Gates of Vienna News Feed 4/30/2015

While I was away yesterday and today a lot of news came in. I’ve gathered as much of it as possible here, but some has probably been left out.

I noticed while watching cable news channels in the motel room last night that the Baltimore riots seem to dominate the news. The same is true of internet news — check out all the follow-up reports on Mayor Stephanie Rawlings, the police, the parallels with Ferguson, Missouri, and other Baltimore-related news.

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

Thanks to C. Cantoni, Erick Stakelbeck, Fjordman, Insubria, JD, K, Papa Whiskey, Phyllis Chesler, Srdja Trifkovic, 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
» Biggest Inventory Build in History Prevents Total Collapse of the US Economy
» Dollar Vigilante Warns of September 2015 Crash: “There Are a Lot of Things Going On… a Lot of Crazy Things”
» Greece: British Tourists Warned to Take Cash With Them
 
USA
» 12 Unanswered Questions About the Baltimore Riots That They Don’t Want us to Ask
» 2 People Shot in Ferguson as New Protests Break Out
» America, The Land of Censored Conservative Speech
» App Fail on iPad Grounds ‘A Few Dozen’ American Airlines Flights
» Baltimore’s Mayor Calls Rioters and Looters “Misguided Young People Who Need Support”
» Baltimore Riots: Hillary Clinton Says Unrest Shows That Criminal Justice System is ‘Out of Balance’
» Baltimore Quiets Down as Residents Obey All-Night Curfew
» Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings Thanks ISIS Advocates (The Nation of Islam) For Their Support…
» Baltimore Orioles Beat Sox — With No Fans to Cheer
» Baltimore City Council President Apologizes to Rioters
» Baltimore Mayor Decries Violence After Deliberately Encouraging it
» Clinton Aide Gets Life in Prison
» CNN Reporter Blames Vets for Riots
» Conversations With Liberals
» Cruz: Obama Has ‘Inflamed’ Racial Tensions
» Doonesbury for Sharia
» Experts Question Gang Involvement in Riots
» FBI, TSA Warn ISIS Looking to Attack on U.S. Soil
» Georgia Woman Allegedly Threatens White Cops on Facebook, Lands in Jail
» Here We Stand, At the Twilight’s Last Gleaming: “All Private Property Rights in the U.S. To be Strategically Usurped”
» Hillary Clinton: Police Intentionally Killing Black Men is ‘Unmistakable and Undeniable’
» In Every City in America There Are People Ready to Riot, Loot and Set Things on Fire
» ISIS Fighters, Supporters Hijack #BaltimoreRiots Twitter Hashtag, Discuss Race Issues, Urge Attacks on Policemen
» Islam Debate Returns to Garland ISD’s Culwell Center With Muhammad Art Event
» Law School Offers Students to Defer Exams if They Provide Legal Advice to Protesters
» Man Flying Toy Drone Tased by Ranger at National Park
» Minneapolis Men Facing ISIL-Linked Terrorism Charges Belie Stereotypes
» Muslim Driver Tries to Run Down Cops at Minneapolis Airport
» New Black Panther Head: Like Founding Fathers, We Are Willing to Kill for Black Nation
» New York City Becomes a TPP-Free Zone
» NewZeal: We Have a Wonderful Announcement…
» Our Weasel of the Week Nominees! — 04/28/15
» Paul Camp Accuses Clinton of Running From Husband’s Legacy With Prison Reform Speech
» Prisoner in Van Said Freddie Gray Was ‘Trying to Injure Himself, ‘ Document Says
» Riot-Plagued Baltimore is a Catastrophe Entirely of the Democratic Party’s Own Making
» Riots Test Obama’s Power to Heal Racial Divide
» Sea Lion Drags Man Posing for Picture Overboard in Mission Bay
» Transparent Armor From NRL; Spinel Could Also Ruggedize Your Smart Phone
» Truth Has Been Murdered
» Turning America Into a Battlefield: A Blueprint for Locking Down the Nation
» Under Guard, Baltimore Cleans Up and Looks Ahead
» US Successfully Tests Self-Steering Bullets That Can Follow Moving Targets
» Walmart’s Mysterious Store Closure Devastates California City
 
Europe and the EU
» China, Russia to Hold Joint Naval Drills in the Mediterranean
» EU Court OKs Lifetime Ban on Gay Male Blood Donors
» Europe’s Largest Airline Falls Prey to $5 Million Cyber Theft
» France Reverses Defence Cuts in Anti-Terror Drive
» Germany: Two Muslims Arrested With Weapons and Bomb Materials
» Govt Called ‘Fascist’ Over Italicum Confidence Vote
» Italy: Three Convicted: 56 Indicted Over Lombardy Expenses
» Lufthansa ‘Scarred Forever’ By Alps Crash
» Mussolini to Stand for Forza Italia in Campania Vote
» Top Charlie Hebdo Cartoonist Luz Says Will No Longer Draw Mohammed
» UK: Christians, Jews and Muslims at the General Election: Which Parties Do They Vote for?
» UK: Jimmy Savile Abused 23 Girls at Duncroft School for Disturbed Teenage Girls
» UK: Tory Council Candidate Gulzabeen Afsar Suspended for Remark About Ed Miliband ‘The Jew’
» UK:Lost Property Will No Longer be Taken in by Kent Police Force
 
Balkans
» Once Magnet for Foreign Mujahedeen, Bosnia Now Exports Them
» Turkish Businessman Appointed as Advisor to the President of Bosnia and Herzegovina
 
Israel and the Palestinians
» Fired Employee Sues Al Jazeera America for Anti-Semitism
» Hamas Commander Alive and ‘Back in the Fight’
 
Middle East
» Iraq Poised to Deploy Iran-Backed Shi’ite Militia in Offensive in West
» Rethinking the Saudi Connection (III)
» Saudi Arabia: King Appoints New Crown Prince
 
South Asia
» Convicts Faced Indonesia Execution Singing Christian Hymns
» India’s Supreme Court Delays Marines Case Again
» Indonesia Executes Drug Convicts, Sparks Anger From Australia, Brazil
» Malala Yousafzai’s Attackers Are Jailed for Life by Pakistan Court
» Myanmar: Rakhine: Hundreds of Civilians Flee Fighting Between Burmese and Arakan Forces
» Nepal Earthquake Lifted Kathmandu, But Shrank Everest
» Nepal Earthquake: Two Rescued After Five Days
» Rescue Crew Pulls Survivor From Rubble 5 Days After Nepal Quake
 
Far East
» Sieren’s China: Chinese Bordeaux
 
Sub-Saharan Africa
» The Albino Children Hunted for Body Parts
» Zimbabwe President Mugabe Urges Migrants in South Africa to Return Home
 
Immigration
» Border Patrol Uncovers Sophisticated Drug Tunnel on U.S.-Mexico Border
» EU Directive on Illegal Residents Supersedes Italian Law
» European Parliament Calls for National Migrant Quotas
» Stemming the Surge of Deadly Illegal Migration Across the Mediterranean
 
Culture Wars
» Alan Keyes on God-Ordained Natural Marriage
» No Women Pass Marines Infantry Officer School by Experiment’s End
» Was the Jenner Interview a Big Hoax or Sham?
 
General
» Cat Chat: Can Felines Talk to Humans?
» Hookers, Kidneys & Nose Jobs: New Map Shows Most Searched Cost Obsessions by Country
» Online Jihadis Call for Attacks on Cartoonists in United States, Australia
» Pluto May Have Icy Cap
 

Biggest Inventory Build in History Prevents Total Collapse of the US Economy

While we already observed that in Q1, US GDP rose by an appalling 0.2%, far, far below the consensus Wall Street estimate (in case you missed it, here again is the one thing every Wall Street economist desperately needs) and precisely in line with the Atlanta Fed forecast which we brought attention to in early March, confirming yet again that US stocks no longer reflect any fundamentals but merely Fed and global liquidity injections, there is something far more disturbing under the surface of today’s GDP report.

Inventories.

Specifically, the $121.9 billion increase in private, mostly nonfarm, inventories in the first quarter…

In other words, if US inventories, already at record high levels, and with the inventory to sales rising to great financial crisis levels, had not grown by $121.9 billion and merely remained flat, US Q1 GDP would not be 0.2%, but would be -2.6%.

Oh heck, just round it down to -3.0%

Which means that as this massive inventory overhang is eventually cleared out (once the US runs out of space to store all these widgets, gadgets and raw materials, here’s looking at you Cushing) and there has been $1.1 trillion in consistent inventory build in the past 3 years, US GDP will be pressured even more with every passing quarter, or else the moment of deflationary rapture when everyone is forced to liquidate and/or dump this inventory at the same time, will result in a monetary supernova which will leave the Fed with no choice but to literally paradrop money on the continental US.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Dollar Vigilante Warns of September 2015 Crash: “There Are a Lot of Things Going On… a Lot of Crazy Things”

In this must-watch interview with Future Money Trends Berwick holds nothing back and highlights the critical issues we face. He pieces together the larger view of the puzzle, including the thousands of tanks that will be involved with this Summer’s Jade Helm 15 national security exercises, how that relates to global financial markets and economies, and the tendency of the elite to follow spiritual markers such the 7 year Shemitah and numerology. Taking any single event may seem inconsequential on its own, but when considered as a whole, one simply cannot ignore the possibility of a serious calamity taking place later this year.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Greece: British Tourists Warned to Take Cash With Them

Due to fears of an economic collapse of the country

(ANSAmed) — ATHENS, APRIL 28 — The British Foreign & Commonwealth Office has warned holidaymakers to take cash with them if they plan on visiting Greece over the next few months, due to fears of an economic collapse, GreekReporter website writes today quoting the British newspaper Telegraph. “The Greek tourist board in London said that while it anticipated no immediate problems, visitors should avoid relying solely on credit cards or local ATMs,” wrote the British newspaper Telegraph. The British office fears that due to the uncertainty in Greece, the financial institutions do not have money in their funds and therefore cannot provide cash to ATMs.

“Travelers should take ‘enough money to cover emergencies and any unexpected delays,’ the Foreign & Commonwealth Office added,” according to Telegraph. Meanwhile, experts recommended that people traveling to Greece should have enough cash with them to last three to five days, apart from their credit and debit cards.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

12 Unanswered Questions About the Baltimore Riots That They Don’t Want us to Ask

Why did the Baltimore riots seem like they were perfectly staged to be a television event?

Images of police vehicles burning made for great television all over the planet, but why were there abandoned police vehicles sitting right in the middle of the riot zones without any police officers around them in the first place?

Why was the decision made ahead of time to set a curfew for Tuesday night and not for Monday night? And why are Baltimore police officers claiming that they were ordered to “stand down” and not intervene as dozens of shops, businesses and homes went up in flames? Yes, the anger over the death of Freddie Gray is very real.

Police brutality has been a major problem in Baltimore and much of the rest of the nation for many years. But could it be possible that the anger that the people of Baltimore are feeling is being channeled and manipulated for other purposes? The following are 12 unanswered questions about the Baltimore riots that they don’t want us to ask…

#1 Why are dozens of social media accounts that were linked to violence in Ferguson now trying to stir up violence in Baltimore?…

The data mining firm that found between 20 and 50 social media accounts in Baltimore linked to the violence in Ferguson, Mo. is now reporting a spike in message traffic in Washington D.C., Philadelphia and New York City, with “protesters” trying to get rides to Baltimore for Tuesday night.

The firm, which asked to remain anonymous because it does government work, said some of the suspect social media accounts in Baltimore are sending messages to incite violence. While it is possible to spoof an account, to make it look like someone is one place and really is in another, that does not fully explain the high numbers.

#2 Who was behind the aggressive social media campaign to organize a “purge” that would start at the Mondawmin Mall at precisely 3 PM on Monday afternoon?…

The spark that ignited Monday’s pandemonium probably started with high school students on social media, who were discussing a “purge” — a reference to a film in which laws are suspended.

Many people knew “very early on” that there was “a lot of energy behind this purge movement,” Baltimore City Councilman Nick Mosby told CNN on Tuesday. “It was a metaphor for, ‘Let’s go out and make trouble.’“

#3 Even though authorities had “credible intelligence” that gangs would be specifically targeting police officers on Monday, why weren’t they more prepared? On Tuesday, the captain of the Baltimore police tried to make us believe that they weren’t prepared because they were only anticipating a confrontation with “high schoolers”…

Police Capt. John Kowalczyk said the relatively light initial police presence was because authorities were preparing for a protest of high schoolers. A heavy police presence and automatic weapons would not have been appropriate, he said. Kowalczyk said police made more than 200 arrests — only 34 of them juveniles.

#4 Where were the Baltimore police on Monday afternoon when the riots exploded? During the rioting, CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin said that the “disappearance of the police for hours this afternoon is something that is going to haunt this city for decades”…

#8 Why is an organization funded by George Soros stirring up emotions against the police in Baltimore?

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

2 People Shot in Ferguson as New Protests Break Out

(CNN) At least two people were shot in separate incidents in Ferguson, Missouri, on late Tuesday and early Wednesday as hundreds of demonstrators gathered in support of protests in Baltimore.

“Police are having a difficult time investigating because of the rocks being thrown at them,” said Jeff Small, a spokesman for the city of Ferguson. “At this point police are not sure if the (shootings are) linked to the protest or not.”

St. Louis Alderman Antonio French posted video on his Twitter account. Multiple gunshots can be heard as people flee in panic.

[Going to be a long hot summer, it appears. — PW]

           — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey [Return to headlines]
 

America, The Land of Censored Conservative Speech

“Submitting to censorship is to enter the seductive world of ‘The Giver’: the world where there are no bad words and no bad deeds. But it is also the world where choice has been taken away and reality distorted. And that is the most dangerous world of all.” —Lois Lowry, contemporary children’s book author

In a previous article we wrote:

“The Progressives have been in virtual control of America for over 100 years. They intend to remain in control, even if they can’t do it by votes. They have taken over the schools, academia, government institutions and the news media and they will maintain their control by force of arms if patriots (conservatives) even so much as hint at challenging their authority. It’s been coming for a long time. It is the final evolution of a liberal, socialist, ideologically driven dictatorship.”

This came home to us in spades when we discovered that Comcast had blocked all of our e-mail accounts. This occurred right after the release of our article entitled “There Is Only One Solution, Force Government’s Hand” that appeared on the NewsWithViews website on April 22, 2015 and also appears on our website HERE.

If you sent us an e-mail with a comment about this article and you didn’t hear back from us, it is because we never received your comment.

This isn’t the first time that Comcast has blocked our e-mails. Their excuse is always been that they are trying to control SPAM and they have received complaints from people that our articles are SPAM. Except that, this last article was only sent by e-mail to NewsWithViews and no one else. Is government or big business reading all of our e-mails, including the ones we send to publications and our friends? Of course, especially if our e-mails or articles are critical of the government!

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

App Fail on iPad Grounds ‘A Few Dozen’ American Airlines Flights

App used by pilots as ‘electronic kit bag’ since 2013 crashes, leaving planes unable to take off

Introduced in 2013, the cockpit iPads are used as an “electronic flight bag”, replacing 16kg (35lb) of paper manuals which pilots are typically required to carry on flights. They are used to distribute information such as flight plans throughout the airline’s fleet.

But the app that replaced the flight bag crashed on Tuesday, affecting multiple planes scattered throughout the entire fleet, according to passenger reports, leaving the pilots unable to take off. “The pilot came on and said that his first mate’s iPad powered down unexpectedly, and his had too, and that the entire 737 fleet on American had experienced the same behavior,” one passenger told business news site Quartz. “It seemed unprecedented and very unfamiliar to the pilots.”

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Baltimore’s Mayor Calls Rioters and Looters “Misguided Young People Who Need Support”

by Daniel Greenfield

You might think that the small business store owners, many of them immigrants trying to carve out a marginal living, need support.

But Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, who had earlier stated that she had given the rioters and looters space to destroy, apologized for calling them “thugs” and said that they were just misguided young people.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Baltimore Riots: Hillary Clinton Says Unrest Shows That Criminal Justice System is ‘Out of Balance’

Hillary Clinton has addressed the situation in Baltimore by saying the unrest proves that the US criminal justice system is not effective, though she said the violence has to stop.

After Monday brought devastating riots around Baltimore in response to the death of 25-year-old Freddie Gray, the addition of a 10 pm curfew and 1,000 National Guard troops kept Tuesday night calm.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Baltimore Quiets Down as Residents Obey All-Night Curfew

The streets of Baltimore were eerily quiet Tuesday night into early Wednesday as residents obeyed an all-night curfew enforced by 3,000 police and National Guardsmen, a day after riots engulfed the city.

The 10 p.m. curfew got off to a not-so promising start as 200 protesters initially defied the warnings of police and pleas from activists to disperse.

Some people in the crowd threw water bottles or lay on the ground as a line of police behind riot shields hurled gas canisters and fired pepper balls to push the crowd back. Demonstrators picked up the canisters and hurled them back at officers, but the crowd would rapidly disperse and was just down to a few dozen people within minutes.

The clash came after a day of high tension but relative peace and calm in Baltimore, which was rocked by looting and widespread arson Monday in the city’s worst outbreak of rioting since 1968.

Police, political leaders and many residents condemned the violence and hundreds of volunteers showed up Tuesday to sweep the streets of glass and other debris.

Just before midnight Tuesday, Baltimore Police Commissioner Anthony Batts declared the curfew, which ends at 5 a.m., a success.

“We do not have a lot of active movement throughout the city as a whole. … Tonight I think the biggest thing is the citizens are safe, the city is stable,” he said. “We hope to maintain it that way.”

[Good luck with that. — PW]

           — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey [Return to headlines]
 

Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings Thanks ISIS Advocates (The Nation of Islam) For Their Support…

It’s not accidental, it’s not a mistake — nor is it coincidental.

It is a well scripted “social jihad”.

Baltimore Maryland erupts in riots, looting and civil unrest — and Mayor Stephanie Rawlings goes on television to thank the Nation of Islam for their support:

[…]

Pictured below -yesterday- are the “Bloods” and “Crips” gangs, together with the Nation of Islam (guys with red bow ties) in Baltimore. Note the Nation of Islam giving the extended forefinger salute representing allegiance with ISIS.

[…]

AS PREVIOUSLY OUTLINED — The leader of the student group (pictured above) who was originally protesting, Eric Sheppard Jr., remains wanted by police for violent threats and firearms violations. Weapons were found in his backpack on the school campus. Sheppard fled the campus before police could arrest him. It is rumored Eric Sheppard is in hiding amid several organizations sympathetic to his ‘Islamic radicalization’ cause.

The sunlight upon the campus recruitment for Islamic Radicalization has brought an uncomfortable discussion into the backstory surrounding the events. According to local speculation the Nation of Islam and New Black Panther Party sympathizers are assisting Sheppard in avoiding law enforcement.

Had it not been for an Air Force veteran, Michelle Manhart, bringing national attention to the group — the activity taking place on the VSU campus would never have been scrutinized.

[…]

Eric Sheppard Jr was actively recruiting black students at VSU to take up his cause. Self-identified as anti-Christian and a follower of Islam, Sheppard was advocating for black students to join a violent uprising to destroy the social fabric of the U.S. His hate-speech was permitted on campus under the auspices of “free speech”.

However, the reality of his speech was/is a call for violence. Once that aspect was identified and shown to campus authorities, their opinion of the event changed dramatically.

Sheppard’s goals align with an aspect visible in social protests that is missing throughout all mainstream media coverage.

As we discovered in the Ferguson “Mike Brown Protests”, the actual agitating forces behind the protest were/are of Islamic origin. An example is the “Operation Ferguson” movement itself actually being coordinated by an Islamic group in Pakistan.

When you peel back the layers of inter-connected activity what you find is Arab Muslims exploiting black sentiment in the U.S. to further what would be best called a “social jihad”.

Young black populations throughout various communities in the U.S. are being indoctrinated to rail against Christianity in favor of Islam, radical Islam. And as a consequence racism is being used as the wedge to draw a manipulative contrast.

[…]

Christianity defined by the various Muslim groups as a “white religion”, and Islam promoted as a “black religion”. If you listen to the justifications within the advocacy highlighted on the VSU campus, or in Ferguson Missouri, or in Madison Wisconsin, or in Charlottesville Virginia, or the latest events in Baltimore Maryland, you’ll find this common theme.

Arab Muslim advocates using wedge issues and promoting grievances to stir up controversy and sell a belief system. Their goal is actually quite strategic: to attack the U.S. socially from the inside out.

[Lots of photos in this very informative post. — PW]

           — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey [Return to headlines]
 

Baltimore Orioles Beat Sox — With No Fans to Cheer

By Ray Sanchez

The smokey aroma of pulled pork from Boog Powell’s BBQ stand wasn’t wafting over the crowds Wednesday in downtown Baltimore’s Eutaw Street.

But rock music blared from speakers at Camden Yards as the Baltimore Orioles and Chicago White Sox took batting practice in an eerily empty stadium with a capacity for nearly 46,000 rowdy fans.

Like most days, Wednesday’s game opened with the national anthem. John Denver’s “Thank God I’m a Country Boy” was played at the seventh-inning stretch.

But the stands were empty except for a few big-league scouts behind home plate. For the first time in Major League Baseball, fans were shut out of a game. No one chased foul balls hit into the stands, though Orioles catcher Caleb Joseph briefly pretended to sign autographs. First baseman Chris Davis hurled a ball to the imaginary fans.

As protests and occasional violent unrest rocked Baltimore after the death of Freddie Gray while in police custody, the Orioles took an unprecedented step in American sports history by barring fans for the final game of their series against the White Sox. The first two games were rescheduled for next month.

“Baseball is filled with the strange, but this is beyond strange,’’ said Major League Baseball’s official historian, John Thorn.

[Jim Morrison: Strange days have found us / Strange days have tracked us down / They’re going to destroy / Our casual joys / We shall go on playing / Or find a new town — PW]

           — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey [Return to headlines]
 

Baltimore City Council President Apologizes to Rioters

The president of the Baltimore City Council apologized for calling rioters “thugs”.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Baltimore Mayor Decries Violence After Deliberately Encouraging it

At the outset of the riots that are now sweeping Baltimore, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake held a press conference, telling reporters that the city was allowing violence in an effort to make sure rioters were able to “ exercise their right to free speech” and to defuse the situation. “ It’ s a very delicate balancing act, because while we tried to make sure that they [meaning the rioters, not the victims] were protected from the cars and the other things that were going on, we also gave those who wished to destroy, space to do that as well… “ she said. She thought that would put the city in “ the best position to deescalate.”

Under orders, police held back and did nothing while rioters engaged in repeated acts of violence, including smashing car windows, destroying police cars and attacking individuals and private businesses. More than a dozen police have been injured, some seriously. This was the mayor’ s idea of respecting the rioters’ First Amendment rights.

How is it possible that anyone could be so delusional, so mind-numbingly stupid, so utterly incompetent, that they would believe allowing rioters to go nuts would somehow pacify them? Predictably, they took her encouragement as opportunity for even more violence and widespread looting. The city is burning and the governor has declared a state of emergency. Now she is calling those very same people, thugs.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Clinton Aide Gets Life in Prison

Professional propagandist Gehad el-Haddad, who worked for the Clinton Foundation for five years, was one of more than 35 other Islamofascist defendants in the case to receive life imprisonment for anti-government activities.

An Islamic terrorist leader who jumped straight from his job at the Clinton Foundation to a post with Egypt’s jihadist Muslim Brotherhood has received a life sentence back home for seditious activities.

It provides yet more damning proof of the ties of presidential candidate Hillary Clinton to totalitarian Muslims while throwing more light on the shady goings-on of the terrorist-friendly international cash-for-favors clearinghouse known as the Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton Foundation. (The endlessly corrupt foundation, which has taken oceans of cash from Islamic regimes that persecute women and religious dissenters, was profiled at length by this writer last week in FrontPage).

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

CNN Reporter Blames Vets for Riots

By Rick Moran

CNN host Brooke Baldwin made a shocking, off the wall statement when interviewing Rep. Elijah Cummings during the Baltimore riots.

Baldwin thought that part of the problem was too many military veterans in the Baltimore police department who were “ready to do battle.”

Daily Caller:

While conducting an interview with Democratic Maryland Representative Elijiah Cummings, CNN host Brooke Baldwin questioned whether the violence in Baltimore had something to do with the amount of military veterans in the police department.

“Another thing that has to be done here, is we’ve really got to look at our police department,” Cummings began.

“But in what sense?” Baldwin asked. “We talk about training, we talk about having officers — I was talking to the city councilman here last week. He said, ‘Brooke, these people have to live in the communities… or there’s a lack of emotional investment.’“

“And a lot of these young people — I’ve been talking about this so much. A lot of young people — and I love our nation’s veterans, but some of them are coming back from war, they don’t know the communities, and they are ready to do battle.”

Liberals never get tired of advancing the “crazy vet” stereotype. It’s their way of criticizing veterans, the military, and America while appearing to care about their mental health. It’s been going on since the end of the Vietnam War and is now apparently being applied to vets who are policemen with itchy trigger fingers.

Anything I’ve ever read about military veterans on America’s police forces has been positive. They are disciplined, courageous, and devoted to protecting and serving the people. What more could you possibly want in a policeman?

Apparently, they aren’t touchy feely enough for people like Baldwin. All I know is, if the crap hits the fan as it did in Baltimore, I’d much rather have ex-servicemen out on the streets facing down the thugs than a Dr. Phil clone.

[If the Baltimore PD had really been “ready to do battle,” the streets would have been strewn with dead thugs. But not even one of them was killed. — PW]

           — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey [Return to headlines]
 

Conversations With Liberals

by Phyllis Chesler

I don’t know what to do about liberal American Jews. Unlike some conservatives, I happen to agree with them on certain issues but these days, that barely matters. The only thing that matters is whether one is for or against President Obama. If one dares say—out loud and in public—that Obama is, maybe, not so good for Israel—the Democratic Party flags are promptly whipped out and anyone who refuses to swear on the flag of the Democratic Party is promptly and rudely attacked.

I have recently and unexpectedly been in conversation with a number of such Jewish liberals both privately and publicly.

Here’s one example. At a lecture I gave I was assailed with this comment: “You just said that Israelis believe that Obama is the worst President Israel ever had. But that is a lie. We read and we know that he is the best President Israel ever had! Were it not for him, there would be no Iron Dome. What about that?”…

           — Hat tip: Phyllis Chesler [Return to headlines]
 

Cruz: Obama Has ‘Inflamed’ Racial Tensions

Washington (CNN) Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz said on Wednesday that President Barack Obama had “inflamed racial tensions” during his time in office.

Speaking to members of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and the media, Cruz pointedly attacked the president for repeated missed opportunities to lead on race issues since he came into office.

“He’s made decisions that I think have inflamed racial tensions — that have divided us rather than bring us together,” the Texas senator said. “We need leadership that brings us together rather than trying to divide us.”

[Cruz is right, as Barry Hussein’s sundry “dog-whistles” show. But “bringing us together” in the face of a huge racial-grievance industry would be an impossible task even for a president who was willing to talk sense. — PW]

           — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey [Return to headlines]
 

Doonesbury for Sharia

By Robert Spencer

There have been a lot of people since the jihad massacre of Charlie Hebdo Muhammad cartoonists who have said or strongly implied that they had it coming and deserved what they got. Most of them have been Islamic jihadists and supremacists at anti-Charlie Hebdo demonstrations. No one expected that one of the murdered cartoonists’ harshest critics would be a fellow cartoonist, as well as a fellow iconoclast and slayer of sacred cows: Doonesbury’s Garry Trudeau.

Speaking at the George Polk journalism awards on April 9 as he received a lifetime achievement award, Trudeau charged that the cartoonists had “wandered into the realm of hate speech.” He called for self-censorship in the face of violent intimidation, saying that “free speech … becomes its own kind of fanaticism.”

Trudeau’s words, understandably, incited controversy, and so on Meet the Press last week he attempted to clarify his earlier remarks and dispel the impression that he was blaming the victims for the massacre. However, he only ended up digging the hole deeper and affirming his submission to violent intimidation and implicit acceptance of Sharia blasphemy laws.

In an interview with a fawning and obsequious Chuck Todd, Trudeau assured the world that the Charlie Hebdo cartoonists were “not at all to blame,” but then immediately relapsed into blaming them for their own murders, saying: “I didn’t agree with the decisions they made that brought a world of pain to France.”

Yet it was the jihad mass murderers, not Charlie Hebdo, that brought a world of pain to France. If they had not been willing to commit mass murder in the service of Sharia blasphemy laws, France would not have experienced any pain at all.

[That this nasty little intellectual goose-stepper should have received a George Polk award is nothing less than obscene. George Polk was murdered for doing his job as a CBS correspondent during the Greek civil war in 1948, and the award in his name was intended for journalists who have taken risks for the people’s right to know. The Charlie Hebdo cartoonists took risks and paid the ultimate price for doing so. Garry Trudeau, who attended a posh prep school, graduated from Yale, and has spent a well-compensated career peddling leftist bromides to the well-indoctrinated, has taken none.And though he has declared that a cartoonist’s role is to “punch up” rather than down, he himself has punched down — on the graves of his murdered colleagues. The only award he deserves is scorn. — PW]

           — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey [Return to headlines]
 

Experts Question Gang Involvement in Riots

By Doug Donovan, Mark Puente and Luke Broadwater

It was an unusual tableau: Baltimore City Council President Bernard C. “Jack” Young and his neatly dressed council colleagues stood at a City Hall news conference flanked by two young men wearing the red bandannas associated with the Bloods gang.

Charles Shelley, a member of the Crips gang, along with a Bloods member named Jamal, called for protesters in the streets of Baltimore to stop rioting. (Doug Donovan/Baltimore Sun)

At Tuesday’s event, Young praised the gang members — and discounted a police report that the Bloods, Crips and Black Guerrilla Family gangs had unified to target officers in the wake of Freddie Gray’s recent death in police custody. He said it was “clear that the notion they were planning on harming our police officers is false and simply deterred the resources we needed to focus on the individuals who instigated these riots. I applaud these young men for standing here and speaking out for our city.”

Although some city and religious leaders say such gang outreach is essential in a crisis, criminologists have been shocked to see the leaders supporting groups often associated with a drug trade that helps to make Baltimore one of the nation’s most violent cities.

While those criminologists also doubted the claim of police officials that gangs were targeting officers, they said the alert was no excuse for religious and elected officials to lend the legitimacy of their institutions to criminal groups.

“You’re a de facto gang-controlled city if you give them any power,” said George W. Knox, director of the Chicago-based National Gang Crime Research Institute. “They are not part of the solution. They are part of the problem.”

City officials should be meeting publicly with teachers, mothers, crime victims, ministers and other community leaders — not gang members, Knox said. “You embolden them when you recognize them. It gives them power and status. You are creating a bigger monster.”

[…]

Jeffrey Ian Ross, a criminologist at the University of Baltimore, said that during Baltimore’s 1968 riots, drug kingpin Melvin “Little Melvin” Williams was credited with dispersing rioters.

The Baltimore Sun reported in 2000 that Williams had stood up at the corner of Pennsylvania Avenue and Mosher Street — not far from the current rioting — and with a microphone declared, “It’s all over. Go home.” The streets emptied shortly after.

[And why not? Can’t move no product when the ‘hood be full of troops. — PW]

           — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey [Return to headlines]
 

FBI, TSA Warn ISIS Looking to Attack on U.S. Soil

With Baltimore in chaos these past few days, you may have missed a very important piece of news that could directly affect your life.

Two pieces of news, actually, but both covering the same topic: the ISIS threat to the U.S. homeland.

This past weekend, CNN reported that the FBI was investigating “a possible ISIS-inspired terror threat in the United States.” According to CNN, “The investigation originated from intercepted chatter and other intelligence information that led officials to believe a possible plot could be in the works…It’s not clear whether the threat is real or aspirational…One official said it focused on parts of California…”

At the same time, The Intercept reported that the TSA had issued a classified warning that ISIS may be looking to attack targets inside the United States. The threats led to heightened security in parts of southern California, including at airports…

           — Hat tip: Erick Stakelbeck [Return to headlines]
 

Georgia Woman Allegedly Threatens White Cops on Facebook, Lands in Jail

Atlanta (CNN)A fake name on a Facebook post can still get you in real trouble, especially when you’re threatening to shoot every white cop you see.

Ebony Dickens of East Point, Georgia, posted her Facebook rant under the name Tiffany Milan, police said.

“All Black ppl should rise up and shoot at every white cop in the nation starting NOW,” said the post made on Monday. “I condone black on white killings. Hell they condone crimes against us.”

The post was removed a day later, just before Dickens was arrested, CNN affiliate WSB reported.

“I thought about shooting every white cop I see in the head until I’m either caught by the police or killed by them. Ha!!!! I think I can pull it off. Might kill at least 15 tomorrow, I’m plotting now.”

Needless to day, it got law enforcement’s attention. Not only the East Point police, but the FBI and Homeland Security, too.

“That’s 15 people that she’s talking about killing within a day or so, so whether she is serious or not that’s something that we have to take seriously,” East Point police Lt. Cliff Chandler told WSB.

Dickens, 33, is in the Fulton County Jail after being charged with disseminating information related to terrorist acts.

She’s being held on $10,000 bond and has been banned from social media.

Perhaps Dickens should have known better.

Her public defender, Tracey Moran, said Dickens has a master’s in “legal studies,” CNN affiliate WXIA reported.

[“Ask Miz Legal — she knows more than you do! She’s got a master’s degree — in legal studies!” — PW]

           — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey [Return to headlines]
 

Here We Stand, At the Twilight’s Last Gleaming: “All Private Property Rights in the U.S. To be Strategically Usurped”

Incrementally. With infinite patience and weighing the public consciousness (or lack of such) to inculcate their programs, and here we have it again, in Montana, paving the way for what will happen with the nation. Eminent domain abolished private property, effectively making the definition of it subjective. Private property is now completely defined by the federal government or the “tyranny of the majority” (De Toqueville), the latter in the form of a somber “grand council.”

The feds, states, and the local councils determine the need to take away private property and then come out with the proclamation, “This is for the public good,” or in “the interests of the general public.” Mr. Spock on steroids, where “the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few…or the needs of the one.”

No!

When the needs of the one are thrown upon a rubbish heap and burned in the name of the collective good, the needs of the many are pyred with that individual! By burning the one, the basis for the freedoms of the many end up being skewered and destroyed. The end state is no longer recognized as a free state made up of free individuals with free will. It becomes a collective, socialist pit where money, power, and privilege establish the ruling class…the “inner and outer” parties and the proles.

Incrementally. This has happened in part, and it is happening now. I wish to give you the real reason for the CSKT water treaty: the government’s takeover of all private water supplies in Western Montana “on behalf” of the Indian Tribes.

All of you are aware of the forces at work both within and without our nation’s borders toward global governance. The Agenda 21 actions placing the EPA as the determining body for the “protection” of the environment and the movement (as is occurring in China right now) of people from the rural areas into the cities. They’ll have future “stack-n-packs” of people crammed into cage-like conditions. Returning to Montana: this state is the first state both to pave the way and also for more sinister reasons…

From a national perspective, what has occurred in Montana has set the precedent for all private property rights in the U.S. to be strategically usurped.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Hillary Clinton: Police Intentionally Killing Black Men is ‘Unmistakable and Undeniable’

Clinton accused police officers across the country of purposefully targeting and killing black men during her speech at Columbia University on Wednesday.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

In Every City in America There Are People Ready to Riot, Loot and Set Things on Fire

The city of Baltimore has been transformed into an “ absolute war zone” , and the governor of Maryland has declared a state of emergency as the rioting in “ Charm City” continues to escalate. The funeral for Freddie Gray has unleashed a firestorm of violence, and none of it is going to do anyone any good. To their credit, some of the leaders of the African-American community are standing up and loudly condemning the violence. They know that smashing cars, throwing rocks at police and looting stores is not going to solve anything. But just like we saw in Ferguson, there are lots of people out there that are ready to riot, loot and set things on fire at the drop of a hat — all they need is an opportunity. The social decay that has been eating away at the foundations of our society for generations is now manifesting in some very ugly ways. We have raised an entire generation of young people in a “ value free” environment, and now we are getting to experience some of the consequences of our foolishness. And what we are witnessing in Baltimore right now is just the start. Eventually, we are going to see scenes like this all over the nation.

Thanks to social media, the violence that we saw in Baltimore on Monday is being broadcast to the entire planet. The whole world is getting a really good look at what the decline of America looks like. The following is how the New York Times described what took place…

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

ISIS Fighters, Supporters Hijack #BaltimoreRiots Twitter Hashtag, Discuss Race Issues, Urge Attacks on Policemen

The following report is a complimentary offering from MEMRI’s Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor (JTTM). For JTTM subscription information, click here.

On April 28, 2015, Islamic State (ISIS) supporters and fighters took over the trending Twitter hashtags “#BaltimoreRiots” and “#BaltimorePurge,” in order to champion the merits of the Islamic State, criticize democracy, and shed light on the race-related riots currently making headlines in the U.S. It should be noted that ISIS frequently takes advantage of such calamitous events, including those involving race, in the West, in order to promote their beliefs.[1]

For more on this subject, see MEMRI Inquiry & Analysis Series No. 1153, The Issue Of Race In The Discourse Of The Islamic State (ISIS) And Its Supporters, April 16, 2015.

The following is a review of some of the tweets from these accounts.

British Islamist Anjem Choudary tweeted: “#BaltimoreRiots even where they absurdly celebrate a black skinned leader racism still rears its ugly head. Time for change, time for Islam!”[2]

[…]

ISIS supporter Abu Al-Mundhir Al-Salafi tweeted a photo of German rapper-turned-ISIS fighter Denis Cuspert sparring playfully with a white fighter, with the comment: “Brotherhood in the Islamic State between blacks and whites #ISIS #BaltimoreRiots #FreddieGray #BaltimorePurge.”

[Be it noted that Denis Cuspert has performed in one of ISIS’s notorious decapitation vids, in which he was seen holding a severed head. — PW]

           — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey [Return to headlines]
 

Islam Debate Returns to Garland ISD’s Culwell Center With Muhammad Art Event

By Ray Leszczinski

For the second time this year, free speech and religious liberties are colliding at Garland ISD’s Curtis Culwell Center.

Opponents say the American Freedom Defense Initiative’s Muhammad Art Exhibit and Contest on Sunday will be an attack on Islam.

But its organizers, who booked the event after a controversial pro-Islamic event used the center in January, say they are simply exercising their right of expression.

The contest, which is offering a top prize of $10,000, has received about 350 entries depicting Muhammad. But caricatures of the Islamic prophet are considered offensive by many Muslims.

In January, a French newspaper that published such cartoons was attacked by terrorists and 12 people died.

As part of its contract with the district, the American Freedom Defense Initiative has paid $10,000 for extra security — nearly $50 for each of about 200 tickets that have been purchased so far. That cost doesn’t include private security the group is employing.

“It does speak to the world at large that we have to have this intense security around this art exhibit,” organizer Pamela Geller said in February. “That’s all it is … an art exhibit and a cartoon contest.”

[Such intense security is necessary because of Islam’s brutish intolerance of any exposure, analysis, criticism, or mockery. — PW]

           — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey [Return to headlines]
 

Law School Offers Students to Defer Exams if They Provide Legal Advice to Protesters

The head of a law school in the Washington, D.C., area told students Tuesday that they would be able to defer an exam if they offer legal advice to protesters in Baltimore.

The Washington Post reported that Dean Shelley Broderick from the David A. Clarke School of Law told the students that many of them have ties to the city and the school would like “to support this activism.” She said that the school would help interested students find groups at the protest they could assist.

“The police accountability movement needs and will continue to need the best lawyers that we can train,” she wrote.

[And the black accountability movement — otherwise known as the criminal justice system — will continue to need plenty of prosecutors. — PW]

           — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey [Return to headlines]
 

Man Flying Toy Drone Tased by Ranger at National Park

Witnesses say ranger used unnecessary and excessive force.

According to Hawaii News Now, the incident began after drone hobbyist Travis Sanders traveled to the Kilauea volcano with his family that evening to watch a rising lava lake alongside nearly one hundred other people.

Attempting to garner a better view, Sanders sent his 3-inch micro quadcopter drone above the crowd to film the Halema’uma’u Crater.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Minneapolis Men Facing ISIL-Linked Terrorism Charges Belie Stereotypes

By Mila Koumpilova and Erin Golden

Some of the young men got a head start on racking up college credits in high school. Some juggled college and jobs that helped them chip in for family budgets. Some worshiped NBA stars and caught college-night games at Target Center.

In some ways, the six Minneapolis men facing federal charges over an alleged attempt to join overseas militants don’t seem to fit a stereotypical profile of the radical recruit: the adrift high school dropout with tenuous links to the mainstream community.

Defense attorneys and supporters have argued that the men are unlikely candidates to join the violent fight waged by Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant, or ISIL. In the Somali-American community, where some leaders have long sounded alarms about high dropout rates and youth joblessness, the charges against a once promising group of young men have brought consternation.

“I was shocked,” said Ahmed Nur, a student at Minneapolis Community and Technical College, which five of the men attended at some point. “These guys, they are a good group of people. You’d never think they would do something like that.”

Still others caution that school success and community connections don’t always translate to a robust sense of belonging in a wider society that can be less-than-accepting of young Somali men. And some experts say radical groups like ISIL are increasingly tailoring their propaganda to a diverse audience in the West: from the disaffected and the underprivileged to the college-educated and the driven. As a result, the idea of the typical recruit is becoming more of a myth than ever.

The six men, ages 19 to 21, are facing federal charges that could put them in prison for more than a decade. Last week, a Minneapolis federal judge decided that Adnan Farah, Guled Omar, Hanad Musse and Zacharia Abdurahman will remain in detention pending trial. Two other men, Farah’s brother, Mohamed, and Abdirahman Daud, were arrested in San Diego, allegedly on their way to the Middle East via Mexico.

The accounts of defense attorneys and friends offer glimpses of young people with much going for them.

[But you can’t behead infidels in Minneapolis and hoist their noggins on a snuff vid! — PW]

           — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey [Return to headlines]
 

Muslim Driver Tries to Run Down Cops at Minneapolis Airport

By Robert Spencer

Stanek said they believe the incident was isolated and does not appear to have any ties to homeland security.” How do they know that? Last October the Islamic State issued this call to Muslims in the West: “If you are not able to find an IED [improvised explosive device] or a bullet … smash his head with a rock, or slaughter him with a knife, or run him over with your car, or throw him down from a high place, or choke him, or poison him. If you are unable to do so, then burn his home, car or business. Or destroy his crops.”

“Suspect Injured Following Officer-Involved Shooting At MSP,” by Susan-Elizabeth Littlefield, CBS Minnesota, April 26, 2015 (thanks to Pamela Geller):

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — One man was hospitalized Saturday night after an officer-involved shooting at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.

After the shots were fired, police blocked off a portion of Terminal 1 for several hours to investigate.

According to the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office, which was called in to help with the investigation, airport police were responding to a report of suspicious persons in the terminal’s car rental ramp around 9:30 p.m.

As the officers were walking on the second level of the parking ramp, a vehicle deliberately drove at them. A press release states that police shot at the vehicle. The driver was taken to a nearby hospital. His condition is not known. Authorities identified the suspect Sunday as 36-year-old Abdulkadir Sheikh Mahmoud. Once he’s out of the hospital, he’ll be facing aggravated assault charges.

Sheriff Rich Stanek said officers were interacting with a vehicle when a second vehicle intentionally drove at officers who were on foot. The suspect in the vehicle, identified as Mahmoud, attempted to run over the officers and he was shot. Authorities said the suspect drove at officers without notice or provocation.

The release also states that an officer was taken to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries.

Stanek said they believe the incident was isolated and does not appear to have any ties to homeland security.

[According to the St. Paul Pioneer Press, “Abdulkadir Sheikh Mahmoud” is an alias, and the guy’s real name is Mohamud Mohamed Maye — which gives him a personal “Muhammad Coefficient” of 300%. Isn’t that some kind of record? — PW]

           — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey [Return to headlines]
 

New Black Panther Head: Like Founding Fathers, We Are Willing to Kill for Black Nation

This Week on the New Black Panther Party’s “Black Power Radio,” national chairman Hashim Nzinga said since America has “declared war on us,” evidenced by “military police in the black neighborhood” protecting the rich, the New Black Panthers should be looked upon as Founding Fathers who declare war and are “willing to die or kill to save our babies and to save a black nation that is dying before our eyes.”

Nzinga said, “America is about protecting the rich and the powerful.”

He added, “We pay taxes. They have declared war on us and it’s nothing but state racism.”

“So if we say we are at war, we should be applauded like George Washington,” Nzinga continued. “We should be applauded like Thomas Jefferson. We should be applauded like the Founding Fathers of the country.”

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

New York City Becomes a TPP-Free Zone

I’m not entirely sure that the New York City Council has the power to defy federal law, but in any event it has declared New York City a TPP (Trans-Pacific Partnership) Free Zone in protest against the controversial trade deal that President Obama is pushing so hard for. Here’s the announcement via Communications Workers of America.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

NewZeal: We Have a Wonderful Announcement…

by Terresa Monroe-Hamilton

It gives me the greatest joy to announce that Trevor Loudon and Victoria were married yesterday here in the United States. They took their vows in a private, quiet ceremony on the road during Trevor’s speaking tour. I couldn’ t be happier for the newlyweds! The US’ most patriotic foreign son has now taken an American bride and will spend much more time here. Join me in congratulating the Loudons and wishing them many years of marital bliss and adventures galore!!

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Our Weasel of the Week Nominees! — 04/28/15

The Noisy Room: My nomination this week is Mitch McConnell for his betrayal to conservatives once again by pushing for the confirmation of Loretta Lynch as Attorney General.

If you didn’t think Mitch McConnell was a lying, conniving Progressive before… you should now. Once the November election was won and behind him, McConnell went to work behind the scenes to whip up support for Loretta Lynch. He wielded his power from the shadows and strong-armed others into supporting her. By voting for her confirmation, he summarily flipped off any conservative who had been foolish enough to believe his campaign rhetoric. Suckers.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Paul Camp Accuses Clinton of Running From Husband’s Legacy With Prison Reform Speech

Sen. Rand Paul’s presidential campaign mocked Hillary Clinton’s call Wednesday for justice reform, claiming she’s running from policies her husband advocated during the Clinton administration.

In a speech at New York’s Columbia University, and in response to the Baltimore violence, the Democratic presidential candidate decried what she described as “mass incarceration” for low-level offenders.

“We have to come to terms with some hard truths about race and justice in America,” she said, adding: “We need to restore balance to our criminal justice system.”

But, within hours, her speech earned a rebuke from another declared presidential candidate, Kentucky Republican Sen. Paul, who for years has focused on the issue of criminal justice reform.

His campaign sent out an email accusing Clinton of pushing ideas that would “undo some of Bill Clinton’s work — the same work she cheerfully supported as First Lady.” His campaign cited the Clinton administration’s “war on drugs” focus, pointing in part to a Salon.com report that highlighted the findings of the Justice Policy Institute. They found “the number of prisoners under federal jurisdiction doubled” under the Clinton administration.

[Pretty good point. Bill was great at smarming black folks even as he built federal slammers in which to warehouse their sons. — PW]

           — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey [Return to headlines]
 

Prisoner in Van Said Freddie Gray Was ‘Trying to Injure Himself, ‘ Document Says

By Peter Hermann

BALTIMORE — A prisoner sharing a police transport van with Freddie Gray told investigators that he could hear Gray “banging against the walls” of the vehicle and believed that he “was intentionally trying to injure himself,” according to a police document obtained by The Washington Post.

The prisoner, who is currently in jail, was separated from Gray by a metal partition and could not see him. His statement is contained in an application for a search warrant, which is sealed by the court. The Post was given the document under the condition that the prisoner not be named because the person who provided it feared for the inmate’s safety.

The document, written by a Baltimore police investigator, offers the first glimpse of what might have happened inside the van. It is not clear whether any additional evidence backs up the prisoner’s version, which is just one piece of a much larger probe.

Gray was found unconscious in the wagon when it arrived at a police station on April 12. The 25-year-old had suffered a spinal injury and died a week later, touching off waves of protests across Baltimore, capped by a riot Monday in which hundreds of angry residents torched buildings, looted stores and pelted police officers with rocks.

Police have said they do not know whether Gray was injured during the arrest or during his 30-minute ride in the van. Local police and the U.S. Justice Department both have launched investigations of Gray’s death.

[Quick! Save the narrative! — PW]

           — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey [Return to headlines]
 

Riot-Plagued Baltimore is a Catastrophe Entirely of the Democratic Party’s Own Making

By Kevin D. Wiliamson

A few weeks ago, there was an election in Ferguson, Mo., the result of which was to treble the number of African Americans on that unhappy suburb’s city council. This was greeted in some corners with optimism — now, at last, the city’s black residents would have a chance to see to securing their own interests.

This optimism flies in the face of evidence near — St. Louis — and far — Baltimore, Detroit, Philadelphia, Cleveland, Atlanta, Los Angeles, San Francisco . . .

St. Louis has not had a Republican mayor since the 1940s, and in its most recent elections for the board of aldermen there was no Republican in the majority of the contests; the city is overwhelmingly Democratic, effectively a single-party political monopoly from its schools to its police department. Baltimore has seen two Republicans sit in the mayor’s office since the 1920s — and none since the 1960s. Like St. Louis, it is effectively a single-party political monopoly from its schools to its police department.

[…]

Yes, Baltimore seems to have some police problems. But let us be clear about whose fecklessness and dishonesty we are talking about here: No Republican, and certainly no conservative, has left so much as a thumbprint on the public institutions of Baltimore in a generation. Baltimore’s police department is, like Detroit’s economy and Atlanta’s schools, the product of the progressive wing of the Democratic party enabled in no small part by black identity politics. This is entirely a left-wing project, and a Democratic-party project.

[And one enabled by the racial gerrymandering mandated by the Civil Rights Act of 1965. Thanks again, LBJ! — PW]

           — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey [Return to headlines]
 

Riots Test Obama’s Power to Heal Racial Divide

By Nia-Malika Henderson

Washington (CNN)No one understands the limits of a president’s power to bridge deep racial divides better than Barack Obama.

As the nation’s first black president, Obama has wrestled with an enduring expectation that he could do more than any other figure to heal racial tensions.

But on this score, Obama has mostly come up short, often leaving his supporters wanting more and his adversaries blaming him for exacerbating age-old conflicts. With parts of Baltimore burned out and protesters demanding answers after the death of yet another black man in police custody, Obama seemed to acknowledge just that, pointing to the limits of the presidency and the tragic sameness of it all.

“This is not new,” he said Tuesday, addressing the death of Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old West Baltimore man whose spine was snapped while he was in police custody. “It’s been going on for decades.”

It was a familiar role for Obama, who addressed the high profile deaths of Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown and Eric Garner with the same exasperated tone.

“Since Ferguson and the task force that we put together, we have seen too many instances of what appears to be police officers interacting with individuals, primarily African American, often poor, in ways that raise troubling questions,” he said. “And it comes up, it seems, like once a week now or once every couple of weeks.”

And so he came with the same script, shorn of the soaring rhetoric that helped bring him into the White House six years ago.

[…]

“If the headline is that he is calling protestors thugs — which is the new n-word — and certainly the president is not thinking that, then that’s not helpful. We have to have a more thoughtful response than him calling them names that a lot of others are calling them,” said Paul D. Butler, a professor of law at Georgetown University. “It was ironic that he was saying that the criminal justice system needs to treat young black men like criminals. They don’t need to be told that because that’s part of the problem. That’s how they see them automatically.”

Obama’s comments skimmed over a broader point: Those crowds of looters and the people stomping on police cars were often school kids. And one of those kids was pulled from the scene by his mother in an episode that went viral as people applauded her for responsible parenting.

Famously even-handed on race, in the past Obama could dispatch Attorney General Eric H. Holder, who served as the emotional counterweight to Obama’s more clinical approach. But Baltimore boiled over just as Loretta Lynch was taking over Holder’s job, highlighting a changing of the guard that could have broader implications about how the administration responds to such incidents — if not on policy, than perhaps on optics.

“The question is does Lynch become the new race woman like Holder was the race man. It’s possible, but she has never made race part of her portfolio,” Butler said. “The other alternative is that maybe Obama, thinking about his legacy, takes on the role. But for now, when he talks about race, he doesn’t sound like the most powerful man in the world, he doesn’t have his famous swag. People want to see his confidence and talent brought to bear on these issues.”

[What Mr. Butler — a black professor who (surprise!) focuses on racial issues — means is that black people want to see his “famous swag.” Most of the rest of us are fed up with him and his famous dog-whistles: the cops who busted Henry Louis Gates were acting stupid, Trayvon Martin could’ve been my son, etc. etc. — PW]

           — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey [Return to headlines]
 

Sea Lion Drags Man Posing for Picture Overboard in Mission Bay

SAN DIEGO — A man posing for a picture on a boat while holding a fish was attacked by a sea lion, which hauled him over the side and into the water, San Diego Fire-Rescue Department officials said.

“A 300-pound sea lion grabbed the fish and pulled the man over the side into the water and dragged him 20 feet through the water,” San Diego Fire-Rescue spokesman Lee Swanson said.

Carmel Valley resident Daniel Carlin was holding a fish and posing for a picture being taken by a friend when the marine mammal attacked just before 3 p.m. Sunday in the channel by the Hyatt hotel in Mission Bay.

The 62-year-old Carlin had bite wounds and lacerations to his hand and leg. He was taken to a hospital, but is expected to be OK.

“It’s pretty amazing and scary,” said Mike Perry, who owns the boat right next to Carlin’s.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Transparent Armor From NRL; Spinel Could Also Ruggedize Your Smart Phone

Imagine a glass window that’s tough like armor, a camera lens that doesn’t get scratched in a sand storm, or a smart phone that doesn’t break when dropped. Except it’s not glass, it’s a special ceramic called spinel spin-ELL that the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) has been researching over the last 10 years.

“Spinel is actually a mineral, it’s magnesium aluminate,” says Dr. Jas Sanghera, who leads the research. “The advantage is it’s so much tougher, stronger, harder than glass. It provides better protection in more hostile environments—so it can withstand sand and rain erosion.”

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Truth Has Been Murdered

The Obama regime and its neocon monsters and European vassals have resurrected a Nazi government and located it in Ukraine. Read this statement by Elena Bondarenko, a member of the Ukrainian parliament: http://slavyangrad.org/2015/04/18/statement-by-elena-bondarenko-peoples-deputy-of-verkhovna-rada-of-ukraine/

The Western media has created a fictional account of events in Ukraine. The coup organized by the Obama regime that overthrew the elected democratic government in Ukraine is never mentioned. The militias decked out in Nazi symbols are ignored. These militias are the principle source of the violence that has been inflicted on the Russian populations, resulting in the formation of the break-away republics. Instead of reporting this fact, the corrupt Western media delivers Washington’s propaganda that Russia has invaded and is annexing eastern and southern Ukraine. British and European politicians parrot Washington’s lies.

The Western media is complicit in many war crimes covered up with lies, but the false story that the Western media has woven of Ukraine is the most audacious collection of lies yet. Truly, truth in the Western world has been murdered. There is no respect for truth in any Western capital.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Turning America Into a Battlefield: A Blueprint for Locking Down the Nation

A standing army — something that propelled the early colonists into revolution — strips the American people of any vestige of freedom. How can there be any semblance of freedom when there are tanks in the streets, military encampments in cities, Blackhawk helicopters and armed drones patrolling overhead?

It was for this reason that those who established America vested control of the military in a civilian government, with a civilian commander-in-chief. They did not want a military government, ruled by force. Rather, they opted for a republic bound by the rule of law: the U.S. Constitution.

Unfortunately, with the Constitution under constant attack, the military’s power, influence and authority have grown dramatically. Even the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878, which makes it a crime for the government to use the military to carry out arrests, searches, seizure of evidence and other activities normally handled by a civilian police force, has been weakened by both Barack Obama and George W. Bush, who ushered in exemptions allowing troops to deploy domestically and arrest civilians in the wake of alleged terrorist acts.

Now we find ourselves struggling to retain some semblance of freedom in the face of police and law enforcement agencies that look and act like the military and have just as little regard for the Fourth Amendment, laws such as the NDAA that allow the military to arrest and indefinitely detain American citizens, and military drills that acclimate the American people to the sight of armored tanks in the streets, military encampments in cities, and combat aircraft patrolling overhead.

Making matters worse, we find out that the military plans to use southwestern states as staging grounds for guerilla warfare drills in which highly-trained military troops equipped with all manner of weapons turn American towns and cities in quasi-battlefields. Why? As they tell us, it’s so that special operations forces can get “realistic military training” in “hostile” territory.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Under Guard, Baltimore Cleans Up and Looks Ahead

By Kevin Rector, Yvonne Wenger and Jessica Anderson

Tensions remained high in Baltimore Tuesday as crowds again clashed with police, who patrolled city streets with National Guard soldiers to maintain order and enforce a citywide curfew.

At least one officer was injured in South Baltimore where a crowd threw rocks and bricks, according to police. A large crowd also gathered in West Baltimore, where people sang and danced in a festival-like atmosphere interrupted a few times by skirmishes that prompted police to deploy pepper spray.

Some remained on city streets as police arrested those who violated the 10 p.m. curfew instituted by Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake following widespread riots and looting on Monday.

Other precautions were taken to reduce crowds downtown through the week. The Orioles will play the White Sox Wednesday in an empty Camden Yards as the public was banned from attending for the first time in baseball history.

[…]

Extra fire and EMS units from neighboring counties also were brought to the city, and arson investigators from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Office of the State Fire Marshal began combing through the rubble of burned buildings.

[Ahem. A rather different procedure than was followed after the New Year’s Day explosion in a Somali neighborhood in Miinneapolis that left a building there destroyed by fire. It was pulled down before any forensics work was done. Why was that? — PW]

           — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey [Return to headlines]
 

US Successfully Tests Self-Steering Bullets That Can Follow Moving Targets

The United States Department of Defense has carried out what it says is its most successful test yet of a bullet that can steer itself towards moving targets. Experienced testers have used the technology to hit targets that were actively evading the shot, and even novices that were using the system for the first time were able to hit moving targets.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Walmart’s Mysterious Store Closure Devastates California City

Earlier this month, we brought you the short historyof worker protests at the Pico Rivera, CA Wal-Mart location. The store has been at the forefront of pickets, walkouts, and sit-ins for some time, with workers staging demonstrations every year since 2012, the latest of which came in November of last year and resulted in the arrest of two dozen workers. The employees — whose grievances generally revolve around wages, working conditions, and retaliation — have been supported by The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union or, UFCW, which last year prevailed in a Canadian Supreme Court case against the retailer stemming from a decade-old incident in Quebec when Wal-Mart closed a location after workers voted for UFCW representation. Given the store’s history, one can hardly be blamed for wondering if Wal-Mart’s recent decision to close the location for “plumbing issues” was in fact an excuse to shutter a “problem” store. The plight of the Pico Rivera location is of course part of a larger story wherein Wal-Mart — in what we have suggested is an attempt to cut costs — has closed multiple stores nationwide (laying off some 2,200 employees in the process) to fix what the company says are “clogs and leaks.” The absence of plumbing permits, the company’s express desire to rein in costs on the back of an across-the-board wage hike, and the history of the Pico Rivera location led us to suggest that factors unrelated to pipes and drains may be at play.

Sure enough, just days after our Pico Rivera story ran, the UFCW filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations board alleging that the California store was closed to punish employees for worker activism.

In the latest from Pico Rivera, the city now says the company’s decision to close the location could have a decisively deleterious effect on tax revenue, 10% of which came from the local Wal-Mart. Here’s more via LA Times:

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

China, Russia to Hold Joint Naval Drills in the Mediterranean

The navies of China and Russia plan to hold joint drills in the Mediterranean Sea for the first time next month. The exercises indicate the ever cozier relationship between the two countries’ militaries.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

EU Court OKs Lifetime Ban on Gay Male Blood Donors

‘Only if no other way to protect recipients’

(ANSA) — Brussels, April 29 — The European Union Court of Justice ruled Wednesday that member nations may ban gay men from ever donating blood, under some conditions.

“Permanently excluding men who have had homosexual relations from donating blood may…be justified,” the Court wrote.

“But (governments) must prove these individuals are at high risk of contracting severe infectious diseases such as HIV, and that there is no other method to protect blood recipients”.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Europe’s Largest Airline Falls Prey to $5 Million Cyber Theft

Europe’s largest airliner in terms of passengers, Ryanair, has had $5 million siphoned from one of its bank accounts. It is alleged that Ryanair were hacked by cybercriminals and had the cash illegally transferred to a bank account in China.

Cyber thieves managed to initiate a single fraudulent transaction using a Chinese bank when stealing the money from the airline, according to reports. The hacked account held dollars which the Irish company uses for fuel purchases.

In a statement Ryanair said the following:

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

France Reverses Defence Cuts in Anti-Terror Drive

France has eased cuts on its defence budget pledging a further 3.8 billion euros to tackle what the government perceives as multiple threats, following January’s Charlie Hebdo attacks. This comes despite pressure from Brussels to cut down on public spending.

French President François Hollande announced the decision today at a special Defence Council attended by Prime Minister Manuel Valls and six ministers and military top brass.

The decision has been hailed as an early Christmas present for the Defence Ministry with 18,500 jobs saved and an extra 3.8 billion euro bonus.

The original plan, drafted last year, was to slash 34,000 jobs in the defense sector. But now roughly half of those posts will be saved.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Germany: Two Muslims Arrested With Weapons and Bomb Materials

German police have recovered a pipe bomb, an assault rifle and chemicals that can be used to make explosives after two suspects were detained in an overnight anti-terror raid near Frankfurt, prosecutors said Thursday.

A state interior minister said the arrests foiled a possible terrorist attack and the two suspects were linked to Islamic extremists, the dpa news agency reported.

The raid in the town of Oberursel came after security officials learned that three liters (nearly a gallon) of hydrogen peroxide had been purchased at a hardware store by someone using a false name, authorities said.

“This hydrogen peroxide triggered an alert,” Frankfurt’s deputy chief prosecutor Stefan Rojczyk told The Associated Press. “Police figured out who had bought it and it was decided to act fast.”

In addition to the hydrogen peroxide, pipe bomb and assault rifle, 100 rounds of ammunition were also recovered.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Govt Called ‘Fascist’ Over Italicum Confidence Vote

SEL MPs throw funeral chrysanthemums

(ANSA) — Rome, April 28 — Opposition parties called Premier Matteo Renzi’s government Fascist on Tuesday after the executive decided to called a confidence vote in the Lower House over its Italicum electoral reform bill. MPs for the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement (M5S) shouted “Fascists” after the announcement was made. Renato Brunetta, the House whip for Silvio Berlusconi’s centre-right Forza Italia (FI) party, expressed similar sentiments. “We will not allow Renzi Fascism,” Brunetta said. “We’ll do everything to stop it, both inside and outside this assembly”. MPs for the small leftwing Left, Ecology and Freedom (SEL) party threw chrysanthemums, a flower associated with funerals in Italy, on the floor of the House.

“This is the funeral of democracy,” said SEL House whip Arturo Scotto. A group of rebel members of Renzi’s own centre-left Democratic Party (PD) that is opposed to the election bill was also critical of the confidence vote. “It’s a rupture that’s impossible to understand,” said PD rebel Barbara Pollastrini.

“Right up to the last minute I’d been hoping for a different sort of confidence — confidence in the PD and in parliament”.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Three Convicted: 56 Indicted Over Lombardy Expenses

Defendants include Renzo Bossi, Nicole Minetti

(ANSA) — Milan, April 28 — A Milan judge on Tuesday sent 56 former Lombardy regional councillors to trial in a case regarding alleged abuse of expense claims. The defendants are accused of embezzlement and fraud.

The trial will start on July 1. Three other people were convicted and sentenced to prison terms of between 18 and 24 months in fast-track trials.

The defendants in the upcoming trial include Renzo Bossi, son of the founder of the anti-immigrant, anti-euro Northern League, and ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi’s former dental hygienist, Nicole Minetti. Last year Minetti was convicted on appeal of aiding and abetting prostitution in connection with so-called bunga bunga parties at Berlusconi’s Arcore residence and sentenced to three years in prison.

Bossi is accused of embezzling 15,757.21 euros between 2010 and 2012 after using public money to purchase sweets, chewing gum, cocktails, crisps, newspapers, cigarettes, an iPhone, earphones, a computer and a book. Minetti must answer to expenditures of 19,651.96 euros in restaurants and bars and at low-cost furniture shop IKEA.

She also allegedly claimed expenses for the book Mignottocrazia (Whore-ocracy) by Paolo Guzzanti.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Lufthansa ‘Scarred Forever’ By Alps Crash

Shareholders of German airline Lufthansa observed a minute’s silence at the start of their annual meeting Wednesday for the 150 people who died in the Germanwings crash last month.

“This tragedy has changed us and the scars that it has left on our company will remain forever,” chief executive Carsten Spohr told some 2,000 shareholders at the meeting in Hamburg.

Germanwings is the low-cost subsidiary of Lufthansa and one of its jets crashed into the French Alps on March 24 — apparently in a deliberate act by the co-pilot — killing all 150 people on board.

“The entire Lufthansa family is in mourning,” said supervisory board chief Wolfgang Mayrhuber who formally opened the annual general meeting with the minute’s silence.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Mussolini to Stand for Forza Italia in Campania Vote

Granddaughter of dictator to represent Berlusconi party

(ANSA) — Strasbourg, April 29 — Alessandra Mussolini, a member of the European Parliament for ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia (FI), said Wednesday that she will represent the party in regional elections next month in Campania.

She said that Berlusconi personally asked her to run for the centre-right party in the southern Italian region that includes Naples, which Mussolini called her “adopted city”.

“It is a true honor,” the former model and actress said of Berlusconi’s request.

“I love him. I obey with affection”.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Top Charlie Hebdo Cartoonist Luz Says Will No Longer Draw Mohammed

Paris (AFP) — Cartoonist Luz, who drew Charlie Hebdo’s front cover picture of Mohammed following the massacre of the satirical weekly’s editorial team by jihadists in January, has told a French magazine he will no longer draw the prophet.

“I will no longer draw the figure of Mohammed. It no longer interests me,” he told Les Inrockuptibles magazine in an interview published on Wednesday.

“I’m not going to spend my life drawing (cartoons of Mohammed).”

Luz’s cover image in January portrayed Mohammed with a sign saying “Je Suis Charlie” under the words “All is forgiven”.

The issue came out a week after the attack by jihadists on the magazine’s office left 12 dead. It had a print run of eight million — a record for the French press.

“The terrorists did not win,” Luz told Les Inrockuptibles.

[As far as I’m concerned, Luz has taken the risks and lost his friends, and if he wants to stand down he can do so with honor. There are plenty of us who stand ready to take up the cudgel. To wit, me. As witness:

s1167.photobucket.com/user/AFDIMotoons/media/motoon.paul.green%201_zpsx6pjooow.jpg.html?sort=6&o=35

and

s1167.photobucket.com/user/AFDIMotoons/media/mo%20entry_zpsnvmpil8t.jpg.html?sort=6&o=85 — PW]

           — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Christians, Jews and Muslims at the General Election: Which Parties Do They Vote for?

Islamophobia will be made an “aggravated crime” under Labour, Ed Miliband told Muslim News last week.

His promise to “make sure it is marked on people’s records with the police to make sure they root out Islamophobia as a hate crime” has prompted criticism.

Our own Allison Pearson described the pledge as “deeply disturbing”, arguing that fear of accusations of Islamophobia and alienating Asian communities prevented Labour councils from protecting young girls from child-sex grooming gangs.

But does Labour actually need to court the “Muslim vote”?

Muslims are already the religious group most likely to vote Labour, with nearly three quarters intending to vote for Ed Miliband’s party, according to the British Election Study.

The figures, released last year, show 73 per cent of Muslims intend to vote Labour, compared to only 14.9 per cent intending to vote Conservative and 7.3 per cent Liberal Democrat.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Jimmy Savile Abused 23 Girls at Duncroft School for Disturbed Teenage Girls

Surrey Police has investigated the activities of the TV personality, who was given access to Duncroft School in Staines, Surrey, which he visited at least 16 times between 1974 and 1979

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Tory Council Candidate Gulzabeen Afsar Suspended for Remark About Ed Miliband ‘The Jew’

By Joe Millis

A Tory council candidate has been suspended by her party after Jewish News revealed she said she would never support “the Jew” in an apparent reference to Ed Miliband, according to a report in The Jewish News.

Gulzabeen Afsar, who was standing in Derby, made the remarks in a Facebook exchange on Saturday.

She wrote: “Just can’t take Mr Ed Miiband seriously!! DC has what it takes to be the future PM.”

When another user suggested she should show some respect “for the future PM”, Afsar replied: “Nah bro! never ever will I drop that low and support the al yahud [Arabic for Jew] lol.”

The Tories branded the comments “offensive and wrong”, adding that Afsar had removed them and apologised…

           — Hat tip: K [Return to headlines]
 

UK:Lost Property Will No Longer be Taken in by Kent Police Force

Kent Police say reuniting lost goods with their owners is ‘not a police matter’ so from June, they’ll be refusing to take in even valuable lost items such as wedding rings and medical supplies.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Once Magnet for Foreign Mujahedeen, Bosnia Now Exports Them

By Rusmir Smajilhodzic

A magnet for foreign jihadists during its 1990s war, Bosnia is now grappling with the threat from home-grown extremists wooed by the conflicts in Iraq and Syria.

While most Bosnian Muslims are moderates, a few thousand have adopted the ultraconservative Salafist brand of Sunni Islam introduced by the fighters who flocked to Bosnia from North Africa, the Middle East and Asia during the 1992-1995 conflict between Serbs, Muslims and Croats.

Most of those foreign fighters, or “mujahedeen”, left Bosnia when the war ended.

But the seed had already been sown. Twenty years on, the radical preachers giving fiery sermons in “mesdzids”, or improvised prayer halls, are no longer foreigners.

Those taking up arms are also local men.

On Monday, a gunman shouting “Allahu Akbar” (“God is greatest” in Arabic) opened fire on a police station in the eastern town of Zvornik, killing one officer and wounding two others before being killed in a shootout.

The assailant, identified as 24-year-old Nerdin Ibric from a village near the northeastern town of Zvornik, was suspected of links to radical Islamist groups. Another man, said to have travelled to Syria, was arrested Tuesday over the attack.

Suspected Islamist extremists had made their presence felt before in the Balkan country.

In October 2011, a gunman opened fire on the US embassy in Sarajevo, wounding a policeman before being injured himself and arrested.

In June of the previous year, a man set off an explosive device at a police station in the central town of Bugojno, killing one officer and wounding six others in what the government called a “terrorist act”.

Would-be jihadists are suspected of being recruited by radical preachers, operating through a network of informal prayer rooms.

“There is no doubt that the recruitment process is possible due to the existence of a network of such places of worship,” Esad Hecimovic, a local journalist who has reported extensively on the subject told AFP.

Hardliners, whose numbers are estimated by the authorities at around 3,000 followers, represent just a fraction of Bosnian Muslims, who make up around 40 per cent of the population of 3.8 million.

But their ranks are suspecting of supplying scores of fighters to the wars in the Middle East.

           — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey [Return to headlines]
 

Turkish Businessman Appointed as Advisor to the President of Bosnia and Herzegovina

Honorary Consulate of Bosnia and Herzegovina to Bursa-Turkey and General Manager of Çilek Company, Muzaffer Çilek who is also Founder and the President of the BIGMEV Foundation (Center for the Development of Relations with Bosnia and Herzegovina) has appointed as an advisor to the Bosniak Member of Presidential Council of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bakir Izetbegovic.

Muzaffer Çilek whose family has Bosniak origin is a businessman, CEO of Çilek Company, has founded BIGMEV in 2010 in order to establishment and vitalization of the historical relations between Turkey and Bosnia and Herzegovina by maintaining established links and enhancing economical relations and trade.

Muzaffer Çilek, born in Bursa in 1960, is the co-founder and CEO of the company, which has contributed to the national economy for twenty years. As Çilek A.S. is operating 444 outlets scattered over 66 countries in 5 continents with 2,000 employees, alongside its strong technological foundations, the business is fast approaching being a world-class brand.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Fired Employee Sues Al Jazeera America for Anti-Semitism

Former media supervisor goes to court for $15 million, claiming superior wished Israel supporters ‘a fiery death in hell’

A fired Al-Jazeera America employee is suing the network alleging a hostile work environment that included “discriminatory, anti-Semitic and anti-American remarks.”

According to the lawsuit filed Tuesday in New York State Supreme Court, Matthew Luke was fired in February, 10 days after he complained about the behavior of his supervisor, Osman Mahmud, to human resources.

Luke worked as Al-Jazeera America’s supervisor of media and archive management beginning in May 2013, before the news channel had formally launched. It has been on the air for 20 months…

           — Hat tip: K [Return to headlines]
 

Hamas Commander Alive and ‘Back in the Fight’

Discontent in the Gaza Strip, police crack down on protest

(by Sami Al-Ajrami and Aldo Baquis) (ANSAmed) — GAZA/TEL AVIV, APRIL 29 — Having escaped repeated Israeli attacks, the latest an airstrike on a building where he was staying last summer, the longstanding commander of Hamas’s armed wing Mohammed Deif, age 50, has returned to the helm of the organization. Final confirmation was had during a meeting between a representative of the Israeli military secret services and journalists, who on Wednesday reported the news on the front pages of several newspapers. The political leader of Hamas in Gaza, Ismail Haniyeh, appeared pleased with the news. Since last summer Hamas had been saying that Deif had not died in the attack. Today it added that, in its announcement of the news, Israel was implicitly admitting that it had failed to hit one of the most coveted targets of Operation Protective Edge. However, while it shows off its determination, Hamas is also being forced to deal with an ever more difficult reality on the ground. Police were forced to disperse a protest on Wednesday against a delay in war damage reparations. Born to Palestinian refugees that had sought refuge in Khan Younes in the southern Gaza Strip in 1948, Deif’s real name is Mohammed Diab Al-Masri. He later took the name ‘Deif’ (‘guest’) when he entered the armed wing of Hamas following a brief career in the theater and scientific studies at university. The first time he was targeted by an assassination attempt was in 2002, when he was injured but determined to carry on. He has been reported dead several times, and since last summer he had not been seen in public in Gaza. Hamas had simply released a video of what they said was his silhouette, shot from behind, later publishing a letter of condolences to Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah for Israel’s killing of the ‘Party of God’s’ officer Jihad Mughnyeh.

An Israeli military source has only now cleared up any remaining doubts about what happened to him. He added that, since last summer, Deif had been planning a brutal raid on a kibbutz in the Negev in which he had hoped to take hostages, but had been stopped by Hamas’s political wing. The source said that Deif had recovered and resumed his activities. The social climate in Gaza is anything but triumphant, however. Hundreds of protestors sought on Wednesday to express their frustration by calling for national unity between Hamas and Fatah for the reconstruction of Gaza, speaking out against the closing off of the Gaza Strip by Egypt and Israel. Hamas tried to keep protestors out of the city center and later used violent measures to disperse them. Arrests were made, shots were fired into the air and some on the ground say that police beat protestors. Media sources have added that the organizers of the protest, caught on security video, were later called in to the police station.

Other sources speak of a generalized feeling of anxiety in the streets.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Iraq Poised to Deploy Iran-Backed Shi’ite Militia in Offensive in West

Iraq is poised to deploy Shi’ite paramilitaries backed by Iran to Sunni tribal areas west of Baghdad, a move supporters say is needed to defeat Islamic State militants but opponents say could inflame more sectarian violence.

Shi’ite paramilitaries have already played a central, if controversial, role alongside regular army units in recent months in the Iraqi government’s first major successful campaign against Islamic State fighters, helping to capture Saddam Hussein’s home town Tikrit on the Tigris River north of Baghdad.

So far, however, the government has avoided deploying the militia in the Euphrates River valley province of Anbar west of the capital, a vast Sunni tribal homeland that strides the main routes to Jordan and Syria. Baghdad considers Anbar the next target in its campaign to retake territory from the militants.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Rethinking the Saudi Connection (III)

By Srdja Trifkovic

The desert kingdom fundamentally depends on continued theocratic oppression at home — kept manageable by carefully crafted redistributive schemes — and on U.S. support abroad. Its survival is helped by the deep divide between different would-be heirs to the kleptocratic regime.

To put it succinctly, there are some Islamists opposed to the royal thieves in the name of scripturally ordained purity. There are also are some Western-educated liberals who would like Saudi Arabia to be a bit more like Jordan and Egypt, perhaps even like Lebanon or Turkey. Neither party is a “party” — it would require their heads to stand up and be counted, and likely get chopped off — but both exist beneath the all-pervasive Gleichschaltung of the second-worst totalitarian regime on this planet (after the proverbial North Korea).

The theoretical scene is reminiscent of Egypt at the time of Mubarak’s fall, when all those young, tweeting, English-fluent secularists at Cairo’s Tahrir Square provided the Kerensky-style opening for Mohammad Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood. The difference is fundamental, however. In Egypt, joining the opposition under Mubarak could cost you a few years in a jail filled with your like-minded jihadist buddies. In Saudi Arabia, belonging to opposition means beheading at dawn… or a very long spell in solitary confinement on a starvation diet…

           — Hat tip: Srdja Trifkovic [Return to headlines]
 

Saudi Arabia: King Appoints New Crown Prince

High-level reshuffle to boost his power, renew leadership

(ANSAmed) — DUBAI, APRIL 29 — The king of Saudi Arabia, Salman bin Abdul Azizi al Saud, has appointed his nephew, prince Mohammad bin Nayef, as crown prince, and his son Mohammad bin Salman as deputy crown prince thus increasing his personal power and renewing the kingdom’s ruling class since he assumed the throne in January.

Prince Mohamad bin Salman — who is just over 30 and has served as defense minister, as the powerful head of the royal court and the Council for economic affairs — is the first among second-generation princes to be appointed to the second most important position in the kingdom.

He replaces prince Muqrin bin Abdul Aziz, the king’s half-brother, and is a very young and influential figure eyed by regional and international political analyst over the major decision-making power he has been entrusted.

King Salman, who replaced King Abdullah after his death in January, also removed the foreign affairs minister,prince Saud, a diplomatic chief since 1975, and appointed in his place Abdel bin Ahmad Al Jubair, a former ambassador to the US.

Prince Saud, who recently had medical problems, will however continue to serve as special advisor to the king and as supervisor of the country’s foreign policy.

The reshuffle, which was expected though not in the short term, occurs as Saudi Arabia is gaining relevance on the diplomatic and military policies of the region due to its active participation in bombings in Yemen, its harsh stance against Islamic extremists and its involvement in conflicts in Iraq and Syria.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Convicts Faced Indonesia Execution Singing Christian Hymns

Eight drug traffickers refused blindfolds, pastors say

(ANSA) — Bangkok, April 29 — The eight foreign drug traffickers executed by firing squad in Indonesia refused blindfolds and sang lines of Christian hymns together as they were shot and killed, the Melbourne Age newspaper reported Wednesday, quoting Christian pastors who witnessed the executions.

“They all looked straight ahead, as if they had accepted their destiny,” said Father Charles Burrows, who offered spiritual assistance to Brazilian Rodrigo Gularte.

According to witnesses, all the prisoners died from a bullet to the heart, fired by squads made up of 10 men.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

India’s Supreme Court Delays Marines Case Again

Latorre and Girone are contesting use of NIA anti-terror police

(ANSA) — New Delhi, April 28 — India’s Supreme Court on Tuesday postponed a hearing in the case of two Italian marines facing possible trial for murder until July 1, after the summer recess.

Massimiliano Latorre and Salvatore Girone are appealing against the use of India’s NIA anti-terrorism police to probe the case involving the shooting deaths of two fishermen who they allegedly mistook for pirates during an international anti-piracy mission in February 2012.

They argue that the NIA no longer has jurisdiction over the incident after application of the SUA anti-terrorism act was dropped last year following an Italian appeal. In its July 1 hearing the Supreme Court will also consider an appeal from an elderly fisherman who was on the boat with those who died for the SUA Act to be reapplied.

The SUA Act calls for the automatic application of the death penalty in case of conviction for murder.

Tuesday’s postponement is the latest in a long series of delays in the case that have strained diplomatic relations between the two countries, with Italy arguing that the marines should not be tried in India as the case falls outside its jurisdiction.

A special tribunal has been established in New Delhi to try the servicemen but hearings have been postponed pending the outcome of their Supreme Court appeal. Latorre is currently in Italy for medical treatment after suffering a stroke last summer and then undergoing heart surgery in January.

He is due to return to India on July 15.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Indonesia Executes Drug Convicts, Sparks Anger From Australia, Brazil

“I want to stress that this is a very important relationship between Australia and Indonesia but it has suffered as a result of what’s been done over the last few hours.”

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Malala Yousafzai’s Attackers Are Jailed for Life by Pakistan Court

A court in Pakistan has reportedly sentenced 10 men for the attack on Malala Yousafzai, the education activist, to life in prison.

The men who are members of the Pakistani Taliban were responsible for the shooting of the then-15-year-old when she was on board her school bus in the Swat valley.

A court official confirmed the news to AFP: “Ten attackers who were involved in the attack on Malala Yousafzai have been sentenced to life imprisonment.”

Militants boarded the teenage activist’s school bus and shot her in the head in October 2012 for her outspoken views on girls’ education, in an attack that also wounded two of her friends.

Following her attack, she moved to Birmingham after she was sent to Birmingham’s Queen Elizabeth Hospital in the immediate aftermath of the attack for surgery on her skull.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Myanmar: Rakhine: Hundreds of Civilians Flee Fighting Between Burmese and Arakan Forces

The state has been the scene of violence between Burmese Buddhists and Muslim Rohingya. At least 300 people hastily fled the village Pyingso, in western Myanmar. Activists denounce the lack of food and resources for displaced people. The government’s peace plan now appears in jeopardy.

Yangon (AsiaNews/Agencies) — At least 300 people were forced to flee Pyingso, a village in the western state of Rakhine, because of clashes between government troops and local ethnic militias. This comes at a time when the country is trying to reach a permanent ceasefire.

Rakhine state had already seen ethnic-religious violence between Arakan Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims. This time, Burmese soldiers were involved in fighting with the Arakan Army, local sources said. This is unusual because divisions in the state tend to be confessional rather than political as in Kachin and Shan.

“People have fled because they are concerned for their security,” said Usteven, chairman of the Khume Youth Organisation in Paletwa Township. What is more, “They don’t have enough food because no organisation has helped them yet.”

Although the Arakan Army is based in Rakhine State, its troops are fighting mainly in other areas where Burmese forces are pitted against ethnic minorities, particularly in the north, in Kachin, scene of a long bloody conflict.

However, between the end of March and April, the Arakan Army clashed on three different occasions with government troops near Paletwa Township.

Because of the violence, hundreds of civilians — at least 500 in Kyauktaw Township alone — sought shelter in camps, forced to live in tents.

The new outbreak of violence in Rakhine State threatens to derail President Thein Sein’s ambitious peace plan to end decades of bloody conflict between the central government and ethnic minorities.

The president wants to reach a historic deal before the general elections, scheduled for later this year. As part of this, a summit between the various ethnic groups to discuss a cease-fire is in the works for 3 May.

Myanmar is home to more than 135 ethnic groups, who have always struggled to coexist peacefully, especially with the central government, which is dominated by ethnic Burmese.

In the past, when a military junta ran the country, the authorities used an iron fist against the least amenable to central control, like ethnic Kachin in Kachin state, along the border with China in the north, and more recently with ethnic Kokang in Shan state.

After 17 years of relative calm, fighting broke out again in Kachin State in June 2011. Since then, dozens of civilians have been killed and at least 200,000 people have been displaced.

Last August, local bishops made a plea for peace, calling for a lasting solution to the conflict.

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

Nepal Earthquake Lifted Kathmandu, But Shrank Everest

The first good view of the aftermath of Nepal’s deadly earthquake from a satellite reveals that a broad swath of ground near Kathmandu lifted vertically, by about 3 feet (1 meter), which could explain why damage in the city was so severe.

The new information comes from Europe’s Sentinel-1A radar satellite. Scientists are racing to interpret the Sentinel data, which were made available today (April 29) just hours after the satellite passed over Nepal. The preliminary data can help guide relief efforts on the ground by identifying areas that were damaged or hit by landslides.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Nepal Earthquake: Two Rescued After Five Days

Two people have been rescued from the rubble of buildings in Kathmandu, five days after an earthquake that killed at least 5,500 in Nepal.

A 15-year-old boy told the BBC he survived by drinking water from wet clothes and eating clarified butter.

Elsewhere, a woman was pulled from a collapsed block where she had been trapped alongside three bodies.

Meanwhile, bad weather is hampering the delivery of relief to remote villages, a Nepali government spokesman said.

The government has been criticised for its response to the disaster.

Outside Kathmandu, the relief effort has relied heavily on helicopters, with mountain roads blocked by landslides triggered by the earthquake.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Rescue Crew Pulls Survivor From Rubble 5 Days After Nepal Quake

A teenage boy was pulled, dazed and dusty, from the wreckage of a seven-story building in Kathmandu Thursday that collapsed around him five days ago when an enormous earthquake rocked Nepal.

Pemba Tamang, 18, was carried out on a stretcher with his face covered with dust. Medics had to put an IV drop into his arm and a blue brace had been placed around his neck. He appeared stunned and his eyes blinked in the sunlight.

Nepalese rescuers, with support from an American disaster response team, had been working for hours to free Tamang from the rubble.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Sieren’s China: Chinese Bordeaux

China has now overtaken France as a wine producer and Chinese reds have been winning more and more international awards. Things don’t look good for France, says DW’s Beijing columnist Frank Sieren.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

The Albino Children Hunted for Body Parts

Johan Bävman photographs Tanzania’s albino children. In many parts of Tanzania widespread beliefs in witchcraft result in albino children being killed for their body parts which are traded in the belief they bring good luck or wealth.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Zimbabwe President Mugabe Urges Migrants in South Africa to Return Home

Speaking at a regional summit on industrialization, Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe has urged migrants in South Africa to return home. There has a been a month of attacks on foreign workers in South Africa.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Border Patrol Uncovers Sophisticated Drug Tunnel on U.S.-Mexico Border

SAN DIEGO (AP) — U.S. Border Patrol agents have found a suspected drug tunnel with lighting and a rail-car system that connected to a home across the border in Tijuana, Mexico.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman Lauren Mack said agents patrolling west of the San Ysidro port of entry Tuesday morning found a sinkhole close to the U.S. border fence that opened up into the tunnel.

Mack says the tunnel was about 220 yards in length, had a cart inside and the walls shored up. But it was still under construction.

Macks says no drugs were found, and no arrests have been made.

Drug cartels have increasingly turned to tunnels to smuggle their loads into the United States. More than 75 tunnels have been discovered along the border since 2008.

[Dope isn’t the only kind of contraband that could come in through a tunnel like that one. — PW]

           — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey [Return to headlines]
 

EU Directive on Illegal Residents Supersedes Italian Law

Official says imprisonment incompatible with European rules

(ANSA) — Brussels, April 28 — Italian laws concerning illegal residents who return after being deported are superseded by European directives, a European Union official said Tuesday.

Advocate General Maciej Szpunar told the European Court of Justice that the EU’s directive “does not tolerate” Italian laws that provide for the imprisonment of third-country nationals who return to Italy after being deported.

“The European directive on the repatriation of third-country nationals residing without authorization does not tolerate Italian legislation, which provides for imprisonment of the citizen as he returned to Italy after being repatriated to his country of origin”, Szpunar said.

He was speaking in a case that was sent to the EU court by a tribunale in Florence.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

European Parliament Calls for National Migrant Quotas

Motion overwhelmingly approved in Strasbourg

(ANSA) — Strasbourg, April 29 — The European Parliament on Wednesday approved a resolution calling for national quotas on receiving migrants as well as more resources for the Frontex border agency. With the vast majority of migrants landing on Italy’s southernmost shores, the country has been shouldering the burden of their care. The motion was passed with a strong majority of 449 votes in favour, 130 votes against and 93 abstentions. The vote comes amid new waves of migrant arrivals — and numerous deaths — by sea in dangerous conditions.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Stemming the Surge of Deadly Illegal Migration Across the Mediterranean

by Jerry Gordon

Jihad conflicts in the Middle East and Africa are driving hundreds of thousands annually in desperation to pay top dollar for a deadly ride on those rickety boats whose owners mage large profits. Nature abhors a vacuum when chaos creates rich opportunities to rake in enormous wealth from trafficking illegal migrants. The successful smugglers even alert EU officials that they are bringing another shipload of hapless migrants to fatten their margins from this deadly trade. The EU and the Union for the Mediterranean proposals for dealing with illegal mass immigration will surely cost billions of Euros. In the meantime, Italian and other EU coast guards continue to provide a picket line of vessels daily monitoring these dangerous trips in flimsy craft across the Mediterranean from the failed state of Libya.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Alan Keyes on God-Ordained Natural Marriage

Alan Keyes drew attention to the Marxism of Barack Obama when he ran against Obama for the U.S. Senate in 2004. “Thanks to my experience with Obama,” he said, “I had the strong sense that his tenure would mark a major crisis that would threaten the survival of constitutional self-government, of, by, and for the people of the United States.” In this presentation to the America’ s Survival conference, “ Cultural Marxism and America’ s Moral collapse,” Keyes discusses the assault upon America’ s unalienable rights and essential liberties represented by same-sex marriage.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

No Women Pass Marines Infantry Officer School by Experiment’s End

The last two female Marines hoping to make their way through the Marine Corps’ Infantry Officer Course as part of an experiment to integrate the program washed out on April 2, ending the research phase of the project.

The two were cut during the physically and academically demanding Combat Endurance Test, along with 81 of the 90 male Marines who applied for the program, Marine Corps Times reported April 8.

Female Marine officers who sought entry to IOC were not expected to meet the same physical fitness screening standards as male Marines, but they were required to match male performance in the course, Marine Corps spokeswoman Capt. Maureen Krebs told Military.com in November.

The 13-week school historically averages a 25-percent attrition rate.

During the first day’s grueling Combat Endurance Test, Marines wear combat gear, perform various physical tasks and answer tactical questions while negotiating a land-navigation course, Krebs said.

The experiment began more than two years ago as part of a broader look at the possibility of opening ground combat specialties to women. Since then, 29 women volunteered for IOC at Quantico, Krebs said Friday.

Of the first group of 10 to volunteer for the course, nine failed to make it through the first day. The remaining female Marine dropped out a week later after being injured on the course.

           — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey [Return to headlines]
 

Was the Jenner Interview a Big Hoax or Sham?

An article on a left-wing website called AlterNet carries the title: “What My Female-Born Transgender Autistic Brother Can Teach You About How We Construct Our Identities.” This may be the next phase in the campaign for transgender rights. Perhaps it will be the next reality show, following Bruce Jenner’s.

I understand that the politically correct response is to consider this article in a serious manner and perhaps contemplate the dire circumstances of the subject of the piece. But my honest reaction is that the story must either be a hoax or something so out-of-touch with reality that it can’t, or shouldn’t, be taken seriously. Even worse, it may be exploitation of a disturbed young person, if the person in the article actually exists.

The notion that a person constructs his or her own sexual identity is something at complete variance with genetic and biological reality. Somebody “constructing” a sexual identity doesn’t actually change one’s DNA. This basic science is something that is being conveniently lost in this national discussion.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Cat Chat: Can Felines Talk to Humans?

An American vet has claimed to have decoded the language that cats use, believing that cats use more than a dozen sounds, each having its own meaning.

The research also highlighted that cats have a specific language they use with people, and not with other cats.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Hookers, Kidneys & Nose Jobs: New Map Shows Most Searched Cost Obsessions by Country

The cost of flying a MiG fighter in Russia, buying kidneys in Iran, prostitutes in Ukraine and rhinoplasty in S. Korea are just a few of the most popular Google requests worldwide, a new map shows. It does give some weird insights into the countries.

Fixr.com, a cost-estimating website has put together a map of the world with the most-Googled things in each country, using the autocomplete formula of “How much does * cost in (x country).”

The search results turned out to be hilarious and informative, and gave a peek into humanity’s cost obsessions per country.

Iranians are eager to sell or to buy kidneys, while the South Koreans are obsessed with their appearance and fixated on rhinoplasty (nose plastic surgery) costs.

The Chinese, Apple’s biggest iPhone market, desire iPhones, of course. On Tuesday, Apple said it sold more iPhones in China than in the US.

The cost of a prostitute is the most Googled demand in a range of countries, such as in Brazil, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Hong Kong, Colombia and Latvia. Slaves crop up in Mauritania, diamonds shine in Sierra Leone and cocaine fires up Honduras, Chile and Taiwan — these are some of the most Googled and weird demands in each of these countries.

Why Japanese people want watermelons or Armenians are obsessed with carpets is as yet a mystery.

Citizens of some countries Google simple ‘tradable’ things, such as cows (India and Bangladesh) or camels (Egypt, Israel and Afghanistan), and apparently, the most devoted McDonald’s fans are Big Mac-loving Serbians.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Online Jihadis Call for Attacks on Cartoonists in United States, Australia

By Elias Groll

Australian cartoonist Larry Pickering is no stranger to controversy. The right-wing provocateur has drawn former Labor Prime Minister Julia Gillard clad in a dildo and is currently waging a campaign on his website against Halal meat. His depiction of the Prophet Muhammad being roasted on a spit as a pig sparked an array of threats, and in January, Australian authorities put Pickering under police protection.

In recent days, jihadis have once more begun an online drumbeat calling for Pickering’s murder, according to the SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors jihadi chatter and statements on the Internet. Other statements contained threats against American cartoonists as well.

On Monday, an Australian Twitter user and proclaimed supporter of the Islamic State militant group posted the address of the Australian, a newspaper that has published what the user, @AusWitness2, described as insulting images of the Prophet Muhammad. In the aftermath of the massacre at the offices of satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo, the Sydney-based newspaper was one of several outlets that published the magazine’s cartoons, which frequently depicted the prophet in satirical and sometimes unsightly ways. On Friday, @AusWitness2 complained about Pickering Muhammad cartoons.

On Thursday, an account purporting to belong to Mohamed Abdullahi Hassan, an American jihadi reportedly fighting in Somalia, called for attacks to be carried out in the United States similar to those on the offices of Charlie Hebdo.

Hassan’s account, writing under the moniker Mujahid Miski, claims that his current handle, @_Love_Hoor_Iyah is his 31st such account. While Twitter frequently attempts to take down Twitter accounts belonging to militant groups or their sympathizers, it has struggled to do so in a timely fashion, and the Islamic State and its hangers-on have made the platform the main method of distribution for their propaganda.

Indeed, the statements about attacks on cartoonists remain available online four days after they were posted.

[The pen is mightier than the sword — but best have both. — PW]

           — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey [Return to headlines]
 

Pluto May Have Icy Cap

Latest images from New Horizons spacecraft show bright spot near dwarf planet’s pole.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

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