Month: January 2024

Writings from the Vatican’s controversial doctrinal czar exploring intimate details of male and female orgasm has been dubbed the last straw for his meteoric but scandal-ridden career.

Víctor Manuel “Tucho” Fernández, a close personal friend and ghostwriter for Pope Francis, whom the pontiff called to Rome to lead the Vatican’s powerful doctrinal office, elevating him to the rank of cardinal, has provoked a veritable ecclesial earthquake with the recent discovery and translation of a graphic sexual text comparing orgasm to mystical union with God.

“Let’s not forget that women have a rich venous plexus around the vagina, which maintains a good blood flow after orgasm,” Fernández wrote in his 1998 book Mystical Passion: Spirituality and Sensuality. “That’s why she is usually insatiable. She needs to release the pelvic congestion, and when this does not happen, after orgasm she may want more.”

“The woman requires more time, more dedication. She needs the man to give her something extra after he has achieved his own satisfaction,” he added.

Fernández said this week that he had cancelled Mystical Passion not long after it was published and “never allowed it to be reprinted.”

Mystical Passion made sense at the time but it is a book “that I certainly would not write now,” he told Crux, an online Catholic news outlet.

What many observers have found most troubling about the book is not its prurient exploration into the nitty gritty of human orgasm — as odd as it may be considering its authorship — but rather an entire chapter recounting conversations with a 16-year-old girl about her erotic visions of Jesus.

If these descriptions were indeed reported to him by this girl, they would seem to exceed any boundaries of prudence and propriety; if they were fabricated by him, they would seem to suggest thoroughly questionable imaginings into the sexual-spiritual life of a young girl.

Moral theologians have also taken issue with Fernández’ apparent justification of objectively evil actions as somehow compatible with God’s grace.

Experience God’s love “does not mean, for example, that a homosexual will necessarily stop being homosexual,” he wrote.

“Let us remember that God’s grace can coexist with weaknesses and even with sins, when there is a very strong conditioning,” he added. In those cases, the person can do things that are objectively sinful, without being guilty, and without losing the grace of God or the experience of his love.”

Curiously, the prelate also cites “a venerable Egyptian theologian of the 15th century” named Al Sonuouti, in giving praise to God: “Praise be to Allah, who establishes penises as hard and straight as spears to wage war on vaginas.”

This is not the only publication written by the Argentinean cardinal to raise eyebrows. Fernández was also the author of a surprising text titled Heal Me With Your Mouth: The Art of Kissing, which he published in 1995 as a 33-year-old priest.

“I want to clarify that this book was not written so much based on my own experience, but based on the lives of people who kiss,” Fernández wrote in the introduction. “In these pages I want to synthesize the popular feeling, what people feel when they think of a kiss, what mortals experience when they kiss.”

“So, trying to synthesize the immense richness of life, these pages emerged in favor of kissing,” he wrote. “I hope that they help you kiss better, that they motivate you to release the best of your being in a kiss.”

In his research on kissing, Fernández said he consulted about 1000 people “on the street.”

“I went to bars, colleges, businesses, in order to ask young people about what they knew to say about kissing,” he wrote. “I collected varied opinions about what a kiss means for them, about the different ways of kissing.”

“The penetrating kiss is when you suck and slurp with the lips. The penetrating kiss is when you stick in your tongue. Watch out for teeth,” he wrote, citing one of his interlocutors.

Some Vatican watchers have wondered aloud whether Pope Francis was unaware of Fernández’ controversial writings when he named him head of the Vatican’s doctrinal office — which would seem a gross lack of due diligence — or whether he knew of them and named him anyway.

More recently, Cardinal Fernández caused a furor when he released a declaration reversing a 2021 ban on blessing gay couples, which had been issued by the same Dicastery of the Doctrine of the Faith of which he is now the head.

Nonetheless, Vatican voices are beginning to describe Mystical Passion as the straw that breaks the camel’s back.

“I’m going to say that Cardinal Fernandez’s resignation is now inevitable,” writes Spectator associate editor Damian Thompson. “Looks like we have arrived at the final crisis of this pontificate.”

https://www.breitbart.com/faith/2024/01/09/vatican-orgasm-gate-may-be-the-last-straw-for-argentinean-cardinal/

A top Christian Democrat politician wants to amend the constitution if necessary, so that German taxes can be used to pay for mosques.  Jens Spahn—a former minister and deputy leader of the opposition center-right CDU/CSU’s parliamentary group—sees public funding for mosques as a bulwark against overseas influence.

Beatrix von Storch of the AfD previously warned it would be a mistake to finance mosque associations using German taxpayers’ money. While she agreed that the financing of mosques by Turkey or Qatar must be banned immediately, she argued that Muslims in Germany should finance their own mosques with their own contributions.

Germany has for many years faced the problem of mosques being financed by foreign countries such as Turkey, often combined with imams spreading radical, anti-Western and antisemitic rhetoric.

The debate has heated up once again, with rising levels of antisemitic attacks throughout Germany prompted by the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.

At the beginning of November, Spahn called it “a disgrace that Jews can no longer feel safe in Germany.” He said his country had imported antisemitism on a large scale through uncontrolled immigration, and “it is high time to end Turkish state financing.”

Turkish Islamic association DITIB, the largest Islamic association in Germany with some 900 mosques, has long been the subject of political controversy in the country, most recently when an Afghan Taliban member spoke at one of its mosques in Cologne last month. Under an agreement between Berlin and Ankara announced in December, a programme that posts Turkish imams to German mosques will be phased out. Subsequently, imams trained in Germany will gradually replace clerics employed by Turkish religious authority Diyanet.

As reported previously, Turkey isn’t Germany’s only worry: German police raided 54 properties in seven states on November 16th, all belonging to the Islamic Center of Hamburg (IZH), which has ties to the Iran-backed Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah and its sub-organisations. The IZH is said to exert significant influence over various Muslim communities and associations throughout Germany.

Some 5.5 million Muslims live in Germany, making up around 6% of the population. According to Deutsche Welle, Germany currently has between 2,000 to 2,500 Islamic religious leaders, who tend to come to Germany for four or five years, are often paid by their home countries and know very little about the local culture and customs.

“We need German mosque communities, not Turkish ones … It would be better to step in even with German taxpayers’ money, even if this may require a constitutional amendment,” Spahn said in November. He elaborated on his plan to stop the foreign funding of mosques on Thursday, January 4th in an interview with Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung, saying mosques should be supported through a foundation set up by the state.

According to his proposal, mosque communities that agree to preach in German, are led by imams trained in Germany, and offer transparent work with children and young people could receive financial support from the foundation. This support would be provided over a longer period of time until the communities are self-sustaining. He added:

If we don’t stop foreign funding and don’t build German mosque communities, we will have a rude awakening in five or ten years. Then we’re going to run further into radicalisation.

He cited France, Belgium, and the United Kingdom, adding: “Then the isolated parallel societies will continue to grow in our country as well. And that would be terrible.”

Politicians of governing parties welcomed Spahn’s proposal. Lamya Kaddor of the Greens said Muslims in Germany need to have “the opportunity to practice their faith independently of foreign influence.” Sandra Bubendorfer-Licht of the liberal FDP said the goal “must be to strengthen and support a modern and open Islam with German characteristics.”

In Germany, members of the Catholic and Protestant churches, in addition to members of some Jewish groups and Humanist groups pay a church tax, which is usually 9% of income tax. Those who want to avoid the tax must deregister from their religious group. Though the idea of a ‘mosque tax’ has been floated previously to make Islamic institutions less dependent on foreign funding, Spahn rejected such a notion, saying there needs to be a debate about the issue.

France recently announced that foreign imams who are paid from abroad will be barred from entering the country as of January 1st, as the country seeks to increase the number of locally trained imams.

https://europeanconservative.com/articles/news/german-mp-taxpayers-should-fund-german-mosques-to-prevent-radicalisation/

A supposedly serious Bloomberg headline is setting the tone for the new year: “2024 is the Year of Elections and That’s a Threat to Democracy”. As expected, the usual suspects in the mainstream media are dusting off the 2016 playbook – the one that worked so well in preventing Brexit and Donald Trump – warning once again of the “Trump Dictatorship”. In Germany, where the Alternative for Germany (AfD) is poised to win big in three regional elections as well as the EU elections this year, members of the conservative and Social Democratic parties are trying to find common ground to ban what has become the second strongest party according to recent polls.

One is reminded of a poem by Bertolt Brecht, written during the people’s uprising against the Sovietization of East Germany in June 1953. Brecht quipped that “the people had lost the government’s confidence and could only regain it with redoubled effort. If that is the case, would it not be be simpler, if the government simply dissolved the people and elected another?”

I am not arguing that a significant part of the Western media and political class has signed up for a 21st century version of agitprop when it comes to how they deal with opposition movements, but there certainly is some resemblance. Whether it is Robert Habeck accusing protesting German farmers of being paid by Putin, Justin Trudeau calling Canadian truckers “Nazis,” the BBC labeling the libertarian Argentinian President Javier Milei “far Right”, or Foreign Policy the Dutch politician Geert Wilders “an extremist,” the intended purpose is the same: Associate the opposition with allegedly Hitleresque policies, and suddenly all means are justified in allowing them any shot at power. After all, when it comes to avoiding a new Hitler, all means necessary must be allowed. So trying to ban the AfD or Donald Trump on flimsy charges or initiating a ridiculous smear campaign against a local politician in Bavaria is not at all anti democratic, but in fact the only way to save democracy.

It does not matter whether or not these movements or individuals are popular with the people, since most of them are just too stupid to understand the threat we are facing – or so the editorial boards from The Guardian to Bloomberg are thinking. To modify Brecht, the people have lost the media’s confidence and since they cannot be dissolved and replaced, one can at least attempt to ban their favorite candidates. I would add, however, that given the Left’s preference for open borders, they are not entirely beyond at least trying to replace parts of the electorate with new people. 

What all these defenders of democracy don’t seem to grasp, however, is that they are the true threat to democracy: The strength of a democratic system is not its moral superiority, after all, you can have a democratic system and still enact immoral policies, like slavery and segregation in the United States. The true strength of democracy is its ability to change a country’s political direction without the need to overthrow the entire political system: Moving from Obama to Trump to Biden and possibly (for one term) back to Trump is not a demonstration of democratic weakness, but the exact opposite.

If a political system is receptive to the will of the people, they are much less likely to call for a revolution and the abolition of the entire existing political arrangement. Once this receptiveness disappears, however, an ever growing number of people will start to question the political system as a whole, and that is the true danger. Trump, the AfD, and others are amplifying important sentiments among the population, but they are not creating them. Does anybody seriously believe that if it would not be for Geert Wilders, the Dutch would be happy and content with their country’s immigration policy? That the US Southern border would be an example of orderly conduct if Trump did not exist? That sacking Suella Braverman will make Britain’s problems with integration disappear?

Particularly the Greens should understand this: When environmentalism became a thing in the 1960s, originally few cared about it, but once it become clear that the electorate cares, almost all parties started to integrate pro-environmental positions into their programmes. It would certainly have been easier to just ban the new movement, but that would have been – what is the word – undemocratic. The political system recognized the new priorities of the people and adapted accordingly. In a similar fashion, segregation in the US was overcome by grassroots movements that pushed their agenda into the consciousness of the general public and political elites who started to turn against the seemingly unassailable system of legal racial divisions. Unfortunately, many members of the Left leaning dominant class in media and politics does not want to continue this approach of reconciling issues of public salience with the political system, and instead try to use the latter to squash any criticism of their policies. 

Suppose we truly ban all these alleged “enemies of democracy” that currently dominate the headlines: Will this strengthen or weaken the legitimacy of a democratic system? If I can only vote for parties that support the current course and any dissent will be marked as un-democratic and subject to legal persecution, at what point will I start to sympathise with parties that truly want to replace democracy with something else?

Killing the messengers will not make the problems they talk about disappear, but create the impression that those in power have no interest in dealing with them, and that the system is incapable of a course correction. Say what you want about the current swath of Right-wing populists, but so far they are all willing to operate within the existing political system. 

If they should be denied fair participation and a shot at governing if they have the required votes, new actors will appear to absorb the growing public anger, and it is unlikely that they will be committed to a democratic system. Ultimately, banning imagined fascists will give rise to real ones. 

https://brusselssignal.eu/2024/01/from-the-united-states-to-germany-the-self-proclaimed-defenders-of-democracy-are-fast-becoming-its-enemies-they-are-playing-a-very-dangerous-game/

The unsealed court documents in the Epstein scandal have brought to light serious allegations that disgraced financier Jeffery Epstein filmed sex tapes of Prince Andrew, Bill Clinton, and Sir Richard Branson. The documents are part of a civil lawsuit filed by Virginia Giuffre against Ghislaine Maxwell in 2015. The matter was settled in 2017. However, Miami Herald’s legal battle ensured that the documents were released, revealing high-profile names and a shocking series of events on Epstein’s Island.

The revelations emerged from a set of emails written by Sarah Ransome, one of the victims of Epstein. In her emails to a reporter, she alleged that the high-profile figures were recorded while having sex with her friend by Epstein. Notably, the legal team representing Alan Dershowitz, Epstein’s lawyer, highlighted the claims during the trial and challenged the credibility of Ransome’s statements. Furthermore, Prince Andrew has also consistently refuted any involvement in any misconduct.

In 2019, Ransome apparently admitted to the New Yorker that she fabricated the existence of the tapes to intimidate Epstein and highlight his misdeeds. She also provided a victim impact statement during the sentencing of Maxwell, former partner of Jeffery Epstein, in 2022 in a matter related to sex trafficking.

Responding to the allegations, a spokesperson for Sir Richard Branson said that Ransome later admitted to fabricating the tapes; thus, any such allegations against Branson were baseless. Bill Clinton’s office did not release any statement on the matter.

In the documents from 2016, Ransome described how her friend was sexually involved with Clinton, Prince Andrew, and Branson. She further alleged that Epstein recorded the videos. In her emails, Ransome expressed her dismay over Epstein’s absence in the tapes and recounted the dismissal and humiliation her friend faced when she tried to report the incidents to the police in 2008.

Notably, Ransome played a pivotal role in the defamation case filed by Giuffre against Maxwell. She provided photographs of Epstein, Maxwell, herself and other young women on the private Island that belonged to Epstein. These photographs were reportedly taken in 2006 and were released with the documents on court orders.

Since the allegations surfaced against Prince Andrew, he has retreated from public life. Reportedly, he no longer uses his HRH (His Royal Highness) title after his association with Epstein came to light. Though he denied meeting Giuffre, Prince Andrew spent millions of pounds to settle a civil case filed by her for allegedly sexually assaulting her when she was 17.

Giuffre, in her allegations against Prince Andrew, alleged he sexually assaulted her in a bathtub in Maxwell’s London home. However, the unsealed documents revealed that the bathtub was too small for a man of Prince Andrew’s size to have a bath, let alone have a sexual encounter.

In June 2022, Maxwell was sentenced to 20 years in prison for aiding Epstein’s sexual abuse of teenage girls. Her appeal is pending, and the hearing is expected to commence in November. Epstein allegedly died of suicide in a Manhattan jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.

https://www.opindia.com/2024/01/jeffrey-epstein-prince-andrew-bill-clinton-richard-branson/

A cold wave from today across Greece.

The new wave of bad weather started during the night, with snow in the mountains of the regional unit of Larissa, but also at lower altitudes.

As reported by On Larissa, the snowfall started in the mountains of Elassona a few hours ago. At the same time, it is snowing in Livadi, and the temperature is at 1 degree Celsius.

Snowfall In The Mountain Villages Of Larissa – See Photos And Videos (greekcitytimes.com)

Britain will freeze in the jaws of a Scandinavian snow-beast until February as the nation braces for possibly the worst Arctic deluge in more than a decade.

Freezing winds will blow in from the Nordic north this weekend as government forecasters warn to brace for snow.

Temperatures could plunge to -15C in parts of the country with bitter cold weather forecast through the rest of January.

High pressure will bring mostly dry weather through the next few days, before a low-pressure system shifts over Scandinavia to ‘open the doors to Arctic winds’.

An unyielding risk of snow through the rest of the month could bring the worst winter whiteout since 2010, according to some independent forecasters.

Exacta Weather’s James Madden said: “Over the next few weeks, there will be a high chance of snow with the risk higher than the same period over the past few years or indeed, since the big freeze of 2010.

“It is likely we are about to start seeing images of vast regions of the nation covered in snow during a cold spell which is likely to hold out for an extended period.

“As well as the risk of snow, we will see harsh overnight frosts and the coldest temperatures dipping as low as -15C in the coldest parts of the country over the coming weeks.”

After the storms and milder temperatures of recent weeks, Britons are urged to brace for ‘something completely different’.

High pressure responsible for keeping Atlantic storms at bay will sink southwards ahead of the weekend encouraging northerly winds.

A Scandinavian low will strengthen at the same time, increasing the risk of snow hitting the UK through to mid-January.

Met Office meteorologist Aidan McGivern said: “it is time for something completely different.“High pressure will generally be keeping things settled, that is until the end of the week.

“As we go into the weekend, that high pushes to the west of the UK and a deepening low pressure moving into Scandinavia and we will see a brisk northerly airflow.

“Through the weekend, it is turning colder once again, this time not from the east, but from the north.”

A cold front will follow the sinking high in the run up to the weekend allowing winds to come in from the Arctic, he added.

He said: “A cold front sinks south on Friday and will progress southwards through the weekend opening the door to cold Arctic winds that will be cold enough for snow.

“Eventually the colder air pushes across all parts of the country by the end of the weekend and into the start of next week.

“There is an increased signal for precipitation next week, and if you combine the cold air next week with the signal for precipitation, then it looks like there will be some snow around.”

The UK Health Security Agency last night upgraded a yellow cold weather health alert to amber.

It warns the elderly and people with health conditions to take extra care during what could be an extended cold snap.

The Met Office warned of an ‘increased chance compared to normal’ of cold weather and the risk of snow into the start of February.

https://www.gbnews.com/weather/uk-snow-forecast-latest-weather-arctic-blast-temperature-drop-janauary-2024

Germany continues to be inundated with immigrants under the current left-liberal government with asylum applications jumping 51.1 percent to 350,000 last year compared to 2022, which featured 217,774 applications.

The data, which is from the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees, shows most applicants arrived from Syria (105,000), Turkey (63,000) and Afghanistan (54,000). The federal office issued decisions on 261,601 applications last year, approving over half of the applicants’ asylum requests, totaling 51.7 percent.

The number of asylum applications in Germany rose significantly last year. In total, more than 350,000 foreigners applied for refugee protection in Germany in 2023. Compared to the same period last year (217,774 initial applications), this represents an increase of 51.1 percent, said the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees.

One of the surprising numbers from the report is that asylum applicants from Turkey are soaring despite Turkey being a NATO country.

“Such a development is not acceptable for a NATO partner and EU membership candidate,” said the deputy chairwoman of the CDU parliamentary group, Andrea Lindholz, regarding the surge in Turkish asylum requests.

The data also shows that asylum applications increased from South America in December, where Venezuela came in seventh place overall, with 431 applicants, while Colombia was in eighth place, with 372.

However, the data does not tell the full story with the German government also flying in foreigners directly from migrants’ home countries at the expense of German taxpayers under a scheme for “particularly vulnerable people.” The dramatic rise in asylum claims also does not include the 1.1 million Ukrainian refugees who have arrived in Germany since the start of the conflict with Russia, nor does it include illegal immigration, which has soared in recent months and prompted the federal government to impose more restrictive border controls.

The data comes at a time when the public is rebelling against mass immigration, with a majority of Germans saying that there are more problems than benefits due to mass immigration all amidst rising costs and spiraling debt loads. The government is scrambling to cut services and raise taxes on a range of business sectors, due in large part to the rising cost of immigrants.

The government’s “citizen’s money,” which is the name of its welfare program, is costing the government a total of €40 billion a year. However, data from the Federal Employment Agency shows that 62.5 percent of the program’s recipients from those who are actually eligible for work are people with a “migration background.” Although making up a relatively small portion of Germany’s overall population, that means migrants are getting the lion’s share of the “citizen’s money,” and many of them are not even citizens.

Furthermore, the amount of money one is eligible for is tied to the amount of children each family has. On average, foreigners are receiving far higher welfare payments than Germans, who receive €658 per month, while Ukrainians receive €684, Turks €744, and Iranians €755. Starting in January of this year, rates have also increased, which means even more enormous sums will be paid out in 2024.

Citizen’s money does not tell the whole story either. In addition, German taxpayers pay for housing, education, social services, and a range of other benefits to migrants, with the German government paying out €36 billion in total to migrants in 2023.

The Alternative for Germany (AfD) has come out against the massive wealth transfers from German citizens to foreigners in a statement, writing: “The AfD is the only party that does not accept that our wealth is being given away to the whole world. We will convert cash benefits for asylum seekers into benefits in kind, protect our national borders, and consistently deport illegal migrants so that the costs of citizens’ benefits are drastically reduced. Because social assistance benefits are primarily available to those who also pay into the state coffers as German citizens. Our tax money belongs to the Germans and not to humanity!”

The CDU, which is also largely responsible for a huge surge in migrants under the chancellorship of Angela Merkel, is criticizing the left-liberal government as well.

“Unimpressed, the traffic light is sticking to its paradigm shift in migration policy and is even now pushing turbo-naturalization through the Bundestag,” said the CDU parliamentary group’s domestic policy spokesman, Alexander Throm.

https://rmx.news/germany/350000-foreigners-applied-for-asylum-in-germany-in-2023-as-welfare-payments-soared/

By Chris Talgo

The climate-change killjoys have gone to great lengths in recent years linking practically anything and everything as a contributor to climate change. Gas stoves? Check. Dishwashers? Check. Eating meat? Check. Sporting events? Check. Breathing? Check, too.

Given this history, I must say I was not all that surprised when I read a recent article in the Washington Post claiming, “Indoor houseplants come with a cost to the planet.”

According to article’s author, “greening indoor spaces can also come at an environmental cost. The trucks that transport plants spew carbon emissions, plastic pots and synthetic fertilizers are made from petroleum and the harvesting of soil components like peat can tear up slow-forming habitats.”

Virtually everything we buy and consume in the modern age is transported via truck, train, and/or cargo ship. For instance, most of the technological devices Americans buy in spades these days are transported across the entire world, from Asia to the United States. The same is true for the vast majority of foodstuffs, trinkets, and creature comforts that we use on a daily basis.

Declaring that we should refrain from purchasing these products simply because they must be transported across vast distances via a train, truck, or cargo ship which use fossil fuels, is absurd. If we were to implement this “planet-saving strategy” throughout our lifestyles by avoiding the purchase of products that need to shipped, the worldwide economy would grind to a halt, life would be miserable, and human flourishing would plummet.

Instead of purchasing a plant from a greenhouse or nursery, the author suggests, “looking for local plant swaps or garden clubs in your area, which are often organized online or on social media sites. Other gardeners are often happy to give you cuttings of their own plants, which you can propagate and grow into plants of your own.”

Okay, this may well be true. But, if we were to limit ourselves to solely purchasing or bartering for local plants, the number of choices and varieties at our disposal would pale in comparison to the abundant offerings available at most greenhouses and nurseries. Moreover, what if you live in an urban area, where there probably aren’t a bunch of gardeners waiting to give away plant cuttings ?

The author also argues that people should avoid putting their houseplants in “cheap, black plastic pots that quickly fall apart” in favor of “terracotta and ceramic pots that will last.” While I fully understand that terracotta and ceramic pots are more durable and longer-lasting than their plastic counterparts, we should also recognize that plastic pots are much more affordable. For people living paycheck-to-paycheck, which includes more than 60 percent of Americans, perhaps the plastic pot is the only option they can afford.

The same argument applies to the author’s advice regarding the use of synthetic fertilizers and peat. The author “recommends cutting down on petroleum-based fertilizers, which create carbon emissions during their production.” Instead, he suggests using “organic fertilizers” and “peat alternatives, like coconut coir or biochar.”

Of course, organic fertilizers, coconut coir, and biochar are much more expensive than their commonly used counterparts. What’s more, petroleum-based fertilizers work better because they are equally rich in the three essential nutrients (nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium).

For a great case study on the utter failure of organic fertilizers, see what happened to Sri Lanka after the government banned petroleum-based fertilizers. Spoiler alert: It was a very bad idea.

Then again, climate change fearmongering is chockful of bad ideas and terrible solutions to nonexistent problems. The climate lunatics’ war on houseplants is ridiculous, but also quite telling of just how out-of-touch these people are.

Rather than excoriating Americans for the simple desire of having an affordable and healthy houseplant, which bring people pleasure, reduce stress, clean indoor air, and just generally look nice, it would be refreshing if the the Washington Post, and the entire mainstream media for that matter, did their due diligence when it comes to climate change. If they did, they might realize that climate change is not an existential crisis, fossil fuels are the lifeblood of the modern economy, and houseplants are not bad for the planet.

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2024/01/apparently_houseplants_now_contribute_to_climate_change.html

Another batch of documents from a defamation lawsuit related to Jeffrey Epstein were released on Monday morning.

The Gateway Pundit obtained the 17 new documents on Monday and they are explosive!

The new documents, which were reviewed by this reporter, reveal there are alleged sex tapes of Bill Clinton, Prince Andrew and Richard Branson.

According to the witness, Sarah Ransome, Hillary Clinton sent her henchmen to intimidate her friend after she went to the police in 2008 to report she was forced to have sex with Bill Clinton, Richard Branson and Prince Andrew on video.

“She was made to feel like a dirty whore and liar and wasn’t taken seriously,” Sarah Ransome said of her friend.

“A couple months later, she was then approached, by Special Agents Forces Men sent directly by Hillary Clinton herself, in order to protect her presidential campaign in 2008. The heavily intimidated her, ruffled her up (luckily she took photos as evidence) and was then forced to sign a confidentiality agreement which ensures that she can never come forward publicly implicating her husband,” the witness said.

Also according to the witness, her friend was given a “substantial payout directly from the Clinton Foundation to keep her quiet.”

The witness alleged she has footage of the Clinton, Branson, Prince Andrew sex tapes “backed up” on “several USB sticks” and said she has a kill switch just in case something happens to her.

New photos of young girls on Epstein’s property on Little Saint James, US Virgin Islands dubbed “pedo island” were unsealed in Monday’s document drop.

EPSTEIN DOCS: New Pictures of Young Girls on Epstein’s ‘Pedo Island’ Emerge Amid Allegations of Bill Clinton Sex Tapes via @gatewaypundit https://t.co/SBrIY1G50d

— The Gateway Pundit (@gatewaypundit) January 8, 2024

German farmers are stepping up their demonstrations against controversial new green policies that aim to slash subsidies amid claims that German and European agriculture is being subordinated to an environmentalist agenda by an out-of-touch political elite. Farmers arrived outside Berlin’s famous Brandenburg Gate Sunday evening to kick off what could be weeks of protests.

Bauenrprotest vor dem Brandenburger Tor formiert sich. Unsere Reporter sind vor Ort. #Bauernprotest #Mistgabelmob pic.twitter.com/aUIy6iO4zo

— Junge Freiheit (@Junge_Freiheit) January 8, 2024

Farmers across the country strategically placed tractors on highways and in city centres to protest plans by Berlin’s traffic light coalition to reduce several key subsidies for diesel and farming equipment. The agrarian agitation first rearing its head shortly before Christmas. The farmers plan to further escalate the blockades after January 15th if the government does not comply with their demands. They claim these could be the most vocal acts of civil disobedience in the country’s post-war history.

🇩🇪 The German farmers have successfully blocked dozens of highways with the help of the German truckers.

This is my view up on a tractor on the A2 – Europe’s busiest highway.

I’m blown away. History in the making. pic.twitter.com/td4XkNACQf

— Eva Vlaardingerbroek (@EvaVlaar) January 8, 2024

President of the German Farmers’ Association Joachim Rukwied lamented that “agricultural policy is being made from an unworldly, urban bubble and against farming families and rural areas.” Rukwied called on the government to drop all plans to remove the subsidies, saying that otherwise, “the supply of high quality food stuffs is jeopardised,” 

Berlin’s Social Democratic-led coalition government last week watered down some of the controversial measures that have spurred farmers into action. The move came as officials scrambled to fill a €60 billion fiscal hole left by a court ruling that declared previous plans to convert COVID spending into green transition funds were constitutionally invalid.

A key target for the farmers’ rage is embattled Green minister Robert Habeck who last week was publicly cornered by farmers as he attempted to leave a ferry at the northern port of Schlüttsiel.

Bauern blockieren heute den Fährhafen Schlüttsiel samt Zufahrtstraßen um #Habeck auf dem Rückweg aus dem Urlaub von Hallig Hooge abzufangen & zur Rede zu stellen. Die Fähre musste wieder, der Minister sitzt jetzt auf der Fähre in Schlüttsiel fest! pic.twitter.com/AZ4zcEUbom

— Franz Branntwein™ (@FranzBranntwe10) January 4, 2024

The protests have attracted solidarity from farmers in the Netherlands and Poland, while tech mogul Elon Musk tweeted his support for the German demonstrations on X. There is also the possibility of solidarity strikes by German transport workers have raised the possibility of solidarity strikes as the country buckles under a variety of economic and social crises.

Monday’s protests have also attracted a strong on-the-ground presence from the populist AfD party, while farmers have already been slammed as being ‘far right.’ EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen even insinuated that the demonstrations were a threat to democracy in comments made at a CSU retreat in Bavaria. 

The German demonstrations are just the latest flashpoint in a long-running battle between green policymakers and food producers. Most pundits expect agricultural discontent to be a lead issue in next year’s EU elections.

Richard Schenk, a research fellow with MCC Brussels has warned in a recent report that the burden placed by the EU on European farmers was becoming “unbearable” as legislation such as the recently passed Nature Restoration Law prioritises supposed environmentalism over food production in a time of rising prices.

https://europeanconservative.com/articles/news/german-farmers-protest-green-policies-imposed-by-urban-bubble/