A Florida man doused himself with an accelerant and set himself on fire this afternoon, yards away from the courthouse in New York City where former President Donald Trump is on trial. The scene was broadcast live on CNN. Bystanders, policemen, and fireman managed to douse the flames. The man is now in intensive care, where he is being treated for severe burns.
In other news, a teenage girl named Andrea Ye, who identifies as Alex, was arrested in Maryland. Authorities said zhe was planning a school shooting.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to Daniel Greenfield, Dean, JW, McN, Reader from Chicago, Roger, SS, Upananda Brahmachari, 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.
Mortgage Rates Sail Past 7% as Market Moves Into Critical Spring Homebuying Season
Mortgage rates sailed past 7%, likely dampening homebuying appetite during the market’s critical spring homebuying season, according to Freddie Mac.
The average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage was 7.10% for the week ending April 18, according to Freddie Mac’s latest Primary Mortgage Market Survey. That’s an increase from the previous week when it averaged 6.88%. A year ago, the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 6.39%.
The average rate for a 15-year mortgage was 6.39%, up from 6.16% last week and up from 5.76% last year.
Homebuyers have seen rates teeter near the 7% market since the start of the year. Borrowing costs are likely to continue elevated as the prospect of a Federal Reserve interest rate cut moves further into the distance.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Biden Administration Announces Anti-Oil Restrictions on 13 Million Acres of Alaskan Petroleum Land
The Biden administration has announced restrictions on oil and gas leasing on more than 13 million acres of an Alaskan petroleum reserve to conserve land valuable to the “Alaska Native people” and “important fish and wildlife,” as Republican lawmakers protest the “illegal” move.
The U.S. Department of the Interior, led by Biden appointee Secretary Deb Haaland, celebrated the restrictions on Friday, saying, “These steps follow President Biden’s actions to protect millions of acres of lands and waters in the Arctic.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
California Loses 2 More Property Insurers in Growing Crisis
Two more insurance companies are ending property insurance coverage in California, adding to the growing list of insurers fleeing the state in what has become an escalating crisis.
Tokio Marine America Insurance Co. and Trans Pacific Insurance Co., both owned by Japanese firm Tokio Marine Holdings Inc., filed notices to California’s Department of Insurance saying the companies would cease offering homeowners insurance and umbrella policies in the Golden State.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
One California assemblywoman is calling the protests that brought traffic to a standstill on the Golden Gate Bridge earlier this week “unacceptable” and declaring the protesters who trapped drivers and first responders for hours need to be held accountable to “the fullest extent of the law.”
Republican Assemblywoman Kate Sanchez, who represents California’s 71st district, spoke to Fox News Digital on Friday about the massive anti-Israel protests that had drivers stuck on the Golden Gate Bridge for up to seven hours.
The anti-Israel agitators shut down traffic on both lanes of the Golden Gate Bridge on Monday, holding signs saying, “Stop the world for Gaza” and “End the siege on Gaza now!”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
A Sports Illustrated swimsuit model is ditching California for Tennessee after Los Angeles’ mayor launched a campaign asking the wealthy to help fund housing for homeless people.
Kristen Louelle Gaffney, who is married to NFL star Tyler Gaffney, said she is fed up with shelling out tax dollars which do little to alleviate the housing crisis.
The model mom-of-three says she has no intention of supporting Mayor Karen Bass’ LA4LA program which was launched earlier this week.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
CDC is Sued for Scrubbing Digital Records
AFL this week sued two federal departments and their chiefs alleging that they illegally destroyed Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) records.
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and its secretary, Xavier Becerra, as well as the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) and Archivist of the United States Colleen Shogan have been named in the filing, which states that their actions amount to a violation of the Federal Records Act.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Chinese Hackers Preparing to ‘Physically Wreak Havoc’ on US Critical Infrastructure: FBI Director
Chinese hackers are developing the “ability to physically wreak havoc on our critical infrastructure at a time of its choosing,” FBI director Christopher Wray said this week.
He added that the hackers are waiting “for just the right moment to deal a devastating blow.”
The hacking campaign, known as Volt Typhoon, has embedded itself successfully in several American critical infrastructure companies that include telecommunications, energy and water, and others, he said.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Coalition to Submit 900,000 Signatures to Put Tough-on-Crime Initiative on California Ballot
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — A coalition backed by retailers like Walmart and Target announced Thursday it has collected enough signatures to put a ballot measure before California voters this November to enhance criminal penalties for shoplifting and drug dealing.
Californians for Safer Communities, a bipartisan group made up of law enforcement, elected officials and businesses, said it has collected more than 900,000 signatures in support of the measure to roll back parts of Proposition 47. The progressive ballot measure approved by 60% of state voters in 2014 reduced certain theft and drug possession offenses from felonies to misdemeanors to help address overcrowding in jails.
In recent years, Proposition 47 has become the focus of critics who say California is too lax on crime. Videos of large-scale thefts, in which groups of individuals brazenly rush into stores and take goods in plain sight, have often gone viral. The California Retailers Association said it’s challenging to quantify the issue in California because many stores don’t share their data.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Sen. John Fetterman, D-Penn., called on the media on Friday to keep a spotlight on Israeli hostages being held in Gaza in a video reminding Americans that Hamas could end “all of the death, destruction and misery” if it simply surrenders.
“All of these hostages, they’ve been up on our walls for over six months and that’s exactly where they’re gonna stay until everyone is brought back home. And I’ll never understand why we’re not talking about that more and why there is not more stories about that in the media,” Fetterman said.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Florida Man Sets Himself on Fire in NYC Across From Trump Trial, Here’s What We Know.
A Florida man is in critical condition after setting himself on fire Friday afternoon, yards away from the courthouse where former President Donald Trump was sitting during jury selection for his corruption trial for 34 counts of falsifying business records.
The New York Police Department identified the man as Max Azzarello of St. Augustine.
According to Jeffrey B. Maddrey, the Chief of Department for the NYPD, police saw Azzarello walk into Collect Pond Park across the street from the New York County Criminal Court at around 1:30 p.m.
Azzarello pulled some pamphlets and a can out of a backpack, Maddrey said during a press conference. After throwing the pamphlets into the air, “he pulls out a canister and pours some kind of liquid on himself, a liquid we believe is an accelerant, and then he lights himself on fire,” Maddrey said. The scene was broadcast live on CNN.
Civilians and NYPD officers rushed forward and tried using coats to put out the fire, Maddrey said, and finally the New York Fire Department was able to extinguish the blaze.
| — Hat tip: Roger | [Return to headlines] |
Florida Man Set Himself on Fire Near NYC Courthouse Holding Trump Trial
A man set himself on fire Friday outside the New York courthouse where the criminal trial of former President Trump was being held, authorities said.
Maxwell Azzarello, 38, a resident of St. Augustine, Florida, entered Collect Pond Park near the Manhattan Criminal Courthouse around 1:30 p.m. and began looking through a backpack he was carrying, the New York Police Department said.
He then took “numerous” pamphlets out and threw them in the air,” said NYPD Chief of Department, Jeffrey B. Maddrey.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Update (1710ET): 37-year-old Max Azzarello has been identified as the man who set himself on fire near the NYC courthouse where Donald Trump’s ‘hush money’ trial is taking place. He is in critical condition in a burn unit, police said Friday.
Before setting himself on fire, Azzarello dropped a stack of pamphlets that led people to the “Ponzi Papers” substack — in which he writes: “My name is Max Azzarello, and I am an investigative researcher who has set himself on fire outside of the Trump trial in Manhattan.”
Azzarello claims that a totalitarian conspiracy is in play, orchestrated by the U.S. government and its allies, aiming to impose a fascist world order.
This extreme act of protest is to draw attention to an urgent and important discovery:
We are victims of a totalitarian con, and our own government (along with many of their allies) is about to hit us with an apocalyptic fascist world coup.
These claims sound like fantastical conspiracy theory, but they are not. They are proof of conspiracy. If you investigate this mountain of research, you will prove them too. If you learn a great deal about Ponzi schemes, you will discover that our life is a lie. If you follow this story and the links below, you will discover the rotten truth of ‘post-truth America’. You will learn the scariest and stupidest story in world history. And you will realize that we are all in a desperate state of emergency that requires your action.
To my friends and family, witnesses and first responders, I deeply apologize for inflicting this pain upon you. But I assure you it is a drop in the bucket compared to what our government intends to inflict.
Because these words are true, this is an act of revolution. —The Ponzi Papers
Azzarello’s manifesto focuses on the financial sector — particularly around recent banking crises and the role of cryptocurrencies. He suggests that the Silicon Valley Bank run, which was linked to Peter Thiel’s actions and the subsequent collapse of Silvergate Bank, was no accident but part of a broader scheme involving cryptocurrencies as a global Ponzi scheme. He claims that cryptocurrencies were designed to destabilize the economy, implicating major corporations and elites in facilitating this financial upheaval. This scheme, he argues, has contributed to global inflation and is poised to cause even greater economic disruption.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Missouri Teen Beaten Into Coma During Violent Brawl is Walking Again
The Missouri teen who suffered major brain bleeding and damage to her frontal lobe after having her head repeatedly bashed into the concrete by a fellow student during a fight last month near is reportedly now able to walk on her own again.
In an update posted to 16-year-old Kaylee Gain’s GoFundMe page, her mother, April, explained that while she is able to move unsupported for short periods of time, the road to recovery will still be a long one.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
New: Massive Foreign Aid Spending Bills Move to the House Floor for Vote
On Friday, it was revealed that House Republicans had, with the help of their Democratic colleagues, succeeded in approving a rule that sets the stage for a vote on four separate bills, three of which relate to foreign aid.
The rule to move forward was passed by a margin of 316 to 94, with more Democrats, 165, than Republicans, 151, voting in favor. Lawmakers are set to vote on the bills by Saturday.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
‘The Gag Order Has to Come Off’: Trump Slams Gag Order in Alvin Bragg’s Falsified Docs Case
Speaking ahead of Friday morning’s court session in Manhattan District Attorney Alivn Bragg’s falsified business documents case, Donald Trump criticized the “rigged” trial brought against him and the “unfair” gag order placed on him by Judge Juan Merchan.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Trial of Ex-FBI Informant Tied to Biden Bribery Allegations Postponed Until After Election
The trial of Alexander Smirnov, the former FBI informant facing charges for alleged false statements concerning the business connections of Joe Biden and Hunter Biden in Ukraine, has been postponed until early December—weeks after the 2024 presidential election.
The trial was initially set to begin in Los Angeles on April 23, but the start date was pushed back following a joint request from special counsel David Weiss and Smirnov’s defense team. They cited the need for extra time to adequately prepare for the proceedings.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
On Friday, Donald Trump slammed Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg’s falsified business documents case against him, calling the prosecution team “corrupt” and the trial a “witch hunt.”
Trump then took aim at President Biden, who he has accused of being behind the indictments, saying that he is the “worst president in history.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Trump Campaign Denies Brian Stelter Press Credentials, Tells Him to Buy Ticket
Team Trump has denied press credentials to multiple left-leaning reporters hoping to cover Donald Trump’s campaign rallies, and they’re not too happy about it.
This includes former CNN chief media correspondent Brian Stelter, who modeled his platform on disparaging Trump and is now a special correspondent for Vanity Fair, as well as other reporters from mainstream publications such as The Washington Post and Axios.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
US House Republicans Challenge Brazil’s Claims on X “Misinformation” Censorship
For a moment, it wasn’t entirely clear why the US Congress (specifically the House Judiciary Committee) decided to step into the feud created by Brazil’s authorities and X owner Elon Musk.
Was it because X was breaking Brazilian law — as alleged by those authorities — or because Brazil was using X, a US company, to enforce censorship?
Now we have some answers. The short version is — House Republicans believe Brazil is abusing “misinformation” claims to clamp down on critics expressing their opinion on X.
The Committee has come out with an “interim staff report,” and the title really says it all, at least as far as this US legislative arm’s stance on the issue: “The Attack on Free Speech Abroad and the Biden Administration’s Silence: The Case of Brazil.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Voter Focus Groups Doom Kamala Harris: Not ‘Someone I Want Running My Country’
Kamala Harris has received “brutal” responses from multiple voter focus groups, spelling doom for the Democrat vice president ahead of the critical November election.
According to a report in The Los Angeles Times, several voter focus groups in Arizona have weighed in on VP Harris and their responses reinforced the notion that she’s an extremely unpopular candidate.
The political group “Republican Voters Against Trump” invited the outlet to view videos of interviews with three different voter focus groups.
The focus groups were interviewed just days after Harris spoke in Arizona on April 12.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
On Wednesday, a protester reportedly participating in Columbia University’s anti-Israel demonstration declared “We’re all Hamas” while shouting down a Jewish man draped in an Israeli flag.
The stunning incident was captured on video, which shows the moment an unidentified female protester, who was wearing a keffiyeh scarf, made the bold claims. According to the New York Post, the incident took place near Columbia University’s Morningside Heights campus.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
“Canadians Are Less Safe Under This Government”: Conservatives Pin Rising Crime on Trudeau
As Canadian crime stats “skyrocket” year-over-year, the Liberal government’s approach to crime has “demonstrably failed” and is making Canadians less safe, the Conservatives claim.
Rob Moore, the Conservative shadow minister, told True North in an interview Wednesday that Canadians feel less safe than they did before Justin Trudeau.
“When people are feeling less safe, it’s because Canadians are less safe under this government,” he said.
“These (stats) are the result of deliberate actions taken by the government in legislation that have created a catch and release (system), which means that in spite of the best work of police to capture someone, our justice system is releasing those individuals back onto the street to re-offend.”
Since Justin Trudeau took office in 2015, violent crime has increased across Canada by almost 40%, homicides are up by 43% and gang-related murders are up by 108%, according to Stats Canada data from 2022.
Despite Trudeau’s gun bans, violent gun crime is up by 101% since he took office. There has been a year-over-year increase in crime for the last four years.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Anger Towards Trudeau Government at Six-Year High: Poll
Canadians are angrier and more pessimistic about Justin Trudeau than ever.
A Nanos survey shows a six-year high for such feelings about the federal government, as it continues to lag in polls.
“Feelings of anger toward the federal government have increased or held steady in every region, with the largest increases among residents of Quebec (December: 12%; March: 24%) and Atlantic Canada (December: 21%; March: 38%),” reads the survey.
“Pessimism and anger remain the top emotions Canadians say best describe their views of the federal government in Ottawa.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Lack of Judges Leads to Man With Repeat Human Trafficking Charges Walking Free
A lack of judges has led to a man having his human trafficking charges thrown out due to delays at Toronto Superior Court for the second time this year.
According to the Toronto Star, Superior Court Justice Michael Code called the federal government’s failure to appoint enough judges an “embarrassment to the administration of justice.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Conservative Party of Canada leader Pierre Poilievre strongly condemned Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s latest federal budget Wednesday, asking who will pay for its new spending programs.
Who pays? Who pays for this latest $50 billion orgy of spending by this costly Prime Minister. We know who won’t pay. It won’t be those with trust funds that protect their millions of inheritance like the prime minister nor the billionaires that invite him to their private Caribbean islands. They’ll hide their money,” Poilievre said.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Belgian PM Takes Flak Over Late Response to NatCon Event Cancellation Attempt
Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo has come under fire in Parliament for allegedly failing to act when Brussels mayors wanted to cancel the National Conservatism (NatCon) conference.
The officials, in particular Saint-Josse Mayor Emir Kir, repeatedly tried to stop the event taking place, without success, kindling a story that made headlines globally over what was seen as an attempt to curtail free speech and the right of peaceful assembly.
The move by Kir to send in the police and prevent people from entering the venue was ruled unconstitutional by Belgium’s highest judicial authority.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
The National Conservatism conference in Brussels has had two venues cancel on hosting the event after facing significant opposition from so-called anti-fascist groups and left-wing politicians.
After settling on a third venue, the conference began on 16 April, though there are still doubts as to whether the two-day conference will be able to run normally and to completion at the end of 17 April. Figures due to appear include German Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Müller, alongside leading European political figures and intellectuals.
They include former MEP and Brexit Party founder Nigel Farage, the previous UK Home Secretary Suella Braverman and the British counter-cultural academic Matt Goodwin, author of Values, Voice and Virtue: The New British Politics. The Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban and former Polish PM Mateusz Morawiecki are due to address the conference also.
[Comment: Article dated April 16, 2024.]
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
EU Capital Markets Proposal is an EU Power Grab, Member States Say
A French proposal to further integrate the European Union’s capital markets drew opposition from a majority of member states, who attacked it as a Brussels power grab.
At the summit, which took place on April 17 and 18, France called for more powers to be given to the EU financial regulator Esma, based in Paris.
Macron’s administration argued that bringing together the EU’s disparate capital markets was the only way to unleash the private investment required to meet the EU’s needs in defence and the “green” transition.
It is “remarkable how quickly consensus is changing in the EU on competitiveness and industrial policy”, commented Gerard Brady, chief economist at Irish business lobby IBEC.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
EU Delighted by Prospect of UK Labour Reneging on Brexit
With Labour highly likely to take office some time this year, the European Union is preparing to pull the UK back into its orbit.
Brussels officials have proposed that Britain sign a free movement-style deal for Europeans in a move that has been widely recognised as a thinly veiled attempt to woo Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer.
Ben Harris-Quinney, chairman of the Bow Group conservative think tank, told The European Conservative that such a deal would “double down on already all-time record immigration, underscoring yet another example of foreign globalist interests riding roughshod over the stated democratic will of the British people” as expressed in the 2016 Brexit referendum.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
EU-Funded Textbooks Helped Radicalise Gazan Children, EP Resolution Claims
European Union-funded textbooks helped to radicalise Gazans in the lead-up to the October 7 Hamas terror attacks on Israel, the European Parliament has stated in a resolution.
The Parliament’s resolution, part of its April 11 discharge document signing off on the EU budget, said educating young people to hate has “direct and dramatic consequences on the security of Israelis as well as on the perspectives of a better future for young Palestinians.”
In future, it added, “financial support from the [European] Union to the Palestinian Authority in the area of education shall be provided on the condition of a national Palestinian curriculum, with reference textbooks and educational material, that is free from anti-Semitic contents and incitement to violence”.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Firing Blanks? ‘Belgian Army’s Ammo Stocks at 7 Per Cent of Capacity, ‘ Says MP
The Belgian army’s stocks of ammunition are dangerously depleted, a Belgian MP has claimed.
Theo Francken of the centre-right N-VA party has presented new information showing that Belgian ammunition stocks are at just 7 per cent of the level required by NATO.
NATO requires member states to maintain a certain minimum reserve of ammunition to ensure the country can fight a defensive war as part of the pact if needed, with some now arguing that the current situation means Belgium can no longer help supply Kyiv.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
France: Man Arrested in Paris After Iran Consulate Incident
PARIS, April 19 (Reuters) — French police on Friday arrested a man who had threatened to blow himself up at Iran’s consulate in Paris, but on being searched was found not to be carrying any explosives.
A police source told Reuters the man was seen at about 11 a.m. (0900 GMT) entering the consulate, carrying what appeared to be a grenade and explosive vest. Police cordoned off the area.
The man later left the consulate and was then arrested, a police source said. The TV channel BFM said he had been carrying replica grenades.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
French Police Detain Man After Alert From Iran Consulate in Paris: Report
French authorities on Friday detained a man after receiving an alert from the Iranian consulate in Paris that someone had entered carrying an explosive, the capital’s police authority said.
“The man has exited the consulate and is being controlled” by police, it said, after a security source told AFP that the mission called in law enforcement following a witness seeing a man enter carrying a grenade or an explosive belt.
| — Hat tip: McN | [Return to headlines] |
French PM Attal Sparks Controversy With Proposed Youth Violence Crackdown
French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal has sparked controversy by proposing new measures aimed at cracking down on youth violence in France.
The proposals are allegedly aimed at “restoring authority” within the French education system after one pupil was beaten to death outside his school, while another was put into a coma as a result of a similar attack.
At a gathering in Viry-Chatillon, Attal vowed strict measures against those who would break France’s laws.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Greek Ruling Party to Run Jailed Politician in EP Elections
Greece’s ruling conservatives have announced that they will run a jailed Albanian politician as one of its candidates for the upcoming European Parliament elections.
The New Democracy party is set to field Fredi Beleris — an ethnic Greek — in the June election in a move that may see the relationship between Greece and Albania sour further.
Elected as the Mayor of Himare in Southern Albania last year, Beleris found himself embroiled in controversy after being arrested on charges of vote-buying just days before assuming office.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Hungary’s Largest Bank Sets Transaction Limit Due to Rising Number of Bank Frauds
Hungary’s largest commercial bank, OTP, has set a transaction limit of HUF 1 million (€2,500) due to rising cases of bank fraud, the bank notified its customers on Thursday.
Last year, there were 18,296 successful fraudulent attempts in electronic payments, but altogether 60,509 attempts were made by fraudsters, according to the Hungarian National Bank (MNB). Victims were damaged by an annual total of HUF 23.2 billion (€58.6 million) last year.
The Hungarian Banking Association has already called attention to the importance of setting a daily limit because, in 2023, 85 percent of fraudulent transactions were over one million forints.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Italian Party Nominates Alleged Antifa Member Detained in Hungary as EP Election Candidate
Ilaria Salis, a woman accused of being part of an extremist far-left group who attacked people randomly in Budapest last year, is standing as a candidate in the European Parliament elections. The Italian political grouping Greens and Left Alliance (AVS — Alleanza Verdi e Sinistra) confirmed the news on Thursday evening that the woman imprisoned in Hungary has been included on its list.
In a statement, AVS said that it had decided, in agreement with Roberto Salis, the father of Ilaria Salis, to put Ilaria Salis, who is being held in Hungary in conditions which they claim “seriously violate people’s rights,” forward as a candidate. The party alliance stressed that the nomination is intended to guarantee the rights and dignity of a European citizen. AVS wants to launch “a great and generous fight on behalf of Ilaria Salis to ensure that the European Union defends the principles of the rule of law.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
MCC Brussels Launches Free Speech Initiative After Attempted NatCon Shutdowns
Responding to a coordinated effort to cancel this week’s National Conservatism conference in Brussels, event organisers MCC Brussels presented a new “free speech declaration,” aiming to rally supporters across the political spectrum and force the Belgian authorities to live up to their “democratic and constitutional responsibilities.”
Free speech forces rallied Thursday in the EU capital, with MCC Brussels hosting a meeting to introduce a free speech declaration and gather support for both an honest intellectual debate and legal responses to future attempts at silencing free speech and cancelling gatherings for ideological reasons.
The declaration, still in its draft phase, was presented by MCC Brussels director Frank Füredi and head of policy, Jacob Reynolds, alongside Flemish senator Bob De Brabandere. Its stated goal is to cultivate a “network of democracy-supporting venues that will not cave in to political pressure” and to support all those whose democratic rights are threatened by censorship, vague invocations of safety concerns, threats, and smear attacks—from whatever political backgrounds.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
The number of unofficial mosques in the Italian capital of Rome being monitored by Italy’s counter-terror agency has nearly doubled in the last 10 years as prayer sites preaching fundamental Islamic teachings encroach on Italian society.
According to a new report by Italy’s interior ministry, a total of 53 unofficial Muslim prayer sites, located in basements and garages across the city, have been identified and are under surveillance for Islamist activity.
This figure has risen from the 30 unofficial mosques flagged a decade ago.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Opposition Calls for Boycott of Moldova EU Referendum
The leader of Moldova’s leftist opposition urged voters on Thursday to boycott a referendum on backing the country’s drive to join the European Union, saying pro-European President Maia Sandu was using the plebiscite to help her win re-election.
Sandu has denounced Russia’s war in Ukraine and identified Moscow and endemic corruption as the biggest threats to the sovereignty of ex-Soviet Moldova, one of Europe’s poorest countries lying between Ukraine and EU member Romania.
She has made EU membership the cornerstone of her policies and called the plebiscite, likely to take place in October, at the same time as a new presidential election.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Polish Man Arrested in Russian Plot to Assassinate Volodymyr Zelensky
Polish police have arrested a man suspected of aiding a Russian plot to assassinate Volodymyr Zelensky, targeting an airport the Ukrainian leader uses for overseas travel.
Prosecutors said the Polish citizen, identified only as “Pawel K” under local privacy laws, had been instructed by Russian handlers to observe security measures at Poland’s Rzeszow-Jasionka airport.
It is unclear whether the suspect passed on any sensitive information about the facility, which Mr Zelensky has repeatedly used to travel to meet foreign leaders since Ukrainian airports closed after the Russian invasion in 2022.
Prosecutors added that the arrest was made based on intelligence provided by Ukraine.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Russian ‘Interference’ at Play Ahead of EP Vote, Warns Jourova
June’s EU elections are at major risk of Russian “interference”, the European Commission’s Vera Jourova has warned.
The Vice President for Values and Transparency warned the Kremlin would likely try to meddle with the upcoming ballot using various cutting-edge techniques at the GMF 2024 Brussels Forum on April 18.
“Elections should be a free and fair competition of real people not of the robots, not of the AI technologies,” she told the forum.
“European Elections must not be a completion of who can use and abuse better the dirty manipulative technologies.”
According to Jourova, the European Union is “filled with foreign interference” and attacks on European democracies “are coming every day”.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Scotland: Former First Minister’s Husband Charged in Party Finance Probe
Peter Murrell, the husband of former head of the Scottish government, Nicola Sturgeon, has been charged in connection with the embezzlement of Scottish National Party funds.
Sturgeon was briefly arrested alongside her husband last year as part of the same investigation into £600,000 of SNP finances which began in July 2021. At that time, neither individual was charged.
Murrell, who was the chief executive of the SNP while his wife was first minister, was re-arrested on Thursday and was interviewed by detectives for nine hours. Sturgeon has not been re-interviewed. Neither has former SNP treasurer Colin Beattie, who was also questioned last year.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
There’s Bad News From Brussels for Polish Homeowners
Every new-build home in Poland must be net-zero compliant on carbon emissions from 2030 onwards, thanks to a new law from Brussels.
All other buildings are expected to achieve this status by 2050; by 2040, there will also be a ban on heating homes with coal and gas, and in just three years these fuels will become more expensive to use in homes.
Deputy Minister of Finance Pawel Karbownik, representing Poland at the Council of the European Union, abstained from voting. Last week, the Council adopted the directive on the energy efficiency of buildings, imposing the obligation to renovate and universally install solar panels, as well the removal of coal and gas furnaces.
Four others also abstained, including those from the Czech Republic and Slovakia, while ministers from Italy and Hungary expressed their opposition. The regulations were supported by 20 countries in all.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Authored by Paul Joseph Watson via Modernity.news
A video out of the UK shows a man being visited at home by two police officers and an NHS psychologist after he expressed anger online about the stabbing of a Bishop in Sydney by an Islamist.
Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel was stabbed by a 16-year-old boy at the Assyrian Christ the Good Shepherd church on Monday night, an attack that was caught on camera.
The teenager walked right up to the bishop as he was giving a sermon and furiously jabbed at him with a knife while shouting “Allahu Akbar” as onlookers desperately tried to wrestle him to the ground.
After the teen was pinned down, he could be seen smirking.
Now a new video has emerged showing how an Orthodox Christian man in the UK received a home visit from police and a psychologist for reportedly posting online, “Christians must stand up.”
The clip shows a female officer explaining how authorities had “a few concerns” about what the man had posted on social media.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
UK Lawmakers Call for Probe Into Shadowy Disinformation Squad
Some members of the British Parliament want an independent review to be done concerning the Counter Disinformation Unit (CDU), following an investigation into its activities by privacy and civil liberties campaigner Big Brother Watch.
CDU is identified by the group as, in addition only to security/intelligence services, operating in “one of the most opaque ways in government.” Big Brother Watch Director Silkie Carlo welcomed the committee’s initiative, but added that “the unit should be immediately suspended and subjected to a full investigation.”
In the recommendations to the government issued by the House of Commons Culture, Media and Sport Committee (DCMS), CDU is additionally suspected of being insufficiently transparent and accountable, with “the appropriateness of its reach” also questioned.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Other men were spotted cycling at the scene outside Island Gardens DLR Station. At one point, a woman is seen with a baby in a pushchair just yards away from the knife-wielding thug.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
Ukrainians Turning Lukewarm on Poland, Survey Shows
In a recent study conducted by the Razumkov Center probing Ukrainians’ perceptions of foreign nations, Poland witnessed a notable downturn in favorability ratings.
The report revealed that while a majority of respondents held positive views towards several countries, including Canada (93 percent), Latvia (93 percent), the United Kingdom (92 percent), Lithuania (92 percent), France (92 percent), and Estonia (91 percent), Poland’s standing faced a significant decline.
Meanwhile, despite Warsaw being one of Kyiv’s biggest advocates throughout the ongoing conflict with Russia, and receiving more Ukrainian refugees than any other country at the outbreak of the war, Poland’s positive sentiment among Ukrainians plummeted to just 58 percent.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
The head of the German army has claimed that Germany is assuming responsibility for NATO’s eastern flank, sparking intense reactions on Polish social media.
On Wednesday, the Chief of the Bundeswehr, General Carsten Breuer, met with the Chief of the General Staff of the Polish Armed Forces, General Wieslaw Kukula. The discussions between the military leaders centered around military cooperation between the European Union and NATO, the current security situation on the eastern flank of the alliance, and both countries’ continued involvement in military and humanitarian assistance to Ukraine.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Viktor Orban: There is No Freedom in Europe Without Hungary
Magyar Nemzet reports that on the morning program of Kossuth Radio, Prime Minister Viktor Orban highlighted the growing global concern over the dangerous state of the world. He particularly emphasized the escalating tensions in Israel, cautioning that it could potentially escalate into a broader conflict involving states. He also noted the absence of peace in the Balkans.
Emphasizing the importance of strategic calmness, Mr. Orban stressed the need to manage the Israeli-Palestinian conflict effectively to prevent loss of life and economic disruption. Regarding the conflict in Ukraine, he advocated for an urgent ceasefire and peace talks, expressing concern over NATO’s involvement potentially exacerbating the situation.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Viktor Orban at NatCon: Immigration is Voter Import
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has delivered his keynote speech during the second day of the National Conservatism (NatCon) Brussels conference. In his address he spoke about the incident when Brussels officials tried to shut down the conference yesterday.
Viktor Orban explained in three points why Hungary, a small nation, had to take the lead on its confrontation with the European liberal majority. First, he said, during the COVID pandemic European officials have created a financial system to blackmail countries “not behaving well ideologically”, called conditionality. Poland and Hungary were blackmailed financially because of their position on gender ideology and migration.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Birbalsingh, 51, who leads Michaela Community School in London, has been at the centre of a High Court row with a Muslim pupil over a prayer ban — but, who is ‘Britain’s ‘strictest headteacher’?
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
Dubai is far from the only place in the world where cloud seeding is used with countries including the US, France , and Australia using the method widely.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
Injuries Reported After Large Explosion at Iraq Military Base
The cause of the blast at the Kalsu facility, in the city of Babylon, hasn’t been confirmed.
The base is used by Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), an umbrella group of dozens of armed groups, and is home to its chief of staff.
A PMF statement said: “An explosion occurred at the headquarters of the Popular Mobilization Forces at the Kalsu military base in the Al-Mashrou district on the highway, north of Babil Governorate.
| — Hat tip: Vlad Tepes | [Return to headlines] |
Israel has conducted strikes on a target in Iran, defying President Joe Biden’s warnings over plunging the Middle East further into conflict.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
Tehran Plays Down Reported Israeli Attacks, Signals No Retaliation
DUBAI/JERUSALEM, April 19 (Reuters) — Explosions echoed over an Iranian city on Friday in what sources described as an Israeli attack, but Tehran played down the incident and indicated it had no plans for retaliation — a response that appeared gauged towards averting region-wide war.
The limited scale of the attack and Iran’s muted response appeared to signal a successful effort by diplomats who have been working to avert all-out war since an Iranian drone and missile attack on Israel last Saturday.
Iranian media and officials described a small number of explosions, which they said resulted from air defences hitting three drones over the city of Isfahan in central Iran. Notably, they referred to the incident as an attack by “infiltrators”, rather than by Israel, obviating the need for retaliation.
A senior Iranian official told Reuters there were no plans to respond against Israel for the incident.
| — Hat tip: JW | [Return to headlines] |
Spy Balloons Are Back: Russia Says it is Shooting Down Ukrainian ‘Terrorism’ Balloons
From drones to trench warfare, Ukraine is the theater where the latest military trends from around the world are played out, so it stands to reason Kyiv has allegedly launched military balloons, a throwback to the Chinese spy balloons that caused such conniptions in the United States in 2023.
Cheap, and extremely long range: large balloons could be a valuable vector for Kyiv’s ongoing attempts to strike Russia’s economy to undermine its invasion of Ukraine. Now Russia says it is shooting down quantities of Ukrainian balloons over its territory, classifying both military “terrorism” balloons allegedly carrying explosives, and what may be observation platforms or decoys described as “Ukrainian weather balloons”.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Ukraine Downs Russian Strategic Bomber After Airstrike Kills Eight, Kyiv Says
KYIV/DNIPRO, Ukraine, April 19 (Reuters) — Ukraine shot down a Russian strategic bomber 300 km (185 miles) from its border on Friday after the warplane took part in an airstrike that killed at least eight people, including two children, in the central Dnipropetrovsk region, Kyiv said.
Missiles rained down on the city of Dnipro and the surrounding region in the early hours, damaging residential buildings, the main train station and wounding at least 28 civilians, regional officials said.
[…]
In a first for Ukraine during the invasion, Kyiv’s air force commander and military spy agency said they had shot down a Russian Tu-22M3 strategic bomber that had fired missiles at Ukraine during the overnight attack.
The warplane, they said, had been flying in Russian airspace 300 km from the Ukrainian border.
An intelligence source told Reuters that Kyiv had used a modified S-200 air defence missile for the attack, but did not say where it had been fired from. The S-200 is a Soviet-era long-range surface-to-air missile system.
Unconfirmed social media footage showed a warplane with its tail on fire spiralling towards the ground.
The Russian defence ministry said the bomber had crashed in Russia’s southern Stavropol region, hundreds of kilometres from Ukrainian-controlled territory, as it returned to base after carrying out a combat mission.
But it said the crash appeared to have been caused by technical malfunction.
| — Hat tip: Dean | [Return to headlines] |
Doctor U-Turns, Issues Public Apology for Pushing COVID Shots
A prominent pro-vax doctor is going viral on social media after making a complete U-turn to issue a public apology for promoting Covid mRNA shots and pushing the injections onto his patients.
Dr. Syafiq Nordin, a restorative medicine doctor from Malaysia, issued a heartfelt apology to his patients and followers for his role in administering the shots.
Nordin revealed that he has received three doses of Pfizer’s mRNA shot himself.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
B Upendran | HENB | Hubli | April 18, 2024:: Neha, a Hindu girl studying MCA in Hubli BVB College, was brutally killed by a Muslim youth Mohammad Fayaz with a knife. Hubli, or Hubballi, is a city in the south Indian state of Karnataka.
Neha was killed because she refused the marriage proposal. It is told that Neha was entangled by Mohammad Fayaz in a Love Jihad trap.
Neha, daughter of Congress Corporator Niranjan Heeremath, was murdered by Fayaz (23), a student of the same college. She was stabbed 9 times and brutally killed by Fayaz in broad daylight…
| — Hat tip: Upananda Brahmachari | [Return to headlines] |
Violent attack on Ramnavami procession by Jihadi people in Shaktipur in Murshidabad. Ramnavami processions are attacked in various places in West Bengal due to indulgence of Police and Administrations.
thumb_12462Rajendra Debnath | HENB | Kolkata | April 17, 2024:: Several areas of Murshidabad’s Shaktipur police station areas became heated on Wednesday afternoon due to the attack of Muslim miscreants on the Ram Navami procession.
According to local sources, a procession on the occasion of Ramnavami was organized by the Shaktipur Ramnavami festival celebration committee on Wednesday. When the procession reached near Shaktipur High School junction, some Jihadi miscreants suddenly started pelting bricks and stones from the roof-top at the Hindu participants of the procession. At least 20 persons were injured in the incident.
Local residents said that even though adequate police and central forces were present before and behind the procession on the occasion of Ramnavami, miscreants did not stop from pelting stones. After that, when the police tried to move the two conflicting sides with batons, suddenly massive bombardment started in the area. Villagers alleged that several bombs were also thrown at the police by the Jihadi criminals.
According to local sources, after evening this clash spread to some other new areas including Kazipara, Manikyahar of Shaktipur police station. Villagers said that many villagers were injured in the attack by miscreants. Three of them are in critical condition. The injured have been admitted to Murshidabad Medical College Hospital and other hospitals in the district. Almost all the top police officials of the district are at the spot. The police are trying to bring the situation under control quickly.
Taking his X handle, the Leader of Opposition in WB and BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari condemned the attack on Ram Navami Processions in various places in West Bengal including Dalkhola, Rishra, Serampore and Shaktipur. Adikari mentioned the ‘lack of intent of Mamata’ and failure of ‘Mamata Police to protect the Ram Bhakts’…
| — Hat tip: Upananda Brahmachari | [Return to headlines] |
Six people were fatally stabbed during a rampage inside Westfield in Sydney ‘s east on Saturday, ending only when a brave police officer shot dead attacker Joel Cauchi.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
Australia’s Communications Minister Tells People to Report Social Media Posts to the Chief Censor
Australia’s Federal Communications Minister Michelle Rowland has urged citizens to report content posted on social sites to what’s known as the country’s “chief censor,” the eSafety commissioner.
Appearing on the ABC Radio Sydney Breakfast, Rowland explained to host Craig Reucassel what the current government thinks should be done about “misinformation.”
Often-repeated assertions were heard that there is dangerous misinformation on social media along with exposure to “reactions and rumors” that traumatize users — because, for example, they are able to view breaking news videos “with no censorship.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Visitors will no longer be able to set foot on one of Australia’s premier tourist destinations under a proposed plan to protect its cultural significance for traditional owners.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
Tritium DCFC and its Australian subsidiaries have gone into administration just a year after Anthony Albanese visited their Brisbane headquarters and praised them as a ‘great success’.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
Terrified mothers have been forced to flee a Melbourne shopping centre with their children after a bloody brawl broke out between a group of machete-wielding men.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
“Putin and Hamas Share a Modus Operandi in the Way They Wage War”: An Interview With Franco Fiumara
Franco Fiumara holds doctoral degrees in Legal Sciences and in Political Sciences. He is a judge in the Criminal Court of La Matanza (Buenos Aires) and is a researcher and lecturer in Criminal Procedure, Human Rights, and Public International Law at the UNLaM (Argentina) and UNG (Paraguay).
We spoke about his proposal for the creation of a Special Tribunal to try war crimes committed by Russia in Ukraine.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Austria to Extend Controls at the Hungarian Border
Austria will extend internal border controls at its borders with Hungary and Slovenia for another six months from mid-May, SchengenVisaInfo reports. The measure was announced by Austrian Interior Minister Gerhard Karner.
The politician announced the extension until November during a visit to the Austria-Slovenia border crossing Spielfeld. He explained the measure as a way to avoid irregular migration and human trafficking. He stressed that “the latest measures and the increased pressure on the borders are having an effect, and human traffickers are already avoiding Austria.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
An outraged Chicago resident spoke out against Mayor Brandon Johnson for re-purposing tax dollars for illegal immigrants shortly before the city is set to vote on a $70 million proposal to bolster sanctuary city resources.
“P-Rae” Easley called out Johnson for the “disrespectful” effort to use residents’ hard-earned tax dollars for the migrant crisis during “Fox & Friends,” but also thanked him for inadvertently uniting the city against the proposal.
“It’s the most disrespectful thing we’ve ever encountered in our lives,” Easley told Lawrence Jones on Friday.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Dem Senator’s Claim Downplaying Border Crisis Resurfaces After Staffer Killed by Illegal Immigrant
Sen. Catherine Cortez-Masto, D-Nev., claimed that there were “no open borders,” just two days before the migrant arrested in a deadly car accident that killed her adviser illegally entered into the U.S.
In a resurfaced video from March 10, 2021, a month when Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) reported over 170,000 migrant encounters at the border, Cortez Masto is seen telling MSNBC that there was “a lot of misinformation” surrounding the southern border crisis.
“There’s no open border,” the Democrat Senator claimed. “As someone who was attorney general for eight years, my state worked very closely on the border with Mexico. There are no open borders.”
Just two days later, on March 12, 2021, an illegal immigrant by the name of Elmer Rueda-Linares reportedly entered at or near the Rio Grande City, Texas, Port of Entry without inspection by an immigration official, ICE confirmed to Fox News Digital. That same migrant would go on to be arrested in connection with the death of one of Cortez Masto’s own senior advisers.
Kurt Englehart, senior advisor to Cortez Masto, was killed in a car collision south of Downtown Reno, Nevada, on April 6, 2024. Rueda-Linares, the illegal migrant driving the vehicle that collided with Englehart, was arrested and charged with failing to stop at the scene of the accident.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
European Migrant Crisis: West African Route Crossings Surge to Record High
The European Union’s Frontex border control agency said this week that illegal migrant crossings of the West African route to Spain’s Canary Islands reached a record high this year.
Between January and March, more than 13,500 illegal boat migrants were recorded crossing the Atlantic Ocean from West Africa to the Canary Islands, marking the highest number logged by Frontex during the three-month period since it began collecting such data in 2011.
The European Union’s border control agency said that the majority of illegal arrivals on the Spanish-owned islands came from the African nations of Mali, Senegal, and Mauritania, the EU-funded InfoMigrants website reports.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
France: Foreigners Committed 77% of Solved Rape Cases in Paris in 2023
With the much anticipated Summer Olympic Games fast approaching, and with Macron’s deeply unpopular government scrambling both to ensure the security of international guests and conceal Paris’s visible degeneration, new crime figures show the capital city in a less-than-favorable light and call into question authorities’ ability to keep women safe.
The figures, recorded by Paris Police Headquarters, revealed that 77% of rape cases in the capital solved in 2023 had been committed by perpetrators who do not hold French passports, with the majority of sexual crimes transpiring in and around tourist areas like Champs de Mars—soon to be packed with visitors to the games.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Missouri AG Threatens ‘Legal Action’ After Kansas City Mayor Opens City to Illegal Immigrants
In a letter from Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey to Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas, the AG warns the mayor not to bring illegal immigrants into Missouri.
The document sent to Lucas stated, “We are a nation governed by the rule of law. Yet, under the current Administration in Washington, DC, laws that don’t align with a radically progressive agenda are simply ignored. Chief among these are laws that prohibit illegal immigration into our country and into the State of Missouri.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Poland Plans to Welcome Foreign Nationals Into Its Police Force to Combat Staff Shortages
The Polish government is considering allowing foreign nationals to become police officers in the country to combat staff shortages.
A report by commercial radio RMF FM has found that the Polish police are attempting not only to remedy unfilled vacancies but also to prepare for the influx of migrants by allowing foreigners to serve in the Polish police. This, they feel, is required to help them combat crime in the migrant communities.
As a result of the war in Ukraine, the structure of the criminal underworld in Poland will change. Today, the Polish police are increasingly interested in citizens of Ukraine, Belarus, and Georgia who are committing many of the crimes. However, EU decisions regarding migration will also have an impact on the development of the police strategy in Poland.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
A Somali migrant is standing trial in Germany accused of stabbing his sister to death with a kitchen knife on her 23rd birthday to restore her honor after disagreeing with her assimilation in Western society.
The public prosecutor told a regional court in Bremen on Wednesday how the defendant had visited his sister’s apartment in the city on the evening of Dec. 9 last year intending to kill her.
It is the prosecution’s case that when the 23-year-old victim opened her front door to welcome her brother, she was stabbed several times with a kitchen knife to her upper body. A post-mortem showed that two fatal stab wounds penetrated her heart and lung, and despite the best efforts of emergency responders, she died at the scene.
The evidence against the defendant includes a telephone call made by the Somali national to the authorities at the time of his sister’s death during which he can be heard saying, “I just killed my sister. Do you understand?”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Americans of all stripes are scared about criminals slipping in to the US among the influx of migrants, suggesting Donald Trump’s rhetoric about the border resonates with voters, our poll shows.
Fully 76 percent of voters said they were worried about killers, rapists, and thieves sneaking across the US-Mexico frontier, a DailyMail.com/TIPP poll of 1,432 voters found earlier this month.
A fifth of them said they were not concerned, and 3 percent said they were not sure.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
“Defund NPR Act” Introduced in House Over Bias, “Radical, Left-Wing Activist” CEO
Rep. Jim Banks (R-IN) has introduced the “Defund NPR Act” to pull federal funds from National Public Radio, after veteran journalist Uri Berliner — who resigned this week following a suspension for penning a scathing article which exposed the network’s far-left bias, including the fact that the outlet’s DC bureau employs 87 registered Democrats and no Republicans, the Daily Caller reports.
What’s more, NPR CEO Katherine Maher — who once bragged about taking censorship orders from the feds as the head of Wikipedia, and said during a Ted Talk that “truth” is a “distraction” which is “getting in the way of getting things done,” was called out for years worth of woke diatribes on X (formerly Twitter), including calling herself “someone with cis white mobility privilege,” anger towards white men for flying business class, and defending looting.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
The Biden administration’s new rules for Title IX enshrine the concept of gender identity, over biological sex, as something to be protected, and rollback protections for those who are accused of sexual misdeeds that were put into place under the Trump administration.
The rules take effect August 1, before the start of the new school year.
Protections and set asides that were meant for women and girls are now legal protections for men and boys who say they are female. The issue of participation in sports was left out of the new rules, with a separate rule already proposed that would eliminate blanket bans on cross-sex participation in sex-segregated sports.
The new rules reverse the due process protections for those accused of sexual assault or harassment on unversity campuses. Under Trump’s rules, accused persons were entitled to live hearings where complaints against them could be adjudicated and had the right to face their accusers.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Finland: Biblical Beliefs on Trial: Päivi Räsänen ‘Hate Speech’ Case Appealed to Supreme Court
Former Finnish Interior Minister Päivi Räsänen, who has been tried and unanimously acquitted by two courts, has had her free speech case appealed to the country’s Supreme Court. The prosecution calls for tens of thousands in fines.
Räsänen, a medical doctor and active parliamentarian, was first investigated in 2019 for a tweet that questioned the involvement of her church in a Helsinki LGBT ‘Pride’ event, with reference to the Bible’s Book of Romans, chapter 1, verses 24-27: “The men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Girl Scouts Chapter to Host ‘Ghost Throuple’ Influencer at Empowerment Events
The Girl Scouts of America are hosting a lesbian “ghost influencer” who claims to be involved in a throuple with her ghost hunter girlfriend and a 6’6” tall, blonde, blue-eyed ghost man.
“We’re teaming up with inspiring professional women to host a series of workshops at our first annual Thrive event on Saturday, April 20th!” Says the Girl Scouts of American North Carolina Coastal Pines chapter, introducing Rebekah the Ghost Guide.
What they don’t tell you is that Rebekah the Ghost Guide, otherwise known as Rebekah Carmichael, has claimed to be intimately involved with a ghost called Rupert, who apparently was a British soldier from Wales in pre-Revolutionary America.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
A Maryland teenager was arrested after law enforcement officials uncovered a plot to commit school shootings, officials said Friday.
Andrea Ye, 18, of Rockville, who goes by Alex, allegedly wrote a 129-page manifesto detailing the strategy to commit a mass shooting at Thomas Wootton High School in Montgomery County. Ye was arrested on Wednesday.
Investigators uncovered the alleged plot through a review of Ye’s writing and internet searches, authorities said. In the manifesto, Ye allegedly wrote about targeting an elementary school and expressed a desire “to be famous.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Most Women Athletes Oppose Trans-Identified Male Players in Women’s Competition
The majority of prominent female athletes do not support trans-identified biological men competing in women’s sports, according to a new study published in the Journal of Sports Sciences.
The report found that 77 percent of world-class female athletes felt it was unfair for transgender women to compete in their respective sports, while 15 percent said it was fair.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
New Swedish Law Lowers Age to Change Legal Gender to 16
The Swedish Parliament on Wednesday passed a highly controversial law that will make it easier for people to change their legal gender and lower the age for doing so from 18 to 16, despite strong criticism from parts of the government coalition, Swedish media report. The law also lowers the threshold for sex change surgery by removing some requirements.
The move comes despite many Christian Democrat and Sweden Democrat MPs expressing concern that more research on gender dysphoria should be carried out before such a law is approved, and pointing out that other mental health problems are common in people requesting to change genders—something verified by British pediatrician Hillary Cass in a recent report.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Polish MEPs Calling on Donald Tusk to Make Abortion Legal Even if it is Against Constitution
Authored by Olivier Bault, from the Ordo Iuris Institute
The battle for the right to life is on in Poland, and the success of the National March for Lifein Warsaw last Sunday shows that the country of Saint John Paul II remains an exception in today’s Europe, even when it has a very left-liberal, pro-EU government. This was one of the biggest pro-life marches ever in the Polish capital, and the crowd, albeit very different, was no less numerous than during the biggest of the pro-abortion “black protests” in late 2020, after the country’s Constitutional Tribunal had banned abortion based on a baby’s prenatal abnormality or serious illness. I was at both, and the first part of both marches’ itineraries were identical, which made comparison easier.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
The Unreal Politics of Unreal Men
“Social media isn’t real life.” It’s a phrase we hear a lot. But is that really true?
When Congress threatened to block China from controlling TikTok, the company riled up a mob of tweens to threaten Congress. If the Senate gives in, the outcome will be real enough.
TikTok certainly is real life. If you doubt it, look at the rate of teenage girls who have themselves mutilated because of trans trends on the app, even younger girls who killed themselves over material in the app’s algorithm or the spread of verbal or motor ‘tics’ to teens over the platform.
Social media isn’t real in the same way as the wind and the rain, or the laws of physics or economics, it’s an alternate reality spread through the internal realities of our minds.
Before social media, there was just media, the concentration of mass media, radio, film and newspapers that wrecked much of the twentieth century and killed millions of people. It is no coincidence that some of the most destructive social and political movements arose in line with the growth of the media. It’s impossible to imagine Nazism or Communism without the media.
What made people think that the Third Reich or the Communist revolution were viable? The Communists and Nazis were savvy propagandists who took full advantage of newspapers, film and all the elements of modern spectacle to concoct an alternate reality for millions of people. The crowds at Hitler rallies or Communist marches were living in their own version of the real world. And it was not until Hitler shot himself in his bunker or the Berlin Wall fell that they woke up to find that everything they believed had been as delusional.as anything on TikTok.
Social media is more unreal than media because, like Hitler rallies, it’s a mutual fantasy. TikTok denizens take that to the next level through triumphs over reality by claiming, for example, that Helen Keller never existed. Like a magical world, social media is a place where people can create their reality and then use intimidation and peer pressure to enforce it on others.
In this state of affairs, millions will believe that men can become women. And vice versa.
| — Hat tip: Daniel Greenfield | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Medical Society Seeks to ‘Eradicate’ Transphobia
The Chartered Society of Physiotherapy in the U.K. has issued two statements this month regarding its support of transgenderism and its goal of eradicating the evil fear of transgenderism from the medical profession.
“The CSP opposes transphobia. We are committed to eradicating it from our profession,” the April 10 statement said, after which it lauded the statement as a milestone for LGBTQIA+ rights in another statement on April 11.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Wikipedia Co-Founder Blasts Successor Katherine Maher, Says NPR Should ‘Let Her Go Right Away’
Wikipedia co-founder Larry Sanger took aim at his successor, Katherine Maher, whose past comments about free speech have resurfaced since taking over the now scandal-plagued NPR as its CEO and president.
City Journal’s Christopher Rufo has been unearthing comments Maher had made during her tenure as executive director of the Wikimedia Foundation.
In one clip Rufo shared Thursday morning, Maher criticized Wikipedia’s founding mission of being “free and open,” something she said ended up “recapitulating” power structures and how its content was based on the “White male Westernized construct.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
“Russian ‘Interference’ at Play Ahead of EP Vote, Warns Jourova June’s EU elections are at major risk of Russian “interference”, the European Commission’s Vera Jourova has warned.”
Our Ukrainian Prime Minister of the Czech Republic has just visited the USA and he and the 3 directors of the 3 Czech intelligence services went on an audience behind closed doors at Langley.
It is a common understanding over here that he went there for instructions, how to govern our Protectorate, that seems to be a bit upset about the way the USA is exploiting its European Allies.
One of the instructions he gotten, I heard, was that the Czech Republic is tasked with constructing a Euro-Russia Gate with election interference and everything – because the CIA knows that the controlled parties in the EU are losing ground.
Our Ukrainian Prime Minister and his crew of spineless liars/criminals with strong Bolshevik background are just the right men and women for this job. Their parents worked in political trials and opposition silencing – now their children can continue with the legacy.
It will probably be rather stupid case, but it will be a case against the opposition parties (AFD, etc.), brought to you by – The Ukrainian Government of the Czech Republic.
Should have just let the Germans in 39 keep you.
I don’t think that was an option, the Germans in 39 wanted to genocide the Jews and the Gipsies first, and the Czechs would be next. Thank you very much.
Now we are controlled from Germany which is controlled from the USA, the Czech Republic is doing German-US bidding, these days, minus the genocide.
“The Palestinian Authority’s General Security Service has apparently admitted to USING AMERICAN MONEY….TO PAY THE FAMILY OF TERRORISTS from Jenin.” —Jerusalem Post (19 Apr 2024)
https://www.jpost.com/arab-israeli-conflict/american-money-ear-marked-for-pa-security-used-to-pay-families-of-terrorists-from-jenin-report-797855
“[Repeat] Prediction: The question will be: Is Joe Biden [mentally] competent to stand trial?” —posted to fb (Apr 2020)
“It’s time for someone to say the obvious: Joe Biden is an incompetent, anti-American stooge; possibly (even likely) funded by enemies of the United States.” —posted to fb (Aug 2021)
Order the Happy Meal and keep takin’ the pills, comrades.. Just keep takin’ the pills..
Fred, you already know the answer to your own question, Bidum will be declared incompetent to be held accountable for anything, the folks running the Executive Branch will point fingers at Bindum and that will be that fait acompli. The rest of us will be left holding the bag. Business as usual, until the dollar falls through the floor, then the US will be unrulable, ready made Balkan states by race, religion and nationalistic or marxist in nature. The Republic is dead, long live the Republic.