An Islamic terror attack in France was thwarted in the city of Reims when a knifeman threatened police officers while shouting “Allahu Akhbar” outside police headquarters. Police were able to taser the misguided youth and take him into custody before he harmed anyone.
In other news, more than half of the arrests made in Brussels in September were of illegal immigrants, according to the city’s police chief.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to Dean, DV, Insubria, McN, Reader from Chicago, Roger, SS, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.
Notice to tipsters: Please don’t submit extensive excerpts from articles that have been posted behind a subscription firewall, or are otherwise under copyright protection.
Caveat: Articles in the news feed are posted “as is”. Gates of Vienna cannot vouch for the authenticity or accuracy of the contents of any individual item posted here. I check each entry to make sure it is relatively interesting, not patently offensive, and at least superficially plausible. The link to the original is included with each item’s title. Further research and verification are left to the reader.
US Mortgage Rates Hit 8% at 23-Year High
Interest rates in the United States continue to rise, with those for a 30-year fixed mortgage hitting a 23-year high this month.
This is just the latest in a series of increases Americans have been dealt since 2020, when rates were just 3 percent.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Alaska Airlines Pilot Who Tried to Shut Off Engines Mid-Flight Had a ‘Mental Breakdown’: Passenger
The Alaska Airlines pilot who attempted to shut down the engines of a passenger-filled airliner reportedly suffered a “mental breakdown” in the air, and was known by baffled neighbors as a doting father and devoted husband.
Joseph Emerson, 44, was off-duty while riding in the cockpit jump seat of a Washington to San Francisco flight Sunday when he allegedly leapt for the controls and attempted to activate the fire-suppression system on the plane — a move which would have cut off fuel to the engines and eventually sent the plane plummeting to the ground.
The flight’s captain and first officer managed to restrain Emerson then make an emergency landing in Portland, Oregon, where the flight crew informed the 83 passengers onboard what had happened in blunt terms.
“The flight attendant got back on the speaker and said, plain and simple, ‘He had a mental breakdown. We needed to get him off the plane immediately,’“ passenger Aubrey Gavello told ABC News.
| — Hat tip: McN | [Return to headlines] |
The nation’s largest drugstore chains, Rite Aid, CVS and Walgreens, will shutter more than 1,500 stores, leaving millions of Americans without access to healthcare in ‘pharmacy deserts.’
Rite Aid said it will close 150 of its 2,100 US locations after they filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy earlier this month.
The pharmacy chain has been unable to settle hundreds of lawsuits that accused them of overprescribing opioids and has struggled to keep up with competitors.
A slew of drugstore chains slashing their locations has left millions of people living in areas where it’s difficult to obtain medication, areas known as ‘pharmacy deserts,’ according to JAMA Network.
‘According to our estimates, about one in four neighborhoods are pharmacy deserts across the country,’ Dima Qato, an associate professor at the University of Southern California, said to the Washington Post.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Americans’ Trust in News Media Falls to New Lows
The results of a recent survey indicate that Americans’ trust in the media is dwindling, with as little as 34% saying they hold a “great deal” or “fair amount” of confidence in it. This leaves an overwhelming proportion, 38%, expressing they have absolutely no trust at all. Even more strikingly, this is the first instance of those entirely lacking trust outnumbering those with at least some faith in the media’s performance.
These unsurprising figures were unearthed by a Gallup poll conducted in the first half of September. The poll did not just reveal an alarming lack of trust in the mass media, but also in the tripartite branches of the US Government.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
AOC Tries to Justify ‘Horrific’ Hamas Terror Attacks by Accusing Israel of ‘War Crimes’
Radical Democrat Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) has tried to justify Hamas’s attacks against Israel while simultaneously insisting that she is not defending the terrorist group.
During an appearance on MSNBC’s “The Mehdi Hasan Show,” Ocasio-Cortez acknowledged that Hamas’s attack against Israel on October 7 was “horrific.”
However, she continued by trying to justify the murder, rape, and abduction of hundreds of innocent civilians, including Americans, by accusing Israel of committing “war crimes.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Armed Man Scares Off North Carolina Supermarket Shooter
A gunman was chased away by an armed bystander after he opened fire outside a supermarket in North Carolina, police said.
Mirza Zukanovic, 35, is accused of shooting at two people Saturday night following a domestic dispute at the Lowes Foods parking lot in Wake Forest Crossing, WRAL News reports.
As Zukanovic fired at the duo, a bystander who has a license to carry a weapon drew his own pistol and fired at the gunman.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Blowblack: Coca-Cola Quietly Removes Black Lives Matter Support on Its Website
By Jack Phillips of The Epoch Times
Coca-Cola appeared to delete a paragraph on its website that supported Black Lives Matter, coming as Black Lives Matter drew controversy for backing Hamas.
“Earlier this month, Sprite announced a $500,000 contribution to the Black Lives Matter Global Network in a social post committing action in the fight for racial justice. On June 28, the brand debuted a new TV commercial during the 2020 BET Awards telecast showcasing Black America’s resilience, excellence and optimism. The 60-second spot titled ‘Dreams Realized’ emphasizes Sprite’s commitment to making young Black creators’ dreams a reality and to inspire the next generation to do more and dream bigger,” an archived version of the Coca-Cola-owned Sprite website page says.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Breaking: Watchdog Says Texas Schools ‘Some of Worst in Country’ in Teaching Critical Race Theory
Public schools in Texas continue to teach racially discriminatory content to children in violation of state law and without parents knowing, Accuracy in Media President Adam Guillette said in an exclusive interview with The Daily Signal.
“What we’ve found in Texas is almost worse than anywhere else in the country,” Guillette said, referring to how entrenched this racial content is.
“The only solution is universal school choice,” he told The Daily Signal later in the interview.
Accuracy in Media, an investigative media watchdog, is in the process of releasing videos from its undercover investigations, which found public school administrators in Texas boasting about hiding instruction in critical race theory and racial equity from parents.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Breaking: Elon Musk Says ‘We Are Sleepwalking Our Way Into World War III’
Elon Musk spouted off on a Twitter Space on Monday with insights into the current state of global affairs. He said that a potential World War 3 puts civilization at risk, that the US is lacking an advantage in terms of industrial output when it comes to China and Russia, and that those two nations are being pushed closer together “in an axis of immense power against the west, and laying the groundwork for World War 3.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Breaking: Owen Shroyer Ordered by Biden Regime to Report to Federal Prison TOMORROW
Infowars host Owen Shroyer, who was sentenced last month to 60 days in prison in relation to events of Jan. 6, 2021 despite not having entered the Capitol building on that fateful day, has been ordered by the federal government to turn himself over to federal prison tomorrow, on Tuesday.
“Owen Shroyer here, and I’m about to turn myself in to be a speech prisoner in Biden’s America,” Shroyer began in a video he posted to address the situation.
“Unfortunately, we knew that things would get this bad. Unfortunately, we knew the Democrats were this corrupt. Now I have hit to the frontlines and be a speech prisoner in Biden’s America.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Defiant NJ Sen. Bob Menendez Pleads Not Guilty to New Foreign Agent Charge in NYC Federal Court
A defiant Sen. Bob Menendez pleaded not guilty Monday to a new federal charge that he acted as an agent of the Egyptian government while chairing the Senate’s powerful Foreign Relations Committee.
The New Jersey Democrat, who was asked to stand during a brief hearing in Manhattan federal court, spoke clearly and slowly when asked by Judge Sidney Stein to enter a plea to the new charge.”Not guilty,” said the longtime lawmaker, wearing a navy blue pinstriped suit and pink tie, during the five-minute proceeding.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Democratic Mayor Flips on Post-George Floyd Police Reforms as Crime Skyrockets in Nation’s Capital
Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser flipped the script on George Floyd-era police reforms Monday by introducing new legislation to address skyrocketing crime in the nation’s capital.
Speaking from Ward Four, Bowser, a Democrat, rolled out the proposal deemed the Addressing Crime Trends (ACT) Now Act, which clarifies the distinction between a serious use of force and incidental contact with the neck, ensures officers can review their body-worn camera footage prior to writing their initial police report in certain circumstances, makes permanent clarification of vehicular pursuit and defines what information will be posted publicly related to officer discipline.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Democrat Judge Backs Effort to Block Trump From 2024 Ballot
A Democrat-selected Colorado judge has backed efforts to block President Donald Trump from appearing on the ballot during the state’s 2024 presidential election.
Judge Sarah Wallace denied a motion by Trump and the Colorado GOP to throw out a politically-motivated lawsuit.
The suit seeks to keep Trump off the ballot in an apparent effort to help Democrat President Joe Biden.
Wallace, a Colorado district court judge, was appointed to the bench earlier this year by Democrat Gov. Jared Polis.
[Comment: Nutty decision. The judge looks like a tranny too.]
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Detroit Police on Verge of Naming Suspect in Brutal Slaying of Synagogue Leader Samantha Woll
Detriot cops were “just short” of naming a suspect in the grisly murder of synagogue leader Samantha Woll on Monday while insisting that there was no evidence to suggest the heinous act was the result of a hate crime.
“We are just short of calling one of the people a suspect,” Detroit Police Chief James White said at a press conference.
“But we are working toward that, and we will be there. But again, it just takes time… there’s a lot of information to be analyzed.”
| — Hat tip: DV | [Return to headlines] |
DOJ Prosecutors to Answer Questions on Hunter Biden Probe Behind Closed Doors at House Judiciary
Federal prosecutors will appear for transcribed interviews behind closed doors at the House Judiciary Committee this week amid the panel’s investigation into alleged politicization of the Hunter Biden probe.
Fox News has learned that U.S. attorney for the Central District of California, Martin Estrada, will sit for a transcribed interview on Tuesday, and DOJ Tax Division attorney Stuart Goldberg is expected to sit for his interview Wednesday.
The requests for DOJ officials to answer questions before the committee come after allegations of politicization and misconduct at the Justice Department agencies throughout the years-long probe into the president’s son.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
House Members Urged in Bipartisan Letter to Join Demands for Biden to Drop Julian Assange’s Case
EXCLUSIVE: Reps. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., and James McGovern, D-Mass., are circulating a letter to their colleagues in the House of Representatives calling on President Biden to end the prosecution of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, who is facing a possible extradition to the U.S. for publishing classified U.S. military documents.
In a “Dear Colleague” letter obtained by Fox News Digital, the two congressmen asked fellow House members to join their bipartisan effort to “strongly encourage the Biden administration to withdraw the U.S. extradition request currently pending against Australian publisher Julian Assange and halt all prosecutorial proceedings against him as soon as possible.”
The separate letter the congressmen are referring to, also obtained by Fox News Digital, will be sent to Biden after Massie and McGovern gather signatures from House members. Lawmakers have until Thursday to sign the letter.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Jewish Americans Are Flocking to Learn Gun Safety and Buy Firearms Amid War in Israel
A growing number of American Jews are taking courses on firearm safety and going to shooting ranges around the country as they fear for their safety following Hamas’ attack on Israel.
More Jewish customers have been buying guns amid the rise of antisemitism following the Hamas attacks on Oct. 7, according to David Kowalsky, who owns the Florida Gun Store in Hollywood, Fla.
“We’ve definitely seen a tremendous increase in religious Jewish people, Orthodox people purchasing firearms,” Kowalsky told NBC News.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Experts are predicting that the next election cycle could see a “significant change” in the number of Jewish Americans voting Republican due to the recent rise in anti-Semitism being expressed by Democrats.
Several prominent Democrat lawmakers have recently spoken out in support of the Hamas terror against the Jewish state of Israel.
Democrat Reps. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) have all spoken out against Israel and even helped to spread pro-Hamas propaganda.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
A confused elderly man drove through an anti-Israel protest in Minneapolis, Minn. on Sunday evening after the group blocked off streets near Loring Park, with Minneapolis City Council candidate Zach Metzger filming the mob attacking the man and instructing his followers to hunt him down.
Metzger held the camera up to the man’s car, showing the man in distress and crying in his vehicle, as the mob surrounded him and one person jumped and kicked his window. He was eventually able to free himself from the mob, driving back towards the first group then turning as the mob continued to chase him.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Murder Charges Dropped Against New York CVS Worker Who Stabbed and Killed Serial Shoplifter
ACVS worker in New York City who claimed self-defense after he fatally stabbed an alleged serial shoplifter is now no longer facing murder charges over the killing.
46-year-old Scotty Enoe and 50-year-old Charles Brito became entangled in a scuffle at the Manhattan convenience store on July 6. Enoe told cops that he had only stabbed Brito after the homeless man attacked him without provocation.
A criminal complaint obtained by The Messenger said that Enoe was charged with one count of second-degree murder, one count of first-degree manslaughter, and two counts of criminal possession of a weapon.
Enoe has now been indicted on the lesser charge of manslaughter instead, according to the New York Post.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
New York Times Admits it Relied Too Heavily on Hamas Claims in Gaza Hospital Attack Coverage
The New York Times has admitted it “relied too heavily on claims by Hamas” in its reporting of an explosion at a Gaza hospital — though the paper has not yet refuted the terrorist organization’s claims that Israel was responsible.
The newspaper issued the statement Monday, five days after running a headline on its front page, above the fold, reading: “Israeli Strike Kills Hundreds in Hospital, Palestinians Say.”
The initial Times report claimed 500 people were killed in the attack, citing Hamas officials, and included a picture of a wrecked building that was not actually the Al-Ahli Hospital.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
NewsGuard & US Govt. Sued by Consortium News; Musk Slams ‘Scam’
NewsGuard, a company which claims to rate media outlets’ level of ‘trustworthiness’ and therefore has a meaningful influence over ad revenue, has been sued along with the Biden administration by Consortium News, which also named the Pentagon’s Cyber Command for “contracting with NewsGuard to identify, report and abridge the speech of American media organizations that dissent from U.S. official positions on foreign policy.”
According to the complaint, NewsGuard is “acting jointly or in concert with the United States to coerce news organizations to alter viewpoints” regarding Ukraine, Russia and Syria, and has impsed a form of “censorship and repression of views” that diverge from US policies and those of its allies, the complaint says.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
In an October 18 press conference alongside the family members of Leonard Cure, who was fatally shot during a traffic stop after attacking a police officer, civil rights attorney Ben Crump claimed that Cure would not have been killed if he was white.
“We absolutely do not believe if he was a white citizen, he would have been killed for a traffic stop,” Crump said.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Off-Duty St. Louis Officer Accused of Shooting at Trick-or-Treating Event No Longer Employed
ST. LOUIS (AP) — An off-duty St. Louis County officer accused of displaying his badge and firing into the air at a trick-or-treating event no longer is employed at the agency, a police spokesperson confirmed Monday.
Matthew McCulloch was no longer working at the department as of Thursday, St. Louis County Police officer Adrian Washington said in an email. He had been on unpaid administrative leave. Washington declined to comment on whether McCulloch was fired or quit, describing it as a personnel matter.
McCulloch is charged with child endangerment, unlawful use of a weapon, armed criminal action and making a terrorist threat during a school-sponsored trunk-or-treating event attended by hundreds of parents and children Oct. 15 in the St. Louis suburb of Kirkwood.
Police said McCulloch told multiple attendees that “you are all going to die,” according to the probable cause statement.
After a man responded by pushing McCulloch to the ground, police said McCulloch lifted his shirt to show a handgun and his badge. McCulloch then shot into the air at least a dozen times “while shouting that all attendees would die,” police alleged. Trick-or-treaters ran for cover, then police said several people tackled McCulloch and took the gun.
| — Hat tip: Roger | [Return to headlines] |
Poll: Majority of Americans Say U.S. Should Not Send Weapons and Supplies to Israel
A new poll from CBS News/YouGov found the majority of Americans are against “sending weapons and supplies” to Israel amid their conflict with Gaza.
The poll found 52% of Americans said the US should not “send weapons and supplies to Israel” versus 48% who said we should.
CBS News buried the lede in their report on the poll, titling their article, “Amid concern about wider war, Americans give mixed reactions to Biden’s approach toward Israel-Hamas conflict.”
They didn’t even mention that the majority of Americans oppose sending “weapons and supplies” to Israel in their article and instead said Americans were “split” on the issue.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Rapper 50 Cent Stunned to Learn Biden’s on Vacation Amid Israel-Hamas War: ‘We in Trouble Man!’
Rapper 50 Cent went viral over the weekend after he took to social media to express disbelief that Democrat President Joe Biden has hit the beach for another vacation as the world teeters on WW3 amid mounting tensions over the Irsael-Hamas war.
In a post on Instagram, 50 Cent shared a screenshot from an article titled, “Biden hits the beach with Middle East, Congress in Chaos.”
“Hey Joe get the f**k up, we in trouble man!” the music star added in the caption.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Sen. Ted Cruz is pulling the curtain back on three “Iranian spies” who were allegedly working at senior levels within the Biden administration, claiming that one of the Iran “sympathizers” is regularly accessing classified materials while working as a chief of staff in the Department of Defense.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Shocking Video Shows Large Group Pillage California 7-Eleven After Street Takeover
A mob of looters can be seen ransacking a 7-Eleven convenience store just outside Sacramento in a shocking new video released by police.
In the chaotic video, dozens of rowdy shoplifters run amok inside the store, entering and exiting through a smashed plate-glass window while carrying cases of beer and cigarette cartons.
According to the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office, the fracas began after a nearby “sideshow” — an unsanctioned, illegal gathering where groups of drivers take over parking lots or even busy public roadways to perform dangerous automotive stunts.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Shot Fired During Dueling Israel-Palestine Protests in Illinois
A man shot off his gun at dueling Israel-Palestine protests in Illinois Sunday, the same day a driver drove into a crowd of Palestine supporters in Minnesota as tense demonstrations over the Israel-Palestine conflict gripped parts of the country Sunday.
While nearly 20 New York City demonstrators were arrested during an anti-Israel protest Saturday in Brooklyn, rallies in Illinois, Minnesota and Oregon were marred with violent outbursts over the weekend, according to authorities in those states.
During a pro-Israel event in Skokie, Illinois, about 200 pro-Palestinian protesters showed up to demonstrate, Lincolnwood police said. Outside the event across the street, a man was confronted by a number of people in a town center mall when he pulled out a firearm and shot it into the air Sunday afternoon, Lincolnwood police said in a press release.
The man was quickly arrested and no one was injured.
At the same protest, a person was hit by a vehicle in a hit-and-run in a separate incident, though the victim only required treatment at the scene, according to Lincolnwood police.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
A thirteen-year old was arrested for leading San Francisco cops on a crime spree over the weekend — as billionaires launched a $4 million campaign to address its crime-riddled, “doom loop” image.
San Francisco Police Officers Association posted a tongue-in-cheek comment on X about the teenager who was detained on Saturday after she and an accomplice allegedly stole a vehicle and led them on a wild police chase.
Police said the “Baby Bipper”— a slang term used in the Bay Area for someone who breaks into cars— crashed the stolen car into two others near the Bay Bridge on-ramp at about 8:30 a.m. on Saturday.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Donald Trump appeared to take advantage of a pause in a judge’s gag order against him to call Australian billionaire Anthony Pratt a “red haired weirdo” and special counsel Jack Smith “deranged.”
The 77-year-old former president raged Sunday at reports that Pratt, a packaging mogul and member of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club in Florida, alleged Trump told him sensitive details about US nuclear submarines after the businessman suggested Australia should buy its subs from America.
“The Failing New York Times story, leaked by Deranged Jack Smith and the Biden ‘Political Opponent Abuser’ DOJ, about a red haired weirdo from Australia, named Anthony Pratt, is Fake News. I never spoke to him about Submarines,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Unsolved Murders Skyrocket in Washington State
Criminals in Washington are getting away with murder, according to a new report.
An analysis by FOX 13 showed that by this summer, the city of Kent had already surpassed the total number of murders it saw in 2022.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Vile Antisemitic Graffiti Scrawled Outside ‘How to Fight Anti-Semitism’ Author Bari Weiss’ Office
Hateful antisemitic messages have been scrawled outside the headquarters of The Free Press — days after founder Bari Weiss labeled the Hamas terror attacks “the biggest slaughter of Jews since the Holocaust.”
Weiss — the author of “How to Fight Anti-Semitism” who famously resigned as the New York Times’ star columnist in 2020 over its bias — tweeted photos Sunday of graffiti including “F**k Jews” and “F**k Israel.”
“If the antisemites who did this think it will intimidate me and the journalists of [The Free Press], they don’t know me, they don’t know us, and they have no idea what we stand for,” Weiss wrote in a message viewed more than 2.4 million times by early Monday.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Watch: Pro-Palestinian Mob Shuts Down Minneapolis Street, Terrorizes Motorists
If you were wondering why the pro-Palestinian protests in the US today are starting to look a lot like the BLM riots of 2020, it’s probably because they are made up of the same people with the same political agenda. Minnesota has one of the most concentrated Muslim populations in the US, but it is also a well-known Democrat stronghold. Palestinian protests across the country are predominantly manned by far-left groups like Antifa seeking to attach themselves to minority issues as an excuse to wreak havoc. The political alliance is perhaps one of the most unhinged in recent memory, given that Muslim Sharia culture runs contrary to the majority of progressive “beliefs.”
The protest tactic of blocking major traffic routes and then mobbing any vehicles that try to sneak past has been used by leftists regularly over the past few years. When people defend themselves by pushing through the mob, the protestors then claim they were “attacked” by the driver.
Protesters/rioters blocked the Irene Hixon Whitney Bridge that runs over I-94 in Loring Park on Sunday afternoon. A video posted by X user “Unicorn Riot” shows the mob deliberately blocked traffic while a white sedan was moving forward at slow speeds while being attacked by rioters.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
‘Where There’s Smoke, There’s Fire’: More Americans Think Joe and Hunter Biden Did Something Illegal
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Americans increasingly think Hunter Biden did something illegal in his foreign business dealings, but are less sure about whether President Biden was involved.
“Where there’s smoke, there’s fire, and I absolutely believe something went on there, 100%,” Mike from New York told Fox News while visiting Nashville’s famous Broadway street. “I think they’re both complicit and they both knew what they were doing.”
Brad from Missouri disagreed, telling Fox News that if Hunter was involved in anything criminal, his dad was not.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
The York Catholic District School Board (YCDSB) is asking all “newly commissioned principals and vice-principals” within its jurisdiction if they’ve received their copies of “Me and White Supremacy” and its follow-up workbook, “White Supremacy: a Guided Journey.”
It’s reportedly mandatory reading if a person wants to work at the YCDSB.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
€8.2 Billion of EU Budget Entirely Misspent
The EU’s top financial auditor has sounded the alarm on an orgy of squandered funds this month in the wake of COVID, the Ukraine crisis, and the much-vaunted Green Deal, with 4.2% of the EU’s total €196 billion annual budget misspent in 2022 alone.
The EU’s Court of Auditors made the ominous warning as it presented its annual audit of the Union’s accounts, where it stated that the errors in the EU’s budget spiked to €8.2 billion last year, up from just under €6 billion in 2021.
Auditors found “material and pervasive” errors in almost all of the EU’s accounting as they criticised the sloppy manner in which European beancounters signed off on expenditures.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Belgium: Palestinian Militants Take to the Streets at Brussels Gaza Protest
Over twelve thousand pro-Palestinian protesters thronged the streets of Brussels Sunday afternoon as Belgium’s Islamic community and left-wing groups marched against the EU’s perceived double standards towards the ongoing Gaza crisis.
Shouts of “Allahu Akbar” were heard outside the European Commission headquarters in Brussels as protestors gathered at 2 p.m. at the Schumann roundabout to call for a ceasefire and the initiation of sanctions against the Israeli state.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Belgium: Brussels Terrorist Was an Escaped Prisoner
The perpetrator of last week’s terror attack in Brussels was not only an illegal immigrant but also an escaped prisoner whose extradition file was ‘forgotten’ by Belgian authorities, Brussels Prosecutor General Johan Delmulle and Public Prosecutor Tim De Wolf confirmed in their joint press conference on Sunday (October 22nd), shifting the blame to the office being understaffed and calling the public backlash unfair.
As we previously reported, the gunman Abdesalem Lassoued’s home country, Tunisia, officially requested the criminal’s extradition in August 2022. Still, Belgian authorities—who had already flagged Lassoued as an extremist—failed to carry through with the process, a “monumental error” that led to Belgian Justice Minister Vincent Van Quickenborne’s resignation after the attack that left two Swedes dead.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Broadcaster ZDF Evacuated as Erroneous Bomb Threats Hit Germany
Several buildings were evacuated in the German city of Mainz on Monday morning after authorities were alerted to a bomb threat made against the public-service broadcaster ZDF, which is located there.
Hundreds of staff and those occupying adjacent buildings to the ZDF offices were evacuated as a precautionary measure at around 8:20 a.m. local time, a spokesperson for the State Criminal Police Office confirmed.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Europe Braced for New Wave of Terror in Wake of Israel-Hamas War
As the war rages on between Israel and Hamas with no end in sight, there are fears that a ground offensive by Israel in Gaza could escalate the conflict in the region, and could even have repercussions in Europe, where countries are preparing for a new wave of terror attacks.
In the latest sign of growing tensions in the Middle East, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told ABC’s “This Week” program on Sunday, October 22nd that he is “concerned about potential escalation” in the war between Israel and the Palestinian terror group Hamas that broke out more than two weeks ago and has claimed thousands of lives. “What we’re seeing … is the prospect of a significant escalation of attacks on our troops and our people throughout the region. If any group or any country is looking to widen this conflict and take advantage of this very unfortunate situation … our advice is: don’t,” Austin said.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Former Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Jansa has urged citizens to legally arm themselves in order to protect themselves and their communities from potential terror attacks.
Posting on his social media accounts on Sunday, the former three-time Slovenian leader launched into a scathing tirade against the current administration in Ljubljana, which reinforced temporary border checks with Croatia and Hungary over the weekend due to the upsurge in violence in the Middle East.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Extension of Bans in Copenhagen Area, Denmark Amid Ongoing Gang Conflict
The ban on staying at certain locations in the Copenhagen area is being extended due to an ongoing gang conflict. The police have decided to prolong the ban on five addresses in the area, Politiken reports.
Two biker clubhouses in Rødovre and Taastrup, previously subject to the ban in mid-September, are now being extended, according to a statement from the Copenhagen Western Suburbs Police.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Authorities in France neutralized a knifeman who entered the police headquarters in Reims on Monday afternoon and threatened officers as he shouted “Allahu Akbar.”
According to the French news outlet Actu 17, the suspect parked up outside the building and lingered outside the headquarters brandishing several knives shortly after 1 p.m. local time.
He was tasered by officers before being able to use the weapons and was subsequently placed in police custody.
As a precautionary measure, a bomb squad inspected his vehicle and was given the all-clear.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Germany: Wagenknecht Announces New Party to “Restore Rationality”
Following a great many months of speculation that she would do so, the charismatic, ever-controversial Sarah Wagenknecht, who served as a member of the German Bundestag for the hard-left Die Linke Party, has finally pulled the trigger and officially announced both her departure from the increasingly left-liberal party and plans to form a new party.
Speaking in front of a packed press conference in Berlin on Monday, October 23rd, Wagenknecht said: “We decided to found a new party because we are convinced that things cannot continue the way they are currently,” adding that “otherwise we probably won’t recognize our country in ten years.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Israel’s Ambassador to Poland Slams Anti-Semitism at Pro-Palestinian March in Warsaw
Israel’s ambassador to Poland has said that the Polish authorities should do more to prevent anti-Semitism following a pro-Palestinian demonstration during which one of the slogans on a banner read “Keep the world clean” and showed an Israeli flag dumped in a waste basket.
The demonstration protesting Israel’s actions in the Gaza Strip was held in Warsaw over the weekend. The protesters displayed Palestinian flags and accused Israel of committing genocide in the Hamas-controlled territory.
Banners at the event included the frequently used phrase: “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” synonymous with calls for the destruction of the Israeli state.
Another banner, as reported by media, carried by a Norwegian student of medicine in Warsaw, Marie Andersen, had an image of the Israeli flag in a trash can with the caption “Keep the world clean.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Beppe Grillo Acquitted of Assaulting Journo
Facts clear but attack too ‘tenuous’ to be liable
(ANSA) — ROME, OCT 20 — Stand-up comic and co-founder of the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement (M5S) Beppe Grillo was acquitted Friday of assaulting a TV journalist at a Tuscan seaside resort in the summer of 2020.
A Livorno court found Grillo, 75, not guilty of private violence and personal injury against journalist Francesco Selvi after the comedian snatched his mobile phone from his hand during an interview attempt and pushed him, causing a distortion to his knee.
In the incident, on the beach at Marina di Bibbon, Selvi was trying to get an interview for the Berlusconi channel show Diritto e Rovescio.
The court said the facts of the case were clear but the alleged assault was too “tenuous” to be criminally liable.
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Italy: Cartoonist Staino Dies at 83
Creator of Bobo, ex editor of l’Unità had been ill for some time
(ANSA) — ROME, OCT 21 — Political cartoonist Sergio Staino died Saturday morning in hospital in Florence at the age of 83.
The leftist cartoonist and creator of the archetypal Bobo character had been ill for some time and was hospitalised a few days ago.
Staino was a pillar of the Left in Italy but also an often perplexed and amused critic of its foibles, and was a former editor of l’Unità, once the organ of the now-defunct Italian Communist Party (PCI), once the biggest Communist party in western Europe. He later joined its centre-left heirs.
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THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Dutch authorities detained 19 activists who occupied the entrance to the International Criminal Court on Monday, denouncing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for Israel’s actions during the war with Hamas.
Activists from the Extinction Rebellion group took over a bridge in front of The Hague-based court just after noon, carrying a banner that read “Netanyahu is a war criminal.”
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Poland’s Law and Justice (PiS) party progressed the country’s economy significantly during its tenure but failed to sufficiently expose the flaws in the liberal opposition’s plans for the country during its unsuccessful election campaign, party leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski has claimed.
He praised his party for transforming Poland’s socio-economic system “from one that was ineffective and unfair to one that is much fairer and more efficient” during its eight years in power.
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The new liberal government in Poland will likely scrap key investment plans such as the construction of the Central Communication Port (CPK), the container port in Swinoujscie, and the proposed nuclear power plant in Pomerania, a key advisor to the outgoing government has predicted.
Prof. Przemyslaw Zurawski vel Grajewski told the fronda.pl news outlet that he is pessimistic about Poland’s future under a liberal coalition government, and believes that many of the achievements of the conservative government led by the Law and Justice (PiS) party will be reversed.
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Swiss Elections: Rightist SVP Dominates, Greens Face Major Setback
The Right is on a roll in Switzerland.
In Sunday’s parliamentary elections, the national-conservative Swiss People’s Party (SVP), Switzerland’s biggest political party for over a decade, surged, increasing its share of the vote to 28.6%, three percentage points higher than the last election in 2019.
According to the Swiss newspaper Tages-Anzeiger, given the SVP’s better-than-expected result, the party is set to gain an additional 9 seats in the country’s lower house of parliament, amounting to an impressive total of 62 out of 200.
In what constitutes a major defeat, the Greens lost five seats, while the other leftist—still second-largest—party, the Swiss Socialist Party (SP), gained two.
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Szijjarto Stated That Almost All EU Countries Have Expressed Ukraine Fatigue
The Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Péter Szijjartó, during a meeting in Luxembourg, declared that the population of their country is becoming weary of the conflict in Ukraine. This is amid the escalation of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the Ukrainian issue is capturing less and less public interest.
“Almost all my colleagues or many of my colleagues, used the term ‘Ukraine fatigue,’ which means it is very challenging to maintain public and media interest in what is happening in Ukraine,” the diplomat noted during his interaction with the Hungarian press.
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Top Banker: ‘Arrest’ WEF for ‘Democide’ Over ‘Bioweapon’ COVID Shots
A prominent former Swiss banker has called for the arrest of corporate elites and unelected globalist bureaucrats over allegations of “democide.”
Top banker Pascal Najadi has joined forces with Dr. Astrid Stuckelberger, a seasoned health expert from Geneva, to demand criminal prosecutions of those behind Covid shots, which they describe as “bioweapons.”
Najadi and Stuckelberger make their case in a brave new documentary titled “Cutting off the Head of the Snake.”
In the film, they delve into the dark underbelly of global organizations headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland.
Najadi specifically focuses on the World Economic Forum (WEF), which his late father, Hussain Najadi, reportedly co-founded along with Chairman Klaus Schwab.
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UK Government Caught Surveilling Social Media of Teaching Assistants and Librarians
A startling revelation indicates that the UK government has substantially amplified its surveillance of the online activity of educators. Ranging from leading education experts to teaching assistants and librarians earning modest salaries, the magnifying glass of surveillance closely monitors posts critiquing education policies. The discovery was made by The Observer, revealing that the Department for Education is keeping extensive records of such posts, something that we’ve previously covered.
This revelation highlights the burning issues of free speech and censorship, causing widespread disquiet among the educational community. The surveillance of educators’ online activity portrays a scenario where dissent or criticism of government policy is not only surveilled but also cataloged, potentially affecting the educators’ professional careers.
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A top Hamas leader wanted by the Israeli government has been revealed to be living in a London council property after being granted British citizenship in the early 2000s.
Former Hamas commander Mohammad Qassem Sawalha, 62, who previously ran the terror group’s armed operations in the West Bank before fleeing to Britain in the 1990s, has been revealed to be living in a London council property and even benefitted from a government programme to receive a £112,000 discount on his home, The Times of London reported.
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UK: Labour Schism? 23 Leftist Councillors Quit Party Over Starmer’s Support of Israel
A divide has emerged in the left-wing Labour Party over the conflict between Israel and Hamas as 23 councillors have resigned from the party over leader Sir Keir Starmer’s backing of Israel.
Since taking control of the Labour Party in 2020, Starmer has attempted to rebrand Labour into a more electable centre-left party, casting out many loyal to former far-left socialist leader Jeremy Corbyn.
While the party still frequently engages with fringe ideology on gender and some other social issues, a notable split from the Corbyn days has been on foreign policy.
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UK: Ministers Question London Police Over Allowed ‘Jihad’ Chants
UK Government officials are “disturbed” by the chants of “jihad” at a pro-Palestine rally over the weekend—and by the Metropolitan Police’s failure to intervene.
Around 300 supporters of Hizb ut-Tahrir, an Islamist group which former prime ministers hoped to ban, gathered on Saturday outside the Egyptian and Turkish embassies in London. In footage shared online, a speaker can be heard asking: “What is the solution to liberate people in the concentration camp called Palestine?” To which the crowd responds in chant:
Jihad, jihad, jihad.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Fly terrorist flags: No problem.
Call for violent jihad: No problem.
Openly support Hamas: No problem.
Carry an England flag in England: Not allowed!
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Underwater Cable Between Sweden and Estonia Damaged: Authorities Detect External Influence
Sweden’s Minister of Defense, Paul Jonsson, has provided information about the damage to the underwater communication cable that connects Sweden and Estonia and expressed his opinion about a possible act of external interference.
In an interview with SVT television channel, he stated, “The cable was damaged due to external influence… It’s an external factor that affected the cable, but we cannot say for sure what it might signify at this time.”
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US Travel to Europe Will Require Prior Approval, Biometric Scanning
Traveling to most European countries is about to get more complicated and invasive for American citizens: In spring 2025, you’ll have to first request permission. And you’ll be saying adieu to passport stamps and ciao to facial and fingerprint scans —and having your biometric data stored in an enormous government database.
On Friday, an agency of the European Union announced the updated timing for the European Travel Information and Authorization System (ETIAS), which has first set to roll out in 2024. It applies to travelers from more than 60 countries that are currently exempt from visa requirements. Those countries have an aggregate population of 1.4 billion.
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Who Will Lead Poland? Tusk’s Plan for Coalition Top Jobs Revealed
The first proposals for the distribution of roles in Poland’s new liberal coalition have been revealed by the Newsweek Polska magazine.
The plans put forward by Donald Tusk, who would lead the largest party in the coalition, appear to focus on a more centralized government with only one deputy prime minister and the roles of the Sejm and Senate speakers being allocated to coalition parties.
A source from the Civic Platform (PO) party suggests this new setup aims to enhance the coalition’s relationship beyond and above the government, ensuring its functionality and positioning vital coalition members in the state’s highest roles.
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EU Staffers Criticise Von Der Leyen’s ‘Uncontrolled’ Support of Israel
More than 800 EU staff and global diplomats sign a letter to the EU chief, saying the bloc’s position is enabling more violence.
Brussels, Belgium — As Gaza is relentlessly bombed by Israel, more than 800 EU officials have written to the bloc’s chief, Ursula von der Leyen, criticising her “uncontrolled” support of Israel.
The signatories of the letter, which Al Jazeera has seen, say they “hardly recognise the values of the EU”, claiming there is a “seeming indifference demonstrated over the past few days by our institution towards the ongoing massacre of civilians in the Gaza Strip, in disregard for human rights and international humanitarian law”.
They say they are saddened by the Commission’s “double standards”, since it considers the blockade of Ukraine by Russia as an act of terror, while Israel’s blockade of Gaza is “completely ignored”.
“If Israel does not stop immediately, the whole Gaza Strip and its inhabitants will be erased from the planet,” the letter read.
“We urge you [von der Leyen] to call, together with the leaders of the whole Union, for a ceasefire and for the protection of civilian life. This is at the core of the EU existence,” they said, warning “the EU risks losing all credibility”.
The letter represents deep divisions within the bloc on how to approach the Israel-Gaza war, which in less than two weeks has killed thousands of people.
The European Commission’s “recent unfortunate actions or positions seem to give a free hand to the acceleration and the legitimacy of a war crime in the Gaza Strip”, the letter said.
In Gaza, more than 4,000 Palestinians have been killed, many of them children…
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Hamas Said it Released Two More Hostages Monday Following Negotiations With Qatar and Egypt
Hamas said it released two more hostages Monday following negotiations with Qatar and Egypt.
The hostages were identified as Nurit Yitzhak and Yochved Lifshitz, two Israeli citizens who have been released to the Red Cross, sources briefed on the matter told CNBC.
The women, said to be in their 80s, were kidnapped from the Kibbutz Nir Oz, with their husbands still in captivity under Hamas, The Jerusalem Post reports.
The terrorist group said on its Telegram channel that it was releasing them for “compelling humanitarian” reasons.
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Hamas Releases 2 Israeli Hostages From Gaza as War Continues
Hamas released two more hostages on Monday, identified by Israeli officials as Nurit Cooper and Yocheved Lifshitz, just days after releasing two American women on Friday.
Cooper and Lifshitz were abducted from their homes in Kibbutz Nir Oz, a small Israeli community near the Gaza border that came under attack on Oct. 7.
“After being handed over to the IDF forces, they are making their way at this time to a medical center in Israel that was specially organized and prepared to receive them. Their family members will be waiting for them there,” a spokesperson for Israel’s Prime Minister’s Office, on behalf of the Special Envoy for Abducted and Missing Persons, said.
Cooper, 79, was taken with her husband, 85-year-old Amiram Cooper, Israeli officials said. Lifshitz, 85, was also abducted along with her husband, 83-year-old Oded Lifshitz. The women’s husbands were not released.
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IDF Shares Harrowing Videos, Photos of Hamas Attack: ‘It’s Things a Person Doesn’t Do’
The Israel Defence Forces shared a harrowing 43-minute compilation Monday of Hamas’ surprise terror attack that killed more than 1,400 people — including an interview with a terrorist who admitted that he had clear orders to kill women and children and even rape the bodies of the dead.
The horrific videos and pictures shared with journalists contain graphic evidence of Hamas gunning down, torturing, and decapitating civilians during their invasion across the Gaza border on Oct. 7.
One of the videos shows the shocking moment a group of terrorists, disguised as IDF soldiers, flag down cars passing by before shooting the occupants.
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Israel Bombards Gaza, Lebanon as Netanyahu Convenes War Cabinet
Israel bombarded Gaza with air strikes early on Monday and its aircraft struck southern Lebanon overnight, as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convened a meeting of his top generals and his war cabinet to assess the escalating conflict.
Israel’s attacks concentrated on the Gaza Strip’s centre and north, Palestinian media reported.
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Pro Israel demonstrations vs Pro Jihad Palestine demonstrations on consecutive days in London and Brooklyn:…
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Erdogan Submits Swedish NATO Membership Bid to Turkish Parliament
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has submitted a protocol for Sweden’s admission into NATO to Turkey’s parliament for ratification, his office said Monday.
Erdogan had been delaying ratification of Sweden’s membership, accusing Stockholm of being too soft on Kurdish militants and other groups he considers to be security threats. Turkey also was angered by a series of Quran-burning protests in Sweden.
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Iranian state media is reporting that a 16-year-old girl dragged off a train car after morality police allegedly attacked her for violating the Islamic nation’s hijab law is now “brain dead.”
Iranian officials, however, have disputed what happened after Armita Geravand boarded a train at the Meydan-E Shohada, or Martyrs’ Square, Metro station in southern Tehran without the headscarf Oct. 1. Soundless security footage aired by state TV showed women dragging the teen’s limp body off the train car a few seconds later.
However, in the video, a conductor blocked part of the view of the train car doorway, and Geravand is soon seen carried off. A friend told state TV that Geravand hit her head on the platform, and her mother and father said in an aired interview — which many activists say was likely filmed under duress — that a blood pressure issue caused their daughter to collapse.
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Alleged Ukrainian Plot to Kill 77 Russian Pilots With Poisoned Cake and Whiskey Foiled
An audacious plot allegedly concocted by Ukrainian intelligence operatives to wiped out dozens of Russian pilots with poisoned cake and whiskey was foiled at the last minute, according to a report.
The incident took place Saturday at the Armavir Higher Military Aviation School in Russia’s Krasnodar region.
The elite flight school located in the city of Armavir was hosting a banquet in honor of its alumni who graduated from the institution 20 years ago.
There were 77 guests at the party, among them active-duty pilots holding senior ranks in Russia’s air force, reported the Russian telegram channel Fighterbomber.
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China’s Weibo Tests Forcing Users to Reveal Their Real Name, Ending Online Anonymity
In an unprecedented move toward restricting online anonymity, the CEO of China’s social media behemoth, Weibo, Wang Gaofei is testing a controversial new policy on his personal account. Weibo, often compared to Twitter/X, may soon require online commentators discussing politics and finance to publicly display their real names. Amid rising worries over China’s growing internet censorship and increased government scrutiny, this motion raises pressing concerns about personal privacy and the overreach of digital surveillance.
The news broke when Gaofei, amassing a hefty following of 957,000 users on Weibo, had his true identity revealed on his account, a test run of the proposed policy. Upon noticing the change, a user queried Gaofei, who duly confirmed the experiment.
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Australia’s banks were lent $188billion during the height of the Covid pandemic but so far, only a very small fraction of that has been repaid to the Reserve Bank despite their soaring profits.
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Peronist Massa Edges Libertarian Milei, But Both Advance to Argentina Run-Off
Beating expectations, Argentina’s Peronist coalition took the most votes in the country’s presidential election on Sunday, but will have to contend with the previously-favored firebrand libertarian Javier Milei in one last run-off election in November.
With 98% of the vote, incumbent economy minister Sergio Massa had 36.6% of the vote, while Milei took 30%. With center-right candidate Patricia Bullrich eliminated from the run-off after receiving just 24% of Sunday’s votes, Argentina’s voters are now presented with sharply contrasting alternatives in the upcoming Nov. 19 finale.
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1,400+ Illegal Migrants Reach Canary Islands in One Weekend
Spanish authorities registered the illegal arrival of 1,457 migrants, all from sub-Saharan Africa, on the Canary Islands between Friday evening and Sunday morning. This continues a trend that up until October 15th of this year has witnessed over 23,500 illegal migrants make landfall on the islands, an increase of nearly 80% year over year.
The latest group of illegal arrivals comes only days after Spain’s migration minister José Luis Escriva, an ally of the left-liberal prime minister, announced the central government was in the process of putting together a €50 million relief package to help the autonomous community’s government cope with what he described as an “extraordinary migration flow,” El Mundo reports.
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More than half of all people arrested in the Belgian capital of Brussels in September were living in the country illegally, the head of the city’s police force revealed.
Speaking to De Tijd newspaper, police chief Michel Goovaerts said that illegal migrants comprised the majority of all arrests last month and admitted that often those detained were released without consequence because deportation attempts to many Arab nations are futile.
“We made 585 arrests, of which 298 were of illegal immigrants,” he told the Dutch-language Belgian newspaper.
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The Islamic terrorist who stabbed to death two Swedish football fans in Brussels on Oct. 16 had been the subject of an extradition request from the Tunisian authorities after escaping from prison where he was serving a 26-year sentence for multiple attempted murders.
According to Belgian media, Tunisian national Abdesalem Lassoued had been jailed in his home country after being convicted on two counts of attempted murder in 2005, but escaped in 2011 and fled to Europe where he was free to roam for years before opening fire on Swedish nationals attending a football match in Brussels last Monday.
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Danish Ministry Reveals Data Concerning Crime Statistics Among Palestinian Immigrants
A recent release of data by the Danish Ministry for Immigration and Integration has raised concerns regarding the integration of Palestinian immigrants into Danish society, according to Vdare.
According to the report, which was an official response to inquiries from the Danish Parliament’s Immigration and Integration Committee, the situation among this specific group of immigrants is alarming.
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Feds Warn Hamas Terrorists Are Likely Crossing U.S Southern Border
Federal officials are warning that anti-Israel terrorists are likely entering the United States by illegally crossing the open Southern Border.
According to an internal October 20 memo obtained by the Daily Caller, members of Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), and Hezbollah are suspected to be crossing the border.
The memo was sent by the San Diego Field Office Intelligence Division of Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
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Germany: Hamburg Migrant Costs Exceed €1 Billion in 2023
While the latest economic projection figures indicate the German economy—by far Europe’s largest—will contract by 0.4% in 2023, Hamburg, one of Germany’s wealthiest cities, has once again increased its budget to accommodate the country’s state-dependent migrant population.
Days ago, the Budget Committee of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg—after already having upped the amount allocated for the reception of migrants by €118.7 million earlier this year—announced that it would again increase the sum by another €212.8 million, bringing the city-state’s government’s total expenditure for the accommodation of migrants so far in 2023 to around €1 billion, BILD reports.
However, if costs incurred by the state for migrant schooling, which the state says cannot be determined, along with healthcare and daycare costs, are included, the figure, according to reports, is said to greatly exceed the €1 billion mark.
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Hungarian State Secretary: Enhanced Illegal Migration Increases Terrorism Threat in Europe
Bence Rétvari, the State Secretary, expressed concerns over the potential rise in terrorism in Europe with the increase in illegal migration. He emphasized that while Hungary and a few central European nations voice these concerns openly, several Western European countries remain silent on the issue.
During a recent meeting of EU interior ministers held in Luxembourg, Rétvari communicated his concerns to Hungarian media outlets. He criticized the EU for not taking substantial measures to secure its external borders. According to him, the EU’s practices such as “automatically accepting migrants”, imposing quotas and the current migration pact, have inadvertently facilitated people smugglers. He warns that such policies could elevate the terrorist threat in the continent.
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Immigration Trumps the Environment as Right-Wing Populists Win Swiss Federal Elections
Federal elections held in Switzerland on Sunday saw the right-wing Swiss People’s Party (SVP) increase its vote share as the country’s largest party as voters endorsed the party’s calls to further control immigration.
The SVP won 29 percent of the vote — up from 25.6 percent four years earlier — and increased its representation in the Swiss parliament from 53 to 62 seats.
“We have problems with immigration, illegal immigrants, and problems with the security of energy supply,” said SVP leader Marco Chiesa during the election campaign. “We already have asylum chaos […] A population of 10 million people in Switzerland is a topic we really have to solve.”
The party called on the country to tackle its rising population, which currently stands at 8.7 million people, and remained committed to its economically and socially conservative principles of rejecting EU membership, expansion of the state, and military involvement abroad.
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Ireland May Limit the Stay of Ukrainians in State Facilities
Ireland is considering the possibility of limiting the length of stay for Ukrainian refugees in state-provided accommodations to three months, after which they will be required to find their own housing, as reported by the Irish Examiner, citing a government source.
According to the publication, after three months of residing in state facilities, Ukrainians will need to either secure housing in the private sector or move to accommodations under the ownership of homeowners. The decision to impose this time limit is aimed at aligning Ireland’s approach with other EU countries.
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Italy: Govt Appeals Catania Migrant Rulings
(ANSA) — ROME, OCT 23 — Italian State attorneys have appealed to the supreme Court of Cassation against several rulings by a court in Catania which failed to uphold the detention of migrants after finding that a government migrant decree was illegitimate, the premier’s office at palazzo Chicgi said Monday.
Two of the rulings were made by a judge, Iolanda Apostolico, who has been accused of bias because she attended a rally at the port in 2018 calling for migrants held at sea by then interior minister Matteo Salvini’s closed ports policy to be allowed to land.
Salvini, who is now deputy premier and transport minister, posted a still of the video on social media.
Magistrates union ANM has accused the government of trying to intimidate judges with its criticism of Apostolico.
Other judges, both in Catania and elsewhere, have made rulings similar to Apsotolico’s.
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Kevin McCarthy Warns of Potential Terrorist ‘Sleeper Cells’ in the US
Ousted House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has warned there may be terrorist sleeper cells hiding in the US and waiting for the order to strike during the unprecedented illegal immigration at the southern border.
“If you simply look at what’s the chaos right now, a wide-open southern border, I’m concerned about a cell sitting inside America today,” the Republican Congressman told NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday.
“We just caught 18 people just last month on the FBI Terror Watch List coming across our border, more than 160 have done it this year,” the former speaker said, citing a recently released Customs and Border Protection report, which showed a total of 169 people on the terror watch list were apprehended over the past 12 months.
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The Worst EVER Illegal Border Crossing Numbers Were Quietly Announced on Saturday Morning
Customs and Border Patrol (CPB) Data has revealed that in September the highest ever number of encounters with illegal immigrants attempting to cross into the country was recorded, and that close to 2.5 MILLION have crossed the border this fiscal year, also the highest number ever.
The figures were released Saturday morning, in what appears to be a blatant attempt to draw the least scrutiny possible.
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Adobe Jumps on the Anti-”Disinformation” Bandwagon
As the war against so-called “misinformation” rages on, Adobe is stepping onto the battlefield with a newly filed patent application focused on the “fact correction of natural language sentences” through data tables. This approach employs a trifecta of AI models to dissect sentences into palatable pieces, scrutinizing their veracity with a fine-tooth comb. This initiative by Adobe might be seen as a double-edged sword where the pursuit of truth could cross paths with the cherished freedom of expression, a fundamental cornerstone of a functioning democracy.
The methodology Adobe proposes begins with a process of tokenization, where sentences are segmented into smaller chunks—words or phrases—for individual analysis. The first of the AI models then identifies a data table housing information that aligns with the content in the sentence.
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Outraged Florida Mom Stopped From Sharing Book Featuring Nudity and Sex Acts at School Board Meeting
A Florida police officer stopped a shaken mother from presenting an explicit image she found in a school library book during a board meeting.
Julie Gebhards of Tampa said she was stunned that a school review panel approved the graphic novel “Blankets” after a parental complaint — despite it being packed with nudity and detailed descriptions of sex acts.
After Gebhards advised audience members to leave the room if accompanied by children, she described the book’s content in detail.
“The book also contains crass talk like this: ‘Church camp is the best place to score p***y,’“ she said. “Also: ‘Did you feel up her t***ies?’ It has images of masturbation, naked boys peeing on each other and sexual assault of a child. … I imagine we’re all uncomfortable now.”
At one point, Gebhards held up an oversize image from the book depicting two young people in bed with a female’s breasts exposed.
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YouTube to Tip the Scales Towards Boosting “Credible” News Sources in Shorts
YouTube is intensifying its efforts to boost news content from what it thinks are “credible sources” amid an era when people are demonstrating an aversion to traditional mass media outlets.
Currently, the video sharing giant is launching a revamped user interface designed to enhance the viewing experience by introducing additional news-oriented content suggestions when users are engaged in watching news videos. Google, the parent company of YouTube, plans to channel $1.6 million into increasing the volume of news-oriented content on its shortform video feature, Shorts.
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I’d “taser” him with 115 grains of lead at 1150 feet per second.