The political values that schools should teach are always a hotly debated topic. Basic guidelines are provided by the Beutelsbach Consensus, for example, which imposes a ban on indoctrination and the obligation to present opposing opinions on teachers and other educators. But what this actually looks like is the subject of debate and could lead to serious problems for a teacher at Lößnitzgymnasium in Radebeul near Meißen (photo). According to information from newspaper Die Sächsische, during a double lesson in the subject of social studies, education in rights and economics (GRW), the teacher gave a lesson on the legitimization of states, forming of opinions and the role of citizens in this system.
“For example, it would be very efficient to have all AfD members locked up in a prison camp and killed. However, that would be absolutely illegitimate. Because if we were to lock people up in a prison camp here in Germany and kill them, that would violate the principle of legitimacy.” This sentence not only caused unrest among some of the students, but also caused numerous parents to protest. Among them was Thomas Kirste, an AfD district councillor in the region, who brought the case to the state parliament. However, both the state government and the school block the idea and refer to didactic simulation games and the right of teachers to make political statements in class as long as they clearly mark these statements as opinions.
Whether there was such a label in the case of the GRW teacher has not yet been proven in a sustainable way – it is a case of statement against statement. For Kirste, however, the matter does not end with the way his children are taught: “Such a statement from our ranks would have led to a nationwide outcry”. The political climate has long since affected all areas of life and it is to be feared that the political mood will become even more agitated in some places.
A Syrian man (40) has been arrested in Bochum following a terror threat. A large-scale police operation was triggered in the district of Bochum-Wattenscheid (Ruhr area) at around 3.22 p.m. on Tuesday afternoon. The emergency services used the short message service X (formerly Twitter) to call on people to avoid Oststraße in the center of the district. “We are on site with many emergency services”, said a spokeswoman. The Dortmund police, who are responsible for large-scale incidents, have taken over command of the operation. It is now known that the incident took place at a branch of a savings bank (photo). According to information from the newspaper BILD, a man with an Arab appearance is said to have entered the bank in the afternoon and shouted “Hamas, Hamas – bomb, bomb”. The man then allegedly threw a bag and a suitcase on the floor and fled from the bank.
The police immediately got many emergency calls. Thanks to the quick action of the witnesses, plainclothes police officers were able to arrest the 40-year-old Syrian, who lives in Bochum, a short time later. The area around the bank was cordoned off. Officers wearing helmets and bulletproof vests secured the savings bank. Bomb disposal experts from the State Criminal Police investigated the bag with a robot. The fire department and emergency services were on standby. Two suspicious objects turned out to be harmless during the investigation. “We did not find any dangerous objects,” said a police spokeswoman on Tuesday evening. The cordon on the shopping street was lifted again – the bank remained closed. The police later confirmed that the arrested man had threatened to detonate a bomb. “Initial indications currently point to a mental illness in the suspect”, the police reported on Tuesday evening. The man apparently voluntarily underwent psychotherapeutic treatment.
A woman in New York City has been left with brutal injuries after she says she was assaulted by a trans-identified male rapper. Speaking to Reduxx, Aspen Burrell says that police have failed to arrest her assailant, Quayana “Quay” Dash, and that she is now living in constant fear for her life due to the fact that Dash lives next door to her.
Burrell’s ordeal began three weeks ago, when she was a witness to an altercation between Dash and his female roommate. Hearing cries for help echo from the building next door, Burrell and a friend rushed out onto the sidewalk to see where the noise was coming from. Outside, they found another woman in distress. The woman explained that her roommate, Quayana Dash, had assaulted her and locked her out of her apartment.
Burrell and her friend waiting with the woman until police arrived, ultimately arresting Dash. He was released soon after.
But on the evening of March 16, at approximately 7 p.m., Burrell was walking home with groceries and approaching her residence when she heard an eerie “whistling” sound.
“It sounded like someone was taunting me,” Burrell told Reduxx. When she turned around, she saw Dash staring at her maniacally. Feeling uncomfortable, Burrell asked if he was okay, at which point, she says, “something snapped” in him.
He called her a “bitch” and began threatening to assault her. Dash then began accusing Burrell of having called the police on him during his altercation with his roommate, which Burrell denied.
Burrell says Dash started screaming “I’ll beat the fuck out of you! You called the cops on me.” She refuted his claims, telling him she hadn’t called the police, but believed the woman he had attacked had done so.
Suddenly, Burrell says Dash began hitting her, dragging her by the hair, and pulling her down to the ground.
“I just remember trying to fend for myself,” she says. “I didn’t even know what had happened.”
In addition to several abrasions and lacerations, Burrell was also injured when Dash bit her on her backside, leaving a deep, teeth-indented wound in her flesh. Burrell provided Reduxx with a copy of her medical records, showing she was treated for several serious injuries on her face, hand, thigh, and neck.
She was also administered vaccines against diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis.
Having received multiple calls from residents in the neighborhood, police quickly arrived on the scene. However, law enforcement did not make an attempt to arrest Dash, and instead instructed Burrell to stay in her home in order to avoid him.
One officer handed her his business card and told her to call him should Dash attempt to intimidate or harass her, and promised he would come to her aid “immediately.”
The following day, at 5 p.m. on March 17, she saw Dash in the park across the street from her window, “waving and yelling” at her and nodding his head “in a devious and sinister way.” Additionally, Burrell was told by neighbors that he had been standing outside her door the night before, shouting, “Come out, bitch!”
THEY HAVE BEEN ARRESTED WITHIN THE LAST THREE WEEKS FOR BEATING TARGETING AND ASSAULTING CIS WOMEN. I HATE THAT THIS IS THE SITUATION pic.twitter.com/y8Ub9YsXQz
Frightened, Burrell called the police, but law enforcement did not arrive at her residence for another hour and a half, even though she made three calls within that period inquiring as to when the officers would come to her home.
“I also called my detective, and he hung up on me,” Burrell said. She then personally visited the police precinct and spoke with a supervisor. “They were very dismissive, very rude, and didn’t care to hear my story in whole, basically telling me there is nothing they can do,” she added. “Why is it that this is an open case, but this isn’t a priority for the detective to be asking me questions?”
Burrell added that she was “disheartened and disappointed” because the only suggestion she had been provided by police was to stay inside her home and not leave.
“I need to go to the store to get food, and I can’t do those things because I am fearful for my life, because someone basically wants to kill me,” she says.
On March 18, Burrell was told to return to the precinct in order to identify Dash from a lineup photo. She requested a police escort, and was told to wait for approval. As the day passed, Burrell attempted to call the officer handling her case, Detective Tyrone Woodson, but he did not answer. At 5 p.m., she sent an email asking for an update, and was sent the photo, enabling her to identify her attacker to law enforcement.
Reduxx has reviewed an email communication between Burrell and the detective handling her case where she was told that officers “can’t actively go after” Dash, but rather that they expect her to make a report if he threatens her again.
“If you see this individual, you are to proceed just like you did before,” wrote the detective. “When you call 911 you let them know that you have an active assault case against the subject, and he is wanted. The officers will come to your location. Make sure you let them know you are in fear of what this individual would do to you because he knows where you live. They should be there in enough time to apprehend them.”
Messages sent from Aspen Burrell to NYPD
Burrell was frustrated, responding: “So you’re not going to get a warrant for their arrest? I’m trying to press charges. I am trapped in my house until I have to run into them again? This is sick.”
In response, the detective wrote that the case would be issued an “investigation card,” which is similar to a warrant.
“The only difference is that our warrants teams can’t actively go after them. This is not a Felony so they won’t be involved. But once they are arrested you will be given an Order Of Protection and you will be able to press charges on the individual,” wrote the detective.
“Who is responsible for arresting them? I am not going to be sitting at my window waiting for them to come outside with a weapon this time. You need to call me so I can directly speak with you,” Burrell said.
“I’m super confused as to how, who, when and where is supposed to be protecting me right now. Someone is trying to kill me and threatened my life. On top of that they are mentally ill and can climb up my fire escape. What peace of mind are you giving me?” she asked. “I want them arrested, sir, I shouldn’t have to do what you guys should be doing and that’s apprehend this person. How in reality am I supposed to identify them and then put myself in danger again to be hit and potentially killed?”
Burrell has launched a GoFundMe, seeking the financial means to hire an attorney to help her obtain a restraining order against Dash and navigate her interactions with NYPD, and so that she can leave the neighborhood as soon as she can.
“If this person does get arrested, they’re most likely to be returned back home within two days to two weeks. So I have to get out of my house now,” she said. “I need that money to go to new housing immediately on top of the medical fees and the attorney fees.”
Burrell says Dash has a history of assaulting women, but any criminal record he might have appears to have been obfuscated by his identity change.
Dash has been involved in hip-hop and rap for a number of years, and briefly moved to the United Kingdom to release an EP through Perth Records in 2017 titled “Transphobic.”
The cover of Dash’s 2017 EP “Transphobic.”
The album was positively profiled by The Guardian, with Dash being presented as a struggling “black trans woman” who feared for his life while living in the United States.
“When I’m in America, I just feel like the transphobia is real; the homophobia is real; everything is just like real. It’s so anti … I really can’t with America,” Dash said during the interview.
In October of 2017, Dash released a single titled “Queen Of This Shit.” The song skyrocketed in popularity, later being featured on the soundtrack for HBO’s hit show, Euphoria.
Reduxx has reached out to the NYPD Press Desk and Detective Woodson for more information on what NYPD is doing to protect Burrell, but did not hear back in time for this publication. The article may be updated in the event a response is received.
The attack on 16-year-old German girl Loretta continues: After her principal reported her to the police for TikTok posts including a Smurf video (Gateway reported), the usual suspects in the Trump-hating German mainstream media have ganged up on her to paint her as some sort of crypto-Nazi. Their accusations include a photo with the letters “HH” – which turned out to be a Helly Hansen jacket.
Formerly conservative newspaper “Welt” ran a vile hit piece on Loretta Tuesday, accusing her of posting “deeply far-right symbols” and claiming she had worn “a top with the letters HH sewn on it” – implying this is short for “Heil Hitler”. Using the Nazi slogan is a crime in Germany.
Junge Freiheit newspaper spoke to Loretta and her mother, who said they were never confronted with the alleged screenshots an anonymous snitch sent to her principal. it turns out the “HH” letters “sewn on” to her clothes actually referred to the logo of popular fashion brand Helly Hansen!
Helly Hansen is a Norwegian sports clothing brand popular with rappers like Xzibit, and has been worn by stars like Kate Middleton, Bradley Cooper and Megan Fox. The logos are usually printed and not sewn on.
“Die Welt” newspaper also claimed Loretta’s posts included the number “1161”, a numerical code they claimed stands for “Anti-Antifa” (A being the first letter and F the sixth letter in the alphabet). The formerly conservative newspaper did not explain what is wrong with opposing the violent leftist shock troops that regularly terrorize right-wing politicians in Germany with no consequences. German interior minister Nancy Faeser wrote an article for “Antifa” magazine in 2021.
However, Junge Freiheit pointed out that Loretta had never heard of this code. Neither had any of the numerous state-run or -financed hate speech monitors which keep lists of alleged right-wing codes.
“Die Welt” also charged Loretta with crimes such as posting a photo of herself before a German flag. The local police claimed that the Smurf video posted by Loretta on TikTok had nothing to do with the “formal warning” they issued Loretta, and it was not part of the screeshots the snitch submitted to the principal. Speaking to Junge Freiheit, Loretta and her mother said that when the police pulled Loretta out of class, she assumed it must be about her support for the AfD party and the Smurf video, and that no one had told her otherwise.
Loretta’s Smurf Meme, which has become a joke worldwide at the expense of German police and government, read “Smurfs are blue – and Germany is too!”. Blue is the color used by the right-wing AfD party, which has become the strongest party in East Germany.
“Die Welt” newspaper is part of Springer Publishing, which is owned by US investor Henry Kravis’ Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, along with Business Insider, which faces legal action from US investor Bill Ackman over a similarly disgusting hit piece on Ackman’s wife Neri Oxman. Springer also owns Politico website and “Bild” tabloid, Germany’s largest newspaper. Springer CEO Matthias Döpfner is a Member of the Steering Committee of the Bilderberg Meetings, a contributor of the World Economic Forum in Davos, former member of the Atlantic Council‘s German chapter Atlantikbrücke and of the censorship-industrial complex flagship Institute for Strategic Dialogue and guest of the Council on Foreign Relations.
Youth movement Generation Identity climbed the roof of the school in Ribnitz-Damgarten on the Baltic Sea, North Germany and unfurled a banner reading “Loving your Country is not a Crime”.
“We wanted to express our support for Loretta and her family when she was attacked, so we made the banner over the weekend and drove to the school on Monday morning”, a spokesman for the Identitarian Movement Mecklenburg-Vorpommern told the Gateway Pundit. “The school has a fire ladder, so it was easy getting on the roof. We just needed a ladder for the last two meters onto the roof. We wanted to unfurl the banner right before school starts Monday, so a lot of people would see it, so there were a few teachers there who tried to accost us, but we managed to get away nonetheless.” There have been no police charges so far, the spokesman said. The Identitarian Movement is a peaceful non-violent youth movement which protests mass illegal migration and has been criminalized in most of Europe despite its non-violent nature inspired by Greenpeace and other left-wing groups.
SMURFGATE: Disgusting MSM Hit Piece Charges 16-Year-Old Loretta with Wearing Letters “HH” – Which Stands for Helly Hansen, not Heil Hitler! via @gatewaypundithttps://t.co/AsIdKrxDLp
Can a Parliament collectively lose its mind? After the European Parliament’s Committee on Legal Affairs voted to take the Commission to court for releasing €10 billion to Hungary, this is a necessary question. What some are depicting as a bold move to defend the rule of law is actually a grotesque step to trample all over it. It is an initiative that highlights the fanaticism of the hegemonic Frankenstein coalition (an everything-but-right-wing-parties patchwork) which has ruled the European Parliament for decades.
First, let’s shed some light on the frivolity and fanaticism of this legal action. According to the widespread narrative, the Commission committed the sin of surrendering to Hungarian blackmail when it released one third of the frozen EU funds earmarked for Hungary. It would be a compelling story, if only it were true. In reality, by releasing those funds, the Commission did the bare legal and political minimum. And despite the deafening noise around the deal, the one question that should raise our eyebrows is why Hungary only received €10 billion out of the €28 billion owed in total.
In brief, the EU confiscated funding to Hungary for several reasons (rule of law, migration, the prohibition of gender propaganda for minors) and under different legal pretexts. At the same time, it imposed 27 “super milestones” upon Budapest—requirements that include adopting fund-management IT tools, setting up a new anti-corruption agency, and modifying the functioning of its Supreme Court. A few of those conditions might make sense, but most of them go far beyond the EU’s remit of competences and were probably designed under the expectation they would never be met. However, to the EU’s surprise, Hungary largely delivered. Indeed, so much so that the more Hungary delivered, the more the Commission added new conditions and took advantage of its position to claim that what had been done was never enough. All of this took place under the fierce and enduring political pressure of the European Parliament, which insisted that Budapest can and must be punished whatever it takes. This is the same modus operandi of immobilism and arbitrariness that the EU blithely replicates to exclude Hungarian universities from Erasmus and Horizon.
In other words, the EU’s conduct constituted blackmail and abuse of power that would never have stopped unless Hungary used a perfectly legal mechanism from the Treaties called unanimity. It did so not to blackmail the EU, but simply to force it to play by its own rules. But this ‘checkmate’ move infuriated the European Parliament, which took the step of suing the Commission for one reason only: for not blackmailing Hungary enough. Blinded by wrath and arrogance, the assembly ended up explicitly admitting that the EU’s rule of law is nothing but a euphemism for political punishment, an instrument to financially starve nonconforming countries, and a crapshoot where the dice are loaded so that Hungary can only loose. And should Hungary ever achieve some sort of minor victory, then another scapegoat must pay for that bug in the system. This time, it is the Commission’s turn to take the blame for being forced to play by its own abusive rules.
An important conclusion from this episode is that, as the European Parliament has admitted, the rule of law is not only about the “rule of law” as such; rather, it is a political process meant to address political nonconformity. In its resolution of 16 January, in which it announced its legal action against the Commission, the EU Parliament declared,
[The EU Parliament] strongly condemns the actions of the Prime Minister of Hungary, who decided to block the decision on the essential MFF revision, including the Ukraine aid package, in full disrespect and violation of the EU’s strategic interests … such actions are in violation of the principle of sincere cooperation, as enshrined in the Treaties.
This raises the question of whether the conditionality of EU funds is about Ukraine, the rule of law, or any political concern against Hungary.
If more evidence is needed there is the case of Poland. For years, the EU denounced “systemic” infringements of the rule of law in Poland, and it confiscated €137 billion, only to release them shortly after a like-minded government was. Will the Parliament sue the Commission for neglecting to enforce all the conditions it once imposed on Poland? Will it check against Poland delivering on every single reform, as it does with Hungary?
We have known that unanimity is a reasonable legal mechanism established to protect national interests. Now, we also know that it is the last resort against arbitrariness and political extortion. It should therefore be defended, maintained and, extended to other fields, should a reform of the treaties be on the table in the next five years.
This grotesque and abusive legal proceeding against the Commission is the very portrait of the arrogance and the demented ideological fanaticism of the Frankenstein coalition of EPP, Socialists, Liberals, Greens, and Communists. This hegemonic federalist-progressivist cartel, this patchwork of parties that are at odds at national level, smoothly run the political show in a comfortable echo-chamber of NGOs and lobbies, advancing a pensée unique at odds with millions of European citizens. After decades of such rule, it is time to bring some fresh air, next June—if only for the sake of diversity, as they say. But also, to preserve EU institutions, by preventing the European Parliament becoming still more of a mock assembly.
Ireland’s progressive Prime Minister Leo Varadkar has announced he is resigning for “personal and political” reasons, stepping down less than two weeks after he was soundly defeated on a referendum to redefine marriage and the role of women in the nation’s constitution.
Fine Gael politician Leo Varadkar, who became his country’s youngest ever Taoiseach (Prime Minister) in 2017 made a surprise announcement in Dublin on Wednesday, saying he was resigning the leadership of his party and the nation. Varadkar said he would stay on as PM until a new leader could be selected and sworn in, saying that would likely happen as the Irish Parliament returned to session after the Easter recess.
The resignation comes less than two weeks after Varadkar and his government allies suffered a massive and unexpected — by them, at least — defeat in a double national referendum this month. Under the proposed changes, marriage would have been redefined as “durable relationships” in the constitution, and protections for women were to be removed as they were claimed to be “sexist”. Despite a perception the government was definitely going to win the votes, they were actually defeated with 67 per cent and 73 per cent against on the two questions.
The referendum was not Varadkar’s first, indeed one of the first major events of his leadership was the 2018 referendum to abolish the right to life for foetuses, legalising abortion in the until-recently staunchly Catholic country. He was also a leading figure in the campaign to legalise same-sex-marriage, with the government winning a national referendum on that subject in 2015, when Varadkar was a government minister.
Irish media reported last year that Varadkar was considering making use of that constitutional change by marrying his long-term partner Matthew Barrett and “welcoming kids” to the family. But those statements came less than a year after the Irish leader faced headlines about him having been filmed “socialising” in a Dublin gay nightclub, which he dismissed as a “personal matter”.
A similar scandal that mirrored the Varadkar video emerged in Finland the following year where Prime Minister Sanna Marin — like Varadkar the youngest leader in the history of the country — was filmed “dancing intimately” at a nightclub with a man who was not her husband. Marin resigned months later, also citing personal reasons.
Reflecting on his time as leader and his progressive mission while in power, Varadkar said in Dublin today that: “I’m proud we’ve made the country a more equal and more modern place when it comes to the rights of children, the LGBT community, equality for women, and their bodily autonomy.”
He also said he was proud of having increased the amount of Irish taxpayer’s money sent abroad for “international development” and the welcoming of “over 100,000 Ukrainian refugees”, a matter which has caused not inconsiderable controversy in Ireland, a country of just five million people.
Varadkar said he acknowledged some people would be pleased to hear of his decision, and despite his explanations of the “personal and political” reasons for the resignation predicted there would be speculation about the “real reason” for the move.
Duemmer Wrigley signed a letter to the Civil Service criticising “ideologues” who attempted to amend official documents and briefed against ministersCrowdjustice/UK Government
A government lawyer, as well as the department where she works, is being sued after she made ‘gender-critical’ comments at work – like stating her belief that only women have periods.
Elspeth Duemmer Wrigley, who works at an “arm’s-length body to a government department” – the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), the Times reported – chairs its Sex Equality and Equity Network, a gender-critical group open to public sector staff who are “committed to the protected belief that biological sex is binary and immutable”.
Duemmer Wrigley had signed a letter to the cabinet secretary in October which warned the Civil Service’s impartiality had been endangered by gender-critical staff being “openly and unlawfully bullied and harassed”.
The letter put forward scathing allegations against a “small number of active gender ideologues” in the Civil Service who attempted to amend official documents and briefed against ministers.
She is due to appear at an employment tribunal next week, accused of harassment for a number of comments and posts she had put forward at work.
An employee of another Defra-affiliated body is suing the department for allowing the SEEN network to exist – as well as personally taking legal action against Duemmer Wrigley for her views.
Duemmer Wrigley is under the microscope for comments including saying “only women menstruate” during a seminar on female autism, and a post in which she promoted “diversity of belief” and said being gender-critical was a ‘protected belief’.
The unnamed claimant in the tribunal accused Defra’s top brass of nurturing an “intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating and/or offensive environment” and called for Defra’s wing of SEEN – and, potentially, the entire network across all government departments – to disband.
Duemmer Wrigley, who has started a crowdfunding campaign for her tribunal’s legal fees – which has raised over £20,000 – said: “If the claim succeeds, it’s likely that any gender critical statements are likely to be difficult if not impossible to make within the Civil Service and its related bodies.”
She added: “I believe it would have a profound chilling effect on employees elsewhere who do not subscribe to a belief in gender identity, whether or not they consider themselves gender critical.
“The claim has been brought at a time when employees with gender critical beliefs in many organisations, both in the Civil Service and beyond, are already facing vexatious, chilling, or bullying attacks… I believe that if this case succeeds, these attacks are likely to escalate.”
Maya Forstater, executive director of Sex Matters, a human rights group which campaigns for the view that there are only two sexes, said: “This is a shocking case, which follows revelations by civil servant whistleblowers about a ‘culture of fear’ among gender-critical civil servants across Whitehall.
“It is not reasonable to view the existence of a network of gender-critical colleagues as ‘harassment’.
“The civil service needs to have a robust culture of integrity, objectivity and accountability, and treat all its employees fairly.
“Civil servants should not expect to be kept ‘safe’ from encountering ideas or people they don’t agree with.”
A government spokesperson said: “We are unable to comment on ongoing legal proceedings.”
According to many French, both ordinary folks and politicians, their president Emmanuel Macron could think of nothing crazier to divert attention away from farmers’ problems and increase his low 24% rating. The leader of the extreme left, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, said so explicitly: “Pitting one nuclear power against another nuclear power is madness.” In turn, Marine Le Pen, who represents extreme right-wing forces, said that Macron is playing with “the lives of our children.”
More influential forces, such as the Socialist Party and conservative Republicans, also condemned “the French president’s muscle play.” Notably, in the run-up to June’s European elections, Macron’s centrist liberal party is significantly behind the left and right parties in the polls.
There were also no statements in the media in favor of this idea, and on all news channels, when asked whether France should prepare for war with Russia, the answer was an emphatic “no.” The same views were expressed in most European countries, with the exception of some eastern ones, primarily the Baltics and Poland.
So, then, how is our hegemon, “the leader of the free world,” Joe Biden doing? The answer came during his recent annual address to Congress, when, instead of speaking traditionally about the state of his own country, he began immediately with Putin. “If anyone in this room thinks Putin will stop at Ukraine, I assure you he won’t,” Biden said, adding that although Europe is “in danger,” he remains “determined” not to send American soldiers to defend it.
As the New York Times ironically noted, Swedish prime minister Ulf Kristersson, who was invited to this speech, must have gone dizzy. Indeed, the threat of a Russian invasion of Europe was the strongest argument to attract new members to NATO for their own protection. But if such incursions were a real concern, the USA would be obliged to send its troops there.
It turns out that Sweden and Finland decided in vain to trade their favorable neutral status, which allows them to stand aside from destructive conflicts.
At the present time, many Europeans, as well as Americans, are fed up with war. They are convinced that Ukraine cannot win it and the Russian threat is a fiction or a bogeyman to extort taxpayers’ money for its continuation.
Interestingly, the recently published book La Défaite de l’Occident (The Defeat of the West) has been at the top of France’s bestseller lists since January. Its author, the famous historian and anthropologist Emmanuel Todd, predicted the collapse of the Soviet Union as early as 1976 in his book The Final Fall.
In 2002 — i.e., even before the U.S. invasion of Iraq — his book After the Empire was published, already predicting “the collapse of the American order.”
Todd is also a critic of U.S. intervention in Ukraine, but his reasoning differs from those who believed that only NATO expansion, the neoconservative ideology of democracy promotion, and the demonization of Russia provoked the war. He believes that an additional, if not the primary, factor in this interference is the American quest for global hegemony, which has not only jeopardized the rest of the world, but has “corroded the American character.”
Todd also argues that the global immersion of Americans in the world economy was a mistake and cites the following facts: “The United States is now producing fewer cars than it did in the 1980s and is growing less wheat.” But it’s not just that, since “economic problems are linked to deeper, longer-term cultural shifts that used to be called ‘decadence.’”
Too many people seek to manage and hold command positions. They want to be politicians, managers. It doesn’t always require learning intellectually complex things. In the long run, it has already led to the disappearance of those values that favor a deep comprehensive education.
Todd also estimated that the United States today produces fewer engineers than Russia, not only on a per capita basis, but also in absolute numbers. America is experiencing an “internal brain drain” as its young people move from demanding, high-skilled, value-added professions to law, finance, and various occupations that simply “betray the importance of the economy, and in some cases may even destroy it.”
Speaking of America’s internal problems and the negative actions it is taking in the world, the author emphasizes the violent spread of the liberal value system. This system is often described as devoted to universal human rights, but as a specialist in family anthropology, Todd warns that many of the values currently propagated by Americans are less universal than they think. “Waging a values-based war requires good values,” the author concludes, but, as he also ironically notes, “they are, to put it mildly, not quite good.”
Returning to the current “micro-Napoleon” named Macron, we note that he has yet again postponed his visit to Kiev. The explanations have changed several times, from security concerns to the need to first build a coalition of those willing to send troops to Ukraine.
The latest statement from the Élysée Palace says the visit will take place in the next few weeks. We’ll see if he postpones it once again, but it would make sense for Macron, as a Catholic, to go to the Vatican instead of Kiev, talk to Pope Francis, listen to why Kiev needs to admit defeat, and request negotiations to reduce the sacrifices of Ukraine’s people.
There is increasing tension between the coalition parties governing in Germany’s three-way government, with the Free Democrats (FDP) turning up the heat in the dispute over freedom of expression, especially when it comes to the country’s controversial interior minister.
The German law enforcement structure and domestic spy agencies are looking to reshape the country with the new “Democracy Promotion Act,” which will contain a number of measures that will allow the government to take action against those critical of the government, including the ability to prosecute expressions of opinion that typically fall below the criminal liability threshold.
Now, a number of well-known politicians from the FDP party, which is known for its libertarian leanings when it comes to freedom of expression, are using particularly harsh language against Faeser and the government’s plans. The criticism is notable given the FDP’s own role in the coalition.
Bundestag Vice President Wolfgang Kubicki, who is the deputy federal leader of the FDP, told Bild newspaper: “The fight against the ‘right’ seems to be turning into a fight against rights.” He is now calling the interior minister a “threat to democracy,” and said he “never dreamed” of describing her in such a manner.
Other FDP politicians are also taking issue with Faeser’s “fight against the right.”
“Freedom of opinion & the principle of proportionality are central contents of our constitution. The end does not justify every means. Well-intentioned does not mean well-done. Discrediting legitimate criticism by citing political murder is infamous,” wrote FDP MP and former General-Secretary Linda Teuteberg.
#Meinungsfreiheit & Verhältnismäßigkeitsprinzip sind zentrale Inhalte unserer Verfassung. Der Zweck heiligt nicht jedes Mittel. Gut gemeint ist nicht auch gut gemacht. Legitime Kritik unter Verweis auf einen politischen Mord zu diskreditieren, ist infam. https://t.co/FCAkIwEFca
However, Kubicki is also attacking the president of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV), Thomas Haldenwang (CDU), who has introduced a number of controversial policy changes. Among them is a paragraph that allows the powerful domestic spy agency to monitor dissidents for “delegitimization of the state.” Critics point out this loosely defined term could be turned against critics of the German government.
“With the delegitimization of state institutions, criticism of the actions of state actors can almost at will be said to endanger the state,” said Kubicki.
Remix News has covered Haldenwang’s statements in the past. He is a direct member of a rival party to the AfD and routinely attacks the opposition party. Last year, for example, he stated on German public television: “We are already observing that the AfD and members of the AfD are making a significant contribution to promoting extremism in Germany: Spreading hate and right-wing extremism are part of its ideology. Russian narratives are also controlled and disseminated by parts of this party. This contributes to right-wing extremism being able to expand in Germany. And in these circles, Putin’s song is sung.”
Kubicki is drawing parallels to the communist-ruled East Germany (GDR) era, which had a specific clause in the penal code labeled “the criminal offense of anti-state agitation.”
“The interior minister apparently doesn’t seem to care to be bothered by the fact that she falls into this authoritarian way of thinking. All I can say is: Not with me, Ms. Faeser,” said Kubicki.
The FDP has in the past claimed it would not support certain measures put forward by its left-liberal coalition partners, such as a new law that significantly liberalized immigration laws in Germany. The party, however, has faced increasing pressure in the polls, leaving party leadership scrambling to save the party following a string of severe election losses at the state level.
A drag queen recently embraced by Vice President Kamala Harris has been accused of sexual assault and rape by five different people, according to a new report.
In June 2022, Harris hosted a “Pride Month” event at the vice presidential residence, where former RuPaul’s Drag Race participant Darius Pierce (stage name “Shangela”) was invited to speak. At the time, the media hailed the event as “historic,” with the two posing for selfies and Pierce later thanking Harris “for being an authentic ally” of the LGBT movement.
Now, however, the association has taken on a decidedly more problematic connotation for the Biden administration thanks to a Rolling Stone report published on Monday, which reveals that “four people allege” that Pierce “either sexually assaulted them or attempted to have sex with them when they were too inebriated to consent,” and a “fifth person claims Pierce attempted anal penetration in a bathroom closet despite rejecting his advances.”
The accusers, all between the ages of 18 and 32, say the incidents were prefaced by Pierce drinking alcohol with them for hours on end, from 2012 to 2018 in both the United States and United Kingdom.
Pierce acknowledges having met with four of the accusers on the dates in question, but attorney Andrew Brettler says their allegations are “false and unsupported by any evidence or reliable witness testimony” and said his client “adamantly denies ever engaging in nonconsensual sex.” Pierce claims not to remember the fifth accuser.
It was previously known that an HBO production assistant named Daniel McGarrigle filed a police report and complaint with HBO last year accusing Pierce of rape. HBO eventually determined there was “insufficient evidence” of Pierce’s guilt, and the parties reached a settlement last month.
The Stone story reveals the existence of a second police report by one of the new accusers, a 27-year-old identified only as Helmer who reported the alleged 2017 incident last year, after seeing media coverage of the McGarrigle case. The then-20-year-old Helmer describes Pierce (then 36) getting him drunk, after which he woke up “completely naked on a bed and believed to be at Pierce’s residence,” with no recollection of anything that happened in between.
“[Helmer] asked Pierce what happened last night and why he was naked,” the criminal complaint reads. “Pierce responded with, ‘We had sex, and there was another guy involved that you brought in.’ [Helmer] asked who that other guy was, and Pierce stated he did not know […]’” Helmer said it “took him a few days to realize that he was sexually assaulted,” and by the time he came to the realization, he “believed he did not have enough evidence” to report the incident to authorities. But he told his roommate and the roommate’s boyfriend, both of whom corroborated his story to Rolling Stone.
Rolling Stone noted, “Both recounted hearing details of Helmer’s allegation — including the mojito, the alleged sexual assault, and the second person present that night,” which Helmer reportedly related while “breaking down.”
“Helmer’s police complaint echoed allegations from four other people who spoke to Rolling Stone,” the story adds.
Drag has emerged as one of LGBT activists’ favored tools for exposing and acclimating children to the concepts of gender fluidity and sexual experimentation, via “family-friendly” drag shows at schools and community events, or Drag Queen Story Hour (DQSH) events in which crossdressers read books to children, often at public libraries. DQSH organizers admit that the concept is intended to give children “unabashedly queer role models,” teach children to “defy rigid gender restrictions,” and mold them into “bright lights of change in their communities.”
Nevertheless, Harris and the Biden administration have given uncompromising support to all major aspects of the LGBT movement, including reopening the military to recruits afflicted with gender dysphoria, promoting gender ideology within the military (including “diversity” and drag events on military bases), holding White House events to “affirm transgender kids,” condemning state laws against underage “transitions” as “close to sinful,” promoting underage “transitions” (potentially at taxpayer expense) as a “best practice,” and trying to force federally funded schools to let males into female athletic competitions and restrooms.
