During his visit to Lithuania, President Joe Biden confused Ukraine with Russia, and Zelensky with Putin. Mr. Biden reportedly also referred to Mr. Zelensky as “Vladimir” rather than “Volodymyr”.
In other news, the German government has had to throw out 80 million doses of COVID “vaccine”, due to vaccine hesitancy on the part of the German populace.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to Daniel Greenfield, Dean, DV, JW, McN, MM, Reader from Chicago, SS, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.
Notice to tipsters: Please don’t submit extensive excerpts from articles that have been posted behind a subscription firewall, or are otherwise under copyright protection.
Caveat: Articles in the news feed are posted “as is”. Gates of Vienna cannot vouch for the authenticity or accuracy of the contents of any individual item posted here. I check each entry to make sure it is relatively interesting, not patently offensive, and at least superficially plausible. The link to the original is included with each item’s title. Further research and verification are left to the reader.
Bank of Canada Hikes Rate to 5% as Pandemic Savings Stymie Inflation Fight
The Bank of Canada raised the key overnight interest rate by another 25 basis points to five per cent — its highest level since 2001 — as governor Tiff Macklem suggested residual pandemic savings have delayed the impact of efforts to rein in inflation.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Inflation: Consumer Prices in June Rose at Slowest Annual Rate Since March 2021
Consumer prices rose at the slowest pace since March 2021 as inflation showed further signs of cooling in June, according to the latest data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics released Wednesday morning.
The Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 0.2% over last month and 3% over the prior year in June, a slight acceleration from May’s 0.1% month-over-month increase but a slowdown compared to the month’s 4% annual gain.
Both measures were slightly better than economist forecasts of a 0.3% month-over-month increase and a 3.1% annual increase, according to data from Bloomberg.
On a “core” basis, which strips out the more volatile costs of food and gas, prices in June climbed 0.2% over the prior month and 4.8% over last year. Both measures were also slightly better than economist expectations.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
10 New Names Exposed in Hunter Biden Scandal
Several high-ranking officials in Joe Biden’s administration have had longstanding professional and personal links to the Democrat president’s son Hunter, newly discovered communications have revealed.
Emails from the first son’s abandoned laptop show Hunter Biden has been communicating with top officials since before his father ascended to the presidency.
According to the emails, Hunter has been in close contact with several top staffers since Joe Biden served as vice president during Obama’s presidency.
Top officials with whom Hunter Biden had corresponded during the Obama administration included at least two Cabinet members, four top aides, and a campaign official.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
127-Year-Old Brewery is Latest Business to Ditch San Francisco
Anchor Brewing Company, which calls itself America’s first craft brewery, is closing its doors in the city after first opening them in 1896. Its owners cited inflation and lingering pandemic impacts.
“The inflationary impact of product costs in San Francisco is one factor,” spokesman Sam Singer said. “The impacts of the pandemic, inflation, especially in San Francisco, and a highly competitive market left the company with no option but to make this sad decision to cease operations.”
Fleeing businesses is not a new phenomenon in the California city. Office vacancies in San Francisco hit a record high rate in the second quarter this year. Among the companies trying to ditch their office space in the struggling city this quarter were Uber, Airbnb, and Salesforce.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Activists Target SUVs in Birmingham by Deflating Tires
BIRMINGHAM, Mich. (CBS DETROIT) — Vandals have targeted vehicles inside of a Birmingham parking garage over the weekend in a very unusual way.
Brian Borich said he was one of several victims who had their tires deflated.
“I was obviously upset. I wasn’t very happy,” Borich said.
Borich said he was in downtown Birmingham to get a haircut, and when he returned to his Ford F150 to leave, he noticed a piece of paper on his window.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Biden State Department Blocks Congressional Investigation Into Scandal-Plagued Iran Envoy
The State Department on Tuesday informed House Foreign Affairs Committee chairman Michael McCaul (R., Texas) that it wont answer any questions about the matter or provide the committee with details about the allegations against Malley, who was placed on unpaid leave late last month while the FBI and other security agencies investigate his actions.
“The Department is not in a position to provide further documents or information related to this personnel-security clearance matter,” the State Department informed McCaul, according to a copy of the correspondence obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.
The exact charges against Malley remain unclear, but the decision to revoke his security clearance has led lawmakers to suspect the top diplomat may have mishandled classified information during diplomatic talks with Iran.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Breakthrough in Life on Mars Hunt as NASA Rover Makes Major Discovery
Organic molecules have been discovered on the surface of Mars by NASA’s Perseverance rover in a major update in the search for life.
The findings, as presented in the journal Nature, give fresh evidence that there may have once been life on the Red Planet.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
During a House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday, Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Chris Wray was questioned about involvement of the FBI in suppressing free speech online. Wray “does not believe” the federal agency violated the First Amendment.
During the committee hearing, Republican Rep. Harriet Hageman probed the FBI director about the involvement of the FBI “by proxy” in shutting down free speech of American citizens online.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Breaking: FBI Director Claims He’s ‘Not Sure’ if There Were Undercover Agents on Jan 6
Director of the FBI Chris Wray said he is “not sure” if there were any undercover agents at the US Capitol on January 6, 2020, when questioned about the matter by Congress on Wednesday. Wray sat before the House Judiciary Committee.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Pittsburgh Public Schools, the state’s second-largest district, hosts on its website an array of “racial equity learning resources” that train educators on topics such as “whiteness” and how to be “culturally responsive as a white teacher.” One resource includes curriculum materials developed from critical race theorist Ibram X. Kendi’s Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You, which argues that “racist ideas have been stamped” into the nation’s “Constitution, laws, policies, practices, and beliefs of segregationists and assimilationists.” Lessons inspired by the book ask students to explain how America’s government is “emblematic” of the statement, “Racism is the bedrock of the USA.” They also state that “meritocracy and the American dream narrative are rooted in whiteness.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
California Democrats Block Bill Making Trafficking of Minors a Serious Felony
Democrats on the California Assembly’s Public Safety Committee have blocked a bill that would make the trafficking of minors a serious felony.
The inexplicable move was met with outrage from human trafficking victims who have been advocating for the bill.
The bill, HB 14, noted that “California consistently ranks number one in the nation in the number of human trafficking cases reported to the National Human Trafficking Hotline.”
“Human trafficking is among the world’s fastest-growing criminal enterprises and is estimated to be a $150,000,000,000 a year global industry,” it adds.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Climate Maps Manipulated to Mislead the Public
The US state science organization NOAA released in May very revealing climate maps that show the average temperature across the world in April compared to the climate normal. Not only do they markedly deviate from countless countries’ official temperature data for April, showing the spring month was cooler than normal, but they also contradict each other even though they originate from exactly the same measurement data. The New Times here reveal how the figures are distorted and that there are two parallel maps, one for scientists and one grossly deceptive one shown to the public.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Colorado Man Accused of Shooting Two Teens in Response to Car Theft Faces Murder Charges
Prosecutors charged a Colorado man, accused of shooting two teenage boys stealing his car on Thursday, with murder after one of the teenagers died.
Orest Schur, 27, is charged with one count of first-degree murder and another count of attempted first-degree murder following the fatal shooting of 14-year-old Xavier Kirk and the non-fatal shooting of a 13-year-old in Aurora, Colorado, police told USA TODAY.
Residents heard a car alarm going off Wednesday night and saw two people dressed in black trying to break into a Hyundai Elantra before Schur confronted them, Aurora Police wrote on their website. The two teens later sped away in a different vehicle.
According to the press release, Schur drove his Hyundai to follow the teenagers before they crashed a short distance away in a neighborhood block. Schur then fired several shots at the boys he suspected of trying to break into his car, police said.
| — Hat tip: McN | [Return to headlines] |
Do Not Let China Attack America From America
The America ChangLe Association in Manhattan’s Chinatown, which closed down after an FBI raid last year, has just reopened with a grand ceremony celebrating… July 4! This is China’s new form of political warfare, brazen in the extreme.
It is way past time to end the ability of the Chinese regime to conduct political warfare against the United States from American soil. America’s defense begins with closing down the America ChangLe Association.
On April 17, the U.S. Department of Justice announced the arrests that day of two individuals for “conspiring to act as agents” of the People’s Republic of China and obstructing justice. The pair — “Harry” Lu Jianwang and Chen Jinping — had “worked together to establish the first overseas police station in the United States” for the Fuzhou branch of China’s Ministry of Public Security.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Estate of Fugitive Antifa Gunman Who Killed Portland Trump Supporter Sues Police
Nearly three years after Antifa member Michael Forest Reinoehl was killed by police while being arrested for murdering 39-year-old Trump supporter Aaron Danielson, his estate has filed a lawsuit against law enforcement and government agencies alleging their only plan that day was to use deadly force.
Reinoehl, 48, had been on the run for five days when he was shot multiple times by officers on September 3, 2020 while in his vehicle outside an apartment complex in Lacey, Washington. Authorities claimed he had reached for something, presumably a gun, before they discharged their weapons.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Google Slapped With Giant Data Theft Lawsuit
Google is facing a class-action lawsuit for allegedly scraping the personal data of millions of users without consent and violating copyright laws to develop its AI products, CNN reported on Tuesday, July 11th.
The lawsuit was filed at the federal level by the California-based Clarkson Law Firm, the same company that brought a similar case against ChatGPT’s OpenAI last month. Google is being sued together with its parent company Alphabet and its AI subsidiary, DeepMind.
According to the suit, Google “has been secretly stealing everything ever created and shared on the internet by hundreds of millions of Americans,” taking “virtually the entirety of our digital footprint,” including “creative and copywritten works” to build its AI products, such as its ChatGPT competitor, Bard.
The company, however, stated that it “has long been transparent that Google uses publicly available information from the open web to train language models for services like Google Translate,” adding that Bard and other AI tools have also been included in this privacy policy.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Gun Rights Groups Appeal to Overturn Delaware ‘Assault Weapons’ Ban
Gun rights groups have appealed to federal judges to overturn a lower court decision upholding Delaware’s “assault weapons” ban and other gun control measures.
In late March, U.S. District Court Judge Richard Andrews denied a request by the Delaware Sportsmen’s Association (DSSA) and other groups for a preliminary injunction blocking Delaware from enforcing HB 450, a statewide ban on certain semiautomatic rifles, pistols and ammunition magazines. Andrews, a former President Obama appointee, found that while prohibited large-capacity magazine guns “are in common use for self-defense,” Delaware’s ban was consistent with historic regulations on weapons like bowie knives, billy clubs and machine guns.
However, the gun rights groups have appealed to a three-judge panel on the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, arguing that Delaware’s regulatory scheme infringes on the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens “by prohibiting Delawareans from possessing a whole class of firearms — semiautomatic pistols and long guns as well as ammunition magazines capable of holding over 17 rounds of ammunition.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
IRS Whistleblowers Alleging Political Interference in Hunter Biden Probe to Testify in House
The IRS whistleblowers who alleged political interference in the federal investigation into Hunter Biden will testify before the House Oversight and Accountability Committee next week.
The committee announced that IRS whistleblower Gary Shapley, who served as the supervisor of the investigation at the IRS, and the second anonymous whistleblower leveling the accusations are set to appear before the panel on July 19 at 1:00 p.m. ET.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Republican Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) grilled FBI Director Christopher Wray at the House Weaponization Committee hearing on Wednesday.
Jordan demanded answers from Wray about the FBI’s targeting of Catholic Americans.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Democrat Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) has fired the first shot in the coming war with President Joe Biden.
Manchin has confirmed that he will be the keynote speaker at the No Labels Common Sense town hall.
No Labels is a well-funded group mounting a third-party challenge to Biden.
Manchin has been rumored to be No Labels’ candidate although the group has not made an announcement yet on who it will be.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
LA Business Owner Fed Up as City Repeatedly Targets Store’s Sidewalk Sign Instead of Homeless Camps
A Los Angeles business owner says city code enforcement officials have relentlessly targeted him for setting a sidewalk sign too close to city property while ignoring the growing homeless encampments.
Arik Air, owner of Motostyles, a motorcycle accessory and remote control hobbies store in the Granada Hills area, claims code enforcement officials visited the business multiple times in June and his complaints to city officials including the mayor have been met with silence.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Matt Gaetz Grills FBI Director Christopher Wray: ‘Are You Protecting the Bidens?’
Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) grilled FBI Director Christopher Wray during a congressional hearing today about the bureau’s handling of investigations into Democrat President Joe Biden and his family’s shady foreign business dealings.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
New Information About Campbell Clinic Shooting Suspect Released
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — New information sheds light on what happened inside a Collierville exam room during the killing of a beloved physician and the suspect’s history.
A new arrest affidavit from the Collierville Police Department details the horrific slaying of Dr. Benjamin Mauck. According to officers on the scene, 29-year-old Larry Pickens, of Memphis removed a pistol from his waistband and fired three rounds at Dr. Mauck inside an exam room at the Campbell Clinic.
Mauck was shot in the neck, chest, and upper abdomen.
A nurse practitioner identified Pickens as the shooter and told Collierville Police she knew him from previous visits. He was arrested shortly after.
WREG obtained four police reports while digging into Pickens’ background. One led us to Faded Barbershop in Hickory Hill, where Pickens was banned last November.
Rick Johnson said he’d never seen Pickens before when he came into the shop anxiously asking for a haircut.
“Someone felt threatened, and whenever we feel threatened, then we have to take care of our business,” Johnson said.
Johnson said when he finished the cut, Pickens started complaining it wasn’t good enough.
“I thought he had some sort of mental disorder just off his actions and how he was carrying himself,” he said. “He just was reaching in his pocket like he had a gun but he wasn’t pulling out nothing like he was going to shoot.”
Johnson said he chopped the price in half, but Pickens still wouldn’t leave.
According to Memphis Police, Pickens called them and said someone pulled a gun on him, which Johnson said never happened.
Our records search shows Pickens has a history of calling MPD. In April 2022, Pickens called officers to report someone was messing with his apartment when he wasn’t home, telling them he was diagnosed with schizophrenia and had been off his medication.
Most recently earlier this year to report someone allegedly threatening his life at a local hospital over a cigarette.
Knowing the tragedy that unfolded at Campbell Clinic, Johnson is thankful this situation didn’t escalate.
| — Hat tip: MM | [Return to headlines] |
New Mexico State Soccer Player Dead at 20 After Being Found ‘Unresponsive, ‘ Police Say
Police are investigating the death of a New Mexico State University women’s soccer player after she was found “unresponsive” at her residence early Monday morning. She was 20.
NMSU Director of Athletics Mario Moccia confirmed in a statement on Tuesday that Thalia Chaverria, a junior from Bakersfield, California, died “suddenly” just days after her 20th birthday.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
President Biden to Zelensky: We’ve Given More to Ukraine Than All Other Nations Combined
President Joe Biden boasted Wednesday at a NATO gathering in Vilnius, Lithuania, that the United States has given more money to Ukraine than all other nations combined.
Biden and Zelensky gave brief remarks before a bilateral meeting between their administrations at the summit, with Zelensky thanking Americans for $43 billion in military aid.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Republicans Erupt Over 2015 Email Exposing ‘Ultimate Purpose’ of Hunter’s Involvement With Burisma
FIRST ON FOX: Republican lawmakers erupted Tuesday after learning about a 2015 email chain that predated President Biden’s infamous 2015 trip to Ukraine, when a Burisma Holdings executive revealed the “ultimate purpose” of Hunter Biden’s involvement with the Ukrainian energy company.
One month before then-Vice President Joe Biden traveled to Ukraine, where he threatened to withhold $1 billion in U.S. aid if Ukrainian leaders did not fire their top prosecutor, Hunter Biden and Burisma executives were discussing executing a contract for counter-messaging against any federal investigations into Burisma’s founder and then-president, Mykola Zlochevsky.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
A battle is brewing in San Francisco after the San Francisco Chronicle claimed that some drug dealers in the city make as much as $350,000 per year.
San Francisco Board of Supervisors Member Matt Dorsey is asking City Hall to investigate the justice system in the city after a report that some drug dealers make upwards of $350,000 per year, but still are eligible for legal counsel from the Public Defender’s Office.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
South Carolina School District Ends Contract With Company After GOP Group Sued Over CRT
A South Carolina school district will end an agreement with an education company that has been accused of teaching critical race theory following a Carolina Freedom Caucus lawsuit.
The Freedom Caucus hailed a settlement with the Lexington County School District One as a win against critical race theory in education. The settlement requires the district to terminate its contract with EL Education after an employee was caught describing how to circumvent South Carolina’s anti-CRT law, the Freedom Caucus said in a press release.
South Carolina has a budget stipulation which prohibits critical race theory-derived ideas through the school funding process. The school district denied in statements to Fox News Digital that it ever violated the law.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
‘The Most Insane Thing Ever’ — Man Finds Huge Hoard of Civil War Gold on Kentucky Farm
A Kentucky man has unearthed an astounding cache of Civil War-era gold coins from a cornfield on his farm. Among the hundreds are a type of coin that has sold at auction for more than $100,000 — and there are about eighteen of them.
While the extraordinarily lucky man’s identity and the location of his property are still under wraps, his find has been certified by the Numismatic Guaranty Company (NGC), which describes itself as “the world’s largest and most trusted third-party grading service for coins, tokens and medals.” The treasure heap has become an instant numismatic legend, christened as “The Great Kentucky Hoard.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Czech Writer and Dissident Milan Kundera Dies Aged 94
Czech-born French writer and essayist Milan Kundera has died at the age of 94, a spokesperson for the Moravian Library in his native city of Brno confirmed on Wednesday.
“Unfortunately I can confirm that Mr. Milan Kundera passed away yesterday (Tuesday) after a prolonged illness,” the spokeswoman told AFP.
The critically acclaimed writer, who grew up in Communist-ruled Czechoslovakia before moving to France, was most famous for literary works including “The Unbearable Lightness of Being,” a novel later adapted into a film by U.S. director Philip Kaufman, and “The Joke,” an early work that criticized the Czechoslovakian Communist regime and led to his blacklisting by the government, the banning of his books, and ultimately his exile to Paris.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
EPP Unity Falters Under Pressure as Nature Restoration Law Passes
A change of heart by progressive members of the EPP helped carry the day for the controversial Nature Restoration Law (NRL), which was adopted by the European Parliament by a margin of 12 votes at a plenary session in Strasbourg on Wednesday, July 12th.
An EPP-led challenge to send the NRL back to the Commission for reconsideration, perhaps until after the 2024 elections, was defeated 324 to 312 votes in perhaps the tensest session of the European Parliament in recent years.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
EU Chips Act Voted Through, Despite Centralisation Concerns
The EU’s primary legislative response to rising semiconductor protectionism from America and China passed the European Parliament on Tuesday, July 11th, as MEPs voted in favour of the EU Chips Act, with 587 votes in favour, 10 against, and 38 abstentions.
The Act channels €43 billion worth of subsidies and other support into the domestic European semiconductor industry. The vote is significant because it comes at a time when many pundits note that Europe is becoming strategically vulnerable to supply chain shocks from China.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Dominik Tarczynski, an MEP for Poland’s ruling conservatives, has slammed the European Parliament resolution calling for a full Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) mission to observe this autumn’s parliamentary elections, warning that Poland would retaliate against this “political declaration of war.”
On Tuesday, EU lawmakers adopted a resolution backed by the largest parliamentary groups, including the European People’s Party (EPP), the Socialists, the liberal Renew Europe, and the Greens. It condemns Poland for alleged rule of law violations, questions changes in Polish electoral law, and claims that Poland’s constitutional court reforms were illegal.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
PARIS (AP) — A crane hoisted massive oak trusses from a barge and onto Notre Dame Cathedral on Tuesday in a spectacular operation to rebuild the fire-ravaged monument and bring it back to life by December 2024.
With trusses weighing 7 to 7.5 tons, the delicate operation drew crowds along a bridge over the Seine River and on its banks.
“I think it’s a magical moment for a lot of Parisians this morning,” said Transport Minister Clement Beaune, noting that the Seine will be at the center of the Paris Olympics in 2024.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Germany: AfD Ascent Prompts Conservative Reshuffling in CDU
The continued rise of the populist AfD could be forcing a personnel change at the top of the centre-right CDU as the party’s secretary-general was replaced by a more conservative figure from the migration-critical wing of the party.
Carsten Linnemann—a Bundestag MP from North Rhine-Westphalia—will take up the influential role as the CDU’s general secretary, displacing a more progressive incumbent, Mario Czaja, to lead the CDU’s ruling committee.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Germany Scraps 80 Million COVID Vaccines for Low Demand
Germany binned 83 million doses of coronavirus vaccines, worth €1.6 billion, and is on track to throw out over a hundred million more, Politico wrote on Tuesday, July 11th. Despite the plummeting demand, the country is set to receive even more doses through the common EU procurement.
According to the data published by the German Health Ministry, Berlin had to throw out 54 million doses throughout last year, and another 29 million in just the first quarter of 2023.
The ministry also added that the real figure is likely much higher because healthcare providers are not required to report vaccine waste that happens every day for improper storagehandling and handlingstoring of the doses. “Accordingly, a total volume of total disposed COVID-19 vaccine doses acquired by [Germany] cannot be quantified,” the authorities confirmed.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Lancet Paper on Post-Vax Autopsies Nuked After Attracting ‘Special Attention’: Dr. Peter McCullough
A pre-print review of autopsy data of more than 300 post-Covid-19 vaccination deaths was removed by the Lancet within 24 hours of its initial submission, according to cardiologist Dr. Peter McCullough, the paper’s leading author and prominent COVID vaccine skeptic.
“The government narrative is still that people do not die after COVID-19 vaccination. Now we have the largest series of autopsies, and the autopsies really are incontrovertible,” he told the Epoch Times.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Legacy Media Gasps as Spain’s Elections Tilt ‘Far-Right’
“Far-Right Parties Are Rising to Power Around Europe. Is Spain Next?”
This is the alarm bell The New York Times sounded in a recent article on the run-up to elections in the country, scheduled for July 23rd.
What the media giant neglected to observe, though, is one demographic from which the Right is drawing support: the immigrant community. Highlighting the socialist (PSOE) and neo-communist (Unidos Podemos) parties’ resounding loss in the regional elections at the end of May, the newspaper warns that the possibility of a national coalition government involving VOX looms large. Indeed, even as the Partido Popular (PP) hopes to avoid a coalition, VOX is banking on having at least a seat or two in the next cabinet.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Let it Flow: EU, U.S. Reach Deal Over Private Data Exports
Closing the book on three years of legal uncertainty, the EU has come to a new arrangement with the U.S., allowing for EU citizens’ private data to be sent across the pond by the world’s biggest technology companies and thousands of other U.S.-based businesses that rely on the free flow of data.
The new deal, known as the so-called EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework, replaces an accord known as Privacy Shield, which the European Union’s highest court struck down in 2020 over lack of sufficient privacy protections.
This time, a sufficient bulwark appears to be in place which, among other things, would militate against spying by U.S. intelligence agencies. In this, the framework would be similar to protections already existent within the bloc, the EU says.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Major European Telecoms Companies Back EU Digital ID System
In a landmark initiative aimed at securing and streamlining the digital realm for citizens across the European Union, three of the continent’s major mobile operators — O2 Telefónica, Deutsche Telekom, and Vodafone — are partnering with the EU to conduct an extensive field trial of digital identities.
This initiative is a part of the EU’s broader effort to promote digitization and deeper integration across its member states and outlines the furthering of a checkpoint society.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Majority of Poles Believe Ukraine and Zelensky Should Apologize for WWII-Era Volhynia Massacre
A new poll shows that 53.1 percent of Poles believe that Ukraine and President Volodymyr Zelensky should apologize for the Volhynia Massacre, which saw more than 100,000 Poles killed by Ukrainian nationalists. The poll posed the question: “In your opinion, should Ukraine and President Volodymyr Zelensky apologize to Poland for the Volhynia Massacre?”
Of the 53.1 percent of respondents who answered affirmatively, 34.2 percent chose “definitely yes” and 18.9 percent chose “rather yes.” Meanwhile, 36.2 percent held a different opinion, including 19.3 percent who chose “rather no” and 16.9 percent who chose “definitely no.” Another 10.7 percent of the respondents were “not certain.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
New UK Law Proposals Would Legally Curb Algorithms That Promote Andrew Tate
The UK’s bold attack on free speech, named the Online Safety Bill and ratified by a majority of 72 in the House of Lords, isn’t getting any weaker. In fact, there are proposals to make it even worse.
The proposed changes demand accountability from tech companies for their use of algorithms that direct users towards certain content, not just for the content itself.
The most striking example cited in the debate was that of Andrew Tate, an influencer facing legal charges but also being the target of censorship across various social media platforms.
The bill is in the late stages of enactment and aims to regulate user-to-user service providers such as social media and search engines to protect users from “harmful” speech.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Authored by Lily Zhou via The Epoch Times
Former minister Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg is pushing for a new law that will make it more difficult for banks to shut down people’s accounts.
It comes amid ongoing suspicion that banks have been closing customers’ accounts over their political exposure or views.
Mr. Rees-Mogg, a Conservative MP and GB News presenter, told The Telegraph that while banks have the right to block accounts, “they are doing this in far too many cases.”
With the declining of cash, an individual without a bank account is effectively a “non-citizen” or a “non-person,” he said.
According to the report, Mr. Rees-Mogg will propose an amendment to the Digital Markets Bill, that aims to stop banks from discriminating against clients.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Biden, who has only been in Europe since Sunday night, had Secretary of State Antony Blinken attend instead.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
One sharp photographer noticed Biden clutching a cue card. The word ‘NATO’ was written in large print and underscored, even though both world leaders were headed to Vilnius mere hours later.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
UK: BBC Resumes Inquiry Into Huw Edwards as Tim Davie Breaks Silence
The BBC has announced it will be reopening its internal investigation into presenter Huw Edwards after he was named as the star at the centre of a sex picture scandal.
In a letter to staff, Director General Tim Davie said the corporation would continue with its investigation after the Metropolitan Police confirmed there was no information to suggest a criminal offence had taken place.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Just Stop Oil’s Most Bizarre Protest to Date as They Invade Barbie Section of Hamleys
Just Stop Oil has launched its most bizarre protest to date. The climate protest group have invaded the Barbie section of Hamleys as part of their latest campaign of disruption. A member of the group was reportedly heard showing: “I want my son to grow old and die in his bed.”
The protester, who was standing at the top of an escalator, announced that she was part of the protest group and shouted that thousands would die from the extreme heat that would envelop society.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Ukraine’s WWII Massacre of Poles in Volhynia Was a Crime of Genocide, Says Polish PM
The massacre in Volhynia 80 years ago was not just a Holocaust-like genocide but was particularly horrific because of the way the Poles were butchered with axes and chainsaws and were burned alive, Poland’s Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said on Tuesday.
“It was an act so cruel that it should be called Genocidium atrox, a horrific genocide,” he told a crowd gathered to commemorate the victims of the atrocity.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
President Biden committed multiple speaking gaffes during his trip to Lithuania this week to shore up support for Ukraine amid its war with Russia, including confusing the two nations, as well as their leaders.
While speaking to the NATO summit in Vilnius, Lithuania on Wednesday Biden referred to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as “Vladmir,” seemingly confusing Zelenskyy with Russian President Vladmir Putin.
Appearing to not realize his mistake, Biden went on to say he “shouldn’t be so familiar,” and referred to Zelenskyy as “Mr. Zelenskyy.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Communist-style propaganda and virtue signaling were out in full force Tuesday when Spanish Environmental Minister Teresa Ribera allegedly traveled via private jet and then hopped on an electric bicycle while being escorted by gasoline-powered vehicles to a climate summit held by the European Union.
A video of Ribera, a member of the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party, went viral and has drawn tremendous backlash on Twitter. For the last mile of the trip, she made the journey on an electric bike to the European Summit of Environment and Energy Ministers.
The public relations stunt seems purely for show — after all, who cycles in such attire? Furthermore, the lack of a helmet and cycling shoes is noticeable and suggests she was only on the bike for a short distance.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Zemmour Confident Reconquête Will Join ECR Group After EU Elections
Former French Presidential candidate and leader of Reconquête Éric Zemmour has expressed confidence that his party will join the centre-right European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) group in the European Parliament after next year’s European elections. Zemmour was speaking to the Spanish conservative El Debate publication saying that Reconquête’s strong relationship with the populist party VOX made ECR membership a lot easier.
Reconquête was founded amid Zemmour’s presidential bid in 2021 where he scored 7.1% of first-round votes and currently has two MEPs, Gilbert Collard and Nicolas Bay, who both defected from Le Pen’s Rassemblement National (RN). Zemmour highlighted the fact that a strong personal friendship between VOX leader Santiago Abascal and Reconquête’s Marion Maréchal made the alliance far more likely.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
3 Hezbollah Militants Injured in Lebanon Explosion Near Israeli Border
Israeli army said suspects attempted to sabotage a security fence, prompting soldiers to use a stun grenade
An explosion near Lebanon’s border with Israel slightly wounded at least three members of the militant Hezbollah group, a Lebanese security official said.
The three Hezbollah members were taken to a hospital near the scene of the explosion in the village Bustan in the southern Lebanese province of Bustan, the official said on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.
The Israeli army said in a statement that several suspects approached a security fence and attempted to sabotage it, drawing efforts by soldiers to force them to retreat. It posted surveillance footage showing four people in civilian clothing approaching the border fence, and running away after an explosion. The identity of the suspects is unknown, it said.
The Israeli army later told The Associated Press that soldiers had used a stun grenade.
The incident took place hours before Hezbollah Secretary-General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah was scheduled to speak to commemorate the start of a monthlong war between Israel and the militant group in 2006 that ended with a draw.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said the army “deterred activists with nonlethal means.”
| — Hat tip: Dean | [Return to headlines] |
The Kuwaiti government has announced plans to print 100,000 Qurans in Swedish to distribute them across the Scandinavian country in response to multiple recent burnings of the Islamic holy book at protests permitted by the Swedish authorities.
As reported by the Kuwait News Agency Kuna on Tuesday, the Kuwait Council of Ministers has been ordered to undertake the assignment at the request of Prime Minister Ahmad Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah in a bid to “affirm the tolerance of the Islamic religion” and “spread Islamic principles and values” across Sweden.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
NATO Didn’t ‘Create Incentive’ for Putin to Stop Ukraine War
As the NATO summit in Lithuania wraps up, analysts say its declaration has fallen short and dashed Kyiv’s hopes.
When Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda outlined his expectations ahead of this year’s NATO summit, he said he wanted the event to be remembered as the “summit of decisions — not just declarations”.
After two days of intense discussions and bilateral negotiations in the Lithuanian capital, Vilnius, leaders of the world’s largest military alliance made some big decisions, ranging from backing Sweden’s NATO membership to pledging security guarantees for war-torn Ukraine.
But when it came to the question of Ukraine’s NATO membership, the alliance decided it was not the right moment to invite Ukraine to join.
“We will be in a position to extend an invitation to Ukraine to join the Alliance when Allies agree and conditions are met,” NATO leaders said in a declaration.
“We reaffirm the commitment we made at the 2008 Summit in Bucharest that Ukraine will become a member of NATO, and today we recognise that Ukraine’s path to full Euro-Atlantic integration has moved beyond the need for the Membership Action Plan,” the NATO leaders said.
According to Bruno Lete, security and defence expert at the German Marshall Fund of the United States (GMF) in Brussels, while the declaration expresses strong and continued support for Ukraine, “NATO remains vague about the issue.”
| — Hat tip: JW | [Return to headlines] |
NATO Allies Sign Pact on F-16 Jet Training for Ukraine
MOSCOW (Sputnik) — NATO allies and Sweden signed a declaration that formalized a coalition for teaching Ukrainian pilots to fly F-16 fighter jets, the Romanian Defense Ministry Said on Wednesday.
“Minister of National Defence, Angel Tilvar, signed on Tuesday, July 11, as part of the NATO Summit from Vilnius, the Joint Declaration on the formalization of the Training Coalition for the Ukrainian Air Force, in order to operate the F-16 aircraft,” the statement read.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
No End to War Until ‘West Abandons Plans to Maintain Dominance’, Says Russia
AFP — The war in Ukraine will not end until the West stops trying to defeat Moscow, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in an interview with Indonesian media on Wednesday.
His comments came ahead of Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky’s symbolic talks with NATO leaders at their summit in Lithuania on Wednesday.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Two Russians pranked Henry Kissinger into a stunning admission about what he thought happened to the Nord Stream pipelines.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
US Delegation ‘Furious’ Over Zelensky Tweet — WaPo
The US delegation attending the NATO summit in Vilnius is “furious” over a tweet by Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky, in which he criticized the military alliance for its reluctance to provide a concrete roadmap for Kiev’s accession to the bloc, the Washington Post reported.
On Tuesday, Zelensky wrote on Twitter that he had been informed that the final text of a statement issued at the summit would not include a timeline for Ukraine’s membership of NATO.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Wagner Boss Yevgeny Prigozhin ‘Likely Dead’ After Kremlin Meeting With Putin
Russian mercenary chief and short-lived mutineer Yevgeny Prigozhin is tipped to be either dead or in a Russian prison cell following The Wagner Group’s rebellion last month, according to a former top US military official.
Retired General Robert Abrams has dismissed a reported Kremlin meeting held five days after the 24-hour mutiny by Wagner forces attended by Prigozhin and Putin.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
China’s Export Ban on Green Energy Minerals Hits EU Leaders Hard
The European Commission was so surprised by the Chinese export restrictions on critical resources for Europe’s green energy transition, that it appears unable to even react, even despite China’s export ban being very predictable.
Brussels has nothing to say in response to China’s recent announcement of export restrictions on two critical minerals essential to the green transition, gallium and germanium — literally nothing. Instead, European Commission officials have resorted to total silence. According to those with insight into the matter, there is total consternation in Brussels, which is quite surprising.
China has now taken the plunge against the EU.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Chinese Military May Have Had COVID-19 Virus in Its Possession as Early as September 2019
Authored by Joe Wang via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours)
According to the World Health Organization, there have been 6,947,192 confirmed COVID-19 deaths globally as of June 28. Of those, 1,127,152 occurred in the United States, making the number of Americans killed by the virus more than 19 times the number of American soldiers killed in the Vietnam War.
And yet, over three years since the beginning of the pandemic, we still don’t know where the virus originated. The fear is that the next time around, the number of deaths could be much higher; because we didn’t learn from this pandemic, we wouldn’t be as prepared as we should for the next one.
This fear is shared by all Americans. That is probably why in March, the U.S. Congress unanimously passed the “COVID-19 Origin Act of 2023,” requesting that the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) “declassify all information relating to potential links between the Wuhan Institute of Virology and the origin of COVID-19.” “The ODNI must submit to Congress an unclassified report with all such information with redactions only as necessary to protect sources and methods,” the new law says.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has swooned over French president Emmanuel Macron after landing in Lithuania with both leaders enjoying a reprieve from troubles at home.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
Meta Pushes Back on Australia’s Plan to Criminalize Harmful “Disinformation”
In response to the recent legislation by the Australian federal government aimed at curbing online “disinformation,” Meta, the parent organization of Facebook and Instagram, has voiced apprehension. It alleges that these rules could inadvertently allow the government to stifle speech. (That’s Facebook’s job of course.)
The legislation, announced a month ago, is poised to equip the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) with substantial regulatory powers. This includes the possible implementation of a state-supervised universal standard to combat disinformation and misinformation. Critics, however, liken it to an Orwellian “Ministry of Truth,” as it grants ACMA the authority to mandate the removal of certain content or posts from social media platforms.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
A man who has not been seen since his home ‘exploded’ shared several disturbing Facebook posts in the hours before the fire.
Garry William Maidment’s two-storey unit on Nambucca Close in Murrumba Downs, north Brisbane, caught fire at about 12.50pm on Wednesday.
Seven fire crews were dispatched to contain the large fire, which destroyed the home, and an exclusion zone was enacted around the complex until 4:55pm.
Four nine-kilogram gas bottles were discovered inside the home’s living area once investigators could enter the property on Thursday morning.
Acting Detective Inspector Stephen Windsor said human remains were found near a fifth gas bottle in the unit’s garage.
Forensic investigations will take several more hours.
| — Hat tip: DV | [Return to headlines] |
Somalia: Watch: Plane Skids Off Runway Upon Arrival, Smashes to Pieces on Protective Barrier
A small plane landing in Somalia drove off of the runway upon arrival and crashed into a fence, shattering into pieces upon impact.
“There was no fatality from the accident except minor injuries,” the Somali Civil Aviation Authority (SCAA) said in a brief statement. “The SCAA would like to reaffirm that the preliminary report will be released once the current investigation concludes.”
Video captured the crash at Aden Adde International Airport in Mogadishu on Tuesday, showing how the plane skidded off the tarmac and burst through a protective barrier, at which point the wing exploded and other pieces of the plane fell off.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
9 Migrants Arrested for Planning ISIS Terror Attack Entered Germany Through Ukraine in 2022
It has been revealed that the nine men arrested in Germany and the Netherlands for planning terror attacks inspired by Islamic State entered Western Europe via Ukraine when the war first broke out in the spring of 2022.
The men, who mostly came from Tajikistan, were arrested in North Rhine-Westphalia on Thursday and locations in the Netherlands last week. German prosecutors accuse them of founding a terror group in Germany and planning attacks. They are also accused of collecting money and sending it back to the Islamic State of the Khorasan Province (ISPK), a regional offshoot of the Islamic State terror group in Central Asia.
The suspects were “long known and share a radical Islamic attitude,” the federal prosecutor’s office said.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Almost Half of All Ukrainian Refugees in Germany Want to Stay Long-Term, Polling Finds
Close to half of all Ukrainian refugees who relocated to Germany during the ongoing conflict with Russia have no intention of returning home after the war, a new survey has revealed.
The polling published on Wednesday, conducted by the IAB research group with the assistance of the DIW Berlin institute and government departments, showed that 44 percent of the more than 1 million new arrivals from Ukraine want to remain in Germany for the long term.
The figure is up considerably from the results of a similar poll conducted between August and October last year, which showed 37 percent of Ukrainians planned to stay in Germany either indefinitely or for a few more years.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Claim: Polish Populist Party Boosted by Criticism of Ukraine Refugee Spending
Poland’s conservative government is well-known as one of the most supportive of Ukraine in the ongoing war with Russia and the country has had a history of taking in millions of Ukrainian refugees both before and since the war started in 2022.
However, despite the government’s support for Ukrainians, some Polish people may be tired of the war and the benefits Ukrainian refugees receive from the Polish state, according to one Polish academic
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Poland’s opposition leader Donald Tusk recently claimed that the country’s conservative government had granted work permits to 135,000 migrants “from Muslim countries” last year. However, government data published by the Internal Affairs Ministry debunked this claim, revealing the true figure was nearer 30,000, more than four times lower.
Donald Tusk, the leader of Civic Platform, addressed Poland’s migration policy on July 4 in a Twitter video, accusing PiS leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski of bringing “130,000 citizens from Muslim countries” to Poland in 2022.
Tusk also discussed the issue during a meeting in late June with supporters in Jelenia Góra. “I want you all to know it and repeat it, 135,000 migrants just from Muslim countries were let into Poland in 2022,” he stated.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
El Salvador President Bukele’s Wildly Popular Gang Crackdown is Reducing Illegal Immigration to U.S.
President Nayib Bukele’s successful crackdown on MS-13 gang members has led to a dramatic reduction in the number of Salvadorans illegally crossing our southern border, the Wall Street Journal reports.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
France: 13-Year-Old Stabbed to Death During Fight Between ‘Child Migrants’
A North African boy was fatally stabbed during a fight between rival gangs of ‘unaccompanied minors’ in France this week, according to reports.
The horrifying incident unfolded during the overnight hours between Tuesday and Wednesday in Marseille.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Employees of an outdoor swimming pool complex in Berlin have penned a letter to Der Tagesspiegel newspaper complaining about perpetrators they describe as “mainly Arab migrants and Chechens” who are engaging in sexual harassment of women and mass brawls on the premises, while also leaving the complexes in disgusting conditions.
The letter comes after yet another fight broke out between migrant youths at the Berlin Columbiabad in the borough of Neukölln on Sunday which resulted in the popular public pool being cleared of visitors and shutting early. The complex announced on Wednesday that the pool will be closed for the rest of the week, citing staff shortages after a number of employees called in sick with stress.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Immigration is a Major Concern for 1 in 4 EU Citizens and Trust in the Bloc is Waning, Survey Shows
Almost one in four EU citizens consider immigration to be one of the two most pressing concerns currently facing the bloc, the biannual Standard Eurobarometer survey conducted by the European Commission has found.
Some 24 percent of respondents placed the issue of immigration in their top two concerns, meaning a quarter of Europeans consider the matter to be more pressing than either the ongoing cost of living crisis or the international situation regarding Ukraine.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Lampedusa Under New Pressure From Migrant Landings
(ANSA) — ROME, JUL 12 — Some 279 migrants and refugees arrived on Lampedusa in seven landings on Wednesday, as of early afternoon.
The number included 15 people evacuated from the coast guard ship Dattilo for medical reasons.
They had been transferred onto the military vessel as part of a larger group rescued by a Tunisian fishing boat following an alleged shipwreck in waters between Tunisia and the Maltese search and rescue zone.
The survivors who arrived on Lampedusa said there had been in total 44 people on the boat and that five were missing.
However, so far neither the Dattilo nor the patrol boats that performed the medical evacuation have found evidence of the shipwreck.
Following the transfer of 708 people off the island by passenger ferry and charter plane earlier in the day, as of early afternoon there were 1,520 in the hotspot against an official capacity of around 400.
Another group of 210 people were due to be transferred off the island to mainland Sicily on Wednesday evening.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
SUE REID: Many ordinary families fear that finding the money to comply with the government’s green diktats will leave them impoverished. A poll found that 80 per cent disagree with the bans.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
Two villages in England in Wales are set to see their populations double with the arrival of over a thousand migrants, virtually all of them men.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
A Reddit User Admitted to Pirating a Movie 12 Years Ago. Movie Studios Want to Unmask Him.
In what appears to be an escalating incursion into a user’s digital privacy, a collective of film companies continue to implore the court to compel Reddit to surrender its users’ personal details. This move is part of an ongoing piracy liability case against Internet Service Providers. Reddit, however, steadfastly resists, staunchly defending its users’ rights to anonymous speech.
While governments and law enforcement agencies have increasingly sought user details from Reddit — with over 1,000 requests, 277 search warrants, and 582 subpoenas last year, Torrent Freak reported — Reddit has staunchly resisted, drawing a firm line in the sand to protect its users’ privacy.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Affirmative Action: The Left’s Only Answer is to Repay Injustice With Injustice.
by Daniel Greenfield
The Supreme Court’s decision ending systemic racism in college admission was supported by the vast majority of Americans of every race, color and creed. While the media tried to portray it as an assault by white conservatives and Asians on “diversity” and “people of color”, the number of black people who supported the Supreme Court ruling outnumbered those opposed to it.
84% of white people oppose basing college admissions on race, but so do 81% of Hispanics, 76% of Asians and 71% of black people. Asians rank behind Hispanics in opposing it.
Most Americans recognize the fundamental unfairness of using skin color to decide if a high school student should get into college or work at Burger King. Few leftists however do.
The leading arguments in defense of using racial discrimination in college admissions either reference events in the distant past or complain about ‘legacy admissions’. What these talking points really do is strike at the heart of what is intellectually and morally rotten about the Left.
The Left’s only answer to wrongness is more wrongness.
That is also the point that Justice Clarence Thomas, descended from sharecroppers and slaves, made in his opinion. “Must others in the future make sacrifices to relevel the playing field for this new phase of racial subordination? And then, out of whose lives should the debt owed to those further victims be repaid? This vision of meeting social racism with government-imposed racism is thus self defeating, resulting in a never-ending cycle of victimization.”…
| — Hat tip: Daniel Greenfield | [Return to headlines] |
Attendance at Walt Disney World Crashing Despite Deep Discounts
The Walt Disney Company is in trouble. The largest and most successful entertainment conglomerate in the world is taking a political and financial hit for its decision to cater to a more “woke” audience.
It would be incorrect to blame all of Disney’s problems on its decisions to challenge Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.) over its “special” governmental status or side with the radical left on gender issues. Disney is in deep trouble, and they got there the old-fashioned way: hubris and incompetence.
Touring Plans, a company that collects waiting time data from information provided by the mobile apps from Disney and measures it against average wait times in the past, discovered that over the Fourth of July, the average wait time at the Magic Kingdom was 27 minutes, down from 31 minutes in 2022 and 47 minutes in 2019.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Biden’s Satanic ‘Monkeypox Coordinator’ is Highest-Paid White House Staffer
Democrat President Joe Biden’s so-called “monkeypox coordinator” is the highest-paid staffer on the White House payroll.
Demetre Daskalakis was recently exposed as a Satanic anti-Christian activist who wore bondage gear during a speech at a biomedical conference.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Biden Admin Opposes Provision Requiring Military Promotions Only be on Merit Not Gender or Race
The Biden administration has issued a statement outlining its opposition to a provision within the latest military spending bill that would require promotions within the military to be based only on merit, rather than on completely unrelated aspects such as gender and race.
The statement from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) reads “The Administration strongly opposes the House’s sweeping attempts (sections 364, 523, 566, 595, 596, 598, 904, and 1046) to eliminate the Department’s longstanding DEIA efforts and related initiatives to promote a cohesive and inclusive force.”
“As articulated in the 2022 NDS, one of the Department’s top priorities is building a resilient Joint Force and defense enterprise,” it adds, by which it means filling the military with LGBTQ+ people like ‘Admiral’ Rachel Levine and Major Rachel Jones.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
FOX NEWS INVESTIGATES — Weill Cornell Medicine, a top medical institution in the United States, provides a “critical race theory” course for faculty and students which amplified negative narratives about America and was created “in collaboration” with a Hong Kong-based university which China has been exercising increasing control over.
Fox News Digital probed into a course created by The Center for Health Equity (CCHEq) at Cornell’s medical school and found radical antiracism training that extends far beyond a mission to eliminate disparities in health and facilitate diversity, equity and inclusion.
The course, which isn’t mandatory, trained attendees into becoming “woke” activists. It even amplified defenses of violent uprising — the burning of businesses — in the name of racial justice.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
A new Disney produced cartoon series is based around a cult of robed elites drinking blood, carrying out rituals including human sacrifice and worshipping an all seeing eye symbol.
However, it might not be entirely what you think.
While some have suggested it is more of the same weird indoctrination programming we’ve come to expect from Disney, the series aimed at adults is produced by Mike Judge, the creator of Idiocracy, King of The Hill and Beavis & Butthead, who is known for his anti-establishment contrarian outlook on the world we live in.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
TikTok influencer Dylan Mulvaney, who identifies as transgender and set off a social media firestorm in April over a Bud Light campaign, posted multiple videos from Peru this week and claimed to no longer feel safe in the U.S.
“Okay, surprise,” Mulvaney said in a recent TikTok video. “I’m in Peru! I’m at Machu Picchu. Isn’t this so beautiful?”
“I’ve seen a lot of llamas. The people here are so kind. I feel very safe here. It’s a little sad that I had to leave my country to feel safe, but that will get better eventually,” Mulvaney told fans.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Former Anheuser-Busch Executive ‘Shocked’ by Company’s Losses: Mulvaney Partnership ‘Was a Mistake’
A former Anheuser-Busch executive spoke out Monday about the financial hit the company has taken since it partnered with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney back in April, telling FOX Business he was stunned by the CEO’s lack of coherent response.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Global Blasphemy Law: UN Adopts Resolution on Qur’an Burning
The United Nations has voted to adopt a resolution on Qur’an burning at an ‘urgent meeting’ convened for Pakistan, a key cheerleader for global blasphemy laws.
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk called for limits to freedom of speech and expression, castigating “merchants of chaos” and “provocateurs”. The remarks came during a two-day session on “countering religious hatred constituting incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence” — actually an urgent meeting called by the body on behalf of Pakistan over a recent spate of Qur’an burnings in Europe.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
EXCLUSIVE: Conservative Dad’s Ultra Right Beer, the “woke-free” alternative beverage for ale drinkers boycotting Bud Light products, dropped a new advertisement in the form of a rebellious, cinematic parody.
Ultra Right Beer took off in April after CEO Seth Weathers launched the conservative brew to hit back against Bud Light’s controversial campaign with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney.
The most recent ad — shared first Wednesday with FOX Business — follows Weathers in a spinoff of the 1970s comedy “Smokey and the Bandit,” a popular film featuring Burt Reynolds that followed a race car driver transporting an illegal shipment of beer across state lines.
“It’s me, a fed-up American who had enough of the woke beer companies and decided to do something about it,” Weathers says in the opening of the ad.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
United Nations Preparing to Expand Into Single-World Government
The globalist United Nations (UN) is preparing to massively expand its powers to overrule individual sovereign nations and position itself as an unelected single-world government.
The UN is planning to unveil proposals for the unprecedented expansion of its influence during the upcoming “Summit of the Future” conference in 2024.
Included in the proposals are policies that would grant the organization an “emergency platform” during “global crisis” events.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Military records obtained by a conservative watchdog show U.S. Air Force Academy instructional materials that include presentations addressing Critical Race Theory (CRT), White privilege and the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement.
The group, Judicial Watch, announced Friday it had obtained 478 pages of records through a November 2022 Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit it filed after the Department of Defense (DOD) didn’t respond to its request for Air Force Academy training materials pertaining to CRT.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |