More than 500 non-citizens registered to vote in local DC elections after a new law came into effect this week. Meanwhile, Poland will deploy riot police units as migrant numbers have surged at the Belarus border.
In other news, The Republican National Committee is planning for the possibility that former President Trump may be in jail during the convention.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to Dean, Insubria, LP, McN, Reader from Chicago, Roger, 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.
Bank of Canada Cuts Rates by 25bps as Expected, First G7 Central Bank to Launch Easing Cycle
As widely expected after significant dovish commentary in recent months, moments ago the Bank of Canada cut rates by 25bps from 5.00% to 4.75% as a majority of economists expected, and signaled that it is “reasonable to expect further cuts” if inflation eases.
The 25bps cut, which comes just under a year since its last 25bps rate hike in July 2023, means that Canada is the first G7-member central bank to launch an easing cycle.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
BlackRock, Citadel to Launch Texas Stock Exchange to Rival Nasdaq, NYSE
A new group called The Texas Stock Exchange (TXSE) is set to start a new national stock exchange to challenge the Nasdaq and New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).
A spokesperson for Citadel Securities, one of the companies backing the effort with BlackRock, told the Wall Street Journal that the group has raised about $120 million and plans to file registration documents with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) later this year.
The TXSE is planning to begin in 2025 and host its first listing in 2026. The exchange is looking to compete for primary and dual listings of exchange-traded products.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
“Liftoff!”: After a Series of Delays, Crewed Boeing Starliner Finally Launches, Inbound to ISS
Update (1100ET):
The Boeing CST-100 Starliner finally lifted off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida and is en route to the International Space Station.
The third time may be the charm.
No one knows for sure, as the Boeing CST-100 Starliner launch was first scrubbed last month due to a leak, and the most recent attempt on Saturday was canceled because of a computer glitch.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Biden Aides, Dems Blame ‘MAGA Republicans’ for Brutal Report on President’s Cognitive Decline
WASHINGTON — President Biden’s aides tried to blame “MAGA Republicans” Wednesday for a stunning report that described the 81-year-old as disengaged and confused in meetings — despite similar conduct being noted privately by White House staff and exhibited publicly by the commander in chief.
The Wall Street Journal led its blistering report about the oldest-ever US president’s mental fitness with accounts of three recent engagements with members of Congress in which Biden mumbled inaudibly, misstated administration policy or closed his eyes for long intervals.
“I’ll just say that it says a lot that the only people willing to make these false claims are Trump’s MAGA Republicans in Congress,” Biden re-election campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez told a CNN reporter on a press call Wednesday.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Bill for Expediting Eviction of Squatters Clears North Carolina’s House Judiciary
(The Center Square) — Squatters in North Carolina could be evicted within 48 hours of a complaint by the property owner under a bill that was approved Wednesday by the Judiciary Committee in the House of Representatives.
House Bill 984 is sponsored by Rep. John Bradford, R-Mecklenburg County, a property management software company owner.
The legislation must clear the committees for finance and rules before it can reach the full chamber.
It will likely be amended along the way, Bradford told committee members Wednesday.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Dead Dem Wins NJ Congressional Primary After Running Uncontested
A dead Democrat has won his primary bid to retain his congressional seat in New Jersey after running uncontested. New Jersey congressman for the 10th district Ronald Payne Jr. died in April at the age of 65 from a heart attack.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Fauci is Put on Notice, Told to Preserve Records for Major Free Speech Lawsuit
The New Civil Liberties Alliance (NCLA) non-profit has sent a letter to Dr. Anthony Fauci and several medical and other US officials, as well as to Google, making sure they are formally notified of their obligations to preserve communications records.
The records in question are relevant to a major First Amendment case alleging collusion between the government and tech companies, Murthy v. Missouri (formerly Missouri v. Biden), which is currently in the US Supreme Court.
We obtained a copy of the letter for you here.
The NCLA letter specified that the request pertains to all documents and electronically stored information, under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 34.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Georgia Appeals Court Pauses Fani Willis Prosecution of Trump
The Georgia Court of Appeals on Wednesday issued a decision pausing Fulton County Fani Willis’s prosecution of former President Donald Trump while he appeals a decision on her disqualification from the case
“The proceedings below in the Superior Court of Fulton County are hereby stayed pending the outcome of these appeals,” the court order reads.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
(The Center Square) — A Georgia state lawmaker who says she was silenced when she switched parties last year convened a hearing to showcase how social media companies can de-platform people to manipulate messaging.
Rep. Mesha Mainor, R-Atlanta, said she called the “First Amendment, Free Speech Rally” at the Georgia State Capitol to showcase what she sees as a lack of respect for dissenting opinions.
“One thing that has happened in America is we have lots of different opinions,” Mainor, who left the Democratic Party last year, said at the start of the hearing.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
House Republicans File Criminal Referrals to Justice Department for Hunter, James Biden
House Republicans have referred Hunter and James Biden to the Justice Department for criminal prosecution, accusing the pair of making false statements to Congress during the impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden.
The criminal referrals was filed Monday and come nearly seven months after House Republicans first authorized the impeachment inquiry into the 46th president.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Hunter Biden Used Drugs ‘Every 20 Minutes,’ Became ‘Angry, Short-Tempered’ on Crack, Exes Say
WILMINGTON, Del. — Hunter Biden’s former wife told jurors in the first son’s federal gun trial Wednesday that her ex-husband “was not himself” when he used crack cocaine but was still able to function, while a former girlfriend described President Biden’s son as a regular-seeming addict who used the drug “every 20 minutes.”
The testimony from Kathleen Buhle and Zoe Kestan undercut arguments from Hunter’s side that he couldn’t have been in the throes of a drug relapse when he bought a .38-caliber revolver on Oct. 12, 2018, because he was acting too put-together.
Buhle — who was married to the younger Biden from 1993 through 2017 and was on the witness stand for roughly 25 minutes — recalled the first time she realized Hunter used the addictive street drug.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Man Dies, Woman Injured After Being Stabbed by Suspect Who Flagged Them Down in N. Harris County
HARRIS COUNTY, Texas — A man is in custody after authorities said he stabbed two people after flagging them down as they were driving by in North Harris County. One of the two victims died.
The Harris County Sheriff’s Office says it happened in the 2500 block of Sandlewood Trail Lane around 5:30 p.m. Wednesday.
Deputies were called to the scene by a person who said there was a man stabbing a motorist who was driving by.
Authorities arrived and found a 40-year-old man who was standing outside holding a knife and a stuffed animal.
Deputies approached the man and tried to reason with him and calm him down, but he wouldn’t comply.
Deputies used a taser and were able to take him into custody.
According to authorities at the scene, the man stabbed two people after flagging them down as they were driving by. The first victim, a woman, was stabbed but was able to get away. Another person, a man, was also stabbed. He was able to drive away and made it back to his house before collapsing in the driveway.
The man’s family called EMS, but he was pronounced dead at the scene when they arrived.
| — Hat tip: Roger | [Return to headlines] |
Moment Chicago Home Suddenly Explodes, Killing One — as Terrified Kids Flee Fire, Wild Video Shows
A suburban Chicago home suddenly exploded on Tuesday evening, killing one person — just as two children were playing outside the house next door, harrowing footage shows.
A neighbor’s security camera captured the moment two kids were playing basketball in the driveway of a Lake Zurich home on North Overhill Road when the house next door erupted in a fiery explosion, NBC 5 reports.
The blast immediately caused the boy closest to the home to fall to his feet as the other dashed away.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
New York’s “SAFE” Act for Kids Threatens Online Free Speech and Privacy
Legislators in the state of New York are pushing two new bills to regulate the internet, specifically as it pertains to the way minors use social media — Assembly Bill A8148A and Senate Bill S7694A.
If it succeeds, the law would be the first of its kind in the US, and likely represent a blueprint for other states.
But both acts, dubbed Stop Addictive Feeds Exploitation (SAFE) for Kids, have drawn criticism for bringing up constitutional issues tied to First Amendment rights.
Meanwhile, Governor Kathy Hochul and state lawmakers are said to be close on agreeing on the text of the bills, which are presented as designed to prohibit tech platforms from providing addictive feeds to minors (replacing them with content shown in chronological order), and monetizing their data, among other things.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
NYC Subway Rider, 41, Stabbed Multiple Times on Bronx Train: NYPD
A 41-year-old man was stabbed multiple times in the arm on a Bronx subway train Wednesday afternoon as it rumbled into the station, authorities said.
The victim was knifed in the right arm while on a southbound 2 train at 3 p.m. right before it arrived at the Jackson Avenue 2/5 station in Melrose, according to the NYPD.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Oakland Streets Left Unpaved for Weeks After Construction Crews Flee Over Safety Concerns
An East Oakland, California neighborhood has been left with unpaved streets for weeks after construction crews refused to finish the job over safety concerns, according to reports.
Residents of Colorados Drive in the Sobrante Park neighborhood have been forced to navigate bumpy streets and debris-filled potholes since city construction crews tore up the road in preparation for repaving — but never came back to finish the job.
“They put signs up, did some work,” resident Shari Angarano told KRON 4, explaining they were first told work would commence in March and that it would be done by mid-May.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Pair of Thieves Steal $100K Worth of Legos From Six Stores in Southern California
A pair of thieves have stolen more than $100,000 worth of collectible Lego figures and kits from stores across Southern California, according to local reports.
At least six Bricks and Minifigs locations — reselling businesses owned by individuals and not corporations — have been targeted by the duo from April through this month, NBC4 Los Angeles reported.
One of the store owners caught the thieves in action on their security cameras after they broke through the front glass early in the morning of May 3.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
RNC Plans for Possibility Trump is Imprisoned During the Upcoming Convention: Chair
The Republican National Committee (RNC) is strategizing for a potential scenario where former President Trump, the presumptive nominee for the GOP, faces incarceration during the convention, as revealed by the party’s chair on Tuesday, according to a report in The Hill.
Last week, Trump was convicted on all 34 felony charges in a case related to “hush money” payments. A New York jury found him guilty of manipulating business records to conceal an alleged extramarital affair during his 2016 presidential campaign. Judge Juan Merchan has scheduled his sentencing for July 11, just days before the commencement of the RNC convention.
In response to this development, Speaker Mike Johnson has urged the Supreme Court to intervene.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
The Michigan man who called into a court appearance for driving with a suspended license while driving — and then blamed it on a clerical error — is back in jail after yet another wild twist in the viral story.
Washtenaw County Judge J. Cedric Simpson revealed Wednesday that after digging through court documents and state records, Corey Harris, 44, has never had a valid driver’s license.
The judge also discovered that Harris had an outstanding warrant for, naturally, driving with a suspended license.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Trump’s Secret Service Driver Wanted to Quickly Refute Cassidy Hutchinson’s J6 Tale But Was Rebuffed
House investigators have obtained evidence showing that former President Donald Trump’s Secret Service driver wanted to quickly refute testimony from Cassidy Hutchinson alleging a struggle in the presidential limousine during the Capitol riots but the Democrat-led January 6 committee rebuffed him for months.
The evidence was confirmed to Just the News both by Rep. Barry Loudermilk, the chairman of the House subcommittee that is investigating the Jan. 6 tragedy now for Republicans, and a transcript of the driver’s interview that was conducted months after he first offered to testify.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Trump Campaign Sends Vetting Paperwork to Possible 2024 VPs — Here Are the Notable Names
The Trump campaign has begun vetting vice presidential contenders for the former president — and several notable names are on his short-list, The Post has learned.
Sens. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) and Tim Scott (R-SC) have all recently exchanged varying degrees of vetting documents with Trump’s campaign, a source familiar told The Post Wednesday.
As have Reps. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.), Elise Stefanik (R-NY), Republican North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum and former Trump administration Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson, the source said.
The vetting process has been in the works for the past month, the person added.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Trump Leads Biden in Swing State Georgia After ‘Hush Money’ Guilty Verdict: Poll
Former President Donald Trump is leading President Biden in Georgia — even after his guilty “hush money” verdict, a poll released Wednesday found.
The Quinnipiac poll shows Trump besting Biden 49%-44% in a head-to-head battle in the key swing state, less than one week after a New York City jury found the former president found guilty of all 34 counts related to falsifying business records to conceal a payment to former porn star Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election.
Biden won Georgia by 0.3% in the 2020 election — a margin that Trump has fiercely disputed.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Trump Leads Biden in Michigan in Post-Conviction Poll: Mitchell Research
A new Michigan general election poll has found that former President Donald Trump holds a narrow lead over President Joe Biden. In a head-to-head matchup, Trump leads with 48.2 percent of the vote compared to Biden’s 47.6 percent, with 4.2 percent of voters undecided.
When third-party candidates are included, Trump’s lead widens slightly. Trump secures 46.3 percent of the vote, while Biden garners 45.1 percent. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is the most popular third-party candidate, with 3.3 percent of the vote. The poll was conducted on June 3 of 697 likely voters and has a margin of error of 6.9 percent.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
‘We Own the Street’: Chicago Teens Attack Couple, Causing Woman to Lose Unborn Baby
A couple was out on a date in Chicago on Friday night when they were reportedly surrounded by a group of teens who said “we own the street” and attacked them. The husband and wife were in the Streeterville neighbordhood near Grand Avenue and McClug Court when the teens approached.
Local Fox affiliate 32 spoke to Nina, the woman of the couple, who said the pair “were kicked, stomped on and punched repeatedly.” As a result, she said, she lost her baby. “We believe in faith and it wasn’t meant to be. So, we don’t know why this happened to us,” Nina said.
The woman, who declined to show her face, showed photos to Fox that revealed a laceration to her face as well as a chunk of hair that had been ripped out of her head. She told the outlet that her husband was held restrained by the group of teens during the attack and suffered a beating himself.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
X to Introduce Video-Only Feed to Rival TikTok: Report
It has been revealed that X is in the process of setting up a video-only feed on the platform in an attempt to rival TikTok and Instagram, the latter of which has put an emphasis on its Reels feature in recent months. Since purchasing X, Elon Musk has hinted at making it a go-to destination for those seeking video content, however, this marks the first time he has moved to create a tab dedicated to that medium.
Sources familiar with the matter told the New York Post that a beta version of the video-only feed will be made available to some users as soon as the end of summer. It is expected to provide not just short clips, but long-form content as well.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
X Urges Supreme Court for Review After Jack Smith Obtained Trump Files
Authored by Zachary Stieber via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),
Elon Musk’s X Corp. has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to consider stepping in against a process that lets officials obtain information from social media companies and bars the companies from informing people whose information is handed over.
The process wrongly enables officials to “access and review potentially privileged materials without any opportunity for the user to assert privileges—including constitutional privileges,” lawyers for X said in a filing to the nation’s top court.
Unsealed documents in 2023 showed that X provided data and records from former President Donald Trump’s Twitter account to special counsel Jack Smith after Mr. Smith obtained a search warrant.
X was blocked from informing President Trump by a nondisclosure order that Mr. Smith also obtained.
The order said disclosing the warrant would result in “destruction of or tampering with evidence, intimidation of potential witnesses, and serious jeopardy to the investigation,” and let President Trump “flee from prosecution.”
X challenged the order, arguing it violated its First Amendment rights and noting that President Trump might have reason to claim executive privilege, or presidential privilege.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
“Bulls**t Survey!” — German National Football Coach Slams Public Broadcaster for ‘Racist’ Poll
The head coach of Germany’s national football team, Julian Nagelsmann, has criticized the ARD public broadcaster for conducting a poll in which it asked respondents whether they would like to see more White footballers in the squad selected to play in the upcoming European Championships.
Speaking to journalists from the team’s training camp ahead of the tournament, which kicks off later this month, Nagelsmann urged the country to “wake up” to what is, in his view, an overtly “racist” question.
“I was shocked that such questions are asked and people actually answer. This question is insane.”
The broadcaster asked respondents whether they thought it would be better if there were more White players in the team’s starting line-up to which 21 percent replied “Yes.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
“Put Your Helmet on and Go to Ukraine”: Salvini Scoffs at Macron’s Hawkishness
France’s increasingly hardline rhetoric about the war in Ukraine prompted a backlash from Italian Deputy Prime Minister and leader of the right-wing Lega party, Matteo Salvini, on Monday when the Italian told the French president to personally take up arms and head to the Ukrainian front.
The on-stage remarks were made by Salvini speaking at a campaign rally in the southern Italian city of Bari. The Lega leader said Macron should “put on a helmet, put on the vest, and go to Ukraine” and for Paris to not ‘piss off the Italians’ referring to Italy’s less confrontational approach to the Russian invasion.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
António Tnger is a Portuguese diplomat and politician who was Portugal’s ambassador for forty years in countries such as Brazil, Bosnia, Serbia, Israel, Egypt, and Qatar. He was Secretary General of the Centrist Youth (CDS-PP) and, in 1980, advisor to the minister of foreign affairs, Diogo Freitas do Amaral. Tnger returned to politics under André Ventura; he is currently first vice-president of CHEGA’s national board and head of the party’s list for the European Parliament.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
The Augsburg public prosecutor’s office has dropped investigations into a nationalist chant that has become a popular anthem with a number of German youths after finding it does not constitute incitement to hatred and is therefore not a criminal offense.
The chant, “Deutschland den Deutschen — Ausländer raus,” which translates to “Germany for the Germans — Foreigners out,” has been popular with German youth, who sing it to the tune of “L’amour toujours” by Gigi D’Agostini. The latest and most public instance involved youth on the island of Sylt whose faces were splashed across the public news in a leaked video just last month. However, there have been numerous instances of the chant both before and after the incident on Sylt.
The Augsburg case has to do with Germans singing “Ausländer raus” at a Carnival parade in Landsberg am Lech in February, which led to an investigation.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Austria Backs Belgium’s Bid to Strip Hungary of Veto Before EU Presidency
Austria’s ÖVP (Austrian People’s Party) government has joined Belgium’s last-minute calls to speed up the Article 7 procedure against Hungary with the harshest consequence in mind: suspending the country’s voting rights and therefore stripping it of its veto power right before it has a chance to set the common agenda during its imminent EU presidency.
Chancellor Karl Nehammer’s apparent backing of this measure against Budapest is surprising, given the two conservative governments’ nominally friendly relationship and close cooperation in combating illegal migration as well as in other fields.
Moreover, during a meeting of the two defense ministers in Budapest earlier this year, the neutral, non-NATO member Austria joined Hungary in its criticism of endless arms shipments to Ukraine that might escalate the conflict and drag Europe into it.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Belgium Wants to Silence Hungary’s Anti-War Voice, Hungarian FM Szijjartó Claims
Belgian Foreign Minister Hadja Lahbib is taking the initiative to exclude Hungary from EU decision-making processes, Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjartó has claimed.
Speaking in Budapest on Monday, the senior Hungarian government minister accused Eurocrats of wanting to suppress the pro-peace forces and remove the last obstacle to war by silencing and excluding Hungary from strategic talks.
The minister was reacting to a recent statement by his Belgian counterpart who called for the Article 7 rule of law procedure against Hungary to be stepped up, thus depriving Hungary of its voting rights in the Council of the European Union.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Belgium: Islamist Jailed for Plot to Assassinate N-VA President
A criminal court in Belgium has convicted a 21-year-old Islamist of plotting to assassinate Bart De Wever, President of the N-VA party and Mayor of Antwerp.
Identified by the court under the alias of “Elias EA”, the man was found by the Belgian court to have been the ringleader of a plot to kill the Flemish politician, with four others also receiving prison terms following the trial on June 5.
According to the court, the 21-year-old Elias led the group of would-be assassins, who were reportedly inspired by radical Islamism.
Initially, his group was said to have planned an attack on a police commissioner’s office but later decided to try to kill the centre-right De Wever.
They looked for his private address and pictures and reportedly wanted to execute the attack once the Muslim fasting period of Ramadan in 2023 was over.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Czech Populists May Defect From Macron’s Liberal Group in Brussels
The European Parliament’s liberal Renew group—headed by French President Emmanuel Macron’s Renaissance party—might be left with fewer MEPs after the election and may even lose a future governing party over political differences, particularly on migration.
Former Czech prime minister Andrej Babis’s liberal-conservative, populist ANO 2011 (‘YES,’ or ‘Action of Dissatisfied Citizens’) party, a current member of Renew, is considering switching European Parliamentary groups after the election.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Veteran populist and anti-Islamification campaigner Geert Wilders is on pace for his second major political victory in a year.
Wilders cast this week’s European Parliament elections in his characteristically stark terms, saying a vote for the left will only bring more terrorism and crime while a safer Netherlands can be realised with a vote for his Party for Freedom.
On the back of winning a “mega victory” in last November’s general election, in which his Party for Freedom (PVV) pulled off “one of the biggest political upsets in Dutch politics since World War II” in securing 37 seats in the 150-seat House of Representatives and becoming the largest political party in the legislature for the first time in the history of the party, Geert Wilders is looking to go from strength to strength.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
EU Gives ‘Full Support’ to Biden’s Gaza Ceasefire Plan
The European Union has given its “full support” to an Israel-Gaza ceasefire deal floated by US President Joe Biden, officials have confirmed.
In a statement, the Council of the EU has urged authorities in both Israel and Palestine to accept the deal, which involves the full return of hostages and the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza.
“The European Union gives its full support to the comprehensive roadmap presented by President Biden, that would lead to an enduring ceasefire in Gaza, the release of all hostages and a surge of humanitarian assistance to Gaza,” read the statement, published late on June 4.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
European Anti-Fraud Agency Investigating Vlaams Belang MEP
The European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) has reportedly opened an investigation into Flemish MEP Tom Vandendriessche.
According to Belgian media, the inquiry into the Vlaams Belang representative was initiated last year, although that information has only just become public — days before the European Parliament elections of June 6-9.
While OLAF has refrained from publicly commenting on the issue, which is standard practice for the watchdog while any investigation is ongoing, anonymous sources told Brussels Signal that the probe concerned the alleged misuse of European Parliament funds.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Europe’s Ariane 6 Rocket Debut Planned for July 9
Europe’s new Ariane 6 satellite launcher will stage a long-awaited inaugural flight on July 9, the head of the European Space Agency said at the Berlin Airshow on Wednesday.
The delayed debut comes a year after its predecessor, Ariane 5, was retired, leaving Europe with no independent path to orbit for its satellites after setbacks involving a smaller Italian alternative and the severing of ties with Russia over Ukraine.
ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher also told reporters that the plan was for the first commercial launch of Ariane 6 to take place before the end of the year.
In November, the 22-nation agency set a preliminary launch window of mid-June to end-July this year, subject to tests.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Germany: AfD Politician Stabbed by Man Wielding Box Cutter
A politician from the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party was stabbed on Tuesday by a suspect wielding a box cutter in Mannheim in the country’s southwest, according to police.
The attack comes amid a string of violent attacks on politicians in Germany that has sparked a national debate over rising political violence and the increasingly raw domestic political climate.
The alleged attacker had torn down and damaged several election campaign posters before a local AfD politician “pursued the suspect and apprehended him,” according to a police statement. The male suspect, 25, then allegedly injured the politician with a box cutter.
The victim was identified as 62-year-old Heinrich Koch, a local candidate for the municipal council. His injuries are not life-threatening, according to police.
| — Hat tip: LP | [Return to headlines] |
Germany: AfD Candidate Stabbed in Abdomen After Confronting Election Poster Vandals
A candidate for the right-wing Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) was stabbed in the German city of Mannheim late Tuesday evening, just days after the city witnessed a similar attack by an Islamist who killed a policeman.
Local AfD politician Heinrich Koch caught a group of people tearing down his party’s election posters and was stabbed in the abdomen when he challenged them—a confrontation he captured on film.
Koch is currently in hospital. Mannheim police have confirmed that the perpetrator has been arrested, but have thus far not given any details about his identity.
The AfD claims that the perpetrator had a left-wing extremist motive.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Germany: Focusing on the Wrong Threat: Islam Critic Wounded in Attack Was Under State Surveillance
Long-time anti-Islamism activist Michael Stürzenberger, the main focus of the bloody knife attack in Mannheim on Friday, has long had a target on his back—put there not only by extremist Islamists, but also by the German state. The Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz (BfV)—the country’s domestic spy agency—has monitored the campaigner for the past ten years, and a state-funded Bavarian anti-extremism organisation has called Stürzenberger a conspiracy theorist for warning about political Islam getting a foothold in Germany.
Stürzenberger is still lying in a hospital bed as he recovers from his wounds. The 59-year-old man was getting ready for an anti-Islamism rally in the southwestern German city on Friday, May 31st, when 25-year-old Sulaiman Ataee, a failed asylum seeker who had been living in Germany illegally for nine years, went on a stabbing spree, injuring not only Stürzenberger, but five other people, including a police officer who died of his wounds on Sunday.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
An Antifa thug has stabbed Alternative for Germany (AfD) local councilor candidate Heinrich Koch in Mannheim during the night of Tuesday. Video of the incident, which was filmed by Koch himself, shows him confronting a perpetrator tearing down AfD campaign posters, a common political act perpetrated by far-left Antia activists.
Koch suffered multiple stab wounds and cuts and was taken to hospital, while the perpetrator was arrested by police.
The police released a statement about the incident, announcing: “On Tuesday evening, at 10:30 p.m., a 25-year-old suspect was arrested on Schwabenheimer Strasse in Mannheim. He is said to have previously damaged and stolen several election posters on Relaisstrasse.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
German Lawmaker Urges Activation of 900,000 Reservists Over Russian Threat to Europe
At a moment it is increasingly clear that there’s no off-ramp for the Ukraine proxy war on the horizon in the foreseeable future, European governments have been ramping up their defense readiness amid fears of a future direct clash with Russia.
While the United Kingdom’s military leadership has been vocal of late about raising up a ‘citizen army’ — other countries have been mulling the activation of more of their armed forces — even Germany, which has historically (pre-Ukraine war) maintained very low defense spending and neutrality.
But days ago the chair of the German parliament’s defense committee, Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, issued a public plea for the government to activate 900,000 German reservists, citing the need to do so based on the ‘Russian threat’ to Europe, according to DPA news agency.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Giant Grain Silo Being Sold Off in Poland Will Harm Formers and Benefit Germany
A giant grain silo in the Polish city of Szczecin, close to the border with Germany, is being liquidated, giving rise to concerns that the business will get taken by Germany and lead to higher costs for farmers in bordering regions.
According to daily Rzeczpospolita, an American company is buying the facility and plans to store chemicals rather than grain there.
The silo in Szczecin is important for Polish farmers since it handles approximately 650,000 tons of grain and animal feed per year,
representing 6 percent of total Polish exports. Polish farmers would now be forced to travel 350 kilometers to Gdansk, unless they travel 130 kilometers to the Mukran Port in Germany.
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‘Hooligans’: Talks Underway to Form New Anti-Globalist Right-Wing Party Group
With or without Alternative für Deutschland (AfD), the negotiations have started to create a new nationalist parliamentary group from among the smaller and to date unaffiliated delegations that are to the right of both established national-conservative blocs in the European Parliament (EP).
If talks are successful, it would mean there would be three right-wing sovereigntist groups in Brussels: the European Conservative and Reformists (ECR), the Identity and Democracy (ID), and the new one, informally referred to among its enthusiastic would-be members as the ‘hooligan group,’ according to Politico on Wednesday, June 5th.
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Italy: Minister Blasts Palermo University for Axing Israeli Ties
Universities shouldn’t take sides says Bernini
Higher Education Minister Anna Maria Bernini on Tuesday blasted the University of Palermo for breaking off ties with Israeli researchers and universities over the war in Gaza.
While stressing that the decision “falls within the university’s autonomy”, she said that “I consider it a wrong choice, especially at a time when the political-diplomatic process of peace, of searching for peace, is intensifying.
‘Universities should not take sides,” she added during a visit to the Università Politecnica delle Marche Le Torrette in Ancona.
“Universities do not go to war, they are bridge builders, peace makers, they are great factories of scientific diplomacy”.
The move comes in the wake of series of protests and occupations at Italian universities against institutions having relations with Israeli ones and calls for boycotts, which have led Italy’s Jewish community to sound the alarm about anti-Semitism in the world of higher education here.
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Italy: Showing Palestinian Flag Isn’t Supporting Hamas — Schlein
PD leader backs move by Bologna mayor
Showing a Palestinian flag does not make someone a Hamas supporter, Democratic Party (PD) leader Elly Schlein told an ANSA forum on Monday when asked about Bologna’s PD Mayor Matteo Lepore hanging one from a window in the city’s town hall.
“I support Bologna Mayor Lepore,” said Schlein, whose American father is of Jewish descent.
“I think that displaying the flag in no way amounts to supporting terrorism.
“Equating Hamas and the Palestinian people does not help to isolate Hamas”.
Italy’s Jews said Lepore’s move legitimised the terrorism of Islamist militants Hamas who sparked the Gaza war with their brutal attack on Israel on October 7.
“If you really want to emphasise respect for human rights and peace, don’t just display one flag but display both.
“A flag in a public place cannot be used as a symbol of contestation of other countries,” the president of the Union of Italian Jewish Communities Noemi Di Segni, together with the president of the Bologna Community Daniele De Paz, told ANSA.
“Such a gesture from a public institution only legitimises the voice of terrorism and prevarication”, they said, adding: “We invite (Mayor Matteo) Lepore to visit Israel in the areas of the (Hamas) massacre before displaying flags and slogans”.
Announcing the move, Lepore said Bologna would fly the Israeli flag too if and when Tel Aviv ends its controversial campaign in Gaza which has killed over 36,000 civilians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
In the October 7 attacks Hamas killed almost 1,400 people and took some 250 hostages.
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Media Smears Fail to Deflate Farmers at Brussels Rally
A Dutch-led effort to take the plight of European farmers to the door of EU lawmakers saw over a thousand farmers and their tractors gather in the northern Brussels suburb of Laeken on Tuesday. A pan-European coalition of farmers hope to, once and for all, cripple Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s Green Deal.
Building on the momentum of previous protests, which have taken various European capitals by storm, farmers assembled in the shadow of Brussels’ iconic Atomium shortly before midday. Populist politicians and farming groups addressing the crowd spoke of their industry being strangled by a combination of EU technocracy, green overregulation, and cheap imports.
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Netherlands Residents Generally Dissatisfied With EU, But Don’t Want Nexit
In general, the Dutch are not very satisfied with the European Union, said the Clingendeal research institute based on a poll. At the same time, only 15 percent of respondents are in favor of a ‘Nexit,’ or the Netherlands’ withdrawal from the EU. A majority wants the EU to position itself more strongly in the world, according to the poll done ahead of the European Parliament elections this week.
Respondents think that the EU is especially beneficial for multinationals, the rich, and politicians. However, they say it does not do enough for farmers, Dutch citizens, or small and medium-sized businesses.
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Netherlands: “Honor Killing” Behind Young Joure Woman’s (18) Death: Report
Ryan Al Najjar, an 18-year-old woman from Joure whose body was found a week ago in Leylstad, was the victim of an “honor killing,” people who know the family told the Telegraaf. According to them, Ryan’s father killed her because the very religious family could not tolerate her lifestyle.
The young woman’s body was found in the water along Knardijk on May 28. She had last been seen in Joure on May 22. The police have two suspects in custody, a 22-year-old man from Joure and a 24-year-old man from Leeuwarden. According to the Telegraaf’s sources, one of the suspects is a relative of Ryan.
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Orban Takes EU Campaign to Neighboring Romania
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has extended his party’s EU campaign to neighboring Romania to appeal to the country’s sizeable ethnic Hungarian minority, which constitutes some 1 million Hungarian citizens.
“For the entire Hungarian nation, it is almost a matter of life or death not to fail in an election where the task is to get over the 5 percent threshold and have an international voice,” Orban said in a speech in Nagyszalonta, Bihar County, on Monday afternoon.
“If there is finally a place where the Hungarian cause can be represented and we are not able to send a representative, that is a problem, it is a sign of weakness. And our opponents will not hesitate to take advantage of that,” he added.
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Poland: PiS Leader Threatened With Arrest Over Corruption Committee Row
Jaroslaw Kaczynski, leader of Poland’s main opposition party, the Conservative PiS, was threatened with being forcibly brought by the police to testify in front of a parliamentary committee investigating corruption.
The threat came after Kaczynski failed to appear on June 5 at the committee looking into alleged irregularities in the issuing of labour visas.
The PiS chief, who has already testified once, was summoned again by committee chair Michal Szczerba, an MP who is standing in the European Parliament elections on June 6-9 for Donald Tusk’s Civic Coalition (KO) party.
Kaczynski said he could not attend abroad for a June 4 farmers protest in Brussels against the EU Green Deal, adding that he would be available to testify again once the EP elections had concluded.
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The exhibition “Polonia Uncensored” showcases a series of original paintings depicting the crimes of the Soviets and Germans during the Second World War, as well as contemporary threats.
Ignacy Czwartos originally won an open competition to display these works at the Polish Pavilion in Venice, but the decision was later annulled by the former minister of culture from the left-liberal government, Bartlomiej Sienkiewicz. Despite not being part of the official Biennale program, the exhibition did end up being displayed in Venice.
The decision to present his works was driven by the artistic and intellectual quality of Czwartos’ paintings, a refusal to suppress artistic freedom politically, and a belief that omitting this important and topical exhibition would represent a significant loss to Polish culture. Despite lacking any official organizational support, the exhibition received numerous reviews, with the left-leaning media of Gazeta Wyborcza, the Guardian and the New York Times criticizing its messages and even labeling it as fascist.
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Sorel: Death of Europe Would be a ‘Tragedy for Humanity’
Everything seems to indicate that the French party National Rally (RN), effectively led by Marine Le Pen, is going to sweep the board at the European Parliament elections, set to take place June 6-9.
A few days before the vote, Brussels Signal spoke exclusively with Malika Sorel, one of the party’s main MEP candidates and possibly its most outspoken regarding immigration. It is her first-ever international interview on the EU elections.
Of Algerian origin and Marseille-born, Sorel talked about what she sees as the risks of non-integration in European societies and about what she believes Europe must do to regain its position in the world.
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Farmers from across Europe took to their tractors again, swarming Brussels and blockading the border between France and Spain to firmly plant their opposition to the globalist Green Deal agenda in the minds of voters as they head to the polls for the European Parliament elections this week.
“Farmers of the world, unite!” was the slogan as tractors shut down the Franco-Spanish border on both sides of the Pyrenees starting on Monday, according to Le Figaro, which reported that around 200 to 300 French farmers joined the protest which blocked at least seven crossings before disbanding on Tuesday.
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Sweden Introduces First ‘Stop-and-Frisk’ Zone in Crime-Ridden City
Swedish police have for the first time made use of a new law permitting the introduction of temporary ‘safety zones’ in high-crime areas. The ‘stop-and-frisk’ law, which took force in April, allows police to conduct body searches as well as vehicle searches without a warrant or probable cause “to the extent necessary to prevent or stop the criminal activity that the zone has been introduced to counteract.” The searches are only allowed in public places.
The first application of the new law was announced on June 5th for the Hageby neighborhood of Norrköping. It will initially be in effect until June 18th, but can be canceled or prolonged.
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Swedish police have introduced the first “stop-and-frisk-zone” in the country’s history, giving officers the power to search any individual or vehicle without the need for reasonable suspicion.
The draconian measure is in response to a double shooting on Monday evening in the Hageby residential district of Norrköping, a city southwest of Stockholm. Two men were pronounced dead at the scene.
As of Wednesday, the authorities are introducing what is also known as a security zone or visitation zone in the area as officers continue to hunt for perpetrators. A man in his 20s has already been arrested on suspicion of murder.
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Swiss School to Trial Digital Trackers on Its Pupils
A Swiss after-school care center is set to trial equipping children with trackers as a way to monitor their whereabouts on the school grounds.
At the Letten after-school care center in Birmensdorf, children will wear a magnetic wristband with a Bluetooth system that will allow the childcare staff to check where the child is; staff will receive an alert if a child leaves the after-school care center or school “without permission” during care hours.
According to the Neue Zürcher Zeitung (NZZ), the technology and equipment for the tracking system are being supplied by the head of the Letten after-school care center, Joel Giger, who founded a start-up called Companion last year and initiated the project in Birmensdorf. The company’s logo can also be seen on the school’s press release, made available to the NZZ.
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Polish President Andrzej Duda criticized the left-liberal government on Tuesday, asserting that they are attempting to appoint ambassadors using coercive methods. In a morning interview with RMF FM commercial radio, President Duda accused the government of violating established norms regarding the nomination of ambassadors.
“Minister Sikorski is not a lawyer, and thus I do not expect him to have a profound understanding of constitutional law. However, basic constitutional literacy should also be a domain of constitutional ministers. The principle of collaboration is mandatory for all, including the president, the prime minister, and the minister of foreign affairs,” he stated.
President Duda highlighted that the government side is breaking long-standing procedures for appointing diplomats to ambassadorial roles, which have been in place in Poland for over 30 years.
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The Swiss Air Force Hasn’t Done This Since the Cold War
The Swiss Air Force is holding a military exercise today, with the A1 motorway closed from 9:00 p.m. on Tuesday evening until 9 a.m. on Thursday morning as pilots practice a rare maneuver, namely taking off from the freeway in their F/A-18 Hornet fighter jets. Although similar exercises are not uncommon in Europe, Switzerland has not performed one since the Cold War.
The covert exercise “Alpha Uno” is being held on the A1 motorway between Avenches and Payerne, with traffic diverted to the surrounding minor roads during the closure. The A1 is the country’s most strategically important highway, running east-west across the country between Geneva and St. Gallen.
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UK Election: Sunak vs. Starmer Snoozefest Underwhelms Britain
In the first televised debate of the UK general election, on Tuesday June 4th, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Labour opposition leader Keir Starmer went head to head, prompting little excitement.
After around 70 minutes’ airtime on national broadcaster ITV, it is unlikely many viewers changed their minds about how to vote. Instead, the low calibre of the two main party leaders was even more plain to see.
The ITV format, subsequently criticised, saw a selected audience questioning each party leader. Predictably, the cost of living, the National Health Service, immigration and especially taxes, provided the talking points.
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UK: Total Meltdown: How the Political Elite Responded to Farage’s Comeback
The British 2024 general election campaign has officially been ‘running’ for almost a fortnight. But with former UKIP leader Nigel Farage announcing on June 3rd that he was taking the reins of Reform UK and that he will now stand for Parliament, it feels like the race is now truly underway.
Not because there is a chance of Reform UK, formerly the Brexit Party, beating Labour in the July 4th national poll. Farage himself said that “the election is [already] over” and Sir Keir Starmer has already won it.
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Vox: National Conservatives in EU Parliament Won’t Support Von Der Leyen
EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and her center-right European People’s Party (EPP) have lost their legitimacy by working so closely with the Left in the past five years. That’s the view of the VOX party’s lead candidate in the pending European parliamentary elections, Spanish national-conservative MEP Jorge Buxadé.
According to the lawmaker—speaking to Spain’s public media RNE on Monday, June 3rd—there could be no cooperation between the EPP and VOX’s European Conservative and Reformist (ECR) group unless the centrist party group is willing to break up its left-leaning coalition with the social democrats (S&D) and the liberal Renew.
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Wilders Wants Single EU Group With Salvini and Meloni
I’d be enthusiastic to join them says PVV leader
Geert Wilders, the leader of Dutch nationalist PVV party, said Wednesday that he would like to be part of a single right-wing group at the EU level featuring Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni and Deputy Premier and Transport Minister Matteo Salvini.
The PVV is currently in the Identity and Democracy (ID) group with Salvini’s League and Marine Le Pen’s National Rally (RN), among others.
Brothers of Italy (FdI) leader Meloni is chair of the Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) group, which also includes Spain’s Vox, France’s Reconquest, Poland’s Law and Justice and the Sweden Democrats.
“I have a lot of respect both for Salvini and Meloni,” Wilders said at a rally in The Hague before the EU elections.
“If it were possible to form a broader group, I’d be enthusiastic about joining them”.
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In a powerful speech, former foreign minister in the conservative PiS government, Zbigniew Rau, has chastised members of the investigative committee on visa issuing irregularities for bringing dark times for Polish parliamentarism with their partisan behavior.
Prof. Rau appeared before the investigative committee on June 4 and said that his original view that the visa irregularities scandal was a “cascade of fake news, defamation and lies” was justified and that in reality, there was no scandal at all.
The former foreign minister told the committee that there was no issuing of hundreds of thousands of visas for bribes or illegal trading of visas at stalls outside of Polish embassies, and no corruption on the part of Polish diplomats.
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A gunman was captured after opening fire at the U.S. Embassy in Lebanon’s capital, Beirut, on Wednesday — an attack that took place as U.S. ally Israel signaled it could soon launch an offensive in the country against Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned early Wednesday that Israel was “prepared for very intense action in the north,” as he visited a border city hit by wildfires sparked by Hezbollah rockets.
The escalation has piled pressure on Netanyahu from right-wing members of his government, who have also threatened to quit if he agrees to a U.S.-backed proposal for a cease-fire in Gaza, where more than 36,000 people have been killed since the war began.
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Russian Twitch Streamer Jailed 5.5 Years for Bucha Testimonies
A Moscow court on Wednesday sentenced Twitch streamer Anna Bazhutova to five and a half years in prison for livestreaming witness testimony about alleged Russian atrocities in the Ukrainian city of Bucha.
“It’s f***** up. It’s disgusting and vile,” the 30-year-old Bazhutova, speaking from the glass defendant’s box, said in reaction to the ruling against her.
The Ostankino District Court in northern Moscow found the streamer guilty of spreading “fake” information about the Russian army on her Twitch channel.
“This is a harsh sentence. We will appeal,” Bazhutova’s lawyer Andrei Nevrev said.
| — Hat tip: McN | [Return to headlines] |
Ukrainian soldiers are not particularly happy with the $10 million U.S. Abrams tanks, which were originally described as a “wonder weapon,” much like Germany’s Leopard tanks, which now litter the battlefield. Although the Abrams is known for its massive size and thick armor, the Ukrainians complain that it still does not offer adequate protection on the frontline.
Notably, the Abrams tanks the Ukrainians received do not have the most advanced armor protection available to U.S. forces, which makes them more vulnerable to Russian weapons.
Drones pose the most pressing threat on the battlefield, and U.S. Abrams tanks do not offer enough protection against these modern weapons, said Ukrainian soldiers fighting on the front during an interview with CNN.
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Ukraine Using German Weapons to Strike Russia ‘Dangerous Step’ Warns Putin
Russian President Vladimir Putin warned Germany on Wednesday that use of its weapons by Ukraine to strike targets in Russia would mark a dangerous step” and ruin relations between Berlin and Moscow.
Germany joined the United States recently in authorizing Ukraine to hit some targets on Russian soil with the long-range weapons they are supplying.
Putin said that the deliveries of German tanks to Ukraine came as a shock to many in Russia.
Now if they use missiles to strike facilities on the Russian territory it will completely ruin Russian-German relations, he said.
| — Hat tip: Dean | [Return to headlines] |
Australia Drops Bid to Censor X Platform After Free Speech Legal Challenge
The Australian eSafety commissioner’s pursuit of legal action to compel Elon Musk’s social media platform, X, to censor posts about a church stabbing in Sydney is being abandoned. Commissioner Julie Inman-Grant announced the decision following several setbacks in court and the expiration of a temporary order to conceal the footage.
Inman-Grant emphasized that the choice to drop the case was made after considering multiple factors, including ongoing litigation in other matters. She asserted, “Our sole goal and focus in issuing our removal notice was to prevent this extremely violent footage from going viral, potentially inciting further violence and inflicting more harm on the Australian community and I stand by my investigators and the decisions eSafety made.”
The case had been a pivotal moment in Australia’s efforts to impose its censorship not only on users in Australia, but on users around the world.
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Texas has compiled a top 10 Most Wanted list of criminal illegal immigrants, which includes men wanted for sexual assault, murder, and making terroristic threats.
Governor Greg Abbott announced the list, created in partnership with the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) on Wednesday.
According to a press release, it presents “a new initiative to locate and arrest repeat offenders who have entered the country illegally and are wanted for dangerous crimes committed in Texas.”
Many of the 10 men have more than one offense on their rap sheet and eight of them are accused of at least one sex crime — six of them against children.
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Following a brutal attack by an illegal Afghan migrant in Mannheim that resulted in a German police officer losing his life and an anti-Islam politician being sent to the hospital, Germany’rs ruling left-liberal parties are calling for even more immigration from Syria and Afghanistan.
A day after the death of police officer Rouven L., a migration conference was held in the Paul Löbe House in the Bundestag, the German parliament, where the ruling left-liberal parties primarily ignored the terror attack in Mannheim and focused on how to boost migrants from countries like Afghanistan.
During the conference, Development Aid Minister Svenja Schulze (SPD) called for more migrants from Syria, Afghanistan and other countries to continue to arrive in Germany; however, she said more aid must also be provided locally to support countries of the Global South.
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A Bronx shooting that left two people dead erupted from a heated dispute between migrant squatters and fed-up legal residents of the apartment building — with the migrant suspect now on the run, police said.
Josue Ruben Silva, 21, who already has a lengthy rap sheet, is being sought by cops in the May 24 fatal shooting.
Silva “was among a group of migrants that had been squatting inside the building” when one longtime resident — Claretha Daniels, 44 — told her pals that one of the asylum seekers disrespected her, NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny told reporters Tuesday.
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Stark flaws in Labour’s proposals to tackle the small boats crisis were exposed yesterday as French police stood by while migrants headed for Britain.
The Daily Mail observed how officers from the French Police Nationale did nothing to prevent migrants catching a ‘taxi boat’ to Dover.
The troubling scenes on Gravelines beach, near Calais, highlighted shortcomings in Sir Keir Starmer’s proposals to seek closer co-operation with France and other European countries.
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Islamist Murder: German Government Still Won’t Deport Failed Asylum Seekers
While opposition politicians demanded resumed deportations in the wake of the deadly knife attack by an Islamist in Mannheim on Friday, the German government doubled down on not deporting failed asylum seekers. Instead, representatives for the traffic light coalition called for national unity, placing blame on the ‘far right’ for ‘instrumentalising’ the political violence to call for tightening immigration laws.
Anti-terrorism prosecutors have taken over the investigation into the knife attack committed by an Islamist asylum seeker from Afghanistan. German Justice Minister Marco Buschmann said there are clear indications of an Islamist motive for the attack. The federal prosecutor’s office said the attack may have been religiously motivated: the perpetrator is suspected to have wanted to prevent critics of Islam from exercising their right to freedom of expression.
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Mass Immigration and Decline in Security Intrinsically Linked, Say Majority of French
The vast majority of French citizens, including many on the left, believe the growing feeling of insecurity across the country and mass immigration are intrinsically linked, new polling has revealed.
According to a poll conducted by CSA for CNews, Europe 1, and JDD, 68 percent of respondents see a correlation between immigration and the rise in delinquency in France.
The link is widely recognized among right-wing voters, with 94 percent of Republican supporters and 93 percent of those aligned with the National Rally acknowledging such a link. However, a significant minority of those who support pro-immigration left-wing parties also share this concern.
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The Venezuelan migrant accused of wounding two NYPD officers fired into one cop’s chest at “point-blank range” during a wild chase on a Queens street that saw a third Finest hop onto the shooter’s scooter in hot pursuit, prosecutors said during a dramatic court hearing Wednesday.
The accused shooter, Bernardo Raul Castro Mata, 19, was arraigned on attempted murder charges from a hospital bed, lying comfortably and at first appearing to sleep as his image was beamed into a Queens courtroom jam-packed with more than 50 NYPD officers.
Assistant District Attorney Lauren Reilly laid out a harrowing run-in between Mata and Officers Christopher Abreu and Richard Yarusso, both 26, early Monday as the cops conducted a traffic stop of the scooter-riding migrant. Mata fought back and pulled a gun on Yarusso, she said.
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The 19-year-old migrant charged with shooting two NYPD cops allegedly told police he was recruited by a violent Venezuelan gang’s Big Apple “coordinator” to join a crew of “snatch and grab” moped thieves, law-enforcement sources said Wednesday.
Bernardo Raul Castro Mata — who illegally entered the US last July in Texas — allegedly said he was encouraged to get distinctive tattoos to show his allegiance to the notorious Tren de Aragua gang, the sources said.
The “coordinator” for the brutal street gang provides its members in New York City with mopeds, used in lucrative cellphone robberies, he told police, according to the sources.
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More than 80,000 migrants have successfully crossed the English Channel on small boats since the Government announced their controversial Rwanda asylum policy in April 2022.
Already this month, almost 300 migrants have made the perilous crossing despite increasing efforts by French and British authorities to discourage attempts.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak insists the threat of being sent to Rwanda will prove to be a massive disincentive to migrants considering travelling to the UK without proper authorisation.
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Over 500 Noncitizens Register to Vote in Local DC Elections — Only 28 as Republicans
On Tuesday, thousands of Washington, DC residents cast their ballots in the district’s local elections. For the first time, however, United States citizens were not the only ones allowed to do so after a new law that came into effect this week extending the ability to vote in local elections to noncitizens.
Under the Local Resident Voting Rights Act, noncitizens can vote in local elections if they have been residents in the jurisdiction for only 30 days, meet requirements regarding age and competency, and have not registered to vote elsewhere in the country. The Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigration Responsibility Act of 1996 still prohibits noncitizens from taking part in state and federal elections.
The DC Board of Elections allowed noncitizens to prove their residency via any of a number of documents.
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Poland to Deploy Riot Police Units as Migrant Numbers Surge at Belarus Border
Polish Interior Minister Tomasz Siemoniak has said that the migrant pressure on the Poland-Belarus border has doubled since last year, leaving Poland struggling to cope with the migrant surge even as the U.S. administration steps in to provide support.
Siemoniak told Polish Radio that the increase in border pressure is a political decision by Minsk and Moscow, stating that some 90 percent of the trespassers have Russian visas.
“They are being used cynically by both regimes, Belarusian and Russian, as an element of attack on Poland,” he said, adding “the rules of engagement will be changed” to cope with the crisis.
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Portugal: New Government Tightens Immigration Rules
Portugal’s center-right Democratic Alliance (AD) Prime Minister Luis Montenegro has vowed to put an end to the country’s “wide-open doors” policy in an opportunist maneuver amid the migration crisis. Montenegro took office last April, following an election that saw substantial gains for the populist right-wing Chega, which campaigned on limiting migration.
The proposed law would impose new limitations on one of Europe’s most open immigration regimes, responsible for pushing up the number of foreign residents in Portugal by 33% in 2023 alone.
On Monday, lawmakers called for the repeal of a key immigration policy that allows non-EU citizens to move to Portugal without an employment contract and request residency after having paid into the social security program for a year.
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Reform UK Supports Net Zero Immigration: “We Cannot Go on as We Are”
In its first big policy announcement since Nigel Farage took over as leader on June 3rd, Reform UK has said it would reduce net legal migration to zero.
The pledge radically sets Reform apart from the Conservatives and Labour, which have both spent decades proving they cannot be trusted when it comes to controlling Britain’s borders. It also comes just days after polling for the Centre for Migration Control (CfMC) suggested that around half of Britons want to see a freeze on all “non-essential” immigration.
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Deputy Speaker of the Polish Sejm, Krzysztof Bosak, argued that border services should have the authority to use firearms in proportion to the threats they face at the Polish border.
“If health or life is endangered, the orders should be such that they can use firearms that shoot,” Bosak stated during an interview on Polsat News commercial TV channel, emphasizing the need for clear rules of engagement.
Bosak, representing the Confederation party, also commented on the government’s plan to reintroduce a buffer zone along the Polish-Belarusian border. He noted: “The government has not asked for our support, nor do they need it. We have supported border security before there was even a barrier.”
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Disney Tops Long List of Woke Failures With Upcoming Release of Gay Star Wars Show
A key element of understanding the smooth-brained antics of the woke left is that they are incapable of doing anything “creative” without sexualizing it and politicizing it. Their collective identity revolves around who they lust after, how to virtue signal to the herd and who is supposedly the most oppressed. Remove these things from their daily lives and there’s not much left to look at. They could disappear tomorrow along with all of their media products and the world wouldn’t miss them in the slightest.
When a company chooses to pander to this small margin of the population there’s very little profit to be made. A few years ago ESG lending was the big motivator for corporations to promote far-left ideology — With every progressive product, progressive commercial and progressive employment policy those businesses added to their overall ESG score.
Cheap debt from global conglomerates like Blackrock created the fuel that made the woke movement possible. However, with the advent of the Federal Reserve’s interest rate hikes ESG loans were no longer viable and venture capital dried up.
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Drag Queen Given Center Stage on Polish Public TV
A local publicly funded Polish television station, TVP Poznan, recently broadcast the first episode of what is to be a weekly new series solely dedicated to the promotion of LGBT and gender ideologies, according to conservative-Christian outlet Polonia Christiana.
Following the election of the new left-liberal government in December, the new regime quickly moved to purge publicly funded media of its conservatives on grounds they had ties to the conservative PiS party.
As expected, said purge, in which conservatives saw themselves replaced by those more amenable to leftist orthodoxy, is now being reflected in the programming of public television. Messaging, especially in news shows, Polonia Christiana said, began to “strongly favor the government and promote topics that appealed to people with liberal and leftist ‘sensitivities.’“
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Drag Queen ‘Letta Dicken’ Performs for Children at Maine Town’s First Pride Festival
A Maine town near Portland drew criticism after a drag queen with a suggestive name performed in front of children at the town’s first-ever Pride weekend on Sunday. That name was “Letta Dicken.”
According to WMGE, over a dozen letters were sent to the town in the spring arguing that drag shows were not family-friendly. Others in the community expressed concerns over threats to drag queens.
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Rumble CEO Blasts Growing Censorship Laws — “It All Comes Down to One Thing: Freedom”
Rumble CEO Chris Pavlovski this week sat down with actor, comedian, and Rumble show host Russell Brand to discuss a range of topics like his video platform’s role at a time of prevalent online censorship — and the stance Western governments have assumed in relation to freedom of expression.
Pavlovski sought to identify free speech as the core component in the historic achievement of the US civil rights movement. “It all comes down to one thing, freedom, freedom of speech. That’s where it comes from,” he said.
Pavlovski compared his platform’s struggle to remain open to freedom of expression to the efforts of those fighting for civil rights decades ago, and said this gave him and others at Rumble “a sense of purpose.”
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United Methodist Church Loses 1 Million Members in a Single Day Over LGBT Affirmation
The United Methodist Church (UMC) lost more than a million members in one fell swoop last week, with a large West African conference voting to leave the organization due to its acceptance of LGBT clergy and marriages.
The United Methodist Church of Ivory Coast (Eglise Méthodiste Unie Côte d’Ivoire or EMUCI) renounced their UMC membership on May 28 “for reasons of conscience before God and His word,” La Croix International reported.
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