The Egyptian army has delivered an ultimatum to President Mohamed Morsi, demanding that he “respond” to the ongoing demonstrations and disorder in Egypt within 48 hours. This comes in the wake of yesterday’s sacking of the Muslim Brotherhood’s headquarters, and the gang-rape of a foreign reporter in Tahrir Square.
In other news, the Swedish Supreme Administrative Court has issued a ruling forbidding home schooling in the country.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to 1389AD, C. Cantoni, Fjordman, Insubria, JD, 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.
Are We Suffering From Ineptocracy?
I have no idea who put together the definition of “ineptocracy” but it surely does fit our current lack of leadership in America. Google says it was created by a t-shirt manufacturer who inadvertently made up the definition with grammatical errors.
“A system of government where the least capable to lead are elected by the least capable of producing and where the members of society least likely to sustain themselves or succeed are rewarded with good and services paid for by the confiscated wealth of a diminishing number of producers.”
Coach Dave Daubenmire adds a little more insight to our problem with his article: Governed by Sociopaths, and radio host Michael Savage has written a 2005 book, Liberalism is a Mental Disorder.
Fifty years ago, political leaders and esteemed economists calmly assured us that planned deficits of a mere $10 or $12 billion a year would do us no harm. Did anyone at that time predict that our deficits would one day balloon into the hundreds of billions and even to today’s level of more than trillions a year?
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Finland: ‘Long Shadow of Nokia’s Problems’
Helsingin Sanomat, 28 June 2013
Japanese semiconductor producer Renesas Electronics announced on June 27 that it will discontinue the production of wireless modems and lay off 800 Finnish staff, reports Helsingin Sanomat.
Given that most of the workers concerned are former employees of Nokia, which sold its wireless modems business to Renesas in 2010, the news has relaunched debate about the state of the Finnish economy.
“The forestry and telecommunications sectors are in crisis, and short-term economic policy is not sufficient to address these problems,” remarks Economic Affairs Minister Jan Vapaavuori, as quoted by the daily. Helsingin Sanomat also publishes a graph showing the number of people employed by the electronics sector declined from 61,500 in 2008 to 46,000 in March 2013, while Nokia, Finland’s biggest company, reduced its staff from 23,320 to 11,000.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Italian Unemployment Hits Unwanted Record
Over three million jobless, 12.2% of working population
(By Paul Virgo) (ANSAmed) — ROME, JULY 1 — Unemployment in recession-hit Italy climbed to a new record high of 12.2% in May, according to preliminary seasonally adjusted data released by Istat on Monday. The national statistics agency said the seasonally adjusted unemployment figure has not been so high since the current calculation method was introduced in first quarter of 1977.
It added that 3.14 million people were unemployed in May, up 56,000 on April and almost half a million, 480,000, on the same month in 2012.
The only positive note was that unemployment among 15-to-24-year-olds fell to 38.5%, down 1.3% on April, although this still means close to four in 10 young people in this age bracket are jobless. The agency said the youth unemployment level was 2.9% higher than in May 2012 and that 647,000 under-25s were out of work.
“The fact that the unemployment rate continues to rise bears witness to the gravity of the crisis,” said Labour Minister Enrico Giovannini.
“The recovery (from the recession) has not yet started. All the indicators say it (economic growth) could resume in the autumn. These figures demand that the government and businesses work even harder to revive the Italian economy”.
Giovannini added that he was not comforted by the fact that unemployment among 15-to-24-year-olds was down.
“Obviously the situation remains very serious,” he said.
Premier Enrico Letta’s left-right government has said fighting unemployment, especially among the young, is its top priority, although it is having trouble finding money to finance efforts for job creation.
Italian industrial employers’ confederation Confindustria has called for labour taxes to be cut to encourage firms to hire workers. But ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi’s People of Freedom (PdL) party, whose support Letta needs to keep his executive afloat, has said first the government must scrap an unpopular property tax call IMU and avert a 1% rise in the top band of value added tax scheduled to kick in later this year.
The administration has made some progress though.
Last week the cabinet passed a package of tax breaks to encourage firms to take on young people that it hopes will create 200,000 new jobs. These measures are aimed at the young people worse equipped to face up to the effects of Italy’s longest recession in over 20 years, such as those without a high-school diploma, those living alone and those who have another person depending on them. Furthermore, on Friday a summit of European Union leaders approved another package to combat youth unemployment worth up to nine billion euros, after Letta insisted the issue be at the top of the agenda.
Letta hailed the outcome as a victory for Rome and said around 1.5 billion euros of the money would go to Italy, although members of the PdL derided this as “crumbs”. On Monday Giovannini defended the record of the government, which was sworn in late in April.
“The decree the government passed to boost employment, starting from young people, is not a drop in the ocean,” he said.
“We’ve done a lot. We know there’s still lots to do but it’s not right to always write things off by saying much more is needed. We’ve had an important signal from Europe that shows it wants to go beyond austerity policies”. Confindustria President Giorgio Squinzi said that the unemployment figure was “unfortunately one that we expected” and reflected the “performance of the real economy”.
He added that the government had made “small steps in the right direction” and that it is necessary “to do more, with more decisiveness”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
100% of Tea Party Groups Were Flagged by IRS (Video)
Danny Werfel, interim IRS commissioner, admitted that if a group had the name “Tea Party” in its name, its application was automatically held for “further review.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
19 Firefighters Are Killed Battling Arizona Wildfire
Nineteen firefighters were killed battling a fast-moving wildfire menacing a small town in central Arizona, the United States Wildland Fire Aviation Service said on Sunday.
The firefighters died fighting a fire near the small town of Yarnell about 80 miles northwest of Phoenix, the service said in a Facebook post.
“It has been confirmed that 19 Wildland firefighters have lost their lives on the Yarnell Hill fire Arizona,” the post said. “I ask for prayers for the families and friends of these brave men and women.”
| [Return to headlines] |
Charges Dismissed for Teen Arrested Over NRA T-Shirt
Prosecutors tried to gag Jared Marcum from talking to press
Common sense has finally prevailed in the case of a middle school student arrested after he refused to remove an NRA t-shirt, with criminal charges against 14-year-old Jared Marcum being dismissed by a judge.
Marcum faced a year in jail after being arrested on April 18 by police in Logan County, West Virginia on charges that he “obstructed an officer” by refusing to stop talking. The incident began when Marcum refused to remove an NRA t-shirt when asked by a teacher.
After Marcum refused to take off the shirt, calmly attempting to explain to school administrators that he was exercising his first amendment right, cops were called solely, “Because I would not take this shirt off, because I believe that I should have a right to wear this,” according to Marcum.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Long before humans ever arrived on the scene, forest fires burned themselves out naturally. The forests re-grew and the cycle repeated: fire and rebirth, fire and rebirth. Over and over again for millions of years.
This was never a problem until humans came along and decided to build expensive homes and commercial buildings in forested areas that eventually catch on fire. These “fire zones” would, of course, burn up sooner or later, but people wanted to live there, so they bought fire insurance and built their homes anyway.
The inevitable cycle of fire eventually arrived. Forests catch on fire from lightning or some other cause, but the only reason the fire spreads is because the forests are full of fuel in the form of fallen branches, shrubs and other combustible material. So the fires burn fiercely, as they have always done throughout the history of the planet, “cleaning out” the underbrush and giving many plants and trees a fresh start.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Egypt: US to Suspend Aid if Violence Continues, Obama Says
Respect the rule of law, gov’t must listen to opposition
(ANSAmed) — NEW YORK, JULY 1 — Egypt will only continue to receive US aid if it follows the rule of law, and if the government listens to the opposition without resorting to violence, US President Barack Obama said Monday. The US is very concerned and is closely monitoring developments in Egypt, the president said while on a visit to Tanzania. Obama went on to add there is a danger of further violence and exhorted all parties to “moderation”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
HIV Vaccine Infects 41 Volunteers, Vaccine Trials Canceled
(NaturalNews) Yet another “experimental” vaccine for HIV has proven to be even more dangerous than the virus itself. At least 40 men participating in a taxpayer-funded government study entitled “HVTN 505 clinical trial,” which began in 2009, were recently found to have contracted HIV from the vaccine itself, prompting an immediate end to the deadly trial.
Crafted by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the study initially included more than 2,500 men from 19 cities. All the men admitted to either having sex with other men, or to having sex with transgender individuals. Half of the men were assigned to receive the experimental vaccine HVTN 505, while the other half was reportedly given a placebo vaccine with unknown contents.
However, a recent safety review conducted on April 22 revealed that 41 men in the HVTN 505 group contracted HIV despite having received the jab. Only 30 men in the placebo group, on the other hand, contracted HIV, which translates into a 37 percent increased risk of HIV among those who were vaccinated, a dismal statistic that was later revealed to be the result of complete vaccine failure.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
[WARNING: ** Disturbing Content ** ]
A Cirque du Soleil acrobat has died after plunging 50ft to her death in the final scene of a Las Vegas show.
Paris-born mother-of-two Sarah Guyard-Guillot, 31, was pronounced dead late Saturday night after she slipped free from her safety wire during the performance.
Witnesses said she was being hoisted up the side of the ‘vertical’ stage when she slipped and plummeted into an open pit below.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
(NaturalNews) The cancer industry has apparently become so desperate to recruit new customers that it is now resorting to what can only be described as a type of medical date rape. A number of hospitals and cancer centers across the country are reportedly now holding community-driven “mammogram parties,” a deceptive cancer marketing scheme that basically entails deliberately getting women tipsy or drunk on alcohol with their friends and neighbors in order to entice them into getting medically molested via mammograms.
The horrendous bait and switch tactic is taking place under the guise of “saving lives,” as it is specifically designed for women who feel uncomfortable with getting mammograms, and who would otherwise avoid getting them if it were not for the added pressure of being wined and dined in a comfortable and relaxing environment. Women are being encouraged to “grab their girlfriends” for a night out at the local cancer center, during which time they take turns getting blasted with ionizing radiation in between munching down fancy cheeses and chocolate fondue, and sipping down delectable wine.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Major Change Coming to the Security Lines at Denver Airport
There’s a major change coming to the security lines at Denver International Airport and it’s all in an effort to move things along a lot faster.
The change is a Transportation Security Administration program but DIA officials say they are very supportive of it. It won’t apply to all passengers — only those using the “A” bridge security check point and it will run at different times.
The change was tested Friday morning and travelers seemed to be on board. They involved TSA-trained dogs.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
NSA (And Administration) Illogic
The argument in defense of domestic espionage given by the Obama White House, the NSA, and the DOJ dissembles and is rife with illogic. On the one hand, the White House, DOJ, and NSA have all contended that Edward Snowden’s revelations concerning NSA spying on Americans are acts of high treason that imperil American security by enabling terrorists to evade detection, yet on the other hand, the President says that he perceives no need to speak with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin or Chinese dictator Xi Jinping concerning extradition of Snowden and no need to scramble jets to take down any aircraft that transport him outside of Russia. If Snowden’s acts constitute not only acts of treason but also acts that imperil the nation, shouldn’t every measure be undertaken to capture and try him? Isn’t the failure to fully and faithfully execute the laws in the presence of such a threat an inaction which falls beneath the President’s irreducible constitutional requirements? Or is it that Snowden’s revelations, while the result of unlawful conduct, constitute more of a political embarrassment for the Administration than a true threat to national security? Moreover, years ago press reports identified a change in tactics by Osama bin Laden to evade detection. He and his network reportedly reduced reliance on digital communication in favor of couriers precisely to evade detection by American intelligence. Are we to believe that the shift in tactics the Administration now raises is one for which NSA lacks countermeasures despite the fact that the same or similar changes in terrorist communication tactics occurred years ago?
The political spin masters at the White House, DOJ, and NSA have succeeded in obfuscating the underlying truth: that the federal government has been surveilling millions of Americans private communications without satisfying the Fourth Amendment standard of probable cause, albeit with the acquiescence of the FISA courts. They have shifted attention away from the abuses of the NSA surveillance program (the data mining of millions of Americans phone records and email transmissions). They have done so by emphasizing that Snowden is a traitor and that his revelations have caused international terrorists to alter their communication methods, making discovery of their intentions and actions more difficult. The spin may deflect attention away from the abuses for a time, but the fact remains: The federal government has been spying on millions of Americans without probable cause that they are actively involved in a conspiracy to commit terror.
In other words, the federal government has knowingly and willfully violated the Fourth Amendment not once but millions of times.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Obama Faces Congressional Backlash for Supporting Al Qaeda Syria Rebels
Jeremy Herb writing in The Hill examines how Obama’s decision to fund the Al Nusrah has sparked a backlash in the US Congress from both side of the House. Three bills have introduced “that would restrict funds for arming to the Syrian opposition and prevent the administration from intervening without congressional approval. … Two of the bills came from Republican Reps. Tom Rooney (R-Fla.) and Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), and one was bipartisan, with Reps. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.), Chris Gibson (R-N.Y.), Peter Welch (D-Vt.) and Rick Nolan (D-Minn.):
The flurry of legislative activity represents a new urgency from intervention opponents in the wake of Obama’s move to provide military support to the rebels.”It’s being spurred by the fact that things area developing quite rapidly in Syria… and now folks are sounding the alarm,” said Adnan Zulfiqar, a fellow at the Truman National Security Project. “Up until now, the activity that you’ve mainly been seeing on the Hill has been really from the advocates for greater intervention.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Russian Forces to Provide “Security” At US Events
As part of a deal signed last week in Washington DC between the Russian Emergency Situations Ministry and FEMA, Russian officials will provide “security at mass events” in the United States, a scenario that won’t sit well with Americans wary of foreign assets operating on US soil.
According to a press release by the Ministry of the Russian Federation for Civil Defense and Emergencies, US and Russian officials met on June 25 at the 17th Joint U.S.-Russia Cooperation Committee on Emergency Situations.
In addition to agreeing with FEMA to “exchange experts during joint rescue operations in major disasters,” the Russian Emergency Situations Ministry will also be providing “security at mass events” in the United States.
This suggests that events designated as “National Special Security Events” by the Department of Homeland Security, which include the Super Bowl, international summits such as the G8 and presidential inaugurations, will now rely partly on Russian authorities to provide security.
The meeting last week also agreed on the conclusion that US and Russian emergency authorities will increase their co-operation, “in order to respond efficiently to all kinds of disasters.”
[Comment: Setting the stage for the use of foreign troops to maintain “stability” in any particular country. This is how the elites intend to get around the the fact that native troops are reticent to cause harm to their fellow citizens.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Single Women’s Health Insurance Premiums Set to Double in California, Thanks to Obamacare
(NaturalNews) Progressives claim to be the most sensitive to women’s issues, yet they are the first ones to back policies that either harm or otherwise suppress women. Case in point: Obamacare.
Back in the day when the president and his congressional allies were selling this turkey to the American people, one of their most oft-repeated lies was that health care reform would lead to lower costs — lower fees for service, lower hospital costs, lower government costs and lower health care premiums.
One of the demographics that stood to benefit the most from “hope and change” brought on by the Affordable Care Act is young people — and especially young women. But that won’t be the case in ultra-left wing California, home to House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi. There, both men and women will suffer tremendous health insurance “rate shock.”
According to Forbes:
This is because the Golden State already bars insurers from charging different rates on the basis of gender in the individual market. According to the National Women’s Law Center, 10 other states also do so: Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Montana, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, and Washington. A twelfth state, Vermont, limits but does not prohibit gender rating.
So, writes Avik Roy, a Forbes contributor, that means men and women will pay equally dearly.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Video: Americans Don’t Know About American Revolution
Author and activist Mark Dice has a new video out in which his interviewees don’t know what country we declared independence from or even when we signed the Declaration of Independence.
At one point, Dice even gave the answer while phrasing his question and still received the wrong answer.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Virginia is for Food and Farm Freedom Lovers
Virginians are not taking lightly the NGOs environmentalist assaults on their land and the right to farm. They are fighting back with the Virginia Small Farm and Food Freedom Resolution in support of the Farm and Food Freedom Act.
Many Virginians testified in Richmond in support of HB1430, The Right to Farm Act, better known as the Boneta Bill, which passed the House of Delegates 77-22 in February 2013 but was blocked by the Senate Agricultural Committee by a vote of 11-4. Delegate Scott Lingamfelter promised to reintroduce the bill next year.
Virginians have vowed to continue the fight. Chairman Mike Thomas and his committee of 12 proposed a resolution on May 4, 2013 to be included and published on the Republican Party of Virginia website with a link on the home page.
It remains to be seen if any of the parties and members of Congress represent the wishes of the majority of the people anymore. Would lawmakers continue to pass laws just to protect the loudest minorities, the illegals, those on welfare, and the elites in power?
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Protecting Public Safety One Smashed Door at a Time
In this increasingly dangerous world, it’s nice to know Canadians can rest secure in the knowledge that RCMP officers are out there, patrolling our streets, ready on a moment’s notice to break into our homes and steal our property.
In fact, the RCMP recently performed a little break and entry action in High River, Alberta, a town which had been evacuated due to massive flooding.
It seems some of the town’s gun owners had left their firearms in what police call “unsecure locations,” such as inside their securely locked homes.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Foreign Mafia Move in on Italy
The Georgian mafia is encroaching on Italian soil, posing a great threat to the country, Italian daily Il Fatto Quotidiano reported on Monday.
“It’s a very serious phenomenon, a phenomenon that is changing all of our lives,” wrote journalist Ferruccio Sansa.
“The mafia is very dangerous; they are white-collared men with kalashnikovs under their jackets.”
The newspaper said the Georgian mafia spends hundreds of millions of dollars and euros on buying hotels and houses in northern Italy, naming the Dolomites as one area infiltrated by the criminal gang.
The allegations come less than two weeks after Europol arrested 18 members of the Georgian Kutaisi clan, the majority of which the EU agency said were ‘thieves in law’ or elite career criminals.
Seven of the arrests were made in Italy, the result of an 18-month operation and collaboration between Europol and six EU countries.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
France: Cities to be ‘Blacked Out’ From 1am
New gov’t energy-saving program will save 200 mln euros a year
(ANSAmed) — PARIS, JULY 1- In a new energy-saving measure, French public monuments, churches, stations, offices and billboards will be blacked out beginning at 1am.
Exceptions have been made for tourist areas, cultural attractions, historic centers, and Christmas and other holiday decorations. Violators will be fined up to 750 euros.
“When lighting is not indispensable it becomes pollution”, French Ecology Minister Delphine Batho said. “The first objective of this measure is to educate the public”.
The measure will reduce the carbon footprint of French cities and communes by 250,000 tons of carbon dioxide, or 30% of greenhouse gas emissions, the French environmental agency said.
It will also save 200 million euros a year, equal to the “energy consumption of 750,000 people or the production of one nuclear power plant”, according to France Nature Environnement spokesman Benoit Hartmann. “The next step is to reduce street lighting by adding sensors so it will only switch on when someone is present”. The French government has also launched a campaign to educate businesses about why the blackout is necessary. Shop window lighting must be turned off from 1-7am, and public monuments must only be lit up from sunset to 1am.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
France: Fake Cops Steal €200,000 From Saudi Official
Audacious thieves in Paris impersonated police officers to rob a senior official from the Saudi Ministry of Youth and Sport shortly after his arrival in the French capital. The robbers made off with €200,000 in cash.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Israel Eyes Italian Support for EU Terror Blacklisting of Hezbollah
Jerusalem, 1 July (AKI) — Israeli premier Benyamin Netanyahu was on Monday due to seek Italy’s help in putting militant Lebanese Shia group Hezbollah on a European Union list of terrorist organisations.
“If Hezbollah is not a terrorist group, then I don’t know who is,” Netanyahu said in an interview with leading Italian daily Corriere della Sera ahead of a meeting in Jerusalem on Monday with his Italian counterpart Enrico Letta.
“They kill everywhere, even on European territory as occurred in Bulgaria,” he said, referring to the bus bombing in Black Sea city of Burgas in July 2012 in which five Israeli tourists and their Bulgarian driver died.
Britain, which regards Hezbollah’s military wing as a terrorist entity and last month cited its alleged responsibility for the Burgas attack in a motion to have the British position adopted by the EU.
The placing of a group on the EU’s terrorism blacklist requires a consensus from all 27 member states and Italy and Austria have reportedly voiced opposition to such a move against Hezbollah.
Europe’s inability to reach agreement on the issue is said to have frustrated American and Israeli officials alike.
“It’s hard to see how you cannot have a consensus on Hezbollah as a terrorist organization,” Netanyahu was quoted as telling the EU’s top foreign policy representative Catherine Aston when they met in Jerusalem on 20 June.
Hezbollah militiamen are known to have been fighting on the side of forces loyal to Syrian president Bashar al-Assad in the 28-month conflict with rebels.
The Jewish state in July-August 2006 fought a deadly 34-day war with Hezbollah in Lebanon, northern Israel and the Golan Heights that ended with a United Nations brokered ceasefire.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Albanian Hurls Wife to Death From 9th-Floor Apartment
Cologno Monzese, 1 July (AKI) — An Albanian woman was killed in northern Italy after her husband threw her from the balcony of their ninth-floor apartment during an argument, police said on Monday.
The 30-year-old Albanian, who has a criminal record, was arrested in Cologno Monzese in the Lombardy region on suspicion of murdering his 31-year-old Albanian wife late on Sunday.
The man initially claimed his wife had committed suicide, but police noted deep scratches on his face and stomach indicating there had been a violent struggle.
Neighbours said they had frequently heard the couple rowing and that the Albanian woman had told them her husband had a lover in their homeland who he had refused to stop seeing.
The woman had also told a friend and a relation that she suffered threats and domestic abuse from her husband but had never reported him to police.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Prosecutors Ask for Two-Year Jail Term for Pirelli Tire Boss
Tronchetti Provera accused of data theft in Telecom Italia deal
(ANSA) — Milan, July 1 — Prosecutors sought a two-year prison sentence Monday for the president of global tire manufacturer Pirelli in a data theft case.
Deputy prosecutor Alfredo Robledo alleged that Marco Tronchetti Provera had a major role the Kroll case that involved using Telecom Italia data to snoop on rival companies.
He also asked that Tronchetti Provera, who headed Telecom Italia from 2001 to 2006, be fined 5,000 euros.
The case has been adjourned to July 10.
The prosecution says that investigative agency Kroll was brought in to hack into rival businesses to gather corporate information.
According to the prosecutor, Tronchetti Provera was aware of what was going on and received illegally obtained telephone wiretaps amid a market battle between the Italian telecommunications company and Brazilian competitor Brasil Telecom in 2000.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Scarano Questioned in 20 Million Corruption Plot at Holy See
Suspect asks to be moved from prison to house arrest
(ANSA) — Rome, July 1 — Italian magistrates questioned Msgr Nunzio Scarano Monday in a 20-million-euro corruption plot involving the Holy See’s asset-management agency APSA.
Scarano, who was arrested last Friday on suspicion of corruption and fraud, said he was not comfortable in Rome’s Regina Coeli prison and requested house arrest, prosecutors said.
Scarano was questioned for about three hours by investigating magistrate Barbara Callari, who will decide the next step in the process.
Scarano was arrested along with Giovanni Maria Zito, an agent in Italy’s domestic intelligence agency, and Rome broker Giovanni Carenzio. It’s alleged the trio were involved in a failed attempt to fly 20 million euros of alleged tax-evasion proceeds from Switzerland back to Italy.
Police said Scarano and Zito got a private jet to fly the cash for three Salerno-based shipowner brothers who were friends with Scarano.
Zito is suspected of getting 400,000 euros for arranging cover for the flight.
Scarano was suspended a month ago after being named in a separate probe into receiving money in Salerno.
Police said brothers Paolo, Cesare and Maurizio D’Amico, whose fleet is based in Salerno but who are prominent in Rome business circles, were the alleged beneficiaries of what they called “a complex and expensive operation to evade airport customs controls and bring back into Italy money that is believed to be the fruit of tax evasion”.
Prosecutors said they were probing Scarano’s “huge” financial and property assets.
The Vatican has said it would cooperate fully with the probe.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Sollecito Accuses Prosecutors of Gruesome Film Fantasies
FB post entitled ‘Meredith Kercher’s murder, the horror film’
(ANSA) — Bari, July 1 — Raffaele Sollecito, Amanda Knox’s ex-boyfriend and co-defendant in the murder case of fellow student Meredith Kercher, on Monday posted on Facebook an account of his relation with Knox that accuses prosecutors of twisting the truth into a bad horror movie plot.
“Meredith Kercher’s murder, the horror film” was the title Sollecito gave his post on the social network.
Sollecito described his affair with the American student and called it “too boring” for criminal prosecutors, who he said made a “horror film” reconstruction of events.
In March this year, Italy’s highest appeals court scrapped the acquittal Sollecito of his ex-girlfriend Amanda Knox in the case of Kercher’s murder in Perugia and ordered a new appeals trial which will be held in Florence as soon as this fall.
Knox, now 25, and Sollecito, now 29, both students along with Kercher, were convicted of her murder in 2009 and served almost four years in prison before their convictions were overturned in 2011.
“It isn’t known why Amanda and Raffaele chose to kill Meredith, but we must take note of their choice, the choice of evil,” Sollecito sarcastically wrote on Facebook.
“Probably under the influence of drugs, which they don’t scorn seeing as they said they had smoked a joint…Too bad no one did the tests to see if, effectively, Amanda and Raffaele had used heavy drugs and were accustomed to drinking heavily.
Damn!” Sollecito’s post went on.
“‘Cool! You made a fusion between ‘The Exorcist’ and ‘Lethal Weapon 4!!!’…You’re awesome,” wrote Sollecito, parodying the judgement of Giancarlo Massei, the Perugia judge who convicted the two students in lower court. Sollecito concluded, “As Terminator said, ‘I’ll be back’…and in fact, they later made ‘Terminator 2”‘.
Perugia Prosecutor Giovanni Galati last month said, “The Supreme Court of Cassation sentence substantially demolishes the appeals court sentence of Perugia… underlining the incomplete explanations and the constant violations of the law”.
Another Perugia prosecutor, Giancarlo Costagliola, said the decision of Italy’s supreme Court of Cassation to order a new appeals trial has raised Kercher’s parents’ hope of finally discovering who killed her.
Raffaele Sollecito’s father, Francesco, called the Perugia prosecutors’ comments “unusual, improper”, maintaining that the Perugia prosecutors should have remained silent as the “trial is still outstanding” and the case was no longer theirs.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Plan Needed to Keep Pompeii’s UNESCO Status, Says Minister
Security to be increased, work sites to open
(ANSA) — Naples, July 1 — A clear plan operated with maximum transparency is needed to keep the archeological site of Pompeii on UNESCO’s World Heritage list, Italian Minister of Culture Massimo Bray said on Monday.
UNESCO has given Italy until December 31 to apply a series of measures or face having one of its most famous archeological sites removed from the elite catalogue of heritage locations.
“Shortly safety measures, including videos surveillance for 50% of the area, will be installed and 39 work areas will be opened by 2015,” Bray said.
“These measures are all outlined as necessary and urgent by UNESCO,” Bray added.
To date, five work sites have opened in Pompeii, but two have been halted due to the contractors’ “lack of transparency,” Bray said. Plans for the revamping and preservation of the ancient archeological site of Pompeii were announced in April.
The conference that unveiled the key points of a mega-undertaking called the Grande Progetto Pompei or Great Pompeii Project, said that work would “secure the site’s damaged areas and to ensure that this is done using capable, honest businesses, not organized crime”.
In March, the EU Commission approved an injection of 105 million euros in restoration funds for Pompeii’s ailing monuments, to be combined with matching money from Italy. A parallel project of private investors and businesses to develop areas surrounding the archeological site is also planned.
“Pompeii, as with the Colosseum and other historical sites, funds and staff are needed,” Bray said in an interview with Il Corriere della Sera daily paper on Monday.
Staff is also needed to effectively monitor the site and avoid damage by visitors.
“The last round of hirings in 2008 foresaw 400 new employees,” Bray said. Some 139,000 people, of which 80% were college graduates, applied, the minister said.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy Demands Responses to U.S. Spy Reports
Defence minister calls for bold response from EU
(By Christopher Livesay) (ANSA) — Rome, July 1 — Italy demanded answers from the United States Monday after allegations surfaced in the media that the US spied on the diplomatic offices of the European Union and several countries, including Italy.
“We have to call things what they are: if we’re allies, it is unacceptable that someone behaves that way,” said Defense Minister Mario Mauro, stressing that the reports must be confirmed. Speaking at a forum hosted by Italian daily La Repubblica, the defence minister suggested the affair could force the EU to take a bold position. “Perhaps for the first time we’ll see if such a thing as European foreign policy exists,” he said. “Europe tends to grow up when its back is to the wall”. The European Commission handed European Union foreign chief Catherine Ashton a mandate earlier Monday to raise the issue of United States eavesdropping of EU data with US authorities in Washington and Brussels. The EC said it expected the US to clear up the affair, saying it anticipated the US would be “as transparent as the EU expects from its allies”.
The suspicions of US spying on EU missions and the embassies of European countries were based on a report published Sunday by German weekly Der Spiegel.
It claimed that the US National Security Agency (NSA) bugged diplomats from allies such as the EU offices in Brussels, New York and Washington, as well as embassies of countries such as Italy, Greece and France. The report was partly based on revelations of American government secret surveillance leaked by Edward Snowden, a former NSA contractor reportedly seeking asylum in Russia after the US revoked his passport. The leaks, which had already generated friction between the US and Russia, now risk derailing talks over creating a transatlantic free-trade agreement between Europe and the US planned for 2015. “There can be no negotiations…until we have obtained guarantees” that the US is not spying on the EU, said French President Francois Hollande. Negotiations are to take place next week in Washington. “It’s a thorny issue that needs to be met by satisfactory responses,” Italian President Giorgio Napolitano said.
Italian Foreign Minister Emma Bonino voiced confidence the US would provide all the necessary details on the case.
US President Barack Obama responded to the wave of remarks from European leaders by vowing to hand over all the information America’s allies were requesting. The tone in Italy’s dailies was skeptical. “The Cold War is back, without the atom bomb but with the Web,” said Il Giornale. “It’s evident that the explanation given by Washington, that its information gathering is tied to anti-terrorism activities and the need to keep its aggressive enemies at bay, is only partly true,” said Il Corriere della Sera.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Octogenarian Probed for Killing Suspected Thief
Romanian dead after ‘attempted robbery’ at Roman villa
(ANSA) — Rome, July 1 — Police are investigating the shooting death of a Romanian man suspected in an attempted robbery at a villa, authorities said Monday.
Ilario D’Apollonio, 81, shot and killed Nicolae Valentin Barbat during what is believed to have been an attempted robbery late Saturday at the man’s villa. An autopsy was being performed Monday and police say they also intend to interrogate two others who were with Barbat.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Kansas Jewish Man Refused Entry Into Britain
A Jewish student from Kansas was denied entry into Britain for a summer job several weeks ago — apparently due to a customs agent’s anti-Semitism.
After being detained for more than nine hours, he was put back on a plane to the United States by customs officials. During that time he was never told why he was being denied entry.
According to the the Kansas City Jewish Chronicle, the British man who had offered Louis “Chip” Cantor summer work experience, Kevin Shilling, said the British border agent he spoke to in his attempt to get Cantor admitted into Britian made more than one anti-Semitic comment to him during the telephone conversation they had.
Chip Cantor told his story to two local television stations last month. On June 4, he told KMBC he was traveling to Britain to visit and gain summer work experience, and to participate in a fundraiser for a child who has cancer. He left Kansas City on Wednesday, May 29, landed in Britain after 10 p.m. London time and waited in line to go through customs.
When he got to the front of the line, a female customs agent began looking at his passport. Chip’s father, Chuck Cantor, said his son told him the customs agent was very pleasant toward him until she saw the Israel stamps in his passport. Then she simply walked away with his passport without speaking a word to him. Chip told his father he estimates she was gone 45 minutes to an hour. He never saw her again.
“He has a lot of Israel stamps,” Chuck said. Chip has been to Israel several times including two programs sponsored by Young Judea — the six-week Machon program and a gap-year program. Chip Cantor graduated from Shawnee Mission East High School in 2009 and will be a senior in the fall at Florida Gulf Coast University.
Finally, according to Chuck, a different, uniformed customs agent came to see him and told him the agents would be taking his bags and detaining him for questioning. He was not told why.
Once in the interview room Chip told his father that he was told if he changed any of his answers to any questions, he was going to go to prison.
“He said, ‘Why would I change my answers? I told you the truth,’ “ Chuck said.
According to the Chronicle, Chip wasn’t allowed to be in sight of his luggage and eventually was put into what he described to his father as a detention cell.
“At some point a woman who was wearing a burka came to the cell to photograph him,” Chuck said. At that point he was fingerprinted as well.
As she was doing this, she said to him, “We’re putting your name and fingerprints and photos into a database. From now on it is going to be very difficult for you to ever travel in the United Kingdom or anywhere in the E.U. It will be up to each individual country to decide if they want to admit you.”
Chuck said Chip kept telling the customs agents he had not committed any crimes or done anything wrong. Eventually another agent came to tell Chip he was being deported.
Now several hours after he was detained, Chip was given the opportunity to call his father. Chuck asked to speak directly to the customs agent involved and was connected with Philip G. Yeomans.
After Chuck spoke to Yeomans, he contacted Kevin Shilling, his managing director and owner of Shilling Communications, the British company where Chip was supposed to be employed for the summer. It was about 3 a.m., London time. Shilling, who is not Jewish, called Yeomans.
Shilling noted that while the conversation didn’t accomplish anything, Yeomans made several anti-Semitic comments. At one point, Shilling recounted, when Shilling was explaining the reason Chip was in the country, the customs agent told Shilling that Chip should have lied to the customs agent, adding, “A Jewish kid would find that easy.”
Yeomans, the custom agent, also told Shilling any additional attempts to aid Cantor would be useless and “the little Jew will be on his way back to his rich daddy,” in a matter of hours.
Chip said he was given only a half of a sandwich and very little water throughout the nine hours of detention. In the morning, Chip was escorted to the plane by another customs agent for a flight back to the United States. “The guy walks him onto the plane and in front of everyone, like a prisoner, he says here is this man’s passport. Do not give him his passport until you land in the United States,” Chuck said he was told. The American Airlines purser told Chip that, in 17 years flying internationally, he had never seen anything like it.
When contacted by the Chronicle, Shilling said, “I’m really so sorry for Chip and the way he was treated. I want to reassure all your readers that if they plan a visit to the U.K., once they get past the U.K. Border Agency they will find friendly, welcoming people, without prejudice.”
[NOTE: this may have been Immigration rather than U.K. Customs]
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Kos: 70 Years Ago ‘Forgotten’ Slaughter of Italian Officers
103 killed by Germans on Greek isle. No state memorial stone yet
(by Patrizio Nissirio) (ANSAmed) — Island of Kos (Greece), July 1 — The plain of Linopoti on the island of Kos burns under the hot son of a Greek summer. A little bit further towards the sea is Tingaki, one of the most touristic sites on this side of the Dodecanese with its taverns and noisy bars. It is hard to imagine that 70 years ago in this field German machine guns of the Wehrmacht killed 103 Italian officers who were considered traitors after September 8, 1943.
The tragic history of the Second World War has passed, like the Slaughter of Coo (the name of the island during the Italian rule of the Dodecanese in 1912-1947) but no monument or memorial stone has yet been set by the Italian state to commemorate the massacre. There is only a marble tag placed in 1992 by the municipality of Kos inside the island’s Catholic cemetery and a memorial bell donated by the province of Latina, in the central Lazio region, to remember the officers.
After the armistice on September 8 between Italy and the Allies, British troops landed on the island to help Italian soldiers — two battalions with the 10th ‘Regina’ infantry regiment led by Colonel Felice Leggio — fearing a German invasion. But when on October 3 the 22nd airborne division of the Wehrmacht attacked the island, the lack of coordination between Italian and British troops enabled the quick victory of the Germans led by General Friedrich-Wilhelm Mueller. The Italian officers taken prisoners were questioned inside barracks previously used by the Italian army, which are today in a state of ruin outside the city of Kos. The officers were told they would board a ship and then be detained as prisoners of war.
There were 148 officers and only seven sided with the Germans.
Others fled to Turkey.
The remaining 103 were gunned down on October 6 on the plain of Linopoti as they were walking with their suitcases towards a ship that wasn’t there. They were buried in mass graves. Only 66 were later identified and their remains were transferred, thanks to two priests in 1944, to the island’s cemetery and then to a military cemetery in the southern Italian city of Bari. The others are still there, somewhere in the sun-drenched field of Linopoti where nobody has ever decided to search for them.
Mueller was tried on war crimes charges in Athens after the war and for that massacre he was sentenced to death and executed in 1947.
‘My father, an officer with the Regina regiment, saved himself from that slaughter by pure coincidence’, said Nicola Forenza, an Italian-Greek lawyer born in Kos. ‘He was in Italy on leave to visit my mother and us, his children, as proven by his state of service, when September 8 occurred and he never returned to Kos’.
The owner of the land where the massacre occurred has always refused to allow excavations or to enable private citizens to build a small chapel with the names of victims which would have occupied only a few square meters, even though a compensation was offered. In 1958 then-president Gronchi gave the victims a gold medal of military valour. In 2006, Forenza wrote in an article, a group of parliamentarians requested a mission of Italian authorities to the island to evaluate the possibility of lacing a commemorative stone but the inquiry led to nothing as parliament’s two houses were subsequently dissolved. ‘What is really missing is a state memorial stone’, said the attorney who stressed how a similar massacre — although much bigger in terms of victims — in Cephalonia is solemnly and justly commemorated.
‘A long time has gone by but such initiatives, which are so worthy, don’t ever have a statute of limitations’.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Norwegian Race Car Driver Injures 17 in Poland
VIDEO — The driver of a Norwegian race car lost control of his vehicle on Sunday, plowing into the crowd at the Polonia Gran Turismo event in Poland and injuring a total of 17 spectators.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Poland-Ukraine: ‘Volhynia. Reconciliation’
Gazeta Wyborcza, 28 June 2013
Visiting Warsaw on June 27, Sviatoslav Shevchuk, head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, requested forgiveness from “every Polish family who lost relatives from the hands of my compatriots” in the 1943 massacres in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia, reports Gazeta Wyborcza.
The Volhynia massacre has been a thorn in relations between Kiev and Warsaw since the fall of communism. An estimated 100,000 Poles were killed in ethnic-cleansing operations carried out by the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) between March 1943 and the end of 1944 in Nazi-occupied Poland. Polish retaliation attacks claimed lives of some 20,000 Ukrainians.
Polish archbishop Józef Michalik said Shevchuk’s appeal was “a sign of sound and brave patriotism, free of nationalist or backward thinking”.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Spain: Police Smash Chinese Sex Slave Rings in Madrid
Spanish police said on Monday they had busted two rival Chinese criminal networks that lured women and girls from China to Spain with the promise of high-paying jobs and then forced them into prostitution.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden: Court Says No to Home Schooling
The Supreme Administrative Court has ruled against allowing home schooling in Sweden.
The issue attracted attention when a Jewish Orthodox family wanted their four daughters to receive home schooling rather than attend a normal school.
The court says there are no exceptional reasons to allow home schooling. The decision will be a guide to lower level courts deciding in similar cases.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden: Uzbek Couple Freed Over Imam Shooting
A man and woman in northern Sweden were cleared on Monday by the Court of Appeals over suspicions of being accessories to the attempted murder of exiled Uzbek regime-critic Obid Nazarov.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Switzerland Tops Global Innovation Index — Again
Switzerland remains the most innovative country on the planet for the third year in a row, according to a report issued on Monday by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
UK Govt Bans GMOs From Parliament, But Forces Them on Public
Since the mid-to-late 1990s when genetically-modified organisms (GMOs) were first being thrust onto the market by governments working in lockstep with the biotechnology industry, the U.K. Parliament has effectively barred their use in all food items served to government officials at Parliament restaurants, according to new reports. This, despite the fact that prominent elected officials in the U.K. are right now pushing GMOs on a public that is largely opposed to them, effectively shining the spotlight on their own insane hypocrisy with regards to the GMO issue.
As recently reported by the U.K.’s Daily Mail, news of the Parliament’s ban on GMOs at its own restaurants comes amid the procurement of a massive pro-GMO propaganda campaign being led by this very same Parliament against the interests of its own people. Biotech industry hacks like Conservative Secretary of State for the Environment Owen Paterson, for instance, who actually claims GMOs are safer than non-GMOs, is currently pushing for more GMO acceptance in his country even though he does not eat GMOs himself.
Paterson, who regularly dines on only the highest quality non-GMO fare at fancy Parliament restaurants like the Portcullis House and the Pavilion buffet, is quoted as blaming starvation in third world countries on widespread rejection of GMOs in the U.K. and elsewhere. Resistance to GM “Golden Rice,” for instance, is apparently the reason why millions of children have gone blind or died, according to Paterson, whose vehement advocacy of GMOs borders on maniacal…
In essence, the common folk are basically expected to openly embrace untested GMOs while their overlords in government gorge on all-natural foods that have not been shown to cause cancerous tumors, digestive destruction, and other major health problems. This is further evidenced by a recent statement put forth by the company that prepares and serves food for the Parliament, which admits that Parliament members do not personally want to ingest GMOs.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The Army is preparing to call a paedophile solider jailed for a string of ‘repulsive’ attacks on children in an attempt to secure the conviction of an SAS sniper charged with illegally possessing a handgun and ammunition.
Senior military officials summoned as many as 16 SAS troops — including two who are serving prisoners — to give evidence against a fellow Special Forces soldier Danny Nightingale.
It is thought top brass are willing to mount a no-holds barred legal case against Mr Nightingale during the court martial which starts today.
But the case is likely to make very uncomfortable viewing for Army chiefs as the reputation and actions of soldiers within one of its elite regiments comes under intense scrutiny.
Among those whose evidence will be called is Corporal Ian Tuckley, according to the Times newspaper.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Israeli Paper Wants Israel to be 100th Kosovo Recognizer as Kosovo’s Mengele Commemorates Jewish Cemetery, Nazi-unrepentant Croatia Joins E.U. on Monday.
The year 2013 will witness a twin evil—imminently. As Kosovo is finally surrendered to terrorists by the nation it gave birth to (Serbia)—entering the “family of nations”—the E.U. this Monday will welcome the never de-Nazified Croatia as its newest member. It will be the consummation of backwards Western Balkan policy of the 90s, when the fascist remnants of both Kosovo and Croatia managed to recruit not only the world to its corner but also unlikely Jewish cheerleaders. Sadly, the cheering continues—from the pages of Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz and neoconservative Weekly Standard, to the Holocaust Museum in Skokie.
The leftist Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz recently ran an opinion piece arguing that Israel must become the 100th country to recognize Kosovo statehood. For Israel’s own sake, no less.
The article, which asks Israel to lay the foundation for its own demise by supporting a precedent for its own dismemberment by separatists, was a cheap rehashing of ‘90s-born pop platitudes and myths, referencing Milosevic’s “nationalist speech” (it was quite the opposite) and describing the Albanian goal as “the national aspirations of an oppressed people [who] suffered massacres, rapes and ethnic cleansing” — every charge that’s been debunked for more than a decade now, including by Serb-hunting Hague tribunal itself. The article was replete with Pristina-Washington talking points (Pristina is the Kosovo capital): “unique case, modern-dressed girls and alcohol sold freely — no chance of Islamization.” The staff writer, Adar Primor, even cited the old, since-reduced figure of “quarter of a million” dead in the Balkan wars.
In arguing the case for a second Albanian state while Jews still struggle to hold on to just one, Primor did the usual projecting of the Albanians’ uncompromising all-or-war mentality onto the Serbian side, which for years has been offering one plan after another for unprecedented autonomy. The article also credulously quoted the notorious criminal and current prime minister of Kosovo, Hashim ‘the Snake’ Thaci giving his usual talking points in response to concerns of the worldwide domino effect whose rumblings we’re already witnessing (in Spain’s Catalonia and Basque, in Belgium’s Flanders and Wallonia, in Scotland, in Serbia’s Sandzak, Vojvodina, and Presevo, in Western Macedonia, etc): “Kosovo is a unique case and, as a result, its independence doesn’t set any precedent. On the contrary; its freedom will be a cornerstone of stability for the Balkans, which will enter an era of cooperation and peace.” Primor goes on to write, “From the perspective of five years hence, it’s clear: Thaci was right….”
Because a mere five years provides all the hindsight one needs? Five years, incidentally, during which the international overseers are still there and so Kosovo is still on good behavior compared to what observers (and Kosovo’s non-Albanian minorities) are bracing for once the high-minded reformers leave. And that’s if you don’t count a pogrom of the dead that started the year off, with Albanians digging up bodies throughout Kosovo and scattering the remains as they celebrated five years of ‘independence.’)
It’s true that last month Pristina dedicated a monument at a Jewish cemetery honoring Kosovo Jews who died in the Holocaust and the Albanians who saved Jews. But one is left speechless at a Holocaust dedication by Thaci who, a Council of Europe investigation found, presided over human vivisection in an murder-for-organ-trafficking racket to fund his Kosovo “Liberation” Army—crimes which have been widely compared to those of infamous Nazi doctor-experimenter Josef Mengele. That’s in addition to the irony of cemetery-destroying Albanians honoring a cemetery to begin with.
At the dedication, the Israeli ambassador said the plaque also “expresses gratitude for the renewal of Jewish life in Kosovo, including the maintenance of the cemetery.” This is the same cemetery that had been grown-over and unrecognizable as such for years until Kosovo’s race for recognitions was on, at which point a group of students from the Dartmouth College Hillel was recruited to clean it up in June 2011. It’s the same cemetery that—after the naïve students’ unwitting PR job was done—was desecrated just five months later with swastikas and “Jews Out.”
[…]
[NOTE: There is much more information at the URL, above. Another proof that a large I.Q. doesn’t necessarily have much survival value.]
| — Hat tip: 1389AD | [Return to headlines] |
Egypt’s Army Gives Morsi an Ultimatum
Egypt’s armed forces threatened on Monday to intervene in the country’s political crisis, warning President Mohamed Morsi and other politicians that they had 48 hours to respond to an outpouring of popular protests that have included demands for his resignation.
In a statement read on state television, General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the head of the Egyptian military, said the mass demonstrations that intensified over the weekend, including the storming of the Muslim Brotherhood headquarters in Cairo early Monday, reflected an “unprecedented” expression of popular anger at Mr. Morsi and his Islamist backers in the brotherhood during his first year in power.
It was unclear from the general’s statement whether the military was specifically demanding that Mr. Morsi resign. But the statement said that if Mr. Morsi did not take steps to address demands for a more inclusive government, the armed forces would move to impose its “own road map for the future.”
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Egypt: 15 of Brotherhood Deputy Chief’s Bodyguards Arrested
Brotherhood governor of Ismailiya resigns
(ANSAmed) — CAIRO, JULY 1 — Egyptian security forces on Monday arrested 15 of powerful Muslim Brotherhood deputy chief Khairat el Shater’s bodyguards, security sources said.
Gunfire was heard near el Shater’s home, the sources added.
Also on Monday, Muslim Brotherhood-linked Ismailiya Governor Hassan el Hawi resigned, MENA news agency reported. He had been nominated just weeks ago by Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi along with 16 other governors.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Egypt: Foreign Reporter Raped in Tahrir Square
Hospital reports Dutch journalist underwent gang rape in Cairo square several days ago. Reporter released from hospital after undergoing surgery
Egyptian media reported Sunday that a Dutch journalist was raped by several men in Cairo’s Tahrir Square a few days ago.
Dina Zakaria, a journalist reporting for the “Egypt 25” news channel affiliated with the January 25 revolution, shared the incident on her Facebook page Sunday: “A Dutch journalist in Tahrir was raped by men who dub themselves revolutionists. Her condition is severe and she is hospitalized.”
Meanwhile, a state hospital issued a statement that the journalist was admitted after being raped by five men several days ago. She underwent surgery and has been released. It was also reported that Egypt’s Prosecutor General Talaat Abdallah ordered his staff to go to the hospital to hear the woman’s story and reveal the circumstances behind the violent attack.
Egyptian women face sexual harassment and assaults on a daily basis. During and after the revolution, there have been a number of case of foreign reporters who were sexually assaulted, such as Sonia Dridi and Lara Logan.
Sexual harassment is not new within the conservative Egyptian society, yet the extent of this phenomenon has grown and become more violent and visible. The Egyptian law defines assault as a crime, but not sexual assault.
The United Nations claimed last month that it holds some 25 sexual assault reports that occurred in Tahrir Square, the center of the protest, in one week in the beginning of the year. The organization dedicated to preventing sexual assaults, whose activists patrolled Tahrir Square, reported 19 assaults on January 25 alone — the second anniversary of the uprising against Hosni Mubarak. Among the reports was also a case of a girl who was raped by a sharp instrument.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
The Egypt experiment is falling apart. The massive protests today, marking the first year of Islamist Mohamed Morsi’s rule, are pushing the country of more than 80 million to a crisis point with implications for the entire region. It has been a slow-motion disintegration from the begining, however.
US-backed liberal Egyptians took to Tahrir Square in 2011, trained by the State Department to mobilize masses through social media to overthrow Mubarak rule. Their success resulted in their being shunted aside in favor of the real power in Egypt, post-Mubarak: the Muslim Brotherhood and the military.
Since then, contrary to US government predictions, democracy and freedom has not broken out bringing with it economic prosperity and social harmony. History teaches us that revolutions are not as simplistic and binary (bad out, good in) as some would like us to believe. The Egyptian economy, dependent on tourism, has been in free-fall since the unrest, leading to deep layers of resentment in those who were told that overthrowing Mubarak would bring economic growth. Energy costs have soared and electricity is increasingly scarce.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Obama’s Leadership in Worldwide Jihad Hits a Snag
Egyptians March against Obama
Fourteen Million people marched in Egypt yesterday against the man Obama backed to be the Egyptian President. Morsi was Obama’s man and the Muslim Brotherhood was Obama’s party because Obama has the Muslim worldview.
Fourteen million people out of a country of 84 million is roughly the equivalent of 52 million Americans Marching against Barack Hussein Obama.
During his inauguration on January 20th 2009, a day that will live in infamy as being far worse for America than Pearl Harbor, Hussein Obama had a message for his Muslim friends as he offered them “a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect”. Who could have known at that time that he meant to offer American military support and American tax dollars to support Muslim fanatics in the destruction and captivity of their countries?
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Real Arab Spring Retakes Egypt, Says Democratic Activist
Yesterday, more than 23 million people joined protest against Mohamed Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood, including Muslims, Christians, head-covered women, Salafists, young and old. Western media distort the facts when they say Egypt is split in two. For Egyptian Catholic Church spokesman, “85 per cent of the population is against Morsi and his government.” Military issues 48-hour ultimatum to all political groups to stop demonstrations.
Cairo (AsiaNews) — “With this demonstration, Egyptians have reclaimed Tahrir Square and the values ??of the Arab Spring that the Muslim Brotherhood had seized,” said Mina Magdy, spokesman for the Maspero Youth Union, a Muslim-Christian human rights association that is one of the backers of the Tamarod (rebel)’ campaign.
Speaking to AsiaNews, the young man said that yesterday, “millions of Egyptians, Christians and Muslims, women with or without their heads covered, children, seniors, students and workers, crowded the squares and streets of Egypt’s main cities” in protest against the regime of President Mohamed Morsi and Muslim Brotherhood.
In view of the situation Egypt’s armed forces announced today that they are giving all political groups 48 hours to stop the demonstrations. If this does not happen, they will take immediate security and other measures to ensure the country’s future.
According to preliminary figures, more than 23 million people in 27 governorates joined the ‘Tamarod’ campaign, signing a petition against the Muslim Brotherhood president to demand early elections. Rally organisers gave the president a 24-hour ultimatum to resign. Against this, the Muslim Brotherhood staged a number of counter-demonstrations, which drew tens of tens of thousands of people.
“The demonstration,” said Mina Magdy, “was not organised by opposition parties, as Western media are reporting. What happened yesterday was a demonstration by Egyptians against the Muslim Brotherhood regime with people joining the campaign on their own, not in the name of political parties or movements. Everyone is tired with the lies of the Muslim Brotherhood, which, after the fall of the Mubarak regime, has done everything to write its own ‘rules’.”
Egyptians are also fed up with the behaviour of the United States, the young man said. “In addition to banners against Morsi, some people carried signs against Barack Obama and the US ambassador in Cairo. Ignoring the demands of the youth of the Arab Spring, the US has contributed to rise to power of the Muslim Brotherhood.”
At present, huge crowds have thronged Tahrir Square and the area in front of the presidential palace in the Heliopolis district, as demonstrations continue in the main cities of the country.
This morning, 250 fishing boats also took over the port of Damietta (Nile Delta), displaying banners against the president.
Although the protests have remained peaceful, tensions in some areas of the capital are growing. Today, in the Islamist stronghold of Mokattam, some rioters set fire to the headquarters of the Justice and Freedom (Muslim Brotherhood) Party. According to local media, the attack left eight people dead, but what actually happened remains unclear.
For Fr Rafic Greiche, a spokesman for the Egyptian Catholic Church, what happened yesterday in the country is something extraordinary. “In the history of Egypt,” he noted, “nothing like it had ever happened before.”
The priest slams Western newspapers that are determined not to understand the real extent of the protest. “Egypt is not divided into two,” he said. “Various Islamist movements have turned their backs on the Muslim Brotherhood, which now actually represent less than 25 per cent of the population. At least, 85 per cent of the country is against the Islamist government, which does not have the capacity to lead the country and in recent months has only attempted to place its own men in government institutions, like Mubarak did when he was in power.”
So far, Mohamed Morsi has not yet made any official statement. Yesterday, some members of his party gave interviews to local newspapers, accusing the opposition of leading an attack against democracy and the president. (S.C.)
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Black Iraqis Struggle to Shake Legacy of Racism
Many people are surprised to hear that there is a black minority of African descent in Iraq, particularly in Basra, and they are even more surprised to hear that this minority is being discriminated against and is falling victim to racism.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Claire Berlinski: Notes on the Turkish Troubles
America’s muted response is both confusing and disheartening.
Is there any strategy to American silence? Is the Obama administration making a conscience decision to alienate the Turkish people in the service of some larger and more important goal? Obviously, the United States needs to cooperate with Turkey on matters ranging from Syria to Iran and beyond. But we have an ocean between us and those maniacs. Turkey doesn’t. In other words, they need us more than we need them. So must we really be so afraid of their wrath that we behave like cowering bunnies when they kill their own children? What do the folks in the Situation Room know that we don’t?
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
[WARNING: ** Disturbing Content ** ]
A Syrian Catholic priest has been beheaded by jihadist fighters in Syria, it has been claimed.
The death of Franciscan Father Francois Murad has been confirmed by the official Vatican news agency.
Grainy footage purported to show the 49-year-old’s gruesome death has been posted on the internet.
Father Francois, was killed on 23 June in Gassanieh, in northern Syria.
He had been staying in the convent of the Custody of the Holy Land.
Fides News Agency said: ‘According to local sources, the monastery where Fr. Murad was staying was attacked by militants linked to the jihadi group Jabhat al-Nusra.’
[Commenter: Just the type of people we want to arm. How stupid can western leaders get???????- johnrs67 , norwich, United Kingdom, ]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Saudi Arabia: Seven Imprisoned for Facebook Posts
Saudi Arabia has sentenced seven government critics to prison for inciting protests and harming public order through Facebook, court officials said.
The Specialized Criminal Court sentenced the men Monday to prison terms ranging from five to 10 years in prison.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Syria: Why is the U.S. Arming Rebels That Eat Human Hearts and Massacre Entire Christian Villages?
Why would Barack Obama want to help al-Qaeda take over Syria? Why in the world would he want to spend hard-earned U.S. tax dollars to arm jihadist rebels that eat human hearts and massacre entire Christian villages? We have always been told that al-Qaeda is our greatest enemy in the “war on terror”. So now why are we arming them? None of this makes any sense, and the American people are certainly not behind it. In fact, polls have shown that up to 70 percent of the population is against arming the Syrian rebels. What was the whole point of spending more than a trillion dollars on the “war on terror” if we are actually going to start helping al-Qaeda now? Even Russian President Vladimir Putin has pointed outhow absurd this all is. And if these rebels are eating human organs and killing off entire Christian villages now, what do they plan to do once they take over and have full control of the Syrian government? That is a very frightening thing to consider.
If anyone still had any doubt about how stupid it would be to arm the Syrian rebels, those doubts should have been erased when a video surfaced that showed a prominent rebel fighter carving open the body of a soldier and eating his heart…
[…]
This is one of the “rebels” that we want to spend our tax dollars helping?
Are we insane?
The truth is that “moderate” groups that plan to establish a “democracy” in Syria have been completely overwhelmed by al-Qaeda and other jihadist groups in territories that are controlled by rebels. This is something that journalists fromReuters saw very clearly during a recent trip through war-torn areas of Syria…
[…]
These jihadists are not “tolerant” and they have no interest in “democracy”. Instead, they have already shown exactly what they plan to do once they are in power. They have been killing Christians everywhere they go, and in some cases they have wiped out entire Christian villages. For example, the following is from a news report that was posted on May 29th…
[…]
The following is a video report from reporter Ben Swann about these rebels. Some of the things that he has uncovered are absolutely amazing…
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The Church celebrates the jubilee of Fr. Gregorius Utomo, valued contributor to the Indonesian Bishops’ Conference. The community organized a series of events and a solemn celebration of the Eucharist, which the Islamists oppose. Archbishop of Semarang tells AsiaNews: “false accusations against him artfully made up by the media and newspapers.”
Jakarta (AsiaNews) — Islamic extremists are threatening to block celebrations for the 50th anniversary of the priestly ordination of Fr. Gregorius Utomo, scheduled for tomorrow, July 2. Relatives, friends and the faithful have organized a series of events and a solemn Eucharistic celebration, scheduled in the private chapel of prayer known as Wisma Tyas Dalem (House of the Sacred Heart). The building is located in the village of Rejoso, sub-district of Jogonalan, in the regency of Klaten, in central Java, the birthplace of the priest. For years it has been used for prayer and ceremonies of inculturation, like the mass of “Rebo Pon.” In recent days, on the eve of the celebrations, the fundamentalists of the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) have, however, warned Fr. Utomo and faithful to stop all religious activities in program: they accuse the priest of using the house “in an illegal manner.”
The “House of the Sacred Heart” — under the administration of the parish of Our Lady of Wedi — was originally a private residence, owned by the Utomo family. Over the years, the priest turned it into a center for “humanitarian” activities directed especially to the poor, as well as a “house of prayer” for the Catholic community in the area.
Fr. Gregorius Utomo belongs to the Archdiocese of Semarang — where his work is known and appreciated — and for years he has worked with the Indonesian Bishops Conference (KWI) in Jakarta. He has inspired the movement for the protection of the rights of peasants and the day dedicated by the Church to access to food.
Responding to themthreats from Muslim extremists the leaders of the Indonesian Church, defended the work of Fr. Utomo (pictured). In a personal letter Msgr. Johannes Pujasumarta, Archbishop of Semarang, rejects accusations of the Islamist front, according to which the faithful want to turn Wisma Tyas Dalem in a house of “permanent” prayer. The prelate stresses that this claim has been “artfully falsified” by online media and newspapers, to “discredit” the figure of the priest. “I personally asked — he adds — the Catholic media to enhance the figure of Fr. Gregorius Utomo and the activities accomplished in his 50 years of priesthood.”
Indonesia is the most populous Muslim country in the world and while the constitutional principles ensure religious freedom, it is increasingly the scene of attacks and violence against minorities, be they Christian, Ahmadi Muslims or other faiths. In the province of Aceh is governed by Islamic law, the Sharia — the only one in the archipelago -, and in many other areas the Muslim religion’s influence in people’s lives is becoming more radical and extreme. In addition, some rules such as building permits — the infamous IMB — are exploited to prevent the building or close down Christian places of worship, as is the case for some time in the regency of Bogor, West Java, for the faithful of the Yasmin Church .
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Covered from head to foot in padded protective gear, but with his extremities still dangerously exposed, this Afghan bomb disposal expert took his life in his hands to defuse this suicide bomber’s explosive vest.
Security forces captured the would-be martyr before he blew himself up in Jalalabad earlier today, hog-tying the man to stop him detonating the device.
But before the suspected terrorist could be taken in for interrogation, the bomb squad had to be called in for the risky job of disarming the bomb strapped across his chest.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
China: Xinjiang: Army Returns to the Streets After Ethnic Unrest
Last week’s violence caused dozens of casualties and arrests: the central government now claims to be “ready for anything” to stop “terrorist groups in the area.” Beijing fears the approach of July 5, the fourth anniversary of the 2009 riots that claimed the lives of more than 200 people.
Urumqi (AsiaNews / Agencies) — After the violence of the past week, the Chinese central government has sent paramilitary troops to the western province of Xinjiang, the scene of clashes between the local ethnic Uyghur and Han, the majority in China, who emigrated en masse to the region. During the latest episode of unrest, the worst in four years, 35 people have died: it is not yet clear who started the violence and for what reasons.
On 26 June, a crowd attacked a government building and a police station in Lukquan, the police opened fire killing dozens of protesters. Two days later, an armed group tried to replicate the clashes in Hotan, but was stopped — apparently without victims — by anti-terrorism agents. At least 19 people were detained for “spreading alarming news” with their mobile phones.
The Ministry of Public Security has confirmed on its website the deployment of the military: Beijing fears the approach of July 5, the fourth anniversary of the violent upheavals of 2009 that claimed the lives of more than 200 people. Yu Zhengsheng, member of the Standing Committee of the Politburo in charge of Xinjiang and Tibet, said: “We will take any decision needed to stop terrorist groups and extremist organizations in the area.”
The province has long been the epicenter of violence and tensions between the ethnic Uyghur — once the majority in the area — and Han. The central government in Beijing has encouraged the emigration of Han to the province in an attempt to “even out” the social reality of Xinjiang, but the ongoing fighting is proof that the experiment has failed.
The Uyghur are Turkic-speaking Muslims and: for several decades have an adversarial relationship with the Chinese central government. After a few (unsuccessful) attempts to gain independence as “East Turkestan”, the ethnic leaders have asked Beijing for the possibility to safeguard their language, culture and local religion. The Chinese government — while granting tax and social welfare breaks — decided instead to use a heavy hand and launched a campaign of repression and control in the whole area.
The heavy hand of the regime is felt even on the Islamic religious community, suspected of forming young people to a terrorist and fundamentalist version of Islam. There is control and censorship of Islamic publications control over the sermons of imams, young people under 18 are banned from attending the mosque.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Captain James Cook was thought to be the first white European to reach the east cost of Australia
Historians have been cautious and suggest the relic may have been imported
A skull dating back to the 1600s has been found in Australia, casting doubt over whether Captain Cook really was the first European to land on the east coast of the country.
In preparation for a murder investigation, police ran carbon dating tests on the intact human skull but results showed it was a lot older than first expected.
Results found that the skull, found near Taree a large town about 200 miles north of Sydney recently, could date back to the mid-1600s, 120 years before Captain Cook landed in Australia.
Archaeologist Adam Ford said that because the skull was found without other remains, it could have been imported as part of a private collection. He told Sydney’s Daily Telegraph: ‘Before we rewrite the history of European settlement we have to consider a number of issues, particularly the circumstances of the discovery.’
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
After listening to the latest television news about the health of Nelson Mandela, a South African family living not far from the former President’s hospital unit turned in for the night.
But Roelof and Laura du Plessis, a married couple with four children who live on a heavily fortified farm outside Pretoria, did not have a peaceful night’s rest.
In fact they were about to become the latest victims of what white pressure groups in this troubled nation say is nothing less than a savage war against them.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Pope to Visit Migrant Landing-Point of Lampedusa
Vatican City, 1 July (AKI) — Pope Francis will on 8 July visit Italy’s southernmost island of Lampedusa and celebrate mass there with migrants. Thousands of migrants arrive there each year from North Africa after a perilous sea voyage.
“The Pope has been profoundly saddened by the recent news of of shipwreck of a migrant boat from Africa, the latest in a series of similar tragedies, “ the Vatican said in a statement.
“He intends to pray for those who have lost their lives at sea and meet survivors and other refugees on Lampedusa,” the statement continued.
The pontiff will also “encourage” islanders and urge them to help “these brothers and sisters who are in dire need,” the Vatican added.
During the “low-key” visit, Francis will cast a wreath into the sea in a sign of respect for the thousand of migrants who have perished trying to reach Italy’s southern shores, Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi said.
According Human Rights Watch, up to as many 13,500 migrants have died since 1998 while attempting to make the dangerous crossing to Europe, including at least 1,500 in 2011, the deadliest on record.
Lampedusa was inundated with around 30,000 people during the first three months of 2011 during the’Arab Spring’ revolts in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya that overthrew longtime autocratic leaders in those countries.
The severe overcrowding in Lampedusa’s single detention centre, designed to hold 850 people, led to squalid migrant encampments on the isand that drew international condemnation.
The warmer summer months see a surge in the number of people-trafficking boats attempting to reach southern Europe.
In mid-June, at least ten migrants drowned in the Strait of Sicily when their boat got into difficulty and a Tunisian fishing boat allegedly refused to rescue them.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Senator Rubio: Not a Typical Cuban American
Marco Rubio has little in common with the Cuban American community. As an American citizen of Cuban descent, I refute Rubio’s partiality for leftist groups like La Raza and his trust on socialist Democrats like Senator Schumer, DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano, and President Barack Obama.
The large majority of Cuban Americans came to this country as political refugees after the Castro revolution took over on January 1, 1959. Senator Rubio’s parents came to the United States as economic immigrants in 1956 and were naturalized as U.S. citizens in 1975.
Marco Rubio was born in Miami on May 28, 1971. This proves that Marco Rubio is indeed not eligible to become President of the USA since his parents were not citizens at the time of his birth. Marco Rubio served as City Commissioner in West Miami in the 1990s; he was elected to the Florida House of Representatives in 2000 and then elected Speaker in November 2006. Marco Rubio has excelled at talking his way up to the US Senate with the help of the powerful Florida GOP establishment, including Governor Jeb Bush.
His background gives us a better understanding on why Marco Rubio, unlike the majority of Cuban Americans, is so open to negotiations with politicians and groups to the left of mainstream America.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The following was a difficult read because it’s also what liberal blacks call “dirty laundry”: bad stuff about black folk never to be said around whites. The essay was posted on Craigslist and it’s the kind of truth that often is taken back out of PC fear…
“The truth is usually a tough thing to accept, so I understand if this is flagged. It would be a cowardly thing to do, but I understand it. Some people just ignore unpleasant truths. However, if you think ignoring the problem, or trying to censor the truth, will help our black children improve, you’re dreaming. This is important, so I’m happy to repost — indefinitely if necessary. I find it interesting that NO ONE has had the intellect to refute anything in the essay. They can only attempt to censor it, as if doing so somehow makes it invalid. Weak minds, weak minds.
Until recently I taught at a predominantly black high school in a southeastern state.
The mainstream press gives a hint of what conditions are like in black schools, but only a hint. Expressions journalists use like “chaotic” or “poor learning environment” or “lack of discipline” do not capture what really happens. There is nothing like the day-to-day experience of teaching black children and that is what I will try to convey.
Most whites simply do not know what black people are like in large numbers, and the first encounter can be a shock.
One of the most immediately striking things about my students was that they were loud. They had little conception of ordinary decorum. It was not unusual for five blacks to be screaming at me at once. Instead of calming down and waiting for a lull in the din to make their point — something that occurs to even the dimmest white students — blacks just tried to yell over each other.
It did no good to try to quiet them, and white women were particularly inept at trying. I sat in on one woman’s class as she begged the children to pipe down. They just yelled louder so their voices would carry over hers.
Many of my black students would repeat themselves over and over again — just louder. It was as if they suffered from Tourette syndrome. They seemed to have no conception of waiting for an appropriate time to say something. They would get ideas in their heads and simply had to shout them out. I might be leading a discussion on government and suddenly be interrupted: “We gotta get more Democrats! Clinton, she good!” The student may seem content with that outburst but two minutes later, he would suddenly start yelling again: “Clinton good!”
[…]
Blacks, on average, are the most directly critical people I have ever met: “Dat shirt stupid. Yo’ kid a bastard. Yo’ lips big.” Unlike whites, who tread gingerly around the subject of race, they can be brutally to the point. Once I needed to send a student to the office to deliver a message. I asked for volunteers, and suddenly you would think my classroom was a bastion of civic engagement. Thirty dark hands shot into the air. My students loved to leave the classroom and slack off, even if just for a few minutes, away from the eye of white authority. I picked a light-skinned boy to deliver the message. One very black student was indignant: “You pick da half-breed.” And immediately other blacks take up the cry, and half a dozen mouths are screaming, “He half-breed.”
For decades, the country has been lamenting the poor academic performance of blacks and there is much to lament. There is no question, however, that many blacks come to school with a serious handicap that is not their fault. At home they have learned a dialect that is almost a different language. Blacks not only mispronounce words; their grammar is often wrong. When a black wants to ask, “Where is the bathroom?” he may actually say “Whar da badroom be?” Grammatically, this is the equivalent of “Where the bathroom is?” And this is the way they speak in high school. Students write the way they speak, so this is the language that shows up in written assignments.
It is true that some whites face a similar handicap. They speak with what I would call a “country” accent that is hard to reproduce but results in sentences such as “I’m gonna gemme a Coke.” Some of these country whites had to learn correct pronunciation and usage. The difference is that most whites overcome this handicap and learn to speak correctly; many blacks do not.
Most of the blacks I taught simply had no interest in academic subjects. I taught history, and students would often say they didn’t want to do an assignment or they didn’t like history because it was all about white people. Of course, this was “diversity” history, in which every cowboy’s black cook got a special page on how he contributed to winning the West, but black children still found it inadequate. So I would throw up my hands and assign them a project on a real, historical black person. My favorite was Marcus Garvey. They had never heard of him, and I would tell them to research him, but they never did. They didn’t care and they didn’t want to do any work.
[…]
One might object that there are important group differences among blacks that a white man simply cannot detect. I have done my best to find them, but so far as I can tell, they dress the same, talk the same, think the same. Certainly, they form rival groups, but the groups are not different in any discernible way. There simply are no groups of blacks that are as distinctly different from each other as white “nerds,” “hunters,” or “Goths,” for example.
How the world looks to blacks: One point on which all blacks agree is that everything is “racis’.” This is one message of liberalism they have absorbed completely. Did you do your homework? “Na, homework racis’.” Why did you get an F on the test? “Test racis’.”
[…]
[NOTE: There is much more at the URL, plus a civil comment thread]
| [Return to headlines] |
Clorox Hate-Speech Ad Smears Fathers as Clueless Dogs; Boycott Burt’s Bees Products
(NaturalNews) Have you had enough yet of the dad bashing frequently seen in the media? According to sitcoms and TV commercials, men are complete idiots who wouldn’t even know how to put their own underwear on straight if it weren’t for their wives telling them how to do things.
Clorox jumped on the man-bashing bandwagon this week with an online advertising campaign so highly offensive that if it had targeted blacks instead of dads, it would have been called the most extreme example of corporate racism ever witnessed.
The ad begins by claiming dads “lack the judgment and fine motor skills” to take care of children, and it compares dads to dogs and other house pets in their sheer stupidity.
The ad then goes on to identify the “6 mistakes new dads make,” each of which is an outrageous slur against all men. It claims, for example, that dads will put their baby’s clothes on backwards and not be able to figure out why they don’t fit.
The ad goes on to explain that dads allow their babies to “eat off the floor,” and then they plop them down on the couch to “watch reality TV shows.”
Even worse, Clorox somehow believed it was entirely appropriate for its marketing campaign to include this: “Some new dads have been inspired by raunchy comedies to bring babies to inappropriate places like casinos, pool halls, and poetry readings.”
Click this Google cache link to see the Clorox page before they pulled it.
Here’s also a screen shot of the online ad, before it was pulled by Clorox without explanation:
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
France Set to Reject Swiss-Style Euthanasia
France’s medical ethics council has voted against the legalization of ‘active’ euthanasia, as found in Swiss clinics such as Dignitas. French President François Hollande on Monday promised a law on the issue by the end of 2013.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Lady Gaga Amends National Anthem: ‘Land of the Free, And the Home for the Gay’
Lady Gaga sang the national anthem at Pier 26 to kick off New York City’s gay pride celebration Friday night, changing some of its words to fit the occasion, The Blaze first reported.
Holding a rainbow flag, the performer sang, “O say does that star-spangled flag of pride yet wave,” then substituted “land of the free, and the home for the gay.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
@ Charges Dismissed for Teen Arrested Over NRA T-Shirt.
And, we see it as a victory. This case should never had made it to court!
UK Channel 4 to air daily Muslim call to prayer during Ramadan
Broadcaster says broadcast is an act of ‘deliberate provocation’ aimed at viewers who might associate Islam with extremism.
British Churches across the land should toll the invasion alarm bells drowning out the calls to sedition.
France
Former French Ecology Minister Delphine Batho to formally step down handing over the office keys to her successor Wednesday morning, tomorrow
““When lighting is not indispensable it becomes pollution”, French Ecology Minister Delphine Batho said.
Former minister Batho was not content with her budget
Question on concequences
– How big a budget will be required for repairs of possible future damages on shops, churches etc in the perfect dark of the night?
The statements from “natural news” were rubbish. Just my opinion as a working doctor.
After looking at the site, I’d have to agree with you. A lot of it is unsourced opinion presented as ‘truth’.
On the other hand, places like that are a “natural” reaction to some of the umm…unfortunate advice sold to the public as gospel truth by mainstream medicine -e.g., I’d like a penny for every doc who assured me the Food Pyramid was sound nutrition.
There are some I trust. Richard Bernstein is one. The man realized he’d have to go to medical school to get a handle on his own Type 1 diabetes.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_K._Bernstein
He’s fairly sure he’s the only living member of his cohort of people diagnosed with Type 1 in 1934. He’s 79 and still in practice & no damage to his body. He thinks his survival is due to going against the consensus. I agree with him, especially after seeing my neighbor lose her leg and go on dialysis by following her doc’s well-meaning advice.
Last time I read Bernstein, iirc, 6.0 was the cutoff point at which one’s HbA1C was considered “diabetic”. Now it’s 6.6?? Sheesh.
Modern medicine has become caveat emptor, to wit:
1. The doc who wanted me to get a brain scan for my headaches. Probably afraid of litigation down the road?? I didn’t go back.
2.The rheumatologist who wanted me to return every 3 months for a “check-up” for my fibro, even though he could do nothing beyond give me a scrip for Ultram. He assured me it wasn’t addictive. I didn’t go back. All I’d needed was a diagnosis from a specialist to satisfy my insurance company. Whadda scam.
3. The endocrinologist who gave me an “all natural” diet sheet with legumes and grains, both of which wreak havoc w/ my glucose levels. When I told him that he looked at me blankly. I didn’t go back;
4. The radiologist who tried to strong-arm me into her treatments post-cancer surgery even w/ my previous history of radiation exposure. When I mentioned my concerns re leukemia down the road, *she* stomped out. Oh well.
5. The oncologist who also wanted me to do quarterly office visits though they would not change my prognosis. I politely declined.
And so on. IOW, there is a lotta harmful rubbish in the halls of mainstream medicine which is why places like “natural news” exist.