Gates of Vienna News Feed 3/19/2016

Bulgaria is now deploying troops along its border with Macedonia, in case migrants whose route has been blocked attempt to find a new route through Bulgaria. Meanwhile, a brawl broke out between Afghans and Syrians at a migrant camp in the Greek port city of Piraeus. The conflict reportedly started with a disagreement over the use of a cell phone charger. Fifty people took part in the fight, and one man was injured.

In other news, a suicide bomber in Istanbul exploded himself in a busy shopping area, killing at least four people and wound an undetermined number.

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

Thanks to AF, Fjordman, Insubria, JD, 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.

USA
» 325,000 Business Owners Fight Feds Over Endangered Species Rule
» Another Fast Food Chain Looking at Robots as ‘Government is Driving up the Cost of Labor’
» FBI Investigating Threatening Letter Sent to Home of Eric Trump
» Frightening New Video Shows Insect Robot Fly, Walk, And Crawl
» Highway Death Tolls Will Skyrocket as 54.5 mpg Takes Effect
» Hillary Clinton Demanded NSA Change Secure Device Rules to Accommodate Her Secret Server
» How Obama and Congressional Republicans Intend to Pass TPP Into Law
» Irate Leftist Insists White Film Maker Needs Permission to Film “Women of Color” A\at Public Protest
» Johnson & Johnson, Bayer Caught Hiding Data From Product Study — Leading to Hundreds of Deaths
» Mitt Romney: Vote for Ted Cruz Over ‘Trumpism’
» Muslim Uber Driver Charged With Raping Woman
» Radical Leftists Unleash Anti-Trump Riots Starting on March 19th
» Solar Power Isn’t Working
» Ted Cruz Announces National Security Team, Including Frank Gaffney, Michael Ledeen, Elliott Abrams
» Top General: U.S. Army Faces High Risk if it Gets Into Conflict With Russia, China
» Trump Video From 25 Years Ago Will Shock You: “I’m Tired of Seeing This Country Ripped Off”
» Trump Presidency Rated Among Top 10 Global Risks: EIU
» Trump Supporters, Protesters Clash Outside Rally in Salt Lake City
» We Are Preparing for Massive Civil War, Says DHS Informant
 
Europe and the EU
» Belgium: Missiles Thrown at Police in Molenbeek by Salah Abdeslam ‘Supporters’ — Their Sick ‘Hero’
» Belgium: Abdeslam Charged With ‘Terrorist Murder’
» Belgium: Muslims Riot, Attack Police After Arrest of Paris Jihad Mass Murderer
» Finland: Nokia: Life After the Fall of a Mobile Phone Giant
» Italy: Bossi’s Son Riccardo Gets 20-Month Jail Term
» Italy: Two More Tax Judges Arrested in Milan Probe
» Norwegian Police: We’ve Toned it Down Very Much
» The Red Cross Has Become a Money-Making Machine
» Unusual Weapon Saved Europe From Islamic Domination
» We’ll Fight, Vow French Militants
 
North Africa
» Al Qaeda Affiliate Claims Responsibility for Mortar Attack on Algeria Gas Plant
» Tutankhamun’s Secret? Experts Hope New Chambers Could Contain Tomb of Nefertiti
 
Middle East
» Istanbul Shopping Area Hit by Suicide Bomber
» Syrian Rebel Spy: CIA Ignored Intel That Could Have Crippled ISIS
 
Latin America
» Attempt to Recreate Kon-Tiki Voyage Ends With Rescue
 
Immigration
» Bulgaria Reinforces Border to Tackle Migrant Problem
» Danish Finance Minister: 100,000 Extra Refugees to Denmark
» EU Commission: Europe Shall be Open to Refugees
» Germany’s Worst Case Scenario: 6.4 Million Migrants
» Greece: “Peaceful Refugees” Fight Over Aid
» Greece: Tensions Flare at Refugee Camps
 
Culture Wars
» P.C. — R.I.P.
» Transgenderism: Dangerous Child Abuse
 

325,000 Business Owners Fight Feds Over Endangered Species Rule

Hundreds of thousands of business owners have filed a petition with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to remove a rule they contend reaches far beyond what Congress intended when it wrote the law regarding endangered species.

For decades, the petition asserts, the federal agency has implemented blanket rules protecting members of a species or its habitat that are not necessary and not allowed under the law.

The petition was filed by the Pacific Legal Foundation on behalf of the 325,000 members of the National Federal of Independent Business. The typical member employs 10 people and reports gross sales of about $500,000 a year.

Filed at the start of a process that could lead to a formal legal challenge, the petition says small businesses and ordinary citizens face the threat of enormous potential fines and even jail time for activities “that Congress deemed legal.”

[Comment: Endangerd species act is used by Feds to steal land and prevent resource development. Recall that whole “spotted owl” hula-balo — a total fraud.]

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Another Fast Food Chain Looking at Robots as ‘Government is Driving up the Cost of Labor’

Way back in 2014, we talked about how then-recent strikes had compelled McDonald’s to focus more effort on the concept of automated restaurants. Since then, the “fight for 15” movement has become a fixture of the class-warfare obsessed left. The problem, of course, is that an increased minimum wage — coupled with increasing demands for benefits — means more overhead. That means less profit for the employer, and it incentivizes cutting staff. If you’re in the fast food business, you still need to assemble the burgers. So it’s easy to understand why automation is so attractive.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

FBI Investigating Threatening Letter Sent to Home of Eric Trump

Police and the FBI are investigating a threatening letter sent to the Manhattan apartment of Donald Trump’s son Eric that contained a white powder, two law enforcement officials said Friday.

Preliminary tests on the substance in the envelope sent to Eric Trump’s apartment Thursday indicated it was not hazardous, according to the officials, who were not authorized to disclose details of the threat and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

The handwritten letter was postmarked March 5 from Boston and referenced Donald Trump’s presidential bid.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Frightening New Video Shows Insect Robot Fly, Walk, And Crawl

Not can the robot only fly, being propelled in the air by quadrotor helicopters, it can also land on a vertical wall then climb up it using spiny feet. When it slips a little, it can adjust on the fly.

It’s called the Stanford Climbing and Aerial Maneuvering Platform, or SCAMP, and it combines lessons learned from previous machines built at the university’s Biomimetics and Dextrous Manipulation Lab.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Highway Death Tolls Will Skyrocket as 54.5 mpg Takes Effect

The main problem with the mandated fuel economy standards is that the least expensive way for automakers to comply is by making vehicles lighter.

Replacing steel with aluminum and fiberglass is cheaper than reengineering already highly fuel-efficient engines. In fact, that may be the only way to meet the latest rules, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Lighter cars and trucks are less crashworthy than heavier ones. Stricter mileage standards therefore will injure and kill more people on the nation’s highways.

That’s why Washington politicians and EPA bureaucrats focus on being “green”-while ignoring the death and destruction their mandates trigger.

Another way to meet tougher mileage rules, of course, is to produce more hybrid or plug-in cars and trucks. That strategy may have made sense to automakers when the retail price of gasoline was $4 per gallon, but not when a gallon of gas costs less than $2 in many places.

On top of his proposal to levy a $10 per barrel federal tax on crude oil, it is no surprise that President Obama wants to curry more favor with environmentalists before leaving the White House.

The administration’s micromanagement of the auto industry will, as usual, fall on the backs of American consumers.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Hillary Clinton Demanded NSA Change Secure Device Rules to Accommodate Her Secret Server

A new trove of documents unearthed by Judicial Watch with a Freedom of Information Act request sheds more light on the Clinton email scandal, revealing that Hillary Clinton demanded changes to the National Security Agency’s protocols so she could use her smartphone and secret email server.

Judicial Watch describes a chain of emails that show Clinton demanding the use of a secure smartphone just like the one given to President Barack Obama:

Clinton’s desire for a secure “BlackBerry-like” device, like that provided to President Barack Obama, is recounted in a series of February 2009 exchanges between high-level officials at the State Department and NSA. Clinton was sworn in as secretary the prior month, and had become “hooked” on reading and answering emails on a BlackBerry she used during the 2008 presidential race.

“We began examining options for (Secretary Clinton) with respect to secure ‘BlackBerry-like’ communications,” wrote Donald R. Reid, the department’s assistant director for security infrastructure. “The current state of the art is not too user friendly, has no infrastructure at State, and is very expensive.”

Reid wrote that each time they asked the NSA what solution they had worked up to provide a mobile device to Obama, “we were politely told to shut up and color.”

Resolving the issue was given such priority as to result in a face-to-face meeting between Clinton chief of staff Cheryl Mills, seven senior State Department staffers with five NSA security experts. According to a summary of the meeting, the request was driven by Clinton’s reliance on her BlackBerry for email and keeping track of her calendar. Clinton chose not to use a laptop or desktop computer that could have provided her access to email in her office, according to the summary.

A common Clinton talking point is that her predecessors had email arrangements similar to her own. That’s an absurd assertion on its face, since no other SecState ever tried to route all official correspondence — and emails from aides — through an unsecure homebrew server kept in a personal residence.

           — Hat tip: AF [Return to headlines]
 

How Obama and Congressional Republicans Intend to Pass TPP Into Law

Back on 10 December 2015, the head of the U.S. Senate, the pro-Obama-trade-deals Republican Mitch McConnell, said that Obama shouldn’t try to pass his TPP or any other of his three mega-trade-deals until after the November elections, because Senators and Representatives won’t vote for it until the voters have already voted for their re-election (so that they’ll then be free to vote against those voters’ interests).

The previous congressional votes on these deals showed that congressional Republicans overwhelmingly favor them but many congressional Democrats oppose them. For example, in the crucial vote, in the Senate, only 37 of the 100 Senators voted against the enabling legislation (without which legislation they can’t pass), called “Fast Track Trade Promotion Authority,” which will enable the President to ram these treaties through Congress, and 30 of these Senators were Democrats, 5 (Collins, Cruz, Paul, Sessions, and Shelby) were Republicans, and 2 (Sanders and King) were independents. That’s both independents, 30 of the 44 Democrats, and only 5 of the 54 Republicans. So: these bills are overwhelmingly Republican trade bills, which were created by a ‘Democratic’ President.

These deals will be enormously favorable to large international corporations, at the expense of workers’ rights, consumer rights, and environmental protection; so, it’s natural that they have overwhelming Republican support in Congress.

However, Republican voters are overwhelmingly against these bills. For example, on 18 February 2014, Huffington Post headlined “Conservatives Oppose Fast Track, TPP: Poll,” and reported that “Voter opposition explains why Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi and even Joe Biden are wary about pushing the issue before the mid-term elections,” and all three of those people are Democrats. The Democratic leaders in Congress might be with the President on these bills, but most other congressional Democrats are opposed to these bills. However, “Republicans [Republican voters] overwhelmingly oppose giving fast-track authority to the president (8% in favor, 87% opposed), as do independents (20%-66%), while a narrow majority (52%) of Democrats are in favor (35% opposed). The takeaway: Republicans should be afraid, very afraid of voting for fast track if they want to keep their jobs: Two-thirds (68%) of Republicans say they are less likely to vote for a Member of Congress who votes to give President Obama fast-track authority.” And congressional Republicans overwhelmingly ignored their own Republican voters on this: they voted for Fast Track Trade Promotion Authority for the President anyway. (Their billionaire campaign donors demand it.) Furthermore: “John Boehner and GOP leaders support Obama’s trade agenda.” Whereas Democratic voters were in favor of these trade-bills because they come from a ‘Democratic’ President, Republican voters were overwhelmingly opposed to these trade-bills, merely because the President had a ‘Democratic’ label — but the people who represented Republican voters in Congress served their campaign-donors on these bills, not the people back home (who would perhaps take this as ‘bipartisanship’ and consider it favorably in that false light).

After the November elections, and the billions of advertising dollars that are spent on fooling voters to re-elect their existing supposed ‘representatives’ in Congress or else to elect their opposite-Party opponents, those incumbents will then be free to pay back their donors by voting for TPP and any other Obama trade-deal.

[Comment: Loss of sovereignty is the most insidious part of TPP. The idea that a company can take a government to a stacked kangaroo trade court and walk away with billions over what the company deems is “unfair”.]

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Irate Leftist Insists White Film Maker Needs Permission to Film “Women of Color” A\at Public Protest

The film maker approaches a woman holding a Mexican flag and asks her what would happen if an American attempted to fly a U.S. flag at a protest in Mexico.

“What would happen to them?” he asks the woman.

“Some crazy sh*t,” she responds.

The footage then cuts to an angry white woman who attempts to block the film maker from recording the woman with the Mexican flag.

The woman quickly becomes irate and offended on behalf of the Mexican woman, pointing a camera in the man’s face and demanding to know his address.

“I wish somebody could come save me from you right now,” jokes the man.

“Right, well nobody has to save you because you’re a f**king white man who gets to do what he wants to in this space, so I’m saying no, you do not have permission to walk around videotaping women of color,” the woman barks.

Apparently, she thinks that permission is required to film people who are taking part in a protest in a public area.

“Aren’t you quite aware by holding that video camera on me that you are surrounded by your privilege, right,” she continues. “Take your privilege somewhere else please, alright, because your privilege is not welcome here, so unless you are here to dismantle your privilege please find somewhere else to go!”

Again, the individual is seemingly unaware that Americans, no matter their gender, skin color or political beliefs, have a right to peaceably assemble on public property.

The exchange highlights three traits that are prevalent amongst social justice warriors;

[Comment: Watch the video. She sure uses the word privilige a lot. Privilige — “I do not think that word means what you thinks it means” (from movie Princess Bride). This is what happens when “emotion”, not “intelligent critical thinking”, is in charge and it is proof the mental deficiency of leftists. She might even be a local gradeschool teacher “educating” your children. This was the goal of the “Dumbing Down America” education system. A population that can’t think is more easier to manipulate. Such a population absorbs information fed to it without any form of filter (critical thinking) on whether or not they are being told the truth. ]

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Johnson & Johnson, Bayer Caught Hiding Data From Product Study — Leading to Hundreds of Deaths

The nomination of Robert Califf to head the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) demonstrates once again that the pharmaceutical industry has immense influence in federal government. The FDA, which claims to protect us from bad foods and drugs, is now run by a person who has reaped hundreds of thousands of dollars through ties to 23 drug companies.

Big Pharma has a very special privilege in the U.S., which is one of only two countries that allow direct-to-consumer marketing of its patented products. Between this and its profit-sharing relationship with doctors, the industry has a nation hooked on legal drugs such as opioids which are killing people by the thousands and leading to a massive heroin epidemic.

To secure the approval of new patented products, Big Pharma will not hesitate to abandon scientific integrity.

Two of the biggest pharmaceutical companies, Johnson & Johnson and Bayer, were just caught hiding critical laboratory data from one of the world’s top medical journals. The missing data is at the heart of a lawsuit being filed against the companies on behalf of 5,000 patients and their families who say they were harmed by the drug Xarelto, including 500 who died.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Mitt Romney: Vote for Ted Cruz Over ‘Trumpism’

Former presidential candidate Mitt Romney will vote for Texas Senator Ted Cruz, saying he is “repulsed” by Republican front-runner Donald Trump.

Mr Romney said in a Facebook post that the only way to nominate a Republican is to have an open convention, in which party officials choose the nominee.

He campaigned with Governor John Kasich in Ohio but said voting for Mr Cruz is the only way to stop “Trumpism”.

He joins other Republican leaders coalescing around Mr Cruz.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Muslim Uber Driver Charged With Raping Woman

A Muslim working as an Uber driver is suspected of raping a woman at an Anaheim motel after giving her a ride from a Fullerton bar.

Police believe there may be more victims and are asking for the public’s help in finding them.

Omar Mahmoud Mousa, 52, of Anaheim was arrested on a $100,000 bond and assigned a court date of April 8 to face felony charges of rape, forcible oral copulation and sexual penetration by foreign object. The alleged rape occurred Oct. 25, according to the Orange County District Attorney’s Office, but Mousa had been out of the country until recently. He was arrested March 7 as he disembarked from a plane landing at Los Angeles International Airport.

Authorities were not saying what country he had traveled to or whether he was a native-born American, a naturalized citizen or some other status.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Radical Leftists Unleash Anti-Trump Riots Starting on March 19th

Now there is a very organized effort to turn this into a national movement

Many of the exact same groups that participated in Occupy Wall Street and helped organize protest rallies in Ferguson and Baltimore are now promising to bring us “the largest civil disobedience actions in a generation”.

I recently wrote about the trouble that radical leftists have caused by attempting to disrupt Trump campaign events, but now there is a very organized effort to turn this into a national movement. On March 19th, thousands of angry protesters will descend on Trump Tower in New York City to denounce Donald Trump’s “fascist policies”, and on April 2nd dozens of leftist organizations will join together to launch “Democracy Spring” in Philadelphia. From there, large numbers of liberal activists will march to Washington D.C. where they will “risk arrest” during a “peaceful” sit-in at the U.S. Capitol from April 11th to April 18th. If the radical left is this freaked out about Donald Trump now, how bad will things get if he actually becomes the Republican nominee?

I suppose that it was only a matter of time before the radical left began to specifically target Trump properties. I hope that Trump has good security, because it will definitely be tested starting today…

[…]

Perhaps even more disturbing is what is going to happen in early April. Dozens of far left groups have gotten behind a movement that has been officially dubbed “Democracy Spring”.

Obviously, that name was chosen to conjure up memories of the “Arab Spring”, and we all remember how “peaceful” that was.

The official website of Democracy Spring tells us the following about the goals…

[…]

And the list of groups that are backing this movement reads like a who’s who of radical leftist organizations…

[Comment: Soros sponsored communist thuggery/intimidation in action. None of this would be possible without Soros money pouring into these radical groups. Different names, same useful idiots and communists.]

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Solar Power Isn’t Working

A federally backed, $2.2 billion solar project in the California desert isn’t producing the electricity it is contractually required to deliver to PG&E Corp., which says the solar plant may be forced to shut down if it doesn’t receive a break Thursday from state regulators. -Cassandra Sweet, The Wall Street Journal, 17 March 2016

Announcing government support for clean-energy projects, President Obama hailed a Spanish company, saying its new solar technology would supply tens of thousands of American homes with renewable power, while spurring local employment. “It’s good news,” Mr. Obama said in 2010, “that we’ve attracted a company to our shores to build a plant and create jobs right here in America.” But Abengoa’s global ambitions are now the source of its troubles. Saddled with debt from its expansion, the company is scrambling to avoid what would be the largest bankruptcy in Spanish corporate history. Creditors and shareholders are taking the company to court as losses mount and crucial financial support disappears.-Raphael Minder, The New York Times, 17 March 2016

[Comment: Solar/wind power generation cannot profit without government subsidies. Period. They swallow taxpayer money (often to foreign companies that manufacture the panels and turbines) and “uglify” the lanscape.]

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Ted Cruz Announces National Security Team, Including Frank Gaffney, Michael Ledeen, Elliott Abrams

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) announced his team of national security advisers on Thursday. The group includes a wide range of views, especially on radical Islam, and includes some veteran insiders who might be able to help Cruz build bridges back to the Republican establishment as the primary enters a tense home stretch.

“I am honored and humbled to have a range of respected voices willing to offer their best advice,” said Senator Cruz, adding:

These are trusted friends who will form a core of our broader national security team. After two terms of a failed Obama-Clinton foreign policy, our allies are confused and frightened, and our enemies are looking for opportunities. This is the moment for all those who believe in a strong America that is secure at home and respected abroad to come together and craft a new path forward.

One of Cruz’s advisers is Frank Gaffney of the Center for Security Policy, a frequent guest on Breitbart News Daily, including an appearance Wednesday. This produced the usual huffing-and-puffing from those who accuse Gaffney of being an “Islamophobe.”

           — Hat tip: AF [Return to headlines]
 

Top General: U.S. Army Faces High Risk if it Gets Into Conflict With Russia, China

WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. ground military forces face a high level of risk if America gets into a conflict against countries such as Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea, the Army’s top general told lawmakers.

Gen. Mark Milley, the U.S. Army chief of staff, told the House Armed Services Committee that the military’s focus on terrorists in Iraq and Afghanistan, constrained budgets, and troop cuts have depleted resources from planning and preparation to fight a “higher-end” combat force if a conflict erupted elsewhere in the world.

Gen. Milley did note that the Army, which is the largest branch of the U.S. military, is ready to fight the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) and other terrorist groups.

However, what Milley identified as a “great power war” against one or two of four nations — China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea — would pose a greater challenge.

“If that were to happen, I would have grave concerns about the readiness of our force to deal with that in a timely manner,” the top Army general told lawmakers.

“I think the cost, both in terms of time, casualties in troops, and the ability to accomplish military objectives would be very significant, and we’ve all given our risk assessments associated with that in a classified session,” added Milley.

           — Hat tip: AF [Return to headlines]
 

Trump Video From 25 Years Ago Will Shock You: “I’m Tired of Seeing This Country Ripped Off”

The Donald has completely taken over the news cycle.

His path of victory after victory in GOP primary states has the establishment freaking out, and every major media outlet scrambling for a way to stop Trump, or at least to damage his reputation.

But why is he being compared to Hitler and inducing aneurysms among the political elite?

Obviously it isn’t the name-calling or fiery rhetoric that has the system’s minions losing sleep and openly-plotting his demise.

No. It is for one basic reason: his rhetoric and campaign promises have centered around restoring American sovereignty.

Economically, he has talked about undoing globalism and free trade, bringing back good American jobs, protecting the border (and yes, building the 10+ foot high wall) and saying no to a culture of exploiting illegal immigrant workers at the expense of American employment.

Never mind if he can keep any of those promises, because just hyping them up has been enough to cause mass panic and hysteria in the corporate halls of Washington, Wall Street and the lapdog media.

But what might surprise you, even shock you, is that he has been talking this way for decades.

Just listen to what he told Oprah and her audience more than 25 years ago (circa 1987):

“I’d make our allies pay their fair share” “I’m tired of seeing what’s happening with this country.” “I’m tired of seeing this country ripped off.”

And there’s much more than that. The Daily Caller rounded up several examples of his consistent appeals for a “strong negotiator” on trade and foreign affairs.

Promising to balance trade and fight for American workers is NOT what the prevailing elite — who are losing control of the political establishment — want to happen.

Their plan, as voiced at exclusive think tanks and confabs like Davos, Bilderberg, the Council on Foreign Relations and many others, has been to level the prosperous American middle class and force workers in the United States to whittle their way down to complete serfdom — and absolute dependence upon government handouts and a meager place in the grand pecking order of world domination.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Trump Presidency Rated Among Top 10 Global Risks: EIU

Donald Trump winning the US presidency is considered one of the top 10 risks facing the world, according to the Economist Intelligence Unit.

The research firm warns he could disrupt the global economy and heighten political and security risks in the US.

However, it does not expect Mr Trump to defeat Hillary Clinton who it sees as “his most likely Democratic contender”.

He is rated as riskier than Britain leaving the European Union or an armed clash in the South China Sea.

China encountering a “hard landing” or sharp economic slowdown and Russia’s interventions in Ukraine and Syria preceding a new “cold war” are among the events seen as more dangerous.

“Thus far Mr Trump has given very few details of his policies — and these tend to be prone to constant revision,” the EIU said in its global risk assessment, which looks at impact and probability.

The EIU ranking uses a scale of one to 25, with Mr Trump garnering a rating of 12, the same level of risk as “the rising threat of jihadi terrorism destabilising the global economy”.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Trump Supporters, Protesters Clash Outside Rally in Salt Lake City

Supporters of Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump and protesters clashed after a rally in Utah on Friday.

Crowds who chanted “Donald Trump” were met with “Mr. Hate Out of Our State” as police in riot gear blocked the entrance to the Infinity Event Center in Salt Lake City. Protesters tried to rush the door of the building and got into screaming matches with Trump supporters who were barred from entering the venue.

According to KSTU-TV, people who were exiting the building were being pelted with rocks. Some protesters were seen tearing down a security tent that the U.S. Secret Service used to screen attendees before they entered the building.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

We Are Preparing for Massive Civil War, Says DHS Informant

A culture war has been stirred up.

Divisions are along predictable lines: racism, police abuse, controversial social issues, and plenty of left vs. right, demographics and regional baggage to clash over as well.

And by all accounts, differences and distinctions between people have been intensifying, not blurring and fading away.According to the Washington Post, many Americans have been relocating themselves in one of the 11 distinct areas of the country to live with like minded people.

The best way to keep us from fighting the real enemy is to keep us fighting amongst ourselves.

But could the culture war ever turn into a real war?

Some people actually think so, and it seems the military has been planning for the scenario, too. The potential for economic and societal breakdown is real.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Belgium: Missiles Thrown at Police in Molenbeek by Salah Abdeslam ‘Supporters’ — Their Sick ‘Hero’

TENSE scenes have broken out between locals and security forces in Molenbeek following the arrest of Salah Abdeslam with some residents reportedly “praising” the evil Paris terrorist.

Riot police were called in to disperse the crowds who gathered in the Brussels suburb after missiles were thrown at the Belgian authorities.

Tensions were sparked after young people from the troubled area started declaring their support for their “hero” Abdeslam, according to a witness.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Belgium: Abdeslam Charged With ‘Terrorist Murder’

Key Paris attacks suspect Salah Abdeslam was formally charged Saturday with “terrorist murder” and being part of a terrorist group, the Belgian federal prosecutors office said.

“Salah Abdeslam… (has) been charged by the investigating judge with participation in terrorist murder and participation in the activities of a terrorist organization,” a prosecutors statement said.

Abdeslam, 26, and four other suspects were arrested on Friday in the gritty Brussels neighbourhood of Molenbeek.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Belgium: Muslims Riot, Attack Police After Arrest of Paris Jihad Mass Murderer

by Robert Spencer

Why weren’t they out applauding the cops and thanking them for apprehending the “extremist”? Europe has bet its future on the proposition that the huge and growing Muslim population it continues to bring into the continent will become loyal citizens of pluralistic societies. There is absolutely no foundation for this hope in Islamic theology or Islamic history. European authorities should be learning a lesson from these riots in Molenbeek after Abdeslam’s arrest, and the fact that he was hidden there for so long and no one tipped off authorities. But they won’t.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Finland: Nokia: Life After the Fall of a Mobile Phone Giant

On the face of it the small Finnish town of Nokia looks wholly unremarkable. A few squat blocks of flats are nestled in the winter snow, and along the heavily gritted main road is a small strip of shops, restaurants and a discount supermarket.

There’s little sign that this quiet backwater once gave its name to the company that revolutionised the mobile phone industry in the late 1990s and helped turn Finland’s economy into one of the most prosperous in the world.

At its peak in the early 2000s Nokia supplied 40% of the world’s mobile phones, creating Finland’s first globally recognised consumer brand.

At home its impact was even greater. According to the Research Institute of the Finnish Economy it contributed a quarter of Finland’s growth between 1998 and 2007 — a period Finnish finance minister Alexander Stubb calls an “economic miracle”.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Bossi’s Son Riccardo Gets 20-Month Jail Term

First sentence in League public-funding scandal

(ANSA) — Milan, March 14 — Riccardo Bossi, the eldest son of Northern League founder Umberto Bossi, was given a 20-month jail term by a Milan court on Monday after being found guilty of aggravated embezzlement for using party funds for personal use.

It is the first sentence to handed out after a big scandal into the allegedly fraudulent use of the party’s funding exploded in 2012. Jail terms of such a short length are usually suspended in Italy. Bossi was found guilty of embezzling some 158,000 euros of taxpayers’ money which he put to various uses between 2009 and 2011 including paying personal debts, renting cars, paying university fees and his rent, maintaining his ex-wife, subscribing to pay-TV, paying gas and electricity bills and the vet for his dog. The prosecutor in the case had requested a one-year sentence.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Two More Tax Judges Arrested in Milan Probe

Two others arrested in recent weeks

(ANSA) — Milan, March 14 — Two more tax judges were arrested on Monday in relation to a Milan probe into alleged corruption in tax cases. Tax judges Luigi Vassallo and Marina Seregni were recently jailed as part of the same investigation.

An entrepreneur was also arrested on Monday. The judges arrested Monday were later named as Luigi Pellini, a chartered accountant, and Gianfranco Vignoli Rinaldi, a lawyer, while the businessman was named as Matteo Invernizzi. A bribe of some 60,000 euros was said to be at the centre of the case, in which a former tax policeman, Agostino Terlizzi, was also said to be under investigation.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Norwegian Police: We’ve Toned it Down Very Much

After the record year of 2011, the Oslo police made new guidelines so that fewer reported assault rapes would be given to the media.

In 2011 there were 55 reported assault rapes in the Norwegian capital. About half of the cases were attempted rape. In the media, it was referred to as a “rape wave”.

After this number of reported assault rapes, it has decreased year by year, especially attempted rape. Last year there were 22 reported assault rapes in Oslo, including five attempts.

About half of the cases are under investigation. The rest are dismissed.

– In 2011 there were a massive awareness about rapes and it was documented that the increase in reports was related to the number of press reports, says head of section for sexual crimes, Kari-Janne Lid, to VG.

After the record year, Marianne Sætre and Veslemøy Grytdal from the Oslo Police prepared the report “Rape in the global city”. The analysts concluded that the increase of reported rapes was strongly associated with the number of press reports.

When media wrote about the “rape wave”, police experienced an increase in reports by intoxicated women over 30, who had been at a party and been attempted raped by unknown assailant(s), the report said. The conclusion made the Oslo police prepare guidelines for media handling of sexual crimes.

– We’ve toned it down very much, admits Kari-Janne Lid.

Of the reported assault rapes last year, only five were featured in the media.

– Previously, we went out with many cases, but it created tremendous fear. A media image was created that there were many rapes constantly, says the section leader.

           — Hat tip: AF [Return to headlines]
 

The Red Cross Has Become a Money-Making Machine

The Red Cross has become a political organization which is making money on the refugee crisis, and needs to get back to its roots, claims a former worker.

I have decided to give my resignation from the Red Cross, and has posted the following on the Danish Red Cross’s wall on Facebook, writes Jørgen Boesgaard, an angry Dane who has done volunteer work for the organization for years.

To Secretary General of the Red Cross, Anders Ladekarl.

I’m writing to you because I volunteer as an unpaid employee of the Red Cross Vest Lolland and can not vouch for the way the Red Cross act in the public space.

It IS NOT the job of the Red Cross, to be a political organization and put pressure on the government.

The Red Cross, according to its resolutions, is a neutral humanitarian organization that is apolitical.

Therefore, I am amazed by the degree that the Red Cross interferes in the political debate, the situation around the flow of refugees to Denmark, how and where to have them stay.

           — Hat tip: AF [Return to headlines]
 

Unusual Weapon Saved Europe From Islamic Domination

Bill Federer recounts battles of Lepanto, Spanish Armada

News arrived in Europe in 1571 that Muslim Turks, under the command of Lala Kara Mustafa Pasha, surrounded the Christians in Famagusta, Cyprus. Muslims promised the defenders of Cypus that if they surrendered, they would be allowed to leave. Lala Kara Mustafa Pasha broke his promise and flayed alive the Venetian commander. He then killed all 6,000 Christian prisoners. He turned the beautiful St. Nicholas Church into the Lala Mustafa Pasha Mosque. Turkish Muslims then intended to attack Rome, and from there conquer the rest of western Europe.

Pope Pius V used all the influence he had to get the Christian states of Spain, Naples, Sicily, Venice, Genoa, Sardinia, Savoy, Urbino, Papal States, Germans and Croatians to assemble into the Holy League, led by 24-year-old Don John of Austria.

On October 7, 1571, the largest and most decisive sea battle on the Mediterranean took place — the Battle of Lepanto off the western coast of Greece. Don John of Austria led the 212 ships with nearly 68,000 soldiers and sailors of the Holy League.

Ali Pasha led the Muslim Ottoman Turks, consisting of 82,000 soldiers and sailors on 251 ships powered by thousands of Christian galley slaves rowing under the decks. This was the last major battle with rowing vessels.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

We’ll Fight, Vow French Militants

French militants from the Generation Identitaire (GI) movement have vowed to fight “in the field” to prevent the extermination of the European people.

In an interview with the French magazine Rouge & Le Noir, GI president Arnaud Delrieux said that “mass immigration will permanently erase the European people, and the fight is now one of survival.”

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Al Qaeda Affiliate Claims Responsibility for Mortar Attack on Algeria Gas Plant

Al Qaeda’s North Africa arm has claimed responsibility for a mortar attack on a gas plant in the Sahara jointly operated by Britain’s BP and Norway’s Statoil, calling it a protest over shale gas extraction.

No one was injured in the attack Friday and Algerian troops fanned out to hunt the perpetrators. The Defense Ministry said two homemade rocket shells fell near the production site near In Salah.

Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb issued messages saying it targeted the site because the government suppressed protests over pollution from shale gas extraction there. The messages, published Saturday by the SITE extremist monitoring group, also threatened Western companies and the Algerian government.

The attack recalled a deadly hostage-taking at another Algerian gas plant in 2013, which left 37 dead.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Tutankhamun’s Secret? Experts Hope New Chambers Could Contain Tomb of Nefertiti

As even the least attentive school-age students of history will recall, Howard Carter’s discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb in 1922 was the archeological discovery of that century. Now a find of similar importance could be soon unearthed — in a chamber directly behind that of the boy king.

Radar scans of Tutankhamun’s resting place in Luxor have shown a 90% chance that there are two hidden chambers to the rear of it, possibly containing metal and organic material, according to Egypt’s antiquities minister, Dr Mamdouh Eldamaty.

The presence of new tombs untouched for thousands of years adjoining one of the most famous burial places in history would be reason enough for excitement. But there is speculation that inside one of the chambers could be the remains of Queen Nefertiti, among the wives of Tutankhamun’s father and celebrated for a famous 3,300-year-old bust of her beautiful likeness.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Istanbul Shopping Area Hit by Suicide Bomber

A suicide bomb attack at a busy shopping area in the Turkish city of Istanbul has killed at least four people, officials say.

No-one has admitted carrying out the attack, the latest to target Turkey in recent months.

The Turkish government has blamed Kurdish militants for previous attacks and has retaliated against them.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Syrian Rebel Spy: CIA Ignored Intel That Could Have Crippled ISIS

“I transmitted this to my Western contacts with the GPS coordinates but had not response”

A ‘spymaster’ for the Free Syria Army has accused the CIA of ignoring pertinent information that could have been used to fight the Islamic State. The spy chief, identified only as ‘M.’ for security reasons, reportedly told French newspaper Le Monde that the United States, which has provided material support to the Syrian rebels, refused to act on intelligence that could have crippled the terrorist organization. M. claims he provided photographs, GPS locations, and more to the CIA, all of which they ignored.

The Free Syrian Army was originally comprised of defecting soldiers from Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s military. For years, the United States has described the FSA as a ‘moderate’ group while supplying weapons, including anti-tank missiles, to fighters to combat Assad.

According to the Washington Post:…

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Attempt to Recreate Kon-Tiki Voyage Ends With Rescue

Authorities in Chile say they have rescued 14 people from two rafts, ending an attempt to emulate the famous Kon-Tiki voyage of 1947.

The “Kon-Tiki2” expedition began in Peru in November and the rafts reached Chile’s Easter Island in 43 days.

However, the expedition organisers said they had decided to bring the return voyage to an end as it had “proven more difficult due to atypical winds”.

The Chilean government said the rescued crew were well.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Bulgaria Reinforces Border to Tackle Migrant Problem

Bulgaria on Friday deployed extra police and troops on its border with Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) in a joint exercise aimed at tackling a migrant influx, the defense ministry announced.

The two countries say they are preparing for every scenario as thousands of migrants remain blocked at Idomeni, on the Greek-FYROM border.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Danish Finance Minister: 100,000 Extra Refugees to Denmark

Prime Minister Lars Løkke has recently suggested it, but now it’s official. The Minister of Finance makes a dramatic revision of the forecast of refugees and family reunifications to Denmark, according to the Danish newspaper Ekstra Bladet.

The flow of refugees — who will never return — means that the government now makes a significant upgrade of its population forecast for the coming years.

“In the updated population forecast, the population is expected to increase by almost 100,000 people by 2020 compared to the population forecast of May last year,” writes Finance Minister Claus Hjort Frederiksen, in a reply to the Parliamentary Finance Committee.

According to the Finance Minister answers to the Parliament, the previous forecast from May last year is definitely wrong. Now the government expects that the population will grow by 97,000 people more than what was expected a year ago.

In the previous forecast it was expected that there would come 22,000 refugees and family reunifications for refugees to Denmark in the period 2016-2020.

Now, however, the expected number is 119,000, according to the answer from Claus Hjort.

           — Hat tip: AF [Return to headlines]
 

EU Commission: Europe Shall be Open to Refugees

– The goal of the Turkey-agreement is not to keep refugees out of Europe. They will still come, but through legal routes, says the EU Commission.

Prior to this week’s summit in Brussels the EU Commission says that refugees will continue to be accepted in Europe. They just need to use legal ways into Europe instead of making use of traffickers.

That’s the whole purpose of the agreement with Turkey, which the EU tries to get in order at the summit on Thursday and Friday, said the commission’s deputy chairman, Frans Timmermans, at a news conference Wednesday.

While EU President Donald Tusk is committed to get control of the union’s external borders and get the number of refugees and migrants down, Frans Timmermans says:

– The goal of all this is not to keep people out of Europe. The goal is to take the criminal element out and destroy smugglers’ business model. It is the primary goal we have.

The Commission therefore sees the agreement with Turkey to stop the route over the Aegean Sea as a first step that closes the most commonly used illegal way into Europe.

Thereafter, EU countries must open legal ways into the EU for refugees by taking more to Europe directly from the refugee camps.

– We have to be crystal clear to EU member states: The refugee problem is not going to disappear. And the EU will have to be serious in redistribution of refugees from neighboring regions such as Turkey, Jordan and Lebanon, said Frans Timmermans, adding:

– As long as the conflict lasts, and the Syrians can not go back to their country, EU countries must take redistribution seriously.

           — Hat tip: AF [Return to headlines]
 

Germany’s Worst Case Scenario: 6.4 Million Migrants

A think tank in Germany has played out five scenarios for the migrant crisis, with the best case being 1.8 million migrants entering the country this year and the worst case 6.4 million.

German think tank SAT from Freiburg has simulated what the flow of migrants headed to Europe might look like in several scenarios and none of them is a total halt to migration. Even if the European Union (EU) summit with Turkey succeeds they say the problem cannot be solved so easily.

SAT calculated five scenarios for German paper Die Welt of how they expect to see the migrant crisis develop in 2016. The best case scenario would see Germany take in 1.8 million migrants by the end of the current year and at worst they could see upwards of 6.4 million new arrivals. The CEO of SAT, Thomas Arzt, told the German paper: “There is no switch that lets one merely turn off the flow of refugees.”

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Greece: “Peaceful Refugees” Fight Over Aid

Hundreds of nonwhite invaders fought pitched battles over food aid handed out by a local Greek football team at the port of Piraeus, near Athens-just one day after do-gooder actress Angelina Jolie visited there to show how peaceful the “refugees” were. The nonwhites kicked, punched, and swung iron bars at each other at the port.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Greece: Tensions Flare at Refugee Camps

While European Union leaders struggled this week to clinch a deal with Turkey in Brussels, tensions at makeshift refugee camps in Greece were beginning to boil over, with reports of violent brawls proliferating.

In the latest incident on Friday at Piraeus port, one man was lightly injured when around 50 Afghan and Syrian asylum seekers came to blows after a disagreement involving mobile phone chargers. The punch-up took place inside a passenger terminal converted to a refugee shelter and was broken up by port security officers, who detained two men. The brawl followed a similar incident at the port on Thursday.

With more than 5,000 refugees, Piraeus port is beginning to look increasingly like the tent city at Idomeni.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

P.C. — R.I.P.

No one wants to admit it, but the seeds of ideological control characteristic of totalitarian political regimes reside predominantly in the Democrat Party and in its liberal constituencies that dominate the knowledge, information and entertainment industries-the media, the universities and Hollywood. And because of their leverage, these institutions have a disproportionately large effect on the population at large. Slowly, over the last few decades, but with accelerating pace in the Obama years, the soul of America has been silenced by political correctness. And the nation is weaker and more divided than ever.

It’s time to connect the dots on the growing intolerance on the political left in America. Recently, Forbes reported that at more than 400 of America’s largest and most prestigious colleges and universities 62% percent maintain policies that restrict a substantial amount of speech protected under the First Amendment. Speech comes in many forms, but typically what is banned is student speech that “feels offensive” or “demeaning” toward groups and causes deemed politically correct.

On many campuses, students who question secular progressive orthodoxies-whether extreme environmentalism and climate change, socialist economics, multiculturalism and accommodation of illegal aliens or Islamists-fear grade penalties, harassment, and outright silencing. In effect, speech codes chill freedom of expression and the competition of ideas. Worse, it turns out that speech codes driven by political correctness foster coddled, weak-minded, and intolerant graduates-ill-equipped for employment and citizenship in the marketplace diversity of viewpoints that is the real world.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Transgenderism: Dangerous Child Abuse

The “transgender” mental illness currently favored by the establishment and pushed by the controlled media is exceptionally dangerous for children, is child abuse, and must be stopped, the American College of Pediatricians (ACP) has announced. The ACP has called on all educators and legislators to definitively reject the “transgender” madness once and for all.

In a positon paper published on the ACP website, titled “Gender Ideology Harms Children,” the organization “urges educators and legislators to reject all policies that condition children to accept as normal a life of chemical and surgical impersonation of the opposite sex. Facts-not ideology-determine reality.”

The paper, signed by ACP president, Michelle A. Cretella, M.D.; Vice President Quentin Van Meter, M.D.; and University Distinguished Service Professor of Psychiatry at Johns Hopkins Medical School, and the former psychiatrist in chief at Johns Hopkins Hospital, Paul McHugh, M.D., goes on to list eight points why the promotion of the “transgender” mental illness is such a danger.

Firstly, the ACP says, “human sexuality is an objective biological binary trait: ‘XY’ and ‘XX’ are genetic markers of health-not genetic markers of a disorder.”

The “norm for human design is to be conceived either male or female. Human sexuality is binary by design with the obvious purpose being the reproduction and flourishing of our species. This principle is self-evident,” the paper says, before continuing:

“The exceedingly rare disorders of sexual differentiation (DSDs), including but not limited to testicular feminization and congenital adrenal hyperplasia, are all medically identifiable deviations from the sexual binary norm, and are rightly recognized as disorders of human design. Individuals with DSDs do not constitute a third sex.”

Secondly, the ACP says, “no one is born with a gender. Everyone is born with a biological sex. Gender (an awareness and sense of oneself as male or female) is a sociological and psychological concept; not an objective biological one.

[Comment: Finally. Some commen sense.]

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

4 thoughts on “Gates of Vienna News Feed 3/19/2016

  1. *** CEO of SAT, Thomas Arzt, told the German paper: “There is no switch that lets one merely turn off the flow of refugees.” ***

    This is a filthy lie. Its corollary is, “We are pathetic, weak, helpless, and contemptible!”

    • I agree, nothing just ‘happens’. If this alleged ‘crisis’ was met in a unified manner, the flow could be reduced to a trickle. The comfortable dole must be reduced, the traffickers stopped and if life is not good as ‘promised’ the folks back home would ‘get the message’. IMHO this is a carefully crafted plan to destroy the European culture, economy, national pride and way of life. There can be no other rational explanation. The feckless and spineless EU leaders are following a script written by the globalists.

      • Once you eliminate the impossible – that European leaders have interests of their native citizens at heart – what you are left with is the truth, no matter how improbable. You just stated the truth.

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