Major Hennadii Chastiakov, an aide to the commander of the Ukrainian armed forces, was killed when a grenade that was part of his birthday gift exploded. One of the major’s colleagues had presented him with six new grenades for his birthday. Maj. Chastiakov’s teenage son was also wounded by the blast.
In other news, the Israeli army has reportedly reached the heart of Gaza City, and trapped the most senior Hamas leader in his bunker.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to Daniel Greenfield, Dean, Diana West, DV, JW, McN, MM, Reader from Chicago, SS, Vlad Tepes, 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.
Bloomberg: U.S. Debt Interest Bill Soars Past $1 Trillion a Year
The combination of high levels of debt and higher interest rates has pushed the annualized interest cost of government debt past $1 trillion, an analysis from Bloomberg showed Tuesday.
This amounts to a doubling of interest costs over the past 19 months, according to Bloomberg. It is the equivalent of 15.9 percent of the Federal budget for fiscal year 2022.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Credit Card Debt Rises to Record $1.08 Trillion
The explosive third quarter growth was partly fueled by a large increase in credit card balances, a report from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
Household debt rose to $17.3 trillion in the third quarter of the year, an increase of $228 billion from the last quarter, the New York Fed said.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
UK Grocery Inflation in Single Digits for First Time This Year — Kantar
LONDON, Nov 7 (Reuters) — British grocery inflation has fallen below 10% for the first time since July 2022, industry data showed on Tuesday, providing some relief for consumers as they enter the key Christmas shopping period.
Market researcher Kantar said annual grocery inflation was 9.7% in the four weeks to Oct. 29, down from 11% in last month’s report.
“While the drop … is positive news and something of a watershed, consumers will still be feeling the pinch,” Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at Kantar, said.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Anti-Israel Protesters Desecrate American Revolution Monuments in D.C: ‘Death to USA’
Anti-Israel protesters have taken to desecrating several monuments commemorating the American Revolution near the White House.
Pro-Hamas activists graffitied on statued and desecrated the White House gates with anti-Israel and anti-American statements.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Anti-Israel Non-Profit Groups Launch General Strike Across the US to Demand Ceasefire in Gaza
Non-profit groups that take tax-deductible donations and are designated as charities by the IRS are staging a general strike in New York, and in other localities across the country set for Thursday, Nov. 9. The strike, which is supported by women’s advocacy group Code Pink, among others, is intended to call for a ceasefire in Gaza. This after Palestinian terror group Hamas brutally murdered more than 1,400 Israelis on Oct. 7, and kidnapped more than 250 people.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Brandeis University Bans Students for Justice in Palestine for Its Support of Hamas
Brandeis University said Monday it will no longer recognize Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) on its campus.
The Brandeis SJP announced through its Instagram account that its “Vigil for Palestine” event planned for Monday was canceled after the group was “unjustly de-charted.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Burger King Closes 6 More Locations Across US Amid Push to Cut 400 ‘Unviable’ Locations
Over the past few months, a growing number of Burger King locations in the United States have closed their doors due to poor performance.
The fast food giant’s parent company, Restaurant Brands International, announced earlier this year that it planned on shutting down between 300 and 400 shops that it deemed “unviable”
As Business Insider reports, 26 Michigan locations were closed in March, with a further 27 in other states such as Utah and Minnesota following suit in April.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
CBS, ABC and NBC Give Trump 93% Negative Coverage From August to October: Report
Mainstream media networks CBS, ABC and NBC have largely forgone coverage of Donald Trump and his competition for the 2024 presidential nomination in the Republican Party, instead electing to have the vast majority of their reporting on Trump focusing on the inditments against him.
An analysis of coverage of all the GOP presidential candidates by the Media Research Center (MRC) found that the big three outlets talked about Trump for 380 minutes during the three months of August, September and October, marking about 12 times more than the 30 minutes they spent discussing his main rival, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. 93 percent of the coverage of Trump by these outlets was negative, per the analysis.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Democrat Andy Beshear Re-Elected Kentucky Governor
Incumbent Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear won a second term Tuesday, fending off a spirited challenge from Republican Commonwealth Attorney General Daniel Cameron, who would have been the Bluegrass State’s first-ever black governor.
The race had been closely watched to see whether a popular Democratic chief executive could still win, despite running in a deep-red state and with a deeply unpopular president sitting in the White House.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Exclusive — Trump Lawyer Alina Habba: NY Case is ‘Sideshow’ for Letitia James’s Politics
Former President Donald Trump’s New York civil fraud case regarding the valuation of his assets is nothing more than a “sideshow” for New York Attorney General Letitia James’s politics, Trump lawyer and spokeswoman Alina Habba said during a Tuesday appearance on Breitbart News Daily.
“You know, these people are trying to take away one of the most epic companies and iconic companies in New York. And they think this is just, you know, politics, a show, and it’s not. It’s a disgrace what they’re doing,” she said, noting that she wished Monday’s event had been televised so the “world would really understand what we’re up against here.”
“They don’t love his politics so they come after him,” she said, further highlighting how unfair the case is in that it was decided on summary judgment “before we even walked in the court.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
A Republican poll greeter was met with an unhinged, expletive-filled tirade by a progressive voter on Tuesday morning, Virginia’s election day.
Matthew Hurtt, Chairman of the Arlington County Republican Committee, was outside greeting voters and handing out Republican sample ballots on Tuesday morning when a progressive voter launched into a tirade before heading in to vote.
Feeling that the confrontation would continue when the man left the building after voting, Hurtt set up his phone in his shirt pocket to capture it.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
FBI Investigates After Fifth Suspicious Letter Containing White Powder Found at Seattle Synagogue
Law enforcement is investigating after another letter with white powder was sent to a Seattle synagogue Monday evening.
This is the fifth confirmed suspicious letter sent to a Jewish institution in the area in the last four days.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Former Baltimore Prosecutor Marilyn Mosby Faces Perjury Trial for Alleged Misuse of Retirement Funds
A former top Baltimore prosecutor lied about her finances during the COVID-19 pandemic to improperly access retirement funds that she used to buy two homes in Florida, a federal prosecutor said Monday at the start of Marilyn Mosby’s perjury trial.
“This case is about a lawyer and a public servant who placed her own selfish interests above the truth,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Sean Delaney told jurors during the trial’s opening statements.
A defense attorney countered that Mosby — who gained a national profile for prosecuting Baltimore police officers after Freddie Gray, a Black man, died in police custody — was legally entitled to withdraw the money and spend it however she wanted. Mosby told the truth when she certified on paperwork that the pandemic harmed a travel-related business that she formed, said the lawyer, Maggie Grace.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Gavin Newsom’s Approval Rating Hits All-Time Low in California
California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) has hit an all-time low approval rating of 44%, according to a new poll by the UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies and the Los Angeles Times.
The Times reported Tuesday:
Gov. Gavin Newsom’s standing among California voters has hit an all-time low, with 49% disapproving of his performance as governor, according to a new UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies poll co-sponsored by the Los Angeles Times.
The survey showed Newsom’s popularity has tumbled this year as he continues to amplify his national profile and campaign outside of the Golden State to support President Biden and attack Republican governors and their conservative political agendas.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Google Scraps Plan to Build 15,000 Homes in San Francisco
Big Tech giant Google has abandoned plans to build 15,000 new homes in the San Francisco Bay Area due to the project no longer being “mutually beneficial.”
Google had agreed to invest $15 billion in the huge development scheme in Santa Clara County, according to Gizmodo.
The deal was originally struck in 2019 between Google and Lendlease.
The plan was to develop housing and commercial spaces in Sunnyvale, San Jose, and Mountain View, the latter being the home base for the tech giant.
However, Google and Lendlease have now jointly terminated their $15B deal.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
The House Intelligence Committee is currently contemplating a Plan B as they grapple with the deadline surrounding the renewal of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). In the face of the impending year-end deadline, lawmakers may resort to a temporary extension of the current regulations, despite the privacy concerns and the intrusive surveillance issues linked to Section 702.
Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), which was enacted in 1978 and amended by the FISA Amendments Act of 2008, allows the United States government to collect and analyze communications of foreign nationals living outside the United States for foreign intelligence purposes. However, the law has been used to spy on Americans countless times.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
House Approves Bill Slashing Pete Buttigieg’s Salary to $1
The House approved a measure late Tuesday that would slash Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg’s taxpayer-funded government salary to just $1.
The bill — which was introduced by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga. — was passed via voice vote Tuesday as an amendment to the 2024 Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Act, the standalone funding bill for the General Services Administration, Securities and Exchange Commission and other related agencies.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Jim Jordan Announces Investigation Into DOJ for Spying on Congressional Staffers
Ohio Congressman Jim Jordan, who serves as the House Judiciary Committee Chairman, has issued demands to five major tech companies. The prominent lawmaker insisted AT&T, Alphabet — the parent company for Google, Apple, Verizon, and T-Mobile, release information potentially exposing surveillance tactics endorsed by the Department of Justice (DOJ) against congressional representatives and their staff.
We obtained an example of the letters for you here.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
A majority of House Democrats have opted not to sign a statement rejecting a pro-Palestinian phrase critics have said calls for the extermination of Israel.
More than 60 of the 212 Democrats in the House did sign the statement denouncing the phrase “From the River to the Sea,” as the party still remains divided a month after Hamas terrorists attacked Israeli communities near the Gaza Strip in a brutal fashion.
“We reject the use of the phrase ‘from the river to the sea’ — a phrase used by many, including Hamas, as a rallying cry for the destruction of the State of Israel and genocide of the Jewish people,” a joint statement from U.S. Reps. Brad Schneider of Illinois, Hillary Scholten of Michigan, Ritchie Torres of New York, and Norma Torres of California.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Prolific Offender Arrested After Deadly Seattle Bus Crash
A motorist is in custody after a deadly crash involving a Metro bus in Seattle over the weekend.
This same individual was arrested in July for an investigation of attempting to elude police and has multiple municipal court warrants and a no-bail warrant with the Department of Corrections for escape.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Republicans Pull Off Win in a Top Kentucky Statewide Race
Kentucky Republicans have pulled off a win in the race for the commonwealth’s secretary of state as Michael Adams easily defeated his Democrat opponent.
The Associated Press called the race for Adams over Democrat Charles Wheatley.
Adams faced a hard-fought primary challenge from election deniers within his own party earlier this year. His then-opponents, Stephen Knipper and Allen Maricle, campaigned on claims of voter fraud, and called for a number of reforms to the commonwealth’s electoral system, including the hand-counting of ballots.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Restaurants Shut Down ‘Every Week’ on Once Booming San Francisco Street: ‘Drug Abuse and Vandalism’
Restaurant owners on Valencia Street — at one time one of the most popular streets in San Francisco — are saying that crime, drug abuse and low tourism are killing business, according to a recent article.
“If you took me back before I signed the lease, I would have opened somewhere else,” restaurant owner Rafik Bouzidi said. “Before COVID there was no way in hell you could find an available space on Valencia Street,” he told the San Francisco Chronicle.
“Now it seems like another restaurant shuts down every week,” he said.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Reuters Poll: Joe Biden’s Popularity Tumbles to 39%, Lowest Since April
President Joe Biden’s popularity among Americans plummeted to the lowest rating since April, a Reuters/Ipsos poll found Tuesday, renewing Democrat fears about his chances of winning reelection in 2024.
Only 39 percent of Americans approved of Biden’s job performance in November, dropping below previous marks:
October: 40 percent
September: 42 percent
April: 39 percent
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Revealed: How the DHS’ Stanford “Disinformation” Group Censored 2020 Election-Related Online Speech
Fresh revelations have been loaded into the canon of public discourse around censorship, ready for primed debates on free speech and censorship in light of disturbing findings.
As per a report from the House Judiciary Committee, it appears that speech around US election integrity was potentially compromised before the 2020 polls. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials are implicated in the birth of a “disinformation” team at Stanford University. The ominously titled “Election Integrity Partnership,” based on newly uncovered emails and inside communications, apparently colluded with the DHS’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) to monitor and pressure the scrubbing of the digital landscape of certain online speeches alongside big tech cohorts.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Rumble Takes on Hollywood With Feature Film “Jingle Smells”
The star-studded festive comedy, “Jingle Smells,” backed by executive producers Logan Sekulow and Sean Hannity, is gearing up for its exclusive premiere on Rumble this Thanksgiving. The upcoming family-friendly flick boasts an ensemble cast including John Schneider from “The Dukes of Hazzard” and “Smallville,” Academy Award nominee Eric Roberts of “The Dark Knight” and “The Expendables,” and Ben Davies from “Courageous” and “War Room,” among other eminent names.
In a bid to shake up the traditional Hollywood construct, “Jingle Smells” unfolds the amusing tale of war veteran Nick Gutman, portrayed by Ben Davies.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Rumble Supports Steven Crowder’s Nashville Shooter Manifesto Story After YouTube Censorship
Following censorship from Facebook over the same reporting, YouTube has deleted a video by the conservative commentator Steven Crowder, in which he discussed the leaked manifesto of Nashville school shooter Audrey Hale. Crowder’s video brought to public attention parts of a document that appears to shed light on the shooter’s motivations and planning behind the tragic event that resulted in six deaths.
The video’s removal from YouTube has ignited a firestorm of debate over the digital regulation of sensitive content. Crowder, had obtained and broadcasted three pages of what is claimed to be Hale’s manifesto, inciting a conversation about the balance between the public’s right to information and the potential risks of propagating harmful ideologies.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Supreme Court Appears Likely to Hand Biden DOJ a Win on Challenge to Gun Law
The Supreme Court appears inclined to uphold a federal law banning guns from those subject to domestic violence restraining orders (DVROs), in the first major test of the Second Amendment at the high court this term.
In oral argument Tuesday, justices on both sides of the ideological spectrum seemed to agree with the Biden administration that there was a history and tradition of keeping firearms from dangerous people, despite the lack of any specific ban that may have been in place when the Constitution was enacted in the 1790.
The court’s ruling in the case, U.S. v. Rahimi, could have major implications for several gun rights measures working their way through the legal system, and in state legislatures.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
The Silence of the Holocaust Museums
by Daniel Greenfield
The worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust has been greeted with silence by some of the nation’s Holocaust museums including those which issued statements about BLM, the death of George Floyd and every possible issue and cause except the mass murder of Jews.
The Holocaust Museum of Houston has issued statements on its site about George Floyd’s death, “family separation at the U.S. border”, Texas opting out of the refugee resettlement program and rising violence toward “the Asian American and Pacific Islander Community”, as well as some Jewish issues, but no mention of attacks and violence against Jews in Israel.
Three weeks after the Simchat Torah massacres in Israel, it has yet to issue a similar statement on its own site, only on social media. The Holocaust Museum of Houston’s statements appear under its “Resources to Support Racial Equity and Justice” which includes books to read.
None of these books, such as ‘Between The World And Me’ by Ta-Nehisi Coates, who had recently signed a statement defending Hamas, ‘How To Be An Antiracist’ by Ibram X. Kendi, ‘Have Black LIves Ever Mattered?’ by Mumia Abu-Jamal, a cop killer, or ‘The Assassination of Fred Hampton: How the FBI and the Chicago Police Murdered a Black Panther’, as well as a book by the founders of BLM, focus on antisemitism. The Holocaust Museum of Houston does however promote the fringe racialist conspiracy theory that the government killed Malcolm X. Many of the authors recommended by the Holocaust Museum of Houston are antisemitic or promote antisemitic figures and movements. There’s room at Houston’s Holocaust Museum for the veneration of the Black Panthers and Malcolm X, both militant haters of Jews, but not Jews.
This is in sharp contrast to the Dallas Holocaust and Human Rights Museum which issued a statement condemning the massacre and stating that, “Hamas is a self-avowed Islamic terrorist organization that has the primary goal of annihilating the Jewish nation state of Israel and we strongly affirm Israel’s right to defend itself against this heinous threat.”
The Tucson Jewish Museum and Holocaust Center had in the past issued a statement that equated George Floyd’s death to the Holocaust and announced a ‘shiva’ mourning for Floyd. It also promoted BLM materials from the anti-Israel group, T’ruah…
| — Hat tip: Daniel Greenfield | [Return to headlines] |
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) would not confirm that the purported leaked pages from the Nashville shooter’s manifesto were real during a Monday morning phone call.
Breitbart News spoke with TBI communications director Josh Devine, asking him if TBI could confirm the pages were real.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Trantifa Militant Dances Into Atlanta Court to Face Rico Charges Over ‘Stop Cop City’ Violence
On Monday, dozens of Antifa-linked militants made their way to the Fulton County courthouse to be arraigned on Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) charges filed against them earlier this year in connection with the violent actions to “Stop Cop City,” the name given by militants to the new police training facility under construction just outside the Georgia capital.
While most walked, one suspect was spotted dancing gleefully into the courthouse to face the judge. James Marsicano, a trans-identified male who goes by Jamie, pranced towards the courthouse while an entourage of activist supporters followed close behind.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Trump Leads DeSantis by 39 Points Among Florida GOP Voters: Poll
A new poll from the University of North Florida’s Public Opinion Research Lab has found that Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is behind 2024 GOP frontrunner Donald Trump by nearly 40 points among voters in DeSantis’ state.
The poll, released on Tuesday, found that 60 percent of likely Republican primary voters from across Florida said they would vote for Trump, while 21 percent said they would vote for DeSantis.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Video: Biden Forgets Obama’s Name Again
Joe Biden failed to remember Barack Obama’s name during a speech Monday before getting lost on stage again in the latest display of ineptitude that has leftists calling for a different candidate to step up for 2024.
Biden was in Delaware visiting a train maintenance shop, which gave him a perfect opportunity to tell his made up story about Amtrak drivers again and again.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Watchdog Calls for Investigation Into Biden Official Behind Electric Vehicle Push
The Department of Transportation’s (DOT) inspector general has been called on to investigate a top official in Democrat President Biden’s administration who has been leading the push to force Americans into switching to electric vehicles (EVs).
A complaint was filed by watchdog Protect the Public’s Trust against Ann Carlson, acting administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).
In a Monday letter to DOT Inspector General Eric Soskin, the watchdog alleges that Biden violated the Federal Vacancies Reform Act (FVRA) when he appointed Carlson.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
There’s more outrage at Steven Crowder for leaking the manifesto than the contents of the manifesto itself.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
B.C. ‘Sexy Senior’ Was Part of ISIS Women’s Battalion, RCMP Alleges
A B.C. woman who returned home from Syria last year was part of the all-female battalion of the Islamic State, according to RCMP allegations unsealed on Tuesday.
Kimberly Polman served in the Katibah Nusaybah, an ISIS branch that provided weapons training to women, the RCMP wrote in a report summarizing its investigation.
The 122-page police report, obtained by Global News, said Katibah Nusaybah trained Polman “to fight physically and with weapons,” before she was assigned to an ISIS medical unit.
She also helped move weapons for ISIS, was an informant for its secret police and married two members of the group, most recently a builder of explosive devices, the RCMP alleged.
The RCMP additionally alleged the 51-year-old belonged to the Sexy Seniors, older women who “were dedicated to the cause, and did many jobs for ISIS, because they did not have young families to care for.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Former federal Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz said Tuesday that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s demand that grocery stores create the means for lowering the price of food is a plan for “empty shelves.”
“We import 50 percent of what we consume. And do you think [Trudeau] is going to put price controls on all the countries we import from? He can’t,” Ritz told The Post Millennial.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Jewish Community Outraged After Suspected Arson at Montreal-Area Synagogue
Montreal police (SPVM) are investigating an attempted arson Tuesday at the Congregation Beth Tikvah synagogue in Dollard-des-Ormeaux on the West Island.
“During the night, an incendiary object was thrown through the front door,” said Sabrina Gauthier, a spokesperson with Montreal police, adding a nearby community centre was also targeted. “There is minor damage. The investigation is ongoing.”
She adds there have been no arrests, and a security perimeter has just been set up in the area to allow investigators to analyze the scene.
Organization B’nai Brith Canada says it is “outraged and concerned” about the incident.
“We were shocked to find the remnants of what appears to be a Molotov cocktail thrown at the front door,” said Henry Topas, B’nai Brith Canada’s Quebec regional director, who also serves as a cantor at Congregation Beth Tikvah.
The organization says upon arrival at the scene, Topas contacted Montreal police to report the crime.
“We urge the authorities to investigate and arrest those responsible for this violent act targeting our community,” he said.
| — Hat tip: Vlad Tepes | [Return to headlines] |
Ottawa Police Lay Charges in Hate-Motivated Incident Against Rabbi
The Ottawa Police Service (OPS) Hate and Bias Crime Unit has charged a person over harassment and a threatening phone call to a rabbi.
On Friday around 3:30 p.m., OPS officers commenced an investigation when a complaint was received, according to a Monday press release. OPS said the suspect was identified and arrested on Saturday.
A 29-year-old Ottawa man has been charged with various hate-motivated offences and appeared in court on Monday.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Tucker Carlson Live in Calgary
Carlson is coming to Calgary.
Arguably the most famous media personality in the world, Carlson’s commentaries on X — formerly Twitter — regularly attract tens of millions of viewers.
Now, on Jan. 24, Carlson will be in Calgary for a afternoon of speeches and sit down interviews with Alberta Premier Danielle Smith and moderator Calgary busman Brett Wilson.
The event will be held at the Calgary Convention Centre starting at 10:30 AM and includes a seated lunch.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
The regional branch of the right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) party in the state of Saxony-Anhalt has been classified as an extremist organization by the state’s domestic intelligence agency, just days after the party achieved first place in a state-wide poll.
The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, Germany’s domestic intelligence agency, claimed to have gathered sufficient evidence to prove several of its members and elected officials are right-wing extremists.
The move was confirmed by Jochen Hollmann, the head of the agency’s regional division in Saxony-Anhalt, on Tuesday.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Elderly British Army Veteran Poppy Seller Punched, Kicked by Pro-Palestinian Protesters
An elderly British army veteran poppy seller said he was punched and kicked as he left Edinburgh Waverley station over the weekend as pro-Palestinian protesters converged for a huge sit-in.
Jim Henderson, 78, was selling poppies in the station ahead of Remembrance Day when he decided to leave because of the large crowds.
Henderson, who served with the army in Northern Ireland as part of the Royal Corps of Signals, 32 Signal Regiment, said he was set upon as he left, an act which has already attacked criticism.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
France’s Serving Justice Minister Goes on Trial for Weaponising Office Against Political Opponents
PARIS (AP) — France’s justice minister goes on trial Monday on charges of using his office to settle personal scores, in an unprecedented case that has raised concern about checks and balances in French democracy.
Justice Minister Eric Dupond-Moretti’s refusal to resign, or at least to step aside from his role overseeing France’s justice system during the trial, has drawn wide criticism.
Once a high-profile lawyer, Dupond-Moretti is accused of abusing his position as justice minister to order probes targeting magistrates who investigated him, his friends or his former clients.
He denies wrongdoing. He faces up to five years in prison and half a million euros in fines if convicted on charges of illegal conflict of interest.
[Comment: I’d like to see a similar action done against Merrick Garland and the DOJ.]
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
A new age of bilateral cooperation between the patriotic governments of Hungary and Slovakia is about to begin following the electoral victory of Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico, Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjartó said on Tuesday.
On a visit to Bratislava, Szijjartó praised the newly elected Slovak leader whom he claimed “thinks the same way about war, migration, and gender issues” as the Hungarian government.
He expressed his desire for Hungary and Slovakia to work together for a “rational European policy” in pursuit of peace in Ukraine while making “serious efforts to develop bilateral economic relations” between the two countries.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Israeli-Hamas War Reveals Deep European Divisions
From the corridors of power to the streets, the Israel-Hamas war, which as of today has been raging for exactly one month, has aroused strong emotions and laid bare stark political and regional divisions in Europe. Perhaps most notably, the conflict has thrown Europe’s political Left into disarray, precipitating the dissolution of preexisting alliances in some cases, while threatening to do the same in others.
The deepest internal divisions to have been revealed by the war are, perhaps, those that exist within the French, Spanish, and the British Left. In France, for example, varying viewpoints regarding support for the Palestinian cause late last month prompted the break-up of the leftist NUPES coalition, which formed following the 2022 elections.
The clear anti-Israel position taken by Jean-Luc Mélenchon and his La France Insoumise (LFI) party, which draws much of its support from France’s Muslim community, has drawn sharp criticism from the socialists and communists. Mélenchon’s party has refused to condemn Hamas’ attack on Israel, and as a result, was called out over its complacency over antisemitism.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
NATO Withdraws From Cold War-Era Security Treaty After Russian Exit
BRUSSELS (AP) — NATO on Tuesday announced the formal suspension of a key Cold War-era security treaty in response to Russia’s pullout from the deal just hours earlier. The alliance also said its members who signed the treaty are now freezing their participation in the pact.
Most of NATO’s 31 allies have signed the Treaty of Conventional Armed Forces in Europe, which was aimed at preventing Cold War rivals from massing forces at or near mutual borders. It was signed in November 1990, but not fully ratified until two years later.
NATO said its action was required because “a situation whereby Allied State Parties abide by the Treaty, while Russia does not, would be unsustainable.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Over 400 Arrests for Antisemitism in France
France has seen an exponential rise in antisemitic incidents since the attacks by the terrorist group Hamas on Jewish civilians took place a month ago in Israel, the AFP reports.
The figures were announced on Sunday by French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin.
“The number of anti-Semitic acts has exploded,” he told France 2 television, adding that 486 people have been arrested for such offenses, including 102 foreigners.
France’s Jewish population is the largest in Europe and the third-biggest in the world, after Israel and the United States. The country has an estimated Jewish community of over 500,000.
Paris police chief Laurent Nunez also said Sunday that there had been 257 anti-Semitic acts in the Paris region alone, with 90 arrests.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Poles Want New Government to Retain Much of PiS’ Conservative Policy
Most Poles voted in the elections for a change of government, but in many cases, they want the continuation of investments planned or started by the conservatives, new polling has shown.
A survey conducted by the United Surveys agency for commercial radio broadcaster RMF FM found that despite voting to give three opposition blocks a majority in parliament, Poles want to see the investments and institutions that the conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party built or initiated preserved.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Polish Truck Drivers Block Border Crossings to Ukraine Over Claims of Unfair Competition
Polish truck drivers blocked access roads to three border crossings along the Ukrainian border on Monday afternoon as they protested government inaction at a loss of business to foreign competitors.
Ukrainian truckers have been free to cross the border throughout the ongoing conflict with Russia without the need to obtain permits, and Poles are complaining about the lack of equal access to the Ukrainian market.
Polish trucker associations also believe that Belarusian and Russian logistics companies have been setting up legal entities in Poland to bypass sanctions and undercut Polish transport businesses.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Portugal’s Socialist Prime Minister Resigns Amid Corruption Probe
LISBON, Portugal (AP) — Portuguese Prime Minister António Costa said Tuesday he is resigning after being involved in a widespread corruption probe.
Costa said in a nationally televised address that “in these circumstances, obviously, I have presented my resignation to the president of the republic.”
Costa’s shocking announcement came hours after Portuguese police arrested his chief of staff while raiding several public buildings and other properties as part of a widespread corruption probe.
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Protests Sweep Spain Over Catalan Nationalist Amnesty
After several weekends of large, well-organized protests against acting Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’ concessions to Catalan separatists in exchange for their votes for his new government, smaller, ad hoc protests in cities, often organized on social media, continue throughout the country.
The movement shows the popular sentiment against the planned amnesty for leaders of the 2017 illegal referendum on Catalan independence, and general outrage that the government is at the mercy of the most radical elements of Catalan and Basque nationalism.
Throughout September and October, a series of demonstrations drew crowds of up to 200,000, and last weekend, the momentum continued, if smaller and more decentralized.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Slovakia Asks Czechia to Revive Visegrad to Coordinate on Migration, EU Budget
Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico asked his Czech counterpart Petr Fiala to revive the Visegrad Four group (comprised of Czechia, Slovakia, Poland and Hungary) to coordinate on migration and the EU’s multiannual financial framework.
Slovakia’s desire to revive the Visegrad Four (V4) was announced by the new Slovakian Foreign Minister Juraj Blanar in Prague on Monday.
“The prime minister of the Slovak Republic, Robert Fico, sent a letter to Prime Minister Fiala, in which he named the uniqueness of the V4 and asked that we revive the V4 activities and, if possible, hold a meeting as soon as possible on the topics that unite us and where consensus is needed,” Blanar said during Monday’s press conference.
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UK Ministers Would Back Halting Pro-Palestine March on Armistice Day
Several UK ministers have urged police to ban a planned pro-Palestine march set to take place on Saturday, November 11th, the day on which the UK and other commonwealth countries mark Remembrance Day in honour of those who died in war.
United Kingdom Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said Monday that he supported a police crackdown on any criminal behaviour during the Remembrance Day events, saying they have his “absolute and total backing,” a Times report states.
Sunak also stated that Home Secretary Suella Braverman was convening a meeting of the London Metropolitan Police and others to focus on the issue.
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UK: London’s Met Police Beg Pro-Palestine Protesters to ‘Reconsider’ Demo on Armistice Day
The Metropolitan Police begged pro-Palestine activists to “reconsider” protesting on Armistice Day in London on Saturday but refused to prohibit the march.
While other European nations such as France and Germany have banned some pro-Palestinian protests in light of Islamic terrorism and rising antisemitism across the continent, the Tory government of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has refrained from doing so, even as the nation prepares to mourn the fallen soldiers who died protecting Britain.
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UK: Pictures: Pomp and Circumstance as Charles Delivers First King’s Speech to Parliament
In his first opening of Parliament address as reigning Monarch, King Charles laid out the priorities of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s government, particularly in terms of law and order in Britain.
In the first “King’s Speech” in seven decades, King Charles III conducted the state opening of Parliament on Tuesday. The ceremonial speech is an important part of the UK constitution in which a list of plans and priorities of the elected government in Downing Street is typically read before parliamentarians in the House of Lords by the reigning British Monarch.
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Chaos broke out in Edinburgh on Sunday evening as the United Kingdom celebrated Bonfire Night, with roaming gangs of youths attacking Scottish police officers and firefighters with fireworks and petrol bombs.
Bonfire Night, also known as Guy Fawkes Night, which is celebrated on the fifth of November in Britain to mark the anniversary of the foiling of the Gunpowder Plot to blow up the State Opening of Parliament in 1605, once again saw outbursts of violence in the Scottish capital of Edinburg.
According to a report from Scotland’s National newspaper, a mob of around 100 black-clad youths gathered on Hay Avenue in the Niddrie area of the city, where violence was also wintessed last year. When they were confronted by police, miscreants began hurling petrol bombs and shooting fireworks at officers.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Tunisia Proposes Treason Law for Nationals Who ‘Normalise’ Israel
Lawmakers in Tunisia have proposed a bill that could criminalise Tunisian nationals for having any relations with Israel, including simply communicating with Israelis, and promising harsh punishments, including life in prison for repeat offenders.
The proposed law was to be debated last week but was pushed back after Tunisian President Kais Saied told the speaker of the Tunisian parliament that the law could harm the country’s security, Anadolu Agency reports.
The comments come despite Saied being a vocal supporter of the Palestinian cause, with the president stating earlier this year, “It is Tunisia’s duty to stand by the Palestinian people in the cause of liberation. They are fighting to regain their full rights.” He has also previously claimed that normalisation of relations with Israel would be high treason.
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Adobe is Selling Fake AI Images of the War in Israel-Gaza
Online publications have used a photorealistic image of a missile attack from Adobe Stock without marking it as fake.
Adobe is selling artificially generated, realistic images of the Israel-Hamas war which have been used across the internet without any indication they are fake.
As part of the company’s embrace of generative artificial intelligence (AI), Adobe allows people to upload and sell AI images as part of its stock image subscription service, Adobe Stock. Adobe requires submitters to disclose whether they were generated with AI and clearly marks the image within its platform as “generated with AI”. Beyond this requirement, the guidelines for submission are the same as any other image, including prohibiting illegal or infringing content.
People searching Adobe Stock are shown a blend of real and AI-generated images. Like “real” stock images, some are clearly staged, whereas others can seem like authentic, unstaged photography.
This is true of Adobe Stock’s collection of images for searches relating to Israel, Palestine, Gaza and Hamas. For example, the first image shown when searching for Palestine is a photorealistic image of a missile attack on a cityscape titled “Conflict between Israel and Palestine generative AI”. Other images show protests, on-the-ground conflict and even children running away from bomb blasts — all of which aren’t real.
Amid the flurry of misinformation and misleading online content about the Israel-Hamas war that’s circulating on social media, these images, too, are being used without disclosure of whether they are real or not.
A handful of small online news outlets, blogs and newsletters have featured “Conflict between Israel and Palestine generative AI” without marking it as the product of generative AI. It’s not clear whether these publications are aware it is a fake image.
| — Hat tip: Diana West | [Return to headlines] |
Employees at US-Funded United Nations Agency Celebrated Hamas Terror Massacre: Report
JERUSALEM — A new report has accused some teachers and staff members of a controversial U.N. agency of praising the Hamas slaughter of Israelis, Americans and other foreign nationals on Oct. 7 in Israel.
The jihadi terrorist organization Hamas murdered 1,400 people, including at least 32 Americans, and kidnapped 242 people, 13 of whom are reportedly U.S. citizens.
The U.K.-based Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education (IMPACT-se) wrote in its 123-page report released Monday, that “at least 14 teachers and staff at UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees) schools have publicly celebrated the October 7 massacre and other Hamas attacks on their social media accounts.”
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Gaza’s Hospitals Report Growing Threats From Israeli Airstrikes
TEL AVIV, Israel — Hospitals in Gaza are facing dire conditions as much-needed fuel is running dry and staff try to operate amid overcrowding, disintegrating sanitation and threats from Israel.
Health officials in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip report 16 out of 35 hospitals are no longer operational. Of the 19 that continue to function, 13 are in Gaza City and in the north of Gaza, where Israel has issued evacuation orders for all civilians as it intensifies its military operations there.
The United Nations says an estimated 117,000 displaced people, in addition to patients and hospital staff, are in the hospitals still operational in Gaza City and northern Gaza. Israel has dropped leaflets and sent messages telling people to leave these areas as troops close in.
| — Hat tip: DV | [Return to headlines] |
Israel Says Troops Push Into ‘Heart of Gaza City’
GAZA/JERUSALEM, Nov 7 (Reuters) — Israel said on Tuesday its forces were pushing deep into Gaza City, where residents said tanks were positioned on the outskirts for a potential storming of Gaza’s urban heartland.
“For the first time in decades, IDF is fighting in the heart of Gaza City. At the heart of terrorism,” Major General Yaron Finkelman, commanding officer of the Southern Command of the Israeli Defence Forces, told reporters near the Gaza border.
“Every day and every hour the forces are killing militants, exposing tunnels and destroying weapons and continuing onward to enemy centres.”
Israel previously said it had surrounded Gaza City, home to around a third of the Gaza Strip’s 2.3 million people, and would soon attack it to annihilate Hamas fighters who assaulted Israeli towns across the border one month ago.
There was no indication on the ground that Israeli forces had thrust en masse further into the city, but a spokesperson for the military, Richard Hecht, suggested that the encircling troops could be making raids inside.
| — Hat tip: JW | [Return to headlines] |
Israel to Control Gaza ‘Indefinitely’ After War — Netanyahu Contradicts Blinken
The Biden White House has lately floated a plan that would see international peacekeeping forces control the security situation in the Gaza Strip once the war is over, which is premised on the total demise of Hamas, proving no small task especially given the immense network of miles of tunnels the group can utilize.
The post-Hamas “day after” has also been subject of proposals out of some leading Congressmen. There was speculation at first that Israeli leadership might welcome this, but a new televised interview with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu which aired Monday night reveals different thinking in Tel Aviv. Netanyahu asserted it is Israel which will have “security responsibility” over the Gaza Strip for some ‘indefinite’ amount of time after the conflict is over.
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The Israeli army Tuesday said its troops have entered the “heart of Gaza” and trapped Hamas’ senior most leader there in an underground bunker.
Yahya Sinwar, 61 — dubbed Israel’s most wanted and called a “dead man walking” by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin — orchestrated the terror group’s Oct. 7 massacre in Israel that killed more than 1,400 people, mainly civilians, Israeli officials have said.
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‘Psychological Game:’ Israel’s Hostage Dilemma a Month After the Attack
One month has passed since the harrowing events of October 7th, when Hamas terrorists entered Israel with the sole purpose of unleashing hell on innocent civilians. As the conflict escalates both inside and outside the country, it is easy to lose sight of the most painful memento of that day: the people who were kidnapped and are still in Hamas’ captivity, deep inside Gaza’s concrete jungle.
And while the Western world is still preoccupied with debating whether Israel’s responses are proportional—with pro-Palestinian activists tearing down hostage posters, trying to erase the topic from the debate—Israel’s hostage dilemma is becoming the country’s greatest “existential test,” as Prime Minister Netanyahu put it.
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Pope Francis Will Attend U.N. COP28 Climate Summit in December
ROME — The Vatican has confirmed Pope Francis will fly out to Dubai in early December to attend the U.N.’s COP28 climate summit.
Pope Francis will make the trip to Dubai from 1 to 3 December 2023, “on the occasion of the upcoming Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP28),” the Vatican announced, adding that the pope was responding to an invitation “of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the United Arab Emirates.”
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Turkey Detains Journalists for “Disinformation”
The free press finds itself under escalating attack in Turkey, where government authorities have, in a disturbing development, detained three journalists.
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has urgently implored the government to reverse this intimidating course of action, to no avail thus far.
Independent columnists, Tolga Sardan of T24 and Cengiz Erdinç of Kisa Dalga, have been taken into police custody — a move widely condemned by press freedom and human rights groups. Additionally, Dinçer Gökçe, a news editor with pro-opposition Halk TV, is now subjected to oddly paternalistic court orders to read and summarize books about his profession.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Grenade in Birthday Gift Kills an Aide to Ukraine’s Military Chief, Also Injuring His Teen Son
The interior minister of Ukraine asserts that Hennadii Chastiakov’s death was an accident, not a targeted attack
Maj. Hennadii Chastiakov, an aide to the leader of Ukraine’s armed forces, was killed on Monday by a grenade seemingly gifted to him for his birthday, the Associated Press reports. The explosion also injured his teenage son.
Some immediately questioned whether the fatal incident was the result of a deadly attack, as Chastiakov’s boss, Gen. Valerii Zaluzhnyi, has at times appeared at odds with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy while the two lead their nation’s defense against Russia.
But soon after Chastiakov’s death, Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko suggested there was no foul play, saying on Telegram that the explosion is being viewed as an accident, per the AP.
One of Chastiakov’s colleagues presented him with six new grenades on his 39th birthday, according to AP. While he was showing the explosives to his family at home in the village of Chaiky — located in the Kyiv region in north-central Ukraine — his son twisted one of their rings.
“The serviceman then took the grenade from the child and pulled the ring, leading to a tragic explosion,” Klymenko wrote, per AP.
The explosion killed Chastiakov, who was both an assistant and close friend to Gen. Zaluzhnyi. The National Police of Ukraine said Chastiakov’s 13-year-old son was seriously injured, The Washington Post reports.
| — Hat tip: Dean | [Return to headlines] |
Top Aid to Ukraine’s Commander-in-Chief Dies After Grenade Given as Birthday Gift Exploded
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A top aide to the commander of Ukraine’s military was killed by a grenade given to him as a birthday gift and not in a targeted attack, the interior minister said.
Maj. Hennadii Chastiakov died in the tragic accident Monday that badly injured his 13-year-old son, Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said on Telegram.
A colleague presented six new grenades as a gift to Chastiakov, who was a top aide and close friend to Gen. Valerii Zaluzhnyi, for his 39th birthday, Klymenko said.
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Zelensky: ‘Absolutely Irresponsible’ to Suggest Holding Elections in Ukraine
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told his people in a nightly address on Monday that discussions about the scheduled 2024 presidential election in his country were “absolutely irresponsible” in light of the ongoing Russian invasion of his country.
Zelensky became president after winning the 2019 election as the “pro-Russian” candidate against the establishment, pro-West incumbent Petro Poroshenko. The current president’s approval ratings had declined significantly in 2020 in response to his perceived poor response to the Wuhan coronavirus pandemic but skyrocketed in response to the Russian “special operation” to oust him that began in February 2021.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Islamic State Claims Responsibility for Kabul Attack on Passenger Bus
CAIRO (Reuters) — The Islamic State (IS) on Tuesday claimed responsibility for the attack on a passenger bus in Kabul, the group’s Telegram account said.
At least seven people were killed in an explosion on a bus in western Kabul on Tuesday, a police spokesman said.
| — Hat tip: MM | [Return to headlines] |
Seven Killed in Explosion on Bus in Kabul — Police
(Reuters) — At least seven people were killed in an explosion on a bus in western Kabul on Tuesday, a police spokesman said.
Security teams had reached the area and more details would be available soon, Kabul police spokesperson Khalid Zadran told Reuters.
| — Hat tip: McN | [Return to headlines] |
The Albanese government was widely criticised after the inquiry, announced in September, specifically said it would not look at ‘unilateral’ decisions made by state and territory governments.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
Leftist Australian PM Albanese Gushes Over Meeting China’s Xi, Declares ‘Historic Time for Me’
Australia’s left-wing Prime Minister Anthony Albanese found it hard to contain his excitement Monday ahead of a personal meeting with China’s President Xi Jinping in Beijing.
Albanese is on a four-day visit to the Communist state, splitting his time between Shanghai and Beijing, in the first such visit by an Australian leader in seven years.
The Australian Labor Party (ALP) leader said the occasion was “a historic time for me” coming on the 50th anniversary of another left-wing Australian PM Gough Whitlam being the first Australian prime minister to officially visit China.
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A radical Islamic cleric has cited scripture about ‘killing Jews’ and said Muslims can have neither Christian or Jewish allies at an Islamic centre where he has defended a previous sermon calling for jihad.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
French Parliament Begins Debate on Bill to Increase Deportations
PARIS (AP) — Senators in France started debating a bill Monday that is intended to toughen the country’s immigration law but advocacy organizations have criticized as a threat to the rights of asylum-seekers and other migrants.
French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin said the legislation “is about being firm” on immigration. The bill especially is aimed at “being tougher on foreigners who commit crimes, expelling them all,” he said, speaking Sunday night on TV channel France 2.
The government said the measure would strengthen and accelerate the process for deporting foreigners who are regarded as “a serious threat to public order.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
German Chancellor, Governors Agree to Migration Curbs, Extension of Border Controls
BERLIN (AP) — New, stricter measures to curb the high number of migrants coming to Germany were agreed by Chancellor Olaf Scholz and the 16 state governors in the early hours of Tuesday, reaching a compromise on an issue that has become a huge political problem for the government and a hot-button topic in society.
The new measures include speeding up asylum procedures, benefit restrictions for asylum seekers and more financial aid from the federal government for the states and local communities dealing with the influx.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
German District Administrator Resigns From Governing SPD Over Disastrous Asylum Policy
A German district administrator has announced his resignation from the governing Social Democratic Party (SPD) after more than 20 years as a member, claiming the party’s asylum and migration policy is too ideologically driven and not borne out of reality.
Stefan Kerth, the district administrator of Vorpommern-Rügen in the German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern told local party members on Monday that he was stepping back from the party and unleashed a scathing critique of the federal government’s approach to the ongoing migrant crisis enveloping Germany.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
House Republicans are urging President Joe Biden’s Department of Transportation (DOT) Secretary, Pete Buttigieg, to reject reported plans that would see United States airports transformed into migrant camps for tens of thousands of illegal aliens.
A total of 70 House Republicans, led by House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Sam Graves (R-MO), are asking Buttigieg to drop plans in which the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) “has proposed housing 60,000 migrants at four public airports and various other facilities in New York and New Jersey,” they write:
These airports and their communities rightfully fear being transformed into larger versions of Chicago O’Hare International Airport, which has reportedly converted portions of its terminal into a shelter for hundreds of migrants. At a time when the Administration is proposing higher screening requirements on known airline crewmembers due to security risks, we are extremely concerned about the lack of regard for security risks posed by housing thousands of unknown persons at airports, many of which support passenger air service and host sensitive military facilities. [Emphasis added]
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Italy is Yet Another European Country With Its Own Australia-Style Scheme to Stop Migrants
Italy is the latest EU nation to sign its own offshore migrant processing deal with a third country after the U.K. and Denmark last year, while Austria is also working on a similar scheme.
The Italian offshoring deal was signed with Albania on Nov. 6, during a visit to Rome by Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama. According to the deal, Albania will allow Italy to build two migrant facilities on its territory with the capacity to process a total of 36,000 migrants a year, but only 3,000 at one time.
These facilities will be for those illegal immigrants who file for asylum, which most do to avoid deportation.
With this new offshoring scheme, however, the migrants intercepted by the Italian navy or coast guard will be brought to Albania instead of Italy.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Nearly 300 Illegal Border Crossing Attempts at Poland-Belarus Border Over the Weekend
The Polish Border Guard reported nearly 300 attempts to illegally cross the Poland-Belarus border and several incidents of assault on Polish patrols by illegal immigrants over the weekend.
From Friday to Sunday, border officers recorded a total of 278 attempts to illegally cross the Poland-Belarus border, with 72 individuals turning back to Belarus upon sighting Polish patrols.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Non-Swiss Responsible for Nearly Half of Homicides and Rapes
Newly released government crime data out of Switzerland, a country many regard as a kind of Alpine paradise, suggests the country may not be as immune to the societal and cultural breakdown affecting most Western European countries today.
The figures, published last month by the Federal Statistical Bureau, surprisingly mirror crime data in France, Germany, Sweden, and other Western European countries, and reveal that foreign-born nationals—despite composing just over a quarter of the population—made up nearly half of all homicide and rape convicts in 2022.
Of the 93,693 people who were convicted and sentenced for committing crimes last year, which represents just a 3% year-over-year increase, 53,895 were non-Swiss nationals, which means that foreigners comprised 57.5% of all criminal convictions.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Poll: 55 Percent Majority Support the Border Wall
New polls show that immigration is now the top issue for Republican voters and that a clear majority of swing state voters support a border wall.
The poll results are also good news for House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), who is using the Capitol Hill budget battles to rebuild border protections for American families.
The Siena College poll for the November 5 New York Times reports that 55 percent of likely voters in six swing states now support a border wall. Just 42 percent oppose the border wall, which is effective if backed up by electronic sensors, nearby border officers, and pro-American border regulations.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
A derelict hotel in Ireland that had been earmarked to be converted into a nursing home will now be used to accommodate an initial 170 adult male asylum seekers — and that figure could quickly rise to 400.
The Department of Integration confirmed on Monday that the former Great Southern Hotel site located in Rosslare Habour would be transformed to house migrants and the new arrivals will be in place in a matter of weeks.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
California Taxpayers Have Spent $4 Million on Transgender Surgeries for Prisoners Since 2017
Taxpayers in California have been rolling out the red carpet for prison inmates by splashing out on expensive cosmetic surgeries, that were once exclusive to Hollywood elites, for criminals.
Since 2017, the state has blown $4 million in tax dollars on transgender treatments such as sex changes, cosmetic surgery, and more for prisoners.
California residents even paid for death row prisoners to have expensive transgender surgeries.
The extravagant spending was exposed in a report from the Washington Free Beacon.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Florida is considered the freest state on the education front, according to a new study.
The Heritage Foundation released a report card Tuesday that ranked Florida as the top state for education freedom.
“The renaissance of school choice is the silver lining of the Left’s disastrous mismanagement of American schools. The ‘Great Awokening’ and the theatrical school closures during the COVID-19 pandemic only compounded the existing dysfunction of the system,” Heritage Foundation President Dr. Kevin Roberts told Fox News Digital.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Head of Hungary’s National Museum Sacked for Failing to Restrict Minors’ Access to LGBTQ Exhibit
The director general of the Hungarian National Museum in Budapest has been sacked for failing to implement a ministerial decision not to allow access to minors to an exhibition displaying LGBTQ photos, Hungary’s Minister for Culture and Innovation Janos Csak has announced.
“Today, Minister Janos Csak, in his capacity as the employer, handed over the termination document of Laszló L. Simon, Director General of the Hungarian National Museum,” the ministry said in a statement on Monday.
Explaining his decision, Csak wrote that the director general had failed to comply with the legal obligations expected of him, “had not complied with them even when called upon to do so, and had engaged in conduct that made it impossible to maintain his employment.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Ohio Voters Approve Issue 1 Ballot Measure, Enshrining Abortion Rights in State
Ohioans voted Tuesday night to make abortion rights part of the Buckeye State’s constitution, the latest in a string of defeats for anti-abortion activists at the ballot box.
The ballot outcome illustrates the thorny nature of abortion politics for Republicans — even in solid red states — as they grapple with how to handle the issue ahead of next year’s presidential and congressional elections.
Issue One specifically asked voters if they wanted to amend the state constitution to guarantee a right to “make and carry out one’s own reproductive decisions, including but not limited to decisions on contraception, fertility treatment, continuing one’s own pregnancy, miscarriage care, and abortion.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
In a thread posted to X on Tuesday, author and actor Kirk Cameron outlined how Scholastic, the children’s book publishing company known for its book fairs in schools, pushed “sexually explicit, morally disgusting, and dangerous books” into schools across the nation.
One book, titled Welcome to St. Hell, is a 2022 Scholastic graphic novel created by transgender author and illustrator Lewis Hancox marketed for middle school students.
It includes depictions of ingesting cross-sex hormones, their effects on the female body, chest binders, and graphic sexual activities.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
I was drinking a few beers with my buddies down the street….
One of those guys was talking about rednecks
So….
Mirror, mirror. On the wall ….
Who has the reddest neck of all?
Lol Rofl…
(Sir) Paul McCartney makes his daily swing past the Gates of Vienna, perusing the news:
“It’s just another day
Choo-choo-choo-choo choo-choo
It’s just another day
Choo-choo-choo-choo-choo-choo
It’s just another daaaaay
Yeah, yeah, yeah…”
(Sir) Paul: always keepin’ it real.
:/
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/RZV_eQybHCA
In a world occupied by Abrahamists, this is only permissible for two “God’s chosen peoples” – Jews and Muslims.
Israeli singer Narkis sings – We will end Gaza… We are the light for the goyim (non-Jews)…
The Israelis listen and rejoice. The goyim (non-Jews) are supposed to watch and envy on a global scale.
So some Jews have a sense of superiority; not entirely without reason (see my reply to Alex Lund, above). The mere fact of their survival might be taken by some as a miracle (and no, theresa, I cannot believe that a just and fair God would have a “chosen people”).
NO matter what you think, friend. The Hebrews ARE God’s Chosen People.
God is a just and true God and Jesus Christ, a Hebrews, is God in the flesh.
YOU don’t know God at all because your hatred of Jews is what is blinding you to the truth.
Um, I hate to tell you this, Theresa, but Mark is a Jew-lover, just like me.
Thanks Baron.