Former Secretary of State John Kerry is planning to leave his position as climate envoy for the Biden administration. The 80-year-old Mr. Kerry reportedly intends to add his youthful flair to Mr. Biden’s re-election campaign.
In other news, an angry group of Hamas supporters attempted to breach the security fence at the White House tonight, and threw bloodied dolls over the fence to protest the administration’s policies on the Gaza war.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to Dean, DV, JW, LP, McN, MM, Reader from Chicago, 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.
Federal Reserve Ran Worst Annual Operating Loss Ever of $114.3 Billion: Report
On Friday, the Federal Reserve announced the preliminary results of its 2023 financial statements, which revealed the central bank ran an operating loss of $114.3 billion. The largest it has ever posted.
According to The Wall Street Journal, the massive deficit was caused by the bank jacking up interest rates to combat skyrocketing inflation and could continue as long as the short-term interest rates remain at the same levels.
The increase in interest rates caused the Fed to pay more out on interest-bearing deposits to financial institutions than it brought in on securities it purchased at lower rates trying to help the economy during the COVID-19 pandemic.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Airbus Jet Orders Hit Record as Boeing Plagued With Reputation Crisis Over Max Woes
While Boeing deals with endless 737 Max jet problems, one which a Reuters report said in 2020 was an aircraft “designed by clowns who in turn are supervised by monkeys”…
And this week, Elon Musk said: “Do you want to fly in an airplane where they prioritized DEI hiring over your safety? That is actually happening.”
Competitor Airbus, now the world’s largest plane maker, booked 2,094 net jet orders last year (a new record high) and doubled the number of net orders in 2022.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Antifa Agitators Try to Shut Down Michael Rapaport’s Portland Comedy Show Over Pro-Israel Stance
On Friday, Antifa and far-left extremists attacked Helium Comedy Club in Portland, Oregon, with large explosive fireworks and protest in an attempt to shut down hardcore leftist Michael Rapaport’s show due to his support for Israel.
Video from the event shared on X, shows a line of police officers outside the club preventing the organization from attacking it, while attendees were harassed as they entered the show.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Breaking: Gun Rights Groups Partner on Lawsuits Against Two Virginia Cities
The Virginia Citizens Defense League (VCDL) and Gun Owners of America (GOA) have teamed up to challenge firearms restrictions with lawsuits filed against a pair of Virginia cities.
In a lawsuit filed today in Roanoke, Virginia, the plaintiffs challenged that city’s restrictions on firearms carried in parks and at or “adjacent to” permitted events. The complaint alleges multiple constitutional violations and highlights the dangers faced by unarmed civilians in Roanoke’s nearly 13,000 acres of park land.
The second lawsuit, supported by VCDL and GOA and filed today as well on behalf of two individuals against the City of Winchester, challenges a ban on firearms that the locality has enacted for all of its city-owned parking garages. Winchester’s parking garage gun ban stems from a 2020 legal change in the state allowing Virginia jurisdictions to restrict firearms in government-owned or -used buildings. The complaint alleges that despite being government-owned, Winchester’s parking garages contain no apparent additional police or safety presence that would signify “sensitive location” status. However, the parking garages have been the scene of criminal activity, including a machete attack several years ago, necessitating the need for citizens to be able to have the ability to defend themselves.
Ambler Law Offices based in Winchester, Virginia, is representing the VCDL and GOA in the Roanoke suit and the two individuals in the Winchester suit. A copy of the Winchester lawsuit filing and a copy of the Roanoke lawsuit filing can both be viewed on the Ambler Law Offices website.
| — Hat tip: Vlad Tepes | [Return to headlines] |
Breaking: Pro-Palestinian Mob Tries to Breach White House Security Fence Amid ‘March for Gaza’
Thousands of supporters of the Palestinian cause, who oppose Israel’s war against the terror group Hamas that is entrenched in the region, gathered outside the White House, vigorously shaking the security fence and hurling dolls soaked in red paint as part of a massive demonstration urging a ceasefire in Gaza.
At one point the anti-Israel crowd tried to breach the White House fence.
Footage was captured by TPUSA’s Frontlines and Julio Rosas.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
In a livestream from a protest put on by the anti-Israel organization ANSWER Coalition, a crowd of protestors, including Democratic congressional staffers, joined in a chant, yelling, “Bloody Blinken! Genocide Joe!”
A clip taken from the stream shows a protestor leading the crowd in the chant.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
ESPN was forced to return over 30 Emmy Awards after the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) uncovered a scheme by the network to give the statuettes to ineligible on-air talent.
According to the Atlantic, the network used fake names on the Emmy entries, and after receiving the award, they had them re-engraved and gave them to the ineligible recipient.
The NATAS rules said that on-air talent could not receive awards won by the show as a whole, but could win individual awards. The rules were in place to prevent on-air talent from “double-dipping” and winning two awards for the same work.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
FBI Stonewalls Over Seth Rich Laptop Production
The FBI has asked a federal court for a second delay after being ordered to produce information from Seth Rich’s computer to a Texas resident, Brian Huddleston who has sued the bureau.
Huddleston says that the court should force the agency to produce the information before the 2024 presidential election, as it may show that Rich, not Russians, was Wikileaks’ source of leaked emails which were damaging to Hillary Clinton in the 2016 US election.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
J. Crew Pulls Stores From San Francisco Amid Rising Crime
Major retailer J. Crew is announcing its departure from the once-beloved city of San Francisco as an exodus of business continues in the crime-stricken city riddled with open-air drug use.
An employee at the retailer said that the store located at Centre Mall will be closing later this month, according to NBC Bay Area.
This store is among the many businesses that have fled the former crown jewel of the West Coast, citing rising crime, lack of police enforcement, open-air drug use, and repeated attacks and thefts from homeless vagrants and emboldened criminals.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
John Kerry, the US Climate Envoy, to Leave the Biden Administration
WASHINGTON (AP) — John Kerry, the U.S. special envoy on climate, is stepping down from the Biden administration in the coming weeks, according to two people familiar with his plans.
Kerry, a longtime senator and secretary of state, was tapped shortly after Joe Biden’s November 2020 election to take on the new role created specifically to fight climate change on behalf of the administration on the global stage.
Kerry’s departure plans were first reported Saturday by Axios.
Kerry was one of the leading drafters of the 2015 Paris climate accords and came into the role with significant experience abroad, as secretary of state during the Obama administration and from nearly three decades as a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Biden’s decision to tap Kerry for the post was seen as one way the incoming president was making good on his campaign pledge to battle climate change in a more forceful and visible manner than in previous administrations.
| — Hat tip: LP | [Return to headlines] |
John Kerry to Leave Biden Administration, Plans to Join Prez’s Re-Election Campaign
John Kerry, President Biden’s high-flying climate czar, will leave his post later this winter to focus on his boss’s re-election campaign.
The 80-year-old former secretary of state and onetime Democratic presidential candidate — who has drawn criticism for his luxe jet-setting while preaching energy austerity for the masses — told his staff of his imminent departure after speaking with Biden Wednesday, Axios reported Saturday.
The administration has not chosen a replacement for Kerry, who has been Biden’s top climate diplomat since 2021, source familiar with the situation told Reuters.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby and upper management expressed animosity toward religious employees who sought exemptions from the company’s draconian coronavirus vaccine mandate, internal company communications have revealed.
A legal brief filed early Saturday in part of a larger lawsuit against the airline contains internal communications obtained in discovery, which shows management’s effort to coerce religious employees to take the coronavirus vaccine at every turn. The effort was so blatant that one union president, Craig Symons, expressed to Scott Kirby and others that United was “over the line” and attempting to institute a “purge of religious orthodoxy,” the brief revealed.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) has issued a fiery response after misconduct allegations emerged against Georgia’s anti-Trump Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis.
As Slay News reported, bombshell allegations of potentially criminal impropriety and misconduct were leveled against Willis by one of President Donald Trump’s co-defendants in the Democrat prosecutor’s election-related criminal racketeering conspiracy prosecution.
Greene is now calling for Willis to be the subject of a criminal investigation of her own that could result in her being on the other side of a prosecution, according to NBC News.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Musk Called the Death of a Journalist From the USA Gonzalo Lira in Ukraine a Lawlessness
On Saturday, January 13, American billionaire Elon Musk condemned the circumstances surrounding the death of United States journalist Gonzalo Lira in a Ukrainian prison, labeling it as lawlessness.
Musk shared his perspective in response to a post by fellow billionaire David Sachs on the social platform X.
“This is super messed up!”, Musk commented on the post.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D) introduced a gun control package Friday, which includes an “assault weapons” ban, the ability for New Mexicans to sue gun manufacturers, and a two-week waiting period for gun purchases, among other things.
The Los Alamos Daily Post noted that Grisham’s push will ban “guns in parks and playgrounds,” which will “make it illegal to carry a firearm in county or municipal parks, playgrounds, and their accompanying parking lots.” This would give the force of law to a ban that Grisham issued via executive order on September 8, 2023.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Newt Gingrich: Elise Stefanik Should be on Trump’s ‘Short List’ for VP Pick
Republican former House Speaker Newt Gingrich has weighed in on who he believes would be suitable as President Donald Trump’s running mate for the 2024 election.
There has been plenty of discussion about who Trump, the presumptive GOP nominee in 2024, might choose as his running mate.
One strong contender who is often mentioned as a possible vice presidential candidate is Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY).
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Nikki Haley Gets More Favorable Coverage Than Other GOP Candidates From ABC, NBC, CBS: Study
Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley has received far less negative coverage from evening newscasts on ABC, NBC and CBS than other GOP presidential candidates, according to the Media Research Center.
MRC senior editor Rich Noyes analyzed “NBC Nightly News,” ABC’s “World News Tonight” and “CBS Evening News” for the entirety of 2023. He found that coverage of former President Trump was 91% negative, coverage of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was 73% negative and coverage of Haley was negative about half the time.
“While a 50% positive/50% negative spin score might seem superior to the much more negative coverage of Trump and DeSantis, it’s hardly the kind of Obama-esque positive publicity that candidates desire at the end of a campaign,” Noyes wrote for the conservative media watchdog.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Upstate New York’s Siena College nixed plans to let a medical professor speak on campus after facing heat over the invite because of her claims that Zionist doctors could pose a threat to US medicine and public health.
“The presence of Zionism in US medicine should be examined as a structural impediment to health equity,” Dr. Rupa Marya, associate professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, posted on X last week.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Pfizer Invests Billions in Treatments for Coming ‘Heart Failure Pandemic’
Pfizer is investing billions of dollars in treatments to prepare for a looming “heart failure pandemic.”
The Covid mRNA vaccine maker is making a big investment in treatment for heart failure as cases of myocarditis and sudden cardiac deaths skyrocket.
The pharmaceutical giant recently acquired several companies.
This includes a major $6.7 billion cash acquisition of Arena Pharmaceuticals.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Pinellas Middle School Student Arrested for Threatening School Shooting
A 12-year-old student at Carwise Middle School was arrested Friday for bringing a replica gun to school and telling another student he planned to use it to take out his anger on other students and teachers.
A news release from the Pinellas County Sheriff’s office said the student told officers he brought the fake gun to school “to be ‘cool’“ and that if he had made threats, they had been a joke. The news release noted the fake gun resembled a real firearm.
The student was taken to the Pinellas Juvenile Assessment Center and charged with one count of a false report concerning planting a bomb, an explosive, or a weapon of mass destruction or concerning the use of firearms in a violent manner.
| — Hat tip: DV | [Return to headlines] |
San Francisco School District Pushes Anti-Israel Propaganda Onto Students
The San Francisco Unified School District is pushing radical propaganda that teaches students about “Israeli terrorism,” according to a new report.
District officials provided teachers with educational resources to lead classroom discussions on “war, terrorism, colonization, and seeking peace.”
According to documents obtained by National Review, one of the resources provided for teachers “promotes multiple anti-Zionist articles and viewpoints, including an article published by Jerome Slater at the Middle East Policy Council.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Supreme Court to Decide Whether Cities Can Ban Homeless From Public Areas
The US Supreme Court on Friday agreed to hear a case involving whether cities in Western states can ban homeless people from sleeping in public areas.
The 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals previously ruled against anti-camping ordinances in Grants Pass, Oregon, saying it’s unconstitutional because it violates the Eighth Amendment of no “cruel and unusual punishment.”
Grants Pass appealed the ruling, with the backing of California Gov. Gavin Newsom, whose own state faces a homelessness crisis.
The ruling applies to nine western states, including Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon and Washington.
A separate 9th circuit panel ruled in the Grants Pass case that officials shouldn’t pass laws banning homeless people “from using a blanket, pillow, or cardboard box for protection from the elements.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
A popular food critic cut his food tour of California’s Bay Area short, slamming the city as “not a place for tourists right now” as residents were just trying to survive.
Keith Lee, who boasts over 15 million followers on TikTok, posts reviews of restaurants he tries across the country and often critiques how the businesses could do better.
He made his first stop at a small San Francisco restaurant on January 9 and another restaurant in Oakland, where he left a $2,500 tip before he cut the tour early.
“Unfortunately the Bay Area stop on the Keith family food tour is officially over, prematurely,” Lee said in his TikTok video which has been viewed over 2.4 million times.
Instead of the food, Lee directed his criticism at the issues plaguing the city following his first-hand experience.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Top Cardiologist Testifies: Heart Failure Soaring Among Vaxxed
One of the world’s leading cardiologists has just given an explosive testimony before lawmakers on Capitol Hill, revealing the devastating side effects of Covid mRNA shots.
Cardiologist Dr. Peter McCullough was among several leading experts, including Dr. Ryan Cole and Dr. Kirk Milhoan, to testify during a congressional hearing on Friday.
The hearing was convened by Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) and sought to examine the risks to public health from the injections.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Trump, Campaign Change Tune on ‘Fraud’ Ramaswamy
Former President Trump and his campaign are changing their tune about fellow GOP candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, now calling him a “fraud” and claiming that a vote for the biotech entrepreneur will help the “other side.”
Trump wrote to his supporters in a TruthSocial post on Saturday that they should not support Ramaswamy because he is “not MAGA” and claimed he disguises his support for the former president “in the form of deceitful campaign tricks.”
“Vivek started his campaign as a great supporter, ‘the best President in generations,’ etc,” Trump said in a post on Friday. “Unfortunately, now all he does is disguise his support in the form of deceitful campaign tricks. Very sly, but a vote for Vivek is a vote for the ‘other side’ — don’t get duped by this. Vote for ‘TRUMP,’ don’t waste your vote! Vivek is not MAGA. The Biden Indictments against his Political Opponent will never be allowed in this Country, they are already beginning to fall! MAGA!!!”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Voter Fraud Convictions Challenge Narrative of Secure Elections
Authored by Steven Kovac via The Epoch Times
Superior Court Judge William Clark nullified the results of a Democrat mayoral primary in November 2023 and ordered a new election. The ruling was based on hours of video evidence showing hundreds of illegally harvested absentee ballots being stuffed into drop boxes in Bridgeport, Connecticut.
“The videos are shocking to the court and should be shocking to all the parties,” Judge Clark wrote in his ruling.
A California judge overturned the result in a 2021 Compton City Council run-off race that was initially decided by one vote.
The judge tossed four fraudulent ballots cast by people not legally registered in the jurisdiction. Five people pleaded either guilty or no contest to conspiring to commit election fraud.
After discovering that 66 of the 84 absentee ballots cast in a 2021 Democrat primary for alderman in Aberdeen, Mississippi, were invalid and shouldn’t have been counted, a judge ordered a new runoff election.
Police arrested a notary for notarizing ballots without watching voters sign them or checking their identification.
The court also found evidence of intimidation at the polls involving candidate Nicholas Holliday, Mayor Maurice Howard, and Henry Randal, the town’s police chief.
The above examples of election fraud have occurred since the contentious 2020 presidential election that President Donald Trump alleged was marred with fraud.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Watchdog Demands Probe Into Harvard That Could Put Hundreds of Millions of Fed Funding in Jeopardy
A watchdog group is demanding an accreditation institution probe Harvard University over its handling of plagiarism allegations against its former president Claudine Gay — a move that could determine if the Ivy League school continues to receive hundreds of millions in federal funding, The Post has learned.
The American Council of Trustees and Alumni, a Washington, DC-based non-profit, sent a formal complaint this week to the New England Commission of Higher Education, a group that has been accrediting universities for the Department of Education since its founding in 1885.
Harvard’s compliance with NECHE’s standards is
necessary for continued eligibility to receive funding under federal student loan programs, according to the complaint.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Man Who Received ‘Anti-Racism’ Grant From Trudeau Liberals Founds Pro-Hamas Media Group
It has been revealed that a man who received a grant from the Trudeau Liberals for his “anti-racism” work recently helped launch an online media group that broadcasts exclusively anti-Israel content.
Laith Marouf, a Syrian-born Canadian citizen who is currently in Lebanon, is listed as one of the founders of Free Palestine TV, which began spewing out content following Iranian-backed terrorist organization Hamas’ October 7 massacre of civilians in the Jewish state.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Davos’s Party Secrets: Caviar, Magic Mushrooms, Champagne and a-List Private Concerts
Forget the fondue.
Caviar, magic mushrooms, gold-leaf desserts, A-list selfies, $2,500-per-night hookers and secret dinners are likely to be on the menu as scores of private jets touch down in Switzerland as soon as Sunday to bring the world’s elite to the small Alpine resort town of Davos for what’s officially known as The World Economic Forum 2024.
More than 3000 masters of the universe are expected to show up for the 54th annual event at the Alpine resort nestled in the snowy Landwasser valley. The theme this year is “Rebuilding Trust.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Fleet of Electric Buses Suspended in London After Sudden Fire in Wimbledon
London has suspended several electric buses after a seemingly spontaneous fire broke out in a double-decker bus, sparking calls for a re-examination of every electric bus used in the capital’s fleet.
On Thursday, an electric bus caught on fire on Wimbledon Hill Road in London. While no injuries were reported and investigations into the cause of the fire are still ongoing, the office of London Mayor Sadiq Khan — a chief proponent of the green agenda in Britain — announced the suspension of the same model of electric busses from the route.
In addition, the Mayor’s office said that all electric busses active in London produced by the firm Switch “will be checked thoroughly as a matter of urgency,” the Evening Standard reports.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Israel is “on the path to victory” over Hamas, said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who lashed out at what he called the world’s “new Nazis.”
“What happened on Oct. 7 will not happen again,” he vowed, according to the Times of Israel. “We are on the path to victory and we will not stop until we achieve victory. We will not compromise and we will not stop.”
Netanyahu slammed what he called The Hague’s “hypocritical attack” as “a moral low in the history of nations” — a reference to South Africa’s genocide allegations against Israel.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Israeli Strikes Kill More Than 30 Palestinians in Gaza While Fears of Widening Conflict Grow
RAFAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — More than 30 Palestinians, including young children, were killed in Israeli bombardments overnight into Saturday in the Gaza Strip, officials said, while a new U.S. strike against Iran-backed rebels in Yemen heightened fears that the Israel-Hamas war could escalate into a regional conflict.
Fears of a wider conflagration have been palpable since the start of the war, triggered by the deadly Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel by Hamas and other Gaza militants.
New fronts quickly opened, with Iran-backed groups — Houthi rebels in Yemen, Hezbollah in Lebanon and Iran-backed militias in Iraq and Syria — carrying out a range of attacks. From the start, the U.S. increased its military presence in the region to deter an escalation.
Following a Houthi campaign of drone and missile attacks on commercial ships in the Red Sea, the U.S. and Britain launched multiple airstrikes against the rebels Friday, and the U.S. hit another site Saturday.
In another fallout from the war, the International Court of Justice heard allegations by South Africa this week that Israel committed genocide against the Palestinians. The complaint cited the soaring death toll and hardships among Gaza civilians, along with inflammatory comments from Israeli leaders cited as proof of what South Africa said was genocidal intent.
In counter arguments Friday, Israel asked that the case be dismissed as meritless. Israel’s defense argued that Israel had the right to fight back against an enemy bent on its destruction, that South Africa had barely mentioned Hamas and that it ignored what Israel considers attempts to mitigate civilian harm.
The court was asked by South Africa to issue interim injunctions, including calling for a halt to Israel’s offensive.
| — Hat tip: JW | [Return to headlines] |
Houthis Promise ‘Strong and Effective’ Retaliation to US Strike
Iran-backed Houthi rebels vowed fierce retaliation Saturday after the United States conducted an additional strike in Yemen.
“This new strike will have a firm, strong, and effective response,” Houthi spokesperson Nasruldeen Amer told Al Jazeera.
Central Command said Friday the Navy destroyer USS Carney fired Tomahawk land missiles that struck a radar site controlled by the Tehran proxies to “degrade the Houthis’ ability to attack maritime vessels, including commercial vessels.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Huge Explosions Rock Houthi-Controlled Red Sea Port of Hodeidah in W. Yemen
ADEN, Yemen, Jan. 13 (Xinhua) — Huge explosions rocked the Yemeni Red Sea port city of Hodeidah on Saturday evening, local residents told Xinhua.
Local media reported that the U.S.-led coalition conducted an airstrike targeting a key Houthi-controlled naval base near the city.
| — Hat tip: McN | [Return to headlines] |
Turkey Has Initiated Airstrikes in Syria and Iraq
Once again, the Turkish military has conducted an offensive against Kurdish positions in northern Iraq and northern Syria, reports Der Spiegel.
The Turkish Ministry of Defense stated that fighter jets targeted 29 ‘terrorist objectives’ in northern Iraq, which included caves, bunkers, and shelters affiliated with the banned Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and the Kurdish militia YPG. In the course of the operation, 20 fighters were ‘neutralized.’
The YPG played a significant role in the US-led campaign against the jihadist militia Islamic State (IS). However, Turkey regards them as a partner organization of the PKK.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
British Troops in Ukraine Would be ‘Declaration of War’ Risking Nuclear Response: Medvedev
Reacting to the ‘unprecedented’ military aid package just reached between Kiev and the United Kingdom, and with UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in the Ukrainian capital, the Kremlin has issued an urgent warning saying that any deployment of British troops to Ukraine as a “declaration of war.”
The alarming and blistering words came from former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev upon Sunak’s arrival in Kiev for the unveiling of the $3+ billion defense aid package. The new security agreement has outraged Moscow.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
French Foreign Minister Vows Ukraine Will Remain Top Priority in Visit to Kyiv
(AFP) — France’s new foreign minister Stephane Sejourne on Saturday renewed his country’s support to Ukraine, choosing Kyiv for his first official visit abroad, as the war with Russia nears a second anniversary.
Sejourne arrived in Kyiv as Ukraine saw another wave of overnight strikes from Russia, which has intensified its aerial attacks recently.
The visit took place as allies struggle to secure funding, with some worrying that Kyiv could be forgotten amid new conflicts, including between Israel and Hamas.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Russia Pounds Ukraine With Barrage of 40 Missiles and Drones in Early Morning Onslaught
Russia pounded Ukraine with a barrage of 40 missiles and drones Saturday, according to reports.
The air attack started at 5 a.m. local time and lasted three hours, sending residents scrambling to air raid shelters in the country’s southeast, including the cities of Kyiv and Lviv, and in the north.
The Ukraine Air Force said the Russians launched 37 missiles and three drones.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Russian Textbooks Revised: US Rigged 2020 Presidential Election
Russian schools are teaching the youth that America rigged its own election in 2020. Students in the 11th grade have posted excerpts from their revised textbooks to the internet. Newsweek requested a copy from the publisher, Sonin, who declared that everything published is factual and approved by Sergei Kravstov, Russia’s minister of education.
Rough translation of excerpt above: “Donald Trump. American statesman and political figure, businessman, born in 1946, 45th President of the United States from 2017 to 2021, the first President of the United States who had not previously held any public office. The richest man of all American presidents. In the 2020 presidential elections, he again nominated himself as a candidate, but as a result of obvious fraud on the part of the Democratic Party, he lost the election to J. Biden.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Russia Prepares Legal Battle to Stall Seizure of Frozen Reserves
Russia is devising a legal challenge to snarl any efforts by the US or Europe to confiscate some of its $300 billion in frozen central bank assets in favor of Ukraine, according to people familiar with the matter.
Officials in Moscow, who are studying the possibility of the funds being seized, have concluded such an outcome is unlikely, they said, asking not to be identified because the information isn’t public. The Bank of Russia is currently nearing an agreement with international law firms to represent the country’s interests in case of a court showdown.
| — Hat tip: Dean | [Return to headlines] |
Bangladesh: Rohingya Man Murdered Over Camp Dominance in Cox’s Bazar
Miscreants stabbed and shot to death a Rohingya youth over reportedly establishing supremacy in a camp in Ukhiya upazila of Co’x Bazar Saturday afternoon.
The deceased was identified as Huzit Ullah, 34, son of Faizul Karim of C/6 block under the Number 19 camp in Palongkhali union of the upazila.
Confirming the murder, Ukhiya police station Officer-in-Charge (OC) Md Shamim Hossain said a group of six to seven miscreants wearing masks picked him up when he was chatting with locals in a tea stall in the camp around 4:40pm.
Taking a few yards off, the miscreants stabbed with sharp weapons indiscriminately and shot on his head to confirm death, he said, adding that they fled the scene leaving the body.
Being informed, members of the police and the Armed Police Battalion (APBn) rushed to the spot and recovered the body, the OC said.
Though the reason behind the murder could not be ascertained, establishing supremacy among groups might have led to the killing, the police officer said.
Efforts were on to arrest the accused upon identification, he added.
Several groups have been clashing among themselves over taking control of the camps, claiming lives frequently.
| — Hat tip: MM | [Return to headlines] |
Cockpit Window Crack Forces Ana Boeing Flight in Japan to Turn Around
A Japanese domestic flight was forced to turn around and land on Saturday after a crack was found on the cockpit window of the Boeing 737-800 aircraft in midair, an airline spokesperson said.
All Nippon Airways (ANA) Flight 1182 took off from Sapporp-New Chitose airport headed for Toyama airport, about 700 miles to the south, but reversed course after the crack was discovered on the outermost of four layers of windows surrounding the cockpit, the spokesperson said.
There were no injuries reported among the 59 passengers and six crew, according to the ANA spokesperson.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Kim Jong Un Shuts Down Radio Station Suspected of Broadcasting Coded Messages to South Korean Spies
North Korea appears to have ceased operations of a radio station suspected of sending coded messages to its spies in the South.
Radio Pyongyang — also known as Voice of Korea — is a station known for broadcasting both entertainment programming and spoken lists of numbers that experts assert contain messages for agents abroad.
Supreme leader Kim Jong Un reportedly halted the function of Radio Pyongyang following a decision to reorganize inter-Korea affairs at a meeting of the Workers’ Party last month.
The radio station’s website has also apparently been retired, according to Yonhap News Agency.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Taiwan Voters Re-Elect Anti-China Ruling Party, Stoking Tensions
Voters in Taiwan defied a heavy pressure campaign from China, choosing Beijing’s least favored candidate as president Saturday in a win that will likely stoke further tensions between the island democracy and its communist neighbor.
Sitting Vice President Lai Ching-te — who Beijing has branded a “troublemaker” — claimed presidential victory with 40% of the vote in a three-way race.
China, which claims Taiwan as its own, had favored Hou Yu-ih of the Kuomintang, who came in second with 33% of the vote. Hou had promised to restart diplomatic talks with the CCP.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
“We do not support independence,” Biden told reporters when asked for comment on DPP candidate William Lai’s victory over the rival Koumintang (KMT) party following Saturday’s election.
Lai, who also goes by his Chinese name, Ching-te, declared victory after a tightly contested election saw him beat KMT candidate Hou Yu-ih, the mayor of New Taipei City. Beijing had not declared a clear preference for any candidate, but Chinese officials framed Lai as “dangerous.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Huge Ancient Lost City Found in the Amazon
A huge ancient city has been found in the Amazon, hidden for thousands of years by lush vegetation.
The discovery changes what we know about the history of people living in the Amazon.
The houses and plazas in the Upano area in eastern Ecuador were connected by an astounding network of roads and canals.
The area lies in the shadow of a volcano that created rich local soils but also may have led to the destruction of the society.
While we knew about cities in the highlands of South America, like Machu Picchu in Peru, it was believed that people only lived nomadically or in tiny settlements in the Amazon.
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‘Non-Human’ Alien Corpses Are Just Dolls Made of Human and Animal Bones, Paper: Experts
The results are in.
The tiny “non-human” mummified remains found in Peru over the summer that spurred dozens of alien conspiracy theories are nothing more than dolls, forensic experts ruled.
The creepy figures — with only three fingers on each hand and elongated ET-style heads — are made with paper, glue, metal and human and animal bones, the country’s prosecutor’s office said Friday.
“The conclusion is simple: they are dolls assembled with bones of animals from this planet, with modern synthetic glues, therefore they were not assembled during pre-Hispanic times,” forensic archaeologist Flavio Estrada, who led the analysis, told reporters.
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Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez avoided questions about migrants following New York City’s controversial decision to shut down a Brooklyn school to house them.
The progressive Democrat said what happened was ‘not in [her] district’ on Thursday when a Fox Business reporter asked if she was comfortable with thousands of Brooklyn high school students being kicked out to house migrants this week.
James Madison High School students were forced to take remote classes this Wednesday so that 2,000 migrants could stay at Floyd Bennett Field, the school’s gym, ahead of a forecasted damaging storm.
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The principal of a Brooklyn high school that forced children to learn from home so 2,000 migrants could move in has slammed parents who criticized the decision.
‘How dare someone say that I don’t care about kids,’ James Madison High School principal Jodie Cohen told parents on a Zoom call on Tuesday, the New York Post reported.
Parents were left outraged after their children were ordered to learn from home Thursday when the migrants were evacuated from Floyd Bennett Field because of a torrential rain storm. The students returned to the school building a day later, on Friday.
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Brandon Johnson has refused to state whether he’ll raise his city’s taxes to pay for the migrant crisis — despite being asked three times in a new interview.
The Windy City’s mayor made the comments — or lack thereof — during a sitdown with CBS 2’s Sabrina Franza Thursday, where talks hovered around the yearly task of setting a city budget.
The discussion, however, quickly turned to his predecessors’ pledge to house arriving asylum seekers — a promise he has vowed to continue, after an estimated 20,000 entered Chicago last year alone.
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Democrat Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY) made his case for keeping the border open during a congressional hearing, arguing that America needs “many illegal immigrants.”
Nadler defended Democrat President Joe Biden’s open border policies which have triggered a historic flood of illegal aliens into the country.
During a House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration Integrity, Security, and Enforcement hearing on Thursday, Nadler argued that “we need” foreign nationals to continue crossing the border illegally.
The hearing was called to discuss the “Impact of Illegal Immigration on Social Services.”
Nadler first made his case by arguing that farms rely on illegal alien workers to pick crops.
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Mayor Adams: NYC Migrant Crisis Has ‘Nothing to Do With Sanctuary Cities’
Democrat Mayor Eric Adams has argued that New York City’s migrant crisis has got “nothing to do with” his “sanctuary city” policies.
Adams has come under pressure from critics who blame his pro-illegal immigration policies for the crisis.
GOP governors like Texas Gov. Greg Abbott have sent buses of asylum seekers to Democrat-controlled states and so-called “sanctuary cities.”
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Meta Allows Cartels to Advertise Human Smuggling Services on Facebook: Report
On Friday, former acting director of the United States National Intelligence, Richard Grenell, revealed that Facebook is not stopping Guatemalan coyotes from advertising their services to bring illegal immigrants to the United States.
In a post on X, Grenell said, “I’ve learned in Guatemala that coyotes are openly advertising on @facebook — 3 tries to get to the United States for $10k.” He added, “Biden and Zuckerberg don’t care.”
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San Diego Housing Illegal Immigrants in Local Hotels on Taxpayer Dime: Frontlines
In a new report from Turning Point USA’s Frontlines, the Ramada Suites in the Mission Valley community of San Diego was found to be housing illegal immigrants who would stay there temporarily before going to the airport, reportedly on the taxpayer’s dime.
A makeshift facility was seen in footage taken by Frontlines’ Kalen D’Almeida, with the hotel surrounded by blackout fencing and security guards, appearing as if the hotel was under construction.
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Speaker Mike Johnson Shoots Down Lankford’s Senate Immigration Deal
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) has thrown cold water on Senate negotiators of a border compromise after details of a draft deal emerged.
“Absolutely not,” Johnson tweeted with a screenshot of reported details.
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The longest break for years in Channel boat crossings, which lasted 26 days, ended yesterday as about 140 migrants were brought ashore at Dover by Border Force cutters.
Some 45 arrived before dawn and over the next several hours, despite freezing weather, about 95 more landed, many of them women and children, on two more rescue vessels.
The high number yesterday will raise fears that migrant crossings could surge to their tens of thousands again this year, despite Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s pledge to stop the boats.
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Canada: LGBTQ Pride Leader Sean Gravells Arrested for Horrific Crimes
Police have arrested a prominent LGBTQ leader on several charges related to horrific crimes against children, prosecutors have revealed.
Prosecutors informed CBC News that former North Peace Pride Society (NPPS) President Sean Gravells was arrested on December 31 for alleged sex crimes against children.
Gravells of British Columbia, Canada faces charges of sexual interference with a person under 16, physical contact with a person under 16 for sexual purposes, and possessing as well as importing or distributing child pornographic materials.
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Former Finnish Interior Minister Faces Another Trial Over Posting Bible Verses, Despite Acquittal
Senior Finnish politician Päivi Räsänen is facing being hauled through the courts again over “homophobic” Tweets and writings going back 20 years, despite having been acquitted in the case twice already.
The Finnish Public Prosecutor is appealing a November 2023 court decision that Päivi Räsänen, a long-serving member of Parliament, party leader, and former national interior minister was exercising free speech when she quoted the bible and discussed homosexuality on several occasions from 2004 to 2019. Räsänen is the former leader of the Finnish Christian Democrats Party and holds orthodox views on the issue, having described homosexuality as a “disorder of psychosexual development” in the past and quoted verses from St. Paul’s letter to the Romans on Instagram.
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We live in warmongers’ paradise
from SNAPHANEN.DK
12/1-24 KL. 1501
11 COMMENTS
into Swedish and English by LN
By Lars Hedegaard
Does anyone remember the 2020 US presidential election? Then we were told – also in the Danish press – that it would be extremely risky to re-elect Donald Trump as president. It may well end in nuclear war and the end of the world. Therefore, it was time for the adults – in the form of Joe Biden – to step up. True, no wars broke out while Trump was president, but it was nothing that the media noticed, Trump was dangerous, and he is now called Hitler and even the Antichrist. Only cannibals remain unused.
The media doesn’t think it’s strange that the world has been mired in two major wars since the “grown-up” big-politics expert Joe Biden moved into the White House. First in Ukraine and later in Gaza. And now we are probably facing a third major war in the Middle East, originating in Yemen.
After the Iranian-funded Houthis tried for three months to block shipping through the Red Sea and even seized an oil tanker, the US and Britain began attacking Houthi positions with missiles and aircraft yesterday. This is quite surprising, since one of the first things Biden did after the election was to remove the Houthis from the US government’s terror list. The reason was that if one did not speak kindly of the Islamic fighters, it could hinder the humanitarian aid to Yemen.
Experience shows that airstrikes have little effect on determined troublemakers. And to show its true, humanitarian face, the United States government had the foresight to warn the bearded bandits several hours before the attack, so they could get to safety.
There is speculation about who ordered the attack on the Houthis. Joe Biden is so foggy that he has no idea what’s going on or where he is, and the US Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin, had allowed himself to be hospitalized without telling his lieutenant commander where he was. Biden obviously didn’t know either, but he still knows nothing.
If the evil Trump had still been president, he would have already called a press conference yesterday and told what his policies were all about.
And as Trump has just emphasized during an interview on Fox News, you have to get to the root of the evil if you want to avoid total chaos in the Middle East. And the root is Iran, whose ruler finances the many terrorist organizations.
When Trump was president, the Ayatollah of Iran was going bankrupt due to US sanctions and therefore had no money to pay Mohammedan fighters. Therefore, for the first time since 1948, there was a real chance for peace in the Middle East. However, the Biden administration was quick to inject untold billions into Tehran’s mullah rule, which has gone to pay for the regime’s main effort to eliminate Israel and exterminate the Jews.
Once the bearded barbarians are done with this latest task, they will come after all the rest of us who refuse to obey the Prophet’s earthly representative. And unfortunately, it is the US that gets to pay for the gold.
The world is now in a situation where we neither know what the US is trying to achieve nor who is sitting at the end of the table in Washington. All the media is saying is that it can never, ever be Trump.
His unforgivable sin is that he did not start wars – and where will the military industry get money from then?
I fear for our changing climate and imperiled environment, now that Saint Kerry is moving on to tackle the preservation of ancient fossils.
Lurch is a climate hoax imposter. He also lied about his viet nam experience.
He is like Fauxahontas Lizzy Warren. Not credible at all.
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SHE’S NOT REALLY SMART – OF COURSE SHE’S SWEDISH
Ylva Johansson:
Immigration must increase by one million every year – “otherwise we will starve to death”
video
https://twitter.com/i/status/1745864059977662740
14 January 2024 at 08.11
If immigration to the EU does not increase sharply and exponentially, we will “starve to death”. That message comes from Swedish EU Commissioner Ylva Johansson (S).
The former S-minister Ylva Johansson is the EU commissioner with responsibility for immigration issues in particular.
She has been the driving force behind the controversial immigration pact, which aims to force all EU countries to accept asylum seekers from the third world.
During a visit to Greece on Monday, Ylva Johansson explained that immigration to the EU must increase sharply.
– Without immigration, we will starve to death, she said.
The 59-year-old top bureaucrat announced that the approximately 3.5 million “legal” immigrants coming to the Union each year are not enough. She stated that, for demographic reasons, the native population of working age is decreasing by one million per year.
– This means that legal migration should increase by more or less a million per year, and that is really a challenge, said Ylva Johansson,
who do not herself shows signs of starvation.
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Despite the low penalties – Sweden will soon have the most prisoners in the EU
Published January 13, 2024 at 1:17 p.m. in Fria Tider
Today, there are 6,000 people in Swedish prisons, but new rules against, among other things, parole are expected to increase that number to 35,000. That would make the “Swedes” the most locked-in people in the EU, reports Swedish state radio: Ekot.
– We are in the midst of perhaps the biggest change in modern times for the Correctional Service, says the Director General of the Correctional Service Martin Holmgren in Ekot’s Saturday interview.
According to Holmgren, it is the Tidö Agreement’s fault that the number of incarcerated people is false, but according to Fria Tider’s information, there are also statistics that show that the generous immigration policy could have something to do with the matter.
It is true that it is not possible to know exactly how many immigrants are in the prisons, because the Riksdag has prohibited the keeping of statistics on foreign background precisely when it comes to the Correctional Service.
On the other hand, the Correctional Service already reported in 2010 that nearly 30 percent of the inmates were foreign nationals, despite the fact that the proportion of immigrants who were foreign nationals in the population at the time was only 7 percent.
That would mean that close to one hundred percent of the inmates have a foreign background today, since a majority of the immigrants had Swedish citizenship in 2010 and the grant immigrants that Sweden has received become more and more criminal with each generation.
Second-generation immigrants are, for example, five times more criminal than Swedes and twice as criminal as their parents, according to Brå.
The cost of correctional services is also starting to grow to a disturbingly large proportion of GDP, from SEK 16 billion to around SEK 40 billion per year.