The ongoing epidemic of violent crime in the French city of Marseille has prompted the interior minister and the prime minister to rush to the city to consult with local officials. The central government has promised to put 24 more police on the streets of Marseille in an attempt to stem the tide of crime.
In other news, advocacy groups associated with the Syrian rebels say that more than 100 people have been killed by nerve gas used by the Assad regime against rebel forces.
In immigration news, on Tuesday more than 600 illegal migrants landed on the coast of Italy or were rescued offshore. Prominent among the new arrivals were Syrians and Egyptians, but Pakistanis and Eritreans were also represented.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to Andy Bostom, C. Cantoni, DN, Fjordman, Insubria, JD, KP, Vlad Tepes, 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.
33 Shocking Facts Which Show How Badly the Economy Has Tanked Since Obama Became President
Barack Obama has been running around the country taking credit for an “economic recovery”, but the truth is that things have not gotten better under Obama. Compared to when he first took office, a smaller percentage of the working age population is employed, the quality of our jobs has declined substantially and the middle class has been absolutely shredded. If we are really in the middle of an “economic recovery”, why is the homeownership rate the lowest that it has been in 18 years? Why has the number of Americans on food stamps increased by nearly 50 percent while Obama has been in the White House? Why has the national debt gotten more than 6 trillion dollars larger during the Obama era? Obama should not be “taking credit” for anything when it comes to the economy. In fact, he should be deeply apologizing to the American people.
And of course Obama is being delusional if he thinks that he is actually “running the economy”. The Federal Reserve has far more power over the U.S. economy and the U.S. financial system than he does. But the mainstream media loves to fixate on the presidency, so presidents always get far too much credit or far too much blame for economic conditions.
But if you do want to focus on “the change” that has taken place since Barack Obama entered the White House, there is no way in the world that you can claim that things have actually gotten better during that time frame. The cold, hard reality of the matter is that the U.S. economy has been steadily declining for over a decade, and this decline has continued while Obama has been living at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
It is getting very tiring listening to Obama supporters try to claim that Obama has improved the economy. That is a false claim that is not even remotely close to reality. The following are 33 shocking facts which show how badly the U.S. economy has tanked since Obama became president…
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Italian Corporate System Upended by Financial Crisis
Financial Times finds web of Italian big business unravelling
(ANSA) — London, August 21 — The closely knit world of Italian big business has begun to unravel after decades of cronyism and capitalism, with change driven more by a lack of money than any kind of crackdown or cleanup operation, according to the Financial Times newspaper.
In an article published Wednesday, the London-based daily tracked a series of major corporate shake-ups that have begun to transform the way major businesses have operated in Italy since as far back as World War Two.
“This is not about making the world a better place, it is because the money is finished. Things are changing and in typical Italian style, it is brutal. There is blood everywhere,” the Financial Times said, quoting what it termed one of Italy’s most senior bankers.
As evidence, it pointed to pressure from investors forcing insurer Generali to unwind cross-shareholdings with Mediobanca that involved everything from newspapers and television to insurance, banking, telecommunications, airports, construction, and hotels.
Such major companies have been tightly linked, the article states, through a system of connections known as “salotto buono”, which translates as “the fine drawing room” and has become a symbol of a kind of old-boys’ club manner of doing business.
But the economic crisis that devastated much of Europe in 2011 and brought Italy to the brink of bankruptcy marked the beginning of the end of the club.
The system of cross-holdings helped to spread financial woes very quickly from one stricken business to another, explained the Financial Times.
As a result of the financial crisis, four of Italy’s largest corporations — Mediobanca, Generali, UniCredit and Intesa Sanpaolo — have sustained losses on billions of euros of interconnected holdings, putting the jobs of company executives at risk, the newspaper reports.
“This is the very end of ‘I appoint you because you are my friends and you buy my shares because I voted you on the board’,” Davide Serra, chief executive of hedge fund Algebris, told the newspaper. “This shareholder pact mentality has been like a cancer that went from politics to business to bureaucracy to justice.
Business is reacting first because it had no choice”.
Some fear that seriously instability will result from the crumbling of the salotto buono style because the Italian government has no viable economic or long-term productivity strategy as a replacement.
In a significant sign of the crumbling of the old system, tax police arrested Salvatore Ligresti, 81, patriarch of one of Italy’s best-connected dynasties last month along with two of his children and several former executives of the Italian insurer Fondiaria-Sai.
The arrests came as part of a probe into false accounting and market manipulation.
No one has been charged but Ligresti is under house arrest and several other suspects are being held.
The very fact that such high-profile figures could be arrested has sent shockwaves through corporate Italy’s elite, the Financial Times notes.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
800 Million Pounds of Pesticides Can’t be Washed Off, Are Bred Into Our Food With GMO
We already know that farmers and farm workers who use conventional methods of planting are exposed to egregious amounts of pesticides, herbicides, and fungicides. They suffer from all kinds of serious health problems due to this contact with multiple poisons. The worst part? There is no eliminating pesticides from our foods once it is sprayed onto our plants, but as if that weren’t enough, now companies like Monsanto are ‘breeding pesticides’ right into our food crops with genetically modified organisms (GMO).
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Administration Keeps Chipping Away at the Fourth Amendment
Asks Supreme Court to allow warrantless cell phone searches.
Considering what’s come out about the NSA’s domestic surveillance “accidents,” it almost makes you wonder why the government would bother. Surely this information is accessible by other means. In an apparent effort to be thorough in its dismantling of the Fourth Amendment, the administration has asked the Supreme Court to rule that this amendment provides for the warrantless search of cell phones.
Here are the details of the case being argued:
[…]
The problem is that the government has apparently cherry-picked a case in order to get the ruling it wants, limiting its arguments to the glorified phone books cell phones once were. And that’s a bad idea, as Orin Kerr flatly states:
Reviewing a case with an earlier model phone would lead to a decision with facts that are atypical now and are getting more outdated every passing month.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Banished: Proof of Jihad in Hasan Trial
In a move that reeks of political motivations, Judge Col. Tara Osborn ruled against the admission of evidence that prosecutors say would show Maj. Nidal Hasan’s jihadist motivations for attacking the Fort Hood military base in 2009.
Osborn had been asked to approve several witnesses, along with other key evidence, that would have shown Hasan believed he had a “jihad duty” to perpetrate the atrocity that killed 13 and wounded 32 of his fellow soldiers. Lawyers representing family members killed and wounded by Hasan were rightfully outraged by her refusal to allow the evidence.
The barred evidence included references to Hasan Akbar, a Muslim soldier who was sentenced to death after killing two and wounding 14 of his fellow soldiers in a grenade and rifle attack at Camp Pennsylvania in Kuwait, two days after the beginning of the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003. Prosecutors wanted to suggest that Hasan had carried out a “copycat attack.” Osborn disagreed. “The court believes Sgt. Akbar is not on trial in this case,” Osborn contended, adding that the introduction of such evidence would “only open the door to a mini-trial” of Akbar and result in a “confusion of issues, unfair prejudice, waste of time and undue delay.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Black Teen Who Allegedly Murdered Australian Jogger Posted Racist Tweets
One of the teens charged with first-degree murder in the shooting death of Australian baseball player Christopher Lane in Duncan, Okla., previously posted anti-white statements on his Twitter feed.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Excerpt: “[S]hall we hear anything from the race industry crew, Hollywood elites, or maybe Oprah Winfrey? The issue is not about proliferation of guns in America. This is about a failing black community and the fact that its young men are desensitized to violence because a gangsta culture promotes it,” West wrote on Facebook, reiterating his Twitter question.
| — Hat tip: KP | [Return to headlines] |
Climate Change Deniers, Better Drink the Kool-Aid
Agenda 21’s lynchpin is manufactured man-made global warming
“The only way to get our society to truly change is to frighten people with the possibility of a catastrophe.” — Emeritus Professor Daniel Botkin
“Coal makes us sick. Oil makes us sick. It’s global warming. It’s ruining our country. It’s ruining our world. — Harry Reid, U.S. Senate majority leader
Although I’ve had a best-selling book at Amazon since October 2012, “U.N. Agenda 21: Environmental Piracy liberals and conservatives alike have called people like me tin-foil hat conspiracy theorists and “agenders” simply because I have done my research and have found ample evidence of the existence of U.N. Agenda 21 Sustainable Development documents and related sites, international bodies, conferences, organizations, initiatives, and local zoning initiatives, changes and restrictions.
I am vindicated since I have been joined by a number of conservative and liberal groups, most notably the number one conservative talk show host in the country. Rush Limbaugh discussed in his August 9, 2013 monologue how the “Regime plans to diversify your neighborhood,” a.k.a. social engineering. It is one of the goals of Agenda 21 to move people downtown into high-rise, mixed use buildings. Diversification may be as good an excuse as any…
Agenda 21’s lynchpin is manufactured man-made global warming which is allegedly destroying the planet. Every bureaucrat and global elitist around the planet has jumped on this wealth redistribution and control bandwagon. Secretary of Defense John Kerry’s first major policy speech was about global warming/climate change.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Colorado: Daniel Boone Nixed by Educrats
Excerpt: “It was really about moving forward,” Theresa Mueller, a spokeswoman for the University of Denver, told FoxNews.com. Moving forward toward what? What kind of future does a society have if it lets itself be ruled by people who find it offensive?
| — Hat tip: KP | [Return to headlines] |
Community in Turmoil After Teachers Support Convicted Child Molester
[WARNING: Disturbing Content]
The small town of Rose City, Michigan is now in the national spotlight. The issue involves a middle school teacher who was convicted of having sexual encounters with a 13-year-old boy. During sentencing, a handful of teachers actually wrote letters supporting the convicted felon, and now members of the community want those teachers fired.
When this case came to light, the town was shocked, but now the feelings have gotten even more intense. The Detroit News reports that members of the community are now demanding the ouster of several teachers who came forward at the sentencing of Erickson to say that he was an admired teacher and great with the kids.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Dancing With the Devil in the Pale Moonlight
Destruction of our economy, Killing of the U.S. dollar, Revenge of Russia’s Putin
“Have you ever danced with the devil in the pale moonlight? That is something I ask all my prey.” Those are the haunting sentences uttered by Jack Nicholson by his movie persona as the Joker in the 1989 “Batman” movie just before killing his victims.
It’s 24 years later and we’re not in fictional Gotham, but we are about to become the Joker’s real-life prey as the result of the unchecked mischief and outright criminality of multiple presidential administrations and decades of congressional bodies. The question is, will enough Americans awaken to the fact that we’re being lied to before we collectively feel and smell the hot, fetid breath of the Joker on the backs of our necks as those words are whispered? Will we awaken fast enough to take steps to prepare and “get out of the way” of what’s coming?
[…]
While most Americans are on mental hiatus and fully immersed in the dog days of summer, the war raging in Syria has taken an ominous turn and is escalating by the day. Nearly two million residents of Syria have been forced to flee their homes since the war began in March 2011. Just within the last five days, upwards of 40,000 refugees fled into Iraq from Syria. Over five-thousand men, women and children fled Syria yesterday alone, and the numbers are now climbing by the hour. Yet, the Western media remains silent on this consequence of Western intervention, while our political leaders from both sides of the ideological divide continue to push their psychotic agenda under the guise of installing democracy.
One must ask exactly what is taking place in Syria, a relatively stable country until the Obamas, Clintons and McCains of the world decided to push their agenda of change, that would cause normal, middle-class people and families to leave their homes and jobs to flee into war-torn Iraq? These refugees are not “street people,” or previously displaced and homeless families. No, they are the equivalent of our middle class, and they are running, not walking from their homes, taking only what they can carry and leaving all else behind.
As I have asserted since exposing the true nature of the attacks in Benghazi, which were coordinated at a nation-state level and conducted by proxy to stop and expose the covert operations of the U.S., British and other NATO forces for the advancement of the globalist plan to oust Assad, Syria is the fuse that will ignite World War III.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Dem Rep James Clyburn Compares ‘Extreme Right-Wing Bloggers’ To Nazi Propagandists
Excerpt: Via The Hill: Clyburn singled out “extreme right-wing” bloggers in particular for criticism. He accused such bloggers of forcing Shirley Sherrod to resign from the Department of Agriculture after misrepresenting statements she made to make her appear racially biased. He also said they had libeled the progressive group ACORN, leading to the group’s disbandment.
| — Hat tip: KP | [Return to headlines] |
Eugene Slavin: The Truth About Rap Music
Excerpt: Gang violence has brought Chicago to its knees, as innocent black children are caught in the crossfire of shootouts between rival gangs on a regular basis. Citizens in these communities live in constant fear of reprisal if they talk to law enforcement, a deeply disturbing trend that gangsta rap culture helps to foster in the form of the “Stop Snitching” mantra, heard in songs and seen on t-shirts and in videos. There are countless cases of black kids being maimed or killed for refusing to join a gang, leaving a gang, or “ratting” on a gang member.
| — Hat tip: KP | [Return to headlines] |
Hasan Offers No Defense; Jury Could Get Case Thursday
Maj. Nidal Hasan on Wednesday chose not to mount a defense to charges that could make him the first service member to be executed by the military justice system in half a century.
Throughout two weeks of court-martial, Hasan, 42, made little effort to defend himself. In his opening statement, he vowed that the evidence would prove he was the shooter in the Nov. 5, 2009, Fort Hood shooting rampage. He cross-examined just three of 89 witnesses and offered only one piece of evidence, an evaluation that showed him to be an “outstanding” officer…
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Hasan: ‘Illegal War’ Provoked Fort Hood Rampage
FORT HOOD, Texas (AP) — American soldiers deploying overseas to “engage in an illegal war” provoked the deadly shooting rampage at Fort Hood in 2009, the soldier accused in the attack said Wednesday after refusing to mount a defense during his trial.
Maj. Nidal Hasan could face the death penalty if convicted for the attack that killed 13 people and wounded more than 30 others at the Texas military base. But when given the chance to rebut prosecutors’ lengthy case — which included nearly 90 witnesses and hundreds of pieces of evidence — the Army psychiatrist declined.
About five minutes after court began Wednesday, a day after prosecutors rested their case, the judge asked Hasan how he wanted to proceed. Hasan, who is acting as his own attorney, said: “The defense rests.”
But after jurors were dismissed, Hasan told the judge, Col. Tara Osborn, that the jury shouldn’t have the option of convicting him on the lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter.
“I would like to agree with the prosecution that it wasn’t done under the heat of sudden passion,” Hasan said. “There was adequate provocation — that these were deploying soldiers that were going to engage in an illegal war.”
Prosecutors had no objection.
“There’s not a shred of evidence to suggest the accused was acting under a heat of passion as he was committing the single largest mass murder on a U.S. military installation ever,” Col. Steve Henricks, one of the prosecutors, told the judge.
The exchange came during a late-afternoon hearing, hours after Osborn adjourned jurors for the day. Closing arguments are scheduled to begin Thursday in the court-martial, the military’s equivalent of a trial, though it’s unclear whether Hasan plans to say anything.
So far, he has made no attempt to prove his innocence. He has questioned just three witnesses, and the only piece of evidence he submitted was a favorable evaluation he received from a former supervisor a few days before the attack.
So his simple declaration Wednesday abdicating a defense wasn’t much of a surprise.
“I think it’s consistent with everything he’s done. I think what he’s trying to do in this court-martial is passively manifest his disdain for the Army and our system of justice,” said Geoffrey Corn, a South Texas College of Law professor who has been following the case.
Corn, who taught the lead prosecutor in Hasan’s case, also speculated that Hasan would wait until after he was convicted to address jurors.
“In the military system during sentencing, the defendant can make an unsworn statement, which means he can’t be cross-examined,” Corn said. “I think he doesn’t want to be cross-examined because he doesn’t want anybody to contest his distorted version of what he thinks is right.”
Hasan, an American-born Muslim, began the trial with a brief opening statement acknowledging that evidence would “clearly show” he was the man who opened fire inside a medical building at Fort Hood on Nov. 5, 2009. He also described himself as a soldier who had “switched sides.”…
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Homeland Security to Assume Control of Surveillance Blimps
Federal agency ignores Fourth Amendment within 100 mile “constitution free zone”
The Department of Homeland Security is to assume control of surveillance blimps used to monitor the US-Mexico border, a disconcerting development given that the federal agency considers all areas 100 miles inland of the border to be ‘constitution-free zones’ within which the Fourth Amendment does not apply.
While on the surface it appears that the blimps will merely be used for border security, the fact is that the DHS now considers any area within a 100 mile radius of the entire US border to be what the ACLU has described as a “constitution free zone.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Investigation Reveals Death of Chris Lane Result of Gangster Culture, Gang Related
[WARNING: Disturbing Content.]
Three teenagers have been charged in the coldblooded murder of Australian student Chris Lane after they reportedly shot the successful student in the back of the head because they were ‘bored’. After investigating, it appears that the much more likely answer stems from gangster culture and gang-related initiation.
In what amounts to a much more direct and nefarious bloodlust than anything seen over the Trayvon Martin case, where there was actually evidence of self-defense and a real struggle, the young teens have murdered a complete stranger. But why? Why would three teenagers, ranging from 15 to 17 years of age, go out and murder someone for no good reason? The mainstream media is detailing the statements made by one of the teens who apparently listed boredom as their motivation, but the fact is that the motivation likely goes much deeper.
I have launched an investigation of social media pages and alternative reports, such as the social media page of James Edwards — the 15-year-old teen who was involved in killing Chris Lane. After some research, as some organizations like PJ Media are now finding as well, I was able to dig beyond the mainstream media rhetoric and get a much better idea of what’s going on. And the answer may cause quite a problem for figureheads who only attach themselves to injustices that support their tired mantras, like Obama, Oprah, and Sharpton. Mantras that real rappers like Lupe Fiasco have called out on record.
‘boredom’ Cover for Deep Gang Initiation, Gangster Death Culture
To be perfectly clear, they will have a lot of trouble highlighting this case, because it has nothing to do with gun culture and everything to do with gangster culture and potential racial motivations against a random white kid.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Jack Shafer: News Never Made Money, And is Unlikely To
Excerpt: But those successes don’t subtract from the fact that Washington news is a loss leader for most mainstream newspapers. The same is largely true of international and national news. No mass audience is willing to directly pay for such news outside of the one already served by the New York Times (combined daily print and digital circulation, 1,865,318).
| — Hat tip: KP | [Return to headlines] |
Lyme Disease Cases Are 10 Times Higher Than Reported
About 300,000 people are diagnosed with Lyme disease transmitted through tick bites each year, 10 times higher than cases reported to the U.S. government.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Manning Sentenced to 35 Years and Dishonorably Discharged for Leaking Government Secrets
A military judge on Wednesday sentenced Pfc. Bradley Manning to 35 years in prison for providing more than 700,000 government files to WikiLeaks, a gigantic leak that lifted the veil on military and diplomatic activities around the world.
The judge, Army Col. Denise Lind, said that Private Manning was dishonorably discharged.
Colonel Lind could have sentenced Private Manning, 25, to up to 90 years. She found him guilty last month of most of the charges against him, including six counts of violating the Espionage Act, five counts of stealing government property and one count of violating the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. He was acquitted of the most serious charge, “aiding the enemy,” a charge never before filed in a leak case.
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Excerpt: Monarchy is the natural order of things, which is why, as Ben Franklin grasped, the tricky bit about a republic is keeping it. Franklin didn’t live to see how that panned out. He died in 1790, a year after the first inauguration, back when John Adams was proposing that George Washington be addressed as “Your Most Benign Highness.”
| — Hat tip: KP | [Return to headlines] |
NSA Surveillance Reach Broader Than Publicly Acknowledged
The National Security Agency’s surveillance network has the capacity to spy on 75 percent of all U.S. Internet traffic, The Wall Street Journal reports. Citing current and former NSA officials for the 75 percent figure, the paper reported that the agency can observe more of Americans’ online communications than officials have publicly acknowledged.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
One by One, California Agents Track Down Illegally Owned Guns
In California, officials are ramping up a unique program that identifies and seizes guns from people who are prohibited from keeping them. Under state law, a legally registered gun owner loses the right to own a firearm when he or she is convicted of a crime or becomes mentally ill…
Yo’s team will visit the homes of 11 people who are considered Armed and Prohibited Persons, people on the so-called APPs list. They are all people who at one time purchased firearms legally, but have since run afoul of the law, Yo says. “Such as maybe a felony conviction, mental health commitment, they received a restraining order, domestic violence restraining order — some type of a misdemeanor conviction that prohibits them from possessing firearms.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
San Diego Craigslist Ad Searches for “Surveillance Role Players”
A recent post on a San Diego Craigslist website advertises the need for “motivated” Surveillance Role Players (SRPs) and scenario driven practical exercise Role Players (RPs). The ad claims to be looking to fill these positions to “support military training activities in the San Diego, Calif. region.”
The ad further states: “Qualified personnel should demonstrate an established track record of conducting surveillance operations at various discretion levels, supporting surveillance training and military practical exercise training. Individuals with previous military, intelligence community and law enforcement experience are highly preferred.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
U.S. Health Dept. Offering $30,000 in Cash Prizes for Pro-ObamaCare Propaganda Videos
Contest aims to turn young Americans into “death panel” cheerleaders.
The U.S. Health and Human Services is running an on-line video contest with $30,000 in cash prizes for pro-Obamacare propaganda videos.
HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced the Healthy Young America contest as a partnership with a national organization called the Young Invincibles.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Waiting on Clinton: Dem Presidential Contenders Defer to the ‘Inevitable’ Nominee
Looking forward to the 2016 presidential race, many still believe that Clinton — should she choose to run — is again the inevitable nominee. A handful of other Democrats testing the waters of 2016 are for now pursuing their ambitions quietly.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
West Coast of North America to be Hit Hard by Fukushima Radiation
An ocean current called the North Pacific Gyre is bringing Japanese radiation to the West Coast of North America:
While many people assume that the ocean will dilute the Fukushima radiation, a previously-secret 1955 U.S. government report concluded that the ocean may not adequately dilute radiation from nuclear accidents, and there could be “pockets” and “streams” of highly-concentrated radiation.
The University of Hawaii’s International Pacific Research Center created a graphic showing the projected dispersion of debris from Japan:…
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Regina Fooled by White Supremacist Group Into Declaring ‘European Heritage Week’
Regina is the latest community to be fooled by a white supremacist group into declaring a “European Heritage Week.” The city says it received the request from a group earlier this year and set aside the week of Oct. 14 — 20 for the designation. Mayor Michael Fougere even signed a proclamation. The mayor says he didn’t realize that it was the Nationalist Party Of Canada that made the request.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Black Helicopters: Britain’s Blind Faith in Intelligence Agencies
Most in Britain seem unconcerned about the mass surveillance carried out by its intelligence agency GCHQ. Even the intimidation tactics being used on the Guardian this week have caused little soul-searching. The reason is simple: Britons blindly and uncritically trust their secret service.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Britain Defends Detention of Snowden Writer’s Partner
Britain on Tuesday defended the detention under anti-terrorism powers of the partner of a journalist who has written about U.S. and British surveillance programs based on leaks by Edward Snowden, saying it had a duty “to protect the public”.
David Miranda, partner of U.S. journalist Glenn Greenwald, was questioned for nine hours on Sunday at London’s Heathrow Airport before being released without charge, prompting calls for an explanation of why anti-terrorism powers were used to detain the Brazilian citizen.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Four Decades of Stockholm Syndrome
Forty years after a Swedish hostage drama gave rise to the term “Stockholm Syndrome”, the phenomenon is still being used, and misused, to explain the reactions of kidnap victims.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
France: Ministers Mobilise as Marseille Violence Spirals
Five government ministers headed to the crime plagued city of Marseille on Monday, pledging action and reinforcements to tackle the rampant gun violence that claimed yet another victim this week.
French authorities vowed action to fight rampant violent crime in the southern port of Marseille on Tuesday after the latest in a string of deadly gang shootings in France’s second-largest city.
Accompanied by five ministers, Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault rushed to Marseille after news of Monday’s killing, which saw a 25-year-old suspected drug dealer riddled with bullets in the seaside neighbourhood of l’Estaque.
“The government has committed with determination to reducing the violence, delinquency and crime in Marseille,” Ayrault said after visiting a hospital where a nurse was wounded in a knife attack on Sunday.
Violent gun crime is nothing new in Marseille and neither is the sight of government ministers visiting the city promising reinforcements and vowing to deal with the problem once and for all.
On Tuesday it was the turn of Interior Minister Manuel Valls to pledge added support for the police fight a wave of gun and drug crime in the city.
Valls promised an extra company of CRS riot police would be sent to Marseille as well as 24 specialist investigators.
Monday’s killing was the 13th gang-related murder this year in Marseille and followed two other brutal attacks this month.
On August 9, a 22-year-old student had his throat cut in the city centre and on Sunday an 18-year-old was stabbed to death near Marseille’s famed Old Port after a bar fight.
One of the suspects in the stabbing later wounded the nurse with a knife after being asked for identity papers while seeking treatment at a hospital following the fight.
Marseille has been plagued in recent years by a wave of shootings, often with Kalashnikov assault rifles, connected with the drug trade.
The violence has reached such levels that a local official last year called for the military to be sent in and the government formed a task force to tackle the crime wave.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
French Ministers Rush to Crime-Infested Marseilles
Another fatality in Old Port area; reinforcements to be sent
(ANSAmed) — PARIS — For the past five years Marseilles has been ever more in the grip of a crime wave: the “northern quarters” in flames, the Old Port with its nightly settling of scores, adolescents high on drugs, dealers everywhere and shopkeepers prey to racketeering.
After the latest murder Monday evening, the French government rushed to announce that more police reinforcements would be sent immediately. Unfortunately, the announcement of Interior Minister Manuel Valls’s flying visit to the city was made before that of Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault’s. Four other ministers joined them shortly thereafter. Thirteen people have died since the beginning of the year in gang warfare. August has been marked by violent scuffles, injuries and widespread violence. A nurse was attacked on Sunday in a hospital, while a 25-year-old man was riddled with bullets Monday evening after a violent scuffle. Minister Valls, who has been actively trying to reduce the criminality of France’s second largest city for the past few months, called the city’s crime rates “shocking”. It was not a “visit of compassion or circumstance”, said Ayrault, who led a delegation of ministers to Marseilles: Justice Minister Christiane Taubira, Social Affairs and Health Minister Marisol Touraine, Territorial and Housing Equality Minister Cecile Duflot and Deputy Minister for the Disabled Marie-Arlette Carlotti. The government officials were followed by a flock of journalists. Ayrault’s first stop was the hospital where the nurse was injured on Sunday by a criminal gang that demanded treatment, no questions asked, after stabbing a man to death shortly before.
The prime minister met with emergency room workers in the healthcare facility, while the injured man stayed home after the injury.
“I would like to note,” Ayrault said, in announcing an extraordinary meeting Wednesday in Paris,”that the government has worked with determination to defeat the violence, delinquency and criminality in Marseilles.” Marseille residents may have been less impressed by these words than the announcement that 24 extra policemen would be sent, along with a riot police unit.
The visit betrayed visible tension between the authorities, and not only between local and central ones. Right-wing mayor Jean-Claude Gaudin (UMP) did not even come to the meeting with the ministers in the prefect’s office after Valls criticised his work. Valls is at the center of controversy in the government after his statements Monday at the presidential palace, when he shocked many of his colleagues by calling for fundamental reform of laws on immigration from Africa, especially as concerns regrouping family members of immigrants who obtain legal residency. The minister was accused of having been “contaminated by Le Pen” by Left Front leader Jean-Luc Melenchon, and was criticised by the heads of ‘social’ ministries and Justice Minister Taubira, who has long held diametrically opposed positions to those of Interior Minister Valls.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Greece: Police Raid on Athens University Yields No Anarchist Arrests
An early morning raid on the grounds of the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA) on Wednesday turned up materials which confirmed suspicions that self-styled anarchists are using the premises to prepare for clashes with police but did not lead to the arrest of any suspected anti-establishment activists.
Police confiscated a jerry can of fuel, pepper spray, a sledgehammer, wooden poles, motorcycle helmets and gas masks during the raid, which was reportedly carried out following a tip-off. But none of the six people — three Greeks and three immigrants — detained in the crackdown was believed to be linked to anarchist groups.
According to sources, two of the migrants are Kurds who have lodged applications for political asylum in Greece; the third migrant is believed to be in the country illegally. The three Greeks were released.
Commenting on the raid, which drew criticism from leftist opposition SYRIZA, government spokesman Simos Kedikoglou said police were simply “implementing the law.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Right: Left Heavyweights Keep Swinging Over Berlusconi
Bindi says resignation could lead to pardon
(By Emily Backus) (ANSA) — Rome, August 20 — Heavyweights of Italy’s centre-right and centre-left continued to wrangle in the Italian media Tuesday over Silvio Berlusconi’s political future, and whether the three-time premier’s first-ever definitive criminal conviction should mean his removal from parliament and a six-year ban on holding public office.
In an interview with newspaper La Repubblica published Tuesday, former Democratic Party (PD) chair Rosy Bindi called on Berlusconi to resign, which she claimed could open the way to a presidential pardon for his main penalty. “Berlusconi should take note of the embarrassment that threatens parliament and resign (before a scheduled Senate commission meeting in September to weigh his removal from office),” said Bindi.
Bindi said the gesture would be “of great political significance”. “Resigning as parliamentarian would certainly not mean renouncing leadership of his political formation, but he would do it as a citizen who respects the law. At that point, I maintain that even for the head of state it would be more simple to recognize that political gesture, perhaps with a commutation of the main penalty,” Bindi said.
Meanwhile Italian Transport Minister Maurizio Lupi, a member of Berlusconi’s People of Freedom (PdL) party in the right-left coalition government, blasted the legitimacy of the Senate vote in an interview with newspaper Il Corriere della Sera.
“It seems the only objective is a return to slaughtering the enemy,” said Lupi.
“The subject of Berlusconi’s political freedom and of the parliamentary forfeiture is too serious to be dealt with by the anathemas” of parliament commission members.
Lupi also warned that PdL cabinet ministers could resign if Berlusconi is cast out of the Upper House.
“We would have to face it seriously. It is is a decision that we would have to take all together with President Berlusconi,” Lupi said.
Berlusconi risks being stripped of his Senate seat and banned from public office for six years in a vote in September, even though a five-year ban on holding public office that came with the judicial conviction has been sent back to the Milan appeals court for review.
Early this month, the supreme court upheld a four-year prison sentence for tax fraud against the media tycoon, three years of which have been commuted due to an amnesty.
He must decide next month how to spend the one year left, either performing community service or under house arrest. A Senate commission has given Berlusconi until August 28 to prepare a defence to keep his seat in the Upper House.
The commission is set to reconvene September 9 to discuss turfing the 76-year-old billionaire out of parliament, something his supporters have repeatedly threatened could trigger the collapse of the volatile executive. Italy’s defence minister, a moderate, struck a calmer chord Tuesday, saying he “could not imagine anyone thinking of toppling the government”. Mario Mauro, with the Civic Choice party, is formerly of the Berlusconi’s PdL. On Monday, Berlusconi vowed to fight on, defying pressure to step aside as leader of the center right. “I’m resisting! I’m not giving up,” Berlusconi told supporters on his Facebook page.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Austrian Chancellor Calls Berlusconi Destabilizing
‘Happy Letta in charge, going the right direction’
(see related) (ANSA) — Rome, August 21 — Austria’s chancellor characterized ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi as destabilizing on Wednesday in a press conference with Premier Enrico Letta. “I’ve known Silvio Berlusconi and I never thought him to be someone to instill stability, which is why I’m happy to have met Premier Letta, who is going in the right direction,” said Werner Faymann in Vienna. Letta currently oversees what is largely considered a volatile cabinet, predominately made up of members from his own center-left party and members of Berlusconi’s center-right party. The ex-premier’s supporters have suggested toppling the government over his first-ever definitive criminal conviction earlier this month, this time for tax fraud, following years of legal entanglements at the hands of judges they see as politically biased. The Senate, where the center left has a majority, is set to vote next month on ratifying a six-year ban from office for the media magnate and Senator. In addition, the sentence came with a four-year prison sentence, commuted to one year of community service or house arrest due to an amnesty.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Norway: Chechen Man Flees Court on Motorcycle
A Chechen man held for stealing luxury cars made a dramatic cuffed get-away on Tuesday, breaking loose from police outside the courtroom and then leaping onto a waiting motorcycle.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Spain Calls for Gibraltar Tax Probe
System lacks transparency; money laundering, smuggling
(ANSAmed) — MADRID, AUGUST 20 — The European Commission should look into Gibraltar’s tax system, said Spain’s Foreign Minister José Manuel Garcia Margallo Tuesday, pointing to a lack of transparency. The minister noted that the island’s population numbers 30,000, while there are some 21,000 registered companies.
Spanish authorities say that Gibraltar fosters the money laundering of funds taken out of Spanish banks, thus enabling huge sums of money to remain untaxed in Spain. Spanish media quote European Commission sources as saying they believe that the EU delegation set to begin dealing with the dispute between Madrid and Gibraltar in September will also look into the tax aspects thought to harm Spain, including slush funds held in Gibraltar banks. Spanish banks noted that another illegal activity is widespread in Gibraltar: cigarette smuggling. Official figures say 14 million cigarette packets cross the border every year, half of which headed for the Spanish market. This leads to enormous revenue losses in the tobacco trade.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden: Drug Busts Soar as Inmates Allowed Phones
Staff at a correctional services psychiatric facility in Växsjö are grappling with a surge in narcotics after inmates gained the right to use mobile phones.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden: Hijab Activists Demand Minister Take Action
Sweden’s justice minister on Tuesday met with activists who convinced thousands of women to wear headscarves this week to protest an alleged attack on a Muslim woman who wore a hijab.
“We tried to say that there is structural discrimination…but (Justice Minister Beatrice Ask) kept referring to individual responsibilities,” Foujan Rouzbeh, one of the organixers, said at a press conference after the meeting.
“I also said that under this government, we’ve gotten the impression that that this type of crime has increased,” she added.
A heavily pregnant Swedish woman wearing a hijab on Friday reported being assaulted as she approached her car in the Stockholm suburb of Farsta.
The man who attacked her made a reference to the veil she was wearing, she said. Police are currently searching for witnesses to the incident, which is being treated as a hate crime.
Her claims prompted an outpouring of solidarity on social media sites, with some 4,000 Twitter users of different faiths posting pictures of themselves wearing headscarves on Monday, according to activists.
Leftist politicians and celebrities were among those supporting the campaign.
On Instagram, just over 130 people had posted pictures of themselves with their heads covered on Tuesday, and on Facebook around 8,600 people had joined the group “The hijab outcry” (hijabuppropet).
A demonstration was scheduled to be held in Stockholm on Thursday to support Muslim women’s right to wear the hijab in public.
Activists who attended the meeting with Justice Minister Ask said they had also demanded that a commission look into the problem of violence against the women who wear it.
The minister told tabloid Expressen that it was “important to listen,” but declined to wear a headscarf herself.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
UK Government “Pulverizes” Guardian Hard Drives in Snowden Retaliation
While the much publicized Sunday morning detention of Glenn Greenwald’s partner David Miranda at Heathrow on his way back to Brazil, in a stunning move that as we subsequently learned had been telegraphed apriori to the US, could potentially be explained away as a desperate attempt at personal intimidation by a scared, and truly evil empire in its last death throes, it is what happened a month earlier at the basement of the Guardian newspaper that leaves one truly speechless at how far the “democratic” fascist regimes have fallen and fondly reminiscing of the times when dictatorial, tyrannical regimes did not pretend to be anything but.
For the fully story, we go to Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger who, in a long editorial focusing on the tribulations of Greenwald, his partner, modern journalism and free speech and press in a time of near-ubiquitous tyranny when the status quo is questioned, happened to let his readers know that a month ago, after the newspaper had published several stories based on Snowden’s material, a British official advised him: “You’ve had your fun. Now we want the stuff back.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Guardian Reportedly Forced to Destroy Snowden Files
(AGI) London — The British government has reportedly forced the Guardian to destroy the secret files supplied by Edward Snowden .
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Man Jailed for Threatening Muslims in Wake of Lee Rigby Killing
Geoffrey Ryan sentenced to nine months after making death threats to worshippers outside Essex mosque
Braintree, Essex: resident Geoffrey Ryan admitted affray after a confrontation at a local mosque. Photograph: Graham Turner for the Guardian
A man who threatened worshippers at a mosque hours after soldier Lee Rigby was killed has been jailed.
Geoffrey Ryan brandished two knives and shouted “I will kill you” at a member of the public outside the al-Falah Islamic Centre in Braintree, Essex, at 7.15pm on 22 May.
The 44-year-old, of Braintree, was sentenced to nine months in prison at Chelmsford crown court on Monday after admitting one count of affray and two of possessing an offensive weapon, the court confirmed on Wednesday.
Detective Constable Andy Young, from Essex police, said: “The incident caused unnecessary fear, not only for the people who witnessed it, but also local residents at a time when emotions were already running high due to the death of Drummer Lee Rigby in London.
“Ryan’s imprisonment should serve as a warning to others who intend to cause fear and unrest in the community for their own agendas, whether personal or not.
“I would like to thank the members of the al-Falah prayer centre for their support during the investigation and for their continued efforts in which they have hosted local events intended to increase understanding and tolerance within a multicultural community.”…
| — Hat tip: Vlad Tepes | [Return to headlines] |
Excerpt: Her comments follow the refusal of the Archbishop of Canterbury to take up the role of vice-patron and add to the deepening row over whether the charity, which is funded by donations, has become too politicised. People should stop donating until the charity returns to helping domestic animals, she said, adding: “They have got plenty of money. “I think that it would do them no harm if people stopped donating and told them why they had stopped to see if they changed their threatening policies.”
| — Hat tip: KP | [Return to headlines] |
The Unite union has launched a campaign to teach children how to carry out militant protests.
Pupils could be given lessons on how to make placards, oppose local businesses and fight plans for privatisation.
Videos have even been produced which encourage children to defy school rules.
Unite — run by left-wing firebrand Len McCluskey — has joined forces with the main teaching unions the NUT, NAS/UWT and the Association of Teachers and Lecturers to get the material into schools…
Last night head teachers and Tory MPs described Unite’s plans as ‘reprehensible.’
Nigel Adams MP said: ‘This propaganda is almost North Korean. It might be acceptable in the schools of Pyongyang, but not in Britain.
‘These cack-handed attempts to pedal trade union ideology in schools would be funny if it wasn’t so dangerous.’
Mike Griffiths, head of Northampton School for Boys, said: ‘If anyone even remotely suggested it where I work they would get short shrift. The notion of encouraging children to undermine teachers is reprehensible.’
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
I didn’t care for the “Arab Spring,” but the “Arab Summer” is a blockbuster!
Liberals’ rosy predictions for Egypt’s Islamic revolution didn’t turn out as planned. Who could have guessed that howling mobs in Tahrir Square in 2011 would fail to produce a peaceful democracy?
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak had supported U.S. policy, used his military to fight Muslim extremists and recognized Israel’s right to exist. So naturally, Obama told him he had to go.
Let’s review what liberals said at the time about that glorious people’s revolution — only from The New York Times:
[…]
Oops! Within less than a year, we found out that the truth wasn’t “complex”: The Muslim Brotherhood was behind the revolution. They rigged an election and were planning to implement Sharia law — until the Egyptian military stepped in on behalf of the people this year and removed the Brotherhood’s Mohammed Morsi as president.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Court Orders Egypt’s Ex-President Hosni Mubarak to be Released
An Egyptian court has ordered the release of ex-President Hosni Mubarak, who resigned in 2011 following a popular uprising. The EU has meanwhile agreed to suspend the sale of arms and security goods to Egypt.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Egypt: Washington-Riyadh Tensions on Aid Cut Rumours
White House denies Daily Beast scoop
(ANSAmed) — WASHINGTON — Tensions arose between Washington and Riyadh over the crucial issue of US economic and military aid to the Egyptian government, even as the Daily Beast on Wednesday reported that President Barack Obama has decided in secret to temporarily suspend arms deliveries and some forms of financial aid.
Should the scoop turn out to be accurate, it would be a blatant contradiction of US State Department statements made Monday that the issue is still under review and no decision has yet been made regarding the 1.5 billion dollars the US sends Egypt annually.
A spokesperson for Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy told Tina Brown’s website that “aid has been cut off”, as was delivery of an order of Apache helicopters Egypt has already paid for.
The Obama administration firmly denied the Daily Beast report. The government is weighing the issue of financial aid on a day to day basis, but no decision has been made, a National Security Council spokesperson said.
The report was “erroneous” and review of the issue “has not yet been concluded”, the White House made known.
But what really worries the US, analysts said, was news that Saudi Arabia and other Gulf oil monarchies are willing to step up to plate should the West cut off financial aid to Egypt under General Al Sissi.
The announcement sparked new tension between the US and the Saudis, traditionally America’s main allies in the region.
Under fire by critics who decry the US’ loss of influence in the Middle East, Obama can ill afford to lose his privileged rapport with Egypt, now torn apart by army repression, or with Riyadh, which has openly sided with the Egyptian generals, pouring 12 billion dollars into Egyptian coffers since the July 3 military coup that deposed President Mohamed Morsi.
But Saudi Arabia must also tread carefully. Foreign Minister and Prince Saud al-Faisal on Monday declared Egypt is “his second fatherland”, adding he would never allow the nation on the Nile to be overcome by chaos. However such unconditional support of the generals in Cairo could threaten Saudi relations not only with the US but with Qatar and Turkey as well, adding more uncertainties to an already complicated Middle Eastern scenario.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Egyptian Court Removes Last Obstacle to Freeing Former President Mubarak
An Egyptian court on Wednesday ordered former President Hosni Mubarak released from prison, saying all appeals by prosecutors to keep him behind bars had been exhausted, and his freedom could come as early as Wednesday afternoon by some accounts.
His lawyer, Farid el-Deeb, leaving court after the decision, told the Reuters News Agency that Mr. Mubarak, 85, would be released from prison by Thursday.
Al Ahram, the state newspaper, said on its Web site Wednesday afternoon that his release could come within hours. It quoted an unidentified judicial source. Other reports claimed the prosecution would still have 48 hours to appeal his release.
| [Return to headlines] |
Egypt’s Islamic Chaos, America’s Islamic Threat
By Alan Caruba
The President who, in 2009, said he thought it unseemly to “meddle” in the affairs of Iran when protesters against its regime were being shot dead in the streets of Tehran, announced to the world on August 15, 2013 that he was angered by the killing of civilians in the streets of Cairo as the Muslim Brotherhood was busy burning Christian churches and homes when they weren’t firing on the Egyptian military that was attempting to end its efforts to impose Sharia rule.
Egypt may be thousands of miles away but the intent of the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) to destroy America and, of course, Israel is close to home as the President and his national security advisors have misled Americans as to the true intent and threat of the MB.
In his new book, “The Brotherhood: America’s Next Great Enemy”, Erick Stakelbeck reminds the reader that in February 2011, “the Obama administration’s Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper, portray(ed) the Brotherhood as an Egyptian version of the Peace Corps.” At the time the “Arab Spring” protests were in full swing and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak was on the verge of being overthrown. Clapper described the MB as a “largely secular” organization that has “pursued social ends” and a “betterment of the political order.” This was and is utter nonsense, a deception.
Clapper is rivaled in his ignorance of Islam by the current Director of the CIA, John Brennan, who is a well-known fan of Arabs and Islam. He routinely refers to Jerusalem by its Arabic name “Al-Quds” and has called jihad “a legitimate tenet of Islam,” extolling Islam as a faith of “peace and tolerance,” of “goodness and beauty,” that has “shaped (his) own worldview.”
The fact is that the Brotherhood has been repeatedly banned in Egypt, starting in 1948. In 1954 the MB tried to assassinate then-president Nasser and, as Stakelbeck notes, “The Brotherhood would be severely repressed in Egypt for most of the next five decades.” So even in a Muslim nation, the threat the MB represented was understood.
The battles in the streets of Cairo, Alexandria, and other Egyptian cities reflect the ultimate intent of Islam to dominate the governance of the Middle East and to establish a global caliphate. It is doubtful that most Americans realize the threat it poses more than a decade past 9/11.
For reasons that historians will puzzle over for years to come, Americans elected, not just the first black President in 2008 and, despite a record of foreign and domestic policy failure, reelected him in 2012. They elected a man who makes no effort to hide his deep sympathy and support of Islam…
URL to article:
| — Hat tip: DN | [Return to headlines] |
Egypt’s Coptic Christians Live in Fear
Islamist attacks on Christian churches and facilities in Egypt are on the rise following the ouster of President Mohammed Morsi. They are not protected by the police or the justice system.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
John Bolton: U.S. Should Back Egyptian Army, ‘Like it or Not’
John R. Bolton, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said it’s time for the United States to step up to the plate and choose sides in the Egyptian conflict — and that side should be the military.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Juan Williams: Christians Attacked in Egypt Are Surrogates for US
Excerpt: Dozens of Christian churches in Egypt have been destroyed and torched as a result of the violence. On Sunday, one Christian church canceled Mass for the first time in 1,600 years. “As a Christian, I don’t think there’s any way that you can ignore the idea that fellow Christians are being persecuted,” said Williams
| — Hat tip: KP | [Return to headlines] |
Muslim Brotherhood’s Supreme Leader Mohammed Badie Captured in Cairo as Egypt Buries 25 Policeman
Egypt’s military-backed regime today seized the supreme leader of the Muslim Brotherhood as it pressed on with a crackdown on the former governing party.
Police arrested Mohammed Badie, spiritual head of the group, in Cairo, close to the site of the sit-in by thousands of supporters which was violently dispersed last week, leaving hundreds dead.
The arrest followed a day of bloodshed in which 25 policemen were killed in an ambush in Sinai and a court ruling opening the possibility that jailed ex-dictator Hosni Mubarak could walk free later this week.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Senator: Obama Administration Secretly Suspended Military Aid to Egypt
The U.S. government has decided privately to act as if the military takeover of Egypt was a coup, temporarily suspending most forms of military aid, despite deciding not to announce publicly a coup determination one way or the other, according to a leading U.S. senator.
In the latest example of its poorly understood Egypt policy, the Obama administration has decided to temporarily suspend the disbursement of most direct military aid, the delivery of weapons to the Egyptian military, and some forms of economic aid to the Egyptian government while it conducts a broad review of the relationship. The administration won’t publicly acknowledge all aspects of the aid suspension and maintains its rhetorical line that no official coup determination has been made, but behind the scenes, extensive measures to treat the military takeover of Egypt last month as a coup are being implemented on a temporary basis.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
US Cannot Keep Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood in Power
The military of Egypt is respecting the universal rights of all Egyptians by rooting out Muslim Brotherhood terrorism, the backers of Morsi’s regime — finding smuggled weapon stashes and arresting Morsi’s guest militias (Hamas and Al Qaida terrorists).
After more than two years of protests to bring about the removal of two dictatorships, the latter installed through fraudulent elections billed as “free and fair,” Egyptian freedom-fighters backed by the army must not retreat from their chance now to expose and expunge radical terrorists who came dangerously close to dominating Egypt for the long term. This means countering the efforts of the Obama administration inside Egypt.
Everything hinges upon the unthwarted dedication of the Egyptian army to continue with actions loyal to Egyptian pro-democracy freedom-fighters.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Why the Failure of Egypt’s ‘Secular’ Army to Protect Coptic Churches Matters
By Andrew G. Bostom
Expatriate Egyptian Coptic Christian writer Samuel Tadros has just observed how Egypt’s Copts—the country’s indigenous, pre-Arab Islamic jihad inhabitants—have been under siege by a recent spate of Muslim Brotherhood inspired and led church burnings, which punctuates the worst outbreak of anti-Coptic Muslim violence since the era of Muslim Mamluk rule (i.e., the 13th to 16th centuries).
Tadros was alluding to the effects of mainstream Islam upon its Egyptian Muslim votaries, resulting in the inexorable attrition of the Coptic population by the mid 14th century—the indigenous, pre-Islamic majority reduced to a permanent, vulnerable minority by the usual pattern of Islamization, via jihad: massacre, destruction and pillage of religious sites, forced or coerced conversion, and expropriation. This chronic process intensified and reached its apogee in a series of 14th century pogroms and persecutions, described by the great Muslim historian al-Maqrizi:
Many reports came from both Upper and Lower Egypt of Copts being converted to Islam, frequenting mosques, and memorizing the Quran, to the extent that some of them were able to establish their legal competence and sit with the legal witnesses. In all the provinces of Egypt, both north and south, no church remained that had not been razed; on many of those sites mosques were constructed. For when the Christians’ affliction grew great and their incomes small, they decided to embrace Islam.
Egyptian military strongman, and recent putschist, General al-Sisi issued an ecumenical sounding statement pledging that that army engineers would assist in the reconstruction of the devastated churches, as reported on August 16, 2013:
The Egyptian defense minister ordered the engineering department of the armed forces to swiftly repair all the affected churches, in recognition of the historical and national role played by our Coptic brothers.
But these noble-sounding words have rung hollow given the subsequent, ongoing lack of protection the Egyptian military has afforded its “Coptic brothers.” As reported on August 20th, Bishop General of Minya (in Upper Egypt, four hours from Cairo) Anba Macarius was critical of the army’s continued feeble response, claiming their lack of initiative in protecting churches and other Christian buildings engendered the ideal environment in which “crime and terrorism flourish.” Macarius declared:
First we must protect the Christians and the feelings of those who have suffered loss. Now we are calling on the state to protect the churches and the army to come onto the streets.
The morally reprehensible inaction of Egypt’s allegedly “secular” army—failing to protect its hapless and beleaguered Coptic minority—heightens concerns over the direction of this institution under a demonstrably anti-secular leader, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi…
| — Hat tip: Andy Bostom | [Return to headlines] |
Young Muslim: We Can Only Rebuild Egypt Together With Christians
Mohamed Elhariry, a young businessman in Cairo, reveals the on the ground reality of life in recent months in Egypt. The young man says the Muslim Brotherhood “have lied to everyone, they never wanted a democratic state. The real Egypt is multi-denominational”.
Cairo (AsiaNews) — The arrest of Mohammed Badie, the spiritual leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, has sparked a new round of criticism from Western countries and Turkey against the military hard line, which so far has claimed the lives of 900 people. International press restrict their reporting of the conflict to the leading factions, pitting the army against the Islamists who continue to incite their followers to violent protest. The real outcome of this war of words are the hundreds of dead in the streets of Cairo and Alexandria, many considered martyrs of the Revolution, as well as attacks against Christians who have become a scapegoat for the defeat and the fall in popularity of Muslim Brotherhood elected in 2011.
What is really happening in Egypt? What is the reality for those who are not divided along political or religious lines? Mohamed Elhariry, a young Muslim businessman from Cairo, speaks to AsiaNews about the growing unity between Muslims and Christians who want to rebuild a nation where different ethnicities and religions have lived together for 1400 years.
All of us Muslims were impressed by the attitude of Catholics, Coptic Orthodox and Protestant victims of the violence of the Muslim Brotherhood. The Christians did not ask for help from other countries of the same religion, instead they believed in themselves and in the Egyptian people. Everything that is happening in Egypt remains in Egypt. In contrast, the Muslim Brotherhood has made the rounds of the various Departments of State and put pressure on the interim government chosen by the various components of the Egyptian society.
We Muslims offered to protect churches and religious buildings, but our Christian brothers and sisters said: “Do not waste your souls, they are so precious to us. We have closed these buildings for now. Together we will rebuild our churches once we have eradicated terrorism.” I am convinced that what is sacred to one of my neighbors is also sacred for me. I have respect for him and his free will.
The various elements of Egyptian society have lived together for 1,400 years. There have been many conflicts over time , both within Islam, between Sunnis and Shiites, and with Christianity formed by Coptic Orthodox, Catholics, and Protestants. Sometimes they behave like fans of different football teams, to the point that some sanctify the “Egyptian religion” (concept of nationhood ed), while others condemn it. Whether Christian or Muslim.
What is happening to our country? It all starts January 25, 2011, when a huge revolution stirred every level of Egyptian society. For months the people demonstrated against the regime of President Hosni Mubarak. This event united people of different ideologies: imperialist, socialist and religious extremists. With the triumph of the revolution these extremes began to divide. Muslim Brotherhood, religious capitalists and socialists have no place on the Egyptian political stage.
During the transitional government led by the Supreme Council of the armed forces — who have a string foothold in the world of politics and economic power — each party tried to destroy its opponent. The Muslim Brotherhood waited for the exclusion of the Mubarak-era National Democratic Party before making their official entrance onto the national political scene. It opened the door to fair elections, but only from a technical point of view and not moral one. With the victory in the parliamentary elections of 2011 and the presidential election of 2012, the Brotherhood began leading the nation down a road to the unknown.
To rule they leave the Sinai in the hands of terrorists and, regardless of the deteriorating economic situation, build and finance their positions of strength within the governing and judicial apparatus, filling posts with their own nominees. They attribute everything to the leader who is fifth in the hierarchy of the Muslim Brotherhood. However, with the approval of the new Constitution, the Muslim Brotherhood show their true face. Their goal is total control of the state. In November 2012, the Egyptians took to the streets against the adoption of a distorted Constitution and demonstrate in front of the palace of the Constitutional Court.
The fall of Morsi and the popular uprising embarrassed the Muslim Brotherhood. In recent months they camped in the neighborhood of Rabaa, next to their mosque regardless of the will of the people. Now, the Islamists threaten everyone with terrorism, proclaiming death and destruction, ignoring the fact that the army and police have sided with the majority of the population, who took to the streets on June 30. The Muslim Brotherhood are not seeking legitimacy through dialogue, they do not respect the will of the people that is at the root of democracy. In recent weeks they have done everything to discredit the army in front of the world, but not in front of the Egyptians. The attacks against Christians are, in fact, an attempt by Islamists to unleash a new war to destroy the country.
Many people wonder if it is possible a dialogue with the Muslim Brotherhood. I can not speak with a terrorist who carries weapons and threatens my safety, my family, my country and my will. But I feel ready to discuss with those who accept these conditions: the good of the country is more important than any other issue, there must be a willingness to accept each other without engaging in a struggle to impose individual ideologies, my interlocutor must admit deliberate Islamists attacks against the police.
Unfortunately we will have to wait for reconciliation. However, we are a people with a weak memory. We do not like to remember. For 80 years we have suffered the interference and violence of the Muslim Brotherhood, and nonetheless we voted them to power in the elections of 2011 and 2012.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters Calls on Musicians to Boycott Israel
Roger Waters, the former frontman of Pink Floyd, has called on fellow rock stars to boycott Israel in an open letter that has drawn accusations of hypocrisy from officials.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Al Jazeera, Muslim Brotherhood Caught Producing Fake Videos?
As the Qatari government launches the American version of their news outlet Al-Jazeera, they face accusations of attempting to foment citizen outrage by allegedly airing hoax videos of Muslim Brotherhood protesters suffering faked injuries.
The first video shows a protester who seemingly suffered fatal injuries apparently lifting his leg.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Dangerous Friends: Power Struggle Splits Turkish Ruling Party
Turkey’s prime minister has quashed opposition in the streets, but now he faces a more menacing foe: challengers within his own party and from the nebulous Gülen movement. It could spell the end of political Islam in Turkey as we know it.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Dubious Chemical Weapons Attack in Syria Coincides With UN Visit
Red line? Past evidence shows western-backed rebels were behind biological attacks
Dubious claims that Bashar Al-Assad’s forces launched a massive chemical weapons attack near Damascus coincide with a team of UN investigators entering Syria and could provide the long awaited “red line” necessary to justify direct NATO military intervention.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
By Waleed Al-Rujaib
We remember that during the reign of the late King Faisal bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia welcomed the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood groups who were being harassed in Egypt, and were handed the responsibility of education in the Kingdom. They, taught Saudi students the teachings and ideology of Sayyed Qutb, then they proposed the establishment of ‘religious institutes’ across the Kingdom. To encourage people to enroll their children in those institutions, money was paid to each parent for each son he sent as an incentive to register as many of their children as possible, and because many of Najd region and other areas did not have fixed incomes, other than what they produced in their farms (and there were no pensions), many of the Saudi children went to those institutes where they studied the extremist ideology.
I remember in the sixties, we were taught religion by teachers from Azhar, and in fact, some of them taught Islamic education and Arabic and we studied the principles of Sharia, learnt Quranic verses by heart, studied the Sunna and I will not forget a smiling teacher who made us really like Islam. I remember that I once argued with him about a saying of the Prophet (PBUH). He took me to the teachers’ room and called the fatwa department in Awqaf Ministry and asked about the ‘hadith’, and he clarified my misgivings. I still owe this teacher for correcting my qualms and we remained friends long after I left school as he opened my mind towards Islam’s forgiveness, shariah, and fiqh which calls for open-minded arguments.
All these memories came flooding back to me when I read a news item which was published on Aug 17 that reported that the Education Ministry intends to include Quranic verses and hadiths in mathematics curricula for elementary classes! I did not believe what I read. I mean, what do you mean mathematics? That abstract and developing science? I attempted to find a scientific or educational justification behind this move, but I only found the phrase “in order to strengthen the Islamic teachings and values and instill them in students.” During our study in the past, some Arabic grammar books included some verses of the Quran, because the holy Quran is the main source of classic Arabic, and without it, Arabic would have changed a lot like other living languages.
I find it strange to hear them say that Islamic groups do not have any influence on education curricula, as all subjects include Quranic verses and hadiths, and only science and physical education is left. Now mathematics will include holy Quran verses and hadiths, and we also wonder how physical education can include some Quranic verses and hadiths if it was approved. We, in Kuwait, have historically followed a centrist and forgiving Islam which is open and we are proud of this.
We proudly remember Kuwaiti scholars who taught us the correct religious principles, and when these teachings are taken out of context, we produce extreme youth who do not believe in dialogue and do not recognize others opinions. —Al-Rai
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‘Poisonous Gas’ Attack by Regime Troops Kills at Least 100 in Syria, Activists Say
Syrian opposition groups say a “poisonous gas” attack during a government offensive near Damascus has left at least 100 people dead, prompting a call from France’s president for the U.N. to look into the matter.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Saudi Arabia’s War on Witchcraft
A special unit of the religious police pursues magical crime aggressively, and the convicted face death sentences.
The sorceress was naked.
The sight of her bare flesh startled the prudish officers of Saudi Arabia’s infamous religious police, the Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice (CPVPV), which had barged into her room in what was supposed to be a routine raid of a magical hideout in the western desert city of Madinah’s Al-Seeh neighborhood. They paused in shock, and to let her dress.
The woman — still unclothed — managed to slip out of the window of her apartment and flee. According to the 2006 account of the Saudi Okaz newspaper, which has been described as the Arabic equivalent of the New York Post, she “flew like a bird.” A frantic pursuit ensued. The unit found their suspect after she had fallen through the unsturdy roof of an adjacent house and onto the ground next to a bed of dozing children.
They covered her body, arrested her, and claimed to uncover key evidence indicating that witchcraft had indeed been practiced, including incense, talismans, and videos about magic. In the Al Arabiya report, a senior Islamic cleric lamented that the incident had occurred in a city of such sacred history. The prophet Muhammad is buried there, and it is considered the second most holy location in Islam, second to Mecca. The cleric didn’t doubt the details of the incident. “Some magicians may ride a broom and fly in the air with the help of the jinn (supernatural beings),” he said.
The fate of this sorceress is not readily apparent, but her plight is common. Judging from the punishments of others accused of practicing witchcraft in Saudi Arabia before and since, the consequences were almost certainly severe.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Syrian Activists Say Chemical Weapons Were Used Near Damascus
Opposition activists have said the Syrian government has used chemical weapons during an attack outside Damascus, killing hundreds. The Arab League has called on a UN team of experts, already in Syria, to investigate.
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Syria Conflict: ‘Chemical Attacks Kill Hundreds’
Chemical weapons attacks have killed hundreds on the outskirts of Damascus, Syrian opposition activists say. Rockets with toxic agents were launched at the suburbs of the Ghouta region early on Wednesday as part of a major bombardment on rebel forces, they say.
The Syrian army says the accusations have been fabricated to cover up rebel losses. The main opposition alliance said that more than 1,000 people were killed by the attacks.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Turks Losing Faith in the Country’s Institutions, Gallup
(ANSAmed) — ANKARA, AUGUST 16 — Gallup surveys conducted amid the recent protests in Turkey show that Turks living in large cities are increasingly losing faith in the country’s main institutions, including the military, AS Today’s Zaman reports.
According to Gallup surveys conducted between May 19 and June 23, only 43% of Turks living in cities with at least 100,000 inhabitants expressed confidence in the national government, compared with 68% of residents of smaller cities and rural areas. In 2012, 50% of large-city dwellers expressed confidence in the government, while this percentage was 57 among rural residents. Most of the surveys took place after the raids on protesters’ camps in Istanbul’s Gezi Park on May 30 and 31. The police action triggered protests in other major cities across the country. Gallup’s data, however, show that urban Turks’ discontent with their country’s institutions was growing before the recent unrest.
In 2011, before Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AK Party) won a third term, urban and rural Turks were equally likely to express confidence in several of the country’s public institutions. By 2012, these two groups’ views of the national government and the judicial system started to slowly drift apart, with more urban Turks withdrawing support. This rift became larger in 2013 and included a loss of support for the military among urbanites. According to the survey, 49% of Turks living in large cities expressed confidence in the judicial system, compared with 66% of residents of smaller cities and rural areas. This confidence divide in the judiciary has never been greater between urban and rural Turks.
In 2012, 48% of urban Turks expressed confidence in the judiciary compared with 53% of residents of smaller cities.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
India: Catholic Missionaries Attacked. Jesuit: I Forgive Them, They Were Fomented by Fundamentalists
About 150 people attacked priests and nuns who work with tribal Santal in Jharkhand. The death of a child who lived in the mission’s sparked mob’s wrath. But according to the missionaries, Hindu extremist groups fomented parents, exploiting their pain.
Mumbai (AsiaNews) — Attacked, insulted and beaten by about 150 people: This is what happened to a Jesuit priest and two nuns who work with tribal Santal in a Catholic mission in Karon (Jharkhand). The attack occurred two days ago. The mob’s wrath was sparked by the death of a 7 year old boy, who was staying in the hostel run by the Catholic Church. However, the Jesuits of the province of Dumka-Raiganj — who run the mission — suspect the involvement of radical Hindu groups Sawayamsevak Rashtriya Sangh (RSS) and Bajrang Dal.
On 2 August the child began to experience severe stomach pains. Concerned, mission staff rushed him to the local hospital, where unfortunately he died. Doctors said he died from cardiac arrest. Priests and nuns brough the small child’s body back to his native village, which is located in the district of Chittaranjan (West Bengal). Angry about what happened, the villagers first held the Catholic sisters captive, then let them return.
“But we had asked them a new meeting — Fr. Panimegam Michael, SJ, the director of the mission tells AsiaNews — and on Aug. 18 about 150 people gathered, including the child’s parents. Shortly after starting the father approached and slapped me. From there, others started to break the windows, destroying furniture, and the mother to beat me. “
The women in the group — about 60 — have attacked Sister Sahaya, which is the principal of the school’s mission. “They pulled her hair — recalls the priest — and ripped her clothes, then they beat her” and together with her, another sister.
Police intervention dispersed the people. One of the priests present at the time of the attack, Fr. Salomon, suffered injuries to his head. Before leaving, the group demanded a compensation of 1 million rupees, but the missionaries did not accept.
The incident has shocked the priests and nuns of the mission. However, they remain convinced that Hindu fundamentalists fomented the community, exploiting the pain of the parents for the loss of the child. “I forgive my attackers — says Fr. Panimegam — and with God’s grace and His Spirit we will continue to serve this Santal community through the educational mission of the Jesuits.”
Founded in 2004, the missionary center is called Deepshikha (“Torch”) and also includes a hostel and a school. In 2005 c some nuns of the Congregation of the Immaculate Conception (CIC) arrived, taking over the management of the institute.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
India’s Unfair Obsession With Lighter Skin
The Dark is Beautiful campaign hopes to halt India’s huge appetite for skin whitening products, and has a new champion in film star Nandita Das
Nandita Das: ‘Indians are very racist. There is so much pressure that perpetuates this idea that fair is the ideal.’
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Pakistan: Wasim Akram Marries Australian Girlfriend
Karachi: Famed Pakistan paceman Wasim Akram on Wednesday announced that he had married his Australian girlfriend, Shaniera Thompson, saying he has started a new life on a happy note.
Wasim said Thompson had converted to Islam and is learning Urdu.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Fukushima Victim Exposes Japanese Government’s Attempted Bizarre Brainwashing of Radiation Victims
[WARNING: Disturbing Content.]
(NaturalNews) The following is a first-person account of the attempt by the Japanese government to brainwash victims of Fukushima radiation poisoning into believing radiation would not harm them if they simply “smile.” Natural News is the first U.S. news source to publish this account in English. The name of the original author is Uwamae Masako, who now lives in Taiwan after escaping Fukushima and leaving behind many friends and family members.
As you’ll see below, the Japanese government’s Fukushima Radiation Health Risk Advisor uses a hypnotic, droning speech pattern to try to convince his audience of absolutely bizarre quack science beliefs like “people who drink aren’t affected by radiation” or that “laughter will remove your radiation phobia.”
What follows is a true, firsthand account…
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
In Hong Kong, Inflation Worries Spook the Spirit World
Comfort in the Afterlife Requires Lots More ‘Ghost Money’; A $1 Trillion Bill
Deep in China’s spirit world, an inflation crisis is brewing that would give central bankers chills.
For hundreds of years, Chinese have burned stacks of so-called “ghost money” for their ancestors to help ensure their comfort in the afterlife. The fake bills resemble a gaudier version of Monopoly money, emblazoned with the beatific-looking image of the Emperor of the Underworld.
Traditionally, paper money burned in China came in small denominations of fives or tens. But more recent generations of money printers have grown less restrained. The value of the biggest bills has risen in the past few decades from the millions and, more recently, the billions. The reason: Even Hong Kong’s dead try to keep up with the Joneses, and their living relatives believe that they need more and more fake bucks to pay for high-cost indulgences like condos and iPads.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Latest Fukushima Radiation Leak Called a National Emergency
Yuhei Sato, the governor of the Fukushima prefecture in Japan, has described a massive leak from a radioactive water storage tank at the stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant as a national emergency.
Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) said approximately 300 tons of the deadly water have leaked from the tanks. TEPCO said the leaks are continuing and the operator has yet to pinpoint the source of the leak. Water discovered near the plant contain extremely high radiation levels — about 100 millisieverts per hour.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Son of China’s War Hero Apologises for Attacking Teachers During Cultural Revolution
The son of one of the country’s most famous war heroes reveals violent past as Red Guard
The “Chinese Dream” cannot be realised until China accepts responsibility for the crimes and injustices committed during the Cultural Revolution, Chen Xiaolu, a former Red Guard and youngest son of civil war and Sino-Japanese war hero Marshal Chen Yi, said in a statement published this week.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
The Secret Document That Proves China Considers the United States to be a Mortal Enemy
If you believe that China is our “friend”, then you have been deceived. While U.S. politicians, the mainstream media and the U.S. military may consider China to be a “friend” and a “partner”, the Chinese see things very, very differently. As you will see below, documents produced at the highest levels of the Chinese government make it abundantly clear that China considers the United States to be a mortal enemy. Unfortunately, in the west we have naively assumed that if we opened up trade with China that they would want to be more like us. Instead, opening up trade with China has allowed them to severely damage us economically while continuing to loudly denounce “western constitutional democracy” at the same time.
The truth is that China is not like us and they never intend to be. The Chinese people do not get to choose their leaders in free elections, and the Communist Party in China never intends to allow that to happen.
The Chinese people do not have freedom of speech or freedom of religion, and the Communist Party in China never intends to give the general population those freedoms.
In most cases, Chinese families do not even have the freedom to have more than one child, and if a Chinese family tries to buck the system a mobile abortion van may show up at their front door.
The Chinese system is horribly repressive, and in many ways it continues to get even worse.
And officials in China definitely do not consider the United States to be a “partner”. Rather, they consider the United States to be a rival that needs to be vanquished.
This attitude comes through very clearly in a Chinese government memo known as “Document No. 9” that the New York Times was recently able to get a copy of…
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
What Australians Ought to be Boycotting
Excerpt: In Australia, moonbats like former Australian deputy prime minister Tim Fischer are milking the Chris Lane shooting for all they can get, calling for a boycott of travel to the USA to punish us for upholding the right to bear arms. But it wasn’t a gun that killed Chris Lane for no particular reason so much as it was an ideology and a subculture, both exported from corrupted parts of the country into the otherwise decent town of Duncan, Oklahoma. Colin Flaherty had a look at alleged triggerman Chancey Luna’s Facebook page:
| — Hat tip: KP | [Return to headlines] |
Swedish Woman Shot in Somalia Drive-by
Sweden’s Foreign Ministry (Utrikesdepartementet) confirmed on Wednesday that a Swedish woman was shot and injured in Mogadishu, with additional reports that a Swedish man of Somali origin was shot dead.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Katie Pavlich: Taking Up Arms, Women in Mexico Have Had Enough
Excerpt: Women in Mexico have had enough and are doing something about their communities being overrun with cartels, criminals and drug lords. More than 100 women in the southern Mexican town of Xaltianguis have taken up arms to protect their community from organized crime groups, a local self-defense force official said Monday. The women signed up over the past four days with the Union of Peoples and Organizations of Guerrero State, or UPOEG, Xaltianguis community self-defense force commander Miguel Angel Jimenez told reporters.
| — Hat tip: KP | [Return to headlines] |
Telescope Captures Birth of a New Star
Astronomers have succeeded in observing a star being born 1,400 light years from the Earth using the ALMA telescope in Chile. But the astral baby in the constellation Vela has yet to receive a real name.
The relatively new ALMA telescope is an array of 66 antennas located in one of the driest places on Earth, the Atacama desert.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
German Neo-Nazis Protest at Refugee Center in Berlin
The German capital, Berlin, has seen a third day of demonstrations over a new center for asylum seekers. The protests could bring the issue of immigration more to the fore as general elections loom.
The demonstration, called by the far-right, anti-Islam “Pro Deutschland” group, remained peaceful. Only some ten group members attended the protest.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Germany: Asylum Seeker Influx: Far-Right Protests New Refugee Shelter
The number of people applying for asylum in Germany has increased significantly in recent months, leading to a housing shortage. In Berlin, a conflict with residents and the far right has erupted as a result.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Piedmont First in Integrating Foreign Residents
Northern regions outperforming the south, report says
(ANSA) — Turin, August 12 — The northwestern region of Piedmont leads Italy in terms of successfully integrating foreign-born residents into society, a government report said Monday. According to the National Council of Economy and Labour (CNEL), the northern Emilia-Romagna region was second, trailed by its northern neighbors Liguria and Friuli-Venezia Giulia. Overall the north ranked well above regions in the south.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Syrians, Egyptians, Pakistanis in Fresh Wave of Migrant Landings
Lampedusa, 20 August (AKI) — Syrians, Egyptian and Pakistanis were among 600 migrants who reached southern Italian on Tuesday including women and children.
Coastguard intercepted a boat with 233 people on board south of the island of Lampedusa, who were transferred to its reception centre.
Two coastguard vessels rescued a boat 12 nautical miles from Porto Empedocle on the southwest Sicilian coast with 336 migrants aboard including 64 women and a newborn baby. The migrants said they were from Eritrea.
Another 67 migrants including 8 children were picked up on a beach near Syracuse on Sicily’s southeastern coast. The migrants claimed to be from Syria and Pakistan and told officials they had reached Italy after 10 days at sea.
On Monday, 150 migrants including 40 children reached Syracuse aboard four rickety fishing boats that had set sail from ports in Libya in North Africa. Most said they were from Egypt and Syria, but there were also migrants from Pakistan.
A further 100 migrants including 17 children came ashore in the eastern Sicilian port city of Catania, all believed to be Egyptians and Syrians.
Meanwhile, the Isola Capo Rizzuto immigration centre in Italy’s southern Calabria region was closed after a riot following the death there of a 30-year-old Moroccan on Monday who was awaiting deportation.
Isola Capo Rizzuto is Europe’s largest immigration centre and can hold up to 1,458 migrants. Its reception and asylum-seeking centres have acccommodated 1,720 migrants of various nationalities this year including 50 families and six newborns.
Italy has become the main arrrival point for migrants seeking to enter Europe and thousands land here annually. Many hundreds have perished on the dangerous Mediterranean crossings.
Rome wants more European Union aid to manage the phenomenon and says Italy is unfairly shouldering the burden of migration to Europe.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Archbishop Cranmer: Fracking and the Cult of Green Gnosticism
Excerpt: From Ivo: These disparate movements, beliefs and creeds confer a sense of exclusivity, superiority and appeal to those otherwise lacking self-esteem. It calls to the outsider and reinforces his or her sense of frustration with their ordinary fellow citizens who will not acknowledge their special status — their gnosis.
One of the fundamental aspects of these Gnostic-lite philosophies, apart from the admiration we ought rightly to feel for those who know better than we do, is their claimed right to break the law; to enforce where they cannot persuade, for, whether we are talking roads, railways, or fracking, the ordinary rules of democracy cannot apply to them.
| — Hat tip: KP | [Return to headlines] |
Win the Common Core Battle But Lose the War?
This article relates to my serious concern that Common Core (CC) is being used as a very effective DIVERSION from the serious problem of tax-supported school choice which will lock up ALL children worldwide in the computerized Communist / OBE workforce training system necessary for a planned global economy. This is the communist education system referred to by Professor Eugene Boyce, University of Georgia, where “they do not educate for jobs that don’t exist” — a.k.a., “quota system.” This is the plan referred to by education researcher Cynthia Weatherly as “limited learning for lifelong labor.” No upward mobility for our children.
Once the world’s children are trapped in that tax-funded system (which has been the international plan over many years, using innocent-sounding “school choice/vouchers/tuition tax credits”) they will be required by Federal law to submit to Common Core and all that goes with it…
[…]
If only Americans would focus on the real problem, STOPPING TAX-SUPPORTED SCHOOL CHOICE! ONCE PUBLIC AND PRIVATE EDUCTION HAVE BEEN CORPORATIZED (TAKEN OVER BY THE CORPORATE FASCIST — PUBLIC/PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP SYSTEM) THOSE SCHOOLS WILL BE REQUIRED BY LAW TO IMPLEMENT COMMON CORE. What will parents, unhappy about this turn of events, then do? There will be no elected boards to whom they can complain.…
Please read this incredibly shocking article from The Effective School Report, February, 1992. It covers everything going on under tax-supported school choice.
THE EFFECTIVE SCHOOL REPORT’S FEBRUARY 1992 ISSUE CARRIED AN ARTICLE ENTITLED “Free Education in a Free Society” by Nick Zienau of England’s Educational Consultancy. It reads in part:
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |