The Hungarian government finally reopened the Budapest railway station and allowed crowds of waiting migrants to board a train, which they expected to take them to Austria en route to Germany. However, the passengers were then diverted to a holding camp, where they are to be registered, in accordance with EU regulations.
Meanwhile, the mayor of Lesbos has called on the new caretaker government in Athens to declare a state of emergency on his island, due to the overwhelming number of refugees that have landed there in recent weeks.
In other news, two Houthi mosques in the Yemeni capital were attacked by Islamic State suicide bombers, killing at least 28 people and leaving dozens more wounded.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to C. Cantoni, Fjordman, Insubria, JD, KGS, Nemesis, Srdja Trifkovic, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.
Notice to tipsters: Please don’t submit extensive excerpts from articles that have been posted behind a subscription firewall, or are otherwise under copyright protection.
Caveat: Articles in the news feed are posted “as is”. Gates of Vienna cannot vouch for the authenticity or accuracy of the contents of any individual item posted here. We check each entry to make sure it is relatively interesting, not patently offensive, and at least superficially plausible. The link to the original is included with each item’s title. Further research and verification are left to the reader.
ECB Could Ramp Up Bond Purchase Programme if Necessary: Draghi
(FRANKFURT) — The European Central Bank could ramp up its contested bond purchase programme, extending it beyond September 2016 if needed, ECB president Mario Draghi said on Thursday.
Referring to a policy known as quantitative easing or QE, Draghi said at a news conference that “the asset purchase programme provides sufficient flexibility in terms of adjusting the size, composition and duration of the programme”.
It was “intended to run until the end of September 2016, or beyond, if necessary,” he added.
Fears of deflation — a dangerous spiral of falling prices — persuaded the ECB to launch in March the QE programme, under which it plans to purchase 60 billion euros ($68 billion) of sovereign bonds each month until September 2016, or 1.14 trillion euros in all.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Italian Purchasing Power Down 122 Bn Since 2008, Report Says
But Italians maintain gym memberships and digital connectivity
(ANSA) — Milan, September 3 — Italian families have lost 122 billion euros in purchasing power between 2008 and 2015, according to a report released Thursday by Italian consumers’ cooperative Coop, which operates the largest grocery chain in Italy. Of the 122 billion euro figure, 75 billion euros were due to a reduction in consumption, while the other 47 billion euros were a result of cuts in savings.
Italians are saving more than last year, with personal savings up 0.6% to 9.2% overall in 2015 on 2014 figures, although that total still falls short of the 11.9% measured in 2007.
A deflation trend is helping purchasing power, however, as between 2011 and this year nominal wages in Italy went up by 1% per annum, but were down 0.5% after inflation.
Between January and August of this year, sales by large retailers in Italy were down 0.1%, in particular at hypermarkets (-3.4%), although sales increased at supermarkets, discounters and specialized retailers.
In terms of consumer trends, the report showed that Italians are the most “gym-going” of the European public, with a continent-wide record 12,000 health clubs.
Italians are also attached to their digital devices, spending on average six hours a day on the Internet, between computers and smartphones, the report said.
Despite being the the biggest tax evaders in Europe, skipping out on an estimated 200 billion euros in taxes according to the report, Italians are also the most altruistic, with seven million people donating their time to volunteer work.
The report said the economic crisis of the past seven years has made the country “bipolar and schizophrenic”, citing a differential of nearly 1,000 euros in monthly spending between Trent in the north and Calabria in the south.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
QE Beyond Sep 2016 if Necessary Says Draghi
Recovery will continue but more slowly
(ANSA) — Rome, September 3 — The bond buying of quantitative easing “is planned until September 2016 or even longer if necessary,” ECB chief Mario Draghi said Thursday, stressing the need to fully implement the asset-buying programme.
The ECB has decided to increase the share limit on its public-sector purchase programme from 25% to 33%, Draghi said. That means the ECB could buy more of a single asset, addressing fears that it might run out of bonds to buy.
The economic recovery will continue but at a slower rate than previously forecast, he said.
The ECB lowered its growth and inflation forecasts.
It lowered its growth forecasts for the eurozone from +1.5% to +1.4% for this year and from 1.9% to 1.7% for next. And lowered its eurozone inflation forecasts from 0.3% to 0.1% for this year, from 1.5% to 1.1% for 2016 and from 1.8% to 1.7% for 2017.
Draghi said that “we could see negative numbers for inflation in the next few months but the ECB considers them transient because of low oil prices”.
Draghi said that “available information indicates a slower increase in inflation compared to previous forecasts.” He said it was still “premature”, however, to say whether developments in oil prices “will have a lasting impact on prices”.
The ECB is “ready to use all available instruments within its mandate” to address changes in inflation prospects, Draghi said.
Thursday was Draghi’s 68th birthday.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Faced With Huge Tax Burden, 100,000+ New Yorkers Flee the ‘Biggest Loser’
The Empire State is losing taxpaying residents more than any other state in the country, says the latest Internal Revenue Service (IRS) migration data from 2013.
In 2013, approximately 115,000 New Yorkers fled the state, and took their $5.65 billion in adjusted gross income, or AGI, with them. When dating back to 1985, the state has lost more than 1.6 million taxpayers as well as $80.8 billion in annual AGI.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
In Washington DC, former Secretary of State battles to maintain her honor while she’s lived a life of lives and deceit. Planned Parenthood sells baby body parts for profit. President Obama hides his history by sealing all records of his previous life in America and in Indonesia. He hides the fact that he carries a bogus Social Security number. Senator Harry Reid (D-NV) fights to hide his criminal real-estate dealings from the public.
At the state level, my own Mayor of Denver hides the fact that he visited brothels before becoming a public servant. Colorado’s governor hired illegal aliens in his restaurants before becoming mayor of Denver and governor of our state: John Hickenlooper.
If we could expose the enormous amount of corruption in our U.S. Congress, a huge number of congressmen and senators would see jail time.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Some Apollo Moon Samples ‘Crumbling to Dust’
Some of the moon soil collected by Apollo astronauts has deteriorated significantly during its four-plus decades on Earth, a new study reports.
Scientists found that the median particle size in a set of 20 different Apollo soil samples held in laboratories for research use has decreased by more than half since the samples were first measured 40 years ago.
“It might be accurate to state that the Apollo lunar soils are literally crumbling to dust,” the scientists, led by Bonnie Cooper of Hanyang University in South Korea, wrote in the new study.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
(RINF) — Did you know that the UN is planning to launch a “new universal agenda” for humanity in September 2015? That phrase does not come from me — it is actually right in the very first paragraph of the official document that every UN member nation will formally approve at a conference later this month. The entire planet is going to be committing to work toward 17 sustainable development goals and 169 specific sustainable development targets, and yet there has been almost a total media blackout about this here in the United States. The UN document promises that this plan will “transform our world for the better by 2030”, and yet very few Americans have even heard of the 2030 Agenda at this point. Instead, most of us seem to be totally obsessed with the latest celebrity gossip or the latest nasty insults that our puppet politicians have been throwing around at one another. It absolutely amazes me that more people cannot understand that Agenda 2030 is a really, really big deal. When will people finally start waking up?
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Belgium: “Cartoon That Should Never Have Been Published”
Belgium’s Equal Opportunities Centre has opened a file following the publication of a controversial cartoon in the regional daily Het Belang van Limburg. The cartoon is inspired by the first schoolday in the Brussels borough of Molenbeek, an area with a large immigrant community. The cartoon shows how one of the kids slits the throat of a teddy bear.
The cartoon is by Canary Pete, a cartoonist who works for the dailies Het Belang van Limburg and Gazet van Antwerpen
The daily’s editor in chief Indra Dewitte says that the cartoon should never have been published: “Gazet van Antwerpen rejected the cartoon that then automatically appeared in our paper. This was a technical error. This cartoon has no place in our paper.”
The cartoon was removed where possible also in the paper’s online edition.
Some readers took to twitter to announce that they would be ending their subscription. By last night the Equal Opportunities Centre had received several complaints. Director Patrick Charlier: “The cartoon clearly displays prejudice. It may be acceptable in Charlie Hebdo, but is problematic in Het Belang van Limburg.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Finland: Farmers Want Hunters to Keep the Wolf From the Fold
A millennia-old conflict has once again risen to the fore in south-western Finland: shepherds versus wolves.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
France Drops Arafat Poisoning Probe
French judges say they have dropped an investigation into claims Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat was poisoned, with prosecutors saying polonium poisoning had “not been demonstrated”. Arafat died in Paris in 2004, aged 75. His wife, Suha, claimed he had been poisoned, possibly by highly radioactive polonium.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
France: 1,500 Lorries Block Paris, Farmers Walk Through City
Authorities have called on motorists to avoid Paris on Thursday
(ANSAmed) — PARIS, SEPTEMBER 3 — It is a tough day for Parisians and the entire Ile-de-France blocked by over 1.500 trucks that have converged in the French capital from all over the country to voice the hardships of farmers dealing with the plunge of the prices affecting their products as well as the fallback from the closing down of companies.
The lorries which departed from the north of the country two days ago were 15 km away from Paris, on Wednesday night.
On Thursday morning, they were circling around Paris through its main access routes (porte d’Auteuil, porte de la Chapelle, Bercy e Gentilly) and heading towards place de la Nation. There are about one-hundred trucks and thousands of demonstrators have reached the French capital travelling by train or bus.
Authorities have called on motorists to avoid Paris and surrounding areas, on Thursday.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Gérard Depardieu: ‘I Want to Sell Up in France’
French actor and tax exile Gérard Depardieu has declared that he will “sell everything” in his home country, French media has reported.
The fact that Depardieu is no fan of France is nothing new.
In 2012 the French tax exile famously quit the country to become a tax resident of Belgium, a move that was judged as “pathetic” by the then French PM Jean-Marc Ayrault.
And in January 2013 the Russian President handed the French actor a Russian passport, which was warmly accepted.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
by Srdja Trifkovic
Stratfor’s George Friedman published an interesting article on September 1, “Pondering Hitler’s Legacy,” to mark the 76th anniversary of the beginning of World War II. The first outcome of Hitler’s war, he says, was that it destroyed Europe’s hegemony over much of the world and its influence over the rest:…
| — Hat tip: Srdja Trifkovic | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: We’ll Decide Tax Cuts, Not Brussels Says Renzi
EC says will assess budget in October
(ANSA) — Rome, September 2 — Italian Premier Matteo Renzi on Wednesday made it clear that it will be Rome and not Brussels who will decide the government’s tax-cutting moves.
Speaking a day after Brussels appeared to dictate limits to the dynamic premier, Renzi rebuffed EU criticism of his pledge to abolish the IMU and TASI taxes, saying that he hoped it was just hot summer weather that affected judgements in European offices.
On Tuesday EU sources said Renzi’s plan to cut property taxes was against EU recommendations, which were more in favopur of cutting labour taxes. “We have read the recent announcement on taxes in Italy but we can’t comment since we don’t have the details of the plans…but it is well-known that the Council has recommended that Italy move to property and consumption the tax burden weighing labour and capital,” they said.
The sources also said Italy had already been granted budget flexibility, a cut from 0.5% to 0.1% in the Maastricht-dictated fiscal adjustment, in exchange for reforms last spring. Italy has “made progress” on reforms but “it is essential that impetus is not lost” in enacting them, they said.
This is the “key factor for exploiting Italy’s growth potential”. Renzi has been seeking more wiggle room for more growth-stoking moves.
Renzi replied to the strictures on taxes Wednesday by saying: “The European Union, which turns its back on migrants, thinks to come to us and explain taxes”.
“Somebody in Brussels is thinking of draw up the list of taxes to cut”.
“I hope this was because of the heat, it is up to us to decide which taxes to cut, not Brussels”.
Italians will pay “on December 16 their second tranche of TASI, which will mark the funeral of taxes on homes,” Renzi said.
The European Commission said later Wednesday that it would assess next years budget, presumably containing the planned tax cuts, in mid-October.
“Its analysis would be based on “the facts,” it stressed.
Renzi is putting together the package with Economy Minister Pier Carlo Padoan, who recently said the EU now “trusts” Italy on economic issues thanks to the raft of structural reforms it has enacted over the past year and a half.
Because of this, he contended, Italy will be able to enjoy the potential for pump-priming moves allowed by the flexibility inherent in euro parameters.
Padoan added that the euro zone as a whole was “not growing much” but the recent growth figures for Italy — revised upwards to 0.3% in the second quarter — “confirm the picture of the DEF,” the government’s economic planning blueprint.
The government’s fiscal priorities over the next three years include helping families with their house taxes, “then we want to go back to helping businesses and the lowest earners,” Padoan said.
Renzi has said that the municipal service tax TASI and the IMU property tax will be abolished next year, followed by cuts to the IRES business tax in 2017 and IRPEF personal income tax in 2018.
The government is also mulling tax breaks to help the struggling south of Italy, Padoan said.
In other remarks Wednesday, Renzi said GDP growth of 0.3% in the second quarter shows “small signs” that the Italian economy has restarted but now “we must run, run, run”. Istat revised upwards its Q2 growth estimate from 0.2% Tuesday and said unemployment was down 0.5% to 12% in July. “We’re not the government of the trade unions or the Confindustria business lobby, we’re ordinary people,” Renzi added.
Confindustria said Tuesday the apparent growth spurt was due to external factors while the big CGIL trade union accused both sides of indulging in “propaganda”.
Also Wednesday, Renzi said that the number of local-government-controlled companies would be cut in the next budget. “Their main purpose is to give jobs to former politicians,” he said. The number per province will be limited, he said. There has been a string of scandals linked to companies in which local governments around Italy have stakes.
Finally, Renzi chided Europe for failing to come up with an effective migrant policy.
The premier said it was time for Europe to “wake up” on the migrant crisis. “Its reputation is at stake,” he said. Renzi called for a “joint policy” combining shelter for refugees with repatriation for economic migrants and “saving human lives”.
Italy has been urging Europe to do more to help it cope with a massive influx of migrants and refugees across the Mediterranean.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy’s 25 Yachting Brands Unite in an Association
(AGI) Milan, Sept 1 — Twenty-five Italian yachting companies have joined up in an association, Nautica Italiana. The Association was presented at the Spazio Panorama in Piazza Gae Aulenti, Milan. It is an independent association affiliated to the Altagamma Foundation and it aims to unite the sector’s excellence in order to hone development strategies to achieve systematic growth at both national and international level. The main objectives of Nautica Italiana’s programme are: to boost exports by clearly asserting the sector’s credibility and reliability; implement a project aimed at facilitating member companies’ presence in pertinent international events; develop a system to monitor the sector’s performance. The Association’s founding members elected the seven members of the executive board and designated Lamberto Tacoli as president. “Eleven of the Nautica Italiana brands have chosen to become members of the Altagamma Foundation, and this honours us because the Italian yachting sector represents unmatched excellence on the global scene. The decision to affiliate Nautica Italiana to Altagamma is also an innovative step that strengthens the potential for collaboration among our single sectors in order to support the ‘hands-on’ culture that our Country so badly needs,” said Andrea Illy, the president of the Altagamma Foundation during the presentation. Mr Tacoli, the president of Nautica Italiana, explained: “Made in Italy brands have a history rooted in a pervasive cuture of beauty, uniqueness and harmony, combined with the ingeniousness and vision that have enabled Italy to engender innovation in all arts and industries over the centuries.” He added: “Part of the track record of excellence and innovation of Made in Italy brands is written on a daily basis by yachting companies which now find in Nautica Italiana, their recently established association, an important growth opportunity and the possibility of reconquering the international ranking they deserve.”
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Merkel to Talk Up Free Movement in Swiss Visit
German chancellor Angela Merkel is expected to reiterate Europe’s commitment to the free movement of people during an official visit to Switzerland on Thursday, only her second in ten years.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
More and More Swedish Priests Untie the Knot
The total number of divorced Swedes is dropping as more couples appear to choose to stick together. But one surprising group is bucking the trend: priests.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Mourners Pay Respects to Murdered Sicilian Couple
Renzi says the guilty, even if immigrant, must pay
(ANSA)- Rome, September 2 — Mourners in Sicily continued Wednesday to pay their last respects to a married couple murdered during an attempted burglary of their home on August 30. An 18-year-old Ivorian immigrant and resident of a shelter for asylum seekers is under investigation for the double murder.
“Facing hardline issues of responsibility and seriousness, he who makes a mistake must pay fully, up to the last day,” Italian Premier Matteo Renzi told the radio station RTL 102.5 on Wednesday, making reference to crimes implicating immigrants that recently have made headlines in Italy.
Renzi also warned that the threat of “terrorism should not be underestimated” regarding illegal immigrants flocking to Europe.
Investigators say Vincenzo Solano, 68, and Mercedes Ibanez, 70, were killed in their house in Palagonia, a town in southeastern Sicily, when an intruder attempted to rob them. The wake has been organised in the town hall and a prayer vigil held in the local parishes. The funeral will be held at 5:00pm and presided over by the bishop of the town of Caltagirone, Monsignor Calogero Peri.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Pigs Aren’t Quite as Domesticated as People Once Thought
Researchers partially unravel the complexity of domesticated swine genetics
Pigs were domesticated twice — once in the Mekong valley of China and another time in Anatolia, a region in modern-day Turkey — both around 9,000 years ago. A 2007 study revealed that first pigs in Europe were brought there by farmers from the Near East, around 7,500 years ago, even though pigs may have also been domesticated from wild populations in western Eurasia around that time. Then European-based wild boar genetics soon largely supplanted the Near Eastern ones.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Vice News Employees Charged With Terrorism in Turkey… Because They Used Encryption
In the article, some point out that this may really just be about scaring journalists away from the area, though it may also serve a double purpose of scaring more people away from using encryption. Just the idea that using encryption is seen as “suspicious” is already ridiculous, but to be charged with terrorism solely because you encrypt your messages is utter insanity.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Yemen: Sanaa: Islamic State Attacks Houthi Mosques, 28 Dead and Dozens Wounded
The jihadist group has claimed responsibility for the double attack on the place of worship of the minority Shiite. First a suicide bomber, then a car bomb resulting in the slaughter of civilians. Fifth mosque attack in two months in the Yemeni capital. In recent days two International Red Cross workers killed.
Sana’a (AsiaNews / Agencies) — The Islamic State militias (IS) have claimed yesterday’s two suicide attacks on a Shiite mosque in Sanaa, capital of Yemen, which has killed at least 28 people. The official Saba news agency , close to the Houthi rebels, reported the claim and that the blasts left dozens of wounded, some in serious condition.
The first bomb (a man laden with explosives) hit the Al Moayyad mosque, located in a suburb controlled by Houthis north of Sanaa; the second bomb (placed in a car) exploded while civilians were engaged in providing relief to the victims of the first explosion.
Yesterday’s was the fifth attack on a mosque in the Yemeni capital in the last two months; places of worship affiliated with Shiite rebels are the target of the attacks, given that they have been locked in a bloody war with government forces.
The double attack was claimed by IS militias, with a message sent from an account on Twitter to the Sunni jihadist group. In recent days, two operators of the International Red Cross were murdered while they were aboard a convoy in the capital.
Back in January, the country became embroiled in a bloody conflict between the Saudi-backed, Sunni-dominated government and Iran-supported Houthi Shia rebels.
Since March, the Saudis have led of a coalition against the rebels, launches air strikes against their positions. At least 4,500 people, mostly civilians, have been killed since 19 March, with an additional 6,000 wounded, this according to United Nations reports.
In Sana’a, Yemen’s capital, some of its oldest artistic sites, many classified as UNESCO heritage sites, have been destroyed during the conflict.
In the meantime, the Arab League gave to its member states four months to agree on a joint force against the Islamic State; however, this was postponed to “a date to be decided” at the request of Saudi Arabia, supported by Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar , the United Arab Emirates and Iraq.
For some analysts and experts, this attitude is due to a power struggle inside the Saudi regime, as well as the latest developments in the Iran nuclear affair.
For any regional coalition to succeed against the Islamic State, it must include Sunnis and Shias, which implicitly means that both Tehran and Riyadh have to be on board.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
France to Refund Russia Almost €1bn for Warships
France will pay Russia €949,754,849 as a refund for two Mistral warships which it will no longer deliver due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Le Figaro reported Wednesday. The final figure was published in a draft law. The purchase price for the ships was €1.2 billion.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
60,000 Antelopes Died in 4 Days — and No One Knows Why
When geoecologist Steffen Zuther and his colleagues arrived in central Kazakhstan to monitor the calving of one herd of saigas, a critically endangered, steppe-dwelling antelope, veterinarians in the area had already reported dead animals on the ground.
“But since there happened to be die-offs of limited extent during the last years, at first we were not really alarmed,” Zuther, the international coordinator of the Altyn Dala Conservation Initiative, told Live Science.
But within four days, the entire herd — 60,000 saiga — had died. As veterinarians and conservationists tried to stem the die-off, they also got word of similar population crashes in other herds across Kazakhstan. By early June, the mass dying was over.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Colonel: U.S. Soldiers Should Not ‘Impose’ on All Afghan Customs, Including Child Rape
United States soldiers should tolerate all Afghan customs, even if they go against American moral values, suggested Col. Steve Johnson, referring to a decorated Green Beret who has been reprimanded by the U.S. Army for “striking” a child rapist in Afghanistan back in September 2011.
“You cannot try to impose American values and American norms onto the Afghan culture because they’re completely different… We can report and we can encourage them,” Col. Johnson told The News Tribune. “We do not have any power or the ability to use our hands to compel them to be what we see as morally better.”
The practice of influential men using underage boys as their sexual patterns, known as “Bacha Bazi,” is an illegal but common custom in Afghanistan.
Sgt. First Class (SFC) Charles Martland, the Green Beret, is expected to be kicked out of the Army by November 1.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
France Confirms Wing Part is From Flight MH370
French prosecutors confirmed on Thursday that a piece of debris found on the Indian island of Réunion was from the Malaysian airlines flight MH370.
French prosecutors confirmed that the wing part was from the ill-fated Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, a month after tests on the flaperon began.
“It is possible today to say with certainty that the flaperon discovered on Reunion island on July 29 came from flight MH370,” Paris prosecutors said in a statement, confirming claims made by Malaysia’s prime minister early last month.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
India: Thousands of Odisha Pogrom Survivors Accuse the BJP of Protecting Religious Terrorism
The Kandhamal Nyaya Shanti Samaj O Sadbhabana, an association that represents survivors, organised a rally to demand justice for the 2008 pogrom victims. In a letter to the president of India, the group describes the compensation given to survivors as puny. Communist leader says the ruling BJP does not represent the Hindu majority.
Bhubaneswar (AsiaNews) — More than 5,000 Christian Dalits and Adivasis took to the streets yesterday in Raikia, in Odisha’s Kandhamal District, demanding justice and a return to peace and harmony, seven years after Hindu fundamentalists massacred Christians in 2008.
Shouting slogans like ‘We Want Peace, Not Violence’, ‘Stop Atrocities on Minorities and Women’, ‘Do Not Divide People in the name of Religion and Caste, and ‘We Demand Appropriate Compensation’ (pictured), protesters walked for about two kilometres.
Organised by the Kandhamal Nyaya Shanti O Sadbhabana Samaj, an organisation representing pogrom victims and survivors, the event saw the participation of several political leaders,
Former Union Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar in an Indian Congress-led government was present as were Brinda Karat, a Member of the Rajya Sabha for the Communist Party of India (Marxist), and Kavita Krishnan, a former MP for the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist).
Speaking at the event, Mr Aiyar insisted on not forgetting what happened. Officials from India’s Communist parties slammed the ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi for punishing the innocent instead of bringing to justice the guilty.
Christians complain that seven years after the horrific anti-Christian pogroms, whose anniversary fell on 25 August, justice has not yet been served.
The death of Laxamananda Saraswati, a leader of the Hindu ultra-nationalist Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), who was killed on 23 August 2008 by a Maoist group, sparked the violence in Odisha (Orissa).
Even though the insurgents claimed responsibility for the assassination, Hindu radicals blamed Christians. The guru had criticised lay Christians and clergy alike for helping tribals and dalits and had accused them of proselytising among these groups.
Aiyar described what he saw in those days of violence. “As a minister of the central government, I was visiting this beautiful land before the violence. Now that I am back here, I feel deep pain.”
“People of different religion and caste lived here. Then suddenly, many were killed, displaced; their homes and churches destroyed, women raped and molested. Even now many survivors cannot return home.”
The survivors’ association wrote a letter to Indian President Pranab Kumar Mukherjee, citing figures for the attacks. The 2008 pogroms forced 56,000 people to flee their homes, leaving them exposed to looting and fire. Some 6,500 houses were affected this way in some 600 villages.
According to the government, 38 were killed and two women raped. But many more people suffered loss of limbs and permanent, debilitating injuries.
However, according to data collected by the Church and social activists, some 350 churches as well as 35 convents, schools, hostels and welfare facilities were destroyed. At least 91 people, including the disabled, elderly, children, both women and men, died.
The association estimates that at least 10,000 children were forced to quit schools. Many children also ended up in the hands of people traffickers, sold as sex slaves or hired out as domestic workers at the mercy of abusive employers, unable to take the latter to justice because they had to earn a living for their families.
Many others suffered as well, like Fr Thomas Chellan, director of the Divyiajyoti Pastoral Centre, was beaten, and Sister Meena Barwa, who at the time of the attack was with her uncle, Mgr John Barwa SVD, archbishop of Cuttack-Bhubaneswar, was raped.
Unlike them, Fr Bernard Digal died in hospital after months of suffering. He was honoured at the ceremony inaugurating the first monument erected in honour of the martyrs of the anti-Christian pogroms.
“What the Sangh Parivar* has done in Kandhamal has to be seen as terrorism. If this is not terrorism what else is it?’ said Kavita Krishnan.
In his view, the “BJP is not a representative of the Hindu religion. It represents the politics of hate in the name of religion”.
What is more, “let me remind the government here that instead of providing justice for the victims and survivors of Kandhamal, you are grabbing and punishing innocent people.”
The reference here is to the seven Christians who were sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of guru Laxmanananda after phoney trials that were postponed on several occasions.
Dibakar Parichha, a lawyer, called on the government to identify and prosecute those who are threatening witnesses and members of the Christian community.
According to a survey, assets worth Rs 90 crores (US$ 13 million) were damaged in the communal violence and compensation given so far was only Rs 70 lakhs (US$ 100,000).
Human rights activist Ajaya Kumar Singh, a Kandhamal Nyaya Shanti O Sadbhabana Samaj, said that peace is not the absence of violence; living a life free from fear and insecurity is. Even seven years after Kandhamal’s communal violence, this has not yet come about. Nevertheless, “We still have a right to equality, freedom and justice. These rights are universal, indivisible and inalienable,” he said.
* The Sangh Parivar (family of unions) is loose family of Hindu-nationalist groups.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
China Showcases Advanced Ballistic Missiles at Military Parade
China unveiled a host of new military equipment at the country’s military parade Thursday in celebration of the 70th anniversary of Japan’s surrender at the end of World War II.
Chinese President Xi Jinping’s remarks portrayed China as an arbiter of peace. “Prejudice and discrimination, hatred and war can only cause disaster and pain,” said Xi. “China will always uphold the path of peaceful development.” Xi also announced that he would cut 300,00 troops from the roughly 2.3 million-strong military at his disposal.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
War? What War? Poll Shows Asians View Japan More Favourably Than China
Seventy years after the end of the second world war, Japan is viewed more favourably than China, India or South Korea by members of the public in the Asia-Pacific region.
A study by a US-based think tank, the Pew Research Centre, found that 71 per cent of respondents had a favourable view of Japan — compared to just 57 per cent for China.
Positive views of Japan outweighed the negative by more than five-to-one, it found.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Double Suicide Attack Kills 30 in North Cameroon
At least 30 people were killed in the far north of Cameroon on Thursday in two successive suicide attacks, military and police sources said.
The first bombing took place shortly before noon in the marketplace of Kerawa, a city on the border with Nigeria, said the sources, speaking on condition of anonymity.
It was followed by a second attack about 200 metres (yards) from a military camp, said a police officer who asked not to be identified…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
What Did Mahatma Gandhi Think of Black People?
Was Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, the revered leader of India’s freedom movement, a racist?
A controversial new book by two South African university professors reveals shocking details about Gandhi’s life in South Africa between 1893 and 1914, before he returned to India.
During his stay in South Africa, Gandhi routinely expressed “disdain for Africans,” says S. Anand, founder of Navayana, the publisher of the book titled “The South African Gandhi: Stretcher-Bearer of Empire.”
According to the book, Gandhi described black Africans as “savage,” “raw” and living a life of “indolence and nakedness,” and he campaigned relentlessly to prove to the British rulers that the Indian community in South Africa was superior to native black Africans. The book combs through Gandhi’s own writings during the period and government archives and paints a portrait that is at variance with how the world regards him today.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Shocking: Young Girls Convulse on the Floor After HPV Shot
Video appears to show widespread adverse reaction to Gardasil vaccine.
Video posted to Facebook shows a group of young girls convulsing on the floor after reportedly taking the Gardisil vaccine somewhere in Mexico.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
115,000 Saved by Italian Ships Says Renzi
Lampedusa first landing point
(ANSA) — Florence, September 3 — Italian ships have saved 115,544 people in the Mediterranean, Premier Matteo Renzi said at a press conference with Maltese Premier Jospeh Muscat Thursday. The island of Lampedusa south of Sicily was the leading landing point for the migrants and refugees, he said, followed by various Sicilian ports.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Action on Arrivals Pledged as Lesvos Claims Emergency
The caretaker government pledged on Wednesday to take steps to tackle the refugee crisis as the mayor of Lesvos called for the island to be declared in a state of emergency due to the high number of people arriving from Turkish shores.
Caretaker Prime Minister Vassiliki Thanou chaired a meeting on Wednesday that resulted in the government announcing a set of measures aimed at making it easier to register and process refugees and migrants arriving on the Greek islands.
The government’s two main aims are to reduce the bureaucracy involved in registering arrivals and to increase the staff on hand to manage the process. Sources said that task forces made up of police and coast guard officers will be created in order to speed up the registration of refugees and migrants on the islands.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Belgium: “We’re Forcing People Into the Arms of Criminal Organisations”
“How is it possible that EU member states have not been able to come up with an appropriate response to the refugee crisis?” That’s the question former Belgian Premier Guy Verhofstadt put aloud on VRT Radio this morning, the day after the publication of a photograph showing a dead Syrian toddler face down on the beach of the Turkish resort of Bodrum.
Mr Verhofstadt, who today heads the liberal-democrat group in the European Parliament: “An image like this can only make you angry. This is failure by the Europeans and the member states who haven’t been able to come up with a common European response.”
“The European Parliament pulled out all the stops to force the leaders to stage an extra summit meeting. European council president Donald Tusk didn’t think this was necessary. The temperature in the European Parliament is at boiling point. A debate is planned for next week. Tough words will be said.”
Mr Verhofstadt believes the member states are responsible for the problem, not the European Union: “The lack of will to create a European asylum and migration policy is totally missing.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Belgium: “We Hope That Peace Returns to Their Land”
The first asylum seekers are expected to arrive at the newly opened asylum centre of Sijsele outside Bruges on Thursday evening. The new centre is being opened on the premises of a former Belgian army base in order to deal with the asylum crisis.
In all some the Sijsele centre is expected to accommodate 400 people for a limited period of time. Most local residents are giving the asylum seekers a cautious welcome. One resident told VRT News: “They are welcome, at least for the time being. We hope that they can return to their country of origin. We hope that peace returns to their land.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Calais Migrants Who Stormed Eurostar Train Now Targeting Other Trains
The potentially deadly tactic, which left passengers in sweltering, dark carriages, has seen migrants getting on the tracks to force operators to stop the trains.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Chaos as Refugees Taken Off Austria-Bound Train
Hundreds of migrants on a train which left Budapest headed for the Austrian border on Thursday were forced to disembark an hour from the city and some are now being taken to a refugee camp, according to reports.
The packed train was originally thought to be to due to split, with three carriages travelling to Szonbathely and the rest to Sopron, both near Hungary’s western border with Austria.
However, the train was stopped at Bicske, about an hour from the Hungarian capital with scenes of chaos ensuing.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
CoE Chides UK for Refugee Policy
‘Doing much less than Germany, Sweden’ says Muiznieks
(ANSA) — Strasbourg, September 3 — The human rights commissioner of the Council of Europe, Nils Muiznieks, on Thursday said “the United Kingdom at the moment is doing much less for refugees than other European countries such as Germany and Sweden.” He was reacting to British Prime Minister David Cameron’s insistence that Britain should not guarantee protection for more Middle East refugees.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Dutch Celebrities Call for ‘Humane Solution’ To Refugee Crisis
More than 100 Dutch celebrities, politicians and business leaders have taken out a full page advert in Thursday’s Telegraaf calling for a ‘humane solution’ to the ongoing refugee crisis. Actress Carice van Houten, television presenter Wendy van Dijk, musical star Chantal Jansen, Rijksmuseum head Wim Pijpes and KPMG boss Jan Hommen are among the signatories to the statement which calls on politicians and the community to work together to solve the problem. ‘Do you hear the call?’ the advert asks. The refugee crisis has taken on ‘unimaginable dimensions’, the statement continues. Politicians and large parts of the community are reacting to the crisis using an old-fashioned approach ‘while the situation requires a total change,’ the celebrities say.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Erdogan Slams EU Over Mediterranean ‘Migrant Cemetery’
(ANKARA) — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday lashed out at EU states for turning the Mediterranean into a “cemetery” for migrants, accusing Europe of being responsible for the death of every single victim.
“European countries, which turned the Mediterranean Sea — the cradle of ancient civilisations — into a migrant cemetery are party to the crime that takes place when each refugee loses their life,” Erdogan said in a speech in Ankara.
Turkey is hosting some 1.8 million refugees from the crisis in Syria and has repeatedly accused Europe of not doing its part to help share the burden.
“European countries which set the criteria for basic human rights and freedoms are now turning their backs to these principles,” Erdogan added.
“We don’t think it’s fair to burden us with a problem that the whole world faces.”
Erdogan’s comments came after the image of the corpse of a three-year Syrian boy washed up on a Turkish beach following a failed attempt to cross the Aegean to Greece caused a wave of horror in Europe.
Erdogan said “all of humanity” was drowning in the Mediterranean.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Europe’s Leaders Bring Back Border Controls With Free-Movement Zone on Brink of Collapse
Berlin had initially sought to criticise others — including Britain — for not taking in enough refugees after it announced it would no longer deport those coming from Syria.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Exclusive: Migrant Crisis Spurs European Interest in Israeli Border Barriers
Faced with a surge in migration from the Middle East and North Africa, two European countries are exploring the possibility of erecting towering steel security fences along parts of their borders, similar to Israel’s barrier with Egypt.
Hungary and Bulgaria have made preliminary inquiries about buying the Israeli-designed fences, according to an Israeli business source who declined to be named due to the sensitivity of the discussions.
Both EU countries are beefing up their borders to deter migrants, many of them refugees from wars, who are seeking to use them as gateways to richer countries further north and west, particularly Germany.
But moves to throw up such barriers — which could be around 5-6 meters (15-20 feet) high, topped with razor wire and equipped with cameras and motion sensors — would evoke memories of Cold War-era divisions in Europe and exasperate EU officials who say they would not help to solve the crisis.
Bulgarian and Hungarian officials indicated that such discussions about security fences were taking place.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Father Recounts How He Tried to Save Drowned Boys and Wife
The father of Galip and Aylan Kurdi, the young refugee boys from Syria whose drowning off a Turkish beach has touched a global nerve, said Thursday that his family had paid smugglers more than $2,000 for a voyage to a Greek island in a 15-foot boat that was quickly upended by five-foot waves. His wife also drowned.
“The waves were high, the boat started swaying and shaking. We were terrified,” said the father, Abdullah Kurdi, 40, a Syrian Kurd from the town of Kobani near the Turkish border. “I rushed to my kids and wife while the boat was flipping upside down. And in a second we were all drowning in the water.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Finland: Refusenik Towns Block Quota Refugee Settlement
The refugee crisis consuming Europe has brought the issue to the fore, but it has also focused attention on a long-standing issue. Finland allocates refugees to municipalities that want to take them—and while some take hundreds every year, others refuse to accommodate a single person fleeing persecution.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Five Ways You Can Help Refugees in Germany
The Local’s pointers for how to get started if you’re interested in donating your money, unwanted possessions, time or skills to help refugees in Germany.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
How to Help Refugees if You Live in Sweden
As images of a dead Syrian child washed up on a Turkish beach spark debate around the world, The Local looks at some of the ways you can help refugees if you live in Sweden, which is continuing to take in more asylum seekers than any other EU nation.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Huge Spike in Asylum Approval Rate in Denmark
The asylum approval rate has increased significantly in 2015, according to new figures from the immigration service Udlændingestyrelsen.
The figures reveal that 88 percent of asylum-seekers have been granted asylum in Denmark during the first seven months of this year, compared to 74 percent last year.
“First of all, I think it has something to do with who is coming,” Thomas Gammeltoft-Hansen, a research director at the Danish Institute for Human Rights, told DR Nyheder.
“They are all in groups who have close to a 100 percent chance of being granted asylum, and that is reflected by these approval processes. They are who we call ‘prima facie refugees’ — people who are in desperate need of protection and asylum.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Hundreds Across Spain Clamour to Welcome Refugees Into Their Homes
At least a dozen cities across Spain have said they will form a network of places where refugees can be welcomed into the homes of volunteer citizens.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
If You Cry Over the Consequences, Then Change the Causes
by Andrew Bolt
[…]
If you don’t want drowned children, then do not support policies which encourage people to get on deathtrap boats.
Australia has had first hand experience with how such compassion turns out.
We’ve also had first hand experience with barrackers for those policies who remained in stubborn and cowardly silence long after those policies had clearly failed and were serving to do nothing more than drown people or have them put into detention.
Why did the boat sink? was it overcrowded with ‘refugees’ from Bangladesh, or young males bravely fleeing the countries they should be fighting for and who are now demanding their ‘rights?’ the rights to go where they choose and not to obey the laws of the lands they pass through.
It appears that the New York Times prefers us to cry rather than to have no reason to cry…
| — Hat tip: Nemesis | [Return to headlines] |
The reason I am speaking up is that I am worried sick about what is going to happen to my new country and to Europe in general! As a person who works in the refugee/asylum industry, and sees what is going on with my own eyes, I must say I am shocked and dismayed at how the authorities and the Media are lying to the Finnish people, about the costs of mass immigration and the kind of people that apply for asylum these days.
| — Hat tip: KGS | [Return to headlines] |
Italy Calls for Single EU Policy on Asylum
Italy, Germany and France called for an overhaul of laws on the right of asylum and a fairer distribution of migrants throughout the European Union, Italy’s foreign minister said on Wednesday.
The foreign ministers of the three countries signed a joint letter emphasising “the shortcomings” of the current European asylum system.
In the letter, signed by Paolo Gentiloni, Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Laurent Fabius, they called for “a fair distribution of refugees” throughout the European Union.
“The current refugee crisis is putting the European Union and all of its member states to a historic test. Over the past weeks, this crisis has become even more dramatic,” it read.
“Europe must protect refugees in need of protection in a humane way — regardless of which EU country they arrive in.”
The document was addressed to the EU’s foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, ahead of an informal meeting of EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg on Friday and Saturday.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Italy Struggles to Help Traumatized Refugees
The sensation of drowning, short-term memory loss, insomnia and suicidal tendencies: they may have made it safely to Italy, but many asylum seekers are plagued by symptoms of trauma and the psychological help they need is in short supply.
Between ten percent and 30 percent of asylum seekers reaching Europe are estimated to have been tortured in their home countries. All are at risk of trauma during desert crossings, a lawless Libya, or treacherous boat journeys.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Renzi Pushes for EU Asylum Rights
Italian premier says emergency set to continue for months
(ANSA) — Florence, September 3 — Italian Premier Matteo Renzi on Thursday urged Europe to come up with a united response to the immigration crisis based on asylum rights, and warned that the emergency situation was set to continue for a long time.
Europe is facing unprecedented arrivals of migrants fleeing conflict in countries such as Syria, with more than 350,000 people reaching the continent so far this year, according to figures from the International Organization for Migration.
The route from Libya to Italy is one of the most commonly taken by those trying to enter Europe.
“It is Europe’s duty to give a united response,” Renzi said during a joint press conference with Maltese Premier Joseph Muscat in Florence.
“One that starts with European asylum rights, with EU initiatives on reception and management of the (migrant) emergency, with EU repatriation, but also with a global strategy that holds together fundamental intervention to be made in countries of origin,” he said.
He added that the migrant influx was not just a temporary emergency but one that was set to continue for a long time.
“Weeks and months will be needed,” he said.
He warned that Europe “could not lose face” when dealing with the crisis, pointing to the photo of a 2-year-old Syrian boy dead on a Turkish beach which he said “grips the heart and assails the soul”.
He said that he was in agreement with Malta’s Muscat that the focus should be squarely on saving human lives.
Muscat said Europe urgently needed a credible authority in Libya that it could collaborate with to help manage the situation.
“The only way I see we can have a solution in the medium-term is to have a credible partner in Libya, otherwise it will only get worse,” Muscat said.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Merkel and Hollande Agree on Permanent Quotas of Refugees
German chancellor Angela Merkel and French president Francois Hollande agreed on a common position over refugee relocation. At a EU meeting on 14 September, they will propose a “permanent and mandatory mechanism” to relocate refugees in EU countries. This is because “some countries don’t meet their moral obligations”, Hollande said.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Migrant Crisis ‘A German Problem’ — Hungary’s Orban
Hungary’s leader says the migrant crisis facing Europe is a “German problem” since Germany is where those arriving in the EU “would like to go”.
PM Viktor Orban said Hungary would not allow migrants to leave its territory without registering.
His comments came as Hungarian authorities opened the main rail station in Budapest to hundreds of migrants after a two-day stand-off.
But international services from the station were indefinitely suspended.
EU rules place responsibility for assessing asylum claims on the country where a migrant first arrives.
Many of the migrants currently in Hungary have been refusing to register there, in order to continue their journeys to Germany before seeking asylum.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Migration Crisis May Cause ‘Deeper Split’ In the EU: Schulz
“It is a crucial moment for the European Union,” European Parliament president Martin Schulz said on Thursday, referring to Europe’s migration crisis. Speaking at a press conference with Hungarian PM Viktor Orban in Brussels, he warned that a “deeper split of the union is a risk we cannot exclude”.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
‘My Children Slipped Through My Hands’: Father of Drowned Syrian Boy
The father of a three-year-old Syrian boy whose body was washed up on a Turkish beach, an image that shocked the world, said Thursday his children “slipped through my hands” as their boat was taking in water en route to Greece.
Abdullah, whose surname is given by Turkish media as Kurdi but sources in Syria say is actually called Shenu, lost his three-year-old son Aylan, four-year-old son Ghaleb and wife Rihana in the tragedy.
“I was holding my wife’s hand. But my children slipped through my hands. We tried to cling to the small boat, but it was deflating. It was dark and everyone was screaming,” Abdullah Kurdi told Turkey’s Dogan news agency of the sinking.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Norway Police Fear Press Will Spur Refugee Surge
Norwegian Police are braced for a surge in the number of Syrian refugees crossing the country’s border with Russia, after the Arctic route caught the attention of the world’s press.
“There is no reason to believe that this will stop,” Hans Møllebakken, chief of police in the town of Kirkenes, deep within the Arctic Circle, told Norway’s VG newspaper. “The fact is, if you have money, you can get from Damascus to Storskog in under 48 hours: This is the fast track to Schengen.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Orban Says EU ‘Incapable’ On Immigration
Hungarian PM calls EU immigration ‘a German problem’
(ANSA) — Brussels, September 3 — Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban on Thursday said the EU is “incapable of managing the situation” of immigration in Europe, following a meeting with European Parliament President Martin Schulz. A public announcement on Thursday at Budapest’s main train station told passengers that international trains to Western Europe are suspended “indefinitely”, the BBC said. This came following a two-day stand-off in Budapest, where unregistered asylum seekers camped in front of the station that closed its doors to them.
Orban said EU immigration “isn’t a European problem, it’s a German problem”.
“Everyone wants to go to Germany. No one wants to stay in Hungary, Slovakia, or Estonia,” Orban said.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Pressure Grows on Rajoy as Spanish Cities Sign Up to Refugee Aid Plan
In the wake of Barcelona Mayor Ada Colau’s plan to register families who want to help refugees fleeing from war-torn countries such as Syria, other major cities in Spain have pledged to come up with similar schemes in order to be able to offer help for those most in need.
The initiative adds to the pressure being heaped on Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, who this week must decide how many refugees Spain can take in among the total being accepted by the European Union.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Spain: Rajoy Horrified by Drowned Toddler Image and Calls for Syria Solution
Spain’s Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy on Thursday urged world powers to help end the war in Syria after the “horrifying” sight of a dead Syrian toddler on a Turkish shore.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden Sees Summer Rise in Asylum Seekers
More than ten thousand people applied for asylum in Sweden in August — the highest figure in a decade. Meanwhile, volunteer organizations are reporting being flooded with donations for refugees as the scope of the crisis grows.
Sweden’s Migration Board received a total of 11,743 applications for asylum last month, up from 6,619 in June and 8,066 in July, as an increasing number of refugees headed for the Nordic country over the summer.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Swiss Target Airlines in Asylum Crackdown
Airlines which transport passengers illegally into Switzerland will be subject to steep fines from October 1st in a new rule that aims to cut down on the number of asylum seekers.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Twelve Syrians Drown Heading From Turkey to Kos
An image of a drowned toddler washed up on the beach in one of Turkey’s prime tourist resorts swept across social media on Wednesday after at least 12 presumed Syrian refugees died trying to reach the Greek island of Kos.
The picture showed a little boy wearing a bright red t-shirt and shorts lying face-down in the surf on a beach near the resort town of Bodrum. In a second image, a grim-faced policeman carries the body away.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Christians Condemning Christians for Their Moral Conviction
Today I am on my way to Ashland, Kentucky to stand with persecuted County Clerk Kim Davis. And today I find myself both discouraged and disgusted.
I am disgusted by the reaction of Christians regarding this whole homo-marriage fiasco. I am disgusted as I read posts on various Facebook pages by “Christians” who think that Kim Davis should either be fired, impeached, or resign because of her religious convictions.
And no, these are not pagans but Christians that believe she is doing something wrong. Kim Davis is standing on the authority of Scripture by declaring that marriage can never be part of a same-sex relationship, and her greatest attackers are “Christians” who side with their pagan neighbors. They believe in the lie of the separation of morality and state.
I am disgusted by the cowardly pastors who stand on the sidelines while this brave, recently-converted Christian, Kim Davis, calls the issue “life and death, heaven and hell” for her. These same doctrinal dolts are the ones who teach that Romans 13 commands absolute obedience to the Devil and his law-breaking acolytes who double as elected officials. I am disgusted that Christians believe we are powerless to do anything to change this nation. I’m disgusted that there are sanctuary cities where immigration laws are ignored but no sanctuary cities where homo-marriage decisions can be ignored.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Feminists Are Angry That Kermit the Frog’s New Girlfriend is Young and Thin
Kermit the Frog has been spotted out and about with a new lady, Denise, after splitting with his ex-girlfriend Miss Piggy last month.
In typical fashion, people on Twitter had a lot to say about Kermit’s new lady and, while he denies speculation they are romantically linked, the pictures appear to tell another story.
Many have expressed dismay that Kermit the Frog ditched the feminist and fuller-figured Miss Piggy for a younger, skinnier model, who has not yet expressed opinions on the works of Germaine Greer or bell hooks.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Planned Parenthood Urged Clinton to Speak Against ‘Life Begins at Conception’ Language in Kenya
“If there is any way that you could draw attention to this issue when you are in Kenya, you would be even more of my personal hero than you already are.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Planned Parenthood Gets $1m in ObamaCare Grants
(The Hill) The Obama administration on Wednesday awarded more than $1 million in grants to Planned Parenthood to help promote ObamaCare, a move that is drawing GOP criticism at a time when the healthcare provider is under congressional investigation.
Rep. Diane Black (R-Tenn.) blasted the White House’ s decision as “ unconscionable” in light of allegations of illegal activity in the health provider’ s fetal tissue program, which has prompted key Republicans to call for a total defunding of the organization.
“ A growing body of evidence suggests that Planned Parenthood broke federal law and now the Obama administration is thumbing its nose at Congress and taxpayers by using this backdoor maneuver to boost funding for the scandal-ridden abortion giant,” Black wrote in a statement Wednesday.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The Collapse of Christianity in America
Without a doubt, the apex of Western Civilization came about with the advent of the United States of America. But regarding the creation of the United States, most modern secularists and Christians have it wrong.
Secularists have it wrong when they propound that America does not have a Christian heritage. They are also wrong when they suggest that the majority of America’s founders did not have a Christian orientation. No honest student of history can deny that the vast majority of the people in Colonial America were Protestant Christians. Furthermore, while SOME of America’s founders might have been deists, the majority of the men who birthed this country came from Protestant Christian backgrounds (with virtually all of the various denominations and sects represented). These were, after all, the sons of the Pilgrims and Puritans.
Christians have it wrong when they propound that America was founded as a “Christian” nation. As already noted, America’s founding generation (and the generations that preceded it) was distinctly Christian in belief and practice, but the independent nation called the United States was actually predicated upon the principles of Natural Law. Of course, Natural Law itself is intrinsic to God’s law (much to the chagrin of ultra-secularists).
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
At the place where the refugees were to get off the train in Hungary and go to an old army camp for processing, scuffles broke out. Every Muslim reporter standing was flown into the area to stir up anger against the Hungarian government, no doubt paid for by Saudi money. In fact there seemed to be almost more reporters than refugees according to my godson who was on the train coming back from Sopron!
One woman got off the train with her child, as ordered, and her husband was so angry with her he began to attack her and the police had to drag him off. But the photos in the media make it look as though he was protecting his wife from the police!
I’m still waiting to see the army of ISIS which must be what is driving these people in such tumultuous panic. It should be arriving any day at the Hungarian border. I’m sure Merkel will welcome them.
Well for a while at least even the the the dumbest country bumpkin understands exactly what’s going on. When the Greater Balkins War breaks out all over western Utube I imagine it will be challenging. Islam has breached the walls and is on its way to a final something or other. It’s not looking good for the pansified West.
This entire invasion of Europe is complete nonsense which has nothing to do with helping ‘desperately poor, traumatized, starving people’, and everything to do with the ruination of civilized Europe.
Africa alone has scores of millions of people who have no place in Europe, and nothing to offer Europe. The so-called ‘refugees’ are in fact the refuse of the countries they came from, and should have been corralled in camps in Africa, and never allowed to devastate European countries.
The exodus of ten million Africans would hardly make a noticeable difference to the poverty in Africa, but would/will cause utter chaos in Europe. For over 70 years now I’ve been hearing about “the poor Africans” etc., so may I ask a question:
Africans were born in a beautiful, diverse continent with no end of minerals and other advantages, yet these thoroughly useless people seem able to do nothing, and want to flee their countries, and go to where they can get ‘stuff’, (now why does that sound familiar here in North America) and as to why that is happening–in a word, islam.
Regarding the dead boy washed up on a Turkish beach, exactly why is the world ‘going crazy’ over that, but not when white people are murdered and beheaded in the UK and America? Non-white lives are worth more, it would seem.
The problem is that European culture has been trashed from within by Post-Modern Political Correctness which is just as divisive as Islam.
Islam hates the infidel. Post-Modern PC is predicated on the ideology of self-appointed Victims who have the right to feel offended and to destroy the object of their hatred.
It’s sanctimonious self-righteous hostility and violence is exactly what caused the European Wars of Religion! Yet, whilst bowing reverently to the Muslim worship of the vengeful Allah, who has mandated that infidels have their heads cut off, they drag Christ through the mud, despite his plea to love thy neighbor as thyself!
Christian Goodness makes them angrier than almost anything else!
These PC elites and Marxist nutters would be much happier if Europe was dotted with mosques and every Gothic cathedral was burnt to ashes. They are as much an enemy of Europe as the Muslims!
They are worse, for they appease and enable the rabble, and yes, I believe you are correct that for some insane reason the PC Marxist nutters actually seem to want an Islamic Europe.
Just where they imagine they would fit into an Islamic Europe is a fascinating guess…
Correction:-
Xi Jinping announced that China will downsize its army by 300,000 instead of 30,000 as reported above.