Gates of Vienna News Feed 4/24/2015

Italian police carried out raids against Islamic terrorist networks in several provinces today. The networks were said to be affiliated with Al Qaeda. Among their alleged terror targets was the Vatican, which they planned to bomb.

In other news, Mona Sahlin, the Swedish national coordinator against violent extremism, says that half of Sweden’s municipalities have failed to establish adequate “dialogue” with imams who administer mosques within their jurisdiction.

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

Thanks to Caroline Glick, Fjordman, Insubria, JD, Papa Whiskey, Srdja Trifkovic, Upananda Brahmachari, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.

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

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

Financial Crisis
» Puerto Rico Officials Warn Government Shutdown Imminent
 
USA
» A Teacher’s Perspective on “Every Child Achieves Act of 2015”
» America’s Defense Still Requires Aircraft Carriers
» Christians Will Soon be the Pariah to Eradicate
» Federal Judge Throws Organic Maui Farmers Under the Bus
» Holder’s Corrupt Legacy Lives on in Loretta Lynch
» Hot! Gigantic Magma Reservoir Found Under Yellowstone National Park
» Jeb and Hillary: The Worst of Evils
» Liberal Journalist Tries to Shame Robert Downey Jr. as a Conservative During Interview — Video
» Libertarian Actor Bullied by Liberal Ambush
» Minnesota Senate Approves Gun-Silencer Measure Despite Dayton’s Veto Threat
» Minneapolis Man Charged for Threatening U.S. Attorney General
» Minneapolis Man Accused of Tweeting Photo of FBI Informant, Making Threats
» More Clinton Foundation Cronyism — The Deal to Sell Uranium Interests to Russia While Hillary Was Secretary of State
» Obama and the Brotherhood: The Ties That Bind
» Oklahoma City Bombing Investigation: To Demonize Conservatives, Constitutionalists & Christians
» Researchers Locate Huge Magma Reservoir Beneath Yellowstone
» SPLC Accuses Oath Keepers of Inciting “Armed Confrontation” Over Sugar Pine Mine
» Systemic Police Problems Go Beyond ‘Bad Apples’
» Tension in Court as 4 Minnesota Men Held on Terror Charges
» The Demoralization of the US Military
» The Police Problem is Actually a Progressive Problem
» The U.S. Navy Needs to Radically Reassess How it Projects Power
» Tweeted Threats Against Informant in Minnesota Terror Case, Officials Bring Federal Charges
 
Canada
» Divers Return to Franklin’s HMS Erebus
 
Europe and the EU
» Al-Qaeda Network in Italy Busted, ‘Vatican Attack Planned’
» Bin Laden Allies Suspected of Vatican Plot
» Eurogroup Slams Varoufakis as ‘Time-Waster, Amateur’
» Italian Police Raid Radical Islamist Network
» Italy: Former Priest Arrested on Suspicion of Child Abuse, Porn
» Sweden: Not Enough Dialogue to Combat Extremism
» UK Woman Branded Racist for Bringing Her Muslim Sex Abusers to Justice
» Vikings Were in Denmark Earlier Than Thought
 
Israel and the Palestinians
» Caroline Glick: The New Government’s Greatest Challenge
 
Middle East
» Abandonment of Christian Victims of Genocide Today
» Of Course it Was Genocide
» Ramadi and Obama’s Phony Air War Against ISIS
» Rethinking the Saudi Connection (II)
» Turkey Hosts Battlefield Commemorations on Eve of Gallipoli Centenary
» Up to 40 Swedes Killed While Fighting for IS
 
Russia
» Vladimir Putin: Thanks to Hillary, I Now Own America’s Uranium Future!
 
South Asia
» India: Three Devout Muslims Detained in Agra St Mary’s Church Vandalization
» Islam is Religion of Peace, Says Imam of Kaaba
 
Far East
» What a Send-Off: China’s Funeral Strippers Told to Cover Up
 
Sub-Saharan Africa
» Boko Haram Renames Itself Islamic State in West Africa
» Somalia’s Al-Shabab Kills Man for ‘Insulting Prophet’
» Xenophobic Killing in South African Township Caught by Photographer
 
Immigration
» 120 Mn Euros for Triton, 16 for Poseidon
» Admiral Warns: Potential for Islamist Raids on European Islands
» CBP Wants $134.5m for Anticipated ‘Future Influx’ of Illegal Alien Children
» Migrant Disaster Ship Skipper Faces Judge
» Not War But Surgical Ops Against Traffickers
» Obama and the Media Still Hiding Immigration Agenda
 
Culture Wars
» America the Broken Beacon?
» Hillary on Abortion: ‘Deep-Seated Cultural Codes, Religious Beliefs and Structural Biases Have to be Changed’
» Iceland’s Facebook War Over Sex Education
» Liberals Push to Make Murder Normal
» Stopping the Phony Feminist Rape Riot
 
General
» Google: The Evil Empire
 

Puerto Rico Officials Warn Government Shutdown Imminent

Puerto Rico’s top finance officials said the government of the U.S. territory will likely shutdown in three months because of a looming liquidity crisis and warned of a devastating impact on the island’s economy.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

A Teacher’s Perspective on “Every Child Achieves Act of 2015”

The “Every Child Achieves Act” has passed unanimously out of the Health, Education, Labor, and Pension Committee in the Senate. The usual suspects are singing its praises while the people who actually read all 601 pages of the bill are dreading its implementation. This bill is an affront to everyone who loves children…

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

America’s Defense Still Requires Aircraft Carriers

By Seth Cropsey and Bryan McGrath

Jerry Hendrix of the Center for a New American Security took to the pages of National Review this week (“Drydock Time: The Navy’s Aircraft Carriers Are Yesterday’s Weapons”) to advocate the elimination of the aircraft carrier from the arsenal of the U.S. Navy. A former naval aviator, Hendrix is a serious man and a gifted navalist, so his arguments should be taken seriously. Under scrutiny, however, his logic wilts, his understanding of modern warfare is revealed as unrealistic, and his ability to hone in on actual cause-and-effect relationships is questionable.

Hendrix invests 2,700-plus words in an argument for eliminating the aircraft carrier, yet undercuts himself effectively with only 32: “The same outside observer would also discern where the difficulty with the carrier design lies. The efficacy of the carrier lies not in the ship but in the capabilities of its planes.” This raises the question of whether Hendrix’s target is the aircraft carrier or the weapons system (airplanes) it employs. And while he wishes to ride the wave of notoriety as a notable carrier critic, his argument essentially boils down to this: “The airplanes the carrier employs require it to operate too close to danger. Therefore, we should get rid of carriers.”

This logic ignores seven decades of history and experience in which the airplanes assigned to the carrier have changed dramatically in response to the missions that were asked of the Navy. And while he quite rightly points to the current airwing’s lack of useful range as highly problematic, he fails to note this was itself a choice made by the Navy to reflect the threat environment. When the Berlin Wall fell, there was no power that could check the U.S. Navy at sea, and therefore the carrier could operate much closer to land. Aircraft range as an attribute was deemphasized. Now that there is a rising threat of powers capable of more aggressively targeting the carrier, it will, in some scenarios, have to operate from farther away. If the Navy chooses to build the right airplanes, the carrier will remain central to U.S. power projection.

[A rebuttal to the anti-carrier argument. — PW]

           — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey [Return to headlines]
 

Christians Will Soon be the Pariah to Eradicate

The move of the US and the world is heavily toward ‘internationalism’ and submission to UN-new age and Muslim standards. We have watched Obama lecture the world, and Americans, justifying his illegal and UN Constitutional activities over and over. Remember how Obama marched around Congress, breaching the 1973 War Powers act and throwing us into an illegal and stupid war in Libya? He made sure Gaddafi was conveniently assassinated while arms shipments to Muslim terrorist rebels in Syria were covered up. We were told to bow down to the UN and international demands first not our laws, Congress or reasoning.

The lifeblood of the Obama administration is to attack Christians, parental rights, families and God Himself. Obama and Hillary have been extremely supportive of ‘The Rights of the Child’ convention at the U.N. As usual, on the surface everything sounds so good and reasonable. What is wrong with protecting children from predators around the world and preserving rights? That has been the dressing that Obama and Hillary hide behind for years. It is the farthest thing from the truth.

What is really being protected is the complete and total control and then destruction of the sovereign rights that parents have.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Federal Judge Throws Organic Maui Farmers Under the Bus

Judge backs Monsanto’s conquest of native farmers.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Holder’s Corrupt Legacy Lives on in Loretta Lynch

In a move destined to leave a bitter taste in the mouths of many Americans, the GOP-controlled Senate confirmed Loretta Lynch, currently U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York, as United States Attorney General.

The 56-43 vote occurred after a delay of more than five months, and Lynch was put over the top when 10 Republicans broke ranks with their colleagues to confirm Eric Holder’s successor. Those Republicans are Kelly Ayotte (NH), Orrin Hatch (UT), Lindsey Graham (SC), Susan Collins (ME), Jeff Flake (AZ), Mark Kirk (IL), Rob Portman (OH), Thad Cochran (MS), Ron Johnson (WI) and Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell (KY). “Today, the Senate finally confirmed Loretta Lynch to be America’s next Attorney General—and America will be better off for it,” said President Obama in a statement.

Hardly. As Lynch made painfully clear during her pre-confirmation hearings, she is more than prepared to kick the Constitution to the curb in pursuit of Obama’s agenda, especially with regard to illegal immigration.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Hot! Gigantic Magma Reservoir Found Under Yellowstone National Park

Scientists have detected a gigantic reservoir of hot, partly molten rock deep beneath Yellowstone National Park. The newly discovered magma reservoir is big enough to fill up the Grand Canyon 11 times and is several times larger than the shallower, long-known magma chamber beneath Yellowstone. Researchers on Thursday said they used a technique called seismic tomography to a produce for the first time a complete picture of the volcanic “plumbing system” at Yellowstone, from the Earth’s mantle up to the surface. Yellowstone, which straddles the borders of Wyoming, Idaho and Montana, boasts a remarkable array of geothermal features including geysers, mudpots, steam vents and hot springs. It sits atop a supervolcano that has had three calamitous past eruptions.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Jeb and Hillary: The Worst of Evils

Thus far, the only two Republican candidates who are outside the blessing of the global elite are Ted Cruz and Rand Paul. So, you can mark this down and take it to the bank: the Republican establishment and propaganda media will do everything in their power (which is substantial) to make sure that neither of these men obtain the nomination.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Liberal Journalist Tries to Shame Robert Downey Jr. as a Conservative During Interview — Video

Liberal media elites are threatened by influential celebrities who dare deviate from the cookie cutter political stereotype which compels them to regurgitate “progressive” viewpoints.

That was very much in evidence during an interview with film star Robert Downey Jr. conducted by UK Channel 4’s Krishnan Guru-Murthy.

Guru-Murthy began by talking about the new Avengers movie and Downey Jr.’s role as Iron Man, but the conversation subsequently veered off into what was clearly an attempt to shame Downey Jr. into admitting — God forbid — that he was not a “liberal”.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Libertarian Actor Bullied by Liberal Ambush

David Knight talks with Infowars Reporter Paul Joseph Watson about a recent interview with actor Robert Downey Jr.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Minnesota Senate Approves Gun-Silencer Measure Despite Dayton’s Veto Threat

By J. Patrick Coolican

The DFL-led Minnesota Senate approved a measure legalizing gun silencers Thursday night, risking a showdown with Democratic Gov. Mark Dayton who just hours before sent legislators a letter threatening to veto the provision.

“Nowhere in the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution does it refer to the right to bear a silencer,” Dayton wrote in the letter. “To allow gunshots to be silenced increases the danger to law enforcement officers, and to innocent bystanders.”

Along with the silencer provision, the Senate approved a package of gun rights measures that match similar legislation that passed the House last week.

The silencer issue, which passed 40-23 with bipartisan support, is one that threatens to further divide the Senate and the governor, who issued his first written veto threat of the session over the matter. Already, more than 35 states permit gun silencers and others are considering it.

Gun rights advocates say silencers, also known as suppressors, reduce hearing problems related to loud gunfire and have unfairly gained a bad reputation from Hollywood movies that portray them as ideal tools for stealthy crimes.

Advocates say the devices do not silence but merely reduce gun noise by about 30 decibels; even the smallest firearms create noise of at least 140 decibels, according the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association.

Opponents of the silencers say the sound of gunfire assists police responding to calls and serves as a warning system for residents. They say gun owners worried about hearing loss should wear earplugs instead.

[Gov. Dayton should reconsider. Even when “cans” are legal, those who would own them have to jump through oppressive and expensive federal hoops to do so. The things aren’t going to be used by street hoods. — PW]

           — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey [Return to headlines]
 

Minneapolis Man Charged for Threatening U.S. Attorney General

MINNEAPOLIS (KMSP) A Minneapolis man was arrested by the FBI this afternoon after making threats to kill the U.S. Attorney General and the FBI — his threats were sparked by four Minnesota men recently charged with trying to join ISIS.

During the trial for the four Minnesota terror suspects yesterday, prosecutors said threats had been made against their confidential informant.

On Friday afternoon, the FBI arrested Mahamed Abukar Said, 19, of Minneapolis for making those threats on his Twitter page. In addition, Said tweeted a picture of the confidential informant with the caption, “A snitch n**** that’s that s*** I don’t like!!!” The tweet was visible for a short time, allowing the FBI to capture it by screen shot, and was then removed.

[…]

Here’s a sample of the tweets:

@HafiaJay the Feds are getting two choices. Either they gon free my bros or they gon have a massacre happen then they gon take me too.

— Mahamed Said (@ImMahamed) April 22, 2015

Ima whack that us attorney general

— Mahamed Said (@ImMahamed) April 22, 2015

BEST BELIEVE ILL KILL FOR THOSE GUYS IF THE DONT FREE MY BROTHERS

— Mahamed Said (@ImMahamed) April 22, 2015

[Selfie of this punk shows him in a hoodie, holding a wad of cash. Looks like that boy’s seen a few too many rap videos. — PW]

           — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey [Return to headlines]
 

Minneapolis Man Accused of Tweeting Photo of FBI Informant, Making Threats

By Amy Forliti

A Minneapolis man was charged Friday with threatening law enforcement officials and writing on Twitter that a “massacre” would happen if authorities did not free six Twin Cities men who were arrested earlier this week and accused of trying to travel to Syria to join the Islamic State terrorist group.

According to an FBI affidavit, Mahamed Abukar Said used his Twitter account to threaten to kill a federal law enforcement official and demand that the men be freed. In one tweet on Wednesday, Said wrote, “the Feds are getting two choices. Either they gon free my bros or the gon have a massacre happen then they gon take me too,” the affidavit said.

Said also used Twitter to retaliate against a man who cooperated with authorities, the affidavit said, and posted a picture of the informant on Thursday.

[…]

Court testimony about the use of an informant, along with the judge’s decision to detain the men, prompted angry reaction from some of the roughly 200 local Somalis who attended Thursday’s hearing in St. Paul.

The FBI affidavit in Said’s case says that as Thursday’s hearing was nearing an end, Said tweeted a picture of the informant. A message with that picture contained profanity and called the man a “snitch.” The tweet was visible for a short time before it was removed.

[One must suppose we can be glad that one of the angry Somalis was dim enough to vent his spleen on the Internet. But what are the rest up to? — PW]

           — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey [Return to headlines]
 

More Clinton Foundation Cronyism — The Deal to Sell Uranium Interests to Russia While Hillary Was Secretary of State

As the Russians gradually assumed control of Uranium One in three separate transactions from 2009 to 2013, Canadian records show, a flow of cash made its way to the Clinton Foundation. Uranium One’s chairman used his family foundation to make four donations totaling $2.35 million. Those contributions were not publicly disclosed by the Clintons, despite an agreement Mrs. Clinton had struck with the Obama White House to publicly identify all donors. Other people with ties to the company made donations as well.

And shortly after the Russians announced their intention to acquire a majority stake in Uranium One, Mr. Clinton received $500,000 for a Moscow speech from a Russian investment bank with links to the Kremlin that was promoting Uranium One stock.

Whether the donations played any role in the approval of the uranium deal is unknown. But the episode underscores the special ethical challenges presented by the Clinton Foundation, headed by a former president who relied heavily on foreign cash to accumulate $250 million in assets even as his wife helped steer American foreign policy as secretary of state, presiding over decisions with the potential to benefit the foundation’s donors. From the New York Times article: Cash Flowed to Clinton Foundation as Russians Pressed for Control of Uranium Company

If you looked at the U.S. economy under a microscope, what you’d see is a gigantic cancerous blob of cronyism surrounded by tech startups and huge prisons. If you zeroed in on the cancerous tumor, at the nucleus you’d see a network of crony institutions like the Federal Reserve, intelligence agencies, TBTF Wall Street banks and defense contractors. Pretty close to that, you’d probably find the Clinton Foundation. A veritable clearinghouse for cronyism masquerading as a charity.

This year has seen a great deal of investigative work on the shadiness of the Clinton Foundation, much of which has been highlighted here at Liberty Blitzkrieg. Here’s the tally so far:

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Obama and the Brotherhood: The Ties That Bind

Why exactly did the Egyptian media claim that Obama is a member of the Muslim Brotherhood?

In 2013, Egyptian media claimed President Barack Obama is a member of the Muslim Brotherhood (MB). Leading the charge was Tahani al-Gebali, Vice President of the Supreme Constitutional Court in Egypt. He spoke on a TV program, Bitna al-Kibir, insisting there would a time when a number of conspiracies against his nation would be exposed, including why Obama’s support of the Brotherhood remained steadfast, even as they became despised by Egyptians themselves. The most damning indictment? “Obama’s brother is one of the architects of investment for the international organization of the Muslim Brotherhood,” al-Gebali declared.

The brother to whom al-Gebali referred is Obama’s half brother Malik Obama. He has been under investigation by Egyptian authorities for his ties to the Islamic Da’wa Organization (IDO), an entity created by the Sudanese Government. That government has been on the State Department’s list of of designated terror sponsors since 1993.

IDO’s agenda is all about spreading the virulent Wahhabist strain of Islam across Africa, and Malik has operated as the IDO’s Executive Secretary. In 2010 he not only attended the IDO’s conference in the Sudanese capitol of Khartoum, he supervised it, insisted journalists Walid Shoebat and Ben Barrack. That conference was also attended by Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for crimes against humanity. Malik’s boss, IDO Chairman Suar Al Dahab also attended. That would be the same Suar Al Dahab photographed together with Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, and the MB’s spiritual leader, Yusuf Al-Qaradawi.

Shoebat and Barrack address “naysayers” who argue that President Obama shouldn’t be held accountable for his brother’s actions. “Those who make such charges encounter problems because Barack and his brother are very close. Each was the best man at the other’s wedding and Malik has made multiple visits to the White House,” they explain…

As for the MSOF, it was revealed in 2012 by Shoebat that the bulk of its funding “goes not to widows and orphans but to provide scholarships to study Shariah at the most influential Wahhabist centers in Saudi Arabia.” “It’s all a jihadi Kenyan scam,” he continued. “And it’s not as though President Obama is unaware of his Kenyan family workings, since Musa on Al-Jazeera disclosed that President Obama’s favorite uncle, Sayid Hussein Obama, was selected by Obama and by the family in Kenya to act as the main conduit in relaying the family’s activities to the White House.“ Sayid accompanied Obama’s grandmother to the president’s 2009 inauguration.

[Comment: Read it all.]

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Oklahoma City Bombing Investigation: To Demonize Conservatives, Constitutionalists & Christians

The evil transcends political parties and presidents, permeates within our executive, legislative and judicial branches, and is fanatically embraced by the fourth estate.

The official account of the Oklahoma City bombing is flawed at best, or deliberately deceptive at worst. I can write from a position of intimate knowledge and authority, for I was given the unique privilege by Ms. Davis to investigate her claims within the covers of her book, The Third Terrorist. Based on my exhaustive research of her own tireless investigation, using her raw and unredacted findings she developed in the hours, days, weeks and months after the bombing, I can authoritatively state that her work has withstood numerous examinations, cross-examinations, and other assaults that few other works could. That, however, was never the issue.

Without reservation and armed with substantial proof, I can state with absolute certainty that Middle Eastern terrorists were involved and interwoven throughout this horrific bombing event. This bombing was never the result of some right-wing fanatics to avenge government overreach, although that’s exactly what the government and media want you to believe. Well, you are being lied to, and the lie permeates the ideological landscape of today.

It is vital to point out that it is not my intent to discount, limit or minimize a much larger plot that Ms. Davis leaves the reader to address. In fact, Ms. Davis’ work actually makes the case for the foreknowledge of not just an attack on America’s heartland, but the foreknowledge of the 9/11 attacks. She documents the occasions where critical information relevant to not just the Oklahoma City bombing, but a future attack was offered to our intelligence agencies but was ignored by the FBI, claimed lost, or outright refused.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Researchers Locate Huge Magma Reservoir Beneath Yellowstone

A new look underneath the supervolcano that spans much of Yellowstone National Park has revealed massive reservoir of magma and hot rocks.

Researchers discovered the reservoir while imaging the insides of the supervolcano using a technique called seismic tomography. The images don’t reveal an increased risk of eruption, but they do offer scientists a better understanding of the inner workings of a supervolcano.

“For the first time, we have imaged the continuous volcanic plumbing system under Yellowstone,” lead study author Hsin-Hua Huang, a researcher in geology and geophysics at the University of Utah, said in a press release. “That includes the upper crustal magma chamber we have seen previously plus a lower crustal magma reservoir that has never been imaged before and that connects the upper chamber to the Yellowstone hotspot plume below.”

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

SPLC Accuses Oath Keepers of Inciting “Armed Confrontation” Over Sugar Pine Mine

The Southern Poverty Law Center has accused Oath Keepers of inciting an armed confrontation with BLM authorities over the Sugar Pine Mine dispute in Oregon, despite the fact that the organization has explicitly stated that it is not promoting armed confrontation with the feds…

The SPLC, the well-heeled propaganda machine that smears conservatives for cash, is an integral part of the ongoing Leftist effort to demonize and destroy legitimate conservative voices,” writes Robert Spencer, adding, “The SPLC turns a blind eye to the real hate that comes from the Left and Islamic supremacists, and offers with its hate group listings not only an incitement to violence, but a handy tool that lazy Leftist mainstream media journalists use to try to intimidate people away from supporting our message of human rights.”

Supported by wealthy donors such as George Soros, the SPLC makes vast amounts of money by conflating genuine extremist groups with conservative organizations in order to smear any influential political outfit that does not espouse the SPLC’s brand of leftist dogma.

“It is so fabulously wealthy that it stashes money in Bermuda and the Cayman Islands, two of those tax haven countries the Left keeps complaining about. In addition to those foreign accounts, in its most recent publicly available tax return the SPLC discloses an absolutely astounding $238.1 million in net assets,” writes Matthew Vadum.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Systemic Police Problems Go Beyond ‘Bad Apples’

When enough Americans realize the systemic police problem, politics will change — laws will change — the system will change. Republicans will not get elected on a “tough on crime” mantra. Democrats will not be allowed to give only lip service to protecting the poor. True politicians will disdain the dangers of a legal and judicial system that encourages and protects “bad apples” and do something to correct it.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Tension in Court as 4 Minnesota Men Held on Terror Charges

by Amy Forliti

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Attorneys for four Minnesota men accused of trying to travel to Syria to join the Islamic State group questioned the government’s use of a paid informant, and argued Thursday that the case against their clients is slim.

But U.S. Magistrate Judge Becky Thorson found there was probable cause to believe a crime was committed, and ordered the four men to remain in custody while the case proceeds.

They are among six men of Somali descent who were charged over the weekend with conspiracy to support a foreign terrorist organization and with attempting to support a foreign terrorist organization. Authorities allege some of the men made repeated attempts to get to Syria, and had developed a plot to get fake passports and travel overseas through Mexico.

[…]

In ordering the four men detained, Thorson said she was looking at the weight of the evidence and other factors. Her ruling prompted one community member in the courtroom to shout: “You cannot weight anything but evidence, ma’am. We are the community! You should ask us!” He was led from the courtroom.

The hearing was tense for Somali community members. Afterward, Imam Hassan Mohamud said the community is angry, and some blame the informant. He criticized a Department of Justice pilot program designed to stop recruiting for terror groups before it starts, saying it will cause division.

“Some members of the community are looking @ other members of the community (as) spying to each other and sending them, their kids, to jail,” Mohamud said. “That’s why they are all angry.”

[…]

About 200 people from the Somali community packed the courtroom Thursday, plus an overflow room and spilled into the hallway.

As the hearing began, Docherty told the court that several attempts had been made to contact the informant or members of his family, and there had been “ugly behavior” on social media. Docherty warned that such activities could lead to prosecution.

[They’re all lathered up because the informant violated the kind of solidarity propounded in a speech at Columbia University on Sept. 18, 2008, by Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, then Secretary General of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (now Cooperation): The Muslim Ummah, means the ‘community of the faithful’. It is a unique bond that has no similar example under any other political or religious system in the world. It is a belonging to ideals which bring Muslims together in an eternal brotherhood lock which transcends all other consideration of allegiance or loyalties or barriers of nationhood, ethnicity, geography or language. Ummah uber alles! — PW]

           — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey [Return to headlines]
 

The Demoralization of the US Military

Jakari Jackson reports on the desecration of United States military veterans as the government increases its persecution.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

The Police Problem is Actually a Progressive Problem

While some of the stories that have come out about police brutality and police overreach have clearly been invented or exaggerated by the Left for the purposes of inflaming racial tensions and undermining American civic stability, there are nevertheless a large number of incidents in recent years which cannot simply be wishcast away. The warrantless, no-knock, early morning, heavily armed SWAT raid for even the most minor of things is becoming the norm all across America. Though many on the Right want to make excuses or attribute the increasing prevalence of these types of incidents to “a few bad apples,” the fact of the matter is that the “policing problem” is becoming obvious enough that concern about it is no longer confined to a few “fringe” libertarian or “anti-police” sites, but is being recognized by more mainstream conservative outlets. Police militarization (which is as much an issue of mindset as it is of equipment), heavy-handedness, and bureaucratization are leading to a situation where America is beginning to look less and less like the land of the free, and more and more like an authoritarian police state.

This is apparent from the news we see coming out of Wisconsin about the “John Doe” investigations conducted by hyper-partisan opponents of Scott Walker. In a plain and obvious effort to silence and intimidate conservatives and other supporters of Scott Walker, Milwaukee district attorney John Chisholm used the extraordinary (and soon to be found unconstitutional) powers granted by declaring an investigation a “John Doe” case. “John Doe” investigations, under Wisconsin law, allow prosecutors to bypass the usual grand jury requirements, replacing empanelled citizens with a “supervising judge” (who, in this case, was also a hyper-partisan Democrat opponent of Scott Walker). The prosecutor is also allowed to keep targets of the investigation a secret, and said targets are restrained by gag orders from speaking to anyone—even friends or neighbors—about anything that has happened to them during the investigation. If this sounds like the perfect set up for a star chamber, then you know human nature better than many.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

The U.S. Navy Needs to Radically Reassess How it Projects Power

By Jerry Hendrix

A battle of the hawks is raging on Capitol Hill. Defense hawks say the nation’s security will be endangered if the caps imposed under the 2011 Budget Control Act aren’t lifted, allowing for more defense spending. Fiscal hawks assert with equal vehemence that the nation’s long-term economic health — the foundation for all government activities, including defense — will be permanently harmed if burgeoning deficits and debts are not addressed. Defense hawks argue for a massive investment to maintain the United States’ position as the world’s strongest power. Fiscal hawks argue for innovative improvements in efficiency to sustain U.S. leadership.

This argument as it regards the U.S. Navy is taking place with special vigor. The budget will have serious consequences for the size of the fleet and its ability to maintain combat readiness, which in turn will have consequences for U.S. strategy. If the Navy wants to address its budget crisis, its falling ship count, its atrophying strategic position, and the problem of its now-marginal combat effectiveness — and reassert its traditional dominance of the seas — it should embrace technological innovation and increase its efficiency.

In short: It needs to stop building aircraft carriers.

[An interesting article, arguing that the flattops are too vulnerable, too expensive, and too personnel-intensive. — PW]

           — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey [Return to headlines]
 

Tweeted Threats Against Informant in Minnesota Terror Case, Officials Bring Federal Charges

By Randy Furst

A man who made death threats on Twitter against federal law enforcement officials in connection with the prosecution of six Minneapolis men charged with trying to join the Islamic State in Syria was charged Friday afternoon in federal court in Minneapolis.

Mahamed Abukar Said was charged with two criminal counts for threatening “to assault and murder a Federal law enforcement officer.”

The complaints said he posted on Twitter a photo of the government’s confidential informant in the case and threatened federal prosecutors.

Included in the federal complaint filed Friday were copies of Said’s alleged tweets, including one that said, “Ima whack that us attorney general.”

[And this city is one of the models for the administration to stem what it euphemistically terms “violent extremism.” Note the use of gangsta argot. Isn’t immigrant assimilation wonderful? — PW]

           — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey [Return to headlines]
 

Divers Return to Franklin’s HMS Erebus

NUNAVUT, CANADA—Bad weather has cut the latest expedition to HMS Erebus, the flagship of the lost Franklin Expedition to find the Northwest Passage, from ten days to five. Divers from Parks Canada and the Royal Canadian Navy descended through triangular-shaped holes in the ice to the wreck, which was abandoned by Franklin’s crew in 1848. So far the team has seen at least one sailor’s boot and a cannon lying next to the vessel. Flora Davidson, a Parks Canada conservator, watched the video feed from cameras on the divers’ masks and made plans for the cannon in case it can be lifted.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Al-Qaeda Network in Italy Busted, ‘Vatican Attack Planned’

Islamist extremists had direct links to Bin Laden

(ANSA) — Cagliari, April 24 — Wiretaps from an al-Qaeda cell in Sardinia showed there was a suicide bomber in Italy and possible plans to attack the Vatican, investigators told a press conference Friday. Italian police launched a massive operation on Friday after uncovering an alleged al-Qaeda network based in Italy. Raids were carried out in seven Italian provinces after 18 arrest warrants were issued following a probe by prosecutors in the Sardinian city of Cagliari. The operation targeted Islamist extremists linked to several acts of terrorism and sabotage in Pakistan, including an attack on a Peshawar market in October 2009 in which over 200 people died. Among the suspects were two members of a network that protected late al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden in Pakistan.

Furthermore, the Italian al-Qaeda network had direct contact with Bin Laden, Cagliari police said Friday on the basis of wiretaps.

The group could count on plenty of weapons and several followers willing to carry out attacks in Pakistan and Afghanistan and then return to Italy, prosecutors suspect. The Vatican said Friday it was not worried by the reports of a possible plot to attack the Holy See by al-Qaeda affiliates in Italy because “from the little that they’ve said, it seems to be a hypothesis from 2010 that had no follow-up”.

Vatican Spokesman Father Federico Lombardi told ANSA: “therefore the thing is not relevant today and is not reason for particular concern”.

The possible attack may have been foiled by a search of one of the al-Qaeda affiliates’ homes in Italy in March 2010, police in Cagliari said.

Two Pakistani suicide bombers had just arrived in Rome, and almost at the same time police carried out searches, spurring the organisation to tell the pair it was time for them to get out of the city — one to Olbia in Sardinia and the other to Bergamo north of Milan.

During a subsequent search of the home of the head of Olbia’s Islamic community, police said, a piece of paper was found with a ‘martyr’s vow” by one of the terrorists, police said.

The jihadist network was also involved in people trafficking, with Pakistanis and Afghans illegally smuggled into Italy as a port of entry for them to go on to northern Europe, investigators allege.

Their arrival was allegedly made possible with the help of entrepreneurs who provided fake job contracts.

In other cases, the network allegedly supplied fake documents to show that the migrants were the victims of ethnic or religious persecution. It also allegedly provided logistical and financial support to the migrants, including telephones and assistance with the documentation to request political asylum. Investigators believe that an imam and Koran teacher who worked in the areas of the northern cities of Brescia and Bergamo was in charge of raising funds for attacks in Pakistan. In one case, investigators say they traced a transfer for 55,268 euros via a flight for Islamabad from Rome’s Fiumicino airport. “I give my congratulations to our anti-terrorism and police officers and magistrates for the extraordinary operation which made it possible to dismantle a network of human traffickers and (arrest) people accused of terrorism,” said Interior Minister Angelino Alfano.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Bin Laden Allies Suspected of Vatican Plot

Italian police said on Friday they had dismantled an Islamist network they have linked to Osama bin Laden, one of Pakistan’s deadliest attacks and, more loosely, a possible plot to bomb the Vatican.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Eurogroup Slams Varoufakis as ‘Time-Waster, Amateur’

‘Time running out’ says Draghi

(ANSA) — Rome, April 24 — Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis was allegedly slammed as “a time-waster, a gambler and an amateur” by counterparts from the Eurogroup in Riga, Latvia, over his strategy in negotiations with international creditors, Bloomberg reported Friday, quoting sources close to the meeting.

Greece is veering perilously close to default.

“Time is running out, speed is essential” European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said after the Eurogroup meeting.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italian Police Raid Radical Islamist Network

Italian police say they have been carrying out raids against an armed Islamist organization. A chief prosecutor said the Vatican may have been among the group’s intended targets.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Former Priest Arrested on Suspicion of Child Abuse, Porn

Investigations reveal ‘horrifying scenario’, prosecutors say

(ANSA) — Bari, April 23 — Police on Thursday arrested a former priest on suspicion of repeated child abuse and the production and distribution of pornographic material involving an 11-year-old boy.

The alleged abuse took place in a small town in the province of Foggia in Italy’s southern Puglia region between 2013 and 2014, after Giovanni Trotta, 55, had been relieved of his priestly functions.

Investigations began after the child’s parents reported the alleged abuse.

In a statement prosecutors said a search of Trotta’s home last November “shed light on a horrifying scenario” involving the commission by the suspect of “serious crimes against childhood”. The probe also revealed that the suspect had been banned from contact with children attending the local parish church and from providing any form of religious instruction to prepubescents and that he had been investigated previously for circulating child porn. On Thursday police also searched premises in the Lazio city of Rieti connected to a person to whom the former priest sent child pornographic material involving the boy.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Sweden: Not Enough Dialogue to Combat Extremism

Nearly half of Sweden’s municipalities are failing to keep up a dialogue with mosques and religious associations about violent extremism, Swedish Radio News reports.

Swedish Radio’s P4 Sörmland station spoke with several imams in the towns of Eskilstuna, Nyköping and Flen who said they have not been contacted by their respective municipalities regarding collaborations against violent extremism.

Mona Sahlin — the national coordinator against violent extremism — said that while half of municipalities are failing in this respect, the other half have established initiatives where religious communities and civil society do play important roles.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

UK Woman Branded Racist for Bringing Her Muslim Sex Abusers to Justice

Britain is a desperately ill society. How can it recover? Only by resolutely and on a massive scale rejecting and repudiating the mindset and ethos that gave rise to this. By removing people like the execrable race-baiters who are responsible for this, such as Nick Lowles and Fiyaz Mughal, from all positions of power and influence. By emphasizing that all people in Britain would be held to the same law, and that Muslims would no longer be a privileged class.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Vikings Were in Denmark Earlier Than Thought

New research from Aarhus University has suggested that the Viking Age began around 70 years before the first raid on England.

The dawn of the Viking Age may have been much earlier — and less violent — than previously believed.

The start of the Viking Age has been dated to a June 793 raid by Norwegian Vikings on Lindisfarne off the coast of England. But new research from archaeologists at the University of Aarhus and the University of York show that Vikings were travelling from Norway to the vital trading centre in Ribe on Denmak’s west coast as early as 725.

See also: Denmark’s oldest town even older than thought

“This is the first time we have proof that seafaring culture, which was the basis for the Viking era, has a history in Ribe. It’s fascinating,” Søren Sindbæk, a professor at the University of Aarhus and one of the others of a new study, told ScienceNordic.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Caroline Glick: The New Government’s Greatest Challenge

In testimony last week before the House committee in charge of State Department funding, US Ambassador to the UN Samantha Power acknowledged that the Obama administration intends to abandon the US’s 50 year policy of supporting Israel at the United Nations.

After going through the tired motions of pledging support for Israel, “when it matters,” Power refused to rule out the possibility that the US would support anti-Israel resolutions in the UN Security Council to limit Israeli sovereignty and control to the lands within the 1949 armistice lines — lines that are indefensible.

Such a move will be taken, she indicated, in order to midwife the establishment of a terrorist-supporting Palestinian state whose supposedly moderate leadership does not recognize Israel’s right to exist, calls daily for its destruction, and uses the UN to delegitimize the Jewish state.

In other words, the Obama administration intends to pin Israel into indefensible borders while establishing a state committed to its destruction.

In about a week, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s new government will be sworn in. The new government will have no grace period before it will be called upon to forge and implement policies to lead Israel through perhaps the most trying time in its history.

Clearly, developing the means to cope with our deteriorating relations with the US is one of the most urgent issues on the agenda. But it is not the only issue requiring the attention of our leaders…

           — Hat tip: Caroline Glick [Return to headlines]
 

Abandonment of Christian Victims of Genocide Today

President Obama is quick to condemn acts he considers to be demonstrations of Islamophobia. However, he remains on the sidelines while the genocide of Christians goes on unabated during our lifetime.

The world is witnessing the horrific genocide of Christians, reminiscent of the genocide of Armenian Christians that began this month one hundred years ago. The Vatican has estimated that “more than 100,000 Christians are violently killed because of some relation to their faith every year.” Three Christians a minute are being murdered. As many as 100-150 million Christians are being persecuted.

Statistics alone do not tell the whole story of the toll of human suffering the Islamic genocide of Christians is exacting. The horrific killings include, for example, four Iraqi Christian children, who were beheaded for refusing to say that they would follow the Prophet Muhammad and for telling their ISIS captors that they will always “love” and “follow” Jesus.

ISIS is literally wiping out ancient Christian communities in Iraq and Syria, torching churches, killing and raping the inhabitants and forcing others to convert or flee for their lives.

Egyptian Coptic Christians and Ethiopian Christians were beheaded by ISIS jihadists in Libya, all shown to the world on video.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Of Course it Was Genocide

By Mark Krikorian

I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast — Revelation 20:4

The caliphate wages jihad against Christians. Victims are beheaded, crucified, and burned alive. Christian girls are sold into slavery. Centuries-old monuments are destroyed by jihadis. These events are ripped from the headlines — of 1915.

Friday marks the 100th anniversary of the start of the Armenian Genocide. On April 24, 1915, the Ottoman Caliphate launched a “decapitation strike” against the Armenian people by arresting and killing hundreds of their intellectual, political, religious, and business leaders in Constantinople, so as to make organized resistance impossible. That done, the extermination campaign began in earnest in the following weeks.

More than 1 million Armenians were murdered, along with large numbers of Christian Assyrians and Greeks, with the goal of engineering a Christenrein Anatolia. The remainder would have been killed as well — and the very name “Armenia” relegated to historical atlases, like Babylonia or Gaul — had not makeshift Armenian forces defeated the Ottomans trying to finish the job in the formerly Russian-occupied sliver of Armenia in 1918, after the withdrawal of Russian forces following the Bolshevik coup d’état six months earlier.

Among the survivors was my maternal grandmother; most of her family was killed, but as a 15-year-old girl, she was sold into slavery, managing to escape later. My other three grandparents were already here, but their families were not heard from again.

The parallel with today’s depredations by ISIS’s so-called caliphate and other jihadists is not coincidental. Andrew Bostom points to what happened to the Armenians as an example of “jihad genocide,” traditional jihad “adapted to the conditions of modern warfare.” Bat Ye’or has written, “The genocide of the Armenians was a jihad,” adding that it was “the natural outcome of a policy inherent in the politico-religious structure of dhimmitude.”

[Be it noted that much of the staff work — planning, logistics, etc. — of the Ottoman army of 1915 was done by senior officers of the German army such as Lieutenant General Hans von Seeckt, later to become the architect of the post-World War I force that formed the nucleus of Hitler’s Wehrmacht. Commenting on the annihilation of the Armenians, Von Seeckt airily declared that “The requirements of the war made it necessary that Christian, sentimental, and political considerations simply vanish.” — PW]

           — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey [Return to headlines]
 

Ramadi and Obama’s Phony Air War Against ISIS

Obama is keeping both of America’s arms tied behind its back. Under his leadership, we’re no sleeping giant — we’re downright comatose.

The Obama Administration continues to show complete incompetence in dealing with ISIS. Case in point: It’s decided that Ramadi, the capital of Anbar Province in western Iraq, is expendable—thereby showing it understands nothing about the value of the city or even its own capacity to defend it.

The reason? According to Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Martin Dempsey, Obama is emphasizing defending a refinery in the same province to protect the oil supplies. As if we couldn’t do both—and then some.

For the past eight months, the Administration has settled for little more than jabs when it could have landed flurries of punishing roundhouse blows. According to the latest 24-hour report Defense Department report, the U.S. launched just 36 airstrikes against ISIS in both Iraq and Syria. That’s actually much higher than normal. But nevertheless equals about one per fighter-bomber aboard the U.S. carrier normally stationed in the Persian Gulf, each of which can fly several sorties daily.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Rethinking the Saudi Connection (II)

by Srdja Trifkovic | April 24, 2015

The Saudi military intervention in Yemen was launched, according to Riyadh, to “restore the legitimate government” and protect the “Yemeni constitution and elections.” This sudden desire to fight for constitutions and elections sounds odd, coming from an absolute monarchy which is consistently combating efforts at democratization at home or in its neighborhood.

As Ali Alahmed, once the youngest political prisoner in Saudi Arabia (at 14) explained in a CNN commentary on April 12, the real Saudi objective in Yemen reflects its determination to prevent the rise of any popularly supported government in the region. The U.S. has adopted the Saudi-Gulf narrative on Yemen, effectively placing Saudi ambitions to control that country above previous American priority of destroying al Qaeda’s safe haven there. This was underscored when State Department spokesperson Jen Psaki endorsed Saudi bombing (the “Saudis have legitimate concerns about the possible impact of current events in Yemen on their security”), thus implying that any country “concerned” about its neighbors can bomb them. “[T]he excuse of ‘resisting Iran’s influence,’ meanwhile, appears to be nothing but sectarian bluster,” Alahmed concludes. “By supporting a self-interested Saudi campaign, the U.S. may actually empower an al Qaeda with the potential still to do great harm to the United States.”

This view is shared by a number of U.S. special forces and Special Operations Command (SOCOM) officers, who oppose American support for the Saudi-led intervention because its target, “the Shia Houthi movement — which has taken over much of Yemen and which Riyadh accuses of being a proxy for Tehran — has been an effective counter to Al-Qaeda.” Michael Horton, a Yemen expert who has previously consulted the U.S. and U.K. governments, told Al-Jazeera on April 17 that he was “confounded” by the intervention, noting that many in SOCOM “favor the Houthis, as they have been successful in rolling back [Al-Qaeda] and now IS [Islamic State] from a number of Yemeni governorates,” which hundreds of U.S. drone strikes and large numbers of advisers on the ground had failed to accomplish:

           — Hat tip: Srdja Trifkovic [Return to headlines]
 

Turkey Hosts Battlefield Commemorations on Eve of Gallipoli Centenary

Turkey has begun to host a series of events remembering the Battle of Gallipoli. The wasteful World War One Allied offensive remains particularly emblematic for Australia and New Zealand, as well as modern Turkey.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Up to 40 Swedes Killed While Fighting for IS

As many as 40 Swedish citizens have died while fighting for terrorist group IS in Syria and Iraq, new figures from Swedish intelligence service Säpo show.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Vladimir Putin: Thanks to Hillary, I Now Own America’s Uranium Future!

Questions keep arising daily about the largest deposit-only ATM machine in the world: The Clinton Foundation.

Just as the Clinton Foundation is refiling its taxes for the last five years, possibly ten, after having been exposed, we hear that Hillary Clinton expects to raise an unheard record $2.5 billion for her presidential run. With new scandals hitting the headlines daily, the left is circling the wagons around Hillary in their best attempt to not report this story. What you’ll read next is about the woman the progressive left presents to the American people as its viable presidential candidate, the person who represents the political left’s values and principles.

Sources reveal allegations about the Clintons self-enriching through the sale of political influence at the expense of America’s national security. These recall earlier stories now confirmed: the Clintons selling of missile secrets to the Chinese. Behind these curtain calls emerging chapters raise the curtains again to reveal how the largest North American uranium refiners’ executives brazenly funneled money to the Clintons and their cohorts (calling it “charity” and taking tax deductions for it) while enriching a potential enemy of the United States with billions.

This group of American and Canadian investors and executives first built, and then sold off to (whom Mitt Romney correctly identified during the presidential debates, as America’s primary nuclear-armed enemy), the Russians, the largest and most productive North American uranium mining enterprise.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

India: Three Devout Muslims Detained in Agra St Mary’s Church Vandalization

HENB | Agra | April 23, 2015:: Agra police on Wednesday detained three Muslim men on suspicion that they were involved in vandalizing St Mary’s Church at Pratappura in the cantonment area of the city on April 16. Police has been tracking some mobile numbers after having some call records connected with the Church vandalization.

The SSP of Agra, Mr. Rajesh Modak said the three men, identified right now only as Nasir, Zafar and Zaffaruddin, and all between 30-35 years, had been held as they were present in the area at the time of the incident, but could not satisfactorily explain what they were doing there. Their cell phones had recorded their location.

The accused confessed to be around the church on the night of the crime and could not provide an appropriate reason for their presence there, he said.

However, family members of the accused refuted the police claims and said that they were returning from a shopping exhibition at Ram Lila ground on the day of the incident.

           — Hat tip: Upananda Brahmachari [Return to headlines]
 

Islam is Religion of Peace, Says Imam of Kaaba

Islamabad — The Imam of Holy Kaaba, Sheikh Khalid Al Ghamdi, who flew into Lahore on Thursday led Juma prayers at Bahria Town Masjid, one of the largest mosques in the world. He was warmly received by Bahria chief Malik Riaz Hussain.

Al Ghamdi is visiting Pakistan on an invitation by the government.

In his address, the imam said, “Islam is a religion of peace, love and compassion. There is no place for violence and coercion in Islam. Those indulging in violence are distorting the image of Islam.”

[But not its reality. — PW]

           — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey [Return to headlines]
 

What a Send-Off: China’s Funeral Strippers Told to Cover Up

In rural China, hiring exotic dancers to perform at wakes is an increasingly common practice, but is now the latest focus of the country’s crackdown on vice.

Strippers are invited to perform at funerals, often at great expense, to attract more mourners, China’s official Xinhua news agency said.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Boko Haram Renames Itself Islamic State in West Africa

According to reports, Boko Haram has changed its name to ‘Islamic State in West Africa.’

The group is said to have released new photos of its members and announced its new name, BBC Africa reports.

Boko Haram pledged its allegiance to fellow terrorist group, Islamic State (ISIS) in March 2015.

ISIS accepted the pledge and encouraged members to extend operations to West Africa.

Meanwhile, the Nigerian military has said that the terrorists within the country have run out of arms and ammunition.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Somalia’s Al-Shabab Kills Man for ‘Insulting Prophet’

The Somali Islamist movement al-Shabab has for the first time publicly killed a man for “insulting the prophet Muhammed”, witnesses have told the BBC.

Crowds watched as the man was shot by a firing squad in the southern town of Jamame in the Lower Juba region.

A BBC Somali service repoter says al-Shabab have previously killed people accused of spying or apostasy.

Last month al-Shabab carried out an attack on Garissa College in neighbouring Kenya, killing 148 people.

The Islamist group controls large swathes of rural Somalia.

Witnesses say that the man was shot by firing squad after he pleaded guilty in a Sharia court trial.

[Is “shari’a” Arabic for “kangaroo”? — PW]

           — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey [Return to headlines]
 

Xenophobic Killing in South African Township Caught by Photographer

Johannesburg (CNN)He checked the series of stills on his camera. It was then that photographer James Oatway realized the entire attack had taken less than two minutes.

It was the morning after a night of unrest in Johannesburg’s Alexandra Township that saw foreign-owned shops looted and destroyed.

Mozambican Emmanuel Sithole was walking down a street when four South Africans surrounded him. Sithole pleaded for mercy, but it was already too late. The attackers bludgeoned him with a wrench, stabbed him with knives, all in broad daylight. And Oatway had captured it all on his camera.

“They looked like hardened thugs, just by their intensity, the way they moved, the expressions on their faces,” Oatway told CNN. “They wanted one thing and that was to kill Emmanuel. They wanted his blood and nothing was going to stop them from doing that.”

[Hooray for “Rainbow Nation”! — PW]

           — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey [Return to headlines]
 

120 Mn Euros for Triton, 16 for Poseidon

Funds tripled by EU summit

(ANSA) — Brussels, April 24 — EU-Italian patrol and rescue operation will have a budget of around 120 million euros a year for 2015 and 2016 after a special EU migrant summit decided to triple its cash, EU sources said Friday. The EU-Greek Poseidon will get around 16 million a year, they said. The summit was called at Italy’s request after the worst-ever migrant boat disaster, in which over 700 people died off Libya last weekend.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Admiral Warns: Potential for Islamist Raids on European Islands

The security situation in the Mediterranean will continue to deteriorate to the point where we can expect Islamist raids on European islands, a recently retired Royal Navy Admiral has told Breitbart London.

Rear Admiral Chris Parry CBE, the straight-talking former Director General of the Ministry of Defence Development, Concepts, and Doctrine Centre, the government body tasked with foreseeing future strategic threats, made the comments in an interview this week as European nations gathered to discuss the sudden migrant crisis gripping the Mediterranean.

Parry, who warned in a government paper in 1990 that Islam would replace Communism as the main threat against the West and accurately predicted the collapse of African and Arab nations during the so-called ‘Arab Spring’, told Breitbart London he regretted the government was only taking action now, and had not heeded his warning earlier. The Falklands veteran said his warnings were ignored in 2006 when he wrote a major paper on future threats, as the Labour government of the day deemed speaking about Immigration as racist.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

CBP Wants $134.5m for Anticipated ‘Future Influx’ of Illegal Alien Children

U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) included $134.5 million in “contingency” funding in its budget request for Fiscal Year 2016 to deal with a “future influx” of up to 104,000 unaccompanied alien children, or “UCs,” who may cross the border into the United States illegally next year.

CBP Commissioner Richard Gil Kerlikowske defended the request during a hearing before the House Appropriations’ Homeland Security Subcommittee on Thursday as providing “additional resources” for CBP in the event of another flood of illegal aliens, which he warned could be coming.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Migrant Disaster Ship Skipper Faces Judge

The Tunisian captain of a migrant boat in which at least 700 people drowned was to learn on Friday what charges he will face over the deadly disaster.

Mohammed Ali Malek, 27, appeared before a judge in the Sicilian city of Catania after being accused by prosecutors of causing the tragedy.

The 20-metre former fishing boat which Malek was in charge of capsized and sank off Libya in the early hours of Sunday after a collision with a container ship that had answered a distress call.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Not War But Surgical Ops Against Traffickers

‘Make people traffickers’ lives impossible’

(ANSA) — Brussels, April 22 — Sources said Wednesday the EU is mulling “surgical operations” to prevent people trafficking across the Mediterranean. “It won’t be war, but surgical actions,” the sources said. “We (must) take seriously Premier Matteo Renzi’s proposed destruction of traffickers’ boats before they are put to use.

This is one area we’re focusing on”. Also on the agenda at Thursday’s emergency EU summit will be other ways to “destroy traffickers’ business model (and) make their lives impossible”, the sources said.

This includes using Europol to hunt down and destroy “Internet content and materials traffickers use to attract migrants”.

As well, the sources said the summit will likely decide to double the budget for its Triton sea mission and widen its “range of action” — but without changing its mandate.

The Triton operation, run by the EU border agency Frontex, took over from Italy’s bigger and better-funded Mare Nostrum search-and-rescue operation last November.

But it was given a different mandate from Mare Nostrum, focusing on border security rather than search and rescue.

Critics have slammed Operation Triton as failing to meet the rescue demands of the thousands of people pouring into Europe each year via Italy’s southernmost shores, many of them fleeing war in Africa and the Middle East.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Obama and the Media Still Hiding Immigration Agenda

Once again, the Obama administration is deceiving the courts, and the American people, about its plans for amnesty for millions of current and future illegal aliens. And to make things worse, the Trans-Pacific Partnership Treaty, for which President Obama is seeking fast-track authority, would, according to Dick Morris, writing in The Hill, “override national immigration restrictions in the name of facilitating the free flow of labor.” And in this instance, whether wittingly or otherwise, Republicans are lining up to support the President in the name of free trade.

The proposed free trade agreement would undermine Congressional oversight over immigration, adding more power to the presidency, Morris argues. Pair this development with President Obama’s push to legalize illegal immigrants as U.S. residents, and this could become a dangerous policy combination.

Immigration reform is often presented by the media in terms of the human cost, and the alleged inhumanity in not allowing these persons to stay in the United States. The liberal media therefore, delight in pointing to any evidence they can find suggesting hypocrisy on the right on this issue and ignore the blatant abuses by the Obama administration in pursuit of his amnesty agenda…

The reality is that illegal immigrant rapists and murderers are being released by this administration, and that arrests and deportations of that group have declined, as well.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

America the Broken Beacon?

America was a tolerant Christian country full of patriotic Americans who loved their country. We keep hearing from progressives that we are a nation of immigrants. As Mark Levin said, we are not a nation of immigrants; we are a nation of citizens. Now it is on the slippery road of Western Europe which has allowed a deliberate failed multiculturalist policy to destroy many countries that find themselves now overrun by Muslim zealots who have only one scope in mind, to establish a world caliphate and to convert by any means necessary all the infidels to Islamic theology and theocracy.

Unchecked diversity and tolerance is destroying our western culture, replacing it stealthily with Islam and Sharia Law. Look at all the proselytizing for Islam lessons in our high schools across the country and the many chapters devoted to Islam in World History, while Christianity is hardly mentioned in the curriculum. Was it not progressives who demanded for decades the “separation of church and state” and now they have written Common Core textbooks to indoctrinate our children into Islam? The social engineering architects of this Islamic invasion into the U.K. are now coming to the U.S. to repeat their plans of destroying America as well.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Hillary on Abortion: ‘Deep-Seated Cultural Codes, Religious Beliefs and Structural Biases Have to be Changed’

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton took a feminist tone on Thursday. She told attendees at the sixth annual Women in The World Summit that “deep seated cultural codes, religious beliefs and structural biases have to be changed” for the sake of giving “access” to women for “reproductive healthcare and safe childbirth.”

“Far too many women are denied access to reproductive healthcare and safe childbirth an laws don’t count for much if they’re not enforced. Rights have to exist in practice—not just on paper,” Clinton said.

She explained, “Laws have to be backed up with resources and political will. And deep seated cultural codes, religious beliefs and structural biases have to be changed. As I have said and as I believe, the advancement of the full participation of women and girls in every aspect of their societies is the great unfinished business of the 21st century and not just for women but for everyone — and not just in far away countries but right here in the United States.”

[Comment: Notice how she avoids saying “abortion”, but uses other euphemisms.]

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Iceland’s Facebook War Over Sex Education

Iceland is one of the most progressive countries in the world when it comes to gay rights — but more conservative views are not unknown, and one prominent musician has started a social media storm by attacking a new sex education curriculum.

Gylfi Aegisson was once one of Iceland’s most well-liked musicians, known for his folk songs about sailors. But he’s now attracted the ire of gay rights groups after criticising authorities in one small town who decided instruction about homosexuality would be included in sex education.

Aegisson’s Facebook page encouraged people to “protect the children” from “the indoctrination of our children by small but loud pressure groups in society.”

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Liberals Push to Make Murder Normal

David Knight takes the studio for Alex Jones and breaks down how abortion is now being pushed as normal and sexy.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Stopping the Phony Feminist Rape Riot

Feminist power-play themes are essentially identical. All involve bogus “scientific” reports and fear campaigns. All involve federally-funded organizations, advocacy “scientists” cranking out volumes of junk reports, and scurrilous activists who insist they have no responsibility to check case facts before launching serious allegations against innocent men…

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Google: The Evil Empire

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, there was a Galactic Empire, a beady-eyed Emperor and his heavy-breathing sidekick, Darth Vader.

Today we have Google.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

2 thoughts on “Gates of Vienna News Feed 4/24/2015

  1. Mona Sahlin is a bizarre woman besotted with hatred for her own country. Once the leader of the Social Democrats (because it was “time” for a woman leader), she is the recipient of a medal whose name cannot be mentioned on a family web site such as this one.

    She served at one point as the Minister for Sustainable Development the irony of which, given her support for mass immigration, is probably lost on her.

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