A higher court judge in England has overturned the conviction last year of a woman who was charged with racism for calling her New Zealander neighbor a “stupid, fat, Australian bitch”. The judge concluded that the word “Australian” was not prima facie a racist term.
In other news, a court in Brooklyn has ruled that the victims of terror attacks by Hamas may sue Credit Lyonnais, the French bank that handles Hamas’ financial affairs.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to Andy Bostom, C. Cantoni, Diana West, Fjordman, Insubria, JD, Jerry Gordon, Nilk, Takuan Seiyo, The Observer, Vlad Tepes, 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.
Fed Injects Record $100 Billion Cash Into Foreign Banks Operating in the US in Past Week
Those who have been following our exclusive series of the Fed’s direct bailout of European banks (here, here, here and here), and, indirectly of Europe, will not be surprised at all to learn that in the week ended February 27, or the week in which Europe went into a however brief tailspin following the shocking defeat of Bersani in the Italian elections, and an even more shocking victory by Berlusconi and Grillo, leading to a political vacuum and a hung parliament, the Fed injected a record $99 billion of excess reserves into foreign banks. As the most recent H.8 statement makes very clear, soared from $836 billion to a near-record $936 billion, or a $99.3 billion reserve “reallocation” in the form of cash — very, very fungible cash — into foreign (read European) banks in one week.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Central Bank Role ‘Crucial’ For Stability, Visco Says
Confidence a must for banking activities
(ANSA) — Rome, March 8 — Central banks “have a crucial role” to play in terms of monetary and financial stability, Italian Central Bank Governor Ignazio Visco said on Friday.
Visco made a reference to the works of deceased Italian economist Curzio Giannini, who said central banks “do not have to go and search of for new activity to carry out” as they already produce “an essential good, which is that of confidence”.
The Bank of Italy governor was speaking in Rome at a conference in the cultural institute Academia dei Lincei.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
More Greek Kids & Teenagers Suffering From Depression
Crisis-related woes are bringing them down
(ANSAmed) — ATHENS — More and more Greek children and teenagers are getting stressed out and depressed because of the crippling economic crisis, according to a report by GreekReporter.com.
Psychologists cited in the report say that the number of kids presenting with insomnia, stress, headaches, stomach aches, aching limbs and nail biting has risen as they worry about their parents who have been laid off in the crisis. Cases requiring a child psychiatrist at the Karamandanio hospital in Patras have shot up 40% in the past two years, largely down to the economic crisis, and psychologists have diagnosed children as young as nine years old with depression. 200 children between three and 16 years of age were examined in the pediatric psychiatric ward of the hospital last January, Karamandanio director and pediatrician Ioannis Yiannakopoulos said.
And in 2010 1,420 children and teenagers sought psychological support versus 2,000 in 2012. ““Over the past two years cases of depression have risen 38% and there’s a fear that in the future a lot more children will need help. All the experts emphasize that the situation experienced by today’s children is more depressing and painful than in the past,”, said Yiannakopoulos.
Depression hits 12 year olds the hardest, according to Yiannis Kouros, president of the Association of Psychology and Psychiatry. At this age kids can become particularly emotional and sombre, as well as prone to insomnia. “Depressed kids tend to become very introverted. They don’t want to leave the house because their clothes are old. Having less money because of the economic crisis impacts heavily on their fragile mental health because they can no longer have the things they had before,” said Kouros. Although parents are quick to consult psychiatrists when they are worried about their children they tend to do so by phone rather than in person.
Stavroula Karagianni, Director of psychiatry at a children’s hospital in Athens, confirmed that cases of depressed children and teenagers are on the rise. But Karagianni points out that contributing to the increases is the fact that many child psychiatry centers have shut — the crisis, once again being to blame.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Portugal: ‘Eleven Banks Suspected of Combining Loan Rates’
Diário de Notícias, 7 March 2013
The Competition Authority raided a number of Portugal’s largest banks as part of an inquiry into allegations of interest and mortgage rate-fixing.
The operation, which was three weeks in the planning, came after the Authority received information suggesting banks had shared sensitive data. The banks raided have denied sharing data, which would be in breach of antitrust laws.
If the banks are found to have breached these regulations, they face fines of up to 10 per cent of their annual turnover.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
One of the most difficult things truth tellers encounter are Americans who have no education about the roots of the global masters and how they are destroying, not just America, but the world. I can tell you from experience, as can hundreds, if not thousands of writers like myself, as soon as you begin to give a history of the evil that built the house of horrors we are living in right now, the average American, due either to political party loyalty or denial, simply does not want to hear the truth. As the late, former Congressman from California, James B. Utt, said so long ago: “None are so blind as he who cannot see”. Sadly, millions of Americans would rather willfully believe lies. They can’t believe, having been sold a bill of goods, that Marxists like Barry Soetoro, aka Obama, is anything other than some brilliant problem solver who just loves all the poor folks.
I believe most refuse to see because they are afraid of the truth. Because tens of millions need to stay in denial, they will not make the time to read the history of the architects of our pain and who continue the work of the evil doers. I say house because if you can imagine a house, or perhaps a structure as big as a palace with each room representing one faction and study each one, you can come to no other conclusion as to who built the structure and how we are now being systematically destroyed by domestic and foreign enemies.
[…]
The Destroyers Who Control Congress, the White House & Media
Hon. Marjorie S. Holt of Maryland In the House of Representatives January 19, 1976, page 240
“Mrs. Holt. Mr. Speaker, many of us recently received a letter from the World Affairs Council of Philadelphia, inviting Members of Congress to participate in a ceremonial signing of “A Declaration of Interdependence“ on January 30 in Congress Hall, adjacent to Independence Hall in Philadelphia. A number of Members of Congress have been invited to sign this document, lending their prestige to its theme, but I want the record to show my strong opposition to this declaration.
“It calls for surrender of our national sovereignty to international organizations. It declares that our economy should be regulated by international authorities. It proposes that we enter a “new world order” that would redistribute the wealth created by the American people. Mr. Speaker, this is an obscenity that defiles our Declaration of Independence, signed 200 years ago in Philadelphia. We fought a great Revolution for independence and individual liberty, but now it proposed that we participate in a world socialist order.
I’m not sure how much Rep. Holt knew about our monetary system, but it was hijacked by the unconstitutional “Federal” Reserve Act of 1913. For a list of “Fed” stockholders and factual information, I highly recommend, Secrets of the Federal Reserve by the late Eustace Mullins. How the plan to take over and control our monetary system is fully covered in G. Edward Griffin’s outstanding and thoroughly documented work, Creature from Jekyll Island. The members of Congress who worked so hard to get that unconstitutional act passed were simply traitors. That act is the single biggest heist ever executed against you, me, our children, grand children and our parents and grand parents before us.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
This is Why Central Planners Are So Scared of Italy’s Beppe Grillo
Incredible Video: Beppe Grillo Dissects the Financial System… on 1998
“Whom does the money belong to? Who does its ownership belong to? To the State fine…then to us, we are the State. You know that the State doesn’t exist, it is only a legal entity. WE are the state, then the money is ours… fine. Then let me know one thing. If the money belongs to us…Why…do they lend it to us??”
— Beppe Grillo in 1998
If you really want to know why Beppe Grillo is causing Central Planners throughout the European continent to wet themselves, this video will show you. There’s a real revolution happening in Italy. This guy is the real deal and he understands the heart of the whole issue plaguing the world. All I can say is: WOW.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Watch Out for Falling Objects: US Share of Total Chinese Exports Plunges to All Time Low
We posted this chart previously, but it deserves repeating, for one reason: whereas conventional wisdom in the past was the due to the mutual assured trade destruction between China and the US (with China overly reliant on the US consumer and market for its exports, and the US desperate for Chinese purchases of US bonds as a USD-recycling and, more importantly, deficit-funding pathway), perhaps now that exports to the US as a percentage of total Chinese exports have fallen to an all time low, and with Chinese purchases of US bonds stagnant of 18 months in a row as the Fed’s monetization of US paper has replaced the marginal Chinese demand, perhaps it is time to rethink the increasingly unstable MAD Nash Equilibrium that exists between the countries: first in trade, and soon in all other aspects of socio-economic relations.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
What Looks Like a Rally May Just be the Elites Passing Money Among Themselves
Part of the reason people get less giddy about the Dow than they did five years ago is because they have learnt a bit about inequality. They suspect, more than they used to, that significant developments in the economy go on over their heads. What looks like a recovery, a rally or an increase in consumer confidence may just be the effect of elites passing money among themselves.
Most western leaders hold power today because they weren’t in power during the bleakest days of September 2008. (Germany is the important exception.) They claimed a mandate for radical action, but the economy stumped them. So they have been radical on non-economic matters instead: Barack Obama with healthcare reform, David Cameron with gay marriage and Ireland’s Enda Kenny with abortion. If you were to examine their rhetoric of a few years ago, you might suspect these initiatives were hocus-pocus. Their economic policies don’t differ much from those of their predecessors.
The West’s leaders are vulnerable to the accusation that the policies they lay out on behalf of society as a whole are benefiting only a small group.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
ACLU Helps Addicts Go on State-Funded Highs
Fall of Florida’s drug-test law called America’s loss
The American Civil Liberties Union is up to its old tricks with a legal victory that casts a cloud over Florida, according to Liberty Counsel founder Mathew D. Staver.
A 2011 Florida law requiring welfare applicants to take drug tests was ruled unconstitutional Tuesday by the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals of Atlanta.
The court unanimously ruled in favor of the ACLU in its lawsuit to stop the enforcement of the accountability measure boldly supported by the state’s Republican governor, Rick Scott.
The appellate court’s decision upheld a previous injunction issued by a district court judge that kept state officials from instituting the law just months before it was to go into effect.
Three federal court judges unanimously held that the contested law violated Florida citizens’ Fourth Amendment rights against unreasonable search and seizure. But Staver told WND that the ACLU’s interpretation of “unreasonable” is far from what the Founding Fathers had in mind.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
CIA Head Sworn in on Draft Constitution Without Bill of Rights
The government has absolutely shredded the Bill of Rights in the last decade or so.
New CIA boss John Brennan endorses torture, assassination of unidentified strangers (including Americans) without due process, and spying on all Americans.
As such, it is fitting that Mr. Brennan specially requested that he be sworn in on a draft of the Constitution lacking the Bill of Rights.
A draft which doesn’t even begin with the famous preamble we all know and love:
“We the people of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America …”
But rather starts with:
“We the People of the States of New-Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode-Island and Providence Plantations, Connecticut, New-York, New-Jersey, Pennslyvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North-Carolina, South-Carolina and Georgia, do ordain, declare and establish the following Constitution for the Government of Ourselves and our Posterity…”
That has a very different tone from the final version of the Constitution.
Here’s the actual version Brennan swore in on, courtesy of the National Archives (click any image for larger view):
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Colorado Democrats Pass Most Gun-Control Bills But Drop Two After Rape Outcry
Colorado Democrats rammed most of their gun-control package through the state Senate late Friday, but yanked two bills after a furious backlash over the concerns of rape victims.
Senate Democrats gave initial approval to five bills, including legislation to extend background checks to private sales, limit ammunition magazine and shotgun capacity, and compel domestic-violence offenders to relinquish their guns.
But with the clock nearing midnight and a blizzard looming, Democrats agreed to drop two of the more controversial measures: a bill to create legal liability for gun manufacturers and sellers, and another to ban concealed-carry on state college campuses.
The liability bill was seen as an overreach, given that it conflicts with a 2005 federal law, while the concealed-carry bill became politically explosive after a Democratic legislator dismissed the concerns of rape victims who testified against it in committee.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Congressman Suspects NASA Let in Chinese Spies
Given recent budget cuts, it’s refreshing to see a politician lobbying for additional NASA funding. Astrophiles may be less encouraged, however, to learn the rationale behind Congressman Frank Wolf’s plea. Wolf claims that a Chinese national with ties to a potentially dangerous organization brought sensitive NASA information back to his native country, and the representative wants to channel resources into tightening security at the space agency.
“I was recently contacted by whistleblowers who provided me with a report alerting me to a very potential situation at NASA Langley Research Center involving a Chinese national who was allegedly provided access and information he should have otherwise been restricted from receiving,” said Wolf in a press conference. “It is my understanding that this Chinese national is affiliated with an institution in China that has been designated as an ‘entity of concern’ by other U.S. government agencies.”
The national in question was able to return to China and share the information he learned with others, Wolf said. While NASA itself is not allowed to hire Chinese nationals unless they have U.S. citizenships or green cards, subcontractors that provide the agency with talent may employ whomever they wish.
In addition to security concerns, Wolf cites preserving and growing the American aerospace industry as a reason behind his irritation. “If we can’t keep cutting-edge technology protected from espionage, we will never be able to commercialize it and create the jobs our country needs,” he said.
Wolf points out that there may be dozens of other Chinese nationals working for NASA subcontractors, workers who, if granted continued access to sensitive information, could jeopardize U.S. security. He also calls for the immediate takedown of a NASA website that shares sensitive, but declassified information with the world, including interested parties in China and Iran.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Diana West: Drones, Due Process and Us
Andy McCarthy, a former federal prosecutor formidable and, bonus, great friend of mine, has weighed in on the Rand Paul filibuster at NRO and finds it so much misguided theatrics. Further, he describes what I see as Paul’s electric efforts to focus attention on executive overreach and obfuscation as a “crusade to have the Constitution ban a bogeyman of [Paul’s] own making.”
The “bogeyman” here is what Andy describes as the “killing of American citizens on American soil by America’s armed forces” — which sounds pretty scary to me. This, he dryly notes, is “a scandal that clearly cries out for action, having occurred exactly zero times in the 20 years since jihadists commenced hostilities by bombing the World Trade Center.”
Whether non-occurrence is reason for non-action — or, in this case, public debate in the filibuster spotlight — I leave to history’s witness of Pearl Harbor, the 1972 Olympics, and the use on 9/11 of passenger jets as humanly guided missiles, all of which occurred exactly zero times in history before that first time. More important, though, I don’t think this supposed bogeyman was at all of Paul’s making. It was of the president’s making, the AG’s making, and the CIA director-designate’s making.
To wit:
On January 30, the president was asked by video blogger Lee Doren whether the administration believes “it’s legal to have drone strikes on American citizens … specifically allowed with citizens within in the United States.” The president’s replied:…
| — Hat tip: Diana West | [Return to headlines] |
More and more liberal MSM outlets and environmental groups with deep bank accounts and lavish support from Hollywood celebrities are expanding their propaganda and indoctrination of GREEN to the low information Americans who only hear sound bites delivered with such assurance and expensively made videos that the information seems true. But I see the scam of GREEN, the Green Growth of wealth being redistributed by Uncle Sam, with the help of environmentalists with an agenda that coincides with U.N.’s Agenda 21.
USA Today dedicated on March 1, 2013 a special report and a video to the indoctrination of the masses that had little basis in fact. It enumerated how climate change is responsible for a host of problems in America: “More American children are getting asthma and allergies, and more seniors are suffering heat strokes. Food and utility prices are rising. Flooding is overrunning bridges, swamping subways and closing airport runways. People are losing jobs in drought-related factory closings. Cataclysmic storms are wiping out sprawling neighborhoods. Towns are sinking.”
My question is, if this is true, and flooding will swallow beaches, islands, and any state with an opening to the sea, why do Hollywood celebrities and political elites build lavish homes on the water front, beaches, and tropical islands? If it is not sustainable for us to use fossil fuels, build where we want, and emit CO2, why is it sustainable for them to live in a McMansion, fly in personal jets, own numerous cars, and leave behind a huge carbon foot print? Why not ride bikes, five minutes from home and work like the rest of us are supposed to do?
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Liberalism: A Basic Primer — Or, Why Leftism is Failure Incarnate
Having covered the origins of leftism in the initial article in this two-part series, let’s recap. Liberalism was originally named for its chief aim — as a philosophy based upon liberty, which is now known as Classical Liberalism. The roots of this worldview stretch back to classical paganism. In An Intellectual History of Liberalism, Pierre Manent generally describes Liberalism as “the basso continuo of modern politics, of the politics of Europe and the West for about the past three centuries.” In other words, it is our foundational societal theory. Yet, now the term liberalism has been co-opted by socialism.
Ralph Raico describes the original idea:
“Classical liberalism” is the term used to designate the ideology advocating private property, an unhampered market economy, the rule of law, constitutional guarantees of freedom of religion and of the press, and international peace based on free trade…including freedom of contract and exchange and the free disposition of one’s own labor, is given a high priority. Historically, liberalism has manifested a hostility to state action, which, it insists, should be reduced to a minimum.
Having recapped, let’s examine the development of modern liberalism, or socialism. How is it that what was once the philosophy of liberty devolved into doctrinaire, pedestrian socialism — with its inane fixation on controlling the habits of men and extinguishing their freedoms? This occurred because Socialists needed to update their brand marketing, as most Americans considered Marxist inspired ideas unacceptable on their face.
A. Change of Definitions
How did the term liberalism — originally understood as the philosophy of liberty — become defined as its opposite? Ralph Raico describes this transition:
It is not disputed that the popular meaning of liberal has changed drastically over time. It is a well-known story how, around 1900, in English-speaking countries and elsewhere, the term was captured by socialist writers. For a century now controversy has raged over the true meaning of liberalism. How did this momentous transformation of the term liberal — what Paul Gottfried calls “a semantic theft” — come about?
According to Raico, the Left tells itself an essentially false, self-aggrandizing fable of how the word liberal was co-opted by socialism, while attempting to retain a sense of natural evolution and growth of their movement. Specifically, the Left informs itself that Old Liberals were content with laissez-faire until they realized this method would not work to make the world a better place. They then decided to adopt more government controls for economics and communitarian vision of property ownership.
It is clear, though, that image problems with the term socialist itself was a huge motivation to dump the word. Some persons dropped socialist and called themselves individualists. These began to develop ideas similar to Italy’s Fascist economic policy. John Dewey began to use “individualist” in this manner. Others preferred the term “nationalist,” while a third group adopted “liberal.” Interestingly, such persons — while stealing the identity of real liberals, still saw themselves as the benefactor, not enslavers, of mankind.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
On February 22, “Right Views” reported that a growing number of firearm companies have suspended the sale of guns to states, counties, cities and municipalities that restrict their citizens’ rights to own them.
In just two weeks, the number of companies participating in what has been named the “Firearms Equality Movement,” has more than tripled from 34 companies to 118.
The Police Loophole lists every company and links to the statements that each has released regarding their new policies.
Wilson Combat, a custom pistol manufacturer located in Berryville, Arkansas, joined the movement on February 28 stating the following:
“Wilson Combat will no longer provide any products or services to any State Government imposing legislation that infringes on the second amendment rights of its law abiding citizens. This includes any Law Enforcement Department, Law Enforcement Officers, or any State Government Entity or Employee of such an entity. This also applies to any local municipality imposing such infringements.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Obama ‘Rewarding’ Terrorists With Civilian Trials
‘If you hit jihadist jackpot, we’ll bring you into Manhattan’
Osama bin Laden’s son-in-law and former spokesman pleaded not guilty in federal court Friday to charges that he conspired to kill Americans.
Sulaiman Abu Ghaith was arraigned with little prior public notice after being apprehended days ago in Jordan.
However, the leader of the U.S. prosecution team against the 1993 World Trade Center bombers said the Obama administration wasted a golden opportunity to glean critical intelligence and damaged the credibility of U.S. military commissions.
Andrew C. McCarthy told WND Congress established that military commissions would be the destination for captured enemy combatants after setting up the system in the wake of Sept. 11, 2001, but the Obama administration found a loophole.
“Public funds were not supposed to be used to bring enemy combatant terrorists into the United States for civilian trial, but the statute we’re talking about applied to the people who were in custody in Gitmo,” McCarthy explained. “When it fell into the Obama administration’s lap that there was someone who fit the definition of an enemy combatant but yet was not at Gitmo, that was a golden opportunity for the administration to end-around the congressional ban and usher an enemy combatant terrorist into the United States to give him a civilian trial.”
McCarthy admitted that he and fellow prosecutors have amassed a strong conviction record against terrorist suspects, but possible exoneration is not his biggest concern. He said trials in civilian court always trigger intelligence flows that make our nation more vulnerable.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Susan Rice as National Security Adviser?
Susan E. Rice, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations who lost out in a bruising bid for the job of secretary of state, may have the last laugh.
Rice has emerged as far and away the front-runner to succeed Thomas E. Donilon as President Obama’s national security adviser later this year, according to an administration official familiar with the president’s thinking. The job would place her at the nexus of foreign-policy decision making and allow her to rival the influence of Secretary of State John F. Kerry in shaping the president’s foreign policy.
The appointment would mark a dramatic twist of fortune for Rice, whose prospects to become the country’s top diplomat fizzled last year after a round of television appearances in which she provided what turned out to be a flawed account of the Sept. 11 terrorist attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The World is Not Having Enough Babies
What to Expect When No One is Expecting: America’s Coming Demographic Disaster.
“Today, American pets now outnumber American children by more than four to one.”
When a nation’s population fails to reproduce and replace its population, it goes into decline. That is the theme of Jonathan V. Last’s new book, “What to Expect When No One is Expecting: America’s Coming Demographic Disaster.” Fertility rates may seem an odd topic in the midst of anemic economic growth, raging debates about entitlement programs, a government in gridlock, and threats from external enemies, but they are critical the nation’s future.
“In order for a country to maintain a steady population, it needs a fertility rate of 2.1” but America’s rate “currently sits at 1.93.” Declining populations have always followed or been followed by Very Bad Things. Disease. War. Economic stagnation or collapse. And these grim tides from history may be our future, since population is where most of the world is heading.”
Yes, the world. It has all manner of implications, not just for the U.S., but for nations like China and Russia where their leaders are urging their populations to have more babies.
“Social Security and Medicare were conceived in an era of high fertility. It was only after our fertility rate collapsed that the economics of the programs became dysfunctional.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
United Nations Agency Demands U.S. Government Sue States Over Marijuana Decriminalization Laws
(NaturalNews) Americans have differing opinions about the wisdom of marijuana legalization but most of us would agree that no matter what we think about it personally, it is an issue for Americans to decide.
So, an admonishment by a United Nations agency urging the U.S. government to sue the states of Colorado and Washington, whose citizens recently voted to support pot legalization in their states, should be dismissed out of hand as the carnival sideshow that it is, right?
If only it were that easy.
You see, while such decisions should be left for Americans and states to decide on their own, decades of allowing our leaders to strike bargains (otherwise known as “treaties”) with the UN has created an impediment to liberty, thus allowing an unelected global body a say in our country’s political processes. Some call that “civilized” and “reasonable;” George Washington called such arrangements an “entangling alliance” we should strive to avoid.
Then there is that federal law regarding marijuana…
Nevertheless, the International Narcotics Control Board is now prodding the U.S. government to challenge Colorado and Washington in court over pot legalization for recreational use in those states because the agency says the laws violate international drug treaties, The Seattle Times reported.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
VA Says ‘Routine’ is to Threaten Vets’ Gun Rights
The Obama administration insists it’s routine for officials to send out letters informing veterans that an unidentified “report” indicates they may be declared incompetent and consequently stripped of their Second Amendment rights.
It’s the same administration that in 2009 warned that “returning veterans possess combat skills and experience that are attractive to rightwing extremists.”
The 2009 report, from the Department of Homeland Security, was called “Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment.” It also said Obama’s governmental managers were “concerned that rightwing extremists will attempt to recruit and radicalize returning veterans in order to boost their violent capabilities.”
So when hundreds, perhaps thousands, of veterans began receiving letters like the one dispatched from the Portland, Ore., office of the Department of Veterans Affairs, alarm bells went off.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Ancient Reindeer Hunters Fished Ice Age Lakes
Scientists have unearthed six fishhooks, the oldest of which was made from a 19,000-year-old mammoth tusk.
Hunters of ice age reindeer around 12,300 years ago likely left the fishhooks, along with mammal and fish bones, in an open field in what is now Wustermark, Germany. The fishhooks, which are the oldest found in Europe, suggests humans developed fishing tools earlier than previously thought, probably to catch fast-moving fish that appeared in lakes as the climate warmed.
“These people had strong ideas to use the new resources of this changing environment,” said Robert Sommer, a paleoecologist at the University of Kiel in Germany. The eel, perch and pike that entered lakes are too fast to snag with a harpoon or a spear, Sommer added.
The findings are detailed in the May 2013 issue of the Journal of Archaeological Science.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
[WARNING: Disturbing Content.]
A convicted paedophile has won a landmark ruling as the first in the country to have his name struck from the Sex Offenders’ Register.
George St Angeli, 71, was jailed for five years at Liverpool Crown Court in 1993 for sex offences against two young girls and released on parole in 1996.
He signed on to the Sex Offenders’ Register in 1997 — but at Leeds Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday he became the first person in England to win the right to have his name removed from the register.
St Angeli is now free to roam wherever he likes with police, who opposed the appeal, no longer able to track his moves.
In February 2011, the Supreme Court ruled that rapists and paedophiles must have the right to appeal to be removed from the national sex offenders’ register if they have been released from prison for 15 years or more and can prove they are no longer a threat to children.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Debate: Grillo’s Twist on European Populism
De Morgen Brussels
The big winner in the Italian elections, Beppe Grillo, is often described as populist. But in Europe, this political category is somewhat blurred, covering quite a cross-section of movements, argues a Belgian historian.
Marnix Beyen
Beppe Grillo’s landslide victory in the Italian elections is fuel to the fire in discussions on the controversial term “populism”.
Bert Wagendorp previously wrote in this very newspaper that “in contrast to populists like De Wever [in Belgium], Wilders [in the Netherlands] and Berlusconi [in Italy],” Grillo is not the product of an existing political party. In other words: Grillo does not seem to fit as a member of the extended populist family, precisely because he is truly an outsider. However, Wagendorp has overlooked the significance of ideology in the description of populism. According to an ideological description, Grillo is indeed more or less the classic populist: someone who defines the political class as the enemy of the “true” people.
Some populism is fascist
However, Grillo can also not simply be labelled a populist for exactly the same ideological reason. After all, populism is a particularly polymorphous phenomenon, which may be based on highly divergent interpretations of “the people”….
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
I’m Ready to Quit Britain Says Ray Winstone as He Claims Country Has Been ‘Raped’ By High Taxes
Actor Ray Winstone says he may quit the UK because it has been ‘raped’ by high taxes.
The former boxer, 56, said: ‘I can see myself leaving. I love this country but I’ve had enough.’
The actor added: ‘I don’t see what we are being given back. I just see the country being raped.’
Winstone told talkSPORT Radio that the taxman was ‘taking too much in exchange for too little’.
He added: ‘There are more holes in the roads than a tennis racket, we can’t build hospitals and fire stations are closing.’
The timing of Winstone’s comes amid growing tension within the Cabinet ahead of George Osborne’s Budget announcement.
[Comment: note the leftist slate of the comments…along the lines of “how dare he leave with his own money.”]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Campari Slides After Posting Surprise Decline in Annual Earnings
Milan, 7 March (AKI/Bloomberg) — Davide Campari-Milano, the maker of Skyy vodka, reported an unexpected drop in annual profit amid declining sales in Italy and Brazil, and said this year will also be “challenging.”
Earnings before interest and taxes fell to 287.5 million euros ($374.3 million) from 295.5 million euros a year earlier, the Milan-based distiller said today, sending the shares down the most since November. The average estimate of 12 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News was 307 million euros.
Revenue reached 1.34 billion euros. On a so-called organic basis, excluding currency shifts and acquisitions or disposals, sales at the maker of Wild Turkey bourbon rose 2.8 percent, compared with the 2.7 percent median estimate of seven analysts.
Trading in Campari shares was halted in Milan after the stock fell as much as 4.6 percent.
“We expect 2013 to be another challenging year due to heightened macroeconomic difficulties in eurozone markets,” Chief Executive Officer Bob Kunze-Concewitz said in the statement. The company expects “continued positive momentum” in the U.S. and Pacific regions as well as improvements in Latin America and eastern Europe, he said.
Turbulent economic and political conditions in Campari’s home market of Italy have roiled sales, while stagnant growth across the rest of the continent has offset growth in in the Americas region, which includes the U.S., the world’s most profitable spirits market. U.S. sales rose 8.6 percent on an organic basis last year, representing 22 percent of revenue. Brazilian sales plunged 7.9 percent as Campari sold fewer local brands.
Revenue in Italy, which provided 29 percent of business last year, fell 3.3 percent on an organic basis.
European sales increased 3.4 percent on growth in Russia and as the company sold more Aperol in Austria and Switzerland. Campari registered a 9.1 percent decline in Germany due to a commercial dispute that affected the Campari and Aperol brands.
Sales in the rest of the world advanced 12 percent, aided by sales of Wild Turkey in Australia and a “positive development” in China, South Africa and Nigeria.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Local Politicians Implicated in Anti-Mafia Sting
Milan, 4 March (AKI) — Two former local councillors in the northern cities of Monza and Milan were among those targeted by an anti-mafia operation Monday that led to arrests warrants issued for 43 people, Adnkronos news agency has learned.
The Naples mafia or Camorra was involved in the election campaigns of former Monza city environment councillor Giovanni Antonicelli and an unnamed former Milan city councillor, according to investigators.
The 43 suspects allegedly belong to a Camorra-linked criminal gang based in Monza which faces charges of robbery, extortion, drugs and arms possession, usury, receiving stolen goods, counterfeiting and crimes against Italy’s public administration.
The arrests took place during raids in several provinces of the northern Lombardy region surrounding Milan and the southern Campania region around Naples and followed an investigation codenamed ‘Briantenopea’.
Antonicelli, a member of former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi’s conservative People of Freedom party, was a councillor in Monza from 2007 al 2012 and his brief included waste disposal, cemetery maintenance , public real estate assets and public housing.
The unnamed Milan city councillor was in office from 2009-2011.
The Camorra, Italy’s oldest mafia, is known to control the lucrative waste disposal sector and to make a large part of its cash from arms and drugs trafficking.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Grillo Sees Movement’s End When Citizens Governing
Refutes anti-euro accusations in Time interview
(ANSA) — Rome, March 7 — Beppe Grillo, the founder of the 5-Star Movement (M5S) which has emerged as the potential kingmaker following inconclusive Italian elections last month, said in an interview with Time Magazine that he sees his movement naturally extinguishing itself when 100% of the parliament is in the hands of Italy’s citizens.
“We want 100% of the parliament, not 20%, 25%, or 30%: when the movement reaches 100%, when the citizens become the state, the movement will no longer need to exist. The objective is to extinguish ourselves,” Grillo said in the interview.
Grillo also answered questions about his position on Italy’s participation in the euro.
Often labeled hostile to the euro, after he calling for Italy’s withdrawal from the 17-nation single-currency block, Grillo hit back saying: “I never said I wanted to be (either) in or out of the euro, but that I want correct information”.
The comedian-turned-politician said that he wanted a “plan B for (Italy’s) survival over the next 10 years, and then with a referendum we decide” our position on the euro.
However, before taking any actions, the head of the 5-Star Movement pointed out that it is necessary to get correct information: “let’s try to understand the costs and benefits”.
Responding to his critics, who have accused him of being anti-European, Grillo said that just talking about leaving the euro is enough to get one labeled “crazy. There is no dialog.
Simply suggesting it you are demagogic, crazy, you want to drag Italy into default, you’re irresponsible”.
Grillo reiterated in the interview that his movement in parliament would not make nor seek any alliance with any other party. “There’s a rule in our movement. We don’t make deals with the parties. Whoever joins our movement signs onto this rule.
There is nothing to decide”.
He also sought to draw parallels between the difficulties of governing in Italy with the situation in the United States. “If Barack Obama were capable of carrying out 5% of what he says, he would be great. But even he is imprisoned in a system.
The art of compromise, which was the art of politics, is no longer valid. Compromise has to be between the citizens, not between Republicans and Democrats”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Berlusconi’s Party Vows ‘Rebellion’ After One-Year Sentence
Bondi says ruling ‘ridiculous’
(see related story) (ANSA) — Rome, March 7 — Silvio Berlusconi’s People of Freedom (PdL) party on Thursday said there would be a “rebellion” after the ex-premier was sentenced to a year in jail over the publication of an illegal wiretap.
Berlusconi’s supporters said the ruling was part of a campaign by some left-wing magistrates, who they say are targeting the 76-year-old media magnate for political motives. “Expect a rebellion against this way of administering justice,” said Sandro Bondi, a senior PdL member and former culture minister. “Today’s sentence sounds like a ridiculous insult to intelligence and to justice.
“At this rate the country will mount an open rebellion — a civil and democratic rebellion, but a full-blown rebellion nonetheless”.
This week the PdL said it would hold monthly “freedom square” protests to demonstrate against “concentric attacks” by prosecutors against Berlusconi.
The move came after it emerged that Berlusconi was being probed in Naples for allegedly paying three million euros to Senator Sergio De Gregorio to switch sides from the centre left to the centre right.
De Gregorio, who prosecutors say has admitted to receiving bribes, defected from the centre left during Romano Prodi’s 2006-2008 government and eventually joined Berlusconi’s party.
Berlusconi is on also trial in Milan over accusations he paid for sex with an underage Moroccan dancer, and is accused of abuse of office in the same case.
He is appealing against a one-year conviction he was handed last year for tax fraud on film rights for his Mediaset TV group too.
In the ongoing and several other previous trials, Berlusconi has always denied wrongdoing, claiming he is the victim of judicial persecution.
Berlusconi has been tried some 30 times but has only been convicted three times — verdicts that were either timed out or overturned on appeal — prior to last year’s Mediaset fraud verdict.
Piero Longo, one of Berlusconi’s attorneys and a PdL lawmaker, said there was no evidence for Thursday’s conviction but added he was not surprised by the decision because it was made in Milan, the base for several of the cases against the ex-premier. “I think it’s the first time anyone has been sentenced (in Italy) for breach of judicial secrecy,” said Longo.
“With utmost respect for the judges, I don’t think the magistrates have any feelings,” he added when asked if the sentence was political.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Moscovici Sees Italy’s PD Forming Stable, Pro-EU Govt
French foreign minister say vote was ‘anti-crisis’
(see related stories) (ANSA) — Brussels, March 7 — French Finance Minister Pierre Moscovici on Thursday expressed confidence that the leader of Italy’s Democratic Party (PD) would successfully create a new government and bring stability to Italy.
“I have faith (in Pier Luigi Bersani’s ability) to find a formula to go towards political stability in Italy, while conserving European ideals at the same time,” Moscovici said during a press conference at the European Parliament.
Separately, Moscovici said he was convinced Italy’s election result — which ended with a strong showing for the anti-establishment and anti-austerity 5-Star Movement — was “more an anti-crisis vote than an anti-Europe vote”. The French minister also said that the vote demonstrated that, when faced with strong austerity, it is important to “always offer the prospect of hope to our peoples”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Netherlands: Catholic Church Has Paid €3.1m to Abuse Victims So Far
Five of the seven Catholic church abuse victims to get the maximum compensation payment of €100,000 are women, the Volkskrant reports on Friday.
The Volkskrant says this is notable because most attention has been paid to the abuse of young men at boarding schools. In addition, women do not account for many of the 127 compensation payouts made by the middle of last month.
Bart Holthuis, chairman of the committee allocating compensation, says the women who have received compensation have all had serious psychological and physical problems deriving from years of abuse. They have attempted suicide and failed to build a normal relationship.
Family friend
These women were often abused for a long period at home by a chaplain or priest who was considered a friend of the family.
So far the church authorities have paid out €3.1 million to abuse victims. Compensation is made on a sliding scale of five.
On Monday, the Deetman Commission, which carried out the original investigation into church abuse, is presenting the results of a new report focusing on the abuse of women and girls.
Lessons
Meanwhile, a history researcher in Brabant has published a paper which shows trainee priests were given special lessons about sex from 1900 to 1965. These lessons not only included sexual positions but sex with animals, children and dead bodies.
‘Catholic spiritual leaders were actually very well informed about sex,’ René Bastiaanse of the Brabants Historisch Informatiecentrum, told news agency ANP.
The aim of providing such detailed knowledge was to help priests react to the confession of ‘sinners’, Bastiaanse said.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
One in Four Germans Open to Voting for an Anti-Euro Party
(AGI) — Berlin, Mar 10 — Germany could go the way of Italy, with 26 percent of voters saying they would be willing to support an anti-euro party in the general election on Sept. 22, according to an opinion poll from the Emnid Institute. “This is a relatively high percentage, which indicates the existence of a probable potential for a new protest party,” explained head of the Emnid polling group, Klaus-Peter Schoeppner.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
‘Over 20 Moles Inside Vatican’ Says La Repubblica Interview
Anonymous insider says ‘time to talk’ as conclave nears
(ANSA) — Rome, March 7 — An anonymous report of a group of over 20 moles planning to leak more information from inside the Vatican was circulating in Italian media on Thursday. “There are many, more than 20 people, all tied to the Holy See. We’re made up of men and women, laypeople and prelates,” an anonymous, self-proclaimed former mole said, according to an interview in Italian daily La Repubblica. Anonymous and unsourced reports from alleged insiders at the Vatican have been surfacing in Italian media in the weeks following the announcement of Benedict XVI’s resignation on February 11. Many outlets have speculated that one motive for Benedict’s abdication was the so-called Vatileaks case last year, when the pope’s butler was arrested and eventually pardoned for leaking secret Church documents to the Italian press. “The butler isn’t the only mole,” the anonymous source said in the interview. “If we leaked documents from the pope’s apartment, it was to create more transparency in the Church.
Now, after Benedict XVI’s resignation from the papacy, and on the verge of the conclave, the Vatileaks case will continue to take the spotlight. And for us, the moment has returned for us to talk,” On Thursday, the last of the cardinal elector was expected to arrive in Rome, at which point they could choose a date for the conclave to name a new pope.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Priest Abuse Victims Call for Vatican Prosecutor’s Dismissal
‘SNAP wants next pope to remove Father Robert Oliver promptly’
(ANSA) — Rome, March 8 — A group representing American victims of priest sex abuse on Friday publicly pushed for the removal of a recently installed Vatican prosecutor because of his record on clergy pedophilia cases in the United States. “Father Robert Oliver of Boston has a troubling track record on child sex abuse,” said David Clohessy, director of SNAP, or the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. Oliver, a canonist who oversaw clergy sex-abuse cases in Boston at the height of the scandal, was promoted to the position under the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in December by Benedict XVI. SNAP accuses the priest, who was ordained by and worked under disgraced Cardinal Bernard Law, of having changed archdiocesan policy in Boston to make it harder for victims to expose predators and easier for the accused to return to active ministry. Because of these allegations and others, “SNAP wants the next pope to remove Oliver promptly,” the group said in a Rome hotel Friday. Vatican spokesman Father Ciro Benedettini said the Church could not comment in the absence of a pope.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Sephardic Jews Invited Back to Spain After 500 Years
More than 500 years ago, tens of thousands of Jews fled Spain because of persecution. Now their descendants are being invited to return.
Before the infamous Spanish Inquisition of the 15th Century, some 300,000 Jews lived in Spain. It was one of the largest communities of Jews in the world.
Today, there are about 40,000 or 50,000 — but that number could be about to swell dramatically.
In November, Spain’s justice minister Alberto Ruiz-Gallardon announced a plan to give descendants of Spain’s original Jewish community — known as Sephardic Jews — a fast-track to a Spanish passport and Spanish citizenship.
“In the long journey Spain has undertaken to rediscover a part of itself, few occasions are as moving as today,” he said.
Anyone who could prove their Spanish Jewish origins, he said, would be given Spanish nationality.
[…]
Whatever the motivation, some Muslim scholars are denouncing the offer as unfair. They point out that their ancestors were expelled from Spain during the Inquisition. But no-one is inviting them back.
| — Hat tip: Takuan Seiyo | [Return to headlines] |
Spain: ‘Corrupt Unió Officials Will Go to Prison as a Warning to Politicians’
El Mundo, 7 March 2013
Businessman Fidel Pallerols and two officials of the Unió Democrática political party (part of the regional coalition led by the CiU) have been found guilty of illegal political party financing, misappropriation of funds and will face prison.
On March 6, a Barcelona court rejected an deal previously agreed between the prosecution and the defence to limit sentences in the case to a maximum of two years, which would have allowed the accused to avoid serving time behind bars. In his ruling the judge explained that it was intended to “intimidate citizens and politicians” tempted by corruption.
According to a poll conducted by Spain’s Centre for Sociological Research (CIS), corruption is now the second-ranked issue that worries the Spanish, just after unemployment.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Stonehenge May Have Been Burial Site for Stone Age Elite, Say Archaeologists
Dating cremated bone fragments of men, women and children found at site puts origin of first circle back 500 years to 3,000BC
Centuries before the first massive sarsen stone was hauled into place at Stonehenge, the world’s most famous prehistoric monument may have begun life as a giant burial ground, according to a theory disclosed on Saturday.
More than 50,000 cremated bone fragments, of 63 individuals buried at Stonehenge, have been excavated and studied for the first time by a team led by archaeologist Professor Mike Parker Pearson, who has been working at the site and on nearby monuments for decades. He now believes the earliest burials long predate the monument in its current form.
The first bluestones, the smaller standing stones, were brought from Wales and placed as grave markers around 3,000BC, and it remained a giant circular graveyard for at least 200 years, with sporadic burials after that, he claims.
It had been thought that almost all the Stonehenge burials, many originally excavated almost a century ago, but discarded as unimportant, were of adult men. However, new techniques have revealed for the first time that they include almost equal numbers of men and women, and children including a newborn baby.
“At the moment the answer is no to extracting DNA, which might tell us more about these individuals and what the relationship was between them — but who knows in the future? Clearly these were special people in some way,” Parker Pearson said.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
UK: ‘Fat Australian’ Racism Ruling Overturned
A BRITISH woman convicted of racism after calling her Kiwi neighbour a “fat Australian” has had her name cleared.
Petra Mills, 31, was convicted and fined in England last year after calling Chelsea O’Reilly a “stupid fat Australian bitch” in a drunken rant on their street in Macclesfield, northwest England.
Ms O’Reilly was giving a statement to police after a domestic incident in September between Mills and her husband when Mills stormed over to her house and began screaming at her.
At a trial in Macclesfield Magistrates Court, Ms O’Reilly said: “She called me a stupid, fat, Australian bitch. Because of my accent there can be some confusion over my nationality. She knew I was from New Zealand.”
“She was trying to be offensive. I was really insulted.”
Mills told the court she shouted at Ms O’Reilly but it had nothing to do with racism.
“I did not use the word Australian. I used to live with an Australian person. She was very nice.”
Mills, 31, was fined STG110 ($A162) for racially aggravated public disorder and STG200 for kicking a police officer during her arrest.
She was also ordered to pay STG50 compensation and STG500 court costs.
However, Chester Crown Court last week overturned the decision, the Manchester Evening News reports.
A judge ruled that using the word “Australian” was not racist.
Mills has moved to Wales following her conviction, and told the newspaper she would never forget the “stress and embarrassment” she had been through.
“I am not a racist and I still don’t see how what I said could ever be thought of as racist.”
Her fine for the disorder charge, and the compensation order, were both quashed.
Mills’ fine for assaulting the police officer was reduced to STG85.
| — Hat tip: The Observer | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Hate Preacher Abu Qatada Ordered to Remain in Custody After Arrest for Breaching Bail Conditions
Abu Qatada was back in jail last night over fears the terror suspect was trying to communicate with associates, in breach of bail conditions.
Qatada had his bail revoked by a senior judge in an emergency hearing, following a raid on his home.
The judge said there was ‘strong evidence’ the Islamist cleric had breached strict bail terms by allowing mobile phones to be switched on at his North-West London house or letting electronic storage devices such as memory sticks be brought inside.
Security sources said the investigation had implications for national security but declined to say if Qatada had been trying to contact known jihadists.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
[WARNING: *** Extremely Disturbing Content *** ]
This shocking picture shows the battered face of an innocent schoolboy beaten so savagely by ‘shameless’ thugs his own mother barely recognised him.
The 15-year old slightly built lad was confronted in the street and punched and kicked ‘like a human football’ in what police fear was a case of mistaken identity.
He and his friends had earlier been chatting outside a row of shops in Manchester on a Saturday afternoon when the gang of 12 men drew up in three cars.
The boys scattered, but the victim was targeted and chased down a nearby street before being repeatedly punched and kicked ‘like a human football.
He suffered severe facial injuries which required stitches and a broken arm.
Today police said the beating was linked to a feud between rival gangs but confirmed the unnamed boy was not involved and simply was in the ‘wrong place at the wrong time.’
They issued a shocking picture of the boy’s injuries in the hope of getting information to catch the attackers.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Teenage Sex Slave Raped 90 Times in One Weekend Despite Authorities Saying She Wasn’t at Risk
[WARNING: *** Extremely Disturbing Content *** ]
A teenage girl was raped 90 times in one weekend it has been revealed in a shocking report into modern-day slavery in the UK.
The report, due to be published tomorrow by the Centre for Social Justice, contains evidence from the girl, who was 16 at the time she was taken into slavery and raped by 90 men.
The girl, who gave evidence to the committee despite still being ‘deeply traumatised’ by the attacks, did not come from a background which put her at risk, but became enslaved after befriending girls vulnerable to abuse, it has been reported…
The CSJ, an independent think-tank set up by Iain Duncan Smith, has attacked the Government for its ‘inadequate response’ to the issue after the investigation uncovered a ‘shocking underworld’ of human trafficking.
Its study found more than 1,000 adults and children were trafficked into or within the UK in 2011/2012, but the figure could be ‘only the tip of the iceberg’.
Among the cases were British and foreign victims who had been forced into the sex trade, a life of crime or domestic labour.
British girls trafficked within Britain for the sex trade made up nearly one half of all UK slavery victims in the latest set of figures.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Traditional Red Telephone Boxes Are Taken Away Because No-One Uses Them Anymore
The number is definitely up at last for these old traditional red telephone boxes.
They are loved by tourists who are only too happy to pose inside one, but British Telecom is ringing the changes.
These ‘K6’ models were taken from Warwick town centre — just another batch of underused phone boxes which have fallen victim to the mobile phone revolution.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Western Sahara: ‘UN Rejected Referendum, Inapplicable’
Says Moroccan ambassador to the UN
(ANSAmed) — RABAT, MARCH 7 — Moroccan ambassador to the UN Mohamed Loulichki told journalist Christine Amanpour that the possibility of holding a referendum in the Moroccan Sahara had been rejected by the United Nations due to its “inapplicability”. He was speaking as an invited guest on CNN International.
He said that “we did accept a referendum and we did cooperate with the United Nations to implement a referendum between 1991 and 2000. In 2000, the impossibility of getting the electoral body,” led the United Nations “to conclude that the referendum is not applicable for obvious reasons.” Loulichki said that Morocco had always complied with the United Nations conclusions and had committed itself to working to find a mutually acceptable and realistic solution. “We want a negotiated settlement,” he said. “We will negotiate and at the end of the day, we will go to the population and put the results of our negotiation and say, do you accept this outcome?” “We have so many challenges that do not challenge only Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and the Sahara countries, but also challenge Europe and the United States. Terrorism is gaining ground in this part of Africa that is neighboring to Morocco.” As concerns the humanitarian side of the issue, the ambassador said that he considered those in the Western Sahara his “brothers and sisters”, and that the country wanted them to contribute to building a new, democratic Morocco in which all human rights will be guaranteed.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
UN: Journalist’s Son Killed by Hamas Rocket, Not Israeli Missile as Claimed
When Jihad Misharawi lost his son during Israeli air strikes, photographs of the tearful father holding his son’s body became iconic anti-Israel propaganda. The Washington Post wasted no time placing blame:
An Israeli round hit Misharawi’s four-room home in Gaza Wednesday, killing his son, according to BBC Middle East bureau chief Paul Danahar, who arrived in Gaza earlier Thursday. Misharawi’s sister-in-law was also killed, and his brother wounded. Misharawi told Danahar that, when the round landed, there was no fighting in his residential neighborhood.
Other major media outlets, the BBC, the Huffington Post, Yahoo, the Sun, the Telegraph, and many more also carried the same narrative.
The problem is, it wasn’t true. In their desperation to further demonize Israel, these media outlets reported Palestinian propaganda as facts. They lacked any journalistic integrity to present an objective story.
It was a HAMAS rocket that killed the child:
Jihad’s son was killed by Hamas, according to independent investigators from the United Nations. He was murdered by the journalist’s own neighbors, the very men who purport to be his biggest protectors, who live in the surrounding buildings in the city where he lives.
According to the advanced version of its report released by the U.N. Human Rights Council released late last week, “On 14 November, a woman, her 11-month-old infant, and an 18-year-old adult in Al-Zaitoun were killed by what appeared to be a Palestinian rocket that fell short of Israel.”
| [Return to headlines] |
Victims of Hamas Attacks to Sue French Bank That Handled Terror Group’s Funds
It was nearly 10 years ago when Steve Averbach, a New Jersey-born Israeli police officer, realized a fellow passenger on a Jerusalem bus was a suicide bomber disguised as an Orthodox Jew and made a decision that saved potentially dozens of lives — and changed his forever.
Averbach drew his gun, but before he had the chance to shoot the man exploded his bomb, killing seven people and injuring 20 more. The then 37-year-old father of four had prevented the Hamas-linked bomber from getting to the densely populated city center where the body count would almost certainly have been much higher. But Averbach was left a quadriplegic, and died in June 2010, having suffered deteriorating health as a result of his injuries.
Last week, a Brooklyn federal judge ruled that Averbach’s family, and the American survivors and the families of dozens of other victims of Hamas attacks that took place between 2002 and 2004 in Israel, can sue Credit Lyonnais, the French banking giant that handled money for a Palestinian charity it allegedly knew was directly linked to Hamas. Averbach’s mother, Maida, who lives in New Jersey, said she plans to attend the civil trial, which is expected to begin this year in Brooklyn.
“My husband and I were very pleased when we heard the judge’s decision,” Averbach said. “We’re really hoping that the trial goes forward and all these people that have been subjected to what has happened in the past will find justice. [Steve] would feel it was time, about time.”
The landmark ruling by Eastern District Judge Dora Irizarry came after attorneys for the plaintiffs argued that Credit Lyonnais knew the account they facilitated for the Committee for Palestinian Welfare and Relief was a front for Hamas and that the funds transmitted from the account contributed toward funding 15 specific acts of terror in Israel that caused the death and injury of the plaintiffs…
| — Hat tip: Vlad Tepes | [Return to headlines] |
Greek and Turkish FMs See Possibility of Aegean Settlement But Via Different Routes
The foreign ministers of Greece and Turkey told Sunday’s Kathimerini in separate interviews that they are hopeful the two countries can resolve their differences in the Aegean, although Athens is using international law as its guideline for the creation of an exclusive economic zone (EEZ), while Ankara wants there to be a bilateral agreement.
Speaking after Prime Minister Antonis Samaras traveled to Turkey last week for talks with his counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan and a meeting of the Greek-Turkish High-Level Cooperation Council, Dimitris Avramopoulos and Ahmet Davutoglu were upbeat on the prospects of the two countries finding a way to delineate their continental shelves ahead of gas and oil exploration.
“We are in discussions and searching for common ground because both sides understand how great the benefit would be if we are able to delineate the continental shelf between us from Evros to Kastellorizo,” said Avramopoulos.
“We have some different views and approaches to how the exclusive economic zone or other sensitive issues are defined,” Davutoglu told Kathimerini. “We know there are differences of opinion. The important thing is whether we will let these be an obstacle, like a Berlin Wall, which is not sustainable, logical or ethical.”
Turkey argues that Greek islands close to its coast should not be taken into account when determining the economic zone and that the median line of the Aegean should be set as a boundary. Greece claims the Law of the Sea means that all islands must be taken into account when setting out the EEZ.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Iran Nuke-Site Blasts Confirmed, Sabotage Suspected
Could Stuxnet-like virus have been snuck into Fordow?
The European intelligence community and the U.S. government have received corroboration that explosions rocked Iran’s nuclear facility at Fordow, but are unclear if they were due to mechanical failure or sabotage, WND has learned.
The Jan. 21 explosions killed at least 76 people and injured scores more, said one source, who later told WND that many rescue and security personnel were sickened by radiation poisoning in the aftermath of the disaster.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
‘Other Popes’: Turkey Keeps an Eye on Ecumenical Patriarch
Constantinople ‘pope’ must be Turkish. Bartolomew elected at 51
(ANSAmed) — ANKARA — By law the Patriarch of the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, ‘the Pope’ of Greek orthodox and the highest moral authority for roughly 300 million orthodox Christians in the world, must be a Turkish citizen. Under the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne, which divided the former Ottoman Empire, Turkey is successor to the Sublime Porte as a supervisory authority of the Patriarchate of Constantinople.
The new right of veto at the time of election by the government of Ankara which states that the new patriarch must be Turkish, greatly reduces the amount of candidates.
The current Archbishop of “Constantinople — New Rome,”, Bartholomew I, also nicknamed the ‘Green Patriarch’ for his interest in ecology, is Greek. He is part of a small Greek minority of around 4/5 thousand people who stayed in Turkey after the pogroms in Istanbul half a century ago, and the ‘population exchanges’ with Greece. Like him his predecessors — Demetrio and Athenagoras, were Turkish citizens. They were the creators of a rapprochement with the Catholic Church under John XXIII, Paul VI and John Paul II relaunched by Bartholomew with Benedict XVI in 2007.
“His Divine Holiness” Bartholomew I, called Dimitrios Archontinis, was elected in 1991 as the 270th successor to St.Andrew the Apostle, the founder of the Church of Byzantium and ‘elder brother’ of St.Peter. Since then he has been known as the “primus inter pares” amongst Orthodox primates.
His election by the Metropolitan Synod of Bishops was symbolic of a generational shift. Now aged 73 he was elected aged just 51. Since then other ‘young’ candidates have risen in the ranks in various churches. The new Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, was elected last November aged 57. The Coptic Pope Tawadros II, was also appointed in November aged 60. Recently elected Syrian Orthodox primate Youhanna X is only 56. Like Bartholomew in 1991 they were all the youngest candidates.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Afghan Leader Alleges U.S., Taliban Colluding
KABUL — Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Sunday criticised the Taliban for holding daily talks with the United States as they also launch suicide attacks that kill civilians and children.
The Islamist militants deny re-opening talks after they broke off tentative contact with the US in Qatar in March last year due to failed attempts to negotiate a prisoner exchange.
Reacting after two suicide bombs killed 19 people in Kabul and Khost on Saturday, Karzai accused the Taliban of negotiating with their enemy at the same time as murdering innocent Afghans.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Christians in Pakistan Ask for More Protection
(AGI) — Islamabad, Mar 10 — Christians in Pakistan asked for more protection after the violence in Lahore, with demonstrations also taking place in Karachi.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
U. S. Drone Kills Two in North Waziristan, Pakistan
(AGI) Islamabad, Mar 10 — At least two people were killed by a remote-controlled U.S. drone strike in the North Waziristan tribal area of Pakistan.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Gang Hamzy Family Matriarch Shot at Home in Auburn
POLICE are bracing for an escalation in gangland violence after a matriarch of the infamous Hamzy crime family was shot four times at her front door yesterday.
The Daily Telegraph can reveal the woman, an aunt to Supermax prison inmate Bassam Hamzy, was shot at point blank range in the legs as she opened the front door of her unit on Auburn Rd, Auburn, in a targeted and direct attack at 2.40pm.
Police have unofficially linked the shooting with another that occurred 20 minutes later, also in Auburn, when shots were fired at the house next door to that of convicted drug dealer Hakan Goktas, 39.
The main line of inquiry for both shootings is Goktas’s co-operation with police when he was the victim of a road rage shooting last August.
A police source said the victim of yesterday’s first shooting was shot four times after opening the door of her unit, which has the letters “BFL” chalked on a wall outside, a reference to street gang Brothers For Life, of which her son is a member.
Police confirmed yesterday that Goktas’s co-operation may be at the heart of the tit-for-tat violence.
His alleged attacker in the road rage incident was arrested in Queensland nine weeks later and extradited to Sydney.
The two shootings took place hours before revelations emerged in yesterday’s The Sunday Telegraph that police were left shocked and angered after a senior member of the BFL gang was granted bail last week over a kneecapping at Bass Hill on February 9 this year.
Their 24-year-old victim in the case has gone into police protection after becoming a Crown witness and investigators fear the decision to grant bail may jeopardise his safety.
Acting Assistant Commissioner Arthur Katsogiannis said a review of that decision was being sought.
“All we can do is enforce the law and bring those responsible before the courts,” Mr Katsogiannis told The Daily Telegraph.
“In relation to that decision, we’ll be liasing with the DPP and seeking a review.”
| — Hat tip: Nilk | [Return to headlines] |
Radical Islam Sparks Controversy Down Under
Australia grappling with Muslim extremism
SYDNEY, Australia — A recent series of events has seen Australia, like America, become a victim of radical Islam, with related events leaving Australian lawmakers and citizens reeling.
Among these are a landmark legal decision against a prominent Muslim cleric over allegedly menacing messages, a visit by controversial Dutch politician and Muslim critic Geert Wilders, a plan to build a Muslim housing enclave in Sydney’s suburbs and the formation of new police task force aimed at dealing with Middle Eastern violence and gun crime.
This follows the infamous Muslim riots in Sydney in September last year, which were a part of worldwide protests purportedly in response to the anti-Islam film the Obama administration initially blamed for the Benghazi attack.
Amon Ross, a concerned resident of Sydney, said of the events and radical elements of the Islamic community within Australia:
“They’ve rioted in our streets and assaulted our police officers. They’ve raped our women and said they deserve it. They laugh at and in our courts. They’re shooting up the south-west of Sydney. They’re advocating for Shariah. Every time we fly on a plane, we’re reminded of what they have done to the world.
“They’ve told us that our culture and way of life is inferior to theirs. We’ve caught homegrown Muslims plotting to blow up our military bases and power plants. We now have a special police squad dealing with Middle Eastern Crime. Many make no effort to be Australian or surrender the culture of their old home. … And our politicians refuse to acknowledge there is a problem.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
[WARNING: ** Disturbing content **]
A radical Islamist group based in Nigeria today claimed it has killed seven hostages, believed to include one Briton.
Ansaru seized the men on February 16 from the site of a construction company operating in the northern part of the country.
In a statement, the terrorists cited reports from local media organisations that British planes had been spotted at a Nigerian airport, suggesting that a rescue operation was imminent.
But the Ministry of Defence categorically said its planes were only present at Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja to assist the French-led operation in Mali, categorically denying any involvement in a rescue bid.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Ahmadinejad in Trouble Over Eulogy at Chavez Funeral
The sea of red shirts and hats at the funeral of the late Venezuelan socialist Caudillo dictator Hugo Chavez was capped by the appearance of leftist political allies in Latin America: Rafael Correa of Ecuador, Evo Morales of Bolivia, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner of Argentina, Dilma Rousseff of Brazil, Raul Castro of Cuba and Jose Mujica of Uruguay. Even the Communist leader of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko showed up among the group of more than 23 world leaders. Chavez’s favorite Hollywood supporter actor Sean Penn was at the funeral along with the Rev. Jesse Jackson, Brooklyn US Congressman Gregory Meeks and former Massachusetts Congressman William Delahunt. Penn shouted “Chavez didn’t die”. His casket was draped with the Venezuelan flag and the sword of revered Latin American liberator, Simon Bolivar. A special place of honor at the Chavez funeral was reserved for Iran’s outgoing President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. He flew to Caracas, because, as he just had to be there: “To us the loss of President Chavez is very painful because we have lost an endearing friend and a fair and revolutionary leader,” Ahmadinejad said in a Bloomberg report upon arrival in Caracas. “To me, he was a very grand personality and a very endearing brother and friend.” Chavez and Ahmadinejad were more than best buddies apparently they were fervent believers in fomenting the second coming of the Mahdi, the Twelfth Iman. Reza Kahlili in World Net Daily noted this video of Chavez extolling the Twelfth Imam reappearance along with Jesus.In the wake of Ahmadinejad’s eulogy at Chavez’s funeral, he has come under intense criticism from the Mullahs in Tehran. What is the expression? Be careful what you wish for. Ahmadinejad will be gone from power in Tehran with the upcoming Presidential elections in June 2013. Both he and his fervent remarks at Chavez’s funeral be soon forgotten as Ayatollah Khamenei will determine his successor.
| — Hat tip: Jerry Gordon | [Return to headlines] |
Raul Castro Expresses Confidence in New Venezuelan Leader
(AGI) Havana, Mar 10 — Cuban President Raul Castro expressed confidence that Nicolas Maduro would continue the “great work” of Hugo Chavez. “I am absolutely confident of the success of — ad interim — President Maduro and the other leaders,” the Cuban president added, on his return to Havana from Caracas where he had attended Chavez’ funeral.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Have we created a monster? We in America are guilty of falling into the same trap where the European countries find themselves. “Social Justice” is wearing away at our very foundation and the palace is beginning to crumble around us.
Somehow we have ended up with a large segment of our population who believe they are entitled to money or other benefits which they did not earn or pay for. The funds to pay for such programs come from one of two sources: taxes levied by the government on businesses and individuals, or from government borrowing. When the money is taken, by way of taxation, it is paid by those who earned it; and in turn, distributed to those who did not. When the money is obtained through borrowing, it is a future burden on following generations who must repay the debt and a current stealth tax because it has a tendency to devalue our currency, causing inflation (amounting to 26% from 2005 to 2012, per Office of Management and Budget for the White House — and estimated to be 41% by 2017).
Some examples: SNAP (food stamp program) cost $72 billion in 2011, which was up $30 billion from 2007 and the number receiving benefits have continued to rise since 2011, to now reaching almost 50,000,000. The total budget cost for “Food and nutrition assistance” for 2011 was estimated to be $103 billion.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Lawmakers Try to Reverse Transgender Law
Radical legislation allows young to choose whether they are boys or girls
Exactly what changes are being made to policies and procedures within public schools?
“The administration interpreted the law to allow boys and girls who identify themselves of the opposite sex as they are anatomically born to use whichever bathroom they choose,” said co-author of the anti-transgender law measure, Bill H 1479, State Rep. Marc Lombardo, R-Billenca, in an interview with WND. “They would also be able to use locker rooms and play on sports teams based on which sex they identify themselves with, not based in their anatomical sex.”
But along with “gender,” schools have redefined “tolerance,” as well.
“The directive is clear that there is to be no tolerance for students who become uncomfortable or upset at these situations being pushed on them,” Camenker explained. “The school’s approach is to be unyielding to any such discomfort, and to re-educate those students to have more ‘acceptable’ reactions and values.”
Under the new state standard to accommodate “transsexuals” at all costs, the rights of others suffer, critics argue.
Camenker noted most public schools in Massachusetts “seem to have at least one pro-LGBT activist staff member who would be quite willing to confirm that a student is transgender, if requested,” says “Note that the guidelines allow the student to decide whether parents are part of the discussion at all … if it is felt that the parents might disagree.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The Queen will tomorrow back an historic pledge to promote gay rights and ‘gender equality’ in one of the most controversial acts of her reign.
In a live television broadcast, she will sign a new charter designed to stamp out discrimination against homosexual people and promote the ‘empowerment’ of women — a key part of a new drive to boost human rights and living standards across the Commonwealth.
In her first public appearance since she had hospital treatment for a stomach bug, the Queen will sign the new Commonwealth Charter and make a speech explaining her passionate commitment to it.
Insiders say her decision to highlight the event is a ‘watershed’ moment — the first time she has clearly signalled her support for gay rights in her 61-year reign.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Andrew Bostom: How Sharia Kills Free Speech
Al Qaeda’s English language magazine Inspire, in its latest edition, has expressed the jihad terror organization’s outrage over the “Innocence of Muslims” video trailer, an amateurish production which merely depicted some of the less salutary aspects of the Muslim prophet Muhammad’s biography, based upon the sacralized Islamic sources.
These threatening statements appear on p. 4:
O Muslims, the film produced in America which insults our Messenger Muhammad comes in the chain of the crusade attacks on Islam. In response to these consecutive assaults, the Muslim ummah revolted in honor of their noble Messenger. The plot of the enemies backfired and became a disgrace and shame on them, a penalty for their insults on the status of the Prophets, violation of the sacred lands and trespassing the boundaries of war ethics. Meanwhile, the status of our Messenger remains high and honorable. No insult could ever tarnish him. Whoever hates him is cut off from success and prosperity in this world and the Hereafter… We affirm that defending the honor of the Prophet is an inevitable obligation in Islam upon the Muslim ummah, every individual as per his capability… We call upon our brothers in the West to fulfill their Islamic obligation. They are obliged to defend the Prophet, for they are more capable of crushing the enemy at his heart.
The violent nature of those threats is made explicit in imagery featured on pp. 14-15, entitled, “Wanted Dead or Alive for Crimes Against Islam.” The images (also published here via MEMRI) are accompanied by statements, “Yes We Can,” “A Bullet A Day Keeps the Infidel Away,” and “Defend Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him,” and include photographs of the nine men (complete with misspellings of some of their names, underneath) threatened with death, ostensibly for “blaspheming” Islam’s prophet, and the Muslim creed itself.
Photographs of the two women targeted do not appear on the pp. 14-15 magazine layout; only their names are printed, beneath the photos of the men. The full list of eleven who were made licit for killing, is below:…
| — Hat tip: Andy Bostom | [Return to headlines] |
I think it’s taking it too far suing a bank for what Hamas supposedly has done. Where does it all stop? The inventiveness of shysters never ceases to surprise me.
Jon, I tend to agree. However we are losing the war. Right now, just about ANYTHING that give us weapons to fight back are needed.
In general, I don’t like the idea. I don’t like the idea of dropping bombs on enemy cities, but that was what we needed to do in 1944-1945. If we were hit with nuclear weapons, I would expect us to hit back.
It really is a no-win situation.
Quote:
By law the Patriarch of the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, ‘the Pope’ of Greek orthodox and the highest moral authority for roughly 300 million orthodox Christians in the world, must be a Turkish citizen. Under the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne, which divided the former Ottoman Empire, Turkey is successor to the Sublime Porte as a supervisory authority of the Patriarchate of Constantinople.
end
And when all Turks are Muslim . . . what then?
The Muslim genocide of Christians continues.
Quote:
O Muslims, the film produced in America which insults our Messenger Muhammad comes in the chain of the crusade attacks on Islam.
end
Crusade? You call a film a crusade?
The first shoe hasn’t even dropped yet.
Islam, the West is your Vietnam.
I just read on HuffPo that Nanny Bloomberg’s soda size ban has been striken down by a judge! Let’s see what happens with the styrofoam carry out containers.
Given the French support of Saddam, right up to the eve of the liberation Im all for fining the bank big time!