As French police began demolishing the migrant shantytown known as “The Jungle” near Calais, residents of the camp began torching their shanties to protest the demolition. Meanwhile, 7,000 desperate migrants have backed up on the border between Greece and Macedonia. Conditions along the border are worsening, with shortages of food and water, and deteriorating sanitation.
In other news, “Super Tuesday” primaries have brought additional victories to the front-runners, Hillary Clinton for the Democrats, and Donald Trump for the Republicans. Mr. Trump looks to have won all the states except for Oklahoma and Texas (which went to Ted Cruz) and Minnesota (which went to Marco Rubio).
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to AF, C. Cantoni, Insubria, JD, Nick, Vlad Tepes, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.
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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.
Poverty Induced by Socialism is Hard to Shake
ROMANIA: Overturning the disaster of socialism is a daily battle. Socialism will eventually die with the older people who grew up under the mentality of socialist dependency.
To say that poverty induced by socialist dictatorships is hard to shake would be an understatement. Ask Cubans and now Venezuelans what is like to live in workers’ paradise that Fidel forced upon his people while he stashed away billions he has stolen with his cronies.
The socialist dictator Hugo Chavez left behind billions in personal bank accounts while Venezuelans struggle to survive under his socialist successor Maduro, who mismanaged the economy just as badly. One of the nations with the richest oil supplies cannot feed its people and provide basic goods that Americans take for granted, bread, milk, butter, diapers, detergent, just to name a few, and must spend hours each day in endless lines to find what they need if they are lucky.
Most people are confused about poverty and each person and economists define it differently. People, who desire socialism and are voting for either Bernie the borderline Marxist or Hillary the Socialist, complain endlessly how unjust and rigged the system is, how the Man keeps them down and there is no equality and social justice. Nobody seems to have any idea about personal responsibility and work ethic.
When compared to most countries in the world, American “poverty” is a bonanza from heaven paid for by government largesse with taxpayers’ money. This government largesse will eventually come to an end when it runs out of other people’s money and it can no longer print trillions once hyperinflation sets in. According to many Romanians, including hundreds of thousands of poor gypsies who refuse to integrate into normal society and change their lives, Romanians are the citizens impoverished by the communist party and their Securitate successors after the revolution of 1989 when communism ended officially on paper. Twenty-seven years later, not much has changed for most rural populations.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Collapse of the GOP Establishment
Often in history, revolutionary reform appears out of the blue in a way that is totally unexpected. We at AFR believe such a revolutionary reform may now be upon us despite the comedy acts and insults that dominate this 2016 election season. Squeamish complainers about the insults need to read the history of politics in the days of early America. Our Founders were no strangers to insults. Ridicule and scurrility saturated their campaigns for office also.
The all-important issue is that the radical transformation of the Republican Party appears to be underway, and the dramatic catalyst is the political campaign of Donald Trump.
If this is so, then the old, established Bush-Dole-McCain-Romneyized GOP is going to collapse. We welcome such a collapse because we know that just as nature abhors a vacuum, so too does society’s established politics. This vacuum will be filled with a new paradigm, a new coalition of American voters. This new coalition will be comprised of patriot conservatives, libertarians, and disgusted independents, bolstered by millions of blue-collar Democrats who will permanently depart from their traditional home on the left.
This epochal migration will make life unbearable for the old guard Republicans — the Bush-Dole-McCain-Romneyized mindset. They will find themselves without a home and will gradually over the next decade slide over to the Democrat Party. It will be done without a lot of fanfare, but it will be done because the Party of Liberalism is what this mindset is truly about and has been about for over 50 years. But the Democrat party will hemorrhage even larger numbers of defectors who will slide over to the new Republican Party, and herein lies the revolution.
The issues fanning this revolt are numerous, but the primary catalyst is “open borders”and the perfidy of Washington’s egregious toleration of illegal immigration. The blue-collar Democrats who have always cast their vote with the party of FDR out of loyalty to their parentage will never again vote so uncritically. It has finally dawned on them that their party leaders care more for ideology than jobs, more for multiculturalism than patriotism, more for power than principle. This realization will drive massive numbers of these disenchanted Democrats into the “new Republican Party” that Donald Trump tells his followers he will fashion should he win the presidency.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Higher Education in the Era of Obama: With All the Activism, Homework Can be a Real Inconvenience
Student activists at Brown University are complaining of emotional stress and poor grades after months of protesting, and blame the school for insisting that they complete their coursework.
“There are people breaking down, dropping out of classes, and failing classes because of the activism work they are taking on,” an undergraduate student going by the pseudonym “David” told The Brown Daily Herald Thursday. “My grades dropped dramatically. My health completely changed. I lost weight. I’m on antidepressants and anti-anxiety pills right now. Counselors called me. I had deans calling me to make sure I was okay.”
Other students reported similar problems, describing maladies ranging from emotional distraction to panic attacks that they say caused them to skip assignments, miss class, and generally lose focus on keeping their grades up.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Hillary Emails Betrayed Whereabouts of Murdered Ambassador Chris Stevens
An email containing the whereabouts and plans of murdered U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens passed through Hillary Clinton’s private server, dispatches released Monday in the final group of messages from Clinton’s emails reveal.
The email was actually first released last May but was contained in Monday’s batch as well, serving as a reminder that numerous emails sent to Clinton’s private address betrayed Stevens’ location while he was stationed in arguably one of the most dangerous zones in the world for an American diplomat.
The email in question was written Sunday, April 10, 2011 by State employee Timmy Davis and sent to the State email addresses of other employees, including Clinton’s then-foreign policy aide, Jacob Sullivan and Clinton’s senior aide.
| — Hat tip: AF | [Return to headlines] |
‘Incredibly Creepy’ Billboards to Track Behavior of Passers-by
Billboards across the country will soon begin to spy on the behavior of passers-by and sell that data to advertisers.
Clear Channel Outdoor Americas, which owns tens of thousands of billboards nationwide, is on Monday announcing plans to use people’s cell phones to allow its billboards to track the behavior of everyone who walks or drives past the ads.
“People have no idea that they’re being tracked and targeted,” Jeffrey Chester, executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy, told the New York Times, which broke the news on Sunday. “It is incredibly creepy, and it’s the most recent intrusion into our privacy.”
The marketing behemoth is partnering with AT&T and other companies that track human behavior to collect data on viewers’ activity, which advertisers could then use to create hyper-targeted ads-similar to how websites track visitors through their browsers and sell that data to online marketers.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Some Real Costs of the Trans-Pacific Partnership: Nearly Half a Million Jobs Lost in the US Alone
Optimistic claims about the TPP’s economic impacts are largely based on economic modeling projections published by the Washington-based Peterson Institute for International Economics.2 Its researchers used a computable general equilibrium (CGE) model to project net GDP gains for all countries involved. These figures have been widely cited in many countries to justify TPP approval and ratification. Updated estimates, released in early 2016 and incorporated into the World Bank’s latest report on the global economy,3 now stress income gains for the United States of $131 billion, or 0.5 percent of GDP, and a 9.1 percent increase in exports by 2030.4
The projections methodology assumes away critical economic problems and boosts economic growth estimates with unfounded assumptions. The assumption of full employment is particularly problematic. Workers will inevitably be displaced due to the TPP, but CGE modelers assume that all dismissed workers will be promptly rehired elsewhere in the national economy as if part of labor ‘churning’. The full-employment assumption thus inflates projected GDP gains by assuming away job losses and adjustment costs.
The modelers also dismiss increases in inequality by assuming no changes to wage and profit shares of national income. Again, this is not supported by empirical evidence, as past trade agreements have tended to reduce labor’s share.
Finally, foreign direct investment (FDI) is assumed to increase dramatically, which contributes a significant boost to economic growth in the Peterson Institute projections, accounting for more than 25 percent of projected U.S. economic gains in the recent update. This assumes that: 1) income to capital owners will be invested; and 2) this will result in broad-based growth. Neither is supported by the evidence. A U.S. Department of Agriculture study,5 which did not assume such FDI-related investment gains, found zero growth for the United States and very modest growth elsewhere at best.
The methodology of the Peterson study is flawed; consequently, growth and income gains are overstated, and the costs to working people, consumers and governments are understated, ignored or even presented as benefits. Job losses and declining or stagnant labor incomes are excluded from consideration, even though they lower economic growth by reducing aggregate demand.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Two FBI Whistleblowers Take on Unresolved Case of Suspicious Letters Targeting Oregon Sheriffs
Dr. Fred Whitehurst, the nation’s leading forensic expert, former Supervisory Special Agent in the Federal Bureau of Investigation Laboratory, and a whistleblower, joins FBI whistleblower Sibel Edmonds on the highly questionable aspects of the suspicious letters targeting Oregon Sheriffs. After 7 months the case of suspicious letters sent to Oregon Sheriffs’ offices still remains unsolved. Dr. Whitehurst and Edmonds take on the case-from chain of custody and adherence to national forensic examination guidelines, to the singular questionable suspect, motive(s), timing, and the absence of any federal or state charges against the suspect.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Ex-Guantanamo Chief Ignores French Court Summons
Former Guantanamo prison chief Geoffrey Miller failed to appear Tuesday before a French court despite a summons over accusations of torture by two ex-detainees, lawyers said.
Nizar Sassi and Mourad Benchellali, both French citizens, were arrested by US forces in Afghanistan before being transferred to the notorious prison set up in Guantanamo Bay to hold terror suspects after the 9/11 attacks.
They were held there from the end of 2001 until 2004 and 2005 respectively, before being sent home.
…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
France’s Hollande in Firing Line as Feuding Socialists Face Electoral Meltdown
France’s Socialist president is so unpopular many in his own party want someone else to run for the presidency next year. But the dearth of alternatives mirrors the sorry state of a party crippled by divisions and a gruelling spell in office.
Twice the France Inter anchor challenged François Hollande, and twice the embattled president dodged the question. At the third attempt, the veteran journalist finally got an answer. “Are you still left-wing?” he asked, yet again, during a feisty interview on February 19. To which Hollande replied, somewhat cumbersomely: “All my life has been the life of a man who is committed to the left and remains so.”
It is not uncommon for French presidents to try to raise themselves above the political fray. But the awkward session on France’s leading radio station highlighted the gulf that has emerged between the Socialist president and his base. Surveys have long shown that the vast majority of left-wing voters have lost faith in their president. Now a large chunk of Hollande’s own party has made it abundantly clear it wants someone else to run for president next year…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: M5S Mayor Candidate Raggi Against Rome Olympic Bid
Says city’s problems must be solved first
(ANSA) — Rome, February 29 — Virginia Raggi, candidate for Rome mayor with the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement (M5S), said she is against Rome’s bid for the 2024 Summer Olympics and believes the city’s problems should be solved first, in an interview published Monday in Rome daily Il Tempo.
“We need to concentrate on the ordinary,” Raggi said, adding that Rome is a city that is often used to build large works that remain unfinished.
“In any case, we’ll inform citizens of the costs and the risks of the Olympics,” she said.
The 38-year-old Roman lawyer said her top three priorities for the city reflect “those expressed by Romans themselves: transparency, which after Capital Mafia is a priority; transport, given that Rome is the 13th-largest city in the world, the fifth-largest in Europe and the largest in Italy for traffic; and waste management, which can make a resource out of refuse”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Luxottica Posts 2015 Profit 24% Up
Record turnover of more than 9 bn
(ANSA) — Milan, March 1 — Luxottica on Tuesday posted a 2015 profit of 854 million euros, 24.2% up on 2014 and a net adjusted margin of 9.5%. The eyewear-maker’s turnover was up 17% over the adjusted threshold of nine billion euros, a record. The company announced investments of 1.5 billion euros in the 2016-2018 period.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Salvini Slams ‘Red Nazis’ In Bologna
HOBO collective hangs ‘Salvini’ dummy upside down from bridge
(ANSA) — Bologna, March 1 — Rightwing populist Northern League leader Matteo Salvini on Tuesday slammed what he called the “Red Nazis” of a leftist youth collective who hung a dummy with his face on upside down from a railway bridge in Bologna, which he was visiting. “This is the democracy of the Reds, you don’t make us laugh you make us feel sorry for you,” Salvini said on his Facebook and Twitter accounts. He posted a photo of what the HOBO collective had done, captioned “Shame, Red Nazis in Bologna, Salvini hung upside down”. In a later Facebook post, Salvini said “we will free Bologna from these loser thugs.
You’re pathetic”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Businessman Accuses Prelate in 30-Million-Euro Fraud Case
Msgr Benvenuti alleges wheeler-dealer is the culprit
(ANSA) — Bolzano, February 10 — A French-Italian wheeler-dealer who was arrested in a 30-million-euro fraud case on Tuesday accused a fellow suspect who is a Catholic prelate of masterminding the scam. Monsignor Patrizio Benvenuti, 64, was nabbed as he was leaving for the Canaries on February 10 while his close collaborator Christian Ventisette, 54, was arrested on an international warrant in Madrid on February 24.
The pair allegedly defrauded some 300 unsuspecting humanitarian donors — most of them elderly people living abroad — out of a combined total of 30 million euros. The victims transferred money to Benvenuti’s Kepha Foundation, but instead of going to the non-profit’s stated humanitarian aims, the funds were allegedly laundered via a complex mechanism involving individuals and foreign and Italian companies.
Prosecutors say the prelate and the businessman “organized and promoted a racketeering organization operating domestically and abroad aimed at committing various and repeated crimes of fraud, money laundering, and tax evasion, involving individuals and companies located in Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, Switzerland, and the United States”.
The bust was sparked by a nun who used to work with Benvenuti, who turned to police when she discovered her name had been linked to financial operations involving hundreds of thousands of euros, which she knew nothing about.
In the course of the operation, police also seized an eight-million-euro Renaissance villa belonging to the Kepha Foundation that Benvenuti used as his private residence, an 850,000-euro archeological site in Sicily belonging to Ventisette, and other real estate and land worth 670,000 euros.
Benvenuti has served at various levels of the Holy See ecclesiastic tribunal in the Vatican, and was a military chaplain at a Navy academy in the small town of Chiavari in Genoa province.
On Tuesday, Ventisette told a preliminary hearings judge that Benvenuti masterminded the scam, while the monsignor has said the wheeler-dealer “swindled and betrayed” him.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
New Clip From Danish Mosque: Hit Kids Who Don’t Pray
The controversial Grimhøj mosque in Aarhus is at the centre of yet more controversy as a new video shows a visiting Copenhagen advocating the “educational” beating of children.
A new clip from a hidden camera used for the TV2 documentary “Mosques behind the veil’ (Moskeerne bag sløret) shows an imam at the controversial Grimhøj Mosque in Aarhus suggesting appropriate ways to physically punish children who do not pray.
The clip shows an imam telling the female-only audience that children ten and older who refuse to pray should be beaten in an “educational” way.
“Fear Allah, brothers and sisters, teach your children to pray. It is mandatory for you to teach them to pray from the age of seven years old. And even to beat them if they do not pray when they are ten years old,” the visiting Imam from Copenhagen is heard saying in video.
“You hit them as education and to learn,” he continued.
The recording continues to show a member of the female audience query the imam as to how a child should be beaten if they fail to pray.
“It is not allowed to punch them, knock them into a wall or break their bones. It is also not allowed to take a knife to them and cut them. You hit them as education and learning. Not as violence,” the imam replies.
The TV2 clip was the second in as many days to reveal some of the controversial messages espoused at the Aarhus mosque. In a previous clip, imam Abu Bilal Ismail advocates the stoning and whipping of adulterers…
| — Hat tip: Vlad Tepes | [Return to headlines] |
Paris Police Armed With Assault Rifles After November Attacks
Parisian police will be given assault rifles and Kalashnikov-resistant shields in a first for the French capital’s officers, nearly four months after a devastating terror attack killed 130 people, the interior minister said on Monday.
The weapons, up until now reserved for elite intervention forces, will allow members of certain police units “to intervene as fast as possible to reinforce the first patrols, notably when we are confronted with mass killings”, said the minister, Bernard Cazeneuve.
“Some of the criminals you are confronted with no longer hesitate to use heavy weapons against you, and you must be equipped with the means to fire back, and adequate protection,” Cazeneuve told officers at a Parisian police station…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
UK Readies Police State Bill to End Internet Privacy
Bill will force Apple to rewrite its iOS from the ground up
The British government is pushing the Investigatory Powers Bill, or Snoopers’ Charter, that will effectively end internet privacy.
The proposed legislation targets popular chat and message services such as WhatsApp, iMessage and FaceTime, outlaws end-to-end encryption and will force Apple to rewrite its iOS from the ground up to accommodate surveillance by the state. It would also force tech companies to provide backdoors accessible to government.
Additionally, the law requires ISPs to keep records of all internet activity of its customers. The data would be available to the government for a year.
In 2015 the British home secretary Theresa May admitted that a 1983 telecom act permitted bulk retention of data by MI5 and the agency had done so since September 2001.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Islamic Studies Teacher Who Raped Girl, 14, As He Taught Her the Koran Jailed for 19 Years
An Islamic studies tutor who raped a 14-year-old girl and sexually assaulted her for five years as he taught her the Koran has been jailed for 19 years.
Mohammed Islam started molesting the girl when she was just nine years old in 2010 before the scale his heinous crimes escalated until he raped her and made her pregnant in July last year.
The 31-year-old teacher’s sickening attacks were only discovered after his victim delayed her abortion to prove he was the father.
| — Hat tip: Nick | [Return to headlines] |
Libyan Talks in Cairo, ‘Haftar to Stay on as Army Chief’
‘But no ministry’, Al-Ahram; ‘failed here’, Benghazi fighters
(ANSAmed) — ROME, MARCH 1 — Informal talks are underway in Cairo between Libyan parties to the conflict for a mediation agreement leading to the creation of a presidential council under Fayez Sarraj, two vice presidents and two ministers of state flanked by a defense minister, Al-Ahram reported on Tuesday.
The newspaper cited sources in the Egyptian capital. It added that the former general (generally disliked in Tripoli) Khalifa Haftar will remain army chief but without a government position.
Al-Ahram said that the talks — noting the presence in Cairo of Special Representative and Head of United Nations Support Mission in Libya Martin Kobler, Tobruk parliament speaker Aqila Saleh Issa and Prime Minister-Designate Sarraj — are being held behind closed doors and that details will be announced only after an agreement is reached. Meanwhile, the Benghazi Revolutionaries Council underscored in a press statement that Haftar’s offensive in Benghazi had “failed, and fighting continues in the city”.
On February 25, the spokesman for the army under the former general said that Haftar would “announce victory and the complete liberation of Benghazi within six days”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
‘Ax-Wielding’ Palestinian in Brutal Attack on Israeli Guard (Graphic Video)
The incident took place in Maale Adumim, an Israeli settlement in the West Bank, 7km from Jerusalem.
A Palestinian has brutally attacked an Israeli security guard in a shopping mall with something that resembled an ax, a CCTV video shows. The assailant, who was a mall employee, is seen striking the father of four multiple times near an elevator.
The incident took place in Maale Adumim, an Israeli settlement in the West Bank, 7km from Jerusalem.
The suspect, later identified as 21-year-old Abu Hammad, approached the guard, Tzvika Cohen, and reportedly asked him to open the elevator door. Cohen wasn’t suspecting the attack as he knew Hammad and the pair worked together at the mall, Channel 2 reported.
Hammad attacked the guard without warning, striking him several times with a metal object that resembles an ax, as seen in security camera footage which is circulating online.
The guard is currently in serious condition at the Hadassah-University Medical Center on Mount Scopus, northern Jerusalem.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Israel Air Force Begins Installation of David’s Sling Missile Defense System
The David’s Sling missile defense system (also known as the “Magic Wand” and “Stunner) will be fully functional in the coming weeks. Israel’s Air Force began receiving the system from both the US Missile Defense Agency and Israel’s Defense Ministry on Tuesday. Both the Pentagon’s Defense Agency and Israel’s Defense Ministry successfully completed the final trials for David’s Sling in December of 2015.
| — Hat tip: Nick | [Return to headlines] |
Israel’s Air Force Takes Possession of David’s Sling Missile Interceptor
Israel’s Defense Ministry and the US Missile Defense Agency began on Tuesday the process of handing over control of the David’s Sling air defense system to the Israel Air Force.
Israel’s David’s Sling missile defense system passed final tests in December, and it was announced that it would be ready for deployment as part of the country’s efforts to defend against regional threats.
The Israeli Air Force’s Air Defense Branch has now begun receiving the main components of David’s Sling.
| — Hat tip: Nick | [Return to headlines] |
Israel Begins Installing Defense Against Mid-Range Rockets
Israel said Tuesday it has begun delivering its new mid-range missile defense system to air bases.
The Defense Ministry said the David’s Sling system “will allow Israel to more effectively defend against the wide range of current and future threats to its civilians.” The delivery process will take a few weeks.
Developed by Israel’s Rafael Advanced Defense Systems and U.S.-based Raytheon Co., it is designed to intercept rockets between 70 kilometers (45 miles) and 300 kilometers (180 miles).
| — Hat tip: Nick | [Return to headlines] |
Saudi Should Not Collectively Punish Lebanon: Hezbollah
Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah on Tuesday called on Saudi Arabia not to collectively punish Lebanon’s people just because Riyadh disagreed with the Shiite movement’s policies.
In a televised address on his group’s Al-Manar network, Nasrallah said Saudi Arabia does not have “the right to sanction the Lebanese people because one particular party took a certain position”.
Last week, Riyadh halted a $3 billion programme funding equipment for Lebanese security forces and urged Saudi citizens to leave Lebanon in response to “hostile” positions linked to Hezbollah.
The withdrawal of Saudi Arabia’s financial aid has sparked a war of words between opponents and supporters of Hezbollah in Lebanon…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
UAE: Murder of Domestic Worker Highlights Plight of Foreign Workers in the Emirates
35 year-old “lady” tortured a native woman of the Comoros for months with bamboo sticks and electric wires. At trial pleads innocence, but neighbors confirm: she beat her continuously. Out of 42 million people in the Gulf there are 18 million migrant workers. At least 2.4 million reduced in slavery.
Dubai (AsiaNews) — She tortured the maid to their “for months” brutally, kicking and punching, beating her with a bamboo stick and even using low voltage electric wires. Following months of beatings and injuries, the woman from the Comoros Islands died. As reported by the Arab newspaper Gulf News, the 35 year-old UAE citizen has been tried and charged with first-degree murder; in a statement to the judges the woman described herself as innocent and he dismissed any wrongdoing.
On admission to hospital, the body of the maid had wounds and burns that have also caused blood clots and a pulmonary edema. The death occurred last December and was the result, according to the prosecution in the first trial, which opened on 28 February, of systematic violence, repeated over time.
“I did not cause her death. How is that? I beat her a long time ago before the incident … how could that have happened! I am not guilty,” claimed the woman in court. She used bamboo sticks and electric wires on her maid. Moreover, after the abuse he has also denied necessary medical care to save her life.
The autopsy confirmed that the death is the result of torture and beatings that were prolonged for “weeks and months”. The defendant will remain in custody for the duration of the trail, postponed for the second hearing until 23 March.
Inside the house there was another 19 year old maid, who has confirmed before the judges that her employer “constantly beat her.” A neighbor, Egyptian, testified before the magistrates reporting of continuous screams aimed at the victim, who was crying in pain and begging to be spared.
There are 18 million foreign workers in the Arab countries of the Persian Gulf out of a population of 42 million people. They come mainly from India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Indonesia, the Philippines, Ethiopia. UAE foreign labor is around 88.5% and, in spite of recent reforms in the labor market, they are always subject to abuse, violence, harassment.
The so-called “kafala” sponsorship in force in all the Gulf countries, binds the employee — domestic or external — to the employer and reduces them to slave-like conditions. The worker often cannot change employers who also have the power to deport the immigrant worker.
The picture is even more complicated for women workers and domestic workers, who are excluded from the regulations provided by the Ministry of Labour. In June 2014 a partial reform granted one free day a week to domestic workers and eight hours of rest in any 24-hour workday.
Recent research shows that there are at least 2.4 million migrant domestic workers in conditions of slavery in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman and the United Arab Emirates. Saudi Arabia has increased the number of foreign domestic workers by 40% and Kuwait has seen a growth of 66%.
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| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Moscow ‘Nanny Murderer’ Gyulchekhra Bobokulov Shows Police Where She Beheaded Child
Escorted by armed police, handcuffed Gyulchekhra Bobokulova — herself a mother of three — showed officers the flat in Moscow, Russia where she killed Nastya Meshcheryakova.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Pell Asked How He Could Not Have Known About Predator Priest
Australian cardinal grilled for second time, will testify again
(ANSA) — Rome, March 1 — The head of the Vatican’s Secretariat for the Economy, Australian archbishop George Pell, testified for the second time late Monday to the Australian commission investigating sex abuse of minors and was asked how he could not have known about a predator priest who once worked beside him.
Speaking via video link from a Roman hotel, Pell said that he had no idea that priest Gerald Ridsdale was repeatedly transferred by the bishop in the town of Ballarat for more than a decade because of pedophile accusations.
The commission is investigating cases of abuse that occurred in the 1970s and 1980s, when Pell was a priest in the Ballarat diocese where abuse occurred.
Pell himself is not under investigation and has denied knowing about the abuse.
Pell, who advised Bishop Ronald Mulkearns about the placement of priests within the diocese, rejected an accusation made by the lead counsel assisting the commission, Gail Furness, that his answers were designed to remove his own responsibility for Ridsdale’s crimes.
“My answers were designed to answer your questions accurately and completely,” Pell told the Sydney inquiry via videolink from a Rome hotel.
Asked if he accepted any responsibility of Ridsdale’s repeated transfers within the Ballarat diocese, Pell replied: “No, I don’t.” Pell will testify for a third four-hour session late on Tuesday Rome time.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Brazil Arrests Facebook VP for ‘Obstructing Investigation’
Social media company declined to turn over Whatsapp messages
(ANSA) — Rio de Janeiro, March 1 — Brazilian federal police on Tuesday arrested the vice president of Facebook Latin America after the company declined to turn over client messages sent on subsidiary social media platform WhatsApp.
Prosecutors say the company has obstructed an investigation in a criminal drug trafficking case. VP Diego Dozdan, and Argentine national, was arrested while on his way to work in the city of Sao Paulo on a bench warrant from the northeastern city of Lagarto. Facebook has not commented on the arrest.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Migrants have started to torch the notorious Jungle camp in protest over the demolition of the site, leading to clashes between angry protesters and police.
As the flames tore through the light timbers and canvas of the buildings, some migrants called for the demolition to stop, with one woman protesting on the roof of one of the buildings.
She warned police not to approach when they moved forward to arrest her male companion as around 100 makeshift homes in the so-called ‘Jungle’ were torn to the ground yesterday, with bulldozers likely to continue their work all this week.
Earlier, AP reported the woman, thought to be from Iran, had followed through on a threat to cut her own wrists when approached by police.
Meanwhile, migrants brandishing metal bars and hurling rocks tried to hijack lorries today as demolition workers supported by riot police carried on smashing up their illegal camp.
It has led to many of the migrants trying to get to Britain as quickly as possible, forcing traffic to a standstill on major roads while trying to get on board HGVs.
‘Gangs broke out of the camp overnight, and started threatening drivers in the middle of the road,’ said a Calais police spokesman.
‘Tear gas and baton charges were used to restore order, and then the gang members were forced back inside the camp.’
| — Hat tip: AF | [Return to headlines] |
EU to Earmark 700 Mn for Migrant Draft
Expected to be adopted by commissioners Wed
(ANSA) — Brussels, March 1 — The European Commission is set to propose a regulation for emergency funding for humanitarian rescue operations to the tune of 770 million euros in three years (300 in 2016, 200 in 2017 and 200 in 2018) to address “the growing humanitarian needs in the EU vis-a-vis the refugee and migrant crisis,” according to drafts seen by ANSA Tuesday that are expected to be adopted by the college of commissioners Wednesday.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Germany: Submachine Gun Attack on Invader Center
German police have announced that they suspect a machine-gun was used in an armed attack on a nonwhite invader center in Saxony-Anhalt, last Friday evening.
According to German media, a special police team has launched an investigation into the unprecedented attack, which marks a major upturn in the war against Merkel’s nonwhite invasion plans.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Invaders Rape Another 2 German Teens
Yet another two young white German girls-aged fourteen and eighteen-have been raped by Afghani “asylum seekers” in the city of Norderstedt, Schleswig-Holstein.
The two young girls were part of a group at the Arriba water park and sauna village in Norderstedt, when they were attacked by the nonwhites on Sunday at around 17:30, German media have reported.
Two of the nonwhite rapefugees, aged fourteen and thirty-four, were arrested after police were alerted.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
An explosive leaked document from the Austria intelligence agency has revealed they expect a “repeat” of the 2015, resulting in Austria becoming a “huge asylum waiting zone” with up to half a million migrants stuck in transit.
Austria took in 68,000 refugees last year. However, according to documents from the country’s Military Intelligence Office (HNaA), seen by Kronen Zeitung, up to 500,000 migrants could end up in Austria by the summer of 2016.
This would mean that around one in 17 people in the nation of just 8.5 million would be a recently arrived migrant. The build up, the document explains, would be due to an ever-increasing number of arrivals and changes in border policies along the Balkans route.
The bleak predictions might sound like an exaggeration, but already this year, more than 131,000 migrants have reached Europe via the Mediterranean — more than the total number in the first half of 2015, the United Nations said Tuesday
| — Hat tip: AF | [Return to headlines] |
Migrants: Situation at Macedonia-Greece Border Explosive
Some 7,000 people at the border, lack of food and water
(ANSA) — SKOPJE — The situation at the border between Macedonia and Greece remains explosive and extremely critical.
Over 7,000 migrants and refugees who have arrived from the Middle East are awaiting to cross the border in order to continue their trip along the Balkan route with the objective of reaching Germany and other rich countries in northern Europe.
After violent clashes yesterday, when a few hundred migrants exasperated by the wait stormed a barbed-wire fence, with Macedonian police reacting with tear gas and stun grenades, tension was always palpable and there is no visible way out for the thousands who have remained stranded in Idomeni, the last outpost in Greece. Macedonian authorities authorize a limited number of entries, a decision following other countries on the Balkan route, starting with Austria, which has caused a domino effect on Slovenia, Croatia and Serbia. No more than 580 people are allowed to enter daily, only Syrian and Iraqi nationals, while Afghans and representatives of other nationalities are not permitted to cross.
The humanitarian situation is highly critical, with indescribable hygienic-sanitary conditions and lack of food.
Thousands of migrant landings are meanwhile being reported in the Greek islands from nearby Turkey.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
OMI Missionary: Thai Church Helping Pakistani Refugees, Persecuted at Home
More than 4,000 Christians have fled to Thailand to escape persecution in Pakistan. Fr Domenico Rodighiero, pastor at St Michael’s Catholic Church in Bangkok, said “When they arrive they don’t get a long-term visa or refugee status, so they are forced to live illegally. The local Church helps them as much as it can, with food and jobs, but it ihey isa or refugee status, so they are resources and t pensive and complcaited.s hard.”
Bangkok (AsiaNews) — For the past three years, “large numbers of Pakistanis have been arriving In Thailand, fleeing Pakistan’s blasphemy law, which has deprived them of their land and assets,” said Fr Domenico Rodighiero, a missionary with the Congregation of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate (OMI) and pastor at St Michael’s Catholic Church in Saphanmai, a northern suburb in Bangkok.
For over ten year, “our parish has helped refugees, and so we started to also take care of the latest arrivals.” The latter include Christian refugees, “some 4,000, both Protestant and Catholic. In addition, there is a large number of Ahmadi Muslims, who are also persecuted in Pakistan.”
Most refugees fled to Thailand hoping for resettlement in other South-East Asian countries; however, once in the country, they find themselves at a dead end, since Thailand does not recognise them any rights, without the opportunity of leaving, except back to Pakistan.
“When people arrive, they get a tourist visa at the airport for a month, or 20 days,” Fr Rodighiero said. “In some cases, they are renewed, but only rarely because it is expensive and complicated.”
“Thailand, and this is the most important thing, has not signed the 1951 UN Convention on Refugees. Thus, those who overstay their visa are not protected and can be locked up in detention centres or deported. This happens to both asylum seekers and (bona fide) refugees.”
A year and a half ago, the parish of St Michael started to collect necessities for the thousands of refugees, later followed by the whole diocese.
“We started with essential things like food,” said the missionary. “We deal with everyone, Catholics, Protestants, Muslims. Muslims are ashamed sometimes because they realise that Christians emigrated because of Pakistani Muslims.”
“All the refugees are divided into groups in some areas of Bangkok, and live in rented rooms with families,” Fr Rodighiero explained. “I visit their homes and celebrate Mass for the Christians. Then I go to the detention centre where illegal immigrants or those with expired visa are held.”
“Except for a few cases, the police does not go after these people, because they know where they are and can monitor them,” he explained. “Lately though, the centre has become overcrowded, and inmates can get out if they opt for bail (which usually costs about US$ 1,200) but this depends on the mood of the police.”
Thousands of refugees live in limbo, Fr Rodighiero noted, “because very few have a chance of getting recognised as refugees by the United Nations, since Bangkok does not recognise that status. However, they can emigrate. In view of the situation, their only option is to return to Pakistan. If they try to emigrate illegally, Thai police can stop them at the border.”
The situation is made even more difficult by the fact that “the process by which the UN recognises refugee status can take years: years for the first interview, and years for an answer. In the meantime, these people have no right to work. Some receive aid from their families at home, but after four or five years, they run out of resources and end up having to return.”
According to Fr Rodighiero, “the first thing to do would be to speed up UN procedures. From a political point of view, breaking the deadlock is more complicated because that would require changing Thai law. In addition, the United Nations in recent years has cut resources for refugees in Thailand, because there are other priorities in the world (Syria, Africa, etc.).”
“The Thai Church is generous and helps refugees find work,” the missionary explained. “Sometimes we help them go home or in special situations like when they get sick. But it is not easy, because there are so many and the needs are huge. The Church here is small and does not have a lot of resources. It is struggling to deal with such a big emergency.”
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
The Barbed Wire Fence Holding Back a Human Tide of Migrants
Hundreds trapped at Greece’s Macedonian border as it is revealed 131,000 refugees have crossed the Mediterranean this year
A 19 mile wall of razor wire and fencing has been erected along the the Greek-Macedonia border crossing as the country closed its gates to refugees hoping to make their way into the EU.
Citing a similar policy by Serbia further north, Macedonia has not allowed anybody in for the past 24 hours — causing a bottleneck among those making their way through the Balkans.
The decision led to extraordinary riots yesterday in which refugees smashed down a fence with a homemade battering ram and tear gas was fired by police.
It also comes as new figures reveal the migrant crisis currently engulfing the region has worsened significantly from last year.
Some 131,000 have reached Europe via the Mediterranean since January 1, more than the total number of the first half of 2015.
Out of a total of 131,724 people who have arrived on Europe’s shores this year, 122,637 landed in Greece and most were fleeing the conflict in Syria, the UN’s refugee agency (UNHCR) said.
The agency said an estimated 24,000 migrants in Greece were in need of accommodation as of Monday night.
| — Hat tip: AF | [Return to headlines] |
White Refugees Not Welcome in Australia
White refugees fleeing racist murderous violence in Zimbabwe are not welcome in Australia-unlike the 12,000 “Syrians” which that country’s government has announced are welcome, proving once again that the “refugee” issue is not about genuinely helping people in need, but only about flooding white nations with nonwhites.
The latest example of anti-white establishment hypocrisy has been highlighted with the case of white Zimbabwean refuges Edward (“Eddie”) and Audry Vermaak.
The Vermaaks were farmers in Zimbabwe when the black government there decided to violently expel the last of the whites. They were subjected to violent attacks, beatings, and extended periods of persecution.
With their lives clearly in danger-and many other white Zimbabweans having been butchered by black mobs-the Vermaaks decided to apply for asylum in Australia, where they have extended family members…
“If our parents return to Zimbabwe this will be devastating to the whole family as the likelihood of them being murdered is extremely high. They also fear they will never see their grandchildren or any of their family again,” the petition reads.
However, the Australian government has now formally turned down the Protection Visa application.
“They are currently appealing to the Immigration Tribunal in the hope that they will understand the horrific ordeals that they have been through, and that it is extremely unsafe for them to return to Zimbabwe,” the petition says, ending with an appeal for signatures to be presented to the Australian government to ask that these “hardworking, law-abiding people be allowed to stay in Australia.”
The disparity in approach to white refugees genuinely fleeing for their lives and the “open welcome” granted to thousands of “Syrians” who are already safe in third countries-where they are under no threat at all-illustrates perfectly the establishment’s anti-white nature.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: M5S Urges Gay Adoptions Referendum
‘Right to involve Italian people’ on major ethical issues
(ANSA) — Rome, March 1 — The anti-establishment 5-Star Movement (M5S) on Tuesday called for a referendum on adoptions by gay couples. “For gay couples adoption per se should be addressed via a popular referendum,” said M5S Lower House Deputy Speaker Luigi Di Maio. Speaking on Repubblica TV, Di Maio said that “it is right to involve the Italian people on such important ethical issues”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Bishops Daily Blasts Vendola for Using ‘Human Market’
Row over SEL leader using surrogate mother to become parent
(ANSA) — Rome, March 1 — Avvenire, the daily newspaper of Italian bishops conference CEI, on Tuesday blasted Left Ecology and Freedom (SEL) party leader Nichi Vendola after he announced the birth of his and his male partner’s son thanks to surrogate motherhood at the weekend. “The sad human market is growing and it has entries on the left and right,” Avvenire said in an editorial criticising the former Puglia governor. “They should stop calling it rights”. The case has fueled tension over the issue of gays adopting children even though a provision that would have allowed homosexuals to adopt their partners’ biological children was stripped from a bill regulating civil unions last week.
On Monday top-selling Catholic weekly Famiglia Cristiana (Christian Family) on Monday slammed Vendola too for using a practice that is illegal in Italy. “The defender of the poor and the oppressed went abroad like a gentleman of means, orphaned a baby of its mother and eluded the (Italian) Constitution,” the weekly wrote on its website. “Wasn’t he supposed to be a leftist?”.
Northern League leader Matteo Salvini blasted Vendola, accusing him of “disgusting selfishness”.
Beppe Grillo, the leader of the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement (M5S), was also critical.
“There is something about the concept of wombs for rent that scares me and it has nothing to do with homosexuality or heterosexuality, but with the logic that says ‘we’ll do it because it’s possible’,” comedian-turned-political Grillo wrote in a letter published in Tuesday’s Corriere della Sera. Premier Matteo Renzi’s centre-left Democratic Party (PD) is set to propose new legislation on adoptions, including those by gay parents, after the stepchild adoption provision was dropped to allow the civil unions bill to clear the Senate last week. But Interior Minister Angelino Alfano has said this would breach a pact that his centrist AP group reached with the PD to win its support.
Renzi replied indirectly by saying that “the time of vetoes” to needed reforms — such as the civil unions bill now before the Lower House — is over.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Saudi Arabia does not have “the right to sanction the Lebanese people because one particular party took a certain position”.
But Hezbollah can sanction Israel and all Jews because ‘Allah’ commands it…..
Does this stink of hypocrisy anybody?
Unbelievable stench!
Coupled with “evil will triumph when good men do nothing….”
And practically nothing is being done, but when warmer weather comes and the flood begins in earnest, there is hope that Europe might ‘blow’, as it must.
Look at the chaos in the “jungle” in Calais, men are now sewing their lips together in protest at being moved out. All the lefties will be blubbing that something must be done. Sensible authorities would be saying good, at least it will stop the constant whining! Genuine refugees, in documented fear for their lives would approach the FIRST country of safety with a degree of humility and gratitude, not dictate what they want,where they want to go, cause criminal damage, trespass, ruin the lives of the local population, attack police or commit arson. Sensible authorities would also smash the brainless “no borders” anarchists, who encourage these third world chancers to rampage, too.
To round off another week of European insanity we now know that Merkel is a nominee for the Nobel Peace Prize. You would have to possess a heart of stone not to laugh. “Destroyed a whole continent in less than a year?” Come on down the prize is yours!
Next we can expect millions of the attack Muslims to just help themselves to goods in stores and why not move into our homes and onto our gardens. Well I mean the invasion is such a success so far. Keep doing what you are doing. The umma is supported by what’s Left in kafirs and the only opposition is flag waving parades.by kafirs too nice to believe. Just a few months ago what is unfolding would have taken an almost impossible stretch of the imagination. The so called EU is a bunch of disconnected Babylonian looneys from the ashes of former communist bedlam sitting in a big expensive capitalist office in Bruxelles. Far from home. A veritable cuckoo’s nest. Go home and tend to your country.
“Muslims to just help themselves to goods in stores ” It’s happening already and shopkeepers can’t do anything against imported invaders and elected backers. Hard and difficult times are already here: “State will rise against state and kingdom against kingdom.”
All this is not invaders faults: Invaders have been looting, beheading for the last 1435 years. They were confined to certain areas. What traitors did was to spread to the six Continents.
We still go and elect them because what happens in Benghazi stays in Benghazi. Hell.
Can one imagine Merkel and others hiding out in a drain somewhere in Berlin.
I love to see that Day though it will inevitable come.
Did you hear the horrible news: Turks have won again: they can go/ invade/ actually they have been invited to compete the invasion/ occupation/ colonization of the Continent of the Confused semi’-Neanderthal Zombies.
Just when you see the looming danger surrounding Europe and you wait/ hope that common sense will be awakened . . . Traitors of Europe do something more outrageous, more unrealistic, destructive and irrational.
Why do Traitors hate their own voters so much?
Isn’t this a hate crime?
[NOTE FROM THE BARON: This is an English-language blog. In future, please use English in your comments.
I’ve put machine tranlations of the Swedish parts in square brackets.]
TÄNKTE SVENSK MEDIA MÖRKA
Av Thoralf Alfsson – Tisdag 1 mars 16:50
Igår skrev Avpixlat en artikel om hur ett TV-team från Australien och programmet 60 minutes attackerades flera gånger i Rinkeby. Det borde ju ha varit en nyhet även för svensk media men enligt uppgift från personer som varit i kontakt med svensk media var journalisterna ointresserade. Sannolikt för att Avpixlat varit först med nyheten och att Jan Sjunnesson från Avpixlat varit tillsammans med TV-teamet.b Nu har dock händelsen fått stor uppmärksamhet internationellt och givetvis då i Australien. Det tvingar sannolikt ut svensk pk-media på banan. Först ut verkar DN vara i en artikel.
[THOUGHT SWEDISH MEDIA DARK
By Thoralf Alfsson – Tuesday, March 1 16:50
Yesterday Avpixlat wrote an article about how a TV crew from Australia and the program 60 Minutes was attacked several times in Rinkeby. It ought to have been news to Swedish media, but according to information from people who have been in contact with the Swedish media was uninterested journalists. Likely to Avpixlat been the first with the news, and that Jan Sjunnesson from Avpixlat been with TV teamet.b Now, however, the event received considerable attention internationally and, of course, when in Australia. It forces likely out pk Swedish media on the track. First DN appears to be in an article.]
http://www.dn.se/nyheter/sverige/tv-team-fran-60-minutes-angripet-i-rinkeby/ SVT lokalt i Stockholm har nu också en artikel. [SVT locally in Stockholm has now also an article.]
http://www.svt.se/nyheter/lokalt/stockholm/australiensiskt-tv-team-anfolls-i-rinkeby?cmpid=del:pd:ny:20160301:australiensiskt-tv-team-anfolls-i-rinkeby:nyh
Men läser man Avpixlats artikel och artiklar i DN och SVT så går de isär en hel del. Vem litar mina läsare mest på?
Nu väntar vi också på Expressen och Aftonbladet 😉 Eller tänker de fortsätta att mörka.
Här kommer ett antal länkar.
[But if you read Avpixlats article and articles in DN and SVT as they go apart a lot. Who trust my readers most?
Now we are waiting also Expressen and Aftonbladet;-) Or do they remain dark.
Here are some links.]
Daily Telegraph
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/masked-men-attack-60-minutes-crew-in-sweden/news-story/cbeea138a8c48bd81280d9d659474eda
9News
http://www.9news.com.au/world/2016/03/01/16/08/60-minutes-crew-attacked-in-sweden
Daily Mail
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3470619/60-Minutes-crew-filming-reporter-Liz-Hayes-attacked-bloodied-group-masked-African-men-interviews-European-refugee-crisis.html
News Com
http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/tv/masked-men-attack-60-minutes-crew-in-sweden/news-story/acdf5f61158f5a647bf35ef4283beaa8
The Sydney Morning Herald
http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/tv-and-radio/news-and-current-affairs/60-minutes-film-crew-attacked-by-a-group-of-masked-men-in-stockholm-20160301-gn79oi.html
Yes. Of course it does. And I’m not a Jew.
Damn, I hate to say it because it really is a curse for all the ages. but it does seem we DO live in “interesting” times and I would give a lot to return to either the COLD WAR or to merely boring. Please. During the cold war it seemed that most people were somewhat sane, although I was very young at the time.
Now what we have is crazed Muslims invading Europe, America, elsewhere — why don’t or can’t they mind their own business and pursue their own religion quietly?
Fortunately, here in America we are free to be armed and that really means something with the head-choppers running loose. Sorry if I offended anyone (but not really sorry).
Dear God, I’m glad I live in “boring” Kansas — although they are here, too.
The Cold War is not over. What happened to all the Communists in the West when the Soviet Union fell? nothing! they continue to work for communist World domination. So they import invaders instead.
Look at all the wording used against those that oppose the invasion – it is all communist wording and communist disinformation.
Islam hasn’t changed. What has changed is that the Left has decided that the West must be destroyed in order for them to create their socialist utopia (which looks like Sweden – do you want to live in today’s Sweden, I don’t !).
Islam is merely the symptom. Statist Collectivism (the Left) is the source of the affliction, and if not stopped, then the Left will destroy Enlightenment Civilization as we know it. yes, even in Kansas.
This is DELIBERATE. Engineering chaos is how the Left makes the citizens so desperate they think only the Leftists can save them.
The people in charge know that there will be no utopia from this, but there are obviously very many useful idiots who think so.
Good one.
I thought for a minute that I wrote this. It sounds like me. We didn’t listen to the KGB defectors like Yuri Bezmenov and General Pacepa and others. However I don’t know if they actually abandoned the project in Russia or if the Perestroika devotion is real.
obtain a concealed carry permit now before it’s restricted to [Muslims] only
Muslims do not need us for guns, ammo, barracks or barter. Have you not noticed? For the Muslim we lost the war. It is now at the rape, plunder and occupy stage with no sign of a regroup by the kufar – yet.