BR-R-R-R-R-R!

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It’s brass monkey weather in Antarctica this fall.

Many thanks to Hellequin GB for translating this article from Report24. The translator’s comments are in square brackets:

Extreme cold in Antarctica is coming earlier than expected this year

Apparently there are too many measuring stations from different nations in Antarctica, so that fraud in the sense of climate madness is not possible. Since the beginning of May, temperatures as low as -76.4°C [-105.5°F] have been measured at the Vostok research station. However, is still autumn in the current season of the southern hemisphere. Low temperatures are unusual for this time of year. The norm for the location in May is -61°C to -64°C [-77°F to -83°F].

Climate fanatics might consider it a success. Is it because they glue themselves to the ground in European cities that temperatures are dropping at the South Pole? Hardly likely. However, it is a proven fact that the temperatures in the Antarctic in 2023 will be significantly lower than the ten-year average. Between 2005 and 2015, temperatures between -61°C and -64°C were measured for the month of May.

Extreme cold should not be reached for months

The lowest temperatures are usually measured in Vostok when the northern hemisphere has its hottest summer — i.e. July, August and sometimes September. The fact that the Antarctic winter broke out in May with such temperatures is considered a special feature. The Russian measuring station was set up in 1957 at a distance of 1,300 kilometers from the South Pole at an altitude of 3,500 meters. The previous negative temperature record is said to have been reached on July 28, 1997 with -91°C [-132°F] (Wikipedia speaks of “unconfirmed”, July 21, 1983 with -89.2°C is confirmed). The warmest day in recorded history was January 5, 1974 with “only” -14°C [+7°F].

Of course, spot temperature records are due to “weather” and not the “climate” that is supposed to be warming, and from which we are all supposed to die unless we regress to a pre-industrial age in trees and in caves. At least that is the plan of the climate apocalypticists — although many of them also dream of a depopulation of the earth.

Temperatures in Antarctica have been falling for 40 years

As early as 2021, scientists reported the “coldest winter season in more than 60 years” in Antarctica. Since this trend has been emerging since 2021, one could cautiously speak of “climate” here. It would be time for politicians to come to their senses and stop destroying the wealth of Western countries and citing some fictitious climate targets as the reason for doing so. [But that would throw a spanner into the works of the Evil Globalist Agenda, and we can’t have that, now, can we?]

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Thai Elections: Rinse and Repeat

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The recent Thai elections were quite a surprise. Our Bangkok correspondent H. Numan has the latest.

Thai elections: rinse and repeat

by H. Numan

Last Sunday we had the first free elections in a long time. The government was soundly defeated, as everybody expected. The incoming government will be a progressive government. Don’t be alarmed. It’ll be a Thai progressive government. You can compare a progressive Thai with a progressive Texas republican. Definitely not a ‘Western’ progressive. Even today a communist party is illegal in Thailand. We’re now in the honeymoon phase of a new cycle.

You see, Thailand isn’t a democracy. It’s a coup-o-cracy. I’ve lived for thirty years in Thailand, and witnessed many coups. At least four, plus several failed attempts. Ever since Thailand became a democracy (in a coup!), it has been the preferred way to change governments. I’ve counted the coups in Thailand and cabinets in The Netherlands since 1932. It’s about the same. We vote a government out of office, in Thailand the army does that for the people. Sometimes very bloody, like the 1976 coup. The most recent military coups were with a minimum of bloodshed and even welcomed by the population.

The current elections went as expected, but with a some surprises. Prayuth’s government lost by a landslide. The big man himself finished in fifth place. Rather embarrassing, but expected. No surprise here. All conservative (= military/royalist) parties lost in a big way. We also have a Democrat Party. They were wiped out in Bangkok, which used to be one of their strongholds. Oops! That party cannot be compared with your Democrat Party. Much more corrupt, far less democratic. Why did they completely disappear in Bangkok? They were the core of the yellow shirts, who caused so much grief and hardship in Bangkok. The voters remembered. Also not a big surprise. The Democrat chairman apologized for the abysmal performance of his party and resigned.

The big surprise was that the Shinawatras didn’t won outright. In the last two decades, when a Shinawatra ran for office, he or she won by a landslide. They didn’t this time, a first. The Pheu Thai Party came in second. Not bad, but not expected and will have serious consequences. For example, Thaksin Shinawatra announced his plan to return to Thailand. He misses his grandchildren so much that he is willing to go to jail. Yeah, and I have a bridge for sale. It was easy to say before the elections, when he could expect one of his children (three of them ran for PM) would be elected PM. I think his desire to see his grandchildren is a bit diminished now.

The winner of the election is the Move Forward Party with Pita Limjaroenrat at the helm. Granting Thaksin a full pardon is far more difficult for him, if not outright impossible. He doesn’t have filial obligations.

General Prayuth Chan-o-cha (retired) still has a few tricks under his shoulder boards. He was the guy who ousted the last democratically elected government and formed his own junta. He stayed in power for as long as he possibly could. After writing a new constitution he grudgingly allowed elections, which he narrowly won, last time. One of the tricks I expect him to use is the 60 day rule. The election committee — appointed by him — has sixty days to approve the election results. At this moment it is difficult to contest the election results, but in a few weeks? Who knows? Also, the time isn’t right to commit a coup. 60 days is a long time, in Thai politics.

Another trick under his shoulder boards is the senate. The PM has to be accepted and voted for by both houses. Prayuth appointed a number of generals as senators. It is not certain whether those appointees will vote for Pita Limjaroenrat. They announced they will abstain from voting for any prime minister, so as to remain unbiased. But we’ll have to see if that holds. Mr. Pita did throw a gauntlet in the senate by saying that they can vote for whomever they want for, but have to live with the consequences.

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Gates of Vienna News Feed 5/18/2023

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New research indicates that in the wake of Covid lockdowns, 25% of German fourth-graders are unable to read properly. Meanwhile, the German Catholic Church stands to lose about a third of its real estate, due to the accelerating departure of believers from the church.

In other news, taxes in the UK that were meant to target the ultra-wealthy will now impact 20% of taxpayers.

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

Thanks to Dean, LP, Reader from Chicago, Roger, SS, Upananda Brahmachari, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.

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

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

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What Will the Culture-Enrichers Do When the Money Runs Out?

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Many thanks to Hellequin GB for translating this essay from Ansage:

What Do Migrants Actually Do When Germany’s Coffers Are Empty?

Immigrants are constantly pouring into the country — refugees, asylum seekers, “skilled workers”, “local workers”, family members who have been brought them with and internal migrants who are already registered in other EU countries. Germany is not only bursting at the seams, but the tax pot is also being properly emptied. As early as last year, around two thirds of all “Citizen Benefit Recipients” (formerly Hartz IV) had a migration background, and because a lot of other people have been registered in Germany since then, this rate may have increased by 1% or 2% since then — and the trend is of course rising strongly. To top it all off, not only do more and more people in this country “have to” be supported by the state in the form of citizen income, more and more retirees are also demanding their livelihood, for which the state has to pay in part or in full. In addition, there are all sorts of other transfer payments such as child benefit, BAFöG (student loan), heating cost subsidies or soon billions in costs for countless heat pumps. Since most baby boomers are not yet retired, these billions in benefits are just barely possible. But what happens when this source dries up one day and the coffers are simply empty? And because an unexpected number of immigrants are flooding the country at the moment, this could happen sooner than expected.

The state-supported Germans without a migration background, like it or not, will look down the drain or into an empty wallet. They have to see how they might somehow make ends meet, beg (usually from relatives), go to the Tafe (soup-kitchen) or simply cook on a “back burner”. Of course, one or the other will then inevitably — if possible — try to find work. Due to the current high state benefits, there are quite a lot of people, including Germans, who could work but don’t want to because they are better off or just as well off living in the social hammock. After all, work has to pay off. In Germany, not working is more worthwhile (and that doesn’t just apply to politicians).

Without an open money tap, Germany is unattractive for most

But what do the many migrants and Germans with a migration background do who are either unwilling or unable to work due to a lack of qualifications or because they have so many children? Apart from the many “anchors” and compatriots who are already here and form a welcoming social network in parallel societies, the high transfer payments are the only reason for most immigrants to gain a foothold here. Why else should they come — because of the (difficult for them) German language? Because of the bad weather? Because here their toddlers are already being drawn in by drag queens or kings, with a big clitoris, and having stories read to them? It is a truism that potential immigrants, above all from backward African and West Asian countries, will only be drawn to Germany as long as they can live splendidly here at state expense.

However, when the tide is low, many millions of migrants who live on social welfare and cannot and/or do not want to work will be here. How will they behave? What will they do? The following scenarios are conceivable: Either they will not shy away from committing crimes (unfortunately, a considerable number of them are already criminals anyway), integrate into clans and criminal organizations and start stealing or plundering. Or maybe they will strike their tents here and pitch them in another land; a large number of them would then very likely go back to their home countries, where there are usually still a few relatives left.

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Tariq Ramadan Gets His Day in Court

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The illustrious Swiss philosopher Tariq Ramadan is on trial in Switzerland for allegedly engaging in non-consensual hanky-panky with a woman some years ago.

Long-time readers will remember the “French” “comedian” Dieudonné M’bala M’bala, more commonly known simply as Dieudonné. It now appears that the atmosphere of Mr. Ramadan’s trial will be made even more circus-like by the expected testimony of Mr. Dieudonné on behalf of the defense.

Many thanks to Gary Fouse for translating this article from Le Matin:

Dieudonné expected at rape trial of Tariq Ramadan in Geneva

The defense of the Islamic scholar Tariq Ramadan, who has been on trial since Monday for rape — which he denies — has called the controversial humorist Dieudonné to come and testify Tuesday.

The plaintiff, present in the courtroom during all the arguments on Monday, may also speak for the first time on Tuesday before the criminal tribunal, where this case has attracted the French press and crowds.

A convert to Islam, the Swiss plaintiff, who chose the assumed name of “Brigitte” to protect herself from threats, was 40 years old at the time of the alleged facts. She claims that the Islamic scholar subjected her to brutal sexual acts accompanied by blows and insults on the night of October 28, 2008, in a hotel room in Geneva. She filed a complaint in 2018.

The defense wanted to call Dieudonné, a relative of the plaintiff, because his name appeared in an anonymous letter received by the tribunal. He reportedly was confided in by “Brigitte” concerning a consensual relationship with Tariq Ramadan. “He will bring his contribution to the manifestation of the truth,” Dieudonné’s lawyer Emmanuel Ludot told Agence France Presse.

“To bring in Dieudonné as a witness based on an anonymous letter that surfaced fifteen days before this hearing in a case that has been going on for five years, which letter is neither dated nor signed, and it is not known who wrote it, is a completely pathetic process that says a lot about the fact that Ramadan is out of arguments,” the plaintiff’s attorney, François Zimeray, told reporters.

During the hearing, “Brigitte” asked to be separated from Tariq Ramadan by a screen so as not to see him during a trial that for her “is a test and not therapy,” according to Attorney Zimeray. She said during the investigation that she made the acquaintance of the Islamic scholar during a book signing a few months before the facts in question, and then saw him again during a conference in September. That was followed by an increasingly intimate correspondence on social media.

Tariq Ramadan affirmed on Monday that he wanted “to fight” against “the lie and the manipulation”. The Swiss intellectual, a charismatic and controversial figure in European Islam, risks between two to ten years in prison. The verdict is expected on May 24. “There are multiple contradictions between what has been said and what is in the file,” Attorney Zimeray stressed.

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Twelfth Oregon County Votes to be Part of Greater Idaho

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I’ve posted several times in the past about the Greater Idaho movement, which aims to persuade Oregon to permit the secession of a group of eastern counties so that they may join Idaho, to which they are culturally and economically similar. (See the bottom of this post for links to previous articles.)

The latest news is that a twelfth county has voted to leave Oregon and become part of Idaho. Below is a press release from Greater Idaho with the good news:

Greater Idaho wins 12th county in a row in eastern Oregon

The Greater Idaho movement has now won all twelve counties in eastern Oregon that have voted on Greater Idaho ballot measures, according to election night results, and the movement’s proposal only includes fourteen full counties of eastern Oregon. Since the introduction of a law that allows ballots to be received after election day if they were mailed on or before election day, the final election results in favor of Greater Idaho ballot measures has always been one to four percentage points higher than the election night result, so the Greater Idaho movement feels confident that their measure has won the Wallowa County election, even though results at 4 am only showed their measure ahead with 50.3% of the vote. Since the movement began winning elections 6 election cycles ago, it had averaged 62% in favor and 38% opposed, a ratio of 1.63 to 1.

The turnout as of 4 am in Wallowa County was 55%, more than double the statewide average. The five counties that voted on a Greater Idaho ballot initiative in the last off-year election, two years ago, also turned out at almost twice the statewide average.

Wallowa County only has two percent of the population of eastern Oregon, and its beautiful mountain views draw an unusually large percentage of upper-income residents from the Willamette Valley, who may have been less supportive of joining Idaho.

Another reason Wallowa County may have been less sure than other counties about the movement, according to a statement at the movement’s website, greateridaho.org, is that Portland Democrats outspent them in Wallowa County to level false accusations. Their ads claimed that far-right individuals and groups support the movement, but had no evidence that the movement supports those individuals or groups. The ads implied that those far-right groups are the people behind the movement, but Greater Idaho leadership says they’ve never been contacted by those individuals or groups. Their other ads claimed that joining Idaho would be financially bad for eastern Oregon and that the group hasn’t done an economic analysis. But independent economists proved that Idaho’s governance would be good for eastern Oregon.

Portlanders such as Former Dem. state rep. Ben Unger and social justice warrior group Western States Strategies sent four or five mailers and advertised on YouTube and Pluto TV during the campaign. Despite decades of experience in Oregon politics, they chose to send ads without revealing who was sending them, and didn’t register or report to the state their campaign expenditures or income as required by transparency law. After they were confronted with their apparent violations of campaign finance law, they chose to order more ads for the following two weeks. The movement filed a complaint with the state on May 5 and will file another this week.

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This is Getting Tiresome

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As I reported yesterday, my phone and Internet went out for most of the day, leaving me without enough time to post anything but the news feed last evening. Then today — Wednesday — I went to the retinal specialist’s office to get a periodic injection in my left eye to treat wet macular degeneration. When I got home (a little worse for the wear and tear) I discovered that the phone and Internet had gone out again during my absence.

So I ate dinner and watched DVDs gleaned from Dymphna’s collection (I’m not much of a DVD person, but she has left me a few). Right after I finished watching a movie, the Internet came back on, although the phone is still out.

So here we are. It’s almost midnight, and I haven’t even begun to look at the email. My eye is still sore, and I can see the dancing bubble, as usual. I’ve approved the backlog of comments, but this post is all that I’ll put up before tomorrow (Thursday) — when I’ll be even further behind.

If the Internet stays on, I’ll try to start catching up. And if the phone comes back on, I’ll call the @#%^&!@?$#! phone company and demand a credit for all these hours that I’ve been without service.

I’m sick of this [solid waste].

Gates of Vienna News Feed 5/16/2023

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Losing my phone and Internet for most of the day put me behind the eight ball, so that I don’t have time to post anything tonight but the news feed. To complicate matters, tomorrow I will be going in to get the periodic injection in my eye to treat wet macular degeneration, which always interferes with my productivity. So be patient: the other stuff will get posted, but it may take a couple of days.

The most interesting item I noticed in this batch is that Hungary vetoed €500 million in EU weapons funds for Ukraine after Ukraine sanctioned Hungary’s largest bank.

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

Thanks to Caroline Glick, Daniel Greenfield, Dean, DV, McN, Reader from Chicago, 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.

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Telephonic Blues

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When I got up this morning I discovered that both voice and the Internet had gone out sometime during the night. I don’t own a cell phone, and even if I did, there is no coverage out here in the Far Outback. So I just hung around, watching episodes of Firefly and waiting for service to return.

In the middle of the afternoon I got tired of waiting, and drove five miles to the house of the lady who cuts my hair to see if her phone was working. It was, so I called technical support. After going through interminable numeric touch-tone menus, I was finally able to talk to a human being, albeit one with a thick South Asian accent. He told me that there was a local area outage, and the estimated time for restoration of service was 5pm EDT. That turned out to be a little optimistic — phone and Internet service didn’t return until almost 8pm. And now I’m catching up.

It made me nostalgic for the good old days when you could call the phone company and immediately talk to a native English-speaker. And not just an American, but one with the distinctive accent of the Central Virginia Piedmont. Or better yet, I could drive less than forty miles and make myself a nuisance to the receptionist in the main office of the phone company until I got some useful information.

Alas, those days are long gone. That little regional company was bought by a larger company in the early 1980s. That company in turn was gobbled up by an even larger company, and the process was repeated several more times in the ensuing years. The last merger occurred just a few months ago, and the service is distinctly worse than it used to be. To add insult to injury, I have to call people in Karachi or Dhaka for tech support, and I often find them very hard to understand.

Sigh.

Gates of Vienna News Feed 5/15/2023

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Two police officers were wounded and three civilians were killed during a mass shooting in Farmington, New Mexico. Meanwhile, a group of robbers in Chicago committed ten armed robberies in the space of thirty minutes.

In other news, the Italian car manufacturer Ferrari announce that it has no plans to switch to electric vehicles, and will continue to make internal combustion engines.

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

Thanks to Davis, Dean, DV, Fjordman, JW, LP, McN, MM, Reader from Chicago, Roger, SS, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.

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

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

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Tomio Okamura: No Support for the War in Ukraine

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Tomio Okamura is the leader of the SPD party in Czechia. He is multicultural in a unique Central European way: his father was Japanese and his mother was from Moravia.

In the following video Mr. Okamura lays out his party’s position on Ukraine and NATO’s proxy war on Russia. He opposes any financial and military aid for the regime in Kiev.

Many thanks to Xanthippa for the translation, and to Vlad Tepes and RAIR Foundation for the subtitling:


Video link

Video transcript:

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All Dressed Up and No Place to Go

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Actually, French President Emmanuel Macron did have someplace to go — from one end of the Champs Élysées to the other — but there was no one to watch him do it. The occasion was the Victory Day parade on May 8, when Mr. Macron and his entourage processed down the avenue in their resplendent cavalcade-cum-motorcade. Evidently the security services were worried that it would be too risky to allow the adoring throngs to watch their Dear Leader pass by. Perhaps the intelligence experts thought that some disgruntled gilet jaune might lob a bomb at the Boy President.

Many thanks to HeHa for translating this news report, and to Vlad Tepes and RAIR Foundation for the subtitling:


Video link

Video transcript:

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Welcome to Brussels, the Capital of the European Caliphate

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The following video (originally in Arabic with French subtitles) was recorded by a “Belgian” man talking about how wonderful it is for Moroccan Muslims in Brussels. What he says about the ethnic and demographic changes in Belgium would be labeled “conspiracy theories” if white people were to make the same assertions.

Note that he says the process has been underway since at least the 1970s. In other words: it was planned a long time ago and has been implemented gradually ever since.

Many thanks to HeHa for translating the French subtitles, and to Vlad Tepes and RAIR Foundation for the subtitling:


Video link

Video transcript:

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Stenographers to the Apocalypse

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Earlier today there was a discussion on Skype between Vlad and HeHa, one of the translators, about a video Vlad had found on Twitter (which will be posted here shortly with English subtitles). He asked HeHa what it was about, and the following brief conversation ensued:

HeHa:   A Moroccan is so joyous to see how Bruxelles has become a Moroccan city. A Muslim city.
Vlad:   Can we do that one, please?
HeHa:   Sure.
Vlad:   Although, to be honest, more and more it feels like we are all stenographers to the apocalypse. Still, someone has to do it.
Baron:   That’s exactly how I feel: someone has to do it. It’s a dirty job, but necessary.
 

It’s been clear for at least ten years that the current dystopian trajectory of Western culture can’t be corrected by the electoral process — or by any other peaceful means, for that matter.

Every day I curate and edit text and video reports about various aspects of the horror that has engulfed our society. “Apocalyptic” somehow doesn’t seem to do it justice. If I weren’t able to talk to Vlad about it regularly — he and I share the same general take on the likely trajectory of and prognosis for our societal illness — I don’t know how I’d cope with the sheer toxicity of all the information that passes through my hands.

Vlad and I discussed it some more later on, and he added:

There are times where instead of feeling like we are doing something to wake the public up to vast existential problems so that we may fight back in whatever way, instead, we are merely chronicling our demise. Creating a running colour commentary on our destruction, which will itself be destroyed.

I agree with him on that last point: all these digital archives are unlikely to survive the Collapse that lies ahead. Unless someone has printed out hard copies on non-acidic paper, these chronicles will disappear.

Nevertheless, the chronicling must go on.