41% to 34% — Muslims finally take Vienna

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Muslim students outnumber Christians in Vienna elementary schools

  • 41.2% of students identify as Muslim, 34.5% as Christian

  • Teachers quitting, exodus of ethnic Austrian families in Vienna

For the first time in Vienna’s history, ethnic Austrians are poised to become a minority in the city’s elementary schools, with new figures revealing that Muslim pupils now outnumber all other religious groups.

According to official data from the city's school council, 41.2 per cent of students in Vienna’s elementary schools identify as Muslim, compared to 34.5 per cent identifying as Christian.

The statistics, which also show German is increasingly a second language in many classrooms, have ignited heated political debate and raised concerns about integration, language barriers, and educational standards.

The data, by the office of Vienna’s City Councillor for Education Bettina Emmerling (Neos), covers around 112,600 children across primary, secondary, special education, and polytechnic schools.

According to the Austrian website The Local, While the proportion of Muslim students has grown, Christian faiths now account for a combined 34.5 per cent, including 17.5 per cent Roman Catholic and 14.5 per cent Orthodox.

A further 23 per cent of pupils declare no religious affiliation at all. Smaller groups include Buddhists (0.2 per cent), Jews (0.1 per cent), and other faiths (0.9 per cent).]

Austria’s largest opposition party, the right-wing Freedom Party (FP), has sharply criticized the development. “41.2% Muslim pupils — it's no longer a minority, it's becoming the new majority. This isn't immigration anymore, it's displacement,” said Max Weinzierl, head of the FP’s youth wing, in a statement shared widely on social media.

FP security policy spokesman Hannes Amesbauer echoed those concerns, warning, “Austrians will soon be strangers in their own country.”

Educators and parent organisations are also voicing frustration, claiming the rapid demographic shift has created major difficulties in classrooms. Evelyn Kometter, president of the Austrian Parents' Association, described a chaotic learning environment: “The teacher has to repeat every sentence 10 to 12 times before it is understood.”

Reports suggest that a growing number of teachers are quitting posts, and an exodus of ethnic Austrian families from Vienna to rural areas is underway, with many seeking schools where German remains the dominant language and incidents of classroom violence are low.

After sweeping through much of the Hapsburg empire, slaughtering civilians by the tens of thousands as the came, Turks were finally stopped and defeated at the gates of Vienna on September 11, 1683;

This time, the inhabitants have surrendered.

Physician heal thyself

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The Brooklyn woman accused of leaving a brick scrawled with a swastika and the word “Nazi” on a parked Tesla is a super-woke family therapist who was involved in criminal justice diversion programs — and blamed Elon Musk for her heinous actions as she was taken into custody.

Natasha Cohen was released on her own recognizance following her arraignment on hate-crime charges Saturday night, according to prosecutors.

Cohen, 46, has a private practice, working with children, adolescents and their families for more than two decades.

She has advanced training in maternal mental health, according to an online profile, and currently sells different therapy worksheets and resources online for parents of children with ADHD, body dysmorphia issues, and anxiety.

Several of Cohen’s social media posts are critical of President Trump. Recently, she posted a meme claiming President’s Day was canceled “until we get a real one.” The day after Trump’s victory, she posted a photo of a memorial candle.

Cops have alleged Cohen not only left the brick on the windshield of a Cybertruck parked on Ditmas Avenue, in what is largely a Jewish neighborhood, but she also dumped a bag of trash on the car.

Surveillance cameras caught Cohen in the act, police said. 

“Every time I see those cars, I see Elon Musk saluting the country as a Nazi,” Cohen told police at the time of her April 12 arrest, according to a copy of the criminal complaint, obtained by The Post. 

“I made a mistake because I’m basically living in terror every day that the country is turning into Nazi Germany,” Cohen continued, according to cops. “I’m truly terrified because Elon was unelected and they’re deporting migrants without a trial.”

Cohen’s neighbors were shocked by the allegations.

“That’s crazy,” said one, asking to remain anonymous. “I feel like the world needs less of that crap right now.”

Said another neighbor: “Who does something like that?”

She should have her therapist license suspended until a board certifies that she’s been successfully treated for and cured of TDS; unfortunately, this is New York, so instead, she’ll get a commendation on her permanent record, noting her civic involvement and courageous stand against tyranny.

The New (unmasked would be a better term) face of the Democrat Party? Let's hope so.

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Quality time with an illegal, wife beating, sex-trafficking gang member — The democrats have found a man to follow

What's truth got to do with it?

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A typical bullshit story, as David Strom shows in this article, but it’s his conclusion that resonates, because he’s exactly right about what’s going on.

…. [T]here actually is a point to piling up these absurd stories. It's not that the propagandists expect that you will buy that a kindly Social Security worker really died of a heart attack because Donald Trump is mean, or that a mother drowned her child because of his immigration policies. Few people will. 

But the piling up of these stories is supposed to create a stink, and pound the idea that Trump's cruelty is an established fact and that if only he were kinder, bad things would happen less often. 

Where there is smoke, there's fire. The storytellers are creating the smoke, but once people hear enough stories like this, a gestalt is created. The facts don't add up, but a feeling is being created in people susceptible to such things. It's about changing the Overton Window, not convincing people about any one case. 

The same strategy is used all the time. Think of the "climate change is causing wildfires" narrative. Even if you prove EVERY wildfire has an easily explained origin in bad maintenance of power lines or outright arson, that California's forest management is horrific, that LA was unprepared for an easily predicted event, the accumulation of stories creates an impression on the impressionable. 

The facts are irrelevant. The accumulated feelings stick. 

The infuriating thing is that it works. Millions of Americans are suddenly furious that a wife-beating MS 13 gang member with a deportation order got...deported. Not because they know anything about the particulars, but because propaganda arsonists started a fire that spread in people's minds. 

Even a lot of liberty-minded conservatives are incensed over technicalities that would never have occurred to them because the propaganda worked. PROVE that he was a human trafficker. PROVE that he beat his wife. PROVE that he was a gang member. As if that is the standard for deporting an illegal immigrant credibly suspected of all these things, with boatloads of evidence. 

Honestly, you can read the harrowing accounts from his wife about being beaten, and people are still incensed. Tren de Aragua is suddenly the Boy Scouts, too. 

It's absurd, but the fact is that the accumulation of individually absurd stories does have an effect, and that is the point, not making you believe any one story. People get primed for outrage. 

It's sickening. 

Suicide — individual or societal — is a choice

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Venezuelan migrant arrested in sanctuary city for 6th time in 13 months days after prosecutors drop charges

A Venezuelan migrant has been arrested for the sixth time in the past year for allegedly robbing a woman at gunpoint, just days after prosecutors in an Illinois sanctuary city dropped additional charges against him. 

Edmonds Peraza Cortez, 25, is facing one felony count of armed robbery with a firearm, according to the Chicago Police Department.

Cortez allegedly was riding a bike on April 11 when he approached a 41-year-old woman, brandishing a gun and yelling, "Money! Money!" 

Cortez allegedly demanded the woman hand over her cellphone, wallet and electric scooter. 

Police located and arrested Cortez less than an hour after the alleged robbery. The incident was caught on surveillance footage, CWB Chicago reported. 

Cortez has been arrested six times in just 13 months, with prosecutors dropping four of the cases against him. 

CALIFORNIA SCHEMING

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Report from the battlefield:

A Third of LAFD's Service Calls Involve Homeless 'Rubbish Fires'

...fire calls involving homeless persons during that same period accounted for 32.91%, or nearly one-third, of all LAFD fire activity, the report states...

Rubbish Fires have seen a 475% increase from 5,541 to 31,964 between 2014 and 2024. “While not all of those have been documented as directly associated with PEH, many have,“ the report states.

Rubbish fires are now the most common call the LAFD gets and nearly half of them are associated with homeless people. The LAFD's budget is just over $800 million per year, so a large percentage of that spending is effectively spent dealing with fires started by homeless people. The figures are even more striking when you consider what a small percentage of the population in LA is homeless.

The report says that while homeless individuals make up just 1.2% of LA’s population, they are responsible for 12% of LAFD emergency medical services incidents and 33% of fires. This means compared to other people in Los Angeles, homeless people are 10 times more likely to use EMS services and 28 times more likely to be “involved” in a fire — all at taxpayers’ expense.

LA County is the largest county in the nation with about 10 million residents so even 1% is a lot of people. The head of the firefighters union says it's not sustainable.

"We don't want to criminalize homelessness, but we need additional resources strictly for homelessness," said Freddy Escobar, president of United Firefighters of Los Angeles. "We need more funding."...

"I don't know what the fix is, but I can tell you the members that I represent cannot sustain the call load of what we are doing for homelessness," Escobar said.

RELATED:

California enjoys the distinction of having 30% of the nation’s homeless living within its borders.

  • Changes over Time:

  • California had the largest absolute increase: in 2022, 8,948 more individuals experiencing chronic patterns of homelessness were counted than in 2020.

  • Of the 25 states that experienced increases in the number of individuals with chronic patterns of homelessness between 2007 and 2022, the largest absolute increase occurred in California, with 17,419 more individuals experiencing chronic patterns of homelessness in 2022 than in 2007.

But gee, they’re throwing so much money at the problem surely it must be doing some good? It is, for NGOs, politicians, and their friends. The homeless? Not so much.

Los Angeles is spending up to $837,000 to house a single homeless person

So, what’s the difficulty here? Simple: As long as homelessness is a lucrative source of grift, the problem will persist. And there’s a lot of grift being generated in the appropriately-named Golden State.

Maybe — maybe — things will change, but as we’re presently witnessing across the country, the grifters are dug in deeply, and won’t go easily.

APRIL 8 2025:

DOJ investigating SoCal homeless spending for fraud, hints at arrests

California’s new U.S. attorney announced Tuesday he is investigating billions of dollars of homeless spending for fraud and corruption, and promised to arrest individuals found to have violated federal law.

“California has spent more than $24 billion over the past five years to address homelessness,” said newly appointed U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli. “But officials have been unable to account for all the expenditures and outcomes, and the homeless crisis has only gotten worse.”

“Taxpayers deserve answers for where and how their hard-earned money has been spent,” continued Essayli. “If state and local officials cannot provide proper oversight and accountability, we will do it for them. If we discover any federal laws were violated, we will make arrests.”

Essayli’s task force will include federal assistance from the FBI, the IRS, and the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Essayli’s announcement cited a court-ordered audit of the Los Angeles Homeless Services Agency that found the agency systematically paid out funds without verifying services had been provided, and that “insufficient financial accountability led to an inability to trace substantial funds.” Essayli was pictured with the judge who ordered the audit — U.S. District Judge David Carter — touring LA’s infamous Skid Row before the announcement.

Los Angeles County has since voted to defund LAHSA, in a move that was strongly opposed by Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, who downplayed the audit and is facing a recall effort for her wildfire response and what critics call her poor city management.

Harvard summons former National Lampoon editors back to their alma mater to save its $53 billion hedge fund

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Harvard researchers say they might have to lay off workers and euthanize research animals due to funding freeze

“We were going to do it the other way around”, said Cynthia Smedley, Harvard Fund CFO, “but our polls showed that a threat to workers instead of bunny rabbits generated far less sympathy from the public.”

Maybe if he threw in a couple of Hunter paintings as part of the deal

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Joe Biden ‘having trouble booking gigs’ with $300K per speech asking price 

WASHINGTON —

Former President Joe Biden’s attempt to bill $300,000 per speaking appearance is finding few takers, The Post has learned — as some of his own former aides say it’s time for the 82-year-old to leave the spotlight for good after reminiscing about “colored kids” Tuesday in his first public address since leaving office.

A source familiar with Biden’s faltering speaking career said that the 46th president’s standard pitch is $300,000 — 25% below Barack Obama’s $400,000 asking price upon leaving office in 2017.

It’s unclear how negotiable Biden’s rate is.

If travel is required, a private jet and expenses for five staffers also is expected for Biden, who has been repped since leaving office by the Creative Artists Agency.

Union welfare

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The Trump Administration Could Finally Put an End to California's High Speed Rail

Intended to run from Los Angeles to San Francisco and voter-approved for a $30 billion total cost, the project will now be a train from nowhere to nowhere, and the revised estimated cost, surely to be exceeded, is now $100 billion. Governor Noisome and his union supporters want the rest of the country to bail it out; others don’t.

…. [R]ecently we've learned about ongoing funding problems with the project which needs another $7 billion by next summer to keep going.

During a budget hearing focused on transportation in the State Assembly on Wednesday, Helen Kerstein with the California Legislative Analyst's Office told lawmakers the project faces a $7 billion budget gap and the funds need to be secured by next June. If not, Kerstein said it will create yet another delay for plans to finish the project's first segment between Merced and Bakersfield.

"There is no specific plan to meet that roughly $7 billion gap, we also think there is some risk that gap could grow," Kerstein said. "This isn't a way out in the future funding gap. This is a pretty immediate funding gap."

That's a very immediate funding deadline for a rail project that isn't scheduled to be operational this decade. That has led to a call for the state to finally cut its losses on this project.

A new report from the conservative advocacy group Unleash Prosperity calls for an end to federal funding for California's high-speed rail project and for the project's scope to be truncated to protect taxpayers...

"It's been a 25-year boondoggle now and the cost of this was supposed to be roughly $30 billion when the voters approved a referendum for this in California," Steve Moore, economist and co-founder of Unleash Prosperity, told FOX Business in an interview. "The latest estimates are now well over $100 billion, so that's a more than tripling of the cost of this big rail project."...

"The other obvious problem is that the whole idea of the high-speed rail was to go from Los Angeles to San Francisco, two huge metropolitan areas with huge populations. Well, because of a lot of geographical problems with getting through the mountains, they can't do that, so it's not going to start or end in San Francisco. So the ridership, if it ever gets built, is going to be multiples lower than what it was supposed to be when the whole thing was first designed," Moore added.

The Trump administration wants to cut off all future federal funding which means California would have to come up with that money on its own.

The Transportation Department duly began an investigation in February into $4.1 billion in grants awarded under former President Joe Biden, echoing Trump’s efforts in his first term to withdraw a $1 billion grant awarded by the Obama administration.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said during a Wednesday appearance on Fox Business that the Federal Railroad Administration is close to wrapping up the investigation and that if “what many people have reported on is true, we’re gonna pull the funding for this boondoggle endeavor.”

And who does like it?

…. [T]he only group that seems truly happy about this boondoggle are the unions. This has been great for them. They want many more years of over-spending with no end in sight.

Union leaders have made it clear that maintaining high-speed rail’s slice of the pie is their top priority. The project has employed nearly 15,000 union workers since construction started in 2015, more than any other infrastructure undertaking in the country.

“We believe it’s worked extremely well,” said Chris Hannan, president of the State Building and Construction Trades Council of California. “We’d like to see it get reauthorized for a longer period of time to help us have even more vision as we’re building out the state of California.”