Gates of Vienna News Feed 1/17/2017

Aashiq Hammad, a.k.a. Esteban Santiago-Ruiz, told the FBI that he carried out the deadly January 7 jihad attack at the airport in Ft. Lauderdale in the name of the Islamic State. Meanwhile, Abdulkadir Masharipov, the Uzbek national who committed the jihad massacre at an Istanbul nightclub on New Year’s Eve, has reportedly confessed to Turkish police. Neither incident had anything to do with Islam.

In other news, President Obama has commuted the sentence of Bradley “Chelsea” Manning for his role in the leaking of classified secrets.

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

Thanks to JD, MC, Reader from Chicago, Srdja Trifkovic, 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
» Davos Elites Call for a Ban on Physical Cash… in the US.
» Ignore at Your Peril
 
USA
» “Wake Up.” a Middle Eastern Immigrant Has a Message for America (And Donald Trump)
» 42 Democrats Announce They’ve Decided to Throw a Tantrum…er…join a Boycott-on Inauguration Day
» Chelsea Manning Commutation Tests Julian Assange’s Pledge
» FBI Confirms Ft. Lauderdale Shooter Attacked for ISIS
» Soros-Funded Media Launch Site for ‘Documenting Hate’
» The Fake News — The Fake Narrative Epidemic
» The Left is Thoroughly Bamboozled
» Trump Effect: General Motors to Announce $1 Billion U.S. Investment
» Trump is 100 Percent Right About Congressman John Lewis
» Watch: Ads in Two Dozen Cities Offer Protesters Up to $2,500 to Agitate at Trump Inaugural
» Will There be War on the Streets of Washington D.C. During the Inauguration on Friday?
 
Canada
» Ontario’s Costly Coal Phase-Out Did Not Significantly Reduce Air Pollution
 
Europe and the EU
» Austria’s Freedom Party Leader to Attend Trump’s Inauguration
» European Union Wastes 88 Million Tons of Food Per Year: Auditors
» France: Presidential Duel With Macron Would be a ‘Dream’, Says Le Pen
» Front National’s Marine Le Pen Tells Izvestia Newspaper: ‘Crimea Was Never Ukrainian’
» Scotland: Koran Reading in Christian Church ‘Denigrated Jesus, ‘ Says Chaplain
» Spain Arrests Moroccan Boxing Coach Accused of Heading ISIS Recruitment Cell
» Terrorists Are Winning the Digital Arms Race, Experts Say
» The Islamization of France in 2016
» UK: Theresa May’s Brexit Speech Puts Cameron to Shame
 
Israel and the Palestinians
» ‘My Father Was Killed for Supporting Israel’
 
Middle East
» Pentagon Wants Trump to Arm Syrian Kurds, Increase Boots on the Ground: Report
» Turkey: Istanbul Nightclub Attacker Confessed After Capture
 
Far East
» In Davos, Globalists Hail Leadership of Communist Chinese Tyrant
» Trump’s China Problem
 
Australia — Pacific
» Australia Says Suspended MH370 Search Could Resume in Future
 
Sub-Saharan Africa
» Nigerian Military ‘Mistake’ Kills at Least 50 in Attack on Refugee Camp
 
Immigration
» Cambridge Professor Calls on Brits to Learn Urdu and Polish to Make Migrants Fell Welcome
» Turkish Migrants Form New Political Party in Austria
 
General
» Earth’s Atmosphere Can be Turned Into Massive Surveillance System Using Lasers, Scientists Discover
 

Davos Elites Call for a Ban on Physical Cash… in the US.

Roughly two weeks ago, when writing about the cash ban in India, I stated:

If you think the Elites aren’t watching this unfold with sheer delight you’re mistaken. Globally a war on cash has been declared. And India has now proved that it can be done with little consequence. The fact it INCREASE tax hauls (something every Government on the planet wants) is just icing on the cake.

Fast forward to this week at the Davos Economic Forum in Davos Switzerland, and Nobel Prize winning economist Joseph Stiglitz all but said the exact same thing.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has already removed 86% of his country’s currency from circulation in an attempt to curb tax evasion, tackle corruption and shut down the shadow economy.

Should the US follow suit?

Joseph Stiglitz, Nobel Prize-winning economist, thinks so. Phasing out currency and moving towards a digital economy would, over the long term, have “benefits that outweigh the cost,” the Columbia University professor said on day one of the World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting in Davos…

“I believe very strongly that countries like the United States could and should move to a digital currency,” he said, “so that you would have the ability to trace this kind of corruption. There are important issues of privacy, cyber-security, but it would certainly have big advantages.”

http://www.weforum.org/agenda/2017/01/the-us-should-get-rid-of-cash-and-become-a-digital-economy-says-this-nobel-laureate-economist

Again… the War on Cash is not slowing down. India effectively removed 86% of the physical cash in circulation and no one was forced to resign.

Put simply, India signaled to the global elites that you can implement a near complete ban on physical cash, and there are no real consequences as far as political aspirations.

We believe that the Elites will be pushing for this policy to hit the US. If you think this is impossible consider that Stiglitz openly called for the US to ban cash in the article above.

Indeed, we’ve uncovered a secret document outlining how the Fed plans to ban physical cash and incinerate savings in the coming months.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Ignore at Your Peril

They’re at it again. It isn’t enough that the Federal Reserve’s tighter monetary policies are hamstringing global economic growth, but over the past week a few different Fed officials floated the idea of reducing the size of the Fed’s balance sheet. They seem intent on tightening until something breaks.

I have long argued Janet Yellen’s Fed is way more hawkish than most pundits believe (Janet’s Bullshit). Ever since assuming the role of Chairperson on February 3rd, 2014, Yellen has presided over a policy of tightening monetary policy through tapering of quantitative easing, then fully stopping Fed balance sheet expansion, and finally raising rates. The net effect of this tighter policy is a rip roaring US dollar, along with higher short rates and a flattening yield curve.

Not content to merely raise rates, Fed officials appear to be preparing the market for actual balance sheet reductions in the coming months. Last week several different Fed officials took the opportunity to highlight the possibility of the Fed abandoning their policy of reinvesting proceeds.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

“Wake Up.” a Middle Eastern Immigrant Has a Message for America (And Donald Trump)

He thinks America is “making a big mistake.”

“I don’t want to shut up. I see history repeating itself. I don’t want my children to go through what I grew up. I want to stay free and Christian.”

He remembers his years on the Green Line. “We defended our people. It was an ugly war that lasted years and year.”

According to Joe, it started when Palestinians started looking for a way to oust Christians in Lebanon.

“We were infidels — and we had to go.”

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

42 Democrats Announce They’ve Decided to Throw a Tantrum…er…join a Boycott-on Inauguration Day

With the inauguration of Donald Trump just days away, Democrats are equal parts panicky, outraged, confused, and sputtering. Like a three-year-old faced with a plate of spinach, they’ ve decided a doomed tantrum is their only recourse. You’ ve seen the hissy-fit play out over the last few weeks, and it’ s only going to escalate from here on out.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Chelsea Manning Commutation Tests Julian Assange’s Pledge

Last week, WikiLeaks pledged that if President Obama granted clemency to Chelsea Manning, the former Army soldier serving a 35-year prison sentence for espionage, Julian Assange would agree to extradition to the U.S.

Assange will have a chance to make good on that promise after the White House announced in a surprise move on Tuesday that Manning’s sentence is being commuted.

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

FBI Confirms Ft. Lauderdale Shooter Attacked for ISIS

Fort Lauderdale shooter Esteban Santiago told FBI agents he carried out his Jan. 7 deadly shooting in the name of the Islamic State, CNN reports.

Santiago killed five and wounded six in a shooting rampage in the baggage claim area of Fort Lauderdale airport. Santiago reportedly checked his gun in his bag, loaded it in the bathroom, and randomly executed his fellow passengers.

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

Soros-Funded Media Launch Site for ‘Documenting Hate’

After the election of Donald Trump, liberal groups are banding together to document hate crimes. At least ones that impact liberal victim groups.

ProPublica, a left-wing nonprofit media outlet funded by George Soros, just launched a brand new project called “Documenting Hate.” The website purports to “build authoritative data on hate crimes and bias incidents,” but none of the 21 partner organizations are conservative. Instead, the partner groups the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), Univision, and BuzzFeed, which are overtly hostile to conservatives.

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

The Fake News — The Fake Narrative Epidemic

How did all these fake narratives, the basis for the real fake news of mainstream media, government, and academia, get started? What purpose do they serve? In the case of dominant media, one has to go back a full century. One learns of Oscar Callaway, then a Senator from Texas, writing in 1917 on the controlled press following the loss of his Senate seat due to his opposition to U.S. entry into what became World War I. His observations were entered into the Congressional Record:

“In March, 1915, the J.P. Morgan interests, the steel, shipbuilding, and powder interest, and their subsidiary organizations, got together 12 men high up in the newspaper world and employed them to select the most influential newspapers in the United States and sufficient number of them to control generally the policy of the daily press… These 12 men worked the problems out by selecting 179 newspapers, and then began, by an elimination process, to retain only those necessary for the purpose of controlling the general policy of the daily press throughout the country.

“They found it was only necessary to purchase the control of 25 of the greatest papers. An agreement was reached; the policy of the papers was bought, to be paid for by the month; an editor was furnished for each paper to properly supervise and edit information regarding the questions of preparedness, militarism, financial policies, and other things of national and international nature considered vital to the interests of the purchasers… This policy also included the suppression of everything in opposition to the wishes of the interests served.

“The effectiveness of this scheme has been conclusively demonstrated by the character of the stuff carried in the daily press throughout the country since March, 1915. They have resorted to anything necessary to commercialize public sentiment and sandbag the National Congress into making extravagant and wasteful appropriations for the Army and Navy under false pretense that it was necessary. Their stock argument is that it is “patriotism.” They are playing on every prejudice and passion of the American people.”

Callaway, who had been attacked in the press for his lack of “patriotism” (rather like the critics of Bush II’s war), wanted an official investigation. Nothing was done, and the whole thing fell down the memory hole. Media consolidation has continued ever since. It took a quantum leap when Bill Clinton signed the 1996 Telecommunications Act. This act eased restrictions on media cross-ownership, so that one conglomerate could own multiple concerns. It was part of neoliberal so-called deregulation. What it did was allow was the dominant corporate actors to strengthen their control over information through buyouts and mergers. Today over 90% of mainstream media, which includes newspapers, television networks, cable stations, web concerns, magazines and their websites, Hollywood production companies, and much more, is owned by six megacorporations.

It’s all about the attempt to control narratives as much as possible. The purpose of fake narratives is to create an artificial reality — often an economic reality where things are rosier than they really are, by, e.g., presenting an “unemployment rate” that excludes you from the labor force if you haven’t looked for work in a month. Numbers can be made to look impressive even if they don’t mean much. A fake narrative now is how the Obama administration has overseen a “recovery” with massive job growth, etc.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

The Left is Thoroughly Bamboozled

As Inauguration Day approaches, the leftist media, the Democrats, and the moonbats that make up the nation’s academic class are well and truly melting, as surely as the wicked witch of the Wizard of Oz melted when Dorothy tossed some water on her. So thoroughly, deeply convinced of their own superiority in all things political, legal, cultural, gender, and all branches of learning that they have created their own parallel universe in which Trump could not possibly have won, everyone loves Obama and Obamacare, the economy is booming, unemployment is low, humans are destroying the planet with global warming, global cooling, climate change, and/or bad weather, and Hillary was a shoe-in to win the 2016 election. They actually believed, without a shred of actual evidence, that Hillary Clinton was qualified to be President even though her record is one of incompetence, poor judgment, corruption and failure. They have been bamboozled for so long that they have lost the ability to see reality. They want no part of it because in their parallel universe these things cannot possibly be true.

As Carl Sagan wrote in 1995, in The Demon-haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark:

“One of the saddest lessons of history is this: If we’ve been bamboozled long enough, we tend to reject any evidence of the bamboozle. We’re no longer interested in finding out the truth. The bamboozle has captured us. It’s simply too painful to acknowledge, even to ourselves, that we’ve been taken. Once you give a charlatan power over you, you almost never get it back.”

So completely captured by the bamboozle, once-reputable news outlets eagerly publish fake news if they think it will hurt Trump. The same news organizations have, for ten years, refused to publish anything, even the obvious truth, that might reflect poorly on Obama. That is how the bamboozle works.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Trump Effect: General Motors to Announce $1 Billion U.S. Investment

Carmaker plans to add or preserve 1,000 American jobs

General Motors Co., facing pressure from President-elect Donald Trump to boost hiring, plans to announce on Tuesday it will invest $1 billion in U.S. plants over several years, according to a person familiar with the matter.

The largest U.S. automaker expects to add or retain 1,000 jobs at several existing facilities, said the person, who asked not to be identified because the matter is private. The investment announcement, which is being accelerated amid pressure from the president-elect, is related to building products that were in the works and approved before Trump won the election in November, the person said.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Trump is 100 Percent Right About Congressman John Lewis

For nearly 20 years, I lived in Congressman John Lewis’ (D) district in southeast Atlanta, most of those years in a tiny house I bought for $19,000. My neighborhood, Boulevard Heights, was then a poor community in the shadow of the federal prison where Cuban criminals from the Mariel boatlifts famously rioted in 1987. I moved to Boulevard Heights a few years after the riots but heard the stories.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Watch: Ads in Two Dozen Cities Offer Protesters Up to $2,500 to Agitate at Trump Inaugural

Donald Trump may have a point about paid protesters: Job ads running in more than 20 cities offer $2,500 per month for agitators to demonstrate at this week’s presidential inauguration events.

Demand Protest, a San Francisco company that bills itself as the “largest private grassroots support organization in the United States,” posted identical ads Jan. 12 in multiple cities on Backpage.com seeking “operatives.”

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Will There be War on the Streets of Washington D.C. During the Inauguration on Friday?

The stage is set for a potentially very ugly confrontation between radical leftist protesters on one side and law enforcement authorities and Trump supporters on the other side. It is being estimated that hundreds of thousands of supporters will be arriving in D.C. to celebrate the inauguration of Donald Trump, but it is also being estimated that hundreds of thousands of people will be coming to D.C. to specifically protest the inauguration of Trump. These protesters plan to set up blockades, disrupt inaugural balls and generally cause as much chaos as they possibly can. In fact, a spokesperson for #DisruptJ20 says that the goal of his organization is for Trump to be inaugurated “ amid complete chaos” …

“ We would like the headline the next day to be Donald Trump inaugurated amid complete chaos, not Donald Trump, inaugurated amid applause,” said Legba Carrefour, who is an organizer with #DisruptJ20.

Needless to say, causing “ complete chaos” is going to bring many of these protesters into direct confrontation with law enforcement. If these anarchists do what they say they are going to do, law enforcement personnel with be forced to physically intervene. The following comes from #DisruptJ20’ s official “ call to action” …

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Ontario’s Costly Coal Phase-Out Did Not Significantly Reduce Air Pollution

In fact, had the province completed its modernization of the coal-fired plants, instead of shutting them down, fine particulate reductions of the same size could have been achieved at a much lower cost.

Shuttering Ontario’s coal-fired power plants had very little effect on reducing air pollution, helped fuel skyrocketing energy costs, and should serve as a lesson to policymakers across the country, finds a new study released today by the Fraser Institute, an independent, non-partisan, Canadian public policy think-tank.

These findings confirm the government’s own internal forecasts prior to the coal phase-out, and they are especially important as the federal government plans to force the phase-out of coal-fired power generation in Canada by 2030.

“Ontario’s example should serve as a warning to the federal government, which is making the same grandiose claims about the benefits of eliminating coal while seemingly ignoring the crisis of Ontario’s soaring energy costs,” said Ross McKitrick, professor of economics at the University of Guelph, Fraser Institute senior fellow, and co-author of Did the Coal Phase-out Reduce Ontario Air Pollution?

The study analyzed air pollution changes in Hamilton, Toronto and Ottawa from 2005 to 2014 and found that the coal phase-out had no effect on nitrogen oxide levels, an important component of smog, and produced only a small reduction in fine particulates, a common measure of air pollution.

In Toronto and Hamilton, the reduction in fine particulates was statistically insignificant.

In fact, had the province completed its modernization of the coal-fired plants, instead of shutting them down, fine particulate reductions of the same size could have been achieved at a much lower cost.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Austria’s Freedom Party Leader to Attend Trump’s Inauguration

The head of Austria’s Freedom Party (FPÖ), Heinz-Christian Strache, has officially announced his attendance at Donald Trump’s upcoming inauguration, which takes place this Friday.

Strache disclosed his plans on his Facebook page on Tuesday morning (see below). In his statement, he mentioned that there was a high level of interest in his delegation’s visit on the other side of the Atlantic, although not directly on the part of Donald Trump himself.

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

European Union Wastes 88 Million Tons of Food Per Year: Auditors

The sheer waste of food had been bothering teacher Marijke De Jongh for so long that two years ago she set up a pop-up restaurant to serve perfectly good groceries and meat that were approaching their expiry date.

She followed it up with an app that brings thousands of consumers to retail shops were they can buy food closing in on its sell-by date.

Still, the efforts of a small group of conscientious consumers are no match for the masses that still waste food from farm to fork.

The European Court of Auditors on Tuesday chided the European Union’s executive branch in a report, “Combating Food Waste,” that decried the bloc’s lack of effort in reducing the food waste. It estimated the EU wastes 88 million tons of food a year for a population of 510 million.

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

France: Presidential Duel With Macron Would be a ‘Dream’, Says Le Pen

Paris (AFP) — French far-right leader Marine Le Pen said Tuesday she would relish a duel for the presidency with former economy minister Emmanuel Macron, as polls show the rising star closing in on the frontrunners.

A little over three months before the French begin voting in an election that could decide the European Union’s future, the race is seen as wide open.

Most polls show National Front leader Le Pen — who wants to exit the eurozone and hold an election on France’s membership of the EU — going through to the May runoff, along with conservative candidate Francois Fillon.

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

Front National’s Marine Le Pen Tells Izvestia Newspaper: ‘Crimea Was Never Ukrainian’

The French presidential candidate Marine Le Pen has reiterated her support for Russia’s claim on Crimea in a newspaper interview in which she made another decisive tilt towards Moscow.

With three months before France goes to the polls, the Front National leader said she recognised Crimea as being part of Russia and if elected, she would push for a dropping of sanctions against Russia which France had backed simply because it was following German orders.

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

Scotland: Koran Reading in Christian Church ‘Denigrated Jesus, ‘ Says Chaplain

A church that chose a reading from the Koran for its Epiphany service has been criticized by the Queen’s chaplain, who said the reading was inappropriate because Christians are “suffering dreadful persecution at the hands of Muslims in the Middle East.”

In a letter to the Times, Rev Gavin Ashenden berated the decision by Glasgow’s St Mary’s Cathedral to use a passage of the Islamic holy book explaining why Jesus is not the son of God.

It picked the reading as part of its January 6 service, the day marking the end of what is commonly known as the Twelve Days of Christmas.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Spain Arrests Moroccan Boxing Coach Accused of Heading ISIS Recruitment Cell

Spanish security forces have arrested a Moroccan boxing coach suspected of running an Islamic State terrorist recruiting cell, two members of which were arrested in France and Morocco in 2016.

The detained suspect, who held a Spanish residency permit, is being accused of recruiting jihadist fighters by gaining the trust of young men through his coaching position.

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

Terrorists Are Winning the Digital Arms Race, Experts Say

Terrorist groups are embracing a huge number of digital tools to recruit members and plan attacks, putting them a step ahead of governments trying to combat them, a group of counterterrorism experts said.

Twitter removed about 250,000 accounts connected with ISIS in one year, but the terrorist group uses 90 other social media platforms, Rob Wainwright, the director of Europol said Tuesday. Terrorist groups have begun to live stream their attacks, and they are using the internet to launch “innovative crowdfunding” campaigns, he said at the World Economic Forum in Davos-Klosters, Switzerland.

“The technology is advanced,” Wainwright added. “They know what to do, and they know how to use it.

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

The Islamization of France in 2016

The Muslim population of France was approximately 6.5 million in 2016, or around 10% of the overall population of 66 million. In real terms, France has the largest Muslim population in the European Union, just above Germany.

Although French law prohibits the collection of official statistics about the race or religion of its citizens, Gatestone Institute’s estimate of France’s Muslim population is based on several studies that attempted to calculate the number of people in France whose origins are from Muslim-majority countries.

What follows is a chronological review of some of the main stories about the rise of Islam in France during 2016.

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

UK: Theresa May’s Brexit Speech Puts Cameron to Shame

Theresa May delivered an emphatic ultimatum to EU leaders yesterday — warning she will walk away if they offer her a ‘bad’ Brexit deal.

In an iron-willed speech, the Prime Minister told Brussels that not striking a trade agreement with the UK would be an ‘act of calamitous self-harm’.

Setting out her 12-point ‘plan for Britain’, Mrs May said she was confident the EU would agree to tariff-free trade because it was the ‘economically rational’ thing to do.

But, addressing stunned EU ambassadors, she threatened to set Britain up as a low-tax rival if European leaders tried to impose a punitive deal.

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

‘My Father Was Killed for Supporting Israel’

On June 5th, 1968, New York Senator Robert Francis Kennedy was shot and killed by Sirhan Sirhan, an Arab terrorist angered by Kennedy’s support for an arms deal to Israel.

The assassination, which took place in the midst of the tumultuous 1968 Democratic primary season, came just two months after the murder of Martin Luther King Jr. and less than five years after the killing of Kennedy’s older brother, President John F. Kennedy.

Often lost in the larger story of RFK’s assassination, however, is his pro-Israel legacy and the centrality of his pro-Israel views in Sirhan’s motive.

On Saturday, Robert Kennedy’s daughter, Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, spoke with Israel’s Channel 1 about her father’s support for Israel, the ‘special bond’ his assassination forged between her and the Jewish state, and her personal views on Israel.

In the interview, which was broadcast on Sunday, Townsend described Israel as “extraordinary”, calling it an example to the world.

A former Lieutenant Governor of Maryland, Townsend inherited from her father not only a desire to pursue a career in politics, but an interest in Israel as well — something which was inspired by her uncle’s support for the Jewish state as well.

“As you may know, my father, Robert Kennedy, was here in 1948 as a journalist. He covered the war in 1948,” Townsend explained.

“He wrote about the courage of the Israelis and how they were determined to build a new country, and that they would build this country, and that they had seen such horror in Europe, and that they would build a country of courage, of democracy, of values, and that he realized when he saw the Israelis that the United States had a special relationship with this country and needed to make sure that that relationship stayed firm. And as you know in 1968 he was fighting for the 50 jets that would be given to the Israeli army and he was killed because of his support.”

The sale in 1968 of 50 F-4 Phantom fighters to Israel was a landmark in Israel-US relations, cementing the two as strategic allies.

But the sale of modern US fighter jets to the Jewish state also became the prime motivation in Sirhan’s desire to murder Senator Kennedy, whose strong support was central in securing the sale.

“He was killed for his support for Israel, so I feel a very special bond to Israel because of my family,” said Townsend, adding that her uncle, President Kennedy, had been an early supporter of Jewish statehood.

“And you may know that my uncle, John Kennedy, came here in 1939 and called for a two-state solution and said that Israel will be very strong. He saw in 1939 the type of strength that the Israelis had. It’s hard to believe — wherever you look there are more cranes. You’re building this amazing country. More buildings, more technology, more jobs. Everywhere around the world could look to Israel as an example of people who are determined to make something work. It’s fabulous.”[…]

           — Hat tip: MC [Return to headlines]
 

Pentagon Wants Trump to Arm Syrian Kurds, Increase Boots on the Ground: Report

The Pentagon will submit a new plan to the Trump administration in order to provide the new administration with military options to accelerate the war against ISIS in Syria and especially Raqqa, CNN reported on Tuesday.

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

Turkey: Istanbul Nightclub Attacker Confessed After Capture

ISTANBUL (AP) — The accused perpetrator of a New Year’s nightclub attack in Istanbul has confessed and his fingerprints are a match, Turkish authorities said Tuesday. They identified him as an Uzbek national who trained in Afghanistan and staged the attack for the Islamic State group.

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

In Davos, Globalists Hail Leadership of Communist Chinese Tyrant

In a bizarre spectacle that took many low-level establishment-minded analysts by surprise, brutal Communist Chinese dictator Xi Jinping was crowned the king of globalism this week by embattled Western globalists at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos. Blasting “excessive pursuit of profits,” Xi (shown) offered a “vigorous defense” of globalism and pseudo-”free trade” schemes in his keynote speech at the event. He also suggested that his brutal regime was ready to step in to a leadership role in the emerging new world order as the United States changes direction. However, as the globalist alliance with savage communist tyranny comes out of the closet, Western voters are likely to become even more hostile to the extreme agenda of their would-be overlords.

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

Trump’s China Problem

by Srdja Trifkovic

In the course of this year President Donald Trump will improve America’s relations with Russia. He will also start purging the irredeemably politicized U.S. intelligence apparatus. The hysteria of recent weeks will be seen—a year from now—as a bizarre footnote to a failed presidency.

The “dossier” concocted by a British dirty tricks purveyor hired to smear Trump (the only provable instance of foreign meddling in the 2016 election), didn’t even pass the giggle test; the agencies’ joint statement on “Russian malicious cyber-activity” was equally pathetic. As an eloquent British old-leftist has noted, the lies about Russia have made the world’s most self-important journalists laughing stocks: “In the country with constitutionally the freest press in the world, free journalism now exists only in its honorable exceptions.”

John McCain and Lindsey Graham may go on with their dog and pony show, the MSM will go on producing fact-free reportage, but it will not matter. As his Monday interview with The Times of London indicates, Trump remains strongly committed to détente with Russia, and open to the “obsolete” North Atlantic Alliance’s long-overdue downgrading. Washington and Moscow will develop a new modus operandi, based on a realist strategic paradigm and transactional approach to deal-making. That will be a breath of fresh air, a plus-sum game for America, Russia, and the world. The prospect of uncontrollable escalations leading to mushroom clouds—so likely had Hillary Clinton been elected—has been averted. That is a meta-historical feat. Trump is no subtle intellectual, thank God, which enables him to grasp that Russia—Putin’s Russia, which has not been post-modernized to the liking of the bicoastal anti-America—is a natural ally of the church-going, pickup truck-driving, Bud-drinking flyover America…

           — Hat tip: Srdja Trifkovic [Return to headlines]
 

Australia Says Suspended MH370 Search Could Resume in Future

The Australian government said on Wednesday it was not ruling out a future underwater search for a missing Malaysia Airlines passenger jet as families of those on board criticized the decision to suspend the hunt after three fruitless years.

The location of Flight MH370 has become one of the world’s greatest aviation mysteries since the plane, a Boeing 777, disappeared in 2014 en route to Beijing from the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur with 239 people on board.

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

Nigerian Military ‘Mistake’ Kills at Least 50 in Attack on Refugee Camp

BAMAKO, Mali — The Nigerian military bombed a crowded camp for people fleeing Islamist militants Tuesday, killing more than 50 people in what was described as a mistake by air force pilots targeting Boko Haram fighters.

The bombardment occurred in the city of Rann, near the Cameroon border, one of places where more than 1 million victims of Boko Haram have fled in recent years as part of one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises.

More than 100 people were injured, and humanitarian workers were among the dead, aid officials said.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Cambridge Professor Calls on Brits to Learn Urdu and Polish to Make Migrants Fell Welcome

BRITONS should learn languages such as Polish, Punjabi and Urdu to make immigrant families feel more at home, according to a Cambridge University professor.

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

Turkish Migrants Form New Political Party in Austria

A new political party has been formed in Austria consisting of men and women from a Turkish migrant background, but the organisers insist the party isn’t purely Turkish or Islamic.

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

Earth’s Atmosphere Can be Turned Into Massive Surveillance System Using Lasers, Scientists Discover

EARTH’S atmosphere can now be turned into a massive spy lens using cutting edge technology.

BAE Systems are designing a directed energy laser system that could allow military commanders to spy on enemy activities from space.

BAE believe that within 50 years, one of their aircraft could use an “atmospheric lens” to observe people from very long distances using the Earth’s atmosphere as a tool.

The lasers temporarily change the Earth’s atmosphere into magnifying glass structures which can alter light and radio signals.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

21 thoughts on “Gates of Vienna News Feed 1/17/2017

  1. If the Federal Reserve takes to withdrawing all Federal Reserve notes (cash) then the Treasury should get back to issuing silverbacks as the founding fathers fully intended and JFK attempted to do, and in order to counter such a move.

  2. On resuming at some time in the future the search for MH370 that has so far eluded the world’s best searchers and equipment for nearly three years and is now being labelled a ‘mystery’. One must remember that mysteries only become unsolvable if one refuses to turn over many stones in searching for evidence.

    Teresa May appears to being growing a spine, well at least in her dealings with the EU. If only we could get her to recognize and then deal with Britain’s Islamic problem which is fast approaching the unsolvable stage.

    • “Appears” is the key word, let’s hope our growing confidence in May is not misplaced.
      The perplexing trouble with Britain’s islamic problem is that so many Brits seem to be accepting the ‘new norm’, seemingly oblivious to the fact that the situation is very obviously only going to get worse…..much worse.

      • Yes indeed. May seemingly, was not for Brexit, so I wonder what has changed her opinion and for which she now seems to have found a new will for?

        Has the intelligence services detected a rather large resistance movement among the British people if Brexit is not followed?

        • Since the British people fooled most of the politicians and bookies and voted for Brexit, I would think they’d be furious if May copped out. (which I expected her to do, one way or another)
          Btw, Farage saw what was coming with Brexit–and Trump’s victory, he impresses me. Not perfect, but….

          • Yes, Farage is a very astute politician who has put himself out – remember that plane crash he was lucky enough to walk away from? – for what he believes. My only concern with him is that he continually refuses to utter publicly what he truly believes Islam represents to Britain.

  3. The Istanbul “attacker” looks like he was run over by a truck a few times.

    A NATO ally at work in the pursuit of Justice, when they’re not invading neighboring countries to murder our allies, the Kurds?

    Something is rotten inside NATO.

    • The problem with NATO already become visible when they beat the living heck out of Serbs to help muslims invade yet another land…

    • NATO’s mandate ended when the Warsaw Pact was dissolved. Its continued existence is a major threat to world peace and the personal safety of everyone . . . including that of the idiots who will argue that it still has positive value.

  4. I have a question for folks here. I want to write the Great Courses people to lose the apologist Esposito and get an Islam course made by a professor who is willing to tell the truth. Any suggestions who that could be?

      • I know. But they want professors with accolades, teaching an extended uni-level course. 🙂

          • Try Dr. Mervyn Bendle at James Cook University in Queensland – he is very outspoken with much knowledge on Islam.

            You can catch some of his articles on Quadrant Online – you will need to scroll through a few articles though, as there are many contributors to that site.

  5. Congressman John Lewis, the esteemed civil rights leader is certainly showing plenty of class right now–very low class.

  6. “Neither incident had anything to do with Islam.”

    I just find it so calming that Baron gives this message every time. Then we know we are not succumbing to islamophobia and the illiterate goat-herder jihadist import can continue…
    At least here in Canada!

  7. It’s terrible the way some people seem to think they are protected against islamization because they have “laws” that are supposed to prevent any excess from a particular religion or ideology.
    Laws can be changed. And in a democracy, majority makes the rules and makes those changes.
    What do they think is gonna happen when a sharia friendly majority is in large enough numbers to get their way.

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