White smoke emerged from the chimney at St. Peters today as the Conclave of Cardinals selected a new pope. Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, a Jesuit from Argentina, has now become Pope Francis I.
In other news, despite a worldwide outcry and international appeals for clemency, the Saudi authorities have beheaded seven men who were convicted of looting, theft, and armed robbery.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to Andy Bostom, BD, C. Cantoni, Fjordman, Insubria, JD, Jerry Gordon, LH, Nick, Steen, TV, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.
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Can Poor People be Trusted With Guns?
John Lott asks why Dems discriminate by piling on fees to exercise 2nd Amendment right
(Fox News) — Can poor people be trusted with guns? Overwhelmingly, Republicans thinks so. But while Democrats fight against taxes on the poor and oppose voter photo IDs because they impose too much of burden, they seem to be doing everything possible — from fees, expensive training requirements, and photo IDs — to make it next to impossible for the poor to own guns.
Indeed, legislation in at least 17 states around the country is aimed specifically at making it more costly to own a gun. Democrats are voting in mass against exempting the poor from fees when it comes to guns. New Yorkers aren’t alone facing everything from registration fees to buying liability insurance.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Constitutional Convention Call Redux, Part 1
“I have also repeatedly given my opinion that there is no effective way to limit or muzzle the actions of a Constitution Convention. The Convention could make its own rules and set its own agenda. Congressmen might try to limit the Convention to one amendment or to one issue, but there is no way to assure that the Convention would obey it.” — Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court, Warren E. Burger
“Having witnessed the difficulties and dangers experienced by the first Convention, I would tremble for the result of the second.” — James Madison, Father of the Constitution and fourth President of the United States
“All men having power ought to be distrusted to a certain degree.” — James Madison, speech at the Constitutional Convention, July 11, 1787
We could lose our God given rights, secured by the 1787 Constitution if a new call for a Con-Con is successful. The Constitution is about the specific powers we delegated to the federal government. Our rights pre-date and pre-exist the Constitution. The sole purpose of civil government is to secure those rights. Knowing what is waiting in the wings, if we lose this Constitution, all will finally be lost, and the war for our freedoms would be over. If you never read another one of my articles, I beg you to read and disseminate this one. Then contact your state legislators and find out where your state stands regarding a call for a Constitutional Convention.
Thirty Years Ago
In the early 1980’s, we did not have home computers, lap tops, or IPADs; neither did we have unlimited long-distance telephone rates. We only had our Fax machines and our telephones. Yet, the nation’s patriotic groups, and the Kitchen Militia gals, worked tirelessly to stave off a call for another Constitutional Convention. We knew the dangers, we knew the precedents, and we knew what was waiting in the wings to replace the Constitution given to us by honorable men. We knew that if we lost our Constitution and Bill of Rights, that the great experiment in freedom and liberty would be lost forever…
Our Constitution is still a barrier to the globalists, and they hate this document. The elite have always wanted to destroy it because, as Patrick Henry said, “The Constitution is not an instrument for the government to restrain the people, it is an instrument for the people to restrain the government — lest it come to dominate our lives and interests.” The One Worlders have a new constitution waiting in the wings which will grant us privileges by the state. The distinctive characteristic of our Constitution is that it created a federal government of only limited, defined, and enumerated powers! We must focus on the limited powers we delegated instead of our “rights.” Rights pre-date and pre-exist the Constitution. Only with this conception of rights can we avoid having black-robed federal judges determine the scope and extent of our rights…
The BBA will usher in a totalitarian dictatorship. Pursuant to the unconstitutional Budget Act of 1921, the President has been preparing the budget. Since the Budget Act is unconstitutional, the President’s preparation of the budget has been likewise unconstitutional. Section 3 of the BBA would legalize what is now unconstitutional and unlawful, but Section 3 of the BBA does more than merely legalize the unlawful. It actually transfers the Constitutional power to make the appropriations and to determine taxes to the President. Congress will simply become a rubber stamp.
[Comment: Understand that the same ones urinating on the Constitution today will be deciding the outcome of a Con-Con tomorrow.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Man Faces Five Years in Prison for Releasing Balloons on Beach as a Romantic Gesture
We’ve seen it in the movies and perhaps even witnessed it in person, but most of us never realized it was an offense punishable with lots of prison time.
When Anthony Brasfield released a dozen heart-shaped balloons into the sky over Dania Beach, Fla., for his his sweetheart, all he wanted was to create the perfect atmosphere of romance. What he created instead was a court date.
According to the Sun-Sentinel newspaper, Brasfield’s act of love was witnessed by a Florida Highway Patrol trooper. What he saw was not an act of love but a felony.
Massive jail time for — balloons?
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
N.J. Mother Arrested, Guns Confiscated — By Attending Property Tax Dispute Forum
On Saturday, March 9 there was an informal meeting at the Gloucester Community Center, to discuss the findings on “revaluations” by Appraisal Systems, Inc.- a company which has been contracted by the state of New Jersey- to assess the fair market property values for each county or borough- for the tax assessor’s offices.
There has been much derision caused by these “revaluations” by homeowners, because property values have fallen dramatically- and the real estate market has been hit very hard . There is nothing “fair” about the market or the home values that have been assessed, according to many New Jersey families.
Ms. Hart attended the meeting, armed with- as she said “her Constitution and the facts.”…
A representative of Appraisal Systems, Inc. — (List of Appraisal System Employees at this link) apparently took offense to her objections and brought in Robyn Glocker-Hammond, the Tax Assessor — who stated that her job was to “enforce the law.”
Relates Hart: “She also wouldn’t let me speak and told me to sit down and shut up and listen as well. That’s when the young man came toward me. I knew he was going to put his hands on me. I saw him out of the corner of my eye. I said to him “Don’t you dare touch me.” Then they threw us out of the auditorium. The young man from Appraisal Systems, Inc. was the one going postal, and I believe if HE HAD A GUN, he would have shot me, Keith and Khloe on the spot. I was calm the entire time.”
When the Harts left the gathering, they were followed into the parking lot of the community center, and the same young man who had been so upset by Ms. Hart’s comments in the community center, started screaming and shouting at her, took down the license plate number of her vehicle and said — “See if you are able to pay your property taxes NOW!”
Eileen didn’t understand what that shouted threat meant, until she returned to her home with her family.
When they arrived, there were 5 police cars from the Franklinville Police Department. They advised her that the Clayton Police wanted to talk to her about the allegations.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Questions for the Naked Emperor
Exclusive: Pat Boone applies famous fairy tale to increasingly ‘transparent’ Obama
We all know the children’s parable of the “Emperor Who Had No Clothes,” don’t we? The tale of the self-important ruler so vain that when his vapid, sycophantic court suggested he order up the most luxurious, expensive robe ever designed, made of the sheerest, most diaphanous fabric ever known, almost invisible but to the more educated, cultivated eyes. The emperor happily agreed.
Actually, there was no such fabric. But the designers counted on his incredible vanity, and when they went through the motions of trying this unprecedented “garment” on the naked emperor and raving about how handsome he looked in it, he exultantly proclaimed he’d parade through his kingdom, proudly showing off his new sartorial splendor.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The Grand Illusion of Partisan Politics
Many believe that a two party political system consisting of Republicans and Democrats standing for vastly different values and objectives is alive and well across America. True patriotic Conservatives who are accurately informed, well researched and historically astute know otherwise. We see through the thin veneer of the Madison Avenue gloss and look at substance, and frankly, don’t care much for the not-so-slick salesman tactics by the establishment Republicans. Revelations compliments of Rand Paul
Perhaps the latest and most telling of all recent events was the political polarization caused by the 13-hour filibuster by Kentucky Senator Rand Paul. It might seem like old news, but the importance of the reaction by certain members of the Republican party must not be minimized, for it is quite telling. Regardless of how you feel about Senator Paul, his actions revealed an important distinction, or lack thereof, of elected parties who still recognize the Constitution of the United States and Bill of Rights as the supreme law of the land.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Argentinian Bergoglio, Buenos Aires Archbishop, Elected Pope
(ANSA) — Vatican City, March 13 — Buenos Aires Archbishop Jorge Mario Borgoglio was elected pope Wednesday. Borgoglio, 76, is the first Jesuit pope. A conservative like his predecessor Benedict XVI and a strong supporter of helping the poor, he will become Pope Francis I. In his first words on the balcony of St Peter’s, he said the cardinals who elected him had chosen someone “from the end of the Earth”.
One of five children, he is the son of a railway worker and his wife. Borgoglio has so far lived in a modest flat and cooked his own meals. He is the 266th pope and leader of the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics.
Borgoglio, whose great-grandfather was from the northern Italian region of Piedmont, is believed to be close to the Communion and Liberation movement, a doctrinally conservative group founded in the 1960s partly in response to Marxism and other leftist movements. His predecessors Benedict XVI and John Paul II were supporters of the movement. While he is not known to spend much time preaching about helping the impoverished, some of his actions stand out. Upon being named a cardinal in 2001, he encouraged people not to spend money to celebrate with him in Rome and instead to donate the funds to the poor.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Could Germany Spark Another War? I Fear It’s All Too Possible
The world is at a crossroads in history. Vast, untameable economic forces are remaking the landscape of international affairs.
In Britain, a dithering Prime Minister is buffeted by crisis after crisis. Abroad, from the heart of Europe to the fringes of Asia, economic powers are rising. And there is talk of a new German empire, bigger and more powerful than ever.
It sounds like something ripped from today’s newspapers. But this was the state of the planet in 1913, 100 years ago.
Beneath the surface, however, the problems that confronted our forebears back then were uncannily similar to those facing us today, particularly in the changing balance of power in Europe.
This week, the faultlines that run ever deeper across the Continent were the subject of an extraordinary speech by a long-time president of the European Council, who insisted there are indeed chilling parallels between 2013 and the eve of World War I a century ago.
Jean Claude Juncker said that resentment against Germany is running high because its imposition of austerity — in a bid to shore up the euro — has exposed long-running tensions between nations.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Dutch Raise Terror Threat Level to “Substantial”
Dr. Dick Schoof, recently appointed National Coordinator for Counter-Terrorism and Security (NCTS) in The Netherlands raised the terrorism threat level from “limited” to “substantial”. The reason? An estimated 100 disaffected domestic jihadis are returning from Syria just in time to cause mayhem during the abdication of Queen Beatrix and coronation of successor, her son, Crown Prince Willem-Alexander. Geert Wilders of the Dutch Freedom Party (PVV) has been warning for years about the domestic terror threat from radicalized immigrant and converted youths in The Netherlands. Today’s report of the heightened Islamic terror threat from returning home grown Jihadis may be the consequences of a tolerant Dutch immigration policy that has fostered the growth of intolerant Muslims in The Netherlands.
| — Hat tip: Jerry Gordon | [Return to headlines] |
France: Taqiya, Or the Terrorist ‘Art of Deception’
Nearly a year ago, as one of France’s longest-ever police sieges was about to end on the morning of March 22, 2012, Mohamed Merah — also known as “the Toulouse gunman” — uttered a cry that seemed enigmatic to the uninformed, but was weighted with meaning for counterterrorism experts.
“It’s not the money, it’s the deception that’s critical,” said the 23-year-old French-Algerian shortly before he jumped off his Toulouse apartment window and was gunned down by an elite French anti-terror unit.
The somewhat cryptic cry was a likely reference to “taqiya” — a form of religious dissimulation or legal dispensation in which believers deny their faith or even commit blasphemous acts as a deception if they are seriously threatened or at risk of persecution.
“Concealment is a technique as old as the world,” explained French anti-terrorism judge Marc Trévidic in an interview with FRANCE 24. “It’s also an essential component of any war strategy, regardless of the people involved.”
In Islam, taqiya dates back to the time when Shiite Muslims were hounded and persecuted by the Sunni caliphs following the 7th century schism between the followers of the Prophet’s son-in-law, Ali, and the Sunni caliphate. […]
“Taqiya, as it’s understood today, is actually a radicalized version of concealment, in the sense that some religious extremists have found ‘dalils’ (or ‘evidence’) in the Koran that would justify their actions,” said [French anti-terrorism judge Marc] Trévidic. […]
The dismantling of suspected sleeper cells, such as the March 7-8 arrests of three terror suspects in the southern French town of Marignane (a suburb of Marseille), has intensified in the wake of the Merah case. “In terrorism, we are constantly rediscovering what we already know,” notes Trévidic.
It’s a view mirrored by Alain Gresh, deputy director of the left-wing monthly Le Monde Diplomatique. In an interview with FRANCE 24, Gresh noted that taqiya is not a new phenomenon. “Who are the terrorists who shout their intentions from rooftops?” he asked.
In a blog post published on March 2, Gresh argued that the media treatment of taqiya has sometimes been “racist” and inappropriate. “Some journalists have suggested that Arabs have a perverse way of thinking that is permitted by their religion. Concealment is not limited to radical Islam. It is found in all religious doctrines and even in political doctrines,” he noted.
| — Hat tip: LH | [Return to headlines] |
France: The Unpopularity of François Hollande
Never before has a French president fallen in public sentiment as quickly as François Hollande. Only 10 months after entering into office, his popularity rating is plummeting. An event aimed at getting closer to the people this week didn’t help.
On a recent trip by French President François Hollande to the eastern city of Dijon, everything that could have gone wrong, went wrong. The visit earlier this week was intended to improve the president’s miserable approval ratings and “renew direct contact with the French.” Instead, Hollande found himself so clearly confronted with the wrath of the people as never before. He was visibly overwhelmed.
“Monsieur Hollande, where have your promises gone?” one young man hollered out to the president as he arrived in the working-class quarter of Les Grésilles. Two bodyguards immediately and violently carried the man out of the crowd. The image of the scene was too disastrous for the television news crews to pass up. Hollande’s predecessor, Nicolas Sarkozy, once told a heckler to “get lost, you poor jerk!” He never lived the phrase down. […]
Something has changed among the people, evidenced by not just opinion polls, but also Hollande’s two-day, meet-the-people trip to Dijon. A few hours after leaving behind the unhappy hecklers, Hollande asked a woman who was passing by if she wanted to take a photo with him. She answered coldly, “We see enough of you on TV.”
As if that weren’t enough, Hollande met another woman shortly thereafter who said to him, “Don’t marry her, we don’t like her in France.” She was referring to Valérie Trierweiler, Hollande’s long-time partner. The president fell silent in embarrassment until the woman had gone. […]
Hollande’s biggest problem is that he’s not just unpopular in one political demographic, but in many. That’s true as much among parts of the Socialist Party base, which has already labeled light reforms and minimal budget cuts as betrayal, as it is among many centrists, who had expected more pragmatism from him. That’s not to mention the right, which is just as incensed by Hollande’s economic policies as it is by his decision to legalize same-sex marriage.
Few pundits in France are wholeheartedly defending Hollande. Even in the left-wing media, which had previously been inclined to grant him favorable coverage, commentators are now accusing him of having no vision, doing too little, speaking publicly too seldom and leaving his government muddling through.
Meanwhile, Hollande is struggling to find convicing counterarguments as unemployment has risen to 11 percent, economic data looks more dismal by the week, industrial output is taking a nosedive and a recovery is nowhere to be seen. As long as the economy doesn’t improve, no trip to connect with the people will be able to boost Hollande’s popularity. […]
| — Hat tip: LH | [Return to headlines] |
Germany: Islamists Target Xenophobic Politician
German police said on Wednesday evening that they had foiled an Islamist assassination plot against a leading xenophobic politician in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW).
The authorities arrested four members of a radical Salafist group before they could murder Markus Beisicht, the head of the anti-Muslim far-right Pro NRW party.
The police apprehended two of the suspects in Leverkusen near Cologne, where they were apparently observing Beisicht. Two others were arrested in Essen and Bonn, where the police discovered ingredients to make explosives and a gun.
“The arrests prove that the security authorities are vigilant and take the threat from extremist Salafists very seriously,” said NRW Interior Minister Ralf Jäger, according the website of Der Spiegel.
The Bild newspaper reported that one of the arrested men was involved in a failed bomb attack at Bonn’s main train station on December 10. Although the explosive device was detonated, it did not go off.
Police planned to offer more details of the plot at a press conference later in the evening.
Beisicht and Pro NRW have been involved in violent clashes with Salafists over the past year.
Last May, violence broke out when 25 Pro NRW campaigners demonstrated using offensive caricatures of Islam’s Prophet Mohammed. These campaigners then clashed with members of the Salafist community in the western town of Solingen who had gathered for a counter-demonstration.
Police said at the time that Salafists tried to break through a police barricade, brandishing rocks and sticks.
Hans-Peter Friedrich, Germany’s federal interior minister, said there was no connection to a series of raids against Salafist groups earlier on Wednesday.
| — Hat tip: BD | [Return to headlines] |
Indian Police Search Finmeccanica and AgustaWestland Offices
New Delhi offices searched in helicopter graft probe
(ANSA) — New Delhi, March 13 — Indian criminal investigators searched the New Delhi offices of Finmeccanica and its subsidiary AgustaWestland on Wednesday in a probe over alleged bribes paid in the sale of 12 AW-101 helicopters to the Indian air force. Sources close to the Italian State-controlled defense contractor group told ANSA that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) “arrived around 6:00 am (local time) and spent a number of hours in the offices”.
The CBI anti-corruption police have also questioned former Indian air force chief of staff Sashindra Pal Tyagi and the ex-officer’s cousins Julie and Docsa Tyagi about their alleged contacts with European middlemen Carlo Gerosa and Guido Haschkhe.
Italian investigators have accused Gerosa and Haschkhe of paying bribes to swing the deal for the 12 choppers in favor of AgustaWestland.
The ex-officer and his relatives have denied any wrongdoing.
On March 6, Indian Defense Minister A. K. Antony told the Senate the contract with Agusta Westland is on hold pending results of the current investigation.
“No decision has been made on whether to blacklist the company”, the minister told MPs.
The CBI also recently questioned managers at the Indian branches of Aeromatrix and IDS Infotech, which prosecutors believe acted as intermediaries by issuing false engineering contracts and routing bribes through the Mauritius Islands and Tunisia, sources close to the investigation said.
India’s Senate agreed at the end of February to establish a parliamentary commission to investigate a scandal-plagued helicopter contract with AgustaWestland, while Antony threatened to severely punish those responsible for alleged corruption in the $750 million US contract.
Opposition politicians in India’s Senate accused the government of using the commission to delay dealing with the matter.
In response, Antony said he would “black-list” any companies violating anti-corruption laws.
“No one will be spared,” he said.
In February, an Italian probe into the allegations led to the arrest and resignation of Finmeccanica ex-CEO Giuseppe Orsi.
India has already taken the initial steps to cancel the helicopter contract.
It froze payments on the units, two of which have been delivered and one on the way, pending the results of the corruption probe.
India’s defence ministry also said it had asked Finmeccanica’s new CEO, Alessandro Pansa, for any information he might be able to provide on suspected bribes.
Finmeccanica is Italy’s biggest defence contractor and a major world player, employing some 70,000 people.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Lazio Administrators Storace and Angelucci Acquitted
(AGI) Rome, Mar 12 — Former Lazio Governor, Francesco Storace and San Raffaele hospital owner, Giampaolo Angelucci have been acquitted from corruption charges by Rome’s preliminary hearings judge. The magistrate, Giacomo Ebner, ruled ‘a non-suit’ regarding the allocation of 7 million euros to the clinic in 2006, granted to pay back 400,000 euros received during the regional elections campaign the year before. The Rome prosecutors’ office, together with the defense counsels, urged the acquittal despite the fact that the offence was covered by statute of limitations.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
New Pope is Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, From Argentina; To be Named Francis
A gathering of Catholic cardinals picked a new pope from among their midst on Wednesday — choosing the cardinal from Argentina, Jorge Mario Bergoglio, the first leader of the church ever chosen from South America.
The new pope, 76, who will be called Francis, the 266th pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church, is also the first non-European leader of the church in more than 1,000 years.
| [Return to headlines] |
Signs of a Quiet Exodus of Jews From France
Last March’s killings at a Jewish elementary school in Toulouse shocked many, but French Jews have been feeling less secure for years. Some leave, though security isn’t the only reason.
NEW YORK — Every Saturday at around 12pm on the sidewalks of the Upper West Side you can hear French being spoken. It’s coming from groups of people who are coming out of the synagogues on 75th, 78th and 84th streets, where increasing numbers of French Jews are appearing each week.
They’re families with kids, young people, teachers and executives. The consulate on Fifth Avenue hasn’t estimated the exact numbers of this phenomenon but it’s definitely increasing. In the “Manhattan Day School” the teachers are showing the daughter of a family around, who just arrived with very few days warning.
Meanwhile, Alessia Lefebure, director of the “Alliance Program” between Columbia University in NYC and “Sciences Po” in Paris, speaks of “a notable number of Parisian Jewish teachers who want to teach here.” To understand what’s happening, we have to go to the Jewish Centre on 86th Street where, in March 2012, the Jewish New Yorkers urged their French counterparts to commemorate the victims of the shooting in the “Ozar Hatorah” school in Toulouse, where the jihadist Mohammed Merah killed a rabbi and three children…
| — Hat tip: TV | [Return to headlines] |
The Ugly Face of Swedish Anti-Semitism
Unchallenged acts of anti-Semitism will harm my fellow Muslim countrymen who have no wish other than to other live in peace with their neighbors.
Recently, I had the honor to testify in my role as president of the Swedish Committee against anti-Semitism. I appeared before the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Human Rights in Washington.
To the 20,000 members of Sweden’s Jewish community, anti-Semitism has become a growing problem. Jews identifiable by dress or otherwise have suffered threats and violence.
The Jewish community center in the city of Malmö was fire-bombed and its cemetery desecrated.
This comes after worrying political signals. Malmö’s mayor stated that “[w]e accept neither anti-Semitism nor Zionism in Malmö” and openly advised the Jewish community that they would gain protection from violence and problems if they “distance themselves from Israel.”
Along with other European Jews, members of our community who have long been patriotic contributors to our country now feel ourselves increasingly targeted and vulnerable. And we note that the focus of American monitors on the issue of anti-Semitism is not met with the same commitment among European politicians. I call for an involvement by leaders in Europe…
| — Hat tip: Steen | [Return to headlines] |
U.S. Ambassador to Italy Praises 5-Star Movement as Example to Follow
Thorne calls on students to reform
(ANSA) — Rome, March 13 — US Ambassador to Italy David Thorne called on young Italians to rise up and change their country — like the 5-Star Movement — at a Roman high school on Wednesday.
“It is now up to you to act on behalf of your country, an extremely important country in the world,” Thorne told students in Italian on career day at the Visconti high school in Rome.
“I know there are problems and challenges in this moment, problems with meritocracy, but you can take your country in hand and act, like the 5-Star Movement, for reform and change. I hope that many of you will make a positive contribution in this sense for your country”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Doctors Said My Son Was Constipated — In Fact, He Had Cancer
A mother has spoken of her fury after doctors sent her son home 11 times in five months before discovering a football-sized tumour in his stomach.
Sharon Woolley was told her five-year-old son Charlie was suffering from constipation — when all along he had neuroblastoma, a rare and aggressive cancer with one of the lowest survival rates.
Miss Woolley believes the time delay in diagnosis may now affect whether he survives the disease or not. He has been given a survival rate of less than 40 per cent.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Eight-Year-Old Boy Runs Up £1,000 Bill on Parents iPad Buying Virtual Doughnuts on Simpsons Game
It was a scene straight out of The Simpsons, played out in real life.
The father of eight-year-old Theo Rowland-Fry would have been forgiven for shouting out Homer Simpson’s classic catchphrase D’oh! after realising what his cheeky son had done.
Theo had been regularly using the family iPad to play The Simpsons game Tapped Out and often bought the virtual doughnuts on offer to help progress through the game.
However, little did the eager youngster know that he was racking up an enormous £980 bill for his parents.
Nick and Lisa Rowland-Fry, from Bristol, only realised that their son had spent the huge amount after their bank account had been completely cleared…
Mr Rowland-Fry said it is too easy for children to buy additional items without being asked for any more details to confirm the purchase.
‘If you buy something on Amazon you have to agree to pay for it, enter additional information to pay and then get a confirmation email so you can keep track. With the iPad it seems to be a free-for-all.
[The default App Store purchase settings on the IPad is upto 10 mins after an approved purchase has been made another one can be made without the password. This 10 mins keeps rolling purchase after purchase. There is no reason that Apple should make this the default setting, it should not be. — KeithS , Norfolk, 13/3/2013 13:29 ]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Far Right ‘Stokes Radicalisation’
Far-right movements like the English Defence League (EDL) have the potential to inspire individuals to break off and join more extreme groups, a minister warned.
Delivering a speech at a conference on far-right extremism, security minister James Brokenshire said that the rise of movements such as the EDL was a “worrying phenomenon”.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Huhne ‘Mocked by Prison Officer’
Disgraced former Cabinet minister Chris Huhne was ridiculed on his first day in jail when a warder called him to breakfast shouting “Order! Order!”, it has been reported.
The prison officer, using the Tannoy system in Wandsworth jail, mimicked the Commons Speaker by adding: “The right honourable member for Wandsworth North — down to the office,” The Sun newspaper reported.
Other prisoners at the south-west London jail were said to have roared with laughter as Huhne went from his cell to pick up the meal.
The newspaper also reported that 58-year-old Huhne has been moved to a wing for vulnerable prisoners because other convicts humiliated and bullied him.
He is said to have asked to be moved to the special area after prisoners discovered he was a millionaire and badgered him for cash.
An unnamed woman, speaking to the newspaper outside the prison on Tuesday after a visit to see her boyfriend, said the other prisoners targeted Huhne as a “soft touch” within hours of his arrival.
“Someone found out he was a millionaire and as soon as he was on the wing there were loads of people after him. They kept on going up to him saying, ‘We know you’ve got money’,” she said. “They had to move him into the segregation block because inmates were bullying him.”
Huhne and his ex-wife Vicky Pryce were handed eight-month jail sentences at Southwark Crown Court in London on Monday for perverting the course of justice when Pryce took speeding points for Huhne in 2003…
| — Hat tip: Nick | [Return to headlines] |
ENI Oil Services Unit Awarded $1.1bln of New African Contracts
Rome, 11 March (AKI) — Saipem, the oilfield services company controlled by Italian energy giant Eni has won new offshore contracts in North and West Africa worth some 1.1 billion dollars.
In Egypt, Saipem has been awarded by Burullus Gas Company a contract for the development of the West Delta Deep Marine Phase IXa Project about 90 kilometres off the Mediterranean Coast of Egypt.
Marine activities will be carried out between the second and the fourth quarter of 2014, Saipem said.
Saipem has also been awarded a contract for offshore activities in Angola in the second quarter of 2014 and the second quarter of 2015, in a water depth ranging from 700 to 1,450 metres, the company said.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
EU Parliamentarians in Whirlwind Tour of Samaria
EU parliamentarians take 36-hour trip to Samaria and Jerusalem, are surprised at Arab-Jewish coexistence.
In yet another success for Samaria”s advocacy initiatives, a group of European parliamentarians agreed to take a 36-hour trip to the area this week. The European Union generally views Samaria (Shomron) as Arab land and condemns Israeli construction in the area.
The parliamentarians came as guests of Samaria Regional Council head Gershon Mesika.
YouTube: EU Parliamentarians in Whirlwind Tour of Samaria…
| — Hat tip: TV | [Return to headlines] |
Italian-Israeli Space Sector Workshop Held in Tel Aviv
(AGI) — Tel Aviv, Mar 12 — Cooperation between Italy and Israel is growing in the civil space sector, with more than 50 companies taking part in the Israel-Italy Industry Workshop on Space Technologies in Tel Aviv. The event was organised by the space agencies of Italy and Israel, ASI and ISA, in association with the embassies and foreign ministries of the two countries and with the support of the Italian Trade Commission. An intense two-days of business-to-business meetings focused on the technologies developed for space applications and for civil use. The workshop, opened by Italian ambassador, Francesco Maria Talo’, and the chairmen of the two space agencies, Enrico Saggese, and Ben Israel, was also attended by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs delegate for space issues, Ezio Bussoletti, and leaders of industry associations AIAD, AIPAS and ASAS. The event was held on the eve of the arrival in Israel of Italian Foreign Minister Giulio Terzi.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Interview: What Went Wrong With Bernard Lewis?
By Andrew Bostom
[Click on link to watch embedded interview]
I spent an hour with my colleague, the prolific author Robert Spencer, discussing Bernard Lewis, nonagenarian doyen of Islamic Studies. The entire interview, conducted as a segment for Robert’s outstanding weekly series of Jihad Watch programs on the Aramaic Broadcasting Network, is embedded above. Please read the summary assessment of my concerns before watching the interview. A more detailed analysis of Lewis’s analytic pitfalls can be read here.
Accrued over a distinguished career of more than six decades of serious scholarship, Bernard Lewis clearly possesses an enormous fund of knowledge regarding certain aspects of classical Islamic civilization, as well as valuable insights on the early evolution of modern Turkey from the dismantled Ottoman Empire. A gifted linguist, non-fiction prose writer, and teacher, Lewis shares his understanding of Muslim societies in both written and oral presentations, with singular economy, eloquence, and wit. Now 96 years old and still active, these are extraordinary attributes for which Lewis richly deserves the accolades lavished upon him.
I began expressing my concerns with the less salutary aspects of Lewis’ scholarship in a lengthy review-essay (for Frontpage) on Bat Ye’or’s seminal book Eurabia—The Euro-Arab Axis, published December 31, 2004. Over the intervening years—in the wake of profound US policy failures vis a vis Islamdom at that time, and subsequently, till now—this disquietude has increased considerably. As I demonstrate in my recent book, Sharia Versus Freedom, Lewis’s legacy of intellectual and moral confusion has greatly hindered the ability of sincere American policymakers to think clearly about Islam’s living imperial legacy, driven by unreformed and unrepentant mainstream Islamic doctrine. Ongoing highly selective and celebratory presentations of Lewis’s understandings—(see this for example) —are pathognomonic of the dangerous influence Lewis continues to wield over his uncritical acolytes and supporters.
In Sharia Versus Freedom, I review Lewis’s troubling intellectual legacy regarding four critical subject areas: the institution of jihad, the chronic impact of the Sharia on non-Muslims vanquished by jihad, sacralized Islamic Jew-hatred, and perhaps most importantly, his inexplicable 180-degree reversal on the notion of “Islamic democracy.” Lewis’ rather bowdlerized analyses are compared to the actual doctrinal formulations of Muslim legists, triumphal Muslim chroniclers celebrating the implementation of these doctrines, and independent Western assessments by Islamologists (several of whom worked with Lewis, directly, as academic colleagues; discussed at length here) which refute his sanitized claims.
Journalist David Warren, writing in March 2006, questioned the advice given President Bush “on the nature of Islam” at that crucial time by not only “the paid operatives of Washington’s Council on American-Islamic Relations, and the happyface pseudo-scholar Karen Armstrong,” but most significantly, one eminence grise, in particular: “the profoundly learned” Bernard Lewis. All these advisers, despite their otherwise divergent viewpoints, as Warren noted, “assured him (President Bush) that Islam and modernity were potentially compatible.” None more vehemently—or with such authority—than the so-called “Last Orientalist,” nonagenarian professor Bernard Lewis. Arguably the most striking example of Lewis’s fervor was a lecture he delivered July 16, 2006 (on board the ship Crystal Serenity during a Hillsdale College cruise in the British Isles) about the transferability of Western democracy to despotic Muslim societies, such as Iraq. He concluded with the statement, “Either we bring them freedom, or they destroy us.” This stunning claim was published with that concluding remark as the title, “Bring Them Freedom Or They Destroy Us,” and disseminated widely.
While Lewis put forth rather non sequitur, apologetic examples in support of his concluding formulation, he never elucidated the yawning gap between Western and Islamic conceptions of freedom—hurriyya in Arabic…
| — Hat tip: Andy Bostom | [Return to headlines] |
Iran: Three Al-Qaeda Suspects Arrested Near Western Border
Teheran, 13 March (AKI) — Iranain security forces have arrested three alleged members of Al-Qaeda near the western border, Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency said on Wednesday, citing an army chief.
The arrests, announced on Wednesday, had been made over the past few months, according to the commander of the Iranian army’s Kermanshah Cavalry Division, General Ali Hajilou.
“We have arrested three al-Qaeda members in the country’s Western border regions in recent months and handed them over to the relevant authorities.” Hajilou said, quoted by Fars.
Fars cited Iran’s police chief Brigadier General Esmayeel Ahmadi Moqaddam as claiming on Wednesday that the whole of the country was currently secure.
“We have no insecure point in the country and we cannot say that security in (the Southeastern) province of Kerman is lower than Sistan and Balouchestan (province) or security in (the Central province of) Isfahan is higher than Tehran’s security,” Ahmadi Moqaddam said in Iran’s Southwestern city of Yasouj.
Iranian security forces in February 2010 captured and subsequently executed the leader of the Al-Qaeda linked Sunni Islamist group Jundullah, which originated in southeast Iran and is now believed to be based in Pakistan.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Saudi Arabia Beheads 7 Despite Appeal
[WARNING: Disturbing Content.]
(ASSOCIATED PRESS) Seven Saudi men convicted of theft, looting and armed robbery were beheaded on Wednesday, according to the country’s official news agency, more than a week after their families and a rights group appealed to the king for clemency.
The seven were arrested in 2006 and received death sentences in 2009, a Saudi newspaper reported at the time. The case was back in focus after Human Rights Watch earlier this month called for the sentences to be canceled because the men were juveniles at the time of their arrest.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Syria: ‘Over 30 Deserters Killed in Roadside Ambush’
Beirut, 12 March (AKI) — Government forces have killed over 30 deserters from the Syrian army in an ambush on the road to Damascus airport, according to opposition activists.
The opposition activist organization Local Coordination Committees of Syria made the claim on its Facebook page.
The London-based Human Rights Observatory activist group reported violent clashes overnight along the Damascus airport road near Beit Sahm, Aqraba e Jaramana.
On Monday, anti-government rebel fighters said they had downed a military plane near Damascus airport.
Syria’s grand mufti, Sheik Ahmad Badr al-Deen Hassoun, who is Sunni but is closely linked embattled president Bashar al-Assad’s government has called for more recruits to the Syrian army.
In the decree aired on state TV Sunday, Sheik Hassoun exhorted “all mothers and fathers in the homeland” to enlist their children in the Syrian army to vanquish what he called a conspiracy of foreign enemies, including traitorous Arabs, Zionists and Westerners.
Assad’s armed forces are in need of more recruits and may begin to strictly enforce compulsory service laws for the first time since the conflict began, the decree suggested.
Based on recent funeral data, some 40 Syrian soldiers are being killed each day in the conflict with anti-Assad rebels, according to the Washington Institute thinktank.
A report by a UN panel on Monday also claimed the Syrian government was increasingly turning to the armed militia groups in the two-year-long conflict that has claimed over 70,000 lives.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
India: Images of Jesus and the Virgin Mary Photo-Shopped to Attack “Italian” Gandhis
The faces are those of Rahul Gandhi and his mother Sonia (President of the Congress), alongside a photo of a group of Hindu nationalists. The image appeared on the Facebook page of a group that glorifies hatred against the ruling party.
Mumbai (AsiaNews) — Jesus and the Virgin Mary depicted — respectively — with the faces of Rahul and Sonia Gandhi, and a caption that reads “Italian scam”. The photo-shopped image appeared on the Facebook page of the “All India Congress Haters Association”, alongside a photo of a group of Hindutva supporters (a sectarian ideology that promotes a Hindus state, ed), surmounted by the words “ohm Indians “(The ohm is a sacred mantra in Hinduism, ed.) For the Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC), it is an “act of desecration that wounds, especially at this time of Lent.”
According to Sajan George, president of the GCIC, “This is the height of perversion, certainly not becoming the people of this great nation or members of any religion worth its name, using sacred pictures and symbols to settle political scores, whatever the extent of hatred with which they are filled with”.
“The whole Christian community — he said — is upset by this gesture and together with the GCIC ask the central government and the state governments to take the necessary measures to stop these unscrupulous gestures, and to find out who is behind them. Similar actions can threaten harmony within the community. “
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Pakistan: 160 Houses and 2 Churches Burnt in Lahore: Photos
The Supreme Court of Pakistan has opened an investigation accusing the police of complicity within the attack. Photos of the arson attack.
Lahore (AsiaNews) — The Supreme Court of Pakistan accused the Punjab police of sheltering the criminals involved in the arson attack on the Christian Joseph Colony of Lahore, on last 9th march. At least 160 houses, 18 shops and two churches, one catholic and one Seventh day Adventist, were burnt. Below photos of the arson, received today by AsiaNews.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Radio Producer Stands Her Ground in Her Knickers With a Thief Trying to Steal Her Laptop
A FEISTY Brisbane woman got the better of a brazen burglar by giving him a stern talking to before he gave her computer back and apologised.
Sarah Shands, 25, was living at East Brisbane when she woke to her puppy Otis Ray growling at 5.45am one day last month.
“He doesn’t usually do that but he really burred up and was brave,” she said.
Dressed only in a top and underwear, Ms Shands found the intruder in her house with her laptop and car keys.
“I said, ‘What are you doing? Give me my stuff back!’ and he just handed it over and said, ‘Oh, sorry.’ I said, The thief told her he didn’t have anything else but did as he was told to turn out his pockets when confronted by the angry radio producer. “He said he didn’t have anything else, that he didn’t want to do it”, before he walked out of the house and jumped over the back fence. “If he pulled a knife or anything of course I would just walk away and let him take it. But you’ve got to stand up.” for yourself. Ms Shands was also motivated to confront the man to retrieve work information stored on her computer. “I’d just finished a brief on China and the only place it was, was on my computer and I didn’t want to have to do it again.” Ms Shands praised police, who were there within minutes and had teams scouring the neighbourhood for the man. A police spokeswoman said homeowners should never do anything to place themselves in danger, and reminded people to lock up. She also said there had been several reports of keys being stolen during burglaries which can make residents feel unsafe until they are replaced. The offender is described as being well built and of Asian appearance, and was wearing a denim jacket and three-quarter-length denim shorts. Nigerian Politician Pardoned After Stealing Millions (AGI) Abuja — In a seemingly scandalous move, a Nigerian politician who stole millions of euros has been pardoned by the President. Rebels Conquer Bangassou in the Central African Republic (AGI)Rome — Rebels have captured the southeastern town of Bangassou in the Central African Republic (CAR), the city’s bishop said .. Last Argentinian Military Junta Chief Sentenced to Life (AGI) Buenos Aires, March 12 — General Reynaldo Bignone, the last chief of Argentina’s military junta, which held power until December 1983, has been given another prison sentence. Bignone and five other officers were sentenced to life in prison for having committed crimes against humanity in the detention camp of Campo de Mayo, where seven pregnant women — partners of seven detained men — were killed between 1976 and 1983. Bignone supported Jorge Videla’s military coup in 1976 and replaced Leopoldo Galtieri after the failed attempt to invade the Falklands. Obama’s ICE Releases Illegal Aliens From Jail, Awards $220.5 Million Contract to Answer USCIS Phones While Obama’s Immigration Custom Enforcement (ICE) was releasing thousands of illegal aliens from jail supposedly because of the sequester budget cuts, Obama’s U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) was awarding a $220.5 million contract to answer phones. On March 7, HP Enterprise Services announced it won a $220.5 million five-year “task order” from Obama’s USCIS “to manage call centers for those applying for citizenship or who need immigration assistance for the USCIS National Customer Service Center.” Booting out migrants who arrive without a visa or valid passport may be costing up to £100million a year. At least 4,000 foreigners enter the UK every 12 months despite having no right to be here. Each costs as much as £25,000 to remove — putting the potential annual bill at £100million. Officials admit however that the illegals are often allowed to stay. Many will claim asylum, or be impossible to remove because they do not have a passport and will not co-operate with investigators. Last night ministers warned that such individuals pose a significant risk to national security. In many cases officials will have no idea who they are, where they are from or if they have a criminal or terrorist history. Many are thought to come from countries it is difficult to return them to because of human rights issues, including Uganda, Afghanistan and Somalia. Boy Scouts Ask Members if ‘Gays’ Would be OK Do you mind if a homosexual leader camps overnight with boys? Ahead of a historic vote, the Boy Scouts of America has issued a survey asking Scouts and their parents if they could accept various scenarios that would arise if the organization changes its century-old policy and allowed homosexuals in its membership. The survey presents scenarios ranging from a lesbian leader of first-grade boys to a “gay male troop leader” who takes “adolescent boys on an overnight camping trip.” The BSA’s national council of some 1,400 members is expected to vote on the proposed policy change at its annual meeting in Grapevine, Texas, in May… In a Washington Post blog posting, opinion writer Jonathan Capehart compared the Scouts’ survey to a “study” of the views of military personnel that the Defense Department used to prepare for the repeal of its policy on homosexuals, known as “Don’t ask, don’t tell.” New Pope Active in Blasting Abortion, ‘Gay’ Marriage Pope Francis, newly selected by the cardinals of the Catholic church to be their new leader, has a heritage of staunch support for conservative issues, heralding possible disappointment for those who advocate for a more “modern” church that accepts contemporary social values. The selection of Francis, former Buenos Aires Archbishop Jorge Mario Bergoglio, was announced Wednesday, only weeks after Pope Benedict XVI resigned, citing his health and the demands of the church. Gary Glenn, president of the American Family Association of Michigan, said, “We congratulate our many Catholic supporters on the selection of a new pope and are encouraged by his reputation for unwavering commitment to preserving the lives of prenatal children and marriage between one man and one woman. We will stand firmly with him and defend him in that commitment and pray for his success.” Glenn cited a report from National Catholic Register that described Bergoglio as “an unwaveringly orthodox on matters of sexual morality, staunchly opposing abortion, same-sex marriage, and contraception. In 2010 he asserted that gay adoption is a form of discrimination against children, earning a public rebuke from Argentina’s President, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner.” Ann Coulter notes double standard with leftists playing ‘shame-and-blame game’ Like the proverbial monkey typing for infinity and getting Shakespeare, Mayor Bloomberg’s obsession with reforming New Yorkers’ health has finally produced a brilliant ad campaign. Posters are popping up in subway stations and bus stops giving statistics about teen pregnancy that show cute little kids saying things like, “Honestly, Mom … chances are he won’t stay with you. What happens to me?” and “I’m twice as likely not to graduate high school because you had me as a teen.” (Based on a recent CBS report, the kid could add, “Then again, I’m in the New York City public school system, so even if I graduate I won’t be able to read.”) It’s one thing to stigmatize “Big Gulp” drinkers, but liberals are hopping mad at this attempt to stigmatize teen pregnancy, 90 percent of which is unwed. To put it another way, if you’re a New York teen with a distended belly these days, it had better be because you’re pregnant. Planned Parenthood’s Haydee Morales complained that the ads are creating “stigma” and “negative public opinions about teen pregnancy.” (I’m pretty sure that’s the basic idea.) Instead, Morales suggested “helping teens access health care, birth control and high-quality sexual and reproductive health education.” Like the kind they got before becoming pregnant, you mean? Are you new here, Haydee?
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— Hat tip: C. Cantoni
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— Hat tip: C. Cantoni
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— Hat tip: C. Cantoni
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— Hat tip: JD
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— Hat tip: JD
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— Hat tip: JD
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— Hat tip: JD
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— Hat tip: JD
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At least the Germans are aware of the growing menace of radical Islamist groups within:-
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/03/13/us-germany-salafists-idUSBRE92C09P20130313
Shame we can’t have Pope Urban 11 back for another spell.
Quote:
Far-right movements like the English Defence League (EDL) have the potential to inspire individuals to break off and join more extreme groups, a minister warned.
end
Not true.
It is the thought and domination of the left that has compelled people to look at the case of the so-called “right wing.”
I’m in a quandary about which society is the more self-deceived, the United States of the United Kingdom.
It seems to me that the political class of the UK is one of the most self-deceived interest groups in the world.
This “right wing” will get stronger and will eventually swallow the majority of British indigenes. They need a Tecumseh and Tenskwatawa, and they need to fight the invading foreigner.