Gates of Vienna News Feed 11/27/2013

Nine “Canadians” were arrested and 83 charges were filed in a drug trafficking and illegal weapons bust in Alberta. There’s no word on the ethnicity of the perps, but the case has a Mohammed Coefficient of 22%.

In other news, as part of its crackdown on illegal immigrants, Saudi Arabia has sent more than 50,000 undocumented workers back to Ethiopia.

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

Thanks to Andy Bostom, Fjordman, Insubria, JD, JLH, JP, LN, LS, MC, Seneca III, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.

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

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

Financial Crisis
» China is on a Debt Binge and a Buying Spree Unlike Anything the World Has Ever Seen Before
» Desperate Measures: Greeks Self-Inflict HIV to Get €700 Benefits
» Greece: Very Small Enterprises Are Hit Hardest
» Italy: Incomes Stuck at 1986 Levels Mean Bleak Xmas, Says Group
 
USA
» “I Fear for What’s Coming” — 68 Percent of Americans Believe the Country is on the Wrong Track
» Alleged Hand Written Letter by Obama Refers to Conservatives as “Tea Baggers”
» Busting Eight Common Excuses for NSA Mass Surveillance
» Cell Phone Radiation Breast Cancer Link — New Study Raises Grave Concerns
» CNBC Core Viewership Drops to Fresh Two Decade Low in November, Lowest Since 1993
» Colorado Democrat Resigns to Forestall Recall on Gun Control Stance
» Defense Department Gives Local Police Equipment Designed for a War Zone
» Facebook Wants to Listen to Your Phone Calls
» First Book Printed in US Sells for Record $14.2 Million
» For Man Did Not Give It
» Healthcare.gov’s Date With Destiny
» Houston We Have a Vandalism Problem: Offensive and ‘Racist’ Graffiti is Sprayed on Independence Space Shuttle
» Is Xbox Kinect Listening to Your Skype Calls?
» Legalized Theft of Guns
» NSA Contractors Are Literally Paying Off the Senators in Charge of Keeping Them in Check
» Obama Admin Will Openly Use IRS to Limit Campaign Activities of Tax Exempt Groups
» Online Health Care Enrollment for Small Businesses to be Delayed
» Proof: Gun Registration Leads to Confiscation
» Terrorist Ayers Confesses Sharing Obama’s ‘Dreams’
» There Already is a Government Health Care System in America and it is the Medical Version of Hell
» Top-Secret Document Reveals NSA Spied on Porn Habits as Part of Plan to Discredit ‘Radicalizers’
 
Canada
» Nine Arrests, 83 Charges in Fort McMurray Drug Sting
 
Europe and the EU
» £3,500-a-Year Bill Makes Britain Most Expensive Place to Run a Car
» Berlusconi is Ousted From Italian Senate Over Tax Fraud Conviction
» Britain Warns Spain Against Escalating Gibraltar Tensions
» Brussels Commissioner Laszlo Andor: ‘Cameron is Making Britain the Nasty Country of Europe’
» Denmark: Million Kroner Poetry Reading Goes Off Without Hitch
» French Court Upholds Sacking of Veiled Worker
» Germany: Coalition Deal: Merkel Reaches Agreement on Next Government
» German Watchdog Probes Gold and Silver Price-Fixing
» Italy: Letta Sees Govt Strengthened by Berlusconi Party’s Exit
» Italy: Civil Protection Chief Blames Flood Deaths on Poor Planning
» Italy: Bolzano Tops Wealth Chart
» Italy: Police Seize 140,000 Toxic Crayons for Kids From China
» Italy’s Crisis Leaves Middle Class Struggling
» Italy: Berlusconi Expelled From Parliament
» Malta Free to Sell EU Citizenship, Commission Says
» Netherlands: Rotterdam Housing Corporations Agree to Social Engineering
» Netherlands: Ruling Parties Now Have Doubts About Scrapping Blasphemy Law
» Postal Deals Signed Between Italy, Russia
» Spain Set to Clone Extinct Mountain Goat
» Sweden: Police Worried Over Youth Attitudes to Rape
» Sweden: Cannibal Case Inquiry: ‘Something Went Wrong’
» Sweden: Gothenburg Police Arrest Ten in Gangland Raids
» UK: Nick Lowles: Al-Muhajiroun, Gateway to Terror
» UK: Polite White Flight as Culture Divides Us
» UK: Soldier Murder Trial Set to Start Friday
» UK: Tory Councillor John Morgan ‘Gambled Away Woman’s Life Savings’
» UK: When it Comes to Diversity, Most of us Vote With Our Feet
» Uphill Battle: New Machine Could Save German Vineyards
 
North Africa
» Egypt: Azhar University Officials Jailed Over Food Poisoning Cases
 
Israel and the Palestinians
» Cornell BDS Group Justifies Hypocritically Using Israeli Web Technology
» Israel Launches Largest Ever Air Force Exercise Day After Iran Deal
 
Middle East
» 16 Countries in Talks With Turkey for Cooperation
» Al-Qaeda’s Brutal Tactics in Syria
» Hundreds of Turks Join Al-Qaeda Fighters in Syria
» Inside Syria: Al-Qaeda Was Here
» Interview Discussion of Apocalyptic Islamic Jew-Hatred, From the Palestinian Mufti to the Iranian Mullahs
» Iraq: 14 Killed, 30 Wounded in Attacks Against Security Forces in Iraq
» Lebanon: Italy Funds Course for Blind Journalists
» London is Mediating Indirect Secret Talks Between US and Hezbollah
» Nuclear Deal With Iran Prelude to War, Not “Breakthrough”
» Number of Foreign Fighters From Europe in Syria is Historically Unprecedented
» Obama’s Munich Moment
» Syria: Suicide Bombing in Damascus Kills 15
 
Russia
» Moscow Police Arrest ‘Armed Islamists’ In Raids
 
South Asia
» 10 More Years in Afghanistan
» Widespread Violence During Bangladesh Blockade Leaves 9 Dead
 
Australia — Pacific
» Police to Suspend Driver’s Licenses for Non-Traffic Offenses
 
Sub-Saharan Africa
» Angola Denies it Banned Islam, Destroyed Mosques
» Nigeria: 37 Killed in Fresh Plateau Dawn Attack
 
Immigration
» “Unruly” Crowd Attacks Border Patrol Agents
» Denmark: The Colour of Politics Remains Mostly White
» Immigration Proposals Show That UKIP is Setting the Agenda
» Israel to Pay African Asylum-Seekers $3,500 to Leave Voluntarily
» Obama Says He Wants to Bypass Congress But He Can’t
» Over 50,000 Illegal Ethiopian Workers Sent Home From Saudi Arabia
» S. Arabia Deports 50,000 Undocumented Workers
» UK Asked to Avoid ‘Hysterical’ Debate on Migration
 
Culture Wars
» Do Young Americans Understand Thanksgiving?
» Lesbian Waitress May Have Forged Anti-Gay Note
» Thank You, Hobby Lobby
» UK: Christian Guest House Owners Lose Supreme Court Battle After Being Ordered to Pay Damages for Turning Away Gay Couple
 

China is on a Debt Binge and a Buying Spree Unlike Anything the World Has Ever Seen Before

When it comes to reckless money creation, it turns out that China is the king. Over the past five years, Chinese bank assets have grown from about 9 trillion dollars to more than 24 trillion dollars. This has been fueled by the greatest private debt binge that the world has ever seen.

According to a recent World Bank report, the level of private domestic debt in China has grown from about 9 trillion dollars in 2008 to more than 23 trillion dollars today. In other words, in just five years the amount of money that has been loaned out by banks in China is roughly equivalent to the amount of debt that the U.S. government has accumulated since the end of the Reagan administration. And Chinese bank assets now absolutely dwarf the assets of the U.S. Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank, the Bank of Japan and the Bank of England combined. You can see an amazing chart which shows this right here. A lot of this “hot money” has been flowing out of China and into U.S. companies, U.S. stocks and U.S. real estate. Unfortunately for China (and for the rest of us), there are lots of signs that the gigantic debt bubble in China is about to burst, and when that does happen the entire world is going to feel the pain.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Desperate Measures: Greeks Self-Inflict HIV to Get €700 Benefits

A recent World Health Organization report shows grim health implications from Europe’s economic crisis, including a trend in Greece in which citizens infect themselves with HIV to access the meager range of government benefits available.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Greece: Very Small Enterprises Are Hit Hardest

(ANSAmed) — ATHENS, NOVEMBER 27 — Greek small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have been hurt by the prolonged recession to a much greater extent than larger businesses, but an annual European Commission report on SMEs published on Tuesday says that emerging trends suggest the basic indices in the Greek SME sector will turn positive in 2013. The survey, as Kathimerini reports, notes that “more than 50% of private employment in Greece is concentrated in very small enterprises (with up to nine employees).” Given that most of those businesses are too small to look to exports, their dependence on domestic consumption has resulted in them sustaining a disproportionate amount of damage from the fiscal adjustment and the austerity measures which have hurt demand. The report includes figures showing that the number of medium-sized companies amounts to just 0.4% of all enterprises in Greece, against a European Union average of 1.1%, while their employees represent 13.6% of the total, versus 17.3% in the EU. About a third of private sector workers are employed by large enterprises, against just 15.2% in Greece. “The SME sector in Greece depends more on very small enterprises than in other EU states,” the report concludes.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Incomes Stuck at 1986 Levels Mean Bleak Xmas, Says Group

Practical gifts including books, food, clothing top choices

(ANSA) — Rome, November 27 — Christmas will be a bleak affair for many Italians who have seen their incomes stuck at 1986 levels, business organization Confcommercio said Wednesday.

“It will be yet another Christmas of austerity,” predicted Carlo Sangalli, president of Confcommercio.

Data from the group’s research centre show that the real income levels for many Italians remain stuck at the same level as achieved 27 years ago, due to tax burdens that can now absorb as much as 44% of salaries, he said. However, he added, families are continuing to celebrate the traditions and spirit of Christmas without lavish gift-giving. But central to any economic recovery next year is a recovery in consumer confidence and spending based on lower taxes, said Sangalli.

Italians who do choose to buy Christmas gifts this year will be focused on practical items such as food, clothing and books, which comprise about 87% of spending plans.

The remaining 13% of shopping planned will be for gifts involving technology, the group said.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

“I Fear for What’s Coming” — 68 Percent of Americans Believe the Country is on the Wrong Track

Are you deeply concerned about the future of America? Is something in your gut telling you that our system is fundamentally broken and that the mainstream media is not telling you the truth about what is happening? If so, you are definitely not alone. Right now, there are millions upon millions of Americans that are absolutely horrified as they watch this nation deteriorate. In fact, according to an analysis of recent polling data conducted by Real Clear Politics, approximately 68 percent of all Americans believe that the country is on the wrong track and only 23.5 percent of all Americans believe that the country is on the right track.

And of course our problems did not appear just recently. In fact, many of them are the result of decades of very foolish decisions and they are not going to be fixed easily. Unfortunately, there is very little consensus among Americans about how to fix any of our problems. There is more anger, frustration, hatred and division in the United States today than there has been in decades, and there is very little hope that the great storms that are looming on the horizon will be averted. Those that are wise are preparing for what is coming. Those that are not are going to be absolutely blindsided by what is rapidly approaching.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Alleged Hand Written Letter by Obama Refers to Conservatives as “Tea Baggers”

Disgruntled supporter wrote to complain of “toxic political environment” created by Obamacare

A letter allegedly hand written by president Obama refers to conservative Americans who disagree with his policies as “tea baggers”.

The letter, written on White House headed paper, and signed by Obama, was a response to a strongly worded complaint from a Texas school teacher who wrote to express concern that the Affordable Care Act was having a negative effect on the Democratic Party and the president himself.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Busting Eight Common Excuses for NSA Mass Surveillance

We’ve heard from lots of folks who are passionately concerned about the NSA’s mass spying, but are struggling to get their friends and family to understand the problem and join the over a half-million people who have demanded change through stopwatching.us and elsewhere…

But you also need to be prepared to respond to the common refrains of folks confused, nonplussed, or simply exhausted from the headlines. So here’s a cheat sheet to help you talk about the NSA spying when you’re with family and friends.

I have nothing to hide from the government, so why should I worry?

There are a few ways to respond to this, depending on what you think will work best for the person raising the question.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Cell Phone Radiation Breast Cancer Link — New Study Raises Grave Concerns

(NaturalNews) A new study raises concerns of a possible association between cell phone radiation exposure and breast cancer in young women.

The research team, led by Dr. Lisa Bailey, a former president of the American Cancer Society’s California Division and one of California’s top breast surgeons, studied four young women — aged from 21 to 39 years old — with multifocal invasive breast cancer.

The researchers observed that all the patients developed tumors in areas of their breasts next to where they carried their cell phones, often for up to 10 hours per day, for several years. None of the patients had a family history of breast cancer. They all tested negative for BRCA1 and BRCA2 — breast cancer genes linked to about one-half of breast cancer cases — and they had no other known breast cancer risks.

Imaging of the young girls’ breasts revealed a clustering of multiple tumor foci in the part of the breast directly under where their cell phones touched their body.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

CNBC Core Viewership Drops to Fresh Two Decade Low in November, Lowest Since 1993

Lately, the CNBC management team and show producers, and certainly the Comcast C-suite, have been engaged in a flurry of activity: from the departure of the iconic money honey Maria Bartiromo, to the retention of virtually every nubile (and not so nubile) Bloomberg TV anchor, it seems the station that was once known for breaking and analyzing financial news is more focused on the perfect mix of TV anchors. Supposedly in lieu of relevant, actionable content, this will offset the boost viewership. Or so the thinking goes. Sadly this is the same sort of thinking that has made slideshows, kittens, and all-caps headlines an ubiqutous click bait fixture of web media. Unfortunately for CNBC (and perhaps explaining Bartiromo’s decision to jump ship after decades of loyalty) it is not working. According to the latest Nielsen Research data, in November, CNBC’s core 25-54 demographic saw its fourth consecutive month of declines, and dropped to just 31,000 — a declined of over 40% from a year earlier, and the lowest since February 1993: a fresh 13 year low.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Colorado Democrat Resigns to Forestall Recall on Gun Control Stance

Centennial State has some of the most draconian anti-2nd Amendment laws in the nation.

Colorado Democrat state Senator Evie Hudak’s constituents are hopping mad about her stance on the Second Amendment.

On Wednesday, the embattled politico threw in the towel ahead of a recall effort in the state.

“By resigning I am protecting these important new laws for the good of Colorado and ensuring that we can continue looking forward,” Hudak wrote in her resignation letter…

In March, Hudak took heat for callous comments she directed at a rape victim who testified against a bill to ban concealed-carry firearms. Faced with outrage from the public and bad PR for her insensitive comments, the senator later attempted to backtrack. Hudak said she “didn’t mean to be insensitive” in the exchange with Amanda Collins.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Defense Department Gives Local Police Equipment Designed for a War Zone

From war zones to city streets, some military vehicles are getting a new life — and not everyone is happy about the recycling.

The Defense Department recently announced it would be giving domestic law enforcement forces hulking vehicles designed to efficiently maneuver in a war zone for use in thwarting any potential high-scale activity.

This did not sit well with those who see a troubling trend: the militarization of local police departments, including the American Civil Liberties Union, which has criticized the Defense Department for giving 18-ton, $500,000 armor-protected military fighting vehicles to local forces.

ACLU affiliates have been collecting 2012 records to determine the extent of military hardware and tactics sent to police and plan to issue a report early next year.

“One of our concerns with this is it has a tendency to escalate violence,” said ACLU Center for Justice senior counsel Kara Dansky.

An Associated Press investigation of the Defense Department military surplus program this year found that a disproportionate share of the $4.2 billion worth of property distributed since 1990 — everything from blankets to bayonets and Humvees — has been obtained by police and sheriff’s departments in rural areas with few officers and little crime.

Ohio State University campus police got one vehicle, saying they would use it in large-scale emergencies and to provide a police presence on football game days. Others went to police in High Springs, Fla., and the sheriff’s office in Dallas County, Texas.

In New York, the Albany County sheriff’s department already had four smaller military-surplus Humvees, which have been used for storm evacuations and to pull trees out of roadways. Their new Mine-Resistant Ambush-Protected vehicle will go into service after technicians remove the gun turret and change the paint from military sand to civilian black…

           — Hat tip: JLH [Return to headlines]
 

Facebook Wants to Listen to Your Phone Calls

Cellphone users who attempt to install the Facebook Messenger app are asked to agree to terms of service that allow the social networking giant to use the microphone on their device to record audio at any time without their permission.

As the screenshot above illustrates (click for enlargement), users are made to accept an agreement that allows Facebook to “record audio with the microphone…at any time without your confirmation.”

The TOS also authorizes Facebook to take videos and pictures using the phone’s camera at any time without permission, as well as directly calling numbers, again without permission, that could incur charges.

But wait, there’s more! Facebook can also “read your phone’s call log” and “read data about contacts stored on your phone, including the frequency with which you’ve called, emailed or communicated in other ways with specific individuals.”

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

First Book Printed in US Sells for Record $14.2 Million

The Bay Psalm is one of the rarest books in the world

The Bay Psalm Book, one of 11 surviving copies of the first book printed in America, has sold for $14.2 million at Sotheby’s in New York, setting a new world auction record for any printed book.

Although it had been estimated to fetch up to $30 million, it easily surpassed the previous mark of $11.5 million, paid in December 2010 for John James Audubon’s “Birds of America.”

“We are thrilled that this book, which is so important to our history and culture, is destined to be widely seen by Americans who can appreciate its singular significance,” said David Redden, chairman of Sotheby’s books department.

Printed in 1640 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the Bay Psalm is one of the rarest books in the world and among the finest surviving copies of original 1,700 that were printed.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

For Man Did Not Give It

“No man is above the law and no man is below it; nor do we ask any man’s permission when we ask him to obey it. Obedience to the law is demanded as a right; not asked as a favor.” — Theodore Roosevelt

Napoleon said, “He who saves his country violates no law.” I say, he who fulfills the law out of love saves his country (Romans 13:10), only to establish liberty (2 Corinthians 3:17).

It has also been said that the truth (law) is the first casualty in war.

Of course it is! The truth (law) is the great stumbling block to those who do not want to be ruled by law. The whole purpose of government is to ensure our rights, not to steal them away.

If the American people understood that it is not the right of the government to break the law, and that our rights come from God, not the generosity of the state, then America would not be in the state it is today. I also remind you that no representative has the authority to tear down the Constitution and rebuild it in his/her own image.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Healthcare.gov’s Date With Destiny

Yet while Sebelius was out pitching her latest hooey in Orlando and Miami, a panel of ObamaCare computer technicians was delivering more inconvenient truths at a House Energy and Commerce Oversight and Investigations subcommittee hearing. Deputy Chief Information Officer Henry Chao of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services admitted that as much as 40 percent of the IT systems supporting the healthcare exchange have yet to be built. “It’s not that it’s not working,” Chao told lawmakers. “It’s still being developed and tested.”

The most prominent part of what is being developed and tested is the ability to process and deliver payments to the insurance companies. An HHS source clarified that a bit for Politico, contending that customer payments can be delivered, but the government subsidies that accompany them cannot. Without this “reconciliation” process functioning properly, insurers cannot enroll customers in the proper plans. An unnamed insurance industry source illuminated the potential pitfalls. “If people are enrolling, but the back-end systems are not working, their coverage could ultimately be disrupted,” the source noted. “They may think they’re enrolled in a plan and they’re not. They may show up at the doctor’s office and not be covered.”

This particular aspect of Chao’s testimony is stunning, in that it came a full week after the Obama administration revealed that 106,185 people nationwide had “selected,” rather than actually “paid for” an ObamaCare health insurance plan. That number included 26,794 people who had used the federal website. If Chao’s testimony is accurate, it seems possible that no one who has used the federal website could have a policy that has been fully processed. The only thing more remarkable is that no one thought to ask if that was the case…

Far less reassuring was the testimony of David Kennedy, head of TrustedSec, a company that offers to hack into private systems to determine their vulnerabilities. He contended that a cursory look at the site revealed numerous “exposures” that put it at “critical risk.”

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Houston We Have a Vandalism Problem: Offensive and ‘Racist’ Graffiti is Sprayed on Independence Space Shuttle

The Space Shuttle Independence which resides at the Space Center in Houston, Texas has been hit by vandals overnight.

The graffiti reads ‘Houston we are the problem.’ The rest of the message is said to be highly offensive and racist but has not been released to the media.

Black paint was also sprayed on the replica’s mounts. Cleanup crews worked throughout the day to remove the graffiti.

The only words that have been repeated in the media thus far are, ‘Houston, we are the problem.’

.Video of the vandalism has been caught on CCTV and police are looking at the footage to try and track down the culprits.

The people who did this would have had to climb a short fence to access the shuttle…

           — Hat tip: Seneca III [Return to headlines]
 

Is Xbox Kinect Listening to Your Skype Calls?

Users of the new Xbox One are complaining that Kinect is monitoring their Skype conversations for swearing and then punishing them with account bans. Microsoft has admitted it is punishing gamers for bad language but denied that it is snooping on private Skype chats.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Legalized Theft of Guns

An anti-freedom policy has been spreading across United States police departments, the legalized theft of citizens guns.

Recently, it occurred in Georgia. I am not talking about forfeiture laws. They are related but have been covered elsewhere.

This is a problem in many urban areas, and it is spreading. The policy is to impound guns, in extreme cases, all guns that officers come across, whether involved in any crime or not, then to refuse to return the guns until a judge issues an order to return them. As the attorney fees needed to obtain a court order can easily be 10 times what the gun is worth, most people do not bother.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

NSA Contractors Are Literally Paying Off the Senators in Charge of Keeping Them in Check

After passing through the Senate’s Intelligence Committee, the so-called “FISA Improvements Act” is poised to actually do the complete opposite of what its title implies. Instead of being an improvement to the bill that allows the NSA to spy on American citizens, the bill advocates the very unacceptable practices that threaten the privacy rights of American. Even worse, it weakens one of the few effective and powerful checks to the abuse of such programs, diminishing the accountability of government to their people.

Sponsored by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), the bill aims to effectively legitimize the controversial data-collection programs used by the NSA. Seen as completely unconstitutional by many, those data-collection programs collect records of online data — both domestic and foreign. Feinstein herself claims the complete opposite, saying that the bill would prohibit mass data collection, but the Electronic Frontier Foundation says otherwise, stating the bill is “designed to bolster some of the worst NSA surveillance programs and grant new authority to the NSA to engage in surveillance.”

Indeed, after reading a little of the bill myself, it became clear that while the bill doesn’t allow the content of communications may not be collected (which was supposedly the case before), it still allows the NSA to continue collecting the related metadata, which was the very reason why the programs were controversial in the first place.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Obama Admin Will Openly Use IRS to Limit Campaign Activities of Tax Exempt Groups

In a long-anticipated move to restrict the flood of secret money in campaigns, the IRS for the first time proposed rules to rein in the political activities of tax-exempt groups that have emerged as heavyweight players in American elections…

The groups include conservative organizations, such as Americans for Prosperity backed by billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch, as well as liberal ones, such as Organizing for Action, which started out as President Obama’s campaign operation…

The process of writing new rules to cover these influential groups touches on sensitive issues of free speech and the proper role of government in regulating political spending, adding to the complexity of the effort.

“This is protected 1st Amendment activity, and it seems to me, unless you have it strictly limited, it’s unconstitutional,” said Cleta Mitchell, an attorney who represents conservative groups before the IRS.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Online Health Care Enrollment for Small Businesses to be Delayed

The Obama administration is expected to announce on Wednesday a one-year delay in another major element of the new health care law, which allows small businesses to go online and get insurance for their employees through the website of the federal marketplace.

“We plan to offer online enrollment capability by November 2014, for coverage that takes effect in January 2015,” the Department of Health and Human Services said in a series of questions and answers.

The administration had previously delayed online enrollment for small businesses, scheduled to start on Oct. 1, until the end of this month.

[Return to headlines]
 

Proof: Gun Registration Leads to Confiscation

Gun confiscations begin in New York, aided by existing firearms registry

In the wake of New York’s latest gun control law, the New York Police Department is now sending out notices to registered gun owners demanding that they give up their firearms, clear proof that gun registration leads to outright confiscations.

The notice provides gun owners, who possess firearms now prohibited under New York’s unconstitutional SAFE Act, the “options” to either surrender their firearms to the police, remove them from the city limits or otherwise render them inoperable.

The NYPD knew exactly who to send the notices to by using a centralized firearms registry which lists the city’s gun owners and what firearms they have in their possession.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Terrorist Ayers Confesses Sharing Obama’s ‘Dreams’

Trust: We know ObamaCare was sold on a lie, but what about the Obama presidency itself? Rumors that Obama’s violent leftist pal Bill Ayers ghostwrote the memoir that launched his political career may actually be true.

Obama has always claimed authorship of his bestselling “Dreams From My Father.”

But Ayers is telling a different story. In promoting his new book, “Public Enemy,” Ayers’ publisher, Beacon Press, has written a blurb on Amazon.com that says Ayers “finally ‘confesses’ that he did write ‘Dreams From My Father.’“

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

There Already is a Government Health Care System in America and it is the Medical Version of Hell

Most Americans don’t realize this, but government-run health care for our military veterans is a complete and total joke. In some instances, it can take critically injured military veterans more than a year to see a doctor…

CJ Jackson, a Purple Heart recipient and 101st Airborne medic, was severely wounded during a battle in Afghanistan when an enemy rocket-propelled grenade hit a wall a couple of feet from him, sending debris into his arm and leg. He said he waited over a year to see a doctor at the Jackson VA despite being considered critically injured.

And once a vet is finally able to see a doctor and have surgery scheduled, those surgeries are often conducted in facilities that are beyond disgusting. The following is what one orthopedic surgeon recently told CNBC…

Unfortunately, it appears that the mistreatment of our military veterans has gotten even worse since Barack Obama took power. For much more on all of this, please see my previous article entitled “25 Signs That Military Veterans Are Being Treated Like Absolute Trash Under The Obama Administration”.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Top-Secret Document Reveals NSA Spied on Porn Habits as Part of Plan to Discredit ‘Radicalizers’

The National Security Agency has been gathering records of online sexual activity and evidence of visits to pornographic websites as part of a proposed plan to harm the reputations of those whom the agency believes are radicalizing others through incendiary speeches, according to a top-secret NSA document.

The document, provided by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, identifies six targets, all Muslims, as “exemplars” of how “personal vulnerabilities” can be learned through electronic surveillance, and then exploited to undermine a target’s credibility, reputation and authority.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Nine Arrests, 83 Charges in Fort McMurray Drug Sting

Fort McMurray…Nine people face a total of 83 criminal charges following an Alberta Law Enforcement Response Team (ALERT) drug investigation that wrapped up last week.

Acting upon information received from the Wood Buffalo RCMP, ALERT’s Wood Buffalo Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit (CFSEU) executed a search warrant at an apartment on Clearwater Crescent on November 20th. A loaded handgun with the serial number filed off was recovered in addition to $17,000 worth of cocaine.

Six of the people charged were Fort McMurray residents, while two hailed from Edmonton and one from Toronto. Charges were laid against Cabdirixam Aadan (23), Mohamed Abdirashid (26), Ahmed Ahmed (22), Guleid Farah (20), Tapiwa Musara (21), Mohamed Omar (28), Abdirizak Sahal (26), Larib Saleem (21), and Abdinasir Shire (22). They appeared in court late last week and were released on bail.

The charges include a range of drug and weapons offences, including:

  • Possession of a controlled substance for the purpose of trafficking;
  • Possession of a controlled substance;
  • Possession of property obtained by crime;
  • Unsafe storage of a firearm;
  • Possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose;
  • Unlawful possession of a firearm;
  • Unlawful possession of a loaded, prohibited firearm;
  • Possession of a firearm obtained by the commission of an offence;
  • Defacing a serial number on a firearm.

Made up of RCMP members, CFSEU-Wood Buffalo is an ALERT team established and funded by the Government of Alberta to bring together the province’s most sophisticated law enforcement resources to tackle serious and organized crime. Over 400 municipal police, RCMP and sheriffs work for ALERT.

           — Hat tip: LS [Return to headlines]
 

£3,500-a-Year Bill Makes Britain Most Expensive Place to Run a Car

A survey compared the cost of motoring, including the price of fuel, insurance, road tax and MOT in 21 countries on five continents.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Berlusconi is Ousted From Italian Senate Over Tax Fraud Conviction

Having spent months manufacturing procedural delays or conjuring political melodrama, Silvio Berlusconi on Wednesday could no longer stave off the inevitable: Italy’s senate stripped him of his parliamentary seat, a dramatic and humiliating expulsion, even as other troubles loom on his horizon.

Mr. Berlusconi, 77, the once-powerful former prime minister, is now staring at a cascade of stubborn realities. His removal from the senate means he is without elective office for the first time in roughly two decades and that he has lost the special immunities awarded to lawmakers. With other legal cases underway against him — and the possibility that new litigation could be filed — Mr. Berlusconi is now far more vulnerable than when, as prime minister, he seemed virtually untouchable, batting away sex and corruption scandals. A billionaire media mogul, he has been deeply concerned about the impact of his legal problems on his business interests.

He also is expected to soon start performing one year of community service for the tax fraud conviction that is the basis of his removal from the senate. Moreover, a court in Milan has ruled that Mr. Berlusconi cannot seek any public office for the next two years. For a man who once dominated Italy with a ribald swagger, Mr. Berlusconi is suddenly a sharply reduced figure, having recently watched several longtime lieutenants break away from him.

[Return to headlines]
 

Britain Warns Spain Against Escalating Gibraltar Tensions

(Reuters) — Britain on Wednesday urged Spain to act to ease diplomatic tensions over Gibraltar, warning a further escalation of a dispute over its overseas territory would damage both countries.

The two sides have been bickering for months about the territory, a small rocky outcrop on Spain’s southern coast that Madrid ceded to Britain 300 years ago but now wants to reclaim.

In the latest of a series of diplomatic incidents, Britain said Spanish officials had breached protocol by opening two of its diplomatic bags at the border with Gibraltar on Friday.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Brussels Commissioner Laszlo Andor: ‘Cameron is Making Britain the Nasty Country of Europe’

Hungarian Laszlo Andor accused the Prime Minister of an ‘unfortunate over-reaction’ which risked fuelling ‘hysteria’, which could be the start of the ‘ slippery slope’ towards the collapse of the single market.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Denmark: Million Kroner Poetry Reading Goes Off Without Hitch

Heavy police presence and a low immigrant turnout at Yahya Hassan’s Vollsmose off-again, on-again event

Perhaps Denmark’s most talked about poetry reading ever happened without drama yesterday evening, as outspoken poet Yahya Hassan read from his self-titled debut publication to a crowd of about 250 at an Odense school.

One man was arrested and 15 were turned away by police outside the school.

Several hundred uniformed and plainclothes officers had the school under observation since Sunday and began securing the area around noon. In what police officials called one of their biggest operations ever, students were dismissed early, a complete sweep of the area for bombs was conducted and road checkpoints were established. A no-fly zone was also established in a 5km radius around the school.

According to police estimates, security for the event cost about one million kroner. The cost, they said, was more than the amount spent on security for high-risk football matches.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

French Court Upholds Sacking of Veiled Worker

An appeal court in France upheld on Wednesday the decision by a Paris nursery school to sack an assistant who refused to take off her veil at work. The decision comes as France’s ban on wearing the full face veil in public goes before the European Court of Human Rights.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Germany: Coalition Deal: Merkel Reaches Agreement on Next Government

Weeks of talks ended early Wednesday morning with a contract between Angela Merkel’s conservatives and the center-left Social Democrats to form Germany’s next government. The deal still faces a difficult vote by all SPD members in December.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

German Watchdog Probes Gold and Silver Price-Fixing

The German financial watchdog, BaFin, said on Wednesday it was looking into allegations of possible manipulation by banks in gold and silver price-fixing.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Letta Sees Govt Strengthened by Berlusconi Party’s Exit

Will push through reforms despite slim Senate majority, PM says

(ANSA) — Rome, November 27 — Premier Enrico Letta was upbeat Wednesday about his emergency government implementing key political and economic reforms despite seeing his Senate majority cut to a slim six on paper after Silvio Berlusconi’s centre-right Forza Italia (FI) party pulled its support.

Letta welcomed the exit of his unruly one-time partner — who was ejected from the Senate in a long-awaited vote on a tax-fraud conviction late Wednesday — and said the government’s victory in a confidence vote on the budget in the upper house gave the executive “strength, cohesion and prospects for all of 2014”.

The slimmed-down government, no longer shackled by Berlusconi’s demands, will be better able to focus on the reform agenda it tabled seven months ago, the premier said.

Letta’s government plans a series of institutional reforms designed to make Italy easier to govern and has pledged to move forward with structural reforms deemed necessary to revive an economy battered by a long recession and a decade of sluggish growth.

His coalition government made little progress with these after being cobbled together in April to end the long deadlock after February’s inconclusive general election.

In large part this was due to major policy wrangles between Letta’s centre-left Democratic Party (PD) and Berlusconi’s recently disbanded People of Freedom (PdL) party.

Letta said this situation should change after his executive survived a confidence vote in the Senate on its 2014 budget bill despite FI voting against the package and completing its move to the opposition. “We’ll use the strength given by the confidence vote to accelerate the path of reforms because the country needs them,” Letta told a press conference. When he was sworn in, Letta set himself an 18-month deadline to introduce a new election law and usher in changes to Italy’s Constitutional set-up to make the country easier to govern.

Changes to the Constitution should include stripping the Senate of law-making powers and turning it into a regional assembly.

At present the Senate has the same powers as the Lower House, and legislation has to be approved in the same form in both houses, making lawmaking a drawn-out affair.

The current electoral law has been widely criticised because it does not let voters pick their MPs and tends to produce different majorities in the two houses, as happened in February’s general election which led to two months of deadlock.

Letta stressed that FI’s exit did not mean he was no longer at the helm of a coalition government. Letta’s government has managed to stay afloat with the support of Deputy Premier and Interior Minister Angelino Alfano’s New Centre Right (NCD) party, which is made up of moderates who this month split from Berlusconi’s loyalists.

“It remains a government supported by political parties that have formed a grand coalition, as in Germany,” he said.

Italian dailies stressed Wednesday that Letta’s majority in the Senate has been cut to six on paper but he can also count on five Life Senators who are left-leaning while four former members of the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement may also support him.

Letta pointed to the 35-vote majority in the budget confidence vote as evidence that the government is “stronger than it looks on paper”.

“We have more votes than the last Berlusconi government,” said the premier, who enjoys a 70-seat majority in the Lower House.

Although pundits note the NCD will still be pushing for moderate conservative policies, Florence Mayor Matteo Renzi, set to become PD leader on December 8, has said his party’s greater stature as the senior partner means it should be able to impose a more progressive agenda.

Berlusconi, who has vowed to carry on leading FI and the broader centre right, including the NCD, while doing community service for the remaining nine months of his fraud sentence and even during his six-year ban from office, launched a campaign against the new government at a rally outside his Rome mansion ahead of the ejection vote.

He inveighed against the PD, the NCD, Italian President Giorgio Napolitano and the allegedly left-wing magistrates he says have conducted a 20-year systematic campaign of persecution against him.

The 77-year-old media magnate’s loss of his parliamentary immunity technically exposes him to the risk of arrest in other cases but pundits say this is unlikely given his age and the furore it would cause.

Berlusconi is appealing a seven-year term for paying for sex with an underage prostitute and abusing his position as premier to cover it up.

He is also appealing a one-year term for involvement in the publication of an illegally obtained wiretap that hurt a political rival.

Berlusconi has been indicted on charges of bribing a Senator to switch sides too.

Wednesday morning’s confidence vote was just part of the process to approve the budget bill that needs to be completed by the end of the year. The package has been criticised in Italy for being too timid in tax cuts and not doing enough to stoke growth, as the country seeks to emerge from its longest recession in over two decades.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Civil Protection Chief Blames Flood Deaths on Poor Planning

‘Planning deficit’ led to Sardinia fatalities, he tells MPs

(ANSA) — Rome, November 27 — Civil protection chief Franco Gabrielli on Wednesday told a Lower House hearing that the extreme weather alert system worked, but people died anyway due to poor planning.

Gabrielli was summoned to answer for the emergency response in the wake of Cyclone Cleopatra, which tore through the Italian island of Sardinia on the evening of November 18, sweeping cars away, causing bridges to collapse, and killing over a dozen people. The alert system “worked, but there was a planning deficit”, Gabrielli told MPs. “The system only makes sense if followed up by a planned response and citizens being given correct information”.

His department had issued a bulletin on Sardinia, which forecast damages and possible victims, he added.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Bolzano Tops Wealth Chart

More than double per capita GDP of last-placed Campania

(ANSA) — Rome, November 27 — The northern Italian province of Bolzano is the richest place in Italy, statistics agency Istat said Wednesday.

The semi-autonomous German-speaking province near the Austrian border had a 2012 per capita GDP of 37,316 euros, more than double that of Campania, the region around Naples, with 16,369 euros.

Campania came bottom of the survey, below Calabria, third last, and Sicily, second last.

The semi-autonomous largely French-speaking region of Val d’Aosta, on the French border, was second in the ranking and Lombardy, the region around Italy’s business capital Milan, was third.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Police Seize 140,000 Toxic Crayons for Kids From China

Contaminated products discovered before sale to school children

(ANSA) — Trento, November 27 — A shipment of 140,000 toxic crayons manufactured in China and headed for sale to school children were seized Wednesday by Finance police in northern Italy.

Authorities said the crayons were to be sold in about 800 supermarkets and other retailers in the Trentino-Alto Adige area, and had been advertised in several promotional flyers.

However, tests showed the coloured crayons had been contaminated with a toxic industrial substance known as DEHP in levels almost three times more than the allowed level, police said.

The substance found in the crayons is known to delay the physical and mental development of children, and can damage their internal organs.

The importer, based in Reggio Emilia, faces charges related to selling unsafe toys.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy’s Crisis Leaves Middle Class Struggling

With unemployment at record levels and some of the highest poverty levels anywhere in the EU, Italy’s economic crisis has left many formerly well-off Italians barely able to put food on the table.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Berlusconi Expelled From Parliament

Italian senators on Wednesday expelled three-time former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi from parliament due to his criminal conviction for tax fraud, in a momentous round of voting. “The conclusions of the committee on elections have been approved, abolishing the election of senator Silvio Berlusconi,” Senate speaker Pietro Grasso said.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Malta Free to Sell EU Citizenship, Commission Says

The European Commission said on Wednesday (13 November) it has no power to stop Malta, or any other member state, from selling EU citizenship. “Member states have full sovereignty to decide to whom and how they grant their nationality,” its home affairs spokesman, Michele Cercone, told press.

He added that the EU court in Luxembourg has “confirmed” in “several” cases that “it is for each member state to lay down the conditions for granting citizenship.” His remarks came after Malta on Tuesday passed a law to sell its passports for €650,000 each.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Netherlands: Rotterdam Housing Corporations Agree to Social Engineering

Four Rotterdam housing corporations have agreed to stop people without jobs or who have a history as problem tenants moving to parts of the city, in an effort to halt further social decline in some areas.

The city council considers parts of the IJsselmonde district in Rotterdam Zuid are under threat by the arrival of so many socially disadvantaged people, the Volkskrant reports on Wednesday.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Netherlands: Ruling Parties Now Have Doubts About Scrapping Blasphemy Law

Both the Netherlands’ ruling parties now have their doubts about plans to scrap blasphemy from the statute books, Nos television reports on Wednesday.

During Tuesday’s debate in the upper house of parliament, or senate, Labour senator Nico Schrijver questioned whether scrapping the blasphemy laws would offer minorities sufficient protection against their religious sensibilities being hurt.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Postal Deals Signed Between Italy, Russia

Putin says $50 bn trade makes Italy fourth-largest partner

(ANSA) — Trieste, November 26 — Deals between energy firms, banks and manufacturers in Italy and Russia were signed Tuesday ahead of meetings between Italian Premier Enrico Letta and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The 21 commercial agreements included pacts between Italian energy companies Enel and Eni with Russia’s Rosneft; Eni with natural gas producer Novatek; while other agreements involved Mediobanca, Fincantieri and tire manufacturer Pirelli. A joint investment fund holding one billion euros was also established.

Putin noted that Italy is Russia’s fourth-largest trading partner with commercial exchanges worth more than $50 billion annually.

Meanwhile, seven intergovernmental accords, including an arrangement between the two countries’ postal services, and a cultural agreement were also reached. The leaders’ summit in Trieste came one day after Putin held a long series of meetings with Pope Francis, Italian President Giorgio Napolitano and former Italian premiers Romano Prodi and Silvio Berlusconi

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Spain Set to Clone Extinct Mountain Goat

Scientists have begun work on bringing the Spanish bucardo back to life — a mountain goat endemic to Spain which became extinct in 2000. Cells from the bucardo, or Pyrenean ibex, were preserved in liquid nitrogen soon after the last known specimen died 14 years ago.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Sweden: Police Worried Over Youth Attitudes to Rape

The number of people convicted of rape has increased by a third since 2003, and the Stockholm police also said Wednesday that the cases were becoming more brutal with the boundaries changing among teenagers over what is and is not acceptable.

“It’s as though the grey zone between what is ok and what is criminal has become even more grey,” said police officer Mihajlo Mrdjen to Dagens Nyheter. Police said to the paper that gang rape cases are no longer unusual, with a couple getting reported every month.

But researchers have also said that the rise in rape convictions is because of victims being more willing to go to the police.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Sweden: Cannibal Case Inquiry: ‘Something Went Wrong’

Sweden’s justice minister has appointed the head of the Thomas Quick inquiry to find out how the country’s justice system convicted a man for eight murders before overturning each and every guilty verdict. The once self-professed cannibal is now fighting for his release.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Sweden: Gothenburg Police Arrest Ten in Gangland Raids

Ten men with connections to the ongoing gang conflict in Gothenburg in western Sweden were arrested on Tuesday morning in a series of raids. The arrests are related to a serious assault in the Bergsjön area of the Swedish city which has witnessed a slew of shootings and violent exchanges between rival gangs in recent months.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Nick Lowles: Al-Muhajiroun, Gateway to Terror

[Reader comment by SnarkytheAngel on 26 November 2013.]

This is the same Nick Lowles that openly gets together with the UAF to celebrate “Stalingrad” with various Communist organisations… Link…Philosophy football (UAF front) in conjuncture with Lowles and Hope Not hate… And Stalin wasn’t an extremist in which capacity?… http://onefromtheplough.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/vi…

This is the same Nick Lowles that classes UKIP as “far right”, not because they are, but because he is a rabid “Europhile” and his union backers demand it. Look at this abridged report into .al-muhajiroun…Lowles claims that there will be @ “people not happy with our new report and consider it a departure from what we ‘do…

Who will those people be?…The UAF/SWP?… Link to celebrated anti Fascist Maryam Namazie complaining about just that…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wa3GyitZOfI

This is a joke, and anyone stupid enough to swallow Lowles manipulation, should reap what they sow when he turns his attentions to them.

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Polite White Flight as Culture Divides Us

by Nicholas Hellen

BRITAIN has become more sharply divided on ethnic lines, even as racial prejudice has declined, according to a new study. More than 600,000 white Britons have moved from London to areas that are 90% or more white in the past decade — and liberals, leftwingers and rightwingers have done so at roughly the same rate.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Soldier Murder Trial Set to Start Friday

London — The trial of two Muslim converts accused of brutally murdering a soldier in broad daylight in a London street is expected to start on Friday, a judge said on Tuesday…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Tory Councillor John Morgan ‘Gambled Away Woman’s Life Savings’

John Morgan, a councillor in Oxfordshire, was given power of attorney over the finances of Beryl Gittens, 92, who was always dressed well and wore expensive jewellery.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

UK: When it Comes to Diversity, Most of us Vote With Our Feet

Liberals are almost as likely to flee diversity as conservatives, according to new research by Prof Eric Kaufmann for Demos. Some 61 per cent of white people who were ‘very comfortable’ with mixed marriages (the best indicator of views on race) moved to whiter areas during the period, compared to 64 per cent of those who were ‘fairly uncomfortable’. The Sunday Times called it ‘polite white flight’.

The tendency of white liberals not to practise the diversity they preach dates back to the 1960s at least, and offends people who rightly point out that their reasons for moving are to do with space, schools, housing and a number of other things.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Uphill Battle: New Machine Could Save German Vineyards

Vineyards built on dizzyingly steep hillsides have been a part of German viticulture for centuries, but high labor costs are threatening them with extinction. A group of university engineers is hoping their new technology will save the industry.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Egypt: Azhar University Officials Jailed Over Food Poisoning Cases

Cairo court condemns Azhar University officials to 10 years imprisionment and EGP10,000 fine over the food poisoning of hundreds of students in April.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Cornell BDS Group Justifies Hypocritically Using Israeli Web Technology

[…]

Last week, the ZF and I it was discovered that a number of groups that push boycotts for Israel are using WiX, an Israeli web technology, on their websites.

One of those was Cornell University’s “Students for Justice in Palestine.” People on Twitter made fun of them for their obvious hypocrisy.

Finally, Cornell SJP came out with a long, nonsensical, convoluted justification for their BDS inconsistency; 1500 words of hilarious attempts to make themselves look a little less idiotic:

BDS is a tactic, not a principle, let alone a call for abstention. The charge that any contact with Israeli products negates the logic of BDS can only be made by people who do not understand what BDS actually is, how it’s worked in the past, or why Palestinian civil society is calling for it now. […]

[So caught out in flagrant Hypocrisy, BDS is repackaged as a ‘political ploy’, indicating that the boycott itself is obviously BS and only meant for the hoy-polloi in the first place. So who do these Cornell intellectual Nazis think they are kidding?]

           — Hat tip: MC [Return to headlines]
 

Israel Launches Largest Ever Air Force Exercise Day After Iran Deal

In what some would see as no coincidence, Israel launched its largest ever international air force exercise just a day after the Iran nuclear “deal” which has left Tel Aviv fuming.

According to the Israeli Defense Forces blog, “On Sunday, November 24, for the first time in Israel’s history, the Israel Air Force launched the “Blue Flag” training exercise — an international air force exercise with participation by the US, Italian and Greek air forces.”

The exercise will run until Thursday this week and is designed to “improve Israel’s general air defense capabilities.”

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

16 Countries in Talks With Turkey for Cooperation

The turnover of the military industry reached USD 4.75 bln

(ANSAmed) — ANKARA, NOVEMBER 25 — With its booming defense industry and comparatively well-trained armed forces, Turkey has emerged in recent years as a donor in military aid and the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) a much-sought-after partner in the world. In 2012, as Cihan news agency reports, Turkey concluded a military aid agreement with 14 countries, while work is currently under way for an agreement to be signed with 16 other countries, said Ismet Yilmaz, minister of Defense, in a debate over the defense budget for fiscal year 2014 at a session of Parliament’s Planning and Budgetary Commission.

The minister, who said Turkey attached great importance to developing military ties with countries around the world, stated that Turkey has so far concluded a military training, technical and scientific cooperation agreement with a total of 67 countries. The number of countries with which Turkey has concluded a defense industry cooperation agreement is 55, while a military training cooperation agreement has been signed with a total of 52 countries around the world.

For the year 2014, Turkey’s defense budget, accepted at the Planning and Budgetary Commission, is 21.815 billion Turkish Liras (USD 10.8 billion), which represents 2.3% of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP). Although running expenses, such as the salaries of armed forces personnel and maintenance costs, take up almost half of that budget, the remaining portion spent on new weapons systems and the modernization of weapons is enough to make Turkey, as per the annual report of the year 2011 on military expenditure by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), the 15th biggest spender on arms in the world.

Last year, the total turnover of the Turkish defense and aviation industry reached USD 4.75 billion, while the exports figure, including aircraft parts for civilian use but excluding items such as military suits and boots, was USD 1.26 billion.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Al-Qaeda’s Brutal Tactics in Syria

Al-Qaeda’s brutal tactics in Syria force out moderate opposition //t.co/Ju04EipAUW pic.twitter.com/cMqCaTHMTH

— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) November 27, 2013

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Hundreds of Turks Join Al-Qaeda Fighters in Syria

Five hundred Turks have crossed the border into Syria to fight with Al-Qaeda linked jihadists against the government, according to a Turkish interior ministry report.

Turkey’s government, which is fiercely opposed to President Bashar al-Assad, has come under fire for allegedly turning a blind eye to militants and weapons crossing the long border into Syria.

The interior ministry report, published in several Turkish newspapers on Wednesday, said about 500 Turkish citizens had joined the ranks of the Al-Nusra Front and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Inside Syria: Al-Qaeda Was Here

The jihadis scrawled their graffiti all over town. Black spray paint extends across wall after wall, spelling out religious exultations and verses from the Quran, written out in exacting calligraphy. It runs along the gates of shuttered storefronts; it’s stenciled onto telephone poles. It covers the former state security building, burned out and bullet-ridden, that was converted into an Islamic court.

Until recently, armed jihadi groups ran the dusty Syrian town of Yarubiya, pressed into the northeastern corner of the country, the gateway to a crossing into Iraq. The groups are gone now — driven out by Kurdish fighters in late October — but their graffiti remains, still visible beneath fresh layers of paint. The names of the fighting groups, like the Quranic verses, are also written everywhere, and they serve as a reminder: Al-Qaeda was here.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Interview Discussion of Apocalyptic Islamic Jew-Hatred, From the Palestinian Mufti to the Iranian Mullahs

By Andrew Bostom

My new monograph, The Mufti’s Islamic Jew-Hatred—What The Nazi’s Learned from the “Muslim Pope” [1] analyzes the canonical Islamic Jew-hatred and jihadism which were the core animating ideologies of the founder of the Palestinian Muslim jihadist movement, Hajj Amin el-Husseini, ex-Mufti of Jerusalem. The monograph features the first fully annotated translation and analysis of the most salient example of el-Husseini’s Islamic Weltanschauung—a 1937 proclamation/”fatwa” that he issued calling for a collective jihad by the entire global Muslim umma to destroy Palestinian Jewry. El-Husseini appositely concludes his compendious discourse on Islam’s canonical Jew-hatred with a central motif from Muslim eschatology (end of times theology), as recorded in the hadith (the alleged words and deeds of Islam’s prophet Muhammad, as compiled by his devoted companions)—how the destruction of the Jews is requisite for ushering in the messianic times. (Sahih Muslim, Book 041, Number 6985 [2])…

           — Hat tip: Andy Bostom [Return to headlines]
 

Iraq: 14 Killed, 30 Wounded in Attacks Against Security Forces in Iraq

BAGHDAD, Nov. 26 (Xinhua) — At least 14 people were killed and 30 others wounded in attacks against Iraqi security forces in central Iraq on Tuesday, police said. At least eight people were killed and 20 others wounded on Tuesday evening when two suicide bombers blew themselves up at the base of the 22 brigade of the Iraqi army in Tarmiyah, some 40 km north of Baghdad, a police source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

Also on Tuesday evening, a suicide bomber blew himself up near a police station in Taji, 30 km north of Baghdad, killing five policemen and injuring 10 others, the police source said. Meanwhile, the police killed another would-be suicide bomber in the same attack, he added…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Lebanon: Italy Funds Course for Blind Journalists

(ANSAmed) — BEIRUT, NOVEMBER 27 — The first diplomas in a course for blind journalists have been awarded in a ceremony in Beirut, a project co-funded by Italy with 150,000 euros.

As part of the same initiative, Italy also funded the publication of a Braille weekly distributed with daily An Nahar.

The training programme has two objectives: improving the ability of reporters through the most recent media technologies and encouraging blind youths to take up journalism as a profession.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

London is Mediating Indirect Secret Talks Between US and Hezbollah

The US and Hezbollah are in secret indirect talks managed by London dealing with the fight against al-Qaida, regional stability and other Lebanese political issues.

Senior British diplomatic sources, quoted in a report in Kuwait newspaper al-Rai on Wednesday, said British diplomats are holding discussions with leaders of the Lebanese organization and transferring the information to the Americans.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Nuclear Deal With Iran Prelude to War, Not “Breakthrough”

“…any military operation against Iran will likely be very unpopular around the world and require the proper international context — both to ensure the logistical support the operation would require and to minimize the blowback from it.

The best way to minimize international opprobrium and maximize support (however, grudging or covert) is to strike only when there is a widespread conviction that the Iranians were given but then rejected a superb offer — one so good that only a regime determined to acquire nuclear weapons and acquire them for the wrong reasons would turn it down. Under those circumstances, the United States (or Israel) could portray its operations as taken in sorrow, not anger, and at least some in the international community would conclude that the Iranians “brought it on themselves” by refusing a very good deal.”

– -Brookings Institution’s 2009 “Which Path to Persia?” report, page 52.

Written years ago, as the US, Saudi Arabia, and Israel were already plotting to overrun Iran’s neighbor and ally Syria with Al Qaeda to weaken the Islamic Republic before inevitable war, this quote exposes fully the current charade that is the “Iran nuclear deal.”

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Number of Foreign Fighters From Europe in Syria is Historically Unprecedented

Since 2011, large numbers of European Muslims have gone to Syria to fight with the rebels. But exactly how many are they, and which countries are providing most of the fighters? The question matters because some of these foreign fighters may return to perpetrate attacks in the West, and Western governments are now grappling with the question of how to design and calibrate countermeasures.

Assessing the terrorist threat to Europe from the foreign fighters in Syria is tricky. On the one hand, as I showed in an earlier study summarized here on the Monkey Cage, foreign fighters are much more likely to engage in international terrorism than the general Muslim population, and they produce more lethal attacks than do plotters without foreign fighting experience. On the other hand, only a small proportion of Western foreign fighters tend to come home to attack. Moreover, the return rate varies considerably between destinations; for example, Western foreign fighters in Pakistan have tended to return for plots more frequently than their counterparts in Somalia.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Obama’s Munich Moment

Appeasment with Iran, President Obama has a record of resetting buttons that alter international balances.

Washington, D.C. — When the kings and Emirs of four Muslim countries and Israeli leaders are talking alliance something profound is shaking the old order in the Middle East.

That something can only be the role of the United States, Iran and Russia playing out their own interests in the Middle East.

As is strikingly evident, the usual “too bad” of Realpolitik may be acceptable to old American foreign policy hands like Brent Scowcroft, Israel, Saudi Arabia and the fabulously rich Gulf Emirates have their own ideas.

And why be surprised? After all, the “historic deal” struck in Geneva in the wee hours of last Sunday morning, and hailed as a “historic” achievement by President Barack Obama, will have immediate and long-lasting consequences for Jews and Sunni Arabs alike.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Syria: Suicide Bombing in Damascus Kills 15

DAMASCUS, Nov. 26 (Xinhua) — At least 15 people were killed and 35 others wounded Tuesday when a suicide car bomber detonated his explosive-laden car at the Somarieh area in the capital Damascus, the pro-government al-Ekhbarieh TV reported…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Moscow Police Arrest ‘Armed Islamists’ In Raids

A group of radical Islamists have been arrested in Moscow with bombs, hand grenades and guns seized, Russian police say.

They claim the 15 arrested are members of an Islamist group called At-Takfir Wal-Hijra.

Police say the arrests were made during early-morning raids at flats in the east of the Russian capital.

Officials said three homemade bombs, detonators and fuses for making more devices were also found.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

10 More Years in Afghanistan

When Barack Obama became president, there were 32,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan. He escalated to over 100,000 troops, plus contractors. Now there are 47,000 troops these five years later. Measured in financial cost, or death and destruction, Afghanistan is more President Obama’s war than President Bush’s. Now the White House is trying to keep troops in Afghanistan until “2024 and beyond.”

Afghan President Hamid Karzai is refusing to sign the deal. Here is his list of concerns. He’d like the U.S. to stop killing civilians and stop kicking in people’s doors at night. He’d like the U.S. to engage in peace negotiations. He’d like innocent Afghan prisoners freed from Guantanamo. And he’d like the U.S. not to sabotage the April 2014 Afghan elections. Whatever we think of Karzai’s legacy — my own appraisal is unprintable — these are perfectly reasonable demands.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Widespread Violence During Bangladesh Blockade Leaves 9 Dead

DHAKA, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) — Widespread violence, clashes, vandalism and huge crude bomb blasts marked the early hours of the second and final day of the 48-hour nationwide blockade Wednesday enforced by Bangladesh’s main opposition-led 18-party alliance. The death toll from widespread violence rose to nine on the second day of the road, rail and waterway blockade imposed the opposition parties across the country. With the killing of two people on the second day, the death toll from acts of violence rose to nine as seven people were killed on Tuesday blockade hours. A woman who sustained critical injuries when a crude bomb hit her in the head in capital Dhaka Tuesday died at a hospital early Wednesday…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Police to Suspend Driver’s Licenses for Non-Traffic Offenses

Sweeping legal changes which came into effect on September 30 allow courts to suspend or cancel the licence of any person convicted or found guilty of any offence — regardless of whether that offence has anything to do with driving.

Victoria Police has exclusively revealed to the Herald Sun that it will seek to use the new powers in up to 50,000 court cases each year.

It has already briefed its prosecutors on the law.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Angola Denies it Banned Islam, Destroyed Mosques

Angola became a hot topic in the international media over the weekend, as news outlets around the world wrote about reports that the Southwest African nation had banned Islam and had begun to dismantle mosques.

But an official at the Angolan Embassy in Washington, D.C., who did not want to be identified while discussing the sensitive matter, said that there is no such ban and that the reports are erroneous.

“The Republic of Angola … it’s a country that does not interfere in religion,” the official said via telephone Monday afternoon. “We have a lot of religions there. It is freedom of religion. We have Catholic, Protestants, Baptists, Muslims and evangelical people.”

News of Angola’s supposed ban on Islam originated in the African press, which went so far as to quote the nation’s president and minister of culture offering statements that suggested the premise of the reports was accurate.

A second official at the Angolan Embassy in the U.S. reiterated that the diplomatic seat has not been made aware of any ban on Islam in the country.

“At the moment, we don’t have any information about that,” the official told IBTimes via phone on Monday. “We’re reading about it just like you on the Internet. We don’t have any notice that what you’re reading on the Internet is true.”…

           — Hat tip: LN [Return to headlines]
 

Nigeria: 37 Killed in Fresh Plateau Dawn Attack

Jos — Thirty seven people are feared dead as a result of an early morning attack in two local government areas of Plateau State by gunmen who stormed Katu Kapang, Daron, Tul and Rawuru villages of Barkin Ladi and Mangu Local Government Areas around 1:00am Tuesday. The Special Task Force (STF) in a statement placed the casualty figures at about 13 persons killed in Katu Kapang, eight in Daron, nine in Tul and seven others in Rawuru…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

“Unruly” Crowd Attacks Border Patrol Agents

A crowd of more than 100 people pelted Border Patrol agents with rocks and bottles as they tried to cross into the U.S. illegally, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

The incident happened Sunday in the Tijuana River channel, near the San Ysidro Port of Entry.

According to CBP, a Border Patrol agent ordered the Mexican nationals to stop, but they continued walking into the U.S.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Denmark: The Colour of Politics Remains Mostly White

Immigrants still lag behind in both voting numbers and representation

Only 14 politicians from ethnic backgrounds other than Danish found a seat in the councils of the country’s ten largest councils, even though they are home to most of the nation’s immigrants. Before the November 19 election, there were 24 local politicians from different ethnic backgrounds.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Immigration Proposals Show That UKIP is Setting the Agenda

Prime Minister David Cameron’s proposed restrictions on EU migrants show that UKIP is now clearly setting the agenda in British politics, says UKIP Leader Nigel Farage.

“UKIP has driven the agenda in terms of warning of the dangers of opening up our doors to EU nations like Bulgaria and Romania next year and now we see Cameron and Clegg trying to recover from the UKIP surge. “These measures fall way short of what the British public want though. Our borders will remain open. Migrants will still be entitled to out of work benefits after just three months. It isn’t nearly good enough.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Israel to Pay African Asylum-Seekers $3,500 to Leave Voluntarily

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet voted unanimously on Sunday to allocate NIS 440 million to deal with African asylum-seekers in the coming year, with most of the money going toward a new detention center in the Negev. The ministers likewise voted as one to support a bill coming to the Knesset on Tuesday that would effectively keep the illegal migrants inside the detention center around the clock, even though it is billed as an “open” facility.

Most of the money approved will go to defray the cost of establishing and operating the Negev center, but some will also be spent on “increasing the personal safety” in south Tel Aviv, where many African migrants live.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Obama Says He Wants to Bypass Congress But He Can’t

After being heckled Monday while delivering a speech on immigration reform in San Francisco, President Obama said he would solve the issue without going through Congress, if only he could.

“I need your help,” a young man standing a few rows behind the president shouted. “You have a power to stop deportations for all.”

Some in the audience chanted with him, “Stop deportation. Yes we can.”

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Over 50,000 Illegal Ethiopian Workers Sent Home From Saudi Arabia

Ethiopia has flown home over 50,000 citizens in Saudi Arabia after a crackdown against illegal immigrants in the oil-rich state, the foreign ministry said Wednesday.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

S. Arabia Deports 50,000 Undocumented Workers

Pakistan and Philippines send delegations

(ANSAmed) — DUBAI — Saudi Arabia continues its crackdown on undocumented migrants to the country.

At least 50,000 Ethiopians have been repatriated after the Riyadh government brought in measures for the ‘Saudization’ of the country’s workforce. This figure is much higher than the 15,000 expected by Ethiopian authorities and probably much lower than the total number affected — possibly as many of 80,000 workers, according to the Ethiopian Minister of Foreign Affairs.

The overall program may instead involve about two million people. The Ethiopian community clashed with police on November 9 in Manfouah, an area south of the Saudi capital after a decision a few days prior to conduct inspections and deport foreign workers in non-compliance with Saudi regulations. Three people lost their lives in the clashes, including a Saudi man, while 69 were injured and dozens of cars were set alight. A sweep-up operation was conducted throughout the country in workplaces ranging from shops to construction sites, leading to the arrest of almost 20,000 undocumented workers that were subsequently separated according to nationality in an ad hoc repatriation center set up in Riyadh. The Saudi government had announced an amnesty for undocumented migrants in April and over a million workers — mainly from Yemen, Bangladesh, the Philippines, India and Pakistan — had already handed themselves in. The repatriation process is ongoing. A parliamentary delegation from Islamabad arrived in Saudi Arabia a few days ago to deal with the issue.

The visit ended with pledges from Saudi authorities to carefully assess the cases of Pakistani nationals, reports Pakistan’s Tribune. The newspaper underscored that there are 1.6 million Pakistani immigrants to Saudi Arabia and that they generate 30% of overall remittances totaling 4.1 billion dollars. The mass expulsion of workers would therefore be expected lead to enormous economic damage to the country. The Philippines government, which estimates that about 660,000 of its citizens are working in Saudi Arabia, sent a delegation in early November to ensure respect for the human rights of its nationals, who had complained of abuse beginning with the very first expulsions.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

UK Asked to Avoid ‘Hysterical’ Debate on Migration

BRUSSELS — EU commissioners on Wednesday told the UK to avoid “hysteria” and to be more factual after Prime Minister David Cameron unveiled proposals to tighten migrants’ access to social welfare payments.

“I would really applaud if on all these questions we could come down to earth again, look at facts and figures, see what has to be done in order to solve the small problems,” said EU justice commissioner Viviane Reding.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Do Young Americans Understand Thanksgiving?

While on errands today, I overheard shopkeepers wishing customers happy holidays. One young woman who handled my purchase wished me Happy Thanksgiving.

I was surprised and asked her why Happy Thanksgiving instead of happy holidays. Her answer disappointed me but it was not unexpected — we live in Washington, D.C. where the state-sanctioned religion is atheism.

Everyone displays their tolerance towards other faiths with COEXIST bumper stickers, but when it comes to Christianity, they make strong exceptions. She told me in a very confident voice that Thanksgiving is not a religious holiday and thus she would not be offending anyone with her wishes. It is just another holiday that everyone celebrates. I did not have the patience to tell her how wrong and ignorant she was.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Lesbian Waitress May Have Forged Anti-Gay Note

Dayna Morales, a gay former Marine who waits tables in New Jersey, made headlines earlier this month when she said a couple left her an anti-gay message on a credit card slip instead of a tip.

But the family accused of leaving the note has since produced a credit card statement to show they paid a tip, an NBC affiliate in New York reported.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Thank You, Hobby Lobby

Religious liberty is front and center on the nation’s Thanksgiving table. On Tuesday, the Supreme Court agreed to hear Sebelius v. Hobby Lobby Stores Inc. The family-owned craft store company is intrepidly challenging the constitutionality of Obamacare’s abortion coverage mandate. Hobby Lobby’s faithful owners deserve our thanks and praise as they defend freedom of conscience for all Americans.

The privately held retail chain’s story is the quintessential American Dream. Founder David Green started out making mini picture frames in his Oklahoma garage in 1970. He recruited his two sons, Mart and Steve, to pitch in at an early age. The family’s first establishment took up a tiny 300 square feet of retail space. Hobby Lobby now runs nearly 600 stores across the country, employs 13,000 people and topped $2 billion in sales in 2009.

The Greens’ Christian faith is at the heart of how they do business. They are dedicated to integrity and service for their customers and their employees. The debt-free company commits to “honoring the Lord in all we do by operating the company in a manner consistent with biblical principles,” as well as “serving our employees and their families by establishing a work environment and company policies that build character, strengthen individuals and nurture families.”

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Christian Guest House Owners Lose Supreme Court Battle After Being Ordered to Pay Damages for Turning Away Gay Couple

A Christian couple have lost their latest court battle after they discriminated against a gay couple by saying they could not stay in a double room.

Peter Bull, 74, and his wife, Hazelmary, were ordered to pay damages to Martyn Hall and Steven Preddy.

However, they appealed against the ruling but lost their fights at a County Court and the Court of Appeal.

Their case was today thrown out at the Supreme Court — the UK’s highest court — which found their decision amounted to sex discrimination under equality legislation.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]