Gates of Vienna News Feed 4/26/2015

Community activists in Baltimore staged a demonstration last night over Freddie Gray, a black man who was injured and died while in police custody. The protest turned violent and became a riot, and randomly chosen people (random except for the fact they were white) were attacked in businesses and on the street. Thousands of baseball fans were trapped for hours when the Orioles’ stadium at Camden Yards had to be locked down.

In other news, aftershocks continue in Nepal, with one temblor recorded at 6.7 on the Richter scale. More than 3,000 deaths have now been reported due to the earthquake.

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

Thanks to C. Cantoni, Erick Stakelbeck, Fjordman, Insubria, JD, K, Papa Whiskey, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.

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

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

Financial Crisis
» Germany Prepares for “Plan B”, Says Greece Would “Need Not Only a Third Bailout, But Fourth, Fifth or Even More”
» It’s Over: This is the Only Picture You Need to See to Know it’s Time to Get Out of Stocks
» National Debt Soars Over $18 Trillion
» Presenting De-Dollarization in One Simple Map
» The Next Phase of Global Economic Crisis: “It is Going to Shock the World”
» What Will Happen to You When the Dollar Collapses?
 
USA
» 3 Family Members Charged in Texas “Honor Killing” of Iranian Activist
» A Green Beret’s Guide to Action Bags
» American Al Qaeda Mouthpiece Goes Out With a Whimper
» Baltimore Freddie Gray Death Protest Turns Violent
» Biotech Mafia Attack on Oz Backfires
» California’s SB277 Mandatory Vaccination Bill Passes Senate Committee After Votes Rigged, Public Testimony Silenced
» Chart o’ the Day: How the Clinton Global Initiative Used Its Funds During Hillary’s Tenure at State
» Chemist Says “Media Left Out Horrifying Facts About Measles Shot”
» District Attorney Says Encrypted Phones May Make You a Terrorist Because They “Cannot be Accessed by Law Enforcement”
» Garry Trudeau on Charlie Hebdo, Doonesbury and the Future of Satire
» ISIS Releases ‘Kill List’; Seven Texas Cities Included
» Joe Soucheray: They Chose Evil. ‘Outreach’ Programs Can’t Change That.
» Minneapolis Nonprofit Tests Program to Pull Teens From Terror’s Grasp
» NSA Veteran Chief Fears Crippling Cyber-Attack on Western Energy Infrastructure
» Officials: FBI Probes Possible ISIS-Inspired Threat
» Oklahoma Defeats Push for Risky Article V Convention
» Polio Vaccine, Cancer and Dr. Mary’s Monkey
» Ruptly Producer Robbed at Baltimore Protest
» Smartphones Are Making Children Borderline Autistic, Expert Says
» Survivors Outraged After Learning Tsarnaev’s Family’s Trip to US Paid for With American Tax Dollars
» Texas: Muslims Murder Woman for Helping Convert Their Daughter to Christianity
» The New Enemy Within: Some Republican Politicians See Sympathy for Islam as a Liability. Why?
» Tsarnaev Family’s Trip to US, Heavy Guard Paid for by Taxpayers
 
Europe and the EU
» Britain ‘Is Experiencing Same Decline as Rome in 100BC’
» EU on Verge of Approving 19 GMOs
» EU, US Trade Negotiators Get an Earful From Critics
» Hundreds of Children Brain Damaged by the Swine Flu Vaccine to Receive $90 Million in Financial Compensation From UK Government
» Israel Ambassador Praises Italy’s Anti-Semitism Efforts
» Something Sinister is About to Happen to Scotland’s Children
» Sweden: Thieves Crash Loader Into Store in Stockholm Raid
» UK: Extremist Preacher Hani Al- Sibai ‘Mentored Jihadi John’
» UK: Four-Year-Old Boy Forced to Hand Over Toy Gun at East Midlands Airport
» UK: Facebook Plea Mother Risks Jail Over Her Son After Social Workers Have Him Adopted Because His Father Domestically Abused Her
» UK: Free to Walk London’s Streets, The Extremist Preacher and ‘Mentor’ Of Jihadi John
» UK: Labour Would Outlaw Islamophobia, Says Miliband in an Exclusive Interview
» UKIP is Infected With the ‘Virus of Racism’, Says Labour’s Chuka Umunna
 
Israel and the Palestinians
» Pinhead-Sized Bible Goes on Show in Jerusalem
 
Middle East
» Brutal IS Executioner is Norwegian: Dagbladet
» Children in Mosul Preach Jihad in ISIS Video
» Ex-Turkey Prosecutor Says Facing Life Term Over Retweet
» New Zealand PM Set for ‘Historic’ Visit to Saudi Arabia
» Saudi Arabia: “I Converted a Genie to Islam”, Claims Healer
» Turkey’s Presidential Palace Part of Ankara’s New Skyline
» Yazidi Girls Are Having Secret Abortions After ISIS Used Them as Sex Slaves
 
Russia
» US Troops in Europe Request Bigger Guns Amid Tensions With Russia Over Ukraine
 
South Asia
» Major Earthquake Hits Nepal
» Nepal Earthquake: Everest Survivors Describe Ordeal
» Nepal Searches for Survivors of Massive Quake as Death Toll Climbs
» Nepal Hospitals Overflowing, Rural Towns Cut Off: Aid Groups
» Pakistan: Women’s Rights Activist Sabeen Mahmud Gunned Down in ‘Targeted Assassination’
» Powerful 6.7 Magnitude Aftershock Rattles Nepal as Aid Arrives in Region
 
Far East
» 2000X Normal Radiation Found in Tokyo Playground, Officials Deny Any Link to Fukushima
» China: Most Wanted Graft Suspects in the United States and Canada
 
Sub-Saharan Africa
» South Africa Xenophobia: Anger Over Nigeria Envoy Recall
» World’s First Malaria Vaccine Could be Rolled Out by End of Year
 
Immigration
» The Mediterranean: Key Route for EU-Bound Migrants
» U.S. Court Rules That Mexico Family of Teen Killed by Border Patrol Agent Cannot Sue Him
 
Culture Wars
» California Citizens Seek Referendum to Block Transgender Public Bathroom Use
» Italy: Catholic Newspaper Slams Fast Divorce Law
» State Says Bakers Should Pay $135,000 for Refusing to Bake Cake for Same-Sex Wedding
» Supreme Court to Rule on Same-Sex Marriage
» The King Has Come — Persecution of Christians
» Woman ‘Not a Replica of Man, ‘ Pope Francis Says
 
General
» Did Exaggerated Records Make Global Warming Look Worse?
» Police Can Now Tell Identical Twins Apart — Just Melt Their DNA
 

Germany Prepares for “Plan B”, Says Greece Would “Need Not Only a Third Bailout, But Fourth, Fifth or Even More”

“Plan B” in case negotiations on funding with cash-strapped Athens fail.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

It’s Over: This is the Only Picture You Need to See to Know it’s Time to Get Out of Stocks

It’s been reported that hordes of Chinese have transferred their life savings into stock markets in the hopes of striking it rich. According to Zero Hedge, some 7.2 million trading accounts have been opened in just the last two months.

Because, well, stock markets can only go up from here.

All you need to know about the Chinese stock market, and therefore all stock markets worldwide because of the incestual relationships in global finance, is summed up in the image below.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

National Debt Soars Over $18 Trillion

Our debt is more than we produce.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Presenting De-Dollarization in One Simple Map

Sometimes a picture is indeed worth a thousand words (or a thousand yuan) which is why we present the following map which shows all of the countries that have joined the China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank with no comment other than to say “spot the odd G-7 nations out”…

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

The Next Phase of Global Economic Crisis: “It is Going to Shock the World”

Editor’ s Note: Michael Snyder at The Economic Collapse Blog says that it may not happen tomorrow, but big financial trouble is coming. In his latest analysis he explains that there are signs of economic trouble bubbling all around us. Most Americans either have no clue it’ s happening, or refuse to accept the reality of the situation. In the end, it is they who will be left holding the bag. People thought the collapse of 2008 was bad. But it’ s nothing compared to what’ s coming next. As Michael warns, this one will shock the world.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

What Will Happen to You When the Dollar Collapses?

Historically, when a nation’s debt exceeds its ability to repay even the interest, it can be assumed that the currency will collapse. Typically, governments exacerbate the situation by printing large amounts of currency notes in an effort to inflate the problem away, or at least postpone it.

The greater the level of debt, the more dramatic the inflation must be to counter it. The more dramatic the inflation, the greater the danger that hyperinflation will take place. No government has ever been able to control hyperinflation. If it occurs, it does so quickly and always ends with a crash.

Although there are observers (myself included) who frequently discuss what a reserve-currency crash would mean to the world, there is little or no discussion as to how this would impact people on the street level, and perhaps that discussion should begin. When currencies crash, the state often tries to float a new currency. Sometimes, it’s accepted, sometimes not. Generally, the people of the country (and those trading within the country) move immediately to “the next best thing.” In 2009, when the Zimbabwe dollar crashed, several currencies were used, but the US dollar was the clear favourite, as it was the world’s reserve currency and therefore the most “spendable” currency…

I have discussed for some time that the US will be prepared ahead of time with a new, electronic currency. This will serve three purposes:

1.   It will allow the US government to blame paper currencies for the crash, in order to distract the public from recognising that the government itself is the culprit.
2.   It will allow the US government to create a currency system that disallows the holding of tradable currency by the population—that is, a debit card would be created by banks through which all transactions must pass, assuring that all transactions are processed by (and thereby subject to the control of) a bank.
3.   It will allow the US government to have knowledge of every penny earned and spent by any individual or organization, allowing for direct-debit income taxation.
 

If the US does institute such a system, US citizens will then become the most economically controlled people in the world, overnight.

[Comment: intentional collapse to force the “solution” of e-cash. Problem. Reaction. Solution. Create the problem. People clamour for a solution. Provide the “solution” (which would have never been accepted without the problem being created in the first place.)]

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

3 Family Members Charged in Texas “Honor Killing” of Iranian Activist

HOUSTON — Investigators say that an Iranian activist was gunned down by Jordanian immigrants in 2012 because they believed she helped convert their Muslim daughter to Christianity, reports CBS affiliate KHOU.

Gelareh Bagherzadeh, a 30-year-old researcher at MD Anderson, was shot to death outside her parents home in the Galleria area.

Ali Irsan, 57, is charged with capital murder in the case. His wife, Shmou Ali Alrawabdeh, and their 21-year-old son, Nasim, are charged with murder. Irsan is also reportedly accused of killing Coty Beavers, his daughter’s husband, 10 months after Bagherzadeh was shot to death. Coty Beavers was the twin brother of Bagherzadeh’s boyfriend.

The station reports that Bagherzadeh was best friends with Ali Irsan’s daughter and he blamed her when the daughter left home and married a Christian, according to investigators.

“Nesreen Irsan would not succumb to her father’s complete domination and rule of her. And she left his home without his permission and went into hiding,” said Harris County District Attorney Devon Anderson.

“These two murders are linked by the belief on the defendant’s part that his honor as a father and a Muslim has been violated by his daughter, who defied his rule and married a Christian man,” said Anderson.

The Irsans’ daughter Nadia is charged with stalking her sister while trying to find out where she and Beavers were living.

[Muslim mores, applied in America. Coming soon to your neighborhood, courtesy of the U.S. State Department. — PW]

           — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey [Return to headlines]
 

A Green Beret’s Guide to Action Bags

Today we will cover some approaches to A-bags (or “Bug-out Bags” if you prefer) and specialty bags for your person and vehicle. Hopefully after Part 1 you took a look at your own posture and assessed it for its strengths and for areas you wish to improve upon it. I digress for one second and stress this concept: it is self-assessment that takes priority, and you must be both realistic and objective in assessing all things and actions under your control.

You may be single, may have others who rely on you (children, elderly) to be the “point man,” or your family depends on your function within it (as a dependable “cog” in the family’s “engine,” so to speak). I also invite all of you to participate in the discussion in the comments and share your way, your particular “idiosyncrasies” and leanings for the A-bags. There is no true right or wrong except as weighed by your paradigm and your needs. The needs are as varied as the human race; rarely will the needs of two individuals be identical.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

American Al Qaeda Mouthpiece Goes Out With a Whimper

Adam Gadahn was an unrepentant, devoted Al Qaeda terrorist who longed to slaughter American women and children en masse.

He was pure evil. And in a sick sense, he was also an originator.

Gadahn, who Obama administration officials now say was killed in a U.S. drone strike in Pakistan earlier this year, was the first American citizen to assume a prominent public role in the global jihadist movement, rising in the ranks to become “Azzam the American,” Al Qaeda’s chief English-language propagandist. He was also reportedly in regular contact with Osama Bin Laden.

Raised on a goat farm by hippie parents in southern California, Gadahn—who was a devoted fan of extreme death metal music as a teenager living with his Jewish (yes, Jewish) grandparents—embarked on a path that has become all too familiar today: troubled Westerner discovers Islam online, converts, becomes radicalized and travels to an overseas hotspot to wage jihad (or, in other cases, stays home to plot domestic attacks). ISIS, which has drawn thousands of Westerners to its ranks and has strategically used English speakers in its propaganda videos, can certainly relate to Gadahn’s “career” trajectory…

           — Hat tip: Erick Stakelbeck [Return to headlines]
 

Baltimore Freddie Gray Death Protest Turns Violent

More than 1,000 protesters have marched in Baltimore over the death of a black man in police custody a week ago.

But after hours of peaceful demonstrations, some protesters smashed police windows and shop fronts. At least 12 people were arrested.

Freddie Gray was arrested by police on 12 April and then suffered spinal injuries leading to death a week later.

His twin sister, Fredricka Gray, appealed for calm, saying her family wanted the violence to stop.

As clashes began on Saturday evening, she said: “Freddie Gray would not want this.”

The Baltimore Mayor, Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, speaking alongside Ms Gray, said she was “profoundly disappointed” by the unrest, blaming it on “agitators”.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Biotech Mafia Attack on Oz Backfires

The biotech mafia’s attempt to silence and intimidate Doctor Oz has spectacularly backfired.

Yesterday, Oz aired a courageous investigative episode that looked into the criminal backgrounds and conflicts of interest of those 10 doctors who attacked him.

What he found will blow your mind: Felony fraud, ties to Big Tobacco, industry front groups and a total failure of the mainstream media to investigate the real truth:…

As Dr. Bob Arnot, the chief medical correspondent for NBC News, noted during an appearance on CNN following the release of the letter, the attack against Dr. Oz appeared to be generated by the “doctors” more beholden to the GMO industry:

[T]he most interesting part of this is this letter. First of all, it’s not from the Columbia faculty. It’s from ten physicians, all of whom have industry ties. And if you look carefully at the letter, what it’s really about is that the industry is furious that he has taken on genetically modified crops. So you basically have industry henchmen who are after Dr. Oz here. One of them in fact, head of the American Council on Science and Health, spent some time in federal prison for Medicaid fraud, so I’d be very careful about who has written this letter.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

California’s SB277 Mandatory Vaccination Bill Passes Senate Committee After Votes Rigged, Public Testimony Silenced

(NaturalNews) After California’s vaccine mandate bill SB277 was halted last week with an outcry of public outrage against it, the pro-vaccine mafia machine went to work. Democratic Sens. Ben Allen of Santa Monica and Richard Pan of Sacramento helped pursue a vote rigging agenda to replace seats on the committee with pro-vaccine industry sellouts. A new democrat, Sen. Bill Monning, was chosen to fill a vacant seat, and with his vote in favor of stripping Californians of vaccine exemption rights, SB277 was approved today.

The California Coalition for Health Choice branded the action as, “a rare act of outright rigging the results…” CCHC’s press release also explains, “Adding one vote in favor of the bill wasn’t enough. He also removed the Vice Chair of the committee, Senator Huff, an ardent opponent of the bill, and replaced him with Senator Runner.”

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Chart o’ the Day: How the Clinton Global Initiative Used Its Funds During Hillary’s Tenure at State

In 2010, when Barack Obama said, “I do think at a certain point you’ve made enough money,” he definitely wasn’ t referring to the Clintons.

Because it wasn’ t enough for Bill Clinton to sell sensitive missile technology to the Red Chinese for campaign donations. It wasn’ t enough for Hillary Clinton to sell America’ s most valuable nuclear technologies to the Russians for “contributions” to her family’ s personal piggy bank.

That piggy bank, otherwise known as “ The Clinton Global Graft Initiative”, had an interesting way of doling out the “contributions” it received.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Chemist Says “Media Left Out Horrifying Facts About Measles Shot”

Find a vaccinated herd and monitor them for infection.

Repeat.

That’s science: The observation of reproducible results

Observing the MMR vaccinated herd, we find that they get sick, often. The New England Journal of Medicine published that, “An outbreak of measles occurred among adolescents in Corpus Christi, Texas, in the spring of 1985, even though vaccination requirements for school attendance had been thoroughly enforced.”

A thorough investigation, as outlined in my book, Over-The-Counter Natural Cures, shows how this same scenario has happened worldwide, numerous times. Even naturally acquired immunity fails to “protect the herd!”

This failure of herd immunity was also stressed by the medical journal, Clinical Infectious Diseases. Warning against using the vaccine for protection, they wrote, “Other problems arise because herd immunity is not the same as biologic (immunologic) immunity; individuals protected only by indirect herd effects remain fully susceptible to infection, should they ever be exposed.”

Translation, “Herd immunity can’t protect you. Only your immune system can.”

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

District Attorney Says Encrypted Phones May Make You a Terrorist Because They “Cannot be Accessed by Law Enforcement”

The attack on personal privacy continues.

From every angle big government politicians and officials are doing everything they can to take away your ability to be secure in your person or possessions. Under terrorism laws like the Patriot Act the government has given itself the right to wire tap your home or enter your personal premises without so much as a warrant so long as police or federal law enforcement officials can show that your activities may be related to terrorism. And as we know, being associated with a terrorist nowadays requires absolutely no concrete facts according to President Obama’ s latest initiative. Simply being suspected of being suspected of terrorism (whatever that means) can now qualify you for a terror watchlist or further investigation.

As we reported last week, even the Third Amendment can now be violated so that law enforcement officials can forcibly occupy your home to gain a tactical advantage against criminal or terror suspects.

This is America in 2015 so it’ s no surprise that Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance, Jr. wants total access to your personal effects. If it were up to Vance, you as an individual would have no right to secure your personal phone or computer data. As far as the DA is concerned, if you are encrypting your passwords, private messages, and personal notes you are denying nosy big government operatives the intrusive access they so desperately need to control you.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Garry Trudeau on Charlie Hebdo, Doonesbury and the Future of Satire

Cartoonist Garry Trudeau responded to critics of a speech he gave earlier this month who alleged he blamed the victims — his fellow cartoonists — for the Charlie Hebdo attacks in Paris.

In an interview with Chuck Todd airing on Sunday’s Meet the Press, Trudeau said he was “not at all” blaming the victims and that he “should have made it a little clearer that I was as outraged as the rest of the world at the time. I mourn them deeply.”

[Yeah — so deeply that he called their work “mean” and said it “wandered into the realm of hate speech.” He also airily admonished that cartoonists’ role is to “punch up” rather than down. Except when you’re punching down on the graves of your murdered colleagues, that is. — PW]

           — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey [Return to headlines]
 

ISIS Releases ‘Kill List’; Seven Texas Cities Included

The Pentagon has responded to a globally-released ‘Kill List’, asking law enforcement to give extra protection for military personnel whose personal information was released.

CBS News national security correspondent David Martin reports the Pentagon spent the weekend notifying the soldiers who appeared on the list, and urged city police departments and military police to increase patrol in the neighborhoods where the targeted live.

The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) published the list days ago, a report that contained names, photos, and home addresses of U.S. Armed Forces personnel, causing alarm in cities potentially at high-risk.

[…]

The Pentagon says the the targeted appeared to be compiled from public sources — anything from news articles to Facebook posts that could have linked them to attacks on the terrorist group. Officials with the Pentagon say some members were incorrectly identified, but right or wrong, it’s still a threat.

Seven Texas cities were included on the list: Abilene, New Braunfels, San Antonio, Wyle, Fort Hood, Bedford, and Kileen.

Cities expected to increase in security due to the threat are below:

  • Texas: Abilene, New Braunfels, San Antonio, Wyle, Fort Hood, Bedford, Kileen
  • Indiana: Michigan City, Bolivar
  • Michigan: Dearborn Heights, Lake Orion
  • Connecticut: Barkhamsted, Manchester
  • Nevada: Reno
  • Georgia: Griffin
  • Maryland: Upper Marlboro, Warrensburg, Lexington Park
  • Arizona: Phoenix
  • Louisiana: Shreveport, Bossier City
  • South Carolina: Daniel Island, Charleston
  • North Carolina: Fayetteville, New Bern
  • Virginia: Burke, Virginia Beach, Suffolk, Springfield, Norfolk, Chesapeake
  • Colorado: Colorado Springs
  • California: Manford, Solvang, San Ardo, Monterrey, Newberry Park, Carlsbad
  • New Mexico: Farmington
  • North Dakota: Minot
  • South Dakota: Rapid City
  • Florida: Merritt Island, Palm Coast, Saint John, Middleburg, Saint Augustine
  • Washington: Colton, Cheney, Seattle, Spokane, Ancortes
  • Nebraska: Bellvue
  • Illinois: Orland Park
  • Rhode Island: Newport
  • Idaho: Bonners Ferry

[The enemy should be made aware that two can play at that game. — PW]

           — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey [Return to headlines]
 

Joe Soucheray: They Chose Evil. ‘Outreach’ Programs Can’t Change That.

Six Minnesota men of Somali descent have been charged with terrorism-related offenses in a criminal complaint unsealed last week. The fellows were allegedly trying to get to Syria to fight for ISIS, or as we sometimes more charitably name them in newspaper headlines, Islamic militants.

Our local six are just the latest Westerners accused of traveling or trying to travel to Syria to join the Islamic State group, which beheads people, throws homosexuals off roofs of buildings, destroys historical wonders of the world, marries off girls at about 9 years old, stones to death adulterers and shoots children. Other than that, they are just good-hearted soldiers who gather around a fire of burning tires at night and sing songs.

Might we nip in the bud that the temptations of ISIS must be countered with yet more government plans? The governor’s response to the terrorism charges against our local six, for example, drips with the obsequious call for more ways to engage the young men and provide them more opportunities. And various community leaders have called for more outreach and bridge building and pro-activity. Omar Jamal, who is often a hail-fellow-well-met in the back room of Stogies on Grand, says he believes the young fellows from Minnesota were entrapped.

Well, apparently not. They were relentless in their attempts to get to Syria, prosecutors say.

“What is remarkable about this case is that nothing stopped these defendants from pursuing their goal,” said Andy Luger, U.S. attorney for Minnesota. “They never stopped plotting another way to get to Syria to join ISIL.”

[A breath of fresh air from a rare bird: a journalist who actually gets it. — PW]

           — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey [Return to headlines]
 

Minneapolis Nonprofit Tests Program to Pull Teens From Terror’s Grasp

By Paul McEnroe

They have known each other barely a month, but their lives are linked by a shared story — the struggle to find a new identity in a new land.

One is a quiet, lanky Somali-American teen from Minneapolis, arrested by the FBI last fall and accused of trying to join a brutal terrorist group in the Middle East.

The other is a Somali-American schoolteacher who came to the United States when he was 12 without a hint of English on his tongue. He teaches history at Roosevelt High School in Minneapolis, where he’s the coach of a scrappy debate team and an eloquent instructor who shows his students the power of words to change minds.

Today, Abdullahi Yusuf and Ahmed Amin find their paths intertwined — drawn into an intensifying global terrorism fight through an unusual new experiment to see if radicalized Somali-American youths can be talked off the path of violence and extremism.

Amin and a team of religious scholars and teachers pulled together by Heartland Democracy, a Minneapolis nonprofit serving at-risk youths, have been assigned by a federal judge to mentor Yusuf, an 18-year-old who, like the six young men arrested on conspiracy charges last week, stands accused of trying to leave the United States to be a terrorist. U.S. District Chief Judge Michael Davis diverted Yusuf to the Heartland project in what is thought to be a first for the federal court system in a terror case.

[…]

When they confronted him at the Twin Cities airport, agents asked Yusuf whether his parents knew where he was going. He said he had told them he was “Gonna be gone for a while.” Asked whether his father knew where was, Yusuf replied, “I don’t think he cares.”

Then, at some of the first meetings documented by Heartland in court filings for Yusuf’s case, he shared more intimate pain, exposing exactly the kind of wounds that Heartland wants to try to mend.

[…]

Mary McKinley is a realist. A veteran of civic nonprofits such as the Open Society Institute and the Aspen Institute, she returned to Minnesota five years ago after a long career overseas and in Washington, D.C. She bristles at any suggestion that she’s merely, as she puts it, “the bleeding heart liberal” out of touch with reality. She knows her organization’s curriculum — civic engagement for at-risk youths — is not going to work for many of the people who are charged with terrorism.

In January correspondence to the U.S. Public Defender’s Office in Minneapolis, whose attorneys were representing Yusuf, McKinley was blunt.

“Make no mistake: We realize this would be an experiment, a pretrial release program unlike any other, especially in dealing with the ISIL threat and the counterterrorism efforts that are the focus of the FBI, the U.S. Attorney and the White House.

“This community has been the victim of benign neglect and we know the consequences,’’ she added. “Youth involved in violence, gangs, drug use and trafficking, high rates of poverty, extremely high unemployment rates, and now terrorism.”

[“Intimate pain.” “Wounds.” “Neglect.” These people are doing whatever they can to cast jihadi larvae as victims. It seems to matter little to them that the entity the poor lambs were rushing to join is everywhere known for its slaughter and enslavement and religious totalitarianism. — PW]

           — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey [Return to headlines]
 

NSA Veteran Chief Fears Crippling Cyber-Attack on Western Energy Infrastructure

The West is losing the worldwide fight against jihadist terrorism and faces mounting risks of a systemic cyber-assault by extremely capable enemies, the former chief of the National Security Agency has warned.

“The greatest risk is a catastrophic attack on the energy infrastructure. We are not prepared for that,” said General Keith Alexander, who has led the US battle against cyber-threats for much of the last decade.

Gen Alexander said the “doomsday” scenario for the West is a hi-tech blitz on refineries, power stations, and the electric grid, perhaps accompanied by a paralysing blow to the payments nexus of the major banks.

“We need something like an integrated air-defence system for the whole energy sector,” he said, speaking at a private dinner held by IHS CERAWeek in Texas.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Officials: FBI Probes Possible ISIS-Inspired Threat

By Evan Perez and Shimon Prokupecz

The FBI is investigating a possible ISIS-inspired terrorist threat in the United States, law enforcement officials said Saturday.

The investigation originated from intercepted chatter and other intelligence information that led officials to believe a possible plot could be in the works, the officials said.

No arrests have been made. It’s not clear whether the threat is real or aspirational.

The exact nature of the threat couldn’t be learned. One official said it focused on parts of California where officials stepped up security, a U.S. official said.

[…]

A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson declined Saturday to talk about specifics, but spoke about security measures in general.

[…]

“The department has conducted significant outreach efforts … with state and local law enforcement partners regarding these trends and engaging in a series of meetings and events with local community leaders across the country to counter violent extremism,” he said.

[And we’ve seen how wonderfully well that’s worked in Minneapolis, home of the six Somali Muslims who just got busted while trying to go overseas to join the head-choppers of ISIS. — PW]

           — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey [Return to headlines]
 

Oklahoma Defeats Push for Risky Article V Convention

Would have sent an application to Congress on behalf of Oklahoma asking it to convene a convention to amend the U.S. Constitution.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Polio Vaccine, Cancer and Dr. Mary’s Monkey

One of the reasons I decided to read Dr. Mary’s Monkey is because one of my dearest friends, Thelma Taormina, passed away, April 6, 2015, after losing her heroic fight against small cell carcinoma cancer…

As hardened a cynic as I have become over the past 24 years, Dr. Mary’s Monkey truly was frightening. Why did America suddenly experience a cancer epidemic? How much do Americans really know about the polio vaccine seventy years ago — about the number of deaths and cover-up and more importantly — why on earth would research scientists use monkey viruses?

Long before I ever heard of Haslam’s book, in my research I found the testimony below. I do hope you take the time to read it in full because the American people must know the truth about how we’ve all been used as guinea pigs while enriching the coffers of prostitute politicians in the Outlaw Congress and morally, ethically bankrupt pharmaceutical companies.

The SV40 Virus: Has Tainted Polio Vaccine Caused An Increase in Cancer? Oral Presentation by Barbara Loe Fisher, Co-founder & President, National Vaccine Information Center, September 10, 2003, Subcommittee on Human Rights and Wellness, U.S. House Government Reform Committee, U.S. House of Representatives, Washington, D.C.: “The SV40 Virus: Has Tainted Polio Vaccine Caused an Increase in Cancer?”

“It was in 1960 that an NIH scientist named Bernice Eddy discovered that rhesus monkey kidney cells used to make the Salk polio vaccine and experimental oral polio vaccines could cause cancer when injected into lab animals. Later that year the cancer-causing virus in the rhesus monkey kidney cells was identified as SV40 or simian virus 40, the 40th monkey virus to be discovered. (Shorter, e. 1987. The Health Century) Sadly, the American people were not told the truth about this in 1960. The SV40 contaminated stocks of Salk polio vaccine were never withdrawn from the market but continued to be given to American children until early 1963 with full knowledge of federal health agencies. Between 1955 and early 1963, nearly 100 million American children had been given polio vaccine contaminated with the monkey virus, SV40. (Institute of Medicine, National Academy of Sciences . 2002. Immunization Safety Review: SV40 Contamination of Polio Vaccine and Cancer. Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press)

Today, U.S. federal health agencies admit the following two facts: 1. Salk polio vaccine released for public use between 1955 and 1963 was contaminated with SV40; and 2. SV40 has been proven to cause cancer in animals. In fact, at a conference on SV-40 and human cancers held by the National Institutes of Health in 1997, which I attended, there was no disagreement among both government and non-government scientists about these two facts. The only disagreement was whether SV40 was actually being identified in the cancerous tumors of children and adults alive today and, if it was, whether the monkey virus was in fact responsible for their cancer. Non-government scientists working in independent labs around the world said, “Yes.” But the scientists connected with the U.S. government said “No.” (Transcript of FDA, CDC, NIH, NIP, NVPO January 27-28, 1997 Workshop on Simian Virus 40: A Possible Human Polyomavirus).”

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Ruptly Producer Robbed at Baltimore Protest

A Ruptly producer had their handbag stolen live on camera, after being surrounded by a group of youths, as they filmed a protest over the death of Freddie Gray in Baltimore, Saturday. The producer gave chase to the suspected thief before police intervened.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Smartphones Are Making Children Borderline Autistic, Expert Says

Children who spend a lot of time immersed in their smartphones are displaying borderline ‘autistic’ behaviour, a top psychiatrist has said.

Young children today are less able to read human emotions than pupils four decades ago, an expert has said

Children struggle to read emotions and are less empathetic than a generation ago because they spend too much time using tablets and smartphones, a leading psychiatrist has warned.

Iain McGilchrist said children as young as five were less able to read facial expressions because of too much interaction with technology.

He added that he had evidence that more pupils were displaying borderline “autistic” behaviour. Dr McGilchrist, a former Oxford literary scholar who retrained in medicine, said he had heard of increasing numbers of teachers who had to explain to their pupils how to make sense of human faces.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Survivors Outraged After Learning Tsarnaev’s Family’s Trip to US Paid for With American Tax Dollars

BOSTON (MyFoxBoston.com) — The family of the convicted marathon bomber is in America, on your tax dollars, and survivors are outraged after learning the news.

As of Thursday, family members of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev have been staying at the Hampton Inn in Revere under very tight security, just one of the things tax dollars are paying for. FOX25’s Sharman Sacchetti investigated how much this trip is costing you.

Sources say these family members are being called as witnesses and not only that, at least three agencies are working around the clock to protect and transport them. This is all part of the defense team’s strategy to save Tsarnaev. While it’s unclear when their flight started, we know the last part of it came through Amsterdam and landed at Logan Airport and cost nearly $2,500 per person.

The cost to put them up at the Hampton Inn at the government rate: almost $200 per night, per person. And a source says at least three agencies, the FBI, US Marshal’s and Revere Police are involved in constant protection.

“I think you’re probably talking about $100,000 plus in that neighborhood in terms of security and out of pocket costs associated with travel,” former US attorney Michael Sullivan said.

And that’s just for this trip.

Lawyer fees or even what all witnesses during the trial cost is still unclear. One defense witness, Mark Spencer of Arsenal Consulting, charged $375 per hour and billing taxpayers for $150,000.

[…]

Marathon survivor Marc Fucarile reached out to us Friday night, reacting to this news, saying that he’s outraged that Tsarnaev’s family’s expenses are being paid for when “myself and some of the other survivors and our families have to pay for our own parking at court, lunch, and we were told that if the trial was moved out of state, we’d have to pay for our own travel and lodging, there.”

The statement went on to say: “Why should our country pay for them when that family committed a violent act against our country? Not to mention, all of the free government services this family previously enjoyed on the backs of the taxpayers including government assistance and a free ride to UMass Dartmouth. In contrast, I was denied housing assistance I sought after the bombings, even though I needed a handicapped accessible apartment, and my wife lost her job as a result of the events.”

[Too bad, bub. Muslims deserve such pampering — after all, they are “the best of peoples” (Qur’an 3:110). — PW]

           — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey [Return to headlines]
 

Texas: Muslims Murder Woman for Helping Convert Their Daughter to Christianity

By Robert Spencer

Muhammad said: “Whoever changed his Islamic religion, then kill him” (Bukhari 9.84.57). The death penalty for apostasy is part of Islamic law according to all the schools of Islamic jurisprudence. This is still the position of all the schools of Islamic jurisprudence, both Sunni and Shi’ite. Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, the most renowned and prominent Muslim cleric in the world, has stated: “The Muslim jurists are unanimous that apostates must be punished, yet they differ as to determining the kind of punishment to be inflicted upon them. The majority of them, including the four main schools of jurisprudence (Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi’i, and Hanbali) as well as the other four schools of jurisprudence (the four Shiite schools of Az-Zaidiyyah, Al-Ithna-’ashriyyah, Al-Ja’fariyyah, and Az-Zaheriyyah) agree that apostates must be executed.” There is only disagreement over whether the law applies only to men, or to women also — some authorities hold that apostate women should not be killed, but only imprisoned in their houses until death.

Clearly some Muslims believe this death penalty extends t0 those who facilitate the conversion as well as to the convert.

“3 family members charged in Texas ‘honor killing’ of Iranian activist,” CBS News, April 23, 2015 (thanks to The Religion of Peace):

HOUSTON — Investigators say that an Iranian activist was gunned down by Jordanian immigrants in 2012 because they believed she helped convert their Muslim daughter to Christianity, reports CBS affiliate KHOU.

Gelareh Bagherzadeh, a 30-year-old researcher at MD Anderson, was shot to death outside her parents home in the Galleria area.

Ali Irsan, 57, is charged with capital murder in the case. His wife, Shmou Ali Alrawabdeh, and their 21-year-old son, Nasim, are charged with murder. Irsan is also reportedly accused of killing Coty Beavers, his daughter’s husband, 10 months after Bagherzadeh was shot to death. Coty Beavers was the twin brother of Bagherzadeh’s boyfriend.

The station reports that Bagherzadeh was best friends with Ali Irsan’s daughter and he blamed her when the daughter left home and married a Christian, according to investigators…

           — Hat tip: K [Return to headlines]
 

The New Enemy Within: Some Republican Politicians See Sympathy for Islam as a Liability. Why?

By Peter Beinart

If George W. Bush were seeking the Republican presidential nomination today, he’d face at least one big problem: his defense of Muslims and Islam. In a 2000 debate with Al Gore, Bush condemned the fact that “Arab Americans are racially profiled” using “what is called secret evidence.” After 9/11, he called Islam “a faith based upon love, not hate,” and made a highly publicized visit to a mosque. One Muslim Republican even called Bush America’s “first Muslim president.”

A decade and a half later, the climate on the American right has radically changed.

[…]

For half a century, cultural conservatives have vowed to protect America against threats from domestic insurgencies: black militancy, feminism, the gay-rights movement. But those insurgencies involved large and restive groups. Muslims, by contrast, make up only 1 percent of the U.S. population. And they are not restive. Yes, a tiny share sympathizes with Salafi groups like the Islamic State, or ISIS. But unlike the civil-rights, abortion-rights, and gay-rights activists of eras past, American Muslims are not seeking to transform American culture and law.

[No — they’re just pressing for every imaginable special accommodation for their faith: prayer breaks at work, foot-washing facilities at universities, laws against subjecting them to any kind of criticism, etc., etc. That this preposterous assertion could even be printed in a supposedly respectable magazine shows just how far their efforts at just such a transformation have gotten. — PW]

           — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey [Return to headlines]
 

Tsarnaev Family’s Trip to US, Heavy Guard Paid for by Taxpayers

The survivors, however, are giving no help with their expenses at all. And remember: the Tsarnaev brothers’ mother said: “Americans are terrorists, my son is the best.”

“Survivors outraged after learning Tsarnaev’s family’s trip to US paid for with American tax dollars.”

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Britain ‘Is Experiencing Same Decline as Rome in 100BC’

Britain is experiencing the same decline as Rome in 100BC, with the collapse of civilisation inevitable, a scientist has warned.

Dr Jim Penman, of the RMIT University in Melbourne, believes Britons no longer have the genetic temperament to advance because of decades of peace and a high standard of living.

He claims that the huge success of the Victorian era will not be repeated because people in the UK have lost the biological drive for innovation.

Instead, Britain is existing in a period similar to the decades before the fall of the Roman Republic where social tensions were rife, the gap between the rich and poor was increasing and extremism was growing.

And when added to a growing distaste for military action, which has seen huge cuts the armed forces, by the end of the century the UK will no longer have the power, or will, to protect itself against a serious invading force, he predicts.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

EU on Verge of Approving 19 GMOs

‘Most for use in animal feed, two ornamental flowers’

(ANSA) — Brussels, April 22 — The European Commission is on the verge of approving 19 genetically modified organisms (GMOs) for trade within the European Union, EU sources said Wednesday. “Most of them are destined for animal feed, and two are ornamental flowers,” the sources said.

The Commission will also assess proposed legislation allowing member countries to retain the option of limiting or banning the GMOs even if they are EU-approved.

The EU has already approved 58 GMOs — including beetroots, corn, cotton, soy, and rapeseed — with 17 applications still pending after they were approved by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA).

The EU imports significant quantities of biotech feed, but few food products.

It requires over 36 million tonnes of soy a year to feed its livestock.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

EU, US Trade Negotiators Get an Earful From Critics

Opponents of controversial US-EU trade talks came out swinging at a public comment period Thursday, arguing the emerging agreement was a bad deal for consumers and the environment.

Critics of the proposed Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) included Jean Halloran, a senior adviser at the nonprofit Consumers Union, who suggested a treaty would be the worst of all possible worlds, exposing European consumers to “faulty GM cars” and US children to toys that do not meet strict American standards.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Hundreds of Children Brain Damaged by the Swine Flu Vaccine to Receive $90 Million in Financial Compensation From UK Government

(NaturalNews) The swine flu vaccine caused severe brain damage in over 800 children across Europe, and the UK government has now agreed to pay $90 million in compensation to those victims as part of a vaccine injury settlement.

This is the same swine flu vaccine that the entire mainstream media ridiculously insists never causes any harm whatsoever. From the quack science section of the Washington Post to the big pharma sellout pages of the New York Times, every U.S. mainstream media outlet exists in a state of total vaccine injury denialism, pushing toxic vaccines that provably harm children.

“Across Europe, more than 800 children are so far known to have been made ill by the vaccine,” reports the International Business Times.

The vaccine caused narcolepsy and cataplexy in hundreds of children. Both are signs of neurological damage caused by vaccine additives which include mercury, aluminum, MSG, antibiotics and even formaldehyde.

As the IBTimes reports:…

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Israel Ambassador Praises Italy’s Anti-Semitism Efforts

But Gilon says terror attack here a possibility

(ANSAmed) — ROME, APRIL 22 — Israel’s Ambassador in Rome Naor Gilon praised Italy’s efforts to combat anti-Semitism at an ANSA forum on Wednesday, while acknowledging that a terrorist attack targeting Jewish people was possible here. “Italy is one of the places where the authorities are most aware of the problem and are doing the most to prevent it,” Gilon told the forum. “We are appreciative.

“But we still have negative elements. I think they are fringe elements of society — old types of anti-Semites and the new type who are trying to hit Jews because they say they are against Israel. “But the bottom line was the same for the victims in Belgium and France. They were killed because they were Jews. “In Italy there is the alert of the authorities.

“Terror can come. It can come in Italy. It can be born in Italy. Everyone is aware”. Gilon blasted the framework agreement on Iran’s nuclear programme, saying it has taken Tehran nearer to possessing nuclear weapons. “Iran is a nuclear country at the moment, everyone knows that, but it doesn’t have nuclear weapons yet,” Gilon said.

“With this agreement it has got closer”. Under the deal reached this month with the so-called P5+1 — the US, UK, France, China and Russia plus Germany — Iran agreed to reduce its uranium enrichment capacity and submit to increased international inspections in exchange for sanctions relief. But Gilon bemoaned the fact that “not a single facility will be dismantled” as a result of the agreement and said there was a risk of a “conventional and nuclear arms race in the Middle East”.

He also argued that the European Union is hypocritical in its labeling of products from Jewish settlements. “Europe discriminates and is being hypocritical since it doesn’t do the same with other conflicts, and it also damages peace,” he said. “Those behind this move aim for sanctions against Israel”.

Gilon dismissed arguments that Israeli settlements in occupied territories were an obstacle to peace with the Palestinians, saying this was an excuse used by the other side.

“Israel has shown that it can dismantle them when it’s necessary, as did we when we withdrew from Gaza and Egypt,” he said.

“Even when the settlements were frozen, four years ago, negotiations did not make progress. “Progress is only made when the Palestinians talk to Israel”. Gilon hailed his country’s relations with Italy at the forum. “Relations between Italy and Israel are very good,” Gilon said. “We are very happy. Trade is increasing even in a time of crisis. “There is four billion euros in trade, two thirds in Italy’s favour.

“We have good military contacts and deals. “We have excellent cultural relations. The tourism figures are amazing and show the closeness of Israel, with 350,000 to 400,000 Israeli tourists visiting Italy in the last two years, 5% of our population. That’s an amazing figure. “Also on the political level, we don’t agree on everything, but we do on the fundamental issues.

“We are close geographically and in terms of mentality. “We understand Italy’s concerns over the threat of extremism in the Middle East. “We share that and understand that Libya and immigrants are big issues for Italy. We feel very close to Italy”.

Gilon said he was hopeful that Israeli President Reuven Rivlin would visit Milan Expo 2015, which kicks off next month and runs until the end of October.

The ambassador said the World Fair was a priority for Israel because “if something is important to your friend, it’s important to you”.

He added that Expo, whose theme is Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life, will be an opportunity for Israel to showcase its cutting-edge agriculture technologies, an area of expertise for the country since its birth 67 years ago.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Something Sinister is About to Happen to Scotland’s Children

While the people of the UK are spending their time obsessing over which party will win the general election on May 7th and who they might have to do dodgy deals with to actually secure power there is something more sinister and Orwellian taking place in the Scottish parliament.

The ranks of the Scottish National Party (SNP) who are in power in the limited Scottish parliament have swelled since the Scottish independence referendum last year and there has been much evidence of them being the most authoritarian party in Britain. But for me (and many others I know) their scariest plan is their Named Person scheme.

In the words of the Scottish governments own website “The Getting it right approach includes making a Named Person available for every child, from birth until their 18th birthday (or beyond, if they are still in school)”. Sure it sounds innocuous enough, almost as if they want to say “the friendly state will provide someone to look out for your child during their young lives”. That is absolutely the way that some see it in this country but (especially with the No2NP) movement gathering steam most are seeing through this scheme for the Orwellian nonsense that it really is.

So what’s exactly wrong with it? Well if you look closely a lot of things. For one it undermines the family and this is a very important point. Many families and carers simply don’t need someone from the state snooping into how they raise their children, they have been capable of doing this themselves for a very long time. I wonder personally what kind of questions these state “Named Persons” may ask kids. “What do Mummy and Daddy do in the evening?” for example, “How much do they drink?”, “How clean is your house?” and I think before you know it good parents who maybe have a flaw or two are having their houses inspected by the state and the possibility of their children being taken from them for no good reason at all. It may even be that the states named person takes issue with certain parents because of their lifestyle habits or political or philosophical beliefs and then that child could end up lost in the system for no good reason. But that’s my concern, there are many more learned people than me who are equally (if not more horrified) by this scheme.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Sweden: Thieves Crash Loader Into Store in Stockholm Raid

Swedish police are investigating after thieves carried out an advanced smash and grab heist on an electronics store in Stockholm on Friday morning.

Several items were stolen when the brazen burglars crashed a large wheel loader through the wall at one of the shops of electronics chain Elgiganten in the Bromma area of the Swedish capital in the early hours of Friday.

“It is undeniably somewhat advanced,” Fredrik Andersson of the Stockholm police told news wire TT.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Extremist Preacher Hani Al- Sibai ‘Mentored Jihadi John’

Egyptian-born Hani al-Sibai is believed to have influenced a number of young men, who then travelled abroad to join terror groups, including Mohammed Emwazi.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Four-Year-Old Boy Forced to Hand Over Toy Gun at East Midlands Airport

James Hayward had arrived at East Midlands Airport with his parents, Phil, 44, and Hazel, 38, with his brightly coloured toy — which fires sponge darts — packed in his hand luggage.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Facebook Plea Mother Risks Jail Over Her Son After Social Workers Have Him Adopted Because His Father Domestically Abused Her

A desperate mother risks being jailed for defying a judge’s order to remove messages she posted on Facebook begging for her three-year-old son not to be taken from her and adopted.

The woman, a carer for the elderly, was served with a High Court injunction to take down the posts because they could distress the child.

Last week the 29-year-old mother said: ‘I told the judge I wouldn’t take down the posts. He said I could lose my job and go to prison, but what is a job when you have had your child taken away?’

Social workers in Lincolnshire put the boy up for adoption because the mother, who cannot be named for legal reasons, had resumed a relationship with the father after he was jailed for domestic violence against her.

Despite ending the relationship weeks later, she was told she was not fit to take care of her son and has failed in successive attempts to stop him being adopted.

Last night, Lib Dem MP John Hemming, who campaigns on the issue, said the case exemplified the ‘disturbing’ pattern of social workers who take young children for adoption rather than find ways of keeping them with their biological parents.

He added: ‘A victim of domestic violence is being re-victimised by losing her child.’

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Free to Walk London’s Streets, The Extremist Preacher and ‘Mentor’ Of Jihadi John

By Robert Mendick, and Robert Verkaik

Free to stroll through Britain’s cities, this is the al-Qaeda cleric suspected of radicalising “Jihadi John”.

Security services are understood to be investigating links between Hani al-Sibai and his influence on the west London terror network in which Jihadi John — unmasked as Mohammed Emwazi — operated.

It is claimed that al-Sibai, a charismatic preacher, had “captivated” a number of young Muslim men who subsequently went abroad to fight jihad.

In a court case last year, he was accused of having “provided material support to al-Qaeda and conspired to commit terrorist acts”, an allegation he denies.

Despite being officially identified as an affiliate of the notorious terror network, al-Sibai, citing his human rights, has thwarted government attempts to deport him for more than 15 years.

Instead, the Egyptian-born cleric lives in a leafy street in fashionable west London in the same neighbourhood where Emwazi and his fellow jihadists in the London Boys terror cell hung out.

The London Boys was the name given to a “sleeper cell”, set up by Osama bin Laden, whose members were sent to training camps in Somalia and ordered back to the UK to carry out attacks.

[The Telegraph had better be careful about reporting news like this if Labour’s Ed Miliband becomes the next Prime Minister. It’ll be outlawed as “Islamophobia,” an “aggravated crime.” — PW]

           — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Labour Would Outlaw Islamophobia, Says Miliband in an Exclusive Interview

By Hamed Chapman

A future Labour Government is committed to outlaw the scourge of Islamophobia by changing the law and making it an aggravated crime, according to the Party’s Leader Ed Miliband.

“We are going to make it an aggravated crime. We are going to make sure it is marked on people’s records with the police to make sure they root out Islamophobia as a hate crime,” Miliband told the Editor of The Muslim News, Ahmed J Versi in a wide ranging exclusive interview.

“We are going to change the law on this so we make it absolutely clear of our abhorrence of hate crime and Islamophobia. It will be the first time that the police will record Islamophobic attacks right across the country,” he said.

Labour Party Manifesto pledged to take a “zero-tolerance approach to hate crime” regarding the growth of Islamophobia as well as anti-Semitism. “We will challenge prejudice before it grows, whether in schools, universities or on social media. And we will strengthen the law on disability, homophobic, and transphobic hate crime,” it said.

[“The scourge of Islamophobia.” That is, any exposure, analysis, criticism, or mockery of Islam — its subversive scriptures, its heinous history, or its odious contemporary comportment. This is exactly what the Organization of Islamic Cooperation’s “Ten-Year Programme” calls for, and what the Hillary Clinton State Department acquiesced to under the execrable “Istanbul Process.” — PW]

           — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey [Return to headlines]
 

UKIP is Infected With the ‘Virus of Racism’, Says Labour’s Chuka Umunna

The shadow business secretary said Nigel Farage had ‘a problem with race’ following his remarks last about ‘fully black’ and ‘half black’ Ukip supporters.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Pinhead-Sized Bible Goes on Show in Jerusalem

A copy of the Hebrew Bible the size of a pinhead has gone on display at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem.

The so-called Nano Bible is the smallest version in the world.

It consists of over 1.2 million letters carved on a gold-plated silicon chip by engineers using an ion beam.

The “book” is being exhibited as part of events marking the Museum’s 50th anniversary.

The hi-tech creation is being housed in the museum’s Shrine of the Book, home to the Dead Sea Scrolls — the oldest copies of Biblical texts ever found.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Brutal IS Executioner is Norwegian: Dagbladet

An Islamic State fighter who was filmed earlier this year decapitating a man in the Syrian city of Raqqa is Norwegian, Dagbladet newspaper has claimed.

The newspaper claims to know the real identity of the executioner, who goes by the name Abu Shahrazaad al-Narwegi, meaning “from Norway” in Arabic, but does not reveal his real identity or place of origin.

Raqqa, the site of the execution, is the Islamic State headquarters, where the terror organisation is in complete control. The man who was executed is thought to be an ex-sharia judge who had attempted to flee Raqqa for Qatar.

An account holder on Youtube who calls himself “al-norwegi” is following several IS related channels and “likes” a number of brutal propaganda videos depicting brutal scenes from the on-going war in Syria.

Per Christian Gundersen, head of the media group at The Norwegian Defence University College told the newspaper he was not surprised that a Norwegian is working as an IS executioner in Syria.

“It is been known for some time that many of those who take part in executions are foreign jihadists. We have seen “Jihadi John” from the United Kingdom and also others who are not from Syria and Iraq,” He told Dagbladet. “But this is the first time I have heard of a Norwegian taking part in something like this.”

In a recent interview with Swedish newspaper Expressen, Syrian president Bashar Al-Assad claimed that “the most dangerous leaders of ISIS (Islamic State or IS) in our region are Scandinavian.”

In December last year, the Norwegian Police Security Service (PST) claimed that more than 100 Norwegians had gone to Syria to fight with IS. Ten are presumed dead, while 20 have returned to Norway.

[Norway has unlimited immigration, cradle-to-grave welfare, prisons like rest homes, and an atmosphere of political correctness that makes America’s look tame. But you can’t cut off infidels’ heads there. Boring! — PW]

           — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey [Return to headlines]
 

Children in Mosul Preach Jihad in ISIS Video

In a video released by ISIS on April 20, children are shown preaching Jihad. In it a teenager says: “The cry of faith has become loud inside us, and with it, we shall smash the heads of the infidels” and a young boy says: “Do not let yourselves be tempted into staying away [from Jihad], for you will be trampled underfoot by the Christians and the Jews.”

Song: “Oh my nation, I bring you the good tidings that we have crossed the borders. On our land, no (sign) is left of the (borders) delineated by the offspring of pigs and apes. Oh my nation, I bring you the good tidings.”

Speaker: “Blessings upon Allah, the Strong and the Steadfast, and blessings upon (the Prophet Muhammad), who was sent with the sword as a mercy to all worlds.”

[…]

Child Preacher 1: “Blessings be to Allah. We ask for His help and His forgiveness.

[…]

“Hear and take heed! Today, there is no reckoning for one’s deeds, but when the Day of Reckoning comes, there will be nothing one will be able to do. Do you not know the story of the three people who refrained from (joining) Jihad? What was their crime? What was their sin? It was refraining from joining the Jihad! And they were companions (of Muhammad). They were from among the best of people, who joined the raids of our Prophet Muhammad. Remember what their sin was. Oh slaves of Allah, come to the Jihad!”

[…]

Child Preacher 2: “Oh people, know that the Caliphate has been established, and that it stands firmly under the banner of Truth.

[…]

“Death is bound to come both to the ignorant and to the scholar. Do not let yourselves be tempted into staying away (from Jihad), for you will be trampled underfoot by the Christians and the Jews. You are the people of the Quran. Paradise was created for your sake, so heed the call of God.”

[…]

Child Preacher 3: “The cry of faith has become loud inside us, and with it, we shall smash the heads of the infidels. We are resolved to remain soldiers and lions and to support the obvious Truth.”

[Echoes of the notorious Hitlerjugend. Very creepy. — PW]

           — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey [Return to headlines]
 

Ex-Turkey Prosecutor Says Facing Life Term Over Retweet

A former Turkish prosecutor on April 25 claimed that he was facing a life sentence on terror charges for retweeting a leaked tape that implicated President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his son in corruption.

His case is the latest in a string of recent incidents in European Union hopeful Turkey, where high-profile figures have found themselves facing criminal lawsuits or jail time after criticising Erdogan and other Turkish officials on Twitter.

Gültekin Avci said on his Twitter account that he had been charged with “establishing a terrorist organisation” and “attempting to overthrow the government”.

Prosecutors told him that if found guilty he could face a life sentence.

He claimed that the charges were brought solely because he retweeted a link to the leaked tape.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

New Zealand PM Set for ‘Historic’ Visit to Saudi Arabia

Kiwis may be flightless, but after a century of commercial air travel New Zealand heads of state have visited almost every country on the globe — though not Saudi Arabia.

That is all about to change with New Zealand’s Prime Minister John Key due to make history in the relations of the two countries on a state visit that takes in the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, commencing today.

After six years in office, Key has regularly visited the four corners of the globe — but somehow missed out the Middle East, despite its burgeoning economic significance for the small South Pacific country of 4 million.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Saudi Arabia: “I Converted a Genie to Islam”, Claims Healer

The man posted the alleged words of the genie on Twitter. Avalanche of criticism, with many saying it is a scam to make money. The Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice (religious police) plans to set up a committee to regulate the work of these healers.

Riyadh (AsiaNews / Agencies) — “ I converted a genie to Islam” is the announcement via Twitter of a Saudi who claims to be a spiritual healer, that is, according to Muslim tradition, a man who heals physical and spiritual ailments with the recitation of verses of the Koran (Ruqya).

Genies (jinn), which in the collective imagination bring the “Arabian Nights” to mind, in Arab culture are creatures with free will created from smokeless fire by God alongside humans and angels.

In the post published by the man, who — Arab News reports — has 16 thousand followers, the genie said: “I am the jinn Habibi. I announce my conversion to Islam at the hands of the sheikh. I testify that there is only one God and Muhammad is the messenger of God. The sheikh was good and helped me to convert”.

The announcement has sparked the negative reaction of many people, who accused the man of having invented the dialogue with the genie. Someone remarked that it is a joke, because the man wanted to make believe that genies have a Twitter account.

Some experts of Islamic law have argued that the self-proclaimed healers use this noble practice to make money and do not realize the magnitude of their responsibility towards society. And a scholar said that these so-called healers often diagnose people incorrectly, because they have little knowledge of their ills and their situation.

Recently, the Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Aziz Al-Asheikh has criticized the use of Ruqya to exploit people and make money. It was also announced that the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice (religious police) plans to set up a committee to regulate the work of these healers.

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

Turkey’s Presidential Palace Part of Ankara’s New Skyline

As lanterns fly in the skies of Ankara in the early hours of April 25 to mark the centennial anniversary of the World War I campaign in Gallipoli, Turkey’s national media discovered Mustafa Kemal Atatürk’s mausoleum has new company in the capital’s skyline: The new presidential palace.

The mausoleum, known as Anitkabir, has been the symbol of the Turkish capital since Atatürk founded the Republic in 1923. Journalists flocked to the landmark for the first-ever night that it remained open until morning in honor of the Turkish soldiers who fell in the 1915 battles in the Gallipoli peninsula.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Yazidi Girls Are Having Secret Abortions After ISIS Used Them as Sex Slaves

Yazidi girls who have been released after being kept as sex slaves by Islamic State fighters are secretly undergoing abortions, banned in Kurdistan even in cases of rape, thanks to brave doctors.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

US Troops in Europe Request Bigger Guns Amid Tensions With Russia Over Ukraine

One of the last American combat units stationed in Europe is asking the government for bigger guns amid rising tensions over Russia’s involvement in the Ukraine conflict.

The 2nd Cavalry Regiment is requesting that 81 of its 8-wheel-drive Stryker infantry carrier vehicles be equipped with 30-mm. automatic cannons — double the caliber of the 12.7-mm. guns they already carry, the military news website Breaking Defense reports.

The House Armed Services committee is already setting aside money for the upgrade, which the Army approved Wednesday, according to a memo obtained by the website.

The upgraded cannons would give the Strykers added firepower against other light-armored vehicles.

The 2nd Cavalry Regiment, based in Vilseck, Germany, had been deployed to the Baltic States to deter aggression following Russia’s seizure of Ukraine’s Crimea region, Breaking Defense reports.

[A 12.7 mm is nothing more than a .50 caliber machine gun. If that’s all our guys have on those vehicles they aren’t going to deter a @#!!%&! thing. The thirty mike-mikes are not only bigger but can fire high-explosive rounds instead of just ball. They need to get those suckers mounted most rickey-tick. — PW]

           — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey [Return to headlines]
 

Major Earthquake Hits Nepal

Scientists have long warned that mounting seismic stress put region near Kathmandu at risk for a severe tremor.

The ground ruptured along one of the planet’s biggest geological collision zones, where the crustal plate carrying India slams into and dives beneath the crust of central Asia at the rate of 4 to 5 centimetres a year. That smash-up raises the Himalayas to their great height and makes the region one of the most seismically dangerous in the world. Geological stress builds up along the Himalayas and releases itself periodically in earthquakes.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Nepal Earthquake: Everest Survivors Describe Ordeal

Survivors of avalanches around the base of Mount Everest have been describing their ordeals as avalanches triggered by Nepal’s earthquake on Saturday almost swept them away.

One man said he was knocked off his feet by a “50-storey building of white”.

“I ran and it just flattened me. I tried to get up and it flattened me again. I couldn’t breathe, I thought I was dead,” Singapore-based climber George Foulsham told AFP news agency.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Nepal Searches for Survivors of Massive Quake as Death Toll Climbs

KATHMANDU, Nepal — Sleeping in the streets and shell-shocked, Nepalese cremated the dead and dug through rubble for the missing Sunday, a day after a massive Himalayan earthquake killed more than 2,200 people. Aftershocks tormented them, making buildings sway and sending panicked Kathmandu residents running into the streets.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Nepal Hospitals Overflowing, Rural Towns Cut Off: Aid Groups

Aid groups and governments worldwide intensified efforts Sunday to help earthquake-hit Nepal, but blocked roads, downed power lines and overcrowded hospitals posed formidable challenges in an already poor country.

As the death toll in the Himalayan nation surpassed 2,500, the US together with European and Asian nations sent emergency crews to reinforce those scrambling to find survivors in the devastated capital Kathmandu and in cut-off rural areas.

“Tragically, more bodies are being pulled from collapsed buildings every hour,” the Australian Red Cross said in a statement.

“Communication is down in many areas. Widespread destruction, rubble and landslides are preventing access to provide aid in many villages.”

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Pakistan: Women’s Rights Activist Sabeen Mahmud Gunned Down in ‘Targeted Assassination’

Two gunmen have assassinated prominent Pakistani women’s rights activist Sabeen Mahmud by pulling up next to her vehicle at a traffic light and spraying it with bullets.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Powerful 6.7 Magnitude Aftershock Rattles Nepal as Aid Arrives in Region

A powerful magnitude 6.7 aftershock shook the Kathmandu region of Nepal sending people yelling and running Sunday, a day after a massive earthquake crippled the region killing more than 2,500.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the aftershock registered at a shallow depth of six miles.

“The aftershocks keep coming … so people don’t know what to expect,” said Sanjay Karki, Nepal country head for global aid agency Mercy Corps. “All the open spaces in Kathmandu are packed with people who are camping outdoors. When the aftershocks come you cannot imagine the fear. You can hear women and children crying.”

With people fearing more quakes, tens of thousands of Nepalese spent Saturday night outside under chilly skies, or in cars and public buses. They were jolted awake by the aftershocks Sunday.

Saturday’s magnitude 7.8 earthquake spread horror from Kathmandu to small villages and to the slopes of Mount Everest, triggering an avalanche that buried part of the base camp packed with foreign climbers preparing to make their summit attempts. At least 17 people died there and 61 were injured.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

2000X Normal Radiation Found in Tokyo Playground, Officials Deny Any Link to Fukushima

Discovery that soil below a slide was contaminated fans fears for children.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

China: Most Wanted Graft Suspects in the United States and Canada

The list of 100 names includes 40 who fled to the US and 26 to Canada, most from Guangdong and Zhejiang provinces. Extradition will be difficult because China has few treaties with other countries.

Beijing (AsiaNews/Agencies) — The Central Commission for Discipline Inspection on Wednesday released a list of names of 100 fugitives sought under a new programme codenamed Sky Net launched earlier this month.

Most of those named are in the United States and Canada. About half of them are from the banking, insurance, securities, and media industries. One is a university professor.

Forty of the fugitives fled to the United States, 26 to Canada, and 20 to New Zealand. Others have gone to Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand and Australia, Xinhua reported.

At least 15 fugitives fled from the southern economic powerhouse of Guangdong province, whilst the south-eastern province Zhejiang came in second, with eight. Both provinces have special economic zones and special arrangements for foreign trade.

The list comes with name, photos, position, identity card, and passport. Some names have different identity cards and (fake) passports.

The list includes fugitives who fled from 1996 to 2014, with most going on the run between 2001 and 2002, and between 2011 and 2013.

In the last period, most have been accused of bribery, corruption and embezzlement after President Xi Jinping launched his anti-corruption campaign.

Although the list was sent to Interpol, experts believe it would be very difficult to extradite anyone because very few of the countries of refuge have an extradition treaty with China.

Where treaties do exist, legal procedures are very complicated and could take years.

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

South Africa Xenophobia: Anger Over Nigeria Envoy Recall

South Africa has condemned Nigeria’s decision to recall its ambassador over a spate of attacks against foreigners.

It called the step “unfortunate and regrettable” and said it “would be curious for a sisterly country to want to exploit such a painful episode”.

At least seven people have died over a month of attacks on foreigners and foreign-owned property in South Africa.

Zulu King Goodwill Zwelithini has been blamed for sparking the attacks with comments about foreign workers.

Soldiers were deployed to flashpoints last week to prevent more violence.

Some blamed the attacks — which centred on Durban and Johannesburg — on unemployment and poor political leadership.

Thousands were displaced, with many Zimbabweans, Mozambicans, Malawians and others returning home and others taking refuge in temporary government-operated shelters.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

World’s First Malaria Vaccine Could be Rolled Out by End of Year

A disease that kills around 1300 children each day in sub-Saharan Africa may shortly be on the run, thanks to promising results from what could become the world’s first vaccine against malaria — and the first against a parasitic disease.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

The Mediterranean: Key Route for EU-Bound Migrants

Out of the 283,000 migrants caught illegally entering the European Union in 2014, more than 220,000 arrived via the Mediterranean Sea, according to EU officials.

The Mediterranean has largely replaced land borders as the favoured point of passage, with nearly 171,000 arriving via that route in EU member Italy alone last year.

According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), 1,750 immigrants have perished since the beginning of the year when making the perilous journey across the treacherous sea, 30 times more than the same period of last year.

Below are the main Mediterranean routes used by would-be immigrants, often fleeing conflict and poverty back home, as they seek a better life in the bloc.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

U.S. Court Rules That Mexico Family of Teen Killed by Border Patrol Agent Cannot Sue Him

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A U.S. Border Patrol agent who killed a teenager when he fired across the border from Texas into Mexico cannot be sued in U.S. courts by the Mexican teen’s family, a federal appeals court ruled Friday.

The unanimous ruling was issued by the full 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, reversing most of an earlier 2-1 ruling by a three-judge panel of the court. The border agent’s lawyer said the opinion vindicated his client.

An attorney for the teen’s family said they haven’t decided whether to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

“We leave for others to decide whether this court has lost its moral bearings,” attorney Marion Reilly said in a written statement. “On behalf of the parents of an innocent slain teenager — a human being, regardless of his nationality — we simply note that they and we had not expected such a decision from a court of the United States.”

U.S. Border Patrol agent Jesus Mesa Jr. shot 15-year-old Sergio Adrian Hernandez Guereca in June 2010. U.S. investigators said Mesa was trying to arrest immigrants who had illegally crossed into the country when he was attacked by people throwing rocks. Mesa fired his weapon across the Rio Grande, twice hitting Hernandez Guereca.

The shooting occurred near a bridge between El Paso, Texas, and Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua.

[A thrown rock is a potentially deadly weapon, which could kill if it hit the target in the head. So — tough titty. — PW]

           — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey [Return to headlines]
 

California Citizens Seek Referendum to Block Transgender Public Bathroom Use

Petition currently bottled up in court.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Catholic Newspaper Slams Fast Divorce Law

‘An abandonment of family, we don’t agree’ — Famiglia Cristiana

(ANSA) — Rome, April 24 — Italy’s big-selling Catholic newspaper Famiglia Cristiana on Friday slammed the country’s newly passed quickie divorce law. “We can not consider the approval of the fast divorce law as an achievement of civilization; today, both spouses, children and the community all are poorer and more alone, in a false freedom, which becomes a solitude increasingly abandoned”, the publication said, adding “it is not a solution but an escape”.

Earlier this week, the Italian parliament passed a law reducing the time it takes to get a divorce to six months from three years.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

State Says Bakers Should Pay $135,000 for Refusing to Bake Cake for Same-Sex Wedding

Fine is enough to potentially bankrupt business’ family of seven.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Supreme Court to Rule on Same-Sex Marriage

In 1973, the Supreme Court looked into the Constitution, found that it approved of abortion and overruled laws banning it. Other laws have since addressed late term abortions and those resulting from rape or incest, but killing human life in the womb has been lawful since then. According to the Guttmacher Institute from 1973 through 2011, nearly 53 million legal abortions occurred in the U.S.

By dismantling the fundamental traditions and beliefs of a nation piece by piece, you ultimate will destroy it. Claiming this is done in the name of “love” or “equality” ignores the greater societal issues involved in marriage; the creation of families with mothers and fathers, and, indeed, the welfare of children raised in same-sex marriages.

Abortion remains a moral issue in the minds and hearts of many Americans and now they are waiting to see how the Supreme Court will rule on same-sex marriage. As Ryan T. Anderson wrote in The Heritage Foundation’s publication, The Daily Signal, “There simply is nothing in the U.S. Constitution that requires all 50 states to redefine marriage.”…

That’s why the fact that in late September Justice Elena Kagan performed a same-sex “wedding” takes on tremendous importance. As documented by MassResistance.org, Justice Kagan has a long history of advancing homosexual issues and policies. A 16-page report leaves little doubt that she favors acceptance of homosexuality and transgenderism as “civil rights.”

There is no way that Justice Kagan should join other Supreme Court judges to rule on this case. That would run counter to federal law and would be an arrogant dismissal of the most fundamental concept of justice before the bench.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

The King Has Come — Persecution of Christians

Has persecution of Christians begun in earnest in America? You be the judge. Here are just a few samples of what is taking place in our land:

  • Blaine Adamson was ordered by the city of Lexington, Kentucky, to undergo ‘sensitivity training” for refusing to print T-shirts for a sodomite pride festival.
  • Photographer Elaine Huguenin was ordered by the State of New Mexico to give a lesbian $7,000 for declining to photograph her sodomite unmarriage ceremony.
  • Bakers, Aaron and Melissa Klein were fined $150,000 by the State of Oregon for refusal to bake a cake for a sodomite unmarriage ceremony based on religious objections.
  • A 70-year-old florist, Barronell Stutzman, was fined by the State of Washington for not providing flowers for a sodomite unmarriage ceremony. Now her home and personal savings are at risk. The state and the plaintiffs propose to bankrupt her personally and the court has ruled that her personal property is available to execute any judgment. They intend to render her destitute in her old age.

The Book Undeniable is nearly 400 pages surveying in 2014 the Hostility to Christianity in America.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Woman ‘Not a Replica of Man, ‘ Pope Francis Says

Woman’s creation ‘does not express inferiority,’ pontiff says

(ANSA) Vatican City, April 22 — Pope Francis said Wednesday that “woman is not a replica of man” but “comes directly from the creative gesture of God, the rib does not express inferiority or subordination, but on the contrary that the man and woman are of the same substance and complementary, they have this reciprocity”.

Speaking during his weekly general audience to 25,000 pilgrims gathered in St Peter’s Square, the pontiff resumed his catechism on the theme of the couple, saying that “if we don’t find a resurgence of sympathy for this alliance” between man and woman “capable of protecting the new generations from mistrust and indifference, children will be ever more uprooted from the maternal womb”.

Such a prospect “will certainly be a loss for everyone, this uprooting of the alliance,” and “we must bring honour again to marriage and the family,” Francis said.

Commenting on the second chapter of Genesis, the pope added that “to find woman, we can also say to find love, man must first dream, and then he finds her”.

“The fact that God moulds woman while man sleeps underlines that woman is absolutely not a creature of man, but of God, and also suggests another thing — to find woman, man first must dream”.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Did Exaggerated Records Make Global Warming Look Worse?

Scientists to investigate whether ‘adjusted’ temperatures skewed data

Will look at whether ‘adjustments’ made to records cancel each other out.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Police Can Now Tell Identical Twins Apart — Just Melt Their DNA

Whodunnit? Standard DNA analysis can pin down a guilty criminal, but it can be tough if the suspects are identical twins, who share the same genetic code.

Around the world there have been several cases in which police have been unable to prosecute a suspect because he or she is an identical twin.

But there is now a test involving melting DNA that could tell identical twins apart in a matter of hours and reveal who that genetic material came from.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]