Gates of Vienna News Feed 2/18/2013

Geert Wilders has arrived in Oz, and will speak tonight in Melbourne. In addition to the articles below, see this blog post for a photo of Mr. Wilders hugging a koala.

In other news, an unnamed source in Connecticut law enforcement says that Adam Lanza, the late perpetrator of the Newtown massacre, was inspired in his shooting rampage by the Butcher of Utøya, Anders Behring Breivik. Mr. Lanza, a video game enthusiast like his Norwegian idol, is alleged to have seen Mr. Breivik as his competitor, and intended — but failed — to beat the master’s “score”.

To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.

Thanks to heroyalwhyness, Insubria, JD, Jerry Gordon, JP, Mary Abdelmassih, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.

Notice to tipsters: Please don’t submit extensive excerpts from articles that have been posted behind a subscription firewall, or are otherwise under copyright protection.

Caveat: Articles in the news feed are posted “as is”. Gates of Vienna cannot vouch for the authenticity or accuracy of the contents of any individual item posted here. We check each entry to make sure it is relatively interesting, not patently offensive, and at least superficially plausible. The link to the original is included with each item’s title. Further research and verification are left to the reader.

Financial Crisis
» Don’t Blink, Or You’ll Miss Another Bailout
» Nice Try, Democrats, But We Do Have a Spending Problem
» Retail Apocalypse: Why Are Major Retail Chains All Over America Collapsing
» The Wealth Tax Eyes Britain
 
USA
» Americans Prepare for Civil Unrest With Record Ammo Sales
» Cardinal Mahony Scandal Heats Up Before Conclave
» Day of Remembrance: Japanese-Americans Show Support for Muslims, Sikhs
» Fremont Mosque Hosts Interfaith Event
» George Washington’s Example on Religious Liberty
» Grace Cathedral: A Place of Religious Immunity, Anonymity and Unity
» Irreconcilable Differences
» Movie Superstar Hits Bull’s-Eye With Guns Blazing
» MSM Considers Covering Obama on the Golf Links as Hardline News But Not Snoozing Through Benghazi
» Newtown Shooter Motivated by Norway Massacre, Sources Say
» Obama Launches Project to Study Human Brain
» Should Your Child Attend a School With Zero Tolerance or Common Sense?
» Teen Dies From Flu After Receiving Flu Shot
» The Paradigm Shift Dilemma
» Why Drones Should Make You Afraid. Very Afraid.
 
Europe and the EU
» Denmark: “A Culture of Cowards”
» Denmark: ‘I May be Killed if I Write This’
» Italy: Psychiatrists Warn of Dangers in Closing Special Wards
» Italy: Survey Suggests Roughly Half Expect Renewal With New Pope
» Italy: Berlusconi Says Merkel ‘East German Bureaucrat’
» Scots Plan Their Own MI5 Spy Agency in Preparation for ‘Yes’ Vote on Independence
» UK Could Introduce New Banknotes Made of Plastic Says Incoming Bank of England Governor
» UK: ‘Have They Caught Them Yet?’ First Words of Mugging Victim Who Was So Badly Beaten He Couldn’t Talk for 11 Years
» UK: Canister of Potentially Dangerous Radioactive Material Stolen From Back of a Van Parked Outside a House
» UK: David Cameron Disturbed by Threat to Chipping Norton Mosque
» UK: Muslim Preacher Urges Followers to Claim ‘Jihad Seeker’s Allowance’
» UK: Mother of 11 Gets Brand New £400,000 House Built by Council Because She’s ‘Struggling’ In Her Two Current Homes
» UK: National Socialism: The Clue’s in the Name
» UK: Police Under Investigation Over ‘Dog’s’ Witness Statement
 
North Africa
» Copts Protest Church Attack in Egypt — Church Attacked Again
» Egypt Moves to Ban Alcohol, Belly Dancing
 
Middle East
» Ettinger: Smothering Sandstorms in the Middle East
» Lebanese Women Take on Muslim Judges Who Call Rape a ‘Marital Right’
» Obama Abstract on the Middle East, Admits Jihadi Expansion, Ignores Taliban After 2014
 
Russia
» From Russia With Love: Meteors and the Coming Nuclear Attack on America
 
South Asia
» British Student, 20, Gang-Raped by Four Men on Balcony in Thailand After ‘Boyfriend Left Her in a Bar’
 
Far East
» China’s Army is Seen as Tied to Hacking Against U.S.
 
Australia — Pacific
» Cold Reception for Anti-Islam Campaigner
» Dutch MP Wilders Asked to Learn From Vic
 
Sub-Saharan Africa
» British Builder ‘Captured by Islamic Extremists’ After Group With Links to Al Qaeda Claims Responsibility for Nigeria Kidnap
 
Immigration
» A Crackdown on Immigration and on Benefits Abuse? The Tory Leadership Ought to be Careful…
» Amnesty for All and Jobs for None
» Immigrants Must Live in Britain for a Year Before Claiming Benefits, Says Welfare Minister
» Italy: Immigrants ‘Revolt’ At Rome Detention Center
» UK: I’d be Overjoyed if This Was the End of the Foreign Criminals Fiasco — But Don’t Hold Your Breath
 
Culture Wars
» 21 Signs That U.S. Public Schools Have Become Training Centers for Sexual Deviancy
» Beleaguered Christianity
» UK: ‘I Don’t Have Enough Women in the Cabinet’: David Cameron Admits His Wife is Lobbying Him to Promote More
» UK: Brighton Council to Open ‘Gender Neutral’ Public Toilets as it ‘Phases Out Male and Female Lavatories’

Don’t Blink, Or You’ll Miss Another Bailout

Still, last week’s details of the undisclosed settlement between the New York Fed and Bank of America are remarkable. Not only do the filings show the New York Fed helping to thwart another institution’s fraud case against the bank, they also reveal that the New York Fed agreed to give away what may be billions of dollars in potential legal claims.

Here’s the skinny: Late last Wednesday, the New York Fed said in a court filing that in July it had released Bank of America from all legal claims arising from losses in some mortgage-backed securities the Fed received when the government bailed out the American International Group in 2008. One surprise in the filing, which was part of a case brought by A.I.G., was that the New York Fed let Bank of America off the hook even as A.I.G. was seeking to recover $7 billion in losses on those very mortgage securities.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]

Nice Try, Democrats, But We Do Have a Spending Problem

The Democrats have a problem. They will do anything to avoid cutting spending, since the ability to tax and spend in massive amounts is where their political power comes from. But when you’re spending 25 percent of GDP, and running annual deficits of $1 trillion or more, it becomes increasingly difficult to keep making the absurd argument that federal spending is not out of control.

But they must make that argument! It is central to their being. They have to find a way to make the case that spending around $3.6 trillion a year while our debt soars to $16 trillion and beyond does not constitute a spending problem. How will they do that?

Democrats are clever, and determined. They think they’ve found a way.

The latest Democrat argument, as expressed last week by Congressman Steny Hoyer of Maryland, is that we don’t have a spending problem, we have a “paying for” problem.

What?

I know, but try to follow the “logic” with me.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]

Retail Apocalypse: Why Are Major Retail Chains All Over America Collapsing

If the economy is improving, then why are many of the largest retail chains in America closing hundreds of stores? When I was growing up, Sears, J.C. Penney, Best Buy and RadioShack were all considered to be unstoppable retail powerhouses. But now it is being projected that all of them will close hundreds of stores before the end of 2013. Even Wal-Mart is running into problems. A recent internal Wal-Mart memo that was leaked to Bloombergdescribed February sales as a “total disaster”. So why is this happening? Why are major retail chains all over America collapsing? Is the “retail apocalypse” upon us? Well, the truth is that this is just another sign that the U.S. economy is falling apart right in front of our eyes.

Incomes are declining, taxes are going up, government dependence is at an all-time high, and according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics the percentage of the U.S. labor force that is employed has been steadily falling since 2006. The top 10% of all income earners in the U.S. are still doing very well, but most U.S. consumers are either flat broke or are drowning in debt. The large disposable incomes that the big retail chains have depended upon in the past simply are not there anymore. So retail chains all over the United States are now closing up unprofitable stores. This is especially true in low income areas.

When you step back and take a look at the bigger picture, the rapid decline of some of our largest retail chains really is stunning.

It is happening already in some areas, but soon half empty malls and boarded up storefronts will litter the landscapes of cities all over America…

We are a nation that is in an advanced state of decline. But as long as the financial markets are okay, our leaders don’t seem too concerned about the suffering that everyone else is going through.

In fact, former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan essentially admitted as much during a recent interview with CNBC. The following is how a Zero Hedge article summarized that interview…

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]

The Wealth Tax Eyes Britain

Not to be outdone by the French, as well as lefties in the United States, Britain’s Liberal-Democratic Party (Lib-Dems.) are floating ideas for a comprehensive wealth tax. What does Britain’s so called centre party have in mind? How about taxes on jewellery including rings & necklaces! Throw in some of your furniture and paintings and you’ve got a new source of revenue for Westminster bureaucrats. Not off limits is an expansion of the mansion tax to include holiday homes and buy-to-let properties.

People could face a government fine if they refuse to allow tax inspectors into their homes to perform valuations. Taxes would hit anyone with a property portfolio valued at more than £2m, a plan which the socialist Labour Party is also backing.

There are a lot of problems with the concept of a wealth tax, not the least of which is the sheer obsession the left has with taking people’s money in the name of “creating a fairer tax system” (Lib.-Dem. spokesman) or “leveling the playing field” (Barack Obama). It’s a problem in the first place because it’s not the government’s money, it belongs to the people who made it.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]

Americans Prepare for Civil Unrest With Record Ammo Sales

Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes joins Alex to consider the long train of abuses we now face, and that the founders also faced in the lead up to 1776. Could history repeat, and will globalists back off from their attack against humanity? Meanwhile, the gun control agenda is also moving forward, with multiple states introducing legislation to confiscate firearms and ban semi-automatic weapons, clips and ammo.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]

Cardinal Mahony Scandal Heats Up Before Conclave

Church applauds Benedict’s record on handling priest sex abuse

(ANSA) — Vatican City, February 18 — The scandal surrounding American Cardinal Roger Mahony for allegedly covering up priest sex abuse is heating up in Rome ahead of a conclave to elect a successor to Pope Benedict XVI. On Monday, influential Catholic newspaper Famiglia Cristiana launched an online poll asking if Mahony, the former archbishop of Los Angeles, should participate in the conclave, which will take place days after he will be deposed as part of a clergy abuse suit.

Mahony, the senior American cardinal attending the conclave, will be questioned under oath February 23 about how he handled Father Nicolas Aguilar Rivera, a visiting Mexican priest who allegedly molested 26 children in the Los Angeles archdiocese in 1987.

The deposition Saturday will be the first since a court order forced the archdiocese to release thousands of pages of confidential files on over 120 priests accused of sex abuse, showing how Mahony and other top officials shielded priests in order to contain the scandal.

Meanwhile Father Charles Scicluna, the Vatican’s top sex abuse investigator until February 3, applauded Benedict for leaving a legacy of “extraordinary reply and response to the very sad phenomenon of sexual abuse of minors by the clergy”. Scicluna, promoter of justice for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith at the Holy See, was replaced by Father Robert Oliver.

“Benedict was very active during the pontificate of John Paul II, with the congregation of the Motu Proprio Sacramentorum Santitatis Tutela, a universal law of the Church which gave very precise and detailed procedure on how to respond to sexual abuse of minors.

“His words will remain with us as a clear sign of the determination of the Church to respond adequately to abuse and also to safeguard the innocence of our children and young people,” Scicluna said. Benedict’s critics say that he did not do enough against the scandals and to promote transparency to combat sexual abuse by clergy, citing cases such as that of Mahony, and others like Sean Brady, primate of Ireland, who has faced repeated calls to resign over his role in covering up priest sex abuse.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]

Day of Remembrance: Japanese-Americans Show Support for Muslims, Sikhs

SAN JOSE — For older Japanese-Americans, the discrimination and attacks on Muslims and Sikhs are opening afresh an old wound that never healed. To show support for Arab-Americans, the South Bay’s Japanese-American community held a somber candlelight ceremony and procession at San Jose Buddhist Church on Sunday evening, linking diverse faiths through similar fears…

[JP note: Mindless idiots.]

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]

Fremont Mosque Hosts Interfaith Event

FREMONT, Calif. (KGO) — The East Bay Muslim community held an open house in Fremont Saturday to reach out to people of different faiths. The open house was hosted by the Islamic Society of East Bay to commemorate “World Interfaith Harmony Week.” The event promotes harmony between all people regardless of faith. One mosque member admits there are still lots of questions about what Muslims believe…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]

George Washington’s Example on Religious Liberty

Instead of celebrating George Washington’s birthday, today we’ve lumped him in together with no-names including Millard Fillmore and William Henry Harrison as we celebrate a generic “Presidents’ Day.”

But George Washington was not simply a President. He was the indispensible man of the American Founding. Washington’s words, thoughts, and deeds as a military commander, a President, and a patriotic leader make him arguably the greatest statesman in our history.

All Presidents can learn from Washington’s leadership in foreign policy, in upholding the rule of law, and — especially now — in the importance of religion and religious liberty. While the Obama Administration claims to be “accommodating” Americans’ religious freedom concerns regarding the Health and Human Services (HHS) Obamacare mandate, it is actually trampling religious freedom. President Washington set a tremendous example for the way that Presidents should handle such conflicts.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]

Grace Cathedral: A Place of Religious Immunity, Anonymity and Unity

by Stephen Hough

This past week I’ve been in a sunny, blue-skied San Francisco playing Liszt’s 2nd concerto with the San Francisco Symphony and Pablo Heras-Casado. The hotel at which I was staying was quite close to Grace Cathedral and I would pass by it at least twice a day on my way to rehearsals or concerts. It is an imposing structure on one of the city’s many imposing hills and I finally found the time a couple of days ago go inside for a visit. was struck by two things: firstly, as I walked through its front doors, it was less visually overwhelming inside than I was expecting; but secondly, and more importantly, as I sat down in the AIDS Interfaith Memorial Chapel immediately to the right of the entrance, I became aware of this Cathedral’s mission of inclusivity…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]

Irreconcilable Differences

I haven’t written anything since the election. I have just been watching and listening and reading. What I have seen, heard, and read concerns me a great deal, mainly because it is far too similar to what I saw, heard, and read before the election.

For four long years, a small group on the right documented publicly, for all to see, just who and what Barack Barry Hussein Obama-Soetoro is. Presented clearly, unambiguously, in terms easily understood even by those with only a government school education, to not have gotten the picture was only possible for the willfully blind or the terminally stupid. Unfortunately, this appears to be what the majority of Americans, including millions of “conservatives,” actually are.

I still see so-called conservatives talking about Obama and the Democrats as if they were the loyal opposition who really believe in America, but just differ in how they want to make her better. That Obama and the Democrats are hard-core Marxist revolutionaries, out to destroy capitalism and turn the country into a collectivist, totalitarian police state, seems never to have occurred to them. In fact, they still appear offended by the fact that some of us point out this fact.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]

Movie Superstar Hits Bull’s-Eye With Guns Blazing

Famous 2nd-Amendment defender scores big with filmgoers WASHINGTON — Hollywood legend Bruce Willis’ latest entry in the “Die Hard” franchise took No. 1 in the box office over the long President’s Day weekend, bucking a trend of flops by his “Expendables” co-stars Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone.

Both Stallone and Schwarzenegger’s recent box office flops come at a time when they decided to label the Second Amendment “expendable.”

In contrast to Stallone and Schwarzenegger, Willis, starring in “It’s a Good Day to Die Hard,” had come out in defense of the right to bear arms as Democrats in Washington propose unprecedented restrictions on guns.

Debuting in theaters on Feb. 13, “A Good Day to Die Hard” — the fifth installment in the series — has taken in a total of $38.3 million domestically, with another $79.6 million internationally for a worldwide total of $112 million.

In fact, “A Good Day to Die Hard” has made more in its opening week of release domestically ($33 million) than both “Bullet to Head” — which debuted Feb. 1 — and “The Last Stand,” which came out on Jan. 18, have made combined.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]

MSM Considers Covering Obama on the Golf Links as Hardline News But Not Snoozing Through Benghazi

While media lapdogs were tripping over each other’s furiously wagging puppy tails to cover Obama on the golf links, the world continued to implode around them.

Fire up the IPads and break out the latte’s: Four years on, and the Mainstream Media is finally loudly worried about “Barack Hussein Obama transparency”.

Seems that Obama gave the entire White House corps the slip leaving media scribes in “extreme frustration” over “having absolutely no access” to the president during a golfing vacation in Florida.

Yowsa!

What big story was breaking out there on the links other than Obama building up the braggadocio to be able to later crow: “I put in 18 holes with Tiger Woods and went on to get in another 9 holes on my own!”

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]

Newtown Shooter Motivated by Norway Massacre, Sources Say

Law enforcement sources say Adam Lanza was motivated by violent video games and a strong desire to kill more people than another infamous mass murderer.

Sources say Lanza saw himself as being in direct competition with Anders Breivik, a Norwegian man who killed 77 people in July 2011.

Breivik killed eight with a bombing in downtown Oslo. He then moved to a nearby island where hunted down and fatally shot 69 people, mostly teenagers attending a summer camp.

Two officials who have been briefed on the Newtown, Conn., investigation say Lanza wanted to top Breivik’s death toll and targeted nearby Sandy Hook Elementary School because it was the “easiest target” with the “largest cluster of people.”

Evidence shows that his mind, sources say, Lanza was also likely acting out the fantasies of a video game as he killed 20 first graders and six adults at the school. For Lanza, the deaths apparently amounted to some kind of “score.”

But Lanza ended his killing spree sooner than he intended. Unlike Breivik, who surrendered, Lanza killed himself as police closed in. Just before his suicide, Lanza fired some shots at police in the school’s parking lot.

Officials have not publicly revealed what led them to the motive, but sources say investigators have found evidence Lanza was obsessed with Breivik.

They’ve also recovered what they called a “trove” of video games from the basement of Lanza’s home. Sources say Lanza spent countless hours there alone, in a private gaming room with the windows blacked out, honing his computer shooting skills.

Lanza also made multiple visits to nearby gun ranges with his mother, Nancy Lanza, where they practiced together with actual weapons. Three guns, all registered to Nancy Lanza, were used in the Sandy Hook massacre. Lanza used a fourth weapon to kill his mother before his attack on the school.

           — Hat tip: heroyalwhyness [Return to headlines]

Obama Launches Project to Study Human Brain

(WASHINGTON TIMES) Hollywood could have a field day with a new Big Brother conspiracy theory.

The White House has announced a 10-year study on the inner workings of the human brain, akin to the Human Genome Project’s research into genetics.

The research, called the Brain Activity Map project, will encompass studies of federal agencies, foundations and an unspecified number of neuroscientists and nanoscientists, the Boston Globe reports.

[Comment: “Those whose brain scans indicate psychological defect of nationalism follow the black line on the floor for “re-adjustment therapy”.]

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]

Should Your Child Attend a School With Zero Tolerance or Common Sense?

Waiting in line for the bus, a Pennsylvania kindergartener tells her pals she’s going to shoot them with a Hello Kitty toy that makes soap bubbles. In Maryland, two 6-year-old boys pretend their fingers are guns during a playground game of cops and robbers. In Massachusetts, a 5-year-old boy attending an after-school program makes a gun out of Legos and points it at other students while “simulating the sound of gunfire,” as one school official put it.

Kids with active imaginations? Or potential threats to school safety?

Some school officials are taking the latter view, suspending or threatening to suspend small children over behavior their parents consider perfectly normal and age-appropriate — even now, with schools in a state of heightened sensitivity following the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary in December…

“We’ve seen literally thousands of these kinds of episodes of zero tolerance since the early 1990s,” said Skiba, who co-authored a 2006 study for the American Psychological Association that concluded zero tolerance has not improved school security.

[Comment: “Thousands of these kind of episodes”. Thousands of episodes of harassing 5 and 6 year old kids! You see — it is not fear or lack of common sense on the part of these “teachers” — it is PAVLOVIAN CONDITIONING in action. The purpose is to use the young child’s fear of enraged authority figures to “condition” or brainwash the child to fear even the “idea” of guns. (Even other children who see what happened to the child in question are affected). Now when the child grows up he will have a Pavlovian and EMOTIONAL aversion to guns (without fully understanding why). Wake up America!!!]

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]

Teen Dies From Flu After Receiving Flu Shot

A second Minnesota teenager has reportedly died from complications of infection with influenza Type A during this current flu season, prompting health officials across the state to urge the public to get flu shots for their own protection. But missing from many of the news reports on this tragedy is the fact that the child in question, 14-year-old Carly Christenson, had already been vaccinated for influenza before flu season even started, proving the utter failure of flu shots to protect against the flu.

As reported by CBS 4 News in Minnesota, young Carly passed away on January 8, 2013, not long after she was admitted to urgent care with a bad sore throat. Believing the symptoms to stem from a mild infection, doctors at the response center gave Carly a prescription for Prednisone, a powerful steroid drug used to treat inflammation, and sent her on her way. But by the next morning, things for Carly took a serious turn for the worse.

According to reports, Carly’s sore throat evolved into a serious fever that included shortness of breath and wheezing. Her lungs filled with fluid not long after that, and she had to be rushed to the hospital to have a heart and lung bypass with an ACMO machine. In the days that followed, Carly was given regular blood transfusions, but these were ultimately not enough — she died just a few days later.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]

The Paradigm Shift Dilemma

Egoism of the Intellectuals — This egoistic flaw in human nature doesn’t just afflict the general public. It also afflicts that body of humans called “intellectuals.” Human nature is such that it compels many scholars to also fight against challenges refuting their accustomed way of thinking. Scientists, who have spent years of their lives in support of a certain paradigm, will forsake all the pledges of objectivity that comprise their creed to vehemently fight against a new paradigm that clearly presents a more rational perspective. Truth, the most highly prized goal of all, is forsaken to protect personal egos and previous convictions. This flaw exists in layman and intellect alike.

A good example of how this flaw stifles social progress was the predicament of the communists in the Soviet Union throughout most of their twentieth century reign. By 1950, history’s verdict was in. State socialism was a morbid, tyrannical, and unworkable philosophy of social organization. It decimated the human spirit. It was living death. Yet the intellectual authorities of the communist bloc shut their eyes to these unwelcome facts of reality and marched imperviously on for four more decades shoring up their sham with lies, sophistries, and doctored statistics.

Today’s liberal welfare-statists have also succumbed to this flaw. Especially if they are past 40 years of age, they are finding it very difficult (in light of Washington’s present Keynesian debt insanity) to admit they have committed decades of their lives to a false ideology based upon dangerous irrationality. Consequently most of them are doing what the communists did. They are closing the windows of their minds and continuing to fight for their welfare-state vision of politics despite the fact that its flawed paradigm is breaking down all around us.

Welfare-statists are choosing, not truth and progress, but support for creatures like Obama. Yet they insist they are promoting the American ideal as this malefactor of a President heaps the monstrosities of government regimented healthcare, amnesty for 12 million illegals, and Orwellian gun control upon us. These statists are confronted with the “paradigm shift dilemma,” and their egos are driving them into forsaking the truth so as to cling to the illusion that they have not been wrong in supporting massive government programs and Keynesian economics throughout their adult years.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]

Why Drones Should Make You Afraid. Very Afraid.

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is funding research on “micro-drones” that resemble moths, hummingbirds and other small flying creatures and hence can “hide in plain sight,” as one Air Force researcher told me. The Air Force is now testing micro-drones at facilities such as the “micro-aviary” at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio.

These micro-drones could be armed. The Air Force has produced an extrordinarily creepy animated video extolling possible applications of “Micro Air Vehicles,” which a narrator extols as “unobtrusive, pervasive, lethal.” The video shows winged drones swarming out of the belly of a plane and descending on a city, where the drones stalk and kill a suspect.

The U.S. military has already deployed a drone, called “Switchblade” (see photo), that has foldable wings and can be packed into a tube not much bigger than a loaf of Italian bread.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]

Denmark: “A Culture of Cowards”

by Bruce Bawer

This isn’t going to be about Iceland, or about online porn, but there’s a reason nonetheless to start with the news that Iceland’s government — apparently satisfied that it’s safely pulled out of its financial crisis — has turned its attention to a feminist proposal to block online porn using the same technology that China uses to limit its own subjects’ Internet access. This is not good news — for a couple of reasons…

So it goes. I live in Europe, but if not for a U.S. writer reporting last week here at all-American Front Page, I probably wouldn’t have heard a peep about Germany’s latest “hate speech” conviction. The competition is stiff. But surely the most inexcusable recent attempt by the mainstream media to deep-six a development they preferred not to acknowledge was their reaction to what any objective reporter with half a brain would recognize as a sensational and deeply consequential story — namely, the foiled attempt, apparently by a Danish Muslim, to murder in cold blood Lars Hedegaard, Denmark’s most prominent critic of the Religion of Peace. To be sure, as I wrote on February 6, the silence was not universal. In Scandinavia, the media were all over the story. And why not? The shooting provided Lars’s ideological enemies in the journalism community with an excellent opportunity to get in a few kicks of their own, calling him a racist and misrepresenting his views. Not surprisingly, the abuse was worst of all in Sweden, which seems determined to become the first sharia-run nation in Western Europe. (In fact — not that it will make the slightest bit of difference — Lars has filed libel charges against Swedish TV and several Swedish newspapers.)

[…]

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]

Denmark: ‘I May be Killed if I Write This’

by Douglas Murray

Lars Hedegaard, founder of Denmark’s Free Press Society, speaks from a secret location after an attempt on his life

The assassin came to his home dressed as a postman. When the historian and journalist Lars Hedegaard opened his front door, the man — whom Lars describes as ‘looking like a typical Muslim immigrant’ in his mid-twenties — fired straight at his head. Though Hedegaard was a yard away, the bullet narrowly missed. The mild-mannered scholar (70 years old) then punched his assailant in the head. The man dropped the gun, picked it up and fired again. The gun jammed and the man ran off. More than a week later, he has yet to be found…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]

Italy: Psychiatrists Warn of Dangers in Closing Special Wards

Lack of appropriate structures could lead to greater public risk

(ANSA) — Rome, February 14 — Italy’s psychiatrists’ association SIP warned members of the parliament on Thursday that unless a decree calling for the closing of specialized units in hospitals starting April 1 is rolled back, the country would be unprepared to deal with the consequences.

In hearings before Italy’s lower house of parliament, representatives of the association said that alternative structures to house psychiatric patients were lacking and of the ones existing, “some of them were dangerous”. Timing is also a problem, SIP said, pointing to the 60-day period being given to regions to find alternative housing to these patients. SIP also denounced the lack of professional psychiatric help available to inmates in prisons, where many of the patients expelled from the specialized units will be sent. The influx will add to the more than 10,000 inmates (15% of the total) who are considered psychologically disturbed or have other sorts of infectious or drug-related conditions.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]

Italy: Survey Suggests Roughly Half Expect Renewal With New Pope

Pope’s resignation endorsed by almost two thirds of Catholics

(ANSA) — Rome, February 15 — Only about half of Italians surveyed think that the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI will generate renewal for the Church, says a poll released Friday.

And 63% of practicing Catholics said they approved of his decision to step down on February 28 for health reasons, compared to 55% of non-Catholics.

The survey, conducted by market research group SWG after Monday’s surprise announcement by Pope Benedict, found that 58% of practicing Catholics said they thought his move might renew the church, compared with 38% of non-Catholics.

The survey was conducted among about 1,000 Italians.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]

Italy: Berlusconi Says Merkel ‘East German Bureaucrat’

Tied to centralised economy, says ex-PM

(ANSA) — Milan, February 18 — German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s experience in a centralized East German economy has made her too rigid, ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi complained Monday.

In remarks to big business organization Confindustria, Berlusconi said Merkel, who was born in the former East Germany, is an “intelligent bureaucrat” who is too tied to the notion of a centralized economy.

Berlusconi, whose campaign for re-election has included numerous attacks on Germany as an overly controlling, rigid regime, also denounced the fiscal compact between European nations, designed to shore up the common currency.

Italy must balance its budget to meet its obligations under the compact, which is widely seen as key part of the EU’s measures to solve the eurozone crisis.

By accepting the pact, Italy and the 24 other signatories agreed to insert a balanced-budget rule into their own national constitutions, committing themselves to “semi-automatic” sanctions to be triggered if the measures are violated.

Berlusconi mocked the fiscal compact as being so rigid that even would set standard shoe sizes for all Europeans.

“The deep culture of Merkel expects the economy to be organized in a strict (manner) and thinks that every state should arrive with an annual budget with a maximum deficit of 0.50%, but this is not possible for all members,” he said.

He added that if it could, the fiscal compact would “impose on all European citizens that males should have a size 42 foot and 40 for women”.

Berlusconi was forced out of office in November 2011 amid ruinously high Italian interest rates and a near-collapse of the entire economy.

He also jeered at the Tobin tax on financial transactions, approved last summer by the EU finance ministers. He said it was approved only because former French president Nicolas Sarkozy acted as Merkel’s “butler” by supporting an idea that had been previous rejected “with general hilarity”.

However, it should prove lucrative for the Italian government.

Italy’s finance minister Vittorio Grilli said last month that the Tobin tax will raise about one billion euros for Italy.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]

Scots Plan Their Own MI5 Spy Agency in Preparation for ‘Yes’ Vote on Independence

Scottish nationalists are preparing to form a secret intelligence service in the style of MI5 once independence is secured, it has emerged.

With Scotland preparing for a vote on separation in 2014, ministers have indicated that an independent country would require its own ‘McMI5’ spy agency.

And security analysts believe such spymasters will target the brightest minds at St Andrews University, where Prince William and Kate Middleton studied, for the James Bonds of the future…

But the plans have been criticised by former top MI6 officer who warned that an independent Scotland could not rely on the ‘umbrella’ of Britain’s security agencies.

Baroness Margaret ‘Meta’ Ramsay said the SNP needs to ‘think again’ if it believes intelligence from MI6, MI5 and the UK’s communications headquarters, GCHQ, would be shared.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]

UK Could Introduce New Banknotes Made of Plastic Says Incoming Bank of England Governor

The incoming Bank of England governor has said he is ‘exploring’ the introduction of plastic banknotes in Britain.

Mark Carney, who introduced polymer notes to Canada as the Bank of Canada Governor, said Britain could now follow suit.

Plastic notes are designed to be more durable, waterproof and harder to forge than paper money, which has been in use for 300 years.

Other countries using polymer notes include New Zealand, Romania, Papua New Guinea, Mexico and Vietnam.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]

UK: ‘Have They Caught Them Yet?’ First Words of Mugging Victim Who Was So Badly Beaten He Couldn’t Talk for 11 Years

[WARNING:*** DISTURBING CONTENT ***]

A 35-year-old mugging victim left in a coma by two thugs more than a decade ago is finally making an amazing recovery — and has started asking: ‘Have they caught them yet?’

Leon Adams was aged 24 when he was left for dead after being savagely assaulted at a train station in Cardiff in February 2002 — spending two years in a coma and then left in a semi-vegetative state.

The two muggers avoided justice for years despite a BBC Crimewatch reconstruction and £20,000 reward — but the former barman has started showing an improvement and asking what happened…

Ms Main said: ‘Leon has astounded us all with the way he copes with his disabilities, he has had to work hard for everything he has so far managed. Physically, Leon still has only limited movement.

‘But this has not stopped him from communicating. He’ll never be able to walk again but mentally he’s got so much better. We can actually have a conversation with him now and not just speak at him.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]

UK: Canister of Potentially Dangerous Radioactive Material Stolen From Back of a Van Parked Outside a House

A canister of radioactive material has been stolen from the back of a van, police said.

The ‘small amount’ of material, believed to be Iridium 192, is not considered dangerous so long as it remains contained in its heavy lead container.

Lancashire Police said the yellow canister, which is marked with the radiation trefoil, was taken sometime over the weekend from a Peugeot Panel Van which was parked outside an address on New Line in Bacup.

Police have not said what the purpose of the material was.

Iridium-192 emits strong gamma rays.

[Comment from Bumblebee: According to the Telegraph it was stolen from a Police van. You couldn’t make it up !]

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]

UK: David Cameron Disturbed by Threat to Chipping Norton Mosque

David Cameron has said he is “disturbed” that Muslims were forced to abandon plans for a mosque in his constituency because racists threatened to burn it down…

Perhaps Cameron should have considered the likely consequences before he decided to deliver that notorious speech attacking multiculturalism in Munich two years ago.

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]

UK: Muslim Preacher Urges Followers to Claim ‘Jihad Seeker’s Allowance’

A Muslim preacher is secretly filmed urging followers to take benefits from the state to fund a holy war.

Anjem Choudary was secretly filmed mocking non-Muslims for working in 9-5 jobs their whole lives, and told followers that some revered Islamic figures had only ever worked one or two days a year. “The rest of the year they were busy with jihad [holy war] and things like that,” he said. “People will say, ‘Ah, but you are not working’. But the normal situation is for you to take money from the kuffar [non-believers]. So we take Jihad Seeker’s Allowance. You need to get support.” He went on to tell a 30-strong crowd: “We are going to take England — the Muslims are coming.”…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]

UK: Mother of 11 Gets Brand New £400,000 House Built by Council Because She’s ‘Struggling’ In Her Two Current Homes

A jobless mother of 11 is celebrating today after her local council agreed to build her a six-bedroom, £400,000 home to accommodate her massive brood.

Heather Frost, 36, currently lives in two separate houses knocked into one, which she describes as a ‘nightmare’ because it is so cramped.

Now after years of complaining, her local council has arranged for a 1,850 sq ft property to be built for her as part of a new housing development.

The two-storey eco-home has three bathrooms, two lounges and a huge 355 sq ft kitchen and dining area.

A local estate agent who studied the plans for the new home believes it could be worth up to £400,000.

But yesterday Frost, who first gave birth at 14, vowed to demand an even bigger house if she doesn’t like her new property.

She said: ‘It’s being built especially for me. If I go there and I say to them I don’t like it or it’s too small, then they will just have to build me a bigger one, won’t they.’

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]

UK: National Socialism: The Clue’s in the Name

by Douglas Murray

How can conservatives ensure they always lose? A good place to start is to concede every lie of the left. The Conservative Party appears to be doing what it can in this regard. Take their decision to strike Rachel Frosh from their candidates list for the great crime of… linking Nazism to socialism…

[Reader comment by Sarahsmith232 on 16 February 2013.]

perfect description of the Neo-Fascist, Totalitarian, New Labour movement. the white working-class in East London were found guilty of decades of persistant BNP and Conservative voting, challenging the Labour party’s multi-cultural totalitarianism with their refusal to accept passively allowing their communities to be turned into a part of the Islamic 3rd world. Labour responded to this in the way that they’ve learnt from their earlier Fascist masters — state sponsered ethnic cleansing. anyone that’s seen their handiwork will know — job done, the whites have been wiped out.

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]

UK: Police Under Investigation Over ‘Dog’s’ Witness Statement

Police dog handlers are all too aware of how crucial their four-legged colleagues are in the investigation of many crimes.

However, when the CPS demanded a witness statement in the name of a force dog, officers realised that it would be taking their canine skills a step too far. They wrote back explaining that PC Peach was in fact PD Peach, stressing that PD stood for police dog but to no avail. Eventually, the exasperated handler completed a form as if it had been written by the Alsatian, signing it with a paw print. The statement read: “I chase him. I bite him. Bad man. He tasty. Good boy. Good boy Peach.” It stated that the age of the witness was “four” and that his number was PD4341…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]

Copts Protest Church Attack in Egypt — Church Attacked Again

by Mary Abdelmassih

(AINA) — Hundreds of Copts rallied on Sunday evening against the torching of St. Georges church in Sarsena on Friday (AINAÂ 2-16-2013), as well as the escalation of destruction of churches by Muslims. Several Coptic rights groups organized a march from Shubra, a densely populated area in Cairo, to the High Court building in downtown Cairo, to “demand justice” as the organizers said.

Demonstrators demanded the Sarsena church be rebuilt and the perpetrators be prosecuted, in addition to the assailants of previous attacks on the churches during the last two years since the ousting of Mubarak. They also demanded an end to the customary “reconciliation” meetings forced on Copts by the authorities, in which Copts lose all their rights.

“We are going down to the streets for the church torched in Fayoum,” said Yvonne Mosad, PR of Maspero Coptic Youth Union, “and against the customary reconciliation meetings held every time something takes place against the Copts. We want the application of the law.”

The Coptic demonstrators included a large number of children accompanying their parents. A large number of liberal Muslims joined the demonstration.

The marchers chanted “Maspero, Maspero,” calling for the completion of their march to the State radio and TV building in Maspero, the site of the massacre that killed 24 Copts and injured over 300 (AINAÂ 10-10-2011).

According to officials, the attack on St. George’s Church was triggered by a Muslim family living next to the church, who complained about the sound coming from the church during mass on Fridays and Sundays. The Muslim family has been living next to the church for 15 years and had not complained previously. During the attack on Friday, Muslims voiced the real issue, which was the church is “an unlawful neighbor to the Muslims who live adjacent to it and must therefore be moved.”

The Tamiya security chief said in an interview on Al-Hayat independent Egyptian channel that the torching was not of a church but a small room annexed to the Coptic community center and the church wanted to build it without a license. He also said that what was torched was a single wooden chair. But the church said it is not a community center but a proper church.

Authorities placed a security guard at the gate of the church. The guard prevented the media from filming the church and prevented journalist and local parishioners from entering the church..

A customary “reconciliation” meeting was held on Saturday evening, which many found to be unfair and humiliating, like all such previous meetings forced by authorities. The meeting was attended by seven Copts without the presence of the clergy, four of whom were chosen by the Muslims, the Muslim neighbor family that complained, four Muslim arbitrators and the heads of the security and Chief of Detectives in Tamiya.

The church was attacked once again by Muslims While the meeting was in progress. Molotov Cocktails and stones were hurled at the church while Muslims shouted “We do not want the church..” Some Muslims climbed up the church to completely destroy the remains of the wooden dome.

One of the Coptic delegation to the “reconciliation” meeting, Mr. Gameel Abraham, left in protest of the unfairness of the terms of “reconciliation” set for the Copts. He noted that the losses suffered by the church were destruction in parts of the dome and the windows, as well as seats which were torched, icons, images and saints’ relics.

At the meeting the neighboring Muslim family wanted to classify the church as a community center but the Copts rejected this. Police records classify the building as a church.

Among the conditions in the agreement imposed on the church, which the Coptic delegation was forced to sign, is that it is not allowed to restore the church to its original height before the attack, but it should remain the new height after the attack, not exceeding 3 meters. The church was compelled to agree to build a 17 meter long, 30 centimeter thick wall from inside the church area, filled with soundproof material, and to build another wall, 5 centimeters thick, between the church and the Muslim neighbor, also filled with sound proof material, to absorb the sound of hymns emanating from the church. In Addition, it was decided that the roof of the church be covered with soundproof material as well as the tiling of the roof of the Muslim neighbor, at the expense of the church, to further diminish the “noise” coming out of church during its semi-weekly mass. The church was forced to agree not to use the spare area outside to increase the size of the church and not to use it as a kindergarten, but to use it as a store room.

There was no mention of who will be responsible for paying for the losses of the church and whether the dome and the Holy Cross on top of the dome that were destroyed by the Muslim mob will be replaced.

No one responsible for the church assault has been arrested.

           — Hat tip: Mary Abdelmassih [Return to headlines]

Egypt Moves to Ban Alcohol, Belly Dancing

CAIRO: Two years after the Egyptian revolution that ousted President Hosni Mubarak, liberals are increasingly concerned that the ruling Islamists are out to curb personal freedoms and build a society in their own image. Nabil Abbas, the vice president of the New Urban Communities Authorities, told Reuters Sunday that the government would no longer issue licenses for the sale of alcohol in new residential settlements on the outskirts of Cairo, Alexandria and other big cities…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]

Ettinger: Smothering Sandstorms in the Middle East

Former Israeli Ambassador Yoram Ettinger capped a whirlwind tour and speaking engagements in Pensacola Sunday evening with a grand finale at First Pentecostal Church, Pensacola (FPCP). An audience of more than 1,200 echoed Pastor Brian Kinsey who blessed Israel and Ettinger in a moving worship service. Over the weekend, the Ambassador also spoke at B’nai Israel Synagogue and a private luncheon. Ambassador Ettinger amazed the audiences at each event with his broad knowledge of both the troubled Middle East and his personal knowledge of US Israel relations and American goodwill towards the Jewish State. His years as Israeli US Embassy Congressional Liaison and regional Consul General in Houston, Texas have provided valued experience on communicating with supporters of Israel in the American Heartland. Ambassador Ettinger’s 72 hours in Pensacola on Presidents Day Weekend bolstered the warm welcome he received upon his arrival. As Pastor Kinsey of First Pentecostal Church told the multitude of 1200 who came to hear Ambassador Ettinger, “Israel is American only enduring democratic ally in the troubled Middle East.”.

           — Hat tip: Jerry Gordon [Return to headlines]

Lebanese Women Take on Muslim Judges Who Call Rape a ‘Marital Right’

Beirut, Lebanon (CNN) — Lebanese women are taking to the streets to demand that the government takes domestic violence seriously, by introducing laws to protect women from abusive partners. Nadine Mouwad, a founder of feminist collective Nasawiya, says the prevalence of unveiled, glamorous women in Beirut can create the impression that Lebanon is more liberated from patriarchal cultural attitudes than neighboring countries. But that’s merely an illusion, she says…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]

Obama Abstract on the Middle East, Admits Jihadi Expansion, Ignores Taliban After 2014

Obama remained abstract on Egypt, Syria, maintained the status quo with Iran’s regime and committed to a disengagement from the battlefield with the Taliban while admitting that al Qaeda has grown stronger in the world.

In his State of the Union speech of 2013, President Barack Obama addressed several crises in the Middle East and on the front of fighting terror. On Afghanistan President Obama assessed the outcome of his policies as a weakening of the Taliban and committed to a sustained withdrawal from the country while helping the Afghan Government to take the lead in military missions. The role of the US after withdrawal in 2014, according to Obama will be to assist the fight against al Qaeda.

There was no mention of a fight against the Taliban after 2014. Does that mean that there will be a political engagement or even a partnership with the Taliban while pursuing combat with al Qaeda? How will that be to short of having the Taliban and al Qaeda splitting off? The Taliban are a Jihadist organization which is projected to make advances inside Afghanistan upon US and NATO withdrawal. It is to al Qaeda what bone is to flesh, cemented by ideology.

On al Qaeda, President Obama continued to assert that “the organization that attacked us has lost significantly and is on decline.” The Administration has maintained over the past two years that the elimination of Bin Laden has crumbled the network. Reality on the world stage is otherwise.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]

From Russia With Love: Meteors and the Coming Nuclear Attack on America

Friday February 15, 2013 two Russian nuclear-armed bombers circled the Western Pacific Island of Guam, equipped with nuclear-tipped missiles. The two Russian Tu-95 Bear-H strategic bombers were followed by U.S. jets that had scrambled from Andersen Air Force Base on Guam. The event occurred just hours before President Barack Obama’s state of the union address.

Military analysts said the bomber incident was highly unusual and believe Moscow was sending a strategic message to Washington. The bombers flew over a thousand miles from the Russian Far East and according to Defense officials they were likely equipped with six Kh-55 or Kh-55SM cruise missiles that can hit targets up to 1,800 miles away with either a high-explosive warhead or a 200-kiloton nuclear warhead. In contrast, the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima was 13-kiloton…

However, the U.S. appears to be ignoring the signal that Russia has been sending for decades. Vladimir Putin said “For Russia to feel secure and for our partners to listen carefully to what our country has to say, Moscow must spend about $775 billion by 2022 for new armaments and a more professional military.” At the same time the United States is disarming its nuclear arsenal, as I said in my NewsWithViews.com article of October 29, 2012 entitled “The Day Russia Attacks the United States.”

For decades Russia has been building up a vast network of underground bunkers and nuclear blast shelters. Some military experts believe that Russia is secretly preparing for World War III. Other intelligence experts are speculating that Russia may be planning a future attack on the United States. The Russians have been storing grain and other foodstuffs, gold, and oil and diesel fuel. Russian underground bunkers can store 326 million tons of grain, and their military can store up another 80 million tons of grain.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]

British Student, 20, Gang-Raped by Four Men on Balcony in Thailand After ‘Boyfriend Left Her in a Bar’

A British student has been gang-raped by four men on a balcony in Thailand after they dragged her off the street when she left a bar in the early hours of the morning.

The men had been driving around in a pick-up truck when they spotted the 20-year-old coming out of the popular night spot on Saturday morning.

Police said the girl was drunk and had been left by a fellow traveller from South Africa, said to be her boyfriend. Both had been advised to leave the bar because of their condition, it was claimed.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]

China’s Army is Seen as Tied to Hacking Against U.S.

A growing body of digital forensic evidence — confirmed by American intelligence officials who say they have tapped into the activity of a unit of cyberwarriors in China’s army — leaves little doubt that an overwhelming percentage of the attacks on American corporations, organizations and government agencies originate in and around a 12-story building on the outskirts of Shanghai.

An unusually detailed 60-page study, to be released Tuesday by Mandiant, an American computer security firm, tracks for the first time individual members of the most sophisticated of the Chinese hacking groups — known to many of its victims in the United States as “Comment Crew” or “Shanghai Group” — to the doorstep of the headquarters of a People’s Liberation Army unit.

While Comment Crew has drained terabytes of data from companies like Coca-Cola, increasingly its focus is on companies involved in the critical infrastructure of the United States — its electrical power grid, gas lines and waterworks.

[Return to headlines]

Cold Reception for Anti-Islam Campaigner

Right-wing Dutch MP Geert Wilders has told SBS he is “happy” to be in Australia despite getting a frosty reception from local politicians.

Right-wing Dutch MP Geert Wilders has told SBS he is “happy” to be in Australia despite getting a frosty reception from local politicians. “Even your Prime Minister said not the most kind things about me, and your former Minister of Immigration stalled granting me a visa,” he said. “Freedom of speech is one of the most important things in our free society and I am happy to be here.”…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]

Dutch MP Wilders Asked to Learn From Vic

FAR-RIGHT Dutch MP Geert Wilders could learn a lot about the strengths of multiculturalism during his Australian visit, community and religious leaders say.

Mr Wilders, whose Party for Freedom holds the balance of power in the Dutch parliament, will give speeches in Melbourne, Sydney and Perth this month about what he calls the “Islamisation of Australia”. A coalition of 24 groups — including the AFL and the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne — issued a joint statement in Melbourne on Monday, reinforcing their support for Victoria’s “multicultural and multifaith community”…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]

British Builder ‘Captured by Islamic Extremists’ After Group With Links to Al Qaeda Claims Responsibility for Nigeria Kidnap

An Islamic extremist faction has claimed responsibility for kidnapping a group of builders allegedly including a British national from a construction site in Nigeria.

A group calling itself Ansaru issued a statement today claiming it has taken one British citizen, one Greek, one Italian, three Lebanese and one Filipino working for a construction company in the West African country.

The group, which has been linked to the previous abduction of Briton Christopher McManus, warned that Nigerian and European authorities should not ‘act contrary to our conditions’.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]

A Crackdown on Immigration and on Benefits Abuse? The Tory Leadership Ought to be Careful…

By Peter Hoskin

Take a run through this morning’s papers, and you’ll clatter into this story in the Mail on Sunday. It details a ‘secret Chequers summit’ that will be attended, later this week, by the ‘Fab four’ of David Cameron, George Osborne, Ed Llewellyn and Lynton Crosby. Apparently, this summit will focus on party strategy for 2015 — in particular, Mr Crosby’s notion that ‘curbing immigration and abuse of state hand-outs is key to winning the Election’…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]

Amnesty for All and Jobs for None

The American worker has emerged as the collateral damage in the war between big government and big business.

Like stray dogs drawn to an open sewer, after a bitter election, the Democrats and Republicans have found themselves drawn together to illegal alien amnesty.

Amnesty has an obvious appeal for both Democrats and Republicans. It’s a means of putting a lot of cheap votes on the table. The Democrats have been using immigrants as cheap votes before the invention of the telephone. And the Republicans think that they can begin scoring 39 percent of the Hispanic vote in all their elections again without considering what 11 percent of 11 million will do to their margins in even the reddest red states.

Big business has always supported cheap labor, which is why the Republican establishment has always been eager to dash away from its base to back the latest amnesty gimmick. Illegal alien amnesty, however, is even more damaging to the voting base for the Democrats, but that hasn’t stopped the AFL-CIO and the NAACP, organizations whose members will take a severe beating from an illegal alien amnesty, from joining the amnesty parade.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]

Immigrants Must Live in Britain for a Year Before Claiming Benefits, Says Welfare Minister

Migrants from the European Union will be forced to live in Britain for up to a year before they can claim benefits, under plans outlined by Iain Duncan Smith, the welfare minister.

The Work and Pensions Secretary said hard-working migrants who paid their taxes and contributed to the economy would be welcome. But he said he wanted to ensure “our door is shut” to benefit tourists and was engaged in a “big battle” with Brussels to reform the rules on welfare payments to residents from elsewhere in the EU. Last week the Prime Minister promised to overhaul the system for immigrants to ensure that Britain is not “a soft touch”. Ministers have been in talks over tightening the rules allowing migrants access to social housing, the NHS, benefits and elements of the justice system…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]

Italy: Immigrants ‘Revolt’ At Rome Detention Center

Detainees light mattresses and climb on roof

(ANSA) — Rome, February 18 — A blaze on Monday morning at a detention center for immigrants on the outskirts of Rome was subdued by firefighters and police who were called to contain a ‘revolt’.

Police said that immigrants being held at the Ponte Galeria center for the identification and expulsion of illegal immigrants lit mattresses and furniture on fire and some climbed onto the roof. Immigrant detention centers in Italy known as CIEs have drawn fire from human rights groups for overcrowding and prison-like conditions.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]

UK: I’d be Overjoyed if This Was the End of the Foreign Criminals Fiasco — But Don’t Hold Your Breath

Another week, another scene-change in the long-running farce of Britain’s catastrophic entanglement with human rights law.

The Government is to introduce new legislation to try to end the outrage whereby foreign criminals avoid deportation by successfully arguing in court that they are entitled to a right to family life, as enshrined in the European Convention on Human Rights.

Yesterday, Home Secretary Theresa May chose to announce this new legislation with a ferocious attack on the judiciary for allowing such people to remain in Britain.

Accusing the judges of undermining democracy, no less, she tore into them for choosing capriciously to ignore the will of Parliament simply because they thought it had reached the wrong conclusion.

This was because, she raged, they had ignored a measure passed last year by Parliament to stop foreign criminals and immigration cheats using the ‘right to family life’ clause in the European Convention to avoid being thrown out of the UK.

What she was referring to was a set of rules she had introduced into Parliament, which stated any foreign national who was convicted of a serious crime should normally be deported regardless of whether he had a family here.

Because some judges were nevertheless still giving some foreign criminals the right to remain on these ‘family life’ grounds, Mrs May claimed they were paying no attention to the wishes of Parliament.

Moreover, she charged, they were actually usurping Parliament’s role to make the laws that the judges had a duty merely to implement.

Such strong words sound admirable, but I’m sorry to say it appears as if Mrs May was being disingenuous and self-serving.

The truth is that she made a bad mistake last year over this very issue. For the rules she introduced and which Parliament duly passed, seeking to force the courts to throw out foreign criminals, constituted merely what is called ‘secondary legislation’, which does not have the legal force of an actual Act of Parliament.

As such, these rules could be trumped by human rights law (such as the right to family life), which the courts can rule allows such people to remain in Britain.

Contrary to Mrs May’s assertions, the judges did, indeed, take account of these rules. The problem was that the rules were too feeble in law to produce the result Mrs May wanted.

That wasn’t the judges’ fault. The person responsible for that unsatisfactory state of affairs was none other than Mrs May herself.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]

21 Signs That U.S. Public Schools Have Become Training Centers for Sexual Deviancy

Why do men and women have a such a hard time relating to each other in a meaningful way in America today? Could our oversexed culture have anything to do with it? In the United States today, we are constantly being bombarded with sexual messages. Just think about it. Did you watch the Super Bowl a few weeks ago? Most of the commercials were about sex on some level, and the “halftime show” featuring Beyonce might as well have been a strip club act. It was utterly shameful. But in America today, all of this is considered to be “normal”. We literally worship sex, and we can never get enough of it. And of course the results of such a society are predictable. There are 20 million new sexually-transmitted infections in the U.S. each year, we have the highest teen pregnancy rate on the planet, and it is estimated that one out of every four girls in the U.S. is sexually abused before they become adults.

This culture of sex is pushed on our children from a very early age, and at this point it would be quite accurate to say that U.S. public schools have become training centers for sexual deviancy. A lot of people focus on “sex education” as the problem, but the truth is that it goes much deeper than that. Sex education only lasts for a few weeks at most. The much bigger problem is the fact that an obsession with sex literally permeates our schools. If parents could only eavesdrop on the conversations that our teens are having, they would be absolutely horrified. Thanks to endless brainwashing by the mainstream media, our teens are absolutely addicted to a sexual atmosphere. Every form of entertainment that they enjoy is soaked with sexual imagery, and lust and sex are never far from their minds when they relate to members of the opposite sex (or sometimes the same sex). So should we really be surprised that students are having sex with each other in the hallways of our schools? Should we be surprised that young teachers are taking advantage of our students sexually behind closed doors? We have created a society that is sexually supercharged, and what we are witnessing now are the predictable results of the very foolish decisions that we have made.

The following are 21 signs that U.S. public schools have become training centers for sexual deviancy…

#1 There is a raging epidemic of sexually-transmitted diseases among our young people. According to the latest figures released by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, there are 20 million new sexually-transmitted infections in the United States every single year, and Americans between the ages of 15 and 24 account for approximately 50 percent of those new sexually-transmitted infections…

#10 Sex “education” has become much more about “indoctrination” in recent years. One recent example of this trend was detailed in the New York Times…

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]

Beleaguered Christianity

Mainstream Catholics actually do not differ from modern submissive crowds. They accept anything, just fearing not being politically correct and they live “en accord avec l’esprit des temps”. They go to church sometimes; they accept the sacraments but don’t give a damn about the future of the faith and European Christianity.

If the next pope is an African, in conformity with the mainstream media will, and if he asks Europe to accept one hundred million more Africans, these Christians will be happy to submit and to accept their destruction and submersion. Who would take the risk of being labelled a racist?

Now the French traditionalist Catholics are on their own to fight against homosexual adoption of children in France. The clergy in France did nothing to help them, as usual. They have gathered a crowd of one million people in Paris, at the Champ de Mars. They have collected signatures of a half a million people, and it is of course useless.

In a democracy a genuine mass movement is always ignored, especially if it wants to defend and illustrate an ethical and Christian point of view; there may be one country in which the Christian point of view is still working and paradoxically it is Russia.

Chesterton used the word of orthodoxy to defend the ideals of Christianity. Science and libertarianism, anti-religious bias and global indifference (especially from the Catholic crowds) have accelerated a process in which western tradition is itself separated from the corpus of society.

Christians now are a minority barely tolerated in France. You can be Muslim, atheist, pagan, Jew, agnostic, polytheist, anything but Christian. I mean you can be a Christian if you are not a Christian; it is Orwellian Catholicism.

Yesterday in Paris a group of naked and tattooed girls came to swear, scream and profane the church of Notre-Dame and nobody dared to stop them. This is not the first time it occurs, but once more there was no reaction; I mean no physical or juridical reaction. The Catholic crowd is not prepared to fight or to die for its ideals nor are the conservative politicians who seek its votes. So the anti-Christian show can go on. We are not in Russia.

[Return to headlines]

UK: ‘I Don’t Have Enough Women in the Cabinet’: David Cameron Admits His Wife is Lobbying Him to Promote More

David Cameron has admitted that Britain’s government, businesses and the judiciary are lacking women in top positions.

He said Britain had a ‘long way to go’ in bringing more women into the boardroom — and revealed his wife, Samantha, has pushed him for action on the issue.

During his visit to India, the Prime Minister today said that barriers needed to be torn down to encourage women to go for top jobs.

[Comment from Liz: Just get the best people,and never choose them just because thet are women.This is why women politicians are so dire.They get safe seats without having to fight for them,and then they get promoted way too soon to meet some silly quota.Result? Harriet Harman,Yvette Cooper,Jackie Smith,Louise Mensch,Hazel Blears,Lynne Featherstone,Nadine Dorries,young Chloe -need I go on? (I could!)]

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]

UK: Brighton Council to Open ‘Gender Neutral’ Public Toilets as it ‘Phases Out Male and Female Lavatories’

A council is planning to replace traditional male and female lavatories with ‘gender neutral’ toilets in an attempt to facilitate the transgender community.

The facilities will avoid using the words ‘men’ and ‘ladies’, instead using symbols that indicate they can be used by people of any sex.

But the plans to change signage on the toilets, which will be used by both adults and children, have attracted criticism and been described as ‘political correctness’.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]

One thought on “Gates of Vienna News Feed 2/18/2013

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