Omar al-Shishani, one of the top military leaders of the Islamic State, has reportedly died of wounds sustained in a U.S. air strike. The report is denied by ISIS, who say that their leader was not even injured. Mr. al-Shishani, a Chechen, was well-known for attracting new recruits from the Caucasus to fight in the jihad in Iraq and Syria.
In other news, in the latest Brexit polls, 52% of Britons who are likely to vote want the UK to leave the EU.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to AF, C. Cantoni, Dean, DV, Insubria, JD, Jerry Gordon, KS, LP, MM, Seneca III, Steen, 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.
Controversial Rabbi Asks: Why Donald Trump
A while before the present Trump hysteria, I visited a synagogue in Hamburg. Here the Germans upped the ante, surrounding the area with armoured personnel carriers and police carrying automatic weapons. An isolated event? No, I was told it’s like that each Saturday. A few miles to the west in neighboring Holland, a friend involved in security matters told me what few outsiders know: synagogues are being closed up and shuttered.
“So where are the Jews disappearing to?” was my obvious response. “They’re conducting their services underground in private homes”, came my friend’s ominous message.
Everywhere in Europe, Jews who normally wear head covering identifying themselves as orthodox Jews, have been instructed by communal leaders to stop doing so. Whether it be East London, the Paris underground, or any major skandinavian city, Jews are under attack. And while Donald Trump was still making high-end ties, this has been going on for years.
In Londonistan (London, England), I received an invitation by the English Defense League to speak on behalf of English sovereignty and security amid the growing Muslim threat to non-Muslims in townships like Luton (see Youtube video: Rabbi Shifren speaks in Luton). In a background of “grooming” (sexual enslavement of young Christian girls through intimidation and death threats toward family members), “no-go-zones” (exclusive Muslim areas where access to non-Muslims is denied), and general mayhem and harassment, I was greeted by over 5,000 Luton residents. I was asked by a leftist BBC reporter: “How can an orthodox rabbi such as yourself associate with such an ‘extremist’ group?”
I didn’t bat an eyelash: “These are my friends!”
It was important to show solidarity with a group that has always treated me with he utmost of respect, a rare patriotic organization dedicated to saving Britain from itself, despite an incessant miasma of hatred directed at it by the press, pressured by a powerful political mafia, and law enforcement. The most remarkable incident of my visit to London? The left-wing “Jewish Chronicle” proposed that I not be invited to London, lest I incite the otherwise friendly Muslim population! Only Kafka could make sense of such intellectual rubbish.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
NTSB Says Feed Truck Shifted Track Before Amtrak Accident
WICHITA, Kan. — A truck used to deliver feed to a business where cattle are fattened hit a train track and shifted it at least a foot before an Amtrak train derailed in southwest Kansas and injured at least 32 people, and investigator said Tuesday.
National Transportation Safety Board member Earl Weener did not say if the feed truck was the cause of the Amtrak Southwest Chief’s accident the day earlier.
But he said the impact of the truck from the Cimarron Crossing Feeders shifted the train tracks 12 to 14 inches. The train was traveling 60 mph when the engineer applied emergency brake, stopping 18 seconds later.
Amtrak’s Southwest Chief was carrying more than 140 people when it derailed early Monday, moments after an engineer noticed a significant bend in a rail and applied the emergency brakes, authorities said. At least 32 people were hurt, two of them critically.
Investigators reviewed data from cameras and recorders on the train as well as the condition of the rails and crew performance.
Weener had said on Monday that the engineer was vigilant and noticed the variation on the track, causing him to brake. The track had been inspected last week, he said.
The train, which had about 130 passengers and 14 crew members, was making a 43-hour journey from Los Angeles to Chicago when it derailed shortly after midnight along a straight stretch of tracks in flat farmland near Cimarron, a small community about 160 miles west of Wichita. Eight cars derailed, and four of them ended up on their sides.
Four of them remained hospitalized Monday night, including two people who were airlifted to Amarillo, Texas. The rest had been released…
| — Hat tip: MM | [Return to headlines] |
People Are Going to Prison Thanks to DNA Software — But How it Works is Secret
In pop culture, DNA is often portrayed as a magical piece of evidence that links perpetrators to crimes and exonerates the innocent. But deciphering it is usually much messier in real life, especially in cases like Shelley’s that involve samples of more than one person’s DNA. Over the last decade or so, forensic scientists have come to realize that traditional methods for interpreting these “mixed samples” are often less reliable than previously thought.
Now, Cybergenetics and a handful of other companies are selling a solution: software that claims to interpret mixed DNA with a high degree of accuracy. These companies point toseveral peer-reviewed studies that describe the underlying mathematical concepts of their programs, as well as results of mock testing in which they correctly interpreted known samples.
But here’s the problem, according to some attorneys and geneticists: These companies claim that the details of how the computer programs carry out their calculations, spelled out in their source codes, are trade secrets. So there’s no way to independently verify that the programs are pinning the real criminal, critics say.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
School May Expel Muslim Teens for Standing Up to Bullies — After Ignoring Their Pleas for Years
Two Muslim teens say their New York school has ignored about bullying for years — and now they may be expelled for fighting back.
Adam and Jameel Siam said they have suffered anti-Muslim harassment for at least two years at Williamsville East High School, but they said administrators have done nothing to address their complaints, reported WIVB-TV.
“I was bullied for Osama bin Laden, I’ve been called a terrorist,” said Jameel, a junior. “We’ve been called terrorists, go back home and make bombs in your basement or you’re going to come back and shoot up the school — and it’s just like, people kept pushing our buttons.”
The boys have attended schools in the western New York village since preschool, but they said the bullying has recently grown worse.
“You don’t know if someone is going to come up behind you or come right up to you and say something,” said Adam, a sophomore. “You always have to watch where you are, what you’re doing, who’s around you. You always gotta have a watch out.”
They’re hounded on social media and harassed in the hallways at school, and vandals broke windows and doors at the family’s home over the weekend by throwing rocks and eggs.
The boys have filed at least two reports with Amherst police, the TV station reported — once after a fight in December and then again after their home was vandalized.
Their mother said she has repeatedly asked school officials to help stop the bullying, but she said her complaints have been ignored.
“This has been festering for years now,” Rehab Siam said. “They’ve never looked into the whole serious issue.”
Now the boys face an expulsion hearing after fighting with their tormenters.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Shocking Study Suggests Millions of Kids Misdiagnosed as Having ADHD Because of Their Age
The diagnosis for ADHD is notoriously subjective, and has in many cases become a tool for teachers and school authorities to drug a child into “proper” behavior.
The most powerful symptom of ADHD in the psychiatric handbook, ICD-10 Classification of Mental and Behavioral Disorders, is when a child “often fidgets with hands and feet or squirms in seat.”
Other purported symptoms include blurting out answers before questions are completed (“impulsivity”) and failing to give close attention to details or giving careless mistakes in school work or other activities (“inattention”).
If a teacher notices too many instances of such odd behavior as fidgeting, not waiting their turn, stepping out of line or speaking out of turn, the teacher can initiate a psychiatric evaluation.
At this point one may be thinking, isn’t it normal for kids to do stuff like that?
In a society that values homogeneity, ADHD diagnoses are continuing to rise. However, it turns out that many of these kids may not have ADHD at all, and may instead be drugged because of their relative age.
In a new study, researchers collected data on 378,881 children between the ages of 4 to 17, and found that the youngest kids in a grade level were more likely to be diagnosed with ADHD or receive ADHD medication than the older kids.
According to the research:…
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The PCE, PT. 11 — Donald Trump: The Left’s Worst Nightmare
by Diana West
Donald Trump’s presidential candidacy threatens the Left’s strangehold in this country more than any other movement in American politics in my memory, if not modern history.
That’s the simple reason thousands of Leftists mobilized in Chicago last week to shut down the democratic process — to seize the space inside and around a Trump political rally and transform it into a morass of menace, sirens, chaos, and mobs.
Ted Cruz, John Kasich, Marco Rubio, Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, Rachel Maddow, Jake Tapper, Megyn Kelly et al to the woeful contrary: Nothing, but nothing, Donald Trump has said from his podium about protestors disrupting his rallies (punch him in the face, get him out of here, beat the crap out of anyone that throws tomatoes at me, I’ll defend you in court — the works) drives the anti-USA agendas of these Leftist groups; nor did it inspire them to organize the mobs that “successfully” interupted the democratic process last week in Chicago.
So what is behind it?
It is Donald Trump’s political agenda that drove the Left to organize its Chicago assets to seize enough control of the streets and the auditorium to thwart peaceable assembly and disrupt free speech — constitutional rights both (which, by the way, “Constitution defender” Cruz, once again, is so quick to surrender).
The Left reviles Trump’s Wall. They revile his policy to deport illegal aliens. To halt Muslim immigration. To halt illegal immigration. To control legal immigration. Restore US sovereignty. Reverse globalizing trade policies, such as TPA and TPP. These sharp turns from our politics-as-usual-over—the-cliff is what drove the Left to the streets in Chicago. Leaders on the Right — Cruz, Kasich and Rubio — gave the Left cover by blaming Trump.
Below is a list of the groups and persons that helped organize or participated in the “protest” in Chicago, a city, I was surprised to find, that is nearly as Hispanic as it is black. Blacks comprise 32.9 percent of Chicago’s population. “According to the U.S. census,” the Chicago Tribune reports, “28.9 percent of Chicago’s population identify as Hispanic. About 21.4 percent are from Mexico.” More than one in five Chicagoans are from Mexico? No wonder there were Mexican flags flying over the anti-Trump throngs.
My list is cobbled together from the LA Times, Daily Caller, the Chicago Tribune, Politico, and my own perusing. It is probably not complete, given that Chicagomag.com estimated that some 60 groups and 100 student organizers put the shutdown together. Incomplete or not, however, the revolutionary Leftist agenda of the groups couldn’t be clearer…
| — Hat tip: KS | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Benedict Cumberbatch’s Airing of Political Views Sickens Michael Buerk
Michael Buerk accused Benedict Cumberbatch and Emma Thompson of ‘pratting around’ and branded their rants over global issues ‘infantile’.
‘As a superannuated war reporter myself I’m a little sniffy about celebs pratting around among the world’s victims,’ Buerk, 70, writes in Radio Times.
‘I hate it when feather-bedded thesps pay flying visits to the desperate to parade their bleeding hearts and trumpet their infantile ideas on what ‘must be done’. There’s only so much of the Benedict and Emma worldview you can take.’
[Commenr: hear, hear!]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Why “Andy’s Law” Is Needed in Florida
Just before the Florida legislative session ended on Friday, March 11th, 2016 Rep. Ritch Workman, House Rules Chairman, shelved a special call for a floor vote on HB3/SB996, informally know as “Andy’s Law.” This despite broad support for the important counterterrorism measure as evidenced in unanimous passage the Florida Senate and virtually unopposed passage at three committee hearings in the House. Let’s review why Andy’s Law was developed and enacted into law in several other states. Further, as shown in other instances such as the three year effort that eventually resulted in the passage of the Florida version of American Law for American Courts (ALAC), Foreign Laws in specific instances, these legislative speed bumps have occurred. Yet perseverance and effective advocates in the State Legislature like Rep. Mike Hill and others eventually overcame objections resulted in enactment of important counter terrorism laws.
The American Public Policy Alliance as living legacy created “Andy’s Law” a model state law: Terrorism as Racketeering and State Felony (TRSF). TRSF subjects enablers of home grown terrorism in the US to civil litigation under state RICO statutes. It was first introduced in the Arkansas legislature advocated by Daris Long, the father of the late Army Pvt. Andrew Long. Andy’s law was enacted into Arkansas law following passage in the 2013 Legislative Session in Little Rock.
Pvt. William “Andy” Long of Conway was killed and Pvt. Quinton Ezeagwula of Jacksonville was injured in a June 1, 2009, shooting at the Little Rock Army-Navy Career Center. [Carlos Bledsoe also known as] Abdulhakim Muhammad was sentenced to life in prison for the shootings, which he said were in retaliation for U.S. policy in the Middle East. Under pressure from Congress the Pentagon relented and on April 15, 2015 awarded Purple Hearts to the late Pvt. William “Andy” Long and Quinton Ezeagwula. This was the first homegrown terrorist incident following 9/11, occurring several months before the Fort hood massacre by Army Major Nidal Hassan that killed 13, wounding 31 others. These purple hearts awarded to Long and Ezeagwula were delayed because the Pentagon and the Obama Justice Department considered the case of the Little Rock attack a criminal act, subject to state law or the Fort Hood jihad as non-combat casualties rather than terrorist actions…
| — Hat tip: Jerry Gordon | [Return to headlines] |
Why Were Hellfire Missiles Found on a Portland Bound Passenger Flight?
Last weekend, bomb sniffing dogs in Serbia made a rather disturbing discovery. A civilian passenger plane traveling from Lebanon (which was stopped for reasons that haven’t been explained) was carrying wooden crates that contained two Hellfire missiles. The American-made missiles are a staple of the US Armed Forces, and they are frequently deployed on Predator drones and helicopters. So why were they found on a civilian plane; and, more importantly, where were they headed?
While the former is still a mystery, the documents on the crates indicated that their final destination was Portland, Oregon. They were also labeled as “model rockets.” The Lebanese army says the missiles were being used for training purposes and didn’t contain any explosives, but Serbian officials are still investigating the munitions to see if that claim is true. The Lebanese army also claims that they were shipping the missiles back to their manufacturer, Lockheed Martin, but the company says that their Portland office doesn’t work with weapons or munitions.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Accused in Military Stabbings Said Allah Told Him to Carry Out the Attack
TORONTO — A man who allegedly said Allah instructed him to kill was charged Tuesday with stabbing and wounding two uniformed soldiers at a north-end military recruitment centre a day earlier.
While investigators were probing possible terror links, the city’s police chief said there didn’t appear to any connection to terrorist groups, although it appeared the man had deliberately targeted military personnel.
“To date, there is nothing to indicate the accused is working with anyone or in concert with any organization,” Chief Mark Saunders said. “It will take some time to have a complete picture.”
The incident occurred mid-afternoon Monday, when a man walked into the government building that houses a Canadian Armed Forces recruitment centre on the ground floor.
He walked into an office with a “large knife” in hand and began striking a uniformed master corporal, who fell to the ground, Saunders said. The soldier was able to get to his feet, at which point the suspect slashed his right arm.
As military personnel moved civilians to safety, police said he tried and failed to slash a female soldier before other soldiers were able to subdue him and hold him for police. Another military member was stabbed trying to apprehend the suspect.
“While at the scene, the accused stated that ‘Allah told me to do this; Allah told me to come here and kill people,’“ Saunders said.
Following the arrest, the accused became “non-responsive,” Saunders said, meaning he refused to answer any police questions. He was taken to hospital because of his behaviour. The two soldiers required treatment for minor injuries.
The incident evoked memories of two separate attacks in 2014 that left two soldiers dead, one in Ottawa and another in Montreal. Investigators said both accused in those cases had become radicalized.
Saunders said Toronto police were working with federal security and anti-terrorism forces on the investigation. At the same time, he warned the public against any anti-Islam sentiment in the aftermath of the attack, saying Islamic extremists are relatively tiny in number.
“One of the things I want to be very careful of when it comes to the national security piece that we don’t go do that Islamaphobia nonsense,” Saunders said. “I don’t want this categorizing of a large group of people; that would be very unfair and very inaccurate.”
| — Hat tip: LP | [Return to headlines] |
Toronto Attacker Said ‘Allah’ Told Him to Stab Soldiers: Police
Ottawa (AFP) — A man who stabbed two Canadian soldiers at a military recruiting office in Toronto on Monday said he was acting on orders from “Allah,” police said.
Police chief Mark Saunders told a press conference, however, that suspect Ayanle Hassan Ali, 27, appears to have acted alone and that so far “there is nothing to suggest the accused is working with anyone or in concert with any organization.”
The alleged assailant entered a government office building Monday afternoon and without provocation stabbed a soldier in the arm at the reception desk, then sought to wound a second soldier before he was subdued.
Neither victim was seriously wounded, police said.
Saunders said the suspect was overheard saying at the scene of the assault, “Allah told me to do this, Allah told me to kill people.”
Ali was charged Tuesday with attempted murder, aggravated assault, assault with a weapon and possessing a dangerous weapon. He was scheduled to make a brief court appearance in the afternoon.
Asked if investigators viewed the assault as an act of terrorism, Saunders said: “We’re looking into it.”
The Toronto police have asked federal prosecutors and security agencies for help in determining if there is a link to organized extremist movements, he said.
| — Hat tip: Dean | [Return to headlines] |
Toronto Police Chief Doing Excellent Job After 2 Canadian Soldiers Stabbed in Toronto
Around 3:30 yesterday afternoon a man walked into a federal government building in Toronto’s north end that houses, among other things, a Canadian Forces recruitment office. The man walked up to a counter and stabbed the uniformed soldier that was behind it.
The 27-year-old, who was described as Middle Eastern in appearance, then walked behind the counter where other uniformed personnel were. The other soldiers managed to subdue the man and hold him for police. During the course of the apprehension, another male soldier was stabbed.
Both Canadian Forces members suffered non-life-threatening injuries.
The yet-to-be identified man was taken to a hospital to be checked out and is expected to appear in court today.
[Comment: By any chance, was he one of the ones Trudeau welcomed to Canada?]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Brexit Poll Shows Overwhelming Support for ‘Leave’ Campaign and EU Exit
The survey by pollsters ORB found that 52% will vote for quitting the 28-nation bloc while just 45% want to remain when likelihood to vote is taken into account.
Across all voters, the leave campaign has a narrow lead with 49% wanting to go and 47% preferring to stay.
The results suggest that the campaign for the in-or-out EU referendum on June 23 is heading for a thrilling climax.
| — Hat tip: AF | [Return to headlines] |
French Government Scales Back Contested Labour Reform Bill
French Prime Minister Manuel Valls on Monday unveiled a revised labour reform bill that makes concessions to trade unions following mass protests against the measures.
Tens of thousands of students and trade unionists rallied across the country last week against the government’s labour reform plans, which put almost all aspects of France’s strictly codified labour rules up for negotiation.
In the revised version, the government will no longer impose a cap on severance pay for dismissed workers, a measure many companies argued would have helped reduce the uncertainty of going through the industrial court system. Instead, the new limits will be introduced as non-binding guidelines…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Germany: Car Explodes in Central Berlin, 1 Dead, Police Suspect a Bomb
A Volkswagen Passat has exploded in Bismarckstrasse while driving along the road, Berlin police said on Tuesday. The driver died of serious injuries before an ambulance arrived.
“Our investigators believe it was an explosive device that caused the vehicle to explode,” Berlin police said. They have sealed the area off.
An eyewitness told the Berliner Zeitung: “An extremely loud bang and a vibration were felt one kilometer away [from the site].”
Fire brigades and a rescue helicopter were scrambled to the scene after an “emergency call,” according to Tagesspiegel.
Police explosives specialists examined the car and confirmed it doesn’t pose any threat. Residents were allowed to open windows and go on to their balconies.
Earlier, police warned that a second blast may happen shortly, the Berliner Zeitung reported.
| — Hat tip: Seneca III | [Return to headlines] |
Ireland Finds Top Banker Who Destroyed the Economy Hiding in US — Extradited & Charged Him
A former head of a major Irish bank has been extradited from the U.S. and brought before Dublin District Court to face several charges stemming from the bank’s role in the 2008 financial crisis.
David Drumm, former chief executive of Irish Anglo Bank from 2005 until 2008, had been arrested in Boston in October 2015, and originally attempted to fight extradition — but he recently withdrew the objection and was returned to Ireland early on Monday.
Drumm faces 33 charges in Ireland, which echoes Iceland’s unprecedented move to hold its bankers criminally accountable for their role in that country’s economic meltdown. Though Drumm predictably denied wrongdoing, his charges include “fraud, forgery, misleading management reporting, unlawful lending, falsifying documents, and false accounting, linked to financial transactions prior to the collapse of Anglo,” according to the Irish Times.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Bertolaso Faces Backlash After Meloni Mum Comment
Pregnant FdI leader says can reconcile work-maternity
(ANSA) — Rome, March 14 — Centre-right Rome mayor candidate Guido Bertolaso came under fire on Monday for saying that Giorgio Meloni, the pregnant leader of the right-wing Brothers of Italy (FdI) party, should concentrate on being a mum after ruling out sharing the ticket with her in Rome’s local elections in June. Bertolaso spoke about Meloni with his position as mayoral candidate weakened after Northern League leader Matteo Salvini pulled his support for the former civil protection chief. Salvini wants Meloni to be the centre-right candidate and she has said she is willing to stand.
“Meloni must do the job of being a mum,” Bertolaso, whose candidacy was proposed by ex-premier and Forza Italia (FI) leader Silvio Berlusconi, told La7 television on Sunday. “It seems to me to be the most beautiful thing that can happen to a woman. She has to handle this chapter of her life. “I don’t see why someone should force her to do a ferocious election campaign and take care of holes (in roads) and dirtiness while she is breast feeding”.
Meloni said Monday that it was possible to reconcile work with maternity.
“I say to Guido Bertolaso, with courtesy and pride, that I hope to be an excellent mother, like all those women who manage to reconcile professional commitments and maternity amid a thousand difficulties, often in conditions more difficult than mine,” she said.
Alfio Marchini, an independent candidate to be Rome mayor, said even he would vote for Meloni if Bertolaso repeated the attack.
“Another two attacks on the mamma Meloni and I’ll vote for her,” Marchini, who was briefly touted as a possible candidate behind whom the centre right could unite, said via Twitter.
“Countries with higher birth rates? Where there’s greater female employment!”.
Bertolaso tried to deflate the row, saying on Twitter that “I never said maternity precludes goals”.
But he also said that he would l “draw the conclusions” if Giorgia Meloni decides to stand. He added that he would be “the happiest man in the world” if Berlusconi decided to drop his support for him and back Meloni instead. “I’d go back to taking care of poor and ill children in Africa,” he added. Bertolaso had expressed satisfaction after winning a poll of centre-right supporters last weekend about who should be the mayor candidate. The poll was organised to reinforce Bertolaso’s position after Salvini withdrew his support. Organizers said Bertolaso won over 96% of the close to 50,000 votes cast, although there were reports of some people voting many times at different stations. “More Romans came (to the centre-right poll) than those who went to the primaries of the PD (Premier Matteo Renzi’s Democratic Party),” Bertolaso said. “The numbers say so. We were almost at the 50,000 mark”.
Virginia Raggi, the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement’s candidate to be Rome mayor, said that it was possible to be a mum and the capital’s first citizen. “Of course I can (be mayor and mum), just like all working mothers, I’ll bend over backwards,” said Raggi, who has a small child. “I’m ready and we are ready to govern Rome. More public transport vehicles, more security, more money for schools. A city that functions is not left-wing or right-wing, it’s a 5-Star city”. Premier and Democratic Party (PD) leader Matteo Renzi, meanwhile, played down tensions within his party, saying they would be sorted out at next Monday’s meeting of the party’s executive “and above all in the 2017 party congress”.
He said the internal debate in the PD, like other parties “seems surreal” compared with all the problems in Europe and the world. “To my comrades in the party who pose great problems on the strategic vision of the left, in Italy and the world, I set a date for next Monday in the executive and above all the 2017 congress,” he said in his e-news.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Norway’s Anders Breivik Gives Nazi Salute in Court
Oslo, Norway (CNN)Far-right terrorist Anders Behring Breivik gave a Nazi salute as he entered a makeshift courtroom Tuesday for the first day of his lawsuit against the Norwegian state, alleging his human rights have been violated during his incarceration.
Breivik, who killed 77 people in a shooting massacre and bombing attack in July 2011, is suing Norway, claiming that his treatment in the country’s high-security Skien prison, where he is held in isolation, is in violation of the European Convention on Human Rights.
According to claims submitted to the court, the 37-year-old alleges his treatment breaches Article 3 of the convention, prohibiting “inhuman or degrading treatment,” and Article 8, which guarantees respect for “private life” and correspondence…
| — Hat tip: DV | [Return to headlines] |
PEGIDA Leader Summoned to Court on Hate Speech Charges
The founder of Germany’s xenophobic and anti-Islam group PEGIDA has been summoned to court on hate speech charges for describing refugees as “cattle” and “scum”, a court in Dresden said.
Lutz Bachmann, 43, was charged with inciting hatred in October for a series of widely shared posts on the PEGIDA Facebook page, which stands for “Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamisation of the Occident”.
A court date has been set for April, with two further hearings in May.
The court said Bachmann’s comments “disrupted public order” and constituted an “attack on (the refugees’) dignity”…
| — Hat tip: Steen | [Return to headlines] |
Slovenia Invites Putin to WWI Event Despite EU Tensions
Slovenia said on Monday it has invited Russian President Vladimir Putin to attend a World War I commemoration event in spite of Western sanctions imposed on Moscow over the Ukraine crisis.
“Our positions differ concerning some important issues but that only strengthens the need for a dialogue,” President Borut Pahor said in a letter to Putin, as quoted by the Slovenian leader’s office.
On July 31, Slovenia will commemorate the 100th anniversary of a World War I accident, in which dozens of Russian prisoners of war were killed in an avalanche in the northern Vrsic region…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Muslim students from the London School of Economics had to buy separate tickets to the society’s annual dinner depending on whether they were a ‘brother’ or a ‘sister’.
[Comment: Should be called London School of Economics Fabianism. Future civil servants of the west are indoctrinated here.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Orangina ‘Made in Morocco’, It’s Almost a Revolution
Maroccans used to freshly squeezed juice. Lemo-Suntory deal
(ANSAmed) — RABAT, MARCH 14 — Orangina, the orange juice in the pot-bellied bottle is ready to invade Morocco.
It will be a revolution for local consumers used to drinking freshly squeezed orange juice, sold by street-vendors in squares for a few coins a glass.
So much so that Orangina, which is very well known in France, had never dared go beyond the Pillars of Hercules, but this time the group Lemo, Les Eaux Minarales d’Oulmes, distributor of bottled mineral water, announced a partnership with Suntory Beverage and Food, the Japanese producer of the drink.
Suntory, which also boasts in its portfolio brands such as Schweppes and Oasis, sealed the deal through its European division located in France.
The news has appeared on local financial media.
The accord will come into fruition on two levels: a company will immediately be established for the exploitation rights of the brand which will follow commercial operations, marketing and the distribution of products. Subsequently Lemo will open a factory in an exclusive partneship with the Japanese giant to produce and distribute Orangina. Lemo, which holds 68% of the market of bottled mineral water in Morocco with four brands of water — Sidi Ali, Oulme’s, Ain Atlas e Bahia — went from a turnover of approximately 125 million Euros to 137 million in the last year, a 23% growth.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Senior ISIS Commander Dies of Wounds From US Strike in Syria
Magnet for fighters from ex-Soviet Union
(ANSA) — Rome, March 15 — Omar al-Shishani, a top Islamic State commander who was a magnet for fighters from the former Soviet Union, has died of wounds suffered in a U.S. airstrike in Syria, a senior Iraqi intelligence official and the head of a Syrian activist group said Tuesday, according to the Associated Press.
Al-Shishani, who was wounded in a U.S. airstrike earlier this month, died on Monday evening outside the Islamic State group’s main stronghold of Raqqa in Syria, the two told The Associated Press. A U.S. military spokesman confirmed the reports.
The ISIS-affiliated Aamaq news agency cited an unnamed source as denying that al-Shishani was wounded or killed, without providing any evidence that he was still alive.
The red-bearded ethnic Chechen, who was in his 30s, was one of the most prominent ISIS commanders, appearing in several online videos leading fighters into battle. He served as the top commander in Syria before being appointed to lead three elite units that carried out special missions in Syria and Iraq, according to Hisham al-Hashimi, an Iraqi scholar who closely follows the group.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Chinese Steel Workers the Striking Miners
In Heilongjiang province, thousands of miners are off the job to demand back pay. In Shanxi, workers are threatening legal action against employers. For now, the central government is standing by and watching things unfold, but a massive crackdown is possible. Millions of jobs are at risk.
Beijing (AsiaNews) — More labour unrest over overdue salaries is taking place in China. In Shanxi and Jilin, workers have joined miners in Heilongjiang miners to demand back wages and assurances about the future of their jobs.
In addition to corrupt management, the target of labour protest is the government’s plan to downsize heavy industry.
Thousands of miners in China’s northern province went out on strike since last week. Although demonstrations are smaller after Heilongjiang Governor Lu Hao announced that overdue wages would paid “shortly”, many still remain in the street with their families.
In Shuangyashan, on the Russian border, armed police are patrolling the area, whilst eyewitnesses told the South China Morning Post that they saw miners being taken away by the police
Workers at the Tonghua Iron and Steel in Jilin also staged a protest demanding overdue salary.
In Shuangyashan, local authorities issued a statement vowing to “strike firmly” against unrest, such as “blocking state railway lines, disrupting production activities, organising joint actions and picking quarrels”. For now though, they appear determined to let things run their course.
Some analysts, however, point out that the rope should not be pulled too tight. A massive crackdown is also possible. And overdue salaries are not the only issue fuelling the unrest.
In his opening statement at this year’s National People’s Congress, which will ratify the new five-year plan, Prime Minister Li Keqiang announced the restructuring of state enterprises, which involves the loss of at least two million jobs (which could become six, according to some international analysts).
Subsidies to the steel and coal industries cost China’s central government some US$ 15.3 billion a year. To reach its goal, Beijing wants poor regions to pitch in; in exchange, it is offering workers retraining courses and new jobs in their own province.
China has more or less 150,000 state-owned companies employing 30 million people. Many of these are so-called “zombie companies”, i.e. companies kept artificially alive by local authorities to prevent GDP losses and local unemployment.
To deal with the situation, Beijing plans to close scores of plants producing steel, coal, aluminium, cement and glass, which are often among the major causes of ground, water, and air pollution.
“They are serious about moving ahead with industrial restructuring [and] closing the most inefficient capacities,” said Tim Condon, chief economist and head of research at ING Asia in Singapore. Pockets of labour unrest were unlikely to deter Beijing from pursuing a leaner, cleaner model of growth, he said.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Italians Killed in Zimbabwe on Anti-Poaching Mission
Father and son volunteering on behalf of Mana Pools rangers
(see related) (ANSA) — Padua, March 14 — A father and son who were shot dead by guards in a nature reserve in Zimbabwe on Sunday were undertaking anti-poaching activities at the time, investigative sources said Monday.
Claudio and Massimiliano Chiarelli are said to have been volunteering on behalf of staff rangers in the Mana Pools’ park in the north of the country when they were allegedly mistaken for poachers. Investigations into the shooting are underway and a preliminary report is expected on Tuesday. Claudio, a professional hunter, was born in Libya and spent a period of time in Tuscany before moving to Zimbabwe in the early 1980s with his Paduan wife.
Their son Massimiliano was born in the southern African country.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Swedish authorities have been forced to admit that poor school performance and mass migration are directly linked.
The declining level of the Scandinavian country’s schooling system and the huge influx of migrants are directly correlated according to the shocking report. The education authority made a statement Monday saying there is up to an 85 per cent waste of resources in the schooling system, and that the proportion of students coming to Swedish schools who are above the enrolment age is climbing rapidly, reports Die Welt.
The study, which was conducted by the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), showed that the university level education in Sweden between 2006 and 2012 had plummeted in quality and did so far more than any of the other countries studied.
During the same period, pupils coming from foreign countries increased from 14 to 22 per cent. Also recorded was the share of students who failed their studies, which went from 37 per cent to a significant 50 per cent.
| — Hat tip: AF | [Return to headlines] |
Merkel Admits Balkan Migrant Route Closure ‘Benefits’ Germany
Chancellor Angela Merkel admitted Monday that Germany benefited from a decision by Balkan nations to close their borders to migrants seeking to head north, even as she insisted that it was not a long-term solution.
“It is unquestionable that Germany benefits from (the route closure, but) we can see from pictures out of Greece that that is not a sustainable solution,” she told journalists a day after her party suffered a drubbing in state polls over her liberal refugee policy.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Mercy killing had been a fact of life in the Netherlands for decades but in 2002 the Netherlands became the first country to legalize Euthanasia and to allow patients to request that the procedure be performed by their doctors. Now, a new service known as “Life End” has been established in the Netherlands through which a patient wishing to end their lives will be able to have doctors and nurses dispatched to their homes to carry out the procedure. A spokesman for the Dutch Association for the Voluntary End of Life, stated: “The Life End Clinic will have mobile teams where people who believe they are eligible for Euthanasia can register. If they do comply, the teams will be able to carry out Euthanasia at patient’s homes should their regular doctors be unable or refuse to help them.” The procedure is simple: The patient will first be given an injection, which will put them into a deep sleep, then a second injection follows, which will stop their breathing and heart beat.[3]
It was reported in 1999 that Euthanasia “safeguards” were routinely disregarded by Dutch doctors. Derek Humphry, Founder of the Hemlock Society, the largest organization in the U.S. promoting physician-assisted suicide and was active in Oregon promoting it said the elderly are increasingly recognized as “greedy geezers” and are “putting a strain on the health care system that will only increase and cannot be sustained for the paupers while the kings will do well.”
[Comment: Now that morals are out the door, to save health care costs, the goal promoted is to euthanize the elderly. Soon everyone will be walking around with a crystal on their hand (reference to the sci-fi movie ‘Logans Run’) ]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Study: Gen Z Thinks Their Peers Are Completely Insane About the Reality of Girls and Boys
People between the ages 13 and 20 are spouting bizarre ideas about the relationships between boys and girls, according to a new study by a division of advertising giant J. Walter Thompson.
Fifty-six percent of respondents from the so-called Gen-Z “said they know someone who went by gender neutral pronouns such as ‘they,’ ‘them,’ or ‘ze,’ compared to 43 percent” of Gen Y, also known as Millennials, says the study.
The Gen Zers also say their peers reject the “gender binary” when shopping. “Gender binary” is a new progressive term intended to stigmatize the reality that boys and girls usually want different things. When shopping for shoes, for instance, 39 percent of the boys might buy high-heels, or maybe even push-up bras, says the study, which does not seem to recognize the probability that the youthful respondents are amusing themselves by fooling the surveyors.
A mere 48 percent of Gen Z describe themselves as “completely heterosexual,” and six percent consider themselves “completely homosexual.” All the rest portray themselves as somewhat bi-sexual.
Correspondingly, 91 percent of them say they strongly or somewhat agree that they or other “people are exploring their sexuality more than in the past.”…
The good news is that studies show that youngsters who claim to be confused about the difference between boys and girls generally snap out of the progressives’ fever by their mid-twenties.
[Proof that people younger than 30 years old should not have voting rights. A.F.]
| — Hat tip: AF | [Return to headlines] |
Basic Income Guarantee: A Disastrous Policy That’s Gaining Traction Worldwide
As soon as you turn 18 years of age, you will be given a basic income for the rest of your life just for breathing. That’s the premise behind the latest push to install a basic income guarantee.
In the last couple of years, policymakers, anti-poverty activists and socialists have been putting forward a concept of a basic income guarantee that would, in theory, replace all other forms of welfare (except it doesn’t). It would supposedly get rid of the bureaucratic mess in the welfare state and, supposedly, save the government money in the end. We should all be cautious.
Proponents of the program say it’s necessary because of worsening income inequality. One of the latest arguments, too, consists of the rise of the machine. They say that since robots are taking work away from human beings that a basic income guarantee has become essential to the survival of human beings. No matter a person’s working status they would be given around $10,000 to $20,000 per year for nothing. It’s a slippery slope we’re heading towards.
Two jurisdictions made headline news this week regarding the minimum income guarantee: the province of Ontario and the country of New Zealand. The former is planning to run a series of pilot projects and the latter is debating the pros and cons of implementing such a system.
Ostensibly, Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne slipped the initiative into a paragraph deep into the budget. When it was discovered by the media, Finance Minister Charles Sousa explained that the province has to look at ways to alleviating poverty. He noted that something should begin to happen in autumn. What should be made clear is that many benefits, like “free” dental plans, provided by the government would not be eliminated. Basic income would simply complement the status quo. So how exactly will it save the deeply indebted Ontario government any money at all?
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Merkel admits to everything and its contrary. Even after losing elections, she asked for more invaders. With 61,000 foreign troops inside, Germany is not really independent. US has in practice sequestered its gold in New York. This story of the gold has already become like the story of the Spanish gold in Moscow.
Basic income guarantee? Sustainable for how long? Guaranteed to increase the pace of the world becoming idiocracy. We are already working hard on it.
Lately I have read that there actually existed a mighty Muslim civilization. What happened to it? Stupid people vastly outbred the smart ones, to the point that now the Arab IQ is 86. IQ didn’t help raising babies in any way, and went down big time.
Just read that it was Olinto De Pretto who discovered world’s most famous equation E = mc2, not Einstein. The reputation of Einstein as plagiarizer is very well established. De Pretto in 1903 published a paper where he wrote the equation. Einstein was very fluent in Italian language, and was in the area in 1903.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olinto_De_Pretto
I too have read some articles indicating that Einstein was actually a known plagiarizer in the early 1900s. Theres even been speculation that many of his greatest works came from his first wife. Notice how much he contributed after the late 1920s.
I am not sure to which great Muslim civilization you refer. They destroyed much of the remnants of Classical society and burned most of the literature. Dr. Bill Warner has some excellent historical videos that explain much of this. It’s easier (and pc) to blame the RC and feudalism for the Dark Age than the logical culprit of relentless Islamic expansionism. The only greatness in the Caliphate was it’s size.
The Russian withdrawal from Syria bears watching. Putin is a grandmaster playing with novices. While the black eye to the West of “mission accomplished” and diplomatic overtures is a surface result, I wonder if he’s setting up Turkey and the GCC to throw their heads in the nooses. Turkey and the GCC have invested a lot in IS and have repeatedly stated Assad remaining in power is a non-starter.
“Across all voters, the leave campaign has a narrow lead with 49% wanting to go and 47% preferring to stay.”
The leftist establishment wants to stay so whatever the outcome, there will be some sort of EU stitch up which will make it impossible to leave.
The Eu could also insist we voted again and again until we voted to to stay.
Something stinks and its coming from Brussels.
“The founder of Germany’s xenophobic and anti-Islam group PEGIDA has been summoned to court on hate speech charges for describing refugees as “cattle” and “scum”, a court in Dresden said.”
Hate speech means voicing an opinion which is incongruent with the ruling far left template.
I must admit I couldn’t bear to read the whole article. When and how did we get from if you want to eat you have to work, to the concept that you get money just for breathing?
This makes no sense, but I’m beginning to believe we’ve all fallen down the rabbit hole and it’s time to re-read Alice in Wonderland so we can believe 2-3 impossible things before breakfast.
However, in the midst of it all, I’m glad to live in a country that more or less guarantees free speech, unlike Germany for example, or the rest of Europe. I am free to hate whomever I wish! Yay. (not that I actually hate anyone, I just like knowing that I can).
Seems to me that the alternative media needs to start asking some pointed questions. It’s not enough to report that the “activists” in Greece were just fined, for leading the refugees into a river and losing lives. That is absurd. *Who* decided that a fine is appropriate? And *who* financed these people, where are they getting their orders? Who are they, anyways, these smiling girls happily leading people into danger, you can see panic on the people’s faces while *they* look happy as clams…