Hungary has been forced by the pressure of all the migrants gathering within its borders to ship thousands of them by bus to Austria. Meanwhile, the Finnish prime minister has offered his spare home in northern Finland to asylum seekers, and citizens in Spain and Switzerland are volunteering to take migrants into their homes.
In other news, Spanish police have arrested an 18-year-old Moroccan woman on suspicion of recruiting other women to join the Islamic State, and of planning to travel to Syria to join the jihad.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to C. Cantoni, Fjordman, Insubria, JD, Jerry Gordon, JLH, 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.
European Stocks See 181 Bn Euros Go Up in Smoke
Milan leads markets down
(ANSA) — Rome, September 4 — European stocks on the Stoxx 600 index saw 181 billion euros of share value wiped out as the index fell 2.37% on Fed rate-rise fears Friday.
Milan was the worst-performing market with a 3.18% loss.
London closed 2.25% down, Frankfurt 2.53% off and Paris 2.64% down.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Get Ready for Quantitative Tightening
There is a growing sense across the financial spectrum that the world is about to turn some type of economic page. Unfortunately no one in the mainstream is too sure what the last chapter was about, and fewer still have any clue as to what the next chapter will bring. There is some agreement however, that the age of ever easing monetary policy in the U.S. will be ending at the same time that the Chinese economy (that had powered the commodity and emerging market booms) will be finally running out of gas. While I believe this theory gets both scenarios wrong (the Fed will not be tightening and China will not be falling off the economic map), there is a growing concern that the new chapter will introduce a new character into the economic drama. As introduced by researchers at Deutsche Bank, meet “Quantitative Tightening,” the pesky, problematic, and much less disciplined kid brother of “Quantitative Easing.” Now that QE is ready to move out…QT is prepared to take over.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
New Record in Waiters and Bartenders Masks First Manufacturing Drop in Over 2 Years
In August, the reality of the oil crunch finally caught up with the BLS, when not only did the number of Mining and Logging employees decline again by 10,000 workers to 823K, the lowest since October 2011, an 8-month stretch of consecutive declines last seen during the previous recession driven by the ongoing weakness in the oil patch and the US shale drilling sector…
[…] but far more importantly for those tracking the US manufacturing recession, for the first time in over two years, the US manufacturing sector also lost workers, as 17,000 mfg lost their jobs. As shown in the chart below, this is the first time US manufacturing jobs have declined since July 2013, and the sudden drop means that only 28,000 manufacturing jobs have been added so far in 2015.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The IMF Just Confirmed the Nightmare Scenario for Central Banks is Now in Play
The most important piece of news announced today was also, as usually happens, the most underreported: it had nothing to do with US jobs, with the Fed’s hiking intentions, with China, or even the ongoing “1998-style” carnage in emerging markets. Instead, it was the admission by ECB governing council member Ewald Nowotny that what we said about the ECB hitting a supply brick wall, was right. Specifically, earlier today Bloomberg quoted the Austrian central banker that the ECB asset-backed securities purchasing program “hasn’t been as successful as we’d hoped.”
Why? “It’s simply because they are running out. There are simply too few of these structured products out there.”
So six months later, the ECB begrudgingly admitted what we said in March 2015, in “A Complete Preview Of Q€ — And Why It Will Fail”, was correct. Namely this:… the ECB is monetizing over half of gross issuance (and more than twice net issuance) and a cool 12% of eurozone GDP. The latter figure there could easily rise if GDP contracts and Q€ is expanded, a scenario which should certainly not be ruled out given Europe’s fragile economic situation and expectations for the ECB to remain accommodative for the foreseeable future. In fact, the market is already talking about the likelihood that the program will be expanded/extended… while we hate to beat a dead horse, the sheer lunacy of a bond buying program that is only constrained by the fact that there simply aren’t enough bonds to buy, cannot possibly be overstated.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Climate Propaganda Paves Way for “Pig Power”
In order to provide a basis of some kind for Obama to take this questionable approach, our media trumpeted the “news” that July 2015 was supposedly the warmest month on record for the earth dating back to January 1880—with humans the culprits, of course. The source of this sensational claim was the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
E. Calvin Beisner of the Cornwall Alliance noted that CNN, USA Today, the BBC “and lots of other mainstream media lapdogs all obediently reported” the claim from NOAA. But the Heartland Institute points out that NOAA is using land-based temperature recording stations which “artificially skew the temperatures recorded upward,” and that according to the satellite system data, June 2015 was actually warmer than July. The group says, “When one understands what government scientists are doing in an effort to promote climate alarmism, rather than to record and report accurate data for analysis, one must despair whether accurate data can be obtained from ‘official sources.’“
Rather than expose how the government is manipulating data, 25 media members of a “Climate Publishers Alliance” are moving forward to “collaborate on their coverage of climate change” and promote the U.N. agenda. The initiative will conclude on December 11, the final day of the U.N. conference in Paris. The media organizations include The Guardian (United Kingdom), India Today (India), La Presse (Canada), La Repubblica (Italy), Le Monde (France), Politiken (Denmark), The Seattle Times (United States), The Straits Times (Singapore), The Sydney Morning Herald (Australia) and To Vima (Greece).
This initiative is in addition to major liberal foundation funding of pro-U.N. propaganda and the training of journalists to toe the U.N. line, as documented by Accuracy in Media.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Common Core or “Communist Core”
You know things have become bad when… Common core is so wonderful that Lily Tang Williams, a Chinese-American mother of three who grew up in Communist China, says it reminds her of her oppressive, statist nature of her childhood education.
“Communist” Core…
[Comment: The similarity to communist indoctrination is intentional and by design.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Federal Air Marshals Say They Were Made to Carry Dubious Guns, Putting Public in Danger
Some federal air marshals were hastily issued old and untested firearms in questionable condition before departing on international missions throughout Europe last weekend, according to sources and a letter written by lawyers representing the air marshals’ union.
This past Friday, immediately prior to departing on international missions, air marshals in the Charlotte field office suddenly and in some instances without any explanation had their Sig Sauer P229 service weapons, issued late last year, replaced with P229s from 2002, without the older weapons being fired or otherwise tested, according to sources and documents.
Lawyers representing the Air Marshal Association called this “alarming, unsafe, and in clear violation of policy” in a scathing letter sent to the head of the Charlotte field office on Monday.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Florida Gunmaker Produces Assault Rifle ‘Never to be Used by Muslim Terrorists’
A new assault rifle being manufactured in central Florida has drawn fire after the gunmaker branded it the “Crusader” and said it was designed “to never be used by Muslim terrorists.”
Spike’s Tactical in Apopka etched its new $1,395 AR-15 with a Bible verse that says “Blessed be the Lord my Rock, who trains my hands for war, my fingers for battle,” MyFoxOrlando reported.
Company spokesman Ben Thomas, a former Navy SEAL, said the scripture is something of an insurance policy to keep it out of the hands of terrorists. The idea came to him during the weapon’s development. At the time, the U.S. government was preparing to arm rebel groups in Syria.
“When you make a rifle, you have to understand that it could be used for ill deeds if it got in the wrong hands,” Thomas told the station.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Is it All Over Except Recriminations About the Iran Nuclear Deal?
The announcement on Wednesday, September 2nd by Maryland Democrat Senator Barbara Mikulski virtually clinched a possible Presidential veto override. More Democrats signed on, except one, her Maryland colleague, Sen. Benjamin Cardin. Cardin is the ranking Senate Foreign Relations Chairman, co-author of the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act of 2015. Cardin stands with New York and New Jersey Democrat Senate colleagues, Schumer and Menendez, as the three Democrats who have declared opposition to the Iran deal.
In quick succession just before the start of the Labor Day Holiday New Jersey junior Senator Democrat Cory Booker, former Newark Mayor, Virginia’s Warner, North Dakota ‘s Heitkamp and Colorado’s Bennet signed on to the deal. The latest Senate Whip count on the looming Iran nuclear agreement vote shows five remaining Democrats, and four Republicans as undeclared. The remaining group of undeclared Democrats includes Blumenthal of Connecticut, Cantwell of Washington, Manchin of West Virginia, Peters of Michigan and Wyden of Oregon. Republican undeclared includes Cochran of Mississippi, Collins of Maine, Enzi of Wyoming and Hatch of Utah.
Assuming the remaining Democrats declare in favor of the President’s position, while all the remaining Republican Senators declare with the Majority opposition position, that might prevent a cloture vote to end a possible filibuster which prevents an up or down vote on the Iran pact. That would fly in the face of leading US opinion polls with a majority of Americans urging their Senators and Congressional Representatives to reject the deal.
If that occurs, President Obama may have a Pyrrhic victory, possibly costing Democrats seeking to oust the Republican Senate majority in the 2016 election. Moreover that leaves Netanyahu and Obama at loggerheads for the remaining 16 months until a succeeding President is inaugurated in January 2017. The issues are what options remain for both the US and ally Israel to assure the world that the Iranian Islamist regime does not cheat, sneak out development or acquire nuclear weapons and their delivery means. That could enable Iran to carry out announced threats to overthrow Israel and even undertake war against the US. Iranian Revolutionary Guard Brigadier General Mohsen Kazzemeini, speaking this past week in Tehran during Basij paramilitary maneuvers, said:…
| — Hat tip: Jerry Gordon | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Lavazza Signs Multi-Year Deal With US Tennis Association
Exclusive coffee of US Open tennis championships
(ANSA) — Rome, September 1 — Lavazza coffee has signed a multi-year agreement with the United States Tennis Association (USTA) and is the exclusive coffee of the US Open tennis championships, which began Monday and run through September 13.
The US Open is Lavazza’s largest tennis sponsorship in North America, following the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells, California, and the Rogers Cup in Canada.
Over 700,000 people are expected at the championships held at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York.
One of Lavazza’s athlete endorsers competing at the US Open is Danish tennis player Caroline Wozniacki, ranked 4th in the world.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
La Raza Backs Jeb, Slams Trump for English Language Patriotism
As Donald Trump continues to surge in the polls, he’s received increasing attacks from pro-amnesty rivals like Jeb Bush and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL)
In a Spanish-language address, Bush declared, “El hombre no es conservador,” which—in English—translates to, “The man (i.e. Trump) is not conservative.”
Trump replied by asserting that if Bush wants to be a leader, “he should really set the example by speaking English while in the United States.”
Technically, becoming a U.S. citizen requires one to achieve English language proficiency. As such, when Bush delivers his attack message in Spanish, he is undermining one of the core tenets of American citizenship— albeit one that is already in tatters as one in five U.S. residents now speaks a language other than English while at home, according to a 2014 report.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
NASA’s New Horizons Spacecraft Begins Intensive Data Downlink Phase
If you liked the first historic images of Pluto from NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft, you’ll love what’s to come.
Seven weeks after New Horizons sped past the Pluto system to study Pluto and its moons — previously unexplored worlds — the mission team will begin intensive downlinking of the tens of gigabits of data the spacecraft collected and stored on its digital recorders. The process moves into high gear on Saturday, Sept. 5, with the entire downlink taking about one year to complete.
“This is what we came for—these images, spectra and other data types that are going to help us understand the origin and the evolution of the Pluto system for the first time,” said New Horizons Principal Investigator Alan Stern, of the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) in Boulder, Colorado. “And what’s coming is not just the remaining 95 percent of the data that’s still aboard the spacecraft— it’s the best datasets, the highest-resolution images and spectra, the most important atmospheric datasets, and more. It’s a treasure trove. “
Even moving at light speed, the radio signals from New Horizons containing data need more than 4 1/2 hours to cover the 3 billion miles to reach Earth.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
New Campaign Aims to Boost Numbers of Latino and Black Homeowners
While the housing market is more stable today than it was during the recent recession, many Latino and black families are still experiencing significant obstacles to become homeowners.
On Wednesday, the Hispanic Federation and the New York Urban League teamed up to launch a public education campaign called “¡Mi Primera Casa!” or “My First Home.”
The campaign is meant to raise awareness of the hurdles keeping communities of color from obtaining a home of their own and to advocate for changes. It also underscores the importance of homeownership for families of color as a means of helping communities build economic stability and wealth.
Nationwide, the share of Americans who own their homes stood at a 20-year low of 64 percent at the end of 2014, according to a report by the Census Bureau. Homeownership rates were even lower that year for Hispanic and black families, at 45 percent and 42 percent respectively.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
ObamaCare: How Trump Can Win Both Nominations
Today health care in the United States costs 500%, approximately, that of the same technology purchased elsewhere in the first world. There are places where the “offset” is only 200% but virtually nowhere that it runs the other way. It is literally possible in many parts of the United States to buy a plane ticket to Narita, Japan, have an MRI done and read there and then fly back home for less than you will be charged for the same exam in your town.
The 900lb Gorilla in the room that nobody talks about is that health plans under Obamacare, Medicare and most private insurance, with a notable exception found in certain “Cadillac” plans that are all now heavily taxed under Obamacare, along with all Medicare recipients, leave the patient with a typical 20% “co-pay” plus in the case of private insurance a hefty deductible that typically runs to $5,000 per person, per year before a single penny is covered.
Here’s the reason this matters:
If you fix this problem then the consumer still pays 20% as they do now but that is the entire bill which means they do not need to buy “Health insurance” at all except for a low-cost policy against sudden and catastrophic events such as a heart attack or serious accident. Such a policy would only cost a few hundred dollars a year and for those who are truly indigent it could be provided at little cost to the government
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Taylor Swift is Dreaming of a Very White Africa
The video for American singer Taylor Swift’s new song “Wildest Dreams” has been viewed more than 10 million times in the two days since it debuted.
The video was shot in Africa and California.
In it, we see two beautiful white people falling in love while surrounded by vast expanses of beautiful African landscapes and beautiful animals — a lion, a giraffe, a zebra.
Taylor Swift is dressed as a colonial-era woman on African soil. With just a few exceptions, the cast in the video — the actors playing her boyfriend and a movie director and his staff — all appear to be white.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Tennessee: Parents Concerned Over Religious Curriculum
Maury County parents are expressing concern after their children came home with world history schoolwork containing references to Islam and its teachings.
The school district contends the curriculum has been in place for more than three decades, and world history is difficult to teach without referencing religions.
Brandee Porterfield has a daughter in seventh grade at Spring Hill Middle School. She said her daughter brought home school materials containing the Five Pillars of Islam. While she agrees that Islam is part of history and does not have a problem with schools teaching about the religion, she said the lesson skipped a chapter about Christianity.
Porterfield said school officials moved past the chapter because it was not part of the state’s standards.
“I have big problem with that. From a historical point of view, that’s a lot of history these kids are missing,” she said. “Also, for them to spend three weeks on Islam after having skipped Christianity, it seems to be that they are making a choice about which religion to discuss.”
The mother said she was concerned about her child being taught the “Shahada,” the Muslim profession of faith which was contained in a foldable teaching material.
One of the translations of the creed reads, “There is no god but Allah; Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah.”…
| — Hat tip: JLH | [Return to headlines] |
Allah Hu Akbar Cartoon That ‘Should Never Have Been Published’
Belgium’s Orwellian-sounding Interfederal Centre for Equal Opportunities has become embroiled in an argument over a cartoon in a regional newspaper. It is investigating the picture which the Editor In Chief of the journal says should never have been published.
The cartoon in question was drawn by an artist called Canary Pete who is published by two newspapers, Het Belang van Limburg and Gazet van Antwerpen.
Flanders News reports the cartoon, which depicts a child slitting the throat of a teddy bear and the distressed reaction of his fellow pupils, was inspired by the first day of term at schools in the Brussels municipality of Molenbeek. That particular municipality is an area with a large number of immigrants and a substantial Muslim community of mainly Moroccan and Turkish ancestry.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Cathedral Scribe Produced Salisbury Magna Carta
Handwriting analysis has led to new thoughts about how government documents were produced and distributed in medieval England. Literary scholar Elaine Treharne of Stanford University noticed that the handwriting that produced the Register of St. Osmund, a document produced at Salisbury Cathedral and held in its archive, resembled one of the four surviving original copies of the Magna Carta, which was issued by King John in 1215. She examined the letters, punctuation, abbreviations, the angle of the pen, and the number of strokes taken to produce each character in the two documents. She concluded that the cathedral scribe that wrote the Register of St. Osmund also produced the Salisbury Magna Carta.
“It makes us look again at the role of the church in relationship to the king. They become much more partners, really, in the production of texts,” Treharne said in a press release. She thinks that versions of the Magna Carta “were written in the regions and then taken to the court for sealing by the king’s Great Seal.” It had been thought that copies of the Magna Carta had been produced in the central court and then distributed to satellite locations.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Edward Snowden Receives Freedom of Speech Prize
The Bjornson Prize for freedom of speech has been awarded to Edward Snowden “for his work on the important issue of the right of privacy.” The former NSA contractor did not attend in person due to extradition concerns.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Expelled Jean-Marie Le Pen Launches New National Front-Like Party
Jean-Marie Le Pen, who founded France’s far-right National Front party, has said that he is creating a similar new political movement. This comes just weeks after he was expelled from the party his daughter now leads.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Feyenoord Fans Won’t be Tried for Damaging Barcaccia
Not enough footage to identify culprits say investigators
(ANSA) — Brussels, September 1 — Feyenoord fans who damaged Rome’s historic Barcaccia fountain in February won’t be tried for it because Netherlands have not been able to identify the culprits, Dutch media reported Tuesday.
The Dutch investigators reportedly complained they did not have enough footage of the February 19 incident.
The damage caused by the fans who broke off pieces and scarred the famed fountain in Rome’s Piazza di Spagna were estimated at about 5.2 million euros.
The 17th-century Bernini masterpiece at the foot of the Spanish Steps had just recently been unveiled after a lengthy restoration.
The masterpiece commissioned by Pope Urban VIII in 1627 is estimated to be worth 60 million euros.
The drunken Dutch fans, defying a booze ban and spoiling for trouble ahead of a Europa League match against AS Roma, also caused damage estimated to be worth 158,000 euros for rampaging through the city and damaging buses they boarded after moving away from the Spanish Steps.
Some 44 fans will be tried by a Dutch court for clashes with police, Dutch media said.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
France ‘Powerless’ To Stop 9/11-Style Islamist Attack
French security forces are bracing for the eventuality of civil unrest and fear there could be a missile strike on a passenger airliner or a September 11-style attack, according to sources close to French intelligence.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Marchionne ‘Will Wait for Ferrari Spinoff Before GM Bid’
Spinoff could be ‘catalyst’ says Bloomberg
(ANSA) — Rome, September 4 — Fiat Chrsyler Automobiles (FCA) chief Sergio Marchionne will wait until the end of the spinoff of Ferrari next year before launching a possible bid for General Motors, Bloomberg reported Friday.
“While…Marchionne isn’t known for his patience,” it said, “he’s likely to wait until next year before making a bid for General Motors Co. after months of talk about the potential of a deal.
“The spinoff of Ferrari SpA, which is slated for early 2016, could be the catalyst for Marchionne to make an offer for the U.S. automaker. Ferrari’s separation would raise money for the debt-laden company. The move is also key for the Agnelli family, Fiat’s dominant shareholder, which is keen to keep control of the Italian supercar maker.
“Marchionne has been crusading for consolidation in the auto industry, including in an April presentation called “Confessions of Capital Junkie.” He argues that automakers waste money by developing multiple versions of the same technology and so should merge”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: World’s Best Pizza Chef Title Won by Woman for First Time
(AGI) Naples, Sept. 3 — A woman has been crowned as the world’s best pizza chef for the first time. The 14th Caputo Trophy was awarded in Naples to the Neapolitan Teresa Iorio, who works at the pizzeria “Le Figlie di Iorio”. She runs the restaurant with her two sisters and a niece. Five hundred pizza makers attended the ceremony where she was presented with the trophy by Carmine and Antimo Caputo, promoters of the championship. “I’m happy. I dedicate this victory to my mother and my father Ernesto, who taught me the trade. I always think of him when I make pizzas. I never imagined I could win. I share my victory with all working women.” She was first in the Traditional Specialty Pizza category. Other categories included Classic Pizza, Gluten-Free Pizza, Pizza by the Metre, Pizza in Baking Tray, Season’s Pizza, Pizza Junior, Free Style Pizza, Fastest Pizza and Largest Pizza. The judges were chaired by American celebrity chef Lidia Bastianich. Giulio Russo was second and Yuka Oda third. Winner of the Classic Pizza section was Korean Lee Yung Wooo, with Crescenzo Capuozo second and Maurizio Iannicelli from Naples third.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Sicily: Prosecutors Accuse Arrested Ivorian of Rape
Following autopsy of couple killed near Catania
(updates previous). (ANSA) — Caltagirone, September 4 — Prosecutors formally accused Mamadou Kamara, an 18-year-old Ivorian arrested Sunday in connection with the killing of a couple in their home in Palagonia near Catania, of having raped the woman victim, Mercedes Ibanez, 70.
“The autopsy provided definite evidence that the Ivorian abused the woman,” said prosecutor Giuseppe Verzera.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Spain Arrests 18-Year-Old Woman Suspected of IS Links
Spanish police said they arrested an 18-year-old Moroccan woman on Saturday accused of preparing to travel to Syria to join the jihadist group Islamic State (IS).
She was the latest in a series of suspected IS sympathisers detained in Spain since last year over security fears.
Police said she was suspected of recruiting other women via the Internet to the group, also known as Daesh, which has claimed numerous kidnappings and executions.
At the time of her arrest early Saturday in the coastal town of Gandia near Valencia, she “was making the last preparations for her journey” to Syria, a police statement said…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden: Hans Rosling: ‘You Can’t Trust the Media’
Swedish celebrity statistician Hans Rosling has urged the ‘arrogant’ media to see the big picture in a feisty clash on Danish television.
Swedish professor and TED talk phenomenon Hans Rosling has slammed the media for being ‘ignorant and arrogant’ and failing to see the big picture with regards to developments in a world which, he argued, is moving in a positive direction.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Hate Cleric Anjem Choudary is Freed on Bail Ahead of Trial Over ‘Support for ISIS’
Radical preacher Anjem Choudary was granted bail at the Old Bailey today as he awaits trial for allegedly encouraging support for Islamic State alongside his co-accused Mohammed Rahman.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Parents Told Not to Boast About Kid’s Exam Results on Facebook in Case it Upsets Others
Education experts warned that parents may be alienating other families by putting smug comments up on social media. It risks making life a misery for children who fail their exams — and their parents.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: VIP Child Abuse Inquiry is Staring to Unravel
Scotland Yard is under pressure to shelve its VIP paedophile murder inquiry after it emerged detectives had ‘grave doubts’ about the testimony of the key witness.
Officers have not found a ‘shred of credible evidence’ to back up claims that a string of senior Establishment figures were responsible for murdering three boys in the 1970s and 1980s.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Montenegro Sees Sharp Rise in Tourists, +29% on Year in July
145 million euros in revenue in six months
(ANSAmed) — PODGORICA, SEPTEMBER 1 — Almost 450,000 tourists visited Montenegro in July, 29% higher than the same month last year. The national statistics agency said that the most numerous were Serbians (35.6%), followed by Russians (26%), Bosnians (10%), Ukrainians, Poles and Germans. Tourism revenue totaled 145 million euros in the first six months of the year, 9% more than the same period of 2014.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Syria Wins Gold at Mediterranean Beach Games
Heavyweight Raja Al-Karrad wins wrestling competition
NAPLES — Twenty-seven athletes reached Pescara from Syria to represent the civil war-torn country so people would talk about it for its sports rather than wars or refugees. And they won a gold medal last night at the Mediterranean Beach Games in Pescara.
Success came in beach wrestling for the heavyweights category (over 90 kilos) which saw Raja Al Karrad beat Micheil Tsikovani (Greece).
Al-Karrad, after getting close to winning a bronze medal at the Asian Games in 2014, confirmed his talent in Pescara as part of a Syrian team that also brought to Abruzzo Mohammad Khan Sheikhouni, Ghazwan Lazqani, Saleh Qassab and Nawzat al-Saleh. While waiting for other countries experiencing very difficult political moments, like Libya, Italy and France are winning many medals at this first edition of the beach games that are proving successful.
Italy won, among others, a gold and bronze medal at the 5km team swimming competition: in the Adriatic Sea, the gold went to the team formed by Dario Verani, Andrea Bianchi and Arianna Bridi, followed by the other Italian team with Andrea Manzi, Barbara Pozzebon and Giulia Gabrielleschi. Croatia won a bronze medal.
Meanwhile on Monday Pescara is hosting beach handball competitions with women’s teams competing tonight in games pitting Italy against Tunisia and against Greece.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Morocco: More Than 14 Thousand Pilgrims Travelling to Mecca
Feast of sacrifice celebration on Thursday, September 24
(ANSAmed) — RABAT, SEPTEMBER 2 — Over 14 thousand pilgrims will leave Morocco and travel to Mecca for the annual Hajj, one of the five pillars of Islam, said Royal Air Maroc, the Moroccan national airline which is operating 50 flights to Jeddah and Medina, on Tuesday.
The transport phase will end on September 17 and the return flights have been programmed from September 27 to October 16.
The flights will depart from eight aiports: Casablanca, Rabat, Fez, Tangiers, Oujda, Nador, Agadir and Marrakech, with special transport dedicated to those travelling from the south of the country, the region of Layounne and Errachidia. Aid al-Adha, the feast of sacrifice, will also be celebrated in Morocco, on September 24, while in Egypt and the Arab Emirates it will fall on September 23, according to the lunar calendar.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Morocco’s Ruling Islamists Trailing in Local Polls
Morocco’s ruling Islamists were on course Saturday to finish second behind the liberal opposition in local polls seen as a gauge of the political climate ahead of next year’s general election, partial results showed.
With around 80 percent of the ballots tallied, the Party of Authenticity and Modernity (PAM), a liberal opposition party founded by a politician close to the king, was leading with 20.7 percent of the votes, the interior ministry said.
Prime Minister Abdelilah Benkirane’s Justice and Development Party (PJD) was trailing with 17.1 percent, Interior Minister Mohamed Hassad said during a late-night news conference.
Friday’s municipal and regional polls were viewed as a key test for the ruling Islamists nearly four years after they swept to power following Arab Spring protests that ushered in constitutional reforms…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
The Islamic State Diary: A Chronicle of Life in Libyan Purgatory
For months, the Islamic State visited its reign of terror on the city of Derna, Libya — until it was stopped by an al-Qaida offshoot. Farrah Schennib describes the horrors of daily life under the IS in his diary.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Dutch Air Force Sergeant Joins Islamic State in First Such Desertion
A serving member of the Dutch air force may have joined Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) in Syria, the Netherlands Defence Ministry has said.
The 26-year-old air force sergeant has been suspended from service and his access to “information, systems and military sites” has been revoked, the ministry said in a statement.
“The case is currently being investigated by the Public Prosecutor,” it said. “The defence ministry will of course investigate any risks or damage associated with the sergeant’s position and take any necessary and appropriate measures.”
Dutch authorities said on Thursday that this is the first time a serving member of the country’s armed forces is known to have joined Isil.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Lebanon: Italy Funds Renovation of Beirut Hospital
Intervention worth 3.3 million euros
(ANSAmed) — BEIRUT, SEPTEMBER 2 — The Italian ambassador to Lebanon, Massimo Marotti, and Lebanese health minister, Wael Abou Faour, inaugurated today the start of renovation work at the government university hospital of Baabda, outside Beirut.
The Italian government will contribute with a donation of 3.3 million euros to the enlargement and modernization of the hospital.
After the ceremony, the ambassador and minister visited the construction site and met with representatives of the firm in charge of the renovation work.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Protests Break Out in Southern Syria Over ‘IS’-Critic’s Death
A Druze cleric known for criticizing the Syrian regime and “Islamic State” has been killed in a car bomb attack in southern Syria. Sheikh Wahid al-Balous’ death has sparked anti-government protests in southern Sweida.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Trump: Evidence Suggests Obama Protecting ISIS
Trump is closer to the truth than he realizes, according to Pentagon.
The fact the Obama administration is leaving known ISIS training camps alone suggests the White House is protecting the terrorist group, according to presidential candidate Donald Trump.
“Well, you [as president] would knock the hell out of the training camps, that one’s a given, and it’s incredible we don’t do it [since] we know where they are,” he said on the Michael Savage Show. “It’s almost like, ‘are we protecting these people?’“
Trump is closer to the truth than he realizes; a secret U.S. government document obtained by Judicial Watch reveals the U.S. and other NATO nations deliberately backed al-Qaeda in Iraq, which morphed into ISIS, and other Islamic extremist groups to overthrow Syrian president Bashir al-Assad.
“The Salafist [sic], the Muslim Brotherhood and AQI [al-Qaeda in Iraq] are the major forces driving the insurgency in Syria,” the Pentagon document stated. “The West, Gulf countries, and Turkey support [this] opposition, while Russia, China and Iran ‘support the [Assad] regime.’“
[Comment: Stop funnelling arms and cash to ISIS and it will wither and die.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UAE Troops Killed in Yemen in ‘Deadliest Attack’ Yet on Saudi Coalition
At least 45 soldiers from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Bahrain have been killed by a rebel missile in Yemen. The US-backed coalition is continuing efforts to restore Sanaa’s exiled government.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Putin Calls for International Anti-Terror Coalition
(AGI) Vladivostok (Russia), Sept 4 — Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed an international coalition against all forms of extremism to meet the growing and global threat of terrorism during his discussions with Barack Obama and other leaders on Friday. Mr Putin, speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the economic forum in Vladivostok, said he had talked about his idea of an international anti-terror coalition with President Obama and the leaders of Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and others. “We really want to create a certain international coalition against terrorism and extremism, and to this end we are holding consultations with our American partners, I have personally discussed this issue with U.S. President Obama.” It is not clear at the moment whether President Putin, even though it seems the most likely option, wants to create something new or join the U.S.-led coalition that last year carried out raids against Isis in Syria and Iraq.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Pakistan Police Arrest Christian Labourer for Blasphemy
Pakistan police said Saturday they have arrested and imprisoned a Christian man accused of blasphemy in Punjab.
Blasphemy is a hugely sensitive issue in Pakistan, with even unproven allegations often prompting mob violence, and acquittals in court are rare.
“A Christian labourer named Pervaiz Masih was arrested earlier this week and sent on judicial remand for passing derogatory remarks against the prophet of Islam,” a local police official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Police in Tajikistan Says They Surrounded Former Official Accused of Plotting Clashes
DUSHANBE, Tajikistan — Police in the Central Asian nation of Tajikistan said on Saturday that they have surrounded the area where a former official accused of plotting an attack on a police station is believed to be hiding.
Nine police officers and 13 militants were killed in Friday’s attack mounted by the disaffected deputy defense minister, police said, updating the previously reported death toll of 17.
In contrast with neighboring Afghanistan, the former Soviet Central Asian nation of Tajikistan rarely sees such bloodshed and the unrest is likely to unnerve the government.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
20+ Chinese Android Smartphones Models Come With Pre-Installed Malware
G DATA security experts published their latest research in which they’ve analyzed top Chinese Android smartphone models and found that a large number of them ship with pre-installed malware and spyware.
According to G DATA’s team, their interest in this matter was first sparked when in 2014, the Star N9500 smartphone was found to be harboring malware that came pre-installed for factory-shipped phones. Till then, their research also uncovered similar spyware in Star N8000 and IceFox Razor models.
Now with information gathered from fellow researchers, their list of Android devices on which pre-installed malware was found has extended with the following models: Xiaomi MI3, Huawei G510, Lenovo S860, Alps A24, Alps 809T, Alps H9001, Alps 2206, Alps PrimuxZeta, Alps N3, Alps ZP100, Alps 709, Alps GQ2002, Alps N9389, Andorid P8, ConCorde SmartPhone6500, DJC touchtalk, ITOUCH, NoName S806i, SESONN N9500, SESONN P8, and Xido X1111.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Fukushima Disaster: Japan Reopens Radiation-Hit Naraha
Japan is inviting residents to return to a town evacuated in 2011 after the Fukushima nuclear plant disaster.
Naraha is the first town to allow people to return permanently, following several years of decontamination work.
But many say they are not ready to come back, and only a fraction have returned for brief stays since a trial period began in April.
The Fukushima Daiichi plant suffered a series of meltdowns following a massive earthquake and tsunami.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
The Chinese City Where Men Have ‘Three Girlfriends Because There Are So Many Women’
For some it may be classed as ‘three-timing’, but in one Chinese city having three girlfriends is apparently seen as the norm.
One man from the city of Dongguan, in China’s Guangdong province, has even told media it would be “embarrassing” to have only one girlfriend.
The polyamorous attitude is down to a huge gender imbalance in the city.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Ex Honorary Consul Killed in Madagascar Burglary
Two former policemen suspected in murder of Adelio Corno, 64
(ANSA) — Rome, September 4 — Italy’s former honorary consul to Madagascar, Adelio Corno, 64, was killed during a burglary in his home on the Indian Ocean island.
Two former policemen, fired in 2014 for disciplinary breaches, have been arrested, police said, after objects belonging to the victim were found in their homes.
In August the ex-honorary consul of France was murdered in Madagascar.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Norwegian Was Terrorist in Kenya Mall Attack
Norway’s security services have confirmed that Hassan Dhuhulow, a Norwegian man of Somali decent, was one of the terrorists behind a brutal attack on a Nairobi shopping centre in 2013.
“PST’s conclusion is that Hassan Dhuhulow was one of the terrorists. The investigation has been concluded,” Martin Bernsen, the head of information for Norway’s Police Security Services (PST) told Norway’s Aftenposten newspaper.
On 21 September 2013, a group of gunmen attacked the Westgate mall in an affluent area of Nairobi, indiscriminately shooting shoppers and staff.
The mall remained under siege for four days as security services attempted to hunt down the assailants, who remained inside and were finally killed, partly by police and partly by areas of the mall collapsing.
Somali terror group Al-Shabaab claimed responsibility for the attack.
Dhuhulow had been a suspect in the case since 2013, but his involvement had yet to be confirmed due to a lack of forensic evidence. He has now been identified by dental records.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
More Than 24,000 People Are Missing in Mexico, Official Study Shows
Luis Guillermo Lagunes Díaz disappeared in Veracruz on June 28, 2013. María Mariscal Magaña was last seen in Apatzingán, Michoacán on December 5 of that same year. No one has seen Jalisco native José Luis Arana Aguilar since January 17, 2011. And Josué Román García’s family has been looking for him for more than five years. “He disappeared in San Fernando, Tamaulipas,” says a missing person’s sign for him.
And on top of all those are the 43 student teachers who disappeared en masse in Iguala, Guerrero state, nearly a year ago. The incident shook the entire nation but the authorities have only recovered one of the students’ bodies.
According to a Ministry of the Interior report, Mexico had 24,812 missing persons cases on its books on December 31, 2014. Most of the victims disappeared in Tamaulipas, Jalisco, Nuevo León, Mexico, Chihuahua and Sinaloa states. Seventy-two percent of the missing are men and half are under 34 years old. A quarter of them are minors.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Airlines Increase Baggage Allowance to Help Refugees
Several airlines are letting passengers travelling to southern Europe take on board extra baggage, if they want to bring aid to refugees.
People travelling with Scandinavian Airlines SAS and Norwegian will not have to pay anything extra, if they want to take a bag with donations for refugees.
“We allow the customers travelling to the Mediterranean to bring extra luggage with clothes, shoes and toiletries to refugees. We are very pleased that we can offer this opportunity and contribute in some way,” Malin Selander, SAS spokesperson, told the news agency TT.
There is no need to ask permission or register this in advance.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Bob Geldof Says He’ll Take in 4 Migrant Families as He Lambasts Politicians
Bob Geldof has offered to immediately take in four families as he expressed disgust at the migrant and refugee crisis in Europe. He said he would open the doors to his family home in Kent and London flat.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Desperate Syrian Refugees Take Arctic Route to Europe
After several failed attempts to reach Europe from Turkey, a 31-year-old Syrian asylum seeker found refuge in Norway’s capital last week after riding a bicycle across Russia’s Arctic border with Norway.
A first endeavor to cross the border by car was unsuccessful: Russian drivers no longer take refugees into Norway since it threatened to prosecute them for people trafficking. After learning he wouldn’t be allowed to walk through the checkpoint at Storskog, some 250 miles north of the Arctic Circle, the Syrian teacher from Hamah bought a bike for $150 and cycled a 20-mile stretch of gravel road to the border.
“I had my laptop on my chest and a bag on my back,” he said at the Refstad refugee shelter in Oslo. “I was wearing two jackets and two sets of underwear under my pants. North is cold.”
The teacher’s Arctic path illustrates the extraordinary scope of Europe’s migration crisis, as the continent grapples with the biggest groundswell of asylum seekers since World War II.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Expats in Switzerland Mobilize for Refugees
Moved by the tragic images in recent days of the plight of Syrian refugees fleeing to Europe, some expats in Switzerland are taking matters into their own hands to try and help, finds The Local.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Feds Say Company Discriminated Against Illegals, Orders Back Pay
The Justice Department says Nebraska Beef discriminated against illegal alien workers by asking them for proof of citizenship.
The Department of Justice’s Office of Special Counsel for Immigration-Related Unfair Employment Practices objected to non-U.S. citizens being “targeted” because of their citizenship status, according to Judicial Watch.
Under pressure from the federal government, the company agreed to a $200,000 civil penalty and also to create an uncapped back pay fund to compensate individuals who lost wages because they were unable to prove they are in the county legally, according to the non-partisan educational foundation.
In addition, the business will be subjected to “compliance monitoring” by the government.
Judicial Watch believes it is part of a larger effort by the federal government and the Obama administration to facilitate the entry of illegal aliens in the United States:
This case is part of a broader effort by the Obama administration to helps illegal aliens in the U.S. Besides shielding tens of millions from deportation via an executive amnesty order, the president has also expanded the DOJ to help carry out part of this mission. It’s why the agency’s civil rights division has grown immensely under Obama.
The DOJ civil rights division is overseen by a renowned illegal alien advocate, Thomas Perez.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Finland’s Prime Minister Says He Will Share His House With Refugees
The Prime Minister of Finland, Juha Sipila, has said he would offer his home to refugees.
He said his home in Kempele, in the north of the country, was not frequently used at the moment and would house asylum seekers from the start of next year.
The Finnish Prime Minister also said an EU plan to shelter 120,000 refugees arriving in Greece, Italy and Hungary in other countries in the EU should be voluntary.
He added that he hoped Finland could lead by example, after yesterday doubling its estimate for the number of asylum seekers to 30,000.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Finland: PM Sipilä Pledges Oulu Home to Refugees
Prime Minister Juha Sipilä says he is prepared to open his little-used house to asylum-seekers in need of accommodation. In Oulu, as elsewhere, housing for refugees is spread thin.
Prime Minister Juha Sipilä has promised to accommodate asylum-seekers coming to Finland in his little-used home in Kempele, near Oulu, saying he wants to encourage all Finns to help with the refugee crisis.
Sipilä cites a “lack of solidarity” as a Europe-wide problem in sharing the responsibility of aiding asylum-seekers fleeing from crisis zones.
“I hope this becomes some kind of people’s movement that will inspire many to shoulder part of the burden in this refugee housing crisis,” Sipilä says. “What we need now is a show of compassion.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Finland: Archbishop: Compassion Needed in Refugee Crisis
Evangelical Lutheran Archbishop Kari Mäkinen said on Saturday’s Yle morning show that turning away asylum-seekers based on religion or nationality is “irresponsible”. Mäkinen said that Finland should take on more refugees than the minimum mandated share, using church camping facilities as housing.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Finnish Premier Offers His Private Home for Asylum-Seekers
Finnish Prime Minister Juha Sipila said Saturday he was offering his private home in northern Finland to shelter asylum seekers, syaying he wanted to do his bit amid the European migration crisis.
“My house is not used much now. My family lives in Sipoo (east of Helsinki) and the prime minister’s official residence is at Kesaranta,” Sipila said on Finnish public broadcaster YLE’s morning show.
“I hope that we get a popular movement in Finland, a popular movement that voluntarily takes on some of the responsibility for the refugees,” Sipila said.
Siipila in May took office at the helm of a centre-right government that includes the anti-immigrant, populist Finns Party.
“I want to do my bit to show that Finland is a multicultural country,” he said.
The Finnish Interior Ministry on Friday doubled its projection over asylum seekers this year to 30,000.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Finnish Prime Minister Offers His Spare House to Refugees Starting Next Year
Amid Europe’s migrant crisis, Finnish Prime Minister Juha Sipila is hoping to set an example for his countrymen by opening his own spare house to refugees.
Sipila said Saturday that after some discussions and consultation with local authorities, he and his wife decided to make their house in Kempele, a town of about 17,000 in central Finland, available as of Jan. 1. The Sipilas have not used the house since moving to Helsinki.
“We all should think what we can do ourselves,” he told Finnish television channel MTV.
In recent weeks, the Nordic country has seen an increase in the number of asylum seekers — people fleeing poverty and conflict in eastern European countries and the Middle East — coming to Finland via Sweden. Officials expect their number could reach 30,000 by the end of the year, compared to the 3,600 people who sought asylum in Finland in 2014.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Finnish PM: Refugees Welcome in Spare Home
Finland’s prime minister has reacted to Europe’s migrant crisis by offering his spare home to refugees. Juha Sipila said everyone in Europe should ask themselves what they can do to help asylum seekers.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Hungarian Bus Fleets Deliver Thousands of Refugees to Austria
Amid jubilant scenes on the Austrian-Hungarian border, thousands of refugees have stepped off buses to safety. Bavarian police are bracing to receive some 10,000 people in Munich.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Jeb Bush Rejects Trump Demand That Everyone Speak English in U.S
U.S. Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush on Thursday rejected what he called a bizarre notion voiced by front-running rival Donald Trump that people should speak English in the United States.
Bush, who is bilingual in Spanish and frequently breaks into the language at his events, vowed to keep speaking Spanish whenever he feels like it.
Trump, who has made opposition to illegal immigration a hallmark of his campaign in the November 2016 election, told a news conference in New York that, “We’re a nation that speaks English.”
“Whether we like it or not, that’s how people assimilate,” he said, a day after he criticized Bush’s use of Spanish.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Merkel Demands Total Overhaul of EU Refugee Policy
Chancellor Angela Merkel has threatened to seek legal action against EU countries in breach of refugee agreements. Several Syrians thanked her at the end of a press conference in Essen.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Migrants Reach Austria and Germany After Long Ordeal
Austria and Germany have taken in thousands of migrants who crossed the border after days stuck in Hungary.
After being welcomed at the Austrian frontier by volunteers, many went directly to Vienna and on to Munich in southern Germany.
The plight of the migrants has highlighted the EU’s struggle to deal with a surge of asylum seekers
Earlier this week there were chaotic scenes in Budapest as Hungary blocked them from travelling onwards.
Many migrants refused to be taken to camps in Hungary to register for asylum, insisting they wanted to travel on to Germany and Austria.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
More Migrants March as Refugees Arrive in Austria
Thousands of migrants streamed into Austria from Hungary on Saturday, with another column of refugees setting out on foot as Budapest ruled out bussing any more the 175 kilometres (110 miles) to the border.
Austria’s interior ministry said 6,500 people had crossed the frontier since Friday night when Hungary laid on buses after images of hundreds of desperate people walking along motorways made headlines worldwide.
A second group of at least 500 migrants began walking from Budapest’s main Keleti train station on Saturday where there were ugly standoffs for days after authorities blocked migrants leaving the country by train.
But Hungary’s police chief Karoly Papp warned this time there would be no help to reach Austria.
“The provision of buses towards Austria was a one-off and there will no be more vehicles sent to refugees walking along the road,” he told a news conference, state news agency MTI reported.
Hungary’s hard line contrasted with a new more welcoming approach from some western European countries led by Germany — where most migrants want to go — after an outpouring of sympathy for the refugees.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Muslims Turning Paris Into a Virtual War Zone (Video)
Millions of Muslim invaders posing as “refugees” are flooding Europe, this year more than ever before. The savages, represented mainly by young N. African and Middle Eastern strongmen, are being sent to create an Islamic Army for the goal of conquering Europe, while wreaking havoc on innocent citizens who are being robbed, assaulted, and raped by these Muslim thugs.
What do the EU leaders have to say about it? “All EU countries should be willing to welcome even more of these so-called “refugees.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Muslims Threaten Europe’s Christian Identity, Hungary’s Leader Says
Hungary’s prime minister, Viktor Orban, has made nationalistic and controversial statements in the past. But with his country emerging as a main gateway for refugees trying to reach richer European nations, his words suddenly carry much heavier weight.
On Thursday, Germany’s Frankfurter Allgemeine newspaper published an op-ed by Orban in which he claimed that he was defending European Christianity against a Muslim influx by stopping thousands of refugees from leaving Hungary. “Everything which is now taking place before our eyes threatens to have explosive consequences for the whole of Europe,” he wrote in the op-ed. “We must acknowledge that the European Union’s misguided immigration policy is responsible for this situation.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Orban: Migrant Crisis is Germany’s Problem
“We don’t like the quota approach”, Orban said.
He noted that border control should be an EU priority, with the Schengen passport-free travel zone already coming under threat.
He also said the EU talk on quotas is in itself encouraging migrants to come to Europe.
“The moral and human thing is to make clear, please don’t come! Turkey is a safe country, stay there!”, Orban said.
He blamed European leaders for not coping with the unprecedented wave of refugees.
Fear
“People in Europe are full of fear because they see that the European leaders, among them the prime ministers, are not able to control the situation”, he said.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
People Smuggling is Big Business
Prague, Sept 3 (CTK) — Up to 30,000 people smugglers take part in the transport of refugees to Europe according to Europol data, Europol Deputy Director and and former Czech police president Oldrich Martinu, told commercial Czech station Radio Impuls today.
He said 30,000 people were investigated over people-smuggling in the European Union and 1,400 investigations are underway.
Most of the people-smuggling activities are organized, sometimes in a very sophisticated manner, Martinu told Impuls.
Some highly professionalised refugee smugglers have legally operating firms that cover up their activities, Martinu said.
“They present themselves as travel agencies because one pays a ticket and is transported somewhere. Or they present themselves as headhunting HR agencies if they recruit refugees,” he said.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Refugee Influx to Cost Germany 10 Bn Euros: Report
The cost of Germany taking in a record number of asylum seekers could hit 10 billion euros ($11 billion), four times what Berlin spend looking after refugees last year, a German newspaper said Saturday.
But despite the 800,000 refugees expected to pour into Europe’s biggest economy this year, Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Saturday she was still aiming to balance the country’s budget.
The German daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung calculated the revised costs in line with what was spent on 203,000 asylum seekers in 2014…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Rock for Refugees: Bands Against Right-Wing Violence
Continued right-wing violence against refugees has spurred artists to help. In a written appeal, 24 German rock bands have called for improved protection for refugees and their accommodations.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Romania: Historian Neagu Djuvara Discusses the “Muslim Refugee” Problem
Young people will see an absolute drastic change in Europe, with waves of foreign nations coming.
On the question of the Muslim “refugees” in Europe, Djuvara sees the flood of immigrants as an “invasion that cannot be stemmed because it is composed of a population that has no historical, intellectual, or soul connections to us, it is an invasion of barbarians.” Wistful that he is not going to live that much longer, he is very pessimistic about everyone’s future in the next fifty years. “The young people will see an absolute drastic change in Europe, with waves of foreign nations coming.”
Turcescu suggested that perhaps the Americans could save them. Djuvara agreed that they could be the European salvation again, politically and militarily. But the sad reality is that the United States of America could not save itself right now. The current American administration has shrunk the military to such worrisome levels but the conflicts around the world have escalated under the inept American foreign policy. Parisian sidewalks no longer belonged to the French, but to the third world
When asked about surviving the Maghreb invasion of Paris, Djuvara explained that, on a recent return trip to France, “he was horrified that the Parisian sidewalks no longer belonged to the French, but to the third world.”
“Can this Muslim invasion be stopped,” asked Turcescu. “Nothing can be stopped in history without God’s will. For us to stop it, it is impossible, they crawl under barbed wire and still enter!” added the famous historian Djuvara.
On the sizzling debate that is splitting the country right now, the building of the largest European mosque in Bucharest, Djuvara revealed that he was against the project given the fact that the Romanian people fought the Ottoman Empire for 500 years to prevent the building of even one mosque on the territories of Wallachia and Moldova. “I think it is a tragedy that we are now opening the gates for the largest European mosque to be built here and to allow thousands of Muslims to come here, with their morals and crimes which some of them commit. The Romanian government and future administrations must categorically oppose the construction of this mega-mosque on Romanian soil! People like Victor Ponta [Social Democrat Prime Minister] would not oppose such a mosque; other men must come to power.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Spanish Society Acts to Take in Refugees
Faced with the greatest refugee crisis to hit Europe since World War II, Spain’s local and regional administrations are stepping in to fill the shoes of a hesitant central government.
Municipal and regional authorities across the country are offering to help asylum seekers from countries such as Syria and Iraq, while the government of Mariano Rajoy wrangles with Brussels over how many refugees Spain is going to accept.
Besides the tug-of-war with European officials over quotas, the Spanish migrant reception system is not prepared to deal with a large and sudden influx of people after years of budget cuts. A steady rise in asylum claims in recent years has not been matched by an increase in resources.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden: Migration Board’s Plea: Give to Organisations Instead
The big interest in donating clothes and food to refugees has overwhelmed the Swedish Board of Migration, which is asking people to bring their donations to aid organisations instead.
“We are very grateful for people’s devotion. But we have no possibility to deal with this amount of gifts. We are already in a strained situation and need to work with other issues,” Linus Lindqvist, press officer at the Migration Board, told the news agency TT.
One of the refugee reception centres that has been on the receiving end of people’s good will is in Surahammar, west of Stockholm.
“We have seen a big interest from private people, organisations and businesses from all over the Västmanland region,” said Hannes Kataja, press spokesperson at Attendo, which is running the reception centre.
On Friday, there was a long line of cars and lorries up to the centre, with people wanting to make donations.
“It was a fantastic sight. They came with anything from bikes to cots, food and clothes,” said Kataja.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
The Latest: Hungarian PM Says Migrant Crisis Not Resolved
Hungary’s anti-immigrant prime minister says the emergency shipment of thousands of migrants to Austria doesn’t solve his country’s growing challenge of managing foreigners trying to travel through its territory.
Viktor Orban, whose nationalist government is seeking to seal its southern border with Serbia to block the path of asylum-seekers, told journalists that Saturday’s mass mobilization of buses to transport Arab and Asian migrants west to Austria was an exceptional measure that would not be repeated. He says the migrants’ snarling of traffic on the country’s major motorway and decision to camp beside it Friday night posed too grave of a safety risk for migrants and Hungarian motorists.
Former Czech President Vaclav Klaus, a renowned Euro-skeptic, has launched an “Against Immigration” petition which calls “mass immigration a fundamental threat for the stability of Europe and individual EU member states.”
In the text, Klaus called on the Czech government to use all possible means, including police and armed forces, to protect the country’s border and to reject any plans by the European Union to establish a quota system for accepting migrants in the 28-member bloc.
He said it was “unacceptable” for Germany and France to put pressure on other EU member states on the issue.
Meanwhile, the Czech Republic’s most famous female athlete, seven-time Olympic gymnastics champion Vera Caslavska, published an appeal to the public asking the Czechs to help migrants and refugees. Caslavska said it would be Europeans, not the migrants, who lose human dignity if they refuse to help.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
The Only Way to Stem This Tide is to Stop Our Middle East Meddling
Until very recently visitors could travel with complete safety to Syria. I have in front of me the Bradt travel guide (2nd edition 2010) to the country.
It says that ‘Syria is probably one of the safest countries in the world. Violence or petty crime towards foreigners is virtually non-existent . . .’.
However, over the past five years it has suffered an orgy of violence on a scale unprecedented in history — and this, remember, is a nation whose capital, Damascus, was devastated by Genghis Kahn’s Mongols eight centuries ago.
More than 200,000 people have been killed and six million of Syria’s estimated 22 million population forced to flee from their homes, many (like the Kurdi family) in terrifying circumstances.
Certainly Syria’s president Bashar Assad is a dictator who ruthlessly suppressed dissent. But he ruled over a secular state that protected minorities —— Christians, his own Alawite religion, Druze and others.
The revolt against Assad began in the spring of 2011 and at first met with bloody suppression. Western nations believed the rebels were fighting for freedom and quickly gave their support.
But it soon became clear that the rebellion was not being led by the moderate groups favoured by Britain but had been taken over by Al Qaeda and jihadist groups driven by a hatred not just for the West but for Syria’s ancient and tolerant culture.
I am writing this from the heart of the Christian quarter in the old city of Damascus, a stone’s throw from Narrow Street along which it is recorded in the Bible that St Paul walked.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Thousands of Migrants Pour Into Austria by Bus, Train and on Foot
More than 4,000 migrants arrived in Austria and thousands more were heading there on foot Saturday as European countries broke a stalemate and began finding ways to take in the masses of humanity.
Hungary, which had spent days stopping migrants from leaving by train, provided buses to take them into Austria. The government relented under international pressure and after desperate refugees who had camped out at the Budapest train station simply began walking toward the border.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Thousands of Migrants Welcomed by Austria, Germany
Thousands of migrants have arrived in Austria and Germany after having been stranded in Hungary for days. Now the authorities in Germany in are working to get the new arrivals registered and placed in refugee centers.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Britain Has Given More Aid to Refugees Than Most of Europe Combined
The Prime Minister pointed to figures showing that the UK has already given more to the humanitarian effort than Germany, Netherlands, France, Italy, Hungary, Austria and Poland combined.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Wallström: “The EU Must Show Humanity”
Sweden’s foreign Minister Margot Wallström welcomes the decision to pick up thousands refugees walking from Hungary to Austria, and to drive them by bus across the border.
As she was entering the ongoing meeting of EU’s foreign ministers in Luxemburg, Wallström told Swedish Radio News:
“We have all seen terrible pictures. We now need to show humanity and not use violence against people who are so vulnerable and desperate. It feels good that this has been resolved in a way that is hopefully better and where we can show our humanity,” she said.
What does this crisis show, what is it a sign of? asked the reporter.
“The Dublin-agreement is not sufficient in these situations. The whole refugee disaster in the Mediterranean is a strain on all systems and all countries that are receiving countries,” she said.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
West: Little People Deal With Factoids, But Trump is Mr. Big Picture
by Diana West
About that Hugh Hewitt interview of Donald Trump: It amazes me.
Hewitt has just opened the perfect window on the Little Picture perspective. Pace Hewitt, Trump, a builder at the level of Soleimani’s terroristic excellence (really bizarro, I know), could, indeed, build a great wall of America. Hewitt sees the wall itself as endgoal, merely an engineering feat that a builder like Trump could achieve. He does not seem to grasp that the wall is the capstone of an overarching immigration policy revolution to resurrect such Big Things as U.S. sovereignty, borders, and immigration control in order to have a shot at saving America, the English-speaking nation of majority European and minority African roots, from being lost forever in demographic tsunamis coming from the Third World.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Cruz Rips Federal Judge’s ‘Tyranny’ In Clerk’s Case
‘Where is the call for President Obama to resign for ignoring and defying our immigration laws’
GOP president hopeful Sen. Ted Cruz, on Thursday accused U.S. District Judge David Bunning of “judicial tyranny” for jailing a Kentucky county clerk who refused to violate her Christian faith and issue licenses to same-sex couples.
He said those who are calling for her removal from office — she can’t be fired, she can only be impeached if she chooses not to quit — are hypocrites.
“Where is the call for President Obama to resign for ignoring and defying our immigration laws, our welfare reform laws, and even his own Obamacare?” Cruz said. “When the mayor of San Francisco and President Obama resign, then we can talk about Kim Davis.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Same-Sex Parents to be Able to Self-Certify Family Status
Mayor of Bologna unveils new system to handle school issues
(ANSA) — Milan, September 3 — Same-sex parents in the Italian city of Bologna will be able to self-certify their family status from this year so that both parents can manage issues related to their children’s schooling, such as authorising their participation in school trips.
Left-leaning Bologna mayor Virginio Merola unveiled the new system during an interview at a political event on Wednesday night, which local media reported.
Once an applicant fills out a new form, he or she will be recognised as a “parent” for administrative purposes, even though they are not connected to the biological or legal parent by law.
Italy, deeply attached to its Catholic roots, does not recognise either civil partnerships or marriage for gay couples.
Italian Premier Matteo Renzi said this week that parliament aimed to approve a government bill on civil unions by the end of the year, but added that a lot will depend on how debate in the Senate goes.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Many of the younger generation must be truly bewildered over the emotions older Americans display when expressing love, devotion, respect and reverence for our country. A tear in the eye for a patriotic song… a hand over the heart as the national anthem plays… a salute to the flag as it passes in a parade. Why would we older folks do that?
What frame of reference could younger Americans possibly have? Patriotism, nationalism — even American citizenship are taboo in today’s school curriculum. Globalism, diversity, and political correctness trump real history, sound economics, and science. Communism is just another economic system. The Founding Fathers are simply old, dead slave-owning white guys. The UN’s Declaration on Human Rights trumps the Declaration of Independence.
Where are the heroes for today’s young people to admire? Principled leaders who understood the roots of America’s greatness now are replaced by blow-dried sound-byte kings whose professional campaign staffs understand only how to maneuver a special interest group or a voting block.
How can young people make decisions in the voting booth? Who can they choose? Are there any candidates who offer anything other than meaningless gibberish? If today’s young people could learn some of the history that brings the older generation a sense of pride then they could be helped to understand that ordinary people in history knew that there were life principles worth sacrificing or even dying for. Perhaps they could help demand a better future for themselves.
Here are three little known examples from three separate eras of our nation’s history which demonstrate how Americans once thought. They are examples of how we as a nation once stood proud, ready to defend ideals to the death if necessary. And these examples clearly show why the rest of the world understood that such unwavering devotion to those ideals meant our word was true. Our steadfast principles of freedom clearly showed the rest of the world that America offered the human race something different, something wonderful. Our unmatched freedoms meant that Americans were more secure, more prosperous and happier than any people in history.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Pro-Life Grandma, 67, Behind Bars Over 10 Years
(LifeNews) In Canada, 67-year-old Linda Gibbons has served 10-years and seven months in prison for peacefully protesting in front of abortion facilities. The National Post reports that access to abortion in Canada is unrestricted and some provincial health plans pay for the procedure.
At abortion clinics, Gibbons always brings the same sign, which features a drawing of a baby and reads, “Why mom? When I have so much love to give.” Gibbons also holds a 10-week model of an unborn baby in her hand and paces quietly on public sidewalks.
However, Canada has a so-called “ bubble zone” law that prohibits pro-life activists from peaceful protesting within 500 feet of abortion facilities. In fact, Gibbons was arrested earlier this week in front of the Morgentaler clinic, which is an abortion facility located in Northern Toronto that has an “extensive security system,” according to the clinics website.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
(NaturalNews) This week, Michael Snyder published an important article entitled The 2030 Agenda: This Month The UN Launches A Blueprint For A New World Order With The Help Of The Pope.
That article references this UN “2030 Agenda” document that pushes a blueprint for so-called “sustainable development” around the world.
This document describes nothing less than a global government takeover of every nation across the planet. The “goals” of this document are nothing more than code words for a corporate-government fascist agenda that will imprison humanity in a devastating cycle of poverty while enriching the world’s most powerful globalist corporations like Monsanto and DuPont.
In the interests of helping wake up humanity, I’ve decided to translate the 17 points of this 2030 agenda so that readers everywhere can understand what this document is really calling for. To perform this translation, you have to understand how globalists disguise their monopolistic agendas in “feel good” language.
Here’s the point-by-point translation. Notice carefully that nowhere does this document state that “achieving human freedom” is one of its goals. Nor does it explain HOW these goals are to be achieved. As you’ll see here, every single point in this UN agenda is to be achieved through centralized government control and totalitarian mandates that resemble communism.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Once the EU can get to squeeze in a few muslims into Hungary, they will be considering that a victory. After that, they can be sure to “expand the colony”.
Why are the EU, the European politicians and their media, enemies of the European peoples? What is their motivation?
This is Communist policy, and behind communist is Satanism.
“With disdain I will throw my gauntlet
Full in the face of the world,
And see the collapse of this pygmy giant
Whose fall will not stifle my ardour.
Then will I wander godlike and victorious
Through the ruins of the world
And, giving my words an active force,
I will feel equal to the Creator.”
Karl Marx
Whatever their motives, their names should be noted, and in the event we emerge from this nightmare they should be dealt with–harshly, for the enormity of their crimes; at least IMHO.
After a fair trial of course, which they would never give those who oppose them.
The political elites are Post-Modern PC wackos who were brought up on Marxist hatred of Middle Class culture. The Marxists are furious that the Western Working Class never rose up, as Marx predicted, so they are putting all their hope in the disgruntled Muslims and Africans to do the job of wiping bourgeois culture off the map and settling up a Communist Dictatorship.
Meanwhile the financial cartels, private banks and bond markets (the Global Financial Empire) that rule the world and treat central banks and governments, like the EU, as their administrative units, are not pro-democracy. They are at heart MONOPOLISTS.
They have been salivating to get back into the Middle East and so will bow down to whatever the Islamic Regimes want, as long as they can have their piece of the action. Hence no resistance to refugees! Merkel and Cameron have their orders!
As far as the financiers are concerned, a wage serf can be black, white or brindle. It’s of no consequence. What they need are governments that CONTROL their populations! Hence their flirtation with the left-wing nutters who want Communist Dictatorship back. You will notice that the left-wing have joined with the Muslims to bring down the bourgeois democracies.
If the Middle Class ever wakes up from its slumber and mild manners and joins together with the thoroughly angry Working Class, whose suburbs have been trashed by the immigrants, there will be CIVIL WAR!
It will be bloody because it may be complicated by the Global Financial Empire’s profit-driven balloon of debt imploding, which is predicted to happen any time. It is an unsustainable model, as is the invasion of Islam and the divisive victimology of the PC class which gives itself the permission to destroy all those who don’t belong in their IDENTITY group.
IT’S A PERFECT STORM! All three groups have one thing in common – they abhor the Golden Rule of do unto others as you would have others do unto you. This is why they are so violently anti-Christ! I say we need another crusade to wipe them all out before we are wiped out!
>> Obama administration is leaving known ISIS training camps alone <<
This is a great crime. We squander our treasure in the M.E. for no reason announced to the American people. The Republicans are gelded nothings. We are awash with lies and nonsense. We toss out our precious citizenship to foreigners like a drunk beauty queen on a Mardi Gras float tosses out plastic beads.
Who is this freak who thinks to rule by decree and punish our allies? Why do the highest officials lick his boots?