International
The UN and EU are targeting Bulgaria for moving to protect children
From LifeSiteNews
Bulgaria overwhelmingly passed a ban on LGBT propaganda in schools, and the country appears determined to resist pressure from LGBT activists and their globalist allies.
In 2021, the Hungarian government passed legislation that introduced stricter laws protecting children from pedophilia and also making it illegal to promote homosexuality or “sex changes” (“gender transition”) in schools and in the press to minors. The Hungarian government made clear that the law did not impact content aimed at adults or entertainment but propaganda targeted at children. Hungary promptly became a target for the full fury of the international elites.
The attitude of the European Union was perhaps best summarized by then-Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, who warned ominously of the EU’s intention of “bringing Hungary to its knees” over Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s opposition to the LGBT agenda, and billions of EU funds (including COVID recovery funds) were initially withheld from Hungary to that end. Within the EU, there are many countries with socially conservative majorities – but those countries have learned the hard way that the LGBT flag flies alongside the EU flag in Brussels.
In fact, the European Commission at the European Union Court of Justice went so far as to launch a legal case against Hungary in 2022, with the intent of forcing Hungary’s parliament to repeal the bill – and 15 countries signed on, including the Benelux countries, Ireland, Denmark, France, Germany, and Sweden. The message was clear: being part of the EU club comes with specific social obligations, the most important of which is submission to the LGBT movement and the national implementation of its agenda.
Earlier this month, Bulgaria passed a bill banning LGBT propaganda in schools, with a supermajority of parliamentarians – 159 to 22 – voting in favor. In response, the LGBT movement has already swung into action. First, UN Human Rights Office spokesperson Liz Throssell “expressed deep concern” over the law, urging Bulgarian authorities to “reconsider the law in light of the country’s international human rights obligations.” Throssell further remarked that “addressing stigma and misinformation is vital for fostering acceptance, tolerance, and the creation of inclusive societies.”
Translated, of course, this is a United Nations spokesperson insinuating that the Bulgarian law targeting gender ideology and other aspects of the LGBT agenda may actually be a violation of international human rights and stating, in no uncertain terms, that Bulgaria must instead work towards the normalization of LGBT ideology and recreate its society to conform to the LGBT movement’s standards. An unelected progressive bureaucrat, in short, is telling a sovereign country to change its values and change its laws.
LGBT activists are urging the European Union to step in, as well – especially when President Ruman Rudev declined to veto the bill on August 15. “This law is not just a Bulgarian issue — this is a Russian law that has found its way into the heart of Europe,” Rémy Bonny, executive director of the LGBT activist group “Forbidden Colours,” told Politico’s Brussels Playbook. “The European Commission must step in and hold Bulgaria accountable.” He did not mention the fact that the bill was passed with support from every major party, including those supportive of the EU. “Senior figures” from the EU’s LGBTI Intergroup also called on European Commission President Ursula von der Leyden and Equality Commissioner Helena Dalli to “urgently condemn” the law.
In response, the European Commission sent a letter to Bulgarian Education and Science Minister Galin Tsokov on August 13 “to request further information on the legislation,” with a spokesperson stating that: “The Commission remains steadfast in its commitment to tackling discrimination, inequalities and challenges faced by LGBTIQ individuals — including in education, as outlined in our LGBTIQ Equality Strategy of November 2020.” Other activist groups, including Action, Buditelkite, LevFem, and Feminist Mobilizations, have also urged action, and called on the Bulgarian president to veto the bill.
Thus far, the Bulgarian government appears determined to ignore these predictable criticisms. Kostadin Kostadinov, chairman of the Revival Party that introduced the law, called it “a historic breakthrough” and stated that “LGBT propaganda is anti-human and won’t be accepted in Bulgaria.” The vast majority of Bulgarian parliamentarians agree with him – but that won’t stop the UN, the EU, and the LGBT activists who drive the international agenda from doing their best to force their agenda on Bulgaria through threats, soft power coercion tactics, and public condemnation.
From the Daily Caller News Foundation
By Morgan Murphy
With less than a month to go before President-elect Donald Trump takes office, the top brass are already running for cover. This week the Army’s chief of staff, Gen. Randy George, pledged to cut approximately a dozen general officers from the U.S. Army.
It is a start.
But given the Army is authorized 219 general officers, cutting just 12 is using a scalpel when a machete is in order. At present, the ratio of officers to enlisted personnel stands at an all-time high. During World War II, we had one general for every 6,000 troops. Today, we have one for every 1,600.
Right now, the United States has 1.3 million active-duty service members according to the Defense Manpower Data Center. Of those, 885 are flag officers (fun fact: you get your own flag when you make general or admiral, hence the term “flag officer” and “flagship”). In the reserve world, the ratio is even worse. There are 925 general and flag officers and a total reserve force of just 760,499 personnel. That is a flag for every 674 enlisted troops.
The hallways at the Pentagon are filled with a constellation of stars and the legions of staffers who support them. I’ve worked in both the Office of the Secretary of Defense and the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Starting around 2011, the Joint Staff began to surge in scope and power. Though the chairman of the Joint Chiefs is not in the chain of command and simply serves as an advisor to the president, there are a staggering 4,409 people working for the Joint Staff, including 1,400 civilians with an average salary of $196,800 (yes, you read that correctly). The Joint Staff budget for 2025 is estimated by the Department of Defense’s comptroller to be $1.3 billion.
In contrast, the Secretary of Defense — the civilian in charge of running our nation’s military — has a staff of 2,646 civilians and uniformed personnel. The disparity between the two staffs threatens the longstanding American principle of civilian control of the military.
Just look at what happens when civilians in the White House or the Senate dare question the ranks of America’s general class. “Politicizing the military!” critics cry, as if the Commander-in-Chief has no right to question the judgement of generals who botched the withdrawal from Afghanistan, bought into the woke ideology of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) or oversaw over-budget and behind-schedule weapons systems. Introducing accountability to the general class is not politicizing our nation’s military — it is called leadership.
What most Americans don’t understand is that our top brass is already very political. On any given day in our nation’s Capitol, a casual visitor is likely to run into multiple generals and admirals visiting our elected representatives and their staff. Ostensibly, these “briefs” are about various strategic threats and weapons systems — but everyone on the Hill knows our military leaders are also jockeying for their next assignment or promotion. It’s classic politics
The country witnessed this firsthand with now-retired Gen. Mark Milley. Most Americans were put off by what they saw. Milley brazenly played the Washington spin game, bragging in a Senate Armed Services hearing that he had interviewed with Bob Woodward and a host of other Washington, D.C. reporters.
Woodward later admitted in an interview with CNN that he was flabbergasted by Milley, recalling the chairman hadn’t just said “[Trump] is a problem or we can’t trust him,” but took it to the point of saying, “he is a danger to the country. He is the most dangerous person I know.” Woodward said that Milley’s attitude felt like an assignment editor ordering him, “Do something about this.”
Think on that a moment — an active-duty four star general spoke on the record, disparaging the Commander-in-Chief. Not only did it show rank insubordination and a breach of Uniform Code of Military Justice Article 88, but Milley’s actions represented a grave threat against the Constitution and civilian oversight of the military.
How will it play out now that Trump has returned? Old political hands know that what goes around comes around. Milley’s ham-handed political meddling may very well pave the way for a massive reorganization of flag officers similar to Gen. George C. Marshall’s “plucking board” of 1940. Marshall forced 500 colonels into retirement saying, “You give a good leader very little and he will succeed; you give mediocrity a great deal and they will fail.”
Marshall’s efforts to reorient the War Department to a meritocracy proved prescient when the United States entered World War II less than two years later.
Perhaps it’s time for another plucking board to remind the military brass that it is their civilian bosses who sit at the top of the U.S. chain of command.
Morgan Murphy is military thought leader, former press secretary to the Secretary of Defense and national security advisor in the U.S. Senate.
For the first time since Russian soldiers entered Ukraine in February 2022, the US is negotiating with Vladimir Putin. Surprisingly it’s not President Biden’s team at work, but President Elect Donald Trump. Trump has been working through Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban. President Orban traveled to the US to meet with Trump a day before he had an hour long phone conversation with Russian leader Vladimir Putin.
Clearly Trump is looking for at least a quick de-escalation if not an all out end to the conflict in Ukraine. Alex Christoforou and Alexander Mercouris of The Duran podcast explain the current situation.
Proposed $70 billion AI data centre in MD of Greenview could launch an incredible new chapter for western Canadian energy
A Potpourri of the World’s Unexposed Scandals
Australian doctor who criticized COVID jabs has his suspension reversed
Massive growth in federal workforce contributes to Ottawa’s red ink
-
Alberta1 day ago
Proposed $70 billion AI data centre in MD of Greenview could launch an incredible new chapter for western Canadian energy
-
Brownstone Institute4 hours ago
A Potpourri of the World’s Unexposed Scandals
-
Alberta1 day agoYour towing rights! AMA unveils measures to help fight predatory towing
-
Economy2 hours agoThe White Pill: Big Government Can Be Defeated (Just Ask the Soviet Union)
-
conflict1 hour ago
Trump has started negotiations to end the war in Ukraine
-
COVID-199 mins agoEsteemed UK Doctor pleads with governments to cancel COVID-19 vaccines
-
COVID-195 hours agoBiden HHS extends immunity for COVID shot manufacturers through 2029
-
Bruce Dowbiggin3 hours agoMLB’s Exploding Chequebook: Parity Is Now For Suckers