Gates of Vienna News Feed 4/10/2015

A planned discussion in the Finnish parliament featuring Lars Vilks has been cancelled. The appearance by the Modoggie Man was taken off the calendar after a threat assessment by the Finnish security police (Supo).

In other news, the leader of the largest jihad group in Libya has pledged allegiance to the Islamic State. Meanwhile, a Tunisian group calling itself “Soldiers of the Caliphate” is threatening jihad within Tunisia, using ISIS’ Twitter feed to send messages and pictures.

On the home front, a would-be mujahid named John T. Booker, a.k.a. Mohammed Abdullah Hassan, was arrested by the FBI for planning a suicide bomb attack on Fort Riley in Kansas.

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

Thanks to C. Cantoni, Fjordman, Insubria, JD, Papa Whiskey, 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
» 19 Signs That American Families Are Being Economically Destroyed
» Economist Tells Congress: U.S. May be in ‘Worse Fiscal Shape’ Than Greece
» Iceland Considers Stripping Power to Create Currency From Banks
» Italy: ‘Economic’ Suicides Doubled in 3 Yrs
» J.P. Morgan’s Dimon Warns Next Crisis Will Bring Even More Volatility
» Video: How the Next Economic Collapse Unfolds: ‘This is How They’ll Press the Reset Button’
 
USA
» “Income Tax is Government Theft” And IRS is a Lawless Thief
» Bloomberg Gives $30m to Shut 50% of Coal Plants by 2017
» Conspiracy Theorist Arrested After Calling Sandy Hook Shooting “Fake”
» Democrats: IRS Can Pay Gun Owners to Turn in Their Guns
» Drought and the Failure of Big Government in California
» Family of Walter Scott Tells Rev. Al Sharpton to Keep Away; Police Release Dash-Cam Video From Cop Michael Slager’s Cruiser
» Family Threatened With Government Force for Building Cardboard Fort in Their Own Front Yard
» How America Became an Oligarchy
» How the World’s Religious Landscape Will Look in 2050: Islam Will Become America’s Second-Largest Religion as the Percentage of Atheists Across the Globe Will Fall
» Judge Lightens Convicted Child Rapist’s Sentence, Says He Did Not ‘Consciously Intend to Harm’ 3-Year-Old
» Kansas Man Accused of Plotting to Detonate Bomb at Fort Riley Military Base
» Kick Open the Doorway to Liberty: What Are We Waiting for?
» Marxist Mole: The Story They Can’t Kill
» National Guard Blocks Infowars Reporters From Covering Dirty Bomb Exercise
» Native Hawaiians Halt Construction of Giant Telescope
» Nephew of JFK: Vaccines Are a “Holocaust”
» Obama Criticizes Christians at Easter Breakfast Prayer
» Obama Gun Control Push Backfires as Industry Sees Unprecedented Surge
» Records Show Pentagon Sought Secrecy During Domestic Training Exercise
» Reporter Asks College Students to Perform Common Core Math
» Shock Video: Police Punch, Kick Man Over 50 Times After He Surrenders
» Smart Meters: Enforcement of Mandatory Water Restrictions is Only Just the Beginning
» Snowden to Oliver: ‘NSA Has the Greatest Surveillance Capabilities We’Ve Ever Seen in History’ — Video
» Teacher Suspended After Her 3rd-Graders Send ‘Get Well’ Wishes to Cop Killer Mumia Abu-Jamal
» The Arabian Candidate
» The US Gov Can Download the Entire Contents of Your Computer at Border Crossings
» Think Jade Helm’s Bad? Wait Till You Hear About This Police Force — Video
» Using the Global Warming Hoax to Destroy America
» Why is the US Military Moving Back Into ‘Stargate’ Base Deep Under the Rocky Mountains a Decade After it Was Abandoned?
» Why the Left Embraces Islam and Attacks Christianity — Video
» Yaphet Kotto Says James Bond Should be Portrayed by a White Man Amid Idris Elba Rumours
 
Canada
» World Renowned Pianist Censored in Toronto for Questioning Ukrainian Government
 
Europe and the EU
» $1 Billion Disappears From Moldovian Banks
» Angela Merkel’s 15 Years at the Top
» Finland: Parliament Cancels Mohammed Cartoonist Visit
» Fishing for Space Junk: New Nets Capture Old Satellites (Video)
» Four in Ten British Muslims Believe MI5 and the Police Are Partly Responsible for Radicalisation of Teenagers Who Join ISIS
» Gay Orgies and ‘Murder’ Scandals Engulf Vatican
» Italy: Strasbourg Court ‘Useless’, Northern League’s Salvini
» Labour Candidate: People Who Fly England Flags Are ‘Simpletons and Casual Racists’
» Modern Medicine Did Not Help Germanwings Pilot, It May Have Damaged Him
» Nationalist Landslide in Scotland Holds Key to UK Vote
» PVV Leader Geert Wilders Under Fire in Austria
» Replica of Prehistoric French Grotto Set to Open
» ‘Significant’: 100 Billion Barrels of Oil Discovered Near UK Airport
» SSRIs and the Planned Drone Society
» Swedish Armed Forces Not Welcome at National Day Celebration
» UK: Asylum Seeker Arrives at Bus Station to Meet ‘Schoolgirl’ For Sex in Letzgo Hunting Sting
» UK: Kent Police Blast Motorists Playing Football on M25 After Getting Stuck in Traffic Jam
» UK: London’s Empty Luxury Homes Draw Election Penalty Vow
» UKIP’s John Van Weenen Backs David Cameron to Win the General Election
 
Mediterranean Union
» Connecting Job Seekers and Employers: EU Project Launches Online Portal to Encourage Worker Mobility Across the Mediterranean
» Med: Council of Europe, More Ties With Southern Shores
 
North Africa
» ISIS: New Threat to Tunisia From ‘Caliphate’s Soldiers’
» Spiritual Leader of Libya’s Biggest Jihadi Group Pledges Allegiance to ISIS
 
Middle East
» Christians Including Armenians at Risk in Aleppo, Says Pope
» Despite Constant Saudi Bombing, Yemen Rebels Advance, Seize Key Town; Ayatollah Trolls US, Saudis on Twitter
» Erdogan Won’t Restore Egyptian Ties ‘Until Morsi Freed’
» FBI Says Islamic State Wants to Hack WordPress Websites
» Imam ‘Assassinated’ on London Street by ‘Syrian Hit Squad’
» ISIS Executioner Decapitates Man Accused of Sorcery in Latest Act of Barbarity
» ISIS: Sources: Civilians, Women Abducted in Central Syria
» Kissinger and Schultz: Iran Deal Brings Region Closer to Nuclear War
» Kuwait Reintroduces Compulsory Military Service for Citizens
» Middle East Crisis Deepens as US Warns it Will Not ‘Stand by’ While Iran Supports Yemen Rebels
» Nuclear Knockout Not Nearly Nailed
» Pakistan Lawmakers Vote to Stay Out of Yemen Conflict
» Pakistan to Remain Neutral on Yemen Conflict
» Saudi Fatwa Allowing Husbands to Eat Wives Unsubstantiated
» Saudi Border Guards Face Yemen ‘Red Line’
» Turkey Journalists Face 4.5 Years Jail Over Charlie Hebdo Cartoon
 
Russia
» US, Russian War Games Rekindle Cold War Tensions
 
South Asia
» Afghan Bombings Kill Civilians as Attacks Expected to Surge
» Kyrgyzstan’s Otherworldly Cities of the Dead
» Nepal: Criminal Organization That Sold Women to the Islamic State Uncovered
» Pakistan: Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi Released From Adiala Jail
» Pakistan Frees Mumbai Attack Mastermind Suspect
 
Far East
» 30,000 People Have Been Evacuated After a Massive Fire at a Chinese Chemical Plant
» Award-Winning Yamazaki Single Malt Sherry Cask 2013 Proves Japanese Whiskies Are Gaining Global Popularity
» Beijing-Nepal Rail Link: China Considers Drilling Tunnel Under Mount Everest in Effort to Boost Trade and Tourism
» Gov’t Experts: “Astounding” Levels of Radiation Measured in U.S. From Fukushima
» Leaking Reactors Are a Symptom of the Globalist Disease
» We Traveled Across China and Returned Terrified for the Economy
 
Australia — Pacific
» Persecution Pushing Young Australian Muslims to the Margins of Society, Says Leader
 
Immigration
» Aid Workers to Rescue Mediterranean Seaborne Migrants
» California May Shield Immigrants Charged With Drug Crimes From Deportation
» Immigration Activists to Train ‘Community Navigators’ In Exec. Amnesty: ‘Path to Power’
» ‘Italians: Renounce Citizenship, Apply for Asylum’ — Salvini
» Italy: Boat With 600 Eritrean Refugees Sends SOS
» Judge Accuses Obama Lawyers of Misleading Him, Refuses to Restart Amnesty
» Report: 39,000 Immigrant Kids Coming to U.S.
» Switzerland: New Immigration Vote ‘Inevitable’, Says EU
» Undocumented Migrants on Gavdos, South of Crete, Total 140 (Video)
» With H-1B Cap Hit, Zuckerberg and Ballmer-Led Groups Press for More Tech Visas
 
Culture Wars
» Democrat Thought Police Confirm: Using ‘LGBTQ+’ for Totalitarian Revolution
» Family Values and Fertility Rates
» Forum: Is Religious Freedom Seriously Threatened in America?
» How Can a Child of Three Need Transgender Counselling? Asks Libby Purves
» Rand Paul Exposes DNC Head: “it Sounds Like She’s OK With Killing a 7-Pound Baby”
» Vatican ‘Won’t OK French Ambassador Because He’s Gay’
 
General
» Painful Baldness Cure: Regenerate Hair by Plucking What’s Left
» Tails Tell the Tale of Dinosaur Sex
» The Clenched Fist— Revisiting Golitsyn’s Predictions
» UN Urged to Ban ‘Killer Robots’ Before They Can be Developed
 

19 Signs That American Families Are Being Economically Destroyed

The systematic destruction of the American way of life is happening all around us, and yet most people have no idea what is happening.

Once upon a time in America, if you were responsible and hard working you could get a good paying job that could support a middle class lifestyle for an entire family even if you only had a high school education.

Things weren’t perfect, but generally almost everyone in the entire country was able to take care of themselves without government assistance. We worked hard, we played hard, and our seemingly boundless prosperity was the envy of the entire planet. But over the past several decades things have completely changed. We consumed far more wealth than we produced, we shipped millions of good paying jobs overseas, we piled up the biggest mountain of debt in the history of the world, and we kept electing politicians that had absolutely no concern for the long-term future of this nation whatsoever.

So now good jobs are in very short supply, we are drowning in an ocean of red ink, the middle class is rapidly shrinking and dependence on the government is at an all-time high.

Even as we stand at the precipice of the next great economic crisis, we continue to make the same mistakes. In the end, all of us are going to pay a very great price for decades of incredibly foolish decisions. Of course a tremendous amount of damage has already been done.

The numbers that I am about to share with you are staggering. The following are 19 signs that American families are being economically destroyed…

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Economist Tells Congress: U.S. May be in ‘Worse Fiscal Shape’ Than Greece

(CNSNews.com) — The U.S. has a $210 trillion “fiscal gap” and “may well be in worse fiscal shape than any developed country, including Greece,” Boston University economist Laurence Kotlikoff told members of the Senate Budget Committee in written and oral testimony on Feb. 25.

“The first point I want to get across is that our nation is broke,” Kotlikoff testified. “Our nation’s broke, and it’s not broke in 75 years or 50 years or 25 years or 10 years. It’s broke today.

“Indeed, it may well be in worse fiscal shape than any developed country, including Greece,” he said.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Iceland Considers Stripping Power to Create Currency From Banks

Still reeling from the economic catastrophe that struck in 2008, Iceland and its Parliament are debating a plan that would dramatically restructure the tiny nation’s monetary system by stripping commercial banks of the legal ability to create currency out of thin air — and handing that power exclusively to politicians and central bankers under what is being labelled a “sovereign money” system. The proposal to quash private bankers’ fractional-reserve system, where banks literally bring new currency into existence with government permission and then charge interest on it, is already making major waves. It is being described by analysts as everything from “radical” and “revolutionary” to a prescription for “an almost Soviet-style banking system.” Either way, the implications of the debate are enormous.

In a parliamentary report released on March 31, commissioned by the prime minister about the monetary idea, Chairman Frosti Sigurjónsson on Parliament’s Committee for Economic Affairs and Trade suggested that a “fundamental reform” of Iceland’s monetary system was needed. “Iceland, being a sovereign state with an independent currency, is free to abandon the present unstable fractional reserves system and implement a better monetary system,” explained MP Frosti, who authored the report. “Such an initiative must however rest on further study of the alternatives and a widespread consensus on the urgency for reform.” The explosive 110-page report, entitled “Monetary Reform: A Better Monetary System for Iceland,” offers a great deal of educational material on the inherent flaws of the current fractional-reserve banking system. In essence, with full government backing, the existing monetary system literally allows commercial banks to create fiat currency out of nothing, based on the amount of deposits held by the commercial bank. The banks then charge customers interest payments on the currency that they created out of nothing. Countless analysts have blasted the existing system as a scam and a fraud that serves mostly to loot the public.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: ‘Economic’ Suicides Doubled in 3 Yrs

Financial woes hitting hard says university

(ANSA) — Rome, April 8 — Suicides linked to economic woes have more than doubled in the last three years, Link Campus University said Wednesday.

The number of such suicides were 201 in 2014, 149 in 2013 and 89 in 2012, it said.

“Financial troubles are hitting people hard,” it said.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

J.P. Morgan’s Dimon Warns Next Crisis Will Bring Even More Volatility

(MarketWatch) — You ain’t seen nothing yet, when it comes to market wreckage from a financial crisis, according to J.P. Morgan boss Jamie Dimon.

In his annual letter to shareholders, the bank’s chief executive warned “there will be another crisis” — and the market reaction could be even more volatile, because regulations are now tougher.

He argued the crackdown on the financial sector, added to more-stringent requirements for capital and liquidity, will hamper banks’ capacity to act as a buffer against shocks in financial markets. Banks could become reluctant to extend credit, for example, and less likely to take on stock issuance through rights offering, which would essentially create a shortage of securities.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Video: How the Next Economic Collapse Unfolds: ‘This is How They’ll Press the Reset Button’

The data keeps pouring in. The U.S. economy is in trouble. All of the official statistics like job growth and economic recovery are based on lies and fabrications.

As Christopher Green of Alternative Media Television explains in his latest video commentary, those lies will eventually catch up with us and when they do the consequences will be impossible for most people to imagine.

You need to understand what’s coming… you need to understand the magnitude of the event ahead… this economic collapse that we’re living through today.

There is no recovery. There is no jobs recovery. There is no real growth in the U.S. today. It’s not that we don’t have great companies… it’s the system itself that is rotten to the core. It’s structural. that’s the problem with the system.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

“Income Tax is Government Theft” And IRS is a Lawless Thief

Paul A. Mitchell wrote “31 Questions and Answers about the Internal Revenue Service” that cover the fraud of the IRS and the use of intimidation to give it the appearance of being a lawful agency.

Here are just a handful of red flags Mitchell identifies within his larger documented writings:

1. The Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) is NOT an organization within the U.S. Department of the Treasury 2. The IRS appears to be a collection agency working for foreign banks and operating out of Puerto Rico under color of the Federal Alcohol Administration (“FAA”), an agency which was in turn declared unconstitutional decades ago. 3. Several investigators have concluded that there is no known Act of Congress, nor any Executive Order, giving IRS lawful jurisdiction to operate within any of the 50 States of the Union. 4. The so-called 14th and 16th amendments were NEVER properly ratified.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Bloomberg Gives $30m to Shut 50% of Coal Plants by 2017

At a press briefing at the Sierra Club in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday, former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, a Democrat, announced that he is contributing $30 million to the Club’s “Beyond Coal” campaign, which is designed to shut down the nation’s coal plants.

The $30 million is in addition to the $50 million Bloomberg already gave to the campaign, which has also changed its initial goal of shutting down 1/3 of the country’s coal plants by 2020 to shuttering 50 percent of the plants by 2017.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Conspiracy Theorist Arrested After Calling Sandy Hook Shooting “Fake”

A conspiracy theorist was arrested and ordered to undergo a mental health evaluation after he called several schools in Newtown to claim that the 2012 Sandy Hook shootings were “fake”.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Democrats: IRS Can Pay Gun Owners to Turn in Their Guns

A Democrat lawmaker is going to introduce a bill next week designed to relieve Americans of burdensome taxes in exchange for their guns.

Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., is introducing the Support Assault Firearm Elimination and Education of Our Streets Act, which will offer tax credits of up to $2,000 for those who chose turn in their weapons to local police departments.

“Assault weapons are not about hunting, or even self-defense,” DeLauro said. “There is no reason on earth, other than to kill as many people as possible in as short a time as possible, that anyone needs a gun designed for a battlefield.”

DeLauro stressed that the new act would strictly work on a volunteer basis and will help “get more assault weapons off the streets.” It’s not a wild stretch of the imagination to assume that mass murderers aren’t going to be turning in their weapons — and just might not pay taxes in the first place.

However, this isn’t the congresswoman’s first attempt at disarming law-abiding citizens. She is a strong supporter of stricter gun laws that would ultimately ban assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition, according to The Hill.

DeLauro’s latest attempt at gun grabbing comes after a string of assaults against the Second Amendment, including an unsuccessful attempt by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms to ban AR-15 ammunition, and the expose of Operation Choke Point — a backdoor plan to cut off financial support for gun store owners.

This is DeLauro’s second attempt at passing the bill, which first failed in 2013. She will officially re-introduce it next week with the help of co-sponsors, Reps. Betty McCollum, D-Minn., Raul Grijalva D-Ariz., Elijah Cummings D-Md., Keith Ellison D-Minn., Eric Swalwell D-Calif., and David Cicilline D-R.I.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Drought and the Failure of Big Government in California

California Governor Jerry Brown has announced that private citizens and small businesses — among others — will have their water usage restricted, monitored, and subject to heavy fines if state agents determine that too much water has been used.

Noticeably absent from the list of those subject to restrictions are the largest users of water, the farmers.

Agriculture accounts for 80 percent of the state’s water consumption, but 2 percent of the state’s economy. To spell it out a little more clearly: Under Jerry’s Brown water plan, it’s fine to use a gallon of subsidized water to grow a single almond in a desert, but if you take a shower that’s too long, prepare to be fined up to $500 per day.

There Is No Market Price for Water

The fact that the growers, who remain a powerful interest group in California, happen to be exempt from water restrictions reminds us that water is not allocated according to any functional market system, but is allocated through political means by politicians and government agents.

When pressed as to why the farmers got a free pass, Jerry Brown was quick to fall back on the old standbys: California farms are important to the economy, and California farms produce a lot of food. Thus, the rules don’t apply to them. If translated from politico-speak, however, what Brown really said was this: “I have unilaterally decided that agriculture is more important than other industries and consumers in California, including industries and households that may use water much more efficiently, and which may be willing to pay much more for water.”

In California, those who control the political system have ensured that water will not go to those who value it most highly. Instead, water will be allocated in purely arbitrary fashion based on who has the most lobbyists and the most political power.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Family of Walter Scott Tells Rev. Al Sharpton to Keep Away; Police Release Dash-Cam Video From Cop Michael Slager’s Cruiser

Stay away, Rev. Al.

That was the message from the family of South Carolina police shooting victim Walter Scott to the civil rights activist Thursday two days before the funeral for the slain father of four.

“We don’t want another Ferguson type of circus here,” a source close to the Scott family told The Daily News.

That was a reference to the Missouri town that was rocked by violent demonstrations last year after black teen Michael Brown was killed by a white cop.

Sharpton gave a rousing speech at the 18-year-old’s funeral, which was attended by thousands.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Family Threatened With Government Force for Building Cardboard Fort in Their Own Front Yard

Jeremy Trentelman is a professional floral designer which gives him access to large cardboard boxes that hold botanical trees. Like any creative and imaginative father would do, Trentelman saw potential in these huge boxes, so he acted on it.

“I had warm, positive memories from my childhood about forts, and thought it was a great way to spark imagination, away from the TV,” Trentelman said.

His two children, Max 3 1/2 and Story, 2, absolutely loved their cardboard fortress. But their love would soon be met with threats of government force.

According to Yahoo Parenting, shortly after finishing the construction, which features a centerpiece of a yellow plastic slide, the city of Ogden delivered a warning, signed by code enforcer Gordon Sant. Though not a citation, the official letter noted that Trentelman was in violation for having “waste materials or junk” in his yard. It gave him 14 days to remove the fort or pay a $125 fee; he also had the option of paying $25 to contest it. He considered that at first, but then had a change of heart.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

How America Became an Oligarchy

The stages of the capture of democracy by big money are traced in a paper called “The Collapse of Democratic Nation States” by theologian and environmentalist Dr. John Cobb. Going back several centuries, he points to the rise of private banking, which usurped the power to create money from governments:

The influence of money was greatly enhanced by the emergence of private banking. The banks are able to create money and so to lend amounts far in excess of their actual wealth. This control of money-creation . . . has given banks overwhelming control over human affairs. In the United States, Wall Street makes most of the truly important decisions that are directly attributed to Washington.

Today the vast majority of the money supply in Western countries is created by private bankers. That tradition goes back to the 17th century, when the privately-owned Bank of England, the mother of all central banks, negotiated the right to print England’s money after Parliament stripped that power from the Crown. When King William needed money to fight a war, he had to borrow. The government as borrower then became servant of the lender.

In America, however, the colonists defied the Bank of England and issued their own paper scrip; and they thrived. When King George forbade that practice, the colonists rebelled.

They won the Revolution but lost the power to create their own money supply, when they opted for gold rather than paper money as their official means of exchange. Gold was in limited supply and was controlled by the bankers, who surreptitiously expanded the money supply by issuing multiple banknotes against a limited supply of gold.

This was the system euphemistically called “fractional reserve” banking, meaning only a fraction of the gold necessary to back the banks’ privately-issued notes was actually held in their vaults. These notes were lent at interest, putting citizens and the government in debt to bankers who created the notes with a printing press. It was something the government could have done itself debt-free, and the American colonies had done with great success until England went to war to stop them.

[Comment: Iceland recently proposed a plan of debt free money creation by the government — not by a private bank… i.e. remove the power of private banks to create money.]

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

How the World’s Religious Landscape Will Look in 2050: Islam Will Become America’s Second-Largest Religion as the Percentage of Atheists Across the Globe Will Fall

Islam will become America’s second-largest religion by 2050 according to a report outlining the world’s religious landscape 35 years from now.

The number of Christians in the US will decline from three quarters of the population in 2010 to just two thirds in 2050, researchers claim.

Statistics revealed by the Pew Research Center show the percentage of atheists across the globe is expected to fall across the same time frame while Muslims will outnumber Christians by 2070.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Judge Lightens Convicted Child Rapist’s Sentence, Says He Did Not ‘Consciously Intend to Harm’ 3-Year-Old

[WARNING: Disturbing Content.]

A California judge has reduced a convicted child rapist’s jail term by 15 years, claiming the sentence is too harsh because the man did not “consciously intend to harm” the three-year-old girl he sodomized.

Orange County Superior Court Judge M. Marc Kelly last Friday moved to lighten 20-year-old Santa Anna resident Kevin Jonas Rojano-Nieto’s 25 year sentence, asserting the jail term violates the US Constitution’s Eighth Amendment prohibiting cruel and unusual punishment.

Rojano-Nieto was convicted last December on counts of having sexual intercourse with a child 10 years or younger and committing a lewd act with a minor “for sodomizing a female toddler and making her touch his penis,” according to a press release from the Orange County District Attorney’s office.

The Orange County Register laid out in horrific detail an account of Rojano-Nieto’s crimes:

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Kansas Man Accused of Plotting to Detonate Bomb at Fort Riley Military Base

A 20-year-old Kansas man plotted to kill American soldiers with a vehicle bomb at the Fort Riley military base, an attack he planned to carry out on behalf of the ISIS terror group, prosecutors announced Friday.

John T. Booker, also known as Mohammed Abdullah Hassan, was arrested as part of a lengthy FBI investigation. Federal authorities said he was arrested near the army base in Manhattan, Kansas, as he completed final preparations to detonate the bomb, which had, in fact, been rendered inert while he was under FBI surveillance.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Kick Open the Doorway to Liberty: What Are We Waiting for?

Everything this nation once stood for is being turned on its head.

Free speech, religious expression, privacy, due process, bodily integrity, the sanctity of human life, the sovereignty of the family, individuality, the right to self-defense, protection against police abuses, representative government, private property, human rights—the very ideals that once made this nation great—have become casualties of a politically correct, misguided, materialistic, amoral, militaristic culture. Indeed, I’m having a hard time reconciling the America I know and love with the America being depicted in the daily news headlines, where corruption, cronyism and abuse have taken precedence over the rights of the citizenry and the rule of law.

What kind of country do we live in where it’s acceptable for police to shoot unarmed citizens, for homeowners to be jailed for having overgrown lawns (aTexas homeowner was actually sentenced to 17 days in jail and fined $1700 for having an overgrown lawn), for kids to be tasered and pepper sprayed for acting like kids at school (many are left with health problems ranging from comas and asthma to cardiac arrest), and for local governments to rake in hefty profits under the guise of traffic safety (NPR reports that police departments across the country continue to require quotas for arrests and tickets, a practice that is illegal but in effect)?

Why should we Americans have to put up with the government listening in on our phone calls, spying on our emails, subjecting us to roadside strip searches, and generally holding our freedoms hostage in exchange for some phantom promises of security?

As I document in my new book Battlefield America: The War on the American People, it doesn’t matter where you live—big city or small town—it’s the same scenario being played out over and over again in which government agents ride roughshod over the rights of the citizenry.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Marxist Mole: The Story They Can’t Kill

In this exclusive video, Cliff Kincaid and Trevor Loudon explain the story of Obama’s Communist mentor Frank Marshall Davis to the Washington Post. Despite the evidence, the Post insists the story is a lie. Once you watch this video, you will never trust the media again.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

National Guard Blocks Infowars Reporters From Covering Dirty Bomb Exercise

The California National Guard has blocked Infowars reporters Joe Biggs and Jakari Jackson from attending a dirty bomb exercise set to take place tomorrow in Richmond, with one official citing the “nature” of their work as the reason.

In an email to Joe Biggs, Capt. Will Martin, Deputy Director of Public Affairs at the California Military Department, made clear that Biggs and Jackson would be refused access due to the content of their previous reporting.

“Upon reviewing your body of work, the California Military Department has chosen to decline you and Jakari Jackson media access to the emergency-response exercise involving the California National Guard on April 11, 2015, in Richmond, California,” states the email. “The nature of your work and the media programs in which you regularly participate (e.g. The Alex Jones Show) are consistently conspiratorial and inflammatory in nature. Therefore, we hold little confidence that granting you access to the exercise would result in a fair and responsible report for your audience.”

Martin is essentially saying that only media outlets who put a positive spin on the exercise or who regurgitate National Guard talking points will be allowed to cover the drill.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Native Hawaiians Halt Construction of Giant Telescope

Sarah Ballard studies exoplanets for a living, so like many other astronomers around the world she’s eager to see the Thirty Meter Telescope (the TMT for short) go into operation in the early 2020s. With a light-collecting mirror nine times larger than the ones on the twin Keck Telescopes, currently the world’s most powerful, the TMT will revolutionise the search for Earth-like worlds around other stars, and be able to peer to the very edges of the visible universe.

But Ballard, an astronomer at the University of Washington, in Seattle, is conflicted. A group of indigenous Hawaiians are determined that the TMT won’t be built. They’re incensed by the telescope’s location perched on top of the extinct volcano Mauna Kea, on the Big Island of Hawaii — a holy site for native Hawaiian people. — After an increasingly vocal series of protests that have landed 31 activists in jail, Hawaii’s governor, David Ige, issued a week-long moratorium on construction to all for “further dialogue” between the protesters and the telescope builders.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Nephew of JFK: Vaccines Are a “Holocaust”

Robert Kennedy Jr., the nephew of JFK, caused controversy before the introduction of a bill that would mandate vaccines for children in California when he asserted that the number of kids developing autism after receiving shots represented a “holocaust” for America.

The legislation, which would ban exemptions on vaccines, got its first hearing today in front of the California Senate health committee. The new law would prevent parents from citing personal beliefs or religious reasons to avoid getting their children vaccinated.

Opposing the legislation, Kennedy highlighted the alleged link between vaccines and autism.

“They get the shot, that night they have a fever of a hundred and three, they go to sleep, and three months later their brain is gone,” he told the crowd. “This is a holocaust, what this is doing to our country.”

Although acknowledging that he had his own six children vaccinated and supported the basic premise of vaccines, Kennedy warned that the system was being abused by the pharmaceutical industry.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Obama Criticizes Christians at Easter Breakfast Prayer

President Obama called out “less-than-loving expressions by Christians” during a White House Easter breakfast on Tuesday.

“On Easter, I do reflect on the fact that as a Christian, I’m supposed to love, and I have to say that sometimes when I listen to less-than-loving expressions by Christians, I get concerned,” Obama told his audience of Christian leaders. “But that’s a topic for another day.”

Obama seemed to have made the statement off-the-cuff because it didn’t really fit into the rest of his speech about Jesus Christ, which didn’t allude to current events for the most part. But it’s likely that Obama was referring to the controversy surrounding Indiana’s Religious Freedom Law, especially after Americans raised over $800,000 in support of the Indiana pizzeria owners who said they wouldn’t cater to a gay wedding if asked due to their religious beliefs.

Social media exploded in disgust over Obama’s criticism.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Obama Gun Control Push Backfires as Industry Sees Unprecedented Surge

Production of guns soars to more than 10.8 million manufactured in 2013 alone — double the total of just three years earlier.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Records Show Pentagon Sought Secrecy During Domestic Training Exercise

Public Record Media, a Minnesota-based nonprofit organization that uses freedom of information laws to obtain and publish government records, has released documents showing how the Minneapolis Police Department and the Minneapolis city government worked hand-in-hand with the Pentagon to conduct counter-terrorism training operations in the city without informing the public.

The August 2014 exercise included ground operations and low-flying black helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft. Training specifics included “low visibility movement, low-altitude precision helicopter operations, surveillance, and counter-surveillance.”

Records on the exercise demonstrate the Pentagon is working to integrate the U.S. military and state and local police departments, an effort that strikes at the heart of Posse Comitatus.

Records on the exercise demonstrate the Pentagon is working to integrate the U.S. military and state and local police departments, an effort that strikes at the heart of Posse Comitatus.

“Documents obtained by PRM in 2012 suggested that the Navy’s training operation was — at the time — undertaken for the purpose of preparing special operations forces for foreign deployment. However, records relating to the 2014 exercise include hints that some aspects of that training may have had a domestic focus,” PRM writes.

More striking, correspondence reveals the Pentagon is directly engaged in violating Posse Comitatus. The Navy’s 2014 letter states that its exercises will help its personnel in “preserving evidence for criminal prosecution” and that the relationships established with local law enforcement professionals would be critical to the Navy’s “future success.”

Infowars.com has reported numerous instances of the federal government violating Posse Comitatus and working with state and local governments and police agencies to remove barriers designed to prevent the sort of integration documented by PRM.

The founders of the republic warned continually of the danger represented by a standing army.

“The means of defense against foreign danger, have been always the instruments of tyranny at home,” James Madison wrote. “Among the Romans it was a standing maxim to excite a war, whenever a revolt was apprehended. Throughout all Europe, the armies kept up under the pretext of defending, have enslaved the people.”

“A standing military force, with an overgrown Executive will not long be safe companions to liberty,” he warned in an address to the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in 1787.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Reporter Asks College Students to Perform Common Core Math

Speaking with several engineering and finance students, Kiro 7 reporter Natasha Chen explained how a simple math problem such as 175 minus 79 is no longer solved using tried-and-true methods.

“Now can I show you how they’re teaching the kids now with Common Core? “ Chen asked before explaining the new convoluted method.

After examining the mandatory use of arrows, dots, crosses and columns, the college students were less than impressed.

“I don’t believe that in engineering classes there is time to do this…” one student argued.

According to Garfield High School teacher Jesse Hapogain, the opposition against Common Core continues to gain momentum with parents, students and teachers alike.

“There’s actually a growing movement — in fact, probably the largest in Seattle’s history,” said Hagopian.

In a similar story last September, a Common Core math teacher attempted to explain to reporters in New York how to properly add the numbers 9 and 6, taking nearly 60 seconds to complete the problem.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Shock Video: Police Punch, Kick Man Over 50 Times After He Surrenders

[WARNING: Disturbing Content.]

Yet another shocking example of police brutality has emerged with a video showing San Bernardino County Sheriff’s deputies beating and kicking a man more than 50 times after he had already surrendered following a chase through rough terrain.

The clip shows 30-year-old Francis Jared Pusok frantically attempting to flee pursuing cops on horseback through the Deep Creek area of Apple Valley yesterday afternoon.

When the horse is spooked by a police helicopter, Pusok falls off before he is approached by an officer who tases him. Pusok is face down in the dirt and obviously not resisting, but another cop arrives on the scene and immediately begins violently kicking and punching Pusok in the head. The other officer also appears to pistol whip Pusok with the taser.

Seven other officers then arrive, some of whom also begin kicking and beating Pusok while he lay prostrate.

“In the two minutes after the man was stunned with a Taser, it appeared deputies kicked him 17 times, punched him 37 times and struck him with batons four times. Thirteen blows appeared to be to the head,” reports NBC Los Angeles.

“The man did not appear to move from his position lying on the ground for more than 45 minutes. He did not appear to receive medical attention while deputies stood around him during that time.”

Pusok’s girlfriend, Jolene Bindner, said authorities refused to tell her which hospital he had been taken to or his condition.

[Comment: Watch the video.]

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Smart Meters: Enforcement of Mandatory Water Restrictions is Only Just the Beginning

According to physician and epidemiologist Sam Milham, Smart Meters, which are linked to an array of health issues, emit as much as 100 times the amount of radiation as a cell phone.

Daniel Hirsch, a senior lecturer on nuclear policy at UCSC, says thefederal government purposely misleads the public by conducting biased safety studies at the behest of power companies.

A Washington DC power company stirred controversy in 2013 after they were caught lying to the public about how often their smart meters emitted radiation. Despite claims that the meters only emitted radiation once every 4 to 6 hours, an investigation by WUSA9 News revealed the frequency to be closer to 4 to 6 times every minute.

When there is that much radiation blasting through our homes on a continual basis, it is inevitable that there are going to be health problems.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Snowden to Oliver: ‘NSA Has the Greatest Surveillance Capabilities We’Ve Ever Seen in History’ — Video

Snowden warned that while some NSA programs were helpful to the country’s intelligence officials, spying had started coming against American citizens themselves in wide-ranging domestic surveillance.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Teacher Suspended After Her 3rd-Graders Send ‘Get Well’ Wishes to Cop Killer Mumia Abu-Jamal

ORANGE, N.J. — A teacher in New Jersey who assigned her third-grade class to write “get well” letters to a sick inmate convicted of killing a Philadelphia police officer was suspended Friday, the school superintendent said.

Orange School Superintendent Ronald Lee said in a statement that school administrators “vehemently deny” any knowledge of Marilyn Zuniga’s assignment. Preliminary inquiries found that Zuniga did not seek approval from administrators nor were parents notified, Lee said.

The letters were delivered to Mumia Abu-Jamal in prison following his hospitalization last month for what his family said was treatment for complications from diabetes. The former Black Panther is serving life behind bars for the 1981 murder of white Philadelphia police Officer Daniel Faulkner.

[What’s the problem here? Just a little community organizing, that’s all. And besides, black lives matter! — PW]

           — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey [Return to headlines]
 

The Arabian Candidate

By William Kirkpatrick

In The Manchurian Candidate, the son of a prominent right-wing politician is captured by the Soviets and brainwashed in a secret Manchurian location. His task is to assassinate a presidential candidate, thus ensuring the election of the demagogic vice-president. Hence, the title “Manchurian Candidate.”

The film has several parallels to current events. The main difference is that in those days, Americans had to be brainwashed into serving enemy interests by psy-ops teams. Nowadays, they come self-brainwashed with some indoctrinative assist from the American educational system.

[…]

At some point the analogy breaks down. You could still convince a sixties audience that leftists were willing to sell out the country. We, on the other hand, have convinced ourselves that we live in a brave new world where such things never happen—at least, not in modern Western societies. No one would dare to pull a fast one on us because we’re just too smart. We’ve grown up watching CSI, we went to schools that taught critical thinking, and our history texts were written by Howard Zinn. We’ve also been nurtured on relativism, so if it were discovered that Arabs controlled the White House, we would shrug our shoulders and say, “at this point, what does it matter?”

[This gorgon must be denied the presidency. A woman in the White House would be great — Condoleeza Rice, call your office! — but Haughty Hillary would be absolutely poisonous. — PW]

           — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey [Return to headlines]
 

The US Gov Can Download the Entire Contents of Your Computer at Border Crossings

Hundreds of thousands of travelers cross US borders every day. And none of them—save the precious few with diplomatic immunity—have any right to privacy, according to Department of Homeland Security documents recently obtained by MuckRock.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Think Jade Helm’s Bad? Wait Till You Hear About This Police Force — Video

President Barack Obama secretly signed an executive order creating a Presidential Task Force geared at 21st Century Policing.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Using the Global Warming Hoax to Destroy America

Carbon dioxide: Human contribution pales in comparison to volcanoes.

When President Obama announced on March 31 that he intends to ensure that the U.S. will slash its “greenhouse gas emissions” 26% below 2005 emissions levels by 2025 in order to keep pledges made to fulfill the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change, he failed to mention that such levels would be comparable to what they were in our Civil War era, 150 years ago.

He also failed to mention that the U.S. has made no such pledges as regards the 1992 “Kyoto Treaty” which was resoundingly rejected by the U.S. Senate when then Vice President Al Gore brought it back from the U.N. conference.

There is no need, globally or nationally, to reduce such emissions. It would be a crime against humanity, especially for the millions that would be denied electrical power or would see its cost rise exponentially. “The President has no credible evidence to back up his claims,” said H. Sterling Burnett, a Research Fellow with the free market think tank, The Heartland Institute. “Obama’s climate actions are likely to cause far more harm to people, especially the poor, than any purported threats from global warming.”

“Global warming” and “climate change” are attributed to the use of fossil fuels to manufacture and transport ourselves and our goods, and to create electrical energy, despite the fact that the Earth, its oceans and land areas naturally generate such gases. Human contribution pales in comparison to volcanoes

There are, for example, more than 1500 potentially active volcanoes and countless others under the oceans. They produce billions of tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other gases that are identified as “greenhouse gas emissions.” The human contribution pales in comparison to natural sources such as the warming ocean surface which releases CO2.

Even so, CO2 constitutes a mere 0.04% of the atmosphere. There is no evidence CO2 plays any role in the Earth’s global temperature.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Why is the US Military Moving Back Into ‘Stargate’ Base Deep Under the Rocky Mountains a Decade After it Was Abandoned?

Shut down nearly ten years ago as the threat from Russia seemed to subside.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Why the Left Embraces Islam and Attacks Christianity — Video

Dr. Jerome Corsi breaks down why the American Left embraces Islam and attacks christianity.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Yaphet Kotto Says James Bond Should be Portrayed by a White Man Amid Idris Elba Rumours

The very first black James Bond villain, Yaphet Kotto, has said the legendary secret agent role should only ever be portrayed by a white actor and ‘political correctness be damned’.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

World Renowned Pianist Censored in Toronto for Questioning Ukrainian Government

Virtuoso pianist Valentina Lisitsa has been replaced by the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and accused of engaging in public incitement of hatred after she posted political opinions critical of the Ukrainian government’s conduct in the country’s civil war.

Lisitsa, who was born in Kiev, is a world renowned pianist, with some of her performances garnering millions of views on YouTube.

The Toronto Symphony Orchestra’s aggressive attempt to censor her is a chilling insight into how perfectly legitimate political views that challenge the mainstream can be treated as “offensive” or “hate speech” and used to cripple someone’s career. The TSO canceled Lisitsa’s concerts after the pianist drew attention to the plight of citizens in eastern Ukraine, who have been the victims of bombing raids carried out by the Ukrainian military.

Lisitsa originally supported the Maidan uprising but later realized that it had been hijacked by corrupt interests.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

$1 Billion Disappears From Moldovian Banks

A billion dollars is a lot for Europe’s poorest state of Moldova — particularly when it disappears. Anti-corruption prosecutors and American auditors have been searching the books for clues about the mysterious transactions, an embarrassment for the ex-Soviet state on track for EU membership. The scandal has even threatened to destabilise the banking system in the country of 3.5 million people.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Angela Merkel’s 15 Years at the Top

German Chancellor Angela Merkel became the leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) 15 years ago today. The Local takes a look back at her time as party leader.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Finland: Parliament Cancels Mohammed Cartoonist Visit

The Finnish parliament has cancelled a discussion event with the Swedish artist Lars Vilks, known for his depictions of the prophet Mohammed. The Secretary General of the Finnish parliament said that the cancellation was made on Security Intelligence Police advice.

A planned discussion event due to be held on parliamentary premises, and organised by Finns Party MP Mika Raatikainen, has been cancelled on the advice of the Security Intelligence Police (Supo). Swedish artist Lars Vilks, who is mainly known for drawing the prophet Mohammed, was due to attend the event to discuss freedom of speech issues.

According to a press release from parliament, the decision was made due to a threat assessment from Supo and because the event was not directly related to parliament’s work.

[Cancelled because of fear — fear that the attack in Copenhagen in February might be replicated, thus rewarding the terrorists who perpetrated it with pre-emptive capitulation. The psychologist B.F. Skinner termed this “positive reinforcement.” If you positively reinforce a certain behavior, you will elicit more and more of it. — PW]

           — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey [Return to headlines]
 

Fishing for Space Junk: New Nets Capture Old Satellites (Video)

The European Space Agency has gone fishin’ — for space junk.

Scientists hoping to remove old hardware from orbit around Earth have gone on a “fishing” trip unlike any other: Instead of lining riverbanks with fishing poles in hand, the scientists are free-falling through the air, shooting nets at a miniature model satellite. You can watch a video of the space fishing attempt here on Space.com.

The trip took place aboard an airplane that flies in a parabolic shape, causing passengers to experience brief periods of weightlessness. The flight was meant to test the ability of a net (not unlike a traditional fishing net) to capture and remove dead satellites, rocket parts and other man-made debris floating in space.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Four in Ten British Muslims Believe MI5 and the Police Are Partly Responsible for Radicalisation of Teenagers Who Join ISIS

Four out of ten British Muslims partly blame MI5 and the police for radicalising British teenagers who then flee the country to join ISIS.

A survey of 1,001 British Muslims found that one in four of this cohort had some sympathy with those who decide to join terror organisations such as ISIS.

The figures show that among young and female Muslims, one third have sympathy for the Jihadi runaways despite the deplorable images of ISIS atrocities posted on the internet. Eight per cent agreed they had ‘a lot of sympathy’ for the likes of Jihadi John.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Gay Orgies and ‘Murder’ Scandals Engulf Vatican

The Vatican has been embroiled in two separate, highly embarrassing, scandals. In one, a north Italian priest has been removed from office after allegations emerged that he had been surfing the internet to find gay lovers and had been involved in gay orgies.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Strasbourg Court ‘Useless’, Northern League’s Salvini

‘We pay it to hand down one idiotic sentence after another

(ANSA) — Rome, April 9 — Northern League Leader Matteo Salvini on Thursday railed against the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in Strasbourg, saying that it was “useless”.

“I would close the Strasbourg court, it serves no purpose, we pay it to hand down one idiotic sentence after another,” said Salvini, who is also a member of the European parliament.

He spoke in an interview with Mediaset broadcaster Canale 5. On Tuesday, the ECHR said Italy condoned “torture” during a police raid against anti-globalization protesters at the G8 summit in Genoa in 2001.

That spurred the government to move quickly on legislation introducing torture into the criminal code.

Salvini said the Northern League is against the bill.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Labour Candidate: People Who Fly England Flags Are ‘Simpletons and Casual Racists’

A Labour Party candidate has been forced to apologise after it emerged he wrote a blog posting in which he said anyone who flies an England flag is a “simpleton or casual racist”.

Huw Thomas, the Labour candidate for Ceredigion, said during World Cup that cars flying the England flag deserve to be vandalised.

It comes after Emily Thornberry, the former shadow Attorney General, was sacked by Ed Miliband last year after appearing to mock a family’s terrace home draped in England flags.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Modern Medicine Did Not Help Germanwings Pilot, It May Have Damaged Him

by Theodore Dalrymple

Whatever else may be said about Andreas Lubitz, the pilot who deliberately crashed his Germanwings jet into the French Alps, killing himself and 149 passengers, he did not lack medical attention: he as under treatment for a good proportion of his relatively short adult life. To judge by the terrible outcome, however, it didn’t do him much good.

Andreas Lubitz was not depressed, he was of bad character, for the improvement of which there is no drug. He was an angry narcissist, murderous at least as much as he was suicidal.

He didn’t want to slip away quietly, he wanted fame, even if it were only notoriety.

If he had killed himself by jumping from a building, say, which requires no more courage than crashing an airplane, no one would have heard of him. By crashing his plane, everyone has heard of him. The 149 people were sacrificed to his wounded vanity and his desire for fame.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Nationalist Landslide in Scotland Holds Key to UK Vote

Scottish nationalists are preparing for landslide election gains at the expense of Labour next month but also holding out the offer of a pact that could put the centre-left party in power.

“Scotland’s voice at Westminster has always been very quiet, in fact it’s been completely muted because the strings have been pulled by UK Labour,” said Carol Monaghan, an Scottish National Party (SNP) candidate in Glasgow.

“People don’t want that any more,” she added.

Labour won 41 out of 59 seats in Scotland in the 2010 vote, but polls suggest the majority of these will pass to the pro-independence SNP on May 7.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

PVV Leader Geert Wilders Under Fire in Austria

An Austrian muslim organisation has asked the Austrian public prosecutor to investigate anti-Islam party leader Geert Wilders for incitement to hatred and insulting Islam, the Telegraaf reports on Friday. The complaint came after Wilders visited the right-wing FPÖ party in Vienna in March and held a speech about Islam at the Hofburg, which includes the official seat of the Austrian president. ‘This legal jihad is unbelievable,’ Wilders said on Twitter. ‘The truth may be unpleasant for some, but that does not mean it is not the truth.’ The Telegraaf does not say whether the Austrian authorities will take any action.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Replica of Prehistoric French Grotto Set to Open

A stunning replica of the 36,000 year-old Grotte Chauvet, home to the oldest figurative cave drawings in the world and an Unesco Heritage site, is to be officially opened by President François Hollande on Friday.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

‘Significant’: 100 Billion Barrels of Oil Discovered Near UK Airport

There could be up to 100 billion barrels of oil onshore beneath the South of England, says exploration firm UK Oil & Gas Investments (UKOG).

Last year, the firm drilled a well at Horse Hill, near Gatwick airport, and analysis of that well suggests the local area could hold 158 million barrels of oil per square mile.

But only a fraction of the 100 billion total would be recovered, UKOG admits.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

SSRIs and the Planned Drone Society

Gov’t uses Germanwings crash to promote autonomous jetliners.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Swedish Armed Forces Not Welcome at National Day Celebration

The Swedish National Day should be for the “new Swedes”, according to Swedish politicians. Therefore the Swedish Armed Forces are no longer welcome at the celebration. At the same time the Swedish soldiers are recommended not to show themselves in uniform publicly, as it might be dangerous for them.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Asylum Seeker Arrives at Bus Station to Meet ‘Schoolgirl’ For Sex in Letzgo Hunting Sting

Married Jafar Adeli, 32, has been jailed after being duped on a social networking site by paedophile vigilante group Letzgo Hunting, who posed as a teenager who wanted to meet him for sex.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Kent Police Blast Motorists Playing Football on M25 After Getting Stuck in Traffic Jam

Kent Police received reports that people started kicking a ball about in a closed stretch of the M25 in Ortford while an air ambulance landed to rescue a seriously injured female motorcyclist.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

UK: London’s Empty Luxury Homes Draw Election Penalty Vow

Peter Rees’s attempts to form a residents association after moving into the City of London’s Heron apartment tower were hampered by one major obstacle: he couldn’t find many of his neighbors.

“We discovered just how difficult it was to trace owners who hadn’t been near their flats,” said Rees, the former City of London planning officer who owns an apartment in the 284-home tower that was completed in September 2013. “They were either unknown or uncontactable.”

The phenomenon known as buy-to-leave, with some investors not even bothering to pick up keys to properties, is now becoming an issue in the May 7 national election as more than 460,000 U.K. homes lie vacant. Tessa Jowell, a former Labour lawmaker and bookmaker’s favorite to replace Conservative Mayor Boris Johnson when he steps down in 2016, is making penalties for leaving homes empty a principal part of her campaign.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

UKIP’s John Van Weenen Backs David Cameron to Win the General Election

Ukip candidate John van Weenen, pictured, has urged voters to ‘consider the bigger picture’ if they do not want to see Ed Miliband in Number 10 propped up by Nicola Sturgeon’s SNP.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Connecting Job Seekers and Employers: EU Project Launches Online Portal to Encourage Worker Mobility Across the Mediterranean

A new portal allowing young job seekers and entrepreneurs to find work opportunities in the Mediterranean, designed under the EU-funded DAEDALUS project, was launched last month.

The platform, the first of its kind at Mediterranean level, seeks to help young people find work around the region. But it is more than a jobs’ database, offering grant, scholarship and investment opportunities, providing career advice and promoting awareness about youth empowerment, economic justice and decent working conditions. The platform also offers online seminars on issues of importance to job seekers.

The portal will be presented in Beirut on 16 and 17 April during the project’s first international workshop.

The aim of the DAEDALUS project is to address the needs of young job seekers by enhancing their opportunities and matching their qualifications with needs in neighbouring countries.

The project is funded under the ENPI CBC Mediterranean Sea Basin Programme 2007/2013, a multilateral cross-border cooperation programme funded by the European Union under the European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument. It aims at reinforcing cooperation between the EU and partner countries’ regions located along the shores of the Mediterranean Sea.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Med: Council of Europe, More Ties With Southern Shores

(ANSAmed) — STRASBOURG — The Council of Europe on Friday launched the second phase of a program started on 2012 called “towards the strengthening of democratic governance in the southern Mediterranean”.

The program is almost entirely funded by the European Union which has allocated 4.8 million for the first phase — that ended last December — and another seven million for 2015-2017. The project is aimed at Tunisia, Morocco, Jordan, as well as Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Lebanon, Libya and Palestine. So far, most of the activities of the council of Europe, wich vie to boost democracy, the rule of law and human rights, have focused on three countries — Tunisia, Morocco and Jordan.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

ISIS: New Threat to Tunisia From ‘Caliphate’s Soldiers’

“In the heart of Tunis, in the mostly heavily guarded places in town, we are among you”. This is the message coming from the media wing of the Tunisian branch of the Islamic State, which calls its adherents “soldiers of the caliphate” on its Twitter account @ifrik13, a threat addressed against the army and the Tunisian police considered the arms of the ‘taghout’, (the tyrant) and its allies.

Attached to the message, is a picture featuring the Clock Tower of the 14th January Square which stands at the end of the very central Bourguiba Avenue hosting the Ministry of the Interior.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Spiritual Leader of Libya’s Biggest Jihadi Group Pledges Allegiance to ISIS

Ansar al-Sharia, the top jihadi group in the civil war-torn country of Libya, has edged closer to pledging allegiance to ISIS after its spiritual leader and top judge, Abu Abdullah al-Libi, defected to the radical group, according to an audio message released by the terror group.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Christians Including Armenians at Risk in Aleppo, Says Pope

The Syrian city sheltered the survivors of Armenian genocide

(ANSAmed) — Vatican City — Pope Francis is thinking “sadly” about Aleppo and other Syrian towns which sheltered the “few survivors” of the Armenian genocide 100 years ago, he said Thursday. “The permanence of Christians, not only Armenians” are at risk there because of the onslaught of Islamic State (ISIS), the pope told the patriarchal synod of the Armeno-Catholic Church.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Despite Constant Saudi Bombing, Yemen Rebels Advance, Seize Key Town; Ayatollah Trolls US, Saudis on Twitter

It appears that when the US inadvertantly “misplaced” $500 million of weapons in Yemen, the bulk of which fell right in Houthi rebel hands, it created a very credible adversary… for the US and its Saudi-backed coalition allies. Because despite the bombing campaign by the Saudi-headed coalition, AP reports that the rebels seized a key provincial capital in a heavily Sunni tribal area on Thursday as their patron Iran called the two-week air campaign a “crime” and appealed for peace talks.

According to media reports the Houthius overran Ataq, capital of the oil-rich southeastern Shabwa province, after days of airstrikes and clashes with local Sunni tribes. The capture marked the rebels’ first significant gain since the Saudi-led bombing began.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Erdogan Won’t Restore Egyptian Ties ‘Until Morsi Freed’

Turkey’s ties with Egypt strained since Abdel Fattah el-Sisi toppled Egyptian president Mohammed Morsi in 2013.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish president, says Egypt should free ousted president Mohamed Morsi from prison and lift death sentences against his supporters before Ankara could consider an improvement in relations with Cairo.

Ties between the two former allies have been strained since then Egyptian army chief Abdel Fattah el-Sisi toppled elected president Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood in 2013 after mass protests against his rule.

Egyptian security forces then mounted a fierce crackdown against the Brotherhood, killing hundreds of its supporters as they protested in Cairo, arresting thousands and putting Morsi and other leaders on trial.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

FBI Says Islamic State Wants to Hack WordPress Websites

“These individuals are hackers using relatively unsophisticated methods to exploit technical vulnerabilities and are utilizing the ISIL name to gain more notoriety than the underlying attack would have otherwise garnered,” the FBI public service announcement states. “Methods being utilized by hackers for the defacements indicate that individual Web sites are not being directly targeted by name or business type. All victims of the defacements share common WordPress plug-in vulnerabilities easily exploited by commonly available hacking tools.”

The FBI says “ISIS-branded attacks” have targeted news organizations, commercial entities, religious institutions, federal, state, and local government institutions, foreign governments, and assorted other domestic and international websites, according to ZDNet, a business technology news website published by CBS Interactive.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Imam ‘Assassinated’ on London Street by ‘Syrian Hit Squad’

Abdul Hadi Arwani, 48, a Syrian preacher at a fundamentalist mosque, was shot dead in broad daylight on a London street yesterday in a suspected assassination by his country’s regime.

The Evening Standard reported that Mr Arwani was ‘obliged’ to resign as an imam at the An-Noor Mosque in Acton, West London after the mosque became linked to jihadi preachers and terror suspects.

Last night a police source told the Daily Mail that the killing had all the hallmarks of a ‘state-sponsored assassination’. Detectives are now trying to establish whether his strong opposition to Assad was the motive.

Mr Arwani was involved in violent anti-Assad demonstrations outside the Syrian Embassy in London three years ago.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

ISIS Executioner Decapitates Man Accused of Sorcery in Latest Act of Barbarity

[WARNING: Disturbing Content.]

Harrowing images of the killing are being shared by bloodthirsty supporters of the terror group on social media and show the victim lying in a pool of blood with his severed head resting on his back.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

ISIS: Sources: Civilians, Women Abducted in Central Syria

(ANSAmed) — BEIRUT, APRIL 10 — An unspecified number of civilians has been abducted by jihadists from the Islamic State (ISIS) in central Syria after some 50 civilians were slaughtered on March 31, local sources in Mabuja, the village stormed by ISIS, told ANSA on Friday.

Some survivors of the mass killing, who are now in Beirut where they have fled, said at least 10 civilians including seven women, have been kidnapped by the militants. The sources identified the abducted civilians by name.

Other local sources spoke about some 30 civilians who were forced to leave with ISIS fighters.

The UK-based monitoring group Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) spoke about 50 abducted civilians, though it did not provide their identity.

Mabuja, est of Hama, the main city of central Syria, is mainly inhabited by the Shiite Ismaili group considered as “heretic” by the Islamic State. Mabuja is some 20 km from Salamiya, the so-called capital of Ismailis in Syria. Several Sunnis from the region have also been kidnapped and killed, according to the sources.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Kissinger and Schultz: Iran Deal Brings Region Closer to Nuclear War

If there was ever a sign that the foreign policy establishment is beginning to look askance at Obama’s nuclear deal, one need look no further than today’s Wall Street Journal. Two former secretaries of state and foreign policy icons, Henry Kissinger and George Schultz, join forces in pointing out the danger Obama is courting in this deal. While giving Obama credit for the best intentions (I fall into the Dick Cheney camp in this regards) they make the point that I made nearly a month ago:

Absent the linkage between nuclear and political restraint, America’s traditional allies will conclude that the U.S. has traded temporary nuclear cooperation for acquiescence to Iranian hegemony. They will increasingly look to create their own nuclear balances and, if necessary, call in other powers to sustain their integrity. Does America still hope to arrest the region’s trends toward sectarian upheaval, state collapse and the disequilibrium of power tilting toward Tehran, or do we now accept this as an irremediable aspect of the regional balance?

Some advocates have suggested that the agreement can serve as a way to dissociate America from Middle East conflicts, culminating in the military retreat from the region initiated by the current administration. As Sunni states gear up to resist a new Shiite empire, the opposite is likely to be the case. The Middle East will not stabilize itself, nor will a balance of power naturally assert itself out of Iranian-Sunni competition. (Even if that were our aim, traditional balance of power theory suggests the need to bolster the weaker side, not the rising or expanding power.) Beyond stability, it is in America’s strategic interest to prevent the outbreak of nuclear war and its catastrophic consequences. Nuclear arms must not be permitted to turn into conventional weapons. The passions of the region allied with weapons of mass destruction may impel deepening American involvement.

These are the salient points.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Kuwait Reintroduces Compulsory Military Service for Citizens

The new law mandates all men to undergo compulsory military training once they reach the age of 18 and to remain in reserve forces till the age of 45.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Middle East Crisis Deepens as US Warns it Will Not ‘Stand by’ While Iran Supports Yemen Rebels

US Secretary of State John Kerry said Washington would not accept foreign interference in Yemen in a direct criticism of Tehran’s backing of Shiite Houthi fighters.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Nuclear Knockout Not Nearly Nailed

President Obama seems to have been unduly optimistic in triumphantly proclaiming the success of the P5+1 talks with Iran in Lausanne.

Speaking from the White House President Obama announced:

“Today, the United States—together with our allies and partners—has reached a historic understanding with Iran, which, if fully implemented, will prevent it from obtaining a nuclear weapon.”

There was only “an understanding”—not even a piece of paper initialled by representatives of all the parties to the long and complex negotiations — that President Obama could wave to the waiting media setting out what that “understanding” was.

It did not take long to discover the reason explaining the absence of such an initialled document.

It turns out there are in fact two pieces of paper—one prepared by each side—but neither signed or agreed to by the other:

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Pakistan Lawmakers Vote to Stay Out of Yemen Conflict

ISLAMABAD — Pakistan’s parliament on Friday decided not to join the Saudi-led coalition targeting Shiite rebels in Yemen, with lawmakers adopting a resolution that calls on the warring parties in the impoverished Arabian Peninsula country to resolve the conflict through peaceful dialogue.

After days of debating, Pakistani lawmakers unanimously voted in favor of a resolution, which states that “the parliament desires that Pakistan should maintain neutrality in the Yemen conflict so as to be able to play a proactive diplomatic role to end the crisis.”

The predominantly Sunni Pakistan, which has a Shiite minority of its own and shares a long border with Shiite powerhouse Iran, has been concerned about getting involved in Yemen’s increasingly sectarian conflict and a Saudi-Iran proxy war in the region.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Pakistan to Remain Neutral on Yemen Conflict

Saudi-led airstrikes have hit Yemen’s capital Sana’a early on Friday morning.

The attacks targeted military positions used by soldiers loyal to deposed president Ali Abdullah Saleh — a supporter of the the Iranian-allied Houthi militia.

As the airstrikes enter a third week, Pakistan has voted to remain neutral in the conflict, following a call from Saudi Arabia to contribute military assistance.

According to UN estimates more than 500 people have lost their lives since the fighting began on March 19.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Saudi Fatwa Allowing Husbands to Eat Wives Unsubstantiated

Saudi Arabia’s Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdulaziz bin Abdullah al-Sheikh has denied issuing a fatwa (religious edict) which allows a hungry man to eat his wife, or parts of her body, in the case of famine or if eating his wife would result in saving his own life.

Over the past few days, several pro-Iranian media outlets, such as the online portal of Al Allam news channel and Lebanon’s al-Jumohouria newspaper have carried the story without backing it with any evidence or specifying where or when such a fatwa has been issued.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Saudi Border Guards Face Yemen ‘Red Line’

The Saudi border guard points past a crumbling, abandoned village towards a road barely visible against the hazy backdrop of Yemen’s towering mountains.

“That is the Red Line,” he says.

Beyond it lies Yemen and the threat from its Shiite militia who have already killed three Border Guard troopers since a Saudi-led coalition began air strikes last month to stop a rebel advance on Yemen’s port city of Aden.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Turkey Journalists Face 4.5 Years Jail Over Charlie Hebdo Cartoon

Turkish prosecutors on Wednesday called for two prominent journalists who featured Charlie Hebdo’s cover with the image of the Prophet Mohammed in their columns to be jailed for four and a half years.

Istanbul’s chief public prosecutor has charged Ceyda Karan and Hikmet Cetinkaya with “inciting public hatred” and “insulting religious values” by illustrating their columns with the cartoon, the Hurriyet daily reported.

The cartoon was a smaller version of the controversial front cover depicting the Prophet Mohammed that French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo printed in its first edition after the attack on its offices by Islamist gunmen in January that killed 12 people…

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

US, Russian War Games Rekindle Cold War Tensions

AMARI AIR BASE, Estonia (AP) — Russia is so close that the F-16 fighter pilots can see it on the horizon as they swoop down over a training range in Estonia in the biggest ever show of U.S. air power in the Baltic countries.

The saber-rattling raises the specter that either side could misinterpret a move by the other, triggering a conflict between two powers with major nuclear arsenals despite a sharp reduction from the Cold War era.

“A dangerous game of military brinkmanship is now being played in Europe,” said Ian Kearns, director of the European Leadership Network, a London-based think-tank. “If one commander or one pilot makes a mistake or a bad decision in this situation, we may have casualties and a high-stakes cycle of escalation that is difficult to stop.”

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Afghan Bombings Kill Civilians as Attacks Expected to Surge

Two separate bombings in Afghanistan have claimed a number of civilian lives. The attacks come as security forces in the country are preparing for a major renewed militant offensive.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Kyrgyzstan’s Otherworldly Cities of the Dead

Photographer Margaret Morton traveled to the remote corners of the Central Asian nation to document its city-like ancestral cemeteries.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Nepal: Criminal Organization That Sold Women to the Islamic State Uncovered

The Nepalese police has compiled a list of six Indian and Nepalese suspects, seizing false passports, photographs of the victims and 900 thousand dollars in cash. The women came from the poorer classes. Inspector General tells AsiaNews: “They were chosen because cheaper and submissive”.

Kathmandu (AsiaNews) — Nepalese Women “seduced” by the promise of money; or sold as brides to terrorists in Syria; or even used by the militia of the Islamic State (IS) as human shields. These are some of the realities that have emerged from a Nepalese police investigation into the trafficking of women and girls to countries in Africa and the Middle East.

On April 7, the authorities of the Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) of Nepal arrested a group of traffickers who sold the innocent victims for the price of 7 thousand dollars each. Following a complaint from a woman who had been trafficked to Syria and forced to work in the sex trade, the officers discovered a criminal organization that deluded girls with promises of work as dancers in bars and restaurants. In fact, on arriving in countries such as Syria, Tanzania and Kenya, the victims were sold to terrorists, who used them as human shields.

Hemanta Malla Thakuri, head of CIB and deputy inspector general of police of Nepal, told AsiaNews that the investigations began thanks to the information gathered by some women that the International Organization for migrants managed to save in Kenya, Syria and other countries of the Middle East. The inspector general also reveals that “criminals targeted women and girls belonging to the poorer classes of society.” The traffickers chose the Nepalese women because they are “cheaper and submit more easily.”

Police compiled a list of six Nepalese and one Indian traffickers: they are Rajendra Khatri and Sunil Adhikari, from Lalitpur; Sabin Raja Manandhar, Keder Bahadur Khadka and Nabin Dahal, from Kathmandu; Lalit Raj Singh Suwal, from Bhaktapur, and Tarun Rojan Khanagwal from New Delhi.

According to authorities, Khatri was the leader of the group. He owns a travel agency in Kathmandu and was released only recently: last year he was arrested for human trafficking. He also invested in some bars in Nepal and Dubai. Another suspect, Manandhar, owns some restaurants in Kenya and Tanzania and worked closely with Suwal, who owns a computer company in Kathmandu. The Indian Khanagwal had the task of selecting the “right girls”, who were then sent with false documents thanks to another accomplice, Khadka, who owns a hotel near the Tribhuvan International Airport (in the Nepalese capital).

Inspector Thakuri also explained the selection of the girls: “The suspects were used the smoke screen of a modelling agency. They organized photo shoots and sent the photos to some accomplices in the countries of destination. If the girls were approved, the accomplices sent an advance payment that varied between one thousand and 2 thousand dollars”.

Police seized 24 suspects passports of women, their photographs and about 900 thousand dollars in cash. The authorities suspect that the organization has also arranged been active in trafficking for years to Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Malaysia, Oman, Bahrain, Syria and the United Arab Emirates.

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

Pakistan: Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi Released From Adiala Jail

Mumbai attacks mastermind Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi has been released from Paksitan’s Adiala jail.

Lakhvi was released from Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi, a day after Lahore high court (LHC) suspended his detention and ordered his immediate release.

India had strongly reacted to the court’s decision, saying it “eroded” the value of assurances repeatedly conveyed to it by Pakistan on cross-border terrorism.

Jamaat-ud-Dawa supporters were present outside the prison to receive 55-year-old Lakhvi.

Lakhvi and six others — Abdul Wajid, Mazhar Iqbal, Hamad Amin Sadiq, Shahid Jameel Riaz, Jamil Ahmed and Younis Anjum — have been charged with planning and executing the Mumbai attack in November, 2008 that left 166 people dead.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Pakistan Frees Mumbai Attack Mastermind Suspect

Pakistani authorities have freed the alleged mastermind of the 2008 Mumbai attacks on bail, sources said Friday, a move that swiftly drew furious condemnation from India.

Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, accused over the terror siege that left 166 dead, was released late on Thursday, according to an official at Adiyala Prison in Rawalpindi, next to Islamabad.

India slammed the release as an “insult” to the victims of the three-day onslaught on its financial capital, blamed on the banned Pakistani militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).

LeT’s charitable wing Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) confirmed Lakhvi’s release.

“Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi has been released from jail. He is free now and in a secure place,” a senior JuD official told AFP.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

30,000 People Have Been Evacuated After a Massive Fire at a Chinese Chemical Plant

Proposals for plants producing PX… have sparked large protests in several Chinese cities in recent years over perceived health risks.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Award-Winning Yamazaki Single Malt Sherry Cask 2013 Proves Japanese Whiskies Are Gaining Global Popularity

Whiskies from the Land of the Rising Sun have become prized drinks as demand from connoisseurs grows, writes Michiyo Nakamoto.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Beijing-Nepal Rail Link: China Considers Drilling Tunnel Under Mount Everest in Effort to Boost Trade and Tourism

It may be the world’s tallest mountain to climb, but now China has set itself an even greater Mount Everest challenge: attempting to bore a tunnel straight through it.

Officials are considering building a rail link from Chinese-controlled Tibet to Nepal which would ultimately link the mountain state’s capital, Kathmandu, with Beijing — and would need to pass beneath the Himalayan mountain range.

The new rail route would boost trade and tourism between China and Nepal in a development that risks more tension with India over China’s ambitions in south Asia.

The new line would join an existing line from Qinghai, a central Chinese province, to Lhasa, the capital of Chinese-controlled Tibet, and is being planned “at Nepal’s request”, according to reports in the China Daily.

A Tibetan official is cited as saying it will be completed by 2020.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Gov’t Experts: “Astounding” Levels of Radiation Measured in U.S. From Fukushima

Amount of xenon observed was consistent with one megaton atmospheric detonation.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Leaking Reactors Are a Symptom of the Globalist Disease

The mainstream media is finally admitting that Fukushima radiation is hitting the West Coast.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

We Traveled Across China and Returned Terrified for the Economy

China’s steel and metals markets, a barometer of the world’s second-biggest economy, are “a lot worse than you think,” according to a Bloomberg Intelligence analyst who just completed a tour of the country.

What he saw: idle cranes, empty construction sites and half-finished, abandoned buildings in several cities. Conversations with executives reinforced the “gloomy” outlook.

“China’s metals demand is plummeting,” wrote Kenneth Hoffman, the metals analyst who spent a week traveling across the country, meeting with executives, traders, industry groups and analysts. “Demand is rapidly deteriorating as the government slows its infrastructure building and transforms into a consumer economy.”

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Persecution Pushing Young Australian Muslims to the Margins of Society, Says Leader

Young Australians are joining terror groups because their “blood is boiling” at domestic persecution and international atrocities committed by the West, a local Muslim leader has warned.

Keysar Trad, founder of the Islamic Friendship Association, told a university forum that his comments may be “dangerous” and “politically incorrect” but they were crucial to understanding why more than 200 Australians have taken up arms in Syria and Iraq.

In a scathing assessment of Australia’s efforts to create a harmonious society, he said constant persecution, hypocritical Australian laws, vitriolic media and repeated invasions in the Middle East were pushing young Muslims “to the margins of society” and driving them to radicalisation.

[…]

Mr Trad listed the Iraq invasions, the war in Afghanistan and the torture of Muslim prisoners at Guantanamo Bay as grievances for young Muslims.

[…]

“Why do we wonder why the blood inside that young Muslim doesn’t boil to the extent that he feels that he has to do something?”

Mr Trad said Australian Muslims were confronted with “systemic discrimination”, opportunistic political commentary, unemployment and “duplicitous standards” in law enforcement.

“It is hard to argue with a young person who starts to cite all these issues, you can see the fire in their bellies, you in fact feel the same fire yourself,” he said.

[The “snivel-rights” movement goes Down Under: “We’re poor little victims and our blood is boiling, so we gotta go kill.” Robert Spencer points out that “in light of the fact that the Qur’an twice justifies slaughter as the response to persecution (‘persecution is worse than slaughter,’ 2:191 and 2:217), Trad’s words are frankly ominous.” — PW]

           — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey [Return to headlines]
 

Aid Workers to Rescue Mediterranean Seaborne Migrants

Two international aid groups said Friday they would run a “life-saving” operation in the Mediterranean this summer, as thousands of desperate migrants and refugees try to reach Europe.

“The life-saving operation will run from May to October, when thousands of people are expected to risk their lives attempting to reach safe haven in Europe,” Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders) and Migrant Offshore Aid Station said in a statement.

The aid groups also blasted European governments for failing to prevent migrant deaths at sea.

Last year, in what the organisations said was “the deadliest year on record for people crossing the Mediterranean”, 3,400 people died trying to reach Europe.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees has described the Mediterranean as “the world’s deadliest route of all” for migrants.

The number of migrants entering the EU illegally in 2014 almost tripled to 276,000, according to Frontex, nearly 220,000 of them arriving via the Mediterranean.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

California May Shield Immigrants Charged With Drug Crimes From Deportation

When Jesús Cordero was arrested for Ecstasy possession, his lawyer offered what seemed like an obvious solution: Plead guilty and undergo drug counseling. Once Cordero completed the course, the charges would be dismissed.

It’s a popular option for Californians charged with minor drug crimes who seek to avoid jail time and clear their records. But for immigrants such as Cordero, who was then living in the United States illegally, such a plea can trigger their deportation.

Now, in a state that has both liberalized immigration laws and eased punishments for drug crimes, legislators will soon consider a measure that could shield immigrants from such consequences.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Immigration Activists to Train ‘Community Navigators’ In Exec. Amnesty: ‘Path to Power’

A series of powerpoint presentations from the Committee for Immigration Reform Implementation sheds some light on how groups supportive of President Obama’s executive amnesty are strategizing to get people to sign up and defend the president’s actions.

“Once the applications are out, the best defense of the programs will be huge number of applications for (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) and (Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents),” reads one of the powerpoint slide.

The powerpoints are part of a curriculum for what the coalition of immigration activists calls community navigators to help prepare people up for executive amnesty.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

‘Italians: Renounce Citizenship, Apply for Asylum’ — Salvini

League leader says Roma camps should be ‘razed to the ground’

(ANSA) — Milan, April 8 — Anti-immigrant Northern League leader Matteo Salvini called Wednesday for a “revolt of the respectable,” urging Italians to renounce their nationality and apply for political asylum “so that they can enjoy the same rights as illegal immigrants”.

Salvini made the controversial call in a broadcast on Radio Padania, saying the League would stage nationwide “I ask for asylum” rallies Saturday and Sunday in “more than 1000 Italian piazzas”.

Italians should download a form from the League website enabling them to apply for asylum and renounce citizenship “seeing how the Renzi government discriminates against us,” he claimed. “You can’t give 1000 euros a head to people who land here and only give 280 to Italians who are real invalids,” Salvini said.

In a separate interview on La7 television, Salvini also lashed out at Italy’s Roma population saying “the Roma ought to have the same rights and duties as other Italian citizens”.

“Roma camps don’t exist in almost any part of Europe,” he claimed, repeating his proposal “to raze the Roma camps to the ground”.

“If somebody decides to choose a nomadic life then they shift themselves, but there are camps that have been there for 20, 30 years”.

“In some camps I have seen two storey villas, just because they are semi-mobile they don’t pay IMU (property) tax. Do you want to stay in Italy? Well then, dear Roma, you have the same rights and duties as Italians”.

Salvini said he also was irritated by premier Matteo Renzi claiming that taxes have not increased.

“It would be enough for me if viewers were allowed to do a live phone-in and say ‘it is true I have paid fewer taxes,’“ yet instead in Lombardy “thanks to the cuts by Renzi we haven’t been able to abolish pharmacy prescription charges”.

If he took office in government, Salvini said he would immediately apply across the board a 15% single band of income tax.

“We have to lower taxes to recover fiscal evasion, if you increase fiscal pressure citizens either don’t pay or they escape to other countries with their investments”.

An across the board single tax band “works in 40 countries,” he claimed, adding that among the solutions to Italy’s woes is taxing prostitution.

On foreign policy Salvini said Italy should put its own house in order to guard against the risk of Islamic terrorism before getting involved in new overseas commitments.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Boat With 600 Eritrean Refugees Sends SOS

Women and children on board says Nobel candidate priest

(ANSA) — Palermo, April 10 — A vessel carrying 600 Eritrean refugees including women and children has launched an SOS from somewhere in the Channel of Sicily, Father Mussie Zerai of the Habesha agency for African refugees and asylum seekers said Friday.

The Eritrean priest, who is a Nobel peace prize candidate, spoke with the refugees via satellite phone. The vessel left from Libya at dawn, said Zerai, himself a former refugee who expatriated to Italy in 1992.

Some 1,500 refugees have left or are about to leave from Libya on other boats, according to data from Habesha.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Judge Accuses Obama Lawyers of Misleading Him, Refuses to Restart Amnesty

Federal judge refuses appeal to let deportation halt continue, relying on Obama’s own words

President Obama’s new deportation amnesty will remain halted, a federal judge in Texas ruled Tuesday night in an order that also delivered a judicial spanking to the president’s lawyers for misleading the court.

Judge Andrew S. Hanen, who first halted the amnesty in February, just two days before it was to take effect, said he’s even more convinced of his decision now, particularly after Mr. Obama earlier this year said he intends for his policies to supersede federal laws.

Judge Hanen pointed to Mr. Obama’s comments at a February town hall when the president warned immigration agents to adhere to his policies or else face “consequences.”

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Report: 39,000 Immigrant Kids Coming to U.S.

About 39,000 immigrant children are expected to enter the country illegally as unaccompanied minors this federal fiscal year, reaching the second-highest level of that migration since 2008, says an analysis issued Wednesday by a research group in Washington, D.C.

The estimate by the Migration Policy Institute, a nonprofit that studies the movement of people across international borders, is based on apprehension figures issued by U.S. Customs and Border Protection for the first five months of the fiscal year that began Oct. 1, 2014, and ends Sept. 30.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Switzerland: New Immigration Vote ‘Inevitable’, Says EU

Just over a year after Swiss voters approved an initiative to curb immigration, Brussels’ chief negotiator with Switzerland has rejected negotiations on the free movement of people while insisting that a new Swiss vote is “inevitable”.

In an interview with Swiss newspaper La Liberté on Thursday, EU diplomat Maciej Popowski said the Swiss would “without doubt” have to decide again by the end of 2016.

“It’s unimaginable that one takes a step backwards. Safeguard clauses belong to the past,” said Popowski, deputy secretary-general of the European External Action Service since November 1 and head of the negotiations with Switzerland.

He said the ball was now in Switzerland’s court and called on the Swiss to “change their logic”.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Undocumented Migrants on Gavdos, South of Crete, Total 140 (Video)

The number of undocumented migrants located on Thursday on various parts of the small island of Gavdos, south of Crete, Greece , is 140, according to police from Chania on the nearby island of Crete.

According to sources, the migrants arrived on a large fishing boat in the area of Tripiti, just off the southern coast of the island, from where they managed to reach the shore by themselves.

Those located are being led to the main village on the island, Kastri, a process that is proving difficult as the distance is quite long and the migrants are exhausted. They are expected to be housed in various venues until it is decided how they will be transferred elsewhere. Three of them were transferred to hospitals in Sfakia on Crete; one of them is a pregnant woman.

The migrants, among who are women, children and elderly, will spend the night at the local primary school and are currently being examined by the islands’ nurse. Local residents have mobilized to secure food and water for the people.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

With H-1B Cap Hit, Zuckerberg and Ballmer-Led Groups Press for More Tech Visas

With the FY2016 H-1B visa cap reached in the first week of April (only the USCIS knows how many applications were submitted by outsourcing companies and from Bentonville, AR), it’s no surprise that groups like Mark Zuckerberg’s FWD.us PAC and Steve Ballmer’s Partnership for a New American Economy Action Fund are pooh-poohing Jesse Jackson’s claims that foreign high-tech workers are taking American jobs, and promoting the idea that what’s really holding back Americans from jobs is a lack of foreign tech workers with H-1B visas.

[Comment: Be sure to check out the comments.]

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Democrat Thought Police Confirm: Using ‘LGBTQ+’ for Totalitarian Revolution

Obama: Ban Parents from Having Children Counseled Not to be ‘LGBTQ+’

This is what totalitarian revolution looks like. The sexual revolution and specifically the militant homosexual political movement are long known tools of revolution by the Marxian method. Along with other malevolent stratagems of collectivists, whether communist, fascist, “progressive,” or under some other name, it is intended for breaking down Western Civilization while building the structural Marxism, all for “the fundamental transformation” to be done.

As Norman Dodd related decades ago, egalitarianism is just a deceitful ideological devise, albeit a massive one. The true goal is the evil of universal enslavement. The times change, but the motivations for the Tower of Babel and the serpent in the Garden of Eden stay the same. This grand, global opera must not be thought of as merely the power plays of men.

James Simpson, Cliff Kincaid, and Jerry Kenney discussed Marxian globalists’ use of sympathies for homosexuals last evening on Roku.tv. Their enlightening and succinct conversation should be available here this Saturday.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Family Values and Fertility Rates

The attacks on “family values” in the liberal mainstream media seem never-ending. And yet, when we look rigorously at the data the anti-family value advocates use to support their claims, we often find the liberal attacks are built on rather dubious foundations.

A recent article in the Globe and Mail newspaper proclaims that “‘it turns out ‘family values’ are bad for families.” This shocking conclusion is followed up by the core insight that “‘[t]he way to have more and better families today is to get far away from ‘family values.’“

The article is in large part based on research from France, and then presented in Canada, which found that “the most ‘feminist’ countries, the ones that do the most to get women out of the home and into the economy, are the ones with the healthiest fertility rates.” The core of the study appears to hinge on a plot (which readers can see for themselves on page 12 of the presentation linked to above) showing a strong positive correlation between “female employment rate, 25-54 years [old]” and the total fertility rate (TFR) among a list of 16 selected countries—and using 2010 data.

A few problems arise. The data is already out-of-date. One can obtain international fertility rate data from the World Bank up to 2012, and the Federal Reserve database via the OECD contains employment rate data for 25-54 year old females up through 2014 from a suite of 34 developed nations (the OECD members). When we consider the latest data for developed nations, rather than finding a strong positive correlation (i.e., higher rates of female employment correlating with higher fertility rates), we instead find absolutely no significant correlation whatsoever.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Forum: Is Religious Freedom Seriously Threatened in America?

Wolf Howling: If one defines religious freedom as the right to be left alone to live according to the dictates of one’s religion and the freedom to impart one’s religious values and morality to one’s children, than yes, religious freedom is today under mortal threat in America. The attack on religious freedom is a component of the left’s larger effort to do away with the Judeo-Christian religions in this country. To understand the threat to religious freedom, one needs to understand how the threat manifests within the context of this larger effort.

When socialism was born in the crucible of the French Revolution, its founders immediately began a brutal war on the Catholic Church and its clergy with the goal of eliminating the Judeo-Christian religion from their country. Denis Diderot, a hero of the Revolution, proposed to his fellow revolutionaries that they strangle the last priest with the “guts of the last king.” The left’s war on the Judeo-Christian religions had begun, and it has never ended since.

Simply put, the socialist left needs to eliminate the Judeo-Christian religions so that they can replace God with government as the final source of morality, laws and, indeed, approved thought.

In whatever nation they take root and at whatever historical period, the left’s playbook for attacking religion has always been the same, at least in those places where they could not simply ban the Judeo-Christian religions. Step one is to marginalize religion in society. Step two is to intercede in between the family and the child, to take over children’s education and impart left wing values. The third and final step is to use the police powers of the state to establish the primacy over religious conscience, in essence delegitimizing religious values and putting the final nail in its coffin.

In America, step one for the left began near a century ago, when the ACLU, an organization explicitly founded to advance socialism, began to bring cases before left leaning courts arguing that the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause — That Congress shall make no laws respecting the establishment of religion — meant that there must be complete separation between church and state.

Even the most superficial look to our history will show that such was never the intent of our Founders. The sole purpose of the

[Comment: Wolf Howling post is worth reading.]

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

How Can a Child of Three Need Transgender Counselling? Asks Libby Purves

There is a boom in the small but significant number of children below the age of puberty being referred to clinics with ‘gender dysphoria’ — the conviction of being born in the wrong body.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Rand Paul Exposes DNC Head: “it Sounds Like She’s OK With Killing a 7-Pound Baby”

Presidential candidate wants to know if Democratic Party supports late term abortions.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Vatican ‘Won’t OK French Ambassador Because He’s Gay’

Laurent Stefanini ‘best man for the job’ says French ministry

(ANSA) — Paris, April 9 — French media including Le Canard Enchainé, Les Echos and Le Journal du Dimanche reported Thursday that the Vatican has yet to accept the credentials of new French ambassador to the Holy See Laurent Stefanini because he is gay.

Stefanini “is the best possible candidate for the role,” sources at the French foreign ministry told ANSA.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Painful Baldness Cure: Regenerate Hair by Plucking What’s Left

Losing your hair? Paradoxically, the answer to growing it back might be to pluck a lot of it out. Better yet, the finding — in mice, so far — could lead to a drug that supplies the gain without all the pain.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Tails Tell the Tale of Dinosaur Sex

Differences in size and shape of tail-bones offer way to tell male and female fossils apart.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

The Clenched Fist— Revisiting Golitsyn’s Predictions

Anatoliy Golitsyn was an ex-KGB officer who spent 15 years in Soviet intelligence work, which put him in contact with high-ranking Soviet officials. He defected to the West in 1961. Golitsyn wrote two books that outline in painstaking detail the Soviet’s “grand strategy” against the West and the non-communist Third World: New Lies for Old (1984) and The Perestroika Deception (1995).

Both books contain some astonishing and disturbing predictions. In a nutshell, Golitsyn claimed that the alleged fall of the Soviet Union, and the subsequent end of the so-called “Cold War,” was nothing but a ruse designed to lull Western powers and non-communist nations into believing Communism had been defeated—when, in fact, nothing could be farther from the truth.

Golitsyn wrote in New Lies for Old:…

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

UN Urged to Ban ‘Killer Robots’ Before They Can be Developed

Fully autonomous weapons should be banned by international treaty, says a report by Human Rights Watch and Harvard Law School.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

One thought on “Gates of Vienna News Feed 4/10/2015

  1. Sounds like Finnish security has just outright admitted that they’re incapable of defending even the most critical of government buildings. That sends very encouraging signals to terrorists who might have previously been in doubt about their ability to succeed with such attacks. I certainly hope they change their self-defeating attitude very soon.

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