In the Peterborough grooming trial, a “British” businessman named Mohammed Khubaib (Mohammed Coefficient: 100%) has been convicted of rape for forcing a 14-year-old girl to commit sexual acts with him. He will be sentenced next month.
In other news, almost 6,000 illegal migrants were rescued by the Italian coast guard over the weekend. However, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has expressed concern over the deaths of nine of those migrants, and says that Italy must do more to protect the lives of migrants who attempt to cross the Mediterranean.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to C. Cantoni, DS, Fjordman, Insubria, JD, Mithrandir, Papa Whiskey, Phyllis Chesler, Vlad Tepes, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.
Notice to tipsters: Please don’t submit extensive excerpts from articles that have been posted behind a subscription firewall, or are otherwise under copyright protection.
Caveat: Articles in the news feed are posted “as is”. Gates of Vienna cannot vouch for the authenticity or accuracy of the contents of any individual item posted here. We check each entry to make sure it is relatively interesting, not patently offensive, and at least superficially plausible. The link to the original is included with each item’s title. Further research and verification are left to the reader.
Citi Economist Says Solutions to Current Economic Problems is to Abolish Cash
The world’s central banks have a problem. When economic conditions worsen, they react by reducing interest rates in order to stimulate the economy. But, as has happened across the world in recent years, there comes a point where those central banks run out of room to cut — they can bring interest rates to zero, but reducing them further below that is fraught with problems, the biggest of which is cash in the economy.
[Comment: What’s next? A mark on the forehead or hand?]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Renzi Govt Finds 1.6-Bn-Euro ‘Bonus’ For Welfare
Used EU flexibility rules to free up deficit-reduction cash
(ANSA) — Rome, April 10 — Experts at the economy ministry and the premier’s office have freed up some 1.6 billion euros in extra funding for the measures in the executive’s economic and financial document (DEF), government sources said Friday. Premier Matteo Renzi wants the extra funding — which his office is calling a “bonus” — to be allocated to welfare spending, reportedly via special decree.
Economy Minister Pier Carlo Padoan and his team have liberated the extra funding through a kind of “reverse deficit adjustment”, thanks to new European Union rules on budget flexibility.
Under the new rules, which Italy pushed for during its six-month duty presidency last year, countries with struggling economies that are engaging in structural reform are accorded room to maneuver their way out of austerity and recession, even if the measures increase their deficits. Accordingly, Padoan decided to let this year’s national deficit float up to 2.6% of GDP instead of the 2.5% forecast if the government did nothing.
That percentile point freed up 1.6 billion euros.
In 2016, the deficit is projected at 1.4% but the government will reportedly choose to increase it to 1.8% — meaning that next year’s “bonus” will amount to 6.5 billion euros.
Padoan foreshadowed his strategy in recent remarks to parliament, when he said “an expansive DEF” was on the way and that “the watchwords are fewer taxes and more jobs”. “Social spending is off limits (from spending cuts) and must be increased,” the minister said. The government is betting that its combination of welfare spending, labour reforms, and tax incentives for employers who take on new hires — in conjunction with the European Central Bank’s quantitative easing (QE) bond-buying program, a weaker euro and falling oil prices — will jumpstart Italy’s economy.
On the other side of the fence, CGIL union federation leader Susanna Camusso said the DEF fails to tackle Italy’s key problem, which is the lack of jobs. “Employment is what will generate wealth,” Camusso said. “The DEF as far as we can tell right now, fails to address the country’s central issue, which is how to create jobs, how to invest in job creation”. The leader of what is the largest and most leftwing of Italy’s “big three” trade union federations added that the government’s labor policies “encourage unlawful behaviors more than positive ones”. This was a reference to Renzi’s signature Jobs Act labour reform, which scaled back job protections while giving potential employers tax breaks for new hires. Camusso also took a wait-and-see attitude to the government’s promise of allocating 1.5 billion euros to welfare.
“This is a case of let’s see what the DEF actually says, and then we’ll comment on the sudden bounty,” she said.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Top Bankster: Be Prepared for Greek Exit From Euro
It is possible that an exit would “prompt greater structural reform efforts by countries that remain,” he wrote. “We must be prepared for a potential exit,” J. P. Motgan Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon said. in his annual letter to shareholders. “We continually stress test our company for possible repercussions resulting from such an event.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
(NaturalNews) Yet another case of medical kidnapping by the government has surfaced in America, this time involving a 17-year-old young man from Missouri who’s currently being held captive by the Illinois Department of Children & Family Services (DCFS) with no end in sight.
Isaiah Rider of Kansas City suffers from a rare neurological condition that results in extremely painful tumors forming on his nerves, seemingly without cause. His mother Michelle, seeing Isaiah’s extreme pain, tried to help him by bringing him to Illinois for a special surgery roughly one year ago.
But Lurie Children’s Hospital, where he was admitted, in concert with DCFS, decided instead to falsely accuse Isaiah’s mother of medical abuse and neglect, and proceeded to make him a ward of the State of Illinois, meaning that the state is now his legal guardian.
While under the state’s “care,” Isaiah says he was sent into foster care where he was physically and sexually abused by his foster “parents.” Thankfully, Isaiah is no longer in foster care and is now living back in Missouri with his grandparents. But he still suffers from extreme pain and is only allowed to see his mother with permission from the state.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Anti-Clinton Posters Hit New York, Las Vegas
Hundreds of posters criticizing Hillary Clinton have begun cropping up in areas around New York City and Las Vegas.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Audio Captures Cop Laughing After Murdering Walter Scott
Officer admits Scott was running from him in dashcam audio.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Boston Corbett’s Tales of the Weird
Many peculiar facts surround the assassination of President Lincoln, but one of the more obscure and odd set events involve Boston Corbett, the little known man who shot the President’s assassin, John Wilkes Booth.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
California Drought: All About Control
With all of the new people in Southern California came new freeways to accommodate the sudden jump in population. The water demand was on the rise as they came seeking a new life under the California sun. Finally, now that a natural drought has reached us, a lack of preparation for what Sacramento knew could be a problem, and would be a problem, has put California into a situation where Governor Jerry Brown has decided he needs to take a dictatorial role and force the residents of California to cut water use by 25 percent.
However, along with that governmental mandate, the same attitude of non-preparation remains intact. To appease screaming environmentalists, there are no plans, as there should have been from day one (and there wasn’t), for building infrastructure to increase storage capacity, nor any plans for seawater desalination so that we may farm that big blue thing filled with water to our west called the Pacific Ocean. The House of Representatives has even passed bills, H.R. 1837 and H.R. 3964, but the Democrats in the U.S. Senate have been unwilling, since the proposals emerged in 2012 and 2014, to allow the bills to pass. The bills would both restore water to the Central Valley/San Joaquin Valley, and create with federal funding help for California in creating infrastructure to increase the storage capacity of water with reservoirs and canals, and bring water from the north down into the areas most severely hit by drought conditions.
From a constitutional point of view, considering that the condition of “all’s well throughout the republic” largely depends on the food coming from California, if the State of California wants (and asks for) the help, the federal government can offer it. However, Governor Brown is not asking, and the Democrats at the federal level are refusing to offer…
What a lot of folks don’t realize is that much of the water that has been denied to the Central Valley, and denied to the consumers in Southern California, has been dumped into the Pacific Ocean.
Due to environmentalist demands, much of the rainwater we get here in California goes into the gutters, into the storm drains, and then out to the ocean. Enough water to sustain 2.6 million California families was dumped into the ocean last year because there isn’t enough storage capacity in the northern portion of the state, and environmental rules limit the amount of water that can be pumped to reservoirs in the south.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Cops Threaten Dog Owner With $750,000 Fine Over ‘Missing Dog’ Posters
Washington, D.C., practically bans First Amendment.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
But seriously folks in spite of our not being able to find her list of accomplishments, we can start to sleuth into her dalliances with one Saul Alinsky, a Chicago based community organizer who dedicated his book Rules for Radicals to Lucifer, Hillary was a major devotee of Alinsky, she wrote a thesis on Alinsky while attending Wesley academy, for years it had been kept secret. Hillary, what are you hiding?
Then there was Watergate and her being thrown off of the commission for alleged ethics violations, her records were sealed and cloaked. Hillary, what are you hiding?
We mustn’t forget Whitewater, and the Rose Law firm, wow what a fantastic trip down memory lane, not! Yet there too things were sealed and hidden from prying eyes. Hillary, what are you hiding?…
Where were you in 2011? We all know where Hillary was most of the time. She was on her jet, where every hour was happy hour, but Hillary couldn’t resist backing the Arab spring and the dethronement of Hosni Mubarak, replacing him with a maniacal monster who appeared in the form of Muslim Brotherhood cohort Mohammed Morsi. He murdered Coptic Christians, and funneled weapons and arms into the various terrorist factions he liked in the Middle East and North Africa. We all know the Secretary of State was backing the Arab Spring. Hillary, what are you hiding?
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Hillary Vows to Protect Americans From the 1%, While Being Funded by the 1%
Clinton’s lavish lifestyle & obsession with money completely at odds with ordinary Americans she claims to represent.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
How the FBI is Whitewashing the Saudi Connection to 9/11
By Paul Sperry
Just 15 days before the 9/11 attacks, a well-connected Saudi family suddenly abandoned their luxury home in Sarasota, Fla., leaving behind jewelry, clothes, opulent furniture, a driveway full of cars — including a brand new Chrysler PT Cruiser — and even a refrigerator full of food.
About the only thing not left behind was a forwarding address. The occupants simply vanished without notifying their neighbors, realtor or even mail carrier.
The 3,300-square-foot home on Escondito Circle belonged to Esam Ghazzawi, a Saudi adviser to the nephew of then-King Fahd. But at the time, it was occupied by his daughter and son-in-law, who beat a hasty retreat back to Saudi Arabia just two weeks before the attacks after nearly a six-year stay here.
Neighbors took note of the troubling coincidence and called the FBI, which opened an investigation that led to the startling discovery that at least one “family member” trained at the same flight school as some of the 9/11 hijackers in nearby Venice, Fla.
The investigation into the prominent Saudi family’s ties to the hijackers started on Sept. 19, 2001, and remained active for several years. It was led by the FBI’s Tampa field office but also involved the bureau’s field offices in New York and Washington, and also the Southwest Florida Domestic Security Task Force.
[…]
The Saudi-9/11 connection in Florida was no small part of the overall 9/11 investigation. Yet it was never shared with Congress. Nor was it mentioned in the 9/11 Commission Report.
Now it’s being whitewashed again, in a newly released report by the 9/11 Review Commission, set up last year by Congress to assess “any evidence now known to the FBI that was not considered by the 9/11 Commission.” Though the FBI acknowledges the Saudi family was investigated, it maintains the probe was a dead end.
[…]
Former Democratic Sen. Bob Graham, who in 2002 chaired the congressional Joint Inquiry into 9/11, maintains the FBI is covering up a Saudi support cell in Sarasota for the hijackers. He says the al-Hijjis’ “urgent” pre-9/11 exit suggests “someone may have tipped them off” about the coming attacks.
Graham has been working with a 14-member group in Congress to urge President Obama to declassify 28 pages of the final report of his inquiry which were originally redacted, wholesale, by President George W. Bush.
“The 28 pages primarily relate to who financed 9/11, and they point a very strong finger at Saudi Arabia as being the principal financier,” he said, adding, “I am speaking of the kingdom,” or government, of Saudi Arabia, not just wealthy individual Saudi donors.
Sources who have read the censored Saudi section say it cites CIA and FBI case files that directly implicate officials of the Saudi Embassy in Washington and its consulate in Los Angeles in the attacks — which, if true, would make 9/11 not just an act of terrorism, but an act of war by a foreign government.
[A foreign government, be it noted, whose fat we pulled out of the fire in 1991 by thwarting Saddam Hussein’s hegemonic ambitions for the region. — PW]
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
ISIS Terror Cells to Strike in America
Egypt has intelligence that ISIS is planning a worldwide offensive that will strike deep into the heart of America. According to an article in WorldNetDaily by Aaron Klein entitled “ISIS PLANNING ATTACKS ON U.S. SOIL,” information collected by Egyptian security forces from captured ISIS operatives revealed that ISIS and other jihadist groups could activate terror cells in the U.S.
In 2005 I conducted lengthy interviews with Israeli General Shimon Erem for my book Are You Ready? At that time General Erem warned that Al Qaeda and other militant Islamic groups were gathering in what he termed “The Dangerous Triangle,” which consisted of Argentina, Paraguay, and Brazil. The General explained that these terrorist groups were generating billions of dollars annually by money laundering, arms sales, drugs, counterfeiting, sales of false documents, sex trafficking, and piracy.
As I document in the book, General Erem stated that the Dangerous Triangle was a base of operations that would spread terrorism across South America and move terrorists through the southern border of the United States. Al Qaeda has operatives and training camps in the Dangerous Triangle and it is considered a source of funding for terrorist groups like Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Islamic Jihad. Some of these groups are also funded by Iran.
Six million Muslims live in South America and are active in setting up training camps and winning recruits in places like Suriname, Guyana, Venezuela, Columbia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, and Brazil. In addition, Cuba has cooperative agreements with Syria, Libya and Iran. Terrorists continually move up through South America into Mexico, where they then cross into the United States with relative ease. General Erem explained this in 2005. A decade later we still have open borders, and now ISIS maintains training camps in Juarez, Mexico.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Left Protests at Idan Reichel’s NY Performance — I Kid You Not
by Phyllis Chesler
On the evening of April 12th, on Manhattan’s upper West Side, the usual anti-Zionist and pro-Palestinian groups such as Adalah-NY, the BDS National Committee, and the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel protested the performance of an Israeli musician.
All twelve of them came, wearing jeans and survivalist vests and looking very Downtown, very Brooklyn. They had a sound system which blared anti-Israel, angry “black”-style rap hate music. Most were white leftists; two were visibly Arab-looking. At least 70% of the protestors were, I am sorry to say, white women. One identified herself as a Jew.
I asked for a brochure. It read: “What kind of musician is an ambassador for apartheid? Serenades soldiers who destroy homes, lives, and land? Feels happy with a state characterized by racism, violence, and land theft?”
My friends—welcome to Upside-Down Land.
| — Hat tip: Phyllis Chesler | [Return to headlines] |
Michael Snyder is Coming to Texas, And What He Has to Say Will Shock America
What I am about to do next is going to shock a lot of people. I am about to get on a plane and fly down to Dallas, Texas where I am going to speak about some things that I have never spoken publicly about before. On Saturday, April 11th and Sunday, April 12th I am going to be speaking at the Prophecy Club, and I told Stan Johnson that I truly believe that these are the two most important presentations of my entire life. Over the past six years, I have written more than 1,200 articles about the coming economic collapse, and these articles have been read by millions of people all over the globe. Now we stand at the precipice of the greatest economic crash in the history of the United States, and what is going to follow that crash is going to absolutely shock the entire planet. In my presentation on Saturday night, I am going to lay out the most comprehensive warning about the future of America that I have ever come across. It is going to be a warning message unlike any other. The following Sunday morning I am going to shift gears. I am going to present the most hope-filled message that I have ever delivered. Even if you have been following my websites for years, you are going to be stunned by what I have to share in these two presentations.
If you live in Texas and would like to attend, here are the meeting details for Saturday night…
Economic Collapse, World War III & The Death of America Saturday, April 11th 7:00 p.m. — 10:30 p.m.
Meeting location: The Spirit of Prophecy Church 2540 Avenue K, #100 Plano, TX 75074
I am going to lay out a roadmap of what I believe is coming to America between right now and World War III. Like I said, it is going to be the most comprehensive warning that I have ever come across. It is a very hard message to deliver, and it will be a very hard message for many people to hear.
[Coment: From theeconomiccollapseblog.com ]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
By Matthew Vadum
Weather Underground terrorist and convicted cop killer Kathy Boudin is now surrounded by fellow felons on the staff of the Columbia University School of Social Work where she crusades against the supposedly systemic racism of the justice system.
The septuagenarian Boudin is assistant adjunct professor and director of the school’s “Criminal Justice Initiative: Supporting Children, Families and Communities” (CJI), which appears to be focused on keeping criminals like her out of prison by abolishing imprisonment as a punishment. As her official bio states, the initiative, which she co-founded, “is dedicated to ending society’s reliance on incarceration and retribution and advancing solutions.”
The school, which calls “mass incarceration” a “central social crisis of our time,” is little more than an indoctrination mill that churns out radical left-wing propaganda largely at taxpayer expense.
“There are approximately 1.6 million people in the nation’s prisons and jails and 7 million American children with a parent who is either incarcerated, on parole, or on probation,” according to the school. “The Criminal Justice Initiative focuses on how the social work profession can best address the educational and human needs of individuals, children, families and communities affected by incarceration.”
Boudin served 22 years in prison for her role in an assault on an armored-car in Nyack, N.Y. in which two police officers and a Brinks security guard died. Boudin was paroled in 2003 after telling officials that she took part in the $1.6 million robbery because she felt guilty for being white. Security guard Peter Paige and police officers Waverly Brown and Edward O’Grady died in the 1981 attack. Nine children subsequently grew up without their fathers.
Boudin is no stranger to irony…
| — Hat tip: DS | [Return to headlines] |
Nursing Student Claims College Instructed Them to Threaten Patients Into Receiving Vaccines
Students told to lie to patients, coerce them.
At least two instructors at a medical college in Michigan taught lessons instructing students to intimidate patients into receiving vaccinations, a lawsuit claims.
Filed in the Genesee Circuit Court on April 6, the suit alleges a teacher at Baker College in Flint taught her students to exhaust various methods of coercion in order to pressure patients into getting innoculated.
“She stated that we would go in there if they declined and then we would use threats to coerce them,” claims plaintiff and former student Nichole Rolfe.
One threat students were directed to make targeted a patient’s enrollment in the federal health care and financial assistance program Medicaid.
“You’re going to lose your Medicaid and if you lose your Medicaid because you refuse the vaccine you will have to pay for your entire hospital stay,” the teacher told her students to say, according to Rolfe.
That same week, Rolfe, 35, says another instructor had also encouraged students to lie to new and expectant fathers, directing pupils to tell dads they wouldn’t be able to visit their newborns if they weren’t up-to-date on their vaccines.
“The vaccinations would do little to protect the newborns because they would not have taken effect by the time the fathers interacted with the babies, Rolfe claimed,” reports MLive.com.
After questioning the lessons, Rolfe was subsequently cut from the nursing program five months before she was due to graduate.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
NY Post: How the FBI is Whitewashing the Saudi Connection to 9/11
Just 15 days before the 9/11 attacks, a well-connected Saudi family suddenly abandoned their luxury home in Sarasota, Fla., leaving behind jewellery, clothes, opulent furniture, a driveway full of cars — including a brand new Chrysler PT Cruiser — and even a refrigerator full of food. About the only thing not left behind was a forwarding address. The occupants simply vanished without notifying their neighbors, realtor or even mail carrier.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Obama Strangles the Monroe Doctrine and Embraces Latin Dictatorships, Communists and Fascists
I wrote some time ago on how John Kerry went to Latin America and declared the Monroe Doctrine dead. Obama just finalized it in Cuba. The Monroe Doctrine has been in place since 1823 and has long warned America’s enemies to not even THINK about using South America as a back door to bring Communism and aggression to our doorstep. Well, Obama has thrown that proverbial door wide open to South America and has invited in every enemy we have. Hell, he’s thrown our door at the borders open inviting them into the US as well. He wants America at war and brought to her knees and he’s really going for it now.
As Doug Ross pointed out, the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 brought us to the very brink of nuclear war. The Monroe Doctrine stopped that apocalyptic nightmare from becoming a reality. Kennedy “cited the Monroe Doctrine as a basis for America’s ‘eyeball-to-eyeball’ confrontation with the Soviet Union that had embarked on a campaign to install ballistic missiles on Cuban soil.” That was before the Democrats went full blown Marxist and decided to destroy America from within her own shores. Obama has now stated for the world that the US will no longer act to resist overseas influence in the Western Hemisphere…
Obama is about to remove Cuba from the list of states sponsoring terrorism:
Sometime during this weekend’s Summit of the Americas in Panama, President Obama is expected to grant one of Cuban President Raul Castro’s top demands and remove his country from the Unites States’ list of governments that sponsor terrorism.
That, as Sen. Robert Menendez warns, not only flies in the face of all evidence, but removes critical leverage in Washington’s efforts to bring scores of fugitive American terrorists to justice.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Rubio Announces His 2016 GOP Presidential Campaign
Florida Sen. Marco Rubio said Monday that he is running for president and feels “uniquely qualified” to talk about the future.
Rubio, a Republican, is scheduled to make a full-scale announcement later today in Miami at an event before hundreds of supporters and that will include a video message.
The first-term senator has long been assembling his political team, including donors who helped previous presidential nominees collect tens of millions of dollars.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Sen. McCain Secretly Urged IRS to Target Tea Party, Conservative Groups
Government documents obtained by a top “Inside the Beltway” watchdog group and released on Thursday reveal that Internal Revenue Service’s Lois Lerner was strongly urged by Sen. Carl Levin, D-Michigan, and Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, her assistance in attacking certain non-profit political groups. The organizations they selected for targeting by Lerner were part of the Tea Party and conservative movements.
The group that investigates and exposes government corruption, Judicial Watch, released newly acquired IRS documents, including an email from Ms. Lerner in February 2012 requesting she “put together some training points to help them [IRS staffers] understand the potential pitfalls of revealing too much information to Congress.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The Government Hides Surveillance Programs Just Because People Would Freak Out
Government agencies will go to great lengths to keep their data collection a secret, strictly to avoid the bad press they know would be coming.
Want to see how secrecy is corrosive to democracy? Look no further than a series of explosive investigations by various news organizations this week that show the government hiding surveillance programs purely to prevent a giant public backlash.
USA Today’s Brad Heath published a blockbuster story on Monday about the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) running a massive domestic spying operation parallel to the NSA’s that was tracking billions of international calls made by Americans. They kept it secret for more than two decades. According to the USA Today report, the spying program was not only used against alleged terrorist activity, but countless supposed drug crimes, as well as “to identify US suspects in a wide range of other investigations”. And they collected information on millions of completely innocent Americans along the way.
Heath’s story is awash with incredible detail and should be read in full, but one of the most interesting parts was buried near the end: the program was shut down by the Justice Department after the Snowden leaks, not because Snowden exposed the program, but because they knew that when the program eventually would leak, the government would have no arguments to defend it.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The Real Inspiration for the American Constitution
The United States Constitution was an inspired document. The authors were brilliant, and the Founding Fathers who wrote it geniuses.
But they didn’t pull their inspiration out of thin air …
For example, one of the core principles which the Founding Fathers built into the American system of government and our Constitutions is separation of powers. This idea — also called “checks and balances” — ensures that no single person or group can seize all of the powers for themselves. Decisions are therefore more likely to benefit the nation as a whole … and not just those making decisions.
As Lord Acton noted:
Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
By spreading power around, absolute corruption is less likely to occur.
But few people know where the Founding Fathers’ got their inspiration for the principle of separation of powers.
The New York Times noted in 1988:
In the mid-16th century, five northeastern Indian tribes — Mohawk, Seneca, Onondaga, Oneida and Cayugaa — formed the Iroquois Confederacy, joined later by the Tuscarora tribe. They adopted a constitution, reflecting concepts of checks and balances and separation of powers that impressed such later Americans as Washington, Franklin and other Founding Fathers. Indeed, historians maintain that many principles of the Iroquois constitution were woven into the United States Constitution.
That same year, Congress passed a resolution stating:
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
U.S. Official Calls ISIS a Problem ‘Off the Charts Historically’
Washington (CNN) ISIS is a problem that is “off the charts historically” and has sent the United States into “uncharted territory” when it comes to putting down the terror group, the Obama administration’s point man in the fight recently told CNN.
The comments, which Brett McGurk made in an exclusive interview, were some of the administration’s strongest to date in describing the challenge the United States and its allies face in battling ISIS.
“This is a problem that is off the charts historically,” he said, referring to the more than 20,000 foreign fighters who have gone into Syria. “Just put that into perspective: It’s about twice the number that went into Afghanistan in the 1980s over a 10-year period to fight the Soviet Union, and those came really from only a handful of countries.”
He concluded, “We’re in unchartered territory here.”
[This guy’s confusion of “chartered” and “charted” is less than confidence-inspiring. But then what in this wretched government does inspire confidence any more? — PW]
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
US Police Chief Calls for ‘Gun Fascination to End’ As Boy, 3, Shoots Dead Baby Sibling
A TOP police officer has called for Americans to end their “fascination” with guns — after a toddler shot dead his one-year-old sibling.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Veteran Pulled Over by Camo-Wearing Cops in Armored Vehicle — Video
A video out of Gainesville, Florida shows a man being pulled over by camoflague-wearing cops driving an armored vehicle, a disturbing reminder that law enforcement in America is becoming increasingly militarized.
The driver was pulled over after he performed a rude hand gesture directed at the cops, but the issue is not about whether or not the man should have been harassed for flipping the bird, or whether he was also engaged in a “sexual act” as another officer claimed.
The issue is why are police officers performing routine traffic patrols in armored vehicles that wouldn’t look out of place in occupied Afghanistan?
“I’m really getting pulled over by a tank right now?” the man, a Navy veteran, states, to which the an Alachua County Sheriff’s Deputy responds “yes sir”.
The man refers to a U.S. Court of Appeals ruling which found that a “gesture of insult is not the basis for a reasonable suspicion of a traffic violation or impending criminal activity.”
However, the cop is not interested and instead demands to see the man’s license before making him step out of the vehicle.
The officer then starts to get angry and threatens to arrest the man for “resisting” because he is not obeying orders quickly enough.
Without citing a law, the cop claims that the driver performed an “improper hand signal”. The man responds by expressing his shock that a “safe community” would need tanks patrolling the streets, stating, “I didn’t know we were in Iraq”.
Another cop then objects to being filmed, claiming that the phone camera could be a firearm, before the man is eventually allowed to leave.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
When Did the Word “Negotiate” Become the New Synonym for “Surrender”?
As children we misunderstood the actual meaning of the word “negotiate” and operated throughout our childhoods thinking that the word meant there was a certain amount of give and take in an attempt to ease a difference of goals or opinions.
Thanks to our President, Barack Hussein Obama, I am embarrassed that I now have to say “Silly me!”
Under the new meaning of the word negotiate, I finally begin to understand what was going on in Switzerland. Iran, a nation with a long history of domination by religious zealots who feel that they should not simply rule the former Persian empire, but think that the Persian empire should be recreated and rule not only the current Islamic Republic, but the rest of the entire world as well.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Windows Remains Vulnerable to Serious 18-Year-Old Smb Security Flaw
A serious security hole leaves millions of Windows users open to attack, making it possible to extract encrypted credentials from a target machine. Researchers at Cylance say the problem affects “any Windows PC, tablet or server” (including Windows 10) and is a slight progression of the Redirect to SMB attack discovered by Aaron Spangler way back in 1997.
Redirect to SMB is essentially a man-in-the-middle attack which involves taking control of a network connection. As the name suggests, victims are then redirected to a malicious SMB server which can extract usernames, domains and passwords. Cylance also reports that software from companies such as Adobe, Oracle and Symantec — including security and antivirus tools — are affected.
In a blog post, Brian Wallace explains that Cylance has spent the last month and half working with vendors to help fix the problem, but has now decided to make details of the vulnerability public. A technical white paper explains how the original Redirect to SMB attack worked by sending a URL in the form file://1.1.1.1 — this would cause Windows to connect to a malicious SMB server at 1.1.1.1, attempt to authenticate, and essentially hand over security credentials.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
65-Year-Old German Mother of 13 Pregnant With Quadruplets
BERLIN — A 65-year-old German mother of 13 is getting ready to give birth again — this time to quadruplets.
Annegret Raunigk, a Berlin schoolteacher who is due soon to retire, is expected to give birth to the four babies within the next two months, Bild newspaper and RTL television reported.
She already has children ranging in age from 9 to 44, from five fathers. Raunigk said she decided to become pregnant again because her 9-year-old daughter wanted a younger sibling.
Her decision was met with widespread criticism by medical professionals as a risk both to her and the unborn babies.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Bilderberg 2015 in Austria Will be Like None Before it
The annual Bilderberg meeting is set to take place in Austria this June 2015. Today Dan Dicks of Press For Truth is joined on the line by Paul Joseph Watson of infowars.com to discuss what some of the key talking points will be on the agenda this year as well as what protesters and journalists can expect in regards to dealing with the “cobra anti terror squad”, a whole new level of security for Bilderberg!
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Germanwings Plane Aborts Take-Off After Officials Received Bomb Threat
The threat against flight 826 from Cologne Bonn to Milan’s Malpensa airport was received late on Sunday evening forcing the pilot of the Airbus A320 to evacuate passengers and crew.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Greenlanders’ Way of Life Heads for Extinction
Greenland and its colonial big brother Denmark are appealing to the European Union to lift the ban on commercial seal hunting. Greenlanders fear the end of a way of life. Malcolm Brabant reports from Ilulissat.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Guenter Grass, German Nobel Laureate Who Served in Hitler’s Waffen-SS, Dies at 87
Guenter Grass, the Nobel-winning German writer who gave voice to the generation that came of age during the horrors of the Nazi era but later ran into controversy over his own World War II past and stance toward Israel, has died. He was 87.
Grass was lauded by Germans for helping to revive their culture in the aftermath of World War II and helping to give voice and support to democratic discourse in the postwar nation.
Yet he provoked the ire of many in 2006 when he revealed in his memoir “Skinning the Onion” that, as a teenager, he had served in the Waffen-SS, the combat arm of Adolf Hitler’s notorious paramilitary organization.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
How to Combine Bach and Swedish Folk Music
What would happen if the baroque music of Bach was combined with Swedish folk music? This question was posed by Stockholm Early Music Festival director Peter Pontvik to musicians Gunnar Idenstam and Lisa Rydberg, leading them to begin the music project “Bach på svenska,” or Bach in Swedish.
It was Peter Pontvik who suggested that organist Idenstam and violinist Rydberg develop the musical project of combining the baroque music of Bach with Swedish folk music. I met with Gunnar Idenstam in a café in Stockholm and he told me that the two weren’t that far apart.
“We both discovered immediately that the similarities are significant. Both music forms come from dance,” Idenstam said.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Qtr of Southern Welfare is Invalidity Benefits, INPS
Double the percentage of north
(ANSA) — Rome, April 10 — Almost a quarter of pension and welfare payments in southern Italy, 22.96%, are for invalidity benefits, or 1.25 million of the 5.47 million cheques paid out, social security and pensions agency INPS said Friday on end-2013 figures. This was double the percentage in the North of 11.36% — less than a million out of 8.77 million.
Overall, INPS pays 2.8 million invalidity cheques, with a monthly average of 420 euros, prevalently in the South (844,436) and the islands of Sardinia and Sicily (414,076). In the centre there are currently 583,492 and in the north as a whole less than a million — 598,528 in the north west and 398,166 in the north east.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Judge Who Insulted Traffic Cop Over Ticket Under CSM Review
Magistrate parked in no-parking zone
(ANSA) — Rome, April 8 — The Italian judiciary’s self-governing body or Supreme Council of Magistrates (CSM) has begun proceedings against a Rome judge who verbally threatened and insulted a traffic cop who gave him a parking ticket, sources said Wednesday.
“I’m a Constitutional Court magistrate, you need to get rid of this ticket,” magistrate Pier Franco Bruno allegedly told the traffic cop after the latter wrote him up for parking in a no-parking zone.
When the cop refused to back down, the judge allegedly proceeded to insult him, finishing off his diatribe with “this doesn’t end here”.
Bruno — a magistrate at a branch of the Italian judiciary that supervises the enforcement of sentences — offended the cop’s “honor and decorum”, according to prosecutors from Italy’s supreme Cassation Court prosecution.
A criminal case against Bruno over the incident has been shelved, sources said.
The CSM will meet April 17 to decide whether or not to take disciplinary action against the judge.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Lufthansa May Face Corporate Manslaughter Charges Over Germanwings Disaster
Lufthansa may face corporate manslaughter charges for allowing suicidal pilot Andreas Lubitz (pictured) to fly after he suffered a bout of depression, it has been claimed.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
NASA’s Curiosity Rover Finds Astronauts Could Farm Water on Mars
Liquid water collects in the Martian soil each night, before evaporating during the day, according to NASA’s Curiosity rover. If future missions can confirm this water cycle, it means astronauts could one day farm moisture to provide drinking water on Mars.
So Javier Martin-Torres of the Luleå University of Technology in Kiruna, Sweden, and colleagues have tracked the weather conditions on Mars throughout Curiosity’s first Martian year, recording humidity, air and ground temperatures with its Rover Environmental Monitoring Station (REMS).
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Oldest Neanderthal DNA Found in Italian Skeleton
The calcite-encrusted skeleton of an ancient human, still embedded in rock deep inside a cave in Italy, has yielded the oldest Neanderthal DNA ever found.
These molecules, which could be up to 170,000 years old, could one day help yield the most complete picture yet of help paint a more complete picture of Neanderthal life, researchers say.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Scientists at Large Hadron Collider Hope to Make Contact With Parallel Universe in Days
SCIENTISTS conducting a mindbending experiment at the Large Hadron Collider next week hope to connect with a PARALLEL UNIVERSE outside of our own.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Scotland: Now in Loch Ness: Wind Turbines Ruining Landscapes Worldwide
The hundreds of thousands of wind turbines polluting the rural landscape of countries near and far can’t talk, though there’s no guarantee that governments won’t some day find a way to have them spying on passing motorists. But the wind turbines ruining the landscape do send out a universal message, a messages that boldly states that Lib-Left governments can—and will—do whatever they want, loud objections from their constituents not withstanding. Modern day governments feel entitled to demoralize taxpayers with projects built with their own tax dollars.
The utter dominance of rural lands by the wind turbine is arrogant and defiant proof that lib-left governments are now on the march, worldwide.
In almost every country where you live, take a cursory look around you the next time you are out driving along country roads.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden: More Poor Pensioners in the Future
More and more pensioners are expected to have trouble making ends meet in the coming years, according to a report by Swedish Radio News.
People who immigrated to Sweden late in life have to get by on a small pension, and this group of people is growing.
Ole Settergren, who does analysis for the Pension Authority, attributes this increase to people coming to Sweden as asylum seekers and refugees.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Christian Fights to Clear Name Over Ruling That She ‘Bullied’ Muslim by Praying for Her
A DEVOUT Christian is trying to overturn a ruling that she “bullied” a Muslim colleague by praying for her and inviting her to church.
Victoria Wasteney claims she was branded a “religious nutcase” and suspended from her senior occupational therapist job in east London.
Her colleague Enya Nawaz, then aged 25, claimed in 2013 that the born-again Christian had tried to convert her…
She is taking her case to the Employment Appeals Tribunal with the the Christian Legal Centre’s help.
Its chief executive Andrea Williams said: “The NHS is increasingly dominated by a suffocating liberal agenda that bends over backwards to accommodate certain beliefs but punishes the Christian.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Fury as Council Installs ‘Big Brother’ Spy Cams to Catch Residents Who Put Bins Out Late
A COUNCIL has been blasted for installing new ‘Big Brother’ technology to spy on which residents are late — putting out their rubbish bins.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Good Samaritan Given Parking Ticket After Helping a Pensioner in Bournemouth
A Good Samaritan student who pulled his car over to help a pensioner he thought was dying in the street has spoken of his outrage after being slapped with a £70 parking ticket fine.
Drew Hollinshead, 21, who is studying marketing and advertising at Bournemouth University, criticised the attendant who he said placed the ticket on his windscreen as he tended to an elderly woman a few yards away.
Mr Hollinshead, of Winton, Dorset, was driving along Wimborne Road in Bournemouth when he saw the pensioner lying on the pavement in nearby Wycliffe Road.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Jailed: Massive Mugger Who Knocked 92-Year-Old to the Ground to Steal His £5
Solomon Bygraves, 29, pretended to help Stanley Evans with his wheelie bag as he returned home from a shopping trip but once in his central London block of flats he lunged for the elderly man’s wallet, knocking him to the ground and injuring his shoulder and arm.
Londoners reacted in horror after CCTV was released showing the incident which also revealed Bygraves running off as the pensioner, who has no children, falls to the floor and remains lying in the entrance to the Soho flats for ten minutes before being able to get up and call the police.
Bygraves, who has 21 convictions for 49 different offences including two for robbery, smirked during parts of his sentencing today at Southwark Crown Court.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Leeds Rapist Who Left Teen for Dead in Bus Stop Attack Had Stalked Three Other Women
Police have revealed that a rapist who attacked a teenager and left her for dead at a bus stop in Leeds had already stalked three different women that same night, forcing one of them to flee on a bus.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Man, 46, Arrested Over Murder of Imam Abdul Hadi Arwani
A 46-year-old man has been arrested in connection with Mr Arwani’s murder. He is being held in a central London police station as inquiries continue.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Peterborough Grooming Trial: Mohammed Khubaib Guilty of Sex Offences on Girls
A married restaurant owner with a “persistent and almost predatory interest” in girls has been found guilty of rape and grooming offences.
The conviction of Peterborough businessman Mohammed Khubaib, 43, is the latest in Cambridgeshire Police’s Operation Erle.
Khubaib forced a 14-year-old girl to perform a sex act on him and committed nine counts of trafficking.
Following the guilty verdict at the Old Bailey, he will be sentenced on 15 May.
Khubaib’s friend Manase Motaung, 32, was cleared of related offences by the jury.
Judge Peter Rook QC told Khubaib: “You have been convicted of a very serious offence of a rape on a young girl… having plied her with vodka.
“You have also been convicted of no less than nine trafficking offences in relation to under-age girls who you were deliberately plying with vodka so that you could take advantage of them, knowing they craved vodka so you could exploit them sexually.”
Khubaib was caught as part of Operation Erle, which investigated sex offences against girls in the Peterborough area.
The court heard that Khubaib’s activities in Peterborough involved girls being befriended and then “hooked” with alcohol — normally vodka — in an attempt to make them “compliant” to sexual advances.
Khubaib, who lived in the city with his wife and children, would pursue his interest “away from his home and family”, using his restaurant as a “focal point”.
Mark Dennis QC, prosecuting, said the girls were vulnerable because of their age, background, circumstances or unsettled schooling and Khubaib pretended to be their “friend and helper”.
Khubaib, who also ran a lettings agency, would drive girls to flats in his 4×4 car and, once there, they would be groomed for sex by being “plied with alcohol and entertained by himself and his friends”.
He raped the 14-year-old girl in August 2007 by forcing her to perform oral sex on him after she was given alcohol and then “rewarded” with £5, the court heard.
| — Hat tip: Mithrandir | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Poison Case Nurse Wrote of the ‘Devil in Me’, Court Hears
A NURSE accused of murdering and poisoning patients at a hospital wrote there is a “devil in me” in notes found at his house.
Victorino Chua wrote the 13-page note after being treated for depression, Manchester Crown Court heard.
In the note, Chua who has pleaded not guilty to murdering three patients and poisoning people in his care at Stepping Hill Hospital, Stockport, speaks of his troubles in his personal life.
The 49-year-old father-of-two, who is originally from the Philippines, writes in broken English: “I’m evil at the same time angel.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
[WARNING: Disturbing Content.]
A student remains under police guard in hospital after being kidnapped, tortured with pliers and forced to drink bleach by masked men in an apparent revenge attack for ‘accidentally scraping a man’s car’.
Motaz Zaid, who is currently studying economics at the University of Greenwich, was with a friend in St Marks Close in Parsons Green, south west London, in the early hours of Friday when the group of thugs targeted them.
His friend, who wishes to remain anonymous, said the pair were sprayed with ammonia and assaulted with tools before Mr Zaid, 20, was bundled into a Mercedes C220 Estate and driven off.
The friend, 19, who was stabbed several times in the back and legs during the ordeal, was left for dead in the quiet residential street while Mr Zaid was found dumped a few miles away, close to the A3 on the border of New Malden and Parsons Green.
Police became alerted to the incident after spotting the vehicle in Beverley Way, Kingston, at about 1am.
Uniformed officers approached the stationary car, but it drove off and fled from the scene despite attempts by police to pursue it.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Safety Deposit Box Heist in London Reminder of Need for Insurance and Top Level Security
The highly-organised Easter weekend safety deposit boxes raid at a facility in Hatton Garden, London, demonstrates once again that holding tangible assets outside of the fragile banking system is a risky exercise, if the manner in which those assets are stored is not thoroughly secure and fully insured.
While many of those who stored valuables in the boxes were jewellers, reports are emerging of how some of the victims had their entire life savings, including cash and bullion, in boxes which they believed to be secure. Many had no insurance partly because they could not afford the extra cost and partly because they were convinced their property was secure in the Hatton Garden facility.
“The robbery was reported on Tuesday but by Friday we had still not been told whether our stuff had been taken” said one jeweller who asked to remain anonymous. “I had £350,000 worth of cash and jewels and I was in a terrible state”.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Thousands of motorists have been fined or had their cars towed away after falling foul of new rules following the switch to digital tax discs.
Many are buying used cars unaware that the old paper documents are now automatically cancelled when a vehicle changes hands.
Ignorant that they must fork out for a new digital one — even if the existing paper disc is months from expiry — rising numbers of drivers are falling prey to clampers.
Critics allege that the DVLA has been operating a ‘money-making scam’ after figures yesterday showed clamping soared after the paperless system was introduced in October last year.
Many say the authority was too quick to penalise motorists without first warning that their car was not taxed. Drivers have faced bills of up to £800 to get their impounded vehicles back.
The DVLA was accused of ‘heavy-handed and Draconian’ behaviour yesterday after figures showed its use of clamping rocketed by 60 per cent from about 5,000 vehicles a month before the changes to 8,630 last month.
With no right to appeal against the fines to an independent body, drivers have little choice but to pay up.
The DVLA is estimated to be making millions of pounds a year because it receives double road tax payment — from both the seller and the buyer.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Wife of Andrew Else Stabbed 200 Times by Schizophrenic Killer Now Terrified to Leave Home
[WARNING: Disturbing Content.]
Clare Else’s husband Andrew was knifed to death by paranoid schizophrenic Ephraim Norman, 24, after getting off a bus close to his home in Croydon, south London, in April last year.
The wife of a man who was stabbed to death in a frenzied attack has revealed she is too terrified to leave home ‘in case she gets a knife in the back’.
Clare Else’s husband Andrew was knifed more than 200 times by paranoid schizophrenic Ephraim Norman, 24, after getting off a bus close to his home in Croydon, south London, in April last year.
The 52-year-old had been at the pub with friends earlier that night before the stranger pounced on him and launched an unprovoked attack, which was only stopped when police dragged him off.
Norman had stopped taking medication for his illness because it interfered with his sex life and had heard voices in his head commanding him to kill, the Old Bailey was told.
She said: ‘Andrew must have got off that bus and felt safe. He was literally a minute walk from the front door…
After the attack she fled to a family member’s home, while officers took Norman into custody to question him where he admitted to a similar unprovoked attack just weeks earlier, on April 6.
Armed with a knife, he had launched himself at a teenage boy, stabbing him with such ferocity that the blade went straight through the base of his neck.
Miraculously, the boy survived, but a chilling X-ray shows that the knife just missed his spinal column.
A post-mortem examination on April 25 counted more than 200 stab wounds on Mr Else’s body and it was noted that there were no defensive wounds to his arms or hands.
‘That first blow would have taken Andrew down to his knees,’ Mrs Else said. ‘Apparently as he turned round and said, “Why are you doing this to me?” Ephraim just carried on.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Waheed Ahmed, Son of Labour Councillor, Returning to UK
Waheed Ahmed, 21, who is the son of Rochdale politician Shakil Ahmed, is to return to the UK tonight on a flight from Dalaman after being detained in Turkey for apparently trying to sneak into Syria.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Wilders’ Speech in Dresden Attracts Fewer PEGIDA Supporters Than Expected
Less than 10,000 PEGIDA members have rallied in Dresden despite Dutch populist Geert Wilders holding a speech in the eastern German city. Wilders called members of the anti-Islamization group “heroes.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
ISIS Libya Branch Targets Moroccan Embassy Building in Tripoli
TRIPOLI, Libya — A Libyan official says a bomb placed in a garbage bin targeted the Moroccan Embassy in the capital, Tripoli. There were no casualties in the attack, which was claimed by Libya’s Islamic State affiliate.
Security spokesman Essam al-Naas says the bomb went off early Monday. Morocco condemned the attack and called for an investigation.
Libya’s branch of the Islamic State group said in a statement on its Twitter account that “soldiers of the caliphate” targeted the building but gave no motive. It also posted several photographs of the embassy, including one of an empty street at night and another showing flames caused by the explosion.
The same group claimed responsibility for an attack on the South Korean Embassy in Tripoli early on Sunday, which killed one guard and one passer-by.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Italy Must Lead Against ISIS Northward Threat Via Libya
Geography is inexorable: Italy can never be isolated from Libya, which is just 300 miles from the coast of Sicily. Still, the Italian public tends to be isolated from the rest of the world. The government knows both these truths.
Unlike any other European or Western country, Italy kept its Libyan embassy open and running until last Sunday, thanks to the incredible dedication and courage of Ambassador Giuseppe Buccini and his colleagues. The flag was lowered only when the risks became truly unacceptable, and without waiting for orders or help from the European Union, the United Nations, NATO, the Arab League or the African Union.
While a solution to the Libyan crisis and Italy’s security are connected, they are not the same. When it comes to Libya, we can only support United Nations Speical Envoy Bernardino Léon, who is looking to gather the country’s armed factions around a table to talk. It seems an almost impossible mission, but at the moment there’s no other choice. An authoritative figure in international circles who is also respected in Africa — one name mentioned is former Italian prime minister and former European Commission president Romano Prodi — could help strengthen such efforts…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Libya Needs National Unity Government, Says Premier Renzi
(AGI) Valletta (Malta), Apr 9 — Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi spoke about his hopes for a government of national unity in Libya on Thursday at a press conference in Malta with Prime Minister Joseph Muscat. “This is a turning point. We must try to achieve the broadest cooperation. A government of national unity involving as many tribes as possible is a strategic plan that the whole international community must support,” he said.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Erdogan’s Turkey Threatens “Response” To Pope’s Affirmation of Armenian “Genocide”
Government officials across the board define “ the words spoken yesterday by Francis as “invalid”, “null and void”, “inappropriate”, “unilateral”, “unacceptable” and “distorts history”. The same words used in 2001 by John Paul II. But the “moderate” Islamic president wants to propose a new Ottomanism and is concerned about the approach of the general elections of 7 June.
Rome (AsiaNews) — “Null and void”, “inappropriate”, “unilateral”, “unacceptable” and a “distortion of history”, this is the harsh response from the Turkish government to Pope Francis’ words about the “genocide” of Armenians carried out one hundred years ago by the Ottoman Empire.
Francis was speaking during Mass celebrated for the “Metz Yeghern”, the Armenian “Great Evil” when he stated that “ our human family has lived through three massive and unprecedented tragedies. The first, which is widely considered “the first genocide of the twentieth century” affected the Armenian people.
Ankara’s response seems to indicate a new Vatican attitude regarding the Armenian “genocide” — which Turkey continues to deny — but in reality the term was used in the Joint Declaration made in Armenia, in Etchmiadzin by John Paul II and Karekin II, Catholicos of All Armenians, September 27, 2001, which was expressly mentioned yesterday. At the time, the Turkish reaction was very bland.
Thus, if the “Vatican” statement is the same and the Turkish reaction very different, the change of policy actually is on Ankara’s part. The political power has passed from the secularism of parties who referred to the tradition of Kemal Ataturk to that of the “moderate” Islamism of Erdogan and his attempt to propose a new Ottomanism. Moreover, the president is concerned about the approach of the general elections of June 7, to the point of taking intransigent positions on the most sensitive national issues to contain the dreaded drain of votes from his AKP party towards MHP nationalists.
In fact, yesterday the Turkish foreign ministry summoned the papal nuncio, Archbishop Antonio Lucibello, to whom the deputy undersecretary Levent Murat Burhan said that the Pope’s remarks caused “deep sorrow and disappointment” in Ankara. Criticizing the Pope’s remarks as “one-sided” and “far from accurate,” that they had “created a loss of trust in bilateral ties” and that “Turkey will surely respond.” Ankara has also recalled its Ambassador to the Holy See Mehmet Pacaci “for consultations”. The Foreign Ministry, in making their decision known stated that the allegation made by Francis “ is controversial in every aspect, which is based on prejudice, which distorts history and reduces the pains suffered in Anatolia under the conditions of the First World War to members of just one religion”.
And that’s not all. The Minister of Turkey to the EU, Volkan Boksir, via Twitter also wrote: “ I reject the Papal attitude, which should strive to leave a legacy of peace and friendship for future generations, but instead tries to derive enmity out of history”. “There is — he added — There is no period of time in Turkey’s history that it would be ashamed of. Efforts towards constituting an identity based on falsified documents will fail”. And there’s even more, the Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu in another tweet described the Pope’s words as “unacceptable”, “ far from historic and legal truths”.
Finally, the same Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, In a televised speech on Sunday, Davutoglu accused the pontiff of making “inappropriate” and “one-sided” remarks, adding, “We’d expect the religious leaders to call for peace. Opening archives for those whose hearts are sealed serves no purpose”. This last statement refers to the request made to Turkey, and never met, to open the archives relating to that period.
In this regard, the official Anadolu news agency, repeats the “historic” Turkish line, according to which “the Ottoman Empire, following the revolt, moved Armenians to eastern Anatolia and there were Armenian victims during the process of relocation”.
An estimated one and a half million. (FP)
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Group of Female Jihadists ‘Establish Camp to Train Women to be the Same as Men’
A GROUP of female jihadists have appeared in a chilling new video in which they have apparently established a camp “to train women to be the same as men”.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Harrowing Truth: Yazidi Women ‘Sold as Sex Slaves and Gang Raped in Public’ At Hands of IS
[WARNING: Disturbing Content.]
YAZIDI women were tortured by their captors, sold as sex slaves and gang raped in public at the hands of the brutal Islamic State.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Hezbollah Official: Saudi Arabia Absolute Loser of Yemen War
TEHRAN (FNA)- Head of Hezbollah’s Executive Council Sheikh Hashem Safieddine said Saudi Arabia will be the ultimate loser of Yemen’s war, stressing that the monarchy is acutely aware that its attacks will no longer have a chance to deter the advances of the popular troops.
Sheikh Hashem Safieddine said that Saudi Arabia will never win the war in Yemen and it is now in a real quandary to reach a ceasefire in the Arab country.
He further urged the Saudi kingdom to put a swift halt to its attacks, adding that the massacre of women, children and poor people will never bring victory to the monarchy.
Head of Hezbollah’s executive council went on to say that the resistance of the Yemeni people is the biggest obstacle to the kingdom’s victory.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Hezbollah V. ISIS: A Showdown Looms in Lebanon
Looking down on the city of Britel, in the Bekaa Valley
There’s a 140-kilometer strip of land on top of the mountains just north of Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley that marks the border with Syria. It’s here that ISIS has dug in, appropriating a remote corner of Lebanon where the terror group has accumulated militants, resources and hostages to gear up for an impending battle with Hezbollah-backed government troops.
This strip is a strategic area because it allows jihadists from ISIS and the al-Nusra Front, who are allies, to threaten seven small towns in the valley. Among the few who know well the imprecise boundaries of the terror groups’ enclave in Lebanon is Talal Iskander, head of the International Red Cross. The organization operates in Ras Baalbek, rescuing those wounded in battle between ISIS and the Lebanese…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Islamic State Issues Fighters With ID Cards as Jihadis Rush to Leave Terror Group
ISLAMIC STATE jihadists are being issued with ID CARDS in a bid to boost morale, following a series of key losses for the brutal terror group.
Commanders have given their militants the cards — which contain a three-dimensional chip and an electronic SIM card — to help Islamic State fighters securely move between the Iraqi stronghold of Mosul and their self-declared capital of Raqqa, in Syria.
A civil rights activist based in Mosul, who did not wish to be named, said the cards were part of a campaign to ‘reassure’ fighters the Islamic State’s leadership were still strong and in control of their so-called ‘caliphate’.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Jourová: Over 6000 Europeans Waging Jihad in Syria
The number of Europeans fighting with jihadist groups in Syria could exceed 6,000, a top EU official told a French newspaper today (13 April).
“At the European level, we estimate that 5,000-6,000 individuals have left for Syria,” EU Justice Commissioner Vera Jourová told Le Figaro in an interview, adding the true number was likely to be far higher due to the difficulty of tracking foreign fighters in the conflict.
“At the time of the attacks in Paris and Copenhagen, we decided not to allow ourselves to be guided by fear,” she said, referring to January’s twin Islamist attacks in the French capital and the subsequent deadly shootings on a cultural centre in Denmark.
Focusing on those seeking to leave for Syria to wage jihad, or those returning from the conflict, meant intervening “too late”, she said.
Jourová said that the EU instead wanted to promote prevention as a means of curtailing the steady flow of European nationals, looking at the diverse reasons of why people joined jihadist groups beyond simply religion.
British research had identified “a desire for adventure, boredom, dissatisfaction with their situation in life or a lack of prospects”, in those who had opted to leave their families behind and head for Syria, the Commissioner said.
[How about “savage bloodlust and an urge to kill infidels in accordance with Qur’anic mandates”? — PW]
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
More Than 6,000 Have Left Europe for ISIS Jihad: EU
EU Justice Commissioner Vera Jourová said Europeans who have gone to join jihadist Isis fighters in Syria may number more than 6,000.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
More Than 6,000 European Jihadists in Syria, EU Official Says
The number of Europeans fighting with jihadist groups in Syria could exceed 6,000, a top EU official told a French newspaper Monday.
“At the European level, we estimate that 5,000 to 6,000 individuals have left for Syria,” Vera Jourová, the EU justice commissioner, told Le Figaro in an interview, adding the true number was likely to be far higher due to the difficulty of tracking foreign fighters in the conflict.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Nearly 700 Britons Have Gone to Fight With Jihadis in the Middle East, New Figures Reveal.
Mohammed emwazi aka Jihadi John is one of many Brits who have been radicalised
They are part of a force of some 6,000 Europeans who have flocked to the war zones.
Most have headed to Syria and Iraq, mainly to join Islamic State’s brutal campaign, experts believe.
Half of the Britons are already back with many being closely monitored amid fears they could be planning terrorist outrages here…
The security services prioritise their resources by concentrating on those returnees who are thought to pose a threat.
But these fine judgments can go wrong with the two killers of soldier Lee Rigby having been the target of seven different investigations without their attack plan being spotted.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
New Islamic State Video Calls for Attacks on the American Homeland, Promises Another 9/11
By Patrick Poole
The Islamic State has released a new 11-minute video called “We Will Burn America” that calls for supporters to attack the American homeland and promises another 9/11.
At this juncture I would note the New York Times’ front page article on December 29 that described how America’s top war fighters, namely Special Operations Command, freely admit that they don’t understand the ideology driving ISIS and other Islamic terror groups:
WASHINGTON — Maj. Gen. Michael K. Nagata, commander of American Special Operations forces in the Middle East, sought help this summer in solving an urgent problem for the American military: What makes the Islamic State so dangerous?
Trying to decipher this complex enemy — a hybrid terrorist organization and a conventional army — is such a conundrum that General Nagata assembled an unofficial brain trust outside the traditional realms of expertise within the Pentagon, State Department and intelligence agencies, in search of fresh ideas and inspiration. Business professors, for example, are examining the Islamic State’s marketing and branding strategies.
“We do not understand the movement, and until we do, we are not going to defeat it,” he said, according to the confidential minutes of a conference call he held with the experts. “We have not defeated the idea. We do not even understand the idea.”
General Nagata’s frustration is shared by other American officials. Even as President Obama and his top civilian and military aides express growing confidence that Iraqi troops backed by allied airstrikes have blunted the Islamic State’s momentum on the ground in Iraq and undermined its base of support in Syria, other officials acknowledge they have barely made a dent in the larger, longer-term campaign to kill the ideology that animates the terrorist movement.
You can call in all the marketing executives and Harvard academics all you like, but when the Obama administration — meaning the entire U.S. government — as a matter of established policy refuses to acknowledge the ideology and intentions that our enemy publishes IN ENGLISH in the form of videos, audio recordings and magazines, and actively prohibits anyone in a government department or agency from discussing or speaking about said ideology, you really are beyond hope. And so is America.
[In reality, you are really only beyond hope when you give up in your heart. The Continental Army did not give up at Valley Forge, the Army of the Potomac dd not give up after the terrible butchery at Fredericksburg, the U.S. Navy did not give up after Pearl Harbor, and the American people — the American people — are not about to give up now.We will get our necks out from under the heel of Barry Hussein and his loathsome legion of leftist lickspittles and we will endure and we will win. Deus lo volt! — PW]
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
Proxy War Escalates: Russia Lifts Ban on Selling Anti-Aircraft Missiles to Iran
We showed yesterday the web of interconnected rifts and relationships among The Middle East’s local and proxy war members and it seems this morning tensions are escalating once again. As Bloomberg reports, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on Monday lifting a ban on the delivery of S-300 anti-missile rocket systems to Iran. The ban was introduced by former President Dmitry Medvedev in 2010 under pressure from the West following UN sanctions imposed on Iran over its nuclear program.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
States Slam the Brakes on Iran, Enact Tough Economic Sanctions
While the United States and Iran edge closer to a nuclear deal, nearly two dozen U.S. states are imposing their own sanctions against Tehran — a move some say could derail fragile talks between the two countries.
The states, though, say they aren’t budging. In fact, Kansas and Mississippi are even considering adding more sanctions.
Several states across the country have put their own measures in place to punish Iran-linked companies operating in certain sectors of its economy, directing public pension funds with billions of dollars in assets to divesting from the firms and sometimes barring them from public contracts, Reuters reported.
In more than half of those states, restrictions will only expire if all federal sanctions against Iran are lifted — an unlikely scenario.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
US Blackwater Guards Jailed for Iraq Deaths
A former Blackwater guard has been sentenced to life in prison and three others to 30 years over the killing of 14 Iraqi civilians in 2007.
Nicholas Slatten and three others were convicted last year for the killings in Baghdad’s crowded Nisoor Square.
A further 17 Iraqis were injured as the private contractors opened fire to clear the way for a US convoy.
The shootings sparked international outrage and a debate over the role of defence contractors in warfare.
Slatten faced a charge of murder, while the other men faced multiple counts of manslaughter, attempted manslaughter and using firearms while committing a felony.
In a court in Washington DC, Paul Slough, Evan Liberty and Dustin Heard were all sentenced to 30 years in prison for their involvement in the killings.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
US, Israel Express Concern as Russia Lifts Ban on Missile Deliveries to Iran
Russia’s move Monday to lift its ban on delivery of sophisticated air defense missiles to Iran drew criticism from Israel and raised U.S. concerns, as world powers continue to negotiate with Iran about its nuclear program.
In a clear sign that he wants to strengthen economic ties with Iran, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree Monday lifting his country’s ban on the delivery of S-300 anti-missile rocket systems to the Islamic Republic, Reuters reported.
Russia signed an $800 million contract to sell Iran the S-300 missile system in 2007, but later suspended their delivery in 2010, after strong objections from the U.S. and Israel.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
‘Very Little’ To Stop Swedes Fighting in Syria
Sweden’s Security Service (Säpo) has told The Local there is “very little” it can do to stop people travelling to Syria to join al-Qaeda inspired groups, as EU officials estimate up to 6000 people from across Europe have now fought in the war-torn nation.
Reacting to comments from EU Justice Commissioner Vera Jouriva, who gave the latest estimate to French newspaper Le Figaro on Monday, a spokesperson for Säpo told The Local that it remained difficult to monitor those who were making the journey from Scandinavia to the Middle East.
“About 50 of those known to have travelled to Syria have returned to Sweden. They travel to Syria, return to Sweden and tend to go back again,” said press officer Fredrik Milder.
Säpo confirmed that at least 150 Swedish residents were known to have been to Syria or Iraq to fight for Isis or other extremist groups, with intelligence suggesting that at least 35 had died in the process.
But Milder added that “there is only very little we can do to stop people from travelling from Sweden to join al-Qaeda inspired groups”.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
With Weapons Pouring in and Aid Locked Out, Yemeni Civilians ‘Willfully Abandoned’
The online campaign Kefaya War (“Enough War” in Arabic) has received an outpouring of support from Yemen and around the world. (Photo courtesy of #KefayaWar) Two weeks of a Saudi Arabia-led bombardment and siege on the impoverished nation of Yemen has bred a profound humanitarian crisis—marked by hundreds of civilian deaths and worsening food and water shortages.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Afghan Interpreter for SAS and Marines Shot Down After UK Entry Refusal
The 26-year-old, who was known as ‘Chris’ by UK soldiers, was hit in the leg when gunmen opened fire near his home in Khost, eastern Afghanistan. His son Muhammad also sustained injuries.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Alleged Mastermind of Mumbai Attacks That Left 166 Dead Leaves Pakistan Jail
Indian leaders are strongly protesting a Pakistan court’s Friday release of the suspected mastermind of the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks that left 166 people dead.
Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, 55, said to be the operations chief for Lashkar-e-Taiba—the terror group blamed for the deadly attacks—was released on a court order that he be free pending trial, his lawyer, Rizwan Abbasi,said.
As Lakhvi was freed from an Islamabad jail, an Indian envoy met the Pakistan foreign secretary in the city to protest his release, the Times of India reported.
The Indian envoy told Secretary Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry that Lakhvi’s release has reinforced the perception that Pakistan has a dual policy on dealing with terrorists.
[…]
A Pakistani court first ordered Lakhvi’s release on March 13, after Abbasi launched a legal battle claiming Lakhvi was being unlawfully held. But he remained in detention amid mounting pressure on Pakistan to more actively confront Islamic militants. He was ordered released for a second time on Thursday.
He still faces terrorism charges over the Mumbai attacks but the trial has not yet started.
[…]
Lakhvi, who was first granted bail last December, is one of seven suspects on trial in Pakistan in connection with the Mumbai attacks that killed 166 people. He was arrested in 2009 and had been in detention since then — until Friday.
[Busted six years ago for this pitiless massacre and still awaiting trial? Talk about “the law’s delay”! — PW]
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
British Tourist is Sexually Assaulted by Cab Driver in India
A taxi driver, known as Salim, is alleged to have assaulted a 20-year-old British female tourist in Jaipur on Friday evening. He is accused of molesting her. (picture posed by model)
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
India: Radical Hindu Leader Calls for the Forced Sterilisation of Christians and Muslims
Deva Sadhvi Thakur, vice president of the All India Hindu Mahasabha, also wants to build a statue dedicated to the Mahatma Gandhi’s murderer. She also wants India’s federal government to impose a “state of emergency”. For the president of the Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC), she should be arrested for “sedition and xenophobia”.
Mumbai (AsiaNews) — Sadhvi Deva Thakur, vice president of All India Hindu Mahasabha, said that Muslims and Christians should undergo sterilisation to restrict their growing population, which she describes as a threat to Hindus.
Through AsiaNews, Sajan George, president of the Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC), slammed “the obstinate diatribes by Hindutva groups against India’s minority communities,” saying that “Hindu Mahasabha leader Sadhvi Deva Thakur should be arrested “for sedition and xenophobia”.
“The population of Muslims and Christians is growing day by day,” Thakur warned on Saturday.
Hence, “To rein in this, the Centre (the federal government) will have to impose emergency [rule], and Muslims and Christians will have to be forced to undergo sterilisation so that they can’t increase their numbers”.
In addition to forced sterilisation of minority Indians, the vice president of All India Hindu Mahasabha has also called for Hindu idols to be placed in churches and mosques.
She also wants to erect a statue in Haryana dedicated to Nathuram Godse, the “patriot” and militant with the Hindu paramilitary group Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) who assassinated Mahatma Gandhi in 1948.
According to Sajan George, Deva Sadhvi Thakur’s statements are not only a stain on India’s secular constitution, but also “an insult to the thousands of people who sacrificed their lives for the freedom of our nation.”
The GCIC wants the president of India to intervene to save the nation from the growing attacks from anti-social and anti-constitutional elements and groups.
For George, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s assurances that ell sections of Indian society will be safe and secure are only “window dressing” to avoid international censure.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Taliban Fighters Kill 18 Afghan Soldiers, Beheading Eight
At least 18 Afghan soldiers have been killed — eight of them beheaded — by Taliban fighters in a major attack in north-east Afghanistan, officials say.
About 12 soldiers are missing after Friday’s attack in Badakhshan province, a provincial spokesman told AFP.
Government checkpoints were also briefly seized during the attack.
Taliban insurgents have stepped up attacks on government and foreign targets since the US slowed down the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan.
Government forces managed to regain control of the Jurm district, in Badakhshan province, but not before calling for assistance from Kabul, Reuters reports…
| — Hat tip: Vlad Tepes | [Return to headlines] |
“Contained?” Robot Dies 3 Hours After Entering Fukushima Reactor
We are sure this is nothing to worry about… and Japanese officials will re-iterate that everything is on track but when a snake-like robot sent to inspect a reactor containment vessel at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant dies three hours into the operation, one might wonder just how “contained” the radiation situations really is.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
China: Locals Terrified by 800C Flaming Sinkhole Which Has Appeared in Mountains
A MYSTERIOUS fiery sinkhole — dubbed a “gateway to hell” — is terrifying locals after it appeared from nowhere in a Chinese hillside.
Although superstitious residents are steering clear baffled geologists and mining experts have flocked to catch a glimpse of the strange hole.
Even two metres away the heat blasting from the 80cm wide hole has been measured at 792C (1457F). The intense heat is making it difficult for experts to get close enough to determine the hole’s depth.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Australian Government to Announce Anti-Vaccination Parents Will Lose Benefits
Parents who do not vaccinate their children will lose welfare payments of up to $2100 per child under a federal government policy set to be announced before the May budget.
Under changes that could save more than $50 million a year, Social Services Minister Scott Morrison is preparing to scrap a “conscientious objection” provision which allows anti-vaccination parents to still claim welfare benefits including childcare assistance and Family Tax Benefit A.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Mahatma Gandhi Statue Vandalised in Johannesburg
A man has appeared in a South African court in connection with vandalising a statue of Mahatma Gandhi.
“He was found while painting the statue with white paint and arrested,” police spokesman Kay Makhubele told the BBC.
He was part of a group who demonstrated near the statue on Saturday with placards reading: “Racist Gandhi must fall”.
This is the latest in a series of protests in South Africa calling for the removal of historic statues.
While the man who led India to independence is widely regarded a man who stood for peace, some South Africans have accused Gandhi of working with the British colonial government to promote racial segregation.
He lived in South Africa for 20 years and campaigned for the rights of Indian people there.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Nigeria’s Chibok Girls ‘Seen With Boko Haram in Gwoza’
More than 50 of the girls abducted by militant Islamists in Nigeria last year were seen alive three weeks ago, a woman has told the BBC.
She saw the girls in the north-eastern Gwoza town before the Boko Haram militants were driven out of there by regional forces.
Boko Haram sparked global outrage when it seized more than 219 girls from Chibok town a year ago.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Castro Regime Making Moves to Consolidate Power in Cuba
The historic meeting Saturday between President Barack Obama and Cuba’s Raul Castro is giving Havana new leverage in negotiations with Washington to drop the decades-old embargo, experts tell FoxNews.com.
Sebastian Arcos and Mike Gonzalez explained to Fox News’ Jonathan Hunt that the regime will look for any breakthrough to justify their continued one-party communist rule over the island.
Both believe this has lead to Castro putting the framework in place for a possible successor in the hopes of avoiding any political chaos.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
EU Must Shift Attention South for Its Security, Italian FM
Italy has called for EU neighborhood policy to focus more on the Mediterranean and less on Ukraine, where the its greatest efforts have been employed thus far. The crises most threatening to EU borders — such as clandestine migration, extremism and terrorism — developed in the south, bringing with them humanitarian tragedies and imperiling European energy security, Italy’s foreign minister said on Monday at the first informal meeting between the EU and nations from the southern and eastern coasts of the Mediterranean. Representatives from the 28 member states of the EU as well as ones from Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, Palestine, Israel, Lebanon, Jordan and Egypt took part.
Neighborhood policy with the Mediterranean ‘‘is not a technical exercise’’, Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni stressed, ‘‘it must be a political priority focused on four areas’’: security, migration, energy and economic cooperation. Italy holds that these agendas, which are currently being drawn up in Brussels, should be developed with an eye towards dialogue with the rest of the Mediterranean, he said, noting that this is especially true of energy, given the ‘‘inter-connectedness’’ and migration, ‘‘working on countries of origin through economic cooperation’’. EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini also discussed migration issues as an EU priority, noting the latest deaths at sea on Monday off the Libyan coast.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Italy Rescued 5,629 Migrants in Three Days
Authorities helped 22 boats on Sunday alone
(ANSAmed) — ROME, APRIL 13 — The Italian coast guard said Monday that it rescued 5,629 migrants in three days between Friday and Sunday. On Sunday alone the coast guard rescued 22 migrant boats. Italy has seen a sharp increase this year in the already big flow of migrants heading to its coast from North Africa. The authorities here are braced for arrivals to accelerate further now that weather and sea conditions have improved with spring.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Nearly 6,000 Migrants Rescued Over the Weekend
RESCUE workers in Italy have managed to save nearly 6,000 migrants from drowning in a single weekend.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Tunisia Rescues 100 Migrants Off Libya
(ANSAmed) — TUNIS, APRIL 13 — Boats from the Tunisian Coast Guard and fishing boats on Monday morning rescued about 100 migrants on an Italy-bound, makeshift raft that had experienced engine problems. The migrants, of several different African nationalities, had made numerous emergency calls once they had left from the Libya coasts and were rescued and brought to the Tunisia port Zarzis. The news was reported by the local radio Shems FM, which said that another SOS had been received but that the Coast Guard had not yet been able to identify its location.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
U.S. To Admit More Legal Immigrants in Decade Than the Combined Population of 7 Major Cities
Unless Congress moves to limit current legal immigration rates, the U.S. will add at least 10 million more legal immigrants over the next decade — more than the combined populations of seven major cities, according to GOP staffers on the Senate’s Immigration subcommittee.
A chart the committee released Monday reveals that the populations of Atlanta, Los Angeles, Chicago, Boston, Denver, St. Louis, and Dallas together would not equal the number of new immigrants set to be admitted over the coming ten years.
The chairman of the subcommittee, Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), has been arguing for a curb to current immigration levels.
“What we need now is immigration moderation: slowing the pace of new arrivals so that wages can rise, welfare rolls can shrink and the forces of assimilation can knit us all more closely together,” Sessions wrote in an op-ed Thursday (emphasis his).
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
UNHCR Wants Rescue Operations at Sea Stepped Up
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on Monday expressed deep concern over the latest migrant deaths at sea in the Mediterranean. At least nine people lost their lives when the Italy-bound boat they were traveling in capsized. The UNHCR praised efforts by the Italian authorities, who over the past three days have rescued 5,500 migrants at sea. The UN body called on rescues at sea to be bolstered and that they be brought under EU management. The UNHCR noted that over 500 migrants had died at sea since the beginning of 2015, some 30 times higher than that seen in the same period last year. The UN agency said that this shows that more needs to be done to deal with current migratory trends in the region and that without sufficient monitoring, search and rescue operations at sea, many others will lose their lives in the attempt to reach Europe. It also urged that efforts be stepped up to ensure legal, safe alternatives for those fleeing conflict and persecution in order to prevent them from undertaking dangerous sea crossings.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Britain Among the Least Religious in the World With 53% Atheists
In a global ranking of 65 countries, the UK came sixth from last, with only 30 per cent of the population calling themselves religious (file image).
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Chemically Castrate Men Who “Harass” Women, Says Feminist Professor
Guys who hit on women to be publicly executed?
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The school begins to assume responsibility for the functions thrust upon it…The kindergarten grows downward toward the cradle and there arises talk of neighborhood nurseries…It seems clear that at least in its early stages, socialism will mean an increased amount of social control…We may expect in the socialist commonwealth a system of public educational agencies that will begin with the nursery and follow the individual through life…Those persons that experience alarm at the thought of intrinsic changes in family institutions should remember that in the light of social evolution, nothing is right or valuable in itself.” Remember the above references to “cradle” and “follow the individual through life” when reading a later part of this series describing a letter written by National Center on Education and the Economy president Marc Tucker on November 11, 1992 to Hillary Clinton about Bill Clinton’s presidential victory giving them a chance to implement their “cradle to grave” plan for everyone.
In the 1920s, “Father of Progressive Education” (and later National Education Association honorary president) John Dewey went to the Soviet Union and authored an article in the December 5, 1928 edition of THE NEW REPUBLIC, in which he described “the marvelous development of progressive educational ideas and practices under the fostering care of the Bolshevist government…the required collective and cooperative mentality…The great task of the school is to counteract and transform those domestic and neighborhood tendencies…the influence of home and Church…In order to accomplish this end, the teachers must in the first place know with great detail and accuracy just what the conditions are to which pupils are subject in the home (remember this when reading about Common Core’s collection of large amounts of personal data)…One of the most interesting pedagogical innovations…to discover the actual conditions that influence pupils in their out-of-school life…(is using) the themes of written work, the compositions of pupils, and also a detailed study throughout the year of home and family budgets…The institution of the family is being sapped indirectly rather than by frontal attack…There is no word one hears oftener than Gruppe, and all sorts of groups are instituted that militate against the primary social importance of the family unit.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The Nazis attempted to unify the school system, as they ‘meshed the gears’ of all other activities in the Third Reich…Changes in the curriculum brought all schools closer together…Social pressures aided the Nazis in getting rid of the influence of the older generation…” Under Common Core, assessments drive curricula to unify nationally education in America, and school systems’ teachers become to a certain extent regimented in preparing students for the assessments (getting correct answers is not enough, but also knowing how), whether in individual classrooms or for the College Boards.
“Getting rid of the influence of the older generation” in the United States was also important for the power elite. And the way to do this was through “critical thinking.” Three years after the Nazis began the educational program mentioned above, Edward Glaser authored AN EXPERIMENT IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF CRITICAL THINKING (1941). It was one the first books on the subject and followed the psychodrama and sociometry work of Rumanian psychiatrist Jacob Moreno in the early part of the 20th century.
Critical thinking developed into critiquing, which in turn developed into criticizing the values of “the older generation.” The purpose was to establish a “generation gap,” with the new generation adopting more humanistic than Biblical values.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
One in Five Spaniards Are ‘Convinced Atheists’
More than half of Spaniards admit that they are either “not religious” or are “convinced atheists”, according to a new global study that shows the dramatic loss of faith in the traditionally Roman Catholic nation.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Dark Matter Mapped at Cosmic Scale
Survey charts clusters and voids of invisible matter over hundreds of millions of light years.
Cosmologists have produced an enormous map of the distribution of dark matter in our Universe, tracing the invisible substance by monitoring its gravitational effects on light.
Dark matter is about five times more abundant than the matter we can see. Although invisible, its presence can be detected because it curves space-time. Large concentrations of dark matter in the foreground bend the light coming from background galaxies, skewing our images of them. This effect, known as ‘weak gravitational lensing’, has so far been studied for its applications to understanding dark matter in single clusters of galaxies, but the latest survey has upped the scale.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
The New “Water Barons”: Wall Street Mega-Banks Are Buying Up the World’s Water
A disturbing trend in the water sector is accelerating worldwide. The new “water barons” — the Wall Street banks and elitist multibillionaires — are buying up water all over the world at unprecedented pace. Familiar mega-banks and investing powerhouses such as Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Chase, Citigroup, UBS, Deutsche Bank, Credit Suisse, Macquarie Bank, Barclays Bank, the Blackstone Group, Allianz, and HSBC Bank, among others, are consolidating their control over water. Wealthy tycoons such as T. Boone Pickens, former President George H.W. Bush and his family, Hong Kong’s Li Ka-shing, Philippines’ Manuel V. Pangilinan and other Filipino billionaires, and others are also buying thousands of acres of land with aquifers, lakes, water rights, water utilities, and shares in water engineering and technology companies all over the world.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Violent Methane Storms on Titan May Explain Strange Dunes
Rare tropical methane storms could help solve the mystery of how strange, giant dunes form on Titan, Saturn’s largest moon, researchers say.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
The West is the Muslim El Dorado. Get there and take the kufar for all he’s worth before ISIS ruins everything. Turkey planning and preparing like crazy again.
GERMANWINGS CO-PILOT WAS A MUSLIM CONVERT
German Head of the Parliamentary (Bundestag) Defense committee
Thanks the head of German Intelligence about the information that Andreas Lubitz was a Muslim convert, and was radicalized at the mosque in Bremen, Germany.
Then he tells the Intelligence head to keep it secret to avoid riots.
Here is the full translation of the letter:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Letterhead of the German Parliament
From:
German Bundestag (Parliament)
Defence Committee
The Chairman
Hans-Peter Bartels MdB
Platz der Republik
11011(?) Berlin
Tel:030-227-77 638
Fax:030-227-76 052
hans-peter.bartels@bundestag.de
To:
Mr. Gerhard Schindler
President,
German Federal Intelligence Service (BND)
Gardeschutzenweg 7I-l01
12203 Berlin
Dear Mr. Schindler,
The Defense Committee of the German Bundestag wishes to express our appreciation for your major contribution to ensuring the safety of Germany. The Information that your Department constantly puts at our disposal holds a very important role in domestic and foreign policy decisions.
Of particular importance is the information received from the German Federal Intelligence Service (BND) concerning the conversion to Islam of the Germanwings co-pilot Andreas Lubitz, who was the cause of the crash of the Airbus A320.
He made regular visits to the mosque in Bremen and was also involved with radical Islamic groups.
This information allows for the elucidation of the disaster that has claimed many lives, and has enabled us to draw basic conclusions.
This is not a good time for the Defense Committee to hold an open discussion about the above-mentioned facts, because they would tend to trigger anti-Islamic sentiments, and concerns regarding the actions of the Federal Government regarding the integration of immigrants from the Islamic states into German society. The publication of such information could not only provoke mass protests, but also cause the Government coalition to split.
The Defense Committee recommends that the German Federal Intelligence Service withholds publication of this information, but also performs a careful determination of consideration of all available facts.
With best regards
Dr. Hans-Peter Bertels
[Addendum by the Baron
I’ve reluctantly decided to let this comment remain up, even though it may provide Google-bait to sustain an internet hoax.
The commenter supplied no sources, so I went looking.
First of all, he misspelled the fellow’s name (it’s “Bartels”). Secondly, this article from the Augsburger Allgemeine seems to say (based on a machine translation) that the letter is a forgery. I’ve asked one of our German translators to look into the case more deeply.
In the meantime, until I see other reputable sources (outside the fever swamps, please), I’m going to quash further comments promoting it. I don’t want to give a lot of space to something that will likely turn out to be a hoax. But if it seems to be authentic, we’ll certainly publish more.]
Need verification please.
Amen. This is of no use as currently given. I sent it to Drudge to see if he’d be willing to trawl the sewers. Like many, he used to avoid Islam – no one can be THAT bad – but he’s long since come to terms with it.
Can you please give us a source for this letter? You appear to be a new commenter and I need verification of this. It’s not on Twitter, at least in English.
I would appreciate your help in verifying this.
Muslim Brotherhood Hamas lobbying blitz in Washintgon:
http://www.barenakedislam.com/2015/04/14/former-fbi-agent-john-guandolo-on-how-muslim-hill-day-on-capitol-hill-in-washington-dc-was-represented-by-the-most-radical-islamic-groups-in-america/
Quelle surprise! Probably the same group of usual suspects that Obama invites in for that Iftar dinner, in addition to the model-Muslims -on-display.
How unfortunate that the Muslim observance of Eid is so very close the English I.E.D.
Hardly surprising, but I wrote my congressmen anyway just to make sure they know that voters know what’s going on.
You would hope that surely they themselves would already know what’s up with these groups, but it doesn’t hurt to remind them that some voters are paying attention.
Former FBI agent Guandolo also asserts that brennan, the current director of the CIA, is a muslim convert. It wouldn’t surprise me if he was. But Hugh Fitzgerald has stated on the record that the allegation against brennan is pure hocum.
I saw that video clip. What Mr. Guandolo doesn’t say, even though he is asked directly, is what do they want?
Other than intimidation (of 3% of the voting block) what do they want?
To establish themselves as legitimate and become part of the grievance mongering lobby. They may be asking for “anti-islamophobia” laws, affirmative action for Muslims, etc. but the specifics aren’t that significant right now.
Overall they want to intimidate politicians into believing they have significant PR and opinion control power, and thus control of significant numbers of voters.
@DemocracyRules,
Very naughty boy…..Come up with verification please.
This is not in the news. It is not in Twitter. I don’t believe it.
More like a little taqiyyah to get the Islamophobes going. Lord, I hope he doesn’t hit the more gullible ones
Probably so. Just the name “DemocracyRules” reminds me of the redefinition of term used by the people who claim that “democracy died” when their fanaticism doesn’t win an election, or by the Democratic People’s Repiblic of Korea. In other words, people who confuse the term democracy with “getting exactly what I want and anything is justified toward that end”.
At the time (maybe five or six days after the crash), statements from Germany seemed to indicate that Andreas Lubitz had been seeing an eye doctor for a partially detaching retina. Even with all the legally required protection of Lubitz’s privacy, the German authorities seemed to think that *some* explanation of Lubitz’s motive needed to be provided to the public in view of the massacre L perpetrated on the passengers and his fellow crewmembers in that plane.
Given the difficulties he experienced in *qualifying* for this Lufthansa subsidiary, Lubitz was undoubtedly looking at the end of his piloting career, so soon after it had begun. This medical cause in and of itself would have unhinged almost any young man (not even 30 yet), much less Lubitz.
I don’t think we need to drag Islam into it. It was quite terrible enough, not even three weeks gone.
His eyes were defective does not make sense.
HE LOCKED the door intentionally.
The point is that eye problems, psychological problems, etc, meant he knew his career was over, not that he crashed the plane because he couldn’t see.
Mass immigration from the 3rd world into Europe: It would be to the benefit of Europeans to take South Africa as an example of what might become of Europe if current trends continue. THE most important political factor is demographics. In South Africa in 1900 there were 1million Whites and 3million Blacks (both of these groups are not indigenous to South Africa, but settled different parts of the country at approx the same time. The indigenous people were the Khoi and San). Approx 100 years later there are 4,5million Whites and 50million Blacks. Apart from the social ills caused by apartheid, this population explosion has also contributed to levels of poverty amongst the Black communities. The ever expanding population and an ever shrinking tax base meant that the rate of infrastructure development was not able to keep up. In South Africa there is now Black nationalism, and minority groups are discriminated against by a racist quota system. Racist social engineering is implemented to ensure that the society reflects the racial demographics: 80% black, 9% “Coloured”, 9% White, and 2%Indian. Approx 6 million registered taxpayers are supporting 60million people. Poverty and crime abound. When you have a so-called “democracy”, it’s all about what the majority wants. And if they want communism (or Sharia), then that’s what you get.