Barack Hussein Obama paid a visit to Britain to urge the British to vote to remain in the European Union. London Mayor Boris Johnson criticized Mr. Obama, saying that the latter has an “ancestral aversion” to Britain due to his Kenyan roots. Mr. Obama responded by expressing how much he loves Winston Churchill.
In other news, the Obama administration negotiated a deal with Iran whereby the United States will purchase 32 tons of nuclear material for a cost of $8.6 million.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to C. Cantoni, Caroline Glick, Fjordman, Guest, 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.
Eurostat Says Italy’s 2015 Deficit 2.6%, Debt 132.7%
Debt lower that the EC’s February estimates
(ANSA) — Brussels, April 21 — Eurostat said Thursday that Italy’s deficit-to-GDP ratio for 2015 was 2.6%, a figure that is in line with the European Commission’s February estimate. The EU’s statistics office said Italy’s public debt amounted to 2.171671 trillion euros, 132.7% of GDP, 0.1 of a percentage point lower that the EC’s February estimates and in line with the Italian government’s economic blueprint, the DEF.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: First 150,000 Pension-Forecast Letters Ready
Camusso blasts Boeri alarm on lost generations
(ANSA) — Rome, April 20 — INPS has prepared the first 150,000 so-called orange envelopes containing people’s social contributions record and a forecast of their future pensions, ANSA sources said on Wednesday. The letters have been handed over to the postal service and should arrive within a week. Tito Boeri, the head of pensions and social security agency INPS, has said around seven million Italian employees will receive orange envelopes this year. Boeri raised eyebrows in Tuesday when he said fears in the “political class” about the information people would get in the letters had created “many obstacles”. He also hit the headlines for saying that Italy risks having entire generations miss out in the labour market without reforms to make it easier for people close to retirement age to quit work. Boeri gave the example of “generation 1980,” people now in their 30s, many of whom have contributions “holes” and, as a result, risk not being able to retire until they are 75. Susanna Camusso, the head of Italy’s biggest trade-union confederation, the left-wing CGIL, blasted those comments as dangerous on Wednesday.
“Talking of retirement at 75 is unreasonable, it risks sounding like an announcement rather than a problem that needs tackling,” Camusso told ANSA. “Furthermore, a dangerous message of uncertainty risks coming across to young people, with many reacting by saying that if this is the case, I’ll no longer pay (social-security) contributions”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy’s Atlante Fund Step in Right Direction, Rates Could Drop, Says Draghi
Banca Popolare di Vicenza cash call set to be first test
(see related) (ANSA) — Rome, April 21 — European Central Bank President Mario Draghi on Thursday described Italy’s new Atlante fund to help the nation’s weaker banks cope with non-performing loans and capital shortfalls as a “small step in the right direction”.
He also said, however, that “we have not completely examined the details yet”. Quaestio Capital Management SGR said Thursday that it has received authorization from stock-market regulator Consob to sell shares in Atlante. In a statement, private fund manager Quaestio said that it was close to “crossing the minimum threshold of collecting Euro 4,000 million set in the fund regulation”.
The first major test for Atlante is the capital increase that Banca Popolare di Vicenza has launched to fill a capital shortfall signalled by the ECB. Atlante is sub-underwriting the operation up to a maximum of 1.5 billion euros.
Consob said Thursday that it has approved the publication of a prospectus by Banca Popolare di Vicenza and will allow the struggling bank to trade its shares in a 1.76 billion euros initial offer. A statement said that the initial public offering would run from April 21 to April 28.
The European Central Bank’s governing council “continues to expect that rates will remain at current levels, or lower, for a long period and in any case well beyond the horizon” of quantitative easing,” Draghi said Thursday. The ECB’s rates are at an all-time low.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: ‘Drift’ Towards Relegating Labour Rights Worrisome — CEI
Bishops’ message for May 1
(ANSA) — Rome, April 21 — The “drift” towards labour having ever fewer rights is worrisome, the Italian Bishops’ Conference (CEI) said Thursday. It said a lack of work in Italy “leads ever more people, scared by the prospect of losing it or not finding it, to share the idea that nothing is as it was before: dignity, rights, health end up in the second row,” the CEI said in a message for Labour Day. “This is a worrisome drift caused by the persistence of a steadily severe economic crisis” and by widening unemployment, it said. CEI added that the south of Italy must be taken back from the mafia if the north is to be truly prosperous and said Italy cannot afford to lose the talent of its young people by letting them emigrate. It said “Italy has been stuck for too long, now’s the time to support those who have lost or are losing their jobs”. According to the CEI, the workplace must be an “expression of dignity, a humanising place”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
One of the Largest U.S. Pension Funds Set to Cut Retiree Benefits
A dark storm is brewing in the world of private pensions, and all hell could break loose when it finally hits.
As the Washington Post reports, the Central States Pension Fund, which handles retirement benefits for current and former Teamster union truck drivers across various states including Texas, Michigan, Wisconsin, Missouri, New York, and Minnesota, and is one of the largest pension funds in the nation, has filed an application to cut participant benefits, which would be effective July 1 2016, as it “projects” it will become officially insolvent by 2025. In 2015, the fund returned -0.81%, underperforming the 0.37% return of its benchmark.
Over a quarter of a million people depend on their pension being handled by the CSPF; for most it is their only source of fixed income.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
DNA Deniers Say Whites Are Born Racists
Hillary Clinton says racism is in the DNA of white people. She told a mostly black audience on Wednesday that racial bias is something that has been part of our “DNA going back probably millennia.” On the other hand, Mrs. Clinton embraces the cause of “transgender” people who claim to be the opposite of their gender identity. In short, she stands with the DNA deniers.
Welcome to the liberal world of cultural decline and sexual disorder. Once again, the major media are in the middle of the confusion. This isn’t just a semantic debate. ESPN analyst Curt Schilling has just been fired for highlighting in an amusing way the current push for men to be able to enter women’s bathrooms.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
FBI Paid More Than $1 Million to Hack San Bernardino iPhone
FBI Director James Comey says government ‘paid a lot’ for tool, but ‘it was worth it’
The Federal Bureau of Investigation paid more than $1 million for a hacking tool that opened the iPhone of a terrorist gunman in San Bernardino, Calif., the head of the agency said Thursday.
Speaking at the Aspen Security Forum in London, FBI Director James Comey didn’t cite a precise figure for how much the government paid for the solution to cracking the phone but said it was more than his salary for the seven-plus years remaining in his term at the FBI. The debate between privacy and national security has never been more heated, with Apple and other tech firms going up against the government. So how are text messages encrypted, and what are the controversial “backdoors” that could allow access to them?
His annual salary is about $180,000 a year, so that comes to $1.26 million or more.
“[We] paid a lot’’ for the hacking tool, Mr. Comey said. “But it was worth it.’’
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Federal Agents Caught “Masquerading as Utility Workers” While Installing Mysterious Spy Box
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and Explosives has claimed ownership of a mysterious box that was removed from a utility pole in Phoenix, Arizona.
Phoenix resident Brian Clegg was concerned about a box he witnessed being installed on a power pole. Clegg said the box was facing his house and he believed it may have had cameras inside. The pole was owned by Arizona’s largest power provider, SRP, who claimed no one had permission to put the box on their pole. Brian Clegg says shortly afterwards SRP sent a crew to remove the box.
Shortly after ABC15 investigated the matter, the bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and Explosives(ATF), a branch of the U.S. Department of Justice, acknowledged installing the box as part of an ongoing investigation. Officials with the ATF would not provide details about their alleged investigation and would not confirm if they were conducting surveillance in the area. “I don’t feel safer,” said Brian Clegg. “I feel that my privacy has been violated.”
SRP told ABC15 they were unaware the box had been installed and that the ATF has to notify them if they are going install something on their property. The ATF told ABC15 they can put security measures in place without asking for permission. Obviously the federal government feels comfortable doing whatever it wants to do, whenever it wants to, law be damned.
One other interesting aspect of Clegg’s story is the fact that he claims the crew who installed the box came in a truck marked “Field Pros.” The thought of undercover government agents installing surveillance equipment while masquerading as utility workers is highly disturbing and sounds like a scene right out of a Hollywood film. Unfortunately, Phoenix is not the only city to have surveillance equipment installed by an agency of the federal government.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Islamic Nations Within Nations
The first two international wars fought by the United States after our founding were the Barbary Wars. Through the Washington and Adams administrations the United States paid tributes to the Muslim Barbary States in the hope of keeping our passage across the Atlantic, and more specifically in the Mediterranean, safe from from attacks by Islamic ships. Thomas Jefferson refused to continue paying the protection money, and launched a war against Islam. The next President of the United States, James Madison, also engaged in war against Islam to stop the Muslim pirates from attacking American vessels, and taking into slavery American sailors.
Though John Adams was not willing to wage war against Islam, he recognized the danger presented by the followers of Muhammad. Correspondence from John Adams to Thomas Jefferson on July 16, 1814, reveals John Adams’ true feelings about Islam: Adams states that Mohammed is “a military fanatic” who “denies that laws were made for him; he arrogates everything to himself by force of arms.”
During Adams’ presidency, Jefferson was Vice President. The two men visited with the Barbary ambassador to ask under what authority the Muslims believed they had to attack and enslave non-Muslim vessels and sailors. The ambassador’s response was that Islam “was founded on the Laws of their Prophet, that it was written in their Qur’an, that all nations who should not have acknowledged their authority were sinners, that it was their right and duty to make war upon them wherever they could be found, and to make slaves of all they could take as Prisoners, and that every Musselman (Muslim) who should be slain in battle was sure to go to Paradise.”
The Muslim ambassador did not say that the attacks were being perpetrated by a small, radical sect, or that theirs was a religion of peace and he would try to fix the problem with the extremists that had hijacked his religion. The ambassador was honest, and openly proclaimed that the Qu’ran teaches that Muslims have a duty to wage war against those who have not accepted the authority of Islam (by paying the tribute), enslave the infidels, and if they were killed in the process they would go to heaven.
Thomas Jefferson owned a Qur’an so that he could better understand the enemy, and he came to the conclusion that the Muslims could not be negotiated with. The only answer was brute force.
After serving under Washington and Adams, and witnessing those two presidents appeasing the Muslims, Jefferson had had enough. “Too long, for the honor of nations, have those Barbarians been [permitted] to trample on the sacred faith of treaties, on the rights and laws of human nature!”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Nebraska Just Abolished Civil Forfeiture, Now Requires a Criminal Conviction to Take Property
Newly signed law provides sweeping reforms
Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts signed a bill on Tuesday that eliminates civil forfeiture, which allows law enforcement to seize and keep property without filing charges or securing criminal convictions. The bill, LB 1106, passed the unicameral legislature last week by a vote of 38 to 8.
Civil forfeiture has ensnared a wide swath of victims in Nebraska. A Peruvian pastor once had $14,000 seized during a traffic stop. Only after the local chapter of the ACLU intervened was he able to recover his cash. Last year, a federal appellate court upheld forfeiting more than $63,000 in savings from a decorated Air Force veteran, even though he was never charged with a crime.
The newly signed law provides sweeping reforms. First and foremost, Nebraska now requires a criminal conviction to forfeit property. The accused must be convicted of an offense involving illegal drugs, child pornography or illegal gambling to lose their cash, vehicles, firearms or real estate. Nebraska joins just nine other states that require a criminal conviction as a prerequisite for most or all forfeiture cases. Following North Carolina and New Mexico, Nebraska is now the third state largely without civil forfeiture. In addition to the criminal conviction requirement, LB 1106 also enacts new reporting requirements for seizures and forfeitures.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
New Genetically Modified CRISPR-Mushroom Bypasses USDA Regulations
A Penn State University researcher has created a genetically modified mushroom that is now at the center of controversy over GMO regulations of genetically modified creations.
Researcher Yinong Yang developed a type of white button mushroom that looks identical to the type you’d buy in the produce section of a grocery store. The mushroom was created using CRISPR technology, which allows modification of genes with great precision. Put simply, CRISPR allows scientists to find an undesirable section of DNA, remove it, and, if they so choose, replace it with a more favorable gene slice.
Yang used CRISPR to alter 2 letters of the mushroom’s DNA code to create a Franken-fungus that is more resistant to browning from oxidation.
And that’s where all hell broke loose.
The USDA is allowing Yang’s new strain of mushroom to sidestep the GMO regulatory system, even though it couldn’t be more genetically engineered if Yang programmed it to grow a brain. The department says the mushroom gets a free pass because it does not contain “any introduced genetic material” from a plant pest, such as a virus or bacteria.
Under the USDA’s rules, conventional GMOs are created by introducing foreign genes, like a bacteria designed to make a crop resistant to pests. As long as you don’t add anything to a crop, it’s not considered a conventional GMO.
[Comment: “Scientists” are so narrow focused. They never stop to consider the organism as a whole. Only the visual aspect. Likely the mushroom turning brown indicates a marked decrease in the nutritional quality of the mushroom. Now there will be no visaul clue. All part of the depopulation agenda — feed the masses nutritional deficient food.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Prof: No Recommendations for Students Who Like Guns
(Daily Caller) An article published in the Chronicle of Higher Education features a professor stating that she doesn’ t want to write letters of recommendation for students who are gun enthusiasts.
The column, published anonymously by a woman using the pseudonym Myrtle Lynn Payne, describes her long-lasting phobia of guns and how it poisoned her relationship with a student she calls Sarah. Payne says Sarah was a hard-working student with some potential, but alas, she was also a gun enthusiast
“I [took] on the first day during a sharing activity we typically do at the beginning of my science lecture courses,” Payne writes. “Sarah shared that the most notable experience of her winter break was a visit to a gun range where she had fired an AK-47. I gave the usual ‘very good, moving on’ response but was thinking, ‘Whoa, that’s disturbing.’“
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
SJW Tells Ex-Soviet Citizen He Should be Thrown in a Labor Camp for Being “Racist”
“I believe in the dictatorship of the proletariat”.
Shock video out of New York shows a social justice warrior telling an ex-Soviet immigrant to the U.S. that he should be thrown in a forced labor camp for supporting capitalism and being a “racist.”
The exchange took place in Union Square, New York City between a group who identify as Maoists and Vladimir Jaffe, a Soviet immigrant who moved to the U.S., learned English and started his own business.
The SJW begins by whining about how tough it will be for him to find a job because of the “capitalist economy” before lamenting the fact that true socialism died with Stalin, a dictator responsible for the deaths of around 60 million people, 20 million of whom died in labor camps.
He then clarifies that he is a “Maoist” intent on ‘improving socialism’ so that “the next time it comes around” it can “throw people like your ass into a labor camp”.
[Comment: This is the indoctrinated generation that Yuri Bezmenov warned the west would be created if we allowed communism propaganda in schools. As Yuri stated this generation is totally lost. G. Edward Griffiths interview with Yuri is a must watch — www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3qkf3bajd4 ]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Woman Murdered in Church, Surveillance Shows Man in Police SWAT Gear
Midlothian [Texas] police confirm that cameras outside of Creekside Church where fitness instructor Missy Bevers was killed weren’t functioning the day of her death.
Her body was found early Monday morning inside Creekside Church, where she was getting ready to lead a 5 a.m. boot camp class. According to police, Bevers’ killer actually broke into the church before she arrived. Investigators later found broken glass on the floor. The circumstances do not add up, and even authorities are saying that this case is unusual.
In surveillance video, the suspect is seen wandering the halls of the church dressed head-to-toe in police SWAT gear. The suspect could be a man or a woman, officials said. The heavy tactical gear makes it hard to identify the individual. The motive behind the attack remains unclear. Authorities stated that Bevers may have interrupted a burglary. She also advertised the class date, time and location online.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
CBC Won’t Name Lethbridge Swimming Pool Sex Assault Suspect — Because He’s a Muslim Migrant
The mainstream media pretends to care about bullying and rape culture and sexism. But they don’t if it’s a Muslim migrant behind it.
Terrible mass sexual assault in a Lethbridge hotel swimming pool on Saturday. Two young girls, and a grown woman, were attacked in the Holiday Inn.
The CBC story has all the basic facts. They don’t disclose the names of the victims — makes sense.
But what else is missing?
The name of the accused.
I don’t get $1.2 billion a year from the Liberal government like the CBC does, but I know how to use Google. It took me less than thirty seconds to find the Lethbridge Police department’s press release. It actually seems to have been the basis for the CBC story, almost line for line.
Except for this line:
“Wijdan Yasir, 28, of Calgary, is charged with three counts of sexual assault and two counts of sexual interference.”
Oh. That’s why. Because he’s a Muslim migrant, in his case, from Pakistan.
It’s the same reason why the CBC helped in the cover-up of the Syrian migrant kids in a Halifax elementary school beating up the Canadian girls. If the roles were reversed, it would be huge news.
The mainstream media pretends to care about bullying and rape culture and sexism. But they don’t if it’s a Muslim migrant behind it.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Barack Obama Visit: Stick With EU, US President Urges UK
Barack Obama has urged the UK to stick with the EU, as he begins his final trip to Britain as US president by having lunch with the Queen.
Mr Obama, who is on a three-day visit with his wife Michelle, is meeting PM David Cameron for talks.
Mr Obama has told the Daily Telegraph being in the EU magnified Britain’s influence across the world.
But London Mayor Boris Johnson called his view “hypocritical”, describing the EU system as “alien” to US traditions.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Brussels Bomber Najim Laachraoui ‘Worked at Airport for Five Years’
The suspected Isil bomb-maker who blew himself up at Brussels airport last month had worked at the site for five years, it has been reported.
Belgium’s VTM television said Najim Laachraoui had until 2012 worked at the airport that was hit in the coordinated attacks of March 22, which left 32 people dead in the departures hall and at a Brussels metro station.
The TV channel also said that a hidden prayer room had been discovered at Brussels airport shortly before the attacks, “where radicalised staff would meet to pray in secret”.
The airport shut down the prayer room at the request of police, VTM reported, adding that investigators have since drawn up a list of “at least 50 radicalised airport employees”.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Brussels Bomber Laachraoui ‘Guarded is Syria Hostages’
One of the Brussels airport bombers, Najim Laachraoui, guarded four French journalists who were held hostage by so-called Islamic State (IS) in Syria in 2013-2014, the ex-hostages say.
At the time Laachraoui was known as “Abou Idriss”, a lawyer for two of the ex-hostages told French media.
The hostages were freed in April 2014.
Laachraoui and Ibrahim el-Bakraoui died when they attacked Brussels Zaventem airport a month ago. Their bombs and a third in the metro killed 32 people.
The confirmation about Laachraoui’s role as an IS prison guard in Syria came from lawyer Marie-Laure Ingouf.
Laachraoui was a 24-year-old Belgian electrical engineer from the Brussels suburb of Schaerbeek. He had links to the jihadists who attacked Paris in 2015.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
‘I Adore Churchill’ Obama Tells Johnson
London mayor accused him of ‘ancestral aversion’
(refiling corrected) (ANSA) — Rome, April 22 — US President Barack Obama on Friday replied to London Mayor Boris Johnson’s charge that he had had a bust of Churchill removed from the Oval Office because of an “ancestral aversion” to British colonialism by saying “I adore Winston Churchill, I have a bust of him just outside (RPT just outside) my private office”. Johnson suggested Obama was anti-Churchill because of his Kenyan father.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
‘ISIS Recruiter’ Arrested in Spain Described the Paris Attacks as ‘An Excellent Day’
Mohamed Harrak, 26, was asked to testify via video link from a court building in the Majorcan capital Palma where he was taken this morning amid tight security before being remanded in jail.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Mediaset Anti-Trust Fine ‘Unbelievable’ Says Marina Berlusconi
51 million euro levy for TV rights deal ‘unjustly punitive’
(ANSA) — Rome, April 21 — Fininvest President Marina Berlusconi, the eldest daughter of ex premier Silvio Berlusconi, on Thursday described a hefty fine issued by Italian antitrust authorities against the holding company’s broadcasting subsidiary Mediaset in relation to soccer TV rights as “unbelievable”.
“I find the provision unbelievable and unjustly punitive,” said Berlusconi of the 51 million euro fine levvied by AGCM for allegedly breaching competition rules during the June 2014 sale of Serie A TV rights from 2015 to 2018.
“It is (unbelievable and punishing) for a company that has had the courage to invest, that has created value, that has broken a monopoly, that has created an alternative for the public and for fans that wouldn’t have otherwise existed,” she added. Sky Italia, the Lega Calcio soccer league and its advisor Infront also received much smaller fines.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Lower House Returns Legitimate Defence Bill to Commission
Request from centrists upheld amid protests from Northern League
(ANSA) — Rome, April 21 — The Lower House on Thursday upheld a request from centrist group Area Popolare (AP) for a bill on legitimate defence to return to the justice commission amid controversy over a Democratic Party (PD) amendment that has allegedly significantly watered down the original proposal brought by the anti-immigrant Northern League.
The chamber approved the request with a majority of 160 votes as League MPs brandished placards reading “defence is always legitimate” and shouted “shame” at members of the PD.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Raise Renewable Energy to 50% Says Renzi
EU migration policy changing tack says PM
(ANSA) — Rome, April 21 — Premier Matteo Renzi said Thursday “renewable energy is at 39%, our goal is to take it up to 50%.
“It’s a goal within our grasp, not with incentives but with a clear legal framework.” Italy’s new push in renewable energy will regard wind and water power more than solar energy, Renzi said. “We are already leaders in solar power,” he said, while admitting ghat there was ground to be made up in wind and water energy plants.
He was speaking at a press conference at the UN in New York. Italy is set to make a fresh push on renewable energy after a failed referendum on offshore drilling, Renzi said. “It’s fundamental that no one should think that the environmental question has been put into a corner…We are here to announce that we are a leader in renewable energy sources and we ask the UN and the world to be more sensitive to these issues,” he said.
Italy in recent years has invested a lot in renewable energy sources such as solar energy and wind farms.
Renzi also said EU migrant policy had changed compared to a year ago when Italy gelt alone in coping with an influx across the Mediterranean and tragedies at sea.
A year ago Italy was alone in facing “the terrible shipwreck with 700 dead and there was the total solitude of Italy, only Malta was with us” but in a year “a lot has changed, also for the dynamics involving the Balkans and Turkey, in a year they have understood that when Italy asked for investments in Africa it did so for a political reason,” he said. “I think the ship is changing tack. Ships don’t spin around, they move slowly. But we are changing direction, the signs are interesting”.
Renzi said that the migrant issue “cannot be solved in a talk show or by someone shouting. It is a crisis that is only resolved by policies. We will handle the migrant question without shouting, that is the difference between those who interpret politics as attacks and insults and those who seek solutions”.
The controversial EU-Turkey deal returning migrants from Greece respects international law, Renzi said. “I think international law has been respected,” he said. Rights groups have criticised the deal, in which one Syrian migrant is settled in Europe for every migrant returned from Greece.
Renzi said that he had “very much appreciated (European Commission President Jean-Claude) Juncker’s letter (on Italy’s migration compact), I thank him for his sensitivity”. He said the issue “requires awareness on the part of Europe…We note that there is a good atmosphere with European institutions compared to a few months ago”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
‘Monstrous Interference’: UK Pols Furious at Obama’s Plan to Intervene in EU Debate
President Obama looks set to wade into the contentious debate in the United Kingdom over whether or not the nation should remain a member of the European Union — and some Brits are angry at the president’s intrusion into a delicate UK issue ahead of a major vote.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Obama: US Needs Britain Inside EU
US president Barack Obama has made a direct appeal to British voters to remain in the European Union as he begins a four-day visit to Europe on Friday (22 April).
In an article in the traditionally eurosceptic Daily Telegraph newspaper, Obama urged Britons to vote on 23 June to stay in the bloc, arguing that membership enhances Britain’s leadership in the world.
“You should be proud that the EU has helped spread British values and practices — democracy, the rule of law, open markets — across the continent and to its periphery,” he said.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Prost! Germany Celebrates 500 Years of Beer Purity Law
Chancellor Merkel quotes Martin Luther,no beer,notghing to drink
(ANSA-AP) — BERLIN — To some it’s the real deal, to others it’s a bland brew. But thanks to a 500-year-old rule, everybody can be sure what’s in German beer.
Only water, hops and malt are the permitted ingredients, according to the Bavarian beer purity law of 1516 that slowly spread to the rest of Germany. It’s still on the books, albeit with some exceptions, today.
Chancellor Angela Merkel raised a glass of (alcohol-free) frothy brew to the law Friday at a ceremony in Ingolstadt, quoting Martin Luther’s saying that “he who has no beer, has nothing to drink.” Critics say the so-called Reinheitsgebot — whose name suggests divine commandment — is little more than a marketing trick dreamed up in the early 20th century to keep foreign beers out of Germany.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Survey Shows Plunging Public Support for TTIP in U.S. And Germany
In the United States, only 18 percent support the deal compared to 53 percent in 2014…
Support for the transatlantic trade deal known as TTIP has fallen sharply in Germany and the United States, a survey showed on Thursday, days before Chancellor Angela Merkel and President Barack Obama meet to try to breathe new life into the pact.
The survey, conducted by YouGov for the Bertelsmann Foundation, showed that only 17 percent of Germans believe the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership is a good thing, down from 55 percent two years ago.
[Comment: TurdTIP should be flushed down the toilet where it belongs. It’s a big step in the ongoing subversion of nation states by globalists.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Switzerland: Muslim MMA Fighter Screams ‘Allahu Akbar’ And Dedicates Victory to Terrorists
A Muslim MMA fighter in Switzerland celebrated his victory by screaming “Allahu Akbar” repeatedly and allegedly dedicated his win to two terrorists.
“On Saturday, there was an incident at Fight Night, a Mixed Martial Arts event in Montreux,” reports Swiss paper 20 Minuten as translated by Diversity Macht Frei.
“At the end of the fourth of nine scheduled fights, the French fighter of Chechen origin Magomed Guekhaiev shouted ‘Allah Akbar’ several times, provoking much booing among the 1200 spectators.”
“He then took the microphone from the hands of the presenter. ‘After having thanked his trainer, he dedicated his victory to his brothers in Toulouse and in the world, to Salah and Mohamed,’ recalls Julien, a spectator. I am convinced that this was a reference to the terrorists Salah Abdeslam and Mohamed Merah.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Oxford Students Lead Revolt Against NUS President Who Supported Taliban Fighter
Oxford students have said they would seek to vote to disaffiliate from the National Union of Students (NUS) as they felt it no longer speaks for them after the appointment of Malia Bouattia (pictured).
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: PEGIDA’s Tommy Robinson Attacked in Street by Muslim Man: ‘Are You Racist!?’
British PEGIDA leader Tommy Robinson has been attacked in the street by a Muslim man demanding to know if he is, “a racist”.
The video, which was caught live on Mr. Robinson’s Periscope page, shows him being approached in a car park by a man in full Muslim dress, demanding to know whether Mr. Robinson is “racist” or not.
Mr. Robinson explained the incident to Breitbart London, stating that he was going to a builder’s warehouse in Bury Park, Luton when he was “beeped at” by a man in a car and ushered over.
“That’s when I started recording [on Periscope],” Mr. Robinson explained, “Coz I knew what it was gonna be”.
The video shows a man getting out of a car, urging Mr. Robinson to “jump into my car”.
At that point, Mr. Robinson refuses, stating, “I’m just going about my business, working bruv”.
After a few seconds the man exits the car, asking repeatedly, “Are you racist? Are you racist?”
Mr. Robinson replied, “I don’t like Islam” — to which the man asks, “Why?” before slapping the phone out of Mr. Robinson’s hands and allegedly (off camera) proceeding to punch him repeatedly in the face…
| — Hat tip: Guest | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Paedophiles Who Look at Low-Level Child Abuse Should be Sent to Counselling Not Court
National Crime Agency boss Lynne Owens has said that the move could help focus on tackling the paedophiles who are abusing children themselves.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Macedonia: Protests Against Pardoned Politicians
Tenth day of manifestation
(ANSA) — SKOPJE — Tens of thousands of people gathered at two rival protests in Macedonia’s capital on Thursday as a political crisis deepened in the tiny Balkan state after the country’s president pardoned dozens of politicians who were facing criminal proceedings for alleged involvement in a wiretapping scandal. Protests started ten days ago.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Serbia: Election Campaign Draws to a Close, Vucic Favourite
Potential gains for Extreme Right in Sunday vote
(ANSA)- BELGRADE — Electoral campaigning in Serbia ends at midnight on Thursday ahead of the national vote on Sunday.
Friday and Saturday will be days of pre-election silence.
Conservative Premier Aleksandar Vucic, leader of the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS), the majority power that is leading in all surveys, plans to hold a closing rally in the Kombank Arena.
Speakers here will include former Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini, who is President of the Italian Society for International Organisation (SIOI), an adviser to the Serbian government and to Premier Vucic over issues related to European integration. The vote in Serbia is being held two years in advance of the natural end of the current legislature, and is set to be monitored by more than 1,800 observers, including 1,687 locals and 196 foreigners. Observers will be present from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the parliamentary assembly of the Council of Europe, and from varying foreign embassies in Belgrade including the Italian embassy.
Serbs from Kosovo will also be eligible to vote (there are about 120,000 out of a total of 2 million inhabitants), in about ninety seats set up with the help of the OSCE.
While election analysts are expecting success for Premier Vucic and his SNS party, a significant boost for the anti-EU, pro-Russia extreme-right forces is also potentially on the cards, following the acquittal of Vojislav Seselj, ideologist of Serbian ultra-nationalism, by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Turkey Seizes 6 Christian Churches in Expropriation Order
(Christian Post) The Turkish government has seized the last remaining Christian churches in the war-torn southeastern city of Diyarbakir and declared them as state property.
World Watch Monitor reports that the administration of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has expropriated sections of property throughout Diyarbakir on the grounds that it will rebuild and restore the historical center of the city following 10 months of urban conflict.
Included in seizures are Catholic, Protestant and Orthodox churches. But now, the churches, one of which is over 1,700 years old, effectively become state property in a country where about 98 percent of the population is Muslim.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Tycoon Asil Nadir Freed in Turkey Day After Extradition From Britain
Disgraced tycoon Asil Nadir, jailed for stealing millions from his Polly Peck empire, was released from a Turkish prison Friday just one night after being extradited from Britain, media reports said.
The Turkish Cypriot was convicted in 2012 of purloining nearly £29 million (37 million euros) — the equivalent of more than £70 million in today’s terms — from the major UK conglomerate in the late 1980s.
He was sentenced to 10 years by the Old Bailey and ordered to pay £5 million in compensation…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
US to Buy 32 Tons of Nuclear Material From Iran, State Department Announces
The Obama administration will purchase 32 tons of nuclear material from Iran, the State Department confirmed to Fox News Friday, in a move likely to anger critics still reeling after Iran received billions in sanctions relief following the implementation of the nuclear deal in January.
The value of the deal: $8.6 million, The Wall Street Journal reports.
Secretary of State John Kerry will meet with his Iranian counterpart Javad Zarif in New York City this afternoon. A State Dept. delegation is also meeting in Vienna today with Iran and six world powers to discuss the nuclear deal and sign the contract moving the purchase forward.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Where UNESCO and ISIS Converge
by Caroline Glick
Last month, UNESCO’s director general Irina Bokova issued a statement congratulating Russian- backed Syrian forces for liberating the ancient city of Palmyra from Islamic State (ISIS).
Bokova said Palmyra “carries the memory of the Syrian people, and the values of cultural diversity, tolerance and openness that have made this region a cradle of civilization.”
Bokova added, “The deliberate destruction of heritage is a war crime, and UNESCO will do everything in its power to document the damage so that these crimes do not go unpunished. I wish to remind all parties present of the absolute necessity to preserve this unique heritage as an essential condition for peace and the future of the region.”
Last week, UNESCO’s executive board passed a resolution unanimously outlining the steps the organization would take to rebuild the devastated site, whose major monuments were destroyed or damaged during the city’s 10 months under ISIS rule.
All of this, is all very well and nice.
The problem is that UNESCO commits the very crimes for which it condemns ISIS. Indeed, it committed the crime of seeking to wipe out history, whose preservation is “an essential condition for peace and the future of the region,” the day it passed its resolution on Palmyra…
| — Hat tip: Caroline Glick | [Return to headlines] |
Apocalyptic Drone Footage Shows Giant Cracks in the Earth on Japan’s Southern Island
The drone footage that you are about to see is absolutely jaw-dropping. When I first watched it, I could hardly believe the extent of the devastation that has taken place on Japan’s southern island. Near the end of last week, a magnitude 6.5 earthquake was quickly followed by a magnitude 7.3 earthquake just 28 hours later. Those earthquakes made headlines all over the globe, but at first glance those numbers don’t really look that big. So why was there such tremendous damage? Well, it turns out that those two major quakes worked in conjunction with more than 600 smaller quakes to cause historic devastation all across Kyushu. As you are about to see, giant fissures have opened up in the ground right along a fault line that runs directly across Japan’s southern island, and this has a lot of people extremely alarmed.
Once a major disaster falls out of the news, the rest of the world tends to forget about it, but for those on Kyushu this crisis is far from over. Authorities are still scrambling to rescue those that have been stranded by the recent earthquakes, and at this point it is a race against time…
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
SA Blacks “Less Educated” Than Ever
Evidence of black-ruled South Africa’s ongoing regression has been delivered once again with statistics showing that black youth born after the ANC came to power are now less skilled than their parents. “When parents are better equipped than the children, it’s a sign of regression,” said Statistician-General Pali Lehohla at this week’s release of The Social Profile of Youth, 2009-2014 report.
[Comment: Communist leaders don’t want smart people, but stupid emotion driven morons that can be easily manipulated.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff Begs UN for Help as She Faces Being Forced From Power
Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff is flying to the US in a bid to rally international support against her impeachment, leaving behind a Cabinet paralysed by political crisis.
[Comment: Birds of a feather flock together. Comrade Dilma seeking help from her comrades around the world.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Canada: High School Basketball Star Found to be 30 Years Old
(USA Today) In a stunning development, a star center for a Canadian high school basketball team was exposed as a 30-year-old African refugee, leading to his being detained in connection with the Immigration Refugee Protection Act.
According to the Windsor Star, 30-year-old South Sudanese native Jonathan Nicola was a star center for the Central Catholic Comets throughout the 2015-16 season. The 6-foot-9, 202-pounder spent the previous months during the academic year living with Central Catholic basketball coach Pete Cusumano as part of the Canada Homestay program while he lived in the country on a student visa.
That visa is now likely to be terminated as a result of the large discrepancy in Nicola’s age. While he has been presenting himself as a 17-year-old, the Canada Border Services Agency has obtained evidence that purports to show Nicola is actually 30 years old, making him a full 12 years older than the oldest competitors on most of the teams he played against during the 2015-16 season.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Over 180,000 Migrants Landed in Europe in 2016 — IOM
154,000 in Greece, 25,000 Italy, over 1,200 dead
(ANSAmed) — Istanbul, April 22 — Some 180,245 migrants and refugees have landed in Europe across the Mediterranean since the start of the year, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) said Friday. Some 154,227 arrived in Greece and 24,927 in Italy, while just over 1,000 came to Spain and 28 to Cyprus. The estimated deaths at sea have risen to 1,232 including the feared 500 or so off Egypt earlier this week.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Relying on Turkey ‘Leads to Blackmail’, Tusk Says
Relying on Turkey and North African countries to seal the EU’s borders only leads to blackmail of the EU, the president of the European Council, Donald Tusk, has said.
“Recent experiences, including those with Turkey, show the importance of borders between countries, but also [of limits] to our concessions,” he wrote in an opinion article published in several European dailies on Friday (23 April).
Europe has to master its own borders as relying on Turkey and North African states comes at too high a political cost, he said.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Three German Cities to Tip Nonwhite
Mass Third World immigration to Germany will “soon” cause the three German cities of Augsburg, Stuttgart, and Frankfurt to tip into majority nonwhite status, one of that country’s most prominent demographers has announced. Speaking in an interview in the Augsburger Allgemeine newspaper, “integration expert” Jens Schneider said that Augsburg will be one of the “first major German cities where people with a migration background will form the majority population.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Mental Illness, Bathrooms and “Transgenders”
The arrest of yet another “transgender” sex-offender-this time in a women’s bathroom in Calhoun, Georgia-has highlighted the ongoing insanity of allowing these mentally ill people to use facilities not meant for their biologically-determined sex. The “transgender” offender was charged with public indecency after taking his clothes off in front of children in the women’s restroom.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Barack Hussein Obama declares John Hancock was wrong to seek to withdraw Massachusetts colony from the major trading block of the British Empire.
As it is , the trade treaty ( TTPI ) Obama is negotiating with the EU is widely opposed in Britain and europe from left to right as being strongly Corporatist [ in favour of the big corporations ] ; and is another reason for Britain to leave the EU.
A Merry St. George’s Day to one and all ;
And a Peaceful Passover.
An article on the sex trafficking of Syrian girls & women in Turkey.
http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/7756/turkey-refugees-sex-trafficking
“how much he loves Winston Churchill.”
Which is why he sent his bust back, I suppose.
I can’t wait to see that scoundrel’s heels. Almost eight years of Obama, it’s been a nightmare.
Can’t argue with that, Mike.
Problem is, so many otherwise good Americans seem to think the sleazy, lying Clinton woman should be Prez.! You’d think 8 yrs of Obama would be more than enough….
I think it was Obama’s hero, Churchill, who said:
“Americans usually get it right–after first trying everything else!”
Loves Churchill”
I was about to expose this Liar and Hypocrite when I saw your remarks:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/barackobama/9436526/White-House-admits-it-did-return-Winston-Churchill-bust-to-Britain.html
Husseins follow the Pirate the Terrorist, killer of all Jews in Saudi Arabia.
Is that the same Winston Churchill whose bust Obama had removed from the Oval Office?
Apparently he only had it shifted, not sent back. At least that’s what he’s saying now.
So he stuck it behind a plant pot somewhere out in the lobby.
Pride of place, eh.
Note to Hilary: To say that any particular group of people have a particular undesirable characteristic simply because it is part of their genetic code is … RACIST!
Barrack Obama advised British not to pull out of European Union because Obama knows the EU is the best tool of Islamisation of Europe and UK, and best tool for extinction of white Europeans race by miscegenation with muslims, africans, asians and other non-white races.
Obama’s problem seems to be with the culture rather than its inheritors, as in Islam not being a race.
So the worst American President in history is all pals with the worst British Prime Minister in history, the pictures in the press of them playing golf together made me feel physically sick. Cameron obviously hasn’t a clue about the game of golf, thank God however someone didn’t suggest a game of piggy in the middle. Now that would have been awkward! What a relief when Obama and Michael, sorry that should read Michelle, shove off back to the USA. Who the hell does he think he is giving advice on BREXIT to the Brits anyway!
“Think he is…?” He knows he can do anything, and get away with it–no one makes any real attempt to stop him, nor will they do anything to stop the first black President.
Obama says the most outrageous things, and no one ever questions or calls him out for the lies he utters faster than a horse can gallop. He can do anything he likes, and Americans will let him; while in times past, Presidents have been impeached or shot for saying and doing less.