Gates of Vienna News Feed 7/5/2015

The big story of the day is the result of the Greek referendum on the Troika’s austerity plan for solving the debt crisis. An overwhelming majority — more than 60% — of the Greek people voted today against further austerity. The big question now is whether Greece will have to abandon the euro and reinstate the drachma.

In other news, a Swedish coast guard ship rescued more than 300 migrants in the Mediterranean and brought them safely to Italy.

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

Thanks to C. Cantoni, Dean, Fjordman, Gaia, Insubria, JD, K, RRN, Vlad Tepes, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.

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

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

Financial Crisis
» Defiant Greeks Reject EU Demands as Syriza Readies IOU Currency
» ‘Democracy’ The Winner in Greece: Spain’s Podemos
» Emergency Euro Summit Called on Greek No
» European Commission ‘Respects’ Greece Result: Statement
» Far-Left and Far-Right Welcome Greek No
» French Far-Right’s Marine Le Pen Lauds Greek Vote
» German Senior MP: Greece May be ‘Better Off Outside’ Euro
» German Vice-Chancellor: Further Talks ‘Barely Conceivable’
» Greece Debt Crisis: Greek Voters Reject Bailout Offer
» Greek Opposition Leader Steps Down
» Greek Result ‘Very Regrettable’: Eurogroup’s Dijsselbloem
» If Greece is Forced Out of the Euro
» Poland Says Greeks Victims of ‘Populism’
» Syriza — Playing a Double Game on Greece?
» Thousands of Greek ‘No’ Supporters Celebrate
» Trillion-Dollar Stock Managers See Days of Chaos on Greek ‘No’
» Video: Portuguese Rally in Support for Greece ‘No’ Vote
» What ‘No’ Vote Means for Greece and Europe
 
USA
» Black Man Arrested for Posting KKK Hate Signs Outside Black Church
» China Trying to ‘Hack Into Everything That Doesn’t Move’, Says Clinton
» Maine Man Dies After Trying to Light Firework on His Head
» Man Mocks Alligators, Jumps in Water and is Killed in Texas
» Pluto Probe’s Hazard Search Turns Up No New Moons
» Researcher Reveals Monsanto Has Known Since 1981 That Glyphosate Promotes Cancer
» Saudi Prince Giving Away His Money Buying Immortality for the Democrats?
» Volunteer for Pro-SB277 Senator Hospitalized After Vaccine
 
Europe and the EU
» 100,000 Muslims in UK Living in Taxpayer Subsidized Polygamy
» Blatter: Sarkozy Tried to Influence Qatar World Cup Vote
» German TV Crew Pelted With ‘Fist-Sized Stones’ By Demonstrators in Greece
» German Government Drops Plans for Contested Coal Tax
» Only Muslim Survivor of 7/7 Bombings Says Britain Must Make Stand Against Islamophobia
» Sweden: None of the Gothenburg Gang Killings Solved
» Sweden: Half a Million in the Stockholm Housing Queue
» The Real Low-Down on Pope Francis’ Encyclical on Climate Change
» UK: Fans Cheer as Princess Charlotte Christened on Royal Estate
» UK: Ginger Pride Festival to Take Place Next Summer, Organisers Say ‘Time of Bullying Gingers is Over’
» UK: Living Here on £50,000 Benefits, The Hate Preacher Who Inspired Tunisian Beach Killer
» UK: Politicians Urge Ban on the Term “Islamic State”
» UK: Tourist Takes Selfie in Brighton, Arrested on Terrorism Offences
 
Middle East
» 16 Airstrikes Destroy Key Sites in ISIS Syrian Stronghold of Raqqa
» Bethnal Green Schoolgirl Who Joined ISIL Mocks Tunisia Victims
» Bombs Strike Public Areas of Shiite Districts in and Around Baghdad, 15 People Killed
» French Businesses Hoping to Beat the Rush Back Into Iran
» Islamic State Attacks Power Plant in Hasaka, In Northeast Syria: Army
» Kerry: Reaching Final Iran Nuclear Deal ‘Could Go Either Way,’ as Deadline Nears
» Turks Protesting Against China Attack Koreans ‘By Mistake’
 
Russia
» Russian Cargo Ship Docks at Space Station After String of Failures
 
South Asia
» Christian Slave Freed From Muslim Master in Pakistan
» Malaysia PM Najib Razak Calls in Lawyers Over Corruption Accusations
 
Far East
» China: Beijing: The New National Security Act Gives Enormous Powers to the Army
 
Australia — Pacific
» New Zealand Makes Cyberbullying a Crime
 
Sub-Saharan Africa
» Boko Haram Attack Caps Week of Bloodshed in Nigeria
» Marikana: Shining the Light on Police Militarisation and Brutality in South Africa
» Woman Suicide Bomber Explodes at Evangelical Church in Northeast Nigeria, At Least 5 Killed
 
Latin America
» Argentina: Researcher Who Reported e-Voting Vulnerability Targeted by Police Raid in Argentina
 
Immigration
» 36,000 Requests for Asylum in Serbia in 2015
» Obama Administration Scales Back Deportations in Policy Shift
» Sharp Rise in German Attacks on Refugee Centres: Official Report
» Swedish Coastguard Ship Rescues 300 Refugees in Mediterranean
 
Culture Wars
» Belgian Doctors Rule Depressed 24-Year-Old Woman Has Right to End Her Life
» Dr. Paul Church Confronts the Raging River of Perverse Effluence
» Renowned Economist Thomas Sowell: Supreme Court Undermining Constitution
» Supreme Court’s Marriage Decision
 
General
» Anti-Christian Genocide Now Underway
» What You Need to Know Regarding Sharia Law
 

Defiant Greeks Reject EU Demands as Syriza Readies IOU Currency

Europe suffers biggest bloody nose since failed French and Dutch referendums a decade ago as Greeks turnout in favour of ‘No’

Greek voters have rejected the austerity demands of Europe’s creditor powers by a stunning margin, sweeping aside warnings that this could lead to the collapse of the banking system and a return to the drachma.

Early returns in the historic referendum showed the No side — Oxi in Greek — running at 61pc versus 39pc for the Yes side as the Greek people turned out en masse to vent their anger over six years of economic depression and national humiliation. A volcanic revolt appeared to have swept through Greek islands.

The shock result effectively calls the bluff of eurozone leaders and the heads of the European Commission and Parliament, forcing them either to back down or carry out drastic threats to eject Greece from monetary union.

The EU’s leadership was in utter confusion as it became clear during the day that support was swinging back to the “No” camp, despite blanket coverage from the private TV stations warning that a “No” meant Armageddon.

“The Greek people have proven that they cannot be blackmailed, terrorized, and threatened,” said Panos Kammenos, the defence minister and head of the coalition’s ANEL party.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

‘Democracy’ The Winner in Greece: Spain’s Podemos

The leader of Spain’s leftist Podemos party hailed early results from Greece’s referendum showing voters decisively rejecting creditors’ bailout terms as a victory for democracy.

“Today in Greece democracy won,” Podemos leader Pablo Iglesias, a close ally of Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, posted on his Twitter page. “Joy is in air at Syriza headquarters,” said Rafael Mayoral, another Podemos leader, who was in Greece for the referendum.

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

Emergency Euro Summit Called on Greek No

Euro leaders will gather Tuesday (7 July) evening in Brussels for an emergency summit to discuss next steps two days after Greeks plunged their country, and the wider eurozone, into political uncertainty by voting to reject creditors’ bailout proposals.

Martin Schulz, European Parliament president and one of the first top-ranking EU officials to give a reaction to the vote, said “we are in a very difficult situation”.

“It is now up to the Greek govenrment to make proposals so that it is possible and even effective to renegotiate”.

If Athens does not do this, the eurozone will be “entering a very difficult and dramatic time”.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

European Commission ‘Respects’ Greece Result: Statement

(BRUSSELS) — The European Commission “respects” the result of the Greece bailout referendum, it said in a short statement on Sunday, after Greek voters overwhelmingly rejected terms offered by international creditors.

Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker will hold a teleconference on Monday morning with European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi and Jeroen Dijsselbloem, the head of the Eurogroup of eurozone finance ministers, the statement added.

Juncker will also be “consulting tonight and tomorrow with the democratically elected leaders of the other 18 eurozone members as well as with the heads of the EU institutions,” it added.

“The European Commission takes note of and respects the result of the referendum in Greece,” the statement said.

Juncker was a key broker during months of talks between Greece and its EU-IMF creditors, but hit out at Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras after they broke down and said he felt “betrayed.”

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Far-Left and Far-Right Welcome Greek No

Far-left and far-right European parties have hailed the Greek No, with the far-right using it to bash EU institutions.

Pablo Echenique, a leading member of the far-left Podemos party in Spain said on Twitter: “The Greek brothers are telling financial dictators that one doesn’t play with democracy and dignity”.

He said “democracy” won in Greece.

He also changed his Twitter picture to one showing himself at a rally with Greek PM Alexis Tsipras.

Rafael Mayoral, a fellow Podemos leader, who was in Athens on Sunday (5 July), said “joy is in the air”.

Gabi Zimmer, the president of the far-left Gue group in the European Parliament, in her statement also attacked the “EU’s ruling elites”.

For her part, Marine Le Pen, the leader of the far-right National Front party in France, welcomed Greece’s “beautiful” lesson in democracy.

But she said it means “the failure of the euro”.

She urged EU leaders to sit “around the negotiating table, take stock … and organise the dissolution of the single currency”.

Geert Wilders, the leader of the Dutch anti-immigrant party, the PVV, tweeted that the Netherlands will quit the euro next: “No = Grexit. After that Nexit”.

His British counterpart, Nigel Farage, the leader of Ukip, went further.

He said the No means the “EU project is now dying”.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

French Far-Right’s Marine Le Pen Lauds Greek Vote

French far-right leader Marine Le Pen welcomed the early results of the Greek referendum on terms for a bailout from Europe as initial tallies showed the “no” camp leading with results still being counted.

Le Pen, the leader of the anti-immigration, anti-euro National Front party, said in a statement that the anticipated result was a victory against “the oligarchy of the European Union.”

“This ‘no’ from the Greek people must pave the way for a healthy new approach,” said Le Pen.

“European countries should take advantage of this event to gather around the negotiating table, take stock of the failure of the euro and austerity, and organize the dissolution of the single currency system, which is needed to get back to real growth, employment and debt reduction.”

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

German Senior MP: Greece May be ‘Better Off Outside’ Euro

German MP Hans Michelbach, of chancellor Merkel’s sister party CSU, told Reuters in response to initial results from the Greek referendum that “Greece has chosen a path of isolation”. “Now one has to ask the question whether Greece would not be better off outside the eurozone”, he added.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

German Vice-Chancellor: Further Talks ‘Barely Conceivable’

Greek PM Alexis Tsipras has “torn down the last bridges on which Greece and Europe could have moved towards a compromise”, German vice-chancellor Sigmar Gabriel told Tagesspiegel, adding that after the No vote further negotiations “are barely conceivable” and that Greece is “on a path of bitter abandonment and hopelessness”.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Greece Debt Crisis: Greek Voters Reject Bailout Offer

With two-thirds of ballots counted, results from the Greek referendum show voters decisively rejecting the terms of an international bailout.

Figures published by the interior ministry showed 61% of those whose ballots had been counted voting “No”, against 39% voting “Yes”.

Greece’s governing Syriza party campaigned for a “No”, saying the bailout terms were humiliating.

Reacting to the result, Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis called it “a big yes to a democratic Europe”.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Greek Opposition Leader Steps Down

Greek opposition leader Antonis Samaras, who campaigned for a Yes vote, resigned on Sunday after it emerged that probably less than 40 percent voted Yes. Samaras led the centre-right party New Democracy, and was Alexis Tsipras’ predecessor as prime minister from 2012 to 2015.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Greek Result ‘Very Regrettable’: Eurogroup’s Dijsselbloem

Brussels (AFP) — Greece’s ‘No’ vote in its bailout referendum is “very regrettable” and the economy faces tough measures to recover, the head of the Eurogroup of eurozone finance ministers, Jeroen Dijsselbloem, said Sunday. “I take note of the outcome of the Greek referendum. This result is very regrettable for the future of Greece,” Dijssebloem, the Dutch finance minister, said in a statement.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

If Greece is Forced Out of the Euro

Comment: povertypimp • 20 hours ago

The National Bank of Greece will establish special windows with an initial capital of the drachma equivalents of 500 billion euros in a revolving fund subject to increments as needed:

A.   Infrastructure development, with emphasis on freight rail, modern highways, and the upgrading the ports of Piraeus and Thessaloniki, which should become the great entrepot ports of the Balkans and southeastern Europe.
B.   Promoting Greek shipping and shipbuilding to renew the merchant fleets and retain or improve Greece’s position as the number four merchant fleet in the world.
C.   The support of Greek agriculture.
D.   Meeting the needs of the Greek petrochemicals and energy production.
E.   Developing light industry.
F.   Enhancing tourism and recreation.
G.   Improving the health care system.
H.   Investing in human capital through education and training.
I.   Export financing and guarantees for all Greek products and services.
J.   Providing working capital and credit for all productive economic activity which generates a tangible physical product through commodity manufacturing. These categories will include industry, agriculture, mining, transportation, infrastructure, food services, maintenance and repairs, textile production and maintenance, electronics, and scientific research leading to productive technologies. No subsidized long-term credit by the National Bank of Greece should be allocated to financial services, financial engineering, etc.
 

           — Hat tip: Gaia [Return to headlines]
 

Poland Says Greeks Victims of ‘Populism’

Polish PM Ewa Kopaz said the Greek No means “Greeks today are the political victims of a bunch of populists”. She added that “If these results are upheld, then there is only one route for Greece to take — to leave the eurozone”.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Syriza — Playing a Double Game on Greece?

Were Varoufakis the man he pretends to be before his Greek countrymen, he would have set forth a strategy of Greek exit from the Euro and a strategy akin to that of Iceland to declare a debt moratorium, freeze all debt repayments to the Troika-IMF, ECB and EU. Then he would put Greece on a national currency, impose capital controls and seek strong economic ties with Russia, China and the BRICS countries.

Indeed, when Greek Prime Minister Tsipras was in St. Petersburg in mid-June to meet with Russian President Putin, Putin extended a very generous offer of prepayment of $5 billion towards the Greek participation in the Turkish Stream Gazprom pipeline.

That would have given Greece breathing room to service debt repayments to the IMF. Brussels and Washington of course were not at all happy with that. Putin then offered Greece membership in the new BRICS development bank which would allow Greece to borrow to get out of the worst of the crisis without more savage austerity. That of course would bring Greece closer to Russia and also to China, something Washington and Brussels oppose with all their might. But rather than accept, Greece and Varoufakis walked away from a solution that would have avoided catastrophe as it is now unfolding.

At this point it indeed looks as if Varoufakis’ role has been to act as the Western bankers’ Trojan Horse inside the Greek government, to prepare Greece and the Greek people for the slaughter, all the while posing as the tire-less fighter for Greek interests, all without a neck tie, of course.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Thousands of Greek ‘No’ Supporters Celebrate

Thousands of government supporters have gathered in celebration in Athens’s main square, waving Greek flags and chanting “No, No” after returns show their side leading in Sunday’s referendum.

Vendors have set up stalls to sell kebabs, sandwiches, whistles and Greek flags in Syntagma Square in front of Parliament.

Athens resident Yiannis Gkovesis, holding a large Greek flag, says “we don’t want austerity measures anymore. This has been happening for the last five years and it has driven so many into poverty. We simply can’t take any more austerity.”

The 26-year-old Gkovesis says “if the Europeans really wanted Greece to stand on its feet, then they could have done so without imposing such harsh measures.”

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Trillion-Dollar Stock Managers See Days of Chaos on Greek ‘No’

It shouldn’t have gotten this far. That’s the view of equity managers overseeing more than $3.7 trillion, who say the game of chicken between Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and creditors threatens lasting damage to a European stock rally that earlier in 2015 added as much as $2.17 trillion to share prices.

Credit Suisse Group AG estimated that the probability of Greece leaving the euro would be 75 percent with a “no” vote, according to a note on Friday.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Video: Portuguese Rally in Support for Greece ‘No’ Vote

Ahead of Greece’s crucial referendum Sunday over whether to accept more budget cuts in exchange for bailout funds, rallies supporting a ‘No’ vote have been held all over the world, including austerity-hit Portugal.

Thousands of people in Portugal have backed the position of the Greek Syriza party just months before parliamentary elections at home.

“I am here today in solidarity with the fight of the Greek people and to show my solidarity with the ones who tomorrow will vote ‘No’ to austerity measures,” said one protester at a rally in Lisbon Saturday…

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

What ‘No’ Vote Means for Greece and Europe

It’s a big fat Greek no. No to more austerity, no to a bailout deal, and — quite possibly — no to the euro.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Black Man Arrested for Posting KKK Hate Signs Outside Black Church

At a time when the nation is still reeling from the racially-motivated attack on a black church in South Carolina that left nine churchgoers, including their pastor, dead, a black male suspect, who tried to pass off his racist threats as being made by a member of the Ku Klux Klan, was arrested by Colorado Springs, Colorado, police officers on Tuesday. The 44-year old man is being held for posting the offensive signs at a predominately black church, according to law enforcement.

Vincent Broughton, a resident of Colorado Springs, is accused of posting signs near a church at the 200 block of East Platte Avenue, according to a police statement on Tuesday. One of the signs read: [sic]”HELP This church identified 6 Devils for the K.K.K The Police.” The homemade signs appeared on three consecutive Sundays outside the New Covenant Church, a Pentecostal Christian denominational church…

According to former New York police detectives Samuel Washington and Peter Hernandez, the suspect may have wish to create conflict between whites and blacks in the community.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

China Trying to ‘Hack Into Everything That Doesn’t Move’, Says Clinton

U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton accused China on Saturday of stealing commercial secrets and “huge amounts of government information,” and of trying to “hack into everything that doesn’t move in America.”

Clinton’s language on China appeared to be far stronger than that usually used by President Barack Obama’s Democratic administration.

Speaking at a campaign event in New Hampshire, Clinton said she wanted to see China’s peaceful rise…

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

Maine Man Dies After Trying to Light Firework on His Head

A Maine man died during a Fourth of July celebration on Saturday night when he tried to launch a firework from the top of his head and it exploded, killing him instantly, police said Sunday.

Devon Staples, 22, of Calais, Maine, was drinking and celebrating the holiday in a friend’s backyard when he placed the fireworks mortar tube on his head around 10 p.m., said Stephen McCausland, a spokesman for the state Department of Public Safety.

McCausland said it was unclear whether the firework was already lit, or whether Staples lit it once it was on his head.

He was killed instantly when it exploded, McCausland said…

           — Hat tip: Dean [Return to headlines]
 

Man Mocks Alligators, Jumps in Water and is Killed in Texas

(CNN) A man who apparently mocked alligators, then jumped in the water — despite warning signs — is dead after being attacked in Texas.

Orange County Police were called to Burkart’s Marina near the Louisiana state line early Friday morning after reports that Tommie Woodward, 28, and an unidentified woman were swimming in a bayou and had been attacked by a large alligator.

Woodward’s body was found several hours later. The woman was not injured.

Orange County Justice of the Peace Rodney Price told CNN affiliate KFDM that Woodward ignored verbal warnings and a posted “No Swimming Alligators” sign and seemed to mock the deadly creatures before going in the water.

“He removed his shirt, removed his billfold … someone shouted a warning and he said ‘blank the alligators’ and jumped in to the water and almost immediately yelled for help,” Price said.

The “No Swimming Alligators” sign was posted this week after a 10-foot alligator was spotted in the bayou waters.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Pluto Probe’s Hazard Search Turns Up No New Moons

The coast looks clear for a NASA spacecraft’s historic Pluto flyby less than two weeks from now.

The New Horizons probe has spotted no signs of rings or additional moons in the Pluto system, so the spacecraft will remain on its original trajectory when it zooms past the dwarf planet on July 14, NASA officials announced Wednesday (July 2).

“Not finding new moons or rings present is a bit of a scientific surprise to most of us,” New Horizons principal investigator Alan Stern, of the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado, said in a statement.

“But as a result, no engine burn is needed to steer clear of potential hazards,” Stern added. “We presented these data to NASA for review and received approval to proceed on course and plan. We are ‘go’ for the best of our planned Pluto encounter trajectories.”

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Researcher Reveals Monsanto Has Known Since 1981 That Glyphosate Promotes Cancer

Researcher finds internal Monsanto documents revealing they knew over 30 years ago that glyphosate caused adenomas and carcinomas in the rats that they’ve studied.

Glyphosate is patented as an antibiotic, and research shows Roundup damages your gut flora. In addition to chelating vitamins and minerals, glyphosate disrupts bacteria-manufacturing amino acids.

Secret documents and unpublished industry studies clearly show Monsanto knew in 1981 that glyphosate causes tumorigenic growth and carcinomas in multiple organs and tissues.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Saudi Prince Giving Away His Money Buying Immortality for the Democrats?

There should be no big mystery as to why Alwaleed bin Talal, the Saudi prince Bill Gates talked into giving away all his money to charity, is dumping his riches.

No one’s given away all of his money since the last saint more than 2000 years ago.

Charity is no longer as conventional as it once was. In the case of the notorious Clinton Foundation, charity eloped with power and has never been the same.

Is Prince bin Talal, whose $32 billion fortune makes it possible, about to buy immortality for the Democrats?

Now that Barack Obama’s made good on his promise to fundamentally transform America, progressives the world over are looking to the Democrat’s Act II. Gung-ho to cling onto DC power forever, the Democrats may now have $32 billion to control the 2016 election and any that come thereafter. Prince Alwaleed bin Talal’s money is going to charity, and there’s no doubt that the “Send $5” Democrats have spent their last seven years being a charity,

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Volunteer for Pro-SB277 Senator Hospitalized After Vaccine

A close friend of mine is struggling for his life after mysteriously coming down with Guillain-Barre Syndrome and a stroke after receiving a Tdap vaccine.

He is a former 7-year volunteer and nemesis of Dr. Richard Pan. In this video we venture to Sutter Roseville to hear what John has to say about Dr. Pan and SB277.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

100,000 Muslims in UK Living in Taxpayer Subsidized Polygamy

UK taxpayers are financing the rise of their own Islamic State.

by Daniel Greenfield

We still don’t know the full US total, but it’s increasing every year with Muslim immigration. The methodology is simple and financially devastating.

Ahmed imports Wife No. 2, passes her off as a cousin or niece, she gets pregnant, is on the books as a single mother, collects every benefit there is, meanwhile she’s bringing along every family member. The men import their own wives and the cycle continues.

The UK sees this trend being very high among young Muslims and estimates a large number of Muslim polygamous marriages.

“As many as 100,000 couples are living in such marriages, which are not valid under UK law, experts said.

A leading Islamic family lawyer warned that the increase in Sharia ceremonies among the 2.7 million-strong Muslim population in Britain was also behind a growth in “secret polygamy”.

“Probably a quarter of all couples I see involve polygamy issues,” Aina Khan told The Times.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Blatter: Sarkozy Tried to Influence Qatar World Cup Vote

Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy pressured the country’s football federation to vote in favour of awarding the 2022 World Cup to Qatar, FIFA president Sepp Blatter said in an interview with a German newspaper Sunday.

Blatter told Welt am Sonntag that then German president Christian Wulff also tried to influence the December 2010 vote, in which FIFA members selected the hosts for both the 2022 tournament and the 2018 World Cup, which was awarded to Russia.

“Messrs Sarkozy and Wulff tried to influence their voting representatives. That’s why we now have a World Cup in Qatar. Those who decided it should take responsibility for it,” said Blatter, who added he was tired of taking the blame for something he had no control over…

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

German TV Crew Pelted With ‘Fist-Sized Stones’ By Demonstrators in Greece

Protesters threw stones “the size of fists” at a German television camera crew as demonstrations in Athens descended into violence.

The crew from German broadcaster ZDF had been queuing next to a group of photographers near the podium at a “no” vote rally in Syntagma Square when they were recognised and pelted with marble stones.

The ZDF team avoided injury but the stones hit a few photographers who had been standing near the crew at the event on Friday evening when Alexis Tsipras, the Greek prime minister. urged people to vote “no” on a bail-out offer from creditors in today’s referendum.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

German Government Drops Plans for Contested Coal Tax

Germany has scrapped plans to tax its oldest and dirtiest coal-fired power plants after fierce opposition from unions and operators, Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel said Thursday.

Instead it will shutter some of the old coal plants in coming years and keep them on stand-by during power shortfalls, as it increasingly relies on renewable energy to meet its climate goals.

Gabriel, who is also vice chancellor, announced that his planned levy on the biggest polluters had been dropped after talks by members of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s left-right coalition.

“Companies and trade unions said to us that that would not work… and that we would create thousands of jobless,” Gabriel, a Social Democrat, said on public broadcaster ARD…

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

Only Muslim Survivor of 7/7 Bombings Says Britain Must Make Stand Against Islamophobia

The only Muslim survivor of the 7/7 London bombings has urged the country to stand together against the growing threat of Islamophobia the way it did against terrorism a decade ago.

Sajda Mughal said she has suffered death threats and online abuse because of her faith since surviving the UK’s first suicide bombings at the age of 22, and says her experience is increasingly echoed by friends, family and colleagues.

As the tenth anniversary of the terrorist attack approaches and the country remembers the harrowing event, she said the pain, flashbacks and nightmares she regularly experiences have intensified.

“Extremism to some degree is fuelled by Islamophobia, young Muslims are telling us first hand they have experienced it or their family has and that is making them feel alienated and that leaves some vulnerable to radicalisation.”

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Sweden: None of the Gothenburg Gang Killings Solved

Despite a two-year special investigation, Gothenburg police have not cleared up a single one of the 21 killings that took place during a gang war.

All other police work and crime fighting has had to wait while the investigation took whatever resources it needed.

During the gang war more than 70 people were injured, 17 shot dead and 4 killed by bombs. No one has been convicted for any crime in connection these incidents.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Sweden: Half a Million in the Stockholm Housing Queue

A record number of people in the Stockholm public housing queue means waiting times of many years.

There are almost half a million people registered with Stockholm city and wanting to hire one of the council-owned properties. This number has doubled in just seven years.

The average waiting time to get an apartment in Stockholm municipality last year was nine years.

Young people and others unable to buy are hardest hit. Almost half of those in the queue are under 35.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

The Real Low-Down on Pope Francis’ Encyclical on Climate Change

Extremely curious at the media allegation that the “scientific Pantheist who advises Pope Francis” and has swayed “Laudato Si” (named so after St. Francis of Assisi’s canticle), “seems to believe in Gaia, but not in God,” I set out to read for myself the climate change encyclical in Italian.

Pope Francis, began his 192-page “Lettera Enciclica, Laudato Si’ del Santo Padre Francesco Sulla Cura Della Casa Comune,” by quoting a St. Francis d’Assisi canticle, and by saying that we are abusing and irresponsibly using “our sister Mother Earth, which sustains and governs us and produces diverse fruits with colourful flowers and herbs.”

On page 5 he continues with, “Ogni aspirazione a curare e migliorare il mondo richiede di cambiare profondamente gli ‘stili di vita, i modelli di produzione e di consume, le strutture consolidate di potere che oggi reggono le societa.” As I translate, “Any aspiration to care for and improve the world requires changing profoundly lifestyles, the patterns of production and consumption, the established structures of power that today govern society.”

I have heard these words before written in the 40-chapter U.N. Agenda 21 document signed by 179 countries in 1992 in Rio de Janeiro and repeated by subsequent Rio conference participants and advocates who really want to destroy capitalism. Here’s a quote by Christina Figueres, Executive Secretary of U.N.’s Framework Convention on Climate Change, in which she admits that environmental activists and lobbyists aim to destroy capitalism, not save the globe from ecological Armageddon.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Fans Cheer as Princess Charlotte Christened on Royal Estate

LONDON — Prince William and his wife, Kate, marked a milestone for their newborn baby Princess Charlotte on Sunday — a christening ceremony on Queen Elizabeth II’s country estate that was steeped in royal tradition.

Hundreds of fans outside St. Mary Magdalene Church in Sandringham, a sprawling royal estate near England’s eastern coast, cheered as William and Kate arrived with toddler Prince George and 9-week-old Charlotte, who was in a vintage pram.

It was only the second time Britain’s newborn princess, who is fourth in line to the throne, has been seen in public since she was born on May 2.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Ginger Pride Festival to Take Place Next Summer, Organisers Say ‘Time of Bullying Gingers is Over’

Ginger Pride is coming next summer as organisers are planning an event to celebrate being redheads in the South West.

Plymouth, Devon, will play host to a gathering which organisers have already started preparations for, having set out plans at a pub meeting last Saturday.

Stuart Parry, 43, told the Plymouth Herald: “The meeting went really well and as well as myself and my wife, three other people turned up.

“I wonder if we’re approaching a time when bullying gingers is over,” he said.

“Being ginger has stopped being uncool.”

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Living Here on £50,000 Benefits, The Hate Preacher Who Inspired Tunisian Beach Killer

Cleric lives in five-bedroom home with wife and five children after thwarting deportation attempts for 15 years

A leader of the terror group behind the Tunisian beach massacre is living off benefits in Britain, the Mail can reveal.

Jihadi preacher Hani al-Sibai — who described the 7/7 terror attacks in London in 2005 as a ‘great victory’ — is one of the ‘key influencers’ of the Islamic fanatics believed to have recruited and trained gunman Seifeddine Rezgui.

But he is living on £50,000 a year in handouts with his wife and five children in a £1 million house in West London, after using human rights laws to thwart attempts to deport him for more than 15 years.

Days after the atrocity in Tunisia, the Mail found al-Sibai, 54, strolling in the sunshine outside his home.

Asked how he could justify milking the welfare state for so much, al-Sibai — who is under investigation suspected of benefit fraud — said: ‘Ask David Cameron, don’t ask me.’

Last night, there were furious calls to deport al-Sibai, who has also been linked to Islamic State executioner Mohammed Emwazi, known as Jihadi John.

Keith Vaz, chairman of the home affairs select committee, is writing to Home Secretary Theresa May to demand an explanation as to why al-Sibai is still in the country…

           — Hat tip: Vlad Tepes [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Politicians Urge Ban on the Term “Islamic State”

by Soeren Kern

“If we deny any connection between terrorism and religion, then we are saying there is no problem in any of the mosques; that there is nothing in the religious texts that is capable of being twisted or misunderstood; that there are no religious leaders whipping up hatred of the West, no perverting of religious belief for political ends.” — Boris Johnson, Mayor of London.

“O Muslims, Islam was never for a day the religion of peace. Islam is the religion of war… Mohammed was ordered to wage war until Allah is worshipped alone… He himself left to fight and took part in dozens of battles. He never for a day grew tired of war. — Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, leader of the Islamic State.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Tourist Takes Selfie in Brighton, Arrested on Terrorism Offences

A tourist was arrested on suspicion of terrorism offences after taking a selfie video in Brighton.

Nasser Al-Ansari, 38, said he was filming a video of himself on his mobile phone outside a shopping centre in Brighton when the incident happened, according to the Argus.

Mr Al-Ansari, from Kuwait, said he was then taken to a car park by officers and held on suspicion of terrorism offences for three hours.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

16 Airstrikes Destroy Key Sites in ISIS Syrian Stronghold of Raqqa

U.S.-led coalition forces conducted 16 airstrikes Saturday and early Sunday against key ISIS buildings and transit routes in the terror group’s stronghold of Raqqa, Syria, a U.S. Army official said.

At least 16 airstrikes were reported late Saturday and early Sunday, triggering successive explosions that shook the city and created panic among residents, activists said. The U.S.-led coalition often targets ISIS-held towns and cities in Syria, but the overnight strikes on Raqqa were rare in their intensity.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Bethnal Green Schoolgirl Who Joined ISIL Mocks Tunisia Victims

Amira Abase, the 16-year-old who is one of three British schoolgirls from east London to have fled the UK and joined Islamic State (Isil) in Syria has mocked the victims of the Tunisa terror attack.

In a series of messages exchanged with an undercover reporter, Miss Abase said “Looooool”, which means “laugh out loud”, when told about the minute’s silence that was held for the victims.

The reporter from the Mail on Sunday was posing as a British schoolgirl interested in joining Isil. During the exchange, it becomes clear that Miss Abase now plays an active role as a recruiter for Isil.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Bombs Strike Public Areas of Shiite Districts in and Around Baghdad, 15 People Killed

BAGHDAD — Authorities in Iraq say bombings targeting Shiite districts have killed 15 people in and around Baghdad.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

French Businesses Hoping to Beat the Rush Back Into Iran

Since the start of tortuous nuclear negotiations with Iran, France has been seen as taking the toughest stand. Now as a deal nears, Paris must be ready to dash in and grab a slice of long untapped market.

“The first repercussions of any deal will be the opening of the Iranian market. That’s what all the Western countries are waiting for,” a top western diplomat said recently.

“They are jostling as if they’re at the start of a marathon, and are keeping a close eye on one another.”…

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

Islamic State Attacks Power Plant in Hasaka, In Northeast Syria: Army

Islamic State suicide bombers on Sunday blew up an explosive-laden truck near a power plant that serves the northeastern city of Hasaka, the latest attack after their expulsion from most parts of the city, the Syrian army said.

State television said a second attack, against a power plant that serves the southern districts of the city, was prevented, but the first had caused “material damage” and led to “casualties”. It did not elaborate.

The ultra-hardline militants continue to stage lighting attacks inside the city, although they were driven out of some districts after they mounted a major offensive that failed last month. That offensive attempted to capture the provincial capital of the oil and grain producing province of Syria.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Kerry: Reaching Final Iran Nuclear Deal ‘Could Go Either Way,’ as Deadline Nears

Secretary of State John Kerry said Sunday that the U.S. and Iran are closer to reaching a final nuclear deal but expressed uncertainty about hitting their 48-hour deadline, saying negotiations “could go either way.”

Kerry made his comments during a break in one-on-one talks in Vienna with Iran Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif.

Zarif said Saturday that he and Kerry’s teams made significant headway by reaching a tentative agreement on some sanctions now being imposed on Iran for its nuclear program.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Turks Protesting Against China Attack Koreans ‘By Mistake’

Turkish nationalists protesting China’s treatment of ethnic Uighur Muslims attacked a group of Korean tourists in the heart of Istanbul’s old city on Saturday, mistaking them for Chinese nationals.

Hundreds of angry protesters marched towards the Topkapi Palace on the banks of the Bosphorus Strait in a show of solidarity with the Turkic Uigurs, who complain of cultural and religious suppression under Chinese rule.

Shouting “Allahu Akbar” (God is the Greatest), they attacked some Koreans outside the Topkapi Palace, which is visited by thousands of tourists every day.

The tourists were rescued by riot police, who fired tear gas to disperse the attackers, members of the notorious far-right Grey Wolves closely affiliated with Nationalist Movement Party (MHP)…

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

Russian Cargo Ship Docks at Space Station After String of Failures

An unmanned Russian cargo ship successfully docked with the International Space Station on Sunday following a string of failed attempts to resupply the orbital laboratory.

“The transport cargo ship Progress M-28M has docked with the… Russian segment of the ISS at 10:11am Moscow time (0711GMT),” the Russian federal space agency (Roscosmos) said in a statement.

The ship is carrying more than 2,300 kilos of oxygen, fuel, food, and scientific equipment, as well as personal packages for the international crew of three.

Russian cosmonauts Gennady Padalka and Mikhail Kornienko and US astronaut Scott Kelly are part of the Expedition 44 currently in space, to be joined by three more people later this month…

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

Christian Slave Freed From Muslim Master in Pakistan

by Raymond Ibrahim

Mumtaz Masih, a Christian man, was recently released from forced slavery by his Muslim employer.

Masih had an arrangement with his Muslim employer, part of which was that Masih remain on his employer’s property at all times except once a month when he would receive payment and could go home to visit his family.

In July 2014 the employer stopped paying Masih, banned him from home visiting, and effectively turned him into a slave.

Masih’s wife sought help when her husband stopped coming. After a habeas corpus court case on 29 May, a court official was directed to find Masih, who was found on his master’s property in a locked room.

Although bonded labor is illegal in Pakistan, many poor Christians live and work in such conditions.

           — Hat tip: K [Return to headlines]
 

Malaysia PM Najib Razak Calls in Lawyers Over Corruption Accusations

Malaysia’s Prime Minister has said he will consult lawyers over claims state money was funneled into his personal accounts. It comes as the attorney general confirmed he had seen documents linking Najib with the money.

The Malaysian leader said on Sunday the decision whether he would begin legal proceedings in the wake of the allegations would be made within the coming days.

“I have referred this to my lawyers and they will advise me on the best course of legal action I can take within the country and overseas,” Najib told reporters.

On Friday, a report published in “The Wall Street Journal” detailed an investigation showing around $700 million (631 million euros) was moved around several government agencies, banks and other organizations linked to the state 1MDB fund. It eventually finished up in personal accounts belonging to the prime minister. “The Wall Street Journal” stated that in total five deposits were made into accounts belonging to Najib, with the two largest transactions, worth $620 million (558 million euros) and $61 million (55 million euros) respectively, were made in March of 2013, just two months prior to general elections.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

China: Beijing: The New National Security Act Gives Enormous Powers to the Army

China wants to exploit its resources “in the seas, in space and in the polar regions.” The White Paper on the Ministry of Defence provides a change in strategy of the Chinese Navy, from “defense on the high seas” to “offshore protection “. Closer scrutiny of key areas such as internet, foreign investment and information systems.

Beijing (AsiaNews / Agencies) — The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) will expand its presence beyond territorial borders with the new national security bill approved yesterday by the National People’s Congress. Beside the need to protect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country, the law provides that it is the responsibility of the military to defend “ overseas interests “, even through the use of force if necessary.

China has long been in conflict with the nations of South East Asia for the control of the South China Sea. The Asean countries affected (Vietnam, Philippines, Indonesia, Brunei, Malaysia) fear the growing threats from Beijing.

Ni Lexiong, a naval expert based in Shanghai, explained that the new provisions contained in the text adopted yesterday almost unanimously: “indicate the PLA Navy has been given the challenging and tough long-term task to defend China’s overseas interests. More resources and political support will be required to turn the navy into a capable blue-water force [to carry out these tasks]. “

The draft law also includes some provisions that require the state to protect strategic resources and energy reserves, as well as transportation networks by land and sea to safeguard the social and economic development of the country. Ni says: “In this clause, Beijing is showing its determination to protect its oil lifeline at sea, hinting that it will continue to set up a network of offshore military supply depots in strategic ports to protect its national interests overseas”.

Under the law, all the activities of the Army — both domestic and foreign policy, including defense of overseas interests peacekeeping missions, rescue operations and international support — must be approved by the Central Military Commission chaired by President Xi Jinping.

The law was approved about a month after the White Paper on the Ministry of Defence, in which Beijing says it wants to make the military more resolute, transforming the Navy focus from “offshore defense” to include “ offshore protection “.

The new provisions of the law on national security require a strengthening of controls on the Internet, foreign investment, technology, information services and key infrastructure, in order to make them “safe and controllable” in the event of cyber-attacks, violations and theft of state secrets.

A final clause provides that China develop its ability to “explore and use resources in space, under the sea and in the polar regions.” He Qisong, an expert in defense policy at the Shanghai University of Political Science and Law, said: “Beijing has sent a clear message to its people and the military, the whole country will provide full support to the armed forces to defend the country’s interests, be they overseas, in space, in deep seas and even in polar regions”

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

New Zealand Makes Cyberbullying a Crime

New Zealand has passed a law that criminalizes one of the least desirable facets of the internet: cyberbullying.

The legislation effectively prohibits sending messages to people that are racist, sexist, critical of their religion, sexuality or disability.

The rest for determining harm will be if these communications were designed to cause “serious emotional distress,” and if a person is found guilty, could face up to two years in jail.

In addition, the bill creates a separate crime of incitement to suicide, which will see a person jailed for up to three years if they are found to be encouraging such an act.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Boko Haram Attack Caps Week of Bloodshed in Nigeria

A suicide bomber has attacked a church in Nigeria, capping a week in which more than 200 people died in Boko Haram violence.

At least five worshippers were killed in Sunday’s attack as they were entering the church in Potiskum in the north-east of the country.

The Islamist extremists of Boko Haram have carried out a six-year campaign of violence in Nigeria’s northeast.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Marikana: Shining the Light on Police Militarisation and Brutality in South Africa

The widely criticised Farlam Commission of inquiry’s report into the Marikana massacre has put a spotlight on the dangers of South Africa’s militarised police force. The government needs to seize the opportunity to address this problem once and for all.

Possibly the most significant finding by the commission is that the police inappropriately abandoned public order policing with its emphasis on crowd control in favour of forcibly disarming the striking miners and breaking the strike.

This was done because police leaders had declared August 16 — the day on which the massacre occurred — “D-day”. The police took this decision not because the situation on the ground demanded it, but in response to inappropriate political considerations.

The decision had an impact in how things turned out at Marikana. The police reduced the involvement of the Public Order Police, which deals with public unrest, and increased the involvement of specialised policing units with little-to-no experience in public order policing. These included the paramilitarised Tactical Response Team, the National Intervention Unit for counter-terrorism, which deals with medium- and high-risk law enforcement, and the Special Task Force, which deals in counter-terrorism and hostage situations…

           — Hat tip: RRN [Return to headlines]
 

Woman Suicide Bomber Explodes at Evangelical Church in Northeast Nigeria, At Least 5 Killed

A woman suicide bomber blew up in the midst of a crowded evangelical Christian church service in northeast Nigeria on Sunday and killed at least five people, witnesses said.

It is the latest bombing in a string of attacks blamed on Islamic extremist group Boko Haram that’s killed some 200 people in the past week.

Nearly 100 men and boys praying in mosques were gunned down on Wednesday, and a local official said Sunday that 21 more bodies have been recovered from burnt-out houses since then.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Argentina: Researcher Who Reported e-Voting Vulnerability Targeted by Police Raid in Argentina

Police have raided the home of an Argentinian security professional who discovered and reported several vulnerabilities in the electronic ballot system (Google translation of Spanish original) to be used next week for elections in the city of Buenos Aires. The vulnerabilities (exposed SSL keys and ways to forge ballots with multiple votes) had been reported to the manufacturer of the voting machines, the media, and the public about a week ago. There has been no arrest, but his computers and electronics devices have been impounded (Spanish original). Meanwhile, the information security community in Argentina is trying to get the media to report this notorious attempt to “kill the messenger.

[Commenter: “You expose a backdoor that the current in-power government was going to use to win the election.”]

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

36,000 Requests for Asylum in Serbia in 2015

Countries in the area mobilised to stem flow along Balkan route

(ANSA) — BELGRADE — Almost 36,000 migrants, mostly from Syria and Afghanistan, have applied for asylum in Serbia since the beginning of the year. The news was reported by Interior Minister Nebojsa Stefanovic, who added that in the same period about 21,000 people have been prevented from entering the country illegally.

The flow of immigrants from the south is incessant, said the minister, according to whom it was decided to build a refugee centre in the area of Presevo, Albanian-majority region, on the border with Macedonia.

A strategy to stem illegal immigration — moving along the so-called ‘Balkan route’ from Turkey, Greece, Macedonia, Serbia, Hungary to the EU countries of Western Europe — was the focus yesterday’s meeting in Belgrade, attended by the Police Chiefs of Serbia, Hungary, Germany and Austria. ‘Mixed patrols’, composed of Serbian and Hungarian policemen, are operating on the borders between Serbia and Macedonia and between Serbia and Hungary.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Obama Administration Scales Back Deportations in Policy Shift

The Obama administration has begun a profound shift in its enforcement of the nation’s immigration laws, aiming to hasten the integration of long-term illegal immigrants into society rather than targeting them for deportation, according to documents and federal officials.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Sharp Rise in German Attacks on Refugee Centres: Official Report

Far-right crime in Germany soared 24 percent last year to the highest level in six years, with a “shameful” surge in attacks on refugee centres, an official report released Tuesday showed.

As the number of asylum seekers in Germany has risen, so has aggression against them, an annual report on politically motivated crime by the domestic security watchdog, the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, found.

“Hatred and violence against refugees and asylum seekers in Germany are shameful,” Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said as he presented the findings for 2014…

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

Swedish Coastguard Ship Rescues 300 Refugees in Mediterranean

A Swedish ship took onboard over 300 refugees, including 35 women and children, who were lost at sea, and brought them to Italy.

Word came that a refugee boat was lost at sea, and after some hours a Danish reconnaissance craft found it, and Poseidon was the closest ship, and able to reach the stricken boat in two hours.

The migrants were found aboard a 20 metre long boat, and were taken onto the Swedish ship relatively easily. The operation took two hours.

Coastguard spokesperson Mattias Lindholm says the weather is perfect for a rescue operation. “The sea was calm, almost no wind and visibility was absolutely excellent.”

The refugees are feared to have been stuck in their boat for around two weeks, but none seem to have been seriously harmed.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Belgian Doctors Rule Depressed 24-Year-Old Woman Has Right to End Her Life

Doctors in Belgium have granted a medically depressed woman the right to end her own life.

The 24-year-old woman, named only as ‘Laura’, told doctors she had suffered from depression since she was a child and wished to end her life, local newspaper De Morgen reported.

Laura, who entered a psychiatric facility when she was 21, told the publication: “life, that’s not for me.”

“Death feels to me not as a choice. If I had a choice, I would choose a bearable life, but I have done everything and that was unsuccessful,” she told the newspaper.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Dr. Paul Church Confronts the Raging River of Perverse Effluence

On March 30, a major Harvard-affiliated hospital in Boston, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC), expelled a well-respected urologist from its medical staff because he voiced concerns about the unhealthy nature of homosexual behavior and objected to the hospital’s aggressive promotion of “gay pride” activities.

Dr. Paul Church has been a urologist on the BIDMC staff in Boston for nearly 30 years. He is a member of the Harvard Medical School faculty. He has done research on diagnosing prostate and bladder cancer, and has been a frequent volunteer for medical mission projects in Mexico and Africa. He has also spoken before educational and civic groups on the subject of high-risk sexual behaviors.

Over a decade ago, Dr. Church became concerned about the hospital’s aggressive promotion of and involvement in LGBT activities — including Boston’s annual “Gay Pride Week” — and its emphatic push for staff participation in them. He felt compelled to speak out.

Through emails to hospital officials and later posting on the hospital’s Intranet system, Dr. Church cited irrefutable medical evidence that high-risk sexual practices common to the LGBT community lead to (among other things) a higher incidence of HIV/AIDS, STD’s, hepatitis, parasitic infections, anal cancers, and psychiatric disorders.

Promoting such behavior, he said, is contrary to the higher mission of the healthcare facility to protect the public welfare and encourage healthy lifestyles. Dr. Church also reminded the administration that its staff and employees represent a diversity of moral and religious views, and many believe that homosexuality is unnatural and immoral.

And here’s the kicker:

The hospital did not at any time dispute the truth of his medical statements, nor did they address his other concerns.

They did not claim that Dr. Church ever discussed this with patients, or treated patients any differently if they were involved with these behaviors. Instead Dr. Church was met with increasingly harsh efforts by the hospital administration to silence and censor him. They told him that his admonitions about homosexual behavior constituted “discrimination and harassment,” were “offensive to BIDMC staff,” and could not be tolerated.

Dr. Church has essentially done what virtually no one in the pro-family establishment has been willing to do for at least a decade: unflinchingly tell the medical and moral truth about homosexual behavior. In our opinion, that failure is the main reason why we have lost so much ground in the courts, the public forum, and just about everywhere else.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Renowned Economist Thomas Sowell: Supreme Court Undermining Constitution

“America is no longer America. The freedom for which whole generations of Americans have fought and died is gradually but increasingly being taken away from us…”

Many people are looking at the recent Supreme Court decisions about ObamaCare and same-sex marriage in terms of whether they think these are good or bad policies. That is certainly a legitimate concern, for both those who favor those policies and those who oppose them.

But there is a deeper and more long-lasting impact of these decisions that raise the question whether we are still living in America, where “we the people” are supposed to decide what kind of society we want, not have our betters impose their notions on us.

The Constitution of the United States says that the federal government has only those powers specifically granted to it by the Constitution — and that all other powers belong either to the states or to the people themselves.

That is the foundation of our freedom, and that is what is being dismantled by both this year’s Obamacare decision and last year’s ObamaCare decision, as well as by the Supreme Court’s decision imposing a redefinition of marriage.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Supreme Court’s Marriage Decision

First I would like to Reprint portions of an email that I got from David Barton of Wallbuilders.

“The Supreme Court decision in Obergefell v. Hodges that established homosexual marriage as national policy is unambiguously wrong on at least three crucial levels: Moral, Constitutional, and Structural…

The Constitution stipulates that “The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a republican form of government” (Article IV, Section 4). A republican form of government is one in which the people elect leaders to make public policy, with those leaders being directly accountable to the people. More than thirty States, by their republican form of government, had established a definition of marriage for their State. The Supreme Court decision directly abridges the constitutional mandate to secure to every state a republican form of government.

This Supreme Court decision overruled the will of the people in 30+ States.

Our form of government is a representative government and the laws of the land cannot usurp the will of the people. Mr. Barton continued: As Jefferson affirmed, the judges’ “power [is] the more dangerous as they are in office for life and not responsible, as the other functionaries are, to the elective control.” He therefore warned:

[T]o consider the judges as the ultimate arbiters of all constitutional questions [is] a very dangerous doctrine indeed, and one which would place us under the despotism of an oligarchy. . . . The Constitution has erected no such single tribunal. The Constitution, on this hypothesis, is a mere thing of wax in the hands of the Judiciary which they may twist and shape into any form they please.

Our Constitution guarantees that each State will operate under a republican form of government yet this decision violates that guarantee.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Anti-Christian Genocide Now Underway

“When are we going to have the guts to take our head out of the sand?” asks George J. Marlin, chairman of Aid to the Church in Need, USA. In this interview, Marlin discusses the New Age of Christian Martyrs, with one million Christians killed in the 21st Century so far. “There is a delusion… in the Obama Administration that this really isn’t happening,” he says. “This White House can’t bring itself to recognize what’s going on there.” Can Islam be reformed? Will the Pope issue an encyclical on Christian persecution? Marlin reports that Obama promised to speak out on the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Christian genocide, in which 1.5 million people were killed, but has refused to do so. However, Pope Francis has talked about it publicly. The Muslims are conquering Europe, which has abandoned its Christian roots, Marlin says. But anti-Christian forces are also on the march in the U.S., through the same-sex marriage movement, he says.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

What You Need to Know Regarding Sharia Law

The dedicated muslims throughout the world are on a mad mission of inflicting upon the world their uncivilized form of existence know as shari’ah law. It is comprised of several authoritative Islamic texts, the chief of which is the qur’an. Dedicated muslims understand the qur’an to be the undisputed so-called holy revelation of allah to be the prophet muhammad for all muslims. As the prolific Islamic author, Dr. Daniel Izzi Dien, noted in his book Outlining Sources of Islamic law.

The qur’an, also known as the book, al-kitab, represents the most important source of Islamic law, being the ultimate word of the divine. It is not seen by dedicated muslims as purely a book of law. . But (“the book”) indicates the significance of textual authority, in the Islamic legal mind. It therefore also implies what was composed and given by allah. This so-called first source if Islamic law is to be respected more than any other human made law. The muslims believe that the qur’an was secured by the devine will and accuracy of the qur’an as a document can be affirmed on the grounds that it was presented and recorded by oral transmission as well as script.

Of nearly equal importance to the qur’an in terms of both influence and authority is the Sunnah (the “words and actions, approvals or even silence” ascribe to Muhammad), as recorded in the hadiths. The qur’an lays the foundation for the hadiths authoritativeness, commanding true or dedicated muslims to obey the book and to obey muhammad. The muslim founder, Muhammad likewise declared that obedience to the qur’an and to his dictates was essential to avoid destruction. Perhaps this is one of the excuses dedicated muslims use today to murder, rape, enslave, behead non muslims and even burn puppies to death.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

5 thoughts on “Gates of Vienna News Feed 7/5/2015

  1. I hope Devon Staples of Calais, Maine, has been nominated for this year’s Darwin Awards. At the age of only 22, he *may not* have had children yet, so his demise ever-so-slightly improved the human gene pool in the direction of pro-survival people.

    Amazing.

  2. So sorry to hear about the man in Roseville with the serious adverse reaction to a TDAP vaccination. However, at 0:50 in the video, the informant says that the patient “had a history” of adverse reactions to “stacked” vaccines. I interpret his statement re. “stacked” vaccines to refer to multiple-strand vaccinations like TDAP (tetanus, diphtheria, and pertussis/whooping cough) or MMR (measles, mumps, rubella).

    Why on earth would someone with a history of adverse reactions to multiple-strand vaccinations agree to a TDAP??? That’s incredible! and incredibly ill-advised!

    I have a personal history with adverse reactions to injections, and I make sure the nurse/doctor/technician knows it before that needle ever gets close to my skin.

    I’m allergic to the most common preservative in all injections: the benzo-alcohol family of preservatives.

    Lidocaine? yep; it has a benzo alcohol family member in it. When I receive my periodic cortisone shots in my painful joints, I have them sans Lidocaine; nothing but cortisone in ’em. Hurts somewhat, but much better than an anaphylactic reaction (which happened before a hospital’s assistant pharmacist and I tracked down the problem ingredient).

    Injectable diphenhydramine, allegedly non-preserved (it wasn’t on the label!)? 0.5% benzalkonium–discovered when the dermatologist called the manufacturer after I presented with an incredibly swollen face. You should’ve heard Dr. F (her real initial) on the phone to the manufacturer’s representative when she found out that the preservative wasn’t labelled “because it was less than 1%, and we don’t label such small components.” She took a picture of my face and sent it to them.

    When I re-enrolled in college in the late ’80s to earn my teaching credential, the university required MMR immunization. I knew then that I was allergic to *something* in injections, but I didn’t know what (I knew this from dental work, where all my injections were non-preserved–refrigerated and ordered on a 24-hour delivery basis). The university said basically, “No, you can’t enroll without proof of immunity.”
    I said, “Well, I had measles when I was 4 and German measles when I was 16.”
    “Ya got proof of that?”
    “Whaddya want, a note from my mommy? My juvenile records have probably been destroyed, since my father retired from the military more than 10 years ago.”
    “Well, you’ve GOT to show immunity.”
    “I’m not willing to go to the emergency room to ‘prove’ immunity to something unless the injection comes in a non-preserved form.”
    “No, sorry; it doesn’t.”
    “Is there ANY WAY AT ALL I can prove immunity?”
    At this point, the university representative realized that yes, I had a serious health threat and was probably not kidding about my reactions. She said, “Well, you could go have a blood titer.” Now, blood titers have become well-known in at least the dog world since then, but I didn’t have dogs then, just cats. I asked how a “blood titer” worked.
    “You go to the lab, they take a sample of your blood and expose it to the viruses. It will show whether or not you have immunity to them.”
    “Sounds PERFECT! Do you have paperwork for it?”
    And thus I was allowed to enroll (provisionally, that day) for my teaching credential. Naturally, the results came back that I really had had these diseases previously.

    Most of my dental work is performed under nitrous oxide only; the rest uses non-preserved local anesthetics.

    I have flu shots only rarely, because they’re all preserved with benzo alcohol relatives. I did have one in November 2010 because I was in the hospital for my second knee replacement surgery, and the lead nurse asked me upon discharge, “Have you had your flu shot yet?” I said, “No. It’s a pain, because I’d like one every now and then, but they’re all preserved, and I react anaphylactically to benzo alcohol preservatives.”
    “Ah, but we’re a hospital, so we have the refrigerated, non-preserved ones.”
    “Wow! Yes! Thank you.” And we got to work.

    So I know from personal experience here in the State of California that it is possible to refuse vaccinations or shots of any kind if one has a pre-existing reason to believe one will have an adverse reaction. That’s why I find it difficult to understand why the patient here *agreed* (!) to the TDAP, the very definition of a multiple-strand vaccination.

    I only hope he regains the function and health he has currently lost.

  3. >> The average waiting time to get an apartment in Stockholm municipality last year was nine years. <<

    Solution: Bring in more immigrants from MENA.

    Why must I always be the one to come up with the obvious solutions? This isn't rocket science.

  4. Scandinavia as a base for operational purposes

    Monday
    “BEIRUT – Dramatic reports have emerged in Jordan that the country’s security forces have stopped an Iranian terror plot following the arrest of a man affiliated with the Iranian Revolutionary Guards (IRGC).”

    • The Iraqi in question, has Saddam Hussein’s lawyer defending him after being caught with 45 kg of explosives in Jordan. The case against him started in Jordan on Monday, and the media are not allowed to report from court.

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