A young man named Reshad Riddle waited outside a church in Ashtabula, Ohio, on Easter Sunday, and then shot his father dead as the older man exited the church. The younger Riddle is said by witnesses to have shouted “It was the will of Allah!” as he stood in the sanctuary after the shooting, still holding the gun. The gunman was taken into custody by police without further incident.
In other news, a Muslim school in Rangoon, Burma, caught fire with students inside, killing at least thirteen boys. Although the fire occurred in the midst of sectarian strife, officials say it was caused by an electrical fault, and not arson.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to Fjordman, JD, Kitman, Lurker from Tulsa, Paul Green, Vlad Tepes, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.
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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.
Cyprus Parliament President Says “No Future” Under Troika, Calls for “Iceland” Solution
Just last week Yiannakis Omirou, Cypriot House of Representatives President, was calling for the nation to accept it is “time for responsibility” as they progressed towards a final solution; and yet today, as Cyprus’ Famagusta reports, he believes the ‘Troika-imposed’ responsibility will, “turn Cyprus into a colony of the worst possible type.” His ‘Icelandic’ solution is to “leave the Troika and EMS behind,” to ensure “national independence, national sovereignty, moral integrity, and economic independence.” He may have a point; judging from the chart below of the Troika’s poster-child Greece, relative to Iceland, things are not going so well. As Omirou ominously concludes, “if we remain bound by the Troika and the memorandum Cyprus’ destiny is already foretold and there will be no future.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Cyprus President’s Family Transferred Tens of Millions to London Days Before Deposit Haircuts
A day after former Cypriot President Vassilou was found to be among many elite Cypriot (politicians and businessmen) who had loans written-off by the major (now insolvent) banks; it appears the rot is far fouler than expected. In a somewhat stunning (or purely coincidental) revelation, ENETEnglish reports that Cypriot newspaper Haravgi claims that current President Nicos Anastasiades’ family businesses transferred ‘dozens of millions’ from their Laiki Bank accounts to London just a week before the devastating depositor haircuts were unleashed upon his people. Of course, the denials are loud and Anastasiades has demanded an investigation into the claims; we are sure the government-selected ‘independent’ committee will be as thorough as the Libor anti-trust investigators. As a reminder, as we noted yesterday, here are Cyprus’ gun control laws…
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
David Stockman: We’ve Been Lied to, Robbed, And Misled
Then, when the Fed’s fire hoses started spraying an elephant soup of liquidity injections in every direction and its balance sheet grew by $1.3 trillion in just thirteen weeks compared to $850 billion during its first ninety-four years, I became convinced that the Fed was flying by the seat of its pants, making it up as it went along. It was evident that its aim was to stop the hissy fit on Wall Street and that the thread of a Great Depression 2.0 was just a cover story for a panicked spree of money printing that exceeded any other episode in recorded human history.
David Stockman, The Great Deformation
David Stockman, former director of the OMB under President Reagan, former US Representative, and veteran financier is an insider’s insider. Few people understand the ways in which both Washington DC and Wall Street work and intersect better than he does.
In his upcoming book, The Great Deformation: The Corruption of Capitalism in America, Stockman lays out how we have devolved from a free market economy into a managed one that operates for the benefit of a privileged few. And when trouble arises, these few are bailed out at the expense of the public good.
By manipulating the price of money through sustained and historically low interest rates, Greenspan and Bernanke created an era of asset mis-pricing that inevitably would need to correct. And when market forces attempted to do so in 2008, Paulson et al hoodwinked the world into believing the repercussions would be so calamitous for all that the institutions responsible for the bad actions that instigated the problem needed to be rescued — in full — at all costs.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Department of Homeland Security Can Seize Gold, Silver, Guns in Safety Deposit Boxes
According to in-house memos now circulating, the DHS has issued orders to banks across America which announce to them that “under the Patriot Act” the DHS has the absolute right to seize, without any warrant whatsoever, any and all customer bank accounts, to make “periodic and unannounced” visits to any bank to open and inspect the contents of “selected safe deposit boxes.”
Further, the DHS “shall, at the discretion of the agent supervising the search, remove, photograph or seize as evidence” any of the following items “bar gold, gold coins, firearms of any kind unless manufactured prior to 1878, documents such as passports or foreign bank account records, pornography or any material that, in the opinion of the agent, shall be deemed of to be of a contraband nature.”
DHS memos also state that banks are informed that any bank employee, on any level, that releases “improper” “classified DHS Security information” to any member of the public, to include the customers whose boxes have been clandestinely opened and inspected and “any other party, to include members of the media” and further “that the posting of any such information on the internet will be grounds for the immediate termination of the said employee or employees and their prosecution under the Patriot Act.” Safety deposit box holders and depositors are not given advanced notice when failed banks shut their doors.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Mega-Rich Withdrew Money From Cyprus Before Looting
When asked about the amount of money that had exited Cyprus before the bailout deal, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble refused to provide figures.
“Perhaps because if he did, it would become clear that the only entities truly punished by this weekend’s actions are not evil Russian billionaires, but small and medium domestic companies, and other moderately wealthy individuals, hardly any of them from the former “Evil Empire,” remarks Zero Hedge.
As Business Insider reports, the fact that the mega-rich — the supposed targets of Cyprus “haircut” — have already removed most of their money from the system means that, “upper middle class/entrepreneur types will feel most of the pain if the Cyprus tax is enacted.”
In other words, the very engine of the Cypriot economy, the businesses and the employers, will be the victims of the EU/IMF plundering. Middle class families are also amongst the worst affected. The Telegraph recently reported on a family who sold their villa in Cyprus for 200,000 euros right before the “haircut” was announced only to see the desperately needed cash disappear.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Housing is one of the tools used by tyrants to control their populations. Free societies generally feature private dwellings owned by the individuals while statist societies generally feature communal housing owned by government or quasi-governmental, heavily regulated private corporations. This is psychologically important; the owner of a home feels it is his castle and that he is a stakeholder in society. He will demand a voice. A non-owner feels he is a guest and lucky to have a place to live, and is quite willing to allow others to make his decisions. We see that even in our own society where the poor inhabit property owned by others and care little for the future or for the greater good but merely look for ways to get what they want at the moment; they do not feel vested in society but are mere objects within it. Control of housing is a great power for any society, and the government being involved in housing means government has power over people. HUD may have said it sought home ownership for everybody — and demanded banks make subprime loans as a result — but in the end what they wanted was to establish their right to say who lives where. This is an enormous power.
But we are covering old ground here. Here is the new…
And as farmland prices rise interest rates remain at record lows, encouraging borrowing to purchase more farmland.
What is left unsaid here is that there is another driver of farm value and that is the ethanol mandate for fuel; the price of corn is artificially inflated because government demands the addition of ethanol to gasoline, a practice that is increasingly silly given the revolution in hydraulic fracturing which will turn the United States into one of the world’s great oil producers. With oil poised to drop in price dramatically and with global warming theory on the ropes we may eventually see a relaxation of ethanol standards — and that will trigger a collapse in the corn market. Here is a classic bubble.
What will happen then? Either government steps in to stabilize the market or land is purchased for pennies on the dollar by people like George Soros, who has used government mismanagement to buy up farmland in the past.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
28 Arrested in Mob Attacks on Mag Mile, Red Line
(CBS) — The warmest day of the year so far brought hundreds of teens to Michigan Avenue on Saturday. Police were calling it “mob action.”
CBS 2 has learned about multiple incidents in at least four different locations along the Magnificent Mile and in the Gold Coast, yielding a slew of arrests. In all, 25 juveniles and three adults were charged.
Many innocent shoppers and tourists became caught in the middle of a very chaotic situation.
[. . .]
Sources tell CBS 2 that much of this activity was planned weeks ago through social media.
[Check out the videos. Aren’t diverse, gun-free towns like Chicago wonderful? It’s so safe on the streets! — PG]
| — Hat tip: Paul Green | [Return to headlines] |
David Petraeus Apologizes for Sex, Should Apologize for COIN and Benghazi
It’s time to look at General Petraeus’s legacy of COIN, a so-called counter-insurgency program to win “hearts and minds” of the local population by ordering troops to leave their armored vehicles to patrol hostile streets and fields on foot. COIN is an arguably suicidal, counter-productive policy that has led to years of war in Afghanistan with no victory in sight. COIN is the apology Petraeus should be making along with members of the Bush and Obama administrations who implemented and continue it. How could anyone send troops to war ordered to fight under suicidal, unwinnable polices? Don’t take my word for it; instead learn about Petraeus’s COIN record from two military men who were ordered to follow it.
[…]
Furthermore, team player Petraeus also misled the public on the September 11, 2012 terrorist attack in Benghazi with President Obama, then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and others in the Obama administration by erroneously blaming an anti-Muslim YouTube video that killed four American’s including Ambassador Christopher Stevens and now he’s only apologizing for sex and keeping tight-lipped while Americans on the front lines continue to die?
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Death Knell for Affirmative Action?
While the Texas case on affirmative action in college admissions is still pending, the U.S. Supreme Court surprisingly agreed last week to hear an affirmative action case out of Michigan that promises to be a genuine mover and shaker.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Conservative groups are calling for a boycott of the ubiquitous search giant in favor of others, like Microsoft’s Bing
March 31 became Cesar Chavez Day by official Obama proclamation in 2011 and Google honored him this year with a ‘Google Doodle’
Google hasn’t had a Doodle for the Easter holiday since 2000 and has never posted one specifically honoring Christmas or any other religious observance
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Jim Carrey Only Believes in First Amendment for Himself
The actor took heat last week when he released a vicious video attacking the late actor and NRA president Charlton Heston, lampooning Southern culture, and trashing the Second Amendment.
In a press release issued on March 29 through a public relations firm, Marleah Leslie & Associates, the Canadian comedian displayed his ignorance of the First Amendment when he considered filing a lawsuit against Fox News for its “irresponsible buffoonery” after the network dared criticize Carrey and his music video.
“I would take them to task legally if I felt they were worth my time,” he said.
“He issued a press release, which is basically a complete meltdown,” said Fox’s Greg Gutfeld, who had some choice words for the actor. “This is a guy that insulted most of America and danced on the grave of Charlton Heston. Jim Carrey is, in this letter, threatening legal action — something Charlton Heston can’t do because Charlton Heston is dead. That was the whole point, to stand up for somebody who couldn’t talk back to a fool like Jim Carrey.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Obama Urges Quick Adoption of Arms Trade Treaty by UN General Assembly
Regardless of the promises of its advocates, the Arms Trade Treaty violates not only the Second Amendment, but also the American concept of the source of rights and the right of the people to defend themselves against the “long train of abuses” of any government.
President Obama will not be deterred, however. Not by the Declaration of Independence, not by the Second Amendment, and not by the failure of the ATT conference to adopt the treaty by consensus.
Peter Woolcott, president of the conference and ambassador from Australia, ordered the treaty sent to the Secretary General of the United Nations for presentation to the General Assembly for its approval.
The Obama administration is determined to make that happen.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
here are three things to note in this story about a large group of youths, and how they spent a beautiful spring day in Chicago on Saturday:
1.What the media reported.
2.What actually happened.
3.What people said in the comments of the story in response to what actually happened and how it was reported.
The media report from CBS 2 in Chicago was Orwellian in its attempt to spin the events as merely youthful hijinks perpetrated by featureless, restless beings of adolescent nature:
“The warmest day of the year so far brings hundreds of mischievous teens to Michigan Avenue. Police are calling it “mob action.”
[…]
The CBS reporter of this story, Courtney Gousman, did everything she possibly could to portray the events in Chicago on Saturday as some sort of playful excess of youthful enthusiasm, just a bunch of “mischievous teens” out having good clean fun…
[…]
What actually happened was that a mob of black thugs took part in an apparently pre-planned attack on mostly white shoppers in a mostly white and wealthy neighborhood.
Let’s be perfectly clear; as far as riots go, this wasn’t the most violent, and the injuries, property destruction and looting reported appears to have been comparatively minimal by Chicago standards (no one died, nothing was burned out/down, stores weren’t cleaned out, arrests were generally misdemeanors, etc). Those facts allowed, it was a race riot, and it was intentionally downplayed by the fig leaf of a black reporter, working for a liberal new organization, attempting to cover for a liberal mayor, who is reaping the whirlwind of decades of liberal misrule, neglect, and failed social engineering.
Chicago Democrats have created (and continue to increase the volatility of) a toxic stew of racialism, hopelessness, entitlement, and anger. Barack Obama not only continued this dangerous trend in his time in Chicago, he has expanded it nationwide, and accelerated it. A man of two races who chose long ago to identify as one, he has failed not just both races, but all, becoming the most racially divisive President in modern American history, entirely by willful choice.
[…]
[READ THE REST for an account of the visceral blow-back by fed-up commenters at the original story]
Owens concludes:
Barack Obama and his 2008 campaign promises of “hope” and “change” not only seem empty these days, they seem like punchlines to jokes about us (the American people) that we were never supposed to figure out.
| — Hat tip: Lurker from Tulsa | [Return to headlines] |
(CBS/AP) ASHTABULA, Ohio — Witnesses say the 25-year-old man accused of walking into an Ohio church and fatally shooting his father after an Easter service Sunday was yelling about God and Allah after the killing.
PICTURES: Cops: Son shoots dad to death at Ohio church on Easter
Police say Reshad Riddle killed his father, 52-year-old Richard Riddle, with a single shot from a handgun Sunday afternoon at the Hiawatha Church of God in Christ in Ashtabula.
[. . .]
(Associate Pastor Sean) Adams said that after the shooting, Reshad Riddle continued into the church, still holding the gun, and yelled that the killing was “the will of Allah. This is the will of God.”
[The slideshow is revealing: narcissistic poses, tats, shank, gangsta glare, pants around his butt. — PG]
| — Hat tip: Paul Green | [Return to headlines] |
Oregon Set to Ban GM Salmon and Mandate GMO Labeling
(NaturalNews) All across the country, people are rising up and demanding that the foods they eat be properly identified and honestly labeled. And the constituency of the state of Oregon is no exception, where a trio of legislative bills recently introduced would require that all genetically-modified organisms (GMOs) be properly labeled, as well as prohibit the import and sale of GM salmon, the first transgenic animal to ever be preliminarily approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for human consumption.
H.B. 2175, whose chief sponsor is Representative Deborah Boone (D-Cannon Beach), provisions that all foods containing or made with genetically-engineered (GE) material be properly labeled in the state of Oregon. Any food products made with or containing GMOs that are not properly labeled beginning on January 1, 2014, will be deemed misbranded, and its manufacturer held liable for breaking the state’s food labeling requirements.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Sen. Grassley and Republicans Plan to Work With Democrats on Legislatgion Attacking 2nd Amendment
Despite a plan by Republican senators Rand Paul, Ted Cruz and Mike Lee to derail and defeat S. 649, the Safe Communities, Safe Schools Act of 2013, Iowa Republican Senator Chuck Grassley is preparing work with Democrats in their war on the Second Amendment next month.
According to pro-Second Amendment websites, Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has indicated he may support “gun control lite” legislation. “You would think ALL Republicans are lining up behind Senators Rand Paul, Ted Cruz and Mike Lee to support the filibuster of Harry Reid’s gun control bill — S. 649,” writes AmmoLand today. “But that’s just not happening.”
Senate Democrats, led by Majority Leader Harry Reid, are looking to find Republicans they can deal with after Oklahoma Senator Tom Coburn refused to collude with them on anti-Second Amendment legislation.
“If Reid manages to pick up the support of enough Senate Republicans, Obama will get what he wants — fictitious ‘gun trafficking’ legislation, so-called ‘mental health screenings’ and ‘expanded background checks,’“ AmmoLand reports. “Possibly even more gun control like Feinstein’s so-called ‘assault weapons ban’ and a federal magazine ban will also be on the table.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Suspect Says Shooting ‘Will of Allah’
ASHTABULA — Children screamed in terror and hid under the pews at Hiawatha Church of God in Christ on Sunday, witnesses said, as an Ashtabula man was shot and killed by his son just after the Easter service.
Richard Riddle, 52, was leaving the church on Hiawatha Street with his wife at about 1 p.m. when his son, 25-year-old Reshad Riddle, approached him and fired a single round from a handgun, instantly killing Richard, church associate pastor Sean Adams said.
About 150 parishioners were leaving the church in recessional. They ducked down at the sound of the gunshot, pushing their children and grandchildren under the pews as Reshad Riddle entered the church, still carrying the gun and yelling that the shooting was “the will of Allah. This is the will of God,” Adams said.
“It was terrifying,” Adams said. “The children were screaming and people were dialing 911. We were afraid to breathe.”
Reshad Riddle was quickly subdued by officers, who arrived just moments after the shooting, Adams said.
Ashtabula Police Chief Robert Stell said dispatchers received multiple calls from inside the church and immediately called law enforcement mutual aid from every available agency to the scene.
| [Return to headlines] |
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg dreams of one day becoming an absolute monarch where he can freely dictate how others live. He is a throwback to the Hanoverian Kings of England. He too likes to rule by decree in ways that deprive individuals of basic rights and sovereignty, particularly in matters of food. Food freedom and Mayor Bloomberg do not get along well together, except that he very much values his own freedom.
There is inherent hypocrisy in those who think the rights they personally possess ought not be available to others. Bloomberg, for example, presumes it okay for him to drink three or four cups of coffee a day, consume pizza high in fat and carbohydrates every now and then, consume bagels, eat a donut every now and again, and eat hot dogs. Now there are many nutritionists who would debate the prudence of the Mayor’s dietary choices, but Bloomberg likes the freedom to choose for himself, he just does not like to allow others an equal freedom.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Flu Vaccine Causes 1,400 Percent Increased Risk of Narcolepsy
NaturalNews) Speculation that an emergency vaccine widely administered for H1N1 (swine flu) may have caused a sharp uptick in cases of narcolepsy has been confirmed following the release of a new study out of the U.K. As reported in the British Medical Journal (BMJ), individuals given the Pandemrix vaccine for influenza during the 2009/2010 swine flu “pandemic” had a 1,400 percent increased risk of developing the neurological disorder compared to those not vaccinated.
Drawing from data collected in the aftermath of the vaccine’s release, researchers found that the use of Pandemrix, particularly among young people between the ages of four and 18, increased the risk of narcolepsy by a factor of about 14 compared to those who did not get the jab. And the ingredient believed to be primarily responsible for this increase is an adjuvant known as AS03, a squalene-based component used in a number of vaccines produced by GlaxoSmithKline (GSK).
“This study shows a significantly increased risk of narcolepsy in children who received the AS03 adjuvanted pandemic strain vaccine in England,” explains the study. “Our case coverage method gave an odds ration of 14.4 (4.3 to 48.5) for the primary analysis and is consistent with the relative risk of 13 reported from Finland in a retrospective study.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Radical British Islamist: The Flag of Islam Will One Day Fly Over the Finnish Parliament
British Islamist preacher Anjem Choudary told a gathering in Helsinki last week to be proud to be considered terrorists.
Anjem Choudary led the Islamist group Islam4UK in Britain before it was proscribed under the UK’s counter terrorism laws in 2010.
Choudary was in Helsinki last Thursday to speak at a secretive gathering held to mark the tenth anniversary of the jailing in Norway of Kurdish radical Islamist leader Mullah Krekar.
Last week, the Finnish Security Intelligence Service (Supo) confirmed to Yle that it was aware of the gathering. A Supo representative also told Yle at that time that it has long been known that there are increasing numbers of individuals in Finland with links to radicals.
According to the British newspaper The Sun, Choudary spoke to 60 Kurdish immigrants, telling them to “rise up” and predicted the Islamic flag would one day fly over the Finnish parliament building.
He told his listeners to be proud of being considered terrorists. Choudary also said that being called radicals means that they do not compromise.
A 2.5 hour video of the address was posted on YouTube.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
A girl of ten could have died if her parents had relied on the controversial new NHS 111 helpline, they said last night.
Beau Marshall was ill with stomach cramps last Saturday when her worried mother Candice phoned the service that is being piloted in her area.
She spoke first to a call-centre worker, then to someone else with some medical training — who assured her a doctor would phone back within two hours to assess the little girl and possibly to arrange a home visit.
But more than a week on, the doctor has still not called and if Mrs Marshall had followed NHS advice her daughter could have died.
For when Beau’s condition worsened, her parents drove to hospital themselves.
Within two hours, the youngster was diagnosed with potentially fatal appendicitis and her ‘very inflamed’ appendix was removed.
Last night Beau’s parents added their voices to the growing concern over the introduction of the 111 service.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
A mother was referred to social services by doctors at a scandal-hit hospital 24 hours after she raised concerns over her child’s care, it was claimed last night.
The woman was told she was exaggerating her son’s condition by staff at Leeds General Infirmary — where paediatric heart surgery has been suspended — when she questioned treatment of the child and asked to switch to a different hospital.
She was accused of having Munchausen syndrome by proxy, when a parent deliberately exaggerates or fabricates their child’s medical condition, and was referred to the local social services department.
The mother underwent a ‘nightmare’ two-month investigation where everyone from teachers to health workers were questioned about her parenting skills, before social workers reported there was no evidence she had the condition.
Her experience, which has left the mother terrified of questioning her child’s care again, is among several claims made about Leeds General Infirmary.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UFM: Schulz, Relaunching of the Med Union Through Parliaments
First summit of Parliaments speakers in Marseille from May 6-7
(ANSAmed) — Brussels, March 28 — Martin Schulz, President of the European Parliament and President-in-Office of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Union for the Mediterranean, will welcome Speakers of the Parliaments of the member countries of the Union for the Mediterranean in Marseille on 6 and 7 April. The summit, convened at the initiative of President Schulz, will be the first high-level meeting since the summit of the Heads of State and government of the UfM held in Paris in 2008 and the first regional meeting since the Arab Spring.
“This summit will be an opportunity to show that Parliaments are ready to fill the political leadership gap from which the UfM has suffered from in recent years”, Shulz said announcing the meeting. “We, the Speakers-Presidents of the Parliaments, would like to underline the importance of giving an impetus to the implementation of UfM projects at a time of major regional political and economic upheaval”, he added.
“We also need to re-forge the link between people on both sides of the Mediterranean and respond to their common expectations. If the challenge of democratic transition which is under way in some Mediterranean countries is successfully to be met, we will need strong and effective parliaments which listen to their citizens.” The summit will continue the work of the civil forum organised by the Anna Lindh Foundation (ALF) at the Pharo’s Palace in Marseille from 4 to 7 April. The forum will bring together around a thousand representatives of civil society, young people, artists, locally-elected officials and economic players from both shores of the Mediterranean. The Speakers of the Parliaments will receive proposals from the ALF Forum and will draw up their own recommendations to be put to the governing bodies of the Union for the Mediterranean.
Union for the Mediterranean is the parliamentary institution of the ‘Barcelona Process: Union for the Mediterranean’. It was formed in Naples on 3 December 2003 and has the following remit: to boost the development of the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership; to monitor the actions and projects of the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership; to adopt resolutions and recommendations for the Union for the Mediterranean’s ministerial conferences.
The Parliamentary Assembly of the UfM is made up of MPs/MEPs appointed by the national parliaments of the Member States of the European Union, the national parliaments of the Mediterranean partners and the European Parliament.
The next plenary session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Union for the Mediterranean will be held in Brussels on 11 and 12 April 2013. The main objectives of the Union for the Mediterranean concern energy and the environment: water (for example the Gaza desalination plant), solar energy, the environment (cleaning up the Mediterranean) and the Mediterranean Maritime Highway for the cooperation between the member countries of the UfM.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Turkish Muslims have declared victory after toy makers Lego agreed to withdraw a Star Wars product which allegedly depicted a mosque.
Critics claimed that the Jabba’s Palace model, part of Lego’s Star Wars range, was offensive to Muslims as it resembled the Hagia Sophia mosque in Istanbul — one of the world’s most renowned mosques.
The Lego set is based on the home of Jabba the Hutt, a central character in the Star Wars series, who lives in a domed palace, with a separated watchtower.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Burmese Muslim School Hit by Deadly Blaze in Rangoon
A fire at a Muslim school in the Burmese city of Rangoon has killed 13 children, officials say.
Police officers said the fire was caused by an electrical fault and not due to any criminal activity. Most of the children escaped unharmed.
The fire comes amid an upsurge in violence between Buddhists and Muslims.
At least 40 people have been killed since 20 March and curfews have been imposed in some areas.
Police spokesman Thet Lwin told the AP news agency the two-storey building — part of a mosque — in eastern Rangoon sheltered about 75 orphans.
It was not immediately clear how many children were among the dead.
Most of them escaped by running out of a door after police knocked it open, he said.
Fire crews put out the blaze and the building is reported to be badly burned but intact.
The Myanmar [Burma] Police Force said on its official Facebook page that the victims had died from burns or smoke inhalation.
“According to the investigation by township police officers, the fire was caused by excessively high (electric) voltage,” it said.
| — Hat tip: Vlad Tepes | [Return to headlines] |
‘World War Z’ Scene Changed to Please Chinese Censors
A scene from the new Brad Pitt movie World War Z had to be changed so as not to offend Chinese state censors, just one of numerous recent examples where American movies are being amended in order to please China’s ruling Communist Party leaders.
“In the offending scene, characters debate the geographic origin of an outbreak that caused a zombie apocalypse and point to China,” a Paramount executive told TheWrap.
Paramount ordered the movie’s producers to choose a different country and redo the scene so as not to upset Chinese censors and threaten distribution in China, the fastest growing film market in the world…
Concerns that China was interfering in U.S. media were also heard after MGM was forced to delay the re-make of Red Dawn for two years after Chinese state media complained that depicting the invading villains as Chinese “would demonize their state and its citizens.” The bad guys were changed to North Koreans and entire portions of the film had to be revised.
The filmmakers were forced to set about, “digitally erasing Chinese flags and military symbols from “Red Dawn,” substituting dialogue and altering the film to depict much of the invading force as being from North Korea, an isolated country where American media companies have no dollars at stake,” reported the L.A. Times.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Honduras: Inside San Pedro Sula, The ‘Murder Capital’ Of the World
(CNN) — It is nighttime as a pack of masked soldiers silently moves toward the front line of a deadly shootout between law enforcement officials and unknown men in a dimly lit Honduras neighborhood.
But the soldiers are too late to prevent the grisly scene that awaits them. One of their own is on the ground, seriously wounded. One of the attackers is dead, and three others have been shot.
“They didn’t even say a word. They just pulled out their weapons and started shooting at our soldiers,” army commander Carlos Rolando Discua said of the scene, which has become all too familiar in Honduras’ second-largest city.
Discua oversees a unit of soldiers, often masked to protect their identities, who patrol the streets of San Pedro Sula, the so-called murder capital of the world.
Photos: Deadly violence grips Honduras
For the second straight year, San Pedro Sula, in northwest Honduras, has topped a list of the world’s 50 most violent cities, with a rate of 169 intentional homicides per 100,000 inhabitants — an average of more than three people every day.
The report, compiled by the Mexican think tank Citizen Council for Public Security, Justice and Peace, compared intentional homicide statistics around the world in 2012. The report does not include cities in the Middle East.
The sunny beach resort of Acapulco in Mexico ranked second on the group’s list, followed by the Venezuelan capital of Caracas.
New Orleans is the murder capital of the United States, according to the report, which ranked the city 17th on the list. Detroit, St. Louis, Baltimore and Oakland were the other U.S. cities to make the list.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Mexican Drug Cartels Dispatch Agents Deep Inside US
CHICAGO: Mexican drug cartels whose operatives once rarely ventured beyond the U.S. border are dispatching some of their most trusted agents to live and work deep inside the United States — an emboldened presence that experts believe is meant to tighten their grip on the world’s most lucrative narcotics market and maximize profits.
If left unchecked, authorities say, the cartels’ move into the American interior could render the syndicates harder than ever to dislodge and pave the way for them to expand into other criminal enterprises such as prostitution, kidnapping-and-extortion rackets and money laundering.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden: Rejected Asylum-Seeker Flight Costs Escalate
The cost of chartering aircraft to return rejected asylum-seekers to their countries of origin has increased dramatically,
According to the new figures, the number of chartered flights increased from 90 to 130 between 2011 and 2012.
Costs of the flights vary greatly, ranging from 40,000 kronor ($6,900) to 1,300,000.
| — Hat tip: Kitman | [Return to headlines] |
Gay Marriage With Your Overpriced Coffee? No Thanks!
At Starbucks’ annual meeting last week, shareholder Thomas Strobhar, who runs an organization that opposes gay marriage, criticized the company for supporting same-sex marriage, claiming that taking a public stance on the issue was hurting its bottom line. This came after Starbucks last year backed a bill to legalize the practice in Washington state, which led to the National Organization for Marriage boycotting the coffee chain.
Mr. Schultz then invited those who disagree with the store’s support for gay marriage to sell their shares and leave the company.
“If you feel, respectfully, that you can get a higher return than the 38 percent you got last year, it’s a free country,” Mr. Schultz said at the shareholder meeting. “You can sell your shares of Starbucks and buy shares in another company. Thank you very much.”
“Christians and pro-family groups across the United States have contributed significantly to the economic success of Starbucks,” said American Family Association President Tim Wildmon in a statement. “However, we can certainly honor Mr. Shultz’s request to take our business elsewhere.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered that a ban be placed on foreign adoptions to same-sex couples.
His decision follows the commissioning of a report into so called ‘psychological damage’ suffered by a boy was who was adopted by two gay women in the US.
A move by France to legalise gay marriage and allow same sex couples to adopt has also led to new laws being drawn so that only traditional couples can adopt from Russian orphanages.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
U.N. Report: Bans on Abortion Are ‘Torture’
Warns women, drug users, transgender men vulnerable to ‘health-care abuse’
Denying a woman access to an otherwise legal abortion is “tantamount to torture,” claims a designated United Nations expert in an official report to the international body.
What’s more, the expert asserts, banning all abortions — including in the case of rape — may be “torture” too, whether the bans are legally passed or not.
The U.N.’s special rapporteur on torture, Juan E. Mendez, issued his annual report to the U.N.’s Human Rights Council in February, in which he specifically focused on “certain forms of abuses in health-care settings that may cross a threshold of mistreatment that is tantamount to torture.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
CO2 Myth Busted: Why We Need More Carbon Dioxide to Grow Food and Forests
(NaturalNews) If you talk to the global warming crowd, carbon dioxide — CO2 — – — is the enemy of mankind. Any and all creation of CO2 is bad for the planet, we’re told, and its production must be strictly limited in order to save the world.
But what if that wasn’t true? What if CO2 were actually a planet-saving nutrient that could multiply food production rates and feed the world more nutritious, healthy plants?
As it turns out, CO2 is desperately needed by food crops, and right now there is a severe shortage of CO2 on the planet compared to what would be optimum for plants. Greenhouse operators are actually buying carbon dioxide and injecting it into their greenhouses in order to maximize plant growth.
The science on this is irrefutable. As just one example, the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food says:
CO2 increases productivity through improved plant growth and vigour. Some ways in which productivity is increased by CO2 include earlier flowering, higher fruit yields, reduced bud abortion in roses, improved stem strength and flower size. Growers should regard CO2 as a nutrient.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Kudos to Starbucks. I don’t like their coffee but I like their practices.
Corn ethanol is a bad idea if global warming is less than it’s cooked up to be. It’s still a bad idea if global warming is the real thing. Farming the corn takes energy. Farming the food that takes the place of the corn takes energy. In the end, the net effect on CO2 emissions is farcically low in view of the cost.
Imagine society as a single individual, just for the sake of discussion. Do I turn my corn into ethanol? Or do I sell it, take the money and buy wind power turbines and gasoline?
The second strategy results in both overall lower emissions and an overall better standard of living for me. It’s the better way no matter how serious global warming is, or isn’t. (Though I say basic physics dictates that it has to be taken seriously. CO2 really is a greenhouse gas.)
Carbon Dioxide is plant fertilizer — that just happens to be airborne.
It’s also critical to healthy reefs — they consume it to live.
It’s THE rate limiting compound for plant growth — and coral growth, usually.
NASA proved half-a-century ago that elevated carbon dioxide causes plant growth to ramp exponentially.
15% of all yields — nature and man — are due to today’s elevated levels of carbon dioxide
if NASA’s old test results bear out.
Carbon Dioxide is … critical to healthy reefs — they consume it to live.
Reefs need carbonate ion, not carbon dioxide. Increasing CO2 acidifies the oceans and turns carbonate into bicarbonate, which is unavailable for reef growth.
It’s THE rate limiting compound for plant growth
It might be in a greenhouse, but in nature Leibig’s Law of the Minimum means that nitrogen becomes the limiting nutrient sooner rather than later.
I can see that you didn’t get too far in chemistry.
Chemistry for biology majors doesn’t cut it.
Epic fail.
GOV is allowing insults and trolls now?
The Coral Reef Alliance and World Ocean Review, among many others, suggest that it’s you who need to review the lab on the carbonate/bicarbonate buffer.
CO2 has been called a greenhouse gas for years, well before the AGW scam,from its use in greenhouses! it is greening the world now, there is however a lower limit that will stop growth. Reefs that are left alone are doing well thank you! Also higher levels of CO2 allow growth using less water, cutting H2O emissions in to the atmosphere, now that is a gas many many time more greenhousey! Its a win win, now someone [redacted] please!
The dictionary definition of greenhouse gas:
The legal definition of greenhouse gas:
You might note that CH4, N2O, and so forth are not used in greenhouses.
The Wikipedia entry on greenhouse gas:
It’s hard to fight people who insist that Islam is a “religion of peace” when you also use linguistic legerdemain.