Gates of Vienna News Feed 6/27/2013

A suicide bomber blew himself up outside a Greek Orthodox cathedral in central Damascus today, killing at least four people. No group has as yet claimed responsibility for the attack.

In other news, the Irish economy contracted during the first quarter of 2013, plunging the country back into recession. Meanwhile, the U.S. Senate passed the “Gang of Eight”’s amnesty immigration reform bill by a margin of 68-32 in a strongly bipartisan vote.

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

Thanks to C. Cantoni, Fjordman, Insubria, JD, JP, McR, Takuan Seiyo, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.

Notice to tipsters: Please don’t submit extensive excerpts from articles that have been posted behind a subscription firewall, or are otherwise under copyright protection.

Caveat: Articles in the news feed are posted “as is”. Gates of Vienna cannot vouch for the authenticity or accuracy of the contents of any individual item posted here. We check each entry to make sure it is relatively interesting, not patently offensive, and at least superficially plausible. The link to the original is included with each item’s title. Further research and verification are left to the reader.

Financial Crisis
» Audit Court Says Tax Burden in Italy Has Climbed to 44%
» Ireland’s Economy Lurches Back Into Recession
» Italian Retail Sales Mark 10th Consecutive Annual Drop
» Italy: Rewards for Beating Deficit Procedure ‘Next Year’ Says Letta
» Italy Could Access Four Billion in Untapped EU Funds
» Italy: Audit Court Warns Austerity is Damaging Economy
» Most Young Italians Use Friends, Family to Seek Work
» Portugal Hit by Anti-Austerity General Strike
 
USA
» 26% of Obama Supporters View Tea Party as Nation’s Top Terror Threat
» America Has Ceased to be Great or Good
» America’s Destiny Still in the Hands of the People
» Boston Marathon Bombing Suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev Indicted on 30 Counts
» California Man Faces 13 Years in Jail for Scribbling Anti-Bank Messages in Chalk
» Family of Boy: 13, Who Was Bound With Duct Tape and Sodomized With a Pencil on School Wrestling Trip is Victimized by Town After Reporting Crime
» First Independence Day for America Under Obama’s Fundamental Transformation of America
» GM Cabbage With Scorpion Poison Coming Soon
» Here Are All 27 NFL Players Who Have Been Arrested Since the Super Bowl
» How Did the Universe Get Its Stars? An Astronomical Puzzle
» Liberals Eating Crow: The IRS Did Not Target Progressives
» Now From the Makers of the Deadly Cervical Cancer Vaccine: An Mrsa Superbug Jab in the Works
» Obama’s Eco-Assault on America
» Overprotection May be Hampering Hunt for Mars Life
» Pretended Legislation Through Assault
» Small Town Cop Throws Tantrum in Response to Knowledgable Citizen (Video)
» Snowden Circus a Huge Distraction From World War 3?
» The Public Doesn’t Believe the NSA … Knows What’s Really Going on With Mass Spying
» Why Didn’t Snowden Go Through “Proper Channels” To Blow the Whistle?
» Woops! Obama Ordered Gun Report Reveals Guns Actually Save Lives
» Zoning Laws, Conservation Easements, And the Right to Your Land
 
Europe and the EU
» As Thorium Tests Begin in Norway, The Nuclear Industry Watches Closely
» Inequality: Italy Leads Growing Trend in Europe
» Italy: Berlusconi Supporters to Protest Over Sex Conviction
» Italy: Berlusconi Party Moves to Rejig Justice System
» Italy: Ministry Fund Officers Under Investigation
» Italy: Gondoliers ‘Haze’ Applicant, Strips and Jumps in Lagoon
» Italy: Man Busted for 9 Million Euros in Unclaimed Earnings
» Music: Matala Beach Festival in Crete Remembers Hippies
» Netherlands: Civil Service Urine Used to Make the Grass Grow Greener
» Oldest Animal Genome is Sequenced From Horse Bone
» UK Bans Thought Criminals for Criticizing Extremist Islam
» UK: Anti-Ground Zero Mosque Campaigners Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer Barred From Entering Britain to Speak at an EDL Rally
» UK: Kate Middleton’s and Prince William’s Fury at President Obama’s Bugging of Royal Phones
» UK: Operation Bullfinch: Sentencing: Day 2, Thursday, June 27
 
Balkans
» Albanian PM Concedes Election Defeat, Resigns Party Boss
 
North Africa
» Egypt: Opposition Even More Determined After Morsi Speech
» Egypt’s Rural Areas Turn Against Mohamed Morsi, A President on “Another Planet”
» Morocco Opens Adoption to Foreigners Again
 
Israel and the Palestinians
» McDonald’s Won’t Open in Ariel, Sparks Settler Protest
» Turkish Premier Erdogan to Vist Gaza on 5 July
 
Middle East
» CIA Plans August Offensive in Syria
» Ex-Terrorist: Al-Qaeda in Syria Being Led by CIA
» Lawmakers Seek to Stop Obama Arming Terrorists in Syria
» Saudi Police Stop Wedding in Park
» Syria: Suicide Bomber Kills Four in Damascus Christian Area
» Syria: Attack on Greek Orthodox Cathedral in Damascus Leaves at Least Four People Dead
 
Russia
» Pipeline Connecting Europe to Russia Set to Begin
 
South Asia
» Obama Administration to Suspend Trade Privileges With Bangladesh, Officials Say
» Uzbekistan: Court Ignores UN Appeals, Jails Muslim Man for “Extremism”
 
Latin America
» Brazil’s Massive Protest is a Citizens’ Revolt Against Big Government
 
Immigration
» Hidden Tariff on Americans in New Immigration Bill: Millions More Stand to Lose Their Jobs
» Italy: Two Arrested for Immigrant Trafficking
» Senate Passes Immigration Overhaul, 68-32
 
Culture Wars
» America’s Culture Wars Have Become a Culture Rout
» U.S. Gay-Marriage Rulings Praised and Chided in Italy
 

Audit Court Says Tax Burden in Italy Has Climbed to 44%

Reducing taxes difficult due to budget laws, spending needs

(ANSA) — Rome, June 27 — The tax burden in Italy has climbed as high as 44% and lowering it won’t be easy, the national Audit Court warned Thursday.

In its 2012 report on government finances, the court said the tax burden is rising, but “the possibility of a reduction is not easy,” given the range of pressures facing the government, said Rita Arrigoni of the Audit Court.

Those pressures include European deficit targets and well as mounting costs of social programs in Italy made worse by a deep recession that has slashed employment and consumer spending.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Ireland’s Economy Lurches Back Into Recession

Most measures of economic activity contracted in first quarter of 2013, CSO figures show

The Irish economy shrank in the first three months of the year, pushing the country back into recession, according to new figures from the Central Statistics Office.

Gross domestic product, the widest measure of economic activity, contracted by 0.6 per cent on the previous three- month period on a seasonally adjusted basis..

The decline was the third consecutive quarter of contraction in GDP, according to the new and revised figures. Economists define recession as two back-to-back quarterly falls in this measure of output.

The weakness was driven in part by one of the biggest quarterly declines in exports on record. In just three months, the volume of goods and services exports fell by 3.2 per cent. This reflects weak demand in export markets and raises questions about the extent to which the economy has regained competitiveness.

Domestic demand, a measure that excludes imports and exports, fell by 1.5 per cent, bring the domestic economy to a new post-crash low point.

This was driven by a sharp contraction in spending by consumers. A quarter-on-quarter decline of 3 per cent was recorded in the first three months of 2013. This took place despite a seasonally-adjusted increase in employment in the quarter and stable nominal incomes. As such, an increase in the proportion of income being saved is likely to have risen. Higher savings leads to lower spending, and hence lower consumption.

Among the few positive results was an increase in gross national product, a slightly narrower measure of output than GDP.

Sectorally, output increased in agriculture, industry and some services sectors, but fell in construction and public administration.

Statisticians also revised down their GDP figure for 2012 as a whole. They had believed that GDP grew by almost one per cent last year compared to 2011. The revised figure is a marginal increase of just 0.2 per cent.

Separate figures showing the balance of international payments show that the economy remained in surplus of almost €1.2 billion. It was the first time in many years that a surplus was recorded in the first quarter of the year.

These figures are not seasonally adjusted.

This is in line with trends in recent years when payments to the rest of the world for imported goods and services have declined while earnings from exports have risen.

The total foreign liabilities of all Irish residents, including companies and the Government, exceeded their foreign assets by €176 billion at the end of the first quarter of 2013, excluding the impact of Dublin’s international financial services centre.

           — Hat tip: McR [Return to headlines]
 

Italian Retail Sales Mark 10th Consecutive Annual Drop

Food sector fares worst, down 4.5%

(ANSA) — Rome, June 25 — Italian retail sales in April were down 0.1% from March and 2.9% on the year, marking the 10th consecutive annual drop, national statistics agency Istat reported Tuesday. The food sector suffered the worst in April, with sales dropping 0.7% since March and 4.5% on the year.

Italy is currently experiencing its deepest recession in two decades.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Rewards for Beating Deficit Procedure ‘Next Year’ Says Letta

‘More budget flexibility in store’

(ANSA) — Rome, June 25 — Premier Enrico Letta told the Lower House on Tuesday that benefits will surface next year following the closure of a European Commission-mandated excessive-deficit procedure against Italy. “The reward will come next year, in the 2014 budget,” he said. “We will no longer be under special surveillance and we will be able to have more flexibility than countries who have not met this goal”. Last month the European Commission recommended closing the procedure, which was opened in 2009. Rome has forecast that Italy’s deficit-GDP ratio will be 2.9% this year and coming in at 3% in 2012 after former premier Mario Monti’s emergency government passed big tax increases and spending cuts.

But the austerity measures deepened the country’s longest recession in over 20 years and and did not stop the country’s public debt-to-GDP ratio climbing — it is forecast to hit 132% this year.

The current administration has made stimulating growth and job-creation a central focal point.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy Could Access Four Billion in Untapped EU Funds

Cohesion funds could be used to fight youth unemployment

(ANSA) — Brussels, June 25 — Italy could access about four billion euros in so-far untapped European Union cohesion funds for the 2007-2013 period, EU sources told ANSA Tuesday. Premier Enrico Letta’s government is struggling to find money to finance many of its policy goals, so the EU funding could be very useful, especially for programs aimed at reducing Italy’s high rate of youth unemployment. As much as one billion more could be recovered for programs to fight the recession, including help for small and medium-sized businesses.

To date, of the 27.9 billion of EU cohesion policy funds available for Italy, approximately 17.5%, or five billion, have been used for programs that focus employment and development of human capital. About eight billion, or 27.4%, has been directed at small and mid-sized business.

Italian governments have been trying for years to better exploit EU funds.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Audit Court Warns Austerity is Damaging Economy

Reviews of Italian public spending to be postponed

(ANSA) — Rome, June 27 — Government spending cuts are depressing economic growth, Italy’s Audit Court warned Thursday.

It also said that in the face of the national economic crisis, it will “postpone” its review of spending by public agencies.

The 2012 program of budget cuts has improved the public books, but it has depressed economic growth for Italy, which is “already in difficulty and in deep recession,” said Salvatore Nottola, attorney general of the Audit Court.

“The future does not look better,” he added in a report on government cash flows for 2012.

The Audit Court has previously warned that austerity measures can be counterproductive by shrinking growth.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Most Young Italians Use Friends, Family to Seek Work

More than 75% turn to acquaintances for employment tips

(ANSA) — Rome, June 27 — The majority of young Italians looking for work, 77.6%, said that they do so through “friends, family and acquaintances,” the country’s statistics agency Istat said on Thursday.

The agency said that compared to 2008, that is 4% more who rely on word-of-mouth as a way to find employment.

Other job-hunting methods those surveyed said they turned to include sending out one’s CV (74.6%) and internet searches (62.2%).

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Portugal Hit by Anti-Austerity General Strike

(AGI) — Lisbon, Jun 27 — Portugal has been hit by a general strike called by the two main trade unions protesting the government’s austerity measures. This is the fourth general strike in two years. Transport, flights and hospitals are affected. Strikes came after the European Union “troika” began to re-examine the country’s accounts on Monday and the efficacy of reforms put in place. The new audit will end on July 15.

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

26% of Obama Supporters View Tea Party as Nation’s Top Terror Threat

Half of all voters consider radical Muslims the bigger terrorist threat facing the nation, but supporters of President Obama consider the Tea Party to be as big a danger.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 51% of Likely U.S. Voters consider radical Muslims to be the bigger threat to the United States today. Thirteen percent (13%) view the Tea Party that way, and another 13% consider other political and religious extremists to be the larger danger. Six percent (6%) point to local militia groups. Two percent (2%) see the Occupy Wall Street movement as the bigger terrorist threat. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

However, among those who approve of the president’s job performance, just 29% see radical Muslims as the bigger threat. Twenty-six percent (26%) say it’s the Tea Party that concerns them most. Among those who Strongly Approve of the president, more fear the Tea Party than radical Muslims.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

America Has Ceased to be Great or Good

As I listened to the convoluted legal gobbledygook passing for erudite Constitutional expertise from the United States Supreme Court as they attempted to justify same sex marriage, my mind was flooded with the haunting words of some of the great men of history.

I thought of Aristotle, who said, “Political society exists for the sake of noble living,” a sentiment chiseled into the edifice of many a public building, including the south face of the state capitol building in Lincoln, Nebraska.

I remembered the words of John Adams, our second president, who famously observed, “Our Constitution was designed for a moral and a religious people; it is wholly inadequate for the governing of any other.”

– From somewhere deep in my memory, I recalled the plea of Abraham Lincoln, who declared, “Freedom is not the right to do what we want, but what we ought. Let us have faith that right makes might, and in that faith, let us, to the end, dare to do our duty was we understand it.”

There were the eloquent but simple words of a wise Frenchman named Alexis de Tocqueville, who visited the United States in the 1830s and marveled at the genius of our system and the decency of our people. “America is great because America is good,” Tocqueville opined, “but if America ever ceases to be good, she will cease to be great.”

Author G.K. Chesterton wrote, “Fallacies do not cease to be fallacies because they become fashions.”

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

America’s Destiny Still in the Hands of the People

For more than a decade before the outbreak of American violence, tensions had been building between citizens of all races, creeds and color, and their federal authorities. Attempts by the federal government to raise revenue to pay for their mindless over-spending by legalizing illegal immigration, seizing control of all major private industry sectors and demonizing all dissenters as “potential terrorists,” threatening national sovereignty and security, met with heated protests among many citizens, who resented their lack of representation in Washington DC.

They demanded the same inalienable rights guaranteed them in their US Constitution and Bill of Rights. Despite many efforts to avoid violence by challenging the unconstitutional acts of the federal government in a corrupted judiciary and congress, citizen resistance eventually turned to violence, when federal troops opened fire on a mob of angry citizens, killing five protesters.

Although I adapted the above story to meet today’s circumstances, I originally copied most of the story from the historical account of the lead up to the first American Revolution. I did so to demonstrate that we have been here before… in the years 1775-1783, our Founding Fathers seized control of America’s destiny.

In 1775, it was the British government which had become tyrannical towards American citizens. Today, it is our own federal government which acts against the American people, beyond constitutional authority. Then, it was largely over taxation without representation. Today, the federal acts against freedom, liberty and all inalienable rights are far more egregious.

Yet, the future will once again be decided by the people, not the tyrants.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Boston Marathon Bombing Suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev Indicted on 30 Counts

A federal grand jury Thursday returned a 30-count indictment against Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the suspect in the April 15 Boston Marathon bombings.

The indictment detailed the 19-year-old’s interest in radical Islamist literature before the fatal explosions, as well as his attempts to justify the attacks in a series of messages he scrawled inside a dry-docked boat just before his capture.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

California Man Faces 13 Years in Jail for Scribbling Anti-Bank Messages in Chalk

Jeff Olson, the 40-year-old man who is being prosecuted for scrawling anti-megabank messages on sidewalks in water-soluble chalk last year now faces a 13-year jail sentence. A judge has barred his attorney from mentioning freedom of speech during trial.

According to the San Diego Reader, which reported on Tuesday that a judge had opted to prevent Olson’s attorney from “mentioning the First Amendment, free speech, free expression, public forum, expressive conduct, or political speech during the trial,” Olson must now stand trial for on 13 counts of vandalism.

In addition to possibly spending years in jail, Olson will also be held liable for fines of up to $13,000 over the anti-big-bank slogans that were left using washable children’s chalk on a sidewalk outside of three San Diego, California branches of Bank of America, the massive conglomerate that received $45 billion in interest-free loans from the US government in 2008-2009 in a bid to keep it solvent after bad bets went south.

The Reader reports that Olson’s hearing had gone as poorly as his attorney might have expected, with Judge Howard Shore, who is presiding over the case, granting Deputy City Attorney Paige Hazard’s motion to prohibit attorney Tom Tosdal from mentioning the United States’ fundamental First Amendment rights.

“The State’s Vandalism Statute does not mention First Amendment rights,” ruled Judge Shore on Tuesday.

Upon exiting the courtroom Olson seemed to be in disbelief.

“Oh my gosh,” he said. “I can’t believe this is happening.”

Tosdal, who exited the courtroom shortly after his client, seemed equally bewildered.

“I’ve never heard that before, that a court can prohibit an argument of First Amendment rights,” said Tosdal.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Family of Boy: 13, Who Was Bound With Duct Tape and Sodomized With a Pencil on School Wrestling Trip is Victimized by Town After Reporting Crime

A 13-year-old boy who was cornered on an empty school bus, bound with duct tape and sodomized with a pencil by three older students has been bullied so intensely by his community for reporting the crime that his family has had to move.

The incident, which occurred during a Norwood High School wrestling trip in Denver, Colorado in February 2012, was reported to police by the victim’s father, then the K-12 principal and school football coach.

Charges were quickly filed against teens Hayden Harris, 14, and Talon Harris, 16, whose father, Robert Harris, was the school’s wresting coach and president of the school board, and their friend, Timothy Armintrout, aged 15.

The attackers later pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges, according to the Denver district attorney’s office.

News spread quickly of the incident in the small ranching town of Norwood, which is located near the Telluride ski resort and has just 500 residents.

But instead of condemning the heinous act, the community rallied around the three star wrestlers claiming the incident was a case of boys being boys.

The mother of one of the perpetrators even made T-shirts supporting the attackers, with the slogan ‘Team TTH’ — the boys’ first initials.

Students, including the son of a Norwood High School teacher, wore them at the Norwood Schools’ annual end-of-the-year barbeque in May 2012, until officials made them take them off.

Students also put ‘Go to Hell’ stickers on the victim’s locker.

The victim’s father, who was allegedly advised against reporting the assault to police by the school board and administrators, has since resigned as principal. He has taken another job paying half his previous salary in a town 200 miles away.

He says the bullying from the community aimed at his family became too much..

‘Nobody would help us,’ he told Bloomberg News. ‘We contacted everybody and nobody would help us.’

A spokeswoman for the Denver district attorney’s office added: ‘There was a huge backlash, and everybody turned against this boy and his family for bringing trouble to their town.’

The incident, which appeared to be an act of hazing, happened on February 16 last year when the Norwood High School wrestling team traveled to Denver to compete in the Colorado High School State Wrestling Championship.

According to CBS4, while the other wrestlers who qualified for the state tournament weighed in at Denver’s Pepsi Center, the two ninth graders, the eighth grader and the victim, a seventh grader, were left unsupervised on a Norwood School bus.

The older boys then attacked the younger student, taping his hands and ankles and assaulted him with the pencil.

Washparkphrophet.com reported that the victim’s brother heard the attackers laughing about the assault on his younger sibling and told his father.

‘I was shocked beyond belief, and I was mad,’ the father told the news website of learning about the attack. ‘I do believe I was madder than I have ever been. You’re trying to protect your kids, and then something like this happens.’

He said that he immediately confronted Robert Harris, the wrestling coach, about the incident, who he says initially denied the attack then justified it by claiming ‘this happens 1,000 times a day around the U.S.’

According to CBS4, school officials discussed the possibility of including the victim in the one-day, in-school suspension handed down to his alleged assailants soon after the incident occurred. That was the only punishment the school dealt.

One of the students pleaded guilty to sexual contact without consent and the other two pleaded guilty to third degree assault, Bloomberg reported. They were handed down varied sentences that included probation, community service and restitution of about $2,500 each.

Robert Harris was reappointed as the school’s wrestling coach and was given a letter of reprimand for leaving students unattended on a school bus, it was reported. However, he has since resigned from the role.

All three perpetrators returned to the scene of the crime for this year’s tournament in Denver.

           — Hat tip: McR [Return to headlines]
 

First Independence Day for America Under Obama’s Fundamental Transformation of America

Like the uncaught murderer who can’t stay away from attending the funeral of his victim, President Barack Obama will be back in the U.S. on the eve of Independence Day, 2013.

In the flurry of every year’s July 4th presidential photo-ops, the one picture we won’t see is the one that should send shivers up the spine of every liberty-loving individual: the one where Barack Obama, Michelle Obama and their political coach Valerie Jarrett toast the 95% completed mission they fondly call ‘The Fundamental Transformation of America’ (FTOA).

Amid myriad celebrations, Independence Day comes and goes every year. But this is the one that celebrates FTOA.

The same day the Obama Traveling Show to Africa was boarding Air Force One, the Supreme Court struck down the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). Obama, who was famously against same sex marriage before he was for it, sent congratulations back from Air Force One.

Difficult as it is to swallow, DOMA was just the last in a long line of events leaving the oppressed American citizenry in a post-Constitutional America.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

GM Cabbage With Scorpion Poison Coming Soon

Agribusiness is in a mad rush to take over the earth, and seems willing to stop at nothing. Coming soon is cabbage with scorpion poison engineered in every cell. Of course, they claim it’s safe and will result in less pesticide use, but history and logic say otherwise. Who will wake from the insane mating between Agribiz and GMOs?

Get ready for genetically engineered cabbages that come complete with their own scorpion poison, just for you to eat. It’s touted as requiring less pesticide use and being, of course, completely safe. Close investigation, though, indicates that neither claim is likely true.

A pesticide made with scorpion poison genetically engineered into a virus was first tested back in 1994. Interestingly, the scientists who sprayed the test field wore full body suits to protect them from this “harmless” poison. One must wonder at just how safe it could be when the developers themselves don’t trust it more than that! Of course, the head of the trial, Professor David Bishop, insisted that the trial was safe — though he himself opted to take a vacation, rather than be there for it.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Here Are All 27 NFL Players Who Have Been Arrested Since the Super Bowl

It has been an awful offseason for the NFL.

Twenty-seven active players have been arrested in total so far, most notably star New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez. Since the Super Bowl on February 3, NFL players have been arrested for common crimes like DUI and public intoxication, but also for things like street racing, child abuse, and trying to solicit a prostitute.

Using the comprehensive databases of both Pro Football Talk and theSan Diego Union Tribune, here’s the list of the 27 active players who have been arrested so far:

1.   Michael Boley, New York Giants (Feb. 8): Arrested for child abuse in Alabama.
2.   Da’Quan Bowers, Tampa Bay Buccaneers (Feb. 18):Arrested for having a gun in his luggage at LaGuardia Airport, charges later reduced to disorderly conduct.
3.   Al Netter, San Francisco 49ers (Feb. 22): Arrested for DUIin California.
4.   Desmond Bryant, Cleveland Browns (Feb. 24): Arrested for criminal mischief in Miami.
5.   J’Marcus Webb, Chicago Bears (Feb. 24): Arrested for marijuana possession in Illinois, charges dropped.
6.   Javarris Lee, Arizona Cardinals (March 7): Arrested for failing to appear in court in Florida.
7.   Quinton Carter, Denver Broncos (March 9): Arrested for allegedly cheating at craps at a Vegas casino, case dismissed.
8.   Cody Grimm, Tampa Bay Buccaneers (March 10 and May 28): Arrested for public intoxication in Virginia twice.
9.   Evan Rodriguez, Chicago Bears (March 21 and May 31):Arrested for resisting an officer in Miami (charged later dropped), and then for DUI, speeding and “improper lane usage.”
10.   Trumaine Johnson, St. Louis Rams (March 22): Arrested for misdemeanor DUI in Montana.
11.   Brandon Barden, Tennessee Titans (March 23): Arrested on suspicion of DUI after driving his car off the road in Georgia.
12.   Amari Spivey, Detroit Lions (March 27): Arrested for third-degree assault in an alleged domestic violence incident involving his girlfriend in Connecticut.
13.   William Moore, Atlanta Falcons (April 18): Arrested for simple battery after allegedly grabbing a woman by the shoulder in Atlanta.
14.   Rolando McClain, Baltimore Ravens (April 22): Arrested for disorderly conduct and resisting arrest in Alabama.
15.   Ronnell Lewis, Detroit Lions (April 23): Arrested for getting in a bar fight in Oklahoma.
16.   Quentin Groves, Cleveland Browns (April 24): Arrested for solicitation in a prostitution sting in Ohio.
17.   Cliff Harris, New York Jets (May 2): Arrested for marijuana possession in New Jersey.
18.   Claude Davis, New York Jets (May 2): Arrested for marijuana possession in New Jersey.
19.   Daryl Washington, Arizona Cardinals (May 3): Arrested for aggravated assault after an alleged domestic violence incident with his ex-girlfriend.
20.   Armonty Bryant, Cleveland Browns (May 6): Arrested for DUI in Oklahoma.
21.   Titus Young, free agent (May 5, twice, and May 10):Arrested on suspicion of DUI, and then arrested again on the same day for trying to steal his own car from the tow yard. Arrested less than a week later for burglary.
22.   Mike Goodson, New York Jets (May 17): Arrested on drug and gun charges in New Jersey.
23.   Joe Morgan, New Orleans Saints (May 29): Arrested for DWI in Louisiana.
24.   Pacman Jones, Cincinnati Bengals (June 11): Arrested on an assault charge for allegedly punching a woman outside a club in Cincinnati.
25.   Jason Peters, Philadelphia Eagles (June 12): Arrested for street racing and leading police on a high-speed chase.
26.   Aaron Hernandez, New England Patriots (June 26):Arrested for murder and five gun-related charges in Massachusetts.
27.   Ausar Walcott, Cleveland Browns (June 26): Arrested for attempted murder after punching a man outside a club in New Jersey.
 

           — Hat tip: Takuan Seiyo [Return to headlines]
 

How Did the Universe Get Its Stars? An Astronomical Puzzle

Astronomers have come a long way in understanding how stars form today, but the question of how the universe’s first stars formed is an enduring mystery. While the topic remains complex and confusing, researchers say they hope to make strides in the near future with new and improved computer models and telescopes.

“How star formation began is very much a controversial question,” said astronomer Mordecai-Mark Mac Low of the American Museum of Natural History in New York, who wrote a paper featured in the journal Science today (June 27). “And it’s an important one.”

Once, there were no stars at all. The universe was an almost uniform expanse of undifferentiated gas. Eventually — perhaps a few million years in, scientists estimate — the first stars began to form, and the rate of star birth reached a peak about 3.8 billion years after the Big Bang (10 billion years ago), when stars were forming at about 10 times the rate they do today.

Understanding how this process took place back then is difficult because the universe was a vastly different place. For one thing, it was much denser, with matter packed much more tightly together, making it easier for gas to reach the critical density necessary for it collapse in on itself under gravity and ignite nuclear fusion.

Furthermore, stars have changed the universe, dispersing elements throughout it that they alone can create.

“Without stars, you have no metals, no elements heavier than helium or lithium, and none of the elements you need for life,” Mac Low told SPACE.com. “Carbon, nitrogen and oxygen all formed in stars.”

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Liberals Eating Crow: The IRS Did Not Target Progressives

Earlier this week, Mother Jones magazine went out of its way to insist that so-called progressives were targeted by the IRS in the same way Tea Party groups were.

Andy Kroll, citing the Associated Press, insisted “liberal outfits were targeted, too,” and dismissed complaints by Republicans and Tea Party groups as little more than theatrics.

Considering the fact some of the groups supposedly discriminated against share Obama’s ideological stance, at least rhetorically, Kroll’s argument didn’t make a lot of sense.

Well, it now turns out he was wrong. In fact, the harassment was focused exclusively on Tea Party and patriot groups and not progressives in bed with the Obama Democrats and other true believers and worshippers of state power.

On Wednesday, J. Russell George, the Treasury inspector general for tax administration, told Rep. Sandy Levin, a Michigan Democrat, in a letter sent to the House Ways and Means Committee that the IRS in fact didn’t target progressives.

“Our audit did not find evidence that the IRS used the ‘progressives’ identifier as selection criteria for potential political cases between May 2010 and May 2012,” George explained.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Now From the Makers of the Deadly Cervical Cancer Vaccine: An Mrsa Superbug Jab in the Works

(NaturalNews) The woman responsible for developing the infamous Gardasil vaccine for cervical cancer, which has seriously maimed or killed tens of thousands of young girls since first being introduced, is working on a new vaccine for antibiotic-resistant methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), according to new reports. And while the first vaccine for MRSA will likely not hit the market for at least another decade, the race is on to make it available as quickly as possible, an endeavor that has many questioning how this new jab will influence public health.

The last few times that experimental vaccines for MRSA were tested in humans, the results were disastrous. Back in 2011, for instance, a Merck & Co. trial involving an experimental vaccine for MRSA led to such high rates of multi-organ dysfunction and death that the drug giant flat-out cancelled the trial, declaring that the vaccine, known as V710, was “unlikely to show a significant clinical benefit.” At a later meeting of IDWeek 2012, representatives of the vaccine were forced to admit publicly that it had been a complete failure, despite the fact that it produced what they claim was a “robust immunologic response.”

Previous attempts at developing a vaccine for MRSA have similarly failed miserably, but none of this has stopped Kathrin Jansen from moving forward with her own novel take on a MRSA vaccine.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Obama’s Eco-Assault on America

On Tuesday, President Obama announced a sweeping series of initiatives, including the use of executive powers, to combat global warming.

The plan will involve federal funding for renewable energy technology, and spending for areas hit by storms and droughts aggravated by an allegedly changing climate. Yet the most ambitious part of his agenda is an effort to force a reduction in so-called greenhouse gases from the nation’s coal-fired power plants. Prior to the speech, Daniel P. Schrag, a White House environmentalism adviser and director of the Harvard University Center for the Environment, got to the nub of that agenda: “Politically, the White House is hesitant to say they’re having a war on coal,” he explained. “On the other hand, a war on coal is exactly what’s needed.” Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) explained the consequences of such a war. “Declaring a ‘War on Coal’ is tantamount to declaring a war on jobs,” he said. “It’s tantamount to kicking the ladder out from beneath the feet of many Americans struggling in today’s economy.”

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Overprotection May be Hampering Hunt for Mars Life

There are aliens on Mars — and they came from Earth. That’s the reasoning behind a controversial new push to relax the current planetary protection rules, a set of sterilisation procedures that every Mars-bound spacecraft must undergo to avoid contaminating the Red Planet with terrestrial microbes.

Since 1967, the restrictive rules have made missions that would probe for life on Mars costly and inefficient, a pair of Mars scientists argues. What’s more, no sterilisation system is perfect, and so chances are we have already contaminated Mars with trace amounts of earthly microbes carried by our rovers and landers.

Instead, governments could be sending rovers that dig deeper and try more complex experiments, or they could save the money spent on protection efforts to fund a more diverse array of spacecraft.

“Right now it has this bad effect,” says Dirk Schulze-Makuch, an astrobiologist at Washington State University in Pullman. “It hampers missions — especially the interesting missions.” That includes the types of missions that would search for signs of life, he adds.

Striking back

Proponents of sterilisation are striking back, arguing that the protection measures keep us from wasting time and resources on false detections and from irrevocably altering any Martian ecosystems, if they exist.

“One of the purposes of planetary protection is to help keep us from suffering the consequences of our own ignorance,” says NASA planetary protection officer Catherine Conley.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Pretended Legislation Through Assault

…The Supreme Court also dismissed an appeal made by 7 million people of California who twice voted to ban homosexual marriage in their state (Prop 8), claiming their appeal “has no standing.”

Let’s look at a timeline of events leading to today’s ruling:

1. In January 2009, Obama becomes president of these United States. He vows to fundamentally transform America. 2. 2009 — Obama appoints at least 224 homosexuals and transvestites into key positions in government. 3. May 2010 — Obama nominates former Dean of Harvard Elena Kagan to the Supreme Court bench, a radical lesbian who had never judged a case a day in her life, and who was known for “queerifying Harvard.” 4. Feb. 2011 — Obama declares DOMA unconstitutional and directs the Department of Justice to stop defending the law in court. 5. July 2011 — Obama supports Dianne Feinstein’s bill to repeal DOMA. 6. Feb. 2012 — US 9th Circuit Court of Appeals rules CA Proposition 8 unconstitutional 7. May 2012 — Obama publically endorses homosexual marriage, and is declared America’s “first gay president” by Newsweek. 8. Dec. 2012 — US Supreme Court agrees to hear cases on DOMA and Prop 8. 9. Feb. 2013 — US military extends some benefits to homosexual partners. 10.April 2013 — Obama spends $350 million on sexual indoctrination curriculum for children, teaching that the only “unsafe” sex is becoming pregnant. 11.June 2013 — Supreme Court rules in line with the Obama administration’s radical ideology being forced upon America for the past 4 years.

It is clear to see that this was a planned agenda aimed at fundamentally destroying, not transforming, America. Does Michael Swift’s supposedly satirical “Gay Manifesto” raise serious red flags to anyone?

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Small Town Cop Throws Tantrum in Response to Knowledgable Citizen (Video)

Video of a small town cop who throws tantrum in response to knowledgable citizen

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Snowden Circus a Huge Distraction From World War 3?

Several prominent voices in the alternative media are speculating that former CIA analyst and NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden could be a double agent whose revelations are only serving to distract from the much bigger issue of the imminent escalation of the war in Syria.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

The Public Doesn’t Believe the NSA … Knows What’s Really Going on With Mass Spying

The government keeps on lying about how it’s spying on Americans without authorization from a court.

It keeps lying about the scope of its spying.

It keeps lying about the need for mass surveillance (and here) and the way that the information gained from spying will really be used … to harass political opponents.

Indeed, NSA whistleblower Russel Tice — a key source in the 2005 New York Times report that blew the lid off the Bush administration’s use of warrantless wiretapping — recently said that the NSA illegally spied on General Petraeus and other generals, Supreme Court Justice Alito and all of the other supreme court justices, Barack Obama, the White House spokesman, and many other top officials.

The mainstream media will not interview Tice about this explosive issue.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Why Didn’t Snowden Go Through “Proper Channels” To Blow the Whistle?

Polls show that Americans know the government is spying on all of us for improper purposes … but that many Americans are unsure whether or not the whistleblowers who brought us that information should be prosecuted.

The uncertainty regarding whistleblowers stems from a misunderstanding about the options that whistleblowers have to inform the American people of illegal actions by our government.

Specifically, numerous whistleblowers have tried to go through “proper channels” to expose illegal spying by the NSA and other government agencies … but nothing changed in response to their lawful attempts.

Not only did the government do everything it could to shut them up, but it threatened, prosecuted and harassed them.

For example, when NSA whistleblower Thomas Drake tried to blow the whistle on fraud and corruption within the NSA — based upon the NSA spying on all Americans instead of targeting only suspected criminals — he was prosecuted under the Espionage Act…

When asked about Snowden, here is what these NSA veterans told USA Today:

[USA Today]: Did Edward Snowden do the right thing in going public?

William Binney: We tried to stay for the better part of seven years inside the government trying to get the government to recognize the unconstitutional, illegal activity that they were doing and openly admit that and devise certain ways that would be constitutionally and legally acceptable to achieve the ends they were really after. And that just failed totally because no one in Congress or — we couldn’t get anybody in the courts, and certainly the Department of Justice and inspector general’s office didn’t pay any attention to it. And all of the efforts we made just produced no change whatsoever. All it did was continue to get worse and expand.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Woops! Obama Ordered Gun Report Reveals Guns Actually Save Lives

A gun report ordered in by Obama has ended up highlighting the fact that legal guns are actually saving lives and diffusing crime. Woops!

In a recent study orchestrated by the CDC and carried out by the Institute of Medicine and National Research Council, it was found that individuals involved in violent crimes who defended themselves using techniques other than carrying a gun were more likely to be injured when compared to those who were carrying a concealed firearm.

All-in-all, the Obama ordered report ended up finding more pros than cons in regards to the right to an open or concealed weapon. The report also reminds us of the numerous causes of gun deaths, citing that most gun deaths are at the hands of those who used a gun for their suicide — not homicide. The report highlights the poor state of America’s suffering mental health. The report states that suicide by guns outweighs the amount of deaths caused by violent crimes by 61%.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Zoning Laws, Conservation Easements, And the Right to Your Land

Martha Boneta, Chuck Moore: Examples of thousands across the country, Fighting local zoning czars for economic freedom

I believe so strongly that non-governmental organizations (NGOs) pursue the path to confiscate land from American landowners and farmers under the guise of zoning laws, environmental preservation, and eminent domain that I wrote about Martha’s Plight and her Liberty Farm in my book, “U.N. Agenda 21: Environmental Piracy.”

Martha’s 70-acre farm is located in Fauquier County, a rural community not far from Washington, D.C. The rich soil is ideal for growing grapes and agriculture in general. Martha bought her farm with an agricultural conservation easement.

A conservation easement is a contract between a private property owner and a land trust. Conservation easements are signed because some people want to protect their property from unwanted development in the future but they also want to retain ownership of the land. The donation of an easement to a land trust may give financial advantage to the donor. The conservation easement is passed on to any future owners of that land.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

As Thorium Tests Begin in Norway, The Nuclear Industry Watches Closely

A small Norwegian company is testing thorium fuel as a replacement for uranium at a reactor in Norway, catching the attention of the conventional nuclear industry, which has acknowledged that thorium could provide a safer and less weapons-prone nuclear power future.

Oslo-based Thor Energy started burning thorium at a test reactor in Halden, Norway in late April.

While thorium enthusiasts promote the element as a safer alternative to uranium, the conventional industry — built on uranium — often downplays the element named after the Norse god of thunder.

Thus, it was notable when World Nuclear News took note of the trial last week and played up thorium’s potential superiority. WNA is part of the World Nuclear Association, a conventional nuclear industry group. In its story, it pointed out that thorium “promises higher operating safety margins…and produces no new plutonium as it operates.”

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Inequality: Italy Leads Growing Trend in Europe

Il Sole-24 Ore

According to a study commissioned by the European Union “Italy is among the countries with the highest level of income inequality, second only to the UK in the EU, and well above the OECD average,” reports Il Sole 24 Ore.

The “Gini — Growing Inequalities’ Impacts” study, based on the Gini index and compiled by researchers at seven European universities, analysed the income dynamics of 30 European countries from the 1980s up to the present day, dividing them in regional catagories. The newspaper continues —

Continental European countries (Germany, France and Benelux) have a low Gini index, between 0.26 and 0.30 and one which is almost stable; northern countries show a rising inequality trend led by Sweden and Finland but starting from very low levels; market economies like the UK have limited welfare and high inequality; […] eastern countries, which before 1989 had levels close to Scandinavia, have now gone in a different direction.

Italy belongs to the Mediterranean countries group, where inequality is rising fast. Italian marginal income ratios rose from 0.27 in the late 1970s to the current level of 0.34. What is worse, wealth is concentrated elder demographic layers and social mobility is falling. According to the authors, the casualisation of the labour market has offset the positive effects of a wider access to high education and — young workers are more educated but have fewer guarantees, and thus unable to pile up wealth that in turn can lead to property and capital related income.

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

Italy: Berlusconi Supporters to Protest Over Sex Conviction

‘I will resist persecution’ vows three-time premier

(ANSA) — Milan, June 25 — Supporters of Silvio Berlusconi were organizing a protest in Rome on Tuesday after judges found him guilty Monday for paying for sex with an underage prostitute and abusing his office as then premier in an attempt to cover it up. “Rome, Piazza Farnese, 7:00pm. Resist puritanical justice,” read a front-page headline in the right-leaning Il Foglio daily, which is edited by Giuliano Ferrara, a close friend of the three-time premier. “This is a shameful sentence that hurts Italian justice and lowers it to the level of that in Afghanistan or Iran,” he said.

In a closely watched verdict Monday, judges in Milan sentenced Berlusconi to seven years in prison and banned him for life from holding public office, rulings he will appeal. “This is a violent sentence,” said Berlusconi. “I will resist the persecution. I was convinced I would be acquitted”. Berlusconi and Karima ‘Ruby’ El Mahroug, the underage dancer judges ruled he paid for sex in 2010, both denied ever having sex. Berlusconi’s supporters Tuesday echoed his oft-made allegations of a leftist judiciary out to get him and chided Premier Enrico Letta of the center-left Democratic Party (PD) for not speaking out in support of Berlusconi, whose center-right People of Freedom (PdL) party occupies important seats in the administration. “(One would have expected) not only words of personal solidarity with Berlusconi, a victim of unjust persecution,” but also a “political assessment” on the necessity to restore a “correct balance” between the powers of government, said PdL Coordinator Sandro Bondi.

Many have worried that the fragile stability of the unprecedented left-right coalition government was at risk over the legal troubles of Berlusconi, who has threatened to withdraw support over other issues. Members of his party have vowed to resign from government en masse if their leader’s ban from office is upheld at the supreme Court of Cassation.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Berlusconi Party Moves to Rejig Justice System

‘Not aimed at reining in magistrates’

(ANSA) — Rome, June 27 — Silvio Berlusconi’s centre-right People of Freedom (PdL) party on Thursday filed an amendment to a Constitutional reform bill to include the justice system, a hot-button issue given the ex-premier’s long-standing claim his legal woes are due to politically motivated magistrates.

Justice was not initially among the areas of the Constitution set to be reviewed as part of a streamlining of government planned by Enrico Letta’s left-right executive, in which Berlusconi is the junior partner.

The PdL unexpectedly presented an amendment in the Senate to include it.

PdL Senator Anna Maria Bernini was quick to try to allay fears that the party, which has staged several demonstrations against the judiciary, wants to bring Italy’s independent magistrates to heel.

She said any reform of the Constitution would entail looking at how powers are balanced.

“We don’t want a justice reform or a separation of careers,” she claimed, referring to controversial restructuring attempted in the past by Berlusconi but shelved because of judicial strikes.

The three-time premier has several legal headaches including convictions for using an underage prostitute and tax fraud at his media empire.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Ministry Fund Officers Under Investigation

(AGI) Rome, June 24 — A number of Ministry of Education, University and Research fund officers are under investigation in Rome for alleged abuse of power in managing funds for research. Prosecutor Roberto Felici is investigating the existence of an alleged ‘gang’ of managers and consultants who in exchange for bribes, favours and other privileges managed money to benefit certain companies for which ad hoc bids were organised. Funds allocated for multimedia didactic products are also being investigated.

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

Italy: Gondoliers ‘Haze’ Applicant, Strips and Jumps in Lagoon

Venice councilors outraged, gondoliers say ‘no one was forced’

(ANSA) — Venice, June 27 — Venice city councilors were outraged Thursday by a video showing gondoliers supposedly haze an aspiring assistant by forcing him to strip and jump into the lagoon by St Mark’s Square. The episode was captured in a video posted on YouTube that was later removed. The alleged victim was applying to become a ‘ganser’, the person who helps passengers in and out of the gondola. Members of the local leftist caucus called for the “immediate lifetime suspension of the licenses of the gondoliers involved,” according to a statement. “Gondoliers represent our city before the entire world, and as such they must respect not only Venice’s culture and history, but also the human and social spirit of its citizens,” added Councillors Enrica Berti and Chiara Marri. The president of the gondoliers’ association defended the employees in question. “No one forced the (aspiring) ganser to do what he did,” said Aldo Reato. “He has said so himself. The issue is closed”.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Man Busted for 9 Million Euros in Unclaimed Earnings

Company known for ‘rock-bottom prices,’ investigators say

(ANSA) — Rome, June 27 — Italian tax police on Thursday cited a man near the southern city of Salerno for unclaimed earnings of over nine million euros and another two million euros in unissued invoices.

More than 350,000 euros in property was seized from the man’s marketing, web and computer firm after a local court ordered audits of the owner’s accounts.

The company was well-known in the area for its “rock-bottom prices,” investigators said.

Probes also uncovered 16 undeclared employees.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Music: Matala Beach Festival in Crete Remembers Hippies

(ANSAmed) ATHENS, JUNE 24 — The curtain opened Saturday on the Greek island of Crete for the Matala Festival for a third consecutive year with a spectacular celebration as GreekReporter writes. Visitors from around the world and from many parts of the country flocked to the reference point of the 1960’s era of the hippies to participate in the festival which has become an institution for the Municipality of Phaistos and for the entire Crete. The festival was a flood of colors, music and events and drew the same kind of crowds as the previous two years when upwards of 100,000 each time came to see the show. The event lasts until today, June 24. More than 200 artists participate in this year’s Matala Festival, with live DJ, live concerts and beach parties. Artistic groups will offer generously color and creativity with special activities and workshops. Matala Beach Festival will celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Pink Floyd’s historic album Dark Side of the Moon, with a playback of the album and a unique live concert of Kings of Floyd Tribute Band.

Among others, the band Locomondo will also participate with their new album Odyssey and all their big hits.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Netherlands: Civil Service Urine Used to Make the Grass Grow Greener

The urine of the 600 civil servants who work at Drenthe provincial council’s office in Assen is being turned into fertiliser for lawns as part of official policy to go green.

The council’s sanitary provisions were upgraded in 2011 and all urine from council workers and visitors is now collected and stored separately in special tanks.

The water board has been experimenting with new techniques to extract struvite, a phosphate mineral, from the urine. The phosphate can then be used in agriculture. The first packets of urine fertiliser were handed over to officials by the Hunze en Aa waterboard on Friday.

‘It is great garden fertilizer. The grass goes green thanks to civil servants urine,’ the province said in a press release.

The province says it sees its role as tackling environmental, climate and energy issues and developing and exchanging expertise.

Officials are now looking into whether the fertiliser could also be used on golf courses and football pitches. However, there will need to be a change in national legislation before the new product can be brought to the market, a spokesman told local broadcaster RTL Drenthe.

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

Oldest Animal Genome is Sequenced From Horse Bone

A HORSE has just taken us further back in time than ever before. The genome of a 700,000-year-old fossil has been sequenced, suggesting we could do the same with other long-extinct creatures — including early hominins like Homo erectus.

Small DNA fragments have survived up to 500,000 years, but until now, the oldest complete genome had come from 110,000-year-old polar bear remains. Pushing that back to 700,000 years is a big jump, says Eske Willerslev of the University of Copenhagen, Denmark. “It’s by far the oldest vertebrate genome we have so far,” says Johannes Krause of the University of Tübingen, Germany, who was not involved in the study.

Willerslev’s collaborator Ludovic Orlando, also at the University of Copenhagen, scoured a horse bone found in the permafrost of north-west Canada in 2003 for pockets of collagen. The protein degrades easily, so its presence is a sign that DNA could have survived alongside it. Using mass spectrometry, Orlando was able to find many more collagen pockets than in past studies. He also sequenced a higher proportion of the DNA within (Nature, DOI: 10.1038/nature12323).

The team compared the ancient horse DNA to that of five domestic breeds, plus a donkey and the Przewalski’s horse — a wild species found in Mongolia. They found that the last common Equus ancestor lived between 4 and 4.5 million years ago — before the last ice age — making the lineage about twice as old as we thought.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

UK Bans Thought Criminals for Criticizing Extremist Islam

The British government has banned two journalists from entering the country because they criticized extremist Islam. While this is defined as “hate speech,” innumerable Islamic clerics preach hate on a daily basis in the UK yet are left alone. We are all being manipulated. The establishment is using radical Islam and contrived racial tension to crush freedom across the board.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Anti-Ground Zero Mosque Campaigners Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer Barred From Entering Britain to Speak at an EDL Rally

Theresa May said activists’ presence in the UK would ‘not be conducive to the public good’

Two of the people behind a campaign against the building of the “Ground Zero Mosque” in New York have been barred from entering Britain to speak at an English Defence League rally in London this weekend, it has been announced.

The Home Secretary Theresa May has told Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer, both of the anti-Islamic group Stop Islamization of America, that their presence in the UK would “not be conducive to the public good”. The decision, which they cannot appeal, will stand for between three and five years. According to the Home Office, Mr Spencer and Ms Geller set up organisations “described as anti-Muslim hate groups” and, consequently, they have been told not to travel to Britain…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Kate Middleton’s and Prince William’s Fury at President Obama’s Bugging of Royal Phones

The Royal family has had many issues with spies and security leaks over the years. When Princess Diana was alive she spoke of being bugged and then after her death conspiracy theorists insist that the late Princess’ every move was being monitored up until her death. Security is supposed to be top notch and privacy for the Royal family is demanded yet every now and then someone slides through. According to the July 1st print edition of GLOBE magazine the NSA scandal that has imploded in the U.S. Now seems to have some repercussions for Prince William and Kate Middleton.

Edward Snowden is the snitch that got his hands on tons of top secret documents and he has taken that damaging information and spoon fed the media with details of how our National Security has functioned since 9-11. Supposedly all telephone and internet activity by John Q. Public can be gone over with a fine tooth comb if our government perceives there to be a potential threat in any of our actions. Violating civil rights seems to have become standard practice here in the states and according to GLOBE even royal phone calls have been bugged!

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Operation Bullfinch: Sentencing: Day 2, Thursday, June 27

1:45pm Here is yesterday’s blog.

1:44pm And here is the victim impact statements from the parents of Girls 1 and 3.

1:43pm For a catch-up, here is the mitigation for the men yesterday and the crimes they will be sentenced for today…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Albanian PM Concedes Election Defeat, Resigns Party Boss

TIRANA, June 26 (Xinhua) — Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha admitted Wednesday his Democratic Party suffered its worst defeat at Albanian general elections after eight years in power.

The veteran founder of the Democratic Party, Berisha waited until almost all 1.6 million votes cast in the ballot had been counted and showed a 37-party coalition led by the opposition Socialist Party of Edi Rama had won a landslide victory, gaining 84 seats in the 140-member parliament. The Democrats won 56 seats…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Egypt: Opposition Even More Determined After Morsi Speech

Rebels say no to dialogue, issue post-Morsi roadmap

(ANSAmed) — CAIRO, JUNE 27 — The Egyptian opposition is even more determined to take to the streets and demand the resignation of President Mohamed Morsi following his Wednesday night speech to the nation.

“Once more, he proved he is not equal to the job”, National Salvation Front spokesman Khaled Daoud told ANSA. “He made no new proposal. He lives outside reality, he has not understood how angry the Egyptian people are. What he said is ridiculous”.

“This speech proves we are on the right track”, tweeted Tamarod (Rebels) spokesman Mohamed Badr, whose movement is gathering millions of signatures asking Morsi to quit and calling for early presidential elections. “Too late, no dialogue or negotiation with them”. Tamarod and other opposition groups yesterday launched the June 30 Front to coordinate upcoming protests and speak for those under its umbrella. It also issued a post-Morsi transition road map, Al Ahram online reported.

The Front called for the appointment of an independent prime minister representing the opposition, who must not run for office in the next elections, to lead a technocratic government whose sole jobs will be to deal with the economic crisis and enact social justice measures.

The current head of the Constitutional Court should step in as president ahead of new presidential elections within six months to be followed by legislative ones, Tamarod co-founder Mohamed Abdel Aziz said at a news briefing yesterday. The Front also called for the lawmaking Upper House to be dissolved and the suspension of the nation’s fledgling Charter, which was approved by an Islamist-majority assembly and by popular referendum.

The nation continues tense ahead of the June 30 anti-Morsi rallies, to take place on the first anniversary of his presidency. People are queuing at petrol stations and stocking up on food and torches, while daily brownouts stir discontent among crisis-battered Egyptians, especially the poorest.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Egypt’s Rural Areas Turn Against Mohamed Morsi, A President on “Another Planet”

Mina Magdy, spokesman for the Maspero Youth Union, tells AsiaNews about the success of the Tamarod (Rebellion) movement that collected 15 million signatures in a month as a show of non-confidence against Egypt’s president. Most signatures come from rural areas in Upper Egypt, once an Islamist stronghold. Rising poverty, crime, violence and unemployment are evidence of the Brotherhood’s failure.

Cairo (AsiaNews) — Members of the ‘Tamarod’ (rebellion in Arabic) movement are preparing to take to the streets on Sunday to present 15 million signatures collected around the country to express a vote of no confidence in Islamist President Mohamed Morsi. In view of that, Islamists today organised the first pro-president demonstrations, clashing with opponents. In northern Cairo, the violence has already claimed 2 lives and left more than 200 people injured.

Interviewed by AsiaNews, Mina Magdy, a spokesman for the Maspero Youth Union, a Muslim-Christian Human Rights organisation that is one of the main promoters of the initiative, said the situation in Egypt in less than a year saw support for the Muslim Brotherhood turn to opposition.

“Our movement,” he said, “is a new way to make the voice of the people heard, especially those who live in areas where the illiteracy rate is higher than 50 per cent and where people live on a few dollars a day.”

Born in early May, Tamarod brought together all the organisations and figures from the Jasmine Revolution. Instead of going back to Tahrir Square, they chose to visit every corner of the country to ask people for their views on the current government. “Unexpectedly,” he noted, “Egyptians welcome our initiative with respect and awe.”

“Since the Muslim Brotherhood came to power, rural regions have become even poorer,” Mina explained. Upper Egypt and Cairo’s suburbs of Cairo are traditional Islamist strongholds. However, “When we visited villages in the south of the country,” the young man said, “residents celebrated.”

“After the elections, no one showed any interest in them. They did not vote for the Muslim Brotherhood only for religious reasons, but especially for its promises of development and fight against poverty,” Magdy explained. “Unfortunately, nothing happened. It is thanks to them that we reached a record 15 million signatures against President Morsi.”

According to the young law student, the government failed precisely because it lied to its main constituents. Under the government’s economic policies, car thefts jumped, unemployment skyrocketed, not to mention the cost of fuel, whilst almost no appropriate social policy has been implemented.

In order to appease the tensions of recent weeks, President Morsi spoke to the nation yesterday. In a speech of nearly three hours, the Justice and Freedom Party leader tried to explain the country’s situation, stressing that those who are in favour of democracy are with him. At the same time, he said he was willing to admit to his mistakes, and promised immediate and radical reforms.

Nevertheless, in most of his statement, he pointed the finger at the men of the old regime for the country’s woes, blaming them for a mysterious plot, as well as opposition parties who refuse talks with the government and hoodwink the population with their slogans. On the issue of the country’s economic crisis, the rise of religious extremism and attacks against minority Christians and Shias, he had nothing to say.

People crowded restaurants and cafes to watch the long presidential address, Mina Magdy said. “They listened to his words in silence. A few hours later, they were already saying that Morsi was living on another planet or that he lived in another country, not Egypt.”

“Everyone can see the country’s crisis,” the young man said, including Muslim Brotherhood supporters. “It is useless to lie on the facts or ramble on about some improbable plot by Mubarak cronies.”

“All of Egypt supports him, he [Morsi] said, and only a small percentage is against him. Yet, 9,000 anti-Muslim Brotherhood demonstrations were recorded in 2012.

Indeed, some figures describe an alarming picture. In 2012, murders were up 130 per cent, robberies 350 per cent, and kidnappings 145 per cent, according to the Interior Ministry. The average unemployment rate has risen from 10 per cent in the period 2009-2011 to over 14 per cent in the next period.

In addition, the Egyptian pound lost on average 12 per cent and the agreement with the International Monetary Fund for US$ 4 billion in economic aid is still pending.

For Mina Magdy, 30 June will be a historic day for the country. “Maybe there will be fights, but we shall not yield to provocation. We believe that peace is stronger than the verbal and physical violence of the Islamists.”

The demonstrations scheduled for the next few days have seen the military go on high alert. As of yesterday, several armoured vehicles have been deployed in key spots like Cairo’s Tahrir Square, the Presidential Palace, and the Ministry of Justice. According to Egyptian media, the situation is “hot.”

In an interview with al-Ahram newspaper, Khaled Saeed, official spokesperson for Egypt’s Salafi Front, said that vigilante groups “will clear the streets of thugs and thieves who make use of protests to rob citizens and institutions.” (S.C.)

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

Morocco Opens Adoption to Foreigners Again

Procedures frozen since 2012

(ANSAmed) — MADRID, JUNE 24 — Moroccan courts have begun to notify Spanish families of rulings authorizing them to ‘adopt’ children in the North African country, after the procedures were halted in 2012. The news came in a statement issued by Spanish Foreign Ministry sources.

Moroccan legislation does not recognise adoption but only “kafala”, an Islamic concept allowing people to take responsibility for the care, education and protection of a child but which does not give paternity rights. Applications from foreign families had been frozen in Morocco since 2012, a few months after the Islamic Justice and Development Party came to power and brought in the requirement for foreign parents to reside in Morocco in order to be considered eligible.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

McDonald’s Won’t Open in Ariel, Sparks Settler Protest

Owner of McDonald’s Israel is a Peace Now founder

(ANSAmed) — TEL AVIV, JUNE 27 — Citing company politics, McDonald’s Israel declined to open an affiliate in Ariel, a Jewish settlement in the West Bank beyond the 1967 Green Line.

McDonald’s Israel is owned by Omri Padan, one of the founders of Peace Now, an Israeli pacifist group that opposes the expansion of settlements in the Occupied Territories.

Settlers responded by calling on everyone to boycott the chain, beginning with kosher McDonald’s. Protest signs went up in McDonald’s through out the country last night, the Samaria Settlers Committee announced via their Channel 7 Radio. The Ariel McDonald’s would have been located in a mall worth 100 million shekels (approximately 20 million euros).

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Turkish Premier Erdogan to Vist Gaza on 5 July

Ankara, 27 June (AK) — Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan will visit the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip on 5 July 5, Turkish television reported.

Turkish government officials and journalists had arrived in Gaza two days ago and discussed details of the visit with premier Ismail Haniyeh and deputy foreign Mmnister Razi Hamed, secretary general of Islamist Hamas, Abdelsalam Siyyam, was quoted Thursday as telling daily ‘Falestin’, which is close to Hamas.

Earlier this week, Erdogan said that anti-government protests in Turkey ahd delayed his trip to Gaza, which was originally scheduled for June.

The United States and Israel opposed the visit, claiming it could be an obstacle to the stalled peace process.

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

CIA Plans August Offensive in Syria

The Wall Street Journal reports today that the CIA is moving weapons from secret warehouses to Jordan ahead of an August offensive in Syria. The covert plan was authorized by Obama earlier this month, the newspaper reports. Arab and European nations are also involved in the effort.

F. William Engdahl on the CIA and its mercenaries in Syria.

Saudi Arabia plans to provide Manpads, shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles, to a select number of groomed terrorist mercenaries, according to U.S. officials. The Journal reports that the U.S. will “monitor this effort… to try to reduce the risk that the Manpads could fall into the hands of Islamists.”

In fact, the United States and its Arab and European collaborators depend almost exclusively on fanatical Salafist mercenaries. The CIA plans to spend around two weeks grooming an initial group of Salafist fighters and training them to use small arms and antitank missiles.

The most effective mercenaries sponsored by the CIA are al-Qaeda terrorists, a fact underscored recently when Sheikh Nabil Naiim, who led an al-Qaeda training camp in Egypt, said al-Nusra is controlled by the CIA.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Ex-Terrorist: Al-Qaeda in Syria Being Led by CIA

Former Al-Qaeda member Sheikh Nabil Naiim has released astounding video testimony in which he asserts that the leader of Jabhat Al-Nusra, the primary fighting force in Syria attempting to topple President Bashar Al-Assad, is a CIA operative.

Sheikh Nabil Naiim, considered to be the historical leader of the Islamic Jihadist movement in Egypt, led the Safwa Al-Qaeda training camp where he met Osama Bin Laden. Naiim then moved to Sudan with Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri and was officially recognized as an Al-Qaeda member.

Having been directly involved in the assassination of Egyptian president Anwar Al-Sadat, Naiim was imprisoned after an attempt to assassinate Hosni Mubarak and only released after Mubarak’s regime collapsed. Naiim subsequently abandoned violence and is now outing his former comrades as being on the CIA payroll.

“I personally believe that the leader of the Nusra Army (Mohammed al-Jawlani), who declared his support for Ayman Al Zawahiri, is a CIA operative in the Al Nusra,” states Sheikh Naiim.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Lawmakers Seek to Stop Obama Arming Terrorists in Syria

Lawmakers have now introduced bills in both houses of Congress aimed at restraining President Obama and his lawless intervention in Syria on behalf of jihadist rebels, many of whom are openly fighting under the banner of al-Qaeda while massacring Christians and other minorities. If the legislation becomes law, it would make any military action — including the ongoing provision of weapons and training to opposition forces by the administration — contingent on congressional approval.

Of course, the U.S. Constitution already grants war powers to Congress, stating that wars must be declared by lawmakers — not the president. Obama, however, like previous administrations, has a long track record of ignoring his oath of office in virtually every field. In Libya, for example, he even launched an unconstitutional war to overthrow dictator Moammar Gadhafi without so much as a semblance of permission from Congress.

While the U.S. government has been funding opposition forces in Syria since long before open warfare began, the president has stepped up that assistance, offering everything from training and money to military weapons. Obama’s “regime change” operation, backed by the highest echelons of the global establishment, recently culminated with a deeply unpopular announcement this month that the administration would be openly supplying arms and other military aid to rebel forces. Having U.S. troops set up a “no-fly zone” is also being considered.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Saudi Police Stop Wedding in Park

Saudi Arabia’s feared religious police raided a park in the Gulf Kingdom and stopped a wedding they considered as a violation of conservative local traditions.

Hundreds of visitors to the park south of the capital Riyadh surrounded the newly-wed Egyptian couple to take part in the party before members of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice entered the park and stopped the event.

“A source in the Commission said the wedding was stopped because it violated local traditions as the bride was not covering her face and the groom was holding her hand and hugging her sometimes,” Ajel newspaper said.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Syria: Suicide Bomber Kills Four in Damascus Christian Area

(AGI) — Damascus, Jun 27 — At least four people have been killed in a suicide bomb attack at the Ihnsan welcome centre and at the church in the Bab Sharqui area, which is the Christian quarter of Damascus, the SANA news agency reports.

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

Syria: Attack on Greek Orthodox Cathedral in Damascus Leaves at Least Four People Dead

The attack took place in the Bab Tuma borough, in Old Damascus. The suicide bomber mingled with a group of people queuing for food and other basic necessities handed out by a religious charity. No final figure for the dead and wounded is available.

Damascus (AsiaNews) — A suicide bomber blew himself up in front of the Greek Orthodox cathedral in Bab Tuma, in central Damascus.

Four people were killed and eight more wounded, Syria’s state news agency and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported. So far, no group has claimed responsibility for the attack.

The attacker mingled with a group of people queuing outside a religious building for food and medical care provided by the religious. According to witnesses, the blast damaged a large section of the building.

One of the oldest churches in the capital, the cathedral in Bab Tuma is the seat of the Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch.

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

Pipeline Connecting Europe to Russia Set to Begin

South Stream works to start first half 2014, Scaroni says

(ANSA) — Rome, June 27 — Works on the South Stream pipeline, which will connect Russia to Europe while circumventing the Ukraine, are set to start in the first half of 2014, according to Eni CEO Paolo Scaroni. Scaroni spoke on the sidelines of an Eni Awards presentation at the Italian Presidential palace, otherwise known as the Quirinale. “We have given ourselves the deadline for the start of the works in the second quarter of 2014”, Scaroni said.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Obama Administration to Suspend Trade Privileges With Bangladesh, Officials Say

The Obama administration will suspend trade privileges for Bangladesh over concerns about safety problems and labor rights violations in that country’s garment industry, administration and Congressional officials said on Thursday.

The White House has come under intense pressure to suspend trade privileges with Bangladesh after a factory building there collapsed in April, killing 1,129 workers, and after a factory fire there killed 112 workers last November.

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Uzbekistan: Court Ignores UN Appeals, Jails Muslim Man for “Extremism”

Kazakhstan extradites a 38-year-old Uzbek man who gets 12 years in prison for religious extremism. Appeals by the United Nations and complaints by his family are ignored. The court fails to send a copy of the verdict to the family.

Tashkent (AsiaNews/Agencies) — Extradited from Kazakhstan in March to his country of origin, Khayrullo Tursunov, an Uzbek Muslim, was sentenced to 12 years in prison for religious extremism. Ignoring appeals from the United Nations Committee against Torture, the Kashkadarya Regional Criminal Court that convicted him refused to send his family a copy of the verdict.

Tursunov, 38-year-old Muslim man from eastern Uzbekistan, had fled to Kazakhstan with his family in 2009 fearful that Uzbek authorities might persecute him because of his faith.

When Kazakhstan extradited him in March, his wife and son were forced to flee to another country for protection, whilst Tursunov was transferred to a prison in Uzbekistan.

Forum 18 tried to contact Kashkadarya Regional Court officials to get some explanations about his conviction and the reasons for denying his family a copy of the verdict, to no avail.

In 2010, 13 young Muslims were jailed in the same region on similar charges. In fact, they had learnt to read the Qur’an and had started to pray at home.

Incidents of this kind are not uncommon in Uzbekistan, a country where religious freedom is severely restricted and heavy penalties are imposed on members of religious minorities to weaken them.

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

Brazil’s Massive Protest is a Citizens’ Revolt Against Big Government

(NaturalNews) Liberty and freedom remain under assault in America as the federal leviathan grows ever larger and its appetite for power more voracious, but in Brazil, hundreds of thousands have taken to the streets with one simple message for their leaders: We deserve better.

Brazilians certainly pay for better government; the underlying message behind the rising number of public protests there is that citizens “are weighed down by high taxes and high prices but get low-quality public services and a system of government infected with corruption,” The Associated Press reported.

The imbalance between cost and quality of service erupted in the form of mass demonstrations in early June after they were called for by an organization that is upset over the rising costs of the nation’s lousy public transportation system, as well as a recent 10-cent increase in subway and bus fares in the cities of Sao Paulo, Rio, among others.

After the protests began, local governments in at least four of those cities have said they would roll back the increases. Also, local and federal officials have hinted that the fares in Sao Paulo could also be reversed. “It’s not clear that will calm the country, though, because the protests have released a seething litany of discontent from Brazilians over life’s struggles,” AP reported.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Hidden Tariff on Americans in New Immigration Bill: Millions More Stand to Lose Their Jobs

Leave it to the best and brightest in Congress to craft legislation that does more harm than good.

Amid a national employment crisis that has left one in every three Americans near poverty and on government welfare, our dear leaders have taken it upon themselves to legislate millions more out of jobs.

The Obamacare mandates slated to go into effect next year will force employers to provide health care coverage, or pay a fine to the government of $3000 per employee if they fail to do so. This is a job killer in and of itself, but it doesn’t stop there.

Under the immigration legislation making its way through Congress right now there exists a provision that will allow illegal immigrants residing in the United States the option of being classified as “registered provisional immigrants,” which means they can work legally within the United States. It sounds like a great idea to the progressive-minded.

Here’s the problem.

“Under Obamacare, businesses with over 50 workers that employ American citizens without offering them qualifying health insurance could be subject to fines of up to $3,000 per worker. But because newly legalized immigrants wouldn’t be eligible for subsidies on the Obamacare exchanges until after they become citizens — at least 13 years under the Senate bill — businesses could avoid such fines by hiring the new immigrants instead.

What the new legislation essentially does is place a tariff on hiring American citizens…

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Two Arrested for Immigrant Trafficking

Underage boy also reported to police

(ANSA) Catanzaro, June 27; Two foreigners, Mhahmad Said Mhammad Darwish and Ahmad Samir, were taken into custody and an underage boy was reported to the authorities and assigned to a minors’ detention centre for allegedly bringing a vessel carrying 59 Egyptian immigrants to Calabria, where they landed on Wednesday.

The investigation on how the 59 immigrants, who reportedly each paid 4,000 euros to be taken to Italy, was carried out by the Catanzaro police force, together with the Italian Financial Police and the Soverato Portal Authorities. The investigators have determined that the immigrants, who were travelling below deck, allegedly left from the port of Alexandria in Egypt for the eight-day journey.

All those travelling on the vessel that are not currently under investigation by the police were deported back to Egypt on Wednesday night. The underage travellers have been handed over to the local authorities.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Senate Passes Immigration Overhaul, 68-32

The Senate on Thursday approved the most significant overhaul of the nation’s immigration laws in a generation with broad bipartisan support, sending the bill to the Republican-controlled House, where there is significant opposition from conservative members and where the fight could extend into 2014.

But given the strong 68-to-32 vote, with 14 Republicans voting in favor, the Democratic leadership and the bipartisan group of eight senators who drafted the original bill seemed determined to savor the moment. Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. presided over the vote as senators announced their positions from their desks, in a ceremonial procedure reserved for special occasions.

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America’s Culture Wars Have Become a Culture Rout

by Freddy Gray

Here’s another sign that America’s economy is on the mend: US culture wars are in the news again. When Americans are not depressed about unemployment and ‘declinism’, they revert to rowing about liberty. It’s what they do best. But the culture wars are becoming a culture rout…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

U.S. Gay-Marriage Rulings Praised and Chided in Italy

‘Now we can free ourselves from the Middle Ages’ says Vendola

(ANSA) — Rome, June 27 — A pair of decisions by the United States Supreme Court Wednesday — one that entitled married same-sex couples to federal benefits and another that effectively legalized gay marriage in California — was widely praised but also criticized in Italy on Thursday. “They are celebrating my own emotions. The ruling of the Supreme Court overtakes with incredible speed the unbelievable hesitations and the slowness of politics and legislators in different parts of the world,” said Puglia Governor Nichi Vendola, who heads the left-wing SEL party. “Italy now has the right to emancipate itself from the Middle Ages,” he added, referring to the fact that Italy does not recognize gay marriage.

The decisions were also lauded by Deputy Labour Minister Maria Cecilia Guerra, who called it “a great step forward towards the recognition of equal opportunities”.

“It’s a historic ruling,” she added, “because it helps us understand that we could never have overcome the inequalities and the homophobia that still carry so much weight in our society until it is the very law itself that, by discriminating, justifies them”.

In a five-four ruling, US Supreme Court justices rejected a federal law that defined marriage as legal only when it is between a man and a woman.

The court said that the law, known as the Defence of Marriage Act (DOMA), was unconstitutional, as it violated the Fifth Amendment that defends individual freedom. The decision, which means married gay men and women are entitled to the same federal benefits as straight married couples, is seen as an historic victory for the gay community in the US.

The ruling does not affect the bans on same-sex marriage in 30 US states.

The Supreme Court followed the decision by declining to decide a case on California’s ban on same-sex marriage known as Proposition 8. Since the court said circumstances made it powerless to decide, a court victory for two same-sex couples who had tried to marry was untouched. The decisions also had their detractors in Italy, such as Maurizio Sacconi, a Senator from ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi’s center-right People of Freedom (PdL) party. “Many people who don’t even want to import Coca-Cola from the US now want to adopt marriage for all,” he posted on Twitter.

“I drink Coca-Cola, but I refuse the US’s death penalty and its gay marriage”.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]