Gates of Vienna News Feed 2/17/2018

Despite Turkish opposition, the Dutch Parliament has voted to recognize the Armenian Genocide. In a separate motion, the parliament required that a minister or state secretary attend this year’s commemoration of the genocide.

In other news, Matteo Salvini, the leader of the Northern League in Italy, refused to participate in a television debate with Matteo Renzi, the leader of the Democratic Party (PD).

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

Thanks to C. Cantoni, Charles Low, Dean, Insubria, JD, Reader from Chicago, Seneca III, 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
» Italy Debt Crisis: Borrowing Soars to €2.2 Trillion Sparking Eurozone Fears
 
USA
» “He Has Her Blood on His Hands”: Anti-Gun Liberals Viciously Attack Father of Florida Shooting Victim for Supporting Donald Trump
» “Fake News” Hysteria Was a Plot by Democrat-Media Complex to Smear Conservative News (Video)
» A Computer File System Shouldn’t Lose Data, Right? Tell That to Apple
» Anatomy of a Coup
» Arrest Made in Colorado Springs Home Explosion
» Assange Hits Back at the Intercept — Claims “Obsessive and Obscenity-Laden” Campaign Against Him
» Beware of a Renegotiated NAFTA, Part 2
» Hate Fatigue: CNN Viewership Collapses 30%
» The Democrat Party is America’s Communist Party
» Triple Evils, Obama, Perkins Coie Law Firm and Fusion GPS
» Tucker Carlson Rips the Left on Gun Control Hysteria: “Let’s Stop Lying About This” [Video]
» Watch Sheriff’s Honest Response After a School Shooting: “The Gun Didn’t Change…” [Video]
» What Happened to the American Republic?
» What Every Utah Voter Needs to Know About Mitt Romney
 
Canada
» Time for ‘Rights-Based Approach’ To Indigenous Affairs, PM Trudeau Says
 
Europe and the EU
» As Support Falls, German SPD Sees ‘No Plan B’ To Merkel Coalition
» Belgium: Muslim Couple Beat up Their Four Children Because They Are “Too Western”
» Danish Former Under-Secretary-General Issues Rebuke at ‘Controlling’ UN Member States
» EU Downfall? ‘Italy is the Downside’ Expert Warns of ITALEXIT Amid Rise of Anti-EU Parties
» Facebook Told to Stop Stalking Belgians or Face Fines of €250k — a Day
» Farage Slams Osborne-Backed Plot to Overturn Brexit by Allowing 16-Year-Olds to Vote
» France: Mohammedans Tell Macron to Cool it on Islam
» French Government Accused of Following Islamic Law When Calculating Housing Benefits for Muslims
» George Soros to EU: Fight Populism, Regulate Social Media
» Germany: The Real Women’s March: Protests Against Migrant Violence and Islamisation in Berlin
» Islamic Anti-Semitism in France: Toward Ethnic Cleansing
» Italo Sale ‘Funny’ Says Gentiloni
» Italy: Campania Governor De Luca’s Son Probed for Corruption
» Italy: No Alitalia Solution Before Elections — Calenda
» Italy: Ex-Minister Scajola Acquitted of Illegal Financing
» Italy: Di Maio Says M5S Will Sue Freemason Candidates
» Italy: Salvini Snubs Renzi on TV Debate
» Italy Riots: Violence Erupts in Bologna as Election Tensions Explodes Into Street Clashes
» Netanyahu Slams ‘Outrageous’ Holocaust Remark by Polish PM in Munich
» Poll: 63% of UK Business Leaders Support Brexit
» Suicide in Art: What Goethe Can Tell US About Netflix Series 13 Reasons Why
» Suspected Austria Bitcoin Fraud Sparks Europe-Wide Probe
» Swedish School Installs Bulletproof Windows
» Swiss Islamic Scholar Facing Rape Charges Hospitalized in France
» UK: London’s ‘Modest’ Fashion Show Celebrates Sharia-Compliant Clothing Weeks After Women Burn Hijabs in Iran
» UK: Mother-of-Two: 39, Is Threatened With Jail and Fines of Up to £100,000 and Intimidated by Uniformed Officers After She Put Cardboard Box in the Wrong Recycle Bin
 
North Africa
» Egypt: A Cathedral Dedicated to the Egyptian Martyrs Beheaded in Libya
 
Middle East
» Dutch Parliament Recognises Armenian Genocide, Minister to Attend Commemoration
» Iranian Intellectuals and Activists Push for a Referendum Against Theocracy
 
Russia
» Russia and US Trade Barbs in Munich Over Election , Eddling Claims
 
South Asia
» Child Labour in Uzbekistan’s Cotton Fields Has Come to an End, Says UN Agency
» India: Madhya Pradesh: Pentecostals Sentenced to 6 Months in Prison for ‘Forced Conversions’
» Nepal: China’s Friend KP Sharma Oli Sworn in as Nepal’s Prime Minister
» Pakistan: Assassin of Little Zainab Condemned to Death: ‘Hanging is Not the Solution’
 
Far East
» Tsai Ing-Wen and Xi Jinping Celebrate Lunar New Year Differently
 
Latin America
» “Injury to Widespread Brain Networks” In Victims of Mystery Attacks in Cuba
 
Immigration
» 25 Disturbing Facts About Refugee Resettlements From Somalia
» Germany: Islamic State Fighter on Trial Admits Terror Group Sent Him Disguised as Refugee
» Hispanic Gangs, Illegals and Law Enforcement
» The Murder and Dismembering of This 18-Year-Old Girl and Arrest of a Failed Asylum Seeker Has Convulsed the Italian Elections Where Mass Migration is the Issue…
 
Culture Wars
» America a Captured Nation: Diversity, Multi-Multuralism and Political Correctness
» Cultural Marxism: The Corruption of America
» Diversity Now an Athletic Skill
» Globalism, Technocracy, Socialism: Three Names for the Same Thing
» Lesbian Couple Attacked in Paris No-Go Suburb
» Ohio Christian Parents Lose Custody of 17-Year-Old Daughter for Refusing Her Transgender Drugs
» Second Thoughts About Free Speech?
» Supreme Court of Canada Strikes Down Ban on Doctor-Assisted Suicide
 
General
» Dolly the Sheep: 15 Years After Her Death, Cloning Still Has the Power to Shock
» Father of Artifical Intelligence: ‘Singularity is Less Than 30 Years Away’
 

Italy Debt Crisis: Borrowing Soars to €2.2 Trillion Sparking Eurozone Fears

ITALY is sitting on a pile of public debt worth €2,256.1 billion after adding a staggering €36.6 billion between 2016 and 2017. The fourth largest economy in the eurozone has amassed a pile of debt that has grown from €2,137 billion at the end of 2014 to €2,256.1bn in 2017.

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

“He Has Her Blood on His Hands”: Anti-Gun Liberals Viciously Attack Father of Florida Shooting Victim for Supporting Donald Trump

Hard-left social media users have spent the day viciously attacking the father of one of the victims of the horrific Florida school mass shooting over the fact that he wore a Trump 2020 t-shirt during an interview with a local news outlet.

           — Hat tip: Charles Low [Return to headlines]
 

“Fake News” Hysteria Was a Plot by Democrat-Media Complex to Smear Conservative News (Video)

The Gateway Pundit is reporting that according to Sharyl Attkisson, the “Fake News” campaign that has been ongoing since Hillary Clinton lost the US election was a pre-planned political operation by Google’s Eric Schmidt and Democrats.

Google, Facebook and Twitter are currently working overtime to silence conservative voices online. Day after day we learn of another conservative voice that has been silenced or shadow-banned by the tech giants.

This week Sharyl Attkisson explained the origins of the liberal media-Democrat Party’s “fake news” narrative in a TedX Talk.

Attkisson revealed how this was all a plot by the Democrat-media Complex to smear conservative news and eventually to put them out of business.

Was the effort to focus America’s attention on the idea of “fake news” itself a propaganda effort?

Connect the dots and learn who’s behind it the “fake news” hysteria, and why…

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

A Computer File System Shouldn’t Lose Data, Right? Tell That to Apple

Alarm raised over APFS sparse disk images tossing documents into the void

Apple’s recently revised file system, APFS, may lose data under specific circumstances, a maker of macOS backup software is warning.

In a blog post on Thursday, Mike Bombich, creator of Carbon Copy Cloner, says that APFS sparse disk images fail to accurately track available free space, thereby allowing storage operations to continue when space to store the data isn’t there.

The failed write operation isn’t reported as an error. To the user, the data appears to have been stored, but it isn’t. The problem does not affect normal APFS volumes like a macOS device’s SSD startup disk; it’s specific to APFS sparse disk images.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Anatomy of a Coup

Every place you look in Robert Mueller’s investigation, the same names keep popping up: FBI agent Peter Strzok and sleazy, foreign private eye — or “British intelligence agent” — Christopher Steele.

So it’s rather important that they both are Trump-hating fanatics, and one was being paid by Trump’s political opponent in a presidential campaign.

Steele is the author of the preposterous dossier that sparked the special counsel investigation, and Strzok is the FBI agent involved at every crucial turn of both the Trump and Hillary investigations.

As we found out from the House Intelligence memo, Steele told Department of Justice official Bruce Ohr that he “was desperate that Donald Trump not get elected and was passionate about him not being president.” (Ohr’s wife worked for Fusion GPS, and, like Steele, was being paid by the Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee.)

In the hands of Trump-obsessive Peter Strzok — he of the estrogen-dripping texts to his Trump-hating FBI lawyer mistress — the dossier was used to obtain a warrant under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act against Trump’s alleged “foreign policy adviser,” Carter Page.

The FISA warrant against Page constitutes the last crumbling piece of the “Russia collusion” story.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Arrest Made in Colorado Springs Home Explosion

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KKTV) — Police investigated an explosion Friday night at a house in Colorado Springs.

It happened just east of downtown Colorado Springs in the 700 block of E. Vermijo Avenue around 10 p.m. A fire broke out shortly after but was put out by 10:30 p.m.

Colorado Springs police said they received several calls reporting an explosion. When they arrived, they found heavy smoke coming from the house with the windows shattered.

One man who was inside the house was taken to the hospital for minor injuries. Police also confirmed Saturday that one man was arrested. Investigators could not immediately confirm if the man who was injured was the person arrested or if he was the only one inside the residence at the time of the explosion.

The Colorado Springs Police Department’s Explosives Unit and the U.S. Alcohol Tobacco & Firearms investigated the incident. Officers said while there was no danger to the community, residents were asked to avoid the area for the investigation.

           — Hat tip: Dean [Return to headlines]
 

Assange Hits Back at the Intercept — Claims “Obsessive and Obscenity-Laden” Campaign Against Him

Julian Assange hit back at The Intercept over a February 14 article claiming he backed Donald Trump’s presidential campaign in leaked group chats from a disgruntled former WikiLeaks associate who set up the chat room.

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

Beware of a Renegotiated NAFTA, Part 2

In part one, I pointed out several dangers which I considered to be innately lurking in what would come forth in the renegotiating of the proposed “free trade” agreement — NAFTA, but there were many more which I was unable to cover. Therefore, let’s look at some of what I left out.

NAFTA, Economics or Liberty

Listening to the President’s recent speech to the Farm Bureau in Nashville, Tennessee, I was quite encouraged by his recounting of all the accomplishments of his administration in his first year. However, at one point I became somewhat apprehensive when he spoke of NAFTA. He made the statement that we are renegotiating NAFTA to make sure that our workers and businesses get a fair deal.

The question arises, if he is only looking at NAFTA from the standpoint of economics, what would be fair for workers and business? What about our sovereignty, our independence, in short — our total liberty? On the basis of all we have seen posted, this is something which has not been mentioned. And it makes me very suspicious, it worries me that any mention of the possibility of loss of American sovereignty is purposely being avoided. Not only is it being avoided, but even more sinister than that, I suspect that our trade representatives, especially Mr. Robert Lighthizer who is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), is managing the negotiations in a way that keeps sovereignty out of the dialogue.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Hate Fatigue: CNN Viewership Collapses 30%

Massive layoffs, a cancerous fake news crisis, and the humiliating (and expensive) implosion of its digital platform, appear to be the least of CNN’s problems. Because on top of all that, when compared to last year, the far-left cable channel has lost 30 percent of its primetime viewers and —23 percent of its total day viewers.

[Comment: Word of the day: “schadenfreude” = enjoyment obtained from the troubles of others.]

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

The Democrat Party is America’s Communist Party

by George Lujack

There Can Be No Doubt, Democrats Are Communists

President Donald J. Trump’s State of the Union address on January 30, 2018 highlighted his administration’s accomplishments during his first year in office, but it also revealed something else, that the Democrat Party is actually the Communist Party.

Trump announced that his administration has “created 2.4 million new jobs, unemployment claims have hit a 45-year low, and African-American unemployment stands at the lowest rate ever recorded.” How did the Democrat elected politicians react to this good news? They sat. They refused to applaud. They do not care about good news for America or for the American individual.

[Comment: Article title is 100% correct.]

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Triple Evils, Obama, Perkins Coie Law Firm and Fusion GPS

Former federal prosecutor, Joe diGenova, law partner and spouse of Victoria Toensing, says the truth is starting to seep out about the Obama Administration’s “brazen plot to exonerate Hillary Clinton” and “frame an incoming president with a false Russian conspiracy that never existed.” Victoria Toensing is the attorney for the FBI informant related to the Uranium One deal scandal.

Strzok and Page Text Messages

The loathsome FBI traitors Strzok and Page have provided some valuable evidence that Obama lied on national TV and was in fact protecting Clinton and targeting Trump. In an April 2016 interview, then President Barack Hussein Obama told “Fox News Sunday” host Chris Wallace he could “guarantee” that he had no discussions about or influence over any FBI or Justice Department investigations, including the investigation into former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server. “Nobody gets treated differently when it comes to the Justice Department because nobody is above the law.”

Sure … that’s why Congress is looking into malfeasance and political corruption at the Obama-era Department of Justice, FBI, and intelligence agencies. The stench reaches to high heaven.

The latest release of text messages between FBI agent Peter Strzok and his lover, FBI lawyer Lisa Page have raised questions about Obama’s involvement in the Clinton email investigation, Senate investigators told Fox News. Big questions! The newly revealed text messages between Strzok and Page include an exchange about preparing talking points for then FBI Director Comey to give to President Obama so he would “know everything we’re doing.”

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Tucker Carlson Rips the Left on Gun Control Hysteria: “Let’s Stop Lying About This” [Video]

Tucker Carlson weighed in on the hysteria over gun control and where the blame lies for the school shooting in Florida. The left has grabbed onto this story with an iron fist and won’t let go. They are beating to death the theory that less guns means less crime. Not so fast! Look at the city of Chicago! Tucker Carlson calls them out on their lies:

“Let’s stop lying about this. The calls we are hearing today for gun control have nothing to do with protecting Americans from violence. What you’re witnessing is a kind of class war. The left hates rural America, red America, gun-owning America, the America that elected Donald Trump. They hate them. Progressives are still in charge of most of the major institutions in this country, and they despise the autonomy of an armed population. They want collective punishment for the sins of a few. They seek to obliterate a core constitutional right rather than trying to mitigate its downsides. They call it gun control, but it’s not. It’s people control. For the left, voters who can’t be controlled, can’t be trusted.”

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Watch Sheriff’s Honest Response After a School Shooting: “The Gun Didn’t Change…” [Video]

When it gets down to it, what this sheriff said is the heart of the problem. He nails it!

Spokane County Sheriff Knezovich was brutally honest after a school shooting last September: “You started glorifying cultures of violence — you’ve glorified the gang culture, you’ve glorified games that actually give you points for raping and killing people. Gun didn’t change. We changed.”

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

What Happened to the American Republic?

by Servando Gonzalez

According to a well-known anecdote, after he exited from the deliberations of the Constitutional Convention, held in strict secrecy in Philadelphia in 1787, a lady asked Benjamin Franklin, “Well, Doctor, what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?” Known for his sharp wit, Franklin’s answer was lapidary: “A Republic, if you can keep it.” Unfortunately, it seems that we have failed to keep it, and the marvelous experiment the Founding Fathers created is crumbling apart, not by mistake, but by design.

Part of the American Republic’s success indicates that the Founding Fathers had read Plato’s Republic. While a democracy is controlled by masses of people congregating in public squares or mobs rioting on the streets, a Republic is a form of government in which the supreme power rests not on a king or an oligarchy but in a body of educated citizens entitled to vote and is exercised by representatives chosen directly or indirectly by them. A Republic is based on laws, not on the whims of a majority.

Luckily, iPhones had not been invented yet, and people read. The Rockefellers had not yet imposed upon us a system of public education whose main goal was not to educate but to indoctrinate. Hollywood and TV were not already working hard to foment a culture of promiscuity and trash. Foreign visitors were surprised by the high cultural levels of Americans even in remote parts of the country.

To guard our democracy from the tyranny of the majority and the passions of the mob, the Founding Fathers built barriers between the will of the masses and the exercise of power. Voting rights were restricted to educated, responsible citizens. The president and vice-president were not elected by popular vote, but selected by an Electoral College, whose representatives had been selected by the various states, often through state legislatures. The Senate’s structure consisted of two members from every state, independently of its size or population. Supreme Court members were selected by the President and confirmed by the Senate, and their job was not to interpret but to apply the Constitution. This separation of powers was created to build strong walls around the Republic to protect it from democracy’s attacks.

Since its very creation the globalist anti-American conspirators ensconced at the Council on Foreign Relations launched an attack of the U.S. Constitution, which they saw as the main obstacle to advance their globalists’ plans. As early as 1948, CFR member James McGregor Burns, in his book The Power to Lead recognized the fact that to carry out their plans the CFR conspirators needed to get rid of the Constitution. He wrote:

“Let’s us face reality. The framers [of the U.S. Constitution] have simply been too shrewd for us. The have outwitted us. They designed separate institutions that cannot be unified by mechanical linkages, frail bridges, tinkering. If we are to ‘turn the Founders upside down’ — we must directly confront the constitutional structure they erected.”

In 1975, a majority of Senators and Representatives of both Republican and Democrat Parties — which I call the Repucratic Party — among them CFR members George McGovern, Clairborne Pel, Christopher Dodd, Les Aspin, and Patricia Schroeder, signed a Declaration of Interdependence written by historian Henry Steele Commager (CFR), which proclaimed,

“When in the course of history the threat of extinction confronts mankind, it is necessary for the people of the United States to declare their interdependence with the people of all nations … Two centuries ago our forefathers brought forth a nation; now we must join others to bring forth a New World Order. … Narrow notions of national sovereignty must not be permitted to curtail that obligation.”

So, the CFR conspirators’ own words and deeds confirm the suspicions already advance by many American patriots that the ultimate goal of this traitorous organization has always been the destruction of the American Republic as it was conceived by the Founding Fathers of this nation.

[Comment: Read it all.]

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

What Every Utah Voter Needs to Know About Mitt Romney

Mitt Romney announced his candidacy for the United States Senate yesterday. Having covered him closely as a radio talk show host on WRKO in Boston while Mr. Romney was governor of Massachusetts, I know his record inside and out. Mr. Romney claims to be a social and fiscal conservative. But his actual record demonstrates that he is nothing more than Ted Kennedy in a Ronald Reagan costume. Utah voters deserve to know the documented truth about Mr. Romney. Here it is.

Mitt Romney, Fiscal and Social Liberal:

Illegally & unconstitutionally instituted same-sex “marriage” falsely claiming the Massachusetts Supreme Court “ordered him to.” Proof here and here Signed $50 tax-subsidized abortions into law (2 years AFTER his fake “pro-life conversion.” Proof here

Boosted funding for homosexual “education” starting in kindergarten. Proof here

Opposes a ban on homosexual scoutmasters. Proof here

Promised the homosexual Republican “Log Cabin Republicans” he wouldn’t oppose “gay marriage” in return for their endorsement. Proof here

Instituted a quasi-socialist healthcare plan endorsed by Hillary Clinton, Teddy Kennedy and Planned Parenthood that destroyed the Massachusetts’ economy. Proof here and here. Increased taxes and fees by close to a billion dollars which destroyed the Massachusetts’ economy and opposed the Bush Tax Cuts. Proof here Voted # 8 RINO by Human Events. Proof here.

Passed over Republican lawyers for three quarters of the 36 judicial vacancies he faced and nominated 2 open homosexuals. Proof here

Criticized Joint Chief’s of Staff, Peter Pace for saying that homosexual acts were “immoral.” Proof here

Supports passage of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act which would force churches and other religious organizations to hire homosexuals and transvestites or face criminal fines and prosecution. Proof here Romney supported McCain-Feingold “campaign finance reform”, McCain-Kennedy “comprehensive immigration reform” (i.e. amnesty), and parts of the McCain-Lieberman “carbon cap and trade” bill and opposed the Bush Tax Cuts. Proof here

[Comment: Romney is a RINO.]

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Time for ‘Rights-Based Approach’ To Indigenous Affairs, PM Trudeau Says

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is planning to overhaul the way the federal government relates to Indigenous Peoples, proposing a new legislative framework designed to pave the way toward stronger rights and greater control over their own destiny.

[Comment: aka “whitey should pay for everything including repartions “ ]

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

As Support Falls, German SPD Sees ‘No Plan B’ To Merkel Coalition

BERLIN (Reuters) — Support for Germany’s Social Democrats (SPD) hit a record low, a poll showed, and the party’s leader-in-waiting said she had “no Plan B” should members reject a coalition deal with Angela Merkel’s conservatives.

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

Belgium: Muslim Couple Beat up Their Four Children Because They Are “Too Western”

The reason for this ill-treatment is that the children are “too Western” according to their parents

Police in the Belgian city of Waregem arrested a Tunisian couple for battering their four children.

The reason for this ill-treatment is that the children are “too Western” according to their parents. During a dispute the 16-year-old daughter was hit with a belt in the face and was seriously injured.

The police interfered during the fight and arrested the father and the mother of the children. According to the prosecutor’s office all children were maltreated. The couple also had plans to send their children to Tunisia, an Islamic country with between 98 and 99 per cent Muslims.

All four children have been taken away from the couple and are safe now. Their parents have to stand trial on Friday.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Danish Former Under-Secretary-General Issues Rebuke at ‘Controlling’ UN Member States

Christian Friis Bach, who served as Under-Secretary-General with the UN from 2014-17, has criticised the intergovernmental organisation, saying individual countries have too much power.

           — Hat tip: Charles Low [Return to headlines]
 

EU Downfall? ‘Italy is the Downside’ Expert Warns of ITALEXIT Amid Rise of Anti-EU Parties

THE CEO of William R. Rhodes Global Advisors warned Italy could be the next country to follow the UK outside the EU if the rising eurosceptic sentiment will prevail in the next Italian general election.

Author of Banker to the World, Bill Rhodes, said an EU referendum could be called in Italyfollowing the result of the next Italian general election.

Speaking to Bloomberg, Mr Rhodes said Italy is the “dark side” of the eurozone at a time where Angela Merkel uncertain position is affecting the bloc’s geopolitical stability.

He said: “The Italian banking system, which has made some progress over the last year and a half, still has major problems with the non-performing.

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

Facebook Told to Stop Stalking Belgians or Face Fines of €250k — a Day

Second privacy ruling to go against Zuck and co in a week

Facebook has been told to stop tracking Belgian citizens’ online habits, and to delete all the data it holds on them, or it could be fined up to €100m.

The Brussels Court of First Instance today ruled that Facebook doesn’t provide users with enough information on what data it gathers on people’s web use or how long that data is retained.

The case, brought by the Belgian Privacy Commission, asked the court to consider the information that Facebook collects about web browsing.

It focuses on the cookies, social plug-ins — such as the “like” or “share” buttons — and invisible pixels that litter the internet, and how Facebook uses them to collect information on their browsing behaviour.

The ruling is the second major case Facebook has lost this week, after a German court ruled the biz hadn’t done enough to alert people to the pre-ticked privacy settings on its mobile app.

However, the Belgian judgment comes with a hefty fine that could see the biz paying out more than €100m if it doesn’t get its act in line with the country’s privacy laws.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Farage Slams Osborne-Backed Plot to Overturn Brexit by Allowing 16-Year-Olds to Vote

Former UKIP leader Nigel Farage has said there is a new plot to reverse Brexit, with leading Tories backing giving largely pro-European Union (EU) 16— and 17-year-olds the vote.

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

France: Mohammedans Tell Macron to Cool it on Islam

A leading representative of French Muslims urged Emmanuel Macron not to meddle in the organization of France’s second-largest religion, days after the president said he would try to redefine relations between Islam and the state.

[Comment: Translation = “Know your place kuffar!”]

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

French Government Accused of Following Islamic Law When Calculating Housing Benefits for Muslims

On the official website of the CAF, the government mentions a form of Islamic jurisprudence known as “Kafala” as being valid alongside other documents to prove guardianship of children, leading some to question if the government is following Islamic law.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

George Soros to EU: Fight Populism, Regulate Social Media

Echoing a sentiment that was one of the defining points of his hour-long speech to the world’s financial and political elite at Davos, billionaire hedge funder (and supporter of far-left causes from Eastern Europe to the US) George Soros is taking his rhetoric a step further and calling for supranational governments to intervene and regulate Facebook, Google and other large social media websites.

Per Breitbart, Soros is demanding that the European Union regulate social media because voters’ minds are being controlled and “manipulated”.

Soros is claiming the reach of social media firms made them a “public menace” while arguing they had led people to vote against globalist causes, including electing President Trump (all his ramblings about “open societies” aside)…

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

Germany: The Real Women’s March: Protests Against Migrant Violence and Islamisation in Berlin

Europe’s women marched in Berlin to protest against migrant violence and child marriages. Organiser of the march in Germany’s capital, was women’s rights activist and AfD party member Leyla Bilge. The motto of the demonstration today was: “It’s enough!”

One of the reasons for the protest today is the endangerment of Germany’s women by uncontrolled mass migration, the flyer says. It adds that women lose self-determination by the “government-enforced Islamisation of our homeland”.

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

Islamic Anti-Semitism in France: Toward Ethnic Cleansing

Friday, January 12, 2018. Sarcelles. A city in the northern suburbs of Paris. A 15-year-old girl returns from high school. She wears a necklace with a star of David and a Jewish school uniform. A man attacks her with a knife, slashes her face, and runs away. She will be disfigured the rest of her life.

January 29, again in Sarcelles, an 8-year-old boy wearing a Jewish skullcap is kicked and punched by two teenagers.

A year earlier, in February, 2017, in Bondy, two young Jews wearing Jewish skullcaps were severely beaten with sticks and metal poles. One of the Jews had his fingers cut with a hacksaw.

Before that, in Marseilles, a Jewish teacher was attacked with a machete by a high school student who said he wanted to “decapitate a Jew”. The teacher used the Torah he was carrying to protect himself. He survived but was seriously injured.

In France, anti-Semitic attacks have been multiplying.

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

Italo Sale ‘Funny’ Says Gentiloni

‘Cd have cultivated European ambition’ says PM

(ANSA) — Rome, February 16 — The sale of rail company Italo to the US fund Global Infrastructure Partners was “funny” because “very great firms and very great financial institutions did not cultivate the ambition of a European project,” Premier Paolo Gentiloni said Friday. He said he was “a little disappointed because perhaps they should have shown greater ambition, they behaved a little like a start-up”. Speaking on TV show Otto e Mezzo on independent broadcaster La7, the premier said “we Italians, too, could have cultivated” the ambition of a European project. Asked if he had spoken about this to Italo chiefs including Luca Cordero de Montezemolo, he said “I prefer not to answer” but said he had “always” discussed it with Industry Minister Carlo Calenda.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Campania Governor De Luca’s Son Probed for Corruption

Bogus businessman reported to have proposed illegal deal

(ANSA) — Naples, February 16 — Roberto De Luca, a Salerno city councillor and the son of Campania Governor Vincenzo De Luca, is under investigation in a corruption probe that spurred searches of several regional offices on Thursday, sources said Friday.

De Luca Jr’s involvement in the case is linked to a video published by the Fanpage news site in which a bogus businessman allegedly proposes illegal deals for contracts to process waste, the sources said.

Roberto De Luca’s home and office were searched overnight in relation to the probe, according to the sources. Fanpage.it said Friday that it has seven videos taken from some 900 hours of footage from an investigative report on alleged illegal trash trafficking and management in Campania.

The footage was obtained thanks to a former Camorra mafia boss who said he wanted to get involved in the business and was filmed by a journalist using a hidden camera as he met managers from in-house Campania region companies, it said. Fanpage.it published the first of the videos on Friday.

“We have seen inconceivable scripts, with Camorristas tasked with doing big intelligence operations,” Vincenzo De Luca said.

“It reminds me of the climate two and a half years ago when a list of unfit candidates came out before the regional election campaign and I had a role of honour among criminals”. The governor stressed that he had “maximum faith in the judiciary”.

Roberto Fico, a lawmaker for the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement (M5S) and the president of the RAI State broadcaster parliamentary oversight commission, had a different view. “I think that the De Luca family is patriarchal and that, if it is confirmed that the son worked in the illegal management of trash, the father is in the middle of it,” said Fico.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: No Alitalia Solution Before Elections — Calenda

Air France studying ways to keep airline in Skyteam

(ANSA) — Rome, February 16 — Industry Minister Carlo Calenda said Friday that the situation regarding Alitalia will not be resolved before Italy’s general election on March 4. The former flag-carrier has been in extraordinary administration since employees rejected a restructuring plan last year and the government is in the process of finding a buyer.

“The commissioners (of Alitalia) have confirmed to me that they do not think they can conclude things before March 4 as those interested in Alitalia want to wait for the elections,” Calenda said.

“But we are continuing to work”.

Calenda refused to comment on reports that a four-way consortium made up of Air France, Delta, easyJet and Cerberus could take over Alitalia. Air France-KLM CEO Jean-Marc Janaillac said Friday that the French-Dutch company was looking at ways to keep Alitalia in the Skyteam alliance, but without becoming owner of the Italian airline. “We are studying various possibilities to keep Alitalia in the Skyteam family without Air France-KLM being Alitalia’s buyer,” Janaillac told a press conference in Paris. “That is the situation today”.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Ex-Minister Scajola Acquitted of Illegal Financing

Case related to renovation of family home

(ANSA) — Imperia, February 16 — Former centre-right minister Claudio Scajola was acquitted by a court in the northern city of Imperia on Friday of charges of illegal financing of an individual parliamentarian. The case concerned allegations Scajola obtained special discounts on renovation work at Villa Ninina, a family home in the province of Imperia.

Prosecutors had requested that Scajola be cleared.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Di Maio Says M5S Will Sue Freemason Candidates

Premier candidate says trio will be asked to give up seats

(ANSA) — Rome, February 16 — 5-Star Movement (M5S) premier candidate Luigi Di Maio said Friday that the anti-establishment group will take legal action against three parliament candidates it has withdrawn its backing of because they failed to reveal links to the Freemasons. “There are three candidates who lied to us,” Di Maio said in a video released on Facebook. “They did not tell us they belonged to the Masons. But we have not just expelled them from the M5S, we will report them for damage to the image of the M5S too”. He added that the candidates will be asked to give up their seats if they are elected. The M5S’s campaign for the March 4 general election has been hit by the Freemasons case and a furore about a number of M5S lawmakers who cheated on an internal movement pledge to pay part of their salaries into a fund to finance small businesses.

Di Maio has stressed that the pledge cheats are only a handful of “bad apples” who will be rooted out and has said that the M5S elected officials had paid back over 23 million euros of their salaries.

“Those who lied to me and to the voters will not get away it,” he said.

“As you can see in the polls, not only are they not hurting us, but we are on the up.

“(PD leader Matteo) Renzi is losing (ground) and we are gaining”.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Salvini Snubs Renzi on TV Debate

‘Absurd’ to have campaign without TV debates says PD leader

(ANSA) — Rome, February 16 — League leader Matteo Salvini on Friday snubbed Democratic Party (PD) leader Matteo Renzi saying he would not have a TV debate with him ahead of the March 4 general election, prompting Renzi to say campaigns without televised debates were absurd.

Anti-migrant, Euroskeptic League leader Salvini on Friday said he would not engage in a TV debate with Renzi ahead of the election. Salvini said he had been “asking for face-to-face talks with Renzi for years and he always indignantly refused, and now I’m supposed to suddenly interrupt my electoral tour to make him happy — it’s too late”.

“I’m not going to betray the thousands of voters who flock to my rallies, who are awaiting me next week in Emilia and Tuscany, which have been betrayed by the PD.

“I’m looking to the future and I’m not going to waste my time with someone who’s had too much time.

“If Renzi wants a debate I’ll see him in a piazza, perhaps in Bologna where many voters are shifting from the PD to the League.” Renzi responded to Salvini’s snub by saying general-election debate without TV debates is “absurd”. Summing up “the situation” on Facebook, Renzi said Salvini did not want to debate him on TV because “he doesn’t have time for TV, he must do rallies in piazzas” while anti-establishment 5-Star Movement (M5S) leader Luigi Di Maio doesn’t want a debate “because I haven’t got the same status as him, I’m not up to his level.” Centre-right Forza Italia (FI) leader Silvio Berlusconi, meanwhile, “only has debates with (RAI talk show host Bruno) Vespa and his memories”. Renzi said: “It doesn’t change much for us: we will be the top parliamentary group (after the March 4 elections), the top party. “I’m struck by the absurdity of a political debate without TV debates. “Welcome to the 2018 Italian electoral campaign”.

Di Maio reiterated Friday he would not debate Renzi on Italian television. “Not even Salvini finds a debate with the PD leader interesting. “Renzi, a man alone with the remote control,” Di Maio said on Twitter, posting a link to Laura Pausini’s song La Solitudine (Loneliness).

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy Riots: Violence Erupts in Bologna as Election Tensions Explodes Into Street Clashes

ITALIAN anti-fascists clashed with riot police in the northern city of Bologna as tensions mount ahead of the country’s general election in March.

The demonstrators battled with protected police officers yesterday as they filled the Piazza Galvani to guard the square to prevent activists of the far-right party Forza Nuova to rally that was taking place later in the day.

Images show hundreds of protestors clashing with police, bellowing “we occupy the square and we will not leave”, waving an red anti-fascist flag and a banner emblazoned with the message “Municipal Council supports fascists”.

The riots comes as tensions ahead of the general election on March 4 rise, with right-wing parties boasting a clear lead in the polls, but are unlikely to win an absolute majority — pointing to possible political deadlock.

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

Netanyahu Slams ‘Outrageous’ Holocaust Remark by Polish PM in Munich

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday lashed out at “outrageous” remarks by his Polish counterpart Mateusz Morawiecki, who said the Holocaust had involved “Jewish perpetrators” as well as Polish.

           — Hat tip: Charles Low [Return to headlines]
 

Poll: 63% of UK Business Leaders Support Brexit

You could be forgiven for thinking business leaders are opposed to Brexit, that they fear it’ll bring the UK economy crashing down…but it turns out this was just yet more Project Fear lies.

According to City AM, 63% of board-level business leaders said they favour Brexit on a personal level. 53% said the UK leaving the EU would be best for the EU economy overall and 53% said it would be best for the interests of their company.

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

Suicide in Art: What Goethe Can Tell US About Netflix Series 13 Reasons Why

A number of tragic deaths linked to a German novel sparked discussion about the effects of depicting suicide in the media. 250 years later, the topic is more relevant than ever.

           — Hat tip: Charles Low [Return to headlines]
 

Suspected Austria Bitcoin Fraud Sparks Europe-Wide Probe

Authorities investigating a suspected bitcoin-related scam centred in Austria have asked Interpol to help determine whether there might be perpetrators — and victims — of the scheme across Europe.

           — Hat tip: Charles Low [Return to headlines]
 

Swedish School Installs Bulletproof Windows

Sweden stands as a stark warning against mass-migration from Islamic countries.

A Swedish private school has installed bulletproof windows in order to secure the students against attacks. Swedes and especially schools have experienced an extreme drop in safety as a result of mass-migration from the Islamic world.

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

Swiss Islamic Scholar Facing Rape Charges Hospitalized in France

Prominent Islamic scholar Tariq Ramadan, who was remanded in custody in France on rape charges earlier in the month, has been hospitalized due to multiple sclerosis, his support group said Saturday.

           — Hat tip: Charles Low [Return to headlines]
 

UK: London’s ‘Modest’ Fashion Show Celebrates Sharia-Compliant Clothing Weeks After Women Burn Hijabs in Iran

London Modest Fashion Week will “celebrate” Britain’s growing sharia-compliant fashion industry — less than two weeks after women living under Islamic fundamentalist regimes risked imprisonment when they burnt their hijabs on No Hijab Day.

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

UK: Mother-of-Two: 39, Is Threatened With Jail and Fines of Up to £100,000 and Intimidated by Uniformed Officers After She Put Cardboard Box in the Wrong Recycle Bin

Elise Briggs was handed a fixed penalty notice by Haringay Council for littering when a rubbish bag from her bin ended up on the other side of the road

Mum of two and small business owner Alison Mapletoft is a model citizen. She donates to a wide range of good causes and has never been in trouble with the law.

So when she received a letter fining her £600 she was horrified. Her crime? Putting a cardboard box into the wrong recycle bin.

Alison, 39, who lives in Hove, East Sussex, with husband Charlie, an analyst, and their two daughters, is the latest victim of the so-called ‘dustbin police’.

Employed by local authorities and other companies, they are targeting people for minor contraventions of waste disposal regulations, in what many see as merely a money-making ploy.

‘The language in the letter was so threatening, I genuinely worried that if I didn’t pay the fine I could end up in prison over a cardboard box,’ says Alison.

‘When I called the number on the letter, I was treated like I’d committed some terrible crime. They kept saying there’s “zero tolerance” and repeatedly called it a “criminal case”, warning me I could get a criminal record and even end up in jail if I didn’t pay the fine, which could go up…

           — Hat tip: Seneca III [Return to headlines]
 

Egypt: A Cathedral Dedicated to the Egyptian Martyrs Beheaded in Libya

Three years after the massacre of the 21 young Copts, a cathedral for the “martyrs of the faith” was built and consecrated in Al Ur, in Upper Egypt. The remains of the victims, found in a cave in Sirte, after DNA testing, will be on display on the ground floor of the building. The words of the martyrs’ families.

Cairo (AsiaNews) — It was February 15, 2015: on the shores of the Libyan city of Sirte, members of the so-called Islamic State (Daesh) beheaded 21 young Egyptian Copts in cold blood, filming and publishing their crime in a video with the title : “Message signed with blood, destined for the nation of the Cross”.

That same evening, Egypt responded with aerial bombardments of jihadists sites believed responsible for the massacre and the day after the video was broadcast, Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sissi visited the Cathedral of Saint Mark in Cairo, home of the Orthodox Coptic patriarchy, to present his condolences to Tawadros II, Pope of the Orthodox Copts.

Seven days of national mourning followed. Subsequently, the families of the victims received a reward and received a monthly pension equal to the salary that those young workers earned, after leaving for work in Libya and supporting their families.

This week, three years after the massacre, the families of the dead remember their children with pain and joy: they now have a cathedral in honour of their children, entitled “Cathedral of the Martyrs of the Faith”.

A few days after the massacre, Tawadros II, spiritual head of the Copts of Egypt, decided to enroll the 21 martyrs beheaded by Daesh in the Synaxarium, the sacred historical book of the martyrs of the Coptic Orthodox Church.

The cathedral was built in the small village of Al Ur, the birthplace of the majority of the dead, near the town of Samalut in Upper Egypt, about 245 km south of the Egyptian capital. The altars of the new cathedral were blessed and sanctified on February 14 by local bishop Amba Pavnatius; the first mass was celebrated the following day, February 15th with the presence of the governor of the city and finally, yesterday at the beginning of the Egyptian weekend, the church was opened for the weekly masses.

Meanwhile, the families of the dead still await the results of DNA tests by the Egyptian authorities, after the discovery of the remains of the martyrs in a cave in Sirte (Libya), to receive the relics of their children who are likely to be guarded in glass cases on the ground floor of the cathedral.

The Cathedral of the Martyrs of the Faith was built by a group of engineers of the Egyptian Armed Forces paid for by the government, on an area of 4 thousand square meters, at a cost of about 10 million Egyptian pounds (about 45,700). It was built on two floors: a ground floor, where the remains of the martyrs will be housed, wrapped in velvet fabrics, according to the Coptic tradition, plus a library, a reception room and other rooms for social services will be exhibited. The upper floor instead is a chapel.

They said of the martyrs

Our brothers are in paradise. We are happy for this and we pray for them.

Emad Soliman, brother of the late Magued Soliman

The number of faithful who have arrived here for the inauguration of the cathedral is crazy. It greatly surpasses the number of those who had come three years ago for the funerals of the martyrs. There were also Muslims.

Makine Zaki, father of the late Milad Zaki

I walked with my family for two kilometers in the cold this morning at 5 am to be present at the first mass of the new cathedral. I feel that my brother is always with us and has never left us.

Makati Nagati, brother of the late Luka Nagati, and cousin of the late Essam Baddar

I am happy to see a building in their name, but the pain of our loss is still strong. Sometimes we still look for our young people and they are gone.

Anonymous

It’s a day of celebration. Everyone is full of joy and women cry out with joy.

Kaddis Adel, friend of several of the deceased

I can not wait to see the return of the remains of our martyrs, so that we can venerate them in our cathedral.

Amir Nadi, cousin of the late Tawadros Farag

My son left for Libya to improve his financial conditions, to cover the expenses in the creation of his new family and his new home. But he was killed because he was Coptic.

Nached Wilson, father of the late Samuel Nached

The State has kept its promises: it has taken care of the families of the dead and built the cathedral. We let justice take the place of revenge.

Baddar Samir Isaac, father of the late Essam Baddar

           — Hat tip: C. Cantoni [Return to headlines]
 

Dutch Parliament Recognises Armenian Genocide, Minister to Attend Commemoration

A majority in the House of Representatives, the lower house of Dutch parliament, approved two motions regarding the Armenian genocide of 1915 on Thursday.

One states that the House of Representatives “recognises the Armenian genocide”, the other that a Dutch Minister or State Secretary should attend the commemoration of this genocide in Armenia in April. This decision is expected to further sour the relationship between Turkey and the Netherlands, ANP reports.

Both motions were submitted by ChristenUnie parliamentarian Joel Voordewind. All four coalition parties supported the motions.

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

Iranian Intellectuals and Activists Push for a Referendum Against Theocracy

Following President Rouhani’s lead, 15 prominent Iranians demand a referendum to define the country’s constitutional future. They harshly attack the ruling clergy for denying people their freedom. The goal is overcome the Islamic regime in a peaceful manner and establish “a parliamentarian system according to democratic bases”.

Tehran (AsiaNews) — Iranian intellectuals, activists, and academics have signed a statement accusing Iran’s theocratic regime of failing to live up to the revolution’s republican ideals.

Responding to a call for a referendum made by Iran’s moderate president Hassan Rouhani, the 15 prominent figures who signed the statement want it to be internationally-supervised and tasked with specifying “the features of the future regime”.

According to signatories, the referendum question should allow Iranians to express themselves on the ruling establishment, especially the clerical elite that holds power, so as to determine whether the it is still backed by a majority.

Those who inked their name to the letter include people Iranians living at home and abroad, people like Nobel peace prize-winning lawyer Shirin Ebadi; Narges Mohammadi, a human rights activist currently imprisoned in Tehran; Nasrin Sotoudeh, a rights lawyer; and film-makers Mohsen Makhmalbaf and Jafar Panahi.

In the letter, the activists write, “Four decades have passed since the establishment of the Islamic republic, a government whose obsession with Islamisation has left little room for republican ideals.”

Taking a swipe at the conservative-dominated judiciary, which acts independently of Rouhani’s moderate government, they say “The judiciary is reduced to the executor of the political wishes of those who hold the reins of power. So many women, lawyers, journalists, teachers, students, workers and political and social activists have been harassed, arrested, convicted of serious crimes and sent to prison, solely for criticising officials, enlightening public opinion, inviting the rulers to respect separation of religion from government or demanding women’s relief from the mandatory veil.”

Slamming the “oppressive irreparable regime”, the letter’s authors denounce a “political deadlock” that has undermined the possibilities of reform and change, effectively denying Iranian people its freedom. To counter this, they want a general a referendum based on the principle of self-determination of a people.

In concluding, the 15 say that “To overcome this crisis, the current Islamic regime must be peacefully abandoned. (The country) must move forward towards establishing a parliamentarian system according to democratic bases that guarantee freedom of expression, end discrimination against women and solidify the principle of equality among men and women and people of different religions and sects”.

The letter follows a proposal made by Iranian president Hassan Rouhani a few days ago to hold a referendum. Without going into details, the Iranian leader said such a step would be aimed at healing the country’s political divisions and bridge the gap between the ruling clerical leadership and the majority of the population, above all young people who are becoming increasingly impatient with the clergy’s dictates.

The start of 2018 has been rather turbulent, with street demonstrations that left at least 25 people dead.

In view of the situation, Rouhani has been using protests and dissatisfaction to put pressure on conservatives to accept change.

Although he did not specify the referendum question, he is probably referring on the ongoing debate on civil liberties, sparked by the protest of Iranian women against the obligation to cover their hair.

           — Hat tip: C. Cantoni [Return to headlines]
 

Russia and US Trade Barbs in Munich Over Election , Eddling Claims

Moscow on Saturday dismissed as “blabber” and “fantasies” allegations that it interfered in the election that brought President Donald Trump to power, denials that drew immediate scorn from US officials.

           — Hat tip: Charles Low [Return to headlines]
 

Child Labour in Uzbekistan’s Cotton Fields Has Come to an End, Says UN Agency

Concrete measures have also been taken against forced labour. There is greater awareness of the problem and more freedom to criticise. The authorities have boosted wages, and taken steps to protect at-risk groups. Still, reforms by central authorities are lagging in terms of local implementation.

Geneva (AsiaNews) — A new report released on Tuesday by the United Nations’ International Labour Organisation (ILO) found that the systematic use of child labour in Uzbekistan’s cotton harvest has come to an end, and that concrete measures to stop the use of forced labour have been taken.

Under the late President Islam Karimov, entire schools were forced to close in October to send students to pick cotton under tight controls, with scarce food and low wages.

The report, which looked at steps taken to end child labour and forced labour in cotton fields in 2017, is based on 3,000 unaccompanied and unannounced interviews with a representative sample of the country’s 2.6 cotton pickers.

The study shows that the vast majority of the interviewees engaged voluntarily in the annual harvest, and awareness about the unacceptability of both child and forced labour has increased.

It confirms earlier findings that the systematic use of child labour in the cotton harvest has ended, though continued vigilance is required to ensure that children are in school.

In September 2017, the authorities ordered the withdrawal of certain risk groups (students, education and medical personnel) from the harvest at its early stage, and increased wages to attract more voluntary pickers.

“The 2017 cotton harvest took place in the context of increased transparency and dialogue,” said Beate Andrees, head of the ILO’s Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work Branch.

“This,” she noted, “has encompassed all groups of civil society, including critical voices of individual activists. This is an encouraging sign for the future.”

“However, there is still a lag between the sheer amount of new decrees and reforms being issued by the central government and the capacity to absorb and implement these changes at provincial and district levels,”

           — Hat tip: C. Cantoni [Return to headlines]
 

India: Madhya Pradesh: Pentecostals Sentenced to 6 Months in Prison for ‘Forced Conversions’

13 convicted include a vision impaired couple. Most Pentecostals are day laborers. The government led by Hindu nationalists “arrests Pentecostal Christians with groundless imputations”.

Mumbai (AsiaNews) — A court in Madhya Pradesh has sentenced 13 Pentecostal Christians to six months in prison for alleged “forced conversions”. The condemned include Balu Kesu and his wife Bhuri, both of whom are vision impaired. Their defense attorney Kamlesh Patidar tried to obtain a reduction in the penalty for their handicap, but the judges were adamant.

Speaking to AsiaNews Sajan K Gerge, president of the Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC), laments “the vulnerability of Pentecostal Christians, including the two visually impaired tribals. They are victims of harassment, intimidation and arrests on the basis of allegations made in our secular India “.

The convicted were arrested in January 2016. At least seven of the Christians are daily laborers. The court magistrate [the second level of criminal courts in India, ed.] accepted the complaint filed by some inhabitants of the village in which they reside, in the district of Dhar. The residents accused the Pentecostals of trying to convert the tribals with the offer of [economic] rewards.

Govind, one of the plaintiffs, told the police that one day he was sitting at home with a friend when the condemned Christians came in to visit him. The Pentecostals would have told him: “We were also Hindus of the Bhil tribe in Bhilala, but we converted to Christianity. If you too convert, we will give you food, medicine, and we will help you invade the lands of the government because your gods and goddesses are weak “.

The Christian leader explains that the Madhya Pradesh Freedom of Religion Act “requires anyone who wants to change religion to obtain permission from the state administration. In the case of Madhya Pradesh, the state is governed by the BJP [Bharatiya Janata Party, right-wing Hindu nationalists — ed] who, armed with the law and [with the support] of majority groups, arrests Pentecostal Christians with baseless charges. In this case the money supply was used, which is false and unfounded. But the majority groups have the best and the Christians are instead incriminated “.

Sajan K George calls for reflection: “The daily wage earners, eke out a living, with hard labour, and it is physically impossible for them to allure others. How does one describe, “inducement” or “allurement” it is contentious, and this is used as a weapon for harassment. Regrettably, the Tribals and the Dalits suffer the most under the administration, who are only interested in their subjugation and retaining them in the oppressive hierarchical social structure”.

           — Hat tip: C. Cantoni [Return to headlines]
 

Nepal: China’s Friend KP Sharma Oli Sworn in as Nepal’s Prime Minister

Oli leads the Communist Party of Nepal-United Marxist Leninist. He began his political career in the 1970s. During that time, he spent 14 years in prison for his opposition to the Hindu monarchy. Now he has pledged to work for peace, stability and development.

Kathmandu (AsiaNews) — Yesterday afternoon, Khadga Prasad Sharma Oli, leader of the Communist Party of Nepal-United Marxist Leninist (CPN-UNL), was sworn in as Nepal’s 41st prime minister.

He succeeds Sher Bahadur Deuba, leader of the Nepali Congress, who remained in office for only eight months. Unlike his predecessor who was close to India, the new prime minister is considered a friend of China.

For Oli, this is the second time as the helm of the government since the Himalayan nation adopted a democratic and secular constitution in October 2015.

In his first term in office, from October 2015 to July 2016, he settled the delicate issue of exports from India.

The trade embargo imposed by New Delhi had made life much harder for the Nepali population, devastated by the terrible earthquake of April 2015, that killed more than 8,000 people.

The tensions with India led to a rapprochement with China, with which Oli signed a series of commercial agreements to reduce Nepalis’ suffering and ease the restrictions imposed by the blockade.

Now many analysts believe he will continue on the path of collaboration with Beijing undertaken in the past few years.

Experts suggest that the first agreements should centre on the development of the country’s railway network and upgrade its obsolete hydroelectric plants.

The prime minister is a veteran politician. He began his career in the 1970s, serving, among others, as foreign minister in 2007.

He also spent some 14 years in prison between 1970 and 1990 for his opposition to the country’s Hindu monarchy, which was abolished in 2008.

Oli’s appointment was made possible by the alliance with the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist-Centre) (CPN-M), led by Pushpa Kamal Dahal also known as Prachanda.

The same party forced him to leave office the first time by presenting a no confidence motion to prevent the indictment of its leaders who were under investigation by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission looking into the civil war.

For experts note, the high level of political instability is one of the Asian nation’s critical issues. Since the monarchy was abolished ten year ago, 11 governments have held power. This has favoured corruption, made worse by economic stagnation.

In taking office, Oli promised to promote peace, stability and development, as well as restore confidence in investors and boost growth.

           — Hat tip: C. Cantoni [Return to headlines]
 

Pakistan: Assassin of Little Zainab Condemned to Death: ‘Hanging is Not the Solution’

The sentence was read today in Lahore prison. The 24-year-old Imrat Ali received four death sentences, a life sentence and a sixth indictment of seven years imprisonment. Activist: “In this case justice was fast. But in others, it takes up to 15 years “.

Lahore (AsiaNews) — A anti-terrorism tribunal in Pakistan has sentenced to four death sentences Imran Ali, the young 24-year-old who raped, tortured, killed the little Zainab, just 7 years old, throwing her in a landfill in Kasur (near Lahore).

The child’s brutal murder sparked great outrage in the country, with the population violently protesting police inaction, and the condemnation of numerous activists who speak of a widespread “culture of rape” that remains unpunished.

Naseem George, director of the Aezaz-e-Niswan Development Organization in support of women’s rights, told AsiaNews: “The verdict does not satisfy me. Hanging is not the solution. Since January 2017, 44 criminals have been hanged, but this has not stopped evil acts such as rape, “honor killings” and religious extremism “.

The sentence was read today at the central prison in Lahore, in the district of Kot Lakhpat. The killer will have 15 days to file an appeal. He was convicted of six crimes. The four counts for which Ali had the death sentence are kidnapping, rape, murder and terrorism; for the accusation of sodomy he received a life sentence, plus a fine of one million rupees [about 7,300 euros, ed]; finally a six-year sentence of imprisonment, plus another one-million-rupee fine, for throwing Zainab’s lifeless body into a landfill.

The activist complains that “what happened to the child is a great disaster. The serial killer has confessed to attacking eight other minors, whose sufferings were unheard. What was the government doing before this episode? Was it asleep? Our institutions must be more dynamic, responsible and honest “. Then he underlines: “In this case we have witnessed a lightning process. But usually people have to plead their case in court for 15 years “.

Naseem George, a former Dominican sister, presided over the Justice and Peace Commission of the Association of Superiors of Religious Orders of Pakistan. She chose to work in favor of women after seeing the suffering of girls in slums [slums, ed.]. “The parents — she concludes — start to fear for the safety of their daughters around the age of 12-13 years. Neither the government nor the Church pay attention to how to teach children self-respect or personal protection. There are no training centers for mothers. We live in a sick society, where no importance is given to psychological problems “.

           — Hat tip: C. Cantoni [Return to headlines]
 

Tsai Ing-Wen and Xi Jinping Celebrate Lunar New Year Differently

The Taiwanese president prayed in a Buddhist ceremony for quake victims and visited Taoist temples, greeting the population and handing out red envelopes. The Chinese president welcomed the New Year with 2,000 guests, business people and Party officials, in the Great Hall of the People. Taiwan’s vice president met with earthquake victims in Hualien.

Beijing (AsiaNews) — The presidents of Taiwan and mainland China celebrated Chinese New Year very differently from one another.

Taiwan’s Tsai Ing-wen spent the day visiting Buddhist and Taoist temples, greeting people and pilgrims and handing out hóngbāo, red envelopes containing money for good luck in the new year.

China’s Xi Jinping ostensibly spent the first day of the year at home with the family. On Wednesday, the day before Lunar New Year’s Eve, he took part in a soirée with senior party’s officials and 2,000 VIP guests.

Today, Ms Tsai visited the Yuhuang Temple in Pingtung, in the south of the island, where she was met by more than a thousand people waiting to welcome her.

Earlier in the day, Tsai visited Tianhou Temple in Taitung City where she handed out red envelopes to a crowd of 3,000 to 4,000 people.

Last night, Lunar New Year’s Eve, she went to the Buddhist organisation Dharma Drum Mountain in New Taipei’s Jinshan District to take part in the annual Dharma Bell Ringing Assembly, a ceremony believed to wipe away 108 kinds of problems and bring good luck and happiness to the whole country in the new year.

Xi Jinping’s New Year’s Eve was soberer and, above all, less religious, with a formal ceremony in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, along with 2,000 guests from the mainland and overseas Chinese communities, including Chinese business people, political leaders, and politburo members.

The cream of the crop of the People’s Republic of China listened to President Xi — who is also party general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and head of the Central Military Commission — say that the country was taking a great leap from “catching up with the times” to “leading the times.”

Even if he wanted to, Xi could not have visited a Buddhist or Taoist temple and light a few incense sticks, as hundreds of millions of Chinese do every year. The Party has banned its members from practising any religion, whether in public or in private.

Xi called on CPC members to always focus their work on the aspirations of the people to live a better life, and to always fight for the people and with the people. Yet, in the Great Hall of the People, very few if any of the guests could claim to be of the people.

In Taiwan, Vice President Chen Chien-jen, a Catholic, travelled to Hualien County, which was hard hit on 6 February by an earthquake that killed 17 people and injured almost 300.

At the bell ceremony in Taipei, President Tsai Ing-wen also prayed for the earthquake victims.

           — Hat tip: C. Cantoni [Return to headlines]
 

“Injury to Widespread Brain Networks” In Victims of Mystery Attacks in Cuba

A preliminary case report on the victims of mysterious “health attacks” in Havana, Cuba details the results of extensive clinical evaluations, concluding that the individuals appear to have sustained “injury to widespread brain networks without an associated history of head trauma.”

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

25 Disturbing Facts About Refugee Resettlements From Somalia

Although Trump promises “extreme vetting,” many Muslim refugees come as children and become radicalized years later.

Somali crime rivals Somali terrorism as a major problem, and the two clearly blur into one another. The problem is leaking from Minnesota into South Dakota — as Lutheran Social Services has resettled more than 4,500 Somalis in Sioux Falls. Many of the Somalis have migrated from Sioux Falls to the city of Aberdeen in search of work at Demkota Ranch Co.’s beef-packing plant.

South Dakota State Senator and GOP congressional candidate Neal Tapio is leading perhaps the nation’s most aggressive effort to expose the danger and fraud of refugee resettlements. Tapio has introduced several bills that seek to rein in high-risk resettlements in his state.

“While many people see compassion to serve the less fortunate, the truth is the Somali community has not been able to assimilate and has proven to be a major terror threat in the United States,” Tapio said.

Consider the following 25 incidents that should raise red flags about refugee resettlement from this perpetually war-torn country:

The Somali man who knifed two men in November at the Mall of America was not involved in an attempt to steal clothing — a false narrative put out by Bloomington police — but was actually carrying out jihad. He admitted it in a detailed statement to the court. Mahad Abdiraham said he went to the mall that day to “answer the call for jihad.”

[Comment: Good comment to the article from Waltzin MAtilda: The lower courts are improperly ignoring precedent. Knauff v. Shaughnessy ,38 U.S. 537 (1950) (a) The admission of aliens to this country is not a right, but a privilege, which is granted only upon such terms as the United States prescribes. P. 338 U. S. 542. (c) It is not within the province of any court, unless expressly authorized by law, to review the determination of the political branch of Government to exclude a given alien. (d) Any procedure authorized by Congress for the exclusion of aliens is due process, so far as an alien denied entry is concerned. P. 338 U. S. 544. Take particular notice of (c). The courts have no jurisdiction.]

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Germany: Islamic State Fighter on Trial Admits Terror Group Sent Him Disguised as Refugee

Three Syrian migrants are currently on trial in Hamburg for being members of a terrorist cell and one of the men has admitted that the Islamic State terror organisation sent him to Germany telling him to disguise himself as a refugee.

The three Syrians, aged between 19 and 27, came to Germany during the migrant crisis in 2015 and were arrested in September of 2016 at asylum homes in Ahrensburg, Großhansdorf and Reinbek near Hamburg, Suddeutsche Zeitung reports.

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

Hispanic Gangs, Illegals and Law Enforcement

As of 2014, there were about 33,000 street gangs, motorcycle gangs, and prison gangs in the US, with 1.4 million members criminally active. Many gangs are sophisticated and well organized, and all use violence in pursuit of their illegal money-making activities. These criminal gangs commit about 48% of all violent crime in the US.

The most notorious, wealthiest, most violent, and probably largest of these gangs is the infamous MS-13 gang, also known as the Mara Salvatrucha gang. It is renowned for its murders, robbery, extortion, drug and human sex trafficking. It is especially renowned for its savagery and brutality, including hacking up its victims. The gang is also associated with the Mexican drug cartels.

MS-13 cells were first established in Latino communities across the US, but have spread across the continent and are making significant inroads into middle-class suburbia. Its members likely exceed 50,000.

Arrests seem to have little affect on the exploding growth of this gang. The gang is international in scope and will threaten a target’s family in its home country, where American authorities are powerless to intervene. Deportation is of limited effectiveness, because deportees are already networked into the criminal element that runs human smuggling routes.

Unbelievably, the gang’s biggest group of enablers are some of America’s police chiefs. Beginning in 1979 with LAPD Chief Daryl Gates signing “Special Order 40” — that forbade police officers from inquiring into the immigration status of suspected illegal aliens — police departments all over the country have followed the LAPD’s approach.

Politically astute police chiefs realized they could use illegal ordinances like S.O. 40 to re-define crime in such a manner as to make it appear that they are doing a better job of fighting crime than they actually were.

Some police departments actually abdicate “policing” over immigrant neighborhoods and abandon them to brutal gangs like MS-13, who victimize and terrorize its illegal inhabitants like “The Black Hand” did to Italian Immigrants in the film Godfather II.

These gangs warn illegals not to report crimes to the police or else face death for themselves and their families in reprisal. With the crime victims not reporting crime, the police chiefs issue fraudulent statistics reporting significant drops in crime, and look good to the politicians and public they deceive.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

The Murder and Dismembering of This 18-Year-Old Girl and Arrest of a Failed Asylum Seeker Has Convulsed the Italian Elections Where Mass Migration is the Issue…

…and the far-Right is on the march: ROBERT HARDMAN looks at a nation seething with anger

Flowers are still arriving at the roadside for Pamela Mastropietro. It is just over two weeks since this troubled blonde 18-year-old went missing here, only to resurface in a pair of suitcases left in a ditch.

No sooner was an illegal immigrant arrested for her killing than a local neo-fascist took it upon himself to drive around town in broad daylight shooting anyone who looked vaguely foreign.

Six African migrants were injured — though no one has left any flowers for them.

Several arrests and the arrival of one of the country’s top police officers here have done little to calm the mood.

The killing of troubled 18-year-old Pamela Mastropietro and the subsequent arrest of an illegal immigrant sparked vigilante attacks

Ms Mastropietro was reported missing and later resurfaced in a pair of suitcases in a ditch

Troubling questions continue to emerge. Why are some of the girl’s body parts allegedly missing? And why was the suspected murderer here in Macerata at all, having had all his claims for asylum rejected?

It may sound like something out of a gritty American inner-city drama, but it is all too real here in north-east Italy…

           — Hat tip: Seneca III [Return to headlines]
 

America a Captured Nation: Diversity, Multi-Multuralism and Political Correctness

This is a bit long…but I promise it is worth it.

“A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within… An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he is known and carries his banner openly. But the traitor moves amongst those within the gate freely, his sly whispers rustling through all the alleys, heard in the very halls of government itself.

“For the traitor appears not a traitor; he speaks in accents familiar to his victims, and he wears their face and their arguments, he appeals to the baseness that lies deep in the hearts of all men. He rots the soul of a nation, he works secretly and unknown in the night to undermine the pillars of the city, he infects the body politic so that it can no longer resist. A murderer is less to fear.” — Cicero (106-43 BC)

A coup has taken place in America. Our nation is no longer controlled by “the people.” Our domestic enemies are now officially in power. We are no longer free, we just think we are — and it has happened on our watch.

What we have failed to realize is that the Spiritual War and the Cultural War were one and the same. Because of our ignorance, the Church has engaged in the former but has ignored the latter. We did not understand that the “war in the heavenlies” manifests in the world. Our failure to fight for Truth has given us a nation ruled by liars.

We are a sin-laden nation because we have codified evil into the law. Content to focus on the “saving of souls” we have neglected Jesus’ admonition to “occupy until He comes.” As evil flourished, the Church retreated. We have failed to recognize that the battle in the heavenlies was for control of the earth. Jesus prayed that His Kingdom would come ON EARTH. We have yielded the earth and submitted to evil.

Cicero was right. Evil did not come dressed up in a red suit and carrying a pitchfork. It has come clothed in a three-piece suit and brandishing an Ivy League degree. While we looked for an army riding tanks and planes, we have been over run by a force promoting education and arts. Using guns and bullets would have been too obvious. This war has been fought and won with words. Language was their weapon of mass destruction.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Cultural Marxism: The Corruption of America

Produced by James Jaeger, the documentary shows how a group of Marxist theoreticians, calling themselves The Frankfurt School, plotted the corruption and overthrow of non-Communist nations by systematically undermining their cultures. Called Cultural Marxism, its goal is the use of art, music, education, and media to condition people to accept the essential elements of Marxism without identifying them as such. After a few generations of this conditioning, Marxism becomes the new reality without a violent revolution and even without awareness that a revolution has occurred.

If you want to know how the nations of the world became increasingly Marxist in form, if not in name, here is the strategy.

The film’s opening statement by Pat Buchanan prepares the viewer for what is to follow: “The United States has undergone a cultural, moral, and religious revolution. … We are two countries now. We are two countries morally, culturally, socially, and theologically. Cultural wars do not lend themselves to peaceful co-existence. One side prevails, or the other prevails. The truth is that, while we won the Cold War with political and economic Communism, we lost the war with cultural Marxism, which now is dominant. Those of us who are traditionalists, we are the counterculture.”

Includes testimony from G. Edward Griffin, Ron Paul, Pat Buchanan, Edwin Vieira, and Ted Baehr.

Run time: 98 mins.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Diversity Now an Athletic Skill

If the United States athletes have wondered why there was a noticeable decrease in Americans taking the time to watch their athletic pursuits, they need only to look in the mirror for the answer. Hateful open border advocates like alpine skier Lindsey Vonn have spewed hatred toward president Trump for daring to act on his campaign promise to work toward securing our southern border.

Of course, there is plenty of blame to go around. Including the Olympic Committee that made sure that awards are no longer just based upon merit. It is now more important that Olympic teams are diverse in sexual choices, religions and skin color. I what could rightfully be dubbed as affirmative action on steroids, has literally begun the process of eliminating the reason for the Olympics.

The Obama era of divisiveness occurred while there was great pretending to unify. But unfortunately, it set the miserable tone of racism, entitlement and divisiveness among the American Olympians before they arrived in South Korea, to compete. Matters only deteriorated even further once they made it to South Korea to display their athletic prowess on the world stage. You know the situation had gone to nutsville, when there was a coin toss to determine who will carry the American flag in the Olympic parade of nations and the person who loses the toss accuses the coin of being racist. United States speed skater Shani Davis is one of literally millions of Americans who was mentally victimized by his former government school educators. They literally brainwashed and indoctrinated him to the point the he is literally void of critical thinking and common sense.

That can also accurately be assumed about most of the current crop of American Olympic athletes/activists. Ms Lindsey (I’m all that) Vonn’s hatred of president Trump borders on insanity. She even went on to declare herself “Captain America” not Trump. I must say that those Olympic athletes prove beyond a reasonable doubt that there is not a dimes worth of common sense among their sorry ranks. The entire world has witnessed the sizeable decline of the National Football League because football players who are too mentally challenged to understand that it is not racist to throw criminals in jail, to build a border wall, or stop illegal border crossers from storming into our nation and wreaking havoc.

American athletes seem to have spent more time coming up with disgusting ways to bash the Trump administration and Vice President Pence than preparing to compete in the actual Olympics. It used to be that Olympic athletes at the very least, publicly carried an image of being a positive role model for young impressionable American children. For some that is no longer a major concern. For example, Bronze medalist Adam Rippon recently used his status as a role model for young children to encourage illegal activity, according to Freedom Daily News. Rippon also publicly complained about the condoms being distributed at the games in PeyononChang, South Korea, were bland.

The bottom line is that the attitudes displayed by the American athletes even before the games began were a perfect reflection of the deeply negative leftist philosophy the so permeates the minds of almost half of all indoctrinated Americans today. Such a mentality only serves the purpose of those in influential positions who are on a mission to fundamentally transform America into a burdensome over baring of the government, by the government and for the government dictatorship.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Globalism, Technocracy, Socialism: Three Names for the Same Thing

Every “universal” solution for humankind presupposes a gigantic flaw in the way things are.

That flaw must be corrected.

It must be corrected from above, by a better system, which locks the door against an escape back into the old way.

The first casualty in this utopian process is freedom.

In fact, freedom is viewed as THE flaw. It opens Pandora’s Box, thus releasing all human ills, crimes, devastations, and inequities.

Globalism (elites ruling the planet as one nation); Socialism (international governments and mega-corporations owning the means of production and distribution); and Technocracy (engineering world society as if it were a machine); these are all names for the better system that replaces freedom with…what?

With control.

With control described as: fair and equitable benefits given to every human. “Guaranteed security.” “Guaranteed survival.”

And THAT is, of course, the con.

The con can be dressed up in all sorts of ways. “Public-private partnerships.” “Distributing energy fairly in an energy-scarce world.” “Saving the environment.” “Reducing manmade warming.” “No child left behind.” “Open borders.” “Tolerating and celebrating diversity.” “From each according to his ability, to each according to his need.” “It takes a Village.” “A kinder gentler government will take care of you.”

The price of your ticket? Your freedom.

At the heart of the con is the effort to reprogram the “inherently flawed human biological machine.” In other words, erase “the basic delusion that freedom exists.”

Once that operation has been achieved, a better world will follow.

“The blueprint of your mind was ABC. We will change that to XYZ.”

This horrendous concept forms the link between Socialism, Globalism, and Technocracy. It is “science” deployed to bring overall methods of control “up to date.”

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Lesbian Couple Attacked in Paris No-Go Suburb

A lesbian couple was attacked in the Paris suburb of Val-d’Oise over the weekend after a group of young men shouted slurs at them calling them “lesbian whores”.

The attack occurred at a train station of the Paris RER public transit system which links the heavily migrant-populated suburbs to the centre of the city. The young women, aged 17 and 18, say they were accosted by several young men who pulled their hair and pulled at their clothes, Le Figaro reports.

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

Ohio Christian Parents Lose Custody of 17-Year-Old Daughter for Refusing Her Transgender Drugs

An Ohio couple has temporarily lost custody of their 17-year-old daughter after refusing her transgender hormones prescribed by doctors who claim she suffers from gender dysphoria and will commit suicide without the drugs. A judge is expected to rule on her long term custody Friday.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Second Thoughts About Free Speech?

A recent article in The Week, by Damon Linker, asks, “Is America Having Second Thoughts About Free Speech?”. Not that Mr. Linker wants to restrict free speech. He doesn’t. But he sees a trend out there — a desire to do just that.

It would be kind of hard to miss.

One thing that he doesn’t mention is that free speech is already being gouged away, big-time, by our colleges and looniversities and other left-wing castles of coercion. It’s very much a one-way street, which can be easily demonstrated.

They say they want to rein in “hate speech” (two-minute laugh break). Hey, it makes people feel bad! But the same people who want to silence our supposed hate speech are producing plenty of their own.

A left-wing “journalist” — I put the word in quotes because I’m not sure what it means anymore — says he’d like for college professors to drown their conservative students, “water-board them to death”. “I’m not joking,” he tweets. I can’t think of any reason not to believe him.

That was pretty “hateful,” wasn’t it? But you could go blind, trying to draw up a comprehensive list of exceedingly hateful remarks made by leftids. Just try to stop any atheist from continually saying things specifically intended to make people feel bad.

They say they want to rein in speech that attacks people’s religious sentiments and beliefs. Especially when that religion is Islam. But look at the kind of speech they habitually applaud.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Supreme Court of Canada Strikes Down Ban on Doctor-Assisted Suicide

The Supreme Court Friday struck down as unconstitutional the nation’s contentious century-old law against assisted suicide

The historic ruling opens the door to physician-assisted suicide for consenting, severely ill adults who want to control the method, timing and circumstances of their death.

In the landmark 9-0 decision, the high court ruled that the Criminal Code provision against aiding and abetting someone to commit suicide deprives people suffering from grievous and irremediable medical conditions the right to life, liberty and security of the person as guaranteed under the Charter.

The court’s ruling limits physician-assisted suicides to “a competent adult person who clearly consents to the termination of life and has a grievous and irremediable medical condition, including an illness, disease or disability, that causes enduring suffering that is intolerable to the individual in the circumstances of his or her condition.”

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Dolly the Sheep: 15 Years After Her Death, Cloning Still Has the Power to Shock

Fifteen years have passed since Dolly the sheep was euthanised after developing a lung disease and severe arthritis.

Dolly had lived a life in the spotlight. She was revealed to the world in 1996 as the first mammal ever to be cloned from another individual’s body cell.

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

Father of Artifical Intelligence: ‘Singularity is Less Than 30 Years Away’

The father of artificial intelligence has sounded the alarm, and the clock is ticking down to the singularity. For those who haven’t been following the advancements in AI, maybe now’s the time, because we are approaching the point of no return.

           — Hat tip: Charles Low [Return to headlines]
 

12 thoughts on “Gates of Vienna News Feed 2/17/2018

  1. Today, Orthodox Christians have a holiday – “Forgiveness Sunday”.
    And also a pagan festival is celebrated – Maslenitsa. People eat pancakes and burn a scarecrow of Winter.
    And in the Dagestan city of Kizlyar, shooting was opened on the parishioners of the Orthodox church. Four dead, four wounded.
    http://www.interfax.ru/russia/600511

  2. and why not send Geert Wilders to attend the commemoration of the Armenian genocide. That ought to make Mr. Erdogan very happy.

  3. The Dutch have done well in recognizing the Armenian Genocide. Perhaps Erdogan’s attempt to campaign in the Netherlands (and his furious reaction when thwarted) during the last Turkish election have prompted some to take a new look at Turkey, both past and present.

    There’s no more volatile subject in Turkey than that of the Genocide. Denials are instantaneous and furious. But the Young Turks, holding the belief in Muslim dominance, had full intent to wipe out the Armenians—dhimmis who no longer knew their place.

    The abandoned Armenian churches and houses throughout Turkey tell of a Christian population forced to leave under duress. What awaited them on the forced marches through the mountains and deserts ahead was unspeakable horror—a genocide indeed.

  4. I often read what Muslims write on social networks. In Russia, they have many languages, so they communicate with each other in Russian.
    On the events in Kizlyar: Russian old women do not feel sorry for anyone. Particularly Muslims are angered by the pagan feast Maslenitsa, which is widely celebrated all over Russia before the Great Lent. They are also unhappy with the presence of the Orthodox Church in the “Muslim region”.

  5. For us Greeks is called Clean Monday .
    Today we fly kites,although the weather is something like in London, and eat special food(no meat) and special bread.
    It is the beginning of Saracoste,wich means forty days fasting(no meat,no dairies).

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