Gates of Vienna News Feed 7/23/2024

Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle has finally resigned after pressure from lawmakers during congressional hearings. Meanwhile, Secret Service officials have advised Donald Trump’s campaign to stop holding outdoor events with large crowds.

In other news, German prosecutors have charged three Syrian men with the rape of two Czech women who were in Germany on a student exchange program.

To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.

Thanks to Apollon Zamp, Conservative Tree House, Daniel Greenfield, Dean, DV, JW, MM, Reader from Chicago, Red Mike, SS, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.

Notice to tipsters: Please don’t submit extensive excerpts from articles that have been posted behind a subscription firewall, or are otherwise under copyright protection.

Caveat: Articles in the news feed are posted “as is”. Gates of Vienna cannot vouch for the authenticity or accuracy of the contents of any individual item posted here. I check each entry to make sure it is relatively interesting, not patently offensive, and at least superficially plausible. The link to the original is included with each item’s title. Further research and verification are left to the reader.

Financial Crisis
» Czechia: the Era of Mortgages for Everyone is Over: Housing Availability Faces New Challenges
» Swiss ‘Big Macs’ Are 44% More Expensive Than in America
 
USA
» 3 Supreme Court Justices Recuse 2nd Time in Case Accusing Them of Wrongly Rejecting 2020 Election Lawsuit
» After Teen Stabbing at MIA, Miami-Dade Homeless Trust Steps in to Help Those Living at Airport
» Air Force Veteran at Trump Rally Says ‘Something Wasn’t Right’ Before Would-be Assassin Opened Fire
» Biden Unfit to be Candidate, Fit to be President
» Biden Told Trump He Was ‘Lucky’ to Survive Assassination Attempt
» Biden Megadonor Issues Warning to Democrats About Kamala Harris: ‘Be Careful What You Wish For’
» Biden Cancels 9 Trips After Quitting Presidential Race: Report
» Biden to Address Nation Wednesday After Quitting Election
» Bob Menendez to Resign From Senate Amid Democratic Pressure After Guilty Verdict
» Breaking: Secret Service Chief Kimberly Cheatle Quits Over Trump Assassination Attempt
» Breaking: Kamala Launches ‘Prosecutor’ Attack on Donald Trump as Crowd Chants ‘Lock Him Up’ at Milwaukee Rally
» Breaking: Secret Service Urges Trump Campaign to Stop Outdoor Rallies: Report
» Disturbing Facial Paralysis Caused by COVID Shots, Study Confirms
» DOJ Magically Finds 117 Pages of Biden Transcripts
» Elon Musk Backs Down From $45 Million a Month Pledge to Trump, Says He Doesn’t ‘Subscribe to Cult of Personality’
» Federal Court Won’t Block New Mexico’s 7-Day Waiting Period on Gun Purchases Amid Litigation
» Federal Judge Tosses Ohio Voting Restrictions on Voters With Disabilities
» Harvard Researchers Link COVID Shots to Sudden Deaths Surge
» Kamala Harris Hit With Articles of Impeachment Over Border Crisis, ‘Misleading’ People on Biden
» Kelly Surges Ahead of Shapiro as Top Contender for Harris’ Veep Pick
» ‘Lyin’ Kamala’ Needs to Answer if Biden is Fit to Serve as President: Trump
» Michigan Man Kills Himself After Running Over 80-Year-Old Trump Supporter
» NASA Captures Dark Plasma Eruption From Sun, Warning of Potential Radio Blackouts This Week
» New Emails Reveal Big Tech-Biden Collusion on COVID-19 Narratives, Involving CDC and Twitter Censorship
» Ohio Supreme Court Orders News Trial for Voting Machine Case
» Pennsylvania State Police Chief Testifies on Trump Shooting
» Public University Sued Over Alleged Use of Student Fees to Support Leftists Political Groups
» Reuters ‘Shock Poll’ Finds Kamala Leading Trump, There’s Just One Catch…
» San Francisco Invokes Supreme Court’s Bureaucracy-Weakening Ruling in Lawsuit Against EPA
» Secret Service Director Steps Down, Heeding Calls to Quit After Trump Assassination Attempt
» Thomas Matthew Crooks’ High School Denies Bullying Led to Trump Assassination Attempt
» TikTok Lite ‘Fails to Protect Users’, Claims Mozilla and AI Forensics Report
» Top Democrats Set Biden Up to Fail at Trump Debate, Threatened to Forcibly Remove Him, Insiders Reveal
» Treasury Department Attacks Florida’s Law Against Social Credit and Debanking
» Trump Blasts Director Cheatle as She Quits Secret Service: ‘I Ended Up Having to Take a Bullet for Democracy’
» Trump Confirms Netanyahu Meeting at Mar-a-Lago
» Trump Refused Secret Service Demand he be ‘Carried Out on a Stretcher’ After Assassination Attempt
» Trump Appeals Civil Fraud Judgment in New York Case
» Tulsi Gabbard Warns ‘Maidservant of Hillary Clinton’ Kamala Harris is the ‘New Figurehead for the Deep State’
 
Canada
» Canadian Behind Knife Attack in Israel Was 21-Year-Old From Alberta
» Canadian Woman With Cerebral Palsy Bullied by Doctors for Refusing Euthanasia, Called ‘Selfish’
 
Europe and the EU
» Barcelona to End Airbnb: Tourism Industry Reacts to Mayor’s Bold Plan
» CJ Hopkins: The People’s Court of New Normal Germany
» Czech Education Minister Proposes Mandatory English From First Grade
» EU Approves €105 Million Subsidy for Dutch Farmers to Reduce Nitrogen Pollution
» EU Rages Over Orban’s Ukraine Peace Attempts, Cancels Major Budapest Meeting
» Europe’s Most Expensive Apartment Markets: Switzerland Tops, Serbia Sees Largest Increase
» France: Harrowing Moment Australian Gang Rape Victim Flees Her Five Attackers in Paris and Begs for Help From Kebab Shop Staff and Customers — Just Three Days Before Olympics Begins
» France: Olympic Team Briefed After Horrifying Gang Rape of Australian Woman in Paris Just Days Before Games Get Under Way
» France: Channel Nine’s Olympic Broadcast Team Attacked in Paris Days After Australian Woman Was Gang Raped by Five Men
» France: Report: Australian Tourist Claims Gang-Rape by ‘African’ Men in Paris Days Before Olympics
» French Leftists Announce Legislative Steps to Scrap Macron’s Pension Reform
» Germany Prepares for Trump’s Return: Crisis Group Established to Protect Economy and Security
» Germany Raises Financial Threshold for Non-EU Students
» German Christian Democrat Leader Wants to Work With Hard-Left to Block AfD
» Germany: Pakistan Demands Action After Protesters Breach Frankfurt Consulate Grounds
» German Court Orders Government to Improve Air Quality Program
» Hungary Blocks EU Funding of 6.5 Billion Euros for Ukraine Until Russian Oil Transit Issue is Resolved
» Legal Controversy Surrounds EU’s Proposed Ban on Internal Combustion Engines
» ‘Malign’ Russians Face EU Passport Clampdown
» Man Jailed for Sending Mail Bombs to U.S. and Ukraine Embassies in Spain
» Patients’ Rights and Foster Care: Czech President Signs New Amendments Into Law
» Patriot Alliance Blasts ‘Undemocratic EU Oligarchy’ as Members Are Barred From Key European Parliament Jobs
» UK Conservative Party Leadership Contest to Begin Next Week to Replace Sunak
» UK Sports Commentator Faces Court for “Malicious Communications” Charges Over Social Media Posts
» UK: Islamist Hate Preacher Anjem Choudary Found Guilty of Leading Terror Group
» UK: the Rival Gangs Vying for Control of Ladbroke Grove and the Notting Hill Carnival: How West London Area is Blighted by Turf War Where Mobs ‘Settle Scores’
» Violence Against Women Reaches Epidemic Levels in UK, Police Compare it to Terrorism
» WEF Pushes ‘Digital IDs’ for ‘Every Citizen’
 
Israel and the Palestinians
» Demonstrators Stage Mass Protest Against Netanyahu Visit and US Military Aid to Israel
» Furious Israel Vows to ‘Crush’ Hamas ‘Murderers and Rapists’ After Terror Group Struck Chinese-Brokered ‘National Unity’ Deal With Rivals Fatah to Rule Gaza Together Once War Ends
 
Middle East
» Anglo-Saxons May Have Fought in Northern Syrian Wars, Say Experts
 
Russia
» Confused Ukrainian Troops Jam Their Own Drones as Russian Forces Advance Toward Pokrovsk
» Europe Buys Russian Gas as Much as China — Bloomberg
» Kremlin to Pay Soldiers £50,000 in Ukraine War Recruitment Drive
» Moscow Decries ‘Theft’ as EU Uses Frozen Russian Funds to Aid Ukraine
» Poll Says 32% of Ukrainians Open to Territorial Concessions for Quick Peace
» US Radio Journalist Jailed in Russia for ‘Spreading False Information’
 
South Asia
» Thailand Aims to Regulate Cannabis Industry Amid Policy Debate
 
Far East
» China Plans to Gradually Raise the Retirement Age Amid an Aging Population and Pension Crisis
 
Australia — Pacific
» Afghan Mum Who Forced Her Daughter Into an Arranged Marriage Before Her Husband Killed Her is Facing Jail: ‘Not in Australia’
» Australian Ministers Urge Stricter Online Censorship of “Misogynistic” Speech
» Confronting Images Emerge After Six Young Girls ‘Bash’ Their Neighbour Over a Bitter Property Dispute in Darwin
 
Immigration
» Chicago Leaders Brace for as Many as 25,000 New Migrants Ahead of DNC: ‘We Just Need to be Prepared’
» German Employers Oppose Tax Breaks for Foreign Skilled Workers
» Irish Left Vows Tougher Asylum Rules as Migration Protests Surge
» Three Syrians Charged With Rape of Czech Exchange Students in Germany
 
Culture Wars
» Trans-Identified Male Arrested in Greenville, SC for Stabbing Shelter Worker With Sword
 

Czechia: the Era of Mortgages for Everyone is Over: Housing Availability Faces New Challenges

The Czech Banking Association reported that June marked the best month for new mortgage approvals in over two years. However, mortgages are not becoming more accessible to the general population.

The mortgage and real estate markets have experienced dynamic changes over the past five years, driven by unprecedented property price increases and a wave of inflation that elevated interest rates. This mortgage revival is entering a market that is markedly different from the peak boom period.

In 2020, a twenty-year mortgage payment averaged 15,000 CZK per month. Currently, it is 10,000 CZK more, making the average mortgage payment two-thirds higher than in 2020, while the average wage has only increased by about one-quarter over the same period. This increase in purchasing power has been practically erased by inflation.

As inflation subsides, interest rates are gradually falling, but the Czech National Bank (CNB) has indicated it will proceed cautiously with further reductions. The service sector remains the last focal point of inflationary pressures, contributing more than 60% to the Czech GDP.

“When you have an initial energy shock, it typically dissipates from goods prices within a year, but it can take up to three years for service prices. The difference between the development of goods prices and service prices is higher than it was in the past under stable inflation conditions. So, the development of service prices remains an element of uncertainty in the inflation outlook,” warned CNB Vice-Governor Eva Zamrazilova in an interview with Seznam Zpravy. She noted that a return to low mortgage interest rates below two percent is likely to remain a historical anomaly, barring a repeat of the 2008 global financial crisis, which was addressed with record low-interest rates for an extended period.

These low rates contributed to rising property prices in the Czech Republic. Since 2016, domestic property prices have more than doubled, making housing availability in the Czech Republic one of the worst in the European Union. “It truly was not good growth. It caused significant social difficulties that will persist, especially for young families wanting to buy their own homes, which have become unattainable. And at the root of it all were very low-interest rates combined with permitting activity,” Zamrazilova said.

Another issue in the Czech real estate market is the extraordinarily long permitting periods for housing construction. Whether the new construction law, which took effect this month, will eliminate this issue remains to be seen.

Even faster housing construction does not guarantee higher housing availability. Developers adjust their supply to demand and have no interest in lowering property prices. Nor do banks, whose collateral values for mortgages or developer loans would decline with falling property prices.

With the mortgage market revival, further property price increases can be expected due to the shortage of properties relative to demand. Additionally, properties remain an attractive asset for wealthier clientele in the Czech Republic to store and appreciate their money.

To truly increase housing availability, central government and municipalities should consider models from other countries. Greater involvement of cities and municipalities in building rental apartments, which would complement the private sector for those who cannot afford a mortgage, could help.

Vienna serves as an inspiration, with over 400,000 municipal apartments in public administration. In contrast, Prague, which is about a third smaller, has only around 30,000. Christian Schantl from the Vienna Magistrate explained in an interview with Markéta Bidrmanova that the average waiting time for a municipal apartment in Vienna is 1.5 years, the rent is about 168 CZK per square meter, and funding comes from various sources.

While the “Viennese miracle” has a tradition of more than a century, any long-term sustainable model of affordable housing must start somewhere and adapt to changing conditions.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

Swiss ‘Big Macs’ Are 44% More Expensive Than in America

What can a Big Mac tell us about currency rates? As it turns out, quite a lot.

The Big Mac Index, created by The Economist in 1986, started out as a simple tool to make currency theory more digestible. Now, it’s a widely-known measure in popular economics to assess and compare currency valuations.

In short, the Big Mac index compares the purchasing power parity (PPP) of currencies using the price of a Big Mac in the U.S. as the benchmark. It shows how much a Big Mac costs in various countries compared to the U.S., but it also works as a way to assess exchange rates.

In this graphic, Visual Capitalist’s Kayla Zhu visualizes the price of a McDonald’s Big Mac in U.S. dollars between 13 different countries around the world, the eurozone, and the United States, using the latest January 2024 data from The Economist’s Big Mac Index dataset.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

3 Supreme Court Justices Recuse 2nd Time in Case Accusing Them of Wrongly Rejecting 2020 Election Lawsuit

Authored by Matthew Vadum via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours)

The Supreme Court refused on July 22 to rehear a lawsuit that was filed against three justices because they rejected a previous lawsuit aimed at lawmakers who certified the 2020 election victory of President Joe Biden.

In a rare move, all three justices — Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown Jackson — recused themselves from the case because they were named as co-respondents in it.

The new ruling follows the court’s decision on May 28 to turn away the longshot legal bid by Raland J. Brunson of Ogden, Utah, who has gained notoriety among supporters of former President Donald Trump for his legal activism.

Mr. Brunson has filed several lawsuits along with his brothers. He told The Epoch Times that he filed the latest lawsuit, which alleged the justices violated their oath of office, to draw attention to the importance of oaths of office.

In the case at hand, Brunson v. Sotomayor, Mr. Brunson, sued Justices Sotomayor, Kagan, and Jackson in their official capacities for voting on Feb. 21, 2023, to deny the petition for certiorari, or review, in his previous lawsuit known as Brunson v. Adams.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

After Teen Stabbing at MIA, Miami-Dade Homeless Trust Steps in to Help Those Living at Airport

MIAMI — After a teenager was nearly stabbed to death at Miami International Airport over the weekend, the Miami-Dade Homeless Trust is stepping in to help those living at the airport.

The Trust hopes to relocate two dozen people using MIA for shelter every day. This follows a violent attack in Terminal J., where a man stabbed a teenager 18 times, leaving her in critical condition.

“We have a plan,” Ron Book, Chairman of the Miami-Dade County Homeless Trust said Monday evening.

Book said people experiencing homelessness blend in with travelers stranded at MIA. The Trust plans to send outreach workers to spend six hours convincing people to shelter somewhere safe outside the airport.

Miami-Dade police said a man living at the airport, Alexander Love, 29, used “a long butcher knife” to stab a 17-year-old, who also lived there Saturday morning.

Love stabbed the teen on her arms, shoulders, face, neck and legs a total of 18 times then tried to throw her over a fourth-floor railing, according to court records.

The victim survived but went to a hospital in critical condition.

           — Hat tip: DV [Return to headlines]
 

Air Force Veteran at Trump Rally Says ‘Something Wasn’t Right’ Before Would-be Assassin Opened Fire

An Air Force veteran who attended former President Trump’s campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13 said she noticed glaring security issues before Thomas Crooks carried out an assassination attempt that left one dead and two others critically wounded.

Sarah Taylor, an 18-year veteran who served in Iraq, Afghanistan and Kuwait, told Fox News Digital that she was initially excited about attending her first Trump rally, but as soon as she and her friend secured their positions some 100 yards from where the president was speaking, they could not help but notice an “eerie” building behind them.

“The fence was there. Right behind us was the building the shooter was on,” she recalled. “And we talked about it a lot because it was just really eerie, and my spidey senses were up. I had been in the military for 18 years, and something was not right about that area.”

She noticed some local police and state troopers walking around a field outside the American Glass Research (AGR) building that Crooks eventually fired from, but there was no law enforcement presence on the roof.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

Biden Unfit to be Candidate, Fit to be President

After a few weeks of media hit pieces, donor pressure and calls by party leaders, Joe Biden did what Donald J Trump refused to do in 2016 or 2024, and announced that he was dropping out of the campaign to focus on “fulfilling my duties as President for the remainder of my term.”

Democrats and their media had spent months making the case that Biden was unfit to be a presidential candidate on account of his mental state. Members of Congress, celebrities and party insiders described him as being unable to function in even the most basic ways.

Now they will argue that a man in that condition is unfit to campaign, but fit to run the country.

By pressuring Biden to resign from the campaign, but not the presidency, Democrats have officially put ‘party ahead of country’. They have made it clear that they have no problem with an unfit president, only an unfit candidate, and even then only when that candidate’s unfitness becomes public knowledge and puts them at risk of losing a presidential election.

Rep. Seth Moulton recently claimed that Biden didn’t recognize him at a D-Day event and called on him to resign. At the NATO summit, the head of the Eurasia Group described a world leader saying that Biden was “repeating the same anecdote twice in an individual meeting” and another case where Biden was “not recognizing someone that he knew quite well.”

Media reports indicated that Biden could not function well after 4 PM and that he needed to be in bed by 8 PM leaving him unable to attend events with world leaders. Watergate’s Carl Bernstein said that sources had described over a dozen incidents similar to the one at the debate. The media confirmed stories previously reported in the conservative press of Obama and Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni having to lead Biden where he needed to go.

How under those circumstances is it possible for Biden to remain in his current position?

           — Hat tip: Daniel Greenfield [Return to headlines]
 

Biden Told Trump He Was ‘Lucky’ to Survive Assassination Attempt

President Donald Trump has revealed more details about the conversation he had with his former presidential election rival after narrowly surviving an assassination attempt.

Shortly after being shot during a campaign rally in Butler County, Pennsylvania, earlier this month, Democrat President Joe Biden called Trump to speak to him about the attack.

During an interview with Fox News host Jesse Watters, Trump said Biden told him he was “lucky” to survive the attempt on his life.

Trump and his running mate, Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH), sat down for an interview with Watters that aired on Monday.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

Biden Megadonor Issues Warning to Democrats About Kamala Harris: ‘Be Careful What You Wish For’

One of President Joe Biden’s top donors has issued a warning to Democrats over pushing Kamala Harris for the party’s presidential nomination.

Attorney John Morgan, a Biden megadonor, warns that running Harris as the nominee will hand the election to President Donald Trump.

Morgan argues that Trump and his supporters are hoping the Democrats choose Harris.

However, he warns that Harris is too far Left to win a general election, warning that running the vice president would be a gift to Trump.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

Biden Cancels 9 Trips After Quitting Presidential Race: Report

It has been revealed that Joe Biden cancelled nine trips to various destinations across the United States over the next two weeks following his decision to drop out of the presidential race. A source familiar with the matter told the New York Post that the president was set to start travelling on Monday, but opted instead to extend his stay at home until Wednesday.

Biden has been holed up in his Rehoboth, Delaware residence since being diagnosed with COVID-19 last week, however presidential physician Dr. Kevin O’Connor recently noted that Biden’s symptoms have “almost resolved completely,” and that all his vitals are “absolutely normal.” The source said they were not provided with a reason for the decision to scrap the plans.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

Biden to Address Nation Wednesday After Quitting Election

On Tuesday, Joe Biden announced his first in-person public appearance since dropping out of the 2024 presidential race. The commander in chief will address the nation at 8pm EST on Wednesday.

Since being diagnosed with Covid last week, Biden has been holed up at his home in Rehoboth, Delaware. Despite the fact that presidential physician Dr. Kevin O’Connor recently noted that Biden’s symptoms have “almost resolved completely,” and that all his vitals are “absolutely normal,” his only appearance has been a call-in to Kamala Harris’ campaign event on Monday.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

Bob Menendez to Resign From Senate Amid Democratic Pressure After Guilty Verdict

Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., will resign from the Senate after significant pressure from Democrats to do so following a guilty verdict in his federal corruption case.

A resignation letter from the senator was entered into the congressional record on Tuesday by Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt., who was acting as chair of the Senate.

Menendez informed Gov. Phil Murphy, D-N.J., that he would be resigning after Aug. 20 in the correspondence, which was obtained by Fox News.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

Breaking: Secret Service Chief Kimberly Cheatle Quits Over Trump Assassination Attempt

U.S. Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle has just resigned from her position following mounting pressure over the attempted assassination of President Donald Trump on her watch.

Cheatle has come under increased pressure from politicians on Capitol Hill following Secret Service failures after the deadly shooting at Trump’s Pennsylvania rally on July 13.

Yesterday, Cheatle said that she was going to stay in the role to try and see through the investigation into the assassination attempt.

Cheatle’s resignation comes just one day into an intense grilling from Congress.

During the hearing on Monday, she admitted the attempted assassination of Trump was the agency’s biggest failure in decades.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

Breaking: Kamala Launches ‘Prosecutor’ Attack on Donald Trump as Crowd Chants ‘Lock Him Up’ at Milwaukee Rally

As Vice President Kamala Harris held a rally in Wisconsin on Tuesday, leaning into her history as a prosecutor, the crowd started chanting “Lock him up!” in reference to Donald Trump.

“I was elected attorney general of the state of California and I was a courtroom prosecutor before then. And in those roles I took on perpetrators of all kinds: predators who abused women, fraudsters who ripped off consumers, cheaters who broke the rules for their own gain. So, hear me when I say I know Donald Trump’s type,” Harris said.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

Breaking: Secret Service Urges Trump Campaign to Stop Outdoor Rallies: Report

Following the attempted assassination of Donald Trump at an outdoor rally in Pennsylvania, Secret Service officials have reportedly urged Trump’s campaign to cease holding large outdoor events with big crowds.

Secret Service agents reportedly expressed their concerns to Trump campaign advisors over having large outdoor rallies going forward, three people familiar with the matter told the Washington Post.

Trump’s team is reportedly looking at venues such as large arenas for future events, and currently has no large outdoor events planned. Campaign advisors noted that indoor rallies are more expensive. One campaign official told the outlet that despite the cost, indoor venues are safer because it’s easier to control who goes in and out.

“Obviously with an indoor venue, you have a capacity,” she said. “It doesn’t pack the same punch. There’s something about being at one of those outdoor rallies.”

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

Disturbing Facial Paralysis Caused by COVID Shots, Study Confirms

Leading researchers in California have confirmed that surging cases of a once-rare form of facial paralysis known as oculomotor nerve palsy have been caused by Covid mRNA shots.

Led by Adventist Health neurologist Antonio K. Liu, M.D. and Ifeanyichukwu Ozobu, M.D., the team of researchers at White Memorial Hospital in Los Angeles sought to identify the trigger behind soaring reports of oculomotor nerve palsy, also known as third nerve palsy.

The team is made up of physician investigators from Adventist Health, a faith-based, nonprofit, integrated health system serving more than 90 communities on the West Coast and Hawaii with over 400 sites of care.

Oculomotor nerve palsy is derived from damage to the third cranial nerve.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

DOJ Magically Finds 117 Pages of Biden Transcripts

The Department of Justice admitted to a federal judge on Monday that it has located 117 pages of transcripts it previously denied having, related to President Joe Biden’s interviews with a biographer which played a role in the recently completed criminal investigation of his handling of classified material before he became president.

The investigation from special counsel Robert Hur found concluded that while Biden likely mishandled classified info, no reasonable prosecutor would bring charges against him for coming off as “a well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.”

What followed was a flood of Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests from news organizations and conservative groups seeking information — including audio recordings of Biden’s interviews with Hur — which the DOJ refuses to release over fears that they could be used to create ‘deepfakes’ of the president. The groups, meanwhile, maintain that the DOJ is covering up Biden’s severe cognitive decline.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

Elon Musk Backs Down From $45 Million a Month Pledge to Trump, Says He Doesn’t ‘Subscribe to Cult of Personality’

Elon Musk is not spending $45 million a month to elect former President Donald Trump, though he has created a new super political action committee (PAC) to fund the Republican candidate, the billionaire told conservative commentator Jordan Peterson during an interview Monday evening.

During the interview, which was hosted on Musk’s platform, X, Peterson asked Musk if he had “shocked” himself by donating a substantial amount of money to Trump’s campaign. Musk — who has previously criticized Trump, calling him a “bull in a china shop” — paused to correct the “media.”

“What’s been reported in the media is simply not true,” Musk said. “I am not donating $45 million a month to Trump.”

The Wall Street Journal first reported on the claim, citing sources “familiar with the matter.” The outlet has not yet issued a retraction or follow-up article altering its reporting.

Musk did note that he created a super PAC, called the America PAC, to help support Trump.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

Federal Court Won’t Block New Mexico’s 7-Day Waiting Period on Gun Purchases Amid Litigation

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — A federal judge has ruled that New Mexico can continue to enforce a new, seven-day waiting period on gun sales while a court challenge backed by the National Rifle Association moves forward.

In a ruling Monday, Albuquerque-based U.S. District Court Judge James Browning denied the NRA’s request for a restraining order or injunction that would block the extended waiting period.

Democratic state lawmakers enacted the restrictions earlier this year in hopes of ensuring more time for the completion of federal background checks on gun buyers.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

Federal Judge Tosses Ohio Voting Restrictions on Voters With Disabilities

CLEVELAND (AP) — A federal judge has struck down part of Ohio’s sweeping 2023 election law, which voting rights groups said restricted people from helping voters with disabilities cast absentee ballots.

Voting advocates argued that the Republican-backed law went too far by prohibiting anyone but a few qualifying family members from helping people with disabilities deliver their ballots, excluding potential helpers such as professional caregivers, roommates, in-laws and grandchildren.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

Harvard Researchers Link COVID Shots to Sudden Deaths Surge

A group of leading researchers from America’s world-renowned Harvard Medical School has uncovered damning links between Covid mRNA shots and the global surge in cases of strokes and sudden deaths.

The Harvard researchers conducted a case study and chronicled soaring cases of fatal cerebral ischemia over the past three years.

Cerebral ischemia, or an ischemic stroke, is triggered by insufficient blood flow to the brain.

It causes brain damage which can result in sudden death or permanent disability.

The Harvard researchers found that Moderna’s Covid mRNA injections specifically caused the recent spike in the fatal disorder.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

Kamala Harris Hit With Articles of Impeachment Over Border Crisis, ‘Misleading’ People on Biden

A House Republican lawmaker is filing articles of impeachment against Vice President Kamala Harris on Wednesday, over both her handling of the border and knowledge, if any, of President Biden’s alleged cognitive decline.

Rep. Andy Ogles, R-Tenn., is accusing Harris of breaching public trust and of willfully refusing to uphold U.S. immigration law in two impeachment articles, obtained by Fox News Digital.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

Kelly Surges Ahead of Shapiro as Top Contender for Harris’ Veep Pick

With Vice President Kamala Harris now expected to secure the Democratic Party’s nomination for the 2024 presidential race, the next crucial decision will be selecting a running mate to complete the ticket.

As Emel Akan reports via The Epoch Times, after President Joe Biden endorsed Ms. Harris as the party’s nominee on July 21, several names have been floated as her potential running mate.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

‘Lyin’ Kamala’ Needs to Answer if Biden is Fit to Serve as President: Trump

In a post on Truth Social, Donald Trump said Vice President Kamala Harris has been lying to the American public about President Joe Biden’s mental decline and added that she needs to answer if Biden is still fit to serve as the president.

“Does Lyin’ Kamala Harris think Joe Biden is fit to run the USA for the next six months? She must answer the question. Now it appears Joe is delegating his Presidential Authority to unelected Washington Bureaucrats! He doesn’t even trust his Vice President. WHO IS RUNNING THE COUNTRY?” Trump posted.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

Michigan Man Kills Himself After Running Over 80-Year-Old Trump Supporter

A Michigan man suspected of using an all-terrain vehicle to run over an elderly man for supporting Donald Trump died by suicide as police closed in on him, according to authorities.

Police in Hancock — a city located in the state’s upper peninsula — said the man in question was under investigation for allegedly running over an 80-year-old man at about 5.45pm local time on Monday.

The elderly man was described as a supporter of the former president who was posting a political sign in his yard, according to police. Police also said the man displayed stickers and flags that were supportive of law enforcement. He was taken to the hospital in critical condition with serious injuries after the man on the ATV struck him, authorities said.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

NASA Captures Dark Plasma Eruption From Sun, Warning of Potential Radio Blackouts This Week

NASA has captured a dark plasma eruption on the sun that has a 60 percent chance of causing blackouts on Earth this week.

The approximately 36,000 degrees Fahrenheit (F) ‘cold’ solar flare is approximately one quarter of the temperature of the sun’s ‘warm’ solar flares, which average 144,000 degrees-F and are much better understood by scientists.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) issued an alert Monday warning that this dark plasma pulse could lead to ‘power grid fluctuations.’ The flare has the potential to disrupt radios, aviation communication, and satellite operations when it makes impact by at least Friday.

NASA’s video from its Solar Dynamics Observatory showed a dark cloud of the cold solar flare bursting from the sun, creating what looks like black smoke as this cooler-than-average plasma shot northward up the surface of the sun.

So-called ‘cold’ solar flares — which have only been the subject of serious study by astrophysicists in the past decade — appear to be no less high in microwave radiation than a ‘warm’ solar flare. These lower temperature solar flares, according to one 2023 study, produce “higher peak frequencies of gyrosynchrotron emission,” the exact form of radiation responsible for a flare’s intense and disruptive radio emissions.

NOAA has advised that there’s a 60 percent chance of more medium-level or M-class solar flares within the next 24 hours — and a 15 percent chance of a more extreme X-class flare, which could trigger radio blackouts all around the world. This recent ‘cold’ M-class solar flare erupted from the sunspot region named AR3757 late Sunday. Specifically, the flare was an M1-class which is on the low end of the ten-point scale within this medium M range.

Solar flares are divided into four lettered categories by their severity: X-class flares are the most intense, followed by M, C, and the weakest, B. Only X and M flares radiate energy powerful enough to affect Earth, where their electromagnetic pulses can cause communications and electrical disruptions.

In the past 24 hours, at least six M-class solar flares have caused radio disruptions internationally, including one M1 flare that caused radio blackouts in parts of the Western Hemisphere, and three in Asia. The largest of these was an M3.2-class flare that led to a radio blackout in the Pacific late Sunday, according to the University of Athens Space Weather Forecasting Center.

Experts have warned that Earth is set to weather increasingly more severe solar storms over the next year.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

New Emails Reveal Big Tech-Biden Collusion on COVID-19 Narratives, Involving CDC and Twitter Censorship

Trying to refute collusive practices involving major social media companies is probably not high on the agenda of the US government right this moment; nevertheless, the evidence of the highly controversial practice keeps rolling in.

America First Legal (AFL), a conservative non-profit, has disclosed a new batch of documents obtained through litigation, this time against the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). It concerns May 2021 communications meant to set the tone online and “manage” the government agenda around topics related to Covid vaccines.

The emails were exchanged between Facebook and CDC — and the documents focus on the activities of CDC spokesperson Carol Crawford, who also “happened” to be involved with Twitter’s Partner Support Portal around the same time.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

Ohio Supreme Court Orders News Trial for Voting Machine Case

The Ohio Supreme Court has ordered a new trial for a case involving the state’s purchase of new Dominion Voting Systems machines.

The state’s high court ruled unanimously to order a new trial in a case where the lower court allowed closed-door meetings about whether to buy new voting machines from Dominionin 2020 and 2021.

The law allows closed-door executive meetings for three reasons:

“To consider the purchase of property for public purposes, the sale of property at competitive bidding, or the sale or other disposition of unneeded, obsolete, or unfit-for-use property in accordance with (state law), if premature disclosure of information would give an unfair competitive or bargaining advantage to a person whose personal, private interest is adverse to the general public interest.”

The court said it used grammar to decide the ruling.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

Pennsylvania State Police Chief Testifies on Trump Shooting

(NEXSTAR) — Pennsylvania State Police (PSP) commissioner Colonel Christopher Paris testified before the House Homeland Security Committee Tuesday on the attempted assassination of former President Trump.

During questioning, Paris revealed that two officers who were at a post inside a building that overlooked the rooftop from which Thomas Matthew Crooks attempted to assassinate former President Trump left their station shortly before Crooks went up to the roof, The Hill reports.

The officers were both SWAT-trained members of the Butler Emergency Services Unit (ESU), and were the first to flag Crooks as suspicious when he didn’t enter the venue with the rest of the attendees before Trump’s speech, according to an investigation by the PSP.

Paris said that the two officers left their post to go search for Crooks on the ground “alongside other local officers in the immediacy after Crooks had been identified as a suspicious person.”

“Are you then saying from your knowledge that those ESU officers left the location where they could look out the window in search of this person?” Rep. Dan Bishop (R-N.C.) asked Paris.

“Yes, that is my understanding,” Paris responded.

When asked if the two officers would have had a clear shot at Crooks on the rooftop, Paris said that he wasn’t sure. A video shown during the hearing suggested that they would have, however.

           — Hat tip: MM [Return to headlines]
 

Public University Sued Over Alleged Use of Student Fees to Support Leftists Political Groups

Authored by Patrick McDonald via Campus Reform

A recent graduate of St. Cloud State University in Minnesota is suing the university administration, alleging that she was forced to pay a fee that went to a liberal student activist group.

Tayah Lackie filed the lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota in May, with assistance from the Liberty Justice Center and the Upper Midwest Law Center.

Lackie’s lawsuit contends that a mandatory fee going to a political agenda that she disagrees with violates the First Amendment because it compels speech.

“A state school can’t make you pay a political group just to be enrolled,” Liberty Justice Center President Jacob Huebert said.

“The Students United scheme violates students’ First Amendment rights, and we look forward to the courts saying so in our case.”

The lawsuit alleges that all students at St. Cloud State must pay “union dues” to a group called Students United, which “advocates for and takes positions on controversial policies and legislation, and which purports to speak on all students’ behalf.”

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

Reuters ‘Shock Poll’ Finds Kamala Leading Trump, There’s Just One Catch…

With the Democrat corporate media machine in full swing behind Kamala Harris following President Joe Biden’s shock announcement on Sunday that he’s abandoning his 2024 presidential campaign, it was only a matter of time before a ‘shock’ poll had her beating Trump in a hypothetical matchup.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

San Francisco Invokes Supreme Court’s Bureaucracy-Weakening Ruling in Lawsuit Against EPA

Authored by Matthew Vadum via The Epoch Times

San Francisco will invoke the Supreme Court’s landmark ruling from last month that weakened federal regulators’ power in its upcoming case challenging federal wastewater discharge regulations, according to a brief that the city filed with the high court on July 19.

The city is arguing that Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) officials misinterpreted a provision of the federal Clean Water Act of 1972 when they issued a discharge permit. In issuing the permit, the officials deviated from the framework of the statute so much that they revived the old regulatory approach that the law had replaced, according to the city.

The city argues that the Supreme Court’s June 28 decision in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, which invalidated the 40-year-old bureaucracy-empowering Chevron deference doctrine, has a bearing on the case. Critics say the now-defunct doctrine, which required judges to defer to the legal interpretations of unelected federal agency officials when enforcing federal laws that they deemed ambiguous, led to the explosive growth of the federal government in recent decades.

The Loper Bright ruling is expected to be widely cited in lawsuits challenging federal regulations. It’s also expected to make it more difficult for government officials to generate new regulations.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

Secret Service Director Steps Down, Heeding Calls to Quit After Trump Assassination Attempt

WASHINGTON — U.S. Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle has stepped down after widespread calls from lawmakers for her to resign following the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump, three sources told NBC News.

In her resignation letter, obtained from a senior official who received it, Cheatle wrote that the “scrutiny over the last week has been intense and will continue to remain as our operational tempo increases.” She added she takes “full responsibility for the security lapse.”

“In light of recent events, it is with a heavy heart that I have made the difficult decision to step down as your Director,” wrote Cheatle, who had led the agency since September 2022.

It’s unclear when her last day will be.

           — Hat tip: Conservative Tree House [Return to headlines]
 

Thomas Matthew Crooks’ High School Denies Bullying Led to Trump Assassination Attempt

The high school of Thomas Matthew Crooks has responded after allegations suggested that bullying led the 20-year-old to launch an assassination attempt against President Donald Trump.

Crooks was a former student of Bethel Park High School, which has been a focus of attention since the July 13 shooting in Butler County, Pennsylvania.

While Trump was delivering a speech, Crooks was able to scale a BlackRock-owned building nearby and open fire on Trump, killing a crowd member, wounding the 45th president, and injuring two more.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

TikTok Lite ‘Fails to Protect Users’, Claims Mozilla and AI Forensics Report

A report by the Mozilla Foundation and AI Forensics has pointed out what they said was a lack of security features in the version of social media giant TikTok Lite widely used in developing countries.

The report, published on July 20, accused TikTok of neglecting its users outside the US and the European Union with the TikTok Lite app.

Lite apps are first launched in areas with weak internet and scant power connections or where users may use old versions of phones such as those of Android or Apple.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

Top Democrats Set Biden Up to Fail at Trump Debate, Threatened to Forcibly Remove Him, Insiders Reveal

Insiders have blown the whistle to allege that high-profile Democrats have been plotting to remove President Joe Biden from office for months, according to a bombshell new report.

Sources reportedly told the New York Post that top Democrats set Biden up to fail during his debate with President Donald Trump in late June.

Additionally, operatives at the very highest levels of the Democratic Party threatened to forcibly remove Biden from office unless he agreed to step down willingly.

A source close to the Biden family told The Post that the well-orchestrated “palace coup” to stop the faltering president seeking re-election has been in place for months.

However, stubborn Biden fought against it every step of the way.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

Treasury Department Attacks Florida’s Law Against Social Credit and Debanking

The current White House appears to have elevated the protection of the concept of “social credit score” — a method of controlling citizens’ behavior championed by China — to a US national security issue.

Namely — a letter originating from the Treasury states that a US state law that aims to prevent the introduction of a social credit score system represents a national security threat.

The local press in Florida revealed the letter, sent by Treasury Department’s Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian E. Nelson to California Congressman Brad Sherman, a Democrat, referring to Florida’s House Bill 989, which became law this year.

The Florida law, among its other provisions, aims to give recourse to customers of financial institutions who believe they are unfairly targeted by those institutions.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

Trump Blasts Director Cheatle as She Quits Secret Service: ‘I Ended Up Having to Take a Bullet for Democracy’

President Donald Trump has responded to the news that Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle is resigning from her position.

Trump blasted Cheatle for “never” giving him “proper protection” despite “many requests” for increased security.

Speaking to Fox News reporter Brooke Singman, Trump said he had to “take a bullet for democracy” due to Cheatle’s failings.

As Slay News reported earlier, Cheatle announced her resignation Tuesday following an intense grilling before Congress about the failed assassination attempt against Trump on July 13.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

Trump Confirms Netanyahu Meeting at Mar-a-Lago

Update(1359ET): After earlier in the week Prime Minister Netanyahu requested a private meeting with former President Donald Trump while he’s in the US to address Congress, Trump has finally confirmed the meeting will happen this week. Israeli media has announced it will happen Friday.

The two will meet at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, according to breaking reports, and this will be the day after Biden hosts Netanyahu for a meeting at the White House (assuming that it does proceed).

Netanyahu is likely eagerly awaiting the day that Trump retakes the White House, given the Republican nominee is seen as most staunchly supportive of Israel. Meanwhile, Biden reemerges after a week of not being seen in public:

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

Trump Refused Secret Service Demand he be ‘Carried Out on a Stretcher’ After Assassination Attempt

In a recent interview with Fox News, Donald Trump revealed that after being shotduring his July 13 rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, Secret Service wanted to carry him off stage in a stretcher. The former president said he refused, telling agents it wasn’t necessary.

Sitting next to his running mate JD Vance, Trump explained to host Jesse Watters that his bodyguards initially believed he had been hit in the torso and that his injuries may have been more serious.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

Trump Appeals Civil Fraud Judgment in New York Case

Donald Trump has filed an appeal against a February civil fraud judgment that found him and his company liable for business fraud. The appeal was lodged in the New York Supreme Court Appellate Division on Monday, challenging the decision made by Judge Arthur Engoron, who had ordered Trump and the Trump Organization to pay a $354 million penalty, which had risen to $464 million by late February due to accrued interest.

The 95-page appeal argues that state Attorney General Letitia James overstepped her authority, calling her actions an “unauthorized, unprecedented power-grab.” It also contends that several loans cited by prosecutors should not have been included in the case, arguing that James is attempting to “unwind and penalize complex, highly successful transactions between Appellants and sophisticated Wall Street banks that left all parties deeply satisfied and had no impact on the public interest.”

Judge Engoron’s ruling barred Trump from running any New York company for three years and prohibited his sons, Donald Jr. and Eric, from running any business in New York for two years. The case stemmed from allegations by James that Trump and his business had inflated asset values on financial statements to secure better financial terms, including an instance where Trump allegedly valued his Trump Tower triplex at three times its actual size and value.

Trump’s lawyers argue that these were private transactions in which no party complained or alleged default, noting that all loan payments were made on time and repaid in full, some even before their due dates. They further contend that, according to the proper application of the statute of limitations, seven out of ten loan transactions should have been excluded from the case, potentially reducing the judgment by $350,980,057.

In their appeal, Trump’s lawyers criticized Judge Engoron for allegedly ignoring a previous appellate ruling on time-barred claims and accused him of allowing a “reckless, politically motivated Attorney General” to interfere in lawful transactions. Trump attorney Christopher Kise stated that the appeal seeks to overturn what he called “legally bereft decisions” and “unconstitutional penalties.”

Trump, who is the Republican nominee for president, has consistently denied any wrongdoing and criticized the judgment. Attorney General James, however, maintains that Trump engaged in deceptive practices that defrauded banks and insurance companies, emphasizing that “everyone must play by the same rules.”

Despite Trump’s legal team’s recent successes, such as a Supreme Court ruling on presidential immunity, they did not invoke this ruling in their latest appeal.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

Tulsi Gabbard Warns ‘Maidservant of Hillary Clinton’ Kamala Harris is the ‘New Figurehead for the Deep State’

Former Democrat 2020 presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard has warned the American people that Vice President Kamala Harris “is the new figurehead for the deep state.”

Gabbard, who ran against Harris in the 2020 Democrat primary, and outperformed her, warns that Harris is a “maidservant of Hillary Clinton.”

She blasted Harris as the new puppet of the “deep state” after Democrat President Joe Biden announced the end of his re-election campaign Sunday.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

Canadian Behind Knife Attack in Israel Was 21-Year-Old From Alberta

The man killed in Israel yesterday while attempting to attack security forces was a 21-year-old from Alberta.

Zachareah Adam Quraishi’s father released a public message acknowledging his son’s passing.

“My 21-year-old son Zachareah was killed. I’m not able to talk now… I’m processing… Prayers pls. He was an empathetic boy. I’m confused,” Adam Quraishi, a teacher from Cold Lake, Alta., wrote on Facebook late Monday night. The father has not responded to National Post’s requests for comment.

The local detachment of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police confirmed receipt of the Post’s request for comment but has not provided any comment.

           — Hat tip: Red Mike [Return to headlines]
 

Canadian Woman With Cerebral Palsy Bullied by Doctors for Refusing Euthanasia, Called ‘Selfish’

A prominent Christian author in Canada has gone public after being bullied by medical professionals for refusing to allow them to euthanize her because she suffers from cerebral palsy.

In 2019, an Alberta nurse reportedly tried to pressure Heather Hancock into signing up for euthanasia through the Canadian government’s Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD) program.

However, when 56-year-old Hancock refused to allow doctors to end her life, the nurse blasted her for being “selfish.”

In an interview with the Daily Mail, Hancock said that she was shamed and bullied for refusing MAiD at Medicine Hat Regional Hospital in Alberta.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

Barcelona to End Airbnb: Tourism Industry Reacts to Mayor’s Bold Plan

The city’s mayor has vowed to rid the Catalan capital of its 10,000 tourist apartment licenses within five years.

Last year, the province of Barcelona, with 5.5 million inhabitants, received 26 million tourists. The direct economic impact was €12.75 billion, a sum the Catalan economy largely depends on.

The impact of recent protests against mass tourism in the city, as well as the city’s mayor Jaume Collboni’s announcement he will eliminate the city’s 10,000 tourist flats by 2028, have not been well received by the sector.

“Rental prices have risen significantly in the last 10 years, and I believe the administration is trying to cover its shortcomings by using existing apartments for other purposes. But this is neither going to fix the problem nor is it the solution,” said Bonaventura Durall, managing director at Durlet Apartments, a tourist flat rental company in the city.

According to the Barcelona Association of Tourist Apartments (APARTUR), tourist apartments account for only 0.77% of the city’s housing.

They warn that the restriction of licenses could increase the number of illegal apartments and could potentially cause 40% of the city’s tourism to disappear. “Sure, it would have an impact. But I think it would not only affect the hospitality industry, it would have repercussions in all services. Now in summer, everyone knows that in Barcelona, the local clientele disappears due to the heat and people going away from the city. Tourists basically make up 50% of our clientele,” Marc, a restaurant manager, told Euronews.

Pablo, from Belgium, who is visiting the city with his family, agrees with Marc: “I can understand that people are a bit fed up with tourism, but it keeps the city alive as well. So, they need tourism. I think that if it stops, the merchants will struggle more. And I believe that, yes, this is exactly how they will lose quite a lot.”

Despite everything, the tourists we spoke to say they currently do not feel any type of rejection in the streets of Barcelona.

Thousands of people demonstrated in Mallorca this weekend against what they say are the negative impacts of over-tourism.

Organisers of the march say uncontrolled tourist numbers are causing a drop in wages, loss of quality of life, noise and an increase in the price of housing, both to rent and to buy.

Demonstrators marched under the banner ‘Let’s change course — let’s put limits on tourism’ in an action that was joined by 110 other civic organisations.

Malaga locals expressed their frustration earlier this year by plastering the centre of the Spanish city with stickers, telling visitors what residents think of them. The Canary Islands are experiencing a similarly drastic situation. Overtourism isn’t just restricted to the Balearic Islands. Many European countries have been imposing tourist taxes, including Venice, which has also banned cruise ships from entering its endangered canal system.

In Amsterdam, authorities and locals alike have been trying for months to encourage — mostly British — drunken tourists to stay away. In Athens, the city’s mayor announced a tourism capacity study to set the city’s limits and to gather data on short-term rentals and hotels.

While the problem appears to be global, Spain is leading the grassroots pushback.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

CJ Hopkins: The People’s Court of New Normal Germany

Authored by CJ Hopkins via The Consent Factory

Just when I thought things could not possibly get more shockingly totalitarian in New Normal Germany, where I’m being prosecuted in criminal court (for the second time) for tweeting, the German authorities have gone and surprised me again.

No, they haven’t established an actual Nazi-style People’s Court (pictured below) yet, and, of course, there is absolutely no similarity between the current German justice system, which is totally fair and democratic and a paragon of impartial justice and the rule of law, and The People’s Court of Berlin during the Nazi era, nor is there any similarity between Nazi Germany and New Normal Germany (i.e., modern-day Germany), and I would never, ever, suggest that there was, as that would be intellectually lazy, and tasteless, and completely inaccurate, and illegal, and … well, let me fill you in on the latest.

The Berlin Superior Court has set a date for my next thoughtcrime trial.

As regular readers will probably recall, my first thoughtcrime trial in January ended with my acquittal. So, the German authorities are putting me on trial again. Yes, they can do that in Germany. But, wait, that’s not the best part.

The best part is, at my new thoughtcrime trial — this time in Berlin Superior Court — full-scale Anti-Terrorism Security protocols will be effect in the courtroom.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

Czech Education Minister Proposes Mandatory English From First Grade

Education Minister Mikulas Bek wrote on social media Monday that he will push for English to be mandatory at least from the first grade and a second foreign language, such as German, French, or Spanish, from the sixth grade as part of a revision of the education program for Czech primary schools.

Bek also said that when revising the secondary school curriculum, he wants to ensure that all schools offer an adequate number of second foreign languages.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

EU Approves €105 Million Subsidy for Dutch Farmers to Reduce Nitrogen Pollution

The EU has greenlit a €105 million subsidy scheme aimed at encouraging Dutch livestock farmers to relocate away from nature protection areas to mitigate nitrogen pollution. The approval comes amid ongoing protests from farmers against the Dutch government’s efforts to address nitrogen emissions from agricultural sources.

Since 2019, the Netherlands has faced significant farmer unrest due to government measures targeting nitrogen pollution, including ammonia from manure, slurry, and chemical fertilizers. The protests contributed to the rise of the Farmer-Citizen Movement (BBB), which has recently joined a new right-wing coalition government.

The approved scheme provides financial compensation to farmers who voluntarily move operations away from Natura 2000 sites affected by nitrogen deposition. These areas, protected under the EU’s Habitats Directive, are at risk of environmental degradation due to excessive nitrogen. The subsidy can cover up to 100% of relocation costs, including the dismantling and reassembly of farm buildings and infrastructure, as well as site restoration. Farmers who move to other parts of the EU are also eligible for support.

EU regulations require that national subsidies do not distort market competition. Brussels officials ensured that the Dutch scheme meets policy goals without causing undue market distortion. The scheme, running until 2029, supports the EU Green Deal’s climate goals and promotes sustainable livestock farming.

This decision follows a previous approval of €1.47 billion in state aid by EU competition officials, aimed at refunding up to 120% of the costs for farmers choosing to close their livestock operations rather than comply with stricter nitrogen limits.

Despite being the world’s second-largest agricultural exporter, with nearly €124 billion in exports last year, the Netherlands is grappling with high population density and environmental challenges. The new government, including BBB, has pledged to ease some of the restrictions imposed by the previous administration led by Prime Minister Mark Rutte.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

EU Rages Over Orban’s Ukraine Peace Attempts, Cancels Major Budapest Meeting

The European Union, enraged over Viktor Orban’s diplomatic efforts for peace in Ukraine, has punished Hungary by cancelling a series of meetings in Budapest scheduled for next month.

Spanish socialist Josep Borrell, the outgoing top foreign affairs official in Brussels, said on Tuesday that Hungary will be blocked from hosting the next meeting of foreign and defence ministers over Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s stance on Ukraine and his recent meeting with Vladimir Putin to discuss a potential pathway to peace.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

Europe’s Most Expensive Apartment Markets: Switzerland Tops, Serbia Sees Largest Increase

While Serbia saw the biggest increase in apartment prices per square metre over the year, there is one country in Europe that still has the highest price per square metre, as well as the highest average income.

Although the ongoing cost of living crisis, soaring inflation, and higher interest rates have somewhat deflated the market, several European countries have still experienced significant increases in apartment prices per square metre over the past year.

According to a study by Deluxe Holiday Homes using data from the Bank of International Settlements (BIS) and Numbeo, Serbia takes the crown for the steepest rise in apartment prices from 2023 to 2024. Lithuania comes in at second place, with Romania a close third. Malta and Spain have also seen significant apartment price increases in the last year.

Although Serbia saw the largest increase in apartment prices over the year, Switzerland still retains the highest price per square metre, at $20,452 (€18,781), as well as the highest average income and cost of living. On the other hand, Greece has the lowest price per square metre, at $3,157 (€2,899).

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

France: Harrowing Moment Australian Gang Rape Victim Flees Her Five Attackers in Paris and Begs for Help From Kebab Shop Staff and Customers — Just Three Days Before Olympics Begins

Security vision has captured the moment a visibly distressed Australian woman sought refuge inside a Paris kebab shop after being allegedly gang raped,

           — Hat tip: SS [Return to headlines]
 

France: Olympic Team Briefed After Horrifying Gang Rape of Australian Woman in Paris Just Days Before Games Get Under Way

Australian chef de mission Anna Meares said she had heard of no threats against team members, but they are being advised to be careful when going outside the athletes’ village.

           — Hat tip: SS [Return to headlines]
 

France: Channel Nine’s Olympic Broadcast Team Attacked in Paris Days After Australian Woman Was Gang Raped by Five Men

Two tech staff were walking back to their accommodation in Le Bourget on the outskirts of Paris on Monday when a brazen group of thieves attempted to snatch one of their backpacks.

           — Hat tip: SS [Return to headlines]
 

France: Report: Australian Tourist Claims Gang-Rape by ‘African’ Men in Paris Days Before Olympics

Police in Paris, France, documented an alleged gang rape on Monday after an unnamed Australian woman reportedly stumbled in front of a kebab shop accusing five men, whose identity reportedly remain unknown at press time, of capturing and raping her throughout the night from Saturday into Sunday.

The French newspaper Le Figaro reported that locals found the woman in front of the shop, apparently “drunk,” at 5 a.m. local time. Unnamed police sources told the newspaper that they woman described her alleged attackers as appearing “African,” but struggled to communicate as she only spoke English. The woman is believed to be a 25-year-old Australian tourist.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

French Leftists Announce Legislative Steps to Scrap Macron’s Pension Reform

PARIS (Reuters) —The leftist France Unbowed party announced legislative steps on Tuesday to try to scrap French President Emmanuel Macron’s pension changes and reverse a rise in the legal retirement age to 64 from 62.

The right-wing National Rally (RN) quickly offered its support for the legislation proposed by France Unbowed (LFI), potentially boosting its chances of winning parliamentary approval.

Cancelling the pension reform, signed into law last year and aimed at protecting state finances and boosting productivity, is a key goal of the left-wing camp that emerged last month as the strongest parliamentary force after a snap election.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

Germany Prepares for Trump’s Return: Crisis Group Established to Protect Economy and Security

The German Foreign Ministry has set up an informal crisis group to discuss the possibility of Trump’s return to the White House, according to a report by Financial Times citing sources.

“Germany is preparing for a president with an even more openly protectionist, pro-American economic policy than during his first term, including the threat of a 10% tariff on all imports, which could cause massive harm to Germany’s export-oriented economy,” the FT writes.

The concerns have only intensified following the nomination of Jay D. Vance as a vice-presidential candidate, who is considered an even bigger isolationist than Trump.

Additionally, Germans fear the revocation of some security guarantees that have been the foundation of European stability since NATO’s establishment in 1949, which could make Germany vulnerable to destabilization by Russia.

Berlin is even preparing for a scenario in which Trump “destroys American democracy and splits powers.” The Ministry of Economy is trying to calculate the impact of Trump’s tariffs and review supply chains to potentially replace American high-tech and raw materials products.

Most people believe that US attention will shift from Europe to Asia, leaving Germany an opportunity to take on a leading role.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

Germany Raises Financial Threshold for Non-EU Students

From September 2024 onwards, all international students from non-European Union countries applying for a German student visa will have to prove to German authorities that can access €992 per month to support themselves — €11,904 a year.

Alma Miftari, Head of Research and Communication for Studying-in-Germany, the country’s largest information portal for international students, told Brussels Signal: “This move can help prevent financial hardships and ensure students can focus on their education without undue stress about their finances.”

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

German Christian Democrat Leader Wants to Work With Hard-Left to Block AfD

Markus Söder, leader of the Christian Social Union (CSU) in Bavaria, wants its allied Christian Democratic Union (CDU) to work with the hard-left Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW) to block the Alternative for Germany (AfD).

While are many similarities between the BSW and AfD, there was “high aggression potential” with the AfD, unlike with BSW, Söder said, according to a July 22 report by German public broadcaster BR.

In the next few months, Germany will have State elections in Saxony, Thuringia and Brandenburg, all located in East Germany. AfD is leading the polls in all three.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

Germany: Pakistan Demands Action After Protesters Breach Frankfurt Consulate Grounds

Pakistan has lodged a strong protest with Germany after protesters entered the grounds of its consulate in Frankfurt, calling for action against “a gang of extremists” that it claims breached security and endangered the lives of its staff.

The reason behind the Saturday protest outside the consulate remains unclear. Although Pakistan has not identified the demonstrators, some were seen carrying the tricolor flags of Afghanistan.

Videos circulating on social media showed a protester taking down the Pakistani flag. Pakistan’s deputy prime minister, Ishaq Dar, stated on X, that Pakistan has urged Germany to take immediate measures to arrest and prosecute those involved in the incident.

Frankfurt police reported that several men participating in a demonstration climbed over the fence of the Pakistani consulate and took a flag. About 400 people were demonstrating outside the consulate on Saturday afternoon when five to ten people entered the consulate grounds before merging back into the crowd. Police removed other individuals from the grounds, and the demonstration was concluded.

An investigation is underway, with Frankfurt police in contact with the Pakistani consulate.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

German Court Orders Government to Improve Air Quality Program

The Higher Administrative Court of Berlin-Brandenburg has ruled that the German federal government must revise its National Air Quality Program in certain areas, according to DPA.

The judges stated that the measures taken so far have not been sufficient in all respects to achieve European targets for reducing emissions of pollutants in the atmosphere.

The program, adopted in 2019 and updated in May 2024, includes numerous measures aimed at helping Germany achieve European targets for reducing emissions of pollutants such as ammonia, particulate matter, sulfur dioxide, and nitrogen oxide.

Thanks to this ruling, the environmental organization DUH has at least partially won its lawsuit against the German government. The decision is not final, and the court has allowed an appeal to be filed with the Federal Administrative Court in Leipzig due to its fundamental importance.

In mid-May, the Higher Administrative Court had ruled that the federal government must revise its climate program. In June, EU countries finally approved a comprehensive and long-awaited plan for environmental restoration, which aims to restore all ecosystems that need it by 2050.

Last autumn, representatives of the European Parliament and the EU Council reached a preliminary political agreement on the regulation for environmental restoration, which aims to restore all ecosystems that need it by 2050.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

Hungary Blocks EU Funding of 6.5 Billion Euros for Ukraine Until Russian Oil Transit Issue is Resolved

Hungary will block 6.5 billion euros in payments from the “European Peace Fund” to compensate for arms deliveries to Ukraine, until the issue of Lukoil’s oil transit is resolved. This was announced by Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Sijarto in an interview with ATV.

The head of the Hungarian Foreign Ministry expressed frustration with the difficulties in transiting Russian oil through Ukraine to Hungary and Slovakia, whose energy supplies were threatened by Ukrainian actions.

“I have also made it clear that until Ukraine resolves this issue, everyone should forget about paying 6.5 billion euros in compensation for arms deliveries from the European Peace Fund, because it would look absurd if we contributed to paying 6.5 billion euros while Ukraine poses a threat to our energy security,” he added.

Sijarto believes that the European Commission should pressure Ukraine to allow Lukoil to resume oil deliveries through Ukrainian territory.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

Legal Controversy Surrounds EU’s Proposed Ban on Internal Combustion Engines

The European Union’s plan to ban internal combustion engines (ICEs) starting in 2035 has come under legal scrutiny. The ban, set to prohibit the registration of new gasoline and diesel ICE vehicles from that date, is now being challenged by legal experts.

Professor Martin Kment from the University of Augsburg has concluded that the gradual phase-out of ICEs violates EU law. Kment argues that the EU’s current methodology, which focuses on measuring CO2 emissions from the exhaust pipe, is flawed. While electric vehicles (EVs) do not emit CO2 during operation, their production and charging can still generate significant carbon dioxide emissions, especially if the electricity used comes from coal or gas.

This narrow focus on tailpipe emissions contradicts broader European legislation, Kment asserts in his report. He suggests that ICE vehicles could potentially be more environmentally friendly than EVs when considering the full lifecycle emissions, including production and energy generation.

In response to these legal concerns, Dennis Radtke, a member of the European Parliament from the CDU party, announced plans to propose amendments to the CO2 emissions regulations. Radtke aims to ensure that internal combustion engines remain eligible for registration beyond 2035, advocating for a more comprehensive approach to evaluating vehicle emissions.

The debate over the ban highlights the complexities of transitioning to sustainable transportation and raises important questions about the most effective and legally sound methods to reduce overall carbon emissions in the EU.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

‘Malign’ Russians Face EU Passport Clampdown

The European Union must clamp down on Russian passports to hinder the work of Moscow’s spies and their “malign intelligence activities”, according to the Czech Government.

The bloc should follow Czechia’s example and ban non-biometric Russian passports, the government has said in a memo to other capitals, because non-biometric passports are too easy to forge.

“As non-biometric travel documents can be easily falsified and abused for other purposes, we recognise only biometric travel documents issued by the Russian Federation, including diplomatic and service passports,” the government said.

“This decision is being implemented from July 15, with two months transitional period, and will be notified to the European Commission.”

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

Man Jailed for Sending Mail Bombs to U.S. and Ukraine Embassies in Spain

MADRID (AP) — A Spanish court handed an 18-year prison sentence Tuesday to a man found guilty of sending six parcels containing explosives to Spain’s prime minister and other government, military and diplomatic targets, including the U.S. and Ukrainian embassies.

The 76-year-old Pompeyo Gonzalez Pascual received 10 years for committing acts of terrorism and eight years for the manufacturing and use of illegal explosives for terrorist purposes.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

Patients’ Rights and Foster Care: Czech President Signs New Amendments Into Law

President Petr Pavel signed several bills into law Tuesday, including an amendment to the insolvency law that reduces the debt relief period, a bill to help increase the number of foster parents, and an amendment raising fines for failure to register drugs, according to the website of the Presidential Office.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

Patriot Alliance Blasts ‘Undemocratic EU Oligarchy’ as Members Are Barred From Key European Parliament Jobs

The right-wing Patriot Alliance has said it is being unfairly denied committee chair positions to which it is entitled based on its European parliamentary representation.

MEPs with the Patriot Alliance, the third-biggest group in the European Parliament, said they were outraged to find themselves under an apparent cordon sanitaire: the refusal of other parties to work with them.

Centrist and left-leaning parties holding a majority in the EP have, they said, worked together to exclude the hard-right group from committee leadership positions.

Instead, such groups have opted to allocate those roles among themselves and hard-left representatives.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

UK Conservative Party Leadership Contest to Begin Next Week to Replace Sunak

LONDON (AP) — Britain’s defeated Conservatives will spend more than three months picking a new leader to replace former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, the party has announced. Sunak will remain acting leader until his successor is announced on Nov. 2.

The right-of-center party was kicked out by voters in a July 4 election that brought a Labour landslide, ending 14 years in power under five prime ministers. The Conservatives were reduced to 121 seats in the 650-seat House of Commons, their worst-ever result.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

UK Sports Commentator Faces Court for “Malicious Communications” Charges Over Social Media Posts

Free speech supporters are alarmed after former Premier League player Joey Barton has been slapped with charges of alleged “malicious communications” directed towards sports commentator and past England Women’s team star Eni Aluko.

Responding to the accusations, Barton labeled the judiciary as a “banana republic.” A court date has been set for July 30 following a probe by Cheshire Police in England.

Earlier this year, Barton likened Aluko and fellow commentator Lucy Ward to Fred and Rose West.

Fred and Rose West were a British married couple who committed a series of murders, sexual assaults, and acts of torture against young women and girls, including some of their own children, between the 1960s and 1980s in Gloucestershire, England.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Islamist Hate Preacher Anjem Choudary Found Guilty of Leading Terror Group

LONDON (AP) — Radical British preacher Anjem Choudary was found guilty Tuesday by a London jury of directing a terrorist group.

Choudary, 57, was convicted in Woolwich Crown Court of membership in a banned organization, the radical Muslim group al-Muhajiroun, or ALM, and for drumming up support for the group.

ALM was outlawed by the British government in 2010 as a group involved in committing, preparing for or promoting terrorism.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

UK: the Rival Gangs Vying for Control of Ladbroke Grove and the Notting Hill Carnival: How West London Area is Blighted by Turf War Where Mobs ‘Settle Scores’

Ladbroke Grove has the distinction of being both rich and deeply unequal, with multi-million pound houses standing cheek by jowl with rough housing estates.

           — Hat tip: SS [Return to headlines]
 

Violence Against Women Reaches Epidemic Levels in UK, Police Compare it to Terrorism

The UK is grappling with an unprecedented surge in violence against women and girls, with over 1 million recorded incidents in 2022-2023. This alarming trend has prompted police to treat it as a threat on par with terrorism. The National Police Chiefs’ Council and College of Policing report reveals that one in six murders are linked to domestic abuse, while at least one in 12 women will experience crimes including sexual offenses, stalking, and harassment each year, as reported by AP.

Deputy Chief Constable Maggie Blyth described the situation as a “national emergency,” emphasizing the need for societal change and a concerted effort to combat violence against women and girls. The data shows a staggering 37% increase in such crimes from 2018 to 2022, with online extremism and radicalization of young men and boys posing a growing concern.

Police are working with counterterrorism units to tackle this issue, while teachers express concern about the spread of toxic masculinity among boys influenced by online misogynistic personalities. The government has classified violence against women and girls as a national threat, prioritizing police response alongside terrorism and organized crime.

To address this crisis, thousands of police officers have received training to investigate rape and serious sexual offenses. However, more government support is needed to overhaul the overwhelmed and underperforming criminal justice system, which is failing victims.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

WEF Pushes ‘Digital IDs’ for ‘Every Citizen’

Unelected globalists at the World Economic Forum (WEF) are calling on governments to usher in “digital IDs” for members of the general public.

The WEF argues that “every citizen” should be issued with digital ID as the world prepares for “cashless societies.”

The new form of ID is part of the digital public infrastructure (DPI) plan being pushed by the WEF, United Nations (UN), European Union (EU), and Gates Foundation.

While it will initially be used for IDs, DPI will be expanded to also support digital payments via central bank digital currency (CBDC).

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

Demonstrators Stage Mass Protest Against Netanyahu Visit and US Military Aid to Israel

WASHINGTON (AP) — Protesters against the Gaza war staged a sit-in at a congressional office building Tuesday ahead of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’ s address to Congress, and Capitol Police made multiple arrests.

Netanyahu arrived in Washington Monday for a several-day visit that includes meetings with President Joe Biden and a Wednesday speech before a joint session of Congress. Dozens of protesters rallied outside his hotel Monday evening, and on Tuesday afternoon, hundreds of demonstrators took over the rotunda of the Cannon Building, which houses offices of House of Representatives members.

Organized by Jewish Voice for Peace, protesters wearing identical red T-shirts that read “Not In Our Name” took over the Rotunda of the Cannon Building, chanting “Let Gaza Live!”

After about a half-hour of clapping and chanting, officers from the U.S. Capitol Police issued several warnings, then began arresting protesters — binding their hands with zip ties and leading them away one by one.

           — Hat tip: JW [Return to headlines]
 

Furious Israel Vows to ‘Crush’ Hamas ‘Murderers and Rapists’ After Terror Group Struck Chinese-Brokered ‘National Unity’ Deal With Rivals Fatah to Rule Gaza Together Once War Ends

This comes after Hamas on Tuesday said that it had signed an agreement in Beijing with other Palestinian organisations including rivals Fatah to work together for ‘national unity’

           — Hat tip: SS [Return to headlines]
 

Anglo-Saxons May Have Fought in Northern Syrian Wars, Say Experts

Sixth-century Anglo-Saxon people may have travelled from Britain to the eastern Mediterranean and northern Syria to fight in wars, researchers have suggested, casting fresh light on their princely burials.

St John Simpson, a senior British Museum curator, and Helen Gittos, an Oxford scholar, have concluded that some of the exotic items excavated at Sutton Hoo, Taplow and Prittlewell, among other sites, originated in the eastern Mediterranean and north Syria and cannot have been conventional trade goods, as others have suggested.

Simpson said that “compelling evidence” suggests the individuals buried at those sites had been involved in Byzantine military campaigns in northern Mesopotamia during the late sixth century, fighting the Sasanians, an ancient Iranian dynasty.

           — Hat tip: Apollon Zamp [Return to headlines]
 

Confused Ukrainian Troops Jam Their Own Drones as Russian Forces Advance Toward Pokrovsk

[…]

Confusion among Ukrainian commanders is a factor. The Russian breakthrough around Ocheretyne in April threw the Ukrainians off-balance—and they’re still struggling to recover.

“The Russian command attacks … those brigades that have the weakest management and organization,” Butusov explained, seemingly referring to the 110th Mechanized Brigade and 111th Territorial Defense Brigade. “That is, the enemy is not looking for … the most vulnerable defense borders, but the most vulnerable units.”

At their worst, the Ukrainian forces west of Avdiivka are totally befuddled. Drone crews and electronic warfare troops are “scattered and unorganized,” Butusov wrote.

The worst-case scenario for the Ukrainians is pretty dire. If the Russian force—including the 433rd, 506th and 1195th Motor Rifle Regiments—can advance another nine miles to the west, it will reach Myrnohrad and Pokrovsk, twin strongholds that function as a sort of gateway to Dnipro Oblast, which has so far remained firmly under Ukrainian control.

The battle is fluid. The Ukrainian Center for Defense Strategies tallied 27 attempts by Russian troops to penetrate the unstable Ukrainian line east of Pokrovsk on Monday. Twenty-two of the attacks failed, CDS reported. But that means five succeeded.

Butusov expressed worry but not panic. “I cannot say that the Ukrainian command does not see and understand the critical situation,” he wrote. “There’s a lot going on, none of the commanders sit with their hands folded.”

It would help, he stressed, if Ukrainian electronic warfare troops in the sector would stop jamming friendly forces. “Our own [jamming] destroys a significant number of our own drones.”

           — Hat tip: Dean [Return to headlines]
 

Europe Buys Russian Gas as Much as China — Bloomberg

Despite being two years into the Russia-Ukraine war, Europe is still competing with China as the largest buyer of Gazprom’s pipeline gas, according to Bloomberg.

The agency notes that even after multiple rounds of international sanctions, Russia is still supplying significant volumes of gas to individual European countries, and this year’s volumes have actually increased. However, Moscow has not signed any new deals to accelerate the growth of its sales in China beyond what was planned before the collapse of its largest export market.

Gazprom’s pipeline gas deliveries to its remaining European customers reached 14.6 billion cubic meters from January to June, according to Bloomberg calculations based on flows through Ukraine and the Turkish Stream. This is significantly below the annual sales volume of around 130-175 billion cubic meters seen in the region before the invasion.

However, this is comparable to the 15.2 billion cubic meters Gazprom delivered to China in the first half of this year. The calculations show that both Europe and China took turns as the largest buyers of Russian pipeline gas in 2024.

After the invasion, most EU countries found alternative suppliers after Russia restricted flows to the region in response to Kiev’s support. Norway now supplies 30% of the block’s gas, but for some countries, including Austria, Hungary, and Slovakia, Gazprom remains a critically important and growing source of energy. Pipeline deliveries to the region rose by more than 26% in the first half of the year compared to the previous year, according to Bloomberg calculations.

Gazprom’s gas deliveries to China via the Power of Siberia pipeline are expected to reach full capacity of 38 billion cubic meters per year by 2025, with an additional 10 billion cubic meters per year available via the so-called Far Eastern route starting from 2027.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

Kremlin to Pay Soldiers £50,000 in Ukraine War Recruitment Drive

Soldiers from Moscow will now earn almost £50,000 for their first year of service, the city has announced, about four times the average annual wage.

The increased payment — which includes sign-up bonuses, monthly wages and regional handouts — is part of the Kremlin’s drive to find the 25,000 men a month it needs to sustain Russia’s front-line force in Ukraine.

“The total amount of payments to a contract serviceman (taking into account monthly salary and Moscow and federal support measures) will exceed 5.2 million rubles [£46,147] for the first year of service,” Moscow’s city administration said in an announcement on Tuesday.

The scheme includes a one-time payment of 1.9 million rubles (£16,863) that is only available to residents of the Russian capital.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

Moscow Decries ‘Theft’ as EU Uses Frozen Russian Funds to Aid Ukraine

Moscow on Tuesday again threatened to retaliate against a European Union measure to use interest from frozen Russian funds to finance military aid for Ukraine.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov labelled the EU’s decision, announced in late June, as “theft.”

He further called it a “direct violation of international law” and of “property rights,” demanding the prosecution of EU decision-makers.

The EU measure is set to raise €1.4 billion ($1.5 billion) in military aid for Kiev from the proceeds of frozen Russian Central Bank assets.

The first instalment of payments is due to be made in early August.

The funds are set to be given to EU member states such as Germany and the Czech Republic, which will then provide Ukraine with equipment such as air defence systems and artillery shells.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

Poll Says 32% of Ukrainians Open to Territorial Concessions for Quick Peace

(Reuters) — Nearly a third of Ukrainians would accept some territorial concessions to Russia for a quick end to the war, a more than three-fold increase over the past year, although most still oppose giving up any land, a poll showed on Tuesday.

The Kyiv International Institute of Sociology said its poll of 1,067 people on Ukrainian-held territory from May 16-22 found that 32% would agree to some form of territorial concessions, up from just 10% a year earlier and 19% at the end of last year.

It said 55% of Ukrainians remain opposed to making any territorial concessions.

Nearly 29 months since its full-scale invasion, Russia occupies around 18% of Ukrainian territory, including the Crimean peninsula it seized in 2014. Kyiv’s troops have been on the back foot this year facing a Russian offensive after their counteroffensive failed to make significant gains last year.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

US Radio Journalist Jailed in Russia for ‘Spreading False Information’

A Russian court has sentenced Alsu Kurmasheva, a Russian-American journalist for US-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), to six-and-a-half years in prison for spreading false information about the Russian army, the court in the southern city of Kazan stated on July 22.

A spokesperson for the court said Kurmasheva had been sentenced on July 19 following two days of proceedings. Kurmasheva’s lawyer did not immediately respond to a Reuters question about whether she would appeal and the US Embassy did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

July 19 was also the day a separate court in Yekaterinburg in Southwest Russia sentenced another US citizen, Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, to 16 years in prison for espionage, following a three-day trial held behind closed doors. His newspaper and the US have called the trial a sham, and Washington said it was working to secure his release.

RFE/RL President and chief executive Stephen Capus called Kurmasheva’s trial and conviction “a mockery of justice”.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

Thailand Aims to Regulate Cannabis Industry Amid Policy Debate

Thailand plans to regulate its rapidly expanding cannabis industry through new legislation, potentially postponing a plan to reverse the country’s landmark cannabis decriminalization policy due to opposition within the ruling coalition.

The government will discuss a draft bill to regulate the cannabis industry and broader uses of the plant, or political parties may submit their drafts to parliament, stated Anutin Charnvirakul, leader of the Bhumjaithai Party, the second-largest group in Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin’s government.

Anutin’s Bhumjaithai Party led the decriminalization effort under the previous military-backed government, making it a key campaign promise.

While details remain unclear, moving forward with a regulatory bill could pause Srettha’s controversial plan to outlaw cannabis just two years after its historic decriminalization. Although the policy reversal was already in progress, it had not yet cleared the Narcotics Control Board. Anutin, a board member, had pledged to vote against the plan.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

China Plans to Gradually Raise the Retirement Age Amid an Aging Population and Pension Crisis

China has announced plans to raise its statutory retirement age over the next five years in an effort to address its aging population and pension system crisis. The country’s life expectancy has increased to 78 years, surpassing that of the United States, but its retirement age remains one of the lowest in the world at 60 for men and 55 for women, as reported by BBC.

The plan was approved at the Communist Party’s Third Plenum, a five-yearly meeting, which emphasized the importance of “voluntary participation with appropriate flexibility” in raising the retirement age. While the exact age and timeline for the change were not specified, a recent report suggested that 65 may be the final result.

China’s pension fund is facing financial difficulties, with the state-run Chinese Academy of Social Sciences predicting that it will run out of money by 2035. The country’s population has also fallen for the second consecutive year, adding to the pressure on the pension system.

The plan has been met with skepticism online, with some questioning how it will affect early retirees and the younger generation. One user on Weibo, a popular social media platform, expressed concerns that those who retire early may be burned out from their jobs, while others will not choose to retire due to comfortable and lucrative roles. Another user noted that there is no guarantee of job security before the statutory retirement age.

The Chinese government’s decision to raise the retirement age is part of its efforts to address the challenges posed by an aging population and declining birth rate. The plan aims to ensure a sustainable pension system and provide more time for workers to contribute to their pensions.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

Afghan Mum Who Forced Her Daughter Into an Arranged Marriage Before Her Husband Killed Her is Facing Jail: ‘Not in Australia’

Sanika Muhammad Jan, 48 of Shepparton in Victoria, faced the Melbourne County Court on Tuesday.

           — Hat tip: SS [Return to headlines]
 

Australian Ministers Urge Stricter Online Censorship of “Misogynistic” Speech

The Australian government’s commitment to online censorship is playing out in yet another way — the perceived harmful influence social platforms have on young men and boys.

Aligned media outlets agree these sites are showing too much content that is branded as misogynistic and promoting harmful gender stereotypes.

Meanwhile, government ministers want to see the companies behind platforms “do” (aka, censor) more.

Communications Minister Michelle Rowland, known for her pro-censorship stance, and Social Services Minister Amanda Rishworth are both quoted in a Guardian article about an “experiment” the outlet carried out by setting up fake accounts representing “generic 24-year-old males” on Facebook and Instagram.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

Confronting Images Emerge After Six Young Girls ‘Bash’ Their Neighbour Over a Bitter Property Dispute in Darwin

Action for Alice, a social media group dedicated to sharing criminal activity in the Northern Territory, shared confronting photos following the conflict which unfolded on Tuesday in Karama, north Darwin.

           — Hat tip: SS [Return to headlines]
 

Chicago Leaders Brace for as Many as 25,000 New Migrants Ahead of DNC: ‘We Just Need to be Prepared’

Chicago is bracing for as many as 25,000 migrants to arrive by bus ahead of the Democratic National Convention, city leaders said Tuesday.

The high-end estimate from Deputy Mayor of Immigration Beatriz Ponce de León came as Mayor Brandon Johnson’s administration defended its policy of evicting migrants who stay in city shelters longer than 60 days. That removal policy could be much needed if Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott holds true on promises to send Chicago many more migrants in the next few weeks in order to try to make the migrant crisis a Democratic problem, she argued.

“We need that cushion of available beds. We need to be prepared for any growing number,” Ponce de León told aldermen at a Tuesday meeting of the City Council Committee on Immigrant and Refugee Rights.

The “fully expected” surge would be in sharp contrast with the current migrant count. The number of people living in city migrant shelters has steadily declined for months — down from around 15,000 in December to 5,667 Monday — and costs have fallen too.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

German Employers Oppose Tax Breaks for Foreign Skilled Workers

The head of the German Employers’ Association, Rainer Dulger, has stated that he does not support the German government’s proposal to offer tax breaks to foreign skilled workers who move to Germany. He made this statement in an interview with DPA.

The proposal to offer tax breaks to foreign skilled workers who relocate to Germany is part of the government’s initiative to accelerate economic growth in the country and overcome the chronic shortage of skilled workers by attracting immigrants.

“The proposal goes against the principle of tax fairness and sends a wrong political signal,” Dulger believes.

He also suggests that broader tax breaks for all workers could make Germany more attractive to foreign skilled workers.

According to the document outlining the proposal, “newly arrived skilled workers” would be exempt from taxes on 30%, 20%, and 10% of their gross salaries for the first three years. The minimum and maximum salary limits will be defined. German Finance Minister Christian Lindner noted that the government has observed that the proposal has been met with caution by employers.

Since June 1, Germany has implemented a scheme called “Chancenkarte” (Opportunity Card), which allows skilled workers from non-EU countries to come to Germany in search of work.

The new visa scheme is part of a package of laws aimed at overcoming the shortage of skilled labor in Germany.

It was previously reported that the acute shortage of skilled workers poses a threat to the stability of vital industries in Germany.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

Irish Left Vows Tougher Asylum Rules as Migration Protests Surge

Ireland’s leading left-wing party has promised to implement tougher asylum rules if it is elected into government later this year.

Sinn Féin — a member of The Left group in the European Parliament — is to unveil the new “A Fair System that Works” policy at an event in Dublin later on July 23 amid a surge in protests and political violence over the island’s mass-migration crisis.

According to a report by the Irish Times, the new policy will revolve around the implementation of a “two-tier” asylum system that prioritises Ukrainian refugees over arrivals from other countries.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

Three Syrians Charged With Rape of Czech Exchange Students in Germany

German prosecutors have charged three Syrian men with the rape of two Czech women who were in the city of Gera last year on a student exchange program, according to MDR reports.

The incident occurred on November 12, 2023, when the 17— and 18-year-old women attended a dance event and subsequently accompanied a group of men to an apartment.

The accused, aged 22, 25, and 30, allegedly committed the crimes in the apartment. Two of the men are charged with rape, while the third is accused of committing sexual assault in another manner. The identities of the victims were not disclosed.

The regional court in Gera has issued arrest warrants for the three men. The oldest of the accused has been arrested but was released on probation the same day. The other two suspects remain at large.

Following the assault, the women were taken to a hospital for medical examinations. The police have spent over six months investigating the case and identifying the suspects, urging potential witnesses to come forward during this period.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

Trans-Identified Male Arrested in Greenville, SC for Stabbing Shelter Worker With Sword

A homeless trans-identifying male was arrested on Thursday after allegedly stabbing a Greenville, South Carolina shelter employee who was attempting to evict the suspect.

The Greenville County Sherrif’s Office wrote in a press release that deputies were called to the area of Regency Hill Drive at around 11 am when 34-year-old Michelle Silva Perez “became upset at being evicted from the property and began causing a disturbance.” During the incident, police said that Perez stabbed a woman with a “sharp-edged object.”

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

11 thoughts on “Gates of Vienna News Feed 7/23/2024

    • That is the result of that evil Soros supported Letisha James who has falsely sued and charged real President Donald Trump for his ownership of property in NYC>

      LaTisha has sued Peter Brimelow and Jack Phillips of Masterpiece Bakery in Colorado.

      There is no limit for this foul, corrupt Negro woman who is so filled with hatred that she is miserable.

  1. UK: Islamist Hate Preacher Anjem Choudary Found Guilty of Leading Terror Group- Of course this loathsome individual should have been deported long ago-let us not waste money on putting him in prison.

  2. France: Report: Australian Tourist Claims Gang-Rape by ‘African’ Men in Paris Days Before Olympics.
    If these disgusting individuals are caught by the Police they should be castrated- this is the only way to put shock into those that participate in such foul behaviour. Certainly such a punishment for a Muslim would be devastating, and result in they being shunned by their community. In such a state they would no longer be considered Male.

  3. “The attack unfolded on Sunday evening…when a man ripped out yard signs supporting former President Donald J. Trump. HE THEN USED AN ALL-TERRAIN VEHICLE TO RUN OVER THE 80-YEAR-OLD who was trying to put the signs back up” —New York Times (23 Jul 2024)
    https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/23/us/politics/michigan-trump-signs-violence.html

    “Again, the violent and infantile antics’re coming from ONE side ONLY: Democrats.” —posted to fb (Oct 2018)

    History keeps repeating itself and only the names and dates change….BECAUSE only the names and dates change.

  4. Travel Notice: Avoid Terminal J at Miami International Airport. Also, the article waits until the end to inform readers that the 17-year-old “victim” was also homeless, which likely means that there was funny business going on. Drugs, alcohol, mental illness, illicit sex. And note how the airport official describes vagrants at the airport as people “experiencing homelessness,” rather than ending up that way due to drugs, booze, or under-treated mental illness, which starts out being a family matter, and then becomes everyone’s problem. Lousy journalists facilitate this stupidity with the fabricated narratives.

  5. There’s a Remix News article, which I will submit for the Newsfeed, about a court ruling in Finland—the most outrageous ruling I have come across in years.

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