation”, “Russian propaganda” or lies, and every right-thinking person must realise that such things should be banned.
And when, for example, someone dares to show pictures of victims of Islamic terror, everyone must realise that this harms the relatives of the dead.
One could rightly argue that if the public never sees or hears about the severed heads, it will inevitably lead to more severed heads and more grieving families, because the executioners must feel protected by the authorities.
When Kim Møller and Uwe Max Jensen are sentenced for publishing pictures of Islamic victims, the sad reason is that those in power and their minions in the prosecution service, among the judges and in the media are happy with the way things are.
They cannot imagine that terror will befall them, but fear that too much documentation will create problems for their multicultural and anti-national project.
But do we really have to put up with blatant misinformation or lies? No, say those in power and their media. And they always have. Most of what later turned out to be true was once suppressed and banned – for reasons of public interest, religion and morality.
These included claims that the earth is not the centre of the universe, that all people are equal, that slavery is an abomination, that peasants should be freed from serfdom, that workers should be allowed to strike, that women should have the right to vote, and that everyone should be allowed to believe what they want.
Once upon a time, all these demands and claims were “lies” and “disinformation” and you could be jailed or burned at the stake for making them.
Now we are no longer allowed to believe what we want – and certainly not to say it in public. One day, however, it will become clear that the favourite claims of the ruling class – about the “climate”, about the EU as Europe’s moral beacon, about the unfathomable evil of the “right”, and about the necessity of governing ordinary people because they don’t know what’s best for them – or had the same status as the witch burnings of old.
The comparison is not coincidental, because today’s leftists do not see their political opponents as people with whom they disagree, but as inhuman people who must be eliminated – for the common good, of course.
Words have been replaced as well. It wasn’t a “bomb” that blew up the train, it was an “explosive device”. People were killed in Tennessee by a “shooter” not a “murder”.
As for the muslim problem, the “free” countries have surrendered. The people have not laid down their weapons, there was no formal document, no signing ceremony and no verbal agreement between diplomats. Yet, our governments, media and academics all cow-tow to the “muscle men”, those who oppose the victors are punished and according to a court ruling in Canada, “the truth is no defense”.
Sure Bernie. Take the majority of their wealth. And after you spend that, what then?