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Russians Not Welcome In Europe?

Finland wants the European Union to stop issuing tourist visas to Russians until Moscow ends its war against Ukraine. Finland’s Foreign Ministry says Schengen countries issued close to 500,000 tourist visas to Russians in 2025. Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen declares that “Russian citizens should not be issued tourist visas,” adding, “The same must finally happen at the EU level.” Her argument is that Russians should not enjoy European freedoms while their country attacks Ukrainian homes. But who, exactly, is being held accountable here? The person applying for a holiday visa did not necessarily order the invasion, support it, or possess any means of stopping it.

I question the logic of making someone’s freedom to travel conditional upon a decision made in the Kremlin. What is an ordinary Russian supposed to do to satisfy that condition? Walk into Putin’s office and demand that he withdraw the army? Europe describes Russia as an authoritarian state and then treats its citizens as though they personally control its foreign policy. You cannot have it both ways. If political power is concentrated and opposition is repressed, the responsibility of the individual must be judged by what that individual has actually done.

The people with money have more options. Russian businessmen Mikhail Fridman and Petr Aven, for example, hold multiple nationalities and have challenged sanctions through European courts. That does not mean wealthy Russians are untouched by sanctions; many have faced asset freezes and travel restrictions. It means a billionaire’s position is very different from that of someone with one passport, a salary, and no team of international lawyers. A blanket nationality restriction is easiest to apply to the person least equipped to contest it.

As for espionage, does anyone seriously believe Russian intelligence depends entirely on Russians arriving with tourist visas and their real identities neatly printed in their passports? Documented cases show intelligence officers operating under commercial and diplomatic cover, as well as covert agents using false identities. Travel restrictions can complicate some operations, but they cannot replace counterintelligence. The Kremlin can recruit people already abroad or use intermediaries. Keeping out an ordinary visitor does not establish that a professional operative has been stopped.

There is also a consequence Europe seems unwilling to consider. Closing ordinary contact can strengthen the Kremlin’s claim that the West despises Russians themselves. A person who might otherwise discover that Europeans distinguish between a government and its citizens instead encounters a policy telling him that his passport is sufficient reason for exclusion. That outcome would serve propaganda far better than diplomacy. If the objective is to weaken hostility between societies, treating an entire nationality as suspect deserves considerably more scrutiny.

In truth, Russians already feel the hostilities from Europe. The arrogance is believing that another restriction on ordinary people constitutes a meaningful blow against rulers who remain in office. Finland is promoting the hatred of Russian people. The distinction between the Kremlin and the Russian citizen disappears.

Once an entire nationality is treated as suspect, people find it easier to dismiss the suffering of its ordinary citizens and harder to imagine any future reconciliation. Demonizing the population makes it politically easier to maintain confrontation. The rulers remain insulated while ordinary people learn to distrust one another. Europe should ask whether closing those human connections weakens the Kremlin or merely gives it another reason to tell Russians that the West hates them.

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A California Scandal Reveals How The State Is Governed Under Single-Party Democrat Rule

You can abuse taxpayer funds, but be warned: You won’t get away with it for more than a decade or two.

Last month, the inspector general for California’s High-Speed Rail Authority reported that consultants on the state’s much-delayed bullet train project had used hundreds of thousands of dollars in state funds to pay for “trips to gyms, a nightclub, an escape room, a tiki bar and a cigar lounge.” Traveling on taxpayer dollars, consultants also “flew first-class and were reimbursed without questioning, in violation of contracts and state policies.”

Last week, accountability arrived. Well, sort of. In an October 9 special meeting, the board that oversees the High-Speed Rail Authority sharply limited the ability of CEO Ian Choudri to personally approve contracts on the project.

If you dig into the details, though, the accountability part becomes fuzzier. Board member Lynn Schenk said she was outraged to learn about the improper use of public funds. Also, Schenk has served on the oversight board since 2003. Read these details from a report on the news website CalMatters carefully:

Board member Henry Perea suggested the travel payments are so egregious that the state should end its contract with the firms right away, something Gov. Gavin Newsom has also floated. However, Perea said he worried that doing so could set back the long-delayed rail project even further.

“I’d terminate these four (contracts) tomorrow or today, but I understand there’s a question of operational needs that we have with these folks,” he said.

These contractors have abused us in an outrageous manner, and what a shame it is that they’re going to continue serving as our contractors.

Also, as CalMatters put it, “the board did not grill the authority’s top executives for failing to catch the behavior.” Money was misspent, so don’t do that again. Anyway, moving on…

At the board meeting, Choudri walked away from reporters who tried to ask him questions. In a state with frequently complicit and docile legacy media, California journalists are pursuing this story with considerable seriousness, prompting state officials to run and hide.

But you can watch Choudri’s statement to the board, and this is where things get especially interesting.

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Vaccine Cartel Begins Injecting Endangered Baby Elephants With Experimental mRNA Shots

The experimental mRNA injection rollout has now reached endangered baby elephants. On October 8, 2026, the Saint Louis Zoo announced that a 1½-year-old Asian elephant named Jet had received his third dose of an experimental mRNA injection targeting elephant endotheliotropic herpesvirus (EEHV).

Developed by Baylor College of Medicine in collaboration with zoo researchers, the gene therapy uses lipid nanoparticles to deliver four synthetic mRNA sequences encoding EEHV viral proteins.

Experimental mRNA Gene Therapy Is Expanding Across American Zoos

The research program involves institutions including Houston Zoo, Cincinnati Zoo, Fort Worth Zoo, Rosamond Gifford Zoo, and White Oak Conservation. Saint Louis Zoo has now publicly confirmed vaccinating its young elephant.

A peer-reviewed study published in the Journal of Virology in July 2026 evaluated the gene therapy in nine Asian elephants. Elephants received up to FOUR injections containing 400 micrograms of mRNA each. Three of six initially antibody-negative elephants failed to develop detectable antibody responses after their first two injections and required additional booster shots.

Vaccinated Elephants Still Contracted EEHV

Perhaps most notably, a second peer-reviewed study published in the Journal of Virology documented that two juvenile elephants at Cincinnati Zoo developed confirmed EEHV infections after receiving two doses of the experimental mRNA injection.

Both animals received their injections in October and November 2024 before testing positive in February and March 2025. The findings show that the mRNA gene therapy does not reliably prevent EEHV infection in elephants.

The expansion of dangerous mRNA technology into endangered wildlife already facing the threat of extinction marks a disturbing new frontier in veterinary medicine.

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FBI shuts down over 40 North Korean laptop farms used by fake remote workers — over 200 devices seized in Texas, although no arrests were made so far

The FBI has dismantled a major North Korean laptop farm operation in the U.S. with the help of CrowdStrike, which assisted in the identification and disruption of these networks. According to The New York Times, the agency shut down over 40 laptop farms in Texas, resulting in the seizure of over 200 devices. No arrests have been made so far, as the authorities wanted to take down the operations as soon as possible and did not wait for prosecutors to file charges against those involved, although they also warned that they could face criminal penalties if they continue to be involved with remote fraud.

North Korea has been using fake remote workers to earn income despite the economic sanctions placed against the hermit kingdom. It has been reported that it earns around $500 million a year under this scheme, which affects both startups and Fortune 500 companies. Amazon’s IT department actually caught one North Korean infiltrator after it noticed a 110ms keyboard input lag, betraying their distant location.

The U.S. has been clamping down on this scheme since last year, after it shut down 29 North Korean laptop farms across 16 states that were facilitating the employment of North Korean IT workers across over a hundred U.S. companies. Four U.S. citizens and a Ukrainian national were convicted over scams like this in November 2025, with the Justice Department unsealing indictments against two U.S. citizens and 10 China-based North Koreans recently. Prosecutors said that the last group defrauded more than $3 million from 70 companies over a span of six years from 2019, and that the identities of two more individuals involved in the case remain under seal.

Despite the number of networks that U.S. authorities have been able to shut down since last year, CrowdStrike’s Adam Meyers, who’s in charge of the company’s counter adversary operations, says that this scheme is “increasing both in prevalence and complexity.” He noted that it’s difficult to know how truly widespread the problem is and that even though CrowdStrike has identified an average of two new cases daily last month, it was most probably just the tip of the iceberg.

Facilitators are the one crucial aspect that North Korea’s operations rely on. These are people based in the United States who help bypass security measures by hosting the work laptops that companies send to the fraudulent North Korean IT workers to make it appear as if they’re based in the country. While the job looks like easy money from that start, it would eventually become more complicated as the operation progresses. “They get kind of hooked on it initially, and then more gets asked of them, and they’re kind of in too deep at that point,” Meyers told the publication.

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Siad Barre, the Somali Dictator Ilhan Omar’s Father Served

Rep. Ilhan Omar describes her late father, Nur Omar Mohamed, as “an educator” in her memoir, according to Snopes. His 2020 Sahan Journal obituary describes a different career. He was a colonel in the Somali National Army who led a regiment in the 1977–1978 war with Ethiopia. His military career ended in 1991, when dictator Siad Barre’s regime collapsed.

A former army comrade told the paper that Nur joined the army after receiving a military education in Russia. The record of the regime he served explains why the distinction matters.

Barre seized power in a 1969 coup and ruled Somalia until 1991, governing it as a one-party state through the Somali Revolutionary Socialist Party. His ruling council aligned itself with the Soviet Union and denounced American policy in Africa as imperialist.

In 1977, Moscow backed Ethiopia in the Ogaden War. That November, Barre abrogated the Soviet friendship treaty, expelled all Soviet military and civilian advisers, and ended Soviet access to Somali military facilities. Nur led his regiment against Ethiopian forces supported by the Soviet Union and Cuba and remained in Barre’s army after the break with Moscow.

After a 1971 coup attempt, Barre executed members of the three leading clans, including the Majerteen. He made clan membership the organizing principle of Somali politics, according to an account drawing on State Department and Africa Watch reporting.

Barre claimed that Islam and socialism were compatible but did not tolerate religious opposition. When 23 shaykhs protested his 1975 family law, his security forces arrested them. Ten were executed for “acting on behalf of foreign powers,” according to a CIA review.

After Majerteen officers attempted a coup in April 1978, the regime punished the entire clan. Africa Watch documented extrajudicial executions, rape, and the killing of livestock as part of a scorched-earth policy intended to cut off civilian support for Majerteen rebels.

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Wash.: High school cross-country girls walk off track meet, protesting biological male runner

Nearly half of the girls on the Camas High School cross-country team in Camas, Washington, walked off the starting line during a recent meet to protest the inclusion of a biological male runner on their team.

Footage of roughly 13 athletes linking arms and leaving the course quickly went viral, reigniting debate over transgender participation in girls’ sports.

The protest centered on teammate Logan Mihailoff, who notably began the season in the boys’ junior varsity division — placing 76th place at the Ultimook Invitational on September 5th — before transitioning to compete in the girls’ division midseason.

Mihailoff switched from competing in the boys’ division to the girls’ division midseason between September 5th and September 26th.

Competing under Washington Interscholastic Activities Association rules, which permit participation based on gender identity, Mihailoff then placed second out of 195 female runners at the Nike Portland XC Invitational on September 26th, won a dual meet against Union High School on September 29th, and placed second in the subsequent October 8th meet.

Critics have highlighted that allowing biological male athletes to compete displaces female runners who have trained rigorously for team roster spots and standings, while school officials simply argue they are just complying with established state interscholastic policies.

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Justice Canada funds $222,058 training for sexual-orientation court reports

The Department of Justice has signed a $222,058 contribution agreement with Black LGBTQ Justice Canada Inc. of Toronto to train and certify authors of “Black LGBTQ Justice Affirming Assessment Reports,” a new kind of court report that brings a defendant’s sexual orientation and gender identity into their dealings with the criminal justice system, according to the federal grants disclosure database. 

The agreement runs from July 1, 2026 to March 31, 2027 under the department’s Legal Aid program.

The record describes the reports as “Similar to Impact of Race Culture Assessments” and says they “incorporate sexual orientation, gender identity, and other intersectional considerations into reports that supports Black LGBTQ individuals’ interactions with the criminal justice system”. The project will “offer training and certification” in the reports, “accredited through the Law Society of Ontario”, through a four-module curriculum delivered in three sessions in Vancouver, Halifax and Montreal.

Impact of Race and Culture Assessments, known as IRCAs, are pre-sentencing reports that Justice Canada says “help sentencing judges to better understand the effect of poverty,” marginalization and racism, and that “have been used primarily for Black offenders, both adults and youth, at the sentencing stage.” 

Ottawa committed $6.64 million over five years to IRCAs, followed by $1.6 million a year.

Rebel News has covered IRCAs in our Justice Watch series, including a Nova Scotia case in which a judge cut a sex offender’s sentence after a race and culture assessment.

Black LGBTQ Justice Canada says its mission “charts the course for justice-impacted Black LGBTQ individuals through holistic, affirming support.” Its website lists Dr. Wesley Crichlow as founder and a board co-chaired by Emma Joseph and Tandy Clarke, and already advertises a “BLGBTQJAA Certification” with pages for Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia and British Columbia. 

The record does not say whether the new reports are meant for sentencing, bail or elsewhere, or whether any court has yet accepted one.

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Texas AG Paxton sues Gerber, Nestlé over arsenic and lead found in baby foods

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has sued Gerber Products Company (“Gerber”) and Nestlé USA, Inc. (“Nestle”) for allegedly deceiving parents and other consumers regarding “toxic heavy metals” in their baby foods.

Paxton, who is running as President Donald Trump’s top pick for the U.S. Senate in Texas, announced the lawsuit on Wednesday, contending that Gerber advertised its food as safe, well-tested and recommended by pediatricians, despite its own test results finding “dangerous levels of arsenic and lead.”

In a press release, the attorney general stated that the company “used 67 batches of rice flour with more than nine times the arsenic that the federal government allows in bottled water” between 2017 and 2019. Additionally, its carrots had up to 17 times the limit for cadmium and its sweet potatoes had nearly 10 times the limit for lead. It also seldom tested positive for mercury.

These metals — known as neurotoxins — are listed by federal health agencies as the top substances posing “significant potential threat to human health.” Arsenic is first, lead is second, mercury is third and cadmium is seventh, according to the lawsuit.

Despite Gerber’s findings, it issued no recall or warning about the offending products, according to Paxton’s office. According to the 68-page filing against Gerber, its “marketing has not changed,” and it even tells parents that each jar of food passes “over 100 quality checks.”

“Gerber promised parents its food was safe and rigorously tested. Its own tests showed toxic metals in the food. When a company makes promises about what parents feed their babies, I will hold it accountable to ensure those promises are kept,” Paxton asserted.

Texas’s Consumer Protection Division of the Attorney General’s office notified the defendants of the unlawful conduct, which it said violated the Deceptive Trade Practices Act (DTPA), at least seven days before filing suit, in compliance with Texas law.

The filing noted that beginning in 1867, the baby food industry was built on consumer trust that companies could replace breast milk, which infants relied on until nine to 12 months of age throughout history.

“From its origin, manufactured infant food has been sold on the proposition that a company can be trusted to feed a baby. Nestlé, which began the industry in 1967, acquired Gerber, which has led the American market since 1928,” the lawsuit read. “Gerber and Nestlé USA … violated that trust with Texas consumers.”

Paxton pointed out that though Gerber includes a pathway for parents to find nutrition information about their food, it’s concealed by a QR code and does not provide full transparency.

“Gerber now posts test results behind a QR code on its labels. But the heavy metals in the food did not change, and neither did the safety claims on the front of the package. A code on the back of the jar does not cure a false promise on the front,” Paxton’s office asserted.

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Russia Arrests Japanese Journalist On Espionage Charges, Tokyo Summons Ambassador

Relations between Russian and Japan have been on a downward spiral of late, as Tokyo continues cozying up to the US military as well as NATO, and amid a long-simmering dispute over the Kuril Islands, which Japan identifies as its own Northern Territories.

Russia on Tuesday arrested a Japanese journalist, which the Kremlin says is actually a spy operating on behalf of the Japanese government.

The detained Japanese national has been identified as Yuki Imai, who works for Hokkaido Shimbun newspaper – a regional outlet for Japan’s northern island. Hokkaido is one of the country’s four main islands and the daily paper he writes for has large dissemination.

The FSB security agency has accused the man of utilizing media sources to gather intelligence, specifically on Russia’s defense and intelligence capabilities.

Russian officials say they caught him retaining and storing sensitive data, in a saga that sounds parallel to the saga of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich in 2023-2024.

Imai was reportedly preparing to exit the country upon his detention in the far eastern Sakhalin region.

Tokyo did not immediately issue a full-throated condemnation, only saying that the government is gathering more information on the identity of the detained and the circumstances of the case.

Toward this end, the Russian ambassador to Japan has been summoned, with a protest lodged over the detention, centered on the Kremlin issuing strong accusations yet without providing any explanation to Tokyo.

Japanese and European officials are now seeking access to the detained suspect, even as Russian state media has been airing footage of him in handcuffs.

The footage shows security raiding where he was staying and proceeding to search his electronic devices and belongings while he was held on the floor.

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Police confiscate robot that groped 16-year-old girl, probe whether young men were at the controls

German authorities opened an investigation into possible sexual harassment after a robot controlled by two young men touched the buttocks of a 16-year-old girl and made thrusting movements toward her, police said.

Police in the western city of Cologne responded after the incident overnight Saturday to Sunday in which the robot’s suspected 16-year-old owner and a 19-year-old companion were said to have filmed the alleged assault.

They were said to have streamed the incident and commentated on it online.

Cologne police spokesman Christoph Bermel said the two male teenagers have not been charged but are considered suspects, and investigators were examining whether the robot’s movements were preprogrammed or controlled in real time.

Police were unfamiliar with this type of incident, he said.

“We have not been aware of this phenomenon so far,” Bermel told The Associated Press, saying it was “new territory for us.”

Emergency teams that were dispatched to the scene near a fast-food restaurant found the robot in the trunk of a vehicle, Cologne police said in a statement on Monday. The robot and the two young men’s mobile phones were confiscated.

North Rhine Westphalia Police Cologne, on Facebook, posted an image of the red-and-gold robot lying on the ground.

The robot, said to be 120 cm (about 3 ft 11 inches) tall, was dressed in a white tank top, black sweatpants and wearing a gold chain and sunglasses. It also had what appears to be a fake mustache.

Videos circulated on the internet show two young men escorting the robot toward a group of women, bumping into one and hugging others, on a lively nighttime street.

One of the men repeatedly shouts at the robot and pulls it backward after it makes sexual gestures, prompting laughter among people in the area.

On the police’s Facebook account on Tuesday, officers criticized inappropriate comments and warned that sharing or joking about such incidents can worsen the impact on any victim.

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