Gates of Vienna News Feed 12/23/2013

The British grocery chain Marks & Spencer has reversed its earlier policy and apologized to a customer who was refused service by a Muslim sales assistant. The customer wanted to buy alcohol, and the checkout clerk declined to sell it to him on religious grounds.

In other news, Mikhail Kalashnikov, the Russian inventor of the AK-47, has died at the age of 94.

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

Thanks to C. Cantoni, Fjordman, Insubria, JD, Jerry Gordon, Papa Whiskey, Steen, 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 “Fixes” Liquidity Crisis by Censoring Media
» Italy: Saccomanni Takes Offense at Maradona Tax Evasion Remarks
» On the 100th Anniversary of the Federal Reserve Here Are 100 Reasons to Shut it Down Forever
» Where Are the Mega Banks Leading Greece?
 
USA
» Abandoning Our Liberties and Livelihoods: Lessons From the ObamaCare Debacle
» Amash: Obama is ‘Setting the Stage for Something Very Dangerous in the Future’ [Video]
» California’s Latinos Now a Majority, Lagging in Academic Achievement
» CNN Claims “Americans Want Security Over Freedom”
» Cop Tells College Grad ‘You’re Lucky I Didn’t F-ing Shoot You’ After Raiding Wrong House
» ‘Food Fraud’ A Growing Problem in Grocery Stores
» How TheWeek.Com Got Swindled Into Pushing Big Pharma’s Anti-Nutrition Propaganda
» IG Probes ATF Use of Mentally Disabled in Sting Operations
» New Armored Tank for Town Police Sparks Fear, War of Words
» New York Times: ObamaCare Decimates Middle Class
» NSA Panel Member Recommends Increased Data Collection
» ObamaCare Chaos Continues
» Obama Administration Offers Flimsy Excuse for NSA Surveillance
» On Day President “Signs Up” For ObamaCare, Record Numbers Reject Healthcare Law
» Pregnant Nurse Fired for Refusing Flu Vaccine
» Secularism, Federalism, Interdependence and the New World Order, Part 4
» The “Convention of States” Scam, And the War Over the Constitution
» The Season of Goodwill: Footage Shows Mobs Fighting Over Shoes (Videos)
» Wal-Mart Kiosk Promotes ObamaCare
» White House Extends Health Care Deadline by One Day
 
Canada
» Canada’s Intelligence Service Asked Foreign Agencies to Spy on Canadians
 
Europe and the EU
» British Mainstream Media Continues to Romanticize ‘White Widow’
» Germany: More Than 100 Police Injured in Hamburg Riots: Officers Hit With Petrol Bombs and Bricks During Clashes Over Closure of Culture Centre
» Greek Parliament Freezes Funding for Far Rightists
» Italian Christmas Food and Wine Exports Hit New Record
» Minister: Muslim ‘Inbreeding’ In Britain is Causing Massive Surge in Birth Defects
» Seven Out of 10 Italian Families Own Their Homes
» UK: Drunken Thug Who Left Stranger Paralysed With a Single Punch Escapes Jail
» UK: Great-Grandmother Fended Off Two Snarling Staffordshire Bull Terriers With Her Walking Stick as They Savaged Her Pet ‘Like a Rag Doll’
» UK: Jailed: Cannabis-Smoking Psychopath Who Bludgeoned Girlfriend to Death With Hockey Stick After Being Left Unwatched by Mental Health Team Over Christmas
» UK: Mother of Brave Schoolboy Bullied to Death After Standing Up to Drug Dealer Gang Says British Justice is a ‘Disgusting Joke’ After One of His Tormentors Walked Free From Court
» UK: Not Just Any U-Turn, This is a M&S U-Turn: Now Chain Apologises After Muslim Check-Out Girl Refused to Sell Alcohol to Customer
» UK: Plasterer, 22, Kicked to Death in Front of Horrified Shoppers in Packed Town Centre After Long-Running Feud That Started After He Called One of His Attackers ‘A Muppet’
» UK: Scrooge Police Pull the Plug on Street’s Christmas Lights Display Because Neighbour Complained of Too Many Cars Stopping to Look
» UK: Sarah’s Law Unmasks 700 Paedophiles in Two Years: Five Families a Week Told by Police They Have Had Contact With a Child Sex Offender
» UK: World Muslim Leader Condemns Geert Wilders’ Latest Attack on Islam
» UK: Wearing Her Heart on Her Thigh: Lee Rigby’s Fiancee Has Giant Tattoo of the Dead Soldier Inked Onto Her Leg Which Includes His Face, An English Rose and Several St George’s Flags
» UK: Why Did Gun Police Spare the Woolwich Murderers?
 
Balkans
» Italian Reservist Faces Military Trial for Saving Pregnant Cat in Kosovo
 
Israel and the Palestinians
» Ari Shavit’s My Promised Land is Not Mine
» Israeli Police Say Bus Explosion is Terror Attack
» U.S. Furious With Israel After Sale of Advanced Military Technology to China
 
Middle East
» Anti-Corruption Demonstrations Take Place in Turkey
» Head of a Human-Rights Org Also a Financier for Al Qaeda
» One Thousand Days Since the Uprising in Syria: The Battle for the Qalamoun
» What Can a Finn Bring to Turkish Cuisine?
 
Russia
» Inventor of AK-47 Rifle Mikhail Kalashnikov Dies at 94
» Mikhail Kalashnikov, Creator of the AK-47 Rifle, Dies at 94
» Mikhail Kalashnikov, Inventor of AK-47, Dies at 94
 
Far East
» Average Hours of Unhealthy Air in Hong Kong Up on Last Year
» Beijing School Children Poisoned
» Did China Steal US Corn? Six Charged With Digging Up Bioengineered Seed.
» Loyal to Mao’s Legacy, China’s Princelings Have High Hopes for Fellow ‘Red Descendant’ Xi
» Record Radiation: Handling of Fukushima Cleanup is ‘Comedy of Errors’
 
Australia — Pacific
» Chinese Buyers Boost Sydney Market
 
Sub-Saharan Africa
» Obama Threatens to Attack South Sudan Again
» Zimbabwe Renames Victoria Falls to Get Rid of Its Colonial History
 
Immigration
» Four Turks Arrested in Greece for Smuggling Migrants
» Homeland Security Helps Smuggle Illegal Immigrant Children Into the U.S.
» Illegal African Immigrants Protest Israel Detention
» One in Three Babies Born in England and Wales Has a Foreign Parent — and in Some Areas It’s More Than 80%
» UK: Vince Cable Compares David Cameron to Enoch Powell Over Tory Calls for Tougher Controls
 
Culture Wars
» Jury Awards Couple $50 Million in ‘Wrongful Birth’ Lawsuit
» Lesbian Author Accuses Gay Groups of Bullying Tactics Over Phil Robertson Controversy
» Obama Family Christmas Card: No Mention of Christ or Christmas
» Verily, It is a Clusterduck
» Video: Gay False Flag Attacks
 

China “Fixes” Liquidity Crisis by Censoring Media

How do you “fix” a nations’ banking system’s increasingly desperate need (and dependence upon) for government-provided liquidity without giving in and just providing all the inflation-stoking liquidity the banks demand? Simple — in China — you ban the media from discussing it. As The FT reports,Chinese propaganda officials have ordered financial journalists and some media outlets to tone down their coverage of a liquidity crunch in the interbank market, in a sign of how worried Beijing is that the turmoil will continue. The censors have warned reporters not to “hype” the multiple-sigma spikes in overnight-funding rates and have forbidden the press from using the Chinese words for “cash crunch.”

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Saccomanni Takes Offense at Maradona Tax Evasion Remarks

(AGI) Rome, Dec 22 — Finance Minister Fabrizio Saccomanni has said he was personally offended by Diego Maradona’s interview comments on taxes and tax evasion. He added that if everyone paid their taxes, rates would come down. Saccomanni explained: “We have had a long crisis, I believe we are emerging from it.

Europe is also in recovery, but I believe we should be confident. The economy is not an exact science, but one always reacts seeing the negative effects if one doesn’t emerge from it.”

           — Hat tip: C. Cantoni [Return to headlines]
 

On the 100th Anniversary of the Federal Reserve Here Are 100 Reasons to Shut it Down Forever

December 23rd, 1913 is a date which will live in infamy. That was the day when the Federal Reserve Act was pushed through Congress. Many members of Congress were absent that day, and the general public was distracted with holiday preparations.

ecember 23rd, 1913 is a date which will live in infamy. That was the day when the Federal Reserve Act was pushed through Congress. Many members of Congress were absent that day, and the general public was distracted with holiday preparations.

Now we have reached the 100th anniversary of the Federal Reserve, and most Americans still don’t know what it actually is or how it functions. But understanding the Federal Reserve is absolutely critical, because the Fed is at the very heart of our economic problems. Since the Federal Reserve was created, there have been 18 recessions or depressions, the value of the U.S. dollar has declined by 98 percent, and the U.S. national debt has gotten more than 5000 times larger. This insidious debt-based financial system has literally made debt slaves out of all of us, and it is systematically destroying the bright future that our children and our grandchildren were supposed to have. If nothing is done, we are inevitably heading for a massive amount of economic pain as a nation. So please share this article with as many people as you can. The following are 100 reasons why the Federal Reserve should be shut down forever… #1 We like to think that we have a government “of the people, by the people, for the people”, but the truth is that an unelected, unaccountable group of central planners has far more power over our economy than anyone else in our society does.

#2 The Federal Reserve is actually “independent” of the government. In fact, the Federal Reserve has argued vehemently in federal court that it is “not an agency” of the federal government and therefore not subject to the Freedom of Information Act.

#3 The Federal Reserve openly admits that the 12 regional Federal Reserve banks are organized “much like private corporations”.

#4 The regional Federal Reserve banks issue shares of stock to the “member banks” that own them.

#5 100% of the shareholders of the Federal Reserve are private banks. The U.S. government owns zero shares.

#6 The Federal Reserve is not an agency of the federal government, but it has been given power to regulate our banks and financial institutions. This should not be happening.

#7 According to Article I, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution, the U.S. Congress is the one that is supposed to have the authority to “coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and fix the Standard of Weights and Measures”. So why is the Federal Reserve doing it?

[…]

#66 The Federal Reserve has taken some other very frightening steps in recent years. For example, back in 2011 the Federal Reserve announced plans to identify “key bloggers” and to monitor “billions of conversations” about the Fed on Facebook, Twitter, forums and blogs. Someone at the Fed will almost certainly end up reading this article.

[Comment: A MUST read article. Distribute link widely.]

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Where Are the Mega Banks Leading Greece?

Since 2010, Greece is under the rule of the Troika (IMF, European Commission [EC] , European Central Bank [ECB]), which rules under the terms of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), a document expounding what is expected to be executed by the Greek government.

The life and the future of eleven million people hang from the policies of the Troika, which are dominated by the German dictates of a severely punitive austerity characterized by deep cuts in wages and pensions and heavy taxation of individuals and businesses.

Since 2009, salaries in the public sector have been cut up to over 50 percent, wages in the private sector have been reduced by 40 percent, and pensions have been cut up to 45 percent. From 2010 to 2013 the tax on the average income has increased by 25 percent, while on the income of most people has gone up by over 29 percent. Taxation of real estate has increased by 552 percent. The value added tax was raised from 19 to 23 percent, and numerous other indirect taxes have been added or gone up. In 2014, revenue from tax increases imposed on businesses is expected to increase by 137.2 percent.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Abandoning Our Liberties and Livelihoods: Lessons From the ObamaCare Debacle

What can we learn from this debacle? In the interest of not repeating the same mistakes, consider this:

We should all stop believing in the magical promises of politicians: President Obama promised that his legislation would produce better quality health care for more people, and that it would cost less money. But how could that have ever been a realistic promise? Goods and services have to be paid for somehow. The President’s rhetoric was the economic equivalent of alchemy — the mythical chemical process of turning fecal matter in to gold.

Arguably, the American people were duped by this. Not once, but twice did we vote to make the man with specious claims our President. And along with Barack Obama’s magical promises about health care are his and congressional members’ agendas for reducing the cost of higher education, even as student loan debt among college graduates is at an all time high.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Amash: Obama is ‘Setting the Stage for Something Very Dangerous in the Future’ [Video]

Republican Rep. Justin Amash of Michigan believes that Congress must correct the dangerous path upon which President Barack Obama has set the nation.

It is the job of Congress to “step up and take charge and point out when the President is going beyond his constitutional powers,” said Amash during an exclusive interview with The Daily Caller. He described the direction that the country is going is “scary” and accused President Obama of “setting the stage for some thing very dangerous in the future.”

“I think it’s scary the direction the government is going, regardless of whether you have a Republican President or a Democratic President,” Amash said. “We have an executive branch that is getting way too powerful, and President Obama is setting the stage for something very dangerous in the future.”

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

California’s Latinos Now a Majority, Lagging in Academic Achievement

As Hispanics surpass white Californians in population next year, the state becomes a potential model for the rest of the country, which is going through a slower but similar demographic shift.

But when it comes to how California is educating students of color, many say the state serves as a model of what not to do.

Just 33 percent of Hispanic students are proficient in reading in third grade, compared with 64 percent of white students. By high school, one in four Hispanic 10th graders in California cannot pass the high school math exit exam, compared with 1 out of 10 white students.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

CNN Claims “Americans Want Security Over Freedom”

Wow, this is straight up insane propaganda at the highest level. He is not even trying to hide the message. CNN’s Jake Tapper just comes out and says it:

I think the American people, honestly, want security over freedom. — Jake Tapper

Compare that to let’s say, Benjamin Franklin:

Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both. — Benjamin Franklin

That right there demonstrates perfectly how far we have fallen culturally.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Cop Tells College Grad ‘You’re Lucky I Didn’t F-ing Shoot You’ After Raiding Wrong House

Connor Guerrero didn’t exactly get an apology after police erroneously raided his home last week and handcuffed him on his front lawn.

Instead, Guerrero says a Spokane County Sheriff’s deputy told him he should be grateful he wasn’t killed.

Guerrero, a recent college graduate, says he was enjoying a nice Wednesday evening at home when he heard someone outside.

“Just trying to enjoy my evening. All the sudden, I see a flashlight shining through my doors…,” Guerrero said. “I’m thinking this could be a dangerous situation for me.”

Assuming he was the target of a robbery, Guerrero went to his door to ward off the potential thieves. That’s when things got out of control.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

‘Food Fraud’ A Growing Problem in Grocery Stores

If you are what you eat, you could be having an identity crisis. Foods we eat every day could include ingredients that aren’t supposed to be there. It’s called “food fraud” and its a growing problem.

Fish, honey, milk, orange juice, and olive oil — what do they all have in common? They top the list when it comes to food fraud.

Cheap imitations are filling up grocery store shelves.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

How TheWeek.Com Got Swindled Into Pushing Big Pharma’s Anti-Nutrition Propaganda

(NaturalNews) A recent hack-job “study” declaring all multivitamins to be completely useless has been exposed as nothing more than drug industry propaganda following the revelation that not only were the vitamins used in the study synthetic, but the study itself was backed and funded by Big Pharma. And one of the vocal proponents of this so-called study, TheWeek.com, obviously fell hard for the swindle, failing to identify the role that vaccine quack and drug profiteer Paul Offit played in spearheading the media blitz of this latest edition of pure junk science.

In case you missed it, the Big Pharma rag journal Annals of Internal Medicine recently published a study review claiming that all vitamins are a complete waste of money and that people should avoid taking them in order to stay healthy. Though the study was technically just an opinion piece written by questionable and obviously misinformed researchers from some of the top drug-pushing institutions in the country, the mainstream media ran with the story and began publishing insane headlines about the alleged “dangers” of taking multivitamins.

To anyone with half a brain, the whole hysterical stunt was obviously contrived by the drug industry to malign the vitamin and mineral supplement industry, and thus boost drug sales. But to everyone else, including senior editor Peter Weber from TheWeek.com, the scam is being regarded as the new gospel of modern medicine, even though key aspects of the study’s methodology, such as what types of vitamins and minerals were used, are not being analyzed and discussed.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

IG Probes ATF Use of Mentally Disabled in Sting Operations

The Justice Department Inspector General has kicked off an investigation into questionable tactics used by Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) agents that included recruiting mentally disabled individuals to unwittingly participate in sting operations.

Operation Fearless first came to light earlier this year after the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel uncovered details of a local ATF operation run amok.

The paper found that federal agents in Milwaukee hired a man with brain damage to help draw criminals to a shop as part of a sting. After the operation concluded, agents arrested the man for crimes they said he committed during the sting.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

New Armored Tank for Town Police Sparks Fear, War of Words

A war of words has broken out over police force in California getting a new armored vehicle built more for a state of war than patrolling in the Golden State.

The Salinas Police Department recently issued a news release proudly announcing the arrival of the armored truck built to survive minefield explosions, which it got compliments of federal taxpayers as part of a program to convert military equipment to law-enforcement use.

Critics took to the police department’s Facebook page to ask exactly why a city of 150,000 on the northern California coast really needs a vehicle designed for battlefield use. It’s more likely to be used against its own citizens, they said.

“That vehicle is made for war. Do not use my safety to justify that vehicle,” one wrote. “The Salinas Police Department is just a bunch of cowards that want to use that vehicle as intimidation and to terrorize the citizens of this city.”

‘To stop gang members?” another wrote. “Hmmm gang members don’t riot in mass numbers. It’s right in front of our faces and we don’t see it. Why would the ARMY!!! give something like that for FREE!!! Let’s think for once people.”

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

New York Times: ObamaCare Decimates Middle Class

The New York Times has finally conceded what critics of Obamacare have been claiming — the so-called “Affordable Care Act” devastates the country’s middle class families who “are caught in the uncomfortable middle: not poor enough for help, but not rich enough to be indifferent to cost.”

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

NSA Panel Member Recommends Increased Data Collection

Michael Morell, the former acting director of the CIA and a member of President Obama’s task force on surveillance, said in an interview on Sunday that a controversial telephone data-collection program conducted by the National Security Agency should be expanded to include emails. He also said the program, far from being unnecessary, could prevent the next 9/11.

Morell, seeking to correct any misperception that the presidential panel had called for a radical curtailment of NSA programs, said he is in favor of restarting a program that the NSA discontinued in 2011 that involved the collection of “meta-data” for internet communications

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

ObamaCare Chaos Continues

If you like unintended comedy, blatant stereotyping, and an undeniable air of desperation eliciting yet another spasm of lawlessness, the moments leading up to today’s sign-up deadline for ObamaCare are sure to please.

We begin with the unintended comedy known as Pajama Boy. The Obama administration’s former campaign apparatus, Organizing for America (OFA), apparently believes the way to get the so-called “young invincibles,” necessary to subsidize older and sicker Americans to sign up for healthcare, is to appeal to their inner metrosexual. “Wear pajamas. Drink hot chocolate. Talk about getting health insurance. #GetTalking,” reads the ad, accompanied by a picture of a slightly built man-boy wearing plaid, zip-up “onesie” pajamas, and a pair of horn-rimmed glasses that evoke memories — depending on your age — of Buddy Holly, Elvis Costello, or Johnny Galeki, aka Leonard Hofstadter, from the popular CBS sitcom “Big Bang Theory.” And lest anyone doubt how the story ends, OFA has followed up the original ad with our young man lounging in contentment, sporting a Christmas sweater and coordinated socks, accompanied by the caption, “And a happy New Year with health insurance.”

One suspects as many six million Americans, who have had their individual policies cancelled because they didn’t comply with the ObamaCare requirements, will be far less contented.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Obama Administration Offers Flimsy Excuse for NSA Surveillance

Rice went on to claim wanton violations of the Fourth Amendment and the privacy of millions of Americans have prevented terrorist attacks. She made this assertion despite comments to the contrary by a member of a White House review panel on NSA surveillance.

Asked if the panel had discovered evidence that NSA surveillance had prevented terrorism, Geoffrey Stone, a University of Chicago law professor, said during an interview with NBC News last week that the panel had found none. The panel concluded the program was “not essential in preventing attacks.”

The White House panel said the telephone records collection program based upon a provision included in the Patriot Act had made “only a modest contribution to the nation’s security” and did not aid significantly in terror investigations. A footnote in the report states that “there has been no instance in which NSA could say with confidence that the outcome [of a terror investigation] would have been any different” without massive violations of the Fourth Amendment.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

On Day President “Signs Up” For ObamaCare, Record Numbers Reject Healthcare Law

Crass PR simply not working on Americans

Barack Obama will today “enroll” in the Affordable Care Act, just hours before the new insurance deadline, and just hours after CNN released a fresh survey indicating that a record high number of Americans hate it.

NBC News White House reporter Kristen Welker reported today that before the day is out, Obama will take time out of his important 17 day vacation in Hawaii to “sign up” for the Affordable Health Care Act.

NBC’s @kwelkernbc reports that by the end of the day, President Obama will have signed up for health care.

— Shawna Thomas (@ShawnaNBCNews) December 23, 2013

Thomas noted that it is not clear as to why Obama would have to enroll in the program given that the president and all White House staff are already covered through the Federal Employee’s Health Benefits Program.

But it’s unclear why POTUS needs to sign up through an exchange since he should be covered by the Federal Employee’s Health Benefits Pgm.

— Shawna Thomas (@ShawnaNBCNews) December 23, 2013

Of course, the answer to this complex conundrum is that this is just another bulls**t PR stunt from the White House in an effort to offset the vast rejection of Obamacare by Americans.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Pregnant Nurse Fired for Refusing Flu Vaccine

Vaccine’s insert warns it is “not known” whether shot “can cause fetal harm”

A pregnant nurse was fired from her job after she refused a mandatory flu vaccine for fear it could potentially harm her unborn child.

After reading the vaccine Fluzone’s insert and learning it was “not known” whether the shot could cause harm to her unborn baby, 29-year-old healthcare worker Dreonna Breton opted not to take the risk.

The section of the insert that worried Breton states, “It is. not known whether Fluzone can cause fetal harm when administered to a pregnant woman or can affect reproduction capacity.” The insert also cautioned that “Fluzone should be given to a pregnant woman only if clearly needed.”

“It would be a false statement to say the flu vaccine is known to be safe during pregnancy,” Breton accurately assessed from the data available to her.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Secularism, Federalism, Interdependence and the New World Order, Part 4

Similar to the economic leveling that has occurred with NAFTA, the European Union, etc., there has also been an educational leveling process under way in American schools for at least 50 years, and it has been joined by an international educational leveling process in the name of achieving an egalitarian world society. As American students have been “dumbed down,” students from India and China have become more knowledgeable.

Thus, the New World Order will comprise a World Education System resulting from international educational standards, curricula and tests. John Dewey’s “common faith” (based upon his co-authored 1933 Humanist Manifesto) will result in a syncretistic World Religion of Secularism (which will be based upon the humanistic ethical values upon which all people can agree, and this will exist until the dictatorship of the Antichrist begins). And a World Socialist (federal) Government will be accomplished indirectly by a New International Economic Order based at first upon regional economic groupings which will also have a leveling effect.

You are probably thinking now that the people would never let all of this come to fruition. However, remember that in George Orwell’s 1984, after Big Brother’s agent, O’Brien, said they want to be “priests of power,” the character Winston asserts that the people will never accept totalitarian control, and O’Brien responds: “Suppose that we quicken the tempo of human life.” This, of course, is what happened after Orwell’s book was published in 1949. The pace of life has quickened measureably, making it more difficult for people effectively to organize against undesirable changes.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

The “Convention of States” Scam, And the War Over the Constitution

Our Constitution is a glorious document. This one page chart depicts the Structure of the federal government we created when we ratified our Constitution; and lists the “limited & enumerated powers” we delegated to the federal government over the Country at Large.

In a nutshell, our Constitution authorizes the federal government to handle the following objects for the Country at Large:

* Military defense, international commerce & relations; * Control immigration & naturalization of new citizens; * Domestically, to create a uniform commercial system: weights & measures, patents & copyrights, money based on gold & silver, bankruptcy laws, mail delivery & some road building; and * With some of the amendments, secure certain civil rights.

Basically, that’s it. As stated in the 10th Amendment, all others powers are reserved by the States or The People.

But for 100 years, almost everyone in our Country has ignored our Constitution.Thus, instead of restricting spending to the enumerated objects of its powers, the people we send to Congress spend money on what anybody wants- and so gave us a debt of $17 trillion. Instead of restricting lawmaking to the enumerated objects of its powers, the people we send to Congress make laws on whatever they like. The President we elected tramples all over the Constitution; and due to the connivance, cowardice, and ignorance of Congress, the supreme Court, State governments, and the American People, is seizing totalitarian power. WE are in terrible trouble.

And it is the phony right wing which is seducing the American People into taking the final jump off the cliff.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

The Season of Goodwill: Footage Shows Mobs Fighting Over Shoes (Videos)

[WARNING: Disturbing Content.]

If you thought that shameful scenes of Americans squabbling over consumer goods were restricted to black Friday, think again. Footage shows people across the country brawling over the release of new Air Jordan 11 sneakers.

The mayhem started a week before the shoes even went on sale. Footage taken outside Champs Sports at Eastland Mall in Columbus, Ohio shows a rush of people breaking down a glass door merely to obtain vouchers that would allow them to purchase the $170 trainers…

These videos confirm that Black Friday madness is now becoming an epidemic, with victims of vapid consumerism now behaving with less grace than the zombies in George A. Romero’s Dawn of the Dead.

Again we ask the question, if this is what Americans behave like over trainers, how are they going to react when the food runs out?

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Wal-Mart Kiosk Promotes ObamaCare

Strange Wal-Mart kiosk tells Infowars Nightly News host Jakari Jackson that he is “obese” and should sign up for Obamacare.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

White House Extends Health Care Deadline by One Day

The White House has decided to allow an extra 24 hours for people to sign up for insurance on HealthCare.gov, through the end of the day Tuesday, to receive coverage beginning on Jan. 1, according to a senior official familiar with the change.

The official deadline for getting insurance remains 11:59 p.m. on Monday. But because of record traffic on the website Monday morning, officials wanted to reassure the public — and themselves — that people who sought coverage in good faith would be covered. The extension was first reported by The Washington Post.

The official, who declined to be named because the policy has not been formally announced, said the administration does not want to encourage people to wait until Tuesday to come to the website because they fear more record numbers.

[Return to headlines]
 

Canada’s Intelligence Service Asked Foreign Agencies to Spy on Canadians

Canada’s intelligence agency deliberately kept the country’s Federal Court “in the dark” to bypass the law in order to outsource its spying on Canadian citizens abroad to foreign security agencies, a federal judge said.

Federal Court Judge, Richard Mosley, has slammed the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) for knowingly misleading him on numerous occasions.

Since 2009, Mosley has issued a large number of warrants to the CSIS, authorizing interception of electronic communications of unidentified Canadians abroad, who were investigated as threats to domestic security.

The spy agency assured the judge that the surveillance was to be carried out from inside Canada and controlled by and the Communication Security Establishment of Canada (CSEC), the country’s foreign signals intelligence service.

But, after the warrants were obtained, Canada’s foreign partners from the Five Eyes intelligence-gathering alliance (US, UK, Australia and New Zealand) were asked to perform the interceptions.

Canada’s Federal Court wasn’t notified of the foreign involvement and never approved it, Mosley wrote in a redacted version of a classified court decision which was made public on Friday.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

British Mainstream Media Continues to Romanticize ‘White Widow’

The British media seem hellbent to romanticize the comings and goings of 29-year-old Samantha Lewthwaite, who is believed to have fled Kenya to Somalia after the Nairobi shopping mall massacre in September.

The authorities of many lands continue to miss those comings and goings, somehow missing Lewthwaite’s cross border movements even when she has four children in tow.

There have since been four reported sightings of Lewthwaite in Somalia, who remains at large.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Germany: More Than 100 Police Injured in Hamburg Riots: Officers Hit With Petrol Bombs and Bricks During Clashes Over Closure of Culture Centre

German police suffered 117 casualties during the country’s worst night of rioting for a decade near the infamous Reeperbahn in Hamburg.

Officials said police officers were pelted with petrol bombs, bricks, bottles and stones on Saturday night.

They were then attacked on the ground when they fell and 16 were hospitalised for their injuries. More than 80 rioters were injured and needed medical treatment in running battles.

‘This is the first time in many years that we have seen such aggression,’ said a police spokesman.

‘Rioters came back to attack fallen officers regardless of their injuries.’

Some 2,600 police were on duty in the port city battling 7,300 demonstrators protesting against the impending closure of a leftist culture centre called Rote Flora that has been occupied by squatters for years.

Black Block anarchists were among the marchers who, say authorities, arrived from all over Germany intent on a violent showdown with police.

One officer hit on the head with a stone remains seriously ill in hospital.

Police fought back with pepper spray, water cannon and truncheons in running skirmishes that saw the centre of Hamburg become a no-go zone from midday on Saturday until dawn on Sunday.

‘From the beginning there was an aggressive mood and we were attacked massively’, a police spokesman said. ‘This was violence on a scale we haven’t seen for years.’

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Greek Parliament Freezes Funding for Far Rightists

ATHENS, Greece — Greece has cut off state funding for the Nazi-inspired Golden Dawn party in keeping with a law that requires that punishment for parties accused of criminal activities. Parliament voted 241-26 on Wednesday to suspend the funding. Five lawmakers abstained and 28 were absent.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Italian Christmas Food and Wine Exports Hit New Record

Coldiretti says sparkling wine up 16%, panettone grows 14%

(ANSA) — Rome, December 23 — Exports of Italian Christmas food and beverages climbed to new record of 2.7 billion euros, Italian farmers’ association Coldiretti said on Monday.

Exports in December are forecast to grow by 16% for Italian sparkling wine, 14% for panettone Christmas cake, 8% for all Italian wines, 5% for salami, 4% for pasta and 3% for cheese. The US, Russia, and the UK drove Italian sparkling wine exports. Sales in US — the top export market for Italian sparkling wines — are expected to rise 24% in December compared to the same month last year. Sales set to rise 31% and 50% over the same period in Russia and the UK, respectively.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Minister: Muslim ‘Inbreeding’ In Britain is Causing Massive Surge in Birth Defects

Inbreeding among immigrants is causing a dramatic rise in birth defects, a government minister has warned. Referring to the culture of Muslim arranged marriages between cousins, environment minister Phil Woolas said: “If you have a child with your cousin the likelihood is there’ll be a genetic problem.”

Mr Woolas, whose views were supported today by medical experts, said the practice did not extend to all Muslim communities and that most cases occur in families from rural Pakistan, where up to half of all marriages are thought to involve first cousins.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Seven Out of 10 Italian Families Own Their Homes

Istat says growing number live in shoddy dwellings

(ANSA) — Rome, December 23 — Slightly more than 72% of Italian families own the houses they live in, national statistical agency Istat said Monday.

Some 18% of families, meanwhile, live in rented housing, the agency added in its latest population report.

It also found a portion of the population lives in shoddy housing including shacks, cellars, trailers or garages, with the problem increasingly higher further south in Italy.

Between 2001 and 2011 families living in substandard housing increased by 13.8%, Istat said.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Drunken Thug Who Left Stranger Paralysed With a Single Punch Escapes Jail

[WARNING: Disturbing Content.]

A judge has allowed a drunken thug who paralysed a stranger with a single punch to walk free from court.

Mark Burrows, 35, was left with devastating brain injuries after the assault by Joshua Corker, and needs 24-hour care.

He is unable to move his limbs or talk and his family are said to be suffering a ‘living nightmare’.

The victim’s father wept in court as Corker, 23, was released with a two-year suspended prison sentence on Friday.

Mr Burrows, a scaffolder from Wigan, was enjoying a night out with a friend in Sheffield in April last year when he passed a group of men singing football songs and is believed to have commented on Sheffield United losing a match.

Corker, who was among the group and drunk at the time, floored him with a single punch to the face.

Mr Burrows suffered head injuries and a fractured neck and underwent complex surgery before being connected to a life support machine.

The victim was moved to a high-dependency unit, where he remains, but has suffered life-changing and permanent disabilities that mean he will require round-the-clock care for the rest of his life.

The victim’s family have been trying to raise money for equipment to care for him at home, while Corker is now on course for a successful career, having completed a degree in construction management and been promoted by employer Barratt Homes.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Great-Grandmother Fended Off Two Snarling Staffordshire Bull Terriers With Her Walking Stick as They Savaged Her Pet ‘Like a Rag Doll’

[WARNING: Disturbing Content.]

A great-grandmother was forced to fight off two raging dogs with her walking stick in a desperate bid to save herself after they savaged her pet Yorkshire terrier.

Marjorie Cartwright, 80, had been walking her six-year-old dog Chucky down the street in Stoke-On-Trent when two Staffordshire bull terriers ‘came out of nowhere’.

With no owner in sight, the dogs charged at the pensioner before turning on Chucky and tearing at his throat.

Mrs Cartwright tried to beat them off with her walking stick but could not rescue her beloved pet before one ran off with him hanging from its mouth ‘like a rag doll’.

The terrifying attack only ended when the owner drove past and the dogs jumped in the car.

Hours from death, Chucky was rushed to the vets covered in blood and had an emergency operation which saved his life. Vets said he would have died if he hadn’t been wearing a coat.

Mrs Cartwright said: ‘I was terrified the dog was going to rip Chucky’s throat.

‘I had a stroke three years ago and I thought I was going to have another one when I saw one of them drag him down the street.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Jailed: Cannabis-Smoking Psychopath Who Bludgeoned Girlfriend to Death With Hockey Stick After Being Left Unwatched by Mental Health Team Over Christmas

[WARNING: Disturbing Content.]

A cannabis smoking psychopath who bludgeoned his Russian lover to death with a hockey stick after a row over a Christmas present was jailed for a minimum of seven years today.

Felipe Silva Lopes, 28, battered petite Anastasia Voykina, 23, to death in the flat they shared in Streatham, southwest London.

The brutal attack happened just two weeks after he was released from Belmarsh Prison.

Following his release from the prison last December 12, a court heard the killer had stopped taking his medication and he was known to regularly smoke cannabis.

Despite a requirement to see his mental health team every day he was not seen for around a week over the Christmas period, a court was told.

Miss Voykina had moved in with him because she was ‘idealistic’ and wanted to help him overcome his mental health issues.

He became increasingly violent and last December an argument flared up about a gift prompting him to knock their Christmas tree down the stairs…

In an interview Lopes said a voice had told him to kill Miss Voykina, who was asleep in bed at the time.

‘He heard a male voice saying ‘I’m her master,’ Miss Johnson said.

‘The voice told him to kill Anastasia but not why.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Mother of Brave Schoolboy Bullied to Death After Standing Up to Drug Dealer Gang Says British Justice is a ‘Disgusting Joke’ After One of His Tormentors Walked Free From Court

The mother of a schoolboy who apparently killed himself after being falsely accused of rape has branded the justice system a ‘joke’ after one of his bullies walked free.

Tom Acton, 16, is believed to have committed suicide following a hate campaign against him which started after he told police about drug dealers plaguing his neighbourhood.

Thomas Greenwood, 18, admitted assaulting the teenager, but escaped jail as he was handed a 12-month community order and 100 hours of unpaid work.

After the victim reported drug dealers in his home town of Poynton, Cheshire to the police, false rumours spread that he had tied a girl to a tree and raped her.

Tom was then targeted in the streets by angry mobs, while vigilantes turned up at his front door saying they wanted to ‘get rid of the vermin’ — but both his school and the police said they were unable to help him.

He began self-harming and was found critically ill in his bedroom on October 31, just days before he was due to testify at Greenwood’s trial, dying in hospital two days later.

The teenager’s death was not mentioned during Greenwood’s sentencing at Macclesfield Magistrates’ Court.

After the thug — who has not been linked to drug dealing — walked free from court, Tom’s mother Gaynor described the punishment as ‘bloody disgusting’ and said the authorities had let her son down.

‘This sentence is absolutely bloody disgusting but sadly I’m not surprised as I wasn’t expecting much more,’ said company director Mrs Acton, 45. ‘The justice system in Britain is just a laugh and a joke.

‘My son is dead because of these people and yet this guy is already back out on the streets walking scot-free. I don’t even know how to feel about it. I just feel numb.

‘In this world as it stands at the moment it seems it doesn’t matter who you are or what you’ve done, you’ll get away with it. It’s people like my son, the victims, that end up suffering and paying the price. It’s quite simply appalling, I’m lost for words.’

The bereaved mother has previously denounced officials for failing to protect Tom from local thugs after he spoke out against the drug dealers and was then targeted by the false rape claims.

[Commenter: Chris, Brighton, United Kingdom, “Infiltration of Marxism into the justice system, simple as that. Undermine trust in the justice system by treating the offender as a victim and the victim as an offender.”]

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Not Just Any U-Turn, This is a M&S U-Turn: Now Chain Apologises After Muslim Check-Out Girl Refused to Sell Alcohol to Customer

Marks & Spencer has apologised after a Muslim member of staff refused to sell a customer alcohol.

The retailer said that where employees have religious beliefs that restrict what foods or drinks they can handle, it tries to place them in a ‘suitable role’.

An M&S spokeswoman said: ‘We regret that in the case highlighted we were not following our own internal policy.’

The issue arose after an unnamed customer at a London store told the Telegraph they were ‘taken aback’ when an ‘extremely apologetic’ Muslim checkout worker asked for them to wait for another till to become available.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Plasterer, 22, Kicked to Death in Front of Horrified Shoppers in Packed Town Centre After Long-Running Feud That Started After He Called One of His Attackers ‘A Muppet’

[WARNING: Disturbing Content.]

A plasterer was kicked to death while shopping with his girlfriend’s nephew in a row over ‘petty name calling’.

Jonathan Fitchett, 22, was chased across a car park outside a JD Sports store in Prescot, Merseyside, and then subjected to a ‘barrage of punches and kicks’ while shopping for a football.

As he lay dying on the ground one of the killers boasted ‘That’s how you knock someone out lad’ and walked away, a court heard.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Scrooge Police Pull the Plug on Street’s Christmas Lights Display Because Neighbour Complained of Too Many Cars Stopping to Look

Officers pulled the plug on a huge Christmas lights display after hundreds of spectators descended on the quiet cul-de-sac.

Groups of excited families flocked to see the 12 homes in Hedge End, Hampshire, and the surrounding streets decked out like a winter wonderland.

However, many were left disappointed after a neighbour alerted police — who installed a roadblock and forced homeowners to switch off the lights.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Sarah’s Law Unmasks 700 Paedophiles in Two Years: Five Families a Week Told by Police They Have Had Contact With a Child Sex Offender

[WARNING: Disturbing Content.]

Around five families a week are being told by police about a paedophile who has contact with their children.

More than 700 child sex attackers have been unmasked using Sarah’s Law — which was brought in after the murder of eight-year-old Sarah Payne by Roy Whiting.

The rule allows concerned parents or grandparents to contact police to find out if a new boyfriend, or a neighbour, who has contact with a child, has a history of child sex offending.

Since the law came into force in April 2011, police in England, Scotland and Wales have received some 4,754 applications from anxious parents and grandparents.

Of those, a total of 708 — around one in seven — resulted in disclosures…

Last year, doubts on the future effectiveness of the scheme were raised after a High Court ruling said sex offenders’ human rights to privacy should be considered when dealing with applications.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

UK: World Muslim Leader Condemns Geert Wilders’ Latest Attack on Islam

The Khalifa of Islam and the worldwide head of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, Hazrat (His Holiness), Mirza Masroor Ahmad denounced the Wilders’ action saying the politician’s “provocative acts can only further destabilize the world and destroy its peace and harmony.”

By Imran Jattala

The leader of the PVV Party in Holland, Mr Geert Wilders, has up the ante ‘in a highly disturbing and provocative act’ against Isalm, the worldwide Ahmadiyya Muslim Community has charged.

According to Dutch News, the politician has placed a sticker on his parliamentary office door which reads, in Arabic, ‘Islam is a lie, Mohammed is a criminal, the Koran is poison.’ The insulting sticker, the news outlet said, “is a deliberate take-off of the Saudi Arabian flag.”

This latest attack on Islam, widely publicized by Geert Wilders himself, has been condemned by many leaders in the government in Holland, saying the politician is playing into the hands of extremists.

Foreign minister Frans Timmermans condemned the sticker saying this sort of action is counterproductive.

‘Insulting their religion is not the way to combat extremism but plays into extremists’ hands,’ minister Timmermans was quoted by Dutch News as saying. ‘The Dutch government is distancing itself from this.’The sticker is ‘disgusting’ and its only aim is to hurt people, deputy prime minister Lodewijk Asscher told Nos television.

Foreign minister Frans Timmermans also condemned the sticker and said this sort of action is counterproductive…

[Return to headlines]
 

UK: Wearing Her Heart on Her Thigh: Lee Rigby’s Fiancee Has Giant Tattoo of the Dead Soldier Inked Onto Her Leg Which Includes His Face, An English Rose and Several St George’s Flags

The fiancee of Lee Rigby has apparently had a large tattoo of the murdered soldier etched on her thigh in tribute to the man she had promised to marry.

Aimee West dated the Fusilier for a year before he was brutally killed by two Islamic terrorists outside Woolwich Barracks in South-East London in May.

In the wake of his death, she is believed to have paid tribute to his memory with a tattoo covering her whole thigh.

The image shows Fusilier Rigby dressed in his regimental cap and old-fashioned armour, with a shield bearing the cross of St George.

The soldier is depicted as an angel with prominent wings, and surrounded by English roses.

Miss West, 23, is thought to have got the tattoo around the time of her fiance’s funeral in July…

           — Hat tip: Steen [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Why Did Gun Police Spare the Woolwich Murderers?

[WARNING: Disturbing Content.]

Woolwich killer Michael Adebowale might be transferred to Broadmoor top security hospital shortly, according to a news report.

After hacking Fusilier Lee Rigby to death, there are fears for his mental health. He refuses to speak to accomplice Michael Adebolajo, also convicted at the Old Bailey of Rigby’s murder.

‘Adebowale needs specialist care and could harm himself if kept in Belmarsh,’ we are told.

Concern is also expressed about holding him in the same wing as underworld boss Colin Gunn.

Seemingly angry at having to share his special wing with such creatures, Gunn threatens to attack Adebowale and Adebolajo.

The friends and family of Lee Rigby are entitled to feel incredulous. Why such concern for two terrorists whose cruel, shocking crime repulsed the nation?

In fact, special consideration has been shown towards Adebowale and Adebolajo from the moment they mowed down Rigby with their car and hacked him to death in a South London street.

Although the bloodstained pair remained at the scene and attacked an arriving firearms squad, they were wounded, not killed, by police marksmen.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Italian Reservist Faces Military Trial for Saving Pregnant Cat in Kosovo

A question is to be raised in the Italian parliament over the case of an army officer who was sent for trial at a military court last week for saving the life of a dying cat.

Lieutenant Barbara Balanzoni, a reservist who has since returned to her civilian job as an anaesthetist in Tuscany, is charged with gross insubordination. She committed the alleged offence while serving as medical officer at a Nato base in Kosovo.

It is claimed that, by attending to the cat, Lt Balanzoni disregarded an order issued by her commanding officer in May 2012 forbidding troops at the base from “bringing in or having brought in wild, stray or unaccompanied animals”. She faces a minimum sentence of one year in a military penitentiary.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Ari Shavit’s My Promised Land is Not Mine

When I opened David Hornik’s FrontPage Magazine article, “Ari Shavit’s ‘Doomed’ Israel”, I felt compelled to answer him, as he had not read Shavit’s New York Times “best seller”, My Promised Land: The Triumph and Tragedy of Israel. Shavit’s book is the Winner of the Natan Book Award. On the reverse of the jacket are blurbs extolling his personalized view of Israel by the likes of Franklin Foer, Editor of The New Republic, Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic, Rabbi Daniel Gordis author and Koret Distinguished Fellow at Shalem college in Jerusalem, former Newsweek editor and author, Jon Meacham and author Daphne Merkin. They extol it as “beautifully written”, “full of moral complexity”, “powerful book about the making of Modern Israel”, “passionate and fair minded”. In the course of his polemic against Shavit’s theme of ‘gloom and doom’ for Israel, Hornik quotes a review by Harvard Professor Ruth Wisse.

David Hornik may not have read Ari Shavit’s My Promised Land. I have. I found it morally flawed and in many cases redolent of the peace at all costs mentality of the marginalized left in Israel and their supporters here in the West.

Most Israelis don’t harbor for one moment the gloom and doom theme of Shavit and his book. … Why? Because their Jewish faith invented a future. A future embedded in the national anthem of the State of Israel, Hatikvah, “the Hope”. That Promised Land is not Shavit’s promised land of gloom and doom…

           — Hat tip: Jerry Gordon [Return to headlines]
 

Israeli Police Say Bus Explosion is Terror Attack

(AGI) Jerusalem, Dec 22 — An explosion occurred on a bus in the Israeli town of Bat Yam, near Tel Aviv, the police reported, saying that it was a terror attack. There were no victims.

           — Hat tip: C. Cantoni [Return to headlines]
 

U.S. Furious With Israel After Sale of Advanced Military Technology to China

The Israeli Defense Ministry’s Head of Defense Export Control, Meir Shalit, resigned last week after the United States expressed anger over a decision he made to sell sensitive military equipment to China, Israeli daily Ma’ariv reported on Sunday. At the time, Shalit did not provide a reason for his resignation.

Washington asserted that his authorization of the sale of a miniature cooling system for missiles was in direct violation of Israel’s preexisting obligations to the United States.

The conflict came as a result of differing interpretations of defense agreements between Israel and the U.S., according to the report. Israel claimed that the highly sensitive part was actually sold to a European company as part of a separate deal, but the Americans contended that the fact that it ultimately wound up in China is a breach of long-standing arrangements between Washington and Jerusalem.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Anti-Corruption Demonstrations Take Place in Turkey

(AGI) Ankara, Dec 22 — Tens of thousands of demonstrators in Istanbul’s Kadikoy district are protesting against corruption in Prime Minister Erdogan’s government. Police have been using tear gas and water cannon to disperse the crowds. The heads of another 25 government departments were dismissed on Sunday, bringing the total number of officials fired to 70 in four days.

           — Hat tip: C. Cantoni [Return to headlines]
 

Head of a Human-Rights Org Also a Financier for Al Qaeda

The U.S. government this week said the head of a human-rights organization working on behalf of Islamist political prisoners was also a financier for al Qaeda.

Most of the world knows Abdul Rahman Omeir al-Naimi as a Qatari history professor and human-rights activist. The Swiss-based organization he founded, known as al-Karama from the Arab word for dignity, has worked closely with the United Nations and American human rights groups, most notably Human Rights Watch.

According to the U.S. government, however, al-Naimi is also a major financier of al Qaeda. On Wednesday, the Treasury Department issued a designation of al-Naimi that said he oversaw the transfer of hundreds of thousands of dollars to al Qaeda and its affiliates in Iraq, Somalia, Syria, and Yemen over the last 11 years. In 2013, the designation says, al-Naimi ordered the transfer of nearly $600,000 to al Qaeda via the group’s representative in Syria. In the same notice, the Treasury Department also designated Abdulwahab Al-Humayqani, al-Karama’s representative in Yemen, as a financier and member of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, the group’s Yemen affiliate. On Twitter, al-Naimi acknowledged that he and al-Humayqani, whom he calls by his first name, were designated for supporting terrorism. Al-Naimi has resigned as president of al-Karama’s board, but told the group’s senior leadership that he intends to challenge the Treasury Department’s designation.

If the Treasury Department’s allegations are correct, the story of al-Naimi, who until Thursday was the president of al-Karama’s board, illustrates how sometimes human-rights advocacy can also be used as political cover for jihadist networks.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

One Thousand Days Since the Uprising in Syria: The Battle for the Qalamoun

by Dr. Riad Jarjour

A few days past the 1000th day since the uprising started in Syria…

After nearly three months of popular protests, June 2011 marked a drastic turn in what had been peaceful demands for democracy in Syria. The use of force by government forces and the acquisition of arms and retaliation by the opposition resulted in the rapid spread of armed conflict in towns and suburbs across Syria. Over the course of the next two years, armed conflict would engulf the entirety of Syria as opposition and government forces battled for control of strategic cities and towns. The escalation of the conflict quickly drew the attention of the international community, not least of whom were extremist fighters from across the globe. Names such as “Jabaat Al Nursa,” “Daash,” and “ISIS” (al-Qaeda affiliates), previously unknown, quickly became familiar entities. The ever-growing presence of foreign fighters in Syria further exasperated the already charged and troubled situation…

[Return to headlines]
 

What Can a Finn Bring to Turkish Cuisine?

Mehmet Gürs was born in Finland and grew up partly in Stockholm. Now he’s Turkey’s most famous chef, and is in the process of putting Anatolian cooking on the world map.

Gürs was born in Tammisaari, Finland, to a Turkish father and a Finnish-Swedish mother, and his schooling was split between Stockholm and a French school in Istanbul. He pulled out of medical school and spent eight years training in the US as a chef, before returning to Istanbul in 1996.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Inventor of AK-47 Rifle Mikhail Kalashnikov Dies at 94

The inventor of the iconic AK-47 assault rifle, Mikhail Kalashnikov, has died at the age of 94. His ingenuity earned him widespread admiration, but his legacy became more controversial when his weapons were used in some of the world’s bloodiest conflicts.

“I’m proud of my invention, but I’m sad that it is used by terrorists,” he said once. “I would prefer to have invented a machine that people could use and that would help farmers with their work — for example a lawnmower.”

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Mikhail Kalashnikov, Creator of the AK-47 Rifle, Dies at 94

Lt. Gen. Mikhail T. Kalashnikov, the arms designer credited by the Soviet Union with creating the AK-47, the first in a series of rifles and machine guns that would indelibly associate his name with modern war and become the most abundant firearms ever made, died on Monday in Izhevsk, the capital of the Udmurtia republic, where he lived. He was 94.

[Return to headlines]
 

Mikhail Kalashnikov, Inventor of AK-47, Dies at 94

Mikhail Kalashnikov, the Russian gun designer whose AK-47 rifle became the weapon of choice for many national armies and guerrillas around the world, died Monday, the Kremlin announced on its website.

He was 94.

Kalashnikov designed his first machine gun in 1942 after suffering injuries as a tank commander for the Soviet Union’s Red Army during World War II, but it wasn’t until 1947 — after years of tweaks — that the AK-47 was introduced for Soviet military service.

The weapon, recognizable by its banana-shaped ammunition magazine, became known for its simple effectiveness. It was easy to use and maintain, and it was reliable in extreme conditions, be they hot, cold, wet or sandy.

[C.J. Chivers’ book “The Gun” is an excellent history of this weapon. — PW]

           — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey [Return to headlines]
 

Average Hours of Unhealthy Air in Hong Kong Up on Last Year

Hongkongers endured an average of 2,727 hours of unhealthy air this year, surpassing last year’s figure with a week to spare.

From January 1 to December 21, the average number of hours of high, very high or severe air pollution recorded by each general monitoring station rose 7.6 per cent from last year’s 2,534.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Beijing School Children Poisoned

[WARNING: Disturbing Content.]

Nineteen primary school children in China have been hospitalised after drinking yoghurt said to be laced with rat poison and herbicide, the Xinhua state news said.

A 34-year-old woman from Loudi city in the central province of Hunan confessed to poisoning the yoghurt drink before delivering to the students, Xinhua said on Saturday.

It said the woman was suspected to be suffering from a mental disorder.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Did China Steal US Corn? Six Charged With Digging Up Bioengineered Seed.

Six Chinese nationals were indicted in Iowa for an alleged plot to steal bioengineered corn seed from US companies, even digging it up from test fields, and send it to their own conglomerate in China.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Loyal to Mao’s Legacy, China’s Princelings Have High Hopes for Fellow ‘Red Descendant’ Xi

Children of revolutionary leaders persecuted under rule of Communist Party head say his legacy outweighs violence and political turmoil

As the Communist Party prepares to commemorate the 120th anniversary of chairman Mao Zedong’s birth on Thursday, sons and daughters of communist leaders who at times suffered under his rule have defended his record and praised his legacy.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Record Radiation: Handling of Fukushima Cleanup is ‘Comedy of Errors’

Japan is breaking its own radioactive records — as huge amounts of beta-ray emitting substances have been discovered at another reactor at the crippled Fukushima power plant. Meanwhile the government says the decontamination work scheduled to be completed by March — may take another 3 years. For more we’re joined by Alex Kerr — an expert on Japan.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Chinese Buyers Boost Sydney Market

A Chinese buyer has paid more than $10 million for a waterfront home on Sydney’s North Shore, making it one of Mosman’s highest prices for the year. Chinese buyers will drive Sydney’s prestige property market in 2014, selling agent and Belle Property principal Tim Foote said. “About 30 to 40 per cent of Mosman sales above $3 million this year have been to Chinese buyers,” he said.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Obama Threatens to Attack South Sudan Again

President Barack Obama told Congress on Sunday that he may take further military action to protect Americans in violence-plagued South Sudan.

In a letter to Congress, Obama said that about 46 U.S. troops were deployed Saturday to help evacuate Americans. That’s in addition to 45 troops deployed to reinforce the U.S. Embassy in Juba.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Zimbabwe Renames Victoria Falls to Get Rid of Its Colonial History

President Robert Mugabe wants Victoria Falls to be renamed ‘the smoke that thunders’ to get rid of its colonial history. The president of Zimbabwe believes Victoria Falls does not reflect its liberation heritage.

Locals already refer to the landmark as Mosi Oa Tunya — which means ‘the smoke that thunders’.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Four Turks Arrested in Greece for Smuggling Migrants

Four Turkish men have been arrested in northwestern Greece after being caught trying to smuggle seven Syrian and Afghan migrants to Italy.

According to authorities, the migrants had agreed to pay 5,000 euros in total to be taken to Italy. The four Turkish suspects, aged 36 to 48, were due to face a prosecutor in Ioannina on Monday.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Homeland Security Helps Smuggle Illegal Immigrant Children Into the U.S.

A federal judge in Texas late last week accused the Obama administration of aiding drug cartels, saying that instead of enforcing immigration laws, agents knowingly helped smuggle an illegal immigrant girl into the U.S. to live with her mother, also an illegal immigrant, in Virginia.

In a 10-page order, Judge Andrew S. Hanen said the case was the fourth such case he’s seen over the last month, and in each instance Customs and Border Protection agents have helped to locate and deliver the children to their illegal immigrant parents.

The judge said in each case, the taxpayers footed the bill for flights — including flights to multiple locations in different parts of the U.S. that it took to find one of the children’s parents.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Illegal African Immigrants Protest Israel Detention

Jerusalem (AFP) — Nearly 200 African asylum seekers who entered Israel illegally demonstrated Tuesday in Jerusalem against being housed at a new open facility they walked out of two days earlier.

It was the latest in a series of measures aimed at cracking down on close to 60,000 illegal immigrants from Africa, whom Israel says pose a threat to the state’s Jewish character. The construction of a high-tech fence along the border with Egypt was recently completed.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

One in Three Babies Born in England and Wales Has a Foreign Parent — and in Some Areas It’s More Than 80%

The number of children in the UK who have non-British parents has soared, with almost nine in ten babies born in 2012 born to at least one foreign parent.

Just three in 10 London babies born in 2012 had both parents born in the UK, and in three London boroughs, as few as one fifth of babies had British-born parents.

Across England and Wales, one in three babies had non-UK born parents, according to the Office for National Statistics.

The number of non-British people who come to the UK to have children has increased, as the proportion of babies with foreign-born mothers or fathers went from 21.2 per cent in 2000 to 31.4 per cent in 2012.

The number of foreign-born people in Britain has quadrupled over the past 60 years, with immigration being at the heart of almost half of all population growth.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Vince Cable Compares David Cameron to Enoch Powell Over Tory Calls for Tougher Controls

The Lib Dem minister claimed the Tories were speading ‘ panic’ about immigration, comparing their ‘ populist policies’ to the notorious ‘ Rivers of Blood’ speech.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Jury Awards Couple $50 Million in ‘Wrongful Birth’ Lawsuit

KING COUNTY, Washington, December 16, 2013 (LifeSiteNews.com) — A jury in Washington has awarded a whopping $50 million settlement to a couple that says, if they had known their five-year-old son would be born with a genetic defect, they would have aborted him.

Brock and Rhea Wuth sued Valley Medical Center and the Laboratory Corporation of America (LabCorp) for the “wrongful birth” of their son, Oliver.

The couple, both of whom are teachers, had their child tested in utero for any genetic abnormalities. Tests conducted by LabCorp said the child would have a 50-50 chance of being born without any issues.

But the Wuths said Valley Medical did not send LabCorp the information about where to look for a genetic defect, causing the company to miss Oliver’s condition.

Oliver was born on July 12, 2008, with “unbalanced chromosomal translocation,” a condition in which the child inherits mismatched chromosomes from his parents, resulting in extra or missing genetic material. He cannot walk and has an IQ of less than 70, according to the Seattle Times.

The Wuths said, had they known, they would have had their child aborted. A jury in King County decided last Tuesday Valley Medical had to pay for the family’s lifelong inconvenience, awarding the couple $50 million.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Lesbian Author Accuses Gay Groups of Bullying Tactics Over Phil Robertson Controversy

Lesbian author Tammy Bruce has accused gay rights groups of resorting to the same kind of intimidation and bullying tactics they usually oppose in the effort to punish Duck Dynasty star Phil Robertson after his controversial comments.

“What’s especially troubling for minority communities in this country, the civil rights movements, especially the gay civil rights movement, was about asking for people and demanding the right for us to be able to live our lives as we see fit without being punished for being different. It’s ironic also that one of the big campaigns by the gay community is about ending bullying. If this is not a sign of the ultimate of bullying I don’t know what is,” said Bruce.

As we reported on Saturday, not content with their lobbying efforts which helped influence A&E in the decision to suspend the Duck Dynasty star, gay rights group GLAAD are now pushing for Robertson to be re-educated by demanding he meet with gay families in Louisiana, despite the fact that Robertson has refused to back down and has re-affirmed his biblical position on homosexuality.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Obama Family Christmas Card: No Mention of Christ or Christmas

The Obama family Christmas card contains no mention of Christ or Christmas in yet another example of how politically correct sensitivities have eclipsed common sense.

It’s not like we were expecting Obama to wish Americans a “Merry Christmas,” such a thought crime would not have gone unpunished amongst leftist authoritarians, but you would have at least hoped to see a Christmas tree or some token trace of Christian symbolism.

The inside of the card is virtually colorless and features a pop-up image of an empty White House with two dogs outside. The card is signed by POTUS, FLOTUS, the Obama daughters and includes paw prints representing Sunny and Bo.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Verily, It is a Clusterduck

The Duck Commander, Phil Robertson of Duck Dynasty, isn’t backing down and he is standing by his statements, while standing strong in his faith. Perhaps the Leftists could borrow his spine for a bit and maybe actually get in touch with what little soul they have left to experience what being a brave Christian actually feels like. Nope — too much to ask of a craven and cowardly Marxist. You see, Robertson can’t be brought into line. He doesn’t give a crap about the money, the fame, the trappings of Hollywood. His family won’t betray him, neither will his church nor will his hometown of Monroe. I believe he knew exactly what he was doing and that he planned the delivery of a message to Christians — grow a set and put on the armor of your faith and fight for it. Love thine enemy, while defeating them in the culture war.

I would like to know what is so very controversial about standing by your religious beliefs? The Left is hot to defend Islam. Hell, they’ll defend Satanists, Atheists, Wiccans and Druids, but Christians they would prefer to burn at the stake. The Christian faith has room for all and preaches love thy neighbor. It teaches tolerance, kindness and forgiveness. But it also states what is and what is not a sin. In the Bible, homosexuality is a sin. Phil Robertson is a lover, not a hater and has stated he will leave the judgment of others up to God. Which is more than Islam does — last time I looked they hanged, stoned and generally just murdered Gays. Seems to me that the Left attacks Christians so often and so much because they are threatened by them. Christians remind them that there is evil vs. good in the world and that there is wrong and right. That does not mesh with their world view, their agenda and their goals of Marxism and control. Go figure.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Video: Gay False Flag Attacks

Media analyst Mark Dice lays out a trend of “gay false flag attacks” in which members of the gay community have been caught faking hate crimes against themselves in efforts to manipulate the public’s emotions and “further their cause.”

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

5 thoughts on “Gates of Vienna News Feed 12/23/2013

  1. Homosexuality is said to be a sin in the same chapter of Leviticus which sanctions keeping slaves, so long as they are from a neighbouring country and not one’s own. Am I allowed to have Scottish or Welsh ones, or must they be from France?

  2. For me I don’t care what you liver is, unless you start interfering in my life and then I do! the use of the word “gay” is craven cowardice, hiding behind a benign word is pathetic, when I lived in the UK I knew a fair few of the lesbian community in my town, they did not like the epithet “gay” and were proud to be lesbian, I admire the honesty, this whole agenda has been hijacked by and falls neatly in to marxist ambitions. Read Marx and Lenin, their aim is to morally destabilise the west and this is a great way, funny how the marxist left support islam and we know how islam treats homosexuals! Back along we had reason to like the “gay” community, it furnished some quite special artists, Freddie Mercury, and many others, these days they are just trouble makers, sad!

  3. The Commander may be playing along with the media game. Controversy is good publicity. A& E execs are probably content with the free PR. A ‘white minstrel’ show was what the producers expected and the family delivered in spades.

  4. Baron

    The article :

    ‘Minister: Muslim ‘Inbreeding’ In Britain is Causing Massive Surge in Birth Defects’

    although it appears in a Daily Mail website article dated 24/12/13 is a repeat of an old article. The original article must have appeared pre May 2010. The Ministers referred to are Labour Ministers of Gordon ‘McStalin’ Brown’s old government. Ann Cryer retired as MP for Keighley in 2010 (New Labour wouldn’t reselect her for the seat as the local Muslims hated her for telling the truth about them !). Geoff Hoon was disgraced after he was caught in a sting. After his years of service as a govt Minister he assumed that after May 2010 he would get a life peerage in Gordon Brown’s honours list. He was caught telling newspaper reporters who he thought were lobbyists for a foreign country about the lobbying he could do for their ‘client’ and the ‘access’ he could get them to government and the ‘retainer’ he expected to be paid for such lobbying. Phil Woolas won his seat in Oldham by a very small majority in 2010. It was claimed by the losing Liberal candidate that Woolas had put out material containing defamations about the Liberal candidate. After a hearing by an elections court (the first hearing in nearly 100 years !) the result was overturned, a by election was called and Woolas was barred from public office.

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