The Trump campaign announced today that it had raised $52.8 million in the 24 hours following the guilty verdict against the former president. Meanwhile, Elon Musk said that the verdict was “troubling indeed”.
In other news, an incendiary device was thrown at the front doors of a synagogue in Vancouver, British Columbia.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to Dean, DV, JW, Reader from Chicago, Roger, Upananda Brahmachari, 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.
Actor Charged With Attempted Murder in Stabbing of Estranged Girlfriend in Sunland
Nick Pasqual — who was named in a restraining order recently sought by the woman — allegedly broke into her home at about 4:30 a.m. last week and stabbed her multiple times, according to the District Attorney’s Office.
Pasqual allegedly fled the scene and was subsequently detained at a U.S.-Mexico border checkpoint in Sierra Blanca, Texas, prosecutors said.
The woman, identified in media reports and on a GoFundMe page as makeup artist Allie Shehorn, was initially hospitalized in an intensive care unit, but has since been moved out of that unit, according to the fundraising site. More than $103,000 was raised as of Friday afternoon. The page states that Shehorn was attacked by her ex-boyfriend.
A day after the attack, an arrest warrant was issued charging Pasqual with one count each of attempted murder, first-degree residential burglary with a person present and injuring a spouse, cohabitant, fiance, boyfriend, girlfriend or child’s parent, according to the District Attorney’s Office.
The charges include allegations that Pasqual inflicted great bodily injury on the victim under circumstances involving domestic violence and that he personally used a knife during the crime, according to the District Attorney’s Office.
Pasqual was expected to be extradited to Los Angeles County.
| — Hat tip: DV | [Return to headlines] |
Alan Dershowitz: SCOTUS ‘Would Almost Certainly Reverse the Conviction’ in Trump Trial
Harvard Law School Professor Emeritus Alan Dershowitz slammed Democrats over the Trump hush money trial, saying New York District Attorney Alvin Bragg “made up a crime out of whole cloth” to bring a case against former President Donald Trump. He cautioned that “the real loser is the American public” because of the precedent set by this case, and predicted that the judge would sentence Trump to time in prison, but would suspend the sentence instead of actually sending the former president to jail. Dershowitz also gave his perspective on Trump’s chances on appeal, saying the Supreme Court would probably not get the case until after the 2024 election, but they would most likely reverse the conviction.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
A seething mob of anti-Israel protesters busted inside the Brooklyn Museum Friday, where they set up an encampment, defaced artwork and draped a banner from the side of the building declaring the war in Gaza “genocide.”
The intruders — who were the vanguard of a massive demonstration nearly 1,000 people strong — scaled the building and rappelled down inside of the art museum with climbing equipment, police sources said.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Biden Flashes Smug, Toothy Grin When Asked About Trump Being a ‘Political Prisoner’
President Joe Biden flashed a smug, toothy grin after a reporter asked him about former President Donald Trump considering himself a political prisoner at his hands.
“Can you tell us, sir — Donald Trump refers himself as a political prisoner and blames you directly. What’s your response to that, sir?” a reporter asked Biden after the 81-year-old concluded his remarks on Friday in which he defended the conviction of Trump.
The reporter asked the question as Biden began to walk away after concluding his address. But after the question was posed, Biden stopped in his tracks, looked over to the reporters, and grinned, flashing his teeth.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Breaking: Elon Musk’s X Set to Host Live Town Hall With Donald Trump
Donald Trump is set to take part in a live town hall hosted by X in partnership with NewsNation. The former president’s team accepted the invitation, though the date and exact details have not yet been revealed.
Fellow presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has also confirmed he will take part in a separate town hall on the social media platform. The invitation was extended to Joe Biden as well; however his campaign has not yet agreed to take part.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Brooklynites Upset About City-Soros-Funded Group Distributing Needles, Crack Pipes on Sidewalk
Residents of the Clinton Hill neighborhood in Brooklyn are outraged over a harm-reduction group that gives out drug paraphernalia on the street — leading to what they say is a weekly invasion of a dozen or so heroin and crack users, some of whom use in plain sight.
The group — funded with millions of dollars from the city and cash from George Soros’s foundation — hands out free needles, crack pipes and even devices to “cook” heroin, every Wednesday at the top of the entrance to the Clinton-Washington Avenue subway station on the C line.
“They’re shooting up,” Stephanie Cole, who lives next to the subway, told The Post.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Business is Booming to Drive People Across Scary Bridges After the Baltimore Bridge Collapse
Have you got an irrational fear that hits when you head out on a drive? For me it’s a worry that a tree will fall off the back of a logging truck and smash through the front windscreen. For other people it’s driving across long bridges. If you fall into the latter camp, then you might be interested to hear that there are people who will drive you across a bridge if you’re too scared, and business is booming after the Baltimore bridge collapse earlier this year.
On the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, there’s a whole industry dedicated to ferrying frightened passengers across the four-mile span, reports the Washington Post. In Virginia, Kent Island Express has been taking passengers across the Chesapeake Bay Bridge for more than 20 years, charging $40 per crossing or $50 if you pay with a card.
Now, ever since Baltimore’s Key Bridge collapsed after it was hit by a container ship, demand for the service is on the rise. More and more drivers are beginning to fear for their safety on America’s bridges, and services such as Kent Island Express have become the only way for some to get around.
| — Hat tip: Roger | [Return to headlines] |
CHICAGO — The city’s watchdog agency is sounding the alarm about Chicago police’s “insufficient training” for crowd management ahead of the Democratic National Convention.
While the report from Inspector General Deborah Witzburg’s office details improvements the Chicago Police Department has made to written crowd control policies, it also highlighted concerns that those policies included “outdated concepts” and lacked public input.
The new policies are a result of a 2021 review from the city’s watchdog agency following the police department’s mishandling of mass protests in response to the murder of George Floyd in 2020.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Students at Columbia University set up a new anti-Israel encampment on campus Friday night as the school hosts alumni weekend.
The defiant demonstrators — members of Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine — set up camp on the Manhattan campus’ south lawns alongside a giant white party tent already in place for the alumni event festivities that end Saturday.
“We’re back bitches,” declared one sign the protesters put up, video from the New York Times shows.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
DC Attorney Discipline Board Recommends Giuliani be Disbarred Over 2020 Election
The Washington D.C. attorney discipline board recommended on Friday that Rudy Giuliani is disbarred over his role in preventing the transfer of power in the 2020 elections.
Giuliani’s law license has already been suspended in Washington D.C.and the state of New York in 2021. A New York appeals court ruled that there was enough proof that Giuliani “communicated demonstrably false and misleading statements to courts, lawmakers and the public at large” in his efforts to overturn former President Donald Trump’s failed 2020 reelection bid.
The former New York City mayor has also landed in hot water for his efforts to overturn the election results in Georgia. He was among 18 of Trump’s co-conspirators to be indicted in the Peach state.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Eight Senate Republicans Vow to Block Democratic Initiatives and Nominations After Trump Verdict
A handful of Senate Republicans on Friday vowed to block major Democratic legislation and White House nominees for top positions in retaliation of a guilty verdict against former President Donald Trump on Thursday.
Trump was found guilty of 34 felony charges related to falsifying his business records in order to hide a hush money payment to former porn star Stormy Daniels. Trump has maintained his innocence, and vowed to appeal the ruling in a speech Friday.
The group of eight Senate Republicans, led by Sen. Mike Lee of Utah, accused the White House of making “a mockery of the rule of law,” and said they would not support any political or judicial nominees, any “expedited” Democratic legislation, or authorize an increase in funding for non-security related agencies within the administration.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Elon Musk Reacts to Trump Guilty Verdict: ‘Troubling Indeed’
Elon Musk said Thursday that the verdict in the trial against former President Donald Trump was “troubling indeed” and that the events did “great damage … to the public’s faith in the American legal system.”
Musk posted a response to billionaire Bill Ackman sharing a post from Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis that read, “Today’s verdict represents the culmination of a legal process that has been bent to the political will of the actors involved: a leftist prosecutor, a partisan judge and a jury reflective of one of the most liberal enclaves in America—all in an effort to ‘get’ Donald Trump.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), told Congress he was not “involved” in a controversial grant to the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) — and still denied that gain-of-function research occurred there, according to newly released congressional testimony.
The House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic released transcripts Friday of a two-day interview with the ex-Biden White House COVID czar held in January, during which Fauci said “more than 100 times” that he “did not recall” information about the grant process, reasons for US pandemic restrictions and other details of the outbreak that killed hundreds of thousands of Americans.
“It sort of just appeared. I don’t recall,” Fauci said of the six-feet social distancing mandate imposed on federal agencies, businesses and schools.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Former Illinois Governor: ‘My Fellow Democrats’ Are ‘Destroying the Rule of Law’
Illinois’ former Governor Rod Blagojevich, a Democrat, has slammed his own party for “destroying the rule of law” by weaponizing the justice system against political opponents.
Blagojevich lambasted members of his own party on Thursday in response to the “guilty” verdictreached by the jury in President Donald Trump’s so-called “hush money” trial.
He accused his “fellow Democrats” of “coordinated prosecutions” against Trump.
In response to the guilty verdict, Blagojevich urged Democrats to vote for Trump in the November election.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Jack Smith Repeats Request for Trump Gag Order in Classified Documents Case
Special Counsel Jack Smith repeated a request on Friday, for a gag order against former President Donald Trump in his classified documents case, after the former president made inflammatory comments about law enforcement in the case.
Federal Judge Aileen Cannon, a Trump appointee, rejected Smith’s previous request for the gag order on Tuesday, claiming the motion was “wholly lacking in substance and professional courtesy.” In his request, Smith alleged that Trump’s comments on law enforcement “pose a significant, imminent, and foreseeable danger to law enforcement agents.”
Trump claimed last week that President Joe Biden was “locked and loaded” and ready to take him out, which was similar to rhetoric he used when talking about the FBI. Attorney General Merrick Garland has slammed the remarks, and the FBI said it followed standard protocol when raiding Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in 2022. Trump was not home at the time of the raid.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Following Donald Trump’s conviction on Thursday, Jordan Peterson offered his prediction regarding what would happen as a result of the historic ruling. He claimed that the guilty verdict would only cause the former president to grow in popularity among his supporters, and that he would “outlast” the New York Times, which said the decision gave Joe Biden a new way to frame the presidential race.
The Canadian psychologist also warned that the first time an American president was tried and convicted of a crime could also mark the last time those living in the nation ever trust the justice system.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Lawsuit Demands Misdated Mail-in Ballots Counted in Pennsylvania
A left-wing legal group has filed a lawsuit that demands misdated mail-in ballots are counted in Pennsylvania’s elections.
The new lawsuit challenges the validity of a state law concerning mail-in ballots, aiming to transform the way votes are counted.
Spearheaded by the leftist American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the lawsuit has been initiated to contest a Pennsylvania statute.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Left-Leaning Groups Sue GOP-Led States Over Voter Registration Drive Laws, Despite Fraud Concerns
Left-leaning organizations are suing Republican-led states over voter registration drive laws, despite the concerns of state legislatures about voter fraud.
As states are focusing more on implementing stricter guidelines on third-party voter registration groups, several liberal-leaning organizations are suing over the laws, arguing that the restrictions violate the U.S. Constitution. However, numerous investigations have been conducted over the recent years because of voter registration fraud.
According to the Movement Advancement Project, 25 states have no restrictions on voter registration drives, while 23 do have restrictions. New Hampshire and Wyoming don’t allow such drives at all.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Massive Haul: Trump Campaign Raises Over $50 Million After NY Criminal Trial Verdict
Former President Donald Trump on Friday announced a sizeable fundraising haul in the wake of his guilty verdict in Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s hush money case.
A New York jury on Thursday found Trump guilty on 34 counts of falsifying business records after a weeks-long trial. The verdict appears to have energized his supporters, however, as the campaign’s donation page crashed, evidently due to the volume of traffic.
The campaign on Friday initially announced it had brought in $34.8 million in small dollar donations, marking a near-doubling of its single largest day total on WinRed. Later, it updated the total to $52.8 million raised in the 24 hours following the verdict.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Media Hall Monitors Are Annoyed About Investigations Into Demonetization Bias
A trade group representing the advertising industry, currently under scrutiny by Congress for possibly coordinating with large companies to demonetize conservative and independent media, has expressed concerns over the impact of this probe on their operations.
The group, identified by sources as the Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM), told Business Insider that the congressional actions led by Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) are hampering their ability to focus on new initiatives.
Rep. Jim Jordan, who chairs the House Judiciary Committee, has accused GARM of preventing companies from placing ads with media outlets that are seen as promoting “misinformation,” specifically targeting mainstream conservative platforms such as Fox News, The Daily Wire, Breitbart, and more.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Naked Chicago Police Carjacker, Who Dragged Officer, Found ‘Not Guilty’ by Reason of Insanity
A Chicago woman who allegedly stole a police squad car and dragged an officer, all while naked and on camera, was found not guilty.
Whitley Temple, 35, was acquitted of all charges Wednesday after a judge agreed with her mental insanity defense.
Cook County Judge Tyria Walton found her not guilty on one count of attempted murder and also found her not guilty by reason of insanity on two counts of aggravated battery to a police officer, vehicle hijacking and possession of a stolen vehicle, local station WBBM-TV reported.
While Temple will remain free, she must report to court for a meeting with mental health officials on a treatment plan, according to the outlet.
Temple faced charges after police said she stole a police car and dragged an officer who found her lying naked on a street in West Garfield Park on June 13, 2022.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
NYC Teacher’s Groups Push Anti-Israel Walkout by Hundreds of Public School Students
Hundreds of New York City kids walked out of school Friday and staged a pro-Palestinian protest that was promoted by several radical teacher groups.
Some 350 students had descended on the Department of Education headquarters at the Tweed Courthouse in Lower Manhattan starting by 4 p.m.
They were seen waving signs on the front steps of the building calling for a cease-fire in Gaza and describing Israel’s military offensive on the region following the Oct. 7 terror attack as “genocide.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Pence Warns Trump Conviction Sends ‘Terrible Message’ to the World About US Judicial System
Former Vice President Mike Pence broke his silence on Friday, regarding his former boss’s conviction of 34 felonies, claiming the verdict was a “disservice to the nation,” and sent a “terrible message” to the rest of the world about the United States judicial system.
Former President Donald Trump was convicted on all 34 counts of falsifying business records to hide the hush money payment. Trump has maintained his innocence and said he will appeal the ruling. He will be sentenced on July 11.
Pence, who served as Trump’s vice president from 2017-2021, said the verdict was an “outrage” and accused the court of becoming a tool used for political purposes.
“The conviction of former President Trump on politically motivated charges is an outrage and disservice to the nation,” Pence told Fox News. “To millions of Americans, this was nothing more than a political prosecution driven by a Manhattan DA who ran for office on a pledge to indict the former president and this conviction undermines confidence in our system of justice.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Police Arrest 80 at Israel-Hamas War Protest at UC Santa Cruz, School Says
Police in riot gear surrounded arm-in-arm protesters Friday at the University of California, Santa Cruz, to remove an encampment and barricades where pro-Palestinian demonstrations have blocked the main entrance to the campus this week. Dozens were arrested, the university said.
Campus, local and state police swarmed the protesters, and video from local news stations showed officers telling people to leave, then taking away signs and part of a barricade. There appeared to be some pushing and shoving between police and protesters. Officers carried zip ties and appeared to detain a few people.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Renowned Cardiologist Issues Red Alert: ‘Cardiac Arrests Are Skyrocketing’
One of the world’s leading cardiologists has issued a major public warning over the “skyrocketing” number of cardiac arrests among people vaccinated with Covid mRNA shots.
Dr. Peter McCullough, one of America’s most cited heart specialists, is warning that cardiac arrests have spiked by 25% in vaxxed people.
McCullough raised the alarm by highlighting data from Seattle, Washington.
As the top cardiologist notes, Seattle has the highest vaccination rate in the country.
98 percent of the population of Seattle has received at least one dose of the Covid injections.
“The best paramedic system in the United States” is reporting a staggering “25% increase in cardiac arrest in Seattle,” McCullough revealed during an interview with Infowars.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Sen Joe Manchin Quits Democrats Citing ‘Partisan Extremism, ‘ Registers as Independent
Centrist Senator Joe Manchin (I-WV) has finally quit the Democratic Party and registered as an independent.
In a Friday statement about the move, Manchin cited “partisan extremism” which he says is “jeopardizing our democracy.”
Manchin is not running for re-election in the Senate.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Soros Heir Urges Democrats to Hammer Trump as ‘Convicted Felon at Every Opportunity’
Progressive megadonor George Soros’s son and heir to his enterprise advised Democrats on Friday to emphasize former President Trump’s status as a “convicted felon,” after he was guilty by a New York jury on charges filed by district attorney that the powerful Soros family helped elect.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Students Sue Indiana University Over “Bias Incident” Reporting System
Following our recent reporting about the rise of “bias incident” reporting systems on college campuses, threatening free speech, Speech First has filed a lawsuit against Indiana University and several of its officials, challenging the university’s bias incidents policy. The lawsuit, filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Indiana, alleges that the policy infringes on students’ First and Fourteenth Amendment rights.
We obtained a copy of the lawsuit for you here.
Speech First, a nationwide membership organization dedicated to preserving civil rights and free speech, claims that Indiana University’s “bias incident” policy stifles open discourse and chills protected speech. The policy defines a bias incident as “any conduct, speech, or expression, motivated in whole or in part by bias or prejudice meant to intimidate, demean, mock, degrade, marginalize, or threaten individuals or groups based on that individual or group’s actual or perceived identities.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
‘Trump Will Now Win Big’: Europe Reacts to Trump Trial
“I feel more certain this morning that Trump will be the 47th President, than I did yesterday”, says Brexit leader Nigel Farage, with many European newspapers saying the trial won’t be as advantageous to Democrats as they might earlier have hoped.
Europe’s newspapers and commentary sphere is full of reactions to Donald Trump’s business records trial in Manhattan finding him guilty on all 34 counts on Thursday night. While the probity of the cases is up for debate, many seem to agree the case will be of limited utility to the Democrats, with Trump supporters doubling down and opponents already voting against, no what.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Trump Campaign Sends Cease and Desist Letter to Virginia’s Bob Good for Implying Endorsement
Former President Donald Trump’s presidential campaign on Friday sent a “cease and desist” letter to Virginia GOP Rep. Bob Good, ordering him to stop trying to imply that the former president has endorsed his reelection.
Lawyers for Trump accused the incumbent of producing signs and other materials that imply Trump endorsed his reelection bid, when Trump endorsed Good’s opponent John McGuire on Tuesday. The lawmaker had also been using Trump’s endorsement from the 2022 primaries to promote his 2024 campaign, according to the Washington Examiner.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Canadian MPs Want ‘Ecocide’ Perpetrators Prosecuted by International Criminal Court
Several Canadian MPs want to see ‘ecocide’ acknowledged by the International Criminal Court as a crime for international prosecution.
The panel held a press conference in Ottawa on Thursday to discuss their support for mass environmental destruction, referred to as ecocide, to be added to the list of crimes that the ICC can prosecute.
Green Party Leader Elizabeth May, Liberal MP Patrick Weiler, and NDP MP Alexandre Boulerice were among the MPs who sat on the panel along with Mia Feldman, Ecocide Toronto’s outreach director and two other organization members.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Ottawa’s Hidden Agenda: Bill C-26 Aims for Secret Surveillance Backdoors
Canada’s Bill C-26, currently making its way through the country’s parliament, includes “secretive” provisions that can be used to break encryption, researchers are warning.
As far as its sponsors are concerned, Bill C-26 is cyber security legislation intended to amend the Telecommunications Act and other related acts.
But the way the Telecommunications Act will be amended is by allowing the government to force companies operating in that industry to include backdoors in networks protected by encryption, a pair of University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab researchers suggest.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Vancouver Synagogue Attacked With “Incendiary Device”
The Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver reported an incendiary device was thrown at the front doors of a synagogue in Vancouver, B.C., making it the third attack on a Jewish school or place of worship in the past week.
At approximately 9:30 p.m. Thursday, an incendiary device was thrown at the front doors of Schara Tzedeck synagogue on Oak Street.
“Thankfully, no one was injured, and damage to the building was minor,” the group reported in a community update Thursday.
It said the Vancouver Police Department and the fire inspector conducted a “thorough” search of the building and declared it safe to reopen.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
“I Am a Daughter of the People”: An Interview With Reconquête’s Sarah Knafo
Sarah Knafo is a French magistrate, member of the Court of Auditors, civil servant, and author. She served as a campaign director for Éric Zemmour’s latest presidential campaign, and is now on the French Reconquête party’s slate of candidates for the upcoming European elections.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Almost Half of Hungarians Oppose Any Aid for Ukraine, Only 16% Support Sending Weapons
A new poll in Hungary shows that 46 percent of Hungarians believe that the European Union should not support Ukraine at any level, which was attacked by the Russians more than two years ago.
According to the poll conducted by Zavecz Research on behalf of 24.hu, 32 percent of those polled are more permissive and would support EU assistance through financial, economic and humanitarian means, while only 16 percent of the population would also send arms and other military equipment to Ukraine.
The poll reveals that Orban’s stance of supporting humanitarian aid for Ukraine while rejecting sending weapons is generally in line with what the population is willing to support, while there are still many Hungarians who want to take the step of cutting off support entirely.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
A shocking video has exploded across social media showing a man stabbing anti-Islam activist and politician, 59-year-old Michael Stürzenberger, during a campaign event in Mannheim.
The bloody and chaotic video shows the man running amok among campaign staff, who are wearing blue jackets, while the man stabs any victim in his sight. The campaign workers scramble to stop the man, who also stabbed a police officer in the neck.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Brussels Takes Censorship Campaign Stateside in California Big Tech Tour
One of the European Commission’s most senior officials, Transparency Commissioner Vera Jourova, is spending the week lobbying the CEOs of major U.S. tech firms, hoping to ensure Brussels’ control of the online political narrative during next week’s European Union elections and beyond, with an additional eye to regulating artificial intelligence (AI) technology.
“She’s not just on an EU-funded trip for the sunshine; she’s there to put pressure on Big Tech to further control what can be said online,” claimed the Brussels-based think tank MCC Brussels, warning that Jourova’s primary reason for visiting Silicon Valley was controlling the political narrative—not promoting innovation.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Bulgarian Party Ready to Join AfD to Create New Right-Wing Bloc
Despite the German Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) having been thrown out of its parliamentary group in Brussels, the party is not without allies.
Kostadin Kostadinov, leader of the Bulgarian right-wing populist party Vazrazhdane (“Revival”) has extended an offer to team up with AfD after the election in a bid to create an eighth group in the European Parliament. Such a formation would be the third national conservative bloc, the furthest to the right on Brussels’ political palette.
According to Kostadinov’s social media post, AfD’s exclusion from the Identity and Democracy (ID) group did not come as a surprise and he was expecting it for a long time.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
EU Slaps Extra Duties on Russian and Belarusian Food Exports
The Council of the European Union adopted a regulation on May 30 to significantly increase tariffs on imports into the EU of certain products from Russia and Belarus. This follows a proposal put forward by the European Commission on March 22, according to an EC press release.
The measures are designed to eliminate imports into the EU of cereals, oilseeds and derived products, as well as dried peas and beet pulp pellets, without affecting exports to third countries and maintaining global food security. The increased tariffs also apply to Belarus, given the country’s close political and economic ties with Russia.
The new tariffs are designed to prevent destabilization of the EU market and protect the EU farming community, address illegal Ukrainian grain exports mislabelled as Russian, and cut off revenue flows that could fund Russia’s continuing war of aggression against Ukraine.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
France Foils Planned Attack on Paris Olympics; Israel’s Mossad Warns of Terrorism Ahead of Games
Radical progressive leaders across the Western world, along with leftist non-governmental organizations, are continuing to facilitate an unprecedented migrant invasion into Europe and the US. This poses a significant national security risk as terror threats surge into summer.
Jumping across the Alantic to Europe, the French interior minister told AP News that security officers foiled an attack ahead of soccer events during the Paris Olympics.
Gerald Darmanin said in a statement that the members of the General Directorate of Internal Security arrested an 18-year-old man from Chechnya on May 22 on suspicion of being behind a plan to attack soccer events that will be held in the city of Saint-Etienne, southwest of Lyon. —AP
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Germany: Controversial Party Song Banned From Oktoberfest
Organizers of this year’s Oktoberfest in Munich, the world’s largest beer festival which draws millions of visitors from Germany and abroad every year, plan to ban the 1999 dance hit “L’amour toujours” by DJ Gigi D’Agostino, which has found a renaissance and surged to the top of the country’s iTunes chart.
The decision follows an incident on the German island of Sylt, near the Danish border, where German youths appear to be “holding glasses of Aperol, rosé, and champagne” singing “Germany for the Germans, foreigners out” to the tune of the song.
Sylt is a popular destination among the wealthy, so the anti-immigration chants by a demographic dubbed “Prosecco Nazis” by Green Party politician Jürgen Trittin goes against the (disproven) narrative that right-wing sympathizers belong to a lower-income, less-educated strait of society.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban discussed with Czech journalists the possibility of him facing political assassination following the shooting of his close ally Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, saying that those on the side of peace are potentially in danger.
“When Robert Fico was shot, I thought of him. From then on, we prayed a lot for my friend’s recovery, but at that time I wondered whether he was a lone assassin or if some organization was behind the act,” said Orban during his interview with Czech XTV, adding that “if it was an organization, then all of us who are now on the side of peace and arguing for peace are in greater danger.”
The Hungarian prime minister noted that many of the reactions were either subdued, made excuses for the killing, or were outright joyous.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Hungary’s Orban Backs Trump After Guilty Verdict: ‘Keep Fighting, Mr. President’
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban declared his support for Donald Trump after guilty verdicts were handed down in his New York City trial on Thursday.
Orban hailed Trump as a “man of honor” and urged Americans to “make their verdict in November” at the ballot box.
“I’ve known President Donald Trump to be a man of honor. As President, he always put America first, he commanded respect around the world and used this respect to build peace,” Orban wrote on social media platform Twitter.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Just Stop Oil Plan to ‘Overwhelm’ UK Police Forces Ahead of General Election
Environmental campaigners aim to target the UK’s busiest roads and bridges ahead of the General Election, GB News can exclusively reveal.
In a worrying development, the activist group has confirmed it plans to protest “on a massive scale”, with hundreds of eco-warriors being mobilised to cause maximum disruption.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Knifeman Wounds at Least Seven at German Demo Against Islamism
German police shot dead a knifeman who attacked an anti-Islamism rally in the German city of Mannheim on Friday. Among the casualties were anti-Islamism activist Michael Stürzenberger and a policeman.
Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said on X that “if the investigation reveals an Islamist motive, then that would be further confirmation of the great danger posed by Islamist acts of violence that we have warned about.” German authorities have been on increased alert for Islamist terrorism since the Hamas terrorist attacks on Israel on October 7th.
Social media footage showed a bearded man attacking people in the city’s central Marktplatz square with a knife. One police officer was fighting for his life in the hospital on Friday evening after having been stabbed at least twice in the head, Bild reported.
Stürzenberger, a well-known anti-Islamism activist and leader of the German branch of Stop Islamisation of Europe (SIOE), was appearing as a speaker at the event, arranged by the grassroots organization Pax Europa. He was targeted by the attacker while standing by an Israeli and a German flag next to a sign saying “Stop political Islam!”
A bystander initially intervened and attempted to stop the perpetrator, as did one of Stürzenberger’s employees, but the knifeman pulled free.
Police, already at the market square to provide protection for the event, initially mistook a Pax Europa security guard for the assailant. As a police officer was holding down the wrong person, the bearded young knife wielding man stabbed the officer in the head.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Populist Deputy Prime Minister of Italy Matteo Salvini reacted to the guilty verdict of former President Donald Trump on Thursday, saying the 45th president is “a victim of judicial harassment” brought on by “the weaponization of the justice system by the left.”
“Solidarity and full support for @realDonaldTrump, victim of judicial harassment and a process of political nature,” Salvini began in a post on X.
In Italy, we are sadly familiar with the weaponization of the justice system by the left, given that for years attempts have been made to eliminate political opponents through legal means,” Salvini continued.
“I hope Trump wins; it would be a guarantee of greater balance and hope for world peace,” the deputy prime minister concluded in his post.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
NATO Report: Air Defense on Eastern Flank of Europe is Critically Insufficient to Counter Russia
The war in Ukraine has underscored the importance of air defense, as Kyiv’s requests for additional systems and missiles to protect cities, military forces, and energy infrastructure from daily air raids demonstrate. However, according to the Financial Times, Europe is woefully unprepared for similar aerial attacks.
Citing sources familiar with NATO’s classified defense plans from last year, the report states that NATO countries can currently provide less than 5 percent of the air defense capacity deemed necessary to protect Central and Eastern European member states from a full-scale attack.
A senior NATO diplomat emphasized the critical nature of air and missile defense in protecting Eastern Europe from invasion, stating, “And right now, we don’t have that.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
New Bureaucratic Office Will Boost EU AI Sector, Commission Claims
A new bureaucratic office set up to help regulate AI will help boost the EU’s competitiveness in the sector, the European Commission has claimed.
The EC’s AI Office, which will be led by an unelected “Head of the AI Office”, was described as necessary for implementing the Artificial Intelligence Act, which greatly restricts how the technology can be developed within the European Union.
In a press release published on May 29, the EC said the new office employing 140 EU civil servants would be key in “fostering an innovative ecosystem by supporting regulatory sandboxes and real-world testing”.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
New Dutch Government to Rely on Far-Right, Pro-Russia FVD for Senate Majority
Thierry Baudet’s far-right, pro-Russian FvD may soon play a significant role in getting the new Dutch government’s plans passed through the Senate. The PVV, VVD, NSC, and BBB coalition are eight seats short of a majority in the Eerste Kamer and will need the support of the right-wing parties there to get their plans passed. The coalition factions in the Senate are not against working with Baudet’s FvD, Nieuwsuur reported.
The new coalition holds 30 of the 75 seats in the Eerste Kamer, the Dutch Senate — the BBB has 16, the VVD has 10, and the PVV has four. The NSC isn’t in the Senate yet. November’s parliamentary election was the first in which Pieter Omtzigt’s party participated.
That leaves the new Cabinet eight seats short of a majority. Early in the formation negotiations, the right-wing parties JA21 (3 seats), SGP (2 seats), and FvD (2 seats) said they were willing to provide seven of those seats. 50Plus was excited to provide the swing vote. And that is still the case, Nieuwsuur found.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Orban Would Welcome EU Right-Wing Merger
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban believes his Italian colleague Giorgia Meloni and Marine Le Pen of the French National Rally should join forces to create a right-wing bloc that would become the second strongest grouping in the European Parliament (EP). In an interview with French weekly Le Point, Orban said:
The future of the sovereigntist camp in Europe, as well as of the Right in general, now rests in the hands of two women. Everything will depend on the ability of Marine Le Pen in France and Giorgia Meloni in Italy to cooperate. If they manage to work together, in a single group or a coalition, they will be a force for Europe.
Marine Le Pen, the former presidential candidate for the national-conservative National Rally (RN), and the current leader of her party’s parliamentary group in the French National Assembly, recently proposed a merger to Giorgia Meloni between the two right-wing groups in the EP: Identity and Democracy (ID) and the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR). National Rally has the largest delegation in the ID, while Meloni is the de facto leader of the ECR.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Poland’s Conservative PiS Party Leads in Opinion Polls Despite ‘Justice Fund Scandal’
The latest opinion polls in Poland have left the left-leaning Gazeta Wyborcza daily in disbelief, as the Law and Justice Party (PiS) emerges once again as the poll leader. This development comes despite adverse reports concerning the misuse of the Justice Fund by politicians from Sovereign Poland, a junior coalition partner of PiS in the United Right government.
According to a poll conducted by Opinion24 for the liberal TVN24 news channel, PiS has now overtaken the Civic Coalition (KO).
If parliamentary elections were to be held next Sunday, PiS would receive 29.8 percent of the vote, just slightly ahead of the KO, which would secure 29.7 percent. The Confederation and the Third Way are behind with 11.6 percent and 11.2 percent, respectively, while the Left enjoys support from 8.3 percent of respondents.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Renew Bigwig Apologises for Comparing People With Autism to German Chancellor
One of Renew’s lead candidates for the EU elections has publicly apologised to all people with autism after comparing them to German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
Free Democratic Party Bundestag MP Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann — or “MASZ” as Eurobubble journalists like to call her — lashed out at the German leader on May 29 for having what she termed “autistic traits”, such as being unable to effectively communicate.
She has now issued a public apology for the statement, saying she deeply regretted comparing people on the autistic spectrum to the left-wing politician.
“I am very sorry that I hurt people with autism with my thoughtless comparison and I apologise to everyone affected,” she said.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Slovenian Police Raid ‘Politically Motivated’, Nova24 Chief Says
The Slovenian police raid of media outlet Nova24‘s offices was “a totally political inquiry” that “has nothing to do with the real police work”, its director Boris Tomasic told Brussels Signal.
Slovenian police confiscated Tomasic’s’ computer and telephone during a raid on both his home and the Nova24 offices on May 29, just days before the European Parliament elections.
Despite this, the director claimed that the outlet planned to push ahead with its elections coverage as planned.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Spain’s Amnesty Law Passes as Opposition Calls PM “Traitor”
Carles Puigdemont, fugitive from Spanish justice, Catalan separatist leader, and MEP, has finally received his long-desired amnesty—at least for now.
Spain’s controversial amnesty law grants immunity from punishment to Puigdemont, other leaders of the 2017 illegal referendum on the independence of Catalonia from Spain, and a wide range of other crimes and criminals simply for being Catalan separatists. It finally jumped its last legislative hurdle yesterday, approved by Spain’s congress of deputies, 177 to 172.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Spain: Stop Using ‘Genocide’ for Gaza; it Gives Palestinians Asylum Claim
The Spanish government has asked officials to stop using the term “genocide” to describe the situation in Gaza, because it gives two million Palestinians living there an instant asylum claim, entitling them to refuge in Spain.
The Spanish website OK Diario reported (via Google Translate):
Foreign Affairs has asked the ministers, internally, to stop using that term “genocide”: it opens the door for Palestinians residing in Gaza, and there are around two million in the entire Strip, to appear at an embassy or Spanish consulate to request asylum. And a ruling from the Supreme Court obliges Foreign Affairs, in those cases, to put the applicant for protection on a plane to Spain…
If Spain officially considers that the systematic elimination or extermination of a human group for reasons of race, religion or nationality is taking place in Gaza, then, by definition, any person who lives in Gaza or has managed to leave there can appear in the Spanish embassy or consulate in Israel, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon or any other country and request asylum urgently. And it must be attended to.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Spanish PM Caught Lying About an Investigation Into His Wife
Newly released documents confirm that Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez knew that his spouse Begoña Gómez was being formally investigated in April, when he wrote to the nation announcing he could resign over the matter.
At the time, the Spanish press had broken the story that Gómez was being investigated on charges of corruption, specifically using her influence as the prime minister’s wife to obtain public funding for certain companies and people. Despite the press reports, Sanchez’s letter denied that his wife was formally under investigation.
On April 24, Sanchez wrote an open letter to the citizens of Spain explaining that he was taking five days off from his public appearances to consider whether he should continue at the helm of the country’s government, in light of the allegations.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden: Iran Uses Criminal Gangs to Carry Out Terror Attacks
Sweden’s Security Service Säpo confirmed on Thursday that the Iranian regime is recruiting criminals to conduct attacks on Jewish targets in the Scandinavian country. This corroborates earlier intelligence reports from Israel’s spy agency Mossad.
At a joint press conference with the Foreign Ministry in Stockholm, Swedish counter-intelligence chief Daniel Stenling described Iran as wanting to use “criminal networks” as “proxies.” He indicated Iran’s chargé d’affaires would be summoned to a meeting on Friday to answer the claims.
Stenling was short on exact details but confirmed that security measures were being increased on potential Jewish targets. Mossad has already indicated that underworld networks in Europe could be weaponised against the upcoming Summer Olympics in Paris.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Swedish Security Service Says Iran Uses Criminal Networks in Sweden
Sweden’s security service said on Thursday that the Iranian government had been using criminal networks within Sweden to carry out violent acts against other states, groups and individuals.
The Security Service said that Iran had targeted the interests of other states in Sweden, and specifically Israel, and had also sought to act against Iranian dissident groups and individuals from the Iranian diaspora.
“The Security Service can now confirm that criminal networks in Sweden are proxies that Iran uses,” Daniel Stenling, head of Counter-Intelligence at the service, told a news conference.
There was no immediate response from Iran’s foreign ministry to a Reuters request for comment on the Swedish statement.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
The Greens Ready for ‘Alternative EU Majority’ to Fight ‘Far-Right’
The European Parliament Greens group is open to forming an “alternative majority” in the next European Parliament to prevent the hard-right “from gaining power”.
“We are determined to prevent the far-right from coming to power in Europe,” group Vice-President Marie Toussaint said on May 30.
With a potential surge of the hard right in the EP on the cards, Toussaint expressed her willingness to work with Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in order to prevent her from joining up with the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) group.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Former Lockdown Adviser Throws Weight Behind Labour’s Net Zero Plan
Sir Patrick Vallance—who, as former chief scientific adviser under then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson, was one of the architects of Britain’s destructive lockdowns—believes the race to net zero should be treated with the same urgency as the 2020 drive for COVID vaccines.
Vallance has publicly backed Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer’s pledge to decarbonise Britain’s electricity supply by 2030 (five years earlier than the Conservative government’s target), which even green activists don’t believe to be possible.
Toby Young, editor-in-chief of the Daily (lockdown and net zero) Sceptic website, told The European Conservative that Vallance’s “endorsement of this hare-brained plan doesn’t surprise me.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Hamas Says it ‘Positively’ Views Gaza Ceasefire Proposal Set Out by Biden
Hamas on Friday said it “considers positively” an Israeli roadmap towards a full Gaza ceasefire announced by U.S. President Joe Biden, who urged an end to the almost eight-month war.
But swiftly afterwards Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu poured cold water on Mr. Biden’s talk of peace, insisting the army would continue fighting until it had “eliminated” Hamas’s capacity to rule Gaza and pose a military threat.
Mr. Biden’s intervention, which had been heavily trailed, came as Israeli troops pushed into central Rafah, escalating the war with Hamas despite international objections to any assault on the southern Gaza city.
| — Hat tip: JW | [Return to headlines] |
“A Full-Scale War Isn’t a Foregone Conclusion”, Warns Russian Think Tank Head
Ahead of the “Russia and China: Cooperation in a New Era” conference in Moscow on Thursday, Russian International Affairs Council (RIAC) Director General Ivan Timofeev told Russian state-owned news agency Tass about the increasing likelihood of a full-scale war between Russia and the West.
“A full-scale war is not is not a foregone conclusion, but unfortunately, its likelihood is growing,” Timofeev said in an interview with Tass. He said, “One option is that there will be a great rise in confrontation between us. At the root of this is the Ukraine issue, as the West continues to provide large-scale military assistance to Kyiv.”
t a separate meeting on Thursday, NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg told foreign ministers about the need to allow Ukraine to use Western weapons to penetrate deep inside Russia.
Timofeev warned about the rising possibility of a direct conflict with NATO:
“A number of officials, particularly in France and the United Kingdom, have said that individual military units from NATO countries may be deployed to Ukraine. If they take part in military operations against Russian forces, they will become a legitimate target for our army.
“Let’s hope this possible escalation involves conventional arms and not nuclear weapons. Meanwhile, NATO is spending ten times as much as Russia — if not more — on defense. It’s certainly a dangerous scenario.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Life on Ukraine’s Front Line: ‘Worse Than Hell’ as Russia Advances
Now in the third year of full-scale war, Ukraine’s top military leaders openly admit that the battlefield situation on the eastern front has deteriorated. Two years of war have sapped Ukraine’s ammunition and manpower, while the country’s failed counteroffensive last year sank morale.
| — Hat tip: Dean | [Return to headlines] |
Russia, Ukraine Swap 150 POWs in First Exchange in Months
Zelensky and his Western backers, especially the US and UK, have long claimed that it’s ‘impossible’ to sit down with Russia at the negotiating table. Zelensky even just six months into the war had vowed not to re-enter negotiations with Moscow until Putin is no longer in power.
But as if inadvertently illustrating that negotiations are actually very possible and within reach, Ukraine has announced a successful major prisoner swap, which is a first in nearly four months.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Trump Verdict an ‘Obvious’ Attempt to Eliminate Political Rivals ‘By All Possible Means’
Russia’s government issued a terse statement Friday accusing U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration of persecuting political dissidents in response to the criminal conviction on Thursday of his predecessor and top 2024 election rival, Donald Trump.
“If we speak about Trump, the fact that there is simply the elimination, in effect, of political rivals by all possible means, legal and illegal, is obvious,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters, according to Reuters. Reports did not indicate if Peskov clarified who, exactly, was behind the “elimination” or if he elaborated on whether Trump’s conviction was a change in the status quo in America.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
U.S. Under Pressure to Allow Kyiv to Strike Inside Russia
NATO foreign ministers are meeting in Prague on Thursday and Friday (May 30-31), to prepare for July’s summit in Washington and to discuss immediate questions related to helping Ukraine and strengthening Western security. Kyiv hopes that, by the end of the second day, it will have permission to use long-range Western weapons against targets inside Russia, which is no longer a red line for most influential NATO members—except the U.S.
The Prague meeting is an “important moment to continue preparing for the upcoming summit in Washington,” NATO’s outgoing Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Thursday during the opening press conference.
Stoltenberg—who has long been asking countries to give up their restrictive policies that “tie … one hand of the Ukrainians on their back”—promised that the Washington summit will give the alliance a “greater role” in the war, including arming, training, and financing Ukraine.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
U.S. and Germany Authorise Ukrainian Attacks Against Russia
Both the United States and Germany have allowed weapons they supplied to Ukraine to be used against targets inside Russian territory. The two NATO member states have emphasised that their decision applies only to targets inside Russia near the border with the northeastern Ukrainian Kharkiv region, where Moscow launched an offensive a few weeks ago.
U.S. President Joe Biden had been under pressure to authorise the decision, with Ukraine, the Baltic states, the Scandinavian countries, and Britain urging the United States to act. Biden had refused to do so, fearing that NATO could be dragged into a war with Russia, whose president, Vladimir Putin, warned the Western military alliance that they risked the outbreak of nuclear war.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Ukraine Hails ‘Truly Colossal Achievement’ of Inflicting Half-Million Russian Casualties
Russian deaths and wounded crossed the half-million mark in the past week, per Ukraine’s publicly stated estimate, prompting celebration from Kyiv state media.
Ukraine’s government-controlled information service Ukrinform reports the war has now “reached a psychologically important milestone” of — by their own reckoning — over 500,000 Russian “killed or seriously injured”.
Inflicting this many dead and wounded on Russia is the equivalent of the population of some small countries and several Russian cities, the state news report trumpeted. They stated: “So if you imagine that these half a million fallen Russian soldiers were residing in one of such cities, then it can be said that it no longer exists; just imagine that all of the city has disappeared.”
In all, Ukraine said, killing or maiming half a million of the invaders is “truly a colossal achievement by the Ukrainian military”.
Secrecy in wartime is normal and the invasion of Ukraine is no exception, so getting a realistic appraisal for losses for either side is difficult. As previously reported, Ukraine’s claimed Russian body count is considerably higher than that occasionally published by Britain’s Ministry of Defence, for instance. In March of this year, while Ukraine was claiming 416,000 Russian dead and wounded, the United Kingdom publicly put it at 315,000.
Estimates for Ukrainian casualties are harder to come by.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Azerbaijan Hosts Event Promoting Polynesian ‘Decolonisation’ From France
Azerbaijani parliamentarians have hosted elected French Polynesian officials at a conference on the “decolonization” of their territory.
In a move angering Paris, Azerbaijani sources said the purpose of the four-day visit was “to explore opportunities for establishing parliamentary, economic, humanitarian, educational, scientific, sporting and healthcare collaborations between Azerbaijan and French Polynesia”.
However, during a news conference regarding the visit, Marania Vaianui, foreign relations adviser with Tavini, the ruling party of French Polynesia, made clear her party wanted to kick France out of the region.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Bidar: Case filed against 25 after clash between engineering college students as Muslim students attacked Hindu students over playing a Jai Shri Ram film song for cultural programme.
B Upendran | HENB | Bidar (Karnataka | June 1, 2024:: An altercation erupted at Guru Nanak Dev Engineering College in Karnataka’s Bidar, as students from two communities clashed during a cultural event rehearsal. The dispute reportedly arose when Hindu students were performing to the song ‘Jai Shree Ram’ film song. As the Muslim students objected to the song and suddenly attacked the Hindu students, the clash erupted in a communal spur.
PTI reports, clashes erupted over playing a song from actor Prabhas-starrer ‘Adipurush’ at a cultural event on Wednesday quoting police sources.
Details indicate that members of one community disrupted the performance, leading to a verbal confrontation which quickly escalated into physical violence.
Upon receiving information, authorities from the Gandhiganj police station swiftly intervened, registering a case against 25 individuals involved in the altercation. Following this, the college management cancelled the scheduled cultural program, which was to span two days, as a precautionary measure.
Security measures have been strengthened around the college premises to ensure the safety of students and faculty members.
Subsequently, the techno-cultural event, scheduled to run on till May 31 was called off.
Bidar superintendent of police Channabasavana S L said that the situation is under control. “The police rushed to the spot and brought the situation under control,” he said.
According to sources, an FIR has been lodged against 25 students so far out of which 17 are from Muslim community.
Sharing a video being a part of the clash, Hindu Existence Editor Upananda Brahmachari remarked, “They couldn’t tolerate playing a Jai Shri Ram song ( from the film- Adipurush) in a cultural function of a college. But, we have to tolerate Allah ho Akbar 5 times a day. This is secular India.”
Karnataka ministers Eshwar Khandre and Rahim Khan visited the college to diffuse the situation. But, in Congress ruled Karnataka such communal rifts are increasing day by day out of Islamic instigation.
| — Hat tip: Upananda Brahmachari | [Return to headlines] |
China Working on Weaponized Strain of Ebola With 90% Kill Rate
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is reportedly working on a deadly weaponized strain of Ebola with a bone-chilling 90 percent kill rate.
The news come after China was caught running biolabs on American soil.
As Slay News reported, a disturbing CCP-linked lab was accidentally uncovered in California last year.
Code Enforcement Officer Jesalyn Harper noticed a garden hose connected to a supposedly abandoned building in Reedley, near Fresno.
She entered the structure and found what appeared to have been a secret biological weapons laboratory.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Top Japanese Government Official Issues Apology for Mass Vaccine Deaths
A high-profile Japanese government official has issued a public apology to his people over the mass deaths and vaccine injuries caused by Covid mRNA shots.
The apology was made by Kazuhiro Haraguchi, a former Minister for Internal Affairs and Communications in Japan who currently serves as a member of the House of Representatives.
Haraguchi made a heartfelt statement during a speech at a major protest against the World Health Organization (WHO) on Friday.
“I apologize to all of you,” Haraguchi told the massive crowd.
“So many have died, and they shouldn’t have.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
MasterCard’s Controversial Digital ID Rollout in Africa
One wouldn’t have pegged Mastercard for that corporation that is “driving sustainable social impact” and caring about remote communities around the world struggling to meet basic needs.
Nevertheless, here we are — or at least that’s how the global payment services behemoth advertises its push to proliferate the use of a scheme called Community Pass.
The purpose of Community Pass is to enable a digital ID and wallet that’s contained in a “smart card.” Launched four years ago, the program — which Mastercard says, in addition to being based on digital ID, is interoperable, and works offline — targets “underserved communities” and currently has 3.5 million users, with plans of growing that number to 30 million by 2027.
According to a map on Mastercard’s site, this program is now being either piloted or has been rolled out in India, Ethiopia, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique, and Mauritania, while the latest announcement is the partnership with the African Development Bank Group in an initiative dubbed, Mobilizing Access to the Digital Economy (MADE).
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Mexican Mayoral Candidate Alfredo Cabrera Assassinated at Point-Blank Range at Campaign Rally
A mayoral candidate in Mexico was assassinated in the middle of a campaign rally late Wednesday — with disturbing video showing a gunman shooting him in the back of the head at point-blank range.
Alfredo Cabrera was gunned down in front of hundreds of supporters in the town of Coyuca de Benitez in the southern state of Guerrero as he was making the final stop of his campaign, officials and local media said.
Footage of the ordeal showed Cabrera shaking hands with a supporter just seconds before his attacker brazenly approached from behind and pointed the firearm at his head.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Germany: Leftist Interior Minister Realises Border Controls Work
After having sermonised for years on the virtues of open borders, German government officials have found that measures to control illegal migration are having a positive effect.
Increased ‘temporary’ checks at the country’s land borders with the Czech Republic, Poland, Switzerland and Austria were supposed to come to an end last month. They were extended until June 15th, and are now to be continued until (at least) December 15th.
Temporary border closings are allowed “as a last resort” in the Schengen area under certain circumstances, though the leftist majority in the European Parliament last fall attempted to thwart the rights of sovereign member states to control their borders.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Germany: Transgender Refugee Arrested for Killing Syrian Guard at Asylum Center
Manslaughter proceedings are underway in the German city of Potsdam this week after a South African-born transgender ‘woman’ allegedly stabbed to death a 33-year-old Syrian security guard.
Authorities are currently limited on details regarding the stabbing that occurred at a refugee shelter in the Brandenburg city of Potsdam early on Thursday morning. The Syrian victim succumbed to his wounds after being rushed to the hospital.
Police were first alerted to the stabbing at approximately 4:30 a.m. on Thursday when the wounded security guard was discovered by a colleague. They deployed sniffer dogs and cordoned off the nearby vicinity.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
A Syrian migrant who broke into an elderly woman’s apartment and sexually assaulted a 78-year-old woman was immediately arrested and then released, only to rape a 23-year-old woman the next day, according to police. The man is now on trial for the crimes.
The 25-year-old migrant, Ayman Al-K, from Syria, was arrested after the elderly woman was able to fight him off until help could arrive, according to Berliner Zeitung. He is said to have entered the elderly woman’s apartment on the first floor, but when the woman saw him, she screamed for help. The man allegedly placed her in a headlock and covered her nose and mouth. Neighbors rushed in and intervened, and the man was arrested close to the scene.
However, the Berlin public prosecutor refused to hold him in custody, releasing him nearly immediately. The public prosecutor claimed that the “identification had not been sufficiently secured,” according to the justification provided after the man was arrested for rape the following day.
Ayman Al-K had been sent back to his asylum accommodation at Ostpreußendamm, where he raped a 23-year-old woman, who was unsuccessful at defending herself, and bit her hard on the neck. He was then arrested and charged.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Laken Riley’s Suspected Killer Jose Ibarra Pleads Not Guilty
The Venezuelan migrant accused of murdering Georgia nursing student Laken Riley entered a not guilty plea Friday — as the victim’s mother sobbed in court.
Jose Ibarra, 26 — who illegally came into the US over the southern border — is accused of killing the 22-year-old by inflicting blunt-force trauma to her head and “asphyxiating her in a manner unknown to jurors.”
In addition to facing 10 counts in connection with Riley’s murder, Ibarra faces further charges for allegedly peeping at a University of Georgia staff member on the same day as the slaying.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
New Mexico Border Town Has Become a People Smugglers ‘Paradise’ With Thousands Pouring in Unchecked
New Mexico has become a human trafficking hot bed, thanks in part to state laws that force cops to let suspected human smugglers go simply because they won’t pull over, DailyMail.com can reveal.
The sheriff in the town of Lordsburg described his community as being caught in a perfect storm with its proximity to the Mexican border— just 40 miles north.
The remote region also has limited sources and the few law enforcement officers there have to deal with state laws the sheriff says tie their hands.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Belgian Liberals Advertise on Grindr for EU Elections
In a search for votes for the European Parliament elections in June, the Belgian Liberal Open VLD party is advertising on the gay dating app Grindr.
With LGBTQ-related political messages, the Liberals aim to convince homosexuals and others using the app to vote for them.
Donned in rainbow-coloured flags, figureheads of the party highlighted proposals such as including LGBTQ rights in the Belgian Constitution, as well as combatting the country’s rapidly growing hard-right.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Report: Gender Ideology “Deeply Embedded” in Scottish Schools
A report released in March revealed what campaigners described as “horrifying” details of schools in Labour-run Wales allowing children to change gender identity without telling their parents. A separate investigation has now shown that the situation is even worse in SNP-run Scotland.
The paper by campaign group For Women Scotland concludes that gender ideology has become “embedded within the school system.” It blames the Scottish Government’s transgender guidance, which the majority of schools “unquestioningly follow, even when it is out of date, in places unlawful, and non-compliant with the Cass Review.” The Cass Review found that the treatment of children unsure about their gender “is an area of remarkably weak evidence.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Tribunal Hears Case of Dismissed Christian Lecturer’s Homosexuality Remarks
Dr. Aaron Edwards, a Christian lecturer, was dismissed from Cliff College, a Methodist institution in Derbyshire, England, after posting his religious views on homosexuality on social media, leading to student complaints about feeling “unsafe.” An employment tribunal heard the details of the case, where Dr. Edwards, who had worked at the college for seven years, defended his stance and actions.
In February 2023, Dr. Edwards posted on social media: “Homosexuality is invading the Church. Evangelicals no longer see the severity of this b/c they’re busy apologising for their apparently barbaric homophobia, whether or not it’s true. This is a ‘Gospel issue’, by the way. If sin is no longer sin, we no longer need a Saviour.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
“Germany: Leftist Interior Minister Realises Border Controls Work”
truth be told, the Germans and the Austrians never really stopped with the border checks, it is a common experience over here that the Germans would keep on checking Czech cars going over the border quite frequently – always – even before the migration crisis, and also now…
The border can be easily crossed on foot, mind you, what do the border checks on the road crossings do? Very little – except – maybe – some stupid Germans believe “the police is doing something”
On another level – it is a common sentiment among Czechs and Poles that the Germans love their Arabs and Pakistanis and Somalis and Eritreans and whoever… But they look down on every Polish plumber and Czech technicians as Untermensch.
If you work on Sunday or God forbid – work without your safety helmet on – the German Government will punish you hard – you and your company – How Dare You! Working without helmet – or hi visibility – or safety shoes…
But the Middle Easterners and the Africans and the Asians – they are all welcome in Germany, and they are applauded for their “bravery”
I know that this kind of “eastern european sentiments” are not the rule – but they are not an exception either. It would be easy to make a case that the Germans hate Eastern Europeans – but they love all the colourful hue mans from far far away…