Tag: politics

Europe’s Populist Parties Keep Gaining Ground, But Cannot Get Into Power

Across the European continent, despite gaining considerable proportions of the vote, populist parties are increasingly being frozen out of governing in coalitions by political opponents who regard them as extremist.

Proponents of the tactic known as a “cordon sanitaire” or “firewall” say it’s not an attack on democracy but a defense of it. But one war expert said the tactic will only arouse anger in voters and that “there is no potential for peaceful political change.”

Coalitions are part and parcel of political life in many European countries.

But the cordon sanitaire, a measure normally directed at keeping out fringe outliers, is now being used to keep out parties that are gaining majority-level support.

Such parties include the Alternative for Germany, France’s National Rally, Austria’s Freedom Party, Spain’s Vox, and the Netherlands’ Party for Freedom.

They all deny being “far-right” as they are often dubbed by media, opponents, or academics, but their political opponents regard them as beyond the pale and have formed coalitions on the promise of shutting them out of governance.

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Professor Of War Warns Many European Countries Are In A ‘Pre-Civil-War’ State

One of the globe’s leading experts on war has warned that many European countries are on the verge of civil war and may already be past the point of no return.

David Betz, Professor of War in the Modern World at King’s College London, says his research shows is a statistically significant chance of a civil war breaking out within five years in a major European country, with a distinct possibility that the conflict could spill over to neighbouring Nations.

Speaking to documentarian Andrew Gold, Betz further noted that it is likely too late to prevent things getting “very much worse” in Europe, and that governments may only be able to better prepare for the inevitable.

“I would probably avoid big cities. I would suggest you reduce your exposure to big cities if you are able,” Betz chillingly urged.

He added, “there isn’t anything they can do, it’s baked in. We’re already past the tipping point, is my estimation… we are past the point at which there is a political offramp. We are past the point at which normal politics is able to solve the problem.”

Betz emphasised that “almost every plausible way forward from here involves some kind of violence in my view.”

“Anything the government tries to do at this point… you can solve one kind of problem, but it will aggravate another kind of problem in doing so, and you get back to violence,” the professor continued.

“The question really is about mitigating the costs, to my mind, not about preventing the outcome, I’m sorry to say… I have not heard a credible political way forward and I don’t see a single political figure who is credible in the role of national saviour, or even inclined to do so,” he added.

“The bottom line is I don’t think there is now a political solution to this which takes the form of everything just working out OK after some period of difficulty,” Betz grimly concludes, noting “Things are bad now, but they are going to get very much worse.”

“Hopefully after they will get better, but you will have to go through the period of very much worse before you get there,” he predicted.

It’s a downward spiral, essentially.

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HILARIOUS: Crazy-Eyed Sen. Cory Booker Goes INSANE in Screaming Rant on Senate Floor Over Senator Alex Padilla Arrest – Says They Made Him “Forcibly Kneel Before This Executive… Violently”

Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) on Thursday gave a psychotic speech on the Senate Floor, railing against the Trump Administration for, in his words, making Senator Alex Padilla “forcibly kneel before this executive” when he was briefly arrested on Thursday. 

As The Gateway Pundit reported, Padilla was physically restrained and removed for heckling DHS Secretary Kristi Noem while she was giving a briefing on the Los Angeles riots. In the middle of the briefing for the media, no Senators, he aggressively approached Noem at her podium and began shouting before he was taken to the ground and detained.

DHS said in a statement that Padilla “interrupted a live press conference without identifying himself or having his Senate security pin on as he lunged toward Secretary Noem.”

“I have questions for the Secretary because the fact of the matter is half a dozen violent criminals that you’re rotating on your— hands off!” Padilla yelled at Secret Service officers after the incident, as he was being escorted out of the room and resisting arrest.

But Padilla’s Democrat colleagues think he’s above the law because he’s a United States Senator and a radical Democrat. They would cheer prolifically if a Republican member of Congress were taken down by Biden’s Secret Service, just like they cheered for the prosecution of innocent January 6ers whose only crime was peacefully attending the Capitol protest.

Booker responded to the incident on Thursday with a complete meltdown, looking like a crack addict in need of his fix. “They treated a member of the United States Senate violently,” he cried.

He looked insane!

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The longest-serving legislative leader in US history will be sentenced on corruption charges

Michael Madigan’s stunning political collapse is expected to culminate Friday when the longest-serving legislative leader in U.S. history is sentenced on federal bribery, conspiracy and wire fraud convictions tied to a scheme to push legislation in exchange for jobs and contracts for his associates.

The former Illinois House speaker was convicted in February on 10 of 23 counts in a remarkable corruption trial that lasted four months. The case churned through 60 witnesses and mountains of documents, photographs and taped conversations.

Madigan will appear in U.S. District Court Friday in Chicago, where Judge John Robert Blakey will determine his sentence.

Federal prosecutors are seeking a 12 1/2-year prison term. Madigan’s attorneys are seeking probation, contending the government’s sentence would “condemn an 83-year-old man to die behind bars for crimes that enriched him not one penny.”

During a legislative career that spanned a half-century, Madigan served nearly four decades as speaker, the longest on record for a U.S. legislator. Combined with more than 20 years as chairperson of the Illinois Democratic Party, he set much of the state’s political agenda while handpicking candidates for political office. More often than not, he also controlled political mapmaking, drawing lines to favor his party.

Meanwhile, prosecutors said, the Chicago Democrat built a private legal career that allowed him to amass a net worth of $40 million.

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“I Am Senator Alex Padilla!”: Democrat Lawmaker Deported From DHS Press Conference, Placed In Handcuffs

Sen. Alex Padilla (D-CA) was physically removed from a DHS press conference and placed in handcuffs on Thursday, after reportedly lunging at Homeland Security secretary Kristi Noem during a press conference in Los Angeles.

As Axios reports;

In a video posted to X by Fox News reporter Bill Melugin, Padilla was seen being grabbed and pushed out of the press conference while saying he had “questions for the secretary.”

  • “I am Senator Alex Padilla,” Padilla said in the video. He was then grabbed by multiple men and shoved out of the room.
  • Further video showed Padilla being handcuffed and detained in the hallway outside the room.
  • “He is not currently detained, and we are working to get additional information,” Padilla’s office said in a statement on Thursday.

Noem subsequently said she would contact Padilla and “try to have a conversation,” NBC News reported.

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A Disappointing Finish – Three Groups Worked Hard to Throw the South Korean Presidential Election

The outcome of the election in South Korea on June 3, 2025, was disappointing but pre-determined.  The reason for the election was routinely misreported in Western Media.

The BBC, a cauldron of left leaning drivel said, “It (South Korea) is still recovering from the martial law crisis last December, when the president, Yoon Suk Yeol, tried to orchestrate a military takeover.”

Fact Check:  False.  The purpose of the six-hour declaration of Martial Law by former President Yoon Suk Yeol was to raid the National Election Commission (NEC) to retrieve evidence of election fraud.

No one was harmed, disappeared, or arrested during the six-hour period last December when President Yoon used his Constitutional authority to declare this period.  There was not even a hint of a military takeover.

Lee Jae-myung, is the Democrat Candidate who is now the South Korean President after the June 3 election.

The Korean election made Fulton County, GA look trustworthy.  Lee performed first class street theater wearing a visible bullet proof vest and often appearing behind bullet proof glass while denouncing the “Yoon Insurrectionists” and vowing to imprison all of them.

Lee’s theatrics eerily resembled the same script of Biden and Harris after the stolen 2020 election and their creation of a fortress around the U.S. Capitol to add drama to their sparsely attended inauguration.

Lee Jae-myung’s inauguration had a very small gathering on the lawn of the National Assembly which was outnumbered by the media on the inauguration platform.  Stunning for someone who supposedly won the election by 6%.

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Fake Tears and No Sound: Newsom’s Formal Address to California Amid Los Angeles Riots is a Dumpster Fire

California Governor Gavin Newsom delivered a (prerecorded?) formal address to California on Tuesday evening amid ongoing Los Angeles riots.

A desperate Newsom, who is actually hunkered down in LA right now, texted Fox News host Sean Hannity and begged him to cover his address to California.

However, Newsom’s formal address was off to a bad start because there was no audio.

CBS News noted there was a problem with the audio.

Newsom attacked President Trump and accused him of declaring a war and assaulting the First Amendment.

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America’s Dirtiest Sec of State and Dem Candidate For MI Governor Pulls A “Kamala” and DESTROYS Her Political Career With One Stupid “X” Post About LA Rioters

On any given day, America’s dirtiest secretary of state, Jocelyn Benson (MI-D), is potentially the most unpopular elected official on “X.”  It doesn’t matter which woke, or anti-Republican message she’s sharing on “X,” Michigan’s crooked secretary of state is consistently called out for her dishonestly and her ridiculous, anti-American views.

Yesterday, while defending the violent rioters in Los Angeles, CA, Michigan’s Democrat SOS Jocelyn Benson potentially ended her political career with a ridiculous post on “X” where she claimed she was praying for the safety of the rioters. Kamala Harris likely helped to end her political career in June 2020, when she foolishly asked her supporters on “X” to “chip in” to help bail out criminals who were destroying the city of Minneapolis over the drug overdose-caused death of George Floyd.

Thanks to Kamala’s promotion of the bail fund, George Howard, an alleged domestic abuser, was released from jail on a $1,500 bond that was paid by the organization Kamala was touting. Two weeks later, Howard was involved in a road rage incident where he was arrested and charged with the murder of a 38-year-old man. He would have still been in jail had it not been for Kamala Harris trying to publicly flaunt her support for the BLM rioters by asking people to bail them out of jail. This serious issue repeatedly surfaced during Kamala’s failed 2024 presidential campaign.

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Humiliation for Kamala Harris after ‘fake’ California governor dropout post drives 2028 rumors amid LA riots

A new image of a statement from Vice President Kamala Harris announcing she would not run for governor of California was denounced by her team as a fake after it went viral on social media on Monday.

The image had a similar template as a statement Harris earlier used to condemn President Donald Trump’s decision to send in the National Guard to combat rioting protesters in California.

But the fake statement from Harris featured three separate typos as it purported to announce that she had decided not to enter the race for Governor of California. 

Eric Katz, a Senior Correspondent for GovExec shared the post on X, noting it was sent to him by a source who said it would be made public shortly.

‘Source sent it before it went public. Not usually what I cover but wanted to share. I expect it will be up soon,’ he wrote.

But Harris’ spokesperson Kristen Allen moved quickly to denounce the post as ‘fake’ after it started gaining traction.

Katz later deleted his post, apologizing for posting what appeared to be a false statement

‘I’ve deleted a previous tweet reposting something sent to me that now appears inauthentic. Apologies for sharing too quickly,’ he wrote.

Harris remains unclear about her plans to run for governor in California, despite frustrations from her fellow Democrats who believe she needs to get in the race or officially rule out a run for office. 

The former vice president joined many California Democrats on Sunday denouncing President Trump’s decision to deploy the National Guard to Los Angeles to help quell violent protests in the city.

She was ridiculed for describing the protests as ‘overwhelmingly peaceful,’ even as protesters burned vehicles, threw rocks, and blocked freeways.

Harris condemned Trump for his ‘cruel, calculated agenda to spread panic and division’ in the city.

Earlier this month Harris further triggered speculation that she was not running for governor of California after she delivered a lackluster three-minute virtual address to the Democratic state political convention

In a steady, monotone voice, she spoke about the Trump administration’s recent actions against universities and praised activists’ efforts to fight the president’s agenda.

‘While this administration in Washington tries to divide us, we hear know that we are stronger when we stand together,’ she said, a flashback to her 2024 campaign slogan.

Harris’ failure to appear at the convention in person suggested she was not interested in running for governor of California, and instead may be pursuing a return to presidential politics. 

The Democratic primary for the governor race is scheduled for June 2, 2026, with the general election scheduled for November.

Harris has always been popular in California, easily beating Democratic challengers in her races for Attorney General and Senator.

Her 2020 race for president, however, failed spectacularly as she ended her campaign before the Iowa caucuses and the California primary.

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Falling For Socialism

Across college campuses, on TikTok feeds, and in everyday conversations, a familiar narrative is gaining steam: capitalism is broken.

Rising rents and stagnant wages fuel the claim among some young people that free markets have failed an entire generation. According to a 2024 poll by the Institute of Economic Affairs, more than 60 percent of young Britons now view socialism favorably. In the United States, the trend is similar, with Generation Z increasingly skeptical of capitalism’s promises.

But much of this idealism is rooted in distance—many of the young people romanticizing socialism have never lived through the economic dysfunction or political repression it often brings. For those who experienced Soviet shortages, Venezuelan collapse, or East Germany’s surveillance, the word socialism doesn’t suggest fairness or opportunity—it suggests fear, failure, and control. There’s a reason so many fled those systems to come to freer countries. What sounds utopian in theory has too often turned dystopian in practice.

But blaming capitalism misses the mark. The real culprit is cronyism, the unholy alliance between big government and big business that twists markets, blocks competition, and rewards political connections over genuine innovation.

The Myth of Market Failure

Capitalism, in its true form, is based on voluntary exchange. It rewards businesses that meet people’s needs and wants, with consumers deciding what succeeds and what fails. Competition drives improvement, innovation, and lower prices. No one is forced to buy or sell anything; choice reigns.

Cronyism is a different beast altogether. In a crony system, businesses succeed not by serving customers but by lobbying politicians. Profits come through subsidies, bailouts, and regulations designed to crush competition.

The 2008 financial crisis, often cited as proof of capitalism’s failures, actually showcased what happens when markets are rigged. Reckless banks, instead of collapsing as they deserved, were bailed out with taxpayer money. Ordinary people lost jobs and homes, while the politically connected survived and thrived.

This wasn’t free enterprise. It was cronyism.

The COVID-19 pandemic provided a grim sequel. Small businesses were forced to shut their doors under government mandates. Meanwhile, corporate giants like Amazon, able to operate under looser restrictions or pivot online, soared to record profits. Policies, written in the name of public health, often privileged the biggest players while leaving Main Street devastated.

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