Russian President Vladimir Putin called the gunmen in the Crocus City Hall attack “radical Islamists,” while suggesting the attack could be linked to Ukraine. Meanwhile, former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said that everyone involved in Friday’s terrorist attack should be executed.
In other news, a doctor in the German state of Baden-Württemberg refused to treat one of his patients because he is a local politician for the AfD.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to Daniel Greenfield, Dean, DV, JW, McN, MM, Reader from Chicago, Roger, SS, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.
Notice to tipsters: Please don’t submit extensive excerpts from articles that have been posted behind a subscription firewall, or are otherwise under copyright protection.
Caveat: Articles in the news feed are posted “as is”. Gates of Vienna cannot vouch for the authenticity or accuracy of the contents of any individual item posted here. I check each entry to make sure it is relatively interesting, not patently offensive, and at least superficially plausible. The link to the original is included with each item’s title. Further research and verification are left to the reader.
Switzerland Becomes First Major Economy to Cut Interest Rates in Surprise Move
The Swiss National Bank on Thursday surprised the market with a decision to lower its main policy rate by 0.25 percentage points to 1.5%, saying national inflation is likely to stay below 2% for the foreseeable future.
Economists polled by Reuters had expected the Swiss central bank to hold rates at 1.75%.
“For some months now, inflation has been back below 2% and thus in the range the SNB equates with price stability. According to the new forecast, inflation is also likely to remain in this range over the next few years,” the bank said. Swiss inflation continued to fall in February, hitting 1.2%.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
AI’s Left-Wing Bias on Crime and Gun Control: Lott
Authored by John Lott Jr. via RealClear Politics
Some 20 artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots are currently available for general use. Students, reporters, and researchers already rely heavily on these programs to help write term papers, media reports, and research papers. Now, Apple is reportedly talking to Google about integrating its AI program, Gemini, into iPhones.
Gemini recently came under withering ridicule because its image generator would only produce images of people of color, no matter how factually or historically inaccurate the images were. But is Gemini’s bias an outlier?
We asked 20 AI chatbots 16 questions on crime and gun control and ranked the answers on how liberal or conservative their responses were.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Americans Miss Trump’s Policies, Prefer Them Over Biden’s, Survey Shows
A growing number of Americans are now saying they miss the policies of President Donald Trump.
A recent survey conducted by Rasmussen Reports sheds light on the divergent perceptions among likely voters regarding the economic policies of Trump and Democrat President Joe Biden.
According to the findings, a plurality of 49 percent believe that Biden’s policies have adversely affected them personally.
Meanwhile, 46 percent credit Trump’s policies with personal benefits.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Atlanta Man Tries to Remove Squatters From His Land in Effort to Build Affordable Housing
An Atlanta man is fighting to remove as many as eight squatters from his land so he can develop it into affordable housing. David Morris, who began letting people live on the property a decade ago under the agreement that they’d care for it, noticed during the pandemic that more were moving in uninvited. He has been on a quest to kick them off ever since.
While the laws that protect those who occupy other people’s property are strong, Morris was recently able to obtain a Writ of Possession and will soon begin taking measures to secure his land.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
President Joe Biden’s Department of Justice (DOJ) moved to dismiss a $3.3 billion fraud lawsuit against Dish Network after founder Charlie Ergen and his wife donated a little more than $113,000 to the Biden-Harris reelection campaign. The company was also granted $50 million shortly afterward by the Biden administration.
According to a report from the New York Post, the DOJ took the step just a few months after the founder donated the sum to the Biden campaign. Ergen, who is formerly a professional poker player, helped to start the company in 1980 and has fought against the federal fraud claim for years.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Breitbart Business Digest: Trump’s Truth Social Rockets to the Moon
Truth Social Shares Jump Nearly 40%
Shares of Donald Trump’s media startup catapulted a head-spinning nearly 40 percent in just a single trading session on Monday.
Before you chalk it up to the market’s occasional lapse into irrational exuberance or the speculative frenzy that grips the unwary, it’s worth peeling back the layers of this particular onion. Beneath the tear-inducing ascent—the stock is up more than 130 percent year to date and close to its all-time highs—there are some shrewd calculations that could vindicate those who have decided to tie a part of their fortunes to Trump’s.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
California Food Chains Laying Off Workers Ahead of New Minimum Wage Law
Some California fast-food locations are letting go of workers ahead of a new $20 minimum wage law slated to take effect in April that could dramatically impact their bottom lines.
Several eateries, particularly pizza chains, have begun to cut jobs, in an effort to get ahead of the possible financial repercussions, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Michael Ojeda, 29, a Pizza Hut driver in Ontario, Calif., told the newspaper that he received a notice from Pizza Hut franchisee Southern California Pizza in December informing him that his last day of work would be in February.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
10,000 vote-by-mail ballots were “mistakenly left out” of the Democrat primary race for Cook County state’s attorney in Illinois, with the Chicago Board of Elections looking to add these ballots into the race that is currently separated by around 2,000 votes.
According to the Daily Mail, Eileen O’Neil Burke leads Clayton Harris III by 2,015 votes at last count.
“I traded speed for accuracy in reporting out the numbers this week as quickly as I could,” said Chicago Board of Elections Public Information Officer Max Bever.
“I truly regret this error on my part and for the confusion that it has caused to voters of Chicago. I will share updated numbers only when they are accurate and verified,” he added. “There will be additional results coming in, both large and small, through the next week.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
COVID Shots ‘Integrate’ With Cancer Cells, Study Finds
Scientists have made a disturbing new discovery while studying the impact of DNA contamination in Covid mRNA shots.
Genomic researcher Kevin McKernan has uncovered evidence that the DNA found in Covid shots is “integrating” with cancer cells.
The COVID-19 vaccine spike sequence was detected in two types of chromosomes in cancer cell lines following exposure to the Covid mRNA shots.
In a report on his findings, McKernan warns that “a wide variety of abnormalities can occur” when the spike sequence integrates with human DNA.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Courier Newsroom, a George Soros-backed news initiative, has established multiple local news outlets across key swing states while failing to disclose major leftist donors or the fact that their parent company is run by a Democratic operative, according to a bombshell Monday morning report from NOTUS.
The network, which now operates 10 newsrooms in political battleground states, was originally the brain child of Tara McGowan, a democratic operative who previously worked at Obama for America and served as press secretary to Democratic Rhode Island Sen. Jack Reed, according to her LinkedIn page.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Tax documents for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation and for a major foundation funded by leftist billionaire George Soros show the organization that purports to represent the U.S. business community has turned hard left in recent years.
The Tides Foundation’s public filings from 2018 to 2022 show the Soros-funded organization has given more than $12 million to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation over that five-year span. In 2018, the Tides Foundation gave the Chamber’s foundation $450,000. In 2019, Tides gave the Chamber group $1,450,000. It gave another $100,000 in 2020, followed by $10 million in 2021 and another $175,885 in 2022. That totals $12,175,885 in a five-year span.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Fled? Arrested? Rumors Over Diddy’s Whereabouts Continue to Swirl
Update (2100ET): TMZ reports that Diddy’s private jet has landed and is currently on the ground in Antigua, though it is not currently known if the impresario is aboard.
Hollywood-connected journalist Yashar Ali reports from “multiple sources” that Diddy was not onboard the private jet, and was detained in Miami.
* * *
Questions are swirling over whether music producer Sean “Diddy” Combs has fled the country in his $60 million Gulfstream V jet purchased in 2021, after two of his homes were simultaneously raided amid a federal investigation into sex trafficking, narcotics, and firearms.
The plane, with registration N1969C (1969 was the year Combs was born), was tracked taking off from Van Nuys Airport at 1PM PST Monday afternoon. At present it’s circling St. John’s island in the Caribbean, according to flight tracking website adsbexchange.com. It’s unknown wither Combs is aboard the flight.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis Signs Bill That Bans Children Under 14 From Having Social Media Accounts
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill on Monday that will prohibit children younger than 14 from joining social media in the state. Those who are 14 or 15 will need a parent’s consent before they join a platform.
The bill, HB3, also directs social media companies to delete the existing accounts of those who are under 14. Companies that fail to do so could be sued on behalf of the child who creates an account on the platform. The minor could be awarded up to $10,000 in damages, according to the bill. Companies found to be in violation of the law would also be liable for up to $50,000 per violation, as well as attorney’s fees and court costs.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
A Florida man on an American Airlines flight was put in a headlock, removed from the aircraft and arrested after he called fellow passengers “blue-eyed white devils” and threatened to “take this plane down with all you motherf***ers on it.”
Shail Patel, 29, was drunk when he boarded the flight from Tampa to Philadelphia on Tuesday and began “antagonizing passengers, calling flight attendants names, threatening passengers and aggressively moving through the aircraft,” court documents show, according to WFLA.
The report stated he was acting hostile after he boarded and “began acting erratically, yelling and cursing at the passengers.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Hysterical Harvard Protesters Throw Fit Over Concert by Israeli Singer
Authored by Amanda Meyer via Campus Reform
A concert by an Israeli singer close to Harvard’s campus triggered an anti-Israel protest.
The concert, set up by Harvard Chabad, featured Israeli singer Ishay Ribo and was meant to “lift the spirits of Israeli and Jewish students suffering from Jew-hate on college campuses,” according to an Instagram post from the group.
The event was also meant to help with getting funds for Israel, wrote The Harvard Crimson.
Employees from The Sinclair, a “live-music venue” at Harvard Square that served as the host for the event, boycotted the show and protested outside the building.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Illinois Parole Official Quits After Police Say a Freed Felon Attacked a Woman and Killed Her Son
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — A state parole board member resigned Monday after recommending the release of a man who a day later attacked a pregnant Chicago woman with a knife and fatally stabbed her 11-year-old son while he tried to protect her, according to authorities.
The Illinois Prisoner Review Board’s handling of the case prompted Gov. J.B. Pritzker to order that procedures for dealing with situations involving domestic violence be revamped.
Pritzker announced that LeAnn Miller, 63, of Junction submitted her resignation. Miller had prepared a report recommending Crosetti Brand’s release from prison.
The 37-year-old felon had repeatedly violated orders of protection and threatened Laterria Smith of Chicago, police said. On March 13, investigators said that Brand went to Smith’s apartment armed with a knife and assaulted her. When her son, Jayden Perkins, intervened, Brand stabbed him to death, police said.
Smith, 33, remains hospitalized in critical condition but doctors expect her and her unborn child to live. Her 6-year-old son was present during the attack but was uninjured.
| — Hat tip: DV | [Return to headlines] |
Jordan Subpoenas Biden’s Ghostwriter in Continuing Classified Records Probe
Authored by Ryan Morgan via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours)
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) subpoenaed President Joe Biden’s ghostwriter, Mark Zwonitzer, on Friday, pressing for details about the president’s handling of classified documents.
Last month, Special Counsel Robert Hur published his findings from his investigation into President Biden’s handling of classified documents. Among the findings, Mr. Hur said in 2016 then-Vice President Biden read off notebook entries, including several that covered classified materials, as he and Mr. Zwonitzer prepared his book “Promise Me Dad,” published in 2017.
The special counsel report, released on Feb. 8, further alleges Mr. Zwonitzer deleted some of his audio recordings with President Biden at some point during the special counsel investigation.
Mr. Jordan’s subpoena brings legal force to Republican efforts to compel Mr. Zwonitzer to share any audio or video recordings or transcripts he has from his conversations with President Biden.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Judge Dismisses X Lawsuit Against Pro-Censorship Group
A lawsuit initiated by Elon Musk’s company, X, against the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) was dismissed by US Judge Charles Breyer. The suit accused the CCDH, a non-profit organization, of unlawfully accessing X’s data to carry out research, which they then used to make allegations of increased “hate speech” and “misinformation” on the social media platform.
We obtained a copy of the order for you here.
X also claimed that the CCDH selectively used data from the platform to create a “scare campaign,” driving away advertisers and causing significant financial losses.
But the judge interpreted the lawsuit against the pro-censorship group as an attempt by X to silence the organization.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Just in: Idaho Bans ‘Diversity Statements’ for Higher Education Admissions, Employment
Last Thursday Idaho Gov. Brad Little signed a bill into law that would ban diversity statements across higher educational state institutions.
The governor posted Monday, “It’s official — Idaho has banned ‘diversity statements’ ACROSS STATE GOVERNMENT!”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
LEGO Asks California Cops to Stop Masking Suspect Photos With LEGO Heads
A California police department has been ordered by LEGO to stop using character heads to cover up photos of suspects.
Lt. Jeremy Durrant of the Murrieta Police Department told Fox News, “The Lego Group reached out to us and respectfully asked us to refrain from using their intellectual property in our social media content which of course we understand and will comply with. We are currently exploring other methods to continue publishing our content in a way that is engaging and interesting to our followers.”
The images went viral last week after it was discovered that they were being used in response to a new woke state law that prohibits law enforcement agencies from posting mug shots of people accused of nonviolent offenses on social media.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Missouri AG to Investigate Left-Wing Group for Potential Fraud
FIRST ON FOX: Republican Attorney General Andrew Bailey of Missouri filed a petition in state court on Monday to enforce a civil investigative demand, similar to a subpoena, into the advertising materials of left-wing nonprofit group Media Matters for America.
“Media Matters has used fraud to solicit donations from Missourians in order to trick advertisers into removing their advertisements from X, formerly Twitter, one of the last platforms dedicated to free speech in America,” Bailey wrote in the petition, first obtained by Fox News Digital.
In November, Media Matters published a report that said X would place ads next to “pro-Nazi” content. Elon Musk, owner of X, filed a lawsuit against Media Matters, saying the group falsely and deceptively manipulated the algorithm on X. In his filing, Bailey said, “through coordinated, inauthentic behavior” in an attempt to “defame the organization and cause advertisers to pull their support from the platform, thus harming free speech,”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Most Americans Believe US Will be in World War Within Next Decade
Via The Libertarian Institute
The majority of Americans believe it is likely that the US will be involved in a world war during the coming decade. Under President Joe Biden, the US is preparing for great power wars with Russia and China, engaged in multiple Middle East conflicts, and posturing for a confrontation with Iran and North Korea.
According to a new YouGov poll, 61% of Americans responded that it is very or somewhat likely that a world war would break out in the next five to ten years. About two-thirds of people responding to the poll said they believe the war will turn into a nuclear conflict.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
New: Boeing CEO to Step Down by End of Year Amid Safety Concerns
Boeing has announced that CEO David Calhoun will be leaving the company by the end of the year.
The move comes following a number of serious malfunctions on planes manufactured by the airline giant.
In a letter to employees on Monday, Calhoun said the Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 incident, during which a panel blew off the plane in mid-air, was a “watershed moment” for the company.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Newt Gingrich Says Matt Gaetz ‘Unleashed the Demons’ in the Republican Party After Ousting McCarthy
As MTG made her move toward attempting to oust current House Speaker Mike Johnson, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich pointed fingers at Matt Gaetz, saying that Gaetz’s push to oust Kevin McCarthy as Speaker “unleashed the demons” within the Republican Party.
During an appearance on Fox News with Laura Ingraham, Gingrich criticized Gaetz’s decision to lead the way for McCarthy’s removal as House Speaker last October. Gingrich went on to link this decision with the recent struggles among congressional Republicans to pass meaningful legislation. The GOP also has a razor thin majority in the House.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Not-So ‘Broke’ Don: Trump Net Worth Tops $6.4 Billion on SPAC Deal
Former President Donald Trump’s net worth topped $6.4 billion on Monday following the completion of a 29-month-long SPAC deal involving his social media company, Trump Media & Technology Group, as well as the reduction of the bond due in his NY civil fraud trial in order to appeal a $454 million verdict.
And while Trump’s gains on the SPAC deal with Digital World Acquisition Corp may just be on paper (and any meaningful sales when his six-month lockup expires would likely tank the price), the $4 billion boost was enough to include Trump in the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, which tracks the top 500 wealthiest people in the world.
Earlier on Monday, Trump was granted a vastly reduced bond requirement of $175 million in order to appeal his NY civil trial over his real estate. In response, Trump quickly said he would post it.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
NYPD Officer Shot, Killed During Car Stop in Queens by Suspect With Multiple Prior Arrests
A New York City police officer has died after he was fatally shot while conducting a vehicle stop, authorities said Monday.
A pair of officers stopped a vehicle in Queens at 1919 Mott Avenue in Far Rockaway just before 5:48 p.m. as part of the NYPD Community Response Team, the NYPD said.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Portland Begins Preparations for Riots Ahead of 2024 Election
Portland has begun preparation for the looming riots that are expected to once again devastate the Democrat-controlled Oregon city ahead of the critical November elections.
The city is building stainless-steel barricades to protect against violent political protests ahead of the 2024 presidential election.
Portland is also forming a new crowd control police unit.
According to the Portland Tribune, the city has almost finished building seven large, hinged barricades that can drop down in front of the Mark O. Hatfield U.S. Courthouse’s west entrance.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
RFK Jr. Issues Dire Warning Over CBDC Adoption
Authored by Naveen Athrappully via The Epoch Times
Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. warned that central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) pave the way for an authoritarian government in America similar to the Chinese communist regime.
“I’m against central bank digital currencies because that is part of the path to getting us where China is today. That’s where they started, that’s where all these other countries started with central bank digital currency, and it’s the end of freedom. We will be slaves if we allow that to happen,” Mr. Kennedy said during a March 22 event. He pointed to the Canadian trucker’s protests to explain why CBDCs were dangerous for freedoms. The Canadian government portrayed the truckers “as right-wing, fascist, and racist” when they were not, he said.
“The government used facial recognition systems and other intrusive technologies to identify the participants, all the truckers. They got their license plates, etc. And then they froze their bank accounts. So they couldn’t get diesel for their trucks, they couldn’t buy food for their kids, they couldn’t pay for their education, they couldn’t pay their mortgages.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
SEC Urges Supreme Court to Reject Elon Musk’s First Amendment Appeal
Authored by Melanie Sun via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours)
Attorneys representing the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) have urged the Supreme Court not to hear Elon Musk’s appeal of settlement conditions that Mr. Musk says would require that “Americans who settle their cases with the government to ‘consent’ to be gagged for life.”
Elon Musk is challenging the details of a settlement agreement he signed with the SEC requiring him to seek pre-approval for comments about Tesla, of which he is the CEO and former chairman of its board of directors.
He is arguing that his future speech “on matters ranging far beyond the charged violations” cannot be gagged as a condition of settlement by the agency.
However, attorneys for the SEC argue that because the petitioner “concede[d] that his free speech rights do not permit him to engage in speech that is or could be considered fraudulent or otherwise violative of the securities laws” in the district court, this did not preclude him from needing to abide by the settlement conditions to seek pre-approval from Tesla’s own attorneys before petitioner speaks publicly about specified matters related to the company, according to court documents.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Those Who Are ‘Vaxxed and Boosted’ May Have ‘Immune Imprinting’ That Ignores New Jabs
Authored by Marina Zhang via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours)
People who have taken at least three doses of the original version of the COVID-19 mRNA vaccine have been strongly immune imprinted, a study by the University of Washington (UW) found.
Consequently, when vaccinated with the most recent COVID-19 XBB.1.5 mRNA boosters, recipients produced few to no antibodies specific to the XBB.1.5 variant.
Immune imprinting occurs when previous infections or vaccinations leave such a strong immune memory that the body continues to produce immune cells and antibodies targeting the previous immune experience—even when exposed to a new variant or vaccine.
“[Immune imprinting] could be a problem if the person was unable to mount a useful immune response against a new variant,” Dr. Stanley Perlman, an immunologist and microbiologist at the University of Iowa, told The Epoch Times. He was not involved in the study.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Time to Panic: Joe Biden’s Campaign “In Trouble” Despite Obama Warning
“Don’t underestimate Joe’s ability to f*** things up.” —Barack Obama
With less than eight months before the 2024 election, the Biden re-election campaign is in big trouble. Not only is Biden lagging in the polls vs. Donald Trump, the border crisis he created by shredding all of Trump’s Executive Orders on immigration has resulted in 10 million illegals flooding into the United States — which has left even Democrats livid.
What’s more, Biden is quickly losing the support of young Americans, and the latino vote.
Things are so bad that TIME magazine has just devoted 3,700 words to let us know that Barack Obama ‘warned’ the Biden campaign last June that defeating Trump would be harder in 2024 (because no pandemic or hoax dossier to set him up?). Six months later, Obama ‘saw few signs of improvement.’
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Trump Leading Biden in Wisconsin, Where GOP Convention Will be Held: Poll
If the presidential election were held today, former President Donald Trump would defeat President Joe Biden in the state of Wisconsin, according to a new Emerson College Polling/The Hill survey of Wisconsin voters.
The Republican National Convention, where Trump will officially be nominated as the GOP presidential candidate, is scheduled to take place in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in July.
The poll shows 46% support Donald Trump and 43% support President Joe Biden in the 2024 presidential election, with 11 percent undecided. If accounting for undecided voters’ support, 52% support Trump, and 48% Biden.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Trump Decries ‘Witch Hunt’ as He Appears in NY Court for Hush Money Case
Former President Donald Trump appeared in court Monday for a hearing as part of the ongoing hush money case brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.
“This is a witch hunt! This is a hoax! Thank you,” the former president told the press as he entered the Manhattan court.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Washington Post Backs State Department’s Global Engagement Center Amid Censorship Controversies
Some (if not most) US “newspapers of record” seem willing to trade in constitutionally guaranteed freedom of expression for the success of a political option they “endorse.”
Worse still, this could be “old news.”
But that is one way to sum up what is currently going on at the Washington Post, who just came out with an astounding piece in defense of the Global Engagement Center (GEC) — a state State Department bureau mired in controversy.
Specifically, controversy pertaining to the way the White House “coordinates” with major social media platforms — and critics say, that takes the form of coercion and, ultimately, collusion between government and private tech companies.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Canada Ranks Last Among Wealthy Nations for Access to Primary Health Care
Canada stood around the middle of the pack for access to a primary care provider in 2016. The country’s position plummeted to dead last in 2023, according to the Commonwealth Fund which surveyed 10 high-income countries.
The Commonwealth Fund’s International Health Policy Survey analyzes the healthcare experiences of the general population aged 18 and older. Aspects such as primary and mental health care, use of information technologies, prescription drug use, chronic illness care, behaviour factors affecting health, and social service needs are evaluated.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
CBC Fair to Link Ben Shapiro to Extremists, Ombudsman Rules
The ombudsman overseeing Canada’s public broadcaster recently ruled that a report linking conservative US commentator Ben Shapiro to extremists and far-right groups was “sustainable” and fair.
The CBC published a 2022 article titled “‘It’s a slippery slope’: How young men fall into online radicalization.”
The article’s cited expert, podcaster Ellen Chloë Bateman said Shapiro’s “content is used by extremist, far-right groups as an entry point that exposes young men to harmful comments and posts on platforms like TikTok, YouTube and other apps.”
[Comment: What a joke.]
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Critical Theory Pervasive in Ontario’s Ministry of Education Despite PC Rule
Critical theory — including critical race theory and gender theory — have run rampant in Ontario schools in the last decade, a new study finds, even with a Progressive Conservative government at the helm for the past six years.
New research from the University of Toronto finds that critical theory has become a fundamental part of the education curriculum since it was introduced in the 1990s. The findings come in a master’s thesis from Stephen Reich, titled Does Ontario’s Ministry of Education Promote Critical Theory in K-12 Education.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Jew-Hate and ‘Inquisitions’ in Canada
Since the October 7 massacre in southern Israel, Jews in Canada have been under constant attack. Shooting attacks against schools, firebombings of Jewish institutions, boycotts and vandalism against businesses owned by Jews, imams inciting and telling their congregations that Jews are “vermin”, and the constant marches of pro-Hamas activists chanting “long live the intifada” and “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” — a euphemism for annihilating a democratic member of the United Nations, Israel.
In Montreal alone, police recorded 38 reports of hate crimes and other incidents targeting the city’s Jewish community in the weeks following October 7.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
What started as a report of a vehicle prowl Saturday ended with a theft suspect trying to escape by shimmying across telephone wires over West Sixth Street in downtown Vancouver for nearly an hour.
Vancouver police say the suspect went on a crime spree in downtown before falling from the wires onto a fire truck and being taken into custody.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Kate Middleton’s shock diagnosis last week has shone a light on the startling trend, with top doctors claiming it is a worldwide problem.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
Apple, Google, Meta Targeted Under New European Law Meant to Prevent Cornering of Digital Markets
LONDON — European Union regulators opened investigations into Apple, Google and Meta on Monday, the first cases under a sweeping new law designed to stop Big Tech companies from cornering digital markets.
The European Commission, the 27-nation bloc’s executive arm, said it was investigating the companies for “non-compliance” with the Digital Markets Act.
The Digital Markets Act that took full effect earlier this month is a broad rulebook that targets Big Tech “gatekeeper” companies providing “core platform services.” Those companies must comply with a set of do’s and don’ts, under threat of hefty financial penalties or even breaking up businesses. The rules have the broad but vague goal of making digital markets “fairer” and “more contestable” by breaking up closed tech ecosystems that lock consumers into a single company’s products or services.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Climate Expert Bjorn Lomborg Decries ‘Weather Porn’ From Alarmists
Danish climate expert Bjorn Lomborg has denounced the “weather porn” peddled by climate alarmists, insisting facts tell a different story.
Lomborg, who runs the Copenhagen Consensus Center, notes in his latest newsletter that yearly deaths from weather-related events have been dropping consistently and are now at an all-time low.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
The EU is about to start punishing large online platforms for not tackling “election disinformation” to the bloc’s satisfaction.
In order to make good on the threat, the EU is putting to use its censorship law — the Digital Services Act (DSA).
Commissioner for Internal Market Thierry Breton is quoted as saying that platforms like X, TikTok, Snapchat, YouTube and Facebook, but also search engines, must operate according to the guidelines that are currently being drafted.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Four Dead, 30 Injured in Hungarian Rally Tragedy
Four spectators died and up to 30 people have been injured in the worst rally tragedy this decade during the Esztergom Rally in northern Hungary, Magyar Hirlap reports.
One car went off the track, colliding with 11 people. Rescue helicopters, ambulances and other units were immediately dispatched to the scene. Whether spectators were standing in the wrong place or what exactly happened is not yet known.
According to RallyLife, a couple driving a Skoda Fabia R5 crashed into the spectators, injuring many people and killing four, including a little girl. The rally was immediately stopped and an investigation is underway.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
France Raises Terrorism Threat Level
by RT
France has raised the terrorism alert level across the country following an attack on a packed music venue in Russia, which left 137 people dead.
On Friday, four men opened fire inside Crocus City Hall outside Moscow and set the building ablaze. All of the terrorists were later detained while attempting to flee by car in the direction of the Ukrainian border, according to President Vladimir Putin.
The jihadist group Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISIS-K) claimed responsibility for the massacre. Moscow has so far not confirmed the group’s involvement.
“Following the attack in Moscow, the French president has convened a meeting of the National Defense and Security Council this evening,” French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal wrote on X (formerly Twitter) on Sunday.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
German Doctor Refuses to Treat AfD Politician
A doctor in the German state of Baden-Württemberg refuses to treat one of his patients because he is a local politician in the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.
The doctor’s decision was reportedly sparked when he saw a photo in the local newspaper of the politician, Heiko Nüßner, at an event for his party’s city association in Lahr. Based on this photo, the doctor told him to find a new practice due to their “clearly different political views.”
Nüßner, who previously served as a Christian Democrat (CDU) politician for 26 years, told Bild newspaper that he was “very surprised by this reaction, as he had never spoken to the doctor about his politics. He described the interaction with the general practitioner as “very undemocratic.”
[Comment: German doctors going woke too?]
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Here’s Why the Russian Missile Over Poland Wasn’t Shot Down
Poland’s government is scrambling to explain why a Russian missile was not shot down despite traveling through Polish airspace on its way to hit targets in Ukraine.
Early Sunday, a Russian missile breached Polish airspace, traversing it for 39 seconds before crossing into Ukraine. In a press conference held Sunday morning, Polish Minister of National Defense Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz emphasized that the missile was continuously monitored by Polish radar systems.
He also elaborated on why the missile was not intercepted.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
How the EU Plans to Regulate Online Influencers Towards “Responsible” Online Speech and Conduct
EU’s next target in the bloc’s self-inflicted “war on disinformation” is — online influencers.
The initiative comes with the stated goal to “educate” influencers, using regulations, about what their responsibilities are in case “harmful” content they share happens to be deemed as having a “potential” adverse impact on their audience.
You could hardly get more convoluted in trying to push through rules that are not meant to prevent unlawful behavior — because none is happening — but to, regardless, steer online narratives in a desired direction. And that’s why you know this is coming from Brussels, even if reports had failed to specify.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Macron Says Islamists Who Hit Russia Had Tried to Attack France
PARIS, March 25 (Reuters) — President Emmanuel Macron said on Monday that the gunmen who killed 137 people in a concert hall outside Moscow were part of an Islamic State branch that was behind foiled attempts to attack France over the past few months.
This explains why the French government on Sunday increased the country’s security alert to its highest level, Macron and Prime Minister Gabriel Attal said. More soldiers will be put on standby and ready to patrol sensitive sites, including schools.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Orban Explains Why Ukrainian Grain Exports Are Crippling EU Farmers
Speaking from Brussels during the second day of the EU summit, Prime Minister Viktor Orban explained the reasons why several EU member states are opposed to Ukrainian grain exports in an interview with the state Kossuth Radió.
“The EU imposes extremely bureaucratic and strict rules on European farmers — how to farm, what chemicals they can and cannot use, whether they can use genetically modified seeds, what environmental aspects of farming they have to take into account, how much fertilizer they can use. Often, they reduce productivity with standards that go beyond what is reasonable. There are no such rules in Ukraine,” the prime minister said.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Poland: Europhile Regime Extends Liberal Purge to Central Bank
Poland’s new Europhile government continues to tear up the rulebook in its relentless pursuit of the country’s opposition, with the regime now being accused of politicizing the country’s central bank.
Plans to drag the country’s central bank president before a special tribunal is the latest stage in this campaign. The Tusk government is alleging that the National Bank of Poland (NBP) among other things adjusted monetary policy before the October election to benefit the ousted Law and Justice (PiS) party.
Accusations from the government against NBP President Adam Glapinsky include unlawfully buying government bonds and ‘misleading accounting.’ Tusk also alleges that the central bank’s cutting of interest rates a month before the election was politically motivated.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Poland’s Vistula Spit Canal: The Tusk Government Will Complete the Flagship Investment of the PiS
Poland’s Tusk government will carry on with the flagship investment project initiated by the Law and Justice (PiS) party, ensuring the completion of the Vistula Spit canal project.
Dariusz Klimczak, the minister of infrastructure, has declared that the government will finance the creation of a navigational channel leading to the port in Elblag.
“Dredging works will commence this year,” he announced, marking the next phase in cutting through the Vistula Spit, a project left unfinished due to disputes over funding responsibilities between the state and local governments during the previous administration.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Polish Airport Named After Ulma Family Who Gave Their Lives to Save Jews During WWII
Every year, on March 24, Poland marks the National Day of Remembrance for Poles who rescued Jews during the German occupation. On that day in 1944, the Polish Ulma family was killed by the Germans for sheltering Jews. In September 2023, Pope Francis beatified the Ulma family.
Early on March 24, 1944, a Nazi patrol surrounded the home of the Ulma family in the southeastern village of Markowa, where Wiktoria and Józef Ulma had been hiding eight Jews. For this, they were executed together with their six children along with the Jews they sheltered. At the time of her execution, Wiktoria was eight months pregnant, and her eldest daughter was eight years old.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Romanian Mayor Claims Ethnic Hungarians Don’t Want to Use Their Language in City Government
The mayor of the central Transylvanian city of Cluj Napoca, Emil Boc, has said in a controversial declaration that the local Hungarian minority does not want to use their native language in administrative matters, meaning bilingual procedures are unnecessary.
Anti-Hungarian incitement has always been a way to win votes, but this case has been going on for several years, with a civil rights organization, the Székely Figyelo Foundation, demanding the right to use Hungarians’ mother tongue in public institutions.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Slovakia: April Run-Off Vote to Determine Presidential Election
Slovakia’s presidential election is heading for a second round after a tight result in the first vote on Sunday. The liberal former foreign minister Ivan Korcok received 42.5% of the votes, while his main rival, sovereigntist former Prime Minister Peter Pellegrini, received 37%. Because no candidate reached more than 50% of the vote, a run-off election between the top two candidates is scheduled for April 6th.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Spain: Catalan Separatist Leader Pledges to “Complete” Independence Process
Spanish MEP Carles Puigdemont has confirmed that he will be his party’s candidate for the regional elections on May 12th. “I’m going for it all,” he declared, aiming to prove wrong “the delusional gravediggers of Catalonia.”
Announcing his candidacy in Elna, France—to a crowd of a thousand people that greeted the news with shouts of “President!”—he also made clear his real motive for attempting to return to the helm of the regional government in the Spanish autonomous community of Catalonia.
Puigdemont called his candidacy and potential re-election to the regional presidency the “restitution of the presidency of the Generalitat [the Catalan government],” and a means to “finish the work” blocked by Spain’s central government in 2017—in reference to what Catalans called the independence process. He also told the crowd that he hoped to win an absolute majority, though admitted it would take a lot of mobilization to ensure such an outcome.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
UK Court to Issue Ruling on Julian Assange Extradition Tuesday Morning
On Tuesday London’s High Court will finally rule on the fate of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. The court is expected to deliver a decision on if he can appeal his extradition to the United States, where he would face espionage and related charges for publishing state secrets.
WikiLeaks has said the written ruling is expected to be delivered by 10:30 am London time (6:30am ET). After this, all his appeal opportunities in the UK legal system will have been exhausted.
Stella Assange, his wife, has warned that if the court rules against Assange, he could be on a plane to US soil days following. He would be removed from the high security Belmarsh prison for a trial in the US on espionage-related charges and publishing state secrets, where a 175 year jail sentence would await him.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Just Stop Oil: Video Shows Protesters Fly-Posting Exeter’s Labour HQ
Just Stop Oil campaigners have fly-posted Exeter Labour’s headquarters — and uploaded the footage to social media. The protesters stuck posters and print outs of a letter they had sent to Exeter Labour candidate Steve Race to the building during Monday (March 25).
The letter, sent by the group to Mr Race last week, asked him to commit to leaving the party within six months of them being elected if they fail to revoke Tory oil and gas licences.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Nigel Farage in Stitches as ULEZ Protesters Deploy ‘Innovative’ Tactic to Thwart Scheme
Nigel Farage was left in stitches by anti-ULEZ protesters using bat boxes to frustrate the scheme.
The animal boxes have been spotted on camera poles in parts of London in an apparent bid to prevent devices from being installed or fixed.
Bats are legally protected in Britain and it can be an offence to disturb them.
Speaking on his GB News show, a laughing Mr Farage said: “Anti-ULEZ protesters have moved on to a new tactic and I have to say generally when I think about ULEZ you’ve never heard me support blade runners or anything like that because law breaking is not good.
“But this one, probably is against the law, but I think it’s rather funny. Anti-ULEZ protesters have been putting bat boxes over the cameras.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Tractors Gather at Parliament in Farmer Go-Slow Protest
More than 100 tractors have rolled past the Houses of Parliament as farmers protested against what they say is a lack of support for UK food production.
Convoys with horns blaring made their way through central London’s streets to Westminster on Monday evening.
Organisers Save British Farming and Fairness for Farmers of Kent said cheap food imports and unsupportive policies were putting UK food security at risk.
The government said it put farming “at the heart of British trade”.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Jewish Settlers Set Their Sights on Gaza Beachfront
Who wouldn’t want a house on the beach? For some on Israel’s far-right, desirable beachfront now includes the sands of Gaza.
Just ask Daniella Weiss, 78, the grandmother of Israel’s settler movement, who says she already has a list of 500 families ready to move to Gaza immediately.
“I have friends in Tel Aviv,” she says, “so they say, ‘Don’t forget to keep for me a plot near the coast in Gaza,’ because it’s a beautiful, beautiful coast, beautiful golden sand”.
She tells them the plots on the coast are already booked.
Mrs Weiss heads a radical settler organisation called Nachala, or homeland. For decades, she has been kickstarting Jewish settlements in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, on Palestinian land captured by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war.
Some in the settler movement have cherished the dream — or pipedream — of returning to Gaza since 2005, when Israel ordered a unilateral pullout, 21 settlements were dismantled and about 9,000 settlers were evacuated by the army. (Reporting from Gaza at the time, I saw many who were literally dragged out.)
Many settlers saw all this as a betrayal by the state, and a strategic mistake.
Opinion polls suggest that most Israelis oppose resettling Gaza, and it is not government policy, but since the Hamas attacks on 7 October it is being talked about out loud — by some of the loudest and most extreme voices in Israel’s government.
| — Hat tip: McN | [Return to headlines] |
Trump Says Israel Made ‘Very Big Mistake’ With Gaza Destruction
Former President Trump says Israel made a “very big mistake” with the invasion of Gaza, noting that broadcast images of the widespread destruction have turned many against the country in his strongest criticism of Israel since the beginning of its war against Hamas last year.
In an interview with Israel Hayom on Sunday, Trump criticized the Israeli government for its publicizing its mass-bombing campaign against Gaza and the rampant destruction caused by its ongoing ground invasion, which came after more than 1,100 Israelis were killed in a Hamas attack on Oct. 7.
Trump said a rise in antisemitism in the U.S. and abroad is because Israel “fought back.”
“I think Israel made a very big mistake,” he said. “I wanted to call [Israel] and say don’t do it. These photos and shots. I mean, moving shots of bombs being dropped into buildings in Gaza. And I said, ‘Oh, that’s a terrible portrait.’“
| — Hat tip: JW | [Return to headlines] |
We Are the Victims and Everything We Do is Justified
At the heart of everything from the debate over the Gaza War to DEI to toxic interpersonal relationships is a disastrous loop known as the “self-reinforcing victim/villain” cycle.
The self-reinforcing victim/villain cycle is a deceptively simple and incredibly destructive paradigm for any kind of relationship, national, communal or personal, in which one party constantly attacks the other while claiming that it is the victim fighting against oppression.
The paradigm is guided by the idea that there is a permanently fixed victim and villain, that the victim is constantly suffering attacks from the villain and that anything the victim does is justified because he or she has no agency except to resist the assaults of the villain.
While some Hamas supporters have lied or tried to cover up the atrocities of Oct 7, Ghazi Hammad, a Hamas official, initially denied them, but then burst out with, “the existence of Israel is what causes all that pain, blood, and tears. It is Israel, not us. We are the victims of the occupation. Period. Therefore, nobody should blame us for the things we do. On October 7, October 10, October 1,000,000 — everything we do is justified.”
“We are the victims”, “nobody should blame us” and “everything we do is justified” perfectly capture the cruel workings of the cycle. So many westerners have sided with Hamas because they accept, incorporate and make use of the same cycle in their own politics and lives.
| — Hat tip: Daniel Greenfield | [Return to headlines] |
Former Russian President Responds to Moscow Terror: ‘Kill Everyone Involved. Everyone’
Dmitry Medvedev, the former premiere who is now better known for regularly threatening to drop nuclear weapons on the West for interfering in Russia’s war against Ukraine has a new target for his attention after last week’s major terror attack in Moscow.
Everyone involved in Friday’s terrorist attack against a concert hall in a Moscow suburb should be executed, says former Russian President, Prime Minister, and now Deputy Chairman of the national Security Council Dmitry Medvedev says.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Putin Implies Ukraine Played Role in Moscow Terrorist Attack
Russia has charged four men with committing an act of terrorism following Friday’s Moscow concert hall massacre that claimed the lives of 137 people and injured 182 more. The four men, citizens of the predominantly Muslim ex-Soviet republic of Tajikistan, are accused of being responsible for the attack that occurred during a rock concert at the Crocus City Hall on Friday night. Seven other people were also detained for their role in the assault.
Verified footage showed camouflage-clad gunmen opening fire with automatic weapons in the concert hall, with screaming people rushing for the exits. Investigators said some died from gunshot wounds and others in a huge fire that was started in the complex. Reports said the gunmen lit the blaze using petrol from canisters they carried in rucksacks.
The four men appeared in a courtroom on Sunday, March 24th, all of them seemingly bruised and battered. One of the men was seen sitting in a wheelchair, another with one of his ears in bandages. Video footage uploaded on social media sites claiming to be depicting scenes from the interrogation has not been officially verified. Three of the four men pleaded guilty to all charges.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Putin Blames ‘Radical Islamists’ for Moscow Attack While Suggesting Ukraine Link
Russian President Vladimir Putin for the first time on Monday called the gunmen who killed more than 130 people at a Moscow concert hall “radical Islamists,” while suggesting the attack could be linked to Ukraine.
Putin said the shooting was committed by “radical Islamists” whose “ideology the world has been fighting for centuries,” according to a translation from The Associated Press (AP).
His remarks come days after multiple gunmen opened fire at Crocus City Hall in Moscow, killing at least 137 people and wounding more than 180 others. The assailants also threw explosives in the venue, causing a large fire and the roof to eventually collapse, The Associated Press reported.
Four men were charged Sunday with committing a terrorist attack resulting in the death of others and appeared in court Sunday night. Two of the suspects accepted responsibility for the attack, though concerns were raised about whether they were speaking freely, the AP reported.
The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the shooting, and the White House National Security Council has said its own intelligence confirms they carried out the attack.
Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, and Putin has sought to draw a connection between the attack and Kyiv, though there is no evidence of Ukraine’s involvement. Ukraine’s government has denied any connection to the incident.
On Monday, while saying Islamic terrorists carried out the attack, Putin appeared to try to draw a connection to Kyiv.
“We know who carried out the attack and we are interested in knowing who ordered this attack,” Putin said Monday, per a translation from RT.com.
| — Hat tip: Dean | [Return to headlines] |
Ukrainian Bar Mocks Deadly Moscow Concert Hall Attack
by RT
The ‘art-bar’ Ofenziva (‘Offensive’), located in Kiev, has introduced a new item to its controversial menu, mocking the deadly weekend terrorist attack on Moscow’s Crocus City concert hall. The attack has claimed the lives of at least 133 people, though the search for victims is still ongoing and the death toll is expected to grow even further.
The establishment advertises itself as “the first meme-military art bar” in Kiev in an allusion to online meme warfare. It serves as a platform for various performers, most of whom exhibit nationalist views.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
China Showcases New Drone That Can Rapidly Divide Into Swarm
At a time when the war in Ukraine has shown an increasing role of drones in warfare, Chinese scientists have developed a military drone capable of rapidly splitting into six separate units in the air.
The drone marks a breakthrough in aerial separation technology and could lead to a new battlefield arms race. The new devices are faster and more efficient than traditional multi-rotor drones and have the ability to confuse opponents by unexpectedly multiplying into huge swarms on the battlefield, according to scientists at Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
China Blocks Use of Intel, AMD Chips in Government Computers
by Zero Hedge
After the US took several steps to prevent Chinese companies from acquiring both the latest Nvidia AI chips as well as Europe’s semiconductor titan ASML from sending its advanced chipmaking machines to Beijing (which resulted in a one-time flood of Chinese orders into both ASML and NVDA ahead of the sales ban which the market assumed was a recurring thing and priced out Nvidia revenue growth ridiculous higher compared to where it will end up being), China has retaliated by introducing new guidelines that will mean US chips from Intel and AMD are phased out of government PCs and servers, as Beijing ramps up a campaign to replace foreign technology with homegrown solutions, the FT reported.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
An Explosion Near a Police Station in Northern Kenya Has Killed 4 People, Including 3 Officers
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — An explosion at a small hotel located near a police station in northeastern Kenya killed four people, including three officers, and wounded several others on Monday, authorities said.
The blast in the town of Mandera, which is on the border with Somalia, was caused by an improvised explosive device that had been planted at the hotel and was detonated as a crowd of people sat down to eat breakfast, police said.
Mandera police chief Samwel Mutunga said that two of those wounded were in critical condition and would be flown to the capital, Nairobi.
Investigators have blamed east Africa-based extremist group al-Shabab for the attack. The group, which hasn’t claimed responsibility for the explosion, has staged major attacks in Kenya and neighboring Somalia.
The latest attack followed another one on Sunday in coastal Kenya’s Lamu County, where two police reservists were killed.
| — Hat tip: MM | [Return to headlines] |
Two Holland America Workers Who Died on Cruise Were Allegedly Boiled in Steam Blast
Two Holland America employees who died in a cruise ship’s engineering space were allegedly killed by a steam explosion — and the vessel’s emotional captain broke down when he announced the tragedy to the passengers.
Engineer Joseph Terrado of the Philippines and Wawan Gusnawan of Indonesia, a wiper, were killed in the horrific accident aboard the Florida-based Nieuw Amsterdam while docked in the Bahamas on Friday, Miami attorney Jim Walker told WPLG.
“There was an accidental steam release in an engineering space on board Nieuw Amsterdam, which sadly resulted in the death of two crew members,” Holland America said in a statement, NBC News reported.
The Bahamas Maritime Authority and the Dutch Safety Board are investigating the exact cause of the accident, the company added.
| — Hat tip: Roger | [Return to headlines] |
Chicago Mayor Says City Returning Park to the Public After Using Them to House Illegal Immigrants
The City of Chicago will return five parks to the public this week after using them to temporarily house illegal immigrants — a move that had irked many residents.
The office of Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson said, beginning this Saturday, the city will “decompress” temporary shelters from five park district facilities.
Once all immigrants are transitioned to another shelter, the city’s Park District will begin the process of restoring the parks for the public to use.
The mayor’s office said immigrants from Gage Park, the Broadway Armory Park, Brands Park, Leone Park, and Piotrowski Park, will be moved to nearby shelters over the coming weeks, “minimizing disruptions with schooling and work.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Do Not Come: UK Launches Social Media Campaign Telling Vietnamese Not to Become Illegal Migrants
AFP — The UK on Monday launched a new global social media campaign, aimed at Vietnam in particular, to deter migrants from trying to cross the Channel from northern France on small boats.
It comes as statistics showed the number of arrivals using the hazardous and highly contentious route up by 15 percent so far this year compared to the same period in 2023.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Germany: Liberals Lose Migrant Cash Benefits Motion by One Vote After Councilor Nips Out for a Joint
A motion proposed by the right-wing Alternative for Germany to give asylum seekers payment cards instead of cash in the state of Saxony passed by a single vote after a left-wing lawmaker went for “a joint” and missed the vote.
The move was debated by the Dresden city council on Friday, with anti-mass migration councilors calling on the city to switch to topped-up cards to prevent asylum seekers from spending taxpayer-funded cash benefits in the black market on drugs and prostitution.
After many hours of debate, and ahead of the vote at 6 p.m., left-wing councilor Max Aschenbach announced on his X account that he was “going for a joint” and subsequently missed the crucial vote.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
An illegal immigrant who entered the US as a “got-away” has been charged for allegedly slamming his vehicle into a Washington State Patrol trooper and killing him.
On Friday, Raul Benitez Santana (32), a Mexican foreign national with a criminal record who was in the country illegally, was charged by the Snohomish County Prosecutor’s Office with vehicular homicide and vehicular assault.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Illegal Immigrant Charged in Shooting Death, Carjacking of Michigan Woman
An illegal immigrant has been arrested in connection with the shooting death of a woman in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and is expected to be arraigned in the coming days.
Brandon Ortiz-Vite, 28, was taken into custody on Sunday and subsequently charged with homicide/open murder, felony firearm, carjacking, operating while intoxicated, and driving on a suspended or revoked license.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Ireland: Men on Horseback Lead Protest Against Dublin Asylum Centre
Attempts by authorities to convert a disused warehouse into accommodation for up to a thousand asylum seekers elicited mass protests in Ireland over the weekend as thousands rallied outside the site of the planned centre.
During the protests, in the working-class suburb of Coolock in north Dublin, young men on horseback and in balaclavas were seen directing a crowd of thousands under the campaign slogan ‘Coolock Says No.’ The incident was just the latest flashpoint in the Republic’s crippling asylum crisis which has seen the issue of migration surge into the mainstream and become a leading political issue.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
NYC City Council Appeals to Save Its Non-Citizen Voting Law
The New York City Council on Monday filed a notice of appeal hoping to save a law permitting non-citizens to vote in local elections.
The Supreme Court of the State of New York Appellate Division for the Second Judicial Department in February shut down the law, stating that the law “was enacted in violation of the New York State Constitution and Municipal Home Rule Law, and thus, must be declared null and void.” The city passed the law in 2021, which could render as many as 800,000 people eligible to vote.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Poll: Immigration Bigger Issue Than Inflation, Economy
President Joe Biden’s easy-migration policies are the top issue facing the United States, according to the latest Harvard Harris poll.
Immigration — not inflation or the economy — was cited as the top issue among 36 percent of 2,111 registered voters in the March 20-21 poll from Harvard’s Center for American Political Studies.
Thirty-six percent tagged immigration as the top issue, while 33 percent tagged inflation. Twenty-three percent picked the “economy and jobs” category.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Seattle Activists Charged After Occupying City Hall to Demand Housing for Illegal Immigrants
On Friday, six people were charged after they disrupted a meeting of the Seattle City Council last month.
Iris Bordman, Aidan Carroll, Jonathan Duyker, Bennett Haselton, Lauren Kay, and Rosario Lopez Hernandez, were all charged with trespassing after disrupting the meeting with illegal immigrants to demand that the council fund their stay at an area hotel.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Steep Rise in Deportation Flights From Switzerland
A total of 339 asylum seekers were deported from the Alpine country on 49 special charter flights.
These were carried out under the Dublin asylum agreement, the State Secretariat for Migration (SEM) confirmed to the Keystone-SDA news agency, citing a report by the Sonntagszeitung newspaper.
The rise in the number of flights has lowered their overall costs. In 2022, the average cost per person on a special flight was CHF13,000 ($14,500); last year, the figure was CHF7,300.
Outside the EU, special flights were made to Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Central Asia and South America, according to the newspaper. There were 24 deportation flights to African countries last year, including the first flights to Algeria and Iraq. The SEM said in February that many years of development work and confidence-building had paid off.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Super PAC Backing Trump Drops Biden ‘Invasion’ Ad of Border Crisis After Biden Aimed Ad at Latinos
A Super PAC backing former President Donald Trump for 2024 released an ad slamming President Joe Biden on his immigration and border security policies.
“Nobody…Nobody is going to be deported,” Biden said in the ad shared on Trump’s TRUTH Social.
The 15-second ad shows video footage of illegal immigrants storming the southern border and breaking through the wire.
“BIDEN’S INVASION” Trump captioned the ad on his TRUTH account.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
UK Government Forecaster ‘Exaggerating Benefits’ of Migration by €7 Billion
The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), which creates economic forecasts used by the government, has exaggerated the financial benefits of mass migration, a think tank has claimed.
Centre for Migration Control (CMC) researchers accused the body of overestimating the tax contribution of future migrants by £6 billion (€7 billion). Robert Bates, the think tank’s research director, told The European Conservative that “nothing better exemplifies the grim political and economic consensus which has existed around mass migration more than this body.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Alliance Defending Freedom Sues Biden’s FDA Over ‘Removing Key Safeguards’ to Access Abortion Drugs
The US Supreme Court is set to hear arguments on Tuesday over the alleged removal by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of “critical safeguards for the use of chemical abortion drugs.”
Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) is representing four national medical associations and their members, as well as four doctors against the FDA for “unlawfully removing crucial safety standards for pregnant women who use the abortion drugs mifepristone and misoprostol.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
The ‘disproportionate representation’ of William Shakespeare has propagated ‘white, able-bodied, heterosexual, cisgender male narratives’ in theatre, according to a taxpayer-funded study.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
Two LGBTQ, San Diego-Area Educators Arrested on Child Sex Crimes Charges
Two San Diego area educators have been arrested in unrelated cases regarding the sexual abuse of a student and the solicitation of child sexual abuse material from a minor. Both have been revealed to be part of the LGBTQ community.
Charles Thomas Boyd De Freitas, 41, was arrested by the San Diego Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force on March 20 and charged with distributing lewd content to a minor and possession of child pornography, the San Diego Police Department said in a press release.
An investigation was launched after a minor reported that De Freitas had sent and requested illicit images from the minor through a social media app.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
“Chasten Buttigieg—”wife” of SecretaryPete—leads children in pledge “to the rainbow.””
Watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=waMb_-2cYJM
“It’s like a Kafka novel where you wake up and the two year-olds’ve become the mommies…and they’re all authoritarian commies. But it’s not a novel, it’s not a mistake…it’s real, it’s the plan…it’s PAA’s “remaking America”…it’s Obamerica.” —posted to fb (June 2020)
Re: “Russian President Vladimir Putin called the gunmen in the Crocus City Hall attack “radical Islamists,” while suggesting the attack could be linked to Ukraine. Meanwhile, former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said that everyone involved in Friday’s terrorist attack should be executed.”
This admission – if one chooses to call it that – changes nothing as far as the fundamental complicity and/or guilt of the western intelligence services and their surrogates are concerned.
The use of surrogates in asymmetric warfare is nothing new, and neither is the use of ISIS/IS, since it is already a matter of public record that the Obama regime (with Biden as V.P.) used ISIS/IS as proxies to attack the Assad government in Syria. In that conflict, not only was a certain three-letter agency headquartered in Langley, Virginia implicated, but so were British MI-6 and the Turkish intelligence service as well.
One suspects that the people running those entities don’t much care any longer if their roles are known, since they no longer even bother to try and hide their tracks all that well. At least in the old days, spies took their work seriously-enough to at least make a half-hearted effort to conceal their dirty tricks and skulduggery from the citizenry.
Today, even that effort is apparently too much. Or maybe those organizations now suffer as well from the “crisis of competency” which seems to impact so much else within the West these days…
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Paul Weston –
The West Is Heading Toward Dictatorship
https://youtu.be/1-QfgQQkGJU?si=UqRysMMqMjFiLYDa
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Paul Weston – Webb Channel
https://www.youtube.com/@paulweston3663