Federica Mogherini, the High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs, chastised Austria for no longer showing a welcoming face towards migrants. Ms. Mogherini’s admonition came in response to Austria’s decision to build a 250-meter-long fence in the Brenner Pass along its border with Italy.
In other news, Zeid Ra’ad Al-Hussein, a Jordanian and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, chastised Donald Trump for the bigotry inherent in his immigration policies. Mr. Al-Hussein’s remarks were part of a speech given at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, the same city where the Republican convention will be held in July.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to C. Cantoni, Caroline Glick, Dean, 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.
Pending Bankruptcy of Largest Solar Company Puts Alternative Energy Industry Into Full Meltdown Mode
The darling industry of Sustainable Development is solar energy and wind turbines. The global policy of Sustainable Development (aka Technocracy) is to a) destroy carbon-based energy and b) replace the deficit with alternative energy. The first problem is that Technocracy is a crackpot vision of Utopia that has never been tried, much less tested, in the real world. There is no concrete evidence that it would ever work, even under ideal conditions. And yet, Technocrats everywhere, including the United Nations, assure us that this is the hottest thing since the invention of electricity.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The Fed Sends a Frightening Letter to JPMorgan, Corporate Media Yawns
Yesterday the Federal Reserve released a 19-page letter that it and the FDIC had issued to Jamie Dimon, the Chairman and CEO of JPMorgan Chase, on April 12 as a result of its failure to present a credible plan for winding itself down if the bank failed. The letter carried frightening passages and large blocks of redacted material in critical areas, instilling in any careful reader a sense of panic about the U.S. financial system.
A rational observer of Wall Street’s serial hubris might have expected some key segments of this letter to make it into the business press. A mere eight years ago the United States experienced a complete meltdown of its financial system, leading to the worst economic collapse since the Great Depression. President Obama and regulators have been assuring us over these intervening eight years that things are under control as a result of the Dodd-Frank financial reform legislation. But according to the letter the Fed and FDIC issued on April 12 to JPMorgan Chase, the country’s largest bank with over $2 trillion in assets and $51 trillion in notional amounts of derivatives, things are decidedly not under control.
At the top of page 11, the Federal regulators reveal that they have “identified a deficiency” in JPMorgan’s wind-down plan which if not properly addressed could “pose serious adverse effects to the financial stability of the United States.” Why didn’t JPMorgan’s Board of Directors or its legions of lawyers catch this?
It’s important to parse the phrasing of that sentence. The Federal regulators didn’t say JPMorgan could pose a threat to its shareholders or Wall Street or the markets. It said the potential threat was to “the financial stability of the United States.”
[Comment: Looks like JP Morgan is prepping for a “bailout” aka theft.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Agenda 21: Developers Plan ‘Car-Free’ 30-Story Condo in Austin
In line with United Nation’s Agenda 21, condo developers are planning a 30-story luxury tower in downtown Austin, Texas, without parking spaces.
The proposed condo tower at 721 Congress Ave., called ‘The Avenue,’ is described as the first “car-free luxury development in downtown Austin” and residents are expected to use “biking, walking, ride-sharing and public transportation” to get around.
The lead architect, Brad Nelsen, says ‘The Avenue’ is “for people who work and live 24 hours a day downtown.”
But despite Nelsen billing this car-less living as revolutionary, the U.N. has spent nearly 25 years pushing this concept through U.N. Agenda 21 — and major U.S. cities like Austin are already on board.
Signed in 1992 by President George H.W. Bush and later phased in by President Bill Clinton, the Agenda 21 program was designed to make people more government-dependent by herding them into dense, urban housing while also forcing them out of their cars and into government-controlled public transportation.
In other words, Agenda 21 restricts both land use and the freedom of travel to make people easier to control.
But it doesn’t stop there: the ultimate goal of Agenda 21 is communitarianism, which calls for government to eventually take control of all land use without leaving any decision making in the hands of private property owners.
Agenda 21 is often described as “neo-feudalism,” and that’s accurate: in the Middle Ages landless serfs lived in crowded cottages and rarely travelled more than 30 miles from their homes.
[Comment: Higher density housing with HD cameras on every corner recording every car and every face. The move to eliminate cars is really about control. Internal passpport controals lie the Soviet is much easier whe people don’t have cars.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Angry and Frustrated Upstate New York Swings Behind Trump
What do a New York lawyer, a business owner who calls himself a left-leaning Republican and a construction worker who elected Barack Obama have in common? They’re voting for Donald Trump.
None of them live on the breadline. They share surprisingly varied opinions. Yet they are profoundly frustrated — with the economy, with career politicians and with perceptions of declining American prestige.
The Republican frontrunner’s supporters are often portrayed as undereducated, underearning whites.
But in upstate New York, where Trump calls himself “the most popular person that’s ever lived,” the breadth of support spotlights his enduring appeal, albeit as the Republican elites plot to bring him down…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Bill Clinton: Sanders Backers Would ‘Shoot Every Third Person on Wall Street’
Also defended his wife’s record of supporting financial reforms like the Dodd-Frank Act
If Bernie Sanders were elected president, his supporters would “shoot every third person on Wall Street,” former President Bill Clinton joked on Friday.
Stumping for his wife Hillary Clinton at an event in Fort Washington, New York, Clinton jabbed Sanders and students who support the Vermont senator’s attacks on corrupt financial systems.
“One of the few things I really haven’t enjoyed about this primary: I think it’s fine that all these young students have been so enthusiastic for her opponent and [he] sounds so good: ‘Just shoot every third person on Wall Street and everything will be fine,’“ he said.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Eagle Forum Coup is All About Cruz and Money
“The whole art of government consists in the art of being honest.” -Thomas Jefferson
In my last article regarding the attempted coup within Phyllis Schlafly’s Eagle Forum, I explained how this attempted takeover by six Eagle Forum leaders was done basically because they disagreed with Phyllis’s endorsement of Donald Trump, who she called, “America’s last hope,” but there is more.
It’s All About Money
In a recent radio interview, Phyllis stated their real goal was to take control of the organization and get their hands on the assets and the lists. Why would they want to do that, and why did they come out last January and state that Eagle Forum was endorsing Ted Cruz?
The answer lies in the fact that there are two organizations within Eagle Forum. Phyllis’s son, John Schlafly, explained that last Monday’s vote was regarding the 501(c)3, educationally oriented non-profit organization of Eagle Forum, not the 501(c)4 organization that allows it to support political issue campaigns.
“The two organizations have different boards,” John explained, “and those opposing Phyllis only have a majority in the 501(c)4.” This is where the money lies, and money that can be given to candidates. A 501(c)4 allows endorsements of candidates. The 501(c)3 allows tax free status as a charitable foundation by the IRS, but endorsements of candidates are prohibited.
The problem is that the 501(c)4 controls the name Eagle Forum, meaning the future of the organization will be uncertain if the 501(c)4 leaders succeed in ousting Phyllis Schlafly as its chairperson and CEO. So far they have failed in this attempt.
The six women involved in this attempted takeover were backing Ted Cruz as well as many of them backing a Constitutional Convention which Phyllis has always taken a stance against. If they could take over, then the assets in the 501(c)4 would be theirs to use as they wished.
Take Note: Donald J. Trump does not want or need private monies for his campaign and has refused all but minor donations from American citizens who support him. Ted Cruz’s campaign has accepted monies from people he will be beholden to in the event he is elected, and these entities are corporate, banking, political, and religious.
It appears the intended goal of these women was to take control of the assets of Eagle Forum in order to put these monies behind the candidate of their choice, Ted Cruz.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Jordanian U.N. Human Rights Commissioner Blasts Trump’s ‘Hateful Slander of Foreigners’
“Bigotry is not proof of strong leadership”
The U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights launched a thinly veiled attack on U.S. Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump and other presidential hopefuls on Friday, in a speech entitled “The road to violence.”
“Bigotry is not proof of strong leadership. It is evidence of the lowest and most craven lack of faith in the principles that uphold a ‘land of the free’,” Zeid Ra’ad al Hussein said in a speech at a university in Cleveland, Ohio.
[Comment: how many “refugees” has Jordan taken in?]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Neocons Now Openly Pushing for ‘Dark Horse Candidate’ General to Oust Trump
Unnerved over the idea of a Trump presidency, wealthy members of the GOP inner circle are desperately looking for a new candidate for the job, and one name has come up again and again — retired United States Marine Corps General James Mattis. Mattis, Neocon pundits openly write, may be the ideal “dark horse candidate” to save their new world order.
Over the last few months, James Mattis, a distinguished retired marine commander who last served as the head of US Central Command, has been repeatedly mentioned by neoconservative strategists and pundits as a possible antidote to Donald Trump, Ted Cruz and even Hillary Clinton.
Known as ‘the Warrior Monk’ for his devotion to the military, the 65-year-old officer holds tremendous respect among the military, and has been called ‘the most revered Marine general’ in a generation by the Military Times.
Last week, a story in The Daily Beast revealed that a group of anonymous billionaire donors have decided to put their money where neocon strategists’ mouths are, assembling a team of high profile experts to study the possible popular reaction to a Mattis ticket, either as a Republican dark horse candidate in a contested convention, or a third party candidate in the general election in November.
The group, The Daily Beast noted, has already sent the retired general half a dozen strategy memos on how he might win.
The precedent exists, pundits say. In 1952, General Dwight D. Eisenhower was convinced to join the Republican primary race late in the game, ultimately defeating Robert Taft to secure the nomination and going on to win the presidency.
The only difference is that Eisenhower actually ran in the primary campaign, collecting states and delegates before defeating Taft at the convention. This time, Mattis would only make it onto the Republican ticket if Trump fell short of the 1,237 delegates necessary to clinch the nomination.
It would be interesting to see how the Republican establishment, already in a tough spot after being bashed by Trump for ‘stealing’ the Colorado primary in a ‘voteless victory’, would attempt to explain to Republican voters why the party even holds primaries, if the votes might go to a candidate who didn’t even run.
So far, the suspiciously undemocratic air hanging over the whole proposal, which reads like a modern-day, real life version of John Frankenheimer’s classic Seven Days in May, has not stopped neocon pundits from fawning over the dark horse candidate, and presenting him as a realistic alternative to the current batch of candidates.
Most recently, in a piece for the news and analysis website The Federalist, Hudson Institute fellow Rebeccah Heinrichs explained that Mattis, a military man of “moral clarity” who “understands and loves America,” would bring America to victory over its many enemies.
Indeed, the concept of Trump’s ‘America First’ foreign policy, which isn’t as interventionist as neoconservative hawks might like, is something the campaign to draft Mattis takes very seriously.
Speaking to the Military Times, John Noonan, a former Jeb Bush aid now involved in the Mattis effort, said that he has high hopes that Mr. Trump’s foreign policy proposals may be the straw that broke the camel’s back in getting Mattis to agree to a run.
“I do think this race is serious enough, and Donald Trump’s foreign policy is worrisome enough, to make him consider it,” he said.
Moreover, not at all shy about admitting the undemocratic overtones of the effort, the Republican strategist emphasized that in this election, “all bets are off” as far as the actual candidates go, and “we shouldn’t be embarrassed to allow the American people a good choice for president.”
Noonan emphasized, speaking to The Daily Beast, that General Mattis would be a perfect alternative to both Donald Trump, who he characterized as a “fascist lunatic,” and to Clinton, who “has one foot in a jail cell.” He would “be the first in line to plead with the general to come save America,” he says.
And if Trump succeeds in getting the Republican nomination, Mattis’ strategists have a Plan B. This, they say, consists of running the general as a third party candidate, and preventing either the Republicans or the Democrats from securing the 270 electoral votes necessary to win the presidential election outright.
In case of a split, the strategists calculate, the incoming Congress could turn to the 12th Amendment of the US Constitution, giving them the authority to install the candidate of their choice. The rule was last used in 1824. Ultimately, they estimate, with neither Trump nor the Democratic candidate able to find the necessary Congressional support, Mattis could be presented as an ideal consensus candidate.
For now, the retired general, who currently works as a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, a conservative think tank, has declined offers to run, dismissing it all as “idle talk” in a March interview for The Daily Caller. However, with neocon passions flaring over fears of a Trump presidency, the powerful group may yet conscript the general to save their new world order between now and November.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
by Caroline Glick
The US presidential race is President Barack Obama’s political legacy. Depending on who succeeds him, that legacy will either fade or become the new normal.
To understand what he has wrought, a good place to start is with the man running to Obama’s left: Sen. Bernie Sanders.
The socialist from Vermont knows how to play to the crowd. Sanders knows that the people captivated by his tales of avaricious bankers aren’t too keen on Jews either.
And as a Jew, he’s cool with that…
| — Hat tip: Caroline Glick | [Return to headlines] |
Obama’s War on America and Property
Recently Baltimore County came to a settlement with the City over a scheme to colonize affluent County neighborhoods with HUD housing. According to Fox News: “With crime in the inner city soaring and many of Baltimore’s neighborhoods plagued by gang violence, there was a push to integrate those communities into neighborhoods in the surrounding county. The NAACP and others sued Baltimore County over alleged housing segregation — and the county has now settled, agreeing to spend $30 million over the next 10 years to build 1,000 homes in affluent neighborhoods. On top of that, the Baltimore County executive is planning to put forward legislation outlawing the practice of landlords denying — or as some see it, discriminating against — Section 8 tenants. “I think it’s important that we make sure that opportunities are available to everyone within the region,” County Executive Kevin Kamenetz said.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Prince George’s Mourns Firefighter as Police Continue Shooting Investigation
John E. Ulmschneider always wanted to be the first firefighter at the scene in an emergency. On Friday, his desire to help cost him his life.
Ulmschneider was among the Prince George’s County rescuers who rushed to a Temple Hills-Camp Springs-area house after a call from a man who had been unable to reach his diabetic brother. The caller told firefighters that he feared his brother had suffered a blackout or seizure.
When knocks on the door went unanswered and there was no response as rescuers announced that they were outside, the emergency workers decided to break through the door, officials said. As they did, gunshots erupted from inside, mortally wounding Ulmschneider and injuring another firefighter and the man’s brother.
Authorities said Saturday that they are still working to determine why the 61-year-old man allegedly opened fire. But a county fire spokesman said it may have been a tragic mistake — the man possibly thought that the rescuers were intruders seeking to break into his house.
The man was released from police custody Saturday evening, officials said, and no charges have been filed. Officials did not say whether the man had suffered a medical emergency.
| — Hat tip: Dean | [Return to headlines] |
Tourists Shocked by What They See During Fishing Trip
MIAMI — A group of tourists from Virginia out on a fishing trip in south Florida had an experience they won’t soon forget.
According to WTVJ, while reeling in a sailfish on Thursday, the group was shocked to see a shark leap out of the water and catch the sailfish in its mouth.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Trump Protester Can’t Answer Why Trump is Racist
Anti-Trump supporters play race card, but can’t give any real proof that Donald Trump is racist. Black man sets the record straight on who Hillary Clinton really is and how she was supported by the KKK.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UN Rights Chief Slams Trump for ‘Bigotry’ In Election Campaign
The UN rights chief took a swipe at US Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump Friday, accusing him of exploiting fear and resorting to bigotry in campaigning that he warned was a “road to violence.”
Zeid Ra’ad Al-Hussein delivered the blunt criticism in a speech at a university in Cleveland, Ohio, where Republicans will gather in July to choose their White House nominee.
Over the past months, Trump has promised to build a wall on the US-Mexico border to keep out migrants and to ban Muslims from entering the United States…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
US Anti-Encryption Law is So ‘Braindead’ It Will Outlaw File Compression
Burr-Feinstein’s proposed legislation will screw over the NSA, too, says Bruce Schneier
The proposed bill put forward by Senators Richard Burr (R-NC) and Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) to force US companies to build backdoors into their encryption systems has quickly run into trouble.
Less than 24 hours after the draft Compliance with Court Orders Act of 2016 was released, more than 43,000 signatures have been added to a petition calling for the bill to be withdrawn. The petition, organized by CREDO Action, calls for Congress to block the proposed law as a matter of urgency.
Meanwhile, in the technical world, experts have been going through the legislation and pointing out glaring holes in the draft bill. Bruce Schneier, the guy who literally wrote the books on modern cryptography, noted that the bill would make most of what the NSA does illegal, unless No Such Agency is willing to backdoor its own encrypted communications.
“This is the most braindead piece of legislation I’ve ever seen,” Schneier — who has just been appointed a Fellow of the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard — told The Reg. “The person who wrote this either has no idea how technology works or just doesn’t care.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Vietnam “Pacifist” Claim Disqualifies Bernie Sanders for Presidency
Bernie Sanders, a draft-dodging self-proclaimed “Socialist” who evaded service in the Vietnam War by seeking “conscientious objector” status as an alleged “pacifist opposed to all war,” now seeks to be elected Democrat President and Commander-in-Chief, empowered to send other Americans to war although he refused to serve himself. His perfidy in the Vietnam War, if not perjury, disqualifies him from being elected to serve as President and Commander-in-Chief now.
Oddly enough, although television anchors “moderating” the 2016 presidential campaign debates refer to Sanders as “authentic,” they have failed to question him about, or investigate, his evasion of military service in Vietnam by claiming to be a “pacifist” opposed to all wars as required for conscientious objector status. He wasn’t believed then — he was denied c.o. status — and the excuses he offers now for his non-service should not be believed.
Indeed, the excuses offered by Sanders and his campaign for his claim of being a committed “pacifist” opposed to all war in order to evade the draft just cannot withstand scrutiny.
First, he claims that while he is still a sincere Socialist, as he was then as a college radical, he is no longer a “pacifist” as he was then. How does one stop being a committed “pacifist,” if it is a “sincerely held belief,” as he claimed in order to evade military service and have someone else serve in his place in Vietnam? Did he stop being a “pacifist opposed to all war” when the Vietnam War or Draft ended and he was safe from service?
His campaign admits that Sanders sought conscientious objector status when his Draft number came up. They also admit that his claim of being a “pacifist” was rejected as a back then and he was denied c.o. status. But, they explain, he appealed the ruling against him, and the process dragged out so long that he became “too old” to be drafted…
Significantly, Sanders doesn’t claim he had a college deferment. He graduated from college in 1964, when he was 23. In 1966, he married his first wife, “Honeymooning” in the Soviet Union. Both Jews, they lived in a kibbutz in Israel for a time. As far as is known, Sanders did not volunteer to serve in the kibbutz in Israel on condition that, as a pacifist, he would not fight to defend the kibbutz if it was was attacked, as many were, or if Israel was again invaded.
So, how is it that Sanders was young enough and healthy enough to volunteer to serve on a kibbutz in Israel and potentially have to defend it if attacked, but not young enough to volunteer for, or be drafted into, military service to defend his own country during the Vietnam War?
[Comment: Sanders is a devout Communist.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
A Drone Flies Through a Rotting, Abandoned $17.5 Million Vancouver Mansion; This is What it Saw
Over the past several months we have repeatedly noted a recurring peculiarity of the Vancouver housing bubble: there are numerous multi-million dollar mansions, which rot, abandoned, their owners having long ago disappeared.
Two months ago, we first postulated the hypothetical timeline that starts with the purchase of a Vancouver mansion
Chinese investors smuggled out millions in embezzled cash, hot money or perfectly legal funds, bypassing the $50,000/year limit in legal capital outflows. They make “all cash” purchases, usually sight unseen, using third parties intermediaries to preserve their anonymity, or directly in perso, in cities like Vancouver, New York, London or San Francisco. The house becomes a new “Swiss bank account”, providing the promise of an anonymous store of value and retaining the cash equivalent value of the original capital outflow. Then the owners disappear, never to be heard from or seen again.
Then we showed a dramatic example of the last step just yesterday in our post laying out the “Curious Story Of The Chinese Tycoon Found “Chopped Up Into 100 Pieces” In A Vancouver Mansion.”
But while the mysterious past of Vancouver’s abandoned mansions may be increasingly more transparent, their “present” is just is perplexing: after all, they are still the legal possession of someone — even if that someone is a dismembered Chinese tycoon long dead — and as such they may remain a neighborhood blight for a long time.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Bernie Sanders Meets Privately With Pope Francis: Reports
Bernie Sanders held a private meeting with Pope Francis Saturday morning, the US Democratic presidential hopeful told CNN and ABC News.
“He is a beautiful man,” Sanders told ABC in an on-camera interview.
“I am not a Catholic, but there is a radiance that comes from him. It was very wonderful to meet him,” Sanders told ABC.
Sanders’ wife Jane is Catholic, but he describes himself as a secular Jew…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Chilling: German Chancellor Merkel Agrees to Charge Citizen for Anti-Muslim Poem
Angela Merkel is agreeing to put one of her own citizens on trial for mocking a Muslim thug
Turkey’s Muslim-Brotherhood-supporting president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan was unhappy about a poem a German satirist created about him. President Erdogan messaged German Chancellor Angela Merkel, she of the take millions of Muslim refugees into Europe infamy, and demanded that Turkey be allowed to prosecute the German comedian.
Read that again if you must. Turkey’s Erdogan demanded he be able to file charges against a German citizen over satire — and Chancellor Merkel has since agreed to allow that very thing.
Merkel’s defense is to say that by allowing the foreign Muslim leader’s request to charge a German citizen with the crime of satire, it will prove the German legal system “works.” She makes no mention of simply throwing out the case and telling Mr. Erdogan to pound sand. No, instead she once again bends grotesquely to the will of an offended Muslim leader.
Angela Merkel is agreeing to put one of her own citizens on trial for mocking a Muslim thug with deep ties to ISIS as outline by this 2015 report:
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Man Arrested for Reducing Two Into Slavery
Possible 20-year sentence
(ANSA) — Modena, April 11 — Police have arrested a man for reducing two others into slavery, sources said Monday.
The charge carries a possible sentence of 20 years in prison.
The suspect is a Romanian national who forced two of his countrymen to work 10 hours a day at an illegal waste dump and to live in a broken-down trailer after he seized their passports.
One of the victims has been hospitalized, police said.
The suspect’s wife and the owner of the land with the waste dump are also under investigation.
The land has been seized and a cleanup is underway.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Umbrella-in-the-Eye Manslaughter Convict in Semi Liberty
Doina Matei sentenced to 16 years for killing Vanessa Russo
(ANSA) — Rome, April 12 — A woman sentenced in 2007 to 16 years in jail for killing 23-year-old Vanessa Russo after stabbing her in the eye with an umbrella is now in semiliberty, Rome’s Il Messaggero newspaper reported Tuesday.
Doina Matei, a Romanian mother of two, now works in a social cooperative in Venice during the day and returns to prison in the evenings. She is serving a sentence for manslaughter in relation to the umbrella stabbing at Rome’s Termini station on April 26, 2007.
Matei, who subsequently ran off and was arrested a few days later, said at trial that she did not intend to kill Russo. “In this case the prison system has worked well and has brought the punishment to a level that is acceptable and proportional to manslaughter and also fine-tuned it to the person of Doina Matei and to her life experience,” Matei’s lawyer Nino Marazzita said. “At the time of the incident my client had just turned 18 and came from a difficult background with two children,” he continued.
“The woman has served her punishment and now has the right to reintegrate herself into society,” Marazzita concluded.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Mafia Stronger Than State Say 48% of Students
Bindi says trust in politicians important
(ANSA) — Rome, April 14 — Some 48% of Italian school students think that the mafia is stronger than the State, according to a report presented at the parliamentary anti-Mafia commission Thursday.
Only 31.50% of the students think it is possible to defeat the Mafia for good.
Anti-Mafia commission Chair Rosy Bindi stressed the importance of having faith in politicians.
“You can’t mistrust politicians in general, but only those who do wrong,” she said.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Step Too Far? Ex-SAS Hero Jailed for Keeping His Falklands War Gun
An ex-SAS hero has been jailed for keeping a handgun he used during the Falklands war.
Albert Patterson, 65, kept the 9mm self-loading pistol in his cellar as a reminder of all the fallen comrades in the Falklands war.
Patterson, who had fought in the 1982 conflict held the pistol as a silent tribute to his 22 colleagues who were killed.
The gun was only discovered after Patterson split up from his second wife and a family member decided to collect his belongings.
However, due to suspicions that items had gone missing his ex-wife called the police who in turn carried out a full search of the property they both shared.
It was then that the officers found the pistol, along with other weapons and ammunition in the house.
Patterson was arrested in 2014, and informed police that he had kept the guns to remind him of his fallen comrades and his working life in the SAS. He admitted to having the 9mm self-loading pistol, plus other weaponry in his possession.
Patterson was jailed for 15 months at Hereford Crown court, for possession of the ammunition and other guns. He was also ordered to serve a year on supervised probation following his release.
The Judge, Christopher Plunkett told Patterson he was ‘privileged’ to have seen his service record. But added, “In the wrong hands these weapons could lead to death of police officers or cause all sorts of mayhem. It is this risk that parliament is concerned about.”
The ex-SAS solider had a very illustrious career and had served in the military for 22 years. He also worked abroad in non-government organizations based in Iraq, Afghanistan and now lives in Thailand.
“He spent a great deal of time abroad protecting our country and our way of life,” Patterson’s defending counsel, Scott Coughtrie said.
Coughtrie also made reference to the trophy that Patterson had been awarded for his work in the Falklands.
“[These weapons] weren’t loaded or hanging around, they were hidden,” he added.
These sentiments were echoed by Colonel Richard Kemp, former commander of British forces in Afghanistan who said:
“This is another example of our troops being persecuted by a government and courts obsessed with political correctness.”
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
UKIP Leader Labels Obama as Most Anti-UK US President Ever
UKIP Leader Nigel Farage called US President Barack Obama the most anti-UK US leader ever.
LONDON (Sputnik) — US President Barack Obama is the most anti-UK US leader ever, UKIP Leader Nigel Farage said on Friday, as Obama is expected to show support for the Remain campaign during upcoming visit to the United Kingdom.
“Mercifully, this American president, who is the most anti-British American president there has ever been, won’t be in office for much longer, and I hope will be replaced by somebody rather more sensible when it comes to trading relationships with this country,” Farage said as quoted by local media.
On Wednesday, Farage welcomed Vote Leave campaign, which had been designated as the lead camp for those seeking an end to UK’s EU membership.
UK nationals are set to vote on June 23 in a referendum on the country’s EU membership, after Prime Minister David Cameron and the leaders of the 27 European Union member states reached a deal in February to grant the United Kingdom a special status within the bloc.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Iran, Italy Sign Accord on Researcher Exchanges
Also physics, cultural-heritage restoration
(ANSA) — Tehran, April 12 — Italy and Iran on Tuesday signed accords on exchanging university researchers, Education Minister Stefania Giannini said in Tehran.
The first, 600,000-euro deal will involve researchers and doctoral students over the next three years.
The second covers research on experimental physics and the third the application of new technologies to cultural-heritage restoration which will see a joint forum on permanent innovation.
Giannini called them “important accords”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Saudi Arabia Threatens to Sell $750 Billion Dollars in Assets if Its Role in 9/11 is Revealed
Such a sell-off would end up crippling the kingdom’s economy
WASHINGTON — Saudi Arabia has told the Obama administration and members of Congress that it will sell off hundreds of billions of dollars’ worth of American assets held by the kingdom if Congress passes a bill that would allow the Saudi government to be held responsible in American courts for any role in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
The Obama administration has lobbied Congress to block the bill’s passage, according to administration officials and congressional aides from both parties, and the Saudi threats have been the subject of intense discussions in recent weeks between lawmakers and officials from the State Department and the Pentagon. The officials have warned senators of diplomatic and economic fallout from the legislation.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Brussels Terrorist Starred in Pro-Immigrant Documentary
Poster boy for successful integration into Swedish society arrested
Breitbart) The Syrian-origin Swedish passport holder arrested in Belgium last week for his involvement in the Brussels bomb attacks is a former poster boy for Sweden’s efforts at integrating migrants into their society.
Now accused of murder, and captured on CCTV cameras carrying bags which contained the explosive devices which killed 32 civilians, Islamist Osama Krayem had once been hailed as a model of integration. A former employee of the city of Malmo, at the age of 11 Osama starred in a documentary about migrants in Sweden.
Both of Osama’s parents are Syrian migrants to Sweden, and have told tabloid Aftonbladet they wanted to see their son integrate into Swedish society. The family featured in a 2005 documentary called ‘Without Borders — A Film About Sport And Integration’, in which football-mad Krayem demonstrated how the Malmo football team had helped him settle into Swedish society.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Vienna Should Show ‘Welcoming Face’ To Migrants — Mogherini
‘Don’t raise walls’ says EU foreign affairs chief
(ANSA) — Lampedusa, April 15 — Austria should show a welcoming face to migrants instead of raising walls against them, EU foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini said on a visit to the Italian island of Lampedusa Friday. “I hope that Austria doesn’t raise walls but shows a welcoming face, as it did last summer,” Mogherini said after meeting Lampedusa Mayor Giusi Nicolini and visiting the island’s migrant centre. Austria is building a 250-metre yard wall on its side of the Brenner Pass border crossing with Italy to keep a feared influx of thousands of migrants and refugees out.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Canada-based circus and theater entertainment company Cirque du Soleil has canceled its upcoming shows in Greensboro, Charlotte, and Raleigh in North Carolina to protest the state’s Public Facilities Privacy and Security Act.
“Cirque du Soleil strongly believes in diversity and equality for every individual and is opposed to discrimination in any form,” the group announced Friday in a press release. “The new HB2 legislation passed in North Carolina is an important regression to ensuring human rights for all.”
Cirque du Soleil’s North Carolina cancelation comes as a growing number of artists and entertainers abandon their respective performances in the state to protest of the Public Facilities Privacy & Security Act.
The world-famous circus, however, has not canceled its upcoming performances in the United Arab Emirates of Dubai.
Indeed, Cirque du Solei has a planned production, Varekai, scheduled to run from September 16 to 24 at the Dubai World Trade Centre. The United Arab Emirates of Dubai has outlawed same-sex marriage, sex or gender reassignment surgery, adoption by same-sex couples, openly gay and lesbian military service, with the aforementioned being punishable by death, fines, or imprisonment.
In fact, Cirque du Solei has performed for years in the anti-LBGT United Arab Emirates, including Michael Jackson: The Immortal Tour in 2014, Dralion in 2013, Alegria in 2009, and Quidam in 2006.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Michael Savage: “West Will Collapse” Without Christian Revival
There has never been a successful and long-lasting atheistic civilization
There has never been a successful and long-lasting atheistic civilization — and there never will be — is the opinion of many astute observers. And it’s also apparently the belief of radio giant Michael Savage, as he issued a dire warning on his Wednesday show.
“Unless Christianity receives a new enthusiasm that sweeps the Western world, and Christianity itself rises up against the forces against it,” he said, “the entire West will collapse in your lifetime.”
Savage, author of numerous best-selling books and host of the award-winning Savage Nation radio program, has long warned that the West is imperiled by “savages” from without and is being savaged by militant secularists within. Now, addressing the crux of the matter, Savage is adamant that the death of Christian belief portends the death of the West, as he said:
I can almost prove it. I can almost feel it. It’s palpable to me.
And I’m not the only who sees it or feels it. Anyone I know with a certain intelligence level above a minimal amount, sees what’s going on in Europe, and they say that we’re not far behind.
Presumably, Savage was referring to secular Europe’s acceptance of waves of unassimilable Muslim migrants — which include some jihadists — the Islamization of the continent, and the rapid moral decay bedeviling the entire West.
[Comment: 100% correct.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
URL Shorteners Reveal Your Trip to Strip Club, Dash to Disease Clinic — Research
Google, Microsoft push fixes but others likely exposed
Cornell Tech researchers Vitaly Shmatikov and Martin Georgiev claim web URL shorteners are built on predictable syntax that can be searched and identified in a potential breach of privacy.
The academics studied URL shorteners — including those created by Google, Bit.ly and Microsoft — finding that attackers could find private documents and foist malware by enumerating pre-existing addresses with ease, and that well-resourced adversaries could find out existing URLs of all shortening services.
Google, whose Google Maps product has an embedded a tool that creates URLs with the goo.gl domain, and Microsoft, whose OneDrive also has an embedded shortener, have pushed fixes such that new shortened URL links are secure. However, old links remain vulnerable.
“Short URLs produced by bit.ly, goo.gl, and similar services are so short that they can be scanned by brute force,” Shmatikov says.
“Our scan discovered a large number of Microsoft OneDrive accounts with private documents.
“Many of these accounts are unlocked and allow anyone to inject malware that will be automatically downloaded to users’ devices.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
*** Cirque du Soleil has canceled its upcoming shows in Greensboro, Charlotte, and Raleigh in North Carolina ***
It is to weep. A minute of silence is in order.
“Austria’s decision to build a 250-meter-long fence in the Brenner Pass along its border with Italy.”
Sounds a bit like a wall. Perhaps the Pope will have a word with them.
Indeed
If the fifth column fake NATO member Turkey’s incompetent Erdogan pokes the Russian bear one more time be prepared for millions of “refugees”. No problem. The EUnuch has Visa cards for free unraveling and the virgins with smartphones are in place and all ready to go. Just some invisible imagining again.