Gates of Vienna News Feed 1/16/2017

The man who is suspected of carrying out the nightclub massacre in Istanbul, an Uzbek national named Abdulkadir Masharipov, has been arrested by Turkish authorities. Meanwhile, Noor Salman, the wife of the Orlando nightclub mass-murderer Omar Mateen, has been arrested in Florida. Neither of those incidents had anything to do with Islam.

In other news, the number of migrants granted asylum in the UK for being gay has risen by 450% in just five years. Critics say that it is impossible for the Home Office to determine with certainty that an asylum seeker is really gay.

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

Thanks to AF, JD, MC, Reader from Chicago, 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.

Financial Crisis
» Bankrupt U.S. Retailer American Apparel Starts Layoffs
» IMF Upgrades UK After Better-Than-Expected Growth Following Brexit Vote
» Italy Will be the Next Big Problem in Europe
 
USA
» Boston Police Cancels Plan to Buy $1.4 Million Social Media Surveillance System
» CIA Boss John Brennan Says Donald Trump ‘Doesn’t Understand Russia’ in Scathing Attack on President-Elect
» Farewell to Abomination
» Finally, A Republican Leader Playing Offense
» Mapping the Skies for Earth-Like Exoplanets
» Orlando Nightclub Mass Murderer’s Wife Arrested by FBI
» Think Tank Cuts Ties With Trump Dossier Researcher
» Trump Asks Twitter Followers if Outgoing CIA Boss John Brennan Was Behind Russian Dirty Dossier Leak
» US Army Soldier Based at Fort Hood is Found Dead — Making Him the Twelfth GI From the Texas Base to Die in the Last Two Months
» Welcome to One of the Most Pivotal Weeks in Modern American History
» What the Politicians You Elected Have Done to America
 
Canada
» Woman Who Blasted Trudeau Gets Online Threats
 
Europe and the EU
» Can Marine Le Pen Pull Off French Election Stunner? Germany Loses No Matter Who Wins
» Europe on Terror Alert: Police Seize Jihadi Weapons ‘Capable of Downing Aircraft’
» European Union to Likely Grant Legal Status to Robots
» Germany Ignored Anti-Terror Tips, Had Intelligence Agencies Infiltrated by ISIS in 2016
» Is Tolerance a One-Way Street?
» ISIS Recruiter of Moroccan Nationality Arrested in Spain
» Three Questioned After Belgian Raids Released
» U.K. Leader to Seek Clean Break From EU
» Udo Ulfkotte Has Died; German Journalists Celebrate
» Wilders Lashes Out at Dutch Premier Rutte Ahead of Elections
 
Israel and the Palestinians
» 70 Nations Gathered in Paris Unanimously Call for the Creation of a Palestinian State
 
Middle East
» Hollande: Two-State Solution Only Path to Peace
» Suspect Who Attacked Istanbul Nightclub is Arrested
 
Russia
» Now the European Union Wants to “Build a Wall” — With Russia
 
Far East
» China Warns Trump “It Will Take Off the Gloves” If He Continues to Provoke Beijing
 
Immigration
» Austria Drugs Crackdown: 30 Migrants Among 31 Men Arrested in Graz Drug Bust
» Donald Trump Accuses Angela Merkel of Making ‘Catastrophic Mistake’ on Refugees
» Free Movement is a ‘Race to the Bottom’, Warns Dutch Deputy PM
» ‘Help us Tackle Migration!’ Desperate EU Begs Australia for Advice, Sources Claim
» Migrants Granted Asylum in UK Because They’re Gay Rockets 450 Percent
 
Culture Wars
» Progressive Justice and the Communist Diet
» Study Reveals Significant Health Disparities for Homosexual Teens
» Tancredo: Report Reveals Massive Indoctrination of Students at Universities Through ‘Transformative Civic Engagement’
 
General
» Inequality: 8 Men as Rich as Half the World’s Population
» The Global Warming Smoking Gun
 

Bankrupt U.S. Retailer American Apparel Starts Layoffs

American Apparel LLC said it had started to lay off staff on Monday, after Canadian apparel maker Gildan Activewear Inc (GIL.TO) withdrew its initial plan to acquire some of the bankrupt U.S. fashion retailer’s manufacturing operations.

Gildan won the rights to American Apparel’s brand with an $88 million bid in a bankruptcy auction last week. It had previously indicated it would assume some of its manufacturing operations, which had made the brand synonymous with “Made in the U.S.A.”

American Apparel spokeswoman Arielle Patrick said the company was laying off about 2,400 workers in Southern California. The company had 2,166 employees at its headquarters in Los Angeles, and 959 employees at the nearby South Gate manufacturing facility.

[Comment: The clothing didn’t appeal to me much. I think I just bought underwear from them 3 times in the past 15 years.]

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

IMF Upgrades UK After Better-Than-Expected Growth Following Brexit Vote

One of the world’s leading economic organisations has raised its growth forecast for the UK after figures were stronger than forecast in the second half of 2016.

In an update to its global growth projections, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said domestic demand in the United Kingdom “held up better than expected in the aftermath of the Brexit vote”.

[Comment: Its simple. Increased freedom leads to a good economy. Instead of listening to the IMF months ago, could have listened to me. I charge way less and give more accurate forecasts.]

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

Italy Will be the Next Big Problem in Europe

As a new year begins, we look at a key forecast that will bridge 2016 and 2017: the Italian banking crisis. In Geopolitical Futures’ 2016 forecast, we said that the focal point of Europe’s financial crisis would shift from Greece to the Italian banking system. For 2017, we forecast that the evolution of this crisis will eventually force a confrontation between Italy, Germany, and the European Union. Here, we establish a starting point for the looming Italian banking crisis in 2017, which will unfold over many months and have a range of consequences.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

Boston Police Cancels Plan to Buy $1.4 Million Social Media Surveillance System

The people of Boston just scored a major victory for privacy, civil liberties, and people power. After thousands of Bostonians took action to demand the City drop a dangerous proposal to spend as much as $1.4 million on Orwellian social media surveillance software, Boston’s Mayor and police commissioner dropped the plan. The city’s announcement, made late Friday night on the Boston Police Department’s website, says Mayor Walsh and Commissioner Evans agreed that the plan went beyond what the police need to protect public safety. The police statement said a different, more limited proposal would better suit public safety needs while protecting privacy.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

CIA Boss John Brennan Says Donald Trump ‘Doesn’t Understand Russia’ in Scathing Attack on President-Elect

‘It’s more than just about Mr. Trump. It’s about the United States of America’

The departing CIA director John Brennan has given a damning appraisal of Donald Trump, warning the President-elect does not fully understand the threat posed to the US by Russia.

[Comment: Says the water boy for islamists…]

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Farewell to Abomination

“When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan.” (Proverbs 29:2). Have you been groaning for the past eight years? As I sit down to write this message, Obama has less than a week left to occupy our White House. For some of you, by the time you hear this program, he will, Lord willing, already have left. I dearly HOPE that this will be the last time I need to speak about Barack Hussein Obama, but I feel it is necessary to bring closure to what has arguably been the most devastating eight years our country has ever endured at the hands of a single enemy within.

I remember the day he was chosen. Millions rejoiced and danced in the streets. The press labeled him the “new messiah,” because of the way millions seemed to worship him. As I watched the events unfold on televison that night, I?was reminded of the Israelites dancing around the golden calf, a false idol, as our rebellious country shook it’s collective fist at God Almighty. “At last,” the ‘liberals’ rejoiced — “we have an advocate who will do away with the last vestiges of our American heritage, and help us remake America in our own image.”

His first order of business was to make phone calls to leaders of Islamic countries around the world. No one knows what was said in those conversations, but immediately after that, he called a meeting of the joint chiefs to order “a new mission” for how our military would proceed going forward. He has since proven himself to be a loyal ally and adherent to Islam. He even wears a sacred ring on his finger, inscribed with the words, “There is no other god than allah.”

Time does not permit to even begin to address ALL the ways this single individual has harmed our nation. But let’s take a few minutes and reveiw the Obama legacy.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Finally, A Republican Leader Playing Offense

Traditional Republicans specialize in defense, although poorly, and have little offensive skill. Enter the new star athlete, able to play offense and defense, able to hit and field the ball at the same time, without any assistance from the media.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Mapping the Skies for Earth-Like Exoplanets

EU scientists have helped to confirm the existence of Earth-like exoplanets and issued weather reports from planets 1 000 light years away.

It is worth remembering every now and again just how special our home planet truly is. Thanks to its solid outer crust and its propitious position at a distance from the sun where liquid water can exist, it is uniquely capable of supporting life.

Very few other planets have ever been discovered which satisfy these ‘habitability’ criteria. Nonetheless scientists, such as those involved in the EU-funded ETAEARTH project, are beginning to find potential candidates. For example Kepler-78b, an Earth-sized planet with a composition remarkably similar to our planet, was recently found some 400 light years away. This search could ultimately hold the answer as to whether or not we are alone in the universe.

The four-year ETAEARTH project, due for completion at the end of 2017, aims to provide for the first time an accurate picture of just how common earth-like planets are in our galaxy. This is being achieved by combining data from NASA’s Kepler space observatory with readings from a new ESA spectrograph called HARPS-N, which can detect tiny velocity signals from planets as small as Earth. The results are being analysed by a team of experts from Italy, the UK, Switzerland and the US.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

Orlando Nightclub Mass Murderer’s Wife Arrested by FBI

The official says Noor Salman was taken into custody today in the San Francisco area and is due in court tomorrow in California.

She’s facing charges in Florida including obstruction of justice.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

Think Tank Cuts Ties With Trump Dossier Researcher

A national security think tank appears to have cut ties with the head of the opposition research firm that is behind the unsubstantiated Donald Trump dossier published last week.

Glenn Simpson, who heads Fusion GPS, was listed on the website for the International Assessment and Strategy Center (IASC) as recently as this weekend. He joined the Virginia-based think tank in 2009, at around the same time he quit as a reporter at The Wall Street Journal to start his own private intelligence firm. (RELATED: Oppo Researcher Behind Trump Dossier Is Linked To Pro-Kremlin Smear Campaign)

Simpson was listed on the IASC website as a senior fellow for corruption and transnational crime and penned several essays during his time with the organization. It is unclear if Simpson has completely left the think tank or why his biography was removed. Emails and phone calls seeking comment from IASC were not returned.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

Trump Asks Twitter Followers if Outgoing CIA Boss John Brennan Was Behind Russian Dirty Dossier Leak

Donald Trump has lashed out at outgoing CIA chief John Brennan, and questioned whether he was responsible for leaking the Russian dossier.

Brennan had earlier told the president-elect to watch what he says, suggesting he doesn’t understand the threats posed by Moscow.

But Trump fired back on Twitter on Sunday night. He wrote: ‘Was this the leaker of Fake News?’

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

US Army Soldier Based at Fort Hood is Found Dead — Making Him the Twelfth GI From the Texas Base to Die in the Last Two Months

The United States Army launched an investigation on Friday into the mysterious death of a soldier who was found unresponsive at his post on the Fort Hood base — the latest in a string of nearly a dozen deaths of soldiers serving in the massive Texas encampment.

Sgt. Alex Mathew Dean Taylor, 23, a soldier assigned to the 15th Military Intelligence Battalion, was found dead while on duty, according to Stars and Stripes.

Taylor had enlisted as an aviation operations specialist.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Welcome to One of the Most Pivotal Weeks in Modern American History

Many are anticipating that a wonderful new era of peace and prosperity is just a few days away, but others are using terms such as “ civil unrest” and “ civil war” for what they believe is about to happen in America. Without a doubt, Donald Trump is one of the most electrifying politicians in modern American history, but he is also one of the most polarizing. So will the next four years bring us together as a nation, or will anger, frustration, strife and discord tear us much farther apart? It is being projected that extremely large crowds of supporters will attend Donald Trump’ s inauguration on January 20th, but the mainstream media is also reporting that “ hundreds of thousands of protesters” are on their way to Washington. Many on the far left are hoping to turn Trump’ s inauguration into one of the biggest riots in U.S. history, but thousands of law enforcement personnel are going to do their very best to prevent that from happening.

There are sites on the Internet that are literally counting down the hours until Barack Obama leaves office. Knowing that his time is short, Obama seems determined to squeeze as much “ change” out of his final hours as he possibly can. Just check out what the Washington Post says that he was able to accomplish on just one day last week…

On Thursday alone, the administration designated three new national monuments and expanded another two in sites including a forest in the Pacific Northwest and a school for freed slaves in South Carolina; took away one of the special immigration privileges Cubans arriving in the United States without visas have enjoyed for 50 years; announced sanctions designations against 18 senior Syrian officials for their role in the use of chlorine as a chemical weapon in 2014 and 2015; awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Vice President Biden; and accused Fiat Chrysler of cheating on national emission standards for some of its diesel trucks.

And in the last few days of his presidency, there is a great deal of concern about how much more damage he may be able to do on his way out the door. Late last week he enraged the Russians by moving U.S. troops into Poland, and Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova is warning that Obama still has a few more days left to “ destroy the world” …

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

What the Politicians You Elected Have Done to America

We have allowed politicians to do things to America that should have never be allowed. This is why Donald Trump won. He believes in America first where the majority of politicians in D.C. believe in globalism which demands wealth redistribution to less fortunate nations. These fools believe that the earth can only maintain a population of 500,000,000. I guess they don’t think God thought of this before He started this project. Just a thought on that, you could put the present entire world population in the State of Texas have the population density of Paris, France. That fact alone blows their theory out of the water.

But these people have adopted what is called a ‘sustainable development’. Watch for the usage of that word ‘sustainable’, it will become a part of our thought process from here on out. One of their plans to control population is something they call ‘soft kill technology’. This is attained through medicine, vaccines and not addressing the root of a disease but only treating the results of the disease. The other is through food. Yes, I said food. What food could do this you may ask? Genetically Modified Organisms or GMO’s. Over 90% of our corn and soy grown in the United States are GMO. Potatos, wheat, tomatoes, apples and many other ‘foods’ are now GMO. They are genetically engineered with Roundup to be resistant to Roundup. The basic ingredient in this is what was called Agent Orange in Viet Nam. My brother died from exposure to this while he served as a Sea Bee in Nam. Many others were affected by it and still suffer to this day.

Bill Gates Foundation is involved in vaccines that are designed to cripple and kill: He was a seemingly nice guy in the first half of his life. An average American who made his fortune by selling hardware and software worth of billions, becoming a worldwide icon and a living example of the American Dream.

But, in the second half of his life, he teamed up with the world’s “elite” in an attempt to reduce the world’s population by billions… and he means business!

He soon became one of the most infamous depopulation activists, lecturing on genocidal vaccines, conducting vaccination campaigns that crippled and killed countless people in the third world countries, designing GMO mosquitoes that could carry and inject deadly viruses, and he’s constantly finding new methods of achieving his sick plans.

I am, of course, talking about Bill Gates, the man who recently pushed the population control agenda one step further: he announced the development of a remote-controlled contraceptive microchip, which can be implanted under the skin and last up to 16 years.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Woman Who Blasted Trudeau Gets Online Threats

The woman who told Prime Minister Justin Trudeau she could barely afford to eat after paying her carbon tax and hydro bills now says she’s been receiving threats online.

Kathy Katula, the 54-year-old mother of four and grandma of three, said after she was featured in the Toronto Sun about her Peterborough townhall appearance with Trudeau on Friday, trolls and haters have been flooding her Facebook wall with negative comments.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Can Marine Le Pen Pull Off French Election Stunner? Germany Loses No Matter Who Wins

Conventional wisdom suggests National Front candidate Marine le Pen will make it to the second round in French elections, then lose in a landslide to whoever her opponent happens to be.

I believe le Pen’s odds of winning it outright are far better than most think

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Europe on Terror Alert: Police Seize Jihadi Weapons ‘Capable of Downing Aircraft’

Anti-terror investigators confiscated 12,000 weapons this week — just before they were sold to terrorists by a Spanish gang, who have now been arrested.

Police said the weapon trafficking network was terrifying in its size and capability — which now includes anti-aircraft weaponry.

The country’s Interior Minister said “several anti-aircraft guns capable of bringing down aircraft” were seized on Thursday, along with thousands of rifles.

The entire arsenal was worth nearly £9 million. Police also seized more than £70,000 in cash.

           — Hat tip: AF [Return to headlines]
 

European Union to Likely Grant Legal Status to Robots

Members of the European Union (EU) back a draft resolution to give legal status to robots. If we want to understand this proposal, we need to look at corporations which carry legal responsibility but aren’t recognised as having human rights or seen as individuals.

The proposal was put forward by a socialist MEP from Luxembourg Mady Delvaux-Stehres, whose resolution was passed by the EU Parliament’s legal affairs committee and a vote on the resolution will probably take place in February. A growing number of areas in our daily lives are increasingly affected by robotics.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

Germany Ignored Anti-Terror Tips, Had Intelligence Agencies Infiltrated by ISIS in 2016

A troubling series of revelations about German failures to prevent Islamic State operations within the country raise questions about their ability and willingness to effectively combat terror. The string of intelligence fiascos in 2016 comes as documents from Wikileaks show that Germany’s Federal Office for Migration and Refugees had a policy of admitting migrants who were a known terror risk with the intention of recruiting them as informants over a decade and a half ago. I. Germany failed to heed multiple warnings about Berlin truck attacker Anis Amri

In the aftermath of the recent December 2016 Berlin truck attack, reports have emerged that German intelligence received prior warnings about the likelihood that an incident was due to occur but failed to take action. On December 22nd, 2016, Moroccan World News revealed that Morocco had warned German intelligence officials in September 2016 that Berlin truck attacker Anis Amri had jihadist tendencies and was known to have sworn allegiance to the Islamic State. On October 11th, they gave German intelligence a second tip that Amri had been residing in Germany illegally for 14 months and that he was regularly meeting with two known members of ISIS who were described as “dangerous.” German officials do no appear to have acted on either tip from their Moroccan counterparts.

The article further explained that Spanish and French authorities have successfully dismantled terror cells based on information passed to them by Moroccan intelligence in the past. Why Germany failed to heed a tip from an intelligence source which had a proven track record of assisting anti-terror operations in other European states is unknown. II. ISIS was able to successfully infiltrate German intelligence organizations in 2016

This series of failures to properly investigate Anis Amri and prevent the Berlin truck attack came on the heels of November 2016 reports that an intelligence officer working for Germany’s internal intelligence agency, the Bundesverfassungsschutz (BfV) was arrested for taking part in a plot to bomb the BfV’s headquarters in Cologne, Germany. This news was given little to no attention by U.S. media.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Is Tolerance a One-Way Street?

When just about every other magazine in the free world fails to uphold the values of free speech and the right to caricature and offend, who could expect a group of cartoonists and writers who have already paid such a high price to keep holding the line of such freedoms single-handed?

Most of the people who said they cared about the right to say what they wanted when they wanted, were willing to walk the walk — to walk through Paris with a pencil in the air. Or they were willing to talk the talk, proclaiming “Je Suis Charlie.” But almost no one really meant it.

If President Hollande and Chancellor Merkel had really believed in standing up for freedom of expression, then instead of walking arm-in-arm through Paris together with such an inappropriate figure as Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, they would have held up covers of Charlie Hebdo and said: “This is what a free society looks like and this is what we back: everyone, political leaders, gods, prophets, the lot can be satirised, and if you do not like it then you should hop off to whatever unenlightened hell-hole you dream of.”

The entire world press has internalised what happened at Charlie Hebdo and instead of standing united, has decided never to risk something like that ever happening to them again.

For the last two years, we have learned for certain that any such tolerance is a one-way street. This new submission to Islamist terrorism is possibly why, in 2016, when an athlete with no involvement in politics, religion or satire was caught doing something that might have been seen as less than fully respectful of Islam, there was no one around to defend him.

The 7th of this month marked two years to the day since two gunmen walked into the offices of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in Paris and murdered twelve people. This period also therefore marks the second anniversary of the period of about an hour during which much of the free world proclaimed itself to be “Charlie” and attempted, by walking through the street, standing for moments of silence or re-tweeting the hashtag “Je Suis Charlie” to show the whole world that freedom cannot be suppressed and that the pen is mightier than the Kalashnikov.

So two years on is a good time to take stock of the situation. How did that go? Did all those “Je Suis” statements amount to anything more than a blip on the Twitter-sphere? Anyone trying to answer such a question might start by looking at the condition of the journal everyone was so concerned about. How has it fared in the two years since most of its senior editorial staff were gunned down by the blasphemy police?

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

ISIS Recruiter of Moroccan Nationality Arrested in Spain

The Spanish police arrested a Moroccan national suspected of being the leader of an Islamist cell in the country, recruiting and indoctrinating foreign fighters to join the Islamic State (IS).

The arrest was made in San Sebastian, in the Basque Country, the Spanish Ministry of Interior announced on 16 January. According to the ministry, the man was active in recruiting young people, at risk of social exclusion, who could easily be influenced and emotionally unstable. He would make contact with them online or using his job as boxing instructor to gain young people’s trust.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

Three Questioned After Belgian Raids Released

Three men detained for questioning last night after an anti-terror raid in the Brussels district of Molenbeek have been released without charge, Belgian prosecutors said.

Prosecutors said yesterday that several houses had been searched in relation to an anti-terror investigation but that nothing was found.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

U.K. Leader to Seek Clean Break From EU

LONDON—Prime Minister Theresa May is set to declare Tuesday that the U.K. wants a clean break from the European Union, in a closely watched speech in which she is expected to lay out her plans for the divorce.

Mrs. May is expected to say that Britain doesn’t want “partial membership” in the EU “or anything that leaves us half-in, half-out,” according to excerpts of a speech released by her office on Monday.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

Udo Ulfkotte Has Died; German Journalists Celebrate

Udo Ulfkotte’s homepage; books

http://www.ulfkotte.de/index.html

THE WORLD — upside down by Udo Ulfkotte

http://www.ulfkotte.de/18.html

[…] I am not important in this story. My person is interchangeable. Others have had the same experience when dealing with Islamists in Germany. They have kept silent because they have children. They have kept silent because they fear for their jobs. My readers should know that I don’t know Islamists from dusty books, but rather have observed them for over 15 years in their own countries: Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, Lebanon, Saudi-Arabia, Yemen, Syria, The Emirates, Algeria, Jordan, Indonesia and Malysia. I met the group of Islamists around Osama bin Laden in the middle of the 1990s in the Sudan capital of Khartoum. Where the White and Blue Nile meet, they had a plot of land of about eight acres.

           — Hat tip: AF [Return to headlines]
 

Wilders Lashes Out at Dutch Premier Rutte Ahead of Elections

THE HAGUE, Netherlands — Dutch firebrand populist Geert Wilders is accusing Prime Minister Mark Rutte of behaving like a “dictator” by ruling out a coalition with Wilders’ Party for Freedom after national elections on March 15.

Two months ahead of the polls, Wilders is riding high in opinion polls, but appears increasingly unlikely to be able to form a majority government.

Rutte said in an interview Sunday that the chance of his center-right Liberal Party forming a coalition with Wilders’ party was “zero.”

Rutte was the latest mainstream politician to rule out working with Wilders, meaning that the fiery lawmaker who wants to drastically rein in immigration and lead the Netherlands out of the European Union appears unlikely to be this country’s next prime minister.

[Return to headlines]
 

70 Nations Gathered in Paris Unanimously Call for the Creation of a Palestinian State

On Sunday, the 70 nations that gathered in Paris for a conference on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict unanimously agreed to call for the creation of a Palestinian state. The joint declaration that was issued at the conclusion of the conference also endorsed UN Security Council Resolution 2334 which was adopted on December 23rd and the six principles that U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry laid out in his 71 minute speech on December 28th. If you would like to read the final draft of the joint declaration, you can do so right here. The good news is that this conference did not immediately recognize a Palestinian state, nor does it appear that additional action will be taken at the UN Security Council before Donald Trump is inaugurated on Friday.

It had been feared that this conference may attempt to impose some sort of a solution on the Israelis and the Palestinians, but that didn’ t come to pass. Instead, the conference participants agreed to work toward “ a negotiated solution with two states, Israel and Palestine, living side by side in peace and security” .

So the global community has clearly reaffirmed their commitment to a Palestinian state, but the outcome of this conference was not nearly as bad for Israel as many had been anticipating.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Hollande: Two-State Solution Only Path to Peace

At the Paris peace conference on Sunday French President Francois Hollande said the world cannot impose a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and true peace can only be achieved through direct negotiations.

At the same time, Hollande told the international community not to give up on peace, since the world can not be victorious over ISIS without first resolving the “oldest conflict in the Middle East.” Even the Iraqi and Syrian wars cannot come to an end without Israel agreeing to a two-state solution, in his opinion.

“But how can you think that the Middle East can be stabilized if you don’t deal with its oldest conflict? The world must not resign itself to the status quo,” Hollande said. “The two-state solution is still the goal of the international community for the future.

“With this conference I wanted to inscribe the two-state solution on the international agenda. We do not want to impose any solutions… as some argued to dismiss our effort. It can only come after direct negotiations.

“Only direct talks between Israelis and Palestinians can lead to peace. (…) […]

[OK Mr Hollande, I think that your two state solution is the only ‘peaceful’ answer for France and not Israel, so please get ready to hand the no-go areas and the jungles over to the Hamas terrorist organisation for ‘peaceful’ administration and installation of Kassam rockets. (how much did your Saudi overlords pay you for this?) ]

           — Hat tip: MC [Return to headlines]
 

Suspect Who Attacked Istanbul Nightclub is Arrested

The suspected New Year’s Eve Istanbul nightclub attacker who police believe killed 39 people was today arrested by Turkish security forces.

According to Turkish media, the main suspect in the attack on Reina nightclub was apprehended in Istanbul late on Monday.

Abdulkadir Masharipov was reportedly caught in his friend’s house in Esenyurt district of the city — just 25 miles from where the brutal attack took place.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

Now the European Union Wants to “Build a Wall” — With Russia

Lithuanian Prime Minister Saulius Skvernelis has taken a leaf out of President-Elect Donald J. Trump’s book, announcing a multi-million euro border fence to “ensure credible control of [the] eastern border of the European Union”.

EurActiv reports that the €30 million project will be funded largely from the European Union (EU) budget, to which the UK contributes a net £200 million every week.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

China Warns Trump “It Will Take Off the Gloves” If He Continues to Provoke Beijing

In the latest indication that China is becoming increasingly unsettled by Trump’s relentless attacks on legacy diplomacy with China, and especially the “One China” policy, two leading state-run newspapers warned on Monday that Beijing will “take off the gloves” and take strong action if Trump continues to provoke Beijing over Taiwan once he assumes office.

The reaction was provoke by Trump’s latest US interview, in which he told the WSJ that the “One China” policy was up for negotiation. China’s foreign ministry, in response, said “One China” was the foundation of China-U.S. ties and was non-negotiable.

“If Trump is determined to use this gambit in taking office, a period of fierce, damaging interactions will be unavoidable, as Beijing will have no choice but to take off the gloves,” the otherwise calm English-language China Daily said. It added that Beijing’s relatively measured response to Trump’s comments in the Wall Street Journal “can only come from a genuine, sincere wish that the less-than-desirable, yet by-and-large manageable, big picture of China-U.S. relations will not be derailed before Trump even enters office”.

But China should not count on the assumption that Trump’s Taiwan moves are “a pre-inauguration bluff, and instead be prepared for him to continue backing his bet”. “It may be costly. But it will prove a worthy price to pay to make the next U.S. president aware of the special sensitivity, and serious consequences of his Taiwan game,” said the national daily.

The far more fiery state-run nationalist tabloid, The Global Times, echoed the China Daily, saying Beijing would take “strong countermeasures” against Trump’s attempt to “impair” the “One China” principle.

“The Chinese mainland will be prompted to speed up Taiwan reunification and mercilessly combat those who advocate Taiwan’s independence,” the paper said in an editorial.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Austria Drugs Crackdown: 30 Migrants Among 31 Men Arrested in Graz Drug Bust

POLICE in Austria have arrested 31 men as part of a “zero-tolerance” crack-down on drugs culture but only one of the men is an Austrian citizen.

In an effort to put an end to the Austrian city of Graz’ drugs scene, police arrested the men.

Fourteen of the men are from Nigeria, 12 are from Afghanistan, three are from Algeria, one is from Pakistan and one was Austrian.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

Donald Trump Accuses Angela Merkel of Making ‘Catastrophic Mistake’ on Refugees

President-elect tells The Times and Bild that EU has become ‘a vehicle for Germany’

US President-elect Donald Trump said in a newspaper interview published on Sunday that German Chancellor Angela Merkel had made a “catastrophic mistake” with a policy that let a wave of more than one million migrants into her country.

In a joint interview with The Times and the German newspaper Bild, Trump also said the European Union had become “a vehicle for Germany” and predicted that more EU member states would vote to leave the bloc as Britain did last June.

“I think she made one very catastrophic mistake, and that was taking all of these illegals,” Trump said of Merkel, who in August 2015 decided to keep Germany’s borders open for refugees, mostly Muslims, fleeing war zones in the Middle East.

“And nobody even knows where they come from. So I think she made a catastrophic mistake, very bad mistake,” Trump said, adding that he always had “great respect” for Merkel and that he still viewed her as one of the most important world leaders.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Free Movement is a ‘Race to the Bottom’, Warns Dutch Deputy PM

[…]He said: “In essence, we have seen that free movement has become synonymous with a race to the bottom, with undercutting of wages, with unfair competition in the labor market and that has to do with the rules Europe has produced itself.

“It is not the principle, it is the rule that has become such a big issue. It means that here in the Netherlands, like in other countries, on the scaffolding you can see a Romanian or Portuguese painter doing the exact same work as a Dutch painter right next to him that is allowed to earn two, three, four hundred euros less than the Dutch worker.

“That means, of course, that the Dutch painter is out of work, out of a job. It means the smaller company that cannot afford to hire internationally is out of work.”

           — Hat tip: AF [Return to headlines]
 

‘Help us Tackle Migration!’ Desperate EU Begs Australia for Advice, Sources Claim

FLOUNDERING EU countries and Brussels officials have appealed to Australia for advice on how to reduce the number of migrants arriving in the Continent by boat, it has been claimed.

Despite the EU publicly rejecting Australia’s tough stance on immigration in the past, it has been claimed that key member states, including the UK, are now desperate for advice on how to get a grip on immigration.

Reports published by the press in Australia and New Zealand claim Australia sent Border Force representatives to Poland’s capital of Warsaw in November for a meeting with Brussels representatives and EU countries such as the UK and Austria.

           — Hat tip: AF [Return to headlines]
 

Migrants Granted Asylum in UK Because They’re Gay Rockets 450 Percent

THE number of migrants claiming asylum in Britain because of their sexuality has rocketed 450 per cent in just five years, with MPs claiming it is difficult for the Home Office to prove they are genuinely gay.

Figures have risen by a staggering amounts as refugees claim they would be in danger if they were not given sanctuary.

In 2014, 1,115 people claimed refuge in Britain due to their sexuality.

However in 2009, it was as few as 200 claimants who claimed their sexuality could lead to death if they were sent back to their homeland.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

Progressive Justice and the Communist Diet

Under communism we had all types of justice you progressive drones are demanding during your violent riots: gender, environmental, social, reproductive, and food justice, long before the millennial snowflakes started asking for safe spaces, crayons, and animals to pet because they are afraid of reality, and long before the regressive left started inventing new ways and outrageous euphemisms, such as “white privilege,” to claim and steal other people’s money, goods, and services they have not earned.

For starters, we had food justice, one for the proletariat and one for the communist elitist apparatchiks. It was not the kind of food justice you are demanding, free and fresh food from the government.

The proletariat was equally poor, miserable, and hungry. We were on the Ceausescu’s communist diet so we were all equally thin and gaunt. Were we healthier? If you consider that our food was not very nourishing and vitamin supplements were not easy to find, the answer would be no. We did not have the sugar problem the U.S. has because sweets were not available and not largely part of the diet; sugar was not an additive to every food item sold in grocery stores. Sweets were special treats on birthdays and were expensive.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Study Reveals Significant Health Disparities for Homosexual Teens

A recent (and first of its kind) study verifies again what many Christians have long warned about the homosexual lifestyle. Published in August of 2016 by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the study — “Sexual Identity, Sex of Sexual Contacts, and Health Related Behaviors Among Students in Grades 9-12” — looked at a wide variety of risky behaviors among U.S. high school students…

Comparing the same two groups (students engaging in homosexual activity vs. students with no sexual contact), students engaging in homosexual activity were:

Eight times more likely to smoke

47 times more likely to smoke frequently (20 or more cigarettes in the month prior to the survey) Nearly three times as likely to have tried alcohol prior to age 13 Three and a half times as likely to be currently using alcohol

More than 11 times as likely to binge drink (10 or more drinks in a row)

Nearly six times as likely to be currently using marijuana

More than 16 times as likely ever to have used hallucinogenic drugs

More than 18 times as likely ever to have used cocaine

30 times as likely ever to have used heroin

23 times as likely ever to have used methamphetamines

Likewise, compared to students who had no sexual contact, sexually active heterosexual students were:…

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Tancredo: Report Reveals Massive Indoctrination of Students at Universities Through ‘Transformative Civic Engagement’

Students at hundreds of colleges and universities are being systematically indoctrinated into the “New Civics” of social justice activism, according to a report released this past week by the National Association of Scholars.

The report’s findings suggest that the suppression of free speech on college campuses that is making headlines is only the tip of a very large iceberg. What lies beneath the surface is a massive, publicly funded program of indoctrination through a remaking of the curriculum as a vehicle for advancing the political agenda of progressivism.

[The report: https://www.nas.org/images/documents/NAS_makingCitizens_fullReport.pdf ]

           — Hat tip: AF [Return to headlines]
 

Inequality: 8 Men as Rich as Half the World’s Population

“It is obscene for so much wealth to be held in the hands of so few.”

The gap between the super-rich and the poorest half of the global population is starker than previously thought, with just eight men, from Bill Gates to Michael Bloomberg, owning as much wealth as 3.6 billion people, according to an analysis by Oxfam released Monday.

Presenting its findings on the dawn of the annual gathering of the global political and business elites in the Swiss ski resort of Davos, anti-poverty organization Oxfam says the gap between the very rich and poor is far greater than just a year ago. It’s urging leaders to do more than pay lip-service to the problem.

[Comment: Note no mention of the trillionaires, Rothschild, Rockefellers.etc.]

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

The Global Warming Smoking Gun

The situation with the climate models used by the IPCC is that they cannot be made to even agree with the past climate. The illustration below is from the 2013 report of the IPCC (AR5: 10.3.1.1.2 ). It plots the climate temperature observations against the averaged output of the various models used by the IPCC. There are two areas of serious disagreement illustrated by added annotation. From 1910 to 1940 the Earth warmed strongly, but the models do not generate a match to that warming. The other area of disagreement is the period starting in 1998 when global warming stopped, called the “Hiatus” or the “Pause.” The models project global warming continuing, not stopping in 1998.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

7 thoughts on “Gates of Vienna News Feed 1/16/2017

  1. Visit Kathy Katula’s Facebook page and you find many posts, some typed IN ALL CAPITAL LETTERS by her , actually defending Trudeau and going on about God and how she blesses him (Trudeau,not God -although she might believe they’re the same ) and everyone IN CANADA AND THE UNITED STATES AND ALL OVER THE WORLD,… !!!! And SO ON and SO ON….
    She doesn’t deserve any threats but her over-the-top posts are rather pathetic and she probably doesn’t deserve anyone’s attention either. A loose gear.There’s speculation the whole scene between her and Trudeau was a “staged event” . With the Liberals anything is possible.

  2. The CIA did hack the computers of the Senate Committee charged with oversight of the CIA. They lied about it…and then apologized for their illegal and unethical attacks.

    What won’t the CIA do?

  3. Be careful with Pastor Roger Anghis. Religious fruitcakes with an agenda are dangerous.

    Gates is very involved in the depopulation of the earth…

    This is from someone who thinks god is real and who’d like to see human population increase every century till the living envy the dead.

  4. “Critics say that it is impossible for the Home Office to determine with certainty that an asylum seeker is really gay.”

    I can almost see the Monty Python sketch now.

  5. Surprising

    “Soros is packing his suitcases already or at least he should be although the US is probably the safest place for him to be. There’s a contract out on him for $25,000,000, money which has been raised from thousands of anti-globalists throughout the world, especially from 3 European countries.”

    • It would be more effective to put contracts out for his bodyguards; they are not protected 24/7, and it might convince some of them who continue to provide security for the most evil man on the planet that such a future is a dead-end career path.

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