Local and regional elections will be held tomorrow in Russia’s newly acquired territories in Ukraine, which are not yet completely controlled by Russia. Meanwhile, the Ukrainian government is demanding that neighboring countries extradite draft-age Ukrainian men who fled the country to avoid mobilization.
In other news, French President Emmanuel Macron was roundly booed by the crowd when he appeared at the national stadium for the opening ceremony of the Rugby World Cup.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to Dean, DV, JW, McN, 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.
100% of Public Transit Vehicles in Seattle, Portland Test Positive for Meth, 50% for Fentanyl
During a press conference on Monday, the results of a new study were announced which revealed methamphetamine and fentanyl residue is prevalent on public transit in the Greater Seattle area and Portland area.
The study from the University of Washington, sponsored by Sound Transit, King County Metro, Community Transit, Everett Transit, and TriMet was investigating if smoke from the use of fentanyl and methamphetamine is adversely affecting transit operators and passengers. The study was commissioned in response to concerns about employee and rider health due to exposure to smoke from the deadly drugs.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
15-Year-Old Tried as Adult Following Orlando Shooting That Left 6-Year-Old Girl Dead
ORLANDO, Fla. (WESH) — After an innocent 6-year-old girl was gunned down in her Orlando home on Aug. 29, a 15-year-old boy arrested in connection to the shooting is now being tried as an adult.
Nico Brown, 15, appeared in court on Friday. Orlando police said he was arrested on Saturday in connection with the deadly shooting that happened on Poppy Avenue.
They said Ajahliyah Hashim, 6, and her mother were both shot inside their home.
The girl died. A 19-year-old man, Isaiyah Wright, was also shot and killed.
According to the jail website, Brown now faces four charges, including two counts of second-degree murder and attempted felony murder.
Brown is now one of four young people who have been arrested. Police said Ricky Bowery Jr., 18, and two 17-year-olds also face first-degree murder charges.
All of them have juvenile criminal histories, according to records from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
| — Hat tip: DV | [Return to headlines] |
A series of studies show Americans are increasingly “losing faith in the value of college” as some researchers unearth evidence that higher degrees aren’t worth it for most.
“A decade or so ago, Americans were feeling pretty positive about higher education,” New York Times Magazine contributing writer Paul Tough wrote. But that changed in just 10 years, with “now almost half of American parents” saying “they’d prefer that their children not enroll in a four-year college,” citing a 2021 survey.
Economic researchers at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis established a “wealth premium” to determine the economic benefits of college weighed against debt and total assets. Their results, Tough wrote, were striking.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Asian Rideshare Driver Beaten, Carjacked by Three Black Women in Chicago’s Chinatown
On Tuesday, a 61-year-old Asian resident in Chicago’s Chinatown was beaten and carjacked by three black women in front of his home.
According to ABC7, Danxin Shi, who has lived in an apartment on West 22nd Place for over a decade, can no longer work after the attack because he is a rideshare driver and his car was stolen.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Breaking: North Dakota Man Who Ran Over, Killed Conservative Teen Sentenced to 5 Years in Prison
On Friday, 41-year-old Shannon Brandt was sentenced to five years in prison for killing 18-year-old Cayler Ellingson, who he deemed to be a “Republican extremist,” in McHenry, North Dakota in September 2022.
Brandt was originally accused of murder, but had the charges reduced and pleaded guilty to manslaughter.
According to KVRR, Brandt’s prison term will be reduced by almost a year for time served under house arrest. He will also be subject to a period of supervised release after his stint in jail is over.
Ellingson’s death and the alleged political motivations of the incident led many, including Donald Trump, to address the case. While Brandt’s intentions may have been fuelled by Ellingson’s affiliation with a local Republican group, the North Dakota State Medical Examiner’s Office later determined that the death was accidental.
This is a breaking story and will be updated.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Climate Group Takes Responsibility for US Open Chaos, Offers Warning: ‘No Tennis on a Dead Planet’
The climate group Extinction Rebellion took responsibility for the protest that disrupted a U.S. Open match between Coco Gauff and Karolina Muchova on Thursday night.
Three protesters were seen in the stands wearing shirts that read “End Fossil Fuels” and at least one protester glued his shoes to the floor of Arthur Ashe Stadium.
The United States Tennis Association later said that at least four were taken into custody after a 49-minute delay.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Donald Trump Tailgates Before Iowa-Iowa State Game, Crowd Goes Crazy as He Walks Into Stadium
Donald Trump is the big man on campus.
The former President is attending Saturday’s Iowa-Iowa State game, but he had to turn back the clock to the college days before the contest.
The game kicked off at 3:30 ET, so before the game, Trump had some time to pay a visit to the Iowa people.
Trump, 77, was spotted flipping some burgers at a tailgate with some fans.
Upon entering the stadium, a humongous crowd gathered around him for some raucous “USA” chants.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Emory Healthcare Scraps Christmas Eve as Paid Holiday, Replaces With Juneteenth
Dr. Joon Lee, the CEO of Emory Healthcare in Atlanta, Georgia, notified employees that the company would no longer offer holiday pay for Christmas Eve because it was adding Juneteenth to the holiday calendar starting in 2024.
In a statement, Lee said the executive leadership team decided to make Juneteenth an observed holiday, however, he added that “to minimize impact to patient care, we will not be adding another paid holiday to our calendar.” Instead, “we will remove Christmas Eve from our holiday calendar and replace it with Juneteenth.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Exclusive: Seattle Has More Homicides Than New Police Hires in 2023
On Thursday, Seattle recorded its 57th homicide of 2023, tying the record high from 2022 with four months still remaining in the year. It has also been revealed that 669 officers have resigned from the Seattle Police Department since 2019, the bulk of which left following the city council voting to defund the department in 2020.
The president of the Seattle Police Officers Guild, Mike Solan told The Ari Hoffman Show on Talk Radio 570 KVI, “This year alone, we’ve got more homicide numbers, as tragic as that is, than we do police recruits.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee said Wednesday he is “very skeptical” of District Attorney Fani Willis’s plan to put former President Donald Trump and his 18 co-defendants on trial in October.
In August, Willis proposed a trial date of October 23, 2023, for all 19 defendants. However, McAfee said he’s skeptical and called the schedule “a bit unrealistic.”
“It seems a bit unrealistic that we could handle all 19 in 40-something days. That’s my initial reaction,” McAfee said.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Harvard Law Grad Accuses Biden of Plagiarizing Essay in 2000 Using Court Opinion
A graduate of Harvard Law School has accused President Biden of plagiarizing an essay he had written in 2000, saying “I was shocked by the plagiarism I discovered.”
Roger Severino, vice president at the Heritage Foundation, claimed that while he was working at the Harvard Journal on Legislation as a junior editor his first assignment was to cite check an essay written by Biden and found multiple instances of plagiarism, which Severino detailed in an explosive thread on X earlier this week.
Severino alleges that Biden had “lifted language” from a Supreme Court opinion for his essay defending the federal Violence Against Women Act, and failed to provide sources or quotes, thus implying it was written in his own words.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Massachusetts Attorney General Claims Censorship Records Could Reveal “Law Enforcement Matters”
America First Legal has disclosed that their Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to the Massachusetts Office of the Attorney General resulted in the categorization of “misinformation” and “disinformation” investigations as a “law enforcement matter.”
This information stems from an inquiry into the Attorney General’s response to a letter written by twelve Democrat state attorneys general to the heads of Twitter (now X) and Facebook.
The letter urged these tech giants to censor certain viewpoints of US citizens, notably those of the “Disinformation Dozen.” This initiative was backed by the UK’s pro-censorship body, the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH).
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Prosecutor in Hunter Biden Probe Was Part of Talks on How to ‘Spin’ Foreign Business Interests
It has been revealed that the prosecutor in Hunter Biden’s criminal investigation pertaining to alleged illegal foreign business dealings with Ukrainian energy company Burisma is a close Biden family associate who went on to work under Delaware US Attorney General David Weiss.
Alexander Mackler, who was legal counsel to Joe Biden when he was the acting vice president under Barack Obama, not only worked in the Delaware US Attorney’s office for years, but was employed during the first few months of Hunter Biden’s criminal investigation, according to the Washington Examiner.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Soros-Backed New Mexico Governor Riles Conservatives With Firearm Suspension Order
New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, whose campaign was backed by left-wing billionaire George Soros, riled up conservatives and gun owners after she issued an emergency order suspending the right to carry firearms in public in Albuquerque and the surrounding county for at least 30 days.
The Democratic governor said she felt compelled to take action after a spate of recent shootings — including the death of an 11-year-old boy outside a minor league baseball stadium this week.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
American truckers have issued a warning about the Biden administration’s plans to reduce air pollution by cracking down on heavy-duty vehicle emissions, saying that President Biden’s proposed policies will crush the supply chain and put the American food supply at risk.
Under the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which aims to reduce emissions of nitrogen oxides and other pollutants by enacting stringent new regulations on heavy-duty vehicles and machinery, businesses will be subjected to unattainable standards which will result in high inflation and put trucking companies out of business, American trucking officials warn.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Trump Hosts $100,000-Per-Plate Fundraiser for Rudy Giuliani
On Thursday evening, 2024 GOP frontrunner Donald Trump held a $100,000-per-plate fundraiser at his Bedminster, New Jersey golf club, for former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who has been charged alongside Trump in the state of Georgia.
The event was held to raise money for Giuliani’s legal fees, with Giuliani’s son, Andrew, saying in a radio interview that the event was expected to raise more than $1 million, according to the Associated Press.
The younger Giuliani also revealed that Trump plans to hold another fundraiser event at his Palm Beach Mar-a-Lago club in the fall or early winter.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Event management and ticketing company Eventbrite has canceled an upcoming event in Calgary, Canada, organized by cultural critic Dr. James Lindsay claiming it violates the “Hateful, Dangerous or Violent Content and Events” policy.
Dr. Lindsay announced Eventbrite’s decision to pull his event titled “Save Our Kids” from their platform on X saying, “LOL the event is called “Save Our Kids,” and Eventbrite said it’s “Hateful, Dangerous, or Violent Content.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
The judge in the Freedom Convoy trial chided the Crown prosecutors Friday for a massive, unanticipated document dump.
Judge Heather Perkins-McVey said she was “not impressed” with how the prosecution wanted to introduce thousands of “chat” messages without disclosing these to the defense.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Quebec Man Charged With Arson After Allegedly Setting Wildfires, Causing Evacuations
A man from northern Quebec has been arrested and charged with two counts of arson following a weeks-long manhunt. The 37-year-old, whose name has not been released, is accused of intentionally setting fire to forests in the area near Chibougamau, a town 500km north of the provincial capital, from which 7,500 residents had to be evacuated in early June.
Quebec was battered by wildfires all summer long, and though it has been claimed that firefighters were able to quickly extinguish those allegedly set by the suspect, an investigation is underway to determine whether they were, in fact, linked to those that wreaked havoc on la belle province.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
China and Germany: Firing Up Coal Power While Wind Takes a Back Seat
Germany is dismantling a wind farm to make way for more coal mining, while China is on a spree to open new coal mines.
So goes the global push for renewable energy and decarbonisation, another sign of the reality check facing the proposed energy transition away from fossil fuels to ‘renewable’ energy such as wind.
The German energy giant RWE announced in October 2022 that it was removing a wind farm to expand its open lignite mine in the region of North Rhine-Westphalia. The first wind turbine has already been felled, and another seven are slated to be removed. The company will then have room to excavate some 15-20 million tonnes of lignite.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Lena’s father, who asked to be named only as Werner, expressed his outrage at how father-of-two Daniel Troger, 25, had been able to break in with apparent ease.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
Far-Left Extremists Take Credit for German Railway Arson Attack
Far-left anarchists have taken credit for an attack on German railways that took place on Friday, September 8th, as three fires broke out on power lines of the Deutsche Bahn, Germany’s national rail company, in the area around the city of Hamburg, leading to the cancellation of all service between Hamburg and Berlin until Saturday.
According to a report from the German tabloid Bild, the suspects managed to enter an isolated area not open to the public and set cables on fire after opening a cable duct.
Far-left extremists later took responsibility for the attack on the web platform Indymedia, which has a long history of being linked to Antifa and other radical anarchist groups, with the German-language “Linksunten” site being shut down by the German government in 2017.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
French Minister: E.U. Can Undermine Putin by Cleaning Up Process for Countries to Join
The European Union should be bolder about the onboarding process for new member states to head off attempts by the Russian state to undermine pro-European sentiment in those nations, Brussels diplomats have said, a report claims.
Talking about European accession for potential member states but then not acting on it presents Russia with a motive and opportunity to sow division in those states intended to pull them towards Moscow’s orbit, two European diplomats have said in remarks reported by Politico. France’s Europe minister Laurence Boone said disinformation and interference was a real issue in what are called candidate countries, which she believes Russian President Vladimir Putin deliberately encourages to “weaken the European Union”.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Shocking video shows an enraged man leapt into the B36 highway near the Victoria Tower in Mannheim and began punching and kicking activists from campaign group Last Generation
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
A man whose daughter was sent home twice allegedly threatened to kill the headteacher for imposing an abaya dress ban at a French school.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
Majority of Britons Back Removing Prince Harry From the Royal Line of Succession
Over six in ten Britons believe that Prince Harry should be removed from the line of succession to the throne, while an overwhelming majority believe that the prince and his wife Meghan should not receive any public funding.
Prince Harry, who was once among the most popular members of the British Royal Family before marrying American actress Meghan Markle, has seen his esteem crater to such a degree that now 61 per cent of the public believe that he should be removed from the line of succession, according to a Deltapoll conducted for the Daily Mail.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Netherlands: Police Make 2,400 Arrests at A12 Demo
Police have arrested 2,400 demonstrators, including dozens of under-18s, after using water cannon on a banned protest by Extinction Rebellion activists on the A12 motorway near The Hague.
Dutch media reported that the protest started at midday and after asking people to leave the spot, the police began making arrests at around 2.30pm. According to the Parool, 2,400 people were arrested and several have been charged for alleged offenses.
Police told NOS that there was “some violence” used when — they said — activists blocked their way to their vehicles and were hit with batons.
The motorway protest was banned by the local council on safety grounds. Demonstrators were told to move to an authorised protest location near the main railway station. Several thousand demonstrators, including organisations like Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth Netherlands, attended the allowed demonstration nearby.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Sanna Marin Joins the Ranks of Politicians-Turned-Consultants
Leaving politics behind indefinitely, media darling and former Finnish PM Sanna Marin has bagged herself a job as ‘strategic councellor’ at the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Spain: Climate Activists Attack Walmart Heiress’ $300m Yacht — Again
Climate activists in Barcelona on Friday sprayed paint on Walmart heiress Nancy Walton Laurie’s $300m superyacht — marking the second such attack in two months.
In July, members of the Spanish environmental group Futuro Vegetal vandalised the vessel with black and red paint before holding up a sign that read: “You Consume Others Suffer”.
Seven weeks later, two activists from Scientist Rebellion and Extinction Rebellion sprayed biodegradable red paint on the stern of the yacht at around 7am local time on Friday, while it was docked at Marina Port Vell in Barcelona.
The words “Billionaires Should Not Exist” were written on a banner they unfurled afterwards.
In a statement posted on X, formerly Twitter, Scientist Rebellion confirmed their protest which was carried out to “denounce billionaires’ enormous impact on the climate crisis”.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Top French Court Approves Ban on Arab Garments in Schools After Challenge by Muslim Group
France has banned abayas and qamis, its highest administrative court confirms, the order of the nation’s education minister that the rule should be in force for the new school term having been thrown into question by a last-minute challenge from a Muslim-interest pressure group.
The Conseil d’État (Council of State), France’s supreme administrative court, has rejected an emergency appeal by the Action Droits des Musulmans (Action for Muslim Rights, ADM) to stop the implementation of new rules banning some garments in French schools. The French minister for education Gabriel Attal had said, in his reasoning for the ban, that: “When you walk into a classroom, you shouldn’t be able to identify the pupils’ religion just by looking at them”.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Green Fail: Government Offshore Wind Farm Auction Attracts Zero Bids
Zero. That was the sum total of new UK offshore wind projects bought by developers at a key government auction Thursday, as renewable energy groups shunned the sector as unviable even with heavy taxpayer subsidies.
The BBC reports potential firms argued the consumer price set for electricity generated was set too low to make offshore wind farms viable.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Members of the Just Stop Oil movement walked hand in hand in front of cars in Anglesea Road, Landport, heading south, at midday on Saturday, September 9.
Pictures from the scene show cars and a bus being held up by the demonstration. According to the organisation’s website, Just Stop Oil is “a nonviolent civil resistance group demanding the UK Government stop licensing all new oil, gas and coal projects.”
Alongside it’s marches, the group is known for stunts involving the use of orange paint deployed on buildings and artwork.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Vatican to Beatify Unborn Martyred Baby Together With Family
Blessed Seventh Child.
This unique title may be the only identification for the youngest person ever to be beatified by the Catholic Church.
Vatican Cardinal Marcello Semeraro will celebrate the beatification of the Polish Ulma family on Sunday, September 10. It will be the first known instance of an entire family being beatified, and most strikingly, it includes the child Wiktoria Niemczak Ulma, the mother of the family, was still carrying in utero at the time she was killed by Nazi police.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Watch: French President Macron Booed by Entire Stadium at Rugby World Cup
President Emmanuel Macron was roundly booed as he took to the pitch of France’s national stadium for the opening ceremony of the Rugby World Cup on Friday.
In one of his most visible public appearances since his country was thrown into chaos over his controversial pension reforms and racially-inspired riots over a police shooting of an Algerian heritage teenager, President Macron did not receive a warm welcome from the French people at the Stade de Frace at the Rugby World Cup.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
The incident unfolded on a flight travelling from Tel Aviv to Luton airport on Monday, but was forced into an emergency landing in Belgrade, Serbia.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
Morocco Death Toll Rises to 2,000 After Rare, Destructive Earthquake Strikes Country
At least 2,012 people in Morocco died after a rare, catastrophic earthquake struck the North African country late Friday night.
The magnitude 6.8 earthquake also injured at least 2,059 people, according to Morocco’s Interior Ministry. 1,404 of those injuries were considered critical.
The death toll is expected to rise as first responders struggle to reach remote villages in the country. Morocco’s King Mohammed VI instructed his military to conduct search and rescue missions and operate surgical field hospitals to assist remote villagers.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
“The Future of Christendom Around the World is at Stake”: An Interview With Uzay Bulut
Uzay Bulut is an exiled Turkish journalist and political analyst formerly based in Ankara. Her writing has appeared in outlets such as the Washington Times, The Christian Post, Jewish News Syndicate, Al-Ahram Weekly, The American Spectator, The American Conservative, Providence, and The Jerusalem Post. Her journalistic work focuses mainly on human rights, Turkish politics and history, and religious minorities in the Middle East and Asia. Bulut is currently doing a Ph.D. in international studies and she is a research fellow of the Philos Project. She also serves on the advisory board of the educational documentary film series “Faces of Persecution: Exploring Global Religious Oppressions.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
“Bali Was Bali, New Delhi, is New Delhi” Jaishankar’s Sharp Response to BBC Question on Ukraine War
G20 leaders adopted the New Delhi Leaders’ Declaration for their 18th Summit. PM Modi on September 09 after prolonged negotiations announced its adoption. Consensus also reached on the Russia-Ukraine conflict despite Ukraine’s differences. However, BBC reporter cited G20 Bali Declaration to question G20 New Delhi Declaration over Ukraine conflict. Reacting to it, EAM Jaishankar gave a sharp reply and said, “Bali was Bali, New Delhi is New Delhi”. G20 “not platform to resolve geopolitical, security issues” read New Delhi Declaration. India underscored that all states must act according to the Principles of the UN Charter in its entirety.
| — Hat tip: Dean | [Return to headlines] |
At a ceremony in Lviv, the former Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, was given a doctorate by the city’s Ivan Franko National University.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
The closing statement of this year’s G-20 summit doesn’t condemn the Russian invasion of Ukraine, instead including a generic request for nations to respect each other’s borders.
The statement, released Saturday on the eve of the summit’s conclusion, is a carefully crafted and thoroughly negotiated piece of diplomacy usually agreed to by every G-20 member.
“We call on all states to uphold the principles of international law including territorial integrity and sovereignty, international humanitarian law, and the multilateral system that safeguards peace and stability,” the declaration reads.
“[We] welcome all relevant and constructive initiatives that support a comprehensive, just, and durable peace in Ukraine,” it continued. “The use or threat of use of nuclear weapons is inadmissible.”
| — Hat tip: JW | [Return to headlines] |
Getting Involved? British Planes ‘Deter’ Russian Airforce Over Black Sea
The United Kingdom will be engaged in “military efforts to deter Russian attacks” over the Black Sea, the Prime Minister’s Office has said, as the government condemns the Kremlin for damaging global food security.
Russia withdrew from the Black Sea Grain Deal in July, an agreement brokered between Putin’s government and Turkey which allowed ships carrying Ukrainian-grown grain to transit the Black Sea to the world beyond. The deal was seen as critical given that Ukraine exports represent one of the top sources of grain for areas such as North Africa and the Near East, and a slump in supply by grain being held up in Ukraine saw global prices soar, intensifying hardship for many.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
Russia Holds Elections in Ukrainian Territories
Gubernatorial, regional, and local elections will be held across most parts of Russia on Sunday, September 10th, with voting having commenced on Friday in some regions. This is the first time that the citizens of Russian-controlled Ukrainian territories Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia are voting under the Russian electoral legislation. The vote has been denounced by the Kyiv Government and Western nations.
Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine 18 months ago and currently controls about one-fifth of the country, including the Crimean Peninsula; which it annexed in 2014, most of the Luhansk region, and large parts of the regions of Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson. After organising internationally unrecognised referenda, Russia declared its annexation of the latter four areas last September, even though none of the regions were—and still are not—fully under Russian control.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
U.N. Atomic Agency Warns of Nuclear Disaster Amid Heavy Fighting in Ukraine
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — The United Nations atomic watchdog warned of a potential threat to nuclear safety due to a spike in fighting near Europe’s largest nuclear power plant in Ukraine as the forces of the war-torn country continued pressing their counteroffensive on Saturday.
The International Atomic Energy Agency said its experts deployed at the Russia-occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant reported hearing numerous explosions over the past week, in a possible indication of increased military activity in the region. There was no damage to the plant.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Ukraine Demands Extradition of Its Draft-Age Men
Neither the Austrian, nor the Czech government is willing to bow to Ukraine’s demands and extradite Ukrainian men who have fled the war-torn country. “That would be a massive interference in our sovereignty, we would never do that,” a spokesman for the Austrian Interior Ministry said to Exxpress on September 7th. “Such a request would likely contravene Czech law, making it impossible to approve it,” the Czech Justice Ministry stated in the Prague Monitor.
David Arakhamia, parliamentary faction leader of Ukraine’s governing party, Servant of the People, said last week that Ukrainian law enforcement agencies should demand the extradition of men of military age who had illegally left Ukraine to escape mobilisation. With the war against Russia costing thousands of lives, the Ukrainian leadership is stepping up its efforts to recruit soldiers. But there are more and more reports of men fleeing the country to avoid military service. “These people could be mobilised and increase the ranks of our armed forces, thereby strengthening our defense and security,” Fedir Venislavsky, a member of the Ukrainian Parliament’s National Security, Defence and Intelligence Committee said.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
In a shocking turn of events, two young men in their early twenties were stabbed in Haryana’s Faridabad district on the intervening night of September 8. The attack was so brutal that one of them died while being taken to the hospital and the other is still struggling between life and death. The attackers belonged to the Muslim community and had grudges against the victims, who actively worked for Sanatan Dharma.
Notably, the victims have been identified as 21-year-old Alok Chaudhary, who died in the hospital. Whereas the other victim has been identified as Shivam Kumar, who is still admitted to the hospital. It is noteworthy that, another friend of Shivam and Alok was attacked by the mob.
The accused, on the other hand, have been identified as Yamin, Raja, and Guga, among others.
| — Hat tip: McN | [Return to headlines] |
Chinese State Media Praise ESG: Looks a Lot Like Our Social Credit System!
Chinese state media touted ESG, which closely mirrors Communist dictator Xi Jinping’s concept of “socialism with Chinese characteristics.”
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
Chinese Communist Party Turning US Communications ‘On and Off Like a Light Switch, ‘ DoD Says
The People’s Republic of China is willfully terminating and reactivating channels of communication with the United States, defense officials warn.
Assistant Secretary of Defense for Indo-Pacific Security Affairs Ely Ratner told reporters at the Defense News Conference on Wednesday that the communist nation’s military is intentionally disrupting its own lines with the U.S.
“We have been brutally consistent — and Sec. [Lloyd] Austin has been consistent — in saying again and again the United States seeks open lines of communication with the [People’s Republic of China],” Ratner told journalists and other attendees.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Zain Khan, 26, has been charged with murder and attempted murder over the Bourke Street chaos that unfolded on Friday. An elderly driver was killed and up to five people were injured in major collision.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
Support for an Indigenous Voice to Parliament is falling with more Labor voters abandoning Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s Yes campaign while Coalition voters back Peter Dutton.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
Asylum Applications to Germany Up 77 Per Cent Over 2022
Initial asylum claims in Germany are soaring, both month-on-month over the summer but also compared to the same period last year, with the nation experiencing a considerable 77.2 per cent rise in arrivals.
There have been almost 205,000 initial applications from would-be asylum seekers in Germany this year between January and August, the latest periods for which the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (Bamf) has published figures.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Austria Moving Towards Its Own Rwanda Asylum Plan
Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer raised the possibility of outsourcing his nation’s asylum policy to African nations such as Rwanda as his conservative ÖVP party continues to trail in the polls ahead of next year’s national elections.
Austria is just one of many European countries currently facing a fresh summer surge in asylum applications as many capitals look to North African states such as Tunisia to help beef up border security.
Vienna was vocal in calling for a unified European approach to handling the asylum issue in March, with the Austrian government calling for the implementation of the Dublin System, which requires asylum applicants to apply in their first country of entry into the EU to prevent the flow of migrants into northern Europe.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Bidenomics is Pushing Down Wages by Flooding the Country With Migrants
Bidenonomics is putting downward pressure on American wages by increasing the labor supply through Joe Biden’s open border policies.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
The number of asylum applications recorded in the EU, Norway and Switzerland has increased by nearly one-third over last year as the bloc is expecting over one million applications this year.
According to statistics revealed by the EU Asylum Agency (EUAA), 519,000 people applied for asylum in the EU+ area, which includes Norway and Switzerland, since January. This represents a 28 per cent increase over the same time period in 2022 when 406,000 applications were recorded.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Report: Joe Biden Considers Requiring Illegal Aliens to Remain in Texas
President Joe Biden is reportedly considering a plan to require illegal aliens with dubious asylum claims to remain in Texas — a move that would see the Lone Star State absorb tens of thousands of illegal aliens every week.
Biden administration officials who spoke anonymously to the Los Angeles Times said the plan is being considered so that if newly arrived border crossers fail their initial asylum screenings, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents can more easily locate and deport the illegal aliens within Texas since they would be close to the United States-Mexico border.
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A migrant from Uganda has been handed a life sentence for brutally beating and raping a pensioner in London, despite previously losing his right to remain in the country after a 2008 rape.
In yet another failure of the UK government to deport a dangerous foreigner, Ramazan Mukalazi, 40, has been convicted of a “ferocious” sex attack against a 66-year-old woman in Hounslow last year after consuming alcohol and cannabis, Sky News reports.
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Biological Male Cyclists Take Gold Medals in Two Separate Women’s Championships in Illinois
Transgender cyclists Evelyn Williamson and Tessa Johnson, biological males, took two gold medals at two separate women’s championships in Illinois.
The pair took first place together in the xXx Racing-Athletic Relay Cross in Chicago on August 27, competing under the name TS-ESTRODOLLS, a nod to the female hormone estrogen, Reduxx.info reported. Four days later, the two competed at the Ed Rudolph Velodrome during the state championship in Madison and placed first.
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The California State Assembly passed a bill on Friday that would require judges in child custody cases to consider whether a parent has affirmed a child’s belief that they are transgender.
AB 957 originally proposed that courts deciding custody cases must consider whether each parent was gender-affirming of the child in question. An amendment in June added to the state’s standard of what constitutes parental responsibility for child welfare, requiring that parents must be affirming of a child’s gender identity if they are to be judged fit for providing for “the health, safety, and welfare of the child” in a court of law.
Commentators across X, formerly known as Twitter, scorched the bill for jeopardizing a parent’s custody of their child if they do not acknowledge their transgender identity.
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California Adds ‘Transgender History Month’ to the LGBTQ+ Calendar
California became the first state in the nation to make history with the trans-identifying community on Wednesday by officially recognizing the month of August as Transgender History Month.
The alleged goal of Transgender History Month, which will be celebrated for the first time next year, is to honor the contributions and heritage of the transgender community while also bringing attention to its members’ actual experiences, according to Fox News.
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Chaos erupted at a Southern California district’s school board meeting Thursday, when communist protesters clashed with parents’ rights activists.
At the meeting, the Orange Unified School Board passed a parental notification policy similar to ones passed in five other districts across the state, that would require staff to notify parents when their child identifies as transgender.
Before the deciding vote, members of the Revolutionary Communist Party disrupted the event, with one shouting down supporters with a megaphone. This led to a shouting match between both sides before the communist protesters were ushered out by officers, the Los Angeles Times reported.
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The August 28 Indian River School Board meeting was unusually packed.
Over 50 members of the Vero Beach Florida community sat waiting for their turn to stand before the five members who make up the Indian River School Board: Chairperson Dr. Peggy Jones (District 3), Vice Chairperson Teri L. Barenborg (District 4), Gene A. Posca, M.D. (District 1), Jacqueline Rosario (District 2) and Brian M. Barefoot (District 5). Also present was the school superintendent and a lawyer for the school board.
In recent times, attendance at school board meetings across the country has spiked, as mothers, fathers, grandparents, and clinically trained child advocates have voiced outrage, desperation, and frustration at the inaction local officials and school board members have displayed in response to school libraries stocking their shelves with pornographic material.
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Transgender Cyclists Evelyn Williamson and Tessa Johnson Hammer Female Competition at Illinois Races
Trans cyclists Evelyn Williamson and Tessa Johnson dominated the field as they captured gold at two recent elite female races in Illinois, including at the state championships.
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U.S. Bishops Slam Biden’s Transgender War on Catholic Charities
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has filed a complaint with the Biden administration over its proposed rule limiting Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) grants to those who accept transgender ideology.
Writing on behalf of the USCCB, General Counsel William J. Quinn states that it is offensive to oblige Catholic services to “endorse a view of human embodiment and sexual difference contrary to Catholic teaching.”
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So much energy infrastructure using nuclear and coal has been shut down in western countries that the market for coal etc in non western countries is going to boom as they take on the manufacturing that will be looking for a new low energy cost home. Western countries are just shutting down the last of their industry and jobs. They forget they globalised the world and made it easy for businesses to relocate so their own countries will now be bankrupt. I don’t think they will like living amongst a lot of poor people in the US, Germany, France etc.
What makes you think it wasn’t intentional?
Indeed. And the scramble for “net zero”, by whatever date, will involve the manufacture of huge numbers of wind turbines (whose blades contain microfibres of fibreglass, so cannot be cut up, but must be buried when time-expired), solar panels (which contain toxic materials, which must also be disposed of safely), electric cars, charging stations for same, lithium batteries (a rare earth material which sometimes comes from unfriendly or exploitative sources), and many thousands of miles of new electrical grids- cable and pylons- because the existing ones are connected to coal, oil, gas and nuclear* generators. (That may be the longest sentence I’ve ever written!)
And how will the huge amount of electrical power required for all this be generated, at least in the early years? Largely from fossil fuels. Such hypocrisy.
*The Germans, having shut down their nuclear stations in the wake of Fukiyama (Why? Japan is in a geologically unstable region, Germany isn’t), are importing electricity from France, which is mostly nuclear; indeed the French have just extended the life of their largest nuclear station by forty years. Even more hypocrisy.
Lithium is not a rare earth metal. But indeed, mining it is environmentally problematic, and just incidentally it also makes the Taliban, out of all, become the new oil barons since the largest known deposits today reside in their turf. It has significant downsides also in deployment, it’s a fire hazard more dangerous than gasoline and bad things have happened already. This can be mitigated by lowering the voltage used because this reduces the risk of electric sparks, but this requires thicker copper cables because the current needs to increase instead to transmit the same amount of energy. Producers want to cut costs and right now there is political pressure to let them. What’s a few people dying in horrible agony compared to the greater goal. Another disadvantage is that lithium batteries don’t last very long, they lose capacity with the number of charging cycles and need regular replacement just like brake discs and other consumables. Therefore it’s a classic case of a transition technology which is poised to be replaced by something better as soon as a viable alternative emerges. The rising star of lithium is like a comet. We actually know that, only the Taliban and our starry-eyed politicians don’t. In principle and all politics aside, electric motors are really better than combustion engines and much simpler in construction, only the problem of on-board energy storage for autonomous driving vehicles is yet to be solved. This will happen if the stupidity epidemic doesn’t consume all of us.
Disposing wind turbines: Surely fiberglass items of any size can be cut up and safely disposed of by treating it with enough heat to melt down the glass inside. While not toxic, microfibers of a material with the qualities of glass become a long-term danger to any living organism when released into the environment. Therefore burying it is actually worse, but the problem is postponed to a distant future. Proper treatment however costs so much energy that it pretty much defeats the purpose of having created these things in the first place. Some Greenies have a few brain cells left to know that, and they don’t want you to talk about it because it would end their gravy train. Hence the published truth is that it’s not possible.
Lastly, it’s Fukushima… not that it matters, sorry for nitpicking.
That’s ok, K! Thanks for the additional info.
As I understand it, just cutting into turbine blades (to make them manageable) releases fibreglass microfibres into the atmosphere.
I still use a 35mm film camera (digital wasn’t as good when I got it in 1999, and I can’t afford to replace it on my pension); I always carry spare lithium batteries since I found myself in Rouen cathedral early one morning in 2015 and the ones in the camera expired, and I had to catch a train to Paris.
True about the cutting of fiberglass, but this is just another problem which needs to be managed and thus increases the cost. There really is no sound reason for declaring it impossible, they just can’t bring themselves to admitting the obvious: What looked like a nice idea at first turns their calculations upside down upon scaling it up to such epic proportions. Green brains can’t process that. The same applies to lithium batteries, they are not evil per se and up to now are the best we have for powering portable computers and other small devices. But scaling it up to replace every motorcar in the world, we don’t even know if enough of the metal exists at all to achieve that. And what the Taliban will do when they are as rich as the Gulf states, which will not take long now…
David Arakhamia is an ethnic Georgian. Ukraine’s new defense minister is an ethnic Crimean Tatar. These people do not feel sorry for Ukrainian Slavic men.
The fertile territory is being cleared by the hands of Putin and Zelensky in the name of the New World Order.
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Five Troubling Signs That Your Baby Might Be A White Supremacist
https://youtu.be/7XI4tDCmevQ?si=mp9jUL0ljOdPvbjW
Yesterday, I received voting information for the 2024 California primaries, which will be held in March 2024. The mailer offered the opportunity to request a ballot in 18 foreign languages, including Russian.
I did not see any information on how to vote in tomorrow’s Russian elections in Ukraine, so, I’m going to contact the LA County Registrar to see if they forgot to send my ballot. I’m sure it was just a clerical error.
Do not worry the democrats have already fill in your ballot for the 2024 election for the “President ” of America. It sits in a plastic cooler with thousands of other” absentee ” ballots to be delivered at three in the morning and put threw the scanner many times for a new record of Americans voting for a walking mumbling corpse of a man. Now take your new vaccine booster ,or get fired from your job , close local churches for our protection , maybe a bunch of riots over a dead drug addict thug fighting with police to top it off. The world is living a groundhog day ,2020 repeat and rinse 2024. Or get a reset with a world war to cancel an imaginary “choice” of who gets elected as President of America? Hey that would remove alot of people from this world and shrink their “carbon ” foot print!
Memory from Bachmut..I/m the only one left..God has Mercy on the Soul of my Polish Brothers..Amen.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FrL-5GZXwAAdXKo?format=jpg&name=small