Gates of Vienna News Feed 6/3/2023

The Department of Homeland Security has issued a BOLO concerning a terrorist who is thought to be approaching the southern border. The alleged terrorist, one Mohamed Shaker a.k.a. Mohamed Abdelaal, is said to pose an “imminent threat to national security.” The case has a Mohammed Coefficient of 100%.

In other news, at the request of NATO, the Turkish defense ministry announced that it will send a commando battalion to Kosovo to help quell violent unrest.

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

Thanks to AGA, Dean, JW, McN, Reader from Chicago, Roger, SS, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.

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

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

Financial Crisis
» Biden Touts Debt Ceiling Deal in Oval Office Address
» McCarthy Approval Up to 50% After Debt Ceiling Deal: Poll
 
USA
» AI Expert Doubtful DC Prepared for New Tech: ‘Well, They Put Kamala Harris in Charge’
» Biden’s Green Rules Will Cause Home Appliance Costs to Soar, Experts Warn
» Breaking: Donald Trump Leads Ron DeSantis in Florida by 20% in New Poll
» Chicago Resident Accuses Walgreens of ‘Racial Profiling’ With New Anti-Theft Store: ‘Why Don’t You Trust Your Customers?’
» DeSantis Defends ‘Fantastic’ Kayleigh McEnany: ‘She’s a Harvard-Trained Lawyer, She Ate the Press Alive’
» Doctored Evidence? Democrat-Led J6 Panel Added Audio to Silent Security Video for Primetime Hearings
» Fox News Suffers 37% Drop in Primetime Viewers in First Full Month Since Firing Tucker Carlson
» Hollywood Star Jamie Foxx ‘Blinded and Paralyzed’ by COVID Shot
» Iconic Record Shop in Portland Shuts Down Amid Skyrocketing Crime
» Jesus Movement Celebrates ‘Biggest Water Baptism’ in U.S. History
» Kari Lake Files Notice of Appeal in Election Challenge
» Life360 is Sued, Accused of Selling Location Data
» New York: Man Who Shot Alleged Robber Charged With 26 Gun Crimes
» Paid to Fail? San Diego Business Owner Criticizes Costly Plan to Buy Hotels to House Homeless, ‘Huge Failure’
» Person Alleging Biden Criminal Bribery Scheme is a ‘Highly Credible’ FBI Source Used Since Obama Admin: Source
» Police Stop Children’s Choir Singing National Anthem at U.S Capitol: ‘Said it Might Offend Someone’
» Shadowy “Disinformation” Censorship Group Paid Public College for Online Blacklist Report
» Twitter Believed it Would Lose COVID Censorship Suit, Feared Release of Documents: Emails
» Washington State Patrol, Other Agencies Experiencing ‘Historically’ Massive Staffing Shortages
» West Virginia Police Officer Shot and Killed, Suspect in Custody After Intense Manhunt
» Woman Was Shoplifting When Her Car With 2 Kids Inside Exploded: Cops
 
Europe and the EU
» BBC Accused of Censorship After Blocking Andrew Tate Interview for UK Viewers
» EU’s #MeToo Anti-Sexual Harassment Push Risks Putting Every Man ‘Under General Suspicion’ — MEP
» Exposed: The UK Company Subjecting Your Social Media Posts to State Surveillance
» Ireland Government Plans to Slaughter 200,000 Farting Cows to Combat ‘Global Warming’
» Macron Seeks Eastern Europe Support for Ukraine Plan
» Spain Calls for Total EU Ban on Encrypted Messaging
» The EU Plans to Test Twitter to See How Fast it Responds to Censorship Demands
» The Italian Left Raises the Ghost of ‘Fascism’ to Fuel Social Fracture: An Interview With Rachele Mussolini
» The UK’s “Chilling” Secret Unit That Monitored Lockdown Dissent
» UK: No Escape: All TV Remotes Must Have Dedicated BBC Button, Broadcaster Demands
» UK: Please Just Stop! Anti-Oil Mob Block Westminster Roads in Latest Traffic-Slowing Stunt After Week of Chaos
» UK: Protesters Arrested at Epsom Derby as August Rodin Gallops to Victory
» UK: Sadiq Khan’s City Hall Staff Encouraged to Join Militant Eco Clowns at Extinction Rebellion
 
Balkans
» Turkey to Send Commando Battalion to Kosovo Amid Violent Unrest
 
Israel and the Palestinians
» Israeli Soldiers Killed in Egypt Border Shooting: Army
 
Russia
» Russia Has Enough Iranian Suicide Drones to Launch Attacks Every Day to Deplete Ukraine’s Air Defenses
» Ukraine’s Counteroffensive Move Against Russia Will Succeed: Zelensky
» Wagner Group’s Prigozhin Says His Forces Are Ready to Defend Belgorod From Mounting Attacks
» West Wants to ‘Exterminate’ Ethnic Russians Claims Moscow, While Talking Up ‘Destroying’ Ukraine
 
South Asia
» India: 288 Dead, 803 Injured After Horrific Three-Train Crash in Odisha
» Nearly 300 Killed and 900 Wounded in World’s Worst Train Disaster in 20 Years… With Death Toll Still Rising: Rescuers Battle Through Wreckage to Help Survivors in India
 
Far East
» China Launches Massive Online Censorship Sweep Ahead of Tiananmen Square Anniversary
 
Australia — Pacific
» Mark Latham is Drawn Into Another Bizarre Dispute With Rival Politician — After One Nation Leader Refused to Apologise for Anti-Gay Tweet
» Why Not a Single Large Corporation is Endorsing the Indigenous Voice No Campaign — as Businessman Says Bosses Are Being ‘Bullied’ Into Backing Yes: ‘Herd Mentality’
 
Immigration
» DHS Issues ‘Imminent Threat to National Security’ Alert Over Terrorist Approaching Southern Border
» Italy: Molteni Hails Detention of Two Migrant Rescue Ships
» Migrants Entering U.S. Through Canadian Border Sector Exceed Prior Four Years Combined
» UK: Pimlico Hotel Caves in to Asylum Seekers: Migrants End Their Street Protests Over ‘Unsafe’ Four-to-a-Room Policy After Staff Agree Maximum of Two Will Share
 
Culture Wars
» Daily Wire’s ‘What is a Woman?’ Documentary Exceeds 100 Million Views on Twitter
» Dylan Mulvaney Shrugs Off Bud Light Controversy at Musical, ‘Transparent’ — Based of a Series About a Transgender Parent — as Anheuser-Bush Loses a Staggering $27 BILLION in Market Value
» Elon Musk Vows to Push ‘To Criminalize Making Severe, Irreversible Changes to Children Below Age of Consent’
» Elon Musk Issues Warning to Bud Light & Target: ‘Won’t be Long Before There Are Class-Action Lawsuits From Shareholders’
» Far-Leftists Clash With Parents Protesting Pride Assembly at Los Angeles Elementary School
» Former Target Exec Reveals the ‘One Item’ That Sparked Consumer Firestorm
» Idaho Student Prevented From Walking at Graduation After Asserting Men and Women Are Different
» Pride Month: Armed Forces Commissioner Wants to Make the Draft Gender Neutral
» Six Flags Amusement Parks Hosting Pride Month Drag Shows for ‘All Ages’, Assures Guests They’re ‘PG’
» Texas Bans Transgender Surgeries for Children
» Trump-Appointed Judge Rejects Tennessee’s Anti-Drag Law as Too Broad, Too Vague
» VT School Board Pays Family $125,000 After Punishing Father, Daughter for Speaking Out Against Trans Student
» Woke Corporate Governance Often Stems From Involved Investment Firms: Former Anheuser-Busch Exec
» Woke Panic: IMDb Artificially Boosts Disney’s ‘The Little Mermaid’ User Score After Detecting ‘Unusual User Voting’
 

Biden Touts Debt Ceiling Deal in Oval Office Address

President Joe Biden on Friday celebrated the passage of the bipartisan plan to suspend the debt ceiling after both chambers agreed to an arrangement negotiated between him and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.

“We averted an economic crisis, an economic collapse. We’re cutting spending and bringing the deficits down at the same time,” he said. “I want to commend Speaker McCarthy. He and I and our teams we were able to get along.”

The Fiscal Responsibility Act suspends the debt ceiling for two years until after the next presidential election. It further cuts the budget for fiscal year 2024 and imposes a cap on non-defense discretionary spending in the following year. The debt limit will return at the end of the that period at the level of debt the nation has accrued by that time.

Biden indicated that he would sign the legislation on Saturday. The Treasury had set the deadline to avert default at June 5, leaving the president with a two-day buffer. The nation hit its $31.4 trillion spending limit in January and talk of a default has pervaded Washington for months.

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

McCarthy Approval Up to 50% After Debt Ceiling Deal: Poll

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy is enjoying strong approval ratings after negotiating a compromise debt ceiling plan with President Joe Biden.

The House and Senate approved the compromise plan to cut spending in fiscal year 2024 and impose non-defense discretionary caps for 2025. McCarthy faced intense pressure from the conservative wing of his conference to fight for budgetary concessions. Many House conservatives were dissatisfied with the final legislation and 71 Republicans broke ranks to oppose the measure, though the plan secured bipartisan support in both chambers.

With the prospect of an imminent debt default seemingly averted, the California Republican earned a 50% approval rating in the latest Rasmussen Reports poll. McCarthy generally earned strong marks from his own party with 65% of Republicans approving of him compared to 43% of Democrats.

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

AI Expert Doubtful DC Prepared for New Tech: ‘Well, They Put Kamala Harris in Charge’

An expert and entrepreneur in the field of artificial intelligence warned that while the new technology has the potential for massive benefits, it could also prove “too powerful and too disruptive” for humanity, expressing doubt about the federal government’s ability to address such a challenge.

Kevin Baragona worked as a software engineer but recognized the potential impact of AI, which led him to start DeepAI in 2016 to help bring the new technology to fruition. The free online service is growing rapidly, with users increasing tenfold over the past year.

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

Biden’s Green Rules Will Cause Home Appliance Costs to Soar, Experts Warn

Experts are warning that President Joe Biden’s green rules are going to cause the prices of everyday household appliances to soar.

However, tighter restrictions on home appliances mean they will also do less.

In December 2022, the Biden administration made a pledge to take “more than 100 actions” to impose significantly tighter environmental standards on consumer goods.

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

Breaking: Donald Trump Leads Ron DeSantis in Florida by 20% in New Poll

A new poll out from Rich Baris’ Big Data shows that former President Donald Trump is not only the GOP frontrunner for the 2024 nomination nationally, but even leads Ron DeSantis in his home state of Florida.

Trump holds 52.5 percent of likely GOP voters in the Sunshine State, while sitting Governor DeSantis has 20 percent less at 32.6 percent.

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

Chicago Resident Accuses Walgreens of ‘Racial Profiling’ With New Anti-Theft Store: ‘Why Don’t You Trust Your Customers?’

Walgreens has been accused of “racial profiling” after launching a new anti-theft format for a store in crime-infested Chicago.

A South Loop Walgreens unveiled a renovated interior to stop rampant theft in Chicago where most of the merchandise is kept away from customers who will have to order at a kiosk and pay before they can touch the goods.

Despite the obvious need to defend the store from crime, some residents are not happy and claim Walgreens is racially profiling customers by trying to prevent theft.

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

DeSantis Defends ‘Fantastic’ Kayleigh McEnany: ‘She’s a Harvard-Trained Lawyer, She Ate the Press Alive’

Florida’s Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis defended former White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany following a recent blast from her old boss, President Donald Trump.

DeSantis argues that McEnany, a current Fox News star, was one of Trump’s “greatest selections.”

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

Doctored Evidence? Democrat-Led J6 Panel Added Audio to Silent Security Video for Primetime Hearings

The Democrat-led House Select Committee to Investigate Jan. 6 doctored a key piece of its evidence, adding audio to silent U.S. Capitol Police security footage used to create a dramatic video montage for the opening of its primetime hearings last summer, according to a Just the News review of the original raw footage and interviews.

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

Fox News Suffers 37% Drop in Primetime Viewers in First Full Month Since Firing Tucker Carlson

Fox News is feeling the pain after the shock firing of network star Tucker Carlson.

In the first full month after Carlson departed, Fox suffered a whopping 37 percent drop in primetime viewers.

Fox isn’t the only network struggling now either.

CNN is getting destroyed in ratings, despite Fox News seeing a steep drop.

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

Hollywood Star Jamie Foxx ‘Blinded and Paralyzed’ by COVID Shot

Disturbing details have finally begun to emerge about the mysterious illness that Hollywood actor Jamie Foxx has been suffering from.

The “Django Unchained” star has reportedly been left “partially paralyzed and blind” after suffering a blood clot on his brain that was caused by his Covid shot.

As Slay News previously reported, Foxx was admitted to a hospital in Atlanta, Georgia in mid-April.

However, his family only revealed that he suffered an unknown “medical complication” and his condition has been shrouded in mystery.

Foxx, like most who work in the entertainment industry, was pressured to get vaccinated for COVID-19 due to strict vaccine mandates.

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

Iconic Record Shop in Portland Shuts Down Amid Skyrocketing Crime

On Thursday, Exiled Records closed its location at Southeast Hawthorne and 47th Ave in Portland, OR after 15 years in business due to multiple break-ins and a decline in foot traffic at the location.

In a post on Instagram, the store wrote, “To say we are sad to leave the Hawthorne community is an understatement.” The post continued, “We are hopeful that those who visited will come dig at EXILED WEST, where we will continue to have an incredible selection of new and used vinyl as well as CD’s and tapes!”

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

Jesus Movement Celebrates ‘Biggest Water Baptism’ in U.S. History

More than 4,000 people were baptized in a single ceremony in southern California last Sunday to mark the 50th anniversary of the Jesus Movement.

Baptize SoCal was touted as “the biggest water baptism in history” as 4,166 people were baptized in Pirate’s Cove, marking their acceptance of Jesus Christ and entry into the Christian church.

The mass event was organized by Oceans Church, a ministry located in Orange County, and involved the participation of more than 280 churches and 8,000 attendees on Pentecost Sunday, which marks the coming of the Holy Spirit upon the apostles.

“What an amazing and historic day,” West Coast Life Church pastor Ray Gene Wilson said. “Thousands baptized at Pirates Cove. God is moving in California.”

Over the same weekend, hundreds also gathered on Pensacola Beach in Florida to pray, worship, and receive Christ, and many were baptized in the ocean.

The Jesus Movement, an evangelical Christian movement that began on the West Coast of the United States in the late 1960s and early 1970s, was commemorated earlier this year with the release of the hit movie Jesus Revolution. The film chronicled the coming to faith of prominent pastor and evangelist Greg Laurie as the Jesus Movement was spreading in America.

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

Kari Lake Files Notice of Appeal in Election Challenge

Former Arizona Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake announced this week that her legal team had filed a notice of appeal, beginning the first steps toward challenging her defeat in a suit against Maricopa County and Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs.

Lake made the remarks to Real America’s Voice host Ben Bergquam before her appearance at the “Defend America Rally” on Wednesday, saying “our attorneys just filed a notice for appeal because of what we’ve discovered with the system log files, which show that they did secretive testing on three different dates and we now have the video to back that up. And that was not available to us because Maricopa County, the people who committed the crime against the people, held that information from us.”

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

Life360 is Sued, Accused of Selling Location Data

A lawsuit seeking class-action status has been filed against Life360, a family tracking app, for allegedly selling users’ location data without consent. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of a minor in Florida and his family, who claimed that they would have never used Life360 if they knew it would sell their location data.

The lawsuit cites a report by The Markup in December 2021 that revealed that the app was selling precise location data of millions of users to about one dozen location data brokers.

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

New York: Man Who Shot Alleged Robber Charged With 26 Gun Crimes

A 65-year-old man who shot a 32-year-old alleged knife-wielding robber in Queens this week is now facing 26 gun charges.

Breitbart News reported that the alleged knife-wielding robber died Wednesday morning after being shot. The 65-year-old man, Charles Foehner, claimed the suspect lunged at him while holding a sharp object.

On Friday ABC 7 noted that Foehner was arrested and “arraigned on 26 gun charges.”

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

Paid to Fail? San Diego Business Owner Criticizes Costly Plan to Buy Hotels to House Homeless, ‘Huge Failure’

A San Diego business owner and CEO is skeptical city leadership’s plan to turn four hotels into housing for homeless people will foster lasting results.

“They’re just trying to clean up a little bit of the people and get them out of the public’s vision so they can get voted back in,” Kate Monroe told Fox News. “They’re not actually digging down to the root of the problem.”

The San Diego Housing Commission announced plans in April to buy three Extended Stay America Suites at a total cost of nearly $158 million to house more than 400 homeless individuals. In mid-May, the commission agreed to apply for $18 million in state funds to purchase a fourth hotel, a 63-room Ramada Inn in the city’s Midway District.

Factoring in remodeling costs to install kitchens and other upgrades, the per-unit cost of the commission’s plan is nearly $400,000, according to The San Diego Union-Tribune.

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

Person Alleging Biden Criminal Bribery Scheme is a ‘Highly Credible’ FBI Source Used Since Obama Admin: Source

EXCLUSIVE: The individual behind the information that then-Vice President Joe Biden was involved in a criminal bribery scheme with a foreign national is a “highly credible” FBI confidential human source who has been used by the bureau in multiple investigative matters dating back to the Obama administration, Fox News Digital has learned.

House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer and GOP Sen. Chuck Grassley were approached by a whistleblower alleging that the FBI was in possession of a document — an FD-1023 form, dated June 30, 2020 — which explicitly detailed information provided by a confidential human source alleging Biden, while serving as vice president, was involved in a $5 million criminal bribery scheme with a foreign national in exchange for influence over policy decisions.

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

Police Stop Children’s Choir Singing National Anthem at U.S Capitol: ‘Said it Might Offend Someone’

The Rushingbrook Children’s Choir was interrupted and stopped by police while singing the National Anthem in Statuary Hall at the United States Capitol today.

The children traveled to Washington, D.C. last Friday, May 26th, for a scheduled Capitol tour.

They had received approval to sing a short set of patriotic songs inside the historic Statuary Hall.

As they sang The Star-Spangled Banner, Capitol Police stopped the show and did not allow the kids to finish the song.

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

Shadowy “Disinformation” Censorship Group Paid Public College for Online Blacklist Report

The Global Disinformation Index (GDI), a British organization financially backed by the US State Department, paid a substantial $90,810 to the Global Disinformation Lab at the University of Texas-Austin (UT Austin) to conduct research and develop a contentious report on conservative media outlets.

The GDI is currently facing backlash for supplying advertisers with blacklists of conservative websites with the intention of revoking their monetization. The contentious report funded by GDI classified conservative media outlets including the New York Post, RealClearPolitics, and the Blaze as the “riskiest.”

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

Twitter Believed it Would Lose COVID Censorship Suit, Feared Release of Documents: Emails

Twitter lawyers thought the company was likely to lose a COVID-19 censorship lawsuit by a former New York Times journalist it permanently suspended from the social media platform, and feared the public seeing Twitter’s internal discussions if they went to trial, according to newly revealed documents.

Alex Berenson published a selection of the internal materials pertaining to his lawsuit against Twitter — confidentially settled nearly a year ago — that he received from Twitter Files journalist Michael Shellenberger.

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

Washington State Patrol, Other Agencies Experiencing ‘Historically’ Massive Staffing Shortages

In the wake of the “defund the police” movement and Governor Jay Inslee’s Covid-19 vaccine mandates which led to the termination, retirement, and transfers of troopers, the Washington State Patrol continues to have trouble recruiting new candidates, and the agency is now concerned it could be short-staffed for years to come.

The agency told KIRO 7 that they are down over 200 positions and incoming recruiting classes are getting smaller. Simultaneously, more troopers are reaching retirement age.

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

West Virginia Police Officer Shot and Killed, Suspect in Custody After Intense Manhunt

A West Virginia State Police officer was killed while responding to a complaint of a shooting on Friday.

Sgt. Cory Maynard as well as two other officers initially responded to a complaint of a shooting at a home on Friday in Mingo County, West Virginia when Timothy Kennedy, 29, allegedly began firing his weapon. Maynard was shot and taken to a local hospital, where he later died.

Kennedy is being charged with first-degree murder.

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

Woman Was Shoplifting When Her Car With 2 Kids Inside Exploded: Cops

Two children were rescued from a car fire in a department store parking lot in Oviedo, Florida. The Oviedo Police Department said that 24-year-old Alicia Moore parked her car at the Oviedo Mall, leaving her two young children unattended, while she went into a Dillard’s department store.

Authorities said that she spent about an hour inside the store, grabbing items she allegedly planned to shoplift with the help of another man.

As Moore left the store, she saw her car engulfed in flames. Police said that she dropped the items she had allegedly taken before leaving the store.

As the car burst into flames, one of the children tried to open the door while another shopper rushed over to help. Both children were pulled from the car and taken to the hospital with first-degree burns.

Moore was taken into custody and has been charged with aggravated child neglect and arson. Investigators have not determined the cause of the fire.

           — Hat tip: Roger [Return to headlines]
 

BBC Accused of Censorship After Blocking Andrew Tate Interview for UK Viewers

The BBC has been accused of trying to cover up an interview with influencer Andrew Tate, which has been blocked from being viewed by UK-based YouTube users, after receiving criticism for apparent bias and for heavily editing the video.

After previously trolling a former VICE reporter into flying to Bucharest on the false promise of an interview, kickboxing champion turned social media star Andrew Tate granted the BBC “the privilege” of his first interview after being released from Romanian prison into house arrest custody in April.

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

EU’s #MeToo Anti-Sexual Harassment Push Risks Putting Every Man ‘Under General Suspicion’ — MEP

A pro-MeToo push to supposedly tackle sexual harassment within the European Union risks putting every single man “under general suspicion”, an MEP has warned.

Christine Anderson, a member of the populist Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, has expressed significant concern about the latest attempt by the European Parliament to curb sexual harassment.

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

Exposed: The UK Company Subjecting Your Social Media Posts to State Surveillance

A UK government-funded artificial intelligence (AI) firm based in an unassuming industrial estate in Yorkshire, England, has been engaged in state surveillance, monitoring the social media posts of citizens, a recent revelation suggests.

Logically, the firm in question, has earned over £1.2 million (1.49 million USD) from government contracts to identify and analyze “disinformation” and “misinformation” spread across social media.

The AI company was started by Lyric Jain, a 27-year-old Cambridge engineering graduate, who launched the technology first during Indian elections. With one of the largest dedicated fact-checking teams globally, the company sifts through material from hundreds of thousands of media sources and all public posts on major social media platforms.

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

Ireland Government Plans to Slaughter 200,000 Farting Cows to Combat ‘Global Warming’

Irish lawmakers are pushing a proposal to kill off nearly 200,000 dairy cows to reach their climate change goals.

The plan aims to eliminate 65,000 cows per year over three years to greenhouse gas emissions on farms by 2030.

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

Macron Seeks Eastern Europe Support for Ukraine Plan

Emmanuel Macron has not exactly made himself the most popular public figure in Europe by being at the centre of efforts to bring Russia and Ukraine to the negotiating table. Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki some time ago compared the pursuit to negotiating with Hitler, while Volodymyr Zelensky said he was “wasting” his time. Seemingly aware of the criticism directed towards him, in particular from ex-Soviet states, the French president this week made a public effort to shore up support in Eastern Europe. (This motive was confirmed by an unnamed Élysée source who told Euractiv that Mr. Macron was reaching out to these states.)

Talking at the GLOBSEC security conference in the Slovak capital Bratislava, Mr. Macron highlighted his determination to support Ukraine “in the long term.” He also made it clear that any negotiated end to the conflict must bring about a “lasting” and “sustainable peace,” and that “a ceasefire is not enough.” Paris, he stressed, was “in favour of giving Ukraine tangible and credible security guarantees.”

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

Spain Calls for Total EU Ban on Encrypted Messaging

Spain’s position on the EU’s proposed Chat Control regulation is even more extreme than the Commission’s, as the country has been calling for a complete EU-wide ban on end-to-end encryption technology used by popular messaging apps, according to a document leaked to Wired earlier this month.

The so-called Child Sexual Abuse Regulation (CSAR), dubbed Chat Control by critics, would force service providers to scan the private messages of Europeans, both texts and pictures, in an effort to clamp down on the dissemination of illicit content linked to child sexual exploitation material (CSEM). Messages and media, including audio and video files, that draw suspicion of the automated scanning system would be flagged and then sent to a central database for further investigation.

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

The EU Plans to Test Twitter to See How Fast it Responds to Censorship Demands

The European Union will stress test Twitter and other platforms to see how well they comply with the upcoming censorship law, the Digital Services Act (DSA), whose enforcement will begin in August. In a similar style program to that created by the Chinese Communist Party, where government enforcers visit tech companies directly, a team of 10 digital specialists will visit the companies later this month, said Thierry Breton, the EU Commissioner for Internal Market.

The test will help companies learn how the DSA will be enforced. Breton, who will also visit the companies, said the team will review how platforms respond to what is problematic content under the law including content that has been flagged by the EU and content that has not been flagged.

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

The Italian Left Raises the Ghost of ‘Fascism’ to Fuel Social Fracture: An Interview With Rachele Mussolini

Rachele Mussolini has been a councillor in Rome for Fratelli d’Italia since 2016 and is an active member of the party. She is the granddaughter of Benito Mussolini and sister of Italian politician, Alessandra Mussolini.

More than seven months have passed since the victory of the centre-Right and, despite the hysteria of the Left, there has not been another ‘March on Rome’, nor has the apocalypse arrived.

In these seven months, the new democratically elected centre-right government has been installed. It should be noted that in recent years governments have been formed by political agreements that did not reflect the will of the people. However, in recent months, the government has taken many steps forward, focusing political action on a long-term and structural vision in a way that is different from previous governments. This is possible because the centre-Right is a cohesive and determined coalition, and its expected duration is five years, barring unforeseen events. There is, therefore, a great desire to do well and for change to be perceived abroad as well, because Italy is a great country that deserves to be seen for what it is.

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

The UK’s “Chilling” Secret Unit That Monitored Lockdown Dissent

A clandestine UK Government unit dubbed the Counter-Disinformation Unit (CDU) has been implicated in a troubling endeavor to curb and control online discussions about the controversial Covid-19 lockdown policies. The covert operation allegedly involved the collaboration of social media companies in a strategic bid to quell supposed domestic “threats.”

According to revelations from Freedom of Information requests and data protection requests from The Telegraph, posts critical of Covid-19 restrictions, including those questioning mass vaccination of children, were systematically removed.

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

UK: No Escape: All TV Remotes Must Have Dedicated BBC Button, Broadcaster Demands

A button bringing users directly to the BBC must be put on all new television remotes, the state-funded broadcaster has said.

In a submission to the British government, the state-funded BBC has demanded that all TV remote controls containing dedicated buttons for the likes of Netflix should be required by law to have a similar button for the BBC.

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

UK: Please Just Stop! Anti-Oil Mob Block Westminster Roads in Latest Traffic-Slowing Stunt After Week of Chaos

Just Stop Oil activists have blocked a number of roads across Westminster today in the eco-zealots’ latest traffic-slowing stunt after a week of causing chaos.

The anti-oil mob held up motorists outside Parliament Square this afternoon but were quickly cleared by police after imposing conditions under the Public Order Act.

Metropolitan Police arrived on the scene at 1:28pm this afternoon and were able to clear the road by 1:42pm, allowing traffic to move freely.

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

UK: Protesters Arrested at Epsom Derby as August Rodin Gallops to Victory

Two protesters were arrested attempting to disrupt the Epsom Derby — but were removed by police and failed to interrupt the historic horse race.

One man burst onto the track just after the race started at 1.30pm before being tackled to the ground.

Minutes later, a woman attempted to climb the fence but was pulled to the ground by police.

Members of the crowd were heard cheering as the protesters were dragged away from the course on Saturday afternoon.

One protester was moved to the side of the track around a minute before the horses came past for their final sprint.

Despite threats by activist group Animal Rising to “cancel or severely delay” the Derby, the race continued as planned.

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

UK: Sadiq Khan’s City Hall Staff Encouraged to Join Militant Eco Clowns at Extinction Rebellion

SADIQ Khan’s staff at City Hall are being encouraged to join militant eco clowns at Extinction Rebellion.

And the taxpayer-funded Greater London Authority is laying on “climate cafes” for employees — because bottling up global warming concerns risks “anxiety and isolation”.

Internal adverts seen by the Sun on Sunday say green-minded civil servants could “be an activist” in groups like serial road-blockers Extinction Rebellion.

It says: “Nobody’s asking you to glue yourself to anything, but individual change isn’t enough to influence the changes we need to make.”

The notice — circulated to all staff by the GLA’s Climate Action Group — sparked fury last night as ordinary Brits continue to pay the price of protesters’ disruption.

Civil servants are also encouraged to check their bank’s “green credentials” and jump ship if it funds fossil fuels, as well as eating more vegan meals.

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

Turkey to Send Commando Battalion to Kosovo Amid Violent Unrest

ANKARA (AP) — The Turkish defense ministry announced Saturday it will be sending a commando battalion to northern Kosovo in response to a NATO request for troops to help quell violent unrest.

The request came from NATO’s Joint Force Command Naples, the ministry said in a press statement posted on its official Twitter account, and the battalion will join the alliance’s peacekeeping mission in the region, known as KFOR, as a reserve unit.

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

Israeli Soldiers Killed in Egypt Border Shooting: Army

Three Israeli soldiers and a member of Egypt’s security forces have died in a fairly rare exchange of fire near the two countries’ border, their militaries said. The countries said they were investigating together.

Israel’s military said on Saturday that three of its soldiers were killed by live fire near the border to Egypt in the early hours of Saturday morning.

“Three IDF soldiers were killed today,” the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) wrote on Twitter. “Two soldiers were killed by live fire adjacent to the Egyptian border, and the third during an exchange of fire with an assailant in the area of the Paran Regional Brigade.”

The IDF statement identified the assailant as “an Egyptian policeman,” and said he had been fatally shot by troops.

“An investigation is being conducted in full cooperation with the Egyptian army,” the IDF said. Egyptian security sources also told news agencies that a joint investigation had been launched.

A spokesperson for the Egyptian army confirmed that “a member of the security forces” was killed in an exchange of fire with Israeli troops.

A fourth Israeli soldier, a non-commissioned officer, sustained light injuries and was transferred to hospital.

Israeli army spokesman Richard Hecht told reporters that a major drug smuggling operation had been foiled during the night on the border with Egypt. Contraband goods worth in the region of $400,000 (around €380,000) had been seized.

But it was not immediately clear if or how these incidents were linked.

Hecht said that two soldiers, one man and one woman, had been on guard overnight at a secluded desert area at the border and were found dead at their posts after failing to answer their radios. He said they were probably shot in the early hours of the morning.

When their bodies were found, a search for a perpetrator began, leading to the exchange of fire in which a third Israeli soldier and the supposed Egyptian police officer were killed.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said that he had conducted a situational assessment with the head of the IDF and that the military “will investigate the event as required.”

           — Hat tip: Dean [Return to headlines]
 

Russia Has Enough Iranian Suicide Drones to Launch Attacks Every Day to Deplete Ukraine’s Air Defenses

Russia has enough Iranian-made suicide drones to keep up attacks on Ukraine every day, a Ukrainian Air Force official warned.

Air Force spokesperson Yurii Ihnat said Russian forces have more than enough supply of Shahed-136 drones to keep up the attack, Ukrainian news outlet NV reported.

“Shaheds are now launched so often that it is not clear whether they are (supposed to be) detecting or depleting our air defense,” Ihnat said, according to NV. “It’s all in one: both detecting and, surely, depleting.”

Russia has been using the unmanned loitering munitions to relentlessly bombard Ukrainian cities and targets in recent weeks.

           — Hat tip: AGA [Return to headlines]
 

Ukraine’s Counteroffensive Move Against Russia Will Succeed: Zelensky

Ukraine’s president said Saturday that he is confident his war-ravaged country’s recently launched counteroffensive move will end in victory over Russia despite an “unprecedented” barrage of missile and drone attacks in recent weeks.

“We strongly believe that we will succeed,” Volodymyr Zelensky said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal.

“I don’t know how long it will take. To be honest, it can go a variety of ways, completely different. But we are going to do it, and we are ready.”

The optimism was echoed by Ukraine’s deputy defense minister, who called Russia’s use of ballistic missiles in May “a last strategic resort,” noting that Ukraine’s air defense system had been “more than 90 percent effective against the attacks.”

           — Hat tip: McN [Return to headlines]
 

Wagner Group’s Prigozhin Says His Forces Are Ready to Defend Belgorod From Mounting Attacks

Chief of paramilitary group said he will not wait for an ‘invitation’ to dispatch forces to the Russian border region

The head of the Russian paramilitary group Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, declared on Saturday that he was ready to send his units to defend the Russian region of Belgorod, which borders Ukraine and has been hit by intense shelling and attacks in recent days.

“If the Ministry of Defence does not stop what is happening in the Belgorod region […] where Russian territory is in fact being captured, then obviously we will arrive”, he said in an audio message published by his press service.

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

West Wants to ‘Exterminate’ Ethnic Russians Claims Moscow, While Talking Up ‘Destroying’ Ukraine

Russia claims with outrage that the West is supporting Ukraine in its “policy of physical extermination of ethnic Russians”, while simultaneously speaking of Ukraine as a nation of terrorists which “must be destroyed”.

“Neo-Nazi” sentiment is “stronger than ever” in Europe and Western powers want to see what seems to amount to a genocide against ethnic Russians, a Kremlin spokesman says. Director of press for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Maria Zakharova said Western nations “openly supports Kiev’s policy of physical extermination of ethnic Russians”.

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

India: 288 Dead, 803 Injured After Horrific Three-Train Crash in Odisha

Coromandel Express Accident: The train was going from Howrah to Chennai, rammed into the derailed coaches of the other train, which was going from Bengaluru to Kolkata

New Delhi: At least 288 people were killed and around 803 were injured in a horrific three-train collision in Odisha’s Balasore, officials said Saturday, the country’s deadliest rail accident in more than 20 years. Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the train accident site and met with injured people at hospitals in Cuttack.

The crash involved the Bengaluru-Howrah Superfast Express, the Shalimar-Chennai Central Coromandel Express, and a goods train.

The accident saw one train ram so hard into another that carriages were lifted high into the air, twisting and then smashing off the tracks. Another carriage had been tossed entirely onto its roof, crushing the passenger section.

“Everything was shaking and we could feel the coach toppling,” Sanjay Mukhia, a daily wage worker travelling to Chennai on the Coromandel-Shalimar Express, told NDTV, showing his injuries.

           — Hat tip: JW [Return to headlines]
 

Nearly 300 Killed and 900 Wounded in World’s Worst Train Disaster in 20 Years… With Death Toll Still Rising: Rescuers Battle Through Wreckage to Help Survivors in India

At least 288 people have died with some 900 people hospitalised in a three-train collision in India last night — the country’s deadliest rail accident in more than 20 years.

Rescuers continued to wade through piles of debris and wreckage to pull out bodies and free survivors on Saturday after two passenger trains derailed in India, hitting a stationary freight train on an adjacent track. The harrowing scenes saw the rail cars tossed far from the tracks and others flipped over entirely in one of the country’s deadliest train crashes in decades.

The accident, which happened about 137 miles (220km) southwest of Kolkata on Friday night, led to a chaotic scene as rescuers climbed atop the wrecked trains to break open doors and windows using cutting torches to free survivors.

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

China Launches Massive Online Censorship Sweep Ahead of Tiananmen Square Anniversary

The Chinese Communist government is ramping up online censorship ahead of the anniversary of the June 4, 1989, massacre of student demonstrators in Tiananmen Square — an event that is illegal to commemorate or discuss in China.

Beijing scrubs China’s heavily sealed, policed, and censored backwater of the Internet of Tiananmen content every year, but this time they, scrubbed a bridge right off the digital map. Users of China’s Baidu search engine — which, like Google and other search providers, has a mapping feature — suddenly found themselves unable to locate Sitong Bridge in Beijing. Early this week, Baidu began claiming “no related places found” when the bridge is searched for, although some intrepid users were able to get around the clumsy censorship by using different versions of the Chinese alphabet.

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

Mark Latham is Drawn Into Another Bizarre Dispute With Rival Politician — After One Nation Leader Refused to Apologise for Anti-Gay Tweet

One Nation’s NSW leader Mark Latham has become embroiled in yet another controversy with independent MP Alex Greenwich — this time over a possum skin.

           — Hat tip: SS [Return to headlines]
 

Why Not a Single Large Corporation is Endorsing the Indigenous Voice No Campaign — as Businessman Says Bosses Are Being ‘Bullied’ Into Backing Yes: ‘Herd Mentality’

Corporate Australia is throwing its support behind the Indigenous Voice but according to leading No campaigner Warren Mundine, that’s because companies are being bullied behind the scenes.

           — Hat tip: SS [Return to headlines]
 

DHS Issues ‘Imminent Threat to National Security’ Alert Over Terrorist Approaching Southern Border

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials have issued an alert regarding a dangerous suspected terrorist who is planning to cross Democrat President Joe Biden’s porous border into the United States.

DHS issued a Be On the Lookout alert (BOLO) after U.S. authorities became aware that a “no-fly list” suspected terrorist had made his way through Panama and is headed to the southwest border of the United States.

The national security alert warns that the suspect, “Mohamed Shaker MOHAMED ABDELAAL,” poses an “imminent threat to national security.”

Mohamed Shaker is from Egypt and was identified by sources in Panama.

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

Italy: Molteni Hails Detention of Two Migrant Rescue Ships

(ANSA) — ROME, JUN 3 — Interior Ministry Undersecretary Nicola Molteni on Saturday hailed the decision to place two migrant rescue vessels run by non-governmental organisations under administrative detention in relation to alleged violations of new rules on search and rescue at sea.

“The government does not delegate border control and search and rescue to private, foreign-flagged, foreign-funded vessels,” said Molteni, a member of the right-wing government coalition partner League, in Instagram in relation to Friday’s order concerning the Mare*Go and Sea Eye 4, both operated by German charities.

If the same ships break the rules again they will be seized, he added.

On Friday the coast guard issued two separate administrative detention orders against the Mare*go and Sea Eye 4 in relation respectively to the decision to disembark 36 migrants and refugees allegedly rescued in the Maltese search and rescue (SAR) zone on Lampedusa rather than in the assigned port of Trapani on grounds it was too far away; and the decision to carry out two distinct rescue operations respectively involving 17 and 32 people in the Libyan and Italian SAR areas before heading to the Abruzzo port of Ortona on Italy’s Adriatic coast, assigned to the ship after its first rescue.

Under new rules governing search and rescue operations by private vessels in the central Mediterranean introduced by the government at the start of 2023, NGO vessels carrying rescued migrants and refugees are required to navigate directly to the assigned port after the first rescue without remaining in the search and rescue area.

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

Migrants Entering U.S. Through Canadian Border Sector Exceed Prior Four Years Combined

Swanton Sector Border Patrol agents apprehended more migrants who illegally crossed the border this year than in the previous four years combined. While the numbers dropped slightly in May the shocking trend continues.

Swanton Sector Chief Patrol Agent Robert Garcia tweeted a report revealing that since the beginning of Fiscal Year 23 on October 1, his agents encountered more migrants that during the previous four years combined.

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

UK: Pimlico Hotel Caves in to Asylum Seekers: Migrants End Their Street Protests Over ‘Unsafe’ Four-to-a-Room Policy After Staff Agree Maximum of Two Will Share

A Pimlico hotel has caved into asylum seekers’ demands over an ‘unsafe’ four-to-a-room policy as staff now agree only a maximum of two will share.

On May 31 around 20 asylum seekers staying at the Comfort Inn in Pimlico, south west London, camped outside to protest the poor conditions in the hotel.

On their arrival to the hotel they were told that four people would be sharing a room with two bunk beds, leading many to worry about their safety and lack of space.

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

Daily Wire’s ‘What is a Woman?’ Documentary Exceeds 100 Million Views on Twitter

After dealing with Twitter censorship issues, the Daily Wire’s “What Is A Woman?” a documentary by Matt Walsh, hit 100 million views early Saturday morning.

The outlet also announced that “the movie they really don’t want you to see” will be available on Twitter for the rest of the weekend, after previously planning to run it for 24hrs only. “We want everyone to have a chance to watch it for free!” they said.

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

Dylan Mulvaney Shrugs Off Bud Light Controversy at Musical, ‘Transparent’ — Based of a Series About a Transgender Parent — as Anheuser-Bush Loses a Staggering $27 BILLION in Market Value

Dylan Mulvaney shrugged off the Bud Light controversy at the musical, ‘Transparent’ as Anheuser-Bush is seen losing a staggering $27 billion in market value as of the end of May.

           — Hat tip: SS [Return to headlines]
 

Elon Musk Vows to Push ‘To Criminalize Making Severe, Irreversible Changes to Children Below Age of Consent’

Twitter boss Elon Musk has vowed to do everything in his power “criminalize” efforts to make “irreversible changes to children below the age of consent.”

Musk made the comments while blasting the permanent gender-transition measures that are being offered to children who have not reached the age of consent.

“This is a major problem,” Musk wrote in a tweet on Thursday.

“I will be actively lobbying to criminalize making severe, irreversible changes to children below the age of consent.

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

Elon Musk Issues Warning to Bud Light & Target: ‘Won’t be Long Before There Are Class-Action Lawsuits From Shareholders’

Twitter boss Elon Musk issued a warning to Target and Bud Light’s partner company Anheuser-Busch after consumer revolts against the brands’ marketing stunts.

Both companies have seen their stock prices plummet amid backlashes.

Charlie Kirk said:

“JP Morgan just downgraded Target’s stock, after its longest losing streak in 23 years citing ‘too many concerns rising.’

“Happy Pride Month Target!!”

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

Far-Leftists Clash With Parents Protesting Pride Assembly at Los Angeles Elementary School

A group of parents protesting a “PRIDE assembly” outside Saticoy Elementary School in North Hollywood, California on Friday were met with physical violence after far-leftists came to disrupt the event, which resulted in a heavy police response following a physical brawl between opposing groups.

Concerned about Saticoy Elementary School’s planned “PRIDE assembly” aimed at kindergarten to fifth-grade students, a group called the Glendale Unified School District Parents’ Voices gathered outside the school to protest the Los Angeles Unified School District’s LGBTQ curriculum being imposed on the youth.

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

Former Target Exec Reveals the ‘One Item’ That Sparked Consumer Firestorm

Target has seen a significant drop in its market value as the retail giant faces a consumer firestorm over the displaying of pride merchandise in stores around the nation.

This controversy follows a boycott against Bud Light due to their decision to market products with transgender social media influencer Dylan Mulvaney.

Former Target Vice Chairman Gerald Storch joined “Fox & Friends Weekend” and revealed the one item that “made the difference” against the competition and sparked the backlash.

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

Idaho Student Prevented From Walking at Graduation After Asserting Men and Women Are Different

An Idaho teenager was barred by Kellog High School administrators from participation in his graduation ceremony for giving his opinion on biology. 18-year-old Travis Lohr said during a recent assembly, “Guys are guys and girls are girls are girls there is no in-between.”

Friday evening, over 100 students and parents protested outside the school with chants of “Let him walk,” holding signs that read “Freedom of speech?” to get the administrators to change their minds.

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

Pride Month: Armed Forces Commissioner Wants to Make the Draft Gender Neutral

Germany should strongly consider implementing a mandatory gender-neutral draft, the country’s Armed Forces Commissioner has said.

Eva Högl, the left-wing politician who serves as Germany’s Armed Forces Commissioner, has suggested that a mandatory one-year draft for all young people could be what is needed to revitalise the country’s military.

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

Six Flags Amusement Parks Hosting Pride Month Drag Shows for ‘All Ages’, Assures Guests They’re ‘PG’

In honor of Pride Month, major amusement park franchise Six Flags has announced kid-friendly drag show performances at several of its amusement parks this year.

Trying to preempt outrage over drag queens performing for kids, Six Flags’ website insisted that the shows will be PG and “inclusive for all ages.”

In addition to the drag performances, one of the Six Flags parks will be showcasing educational material on the history of America’s pride celebration.

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

Texas Bans Transgender Surgeries for Children

Texas has just become the largest state in the nation to ban life-altering transgender treatments and surgeries for children.

Republican Governor Greg Abbott signed a bill into law on Friday that protects minors from being put through irreversible sex-change procedures.

The bill, SB 14, bans children from undergoing surgical procedures or being given puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones.

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

Trump-Appointed Judge Rejects Tennessee’s Anti-Drag Law as Too Broad, Too Vague

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee’s first-in-the-nation law designed to place strict limits on drag shows is unconstitutional, a federal judge says.

The law is both “unconstitutionally vague and substantially overbroad” and encouraged “discriminatory enforcement,” according to the ruling late Friday by U.S. District Judge Thomas Parker, who was appointed by former President Donald Trump.

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

VT School Board Pays Family $125,000 After Punishing Father, Daughter for Speaking Out Against Trans Student

A Vermont school district has just reached a settlement to pay one local family $125,000 in damages after disciplining them for speaking out against a transgender student that was creeping out high school girls in a school locker room.

In addition, the school has promised to reinstate Travis Allen as a middle school soccer coach, as well as remove any records of discipline against him and his daughter in the school database.

Christian conservative legal group Alliance Defending Freedom, which handled the case on behalf of the Allen Family, has deemed the settlement a “resounding victory for freedom of speech.”

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

Woke Corporate Governance Often Stems From Involved Investment Firms: Former Anheuser-Busch Exec

Woke corporate governance, which recently led to the fiscal hemorrhaging of Anheuser-Busch and Target, often begins with investment firms pressuring them to behave in certain ways, a former executive at the beer conglomerate said.

Anson Frericks told “Jesse Watters Primetime” a lot of the lead-up to decisions — such as the one at his former firm involving transgender activist Dylan Mulvaney that led to a nationwide boycott of Bud Light — stem from the politicking of firms like New York-based BlackRock and Pennsylvania-based Vanguard.

Altogether, BlackRock, Vanguard and another firm, State Street, manage about $20 trillion in capital, Frericks said, noting it is not truly “their” money but that of the investments of Americans’ mutual funds and state pension funds.

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

Woke Panic: IMDb Artificially Boosts Disney’s ‘The Little Mermaid’ User Score After Detecting ‘Unusual User Voting’

IMDb has claimed to have detected “unusual user voting” for Disney’s new live-action remake of The Little Mermaid and as a result, has switched to an “alternate weighting calculation” in order to artificially boost the movie’s user score.

The Little Mermaid‘s IMDb page currently shows a user rating of 7.0, even though the majority of users gave it a score of 3 or lower out of a possible ten. More than 40 percent of users gave it a score of 1, which is the lowest possible rating.

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

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

  1. In other news, at the request of NATO, the Turkish defense ministry announced that it will send a commando battalion to Kosovo to help quell violent unrest.

    Serbia got its independence from the Ottomans yoke in 1904 after the ottomans massacred one third of the population. Now USA and Britain were asked by turkey to send executioners to repeat the history.

    Why would Britain care about Serbia if 51% of little Britain belongs to Pakistan. IN pakistan they refer to it as Pakistani Britain.

    if one murders his own sons, what do you expect except treasonous betrayal.

    godless little britain are enlightened by “reason and logic.”

    • Yeah, really great idea to send the GD turks to kosovo where they will wave their cursed flag at the Serbians and provoke them with a few deaths or rapes and then it will send thos Serbs into a bloody frenzy where no amount of politics will stop the Serbs from going full on war, NATO be damned.

  2. .
    .
    Is it known that the Biden regime has allowed 6.5 million illegal immigrants to cross the country’s southern border. There is, of course, a concrete reason for this, which Lara Logan explains.

    It is about diluting the voting population purely politically, so that the globalist agenda can take power, and so that the Republicans will never be able to win elections again.

    Lara Logan joins Steve Bannon on War Room
    Investigative Reporter Lara Logan joins Steve Bannon on War Room to discuss GOP Governors sending illegal immigrants to “Sanitary States”.

    https://americasvoice.news/lara-logan-joins-steve-bannon-on-war-room/

  3. Department of Homeland Security has issued a BOLO concerning a terrorist who is thought to be approaching the southern border. The alleged terrorist, one Mohamed Shaker a.k.a. Mohamed Abdelaal, is said to pose an “imminent threat to national security.”

    Considering that the southern border (which southern boder? if news are to be belived) is a big open door, I wouldnt be surprised if he isnt already inside the USA

  4. Perhaps, while on the look out for a single terrorist on the border with Mexico, Homeland Security should also be on the lookout for the rest of the thousands and thousands of illegal immigrants crossing the US border. Just a suggestion.

    Everything about this situation is absurdly wrong.

  5. .
    Sweden summons the pensioner, 73, Carl Bildt
    to butter up Erdogan

    June 3, 2023

    The government will send the traitor Carl Bildt to represent Sweden when Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is recalled, reports TV4.

    Bildt has been relatively popular in Turkey because, as foreign minister, he advocated fervently for the inclusion of the Muslim country in the EU in the early 2000s.

    It is otherwise usual for a government representative to represent Sweden on similar occasions, or possibly someone from the Riksdag.

    Experts, including Turkey expert Paul Levin, believe that Carl Bildt can have a certain impact on the relationship with Turkey.

    – He has weight, is internationally well-known and has a fairly good relationship with Turkey.

    – I think he goes home quite well in Ankara, he says to SVT.

  6. .
    Extensive archive of images from Hunter Biden’s laptop launched online

    June 4, 2023

    The American president’s son Hunter Biden’s rewritten laptop has now got its own home online. An extensive image archive from the laptop is now being launched at the same time as the 53-year-old is facing ongoing investigations into his business dealings abroad and potential tax and weapons offences.

    Nearly 10,000 photos taken between 2008 and 2019 have been made available on BidenLaptopMedia.com after a former White House aide to Donald Trump spent months going through the digital material, censoring some images and publishing the rest.

    “The most important thing for us is truth and transparency,” Garrett Ziegler, who founded the nonprofit organization behind the publication, told Fox News.

    Among the censored images are those that show private information, such as social security numbers, bank accounts and credit card numbers.

    Immediately after the launch, the website went down in some kind of overload attack. Over the weekend, this election influence operation was still ongoing.

    Federal prosecutors have not yet announced whether they will file charges against the 53-year-old Hunter for alleged crimes, including tax fraud and lying on a gun purchase form about his drug use.

    Hunter is facing a separate congressional investigation into his dealings abroad, in which a committee has reviewed his bank transactions to corroborate allegations of bribery involving the Biden family.

    Many images from the computer show Hunter with more or less clothing on and surrounded by more or less drug-related items.

  7. .
    Yuval Noah Harari – The Oppenheimer Moment of AI

    Harari – The Oppenheimer Moment of AI,” renowned historian and philosopher Harari implores us to scrutinize the implications of AI, beyond its humanoid robot depiction in Sci-Fi.

    Instead, he introduces us to the concept of AI as an ‘alien intelligence’—as powerful, transformative, and potentially dangerous as the dawn of atomic energy.

    This video explores the depth of Harari’s argument, addressing both the peril and promise of AI. Harari suggests that we are at an epochal crossroads, much like J. Robert Oppenheimer, the father of the atomic bomb.

    With AI’s rapidly evolving capabilities, like writing, drawing, composing, and coding, the digital age stands on the precipice of a new era, one that holds the potential for both unimaginable benefit and cataclysmic harm. The game-changer, according to Harari, is AI’s mastery of language.

    This proficiency is not just transforming how AI communicates, but it has allowed AI to ‘hack’ into the operating system of our civilization, influencing our worldviews and potentially creating an insurmountable ‘curtain of illusions.’

    This video delves into Harari’s suggested safeguards against this, advocating for a mandatory rule where AI always discloses its identity, preserving our democratic conversations and preventing the manipulation of our perceptions by an ‘alien’ intelligence.

    Drawing on Alan Cooper’s analogy of the “Oppenheimer Moment,” we explore the ethical dilemmas faced by today’s tech practitioners, reminding us of our responsibility to ensure the safe and ethical development of AI.

    T his moment underscores the moral burden we carry, as we potentially tread the path that leads us to a future echoing Oppenheimer’s lament, ‘Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.’

    Join us as we journey through this conversation, questioning our readiness to shoulder the responsibility accompanying this ‘alien intelligence’ and advocating for a beneficial legacy for generations to come.

    https://youtu.be/Bpy6X7kF7-s

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