Attorney General Eric Holder and the Justice Department have opened a criminal inquiry to investigate whether the IRS broke the law when it targeted Tea Party groups and other conservative organizations. Mind you, this is the same Justice Department that intercepted and collected communications from Associated Press reporters in an effort to track down the identity of a government official who leaked information about a thwarted terrorist attack.
In other news, inflation in Italy has dropped to 1.1%, its lowest level since 2009. Meanwhile, unemployment in Portugal has reached the record level of 17.7%.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to C. Cantoni, Fjordman, Insubria, JD, Steen, TV, 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.
Founder of the Euro Says ‘Catastrophic’ Currency Will Self-Destruct
(NaturalNews) As more and more countries within the European Union struggle economically, the euro — the union’s common currency — becomes more embattled, with its founder now even predicting its demise.
German Finance Minister Oskar Lafontaine, who was responsible the euro’s development and launch, is now calling for the end of the single currency in order to let southern Europe recover. He says if not, the current fiscal course is “leading to disaster.”
“The economic situation is worsening from month to month, and unemployment has reached a level that puts democratic structures ever more in doubt,” he said, according to the Telegraph, one of Britain’s largest dailies.
“The Germans have not yet realized that southern Europe, including France, will be forced by their current misery to fight back against German hegemony sooner or later,” he said, adding that much of the current fiscal crisis has come in large part from Germany’s squeeze on wages, in order to gain export share.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Italian Inflation at 1.1%, Lowest Level Since 2009
Rate down in April from 1.6% in March
(ANSA) — Rome, May 14 — Istat said on Tuesday that Italy’s inflation rate fell to 1.1% in April, the lowest level since December 2009.
It was the seventh consecutive drop as Italy’s longest recession in 20 years continues to keep price increases low.
The inflation figure was lower than the preliminary forecast of 1.2% that the national statistics agency gave late last month.
The fall in April with respect to the 1.6% inflation rate of March was caused primarily by drops in energy prices.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Portugal: Record Unemployment at 17.7%
952,000 jobless over 10,5 million inhabitants
(ANSAmed) — LISBON, MAY 13 — Unemployment has reached a record high 17,7% in Portugal, the highest in the EU after Greece at 26,4% and Spain 26,3% against an EU average of 10.9%, according to data by the national statistics agency released on Monday. In the first trimester, the institute said, a 2,7% increased was registered from the first trimester in 2012. The Portuguese government has forecast a 18,2% unemployment rate in 2013. In 2012, recession hit 3,2% and should be around 2,3% in 2013. Unemployed workers over 45 years of age increased 19,9% on an annual basis and 7,5% from the previous trimester.
Unemployment increased 19,8% on an annual basis. Those without a job were 952.000 over a population of 10.5 million.
In 2013 the conservative government led by Pedro Passos Coelho has planned further measures to fight the crisis to abide by an aid programme drafted by the Troika — EU, EBC, IMF — whose inspectors have already visited Lisbon twice. Among the measures is a 5% cut of public employees — 30,000 out of 700,000.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Rate on 3-Year Italian Bond Falls Below 2% at Auction
Down to 1.92% from 2.29% at last sale in April
(ANSA) — Rome, May 13 — The rate on three-year Italian bonds fell below the 2% mark at a successful Treasury auction on Monday in another sign that the country’s borrowing costs are easing after Premier Enrico Letta formed a left-right government last month to end a lengthy post-election deadlock.
The Treasury sold all of the 3.5 billion euros’ worth of three-year BTPs it put up for sale at an average interest rate of 1.92%, compared to 2.29% at the last equivalent auction in April. The rate also fell at an auction of 15-year BTPs.
The Treasury sold 1.5 billion euros’ worth of these bonds at an average rate of 4.07%, down from the 4.55% they went for in a February sale.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Angelina Jolie Undergoes Double Mastectomy to Prevent Breast Cancer
Writing in an editorial piece entitled ‘My Medical Choice’ in the New York Times, Angelina explained her decision, revealing that she had the initial procedure on February 16th before having the reconstruction operation on April 20th.
She wrote: ‘My doctors estimated that I had an 87 per cent risk of breast cancer and a 50 per cent risk of ovarian cancer, although the risk is different in the case of each woman.
‘Only a fraction of breast cancers result from an inherited gene mutation. Those with a defect in BRCA1 have a 65 per cent risk of getting it, on average.
‘Once I knew that this was my reality, I decided to be proactive and to minimize the risk as much I could. I made a decision to have a preventive double mastectomy.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Are You Proud to be an American?
America is a land of taxation that was founded to avoid taxation. — Laurence J. Peter
America is good, but the government is America’s biggest problem.
…a “land of the free” that struggles under the incredible burden of limitless taxes and laws; the home of the “brave” who stay silent to keep their jobs and avoid scrutiny by the IRS or the police. — Fred Woodworth, The Match!, No. 74
My friend Robin called me the other day and out of the blue, asked me a pointed question. She said, “Are you proud to be an American?” At first I thought, “As opposed to what?” The question took me back to the days where I could say, “Hell yes, I’m proud to be an American!”
First, let’s clarify. I’m proud of our heritage and true Americans. The satanic slime bag elitists and politicians that have destroyed this country are not what make a true American. A true American is all sizes, colors, and shapes, many religions, generous to a fault, open arms for those less fortunate, a melting pot of all peoples who come together in one American culture, hard working, believing in the American dream, and the freedoms in our country’s founding documents, and knowing you live in the greatest country in the world, founded by Godly men. Real America is this and more and is what true Americans are proud to be. A better question to have asked would be, “Are you proud of our American government today?”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
(NaturalNews) When the monstrous “Affordable” “Care” Act was released onto the unknowing public back in 2010, no one really knew how controlling, secretive, and wasteful it really would be. The current bill, which totals over 20,000 pages, continues to grow each year, as regulators sort out the mess and work in hundred of new regulations. California is working out the details by hiding payouts from the public. As the law unravels and swallows liberty, it would be nice to know:
Who really wrote it? Why is it so secretive? Who really runs this country?
[…]
As a matter of fact, Obamacare was modeled after “Romney care” which originated in the state of Massachusetts. It appears that many political leaders in the US have just become facilitators of new government expansions. People are beginning to realize this fact, seeing through the voting facade. Thirteen million fewer people voted in 2012 than in 2008, seeing no difference between the two big government facilitators. People are realizing that many politicians really aren’t at odds, but are banding together to implement more laws that restrict freedom. It seems globalist controllers have crept into government positions and are seeking more obedience from the people.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Documents Reveal the IRS Scheme Stretched All the Way to Washington D.C. IRS Offices
Apologists of criminal government have described all this criminal IRS activity as nothing but the “mistakes of a local IRS office” in Cincinnati. But documents just acquired by the Washington Post reveal that the punitive scheme went all the way up the ladder to IRS offices in Washington D.C.
“Internal Revenue Service officials in Washington and at least two other offices were involved with investigating conservative groups seeking tax-exempt status, making clear that the effort reached well beyond the branch in Cincinnati that was initially blamed,” reports the Washington Post.
It continues:
…details of the IRS’s efforts to target conservative groups reached the highest levels of the agency in May 2012, far earlier than has been disclosed, according to Republican congressional aides briefed by the IRS and the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) on the details of their reviews.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
FBI Agent Thrashes Polygraph During Senate Testimony
On Sept. 29, 1997, FBI Supervisory Special Agent (Dr.) Drew Campbell Richardson testified before members of a subcommittee of the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary about the polygraph. Among other things, he described polygraph screening as being “completely without any theoretical foundation and has absolutely no validity.”
Discovering Richardson is not alone in his assessment, one must ask the question, “Why is the polygraph the only authorized credibility assessment technology for use within DoD when newer, proven-reliable technologies are available?”
I answer that question and many more in my newest nonfiction book, THE CLAPPER MEMO, the product of four years of extensive investigation.
Most importantly, however, THE CLAPPER MEMO exposes the flawed process via which Afghans are being vetted before being allowed to serve alongside U.S. and Coalition Forces troops as uniform-wearing members of Afghan military, police and security units. Those flaws have resulted in hundreds of U.S. and CF casualties, the result of “Green-on-Blue” or “Insider” attacks, during the past six years.
In addition, it highlights the fact that the polygraph, despite being the only credibility assessment tool allowed for use by DoD personnel, either (1) isn’t being used as part of that vetting process or, (2) isn’t working well if it is being used as part of the vetting process. Either way, American casualties continue to add up as a result…
Bob McCarty has connected the dots to a story that otherwise would not have seen the light of day. He has exposed the ongoing and unceasing activities of a small group of US government bureaucrats that should outrage the entire US population.
It is unconscionable that administration-after-administration has allowed this national disgrace to continue unabated for the past 50 years. The safety and security of our military members should trump the agenda of a handful of power hungry bureaucrats. The absolute faith by these bureaucrats in a scientifically flawed device — namely the polygraph — appears to have caused significant damage to the international reputation and security of the United States.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Georgia Man Claims He Found Original Recipe for Coca-Cola at Estate Sale
A Georgia man reportedly believes he has found the secret formula to Coca-Cola and he’s hoping to sell the find for as much as $15 million.
WTSP.com reports that Cliff Kluge, of Ringgold, recently found the 1943 recipe in a box of letters and papers he recently purchased during a “treasure hunt” at an estate sale with his wife, Arlene. The recipe closely matches the purported original formula for Coca-Cola published online two years ago by NPR, which saw its website crash from all the traffic.
“You don’t stumble on things like this very often,” Kluge said. “It’s a letter, and a formula, and the processes to make it. I think it’s a little deeper than having fun; I think it’s the recipe for Coca-Cola.”
The authentic recipe for the ubiquitous soft drink is contained in a safe at the World of Coca-Cola in Atlanta and has been a highly-kept secret since the 19th century. Coca-Cola officials said in a statement that the “real formula” remains locked away.
Three Moslems to a Christian in a Heidelberg Streetcar: “We will exterminate all of you”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Hot Mic Reveals Lawmakers Intent to Confiscate Guns
Every American gun owner, regardless of the state in which you live, is presently or will be the target of gun confiscation. A state-by-state framework of confiscation is being erected in front of us all to strip us of our rights under the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Proof of this nefarious intent of disarming citizens was serendipitously caught by a “hot” microphone at the conclusion of the May 9, 2013 meeting of the New Jersey State Legislature.
At the conclusion of the New Jersey Senate Budget & Appropriations Committee meeting last Thursday, an open microphone caught three state senators, identified by voice as Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg, Assistant Majority Leader Sandra Cunningham, Senate Majority Whip Linda Greenstein, and at least one staff member talking candidly about their intent to confiscate all guns from the people they serve. It should be noted that Senator Loretta Weinberg is the chief proponent of the anti-gun legislation being moved through the New Jersey State Senate.
Although some of the candid conversation is a bit difficult to discern due to the ambient noise, their message is clear. “We need[ed] a bill that was going to confiscate, confiscate, confiscate,” stated one high ranking senate member. “They don’t care about the bad guys. All they want to do is have their ‘little guns’ and do whatever they want with them,” added another in an obviously demeaning manner. Another conceded that gun owners do, in fact, want to keep guns out of the hands of criminals, but added that “they don’t have any regulations to do it.” Oh really?
For anyone doubting the bitter contempt these legislators hold for gun owners and pro-Constitutionalists, a YouTube video that captured the “open microphone moment” is available for review .
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
IRS Scandal Threatens to Overshadow Benghazi
You would have thought that the Obama administration would have learned from the growing Benghazi scandal that the best way to handle such controversies is to get out in front of them, and put it all out there, rather than let it drip, drip, drip, as is now happening with the recent IRS blowup.
According to The Washington Post, based on documents it obtained from a congressional aide, the Internal Revenue Service has targeted and singled out for added scrutiny, groups applying for tax-exempt status which have made statements that “criticize how the country is being run” and that were involved in educating Americans “on the Constitution and Bill of Rights.”
If so, this IRS scandal could well be an abuse of power by the executive branch, reflecting one of the issues that was an article of impeachment drawn up for then-President Richard Nixon, before he resigned.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Justice Department Opens Criminal Inquiry Into I.R.S. Audits
Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. said on Tuesday that he had ordered the Justice Department and the F.B.I. to open an investigation into whether Internal Revenue Service officials broke any criminal laws by singling out conservative groups for special scrutiny.
The activities of I.R.S. officials are already the subject of an investigation by the agency’s inspector general. The results of that inquiry, which are expected in the next several days, are expected to detail how officials at the agency selected political groups for extra scrutiny about their tax status.
Speaking at a news conference called on Tuesday to discuss Medicare fraud, Mr. Holder said that he had ordered a second investigation to determine whether any criminal laws may have been broken by the officials at the tax collection agency.
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New Film: VA “Betrays” Homeless Vets
“Duty, Honor, Country — BETRAYAL” is the title of a new documentary film, now available on DVD, dramatically exposing how the VA is failing homeless vets by giving away land donated solely to assist veterans to wealthy, politically-connected non-veteran interests through the VA’s so-called “Enhanced Use Leases.”
The focus of the documentary by Bill Dumas Productions is the National Veterans Home in West Los Angeles. But the problem of the VA’s give-away of veterans’ land to benefit non-veteran, politically-connected interests is nationwide.
Bill Dumas, an award-winning documentary film maker, said he focused on the National Veterans Home in L.A. because “it provides stark evidence that land that was donated to the government for the sole purpose of assisting veterans is instead being turned over to wealthy interests in give-away Enhanced Use Agreements while the VA locks out homeless veterans from that land.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Yesterday, administration was involved in a cover-up. “If this was some effort on our part to try to downplay what had happened or tamp it down, that would be a pretty odd thing that three days later we end up putting out all the information,” Obama said. “Who executes some sort of cover-up or effort to tamp things down for three days? So the whole thing defies logic.” Equally willing to defy logic was Obama’s MSNBC # Chris Matthews, who has been more than eager to carry water for the Obama administration. Indeed, Matthews’ coverage of the unrelenting Benghazi scandal has distinguished itself as being particularly loathsome.
Last Thursday, Matthews was in fine form. After acknowledging that Greg Hicks, former deputy chief of mission in Libya, had testified before the House that he had spoken with Hillary Clinton on the night of the attack and that Clinton’s Chief of Staff tried to intimidate him into silence, Matthews downplayed the egregiousness of the former secretary of State’s scandalous behavior.
The Obama administration was merely putting the “best face” on a terrible situation, Matthews said. “But it didn’t cause Chris Stevens to be killed, it didn’t cause the guys being killed by the mortar fire in the second attack, it didn’t really cause any damage except to Mitt Romney,” he continued. “And how is that going to offend the public?” In other words, four deaths and a subsequent cover-up are no big deal.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Parents Have No ‘Right’ To Homeschool Their Kids, Says Justice Department
(NaturalNews) Individual liberty is being burned at the stake, as governments set fire to people natural rights. This time it has everything to do with homeschooling.
It all started in Germany. Uwe and Hannelore Romeike were raising their five children in the German state of Baden-Wurttemberg, when they decided to remove their children from the public education system. In 2006, the Romeike’s illegally withdrew their children from the German public schools system and began homeschooling. Believing that the public education system was undermining their Christian faith, the Romeike’s began breaking the law and teaching their kids at home. By exercising their natural rights, the Romeikes were fined over $10,000 by the German government and at one point their children were forcefully removed from their home. In 2010, after getting their children back, they chose to flee Germany and move to the United States.
Upon arrival in Tennessee, the Romeikes were granted asylum. A federal judge rebuked the German policy and ruled that the Romeike’s had a reasonable fear of persecution for their personal beliefs if they returned to Germany.
Nothing much was said about the issue until the Obama’s Administration’s Department of Justice got involved.
Attorney General, Eric Holder came out and opposed the federal court ruling, siding with the German government. He pleaded that the Romeike’s be denied their asylum. Holder believes that governments may legitimately use force and authority to make parents comply with government-sanctioned schools.
With statements like these, the United States, once a beacon for liberty, is now endorsing force and mandates in regard to education. The right to homeschool and teach one’s own children is a fundamental human right is now at stake. It doesn’t matter what beliefs each family has. It’s liberty that matters. According to Holder, that liberty should be supervised by the federal government.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Sheltering in Place, IR “SS”, Big Sis, and Obama Youth
The time has come for Americans to stop bending to the will of the PC enablers and define the Obama Administration for what it is;
The Obama Reich. How else to describe the eerily similar parallels of Barack Obama and Adolph Hitler?
There are numerous comparisons to be made. In writing this, I focused on four of them.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Skylab Legacy: Space Station Astronauts Reflect on 40 Years of Life Off Earth
Before the International Space Station existed, before U.S. astronauts shared space on Russia’s space station Mir, America’s first home in Earth orbit was Skylab.
The converted upper stage of a massive Saturn V moon rocket, Skylab was launched 40 years ago today (May 14). The orbital workshop gave NASA its first experience at establishing a long-duration human presence in space, laying the foundation for American astronauts to take up continuous residency almost three decades later on board the International Space Station (ISS).
On Monday (May 13), NASA commemorated four decades of “life off Earth” and the 40th anniversary of Skylab’s launch during a roundtable discussion held at its headquarters in Washington, D.C. The event featured Skylab and ISS astronauts, as well as agency managers who are helping to plan the United States’ future outposts in space.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
South Carolina to Criminalize Implementation of Obamacare; Showdown With Feds Inevitable
(NaturalNews) More and more states are beginning to challenge the Obama Administration over what they view as unconstitutional abuses of power, especially regarding firearms and health care. The latest example comes from South Carolina, whose legislature has passed a measure declaring Obamacare to be “null and void” and criminalizing its implementation.
Lawmakers in the House passed the Freedom of Health Care Protection Act by a vote of 65-39, which seeks to “prohibit certain individuals from enforcing or attempting to enforce such unconstitutional laws; and to establish criminal penalties and civil liability for violating this article.”
According to reports, the measure would permit the state attorney general, with reasonable cause, “to restrain by temporary restraining order, temporary injunction, or permanent injunction” anyone who is believed to be causing harm to any state resident or business through implementation of the Obamacare law.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The Boston Bomber Tamerlan’s Burial in Virginia
Largely ignored by the MSM, a protest was held yesterday in Doswell, Virginia, outside the main entrance of the Al-Barzakh Cemetery. Caroline County residents were unpleasantly surprised that Tamerlan Tsarnaev, the 26-year-old suspect in the Boston Marathon bombing, was buried there on Thursday.
A press conference was held by the Virginia Anti-Sharia Task Force (VAST). Speaking for VAST, James Lafferty said that “No terrorist deserves burial in the same soil that so many brave Virginians and Americans died to protect. We are hopeful that the Caroline County Board of Supervisors will investigate and act to correct this matter.”
Local officials and community leaders oppose the burial, are shocked and offended, while out-of-state supporters of the burial vilify VAST as a bigoted and homophobic organization. The emotional opinions, insulting attacks, and the downright ignorant comments were quite diverse.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
US Shale Oil Supply Shock Shifts Global Power Balance
A steeper-than-expected rise in US shale oil reserves is about to change the global balance of power between new and existing producers, a report says.
Over the next five years, the US will account for a third of new oil supplies, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA).
The US will change from the world’s leading importer of oil to a net exporter.
Demand for oil from Middle-East oil producers is set to slow as a result.
“North America has set off a supply shock that is sending ripples throughout the world,” said IEA executive director Maria van der Hoeven.
The surge in US production will reshape the whole industry, according to the IEA, which made the prediction in its closely-watched bi-annual report examining trends in oil supply and demand over the next five years.
The IEA said it expected the US to overtake Russia as the world’s biggest gas producer by 2015 and to become “all but self-sufficient” in its energy needs by about 2035.
The rise in US production means the world’s reliance on oil from traditional oil producing countries in the Middle East, which make up Opec (the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries), would end soon, according to the report.
Slower growth
US production is set to grow by 3.9 million barrels of oil per day (bpd) from 2012 to 2018, accounting for some two-thirds of the predicted growth in traditional non-Opec production, according to the IEA.
Meanwhile, global oil demand is set to increase by 8% which would be met mainly by non-Opec supplies, the report said.
The IEA still expects production capacity among traditional Opec suppliers in the Middle East to continue to grow over the next five years, but at a slower rate.
Opec capacity, which counts for 35% of today’s global oil output, is expected to rise by 1.75 million bpd to 36.75 million bpd in 2018, about 750,000 bpd less than predicted in the IEA’s 2012 forecast.
The IEA cites the “growing insecurity in North and Sub-Saharan Africa” in the wake of the Arab Spring uprisings as a key reason for the slowdown.
“The regional fallout from the ‘Arab Spring’ is taking a toll on investment and capacity growth,” the IEA said…
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Brain Drain Costs Italy Billions of Euros
Confindustria head Squinzi warns of ‘dangerous shortsightedness’
(ANSA) — Rome, May 13 — The brain drain has cost Italy at least five billion euros in recent years and given a “precious gift” to the country’s competitors, Confindustria President Giorgio Squinzi said on Monday.
The head of the country’s powerful employers’ association said that “our unbelieving competition thanks us”. Squinzi told convention goers at Milan’s Polytechnic Foundation that his calculation is based on the fact “that a researcher is a collective investment of about 800,000 euros”.
“This continuous hemorrhage has spread to our best students..and our country is reacting with dangerous shortsightedness,” Squinzi said.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
France’s Most Wanted Jihadist Flies Home
France’s most high-profile home-grown jihadist was flown into Paris on Tuesday following his capture by French forces in Mali two weeks ago. Brittany-born Gilles Le Guen was suspected of taking part in the attack on an Algerian gas plant in January.
A French marine-turned-jihadist from Brittany was flown into Paris on Tuesday morning after being captured by French forces in the Malian city of Timbuktu. Gilles Le Guen, who goes by the name of Abdel Jelil, was initially suspected of taking part in an attack on the Algerian In Amenas gas plant in January. But his involvement in the deadly hostage crisis has since been ruled out.
Believed to have joined Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) after moving to Mali with his family, 58-year-old Le Guen said in October he was following in the footsteps of Osama bin Laden.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
France: ‘Carlos the Jackal’ Appeals Life Sentence in Paris Court
Venezuelan-born terrorist Ilich Ramirez Sanchez, best known as ‘Carlos the Jackal,’ returned to a Paris court on Monday to appeal against his 2011 conviction for a string of deadly bombings in France during the 1980s.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Germany: Three Moslems to a Christian in a Heidelberg Streetcar: “We Will Exterminate All of You”
Christian Christel Golze of Heidelberg was riding on her way home on streetcar line 3 headed from Bismarckplatz in the direction of Leimen. Three young men with long beards and embroidered caps on their heads climbed aboard. One told her when he saw the cross she was wearing on a chain around her neck: “We will annihilate all of you.”And: “We will exterminate all of you.” Another obliged: “You will all go to Hell if you don’t accept the law of Allah.” Christel made the scandal public by writing a letter to the editor of the Rhein-Neckar Zeitungnewspaper, which was also published there. In it she asked the question: “In what direction is this supposed to lead?” (Photo above: burning Christians in Egypt, one of the countries were Moslems have power and are showing the true face of Islam)
(By Michael Stürzenberger)
This question is more than justified. If the appeasing collaborators in politics, media, churches, unions and social clubs continue to roll out the red carpet to Islam without criticism, then this country will have eliminated itself within a few decades according to Sarrazin’s line of argument. That which Christel had to hear from the Moslems is something we have had forced in our ears in similar fashion for a year and a half at our rallies in the streets of the Bavarian capital. With one small exception:…
| — Hat tip: Steen | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Arab Community Offended by Boccassini’s ‘Oriental’ Remark
Comai president asks for prosecutor to apologize
(see related)(ANSA) — Rome, May 13 — Italy’s Arab Community (Comai) expressed indignation on Monday over prosecutor Ilda Boccassini’s description of the Moroccan woman at the centre of a sex trial against ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi as having “oriental cunning”.
“Let’s leave the prestigious Arab and Oriental civilizations out of Italian trials,” Comai President Foad Aodi said.
Aodi made a statement to the press after receiving “numerous calls from outraged Arab citizens”.
“We were flabbergasted by her out-of-line statements regarding the Arab and Islamic world, and non-European foreigners,” Aodi said.
“The actions of one Arab do not constitute the actions of all,” he said.
“We appreciate Boccassini’s competence…but ask for an apology,” Aodi said.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Berlusconi Friends Denounce Prosecution’s Case in Sex Trial
Ex-premier faces six years in jail
(ANSA) — Rome, May 13 — Associates of ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi reacted quickly and angrily Monday after a prosecutor called for a six-year prison sentence on charges of having sex with a minor and abuse of office.
The defence in the case against Berlusconi, who is accused of having sex with the exotic dancer known as Ruby and abusing his influence to cover it up, will present its side on June 3.
A court ruling is expected on June 24. But the politician’s friends immediately denounced Milan prosecutor Ilda Boccassini’s words and case as mere slander.
“The words and tone used by the prosecutor Boccassini are proof of prejudice against Berlusconi, and intolerable political persecution,” said Senator Altero Matteoli.
Berlusconi used his ownership of Mediaset’s Canale 5 to air a television special one day earlier about his legal woes and complaints that he is being persecuted by a left-wing judiciary.
Daniele Capezzone, chairman of the House finance committee and a member of Berlusconi’s People of Freedom (PdL) party, called the prosecutor’s comments “absurd and surreal” and the case “absolutely fragile and inconsistent”.
Besides the jail term, Boccassini also called for a lifetime ban against Berlusconi holding public office. Berlusconi is charged with allegedly having sex with Karima El Mahroug, better known as Ruby, while she was under the legal age of 18, and allegedly abusing his position as premier to spring her from a police station on an unrelated theft claim.
Berlusconi and Ruby deny having sex, but Boccassini told the court there was “no doubt” Ruby was a prostitute and had had sex with Berlusconi.
Berlusconi’s defence lawyer Nicolo Ghedini said the request for a six-year combined jail term for the ex-premier was “very high, especially when compared to the historical precedent”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Grillo Says MPs Who Dip Into Govt Expense Fund Are Out
‘You remove yourself’ from the 5-Star Movement
(ANSA) — Rome, May 13 — The leader of the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement on Monday said that any of his MPs who use money from their government-provided expense accounts will be expelled from the party. “He or she removes himself (automatically from the party),” said Beppe Grillo on his blog. MPs are granted approximately 3,500 euros every month to reimburse their travel, food and other expenses, in addition to roughly 5,000 euros in monthly salary. Grillo’s party members ran on an anti-waste platform, renouncing any government campaign financing and extras once in office. Since claiming about 25% of the vote in February national elections, several MPs have reneged.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Third Victim of Migrant’s Pickaxe Rampage Dies
Ermanno Masini was walking dog when attacked
(ANSA) — Milan, May 14 — A pensioner died in hospital on Tuesday after being attacked with a pickaxe by a Ghanian migrant in Milan last weekend, taking the death toll of the rampage up to three. Ermanno Masini, 64, was walking his dog when he was attacked by Mada ‘Adam’ Kabobo early on Saturday.
Alessandro Carole’, an unemployed 40-year-old who was attacked outside a cafe, was killed on Saturday and 21-year-old Daniele Carella was declared brain dead on Monday after being targeted too.
Two other people were injured in Kabobo’s hour-long string of attacks in Milan before he was stopped by police.
Kabobo reportedly suffered from mental problems and told police “I never sleep”.
The Ghanian, who has a criminal record, came to Italy illegally in 2011 and was later served an expulsion order but this was suspended pending his appeal.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: M5S Leader Critical of Napolitano’s Second Mandate
(AGI) — Barletta, May 14 — At an electioneering rally in Barletta on Tuesday, 5-Star Movement leader Beppe Grillo criticised the Italian President and the Democratic Party. With Napolitano’s presidency extended a further seven years in April, Grillo said “a 14-year mandate is unheard of even in South America.” As for the Democratic Party and its resigned leader Pier Luigi Bersani’s attempts at a coalition government with the M5S movement, Grillo said “there never was scope for an agreement: we were never even asked. Those people are just too stuck up.” .
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Interior Minister Says Val Susa Riots Potentially ‘Deadly’
(AGI) Turin — At close of Tuesday’s security summit, minister Alfano said Val Susa anti-rail protests “could have killed someone” .
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Mysterious Minoans Were European, DNA Finds
The Minoans, the builders of Europe’s first advanced civilization, really were European, new research suggests.
The conclusion, published today (May 14) in the journal Nature Communications, was drawn by comparing DNA from 4,000-year-old Minoan skeletons with genetic material from people living throughout Europe and Africa in the past and today.
“We now know that the founders of the first advanced European civilization were European,” said study co-author George Stamatoyannopoulos, a human geneticist at the University of Washington. “They were very similar to Neolithic Europeans and very similar to present day-Cretans,” residents of the Mediterranean island of Crete.
While that may sound intuitive, the findings challenge a long-held theory that the ancient Minoans came from Egypt.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
The New Sick Man of Europe: The European Union
French Dispirited; Attitudes Diverge Sharply from Germans
Released: May 13, 2013
Overview
The European Union is the new sick man of Europe. The effort over the past half century to create a more united Europe is now the principal casualty of the euro crisis. The European project now stands in disrepute across much of Europe…
| — Hat tip: TV | [Return to headlines] |
The Victorians Were Smarter Than Us, Study Suggests
The Victorians achieved so much because they were cleverer than us, a new study suggests.
Reaction times — a reliable marker of general intelligence — have declined steadily since the Victorian era from about 183 milliseconds to 250ms in men, and from 187ms to 277ms in women.
The slowing of our reflexes points to a decrease in general intelligence equivalent to 1.23 IQ points per decade since the 1880s or about 14 IQ points overall, researchers said.
Actual IQ scores from different decades cannot be directly compared because people today enjoy better teaching, health and nutrition which would help improve their results, the scientists explained.
But the reaction times signify that the genetic component of general intelligence — which leads to the type of creativity and invention typical of the Victorian era — has been dwindling over the past century.
Dr Michael Woodley, who led the study published in the Intelligence journal this month, identified the trend by comparing reaction times from trials conducted by Victorian scientists against those carried out in recent decades.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
U. S. Soldiers in Sicily Following Bilateral Agreement
(AGI) — Rome, May 14 — The presence of American soldiers at the Sigonella base in Sicily was decided in a bilateral agreement between Italy and the U.S. which also established the numbers to be deployed and the mission to be accomplished, the Italian Minstry of Defence said on Tuesday. “The activities that have been carried out are part of the measures taken to ensure the safety of the diplomatic staff and the Americans present in Libya after the 11 September attack on the American consulate in Benghazi,” a Ministry statement said.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
[WARNING: ** Disturbing Content ***]
Catastrophic failings by police and social services allowed a child sex ring to sexually torture girls as young as 11 for eight years.
Victims repeatedly told officers they had been raped or abused by the vicious and ‘medieval’ predators — but no action was taken.
Last night — after the abusers were convicted at the Old Bailey — the police and social services apologised for failing to answer the girls’ desperate pleas for help.
The gang groomed more than 50 vulnerable youngsters before selling them for sex around the country.
They used knives, cleavers and baseball bats to inflict severe pain on the girls for their twisted pleasure.
But a catalogue of golden opportunities to stop the abuse were missed from as early as May 2005.
Astonishingly, carers at the children’s homes — which were run by Oxfordshire County Council — just watched as the men collected the girls at night.
On one occasion, a manager refused to pay a 14-year-old victim’s taxi fare when she returned to her care home. The girl was then driven back to Oxford where she was raped.
Nine out of ten social workers in Oxford knew that girls were being groomed by Asian men, a school support worker told the court. Five girls were abused while in the care of county council social services.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Now White Widow is Connected to British-Born Al Qaeda Bomb Maker
Fugitive wife of 7/7 terrorist was key link between Pakistan and East African extremists
The fugitive ‘white widow’ of a 7/7 London bomber was a key link between Al Qaeda terrorists in Pakistan and their fighters in East Africa, it has emerged.
Muslim convert Samantha Lewthwaite, who was married to Kings Cross bomber Germaine Lindsay, spent two years working for the deadly extremist organisation in South Africa using a false name.
Investigators in Britain and Kenya have now established that the Home Counties mother-of-four has been working with a key British-born bomb maker who had trained with Al Qaeda in Pakistan.
Lewthwaite’s role was to channel money raised in the UK and elsewhere to terror cells in Somalia.
A security source said: ‘We are now clearer about the role Lewthwaite has been playing for Al Qaeda and her links with this bomb maker.
‘She seems to have spent two years building up a network that spans the UK, South Africa, Pakistan and Somalia.’
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
[WARNING: ** Disturbing Content **]
A wealthy businessman died after armed burglars kicked and punched his face and body so hard that he had a heart attack, a jury heard today.
Edward Syrad, 64, was tied up and beaten by two burglars wearing balaclavas who threatened him at gunpoint and demanded the keys to his safe, it was claimed.
The Old Bailey heard that the ‘fear, physical exertion or pain’ Mr Syrad experienced caused a fatal heart attack.
Gezim Delijah, 41, denies the manslaughter of Mr Syrad. His fingerprints were allegedly found on the tape used to bind Mr Syrad.
Mr Delijah, from Albania, is alleged to have tied up and blindfolded Anne Syrad as they ransacked the home.
Mrs Syrad identified Delijah, who is from Albania, by his Eastern European accent, the court heard.
The other man, who spoke with an Irish accent, has not been traced. The burglars stole money from the couple’s safe.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
On May 8, the House Oversight Committee began hearings on the Benghazi raid that killed 4 Americans, including Ambassador Chris Stevens. As usual, the highly paid talk show hosts like Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity have an incomplete picture of what was happening and why, describing the situation simply in terms of the Obama administration trying to coverup a foreign affairs debacle.
What really was happening was a continuation of a long-range plan by certain members of the Power Elite (PE) for world control. One of the PE’s favorite tactics is the use of dialectics, and in this case it involved the alleged “good Al-Qaeda” (e.g., like the Kosovo Liberation Army which was helped by Osama bin Laden, then trained and armed in Albania by the CIA) as opposed to the “bad Al-Qaeda” (e.g., Osama bin Ladin’s mujahedin in Afghanistan).
The “good Al-Qaeda” in Libya were members of an Al-Qaeda affiliate called Ansar al-Sharia (means supporters of sharia Islamic law) who were a major part of the rebel opposition (supported by the U.S./NATO) to Moammar Gadhafi’s rule there. As I have written before, with the ouster of Gadhafi, important members of Al-Qaeda hold key positions in the current Libyan government. The Obama administration’s view that Ansar al-Sharia wasn’t a threat to us (because the U.S. had helped overthrow Gadhafi) allowed our government to pay the February 17th Martyrs Brigade, which had publicly known sympathies for Ansar al-Sharia, to help provide security for the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi. This is despite the fact that there were numerous reports the Brigade “had been implicated in the kidnapping of American citizens as well as threats against U.S. military assets” (see April 23 House Republicans interim report). The House Oversight Committee hearings are revealing what could be called a coverup by the Obama administration of its lack of defense of our mission in Benghazi and the disaster and deaths that resulted.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Exclusive: Joseph Farah Explains Why Benghazi Matters
Why did the Obama administration’s talking points on the Benghazi massacre change 12 times?
And why did former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in her sworn testimony to congressional investigators show such contempt for accountability, such indifference to human suffering and such arrogance of leadership by asking the reprehensible and insulting question “What difference does it make?”
It’s been eight months since those terror attacks in Benghazi — and the Obama administration is still stonewalling the truth.
But, as Rep. Trey Gowdy noted this week, “There’s no statute of limitations on the truth.”
Neither is there any statute of limitations on coldblooded murder.
Nor is there any statute of limitations on accessory to coldblooded murder.
Nor is there any statute of limitations to negligence that leads to coldblooded murder.
That’s why Benghazi matters.
[…]
It now appears that Benghazi was another “Fast and Furious” scandal on the international stage.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Netanyahu: We Will Limit Defence Cuts
After meeting with military, security standards guaranteed
(ANSAmed) — JERUSALEM, MAY 13 — Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu on Monday said defence cuts will be limited.
Netanyahu was referring to a government debate today on a 2013-2014 draft budget by Finance Minister and centrist leader Yair Lapid providing for cuts of around 800 million euros for the defence alone. Military leaders in a meeting Sunday asked Netanyahu, Defence Minister Moche Yaloon and Lapid to soften the austerity measures.
The premier on Monday said military expenses would be cut for around one billion shekel, 200 million euros in order to guarantee the army sufficiently high standards to protect the country and its borders amid a regional crisis. The reduction of cuts will not fall on the tax payer, Netanyahu guaranteed.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italian Special Envoy Arrives in India to Follow Marines
Envoy confirmed by Italy’s right-left government
(ANSA) — New Delhi, May 13 — Italian Special Envoy Staffan de Mistura arrived in New Delhi on Monday to follow the case of two Italian anti-pirate marines accused of killing two Indian fishermen, diplomatic sources told ANSA.
De Mistura was confirmed to continue his post by the newly formed Italian government on May 3 to deal with the drawn-out affair that has put Italy and India at loggerheads.
De Mistura escorted the marines, Massimiliano Latorre and Salvatore Girone, to New Delhi in March, at the end of their leave home to vote in Italian elections. De Mistura met with Indian Foreign Minister Salman Khurshid at that time.
Latorre and Girone are currently waiting for a new investigation to be completed by India’s NIA anti-terrorism police, assigned to the task by the Indian government over a month ago.
Latorre and Girone face charges of shooting and killing Valentine (aka Gelastine) and Ajesh Binki after allegedly mistaking them for pirates while guarding a merchant ship off the Kerala coast in February 2012.
The two countries have been in a diplomatic impasse and relations have been tense since the incident.
Italy has contested India’s claim that it has jurisdiction over the case, arguing that the deaths occurred in international waters.
But Rome agreed to send the pair back to India after home leave to vote when India said they would not face the death penalty.
At the height of the spat, when Italy reneged on a pledge to return the marines, India stopped the Italian ambassador leaving the country and the BRICS nations were said to be considering sanctions.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
State of Emergency Declared in North-East Nigeria
(AGI) — Abuja, may 14 — Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan declared a state of emergency on Tuesday in the north-eastern Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states. The announcement came with the dispatch of additional troops to the region to tackle Boko Haram jihadists.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Disgusted ICE Agent Faces Down ‘Gang of Eight’ In Dramatic Senate Testimony (Video)
Last week, ICE union chief Chris Crane won a stunning initial court victory in his lawsuit against the Obama Administration. As we reported, Federal Judge Federal Judge Reed O’Connor told the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that they had no power to refuse to deport illegal aliens, and that he was likely to strike down Obama’s virtual “DACA” amnesty for millions of illegal aliens. The ruling stunned Washington, and Crane’s lawsuit could derail Obama’s four-year effort to undermine immigration enforcement nationwide.
In Senate testimony (video below), President of the National Immigration and Customs Enforcement Council Crane slammed the Obama administration and the Senate’s Gang of Eight for including advocates for illegal aliens, but excluding law enforcement from providing input on the new ‘immigration reform’ legislation.
Crane testified before the Senate expressing his disgust that law enforcement was shut out of the negotiations on immigration reform. Crane was sitting right next to National Council of La Raza (“The Race”) president Janet Murguia when he made his comments. La Raza — a racist intimidation group originally funded by the Mexican Government — was outrageously welcomed to help write the immigration bill, while law enforcement agents were shunned.
Crane recounted to the Judiciary Committee how he was physically escorted out of a Gang of Eight press conference last week and “spoken to with anger and disrespect.”
“Never before have I seen such contempt for law enforcement officers as what I’ve seen from the Gang of Eight,” he said.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Chris Crane, president of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers union, spoke to radio host Mark Levin, and unleashed two bombshells that should outrage all Americans.
First, that Obama is “cooking the books” on his so-called “record” deportation numbers — inflating them by up to 50%, by Crane’s estimate.
And perhaps most shocking, Crane revealed that the race-baiting pressure group La Raza is effectively “running” ICE — forcing agents to stop enforcing the law against illegal aliens nationwide.
Crane revealed these stunning facts to a disgusted Levin on his radio show Thursday night (audio below).
Crane is suing his own bosses at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in a landmark case, Crane v. Napolitano, to try and halt the Administration’s orders to ICE agents to stop enforcement of Federal immigration laws.
On April 24, Crane — who represents 7,200 agents nationwide — won a stunning initial court victory in his lawsuit against the Obama Administration. As SWA reported at the time, Federal Judge Federal Judge Reed O’Connor told DHS that they had no power to refuse to deport illegal aliens, and that he was likely to strike down Obama’s virtual “DACA” amnesty for millions of illegal aliens. The ruling shocked the Washington establishment, and Crane’s lawsuit (you can donate here) could derail Obama’s four-year effort to undermine immigration enforcement nationwide.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Migrant’s Pickaxe Rampage Sparks Storm
Forza Nuova in ‘Immigration Kills’ Web campaign
(ANSA) — Rome, May 13 — A Ghanaian migrant’s pickaxe killing spree in Milan has sparked a storm in Italy amid proposals from Italy’s first black minister to change immigration laws. Mada ‘Adam’ Kabobo, an undocumented immigrant, killed two men and injured three others in an hour-long string of attacks in Milan Saturday before being stopped by police.
Kabobo reportedly suffered from mental problems and told police “I never sleep”.
The 21-year-old came to Italy illegally in 2011 and was later served an expulsion order but this was suspended pending his appeal.
According to data published by the Italian media Monday, only one in four expulsion orders are actually carried out under a so-called ‘security package’ sponsored by the anti-immigrant Northern League in 2009.
From July 2009 to the end of 2010, La Repubblica daily said, there were only 12 convictions for the crime of illegal immigration put on the books by the Northern League 11 years ago. The League and others on the right complain that the law is not being applied while migrant lobbies and the centre-left complain that the government is however able to hold migrants for up to 18 months, depriving them of civil rights, in new identification and expulsion centres (CIEs) which replaced processing centres three years ago.
There have been several riots by detained migrants demanding rights and protesting degraded conditions. International observers have condemned the CIEs and on Monday an Italian NGO, Doctors for Human Rights, called for them to be closed because “they are inadequate, offend human dignity and do not combat illegal immigration”. In an interview with La Repubblica Monday, Northern League leader and former interior minister Roberto Maroni said Congo-born Integration Minister Cecile Kyenge had been “wrong” to talk about repealing the law, however.
He argued that this would send the wrong message to migrants and people traffickers and spark a fresh wave of arrivals from North Africa.
Maroni said Kyenge’s assertion that children born to legal immigrants in Italy should be granted citizenship rights would also swell the flow, which had eased after war and turmoil in Libya and Morocco.
However, he said Kyenge’s stances “should not in any way be linked” to Saturday’s spree.
Members of the Northern League demonstrated in Milan Sunday, claiming that Kabobo’s actions were linked to a wider softening of controls on migrants.
But local residents and the victims’ relatives slammed the League for “exploiting an isolated case”. On Monday the far-right Forza Nuova party launched an Internet campaign called ‘Immigration Kills’, referring to Kabobo and the recent rape and murder of a young woman by a Senegalese migrant in Livorno. The campaign warned against Kyenge’s proposed reforms. The recent acts “nail proponents of immigration reform to their responsibilities…and provide dramatic reasons against its applicability,” the group said on its site.
Ablaye Ndoye, a Senegalese national, was arrested on May 3 for suspicion of raping and murdering 19-year-old Ilaria Leone, found strangled to death outside the port city of Livorno.
Kyenge has received a spate of racist insults since her appointment.
“Shoot Minister Kyenge, not Carabinieri” and “Minister Kyenge, f**k off” were found daubed on walls in the Tuscan city of Pistoia, signed by Forza Nuova supporters.
The first taunt referred to a man who shot two Carabinieri outside the premier’s office while Democratic Party (PD) deputy head Enrico Letta’s new left-right government was being sworn in nearby.
On Thursday Forza Nuova party hung a banner outside the PD offices in the Marche city of Macerata that read: “Kyenge go back to Congo”.
Italian prosecutors have opened a probe into online abuse directed at PD member Kyenge, a doctor who was born in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
As well as anonymous attacks on the Internet, the 48-year-old Kyenge was also targeted by a senior member of the League who has been prominent in anti-migrant protests.
League MEP Mario Borghezio called Letta’s new executive a “bonga bonga government” and claimed Kyenge would seek to “impose her tribal traditions from the Congo”.
An online petition has been launched calling for Borghezio to be ousted from the European Parliament.
The abuse against Kyenge has prompted debate about whether Italy is a racist country.
AC Milan’s Ghanaian-Italian striker Mario Balotelli has said he is glad to be one of the public faces of Kyenge’s efforts.
Italy striker Balotelli, who became Italian on his 18th birthday under the current law, was subjected to his latest volley of racist taunts during Sunday’s 0-0 draw against AS Roma.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Northern League Bigwig Says Kyenge ‘Instigating Criminality’
Minister targeted again after pickaxe murder by immigrant
(ANSA) — Milan, May 14 — Integration Minister Cecile Kyenge, Italy’s first black minister, is “instigating criminality” by proposing that illegal immigration no longer be considered a crime, Northern League bigwig Matteo Salvini, said on Tuesday.
Salvini, head of the League in Lombardy, in an interview with Tgcom24 TV news program referred to the pickaxe murders by Ghanian migrant Mada ‘Adam’ Kabobo in Milan last weekend that left three people dead.
“In Ghana there is the death penalty for these kinds of crimes. I am against it, but I hope that Kabobo spends the rest of his days in jail…and not here so it doesn’t cost us public money,” Salvini said.
Kyenge said during a RAI3 news talk show on Sunday that she will work on repealing the Bossi-Fini law passed during ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi’s administration making clandestine immigration a crime.
“It is one thing to improve on the Bossi-Fini law to make it more efficient, and another thing to shred it,” Salvini said.
“What would happen in Milan alone, with 50,000 illegal immigrants, if a minister let on that it was OK to be clandestine without repercussions?”, Salvini said. Since her swearing-in, Salvini has attacked Kyenge several times, saying that “having a former illegal immigrant as a minister can only happen in Italy, and it’s making a laughing stock of us”.
Kyenge, 48, was born in Congo and moved to Italy three decades ago to study medicine.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Labour sent out ‘search parties’ for immigrants to get them to come to the UK, Lord Mandelson has admitted.
In a stunning confirmation that the Blair and Brown governments deliberately engineered mass immigration, the former Cabinet Minister and spin doctor said New Labour sought out foreign workers.
He also conceded that the influx of arrivals meant the party’s traditional supporters are now unable to find work.
By contrast, Labour leader Ed Miliband has said his party got it wrong on immigration but has refused to admit it was too high under Labour.
Between 1997 and 2010, net migration to Britain totalled more than 2.2million, more than twice the population of Birmingham.
The annual net figure quadrupled under Labour from 48,000 people in 1997 to 198,000 by 2009.
Lord Mandelson’s remarks come three years after Labour officials denied claims by former adviser Andrew Neather that they deliberately encouraged immigration in order to change the make-up of Britain.
Mr Neather said the policy was designed to ‘rub the Right’s nose in diversity’.
He said there was ‘a driving political purpose: that mass immigration was the way that the Government was going to make the UK truly multicultural’.
Senior Labour figures have been reluctant to concede they deliberately engineered the influx of migrants who have transformed communities over the past decade.
But, at a rally for the Blairite think-tank Progress, Lord Mandelson said: ‘In 2004 when as a Labour government, we were not only welcoming people to come into this country to work, we were sending out search parties for people and encouraging them, in some cases, to take up work in this country.’
He said: ‘The problem has grown during the period of economic stagnation over the last five, six years.’
When Labour encouraged new arrivals ‘we were almost … a full employment economy’ but, he admitted: ‘The situation is different obviously now.
‘We have to just realise… entry to the labour market of many people of non-British origin is hard for people who are finding it very difficult to find jobs, who find it hard to keep jobs.
‘For these people immigration tends to loom large in their lives and in their worlds, now that is an inescapable fact, and we have to understand it, address it, engage with people in discussion about it.’
His words are far franker than Mr Miliband’s. Asked earlier this month whether ‘too many people were allowed to come’, he replied: ‘I wouldn’t put it that way, no.’…
| — Hat tip: Steen | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: House Extends Health Cover to Gay MPs’ Partners
‘Same should happen in Senate’ says Lo Giudice
(ANSA) — Rome, May 14 — The House on Tuesday approved a new rule which allows gay MPs’ health benefits to be extended to their partners.
The decision follows a request by a center-left Democratic Party (PD) member of parliament, Ivan Scalfarotto.
The issue had already been put under the consideration of the previous parliament, by then MP Anna Paola Concia, but a decision was never reached.
Alessandro Zan, a deputy with the left-wing SEL party, said the decision to change the rules was “very positive” as it “annuls an unjustified discrimination in regards to gay and lesbian parliamentarians who request it”.
Zan used the decision to call for wider application of the principle to all gay and lesbian couples in Italy.
“This is an important decision because it sanctions a principle of equality. That same principle which has to be extended to everyone and which explains why it is urgent to have laws on gay couples,” Zan said.
“This right can’t be only a privilege for MPs. There are many gay and lesbian couples who are waiting for rights”.
Other MPs agreed with the need to extend the law to Italians more broadly as well as to the Senate.
Sergio Lo Giudice, a Senator with the PD, said “Now I expect that the same will happen in the Senate, where I requested that my health coverage be extended also to my husband Michele.
“Today’s decision has to become a reference point for the approval of a law which recognizes equal rights to same-sex couples, as requested to the Parliament by the Constitutional Court”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Manipulating Students — Reward and Punishment
“ I could make a pigeon a high achiever by reinforcing it on a proper schedule.” B. F. Skinner
What are Common Core Standards? What is Mastery Learning or Competency Based Education also known as Outcome Based Education, OBE? What happens when you combine the standards with the process? There is a school of thought that presumes all children can learn if they are provided with the appropriate learning conditions. Learning for mastery or mastery learning are terms coined by Benjamin Bloom in 1968 and 1971 respectively. Bloom hypothesized that a classroom with a mastery learning focus as opposed to the traditional form of instruction would reduce the achievement gaps between varying groups of students (Guskey 2007). What is true is that biology is biology. Everyone is different & the only way to reduce achievement gaps is to lower standards & eliminate the time it takes for All students to meet the standards. With “conventional instruction”, there is recognition of individual differences & intelligence.
The individualized computerized concept of mastery learning “uses conditioning,” (reward & punishment) manipulating students to master the below standard, standards in this unnatural process. Only the standards will be taught & tested. Traditional education is opportunity, mastery learning is a controlled environment. Mastery learning has little to do with specific content, but rather is a description of the process of mastering particular learning objectives.
This approach is based on Benjamin Bloom’s Mastery for Learning model, with refinements made by Block. Mastery learning may be implemented as teacher-paced group instruction, one-to-one tutoring, or self-paced learning with programmed materials using direct teacher instruction or computerized models. It requires well-defined learning objectives organized into smaller, sequentially organized units, otherwise known lately as Common Core Standards. Individualized, computerized instruction is a perfect partner used with mastery learning. The computer is a perfect programmed teacher to reach a perfect controlled goal.
The concept of mastery learning can be attributed to the behaviorism principles of Skinner’s operant conditioning.
According to operant conditioning theory, learning occurs when an association is formed between a stimulus and response (Skinner, 1984). In line with the behavior theory, mastery learning focuses on overt behaviors that can be observed and measured (Baum, 2005). The material that will be taught to mastery is broken down into small discrete lessons that follow a logical progression. In order to demonstrate mastery over each lesson, students must be able to show evidence of learning the material before moving to the next lesson (Anderson, 2000). Just think of constant reinforcements like bells, pop-ups, & errors made by students on computers. This is operant conditioning.
[…]
“Skinner may dispense with ideas of freedom & dignity to arrive at a theory valid for explaining studies of reward in animals & children. A theory that ignores freedom & dignity in the learning process leads to the practice of constructing “teacher proof” materials. It also leads to kits designed to be “student proof,” that is, to modify the student’s behavior without his understanding or assent to the theory and methods applied to him.” Lawrence Kohlberg in the Foreword to “Promoting Moral Growth from Piaget to Kohlberg,” Hershey, Paolitto, Reimer 1979, about Skinnarian techniques.
[Comment: A MUST READ for ALL Americans; Commie Corps = the DELIBERATE dumbing down and conditioning of children.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
How to Spot a Murderer’s Brain
Do your genes, rather than upbringing, determine whether you will become a criminal? Adrian Raine believed so — and breaking that taboo put him on collision course with the world of science
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
UN Urges Westerners to Learn to Love Edible Insects
Western countries should try to come to terms with edible insects, which can help feed a growing world population and ease the burden on overstretched resources, a United Nations report published on Monday said.
Western countries should temper their disdain for eating insects and boost research into using them to feed livestock as resources come under increasing strain, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said on Monday.
Current food production will need almost to double by 2050 as the world’s population surges to around 9 billion, the FAO said in a report, adding that nearly 1 billion people already are chronically hungry. Eating insects can help tackle hunger and ease the strain on scarce land and overfished oceans, according to the report, whose title is “Edible Insects — future prospects for food and feed security”.
“Alternative solutions to conventional livestock and feed sources urgently need to be found,” the report said. Yet in Western countries, people tend to view eating insects “with disgust”.
“Western societies require tailored media communication strategies and educational programmes that address that disgust factor,” the report continued, adding that such cultural aversion has meant insects have been neglected in agricultural research.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
@ UK: Missed Chances to Halt Sex Gang: Police and Social Workers Apologise to Girls Tortured by ‘Medieval’ Predators.
Ya, I am pretty sure its a lot of comfort to the rape victims!
How about a foot in the a** for those stupid m*****f*****s and 5 – 10 years in jail for neglect?