Abu Sayyaf, a senior commander for the Islamic State, was reportedly killed by U.S. special forces in Iraq. The commandos who killed Mr. Sayyaf were attempting to capture him, but he resisted. His wife, known as Umm Sayyaf, was captured and is said to be in Iraqi military detention.
In other news, former Egyptian President and Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohamed Morsi has been sentenced to death for his role in a 2011 jailbreak during the “Arab Spring”.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to C. Cantoni, Fjordman, Insubria, JD, Papa Whiskey, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.
Notice to tipsters: Please don’t submit extensive excerpts from articles that have been posted behind a subscription firewall, or are otherwise under copyright protection.
Caveat: Articles in the news feed are posted “as is”. Gates of Vienna cannot vouch for the authenticity or accuracy of the contents of any individual item posted here. We check each entry to make sure it is relatively interesting, not patently offensive, and at least superficially plausible. The link to the original is included with each item’s title. Further research and verification are left to the reader.
Draghi Says QE to Continue as Long as Needed
ECB president says too early to declare victory
(ANSA) — Rome, May 14 — European Central Bank President Mario Draghi on Thursday said that that bank’s quantitative easing (QE) programme would continue for as long as it is needed in a speech at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Washington.
He added that it was took early for the ECB to declare victory in the fight on dangerously low inflation levels, which are seen as a threat to prospects of economic recovery. Draghi said before QE was launched in March that the programme would last around 18 months and be worth about 1.1 trillion euros. The ECB chief also said that that bank’s extraordinary measures, including quantitative easing, were already having an impact on the real economy. “(The measures) have brought down the interest rates on bank loans,” Draghi said in the speech.
He said that, after having positive impacts on he credit situation and investor expectations, the important thing is that the bank’s quantitative easing has “just as big an effect on investments, consumer spending and inflation”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Five Major Banks to Plead Guilty to Rigging Currency Markets
Five major international banks are expected to plead guilty as soon as next week to criminal charges in the US related to their deliberate manipulation of global foreign exchange markets, which allowed them to rake in billions of dollars at the expense of retirees, university endowments and municipalities.
Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, Royal Bank of Scotland Group, Barclays and UBS are expected to plead guilty to felony fraud and antitrust charges. They will pay fines totaling several billions of dollars, according to bank and regulatory officials who spoke anonymously with the New York Times, Bloomberg and Reuters.
The effect of the guilty pleas will be essentially zero, beyond the immediate costs of the fines levied on the institutions. As the Times put it, “life will go on, probably without much of a hiccup.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
JC Penney Loses Another $167 Million — Wall Street Cheers
Yippee!!! JC Penney ONLY lost $167 million in the first quarter. The Wall Street shysters are ecstatic because they BEAT expectations. Buy Buy Buy.
This loss now brings JC Penney’s cumulative loss since 2011 to, drum roll please, $3.5 BILLION. They haven’t had a profitable quarter in over four years. But, they are always on the verge of that turnaround just over the horizon.
Wall Street has told you to buy this stock from $42 in 2012 to it’s current pitiful level of $9. They tout the wonderful 3.4% increase in comparable sales. They fail to mention that first quarter 2016 sales are only 30% below first quarter sales in 2011.
They fail to mention that JC Penney burned through another $274 million of cash in the first quarter. Their equity has dropped by $1 billion in the last year, while their long term debt has gone up by $500 million.
In 2011 they had $5.5 billion of equity and $3.1 billion of debt. Today they have $1.8 billion of equity and $5.3 billion of debt. They are dead retailer walking. The only reason they haven’t gone belly up is the Federal Reserve manipulated ultra low interest rates that encourage mal-investment and keep zombie companies like JC Penney alive.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
After Death Sentence, What’s Next for Boston Marathon Bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev
BOSTON — Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was sentenced to death by lethal injection, but he won’t be executed for years — maybe decades — as the appeals process runs its course. The next step is a formal imposition of the sentence. Then, the U.S. Bureau of Prisons will decide where he’ll be housed.
Sentencing Hearing
Judge George O’Toole Jr. will schedule a sentencing hearing to formally impose the sentence. Survivors of the bombing will be given a chance to give victim impact statements. Tsarnaev also will be allowed to speak if he chooses. It’s unclear how many victims the judge will allow to make statements.
Prison Assignment
The U.S. Bureau of Prisons could send Tsarnaev to the federal penitentiary in Terre Haute, Indiana, which has a special unit for death row inmates and is where Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh was executed. If he had been sentenced to life, he would likely have been sent to the U.S. Penitentiary Administrative Maximum Facility in Florence, Colorado. The Supermax prison is the highest-security prison in the country and houses some of the country’s most notorious criminals, including Unabomber Ted Kaczynski, Atlanta Olympics bomber Eric Rudolph and 9/11 conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui.
Appeal Process
Tsarnaev could spend years appealing his death sentence. Seventy-four people have been sentenced to death since the federal death penalty was reinstated in 1988, but only three have been executed.
[William Shakespeare: “The law’s delay.” — PW]
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
Asian Groups File Federal Complaint Against Harvard Over Admission Practices
An alliance of Asian American groups filed a federal complaint Friday against Harvard University, claiming that the school and other Ivy League institutions are using racial quotas to admit students other than high-scoring Asians.
More than 60 Chinese, Indian, Korean and Pakistani groups came together for the complaint, which was filed with the civil rights offices at the Justice and Education departments. The groups are calling for an investigation and say these schools need to stop using racial quotas or racial balancing in admission.
“We are seeking equal treatment regardless of race,” said Chunyan Li, a professor and civil rights activist, who said they’d rather universities use income rather than race in affirmative action policies.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Barack and Michelle Obama’s Race to the Bottom
As the Obama administration mercifully begins to wind toward the end of its second term, both the President and the First Lady will continue to distract from their horrible record. Their favorite distraction is to claim racial discrimination exists in this nation and it needs to be corrected through government action.
Even though we are not living in Mississippi in 1964, the President and Mrs. Obama continue to emphasize that America has not progressed enough from the Jim Crow era. They minimize the tremendous progress that African Americans have made in this country and focus on the challenges that remain.
Instead of dealing with the problems they have created, the First Couple engage in a continual discussion about race while employing racially divisive rhetoric. Although it may be skillful and politically expedient, it has done tremendous damage to race relations in the nation.
The most recent example occurred last weekend when the First Lady delivered the commencement address at Tuskegee University. Instead of focusing on the goals and aspirations of the graduates,
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Clintons Report Making $25m for Speeches Since Jan. ‘14
Hillary Clinton and former President Bill Clinton earned more than $25 million combined in speaking fees since January 2014, Fox News confirmed Friday.
Clinton’s presidential campaign reported the income in a personal financial disclosure report filed with the Federal Election Commission. The form also shows that Hillary Clinton earned more than $5 million from her 2014 memoirs, “Hard Choices.” Each White House candidate is required to disclose a financial report.
Clinton has started her campaign for president by painting herself as a champion for the middle class. However, Republicans have scrutinized her about the wealth she and Bill Clinton have amassed since she left the White House. That includes their ability to command six-figure fees for delivering speeches and the finances behind the Clinton Foundation because of its acceptance of donations from foreign governments.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
According to Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter there is no rational reason for why the train would have sped up to 106 miles per hour in the immediate seconds preceding the crash.
Brandon Bostian, the engineer in the cab of the Amtrak engine at the time of the incident was reportedly not using his cell phone, not drinking, and not under the influence of narcotics.
Amtrak says that the new high-tech engine had been put into service a year ago. The speed of the engine can be controlled manually by a throttle lever and requires the engineer to push a red button several times every minute to confirm they are paying attention or else it goes into an emergency shutdown mode.
By all accounts thus far, Bostian did not manually increase the speed of the train, leaving only two possibilities.
Either the train engine’s modern computing equipment malfunctioned.
Or its network was compromised by a cyber attack.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
FBI Will Investigate Report Object Struck Train Before Philly Derailment
The FBI will investigate a report that a projectile may have hit an Amtrak train moments before it derailed in Philadelphia, killing eight people, the Wall Street Journal reported Saturday.
FBI forensic experts are going to examine damage to the train’s windshield after the train’s crew reported something may have hit it before the crash, the paper said.
National Transportation Safety Board member Robert Sumwalt said the FBI was brought in after investigators interviewed three of the train’s crew members, including engineer Brandon Bostian.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Hydroponic or “Frankenstein” Tomatoes?
Could it be possible that large manufacturers of chemicals have encouraged and promoted hydroponic and hybrid agriculture in order to maintain sales and profit margins?
A plant grows naturally by extracting necessary nutrients from the soil. However, these plants are being fed continuously by a computer that calculates what it takes to keep the plants alive and to grow tomatoes as quickly as possible. A cocktail is mixed in the high-tech kitchen that includes calcium nitrate, potassium chloride, mono-potassium phosphate, potassium nitrate, potassium sulphate, magnesium sulphate, etc. The grower claims that the plant absorbs these chemicals and metabolizes them into other substances that are not harmful to humans…
The difference is quite evident to gourmet chefs. The organic tomatoes are juicy, tasty, fragrant, with thin skin, while the hydroponics have thick skin and are tasteless and dry. It is alleged that the content of lycopene is much diminished in hydroponic tomatoes, below 38 percent, while organic tomatoes have over 60 percent lycopene.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Lawmakers May Seek to Override Governor’s Veto of Gun Reform Bill, Again
At the urging of Second Amendment groups, Oklahoma lawmakers could soon move to challenge Republican Gov. Mary Fallin over gun rights.
This comes just days after Fallin dropped veto ink on a successful Senate bill that would have prohibited private entities from banning guns in rented public spaces and streets. The measure had navigated the state legislature successfully with huge bipartisan margins — only picking up 11 combined opposing votes in its trek through both chambers.
Now, one of the bill’s co-authors is seeking to find common ground with the governor’s office so that the bill could be adjusted and resubmitted, but if not, he is willing to call for a move to override.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Plunge in U.S. Consumer Sentiment Lowers Odds of Growth Rebound
The University of Michigan’s preliminary sentiment index for May plunged to 88.6, the lowest since October, from 95.9 the prior month.
It was weaker than even the lowest estimate of 68 economists surveyed by Bloomberg. Another report showed factory production stalled in April.
News that the world’s largest economy sputtered last quarter, combined with uneven employment gains, shook households this month, raising concerns that spending will be slow to pick up. A strong dollar and weak oil prices also are holding back manufacturing, further denting the likelihood of a quick rebound in the rate of expansion.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Stop the NGO Anti-Energy Menace
Irresponsible NGOs like Greenpeace are running roughshod over societies. It’s high time to stop that menace!
The unfortunate truth is that the “non-governmental organisation” (NGO) zealots have no clue about the orders of (energy) magnitudes involved. For example, in the U.S., with an estimated total of 50,000 wind turbines in place, their combined contribution to the used energy is less than 1%—when the wind blows. The solar power panels deliver a similar amount—when the sun shines.
It is nothing but a myth to think that all that energy used for driving vehicles, trains, machinery, and industry and for lighting and heating (especially at night) can be supplied from such intermittent sources in the amounts required by industrialized nations in the latitudes where they are located. That kind of expectation or claim is simply irrational and idiotic.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The Lasting Mystery of the Tsarnaev Brothers
By Peter Bergen
The death sentence for Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev may provide some kind of justice for the families of the four people that he and his older brother Tamerlan murdered, as well as the 16 victims who lost limbs in the bombings. But the decision gets us no closer to the big question: Why do this? Why set off a bomb that kills Martin Richard, an angelic 8-year-old boy? Or Lingzi Lu, 23, a graduate student in mathematics from China?
According to Tsarnaev’s own writing as the police closed in on his final hiding place, a boat dry-docked in a backyard in the Boston suburb of Watertown, it was about U.S. foreign policy in the Muslim world.
Losing blood rapidly as he lay wounded from multiple police bullets, Dzhokhar wrote on the inside of the boat with a pen: “The U.S. government is killing our innocent civilians, but most of you already know that. As a M[uslim] I can’t stand to see such evil go unpunished. We Muslims are one body, you hurt one you hurt us all…Know you are fighting men who look into the barrel of your gun and see heaven. Now how can you compete with that? We are promised victory and we will surely get it.”
[…]
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev couldn’t resist telegraphing his forthcoming role in the Boston bombings. For the first time in his young life he was going to be someone other than the slacker barely-getting-through college student and small-time drug dealer that he really was. In the weeks before the attacks, Dzhokhar tweeted to his followers: “If you have the knowledge and the inspiration all that’s left is to take action.”
The action Dzhokhar took at the Boston Marathon seems to have emerged from the lethal combination of the ideology of Binladenism, which has taken on a new life with the proliferation of English-language jihadi propaganda such as Inspire; his brothers’ disappointments in life; his deepening Islamist beliefs; and the collapse of the Tsarnaev’s family life.
But this still doesn’t really answer question “Why?” After all, plenty of people object to American foreign policy in the Muslim world and many people have disappointments in life, and many families fall apart, but few turn to violence for these reasons.
Two books have been written about the Tsarnaevs; hundreds of news articles have been written about them, including an excellent series by the Boston Globe; the trial of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev produced many thousands of pages of testimony, yet we are still no closer to having a totally convincing explanation of why the Tsarnaev brothers from Cambridge murdered their fellow citizens.
Perhaps this says something about the fundamental nature of evil acts; you can point to why a convicted mass murderer might have disappointments in life or be swayed by bin Laden’s ideology, but the Tsarnaevs’ acts are ultimately inexplicable.
[Mystery, schmystery. The Qur’an told them to kill and promised them the celestial Playboy Club in the afterlife, and the killing gave them a mainline shot of pure power that compenseated, however briefly, for their status as nonentities. — PW]
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
US Intelligence Officer: “Every Single Terrorist Attack in US Was a False Flag Attack”
The latest whistleblower is David Steele, a 20-year Marine Corps intelligence officer, and the second-highest-ranking civilian in the U.S. Marine Corps Intelligence. He is a former CIA clandestine services case officer, and this is what he had to say:
“Most terrorists are false flag terrorists, or are created by our own security services. In the United States, every single terrorist incident we have had has been a false flag, or has been an informant pushed on by the FBI. In fact, we now have citizens taking out restraining orders against FBI informants that are trying to incite terrorism. We’ve become a lunatic asylum.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Using Light-Emitting Electronic Devices Before Bedtime Can Negatively Impact Sleep
“We found the body’s natural circadian rhythms were interrupted by the short-wavelength enriched light, otherwise known as blue light, from these electronic devices,” said Anne-Marie Chang, PhD, corresponding author of the study which was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. “Participants reading an LE-eBook took longer to fall asleep and had reduced evening sleepiness, reduced melatonin secretion, later timing of their circadian clock and reduced next-morning alertness than when reading a printed book.” Chang is also an associate neuroscientist in BWH’s Division of Sleep and Circadian Disorders.(1)
What happens when people use their laptops and cell phones before bedtime For the study, a group of participants read LE-eBooks on an iPad four hours every night for five nights in a row. The researchers also analyzed the impact of other kinds of blue-light-emitting electronic devices such as laptops, cell phones and laptops. The process was also analyzed with printed books.
It was found that those who read the iPad not only took longer to fall asleep but also didn’t remain in REM sleep as long as they should and that they also had reduced melatonin secretion, which is an important hormone to help sleepiness occur.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Video: Marines Practice Subduing Citizens Inside Internment Camps
Alarming video footage from a U.S. Marines training drill which took place in Arizona last month shows armed troops chasing down unruly citizens inside a mock internment camp while role players chant for food and water.
The exercise, which involved U.S. Marines from 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, took place on April 18 in Yuma, Arizona and revolved around “assault support tactics” training.
The drill was part of, “standardized tactical training and certification of unit instructor qualifications to support Marine Aviation Training and Readiness,” according to the description accompanying the video.
In plain English, the exercise was about subduing, arresting and incarcerating irate citizens during a martial law-style scenario.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Harper Government Retroactively Rewrites Gun Registry Law
The Harper government moved to retroactively rewrite Canada’s access to information law in order to prevent possible criminal charges against the RCMP, The Canadian Press has learned.
An unheralded change buried in last week’s 167-page omnibus budget bill exempted all records from the defunct long-gun registry, and also any “request, complaint, investigation, application, judicial review, appeal or other proceeding under the Access to Information Act or the Privacy Act,” related to those old records.
The unprecedented, retroactive changes — access to information experts liken them to erasing the national memory — are even more odd because they are backdated to the day the Conservatives introduced legislation to kill the gun registry, not to when the bill received royal assent.
The date effectively alters history to make an old government bill come into force months before it was actually passed by Parliament.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Berlusconi Says FI Rebel Fitto is Out of Party
Former minister broke ranks over candidate in Puglia
(ANSA) — Lecce, May 15 — Silvio Berlusconi said Friday that he considered Forza Italia rebel Raffaele Fitto to no longer to be a member of his opposition centre-right party. After repeated clashes with party bigwigs as the group dropped in the polls, Fitto’s broke ranks with the leadership last month and decided to support an alternative candidate to FI’s official runner in his Puglia homeland in this month’s regional elections. “There’s someone who has done a disturbance operation, a little operation that has no political sense or hope,” three-time premier Berlusconi said in the Puglia city of Lecce. “It’s someone who wanted to go far, but as far as I’m concerned, they’ve gone out”. Fitto said Thursday that Berlusconi now represented “old politics”. “Today Berlusconi represents old politics that has served its time,” the former minister and Puglia governor said at a rally. “We are looking to the future on the model of the liberal policies that took (British Prime Minister David) Cameron to victory”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
France: Muslims Screaming “Hitler Did Not Finish His Work” Assault Jewish Woman
A French Jewish woman was assaulted by three men in an apparent antisemitic attack in the Paris suburb Sarcelles last Wednesday, the Algemeiner has learned.
The three assailants were of African origin and shouted “Hitler did not finish his work” and “dirty race” while assaulting the woman, according to a French antisemitism watchdog.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Interior Min Rejects Salvini Claim He’s Unprotected
League firebrand complains after being spat on
(ANSA) Rome, May 15 — The Interior ministry rejected Friday claims by Northern League leader Matteo Salvini that he has been denied sufficient protection while campaigning, saying more than 8,000 police agents have been deployed to ensure his safety since February 28.
Salvini claimed that democracy was at risk in Italy after he was spat on by a demonstrator protesting his visit to the Umbrian town of Marsciano.
“Where are (premier Matteo) Renzi and (Interior Minister Angelino) Alfano? Where is democracy? This morning I even took a spit in the face … I am beginning to think that it is useful for someone to prevent the League holding rallies,” Salvini told Radio Padania.
The Interior Ministry in a statement said that “from February 28 up till today, 8,465 members of the forces of order have been deployed in 62 provinces in connection with Salvini’s political activities”.
Salvini has adopted hardline stances on migration issues and trouble has broken out at several recent events involving him.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Ex-Priest Sentenced to 10 Years, 8 Months for Paedophilia
Found guilty of sexual abuse of boys entrusted to his care
(ANSA) — Ravenna, May 15 — An ex-priest was sentenced to 10 years and eight months in prison Friday for solicitation, sexual acts with minors and sexual abuse of boys aged 11-15 in his parish in Casalborsetti, near Ravenna, from 2010 to 2014.
Giovanni Desio, a 53-year-old Milan native whom parishioners called “Uncle John,” was arrested in April 2014 and was dismissed from the priesthood days ago.
Among other crimes, Desio was also convicted for having falsified qualifications as a nurse in order to examine minors.
Desio was also convicted for impersonating a minor by using a minor’s Facebook profile, for which he had the password, to relaunch his reputation after he was found driving his brand-new $35,000 BMW SUV with a blood alcohol content four times the legal limit.
Four minors were identified by the prosecution as Desio’s victims.
Desio spent six months in prison in Forlì before being transferred several months ago to a rehabilitative detention center in the province of Perugia.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Leader of Scottish Labour Party, Jim Murphy, Resigns After UK Election Wipeout Costs 40 Seats
The leader of the Scottish arm of Britain’s Labour Party is stepping down after the party lost almost all of its seats to Scottish nationalists in the general election last week.
Jim Murphy was one of 40 Labour lawmakers who lost their seats in Parliament to the pro-independence Scottish National Party, which swept all but three of Scotland’s 59 seats in the U.K.’s Parliament in London.
Labour ended up keeping just one seat in Scotland in the election, which saw Prime Minister David Cameron’s Conservatives win a majority of the votes.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden: Viking Dragon’s Head Found at Birka
A tiny dragon’s head, one of the most famous symbols of the Vikings, has been found during excavations in the harbour at Birka in Lake Mälaren.
Birka, on Lake Mälaren, 40kms from Stockholm, is thought to be Sweden’s oldest town and has been the site of excavations since the 17th century. But the discovery of the dragon’s head is one of the most exciting finds in recent years.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
‘Friends of Serbia’ Meeting in Brussels on Monday
EU foreign ministers say yes to Italy and Austria invitation
(ANSAmed) — BELGRADE, MAY 15 — All EU member states have accepted an invitation by the foreign ministers of Italy and Austria to take part in a ‘Friends of Serbia’ meeting on the outlook for the country’s future EU membership. The announcement was made on Friday by Serbian prime minister Aleksandar Vucic to the Italian and Austrian ambassadors in Belgrade, Giuseppe Manzo and Johannes Eigner, according to a government statement. The meeting in Brussels, underscored the two diplomats, aims to speed up Serbia’s path towards EU membership, beginning with the opening of the first EU membership negotiation chapters.
“Everything that the Serbian government is doing as concerns reforms and its contribution to the region’s stability and progress is in line with EU gains,” the two ambassadors said. Prime Minister Vucic thanked Italy and Austria for the support and reiterated the country’s desire to show its European partners once more its determination to achieve its main goal in foreign policy: joining the EU. The Serbian prime minister and EU enlargement commissioner Johannes Hahn will be taking part in the May 18 meeting.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Russia Concerned About Macedonia and Kosovo
Foreign minister is visiting Belgrade
(ANSA) — BELGRADE — Russia is strongly concerned about the latest events in Macedonia, about the alarming situation in Kosovo and in Bosnia-Herzegovina and about the growing ‘demand’, throughout the region, for a ‘Greater Albania’, according to Serbian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
“We call on the EU to pay due attention, through its structures in the Balkans, to these alarming situations and trends, paarticularly those which can propagate in a context of terror”, Lavrov said at a joint press conference along with Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Egyptian Court Sentences Ousted President Mohammed Morsi to Death
An Egyptian court on Saturday sentenced ousted President Mohammed Morsi to death over his part in a mass prison break that took place during the 2011 uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak.
As is customary in passing capital punishment, Judge Shaaban el-Shami referred his death sentence on Morsi and others to the nation’s top Muslim theologian, or mufti, for his non-binding opinion. He set June 2 for the next hearing.
Morsi, Egypt’s first freely elected president, was ousted by the military in July 2013 following days of mass street protests by Egyptians demanding that he be removed because of his divisive policies.
Morsi escaped a death sentence in a separate case before el-Shami related to allegations that Morsi, several of his aides and leaders of his now-outlawed Muslim Brotherhood allegedly passed state secrets to foreign groups, including the Palestinian militant Hamas group and Lebanon’s Hezbollah, during his one year in office.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Erdogan Condemns Morsi Verdict as Return to ‘Ancient Egypt’
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday condemned the death sentence handed out by an Egyptian court to former president Mohamed Morsi, saying it recalled “ancient Egypt”.
“The popularly elected president of Egypt, chosen with 52 percent of the vote, has unfortunately been sentenced to death,” Erdogan said at a rally in Istanbul, to howls of protest from the crowd.
“Egypt is turning back into ancient Egypt,” Erdogan said, referring to the old Pharaonic rule of the land that ended over two millennia ago.
“The West, unfortunately, is still turning a blind eye to Sisi’s coup,” he added. Morsi was overthrown in 2013 by army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi who is now president after winning elections last year.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Ousted Egypt President Mohammed Morsi Sentenced to Death
Egypt’s ousted Islamist President Mohammed Morsi has been sentenced to death on charges of jailbreak. Morsi’s case will now be referred to a religious authority before an execution can take place.
An Egyptian court sentenced the country’s former president, and more than 100 other defendants, to death on Saturday over a mass prison escape during the 2011 uprising.
Morsi sat through the reading of the single-judge’s verdict in a caged dock.
Many of the other defendants were tried in absentia, including prominent Islamic cleric Yusuf al-Qaradawi who lives in Qatar.
The case will now be referred to the country’s top religious authority, the Grand Mufti, for opinion before any execution can occur.
Morsi’s 2013 overthrow triggered a government crackdown on his Muslim Brotherhood movement. Hundreds of movement members have died and thousands have been imprisoned following now President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s banning of the group.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
PA Honors 3 Terrorists Who Lynched Two Israeli Reservists
By Itamar Marcus
Last week, Palestinian Authority Member of Parliament and Director of the PLO Commission of Prisoners’ Affairs Issa Karake visited the families of three of the terrorists who took part in the lynching and murder of two Israeli reservists in 2000. Karake honored these murderers by giving their families “plaques of honor.” [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, May 9, 2015]
Karake has stated that Palestinians have an unequivocal right to “resistance” and “struggle” — PA euphemisms for violence against Israel. He calls the murderers of Israelis “heroes.”
On Oct. 12, 2000, a Palestinian mob brutally murdered and mutilated the bodies of two Israeli reservists who had accidentally entered Ramallah. A well-known picture from the gruesome murder showed a Palestinian raising his bloodied hands heroically, showing the crowd his hands covered in the blood of his victims. The bodies of the two Israelis were thrown out of the window, and the mob dragged them through the streets of Ramallah. (Photo credit: Agence France Presse)
[Muslim bloodlust didn’t start with ISIS, or Al Qaeda, either. — PW]
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
Pope France Calls Palestinian Leader Mahmoud Abbas an “Angel of Peace” During Vatican Audience
Pope Francis praised Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas as an “angel of peace” during a meeting Saturday at the Vatican that underscored the Holy See’s warm relations with the Palestinians as it prepares to canonize two 19th century nuns from the region.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Pope Calls Palestinian Leader Abbas ‘Angel of Peace’ At Vatican Meeting
Pope Francis met Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian Authority leader, in the Vatican on Saturday, calling him “an angel of peace”.
The meeting between the Pope — who visited both Israel and the occupied West Bank a year ago — and Mr Abbas came days after the Vatican confirmed it had concluded a treaty which effectively recognises Palestinian statehood.
The treaty — which has yet to be signed — states that the Vatican has switched its diplomatic relations from the Palestine Liberation Organisation to the “state of Palestine”, thus giving further impetus to growing international calls to recognise a Palestinian state.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Carter: ISIS Raid a ‘Significant Blow’ To Terror Group
By Karl de Vries
The U.S. operation to kill a key ISIS commander on Saturday was a “significant blow” to the terror group, Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said.
The ISIS commander, Abu Sayyaf, was killed after he fought capture in the raid at al-Omar in eastern Syria, Carter said in a statement. His wife, an Iraqi named Umm Sayyaf, was caught and is being held in Iraq.
Carter said he had ordered the raid against the terror group, also known as ISIL, at the direction of President Barack Obama. All the U.S. troops involved returned safely.
“Abu Sayyaf was involved in ISIL’s military operations and helped direct the terrorist organization’s illicit oil, gas and financial operations as well,” Carter said in the statement. “The operation represents another significant blow to ISIL, and it is a reminder that the United States will never waver in denying safe haven to terrorists who threaten our citizens, and those of our friends and allies.”
[…]
Abu Sayyaf was a Tunisian citizen, a senior administration official said.
A U.S. official with direct knowledge of the intelligence and the ground operation described Sayyaf as “CFO of all of ISIS with expertise in oil and gas” who had an increasing role in operations, planning and communications.
“We now have reams of data on how ISIS operates, communicates and earns its money,” the official told CNN, referring to some of the communications elements, such as computers, seized in the raid.
[…]
CNN National Security Analyst Peter Bergen said the decision to send in U.S. Special Operations forces into Syria was unusual but not unprecedented.
“Taking out the guy who runs effectively the most important financing stream is obviously significant, but what’s really significant is the computer records and all the materials that he would have with him as the head of this financing arm, if indeed that is the case that he is really that important,” said Bergen.
The potential to seize valuable intelligence material and documents may have been what led the U.S. government to opt for a high-risk ground operation rather than a bombing mission, he said.
Such targeted operations push ISIS to be more careful about how they organize themselves and run their operations, he said. “They are going to be looking over their shoulder.”
[What’s needed is for their fanboys here to be looking over their shoulders, instead of feeling free to launch terrorist ops like the Texas cartoon attack. — PW]
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
Erdogan’s Dream: The Sultan Rules
by Burak Bekdil
It is election time in Turkey. On June 7, the Turks will go to the ballot box to elect a government and a prime minister who will rule the country for four years.
In reality, they will go to the ballot box to decide whether they want an elected Sultan or not.
Turkey’s President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, wants more than just to win a parliamentary majority for his Justice and Development Party (AKP). He wants a two-thirds majority, so that the constitution can be amended to introduce an executive presidential system and the Sultan can once again officially rule.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Hezbollah Leader Vows to Defeat Extremists Along Syria-Lebanon Border
The leader of Lebanon’s Shiite Hezbollah group says Sunni extremists have been pushed out of large areas of a mountain range along the Lebanese-Syrian border in fighting over the past week.
In a televised speech Saturday, he said Hezbollah fighters working with Syrian government forces have seized a large swath of the strategic Qalamoun region.
The Iranian-backed Shiite group and Syrian troops are fighting the Islamic State group and the Nusra Front, an al-Qaida affiliate. The mountain range is close to Syria’s capital, Damascus, and links it to the coastal heartland of President Bashar Assad’s Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shiite Islam.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Iran’s Supreme Leader Accuses US of Making Gulf Region ‘Insecure’
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader has accused the United States of destabilizing the Persian Gulf. He said his country would try to protect the “oppressed” as much as possible.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
ISIL Fighting Shifts Closer to Roman Ruins of Palmyra
Islamic State (Isil) jihadists in Syria seized the northern end of the Roman ruins of Palmyra on Saturday, raising fears about the imminent destruction of one of the world’s most treasured heritage sites.
“IS advanced and took control of most of northern Palmyra, and there are fierce clashes happening now,” said Rami Abdel Rahman, director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. He said 13 jihadist fighters were killed in ongoing clashes near the Islamic citadel in the city’s west.
Earlier in the day, opposition activists told the Telegraph that Isil had destroyed checkpoints and seized a number of regime tanks. As they closed in on the ancient site, a nearby village reportedly became the site of a massacre — 23 people were executed, among them nine children.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
ISIS Leader Killed, Wife Captured by US Forces in Syrian Firefight
U.S. military forces conducted an operation late Friday in Syria that resulted in the killing of a senior leader of the terrorist group Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS/ISIL), the White House said in a statement on Saturday.
A firefight between U.S. commandos and ISIS forces left Abu Sayyaf dead and his wife Umm Sayyaf in U.S. custody, according to the White House. For more than a year, ISIS has been a brutal and implacable foe of governments across the Western world and the Middle East, while serving as a driving force for sectarian instability within Syria and neighboring Iraq.
Sayyaf had a “senior role in overseeing ISIS’s illicit oil and gas operations—a key source of revenue that enables the terrorist organization,” said Bernadette Meehan, a National Security Council (NSC) spokesperson.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Islamic State Fighters Push Their Way Into Syria’s Palmyra, Home to World Heritage Site
Activists say Islamic State fighters have pushed into the Syrian town of Palmyra, home to famed 2,000-year-old ruins.
A video circulated on social media shows a man raising a black IS flag on a building allegedly in northern Palmyra. The video appeared authentic and was consistent with AP reporting.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Islamic State Crisis: US Special Forces in Syria Raid
The US says its special forces have killed a senior Islamic State (IS) member and captured his wife in a rare ground raid in eastern Syria.
Abu Sayyaf helped direct oil, gas and financial operations for IS, as well as holding a military role, said a US Department of Defense statement.
It said forces tried to capture him, but he was killed after engaging them.
It is the first time the US is known to have carried out a ground operation to attack IS within Syria.
The operation was authorised by President Barack Obama and was carried out by forces based in Iraq.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Sources: U.S. Special Operations Forces Kill ISIS Commander Abu Sayyaf in Syria Raid
(CNN) U.S. Special Operations forces killed a senior ISIS commander during a raid intended to capture him in eastern Syria overnight Friday to Saturday, U.S. Secretary of Defense Ash Carter said.
The ISIS commander, Abu Sayyaf, fought capture and was killed in the raid in al-Amr, he said in a statement.
Carter said he had ordered the raid at the direction of President Barack Obama. All the U.S. troops involved returned safely.
“Abu Sayyaf was involved in ISIL’s military operations and helped direct the terrorist organization’s illicit oil, gas, and financial operations as well,” he said.
His wife, an Iraqi named Umm Sayyaf, was captured and is currently in military detention in Iraq, National Security Council spokeswoman Bernadette Meehan said in a statement.
Umm Sayyaf “played an important role in ISIL’s terrorist activities, and may have been complicit in what appears to have been the enslavement of a young Yezidi woman rescued last night,” Carter said.
[Excellent! “Do unto others as they would do unto you, but do it first.” — PW]
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
Source: Army’s Elite Delta Force Kills Top ISIS Official, Abu Sayyaf, In Rare Syrian Raid
U.S. personnel overnight killed a key Islamic State leader in a raid in eastern Syria, the White House said Saturday morning.
The U.S. team, based in Iraq, killed leader Abu Sayyaf and captured his wife, Umm Sayyaf, said National Security Council spokeswoman Bernadette Meehan.
Abu Sayyaf was a senior ISIL (Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant) leader whose roles included overseeing illicit oil and gas operations — key sources of revenue for the terror group, according to the White House. He also was allegedly involved with the group’s military operations.
No U.S. personnel was killed or injured during the operation, a departure from the U.S-led air strikes on ISIL militants in the region.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Protesters Rally in Moldova to Back Reunification With Romania, Say No to Russian Pressure
CHISINAU, Moldova — Shouting anti-Russian slogans, 3,000 people have rallied in Moldova urging the reunification of the former Soviet republic with neighboring Romania.
Moldovans marched Saturday from a central square in Chisinau past parliament shouting “Good bye, Russia! Don’t forget Bessarabia is not yours!” using the historical name for Moldova.
Russia first annexed Moldova in May 1812. It was part of Romania from 1918 until 1940, when it was annexed to the Soviet Union under a Nazi-Soviet Pact. Moldova declared independence in 1991 as the Soviet Union disintegrated.
Some 10 to 20 percent of Moldovans support reunification, polls show.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Russia Wants 1.163 Billion Euros From France for Ending Mistral Deal: Source
Russia wants 1.163 billion euros ($1.32 billion) from France in compensation for cancelling a contract to deliver two Mistral helicopter carriers, a Russian source close to the negotiations said on Friday.
French President Francois Holland has come under pressure from his Western allies not to deliver the Mistrals because of Russia’s role in the Ukraine crisis.
He discussed the 2011 contract worth 1.19 billion euros with Russian President Vladimir Putin last month and Moscow has said it is willing to accept financial compensation if Paris does not fulfill the deal.
The source said Russia was eyeing 1.163 billion euros, confirming a report on Friday by Russian daily Kommersant, which also said Paris was offering to pay 785 million euros.
“The 1.163 billion euros figure is a touch below the value of the contract,” said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The source added that while Russia had not paid all of the contract’s value, it had incurred additional expenses on personnel training, organizing production of parts for the vessel in Russia among other outgoings.
The spokesman for the Kremlin reiterated on Friday Russia was ready to accept financial compensation if France scraps the delivery and added that the issue was not a major headache in relations between the two countries.
“The principle is the following — either the goods or the money,” the spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, told reporters, adding that Putin and Hollande had agreed to this basic approach.
Peskov did not comment on the details of the Kommersant report, which also said France wanted to resell the two Mistrals before compensating Russia while Moscow wanted to see the money before a third country gets the vessels.
“Both Mistral helicopter carriers were built for the Russian navy, for our helicopters, our control systems, our infrastructure. These vessels cannot be given away to some third country now under any circumstances, this is a matter of state security,” Russia’s Interfax news agency quoted senior defense ministry official Yury Yakubov as saying.
Speaking separately in Belgrade on Friday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Russia and France had agreed a basis for settling the dispute and that it was now being dealt with on a “legal and commercial” level.
Rosoboronexport, Russia’s state-owned arms exporting firm, which signed the contract for the two Mistrals in 2011, declined to comment.
(Additional reporting by Darya Korsunskaya and Alexandar Vasovic, Writing by Gabriela Baczynska, Editing by Gareth Jones and Elizabeth Piper)
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
All 8 Bodies Found at Crashed US Marine Chopper, Nepal Army Says
KATHMANDU, Nepal — The bodies of all eight people on board the U.S. Marine helicopter that disappeared this week during a relief mission in earthquake-hit Nepal have been recovered, Nepal’s army said Saturday.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Malaysia Seeks Myanmar Help on Migrant ‘Catastrophe’
Malaysia’s prime minister said on Saturday he would seek help from Myanmar to address the unfolding “humanitarian catastrophe” involving a wave of people fleeing on boats to Southeast Asia, thousands of whom are ethnic Rohingya escaping oppression in the mainly Buddhist country.
Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand have come under increasing pressure to rescue starving and helpless Rohingya and Bangladeshi migrants after triggering outrage by turning them back out to sea with scarce food and nowhere to go.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
China Rejects US Calls for South China Sea Retreat
China rejected calls for it to step back from a controversial “island building” campaign in the South China Sea on Saturday, warning the United States that it had an “unshakeable” commitment to such interests.
Wang Yi, China’s Foreign Minister, made the comments after a private meeting with John Kerry, the United States Secretary of State, who is on a two-day visit to Beijing.
“The determination of the Chinese side to safeguard our own sovereignty and territorial integrity is as firm as a rock and it is unshakeable,” Mr Wang said.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Focus Report: 15 Germans Fighting in Somalia for Al-Shabab
According to a magazine, about 15 Germans are fighting for the Somali terror militia al-Shabab. Focus reported the number after six residents of the western city of Bonn were indicted upon their return from Somalia.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Hidden African Typhoid Epidemic Traced to Drug-Resistant Bacteria
An antibiotic-resistant strain of typhoid bacterium is driving a previously unrecognized epidemic in Africa, researchers report on 11 May in Nature Genetics.
Typhoid, which is caused by a variant of Salmonella known as Typhi, remains a major health threat in developing countries, particularly in areas with poor sanitation. The US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that there are 22 million cases of the disease each year worldwide.
The situation is particularly acute in Africa, where the number of infections is rising and resistance to older antibiotics, such as penicillin or drugs based on sulfonamide, is growing.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Mozambicans Arrested and Deported in Raids in South Africa, Return Home
More than 400 Mozambicans have returned home after being deported from neighboring South Africa.
Some of the returned Mozambicans said on Saturday that they were arrested and taken to a detention center when they were found in South Africa without proper documents.
Mozambique’s Foreign and Cooperation Minister, Oldemiro Baloi said his government was surprised by the deportations. The deportations come weeks after anti-foreigner attacks in South Africa in which seven people were killed, including at least one Mozambican.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Former Spanish PM Gonzalez to Visit Venezuela to Help the Defense of Jailed Opposition Leaders
Former Spanish prime minister Felipe Gonzalez says he plans to travel to Venezuela to help defend two jailed opposition leaders, despite the disapproval of the government of President Nicolas Maduro. Gonzalez says in a statement Saturday that he hopes to visit Venezuela on May 18-20 to give legal advice to lawyers defending Leopoldo Lopez and Antonio Ledezma, mayor of Caracas.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Merck Vaccines Kill Two Babies in Mexico, Injure Dozens More
Reports indicate that two babies are now dead and 29 others are being hospitalized after the Mexican Social Security Institute, or IMSS, administered a series of vaccines for tuberculosis, rotavirus and hepatitis B in accordance with Mexico’s National Vaccination Program. Among the 52 children who received the vaccines, a shocking 75 percent suffered severe reactions or died, making it one of the most horrific cases of vaccine-induced violence on record.
According to the Chiapas Health Secretariat, 14 of the children are in “serious condition,” 22 are “stable,” and one is in “critical condition. “Two children age 1 died,” added a statement issued by the public authority.
Six of the children in “serious condition” were reportedly transported to a medical center in Tuxtla Gutierrez, the capital of Chiapas, while the others were sent to other locations. Meanwhile, the IMSS issued its own statement admitting publicly that the vaccines were, in fact, responsible for the plight of these poor children.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
German FM: EU Needs to Organize System for Sharing Burden of Taking in Syrian War Refugees
Germany’s foreign minister says the European Union needs to find a way to share the burden of taking in Syrian war refugees.
Frank-Walter Steinmeier spoke Saturday in Amman at a news conference with his Jordanian counterpart.
Steinmeier says Germany is hosting 130,000 Syrian refugees, as one of just a few countries in Europe to do so. Close to 4 million Syrians have fled their country since the conflict there began in 2011.
The majority are being hosted by neighboring countries like Jordan.
Steinmeier suggested that Europe could absorb more refugees. He says that “we need to see if we can’t organize a system of sharing the burden” in a European quota system.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Good Bye, America, It Was Good to Know You
Today as our values swirl the drain and our goals have morphed from freedom to free access to government largess we are staring into the maw of an existential crisis that threatens to leave our children with the proverbial bowl of pottage for which we traded their future.
What is this issue that dramatically portends the ultimate doom of the America in which most of us grew up? As a British politician once said, “Demographics is destiny.”
It used to be if the politicians were out of step with the voters the voters threw them out at the next election. Now our politicians have decided to import new voters who will support them and submerge us.
Just when you thought we were safe from the latest version of the Children’s Crusade there is another surge of unaccompanied minors breaking on our borders like a tsunami. The second wave of unaccompanied illegal immigrant children has begun, with more than 3,000 of them surging across the Mexican border into the U.S. last month—the highest rate since the peak of last summer’s crisis and a warning that another rough season could be ahead.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Migrants in ‘Maritime Ping-Pong’ In Southeast Asia
Despite rising international outrage, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia have signaled that they will not allow migrant boats to their shores. Meanwhile, Myanmar has refused to shoulder the blame on the crisis.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
The Unknown Fate of Rohingya Muslims Stranded at Sea
The United Nations has accused countries in South East Asia of “appalling and inhumane” treatment of thousands of migrants who are stranded at sea. Most of them are ethnic Rohingya Muslims who face persecution in Myanmar, formerly known as Burma.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Zuckerberg Ally, H1-B Advocate: Laid-Off Americans ‘Don’t Work Hard Enough’
During a recent National Journal LIVE event, venture capitalist Lars Dalgaard, who is closely affiliated with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s lobbying group FWD.us, suggested that the reason hundreds of American STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) and information technology (IT) workers at Southern California Edison utilities company were being laid off and replaced with foreign workers on H1B visas is because they “don’t work hard enough.”
FWD.us has openly lobbied for raising the cap on the number of H1-B visas permitted annually as part of President Barack Obama’s comprehensive immigration reform program, which critics refer to as executive amnesty.
As Breitbart News previously reported, the multi-billion dollar utilities company Southern California Edison has laid off scores of American IT workers, replacing them with foreign labor—specifically workers who are in the U.S. on H1-B visas and who are typically willing to work for far less compensation.
When the National Journal’s Niharika Acharya, who was moderating the panel discussion, asked about the Southern California Edison case, Dalgaard had this to say:
Dalgaard: You know, I’m relatively crude on that. If you want the job, make yourself able to get the job. Nobody’s going to hold you up and carry you around the world. This is what this whole country’s built on…If you’re not going to work hard enough to be qualified to get the job, like someone who doesn’t even live here yet….Well, then, you don’t deserve the job.
Acharya: Well, that might be harsh.
Acharya then turned to the other panelist, P.J. Cobut, who is a Belgian national, the founder of Echo Labs—and here on an H1B visa. SHe asked “do you agree with that?” Cobut replied, “Actually, I do.”
[…]
The cost of hiring an H1-B visa worker is approximately $30,000 less annually than hiring an American-born or naturalized U.S. citizen in the same field.
“We don’t need foreign workers. We have plenty of Americans who are fully capable and equipped to carry out these jobs. It’s an absolute issue of corporate greed; nothing more nothing less,” former Edison employee and Marine Pat Lavin told Breitbart News. He said that SoCal Edison was replacing $95,000 annual wage earners with H1-B visa workers who will earn $60,000 to $65,000 instead.
[Overweening corporate arrogance, and a gross lack of fellow-feeling for American citizens. — PW]
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
Here Comes Worship of the Earth!
America, a national Catholic weekly magazine published by Jesuits in the United States, has just published an article about the Pope headlined “The Planetary Pope.” “There is good reason for conjecture that climate change will stand as a ‘sign of the times,’ complete with strong ethical imperatives, in the forthcoming encyclical” from the Pope, the magazine says.
We know where this is heading, and it isn’t pretty. We have just posted a sensational interview with Dr. Peter Jones on the New Age movement. It’s called “Here comes Worship of the Earth!”
Dr. Peter Jones, one of the world’s foremost experts on paganism and the occult, says the Christian faith is under assault by a “ one-ism” movement that is leading to worship of the earth. Dr. Jones discusses how international Marxism and global Islam could merge into this movement and help lead to the decline, even destruction, of traditional Christianity, which is based on a philosophy of “ two-ism” — the idea of a transcendent God who is apart from humanity and his creation, and who has determined the nature of humanity, in terms of male and female. Dr. Jones also discusses the resignation of Pope Benedict under mysterious circumstances. “ I was not convinced it was because of health reasons,” he says.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Soccer: Furore Over Official’s ‘Money for Lesbians’ Jibe
Amateur League President Belloli denies making comment
(ANSA) — Rome, May 14 — A furore has broke out over allegations that an important Italian soccer official described women’s soccer teams as a “handful of lesbians”.
The comment was allegedly made by Felice Belloli, the head of the national amateur league (LNC) at a meeting on funding for women’s soccer.
In the minutes of the meeting, Belloli is quoted as saying: “That’s enough, we can’t always talk about giving money to this handful of lesbians”.
The minutes have been sent to Italian Soccer Federation (FIGC) prosecutors so they can decide whether to open a sporting probe. Belloli denies ever making the slur.
“It needs to be proven that those words are mine,” Belloli told ANSA. “The minutes can be written by anyone. It’s necessary to show that I said those things and I deny this”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Drug-Resistant ‘Super Typhoid’ Now Spreading Globally
(NaturalNews) A multi-antibiotic-resistant strain of deadly typhoid fever has spread from Asia to Africa, where it might have reached epidemic proportions, warned an international research team in a study published in the journal Nature Genetics on May 11.
The 74 researchers from nearly two dozen countries, who performed one of the most comprehensive genetic analyses ever conducted on a human infectious agent, concluded that a strain of Salmonella Typhi known as H58 poses an “ever-increasing public health threat.”
“H58 is displacing other typhoid strains, completely transforming the genetic architecture of the disease and creating a previously underappreciated and on-going epidemic,” the researchers said in a statement.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
“The United Nations has accused countries in South East Asia of “appalling and inhumane” treatment of thousands of migrants who are stranded at sea. Most of them are ethnic Rohingya Muslims who face persecution in Myanmar, formerly known as Burma.”
So where were the UN when the so-called persecution was happening? Nowhere that’s where.
The governments of Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia have shown that they have the strength of character to resist this blackmail by Western governments.
I watched an interview with the Thai Prime Minister on CNN a few minutes ago and he made his position clear. He had his own people to feed, cloth and house. Thailand did not have the resources to expend on people who traditionally caused trouble and, for the most part, were not interested in working for a living or trained to do so if they were.
This issue is all over the western MSM. Not so much about the middle eastern north african “crisis.” Strange that.
Why don’t the oil rich Gulf States take them? They can certainly afford to do so.
Why isnt the UN, CNN and all the rest calling attention to the Middle Eastern Christians? Oh thats right they want Christianity annihilated. The damned Rohingy are Buddhists killers and Mayanmar had a right to throw their savage [posteriors] out! [Intemperate suggestion redacted].
The cause of the problem in Burma seems to have been overlooked by all the Islamic inspired rhetoric in the MSM. Several years ago, I can’t recall exactly when, five Rohingya men reportedly gang raped a young Burmese Buddhist girl and the Rohingya muslims then reacted violently to protest by local Buddhists, which provoked an equally violent backlash. Unlike islam which is a vile supremacist ideology, Buddhism really is a religion of peace and it took a lot of provocation to cause its Burmese practitioners to act as they did.
Whatever happens, I urge everyone reading this not to believe leftist media lies, particularly from the BBC and CNN.
Is there any truth to what I recently read that when Britain ruled India, Bangladesh and Burma that they deliberately encouraged the Rohinghya to move to Burma to work the farms? Is that when the Rohingya infiltrated that country?