The two deceased suspects in the Garland, Texas Motoon shooting have been identified as Elton Simpson, a.k.a. Abu Hussaini al-Britani, and Nadir Soofi. The two men were roommates in Phoenix, Arizona. Mr. Simpson reportedly converted to Islam at an early age.
In other news, for the first time the Greek government has referred to “other national currencies” and not just euros as possible repayment currencies for its debt instruments. Meanwhile, in possibly unrelated news, Greece will ask for additional funding from the EU to help it cope with the influx of refugees in the Mediterranean migrant crisis.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to C. Cantoni, Fjordman, Insubria, JD, Papa Whiskey, Upananda Brahmachari, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.
Notice to tipsters: Please don’t submit extensive excerpts from articles that have been posted behind a subscription firewall, or are otherwise under copyright protection.
Caveat: Articles in the news feed are posted “as is”. Gates of Vienna cannot vouch for the authenticity or accuracy of the contents of any individual item posted here. We check each entry to make sure it is relatively interesting, not patently offensive, and at least superficially plausible. The link to the original is included with each item’s title. Further research and verification are left to the reader.
First Mention of ‘Other Currency’ In Greek Document
The Port of Rethymno, in Crete, published two tenders in Februrary and March in which it specifies that payments will be made “in euros or any national Greek currency at the time”, Kathimerini newspaper reports. This is the first time such a provision is added amid fears of Grexit.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Italy’s Home Mortgages Rise 50% in Value in First Quarter
ABI hails strong recovery in residential mortgage market
(ANSA) — Rome, May 4 — Home mortgages in Italy rose by 50.4% in value during the first three months of 2015 compared with the same period last year, the Italian Banking Association(ABI) reported on Monday.
Home loans issued from January to March signaled “strong recovery” in the market, the group said.
That news comes after years of throttled mortgage credit and real estate market doldrums since the onset of the global financial crisis. Mortgages in the first quarter of 2015 amounted to 7.9 billion euros, compared to 5.2 billion euros in the same period of 2014, said ABI.
This year’s total also exceeded the first quarters of 2013 and 2012, when Italy suffered a severe second dip in its double-dip recession since 2008.
ABI said it polled 78 banks that represent 80% of the Italian banking market for its report.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Russia is Creating a $100 Billion Rival to the IMF
Russian President Vladimir Putin ratified an accord Saturday to set up a $100 billion reserve fund for the so-called BRICS — the leading emerging economies Russia, China, Brazil, India, and South Africa.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
2 Gunmen Killed, Guard Shot Outside Muhammad Cartoon Contest in Texas
By Matt Pearce
Two gunmen were killed and a security guard wounded in an attack outside a controversial Dallas-area event Sunday evening where organizers were holding a contest for cartoons featuring the Muslim prophet Muhammad, police said.
The shooting in Garland, a Texas suburb about 20 miles from Dallas, was preceded by messages from two social media accounts that supported extremist Islamic viewpoints.
One tweet, sent at 6:35 p.m., used the hashtag “#texasattack.” The user wrote, “May Allah accept us as mujahideen.” Attendees inside the conference didn’t get word about the shooting until 6:50 p.m.
The Jihad Watch Muhammad Art Exhibit and Cartoon Contest, led by prominent conservatives who are critical of Islam, was ending when two men drove up in a car and began shooting at a Garland school security officer who was apparently helping protect the building, said Garland officials.
“He was shot in the leg, transported to the hospital and he’ll be fine,” Garland Mayor Douglas Athas told the Los Angeles Times.
One of the gunmen was shot “immediately” by Garland police, and the other was shot and killed when he reached for a backpack, leading police to fear the men may have brought explosives, Athas said.
[…]
Two social media accounts tweeted messages about the attack apparently before it happened.
A Twitter account titled “Shariah is Light” — bearing the image of extremist Islamic propagandist Anwar al-Awlaki, who was killed in an American drone strike in Yemen in 2011 — tweeted an allusion to the attack just minutes before it happened.
“May Allah accept us as mujahideen [holy warriors],” the account tweeted.
Before the shooting, the “Shariah is Light” account also tweeted a command to follow another account, titled “AbuHussainAlBritani,” which also tweeted before and after the Texas shooting.
“The knives have been sharpened, soon we will come to your streets with death and slaughter!” tweeted the “AbuHussainAlBritani” account before the attack. That account’s avatar is a man in a mask pointing an assault rifle at the camera.
After the attack, the “AbuHussainAlBritani” account began tweeting praise of the Texas shooting, and linked the attack to the militant group Islamic State.
“Allahu Akbar!!!!! 2 of our brothers just opened fire at the … art exhibition in texas!,” the account tweeted. “Kill Those That Insult The Prophet.”
“They Thought They Was Safe In Texas From The Soldiers of The Islamic State,” the account tweeted.
[Thanks to the outstanding marksmanship of the Garland cops, they were. — PW]
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
96 Percent of Americans Expect More Civil Unrest in U.S. Cities This Summer
Are you ready for rioting, looting and mindless violence in major U.S. cities all summer long?
According to a brand new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll, 96 percent of all Americans believe that there will be more civil unrest in America this summer. That leaves only 4 percent of people that believe that everything will be just fine.
In this day and age, it is virtually impossible to get 96 percent of Americans to agree onanything. So the fact that just about everyone agrees that we are going to see more civil unrest should really tell you something. The anger that has been building under the surface for so many years in this country has finally started to erupt.
[Comment: Don’t forget insidious Soros and his millions looking to foment civil unrest.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
CNN Exploits Garland Shooting to Attack 2nd Amendment
Soon after the attack in Texas on the “Muhammad Art Exhibit and Cartoon Contest” at the Culwell Event Center in North Garland, CNN tweeted that the alleged perpetrators were armed with automatic weapons.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Explosion Heard in Garland, TX After Shooting at Free Speech Event
By Jason Howerton
UPDATE: 12:58 a.m. — There were reports of an explosion near the convention center in Garland, Texas, as police continued to work the scene of the shooting.
It was not clear if police found explosives in the suspects’ vehicle.
Prior to the reported explosion, several reporters said police had warned they might deploy an electronic magnetic pulse, or EMP, though the claim was not confirmed and there are still questions about such a device being available to law enforcement.
[It’d make sense to use such a device, and it’d also make sense to keep mum about it. — PW]
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
Garland Police on Muhammad Exhibit Shooting: “We Were Prepared”
GARLAND (CBSDFW.COM) — Garland Police Department PIO Joe Harn tells CBS 11 in an exclusive interview that their officers were “prepared” for the shooting at the Muhammad art event.
[Indeed they were, and good on them! Cops 2, terrs 0. A near-perfect outcome, marred only by the wounding of the security guy. Thankfully, the wound was minor. — PW]
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
Garland Shooting: 2 Killed After They Open Fire at Mohammed Cartoon Event
By Saeed Ahmed, Ed Lavandera and Joe Sutton
Two men opened fire outside an event holding a cartoon contest of the Prophet Mohammed before they were shot dead by police in suburban Dallas Sunday night.
While details about the gunmen, including their religion or their motive, weren’t immediately known, the shooting — as was the case in France in January and Denmark in February — targeted a facility where depictions of the revered Muslim prophet was being caricatured.
[…]
The men drove up to the Curtis Culwell Center in North Garland, got out of their car and began shooting just as the “Muhammad Art Exhibit and Cartoon Contest” inside was ending around 7 p.m. (8 p.m. ET).
[Just as it was ending. In order to maximize carnage among the emerging crowd. Bloodthirsty vermin. — PW]
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
Guns: The Difference Between Garland and Paris
When armed terrorists attacked Charlie Hebdo headquarters over Muhammad cartoons on January 7, unarmed police officers were forced to flee for their lives. When armed men attacked people gathered in Garland, Texas, on May 3 over Prophet Muhammad cartoons, armed police cut them down — and the Daily Mail reported that the body of one was left lying the street while police searched for explosives.
The difference between Garland and Paris can be summed up in one word: guns.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Is the Cell Phone Kill Switch in the Wrong Hands?
You may not have heard of it before, but the government has the ability to shut off cell phone service at any time, under the guise of National Security. The Department of Homeland Security has an operating procedure known as Standard Operating Procedure 303( SOP 303) and it has been labeled as the cell phone “kill switch”.
I knew very little about the “kill switch” before today, but according to a recent Al Jezeera America article, the kill switch authority is being currently debated in Federal court.
“For nearly a decade, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has maintained a policy for unilaterally shutting down private cellular service, over an entire metropolitan area if necessary, in the event of a national crisis.
Adopted without public notice or debate, Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) 303, often referred to as the cellphone kill switch, has been shrouded in secrecy from its inception and has outraged some civil liberties groups battling to make the policy public.
A key hearing in that fight is set for next week.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Jihad Gunmen at AFDI/JW Texas Free Speech Event Had More Ammo in Car
By Robert Spencer
“At a news conference, investigators were uncertain of the identities and motives of the gunmen.” Yes, their motives are a total mystery!
“Gunmen at Muhammad cartoon event had more ammunition in car, police say,” by Richard A. Serrano and Matt Pearce, Los Angeles Times, May 4, 2015 (thanks to Lookmann):
A federal law enforcement official confirmed Monday morning that one of two gunmen killed when they opened fire outside a controversial Muhammad cartoon event in Garland, Texas, is a known terrorist “wannabe” whom U.S. authorities had been tracking for some years.
Elton Simpson was prosecuted in 2010 in federal court in Phoenix for making false statements to FBI agents about going to Somalia to engage in jihad, the source said. He was found guilty, but the judge ruled that there was insufficient evidence to conclude that the crime was directly involved to “international terrorism.” Simpson was placed on 3 years’ probation and fined $600.
The source in Arizona said Simpson was from North Phoenix. The identity of the second gunman is unclear, the source said.
Simpson and another man were killed and a security guard wounded in an attack Sunday night outside the Muhammad Art Exhibit and Cartoon Contest, led by prominent conservatives who are critical of Islam.
Police in Garland, Texas, said at a Monday morning news conference that the two men drove up to the facility in a dark-colored vehicle, jumped out with assault rifles and started firing. They were wearing some form of body protection.
But an officer who was part of the planned security shot both men with his duty pistol, Garland police spokesman Joe Harn told reporters.
“Both men died on the street,” Harn said.
[So one Garland cop went two-for-two on those varmints — and apparently with head shots at that. Outstanding! As a friend of mine tweeted, “My favorite drawings at the Muhammad cartoon festival in Texas were the two chalk outlines out front.” — PW]
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
Judicial Watch Exposes ISIS Threat on Border
Judicial Watch is staying focused on the important issue of the terrorist threat from the country’s open, unsecured border with Mexico.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Media Censors Muhammad Cartoons After Garland Attack
Daily Mail bows to political correctness after jihadists attempt to shoot up free speech event.
The attack occurred during an art contest at the Curtis Culwell Center organized by the American Freedom Defense Initiative at which a $10,000 prize was offered for the best depiction of the Prophet Muhammad. The two suspects, who also reportedly had explosives, opened fire outside the building and shot a security guard in the ankle before being gunned down by police. ISIS subsequently claimed responsibility for the attack.
However, instead of standing firm for free speech in the face of extremism and defending western democratic values, the Daily Mail responded by censoring images of the Prophet Muhammad in photos taken at the event.
At least two photos carried on the newspaper’s website blacked out the Muhammad artwork. One of the images was later removed from the website completely.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Message From Garland, Texas to Baltimore, Maryland
A clear and timely message to Baltimore, Maryland from Garland, Texas last night: police officers, risking their lives to do their jobs, keep civilian society safe.
Proven countless times and now once again: Civilian lives are safer, thanks to thousands of police forces across America, whose intent is ‘To Serve and Protect’.
“Two gunmen were killed by police Sunday night after they opened fire wounding a security officer at a Texas art competition featuring works depicting the Muslim prophet Muhammad, a practice that is strictly forbidden in Islam.” (Matthew Vadum, May 4, 2015)
“The fact the event was attacked is proof that free speech needs protection in America, event organizer and author Robert Spencer told this writer in a late-night telephone interview.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Military Eyeing Former Cold War Mountain Bunker as ‘Shield’ Against Emp Attack?
New concerns are being raised that the nation’s electrical grid and critical infrastructure are increasingly vulnerable to a catastrophic foreign attack — amid speculation over whether officials are eyeing a former Cold War bunker, inside a Colorado mountain, as a “shield” against such a strike.
North American Aerospace Defense Command is looking for ways to protect itself in the event of a massive electromagnetic pulse, or EMP, attack — a deliberate burst of energy that could disrupt the electrical grid and cripple NORAD’s ability to defend the nation.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Muslim Gunman Avoided No-Fly List, Then Received Probation After Judge Threw Out Terrorism Charge
Elton Simpson, one of the Mohammed art-contest gunmen killed Sunday in Texas, dodged federal efforts to place him on the no-fly list and pin terrorism charges on him earlier this decade, receiving instead probation and a $500 fine.
Simpson was found guilty in 2011 of making a false statement to FBI investigators regarding his plans to travel to Africa, for which he received three years’ probation, a $500 fine and another $100 charge, according to court documents posted online on the website scribd.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
One of Garland, Texas Shooting Suspects ID’d as Elton Simpson, Official Says
By Brian Ross, Rhonda Schwartz and Randy Kreider
One of the suspects in the shooting in Garland, Texas, late Sunday has been identified as Elton Simpson, an Arizona man who was previously the subject of a terror investigation, according to a senior FBI official.
Overnight and today FBI agents and a bomb squad were at Simpson’s home in an apartment complex in north Phoenix where a robot is believed to be conducting an initial search of the apartment.
Officials believe Simpson is the person who sent out several Twitter messages prior to the attack on Sunday, in the last one using the hashtag #TexasAttack about half an hour before the shooting.
Local police said two suspects opened fire late Sunday outside a community center in Garland that was hosting an event displaying cartoons of the prophet Muhammad. One unarmed security guard was injured, but other security officers managed to fatally shoot both attackers before anyone else was hurt or killed.
John Iannarelli, Assistant Special Agent in Charge FBI’s Phoenix office, said authorities in Texas traced both suspects to the Phoenix apartment and that the two appear to have been roommates. The second suspect has not been publicly identified.
Followers of ISIS had been sending messages about the event in Texas for more than a week, calling for attacks. One referenced January’s Charlie Hebdo massacre in France and said it was time for “brothers” in the United States to do their part.
Simpson was well known to the FBI. Five years ago he was convicted for lying to federal agents about his plans to travel to Africa where investigators alleged he planned to join a terror group.
The investigation into Simpson reached back to July 2007, when he was recorded saying of fighting with Islamists, “I know we can do it, man. But you got to find the right people that… Gotta have connects.”
Despite that and other recordings, a judge ruled the government did not adequately prove Simpson was going to join a terror group and Simpson was sentenced to three years’ probation for lying to investigators.
Kristina Sitton, who represented Simpson in the 2010 trial, said her former client had been on a no-fly list and that the FBI had attempted to get Simpson to cooperate with them, even after his conviction. She saw him, she said, as “harmless.”
“He grew up the most normal guy. Just a normal high school guy… Converting to Islam seemed like a good thing for him. He had been going down a bad path and then he found Islam,” Sitton told ABC News. “He never struck me as someone who would do this sort of thing. I’m not a bleeding heart, I’m a Republican. I’ve seen some pretty bad guys and he seemed pretty normal.”
[Due to what is known in Islam as taqqiya (dissimulation). — PW]
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
Police Kill 2 Men Who Opened Fire Outside Muhammad Art Show in Garland
By Tristan Hallman and Ray Leszcynski
Two men who opened fire outside a contest for cartoons depicting the Muslim prophet Muhammad were killed by police Sunday at a Garland ISD events center.
The controversial event at the Curtis Culwell Center was wrapping up shortly before 7 p.m. when the two gunmen pulled up in a car and shot an unarmed Garland ISD security officer.
Garland police returned fire and killed the two gunmen before anyone else was hurt.
The security officer, Bruce Joiner, was released from a hospital after he was reportedly treated for a leg wound.
The bodies of the gunmen remained on the street outside the Culwell Center hours after they were shot, and their identities had not been released late Sunday.
A bomb squad was investigating whether explosives might be in their car.
Police locked down the events facility to protect people inside. About 200 tickets for the event had been sold for the contest, which drew about 300 entries. After people were evacuated from the event, they were driven to a secure location to await questioning by the FBI.
Johnny Roby of Oklahoma City said he was outside the Culwell Center when he heard about 20 shots that sounded as though they came from a passing car. He said he then heard two more shots before police rushed him back into the building.
[…]
Before the shooting, the scene was unremarkable outside the Culwell Center, except for the thick security that included Garland police, school district security and private guards.
“We were expecting protests outside the building,” Perkins said.
But Alia Salem, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations Dallas-Fort Worth, said she and other Muslims had wanted nothing to do with the event.
“We were actively ignoring and encouraging the community to ignore it,” she said. “We did not want to be the bearers of any kind of incitement.”
[And you didn’t want any collateral damage to the Ummah, either. — PW]
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
Police, FBI Search Phoenix Apartment in Connection to Texas Shooting
PHOENIX (KSAZ) — An investigation at an apartment complex near 19th Avenue and Thunderbird is reportedly connected to an officer-involved shooting in Dallas, Texas.
Officials have reportedly been at the complex since 10 p.m. on Sunday night. Police tape continued to surround the area into early Monday morning.
FBI spokesman Perryn Collier on Monday confirmed the Phoenix residence is being searched for indications of what prompted the shooting Sunday that left two gunmen dead and a security officer wounded outside a center in Garland.
FOX 4 in Dallas reports the FBI has not yet officially identified the deceased gunmen, but according to reports, one was an Arizona man named Elton Simpson and the other was his roommate and brother. His name hasn’t been released.
Agents wearing FBI jackets could be seen going in and out of an apartment and also searching a white Chevy minivan. They took what appeared to be plastic bottles out of the vehicle.
[…]
[Pamela] Geller told the AP before Sunday’s event that she planned the contest to make a stand for free speech in response to outcries and violence over drawings of Muhammad. She said in a statement issued after the shooting that it showed how “needed our event really was.”
In January, 12 people were killed by gunmen in an attack against the Paris office of the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo, which had lampooned Islam and other religions and used depictions of Muhammad. Another deadly shooting occurred the following month at a free speech event in Copenhagen featuring an artist who had caricatured the prophet.
[The ballistic “heckler’s veto.” — PW]
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
Pro-Israel Student Group Meets Opposition From Jewish Leadership
On Thursday, April 23rd, courage, contempt and cowardice collided during a pro-Israel campus event called “iFest” that took place at the University of California, Irvine (UCI). In the middle of the festivities,: the president of the student group Anteaters for Israel (AFI), which organized the three-day event, was berated and brought to tears by the president of the Jewish Federation of Orange County (JFOC), who was among the iFest attendees. According to AFI leadership, the incident affirmed that the organization’s decision to purposefully disassociate from the JFOC due to its years of questionable leadership and interference in AFI’s pro-Israel activism on campus was the right course of action.
[…]
One witness reported that they were “approached and told that it was wrong for anyone holding a flag to be standing facing the MSU/anti-Israel faction.” The witness was told that waving the flags was “antagonizing.” One of the flag wavers, who did not wish to be named, said that students who “seemed to be pressured by someone else” approached him and other flag carriers “and told us that we should not march with the flags since it ‘makes us look bad.’“ It was further suggested to him that they move down the street and away from the area.
This witness also saw the far more troubling exchange between a man subsequently identified as Shalom Elcott, Jewish Federation of Orange County (JFOC) president and CEO, and AFI president Sharon Shaoulian. Elcott was seen “getting in the face of” Shaoulian, a third-year student, and screaming at her. As the witness explained, “I did not hear what this man said, but I saw Sharon break into tears,” he recalled.
Shaoulian confirmed that Elcott “advanced on me in a threatening fashion and began screaming at me and berating me” and was “looking down at me two inches away from my face.” He “blamed me.for ‘inciting’ the MSU/SJP to come out to protest,” though the anti-Israel protest happens every year. Elcott allegedly called Shaoulian “derogatory names, a ‘liar’ and a ‘disgrace.’“
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Savage on Garland Shooting: There’s a Link Between White House and ISIS
“Someone on that team in the White House is playing for the other side,” syndicated radio host says.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Search for Explosives Continues After Garland Shooting
By Nomaan Merchant and Jamie Stengle
Authorities are searching for explosives in the car of two gunmen who opened fire on a security officer outside a contest for cartoon depictions of the Prophet Muhammad.
Spokesman Joe Harn with the Garland Police Department says a bomb squad is searching the vehicle outside the Curtis Culwell Center as a “precaution.” He says police aren’t aware of any ongoing threat.
Authorities haven’t removed the bodies of the gunmen. Harn says that will happen once the scene is cleared. The men haven’t been identified.
Harn says it wasn’t immediately clear whether the shooting was connected to the event inside, a contest that would award $10,000 for the best cartoon depicting the Prophet Muhammad.
Harn says police hadn’t received any credible threats before the event.
[No credible threats, eh? Evidently they don’t peruse this site, where a report of a credible threat by one Mohamed Abdullahi Hassan, an American jihadi reportedly fighting in Somalia, was posted by this correspondent on Thursday. Hassan called for attacks to be carried out in the United States similar to those on the offices of Charlie Hebdo, — PW]
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
By Jordan Schachtel
Approximately twenty minutes before a shooting at an event to promote free speech in Garland, Texas, which resulted in an injured officer and two dead suspects, a radical jihadist account on Twitter posted that a person was with another individual and insinuated that he was planning to sacrifice his life to Islam’s “Allah,” using the hashtag #texasattack.
Shariah is Light @atawaakul
The bro with me and myself have given bay’ah to Amirul Mu’mineen. May Allah accept us as mujahideen.
Make dua
#texasattack
5:35 PM — 3 May 2015
The Twitter account of the individual in question, @atawaakul, sports the username, “Shariah Is Life,” and has expressed many pro-Islamic State sentiments on its timeline. A photo of Anwar Al Awlaki, the deceased Al Qaeda master recruiter, is displayed as the Twitter user’s profile picture.
[It would seem that we can ignore the official “we don’t whodunit” line in light of such damning evidence. At Jihad Watch, Robert Spencer notes that “ ‘Bay’ah’ is allegiance, and ‘Amirul Mu’mineen’ is the Leader of the Believers, i.e., the caliph. The possible shooter is saying he had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State.” — PW]
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
By Brandon Darby and Kaite McHugh
GARLAND, Texas — Shots rang out this evening at the Curtis Culwell Center in Garland, Texas during the Mohammed Art Exhibit and Contest. A law enforcement officer was shot and both suspects have been killed. Officers on the scene said that it is possible that explosives are in the area.
Attendees were immediately forced into lockdown by police, including three Breitbart News reporters. Sources say event organizer Pamela Geller and keynote speaker Geert Wilders, a Dutch politician, are safe. Breitbart Texas was conducting a live video interview with Geller at the moment of the attack.
LIVE UPDATES FOLLOW:
UPDATE, 11:50 PM: An FBI joint terrorism task force is inside where the attendees are being kept.
UPDATE, 11:32 PM: The Rowlett/Sachse Scanner notes that the area is in LOCKDOWN.
UPDATE ON THE POLICE INCIDENT:
Officers are advising the scene is NOT safe. It is believed that explosive(s) have been placed near the Curtis Culwell Center. FBI Bomb Squad, Garland Police, Garland SWAT, Rowlett Police, Rowlett SWAT, and Texas State Troopers are on scene.
There is a huge perimeter set. No one gets in and no one gets out.
UPDATE, 10:59 PM: Attendees were just informed by police that the FBI would be coming to interview them all, prior to law enforcement letting them go.
UPDATE, 10:53 PM: The Associated Press has arrived at the scene. A witness says he heard 20 shots fired.
[Watch for the MSM to blame the weapons instead of the assailants. — PW]
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
Texas Officer Saved Lives in Shooting Outside Muhammad Cartoon Contest, Police Say
A Texas traffic cop saved untold lives Sunday night when he took down two heavily armed men bent on storming a building where a ‘Draw the Prophet’ Muhammad contest was taking place, killing both before they could make their way inside.
The police officer, who has not been identified by Garland Police Department officials, “probably saved lives,” said police spokesman Joe Harn, who added that “his reaction, and his shooting with a pistol, he did a good job.”
Harn said the two suspects, believed to have driven some 1,100 miles from Phoenix to invade the contest at a suburban Dallas venue, shot assault rifles outside, wounding a security guard and hitting at least one police car. Local police, a SWAT team, FBI and ATF agents were on hand for the event, attended by 75 people, which authorities anticipated could anger Muslim hardliners. Authorities in Garland said the men — wearing body armor — drove up to the Curtis Culwell Center on Sunday night and began shooting at a security officer with assault rifles.
Two tweets apparently sent out prior to the shooting from two social media accounts linked to radical Islam seemed to foreshadow the attack. One, sent at 6:35 p.m., some 15 minutes before the attack, used the hashtag #texasattack. “May Allah accept us as mujahideen,” it said.
“We think [the suspects’] strategy was to get to the event center [and] into the event center,” Harn said. “We were able to stop those men before they were able to… shoot anyone else.”
But it was the unidentified Garland police officer, who spends most of his shift assigned to traffic duty, who killed both suspects, who were each dead at the scene.
“[The officer] did what he was trained to do,” Harn said.
Police were searching a Phoenix apartment complex Monday as part of the investigation into the attack.
Police did not say whether the shooting was related to the event, a contest hosted by the New York-based American Freedom Defense Initiative (AFDI) that would award $10,000 for the best cartoon depicting the Prophet Muhammad.
The suspects were identified as Elton Simpson and Nadir Soofi, a senior federal law enforcement official told Fox News. The men were roommates.
[“[The officer] did what he was trained to do.” The officer did what he trained himself to do. Two for two on body-armored terrorists with a pistol — while under fire from two AKs? You don’t shoot that well unless you practice a lot, which this guy obviously did. Good on him! — PW]
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
The Anti-Cartoon Jihad Comes to America
Two gunmen were killed by police Sunday night after they opened fire wounding a security officer at a Texas art competition featuring works depicting the Muslim prophet Muhammad, a practice that is strictly forbidden in Islam.
As of very early Monday morning, the identity of the two attackers was unclear, but it is hard to believe the assault was not carried out by Islamists. Watchdog group Judicial Watch has claimed the Muslim terrorists of Islamic State (a.k.a. ISIS or ISIL) are operating a training camp in Mexico about eight miles from the U.S. border near El Paso, Texas.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The Truth About Jade Helm They Don’t Want You to Know
A mainstream news station contacted Infowars requesting information about Jade Helm, to which David Knight responded in extreme detail, but the station ignored the facts he provided and spun concerns over the controversial military drill as “paranoid.”
“When KVUE contacted me and we spoke verbally, they said they were looking to do a fear vs. fact piece,” Knight said, who spent 30 minutes on the phone with the Austin, Texas, station and e-mailed them extensive information about Jade Helm. “I tried to give them the facts, but ABC apparently wanted to emphasize the fear, label it ‘paranoia’ and ignore the facts.”
But in the interest of giving the public full access to the facts regarding Jade Helm, instead of allowing mainstream media to bury them to the government’s benefit, we have published below the e-mail exchange between Knight and KVUE, which the station never used in its reporting.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Two Shot Dead Outside Muhammad Art Exhibit in Garland
GARLAND — Two men were shot and killed in a parking lot outside the Curtis Culwell Center in Garland Sunday afternoon, SWAT officials told News 8.
The two suspects drove up and opened fire near the center, which was hosting a provocative contest for cartoon depictions of the Prophet Muhammad, and hit a Garland ISD officer.
Garland Police shot and killed the two men.
The Garland ISD officer, identified as Bruce Joiner, was shot in the lower leg and suffered non-life threatening injuries, according to a spokesman for Garland Police. He was in stable condition at a local hospital.
Multiple SWAT teams and an FBI bomb squad were searching the area around the center for explosives in a vehicle.
Some SWAT members were already at the scene for the art event.
A 1,000-foot radius around the Walmart was initially shut down and multiple businesses in the area were evacuated. The area shut down by officials expanded throughout the evening.
An Academy store and other businesses were evacuated after a shooting took place outside the Culwell Center in Garland. Rebecca Lopez reports.
Pamela Geller, president of the American Freedom Defense Initiative, put on the Muhammad Art Exhibit. She referred to it as a “free speech event” on Twitter. One tweet from her after the apparent attack read “this is a war.”
Attendees of the event were rushed inside the Culwell Center after gunfire was heard. People in a secure room at the center sang patriotic songs.
Witnesses who saw or heard the events were later bussed to the Garland police station. Others were taken to a different secure location at a nearby school.
Details to come. Follow News 8’s Jobin Panicker and David Goins for more.
Jobin Panicker @jobinpnews • 3h 3 hours ago
#BREAKING Overhearing Officer. “This was a direct attack, they (suspects) were ready to go.” @wfaachannel8
[So it would seem. Remember the recent Judical Watch report about ISIS having training camps just across the Texas border? The FBI pooh-poohed it. Wonder if they’re still doing so. — PW]
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
A black sociology professor at Vanderbilt University is arguing that “white privilege” is to blame for last week’s riots and looting in Baltimore, Md.
[Comment: The battlecry of the communist.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
“Increasingly we are abridging our freedoms so as not to offend savages.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Why the Powers That be Are Pushing a Cashless Society
The central banks are … planning drastic restrictions on cash itself. They see moving to electronic money will first eliminate the underground economy, but secondly, they believe it will even prevent a banking crisis. This idea of eliminating cash was first floated as the normal trial balloon to see how the people take it. It was first launched by Kenneth Rogoff of Harvard University and Willem Buiter, the chief economist at Citigroup.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Canadian PM Vows ‘Unconditional Support’ To Troops in Fight Against Islamic State Group
By fighting the group in Iraq and Syria, Canadian troops are protecting their own country, prime minister says.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
800-Year-Old Rune Stick Unearthed During Excavation of Danish City
A rune stick from the Middle Ages has been found in the centre of Odense. An unique find, say scientists.
The rune stick testifies to the use of runes in the Middle Ages, and along with similar sticks found in the Norwegian coastal city of Bergen, they give us the impression that the runes were commonly used in the Middle Ages.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Ageing French ‘Jihadist’ Faces Trial in Paris
Gilles Le Guen, a 60-year-old man captured by a French commando unit in Mali in 2013, went on trial in Paris on Monday. Labelled a “loser” by French officials, Le Guen is the first person tried under an anti-terrorism law passed in 2012.
The two-day trial of Le Guen, aka Abden Jelil, will offer insight into the unusual life of a French expat and into leaders’ pressing concern over the radicalisation of French nationals.
Le Guen faces charges of criminal association in relation with a terrorist group, and could spend 10 years behind bars if found guilty…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Berlin, Then and Now: Fascinating Images Compare German Capital in 1945 and 2015
In some of the fascinating images, the photographer has merged photographs from the Second World War with pictures taken today, revealing just how much Berlin has changed since 1945.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Cost of Justice in Italy ‘Intolerable, ‘ Padoan Says
Tackling costs would have ‘substantial benefits’ for GDP
(ANSA) — Rome, April 30 — The economic cost of serving justice in Italy is “intolerable”, Finance Minister Pier Carlo Padoan said Thursday.
“The estimates tell of frightening figures in terms of percentage points of gross domestic product,” Padoan said.
Tackling these costs of the country’s notoriously slow justice system would have “substantial benefits for GDP”, he added.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Dane Set World Record in Stiletto Sprinting
Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce may be the fastest woman in the world, but when it comes to making it on time to the office, no-one comes close to Denmark’s Majken Sichlau.
The 22-year-old Danske Bank advisor is the new Guinness World Record holder in the 100 metre dash in stilettos. Sichlau ran a time of 13.56 seconds at Tårnby Stadium in Amager on Saturday — almost a second faster than the previous record of 14.53 seconds held by Julia Plecher of Germany.
“To be honest, I don’t think it has sunk in yet,” Sichlau told Ekstra Bladet tabloid. “It’s probably the most surreal thing I’ve experienced. It’s the most awesome feeling and I am extremely happy and proud.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Demonstration in Moldova Over Lost €1 Billion
Tens of thousands of people demonstrated in Moldova’s capital Chisinau on Sunday (3 May) to demand an inquiry on why €1 billion disappeared from the country’s three main banks just before last November’s elections. The money, which represents 15 percent of Moldova’s GDP, was lent to unknown people.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
France National Front: Jean-Marie Le Pen Suspended
France’s National Front (FN) party has suspended founder Jean-Marie Le Pen over a series of inflammatory remarks and a feud with his daughter Marine.
A disciplinary meeting of the far-right party’s executive was called after Mr Le Pen repeated his view that the Holocaust was “a detail of history”.
His role as honorary president of the party will now be under review, the party said in a statement.
Mr Le Pen founded the National Front (FN) in 1972 and led it until 2011.
He refused to appear before the board, telling reporters he had been “disowned” by his political family.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Germany: Snowden Among Statues Unveiled in Berlin
Statues of whistleblowers Edward Snowden, Julian Assange, and Bradley Manning were unveiled in central Berlin on Friday by activists and members of Germany’s Green party.
The statues of the three men are all standing in line on top of chairs in Berlin’s Alexanderplatz, beside one extra empty chair.
The sculptor, Italian artist Davide Dormino, has encouraged people to stand atop the fourth chair to share their own messages to the public in part of a project called “Anything to Say?”
Hundreds of people were gathered at the square on Friday, a day that saw celebrations nationwide for May Day.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Govt to Offer 11 Mn Euros in Aid to Stricken Olive Producers
Numerous trees devastated by Xylella bacteria
(ANSA) — Rome, April 29 — The Italian government will offer 11 million euros to help compensate olive producers whose trees have been destroyed by the Xylella bacteria, Agriculture Minister Maurizio Martina said Wednesday. Trees have been rooted out and destroyed to try to stop the disease that has triggered trade bans by France, where the bacteria may have been found on a coffee plant. Martina has argued the issue is international and not a problem for Italian producers alone.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Renzi Says EU Cannot Return to Cold War Footing With Russia
Premier says sanctions not hitting Italian exports too hard
(ANSA) — Milan, May 4 — The European Union must not return to a form of Cold War with Russia over the crisis in Ukraine, Premier Matteo Renzi said Monday.
“On the one hand, it is clear that Russia must respect the Ukraine, on the other hand, we can not think that Europe returns to a climate similar to that of the Cold War,” Renzi said in comments at the Milan stock exchange.
He also said that sanctions imposed on Russia over its role in the civil war that continues to rage in Ukraine have affected Italian exports but not to a very large degree. Italy-Russian trade is worth a total of about 25 billion euros, with Italy running a trade deficit, said Renzi.
“The sanctions have not been particularly relevant,” he said.
The drop in oil prices and impact on producers and processors has been more damaging, he added.
The European Union and the United States have imposed sanctions against Russia over the Ukranian crisis.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Netherlands: Is This ‘Jihad Family’ Advertising Poster Spreading Hatred?
Local politicians had covered the offending text with stickers, and now a Moroccan-Dutch man from Naarden is hoping to take legal action against local broadcaster RTV Noord Holland for its ‘jihad family’ poster. The poster, which has appeared all over the region, asks ‘Are other jihad families living in ‘t Gooi?’. The poster refers to the fact a local family with six children were said to have been planning to move to Syria last year and were stopped by police. The police complaint states the man feels the poster is spreading hatred and fear and reminds him of events during World War II, news agency ANP says. He also says that neighbours keep asking him if he is a member of a jihad family or if he has had enough of living in the Netherlands. Local Labour and Socialist politicians said last week when the posters first emerged that they were concerned about the impact and implied racism. ‘As soon as I think things can’t sink any lower, then they do,’ former Socialist MP Tofik Dibi said on Twitter.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
UK Elections: Parties Haggle Over EU Referendum
David Cameron has insisted that a Conservative-led coalition would have to commit to an referendum on EU membership.
Speaking ahead of Thursday’s UK general election, the prime minister stated that he would “not lead a government that doesn’t have that referendum in law and carried out”.
Meanwhile, both Clegg and Ukip leader Nigel Farage are facing tough challenges in their respective constituencies. At the weekend, Farage promised that he would resign the Ukip leadership “within ten minutes” if he fails to win the South Thanet constituency.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Labour Should be Embarrassed About Holding a Sex-Segregated Rally
By Kate Maltby
Labour MPs who spoke at Satruday’s sex-segregated rally in Birmingham don’t seem too keen on explaining themselves to The Spectator. Siôn Simon, now a Labour MEP for the West Midlands, proudly tweeted a picture of a Labour rally in Hodge Hill, in which seven Labour representatives spoke at a packed Islamic community centre. Only problem? The picture clearly shows that men and women were seated separately in the audience, during what was supposed to be an event to encourage political engagement.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Royal Princess Named Charlotte Elizabeth Diana
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have named their daughter Charlotte Elizabeth Diana, Kensington Palace has said.
The fourth in line to the throne will be known as Her Royal Highness Princess Charlotte of Cambridge.
There had been speculation that the couple would include the name of Diana in honour of Prince William’s mother.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Who Invented the Piano? Google Doodle Marks Bartolomeo Cristofori’s 360th Birthday
Cristofori’s entry in Encyclopaedia Britannica notes that little is known of his life and that his invention was not well known in his lifetime
Google’s latest doodle celebrates the 360th birthday of Bartolomeo Cristofori, the man widely credited with inventing the piano.
Cristofori was born in Padua on this day in 1655 in what was then the Republic of Venice.
According to Encyclopaedia Britannica, the instrument Cristofori invented was referred to during his lifetime as a harpsichord that plays soft and loud, from which its name is derived. In Italian, the phrase is gravicembalo col piano e forte.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Egypt’s Deposed Longtime Autocrat Hosni Mubarak Turns 87, Waves to Supporters From Hospital
Egypt’s deposed longtime autocrat Hosni Mubarak has celebrated his 87th birthday by waving to some 100 supporters gathered outside of a military hospital where he is being held in Cairo.
The crowd gathered Monday held up photos of Mubarak and praised him with slogans of support, days before an expected May 9 verdict in his retrial on corruption charges.
An appeals court overturned the last remaining conviction against Mubarak in January, leaving no other legal reason for detaining the ailing former leader.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Peres Calls Off Visit to Marrakesh After Outcry
Had been invited by Clinton Foundation to speak at conference
(ANSAmed) — RABAT, MAY 4 — Former Israeli president Shimon Peres will not be going to Marrakesh despite an invitation from the Clinton Foundation to speak at a conference on the Middle East and Africa. The decision was made after polemics following the announcement that he was to have taken part tomorrow. Many associations and a large section of pro-Palestinian civil society spoke out against Moroccan allowing the former Israeli political leader to enter the country. Hamas also urged Morocco to withdraw the invitation. The Tuesday event — under the foundation chaired by former US president Bill Clinton and his daughter Chelsea — will thus not go forward. The initiatives scheduled until May 7 include speeches by area leaders and figures from the culture and business worlds, both African and Middle Eastern. The aim is to take stock of relations and potential for development. Morocco and Israel have not had diplomatic relations since 2000, when the kingdom closed the Casablanca and Tangiers offices. Peres has already been to Morocco twice: in 1986, on an official visit while prime minister and when Hassan II was king, and in 1993, immediately after the signing of the Oslo Accords, which he was one of the creators of and which earned him the Nobel Peace Prize alongside Yasser Arafat and Yitzhak Rabin.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
AP Interview: Qatar Labor Chief Criticizes Migrant Worker Housing, Vows to Improve Their Lives
DOHA, Qatar — Qatar’s inability to ensure decent housing for its bulging migrant labor population was “a mistake” the government is working to fix as it prepares to host the 2022 World Cup, the country’s top labor official said Monday, vowing his country would improve conditions for its vast foreign labor force.
In an interview with The Associated Press, Minister of Labor and Social Affairs Abdullah Saleh Mubarak al-Khulaifi also expressed hope that a new payment system will address frequent complaints about late or nonexistent paychecks. But he was unable to say how soon proposed labor reforms floated last year to an employee sponsorship and exit visa system would come into play.
Tiny but energy-rich Qatar has faced intense scrutiny over its treatment of the low-paid guest workers building skyscrapers, stadiums, highways and other projects ahead of the games.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
French Mideast Policy Helped Rafale Jet Sales: Experts
PARIS (AFP) — It struggled for years to sell its Rafale jets abroad but French defence group Dassault has finally scored several lucrative deals, thanks in part to anti-US suspicion in the Middle East, experts say.
Egypt was the first buyer, ordering 24 planes in February. India followed suit with 36 fighter jets in early April.
On Monday, wealthy Qatar will sign a deal for 24 jets, in a ceremony in Doha attended by President Francois Hollande…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Iran Bans ‘Devil Worshipping’ Haircuts
Hairstyles of a spiky and unorthodox nature have reportedly been banned in Iran because they imply devil-worship, while tattoos and other male bodily adornments also being outlawed.
Jagged haircuts have become fashionable among all strata of Iran’s youthful population in recent years, but have divided opinion and been deemed by the authorities as western and un-Islamic.
“Devil worshipping hairstyles are now forbidden,” said Mostafa Govahi, the head of Iran’s Barbers Union, cited by the ISNA news agency…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Lebanon’s Last Overland Route Closure Chokes Off Exports
Lebanon’s land exports to Gulf markets have been choked off, leaving millions of dollars in goods stranded after the closure of a vital crossing on the Syrian-Jordanian border last month.
The Nasib border point was the last remaining gateway for Lebanese truck drivers transporting agricultural and industrial products to Iraq and Gulf countries.
After Syrian rebels seized Nasib on April 1, these exports came to an abrupt halt.
“Exports by land have stopped entirely,” said Ahmad Alam, whose company exports Lebanese fruit and vegetables to Arab countries…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
High Wave Rocked Delhi for the Demand of Hindu Homeland in Kashmir
Want separate homeland, not townships: Kashmiri Pandits
Ravi S Singh | Tribune News Service | New Delhi | May 3, 2015:: Kashmiri Pandits today staged a protest in the National Capital against the government’s proposal to build “composite townships” for their resettlement and demanded action against those responsible for their “exodus”.
The protesters demanded a “separate homeland” that should be declared a Union Territory and falls under the Constitution of India besides being outside the ambit of Article 370, which gives special status to Jammu and Kashmir.
Demanding that the government must talk to leaders of Pandit-related organisations with regard to their resettlement plans, a Kashmiri Pandit said: “We want to return to our state on our terms, not on those who led to our exodus.” They adopted a resolution condemning the PDP-BJP government in the state for “unilaterally” taking a decision to build “composite townships”…
| — Hat tip: Upananda Brahmachari | [Return to headlines] |
Indonesian District Bans Unmarried Couples From Motorbike Rides
BANDA ACEH, Indonesia: A district in Indonesia’s Aceh has passed legislation banning unmarried men and women from riding together on motorbikes, a lawmaker said Monday, the latest new Islamic regulation in the conservative province.
Members of parliament in North Aceh district last week approved the regulation, which will come into effect in a year, said lawmaker Fauzan Hamzah, adding that authorities were making “efforts to implement sharia law fully.”
“Unmarried people sitting closely together on a motorcycle is clearly against Islamic sharia as it could lead to sinful acts,” Hamzah told AFP.
Aceh, on the northern tip of Sumatra island, is the only province in the world’s most populous Muslim-majority country that is allowed to implement Islamic law, and gay sex, gambling and drinking alcohol are already punishable by caning.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Nepal Earthquake: Mount Everest Climbs ‘Almost Impossible’
Climbing Mount Everest this season is “almost impossible” because the routes have been damaged by avalanches triggered by last month’s earthquake, officials in Nepal say.
They warn that it will take time for the routes to be remade. The government has not announced an official decision.
At least 19 people were killed in the avalanches.
The 7.8-magnitude earthquake is now known to have killed more than 7,000 people and injured more than 10,000.
Most climbers have now left the Base Camp and abandoned their expeditions, Sherpa porters based there have told the BBC.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Nepal Asks Intl Search Teams to Desist and Leave
‘Search for survivors ends after seven days’ says govt
(ANSA) — Kathmandu, May 4 — The Nepal government on Monday asked 34 countries to withdraw their search-and-rescue teams from the earthquake-devastated country, saying their help is no longer needed.
Nine days have elapsed since the April 25 7.8 magnitude quake that killed at least 6,000 people.
“We’re very grateful for their work but under international standards, the search for survivors ends after seven days,” interior ministry spokesperson Laxmi Prasad Dhapal told ANSA.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
The Afghan Interpreters Cut Adrift by French Army
Abdul Raziq returned home to his house in the western outskirts of the Afghan capital Kabul at the end of January 2015 to discover a threat nailed to his door.
Like those before it, the letter was anonymous and filled with insults, but this time it spoke of beheading.
Previous threats, made by phone, had called Raziq a “traitor” a “spy” and “a foreign dog”, after which he had spent a month in hiding.
Death threats for Raziq and others like him are a common occurrence. The reason: the 24-year-old was one of hundreds of Afghans employed as interpreters by the French army during its 13 years of operations in the country…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
South Korea: Suicide Leading Cause of Death for Young People Aged 9 to 24 Years
Suicide tops list for first time ever. Academic competition, excessive stress and absence of parents push the young to take their own lives. Second place goes to traffic accidents and third place to cancer. Main causes of suicide include academic pressure and economic stress. In 2060 only 11% of the Koreans will be under 24 years of age.
Seoul (AsiaNews) — Suicide is the leading cause of death among young people in South Korea. According to the report by Statistics Korea, in 2013 out of about 100 thousand people between 9 and 24 years of age 7.8 died from suicide. In 2003, the number was 7.4. Traffic accidents came in second place with 4.4, while cancer took third (3.1).
The situation has changed from a decade ago, when traffic accidents were in first place with 9.6 and suicides were second.
The national rate of people who take their own lives in Korea has been increasing more or less constantly since the early 1990s. It peaked in 1998 before falling slightly. Since 2000 it has started to rise again.
On a positive note the number of teenagers who have considered suicide in 2014 was “only” 7.9%, down from 11.2% in 2012. Many of them have stated that school pressure, anxiety over grades, combined with economic pressures (the Korean education is very expensive) is what pushes them to have suicidal thoughts.
Healthwise, statistics show that 61.4% of young people between 13 and 24 years suffered from chronic stress in 2014. Even here the causes are mostly school and work pressures. Moreover, the report by Statistics Korea shows that 9.2% of teenagers of middle and secondary smoke school, while 16.7% drink alcohol.
In Korea in 2013 the population group aged between 9 and 24 years accounted for 19% of the total. It is the lowest figure since these statistics are available, that is, since 1970, when young people counted for 35% of the population. At this rate, by 2060 the index be down to just 11.4%. This severe decline is due to the decrease in marriages and the low birth rate that the country has suffered for years. 56.8% of young people under 24 years claimed they would prefer to live alone and not get married.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Boko Haram Stoned Nigerian Girls to Death as Rescuers Approached
Boko Haram fighters stoned their captives to death as rescuers approached, while other girls and women held by the jihadists were crushed by an armoured car and killed by an exploding landmine as they walked to freedom.
Through tears, smiles and eyes filled with pain, the survivors of months in the hands of the Islamic extremists told their stories to The Associated Press on Sunday, their first day out of the war zone.
“We just have to give praise to God that we are alive, those of us who have survived,” said 27-year-old Lami Musa as she cradled her 5-day-old baby girl.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Israeli Ethiopian Protests ‘Reveal Open Wound’, President Says
Israel’s president has said Ethiopian Israelis’ protests against alleged discrimination “revealed an open and raw wound” at the heart of Israeli society.
Reuven Rivlin said Israel must address the community’s grievances, which had been ignored.
It comes after police and protesters clashed in Tel Aviv on Sunday night.
Israel’s PM meanwhile has met the Ethiopian Israeli soldier, whose beating by police fuelled tensions.
Benjamin Netanyahu praised Damas Pakedeh and said he was shocked by video which emerged last week showing the soldier being beaten by two police officers in a suburb of Tel Aviv.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Greece to Ask EU for Extra Funding for Migrant Influx
Greece is to ask the European Union for 30 million euros of emergency funds to deal with the growing number of undocumented migrants arriving in the country, sources have told Kathimerini.
The EU is already due to give Greece 470 million euros by 2020 for immigration-related matters, such as covering the cost of an asylum service and reception centers. However, this money covers existing operations and cannot be used to tackle problems caused by the spike in migrants reaching Greece over the last few months.
One of the things the government wants to use the emergency funds for is to hire a ferry to transport migrants from islands to reception centers or other facilities on the mainland. The coalition submitted an amendment to Parliament last week allowing authorities to bypass until the end of the year the tender process for immigration-related projects. The government says this will speed up the implementation of schemes aimed at helping migrants.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Nearly 6,000 Migrants Rescued at Sea in Mediterranean in One Weekend
The Italian coastguard said it had coordinated the rescue on Sunday of more than 2,150 migrants as they sailed across the Mediterranean on rickety boats, bringing the number of people rescued this weekend to 5,800.
The bodies of eight migrants were found on board two of the rescued vessels, while two other people drowned after they jumped into the sea to rush towards the rescue teams, the coastguard said.
French patrol boat Commandant Birot, which was sent to boost EU patrols to deal with the influx of migrant boats in the Mediterranean, picked up 217 people off the coast of Libya earlier in the day.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Feminists would be outraged if they knew they were being hoodwinked by the corporate elite.
They think they are fighting the “patriarchy” but in fact they are victims of a plot to bring down the birth rate by spreading sexual chaos among men and women.
Search for “Women’s Studies, Rockefeller Foundation” in Google and you’ll discover 15,000 examples of how the people who funded depopulation and Nazi eugenics are funding feminism. This is not a coincidence.
The Rockefeller foundation people and their allies own much of the world’s wealth. They are responsible for war, deprivation, terrorism and disease. Ladies, do you really think they’ve suddenly taken a genuine interest in women’s rights? Or gay rights? You are being used.
Second-wave feminism is part of a concerted attack on the heterosexual foundations of society. Starting in the 1960’s, an orchestrated media campaign has disparaged the importance of wife and mother, father and the nuclear family. It has feverishly promoted the idea that, instead, women should find personal fulfillment in career. We naively believed this was spontaneous.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Woman to Become N.Y. Firefighter Despite Failing Crucial Fitness Test: Report
First firefighter to have failed the Functional Skills Training (FST) test…
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Islamist Genocide Proof Christians Must Arm Themselves: Gun Law Expert
Jihadists shocked the world once again when they beheaded and shot scores of kidnapped Ethiopian Christians in Libya, according to a gory newly released video on Sunday. They Muslim terrorists have vowed more killings until Christians throughout the world accept Islam, which includes the United States.
“To the nation of the cross…Muslim blood that was shed on the hand of your religion is not cheap,” the executioner is heard saying in English said in the video. “In fact, their blood is the purest blood because there is a nation behind them that seeks revenge,” he added.
Unfortunately, in many parts of the country, Americans are prevented from fully taking advantage of their Constitutional right to arm themselves with weapons that would give them a fair chance to protect themselves and their loved ones. The specious arguments used by anti-gun political leaders and progressive activists are on their face nonsense, claims John Snyder, a former editor for the National Rifle Association and an advisory board member of the National Association of Chief of Police. “Christians must arm themselves against Islamist genocide,” a widely-recognized gun rights expert, Snyder, said on Sunday…
While the vast majority of murders and abductions of Christian and Jews occur overseas, Snyder is warning Americans that the threat of such Islamist treachery is very real. “There even have been reported incidents of extremist Islamist terrorist activity right here in the United States,” Snyder notes. Many Christians have noticed that when anyone says something negative about Muslims, Obama and his minions, Democrats, and the news media have a mass kanipshin, but killing of Christian by jihadists barely gets a mention from the nation’s Commander in Chief.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Tesla Battery May Herald New Era in Energy Storage
Power from the sun and wind is becoming more widespread. But energy storage devices are crucial in order to efficiently use such energy. Could the Tesla battery mark a new era for energy storage, in the home and beyond?
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
CNN …. were the two recent hellbound jihadis ISIS sympathizers or under its orders? CNN which knows everything, and is free from muslim influence says “no”. They have nothing to do with ISIS or islam.
Are we not lucky to have such free media? It does not exist anywhere else.