After twenty-six years, a former New York county prosecutor named Steven Pagones has finally obtained justice of a sort.
Back in 1987 Mr. Pagones was among the men accused of abducting and raping a teenage girl named Tawana Brawley, in a case that launched Al Sharpton’s illustrious career. It later turned out that Ms. Brawley’s story was a total fabrication, which she concocted as a hoax to cover her errant behavior.
Mr. Pagones sued for defamation, and won a judgment of $190,000 against the mixed-up young lady. However, before he could collect any of the money, Tawana Brawley had disappeared.
A few months ago she was discovered in Southside Virginia, working under an assumed name as a nurse. After twenty-six years, she has at last started making payments to Mr. Pagones. The mills of justice grind slowly.
In other news, a 71-year-old Ottawa man was charged with mischief for writing anti-Islamic graffiti on the side of a porta-john. Some witnesses think he may have mistaken the structure for a mosque. (OK, I admit it: I made that last part up.)
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to Fjordman, JD, McR, 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.
2 Weeks Ago, A Huge Solar Flare Almost Knocked Out Power Nationwide
Whew … That Was Close
We’ve sounded the alarm for years that a large solar flare — like the one we had in 1859 — could cause worldwide nuclear meltdowns … and numerous other problems.
2 weeks ago, we just barely dodged the bullet.
Washington Examiner reports:
The earth barely missed taking a massive solar punch in the teeth two weeks ago, an “electromagnetic pulse” so big that it could have knocked out power, cars and iPhones throughout the United States.
Two EMP experts told Secrets that the EMP flashed through earth’s typical orbit around the sun about two weeks before the planet got there.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
An under-funded U.S. military, riven with all manner of social experimentation involving women and gays, is putting the nation and our global interests at risk.
In January, the members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff sent a letter to Sen. Carl Levin, the Chairman of the Committee on Armed Forces.
“The readiness of our Armed Forces is at a tipping point. We are on the brink of creating a hollow force due to an unprecedented convergence of budget considerations and legislation that could require the Department (of Defense) to retain more forces than requested while underfunding that force’s readiness.” The letter addressed the “sequestration that has triggered “a cut in operating budgets of more than twenty percent across the Joint Force compared with the President’s budget.”
While “Troops on the front lines will receive the support they need…the rest of the force will be compromised.” The “looming readiness crisis” would force the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines “to ground aircraft, return ships to port, and stop driving combat vehicles in training.” After more than a decade of hard fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Joint Chiefs warned that “We will be unable to reset and restore the force’s full-spectrum combat capability…”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Fort Hood Shooter Nidal Hasan ‘Left Free’ To Kill
Sweating nervously from his bald head as he began addressing a room full of uniformed classmates, the American soldier gathered enough composure to deliver an extraordinary presentation.
The US was waging a “war on Islam”, Nidal Hasan explained to fellow graduate students at a military medical college in Maryland, before mounting a defence of Osama bin Laden and endorsing suicide bombers.
As his disgusted audience “erupted”, he was halted by their lecturer after just two minutes. Yet two years later Hasan, still a member of the Army he had denounced, would violently conclude his demonstration.
Wielding a high-powered pistol and crying “Allahu akbar!”, he shot dead 13 people and wounded 32 others at the Fort Hood military base in Killeen, Texas, on 5 November 2009.
Hasan, who proudly admits to carrying out the attack, is due to stand trial from Tuesday for 13 counts of murder and 32 of attempted murder. He faces a potential death sentence.
[…]
A group of 148 victims and their relatives are now suing the US government for $750 million (£491 million) and demanding that the military “meet its responsibilities to those harmed by its negligence”.
Reed Rubinstein, their lawyer, told The Sunday Telegraph that an adherence to “political correctness” among military chiefs under George W. Bush and Barack Obama allowed the massacre to happen.
“Over a number of years, the government afforded Hasan preferential treatment because of his ethnicity and his religion,” said Mr Rubinstein. “The rules on the conduct of military officers were ignored. He was a terrible physician and had no business treating soldiers.
“Yet because of where he came from, and how he prayed to his god, they promoted him and set him loose and ignored his very open, very obvious jihadism.”
[Why did this lawyer make his comments to the UK Telegraph? Why not the NY Times? He must have known the NYT would run the story back by the crossword puzzle, if they even ran it at all. — PW]
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Insider Blows the Whistle on Military Takeover Plan
Why would the U.S. government need a mock U.S. town at Fort Chafee, Arkansas?
Editors Note: I want to preface this article by giving a very special thanks to the brave individuals who obtained exclusive photographs of the facility, leaking the initial report to our agency.
FORT CHAFFEE, ARKANSAS — Carnis Village is what the Army National Guard calls it. A mock American town which even contains dummy citizens for domestic training purposes. Located on the grounds of the Fort Chaffee Maneuver Training Center, the massive training compound is likely a dead-ringer clue foreshadowing the grim path we are now traversing as a nation…
The following statement was submitted by the individual who took the photographs;
“I am a former US soldier, and I have trained at Military Operations, Urban Terrain (MOUT) sites many times prior to visiting this facility at Ft. Chaffee, Arkansas.
“The sites are generally very generic in appearance, block buildings that cannot be identified to any specific location or culture, block buildings used for basic entry tactics and training to fight in urban locations anywhere world wide.
“My first experience at a facility that looked as if it had been designed for a specific region was at Ft. Irwin, California, at the National Training Center. In that location they have a MOUT “City” which is set up to resemble a middle eastern location. Quite logical given the current war on terror, with its focus on the middle east.
“However, the center at Ft. Chaffee seems eerily similar to any given US downtown location. There is a church, not a mosque. There is a bank that has a drive in ATM and even has the triangle of the local Arvest Bank. There are townhouses, a city hall, a two story high school with boys and girls restrooms and more.
“The fine details of the facility make it quite obvious to myself that this site was set up for domestic warfare training proposes or for a westernized nation that shares a similar culture of architecture to that of America.
“We like to say that we train as we fight. Given the current political climate developing in the United States, don’t be so quick to dismiss this as a conspiracy theory. Millions of dollars were spent developing this facility with a very specific concept in mind.“
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Jay-Z’s “Magna Carta” Mobile App Collects an Insane Amount of Data From Its Users
When it was announced that Jay-Z’s new album would be released in partnership with Samsung, some fans grumbled about him “selling out”. Well, things are a lot worse than just him “selling out to the corporate world”. The app that was created to enable Samsung users to listen to Jay-Z’s album a few days in advance is a true data-mining operation that collects an insane amount of data from its users. Here’s a screenshot of the permissions needed taken posted by rapper Killer Mike on Twitter.
The app needs to be able to modify or delete the contents of your USB storage, it can identify all of the running apps on your phone and it needs to know your *precise* GPS location. It also gathers “accounts “ the e-mail addresses and social-media user names connected to the phone. While these permissions are often requested by social media apps and so forth, this is an ALBUM LISTENING APP. Why does it need all of this information.
But things get worse. Here’s a review from the NY Times.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
In 1972 the Club of Rome put out a blueprint for international action called “Limits to Growth , a study based on computer models simulating unrestrained economic and population growth verses finite planetary resources. Working from a static vision of wealth Limits predicted doom as the world’s population continued to rise and the planet’s resources continued to dwindle. Limits was a landmark document, spawning the “sustainability” movement worldwide.
It really was nothing but a computerized version of Thomas Malthus, who predicted in “An essay on the principle of population” in 1798 that the world’s population would rise precipitously and exhaust necessary resources for the maintenance of civilization…
In this worldview of static economics the only way for civilization to survive is to balance population growth, standard of living, and obtainable natural resources. It is absolutely necessary for public policy to work to reduce the overall consumption of resources, to reduce wealth creation (since such creation uses resources), to restrict the usage of energy, of materials, of food and plant resources…
The ultimate purpose of sustainability is to dismantle industrial civilization and transfer wealth to those who are impoverished.
Which brings us to the point of this essay; the American economy has remained stagnant over the last five years and that is by design, not chance. The Obama Administration is implementing Sustainability by restricting American economic growth.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Tawana Brawley Begins Making Defamation Payments to Ex-County Prosecutor She Accused of Rape
NEW YORK — A black woman who set off a racial firestorm after claiming she was raped by a gang of white law enforcement officials in 1987 has begun making defamation payments to a man she falsely accused.
Tawana Brawley was 15 when she reported being raped in New York. A grand jury concluded Brawley’s story was a hoax.
The New York Post reports Brawley has paid just over $3,700 to former county prosecutor Steven Pagones. Pagones won a claim against her and her advisers, including the Rev. Al Sharpton, after he was named as an attacker.
Brawley was initially ordered to pay $190,000 but now owes more than $400,000 with interest.
She now lives in Virginia and works as a nurse. Her parents have insisted Brawley’s claim of being raped was true.
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/08/04/tawana-brawley-begins-making-defamation-payments-to-ex-county-prosecutor/
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‘Terror Alert’ Is Fearmongering Theater
The time has come to remind Americans that “you can’t have 100-percent security and also have 100-percent privacy and zero inconvenience” or, in other words, why only the government can provide a veil of impenetrable protection, and why such things as personal privacy in an age of murderous Al Qaeda (the non-US funded variety, supposedly) terrorists lurking behind corners, are not only unnecessary but unpatriotic.
According to CBS, the “terrorist threat prompting the U.S. government to close nearly two dozen embassies and consulates Sunday is the most specific, credible threat information in years” (even more credible than the Boston marathon bombers?) Specific but lacking the actual date, or timing, of an alleged “terrorist attack.” Information which, however, can not be shared with the general public for obvious reasons — just trust the government and ignore that spy drone peeking into your window to see if you are dutifully spending your daily quota of “confident consumer” fiat on Amazon.com.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The American Right to Revolt Against Tyranny: Part a — Ancient Roots
“Resistance to Tyrants is Obedience to God” — Thomas Jefferson
The American Republic was founded upon Revolution. Talk of resisting King George’s tyranny had long been in the air in the colonies. When the crown refused to take heed of the colonists complaints, the Americans decided they had a right to take up arms in their grievance. Most importantly, the naturally religious Americans found biblical warrant for their armed resistance against tyranny in the ancient world and also in great theologians like Thomas Aquinas, John Calvin, Johanne Althusius and Samuel Rutherford.
Of course, Americans did not invent revolution, or the idea that a free people had the right to rebel against unjust authority. In fact, this idea goes back far into the recesses of history. First, in the classical world, both the Greeks and Romans declared the right to fight against tyrants. Second, the New Testament writers were opposed to tyranny. This is the first of a two-part historical explanation of the sources the Founders used to create a biblical argument for their defense against tyranny.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The 4th Annual Western Conservative Summit was called to Order on July 26th at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Denver by John Andrews, director of the Centennial Institute. It was attended by 2,000 people who define themselves as “Conservatives.”
I was surprised at the quality, content and efficiency — especially the size — of the Conference. The Hyatt Regency did a great job hosting the event. It was, generally speaking, one of the best conferences I’ve attended (and I’ve been to a lot of them). The 2013 version of the Summit was attended by many Conservatives from out-of-state (non-Coloradans) and if you’re looking for a great way to spend time next summer, you might want to consider starting a vacation with three days at the Western Conservative Conference and the rest of your available time enjoying the cool mountains and streams of this beautiful state. Contact the Western Conservative Conference and ask to have your name put on their mailing list.
What does that word “Conservative” mean? One thing made itself quite apparent during the three-day event: There are two clearly defined meanings of the word “Conservative.” Governor Scott Walker’s speech on Friday’s opening night was representative of one of those definitions; Senator Ted Cruz of Texas gave a speech on Saturday representative of the other definition. For that reason, I will review those two speeches and write a third article analyzing what was really meant by what was said.
The crowd was large — about 2,000 registered attendees — and the interest in all things Conservative was intense. It was an interesting crowd… pretty evenly split by those who define “Conservative” as “Republican” and those who define it as a philosophy with specific principles of behavior that encompasses the entire social order, not just politics.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Was the Fort Hood Gunman Left Unchecked Because of Political Correctness?
Victims of mass shooting which killed 13 and injured 32 sue U.S. government over claims military failed to tackle soldiers’ radicalisation
Survivors of the Fort Hood massacre are suing the U.S. government for allowing a jihadist soldier to rise through the ranks unchecked because of ‘political correctness’.
Major Nidal Hasan, 42, is charged with 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted premeditated murder for after launching an attack at the Texas Army post in November 2009.
And on the eve of his trial, which is due to get underway on Tuesday, 148 victims and their relatives are launching a legal claim against the government for $750million (£491 million) for failing to prevent the killings from happening.
It is alleged military chiefs under the George W Bush and Barack Obama administrations allowed Major Hasan to progress through the ranks despite his increasing jihad extremism because of ‘political correctness’.
Reed Rubinstein, the lawyer acting for the group, told the Sunday Telegraph that Major Hasan w as awarded ‘preferential treatment’ because of his ‘ethnicity and his religion’.
He said: ‘The rules on the conduct of military officers were ignored. He was a terrible physician and had no business treating soldiers.
‘Yet, because of where he came from, and how he prayed to his god, they promoted him and set him loose and ignored his open, very obvious jihadism.’
Mr Rubenstein added that the group wanted the government to meet ‘its responsibilities to those harmed by its negligence’ over Major Hasan.
Major Hasan doesn’t deny that he carried out the November 2009 rampage at Fort Hood, one of the worst mass shootings in U.S. history.
The attack occurred in a building where hundreds of unarmed soldiers, some about to deploy to Afghanistan, were waiting for vaccines and routine checkups.
Hasan walked inside with two handguns, climbed onto a desk and shouted ‘Allahu Akbar!’ — an Arabic phrase meaning ‘God is great!’ — then he fired, pausing only to reload.
There are dozens of witnesses who saw it happen but military law prohibits him from entering a guilty plea because authorities are seeking the death penalty.
If Hasan is convicted and sentenced to death there are likely years, if not decades, of appeals ahead. He may never make it to the death chamber at all.
Ahead of his trial, the Army psychiatrist spoke to the American media for the first time last week and said that the U.S. government is at war with Islam.
In the past, Major Nidal Hasan has only spoken via telephone with Al-Jazeera, the transcript of which is evidence in his upcoming trial.
‘My complicity was on behalf of a government that openly acknowledges that it would hate for the law of Almighty Allah to be the supreme law of the land,’ Hasan said in the lengthy statement released to Fox News on Saturday.
He then says in reference to a war on Islam, ‘I participated in it.’
‘I would like to begin by repenting to Almighty Allah and apologize to the Mujahideen, the believers, and the innocent. … I ask for their forgiveness for participating in the illegal and immoral aggression against Muslims, their religion and their lands,’ he said in the statement.
He has twice dismissed his lawyers and now plans to represent himself at trial. He’s suggested he wants to argue the killings were in ‘defense of others’ — namely, members of the Taliban fighting Americans in Afghanistan. The trial judge, Col. Tara Osborn, has so far denied that strategy.
Thirteen officers from around the country who hold Hasan’s rank or higher will serve on the jury for a trial that will likely last one month and probably longer. They must be unanimous to convict Hasan of murder and sentence him to death. Three-quarters of the panel must vote for an attempted murder conviction.
No active-duty U.S. soldier has been executed since 1961.
The last man executed in the military system was Pvt. John Bennett, hanged in 1961 for raping an 11-year-old girl. Five men are on the military death row at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, but none are close to being executed.
| — Hat tip: Vlad Tepes | [Return to headlines] |
14-Year-Old Teen GMO Activist Schools Ignorant TV Host on Human Rights, Food Labeling (Video)
(NaturalNews) Her name is Rachel Parent, and she’s suddenly an internet sensation for her cool-headed debate about GMOs on a popular Canadian TV show. (She’s also the founder of the Kids Right to Know GMO Walk.) As you’ll see in the video below, Rachel calmly argues for the basic human right to know what’s in our food, even as the condescending bully of a host named Kevin O’Leary verbally assaults the girl and practically accuses her of murdering children.
During the debate, Kevin O’Leary, co-host of the The Lang And O’Leary Exchange show, viciously attacked Rachel, first accusing her of being a “lobbyist” against GMOs (an absurd accusation that O’Leary knows is false, as there is no corporate interest in honest food labeling), and then equating her position of questioning GMOs with somehow supporting a holocaust of widespread death of children. Despite the outrageous attacks, Rachel Parent simply countered his utterly contrived accusations with the facts: GMO crops don’t out-produce regular crops, GMOs are a dangerous global experiment using human beings as lab rats, and consumers should have the right to know what they’re buying or eating.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Man: 71, Arrested for Anti-Islamic Graffiti on Outhouse
OTTAWA — A 71-year-old man was charged with mischief for writing an anti-Islamic statement on a portable outhouse in a Kemptville park.
Police said they caught the man vandalize the outhouse at the Riverside Park in Kemptville around 10 p.m. Wednesday.
The man was arrested and taken to the Kemptville OPP detachment late Wednesday night.
Bruce Rice, age 71 from Kemptville was charged with mischief under $5,000.
| — Hat tip: Vlad Tepes | [Return to headlines] |
Ireland: Travellers Bring Accommodation Action to Europe
Irish Travellers (gypsies) are taking a class action over what they say is the State’s failure to provide them with adequate accommodation
Irish Travellers are taking what amounts to a class action against the State, alleging persistent failure to provide adequate accommodation for the estimated 30,000 Travellers in the Republic. The complaint will be adjudicated by the European Committee of Social Rights, part of the Council of Europe.
Working with the Irish Traveller Movement, the European Roma Rights Centre, which is based in Budapest, made a “collective complaint” to the committee against Ireland.
The complaint was lodged with the committee in April; the committee, under the auspices of the Committee of Ministers on the Council of Europe, monitors compliance with the European Social Charter, which seeks to protect economic, social and cultural rights.. The State will make submissions, and the case is likely to come to a full hearing, involving senior counsel on each side, next year.
The European Roma Rights Centre’s complaint, which runs to 34 pages, also alleges that “actions and omissions” by the State have “violated the rights of child Travellers to social, legal and economic protection”.
If the action is successful, Irish Travellers would not be awarded financial compensation, but the Government would be under pressure from the Council of Europe, which is separate from the European Union, to address its allegations.
Among those hoping the complaint will be upheld is 79-year-old Mary McCarthy, who has lived at Bawney’s Bridge halting site in Limerick with her 11-year-old granddaughter, Lisa, for almost 10 years.
The site is home to 13 Traveller families. It is supposed to accommodate just eight families, so caravans are packed tightly together and it’s difficult to drive into and out of.
McCarthy and her granddaughter share a van parked in the lane that enters the site. Mary sleeps in a bed at one end of the van; Lisa sleeps on two seats that turn into a single bed at night. They have a small fridge and electric cooker that work off a petrol generator. Five years ago Limerick City Council put a small steel toilet and a tiny steel wash basin in a galvanised shed next to their van.
There is no bath or shower, so the pair wash with water in the van or use one of the showers provided to other families on the site.
“In the winter the van is like an icebox,” says McCarthy. “To heat it’s very expensive in gas bottles in the winter, so we just can’t have the heat on all the time.”
The nearest shop is a branch of Centra, a 20-minute walk away.
There is no park, green or play area anywhere nearby. A low wall separates the site from Dock Road, which is busy with trucks and other heavy traffic day and night. On the adjacent area is an animal-feed and fertiliser plant, which is noisy, unsightly and the source of health concerns for Traveller families.
Despite the conditions, McCarthy says she would prefer to stay at Bawney’s Bridge. Limerick City Council served an eviction notice on her and the owners of the three other vans in the entrance lane.
Séamus O’Connor, a senior social worker with the council, says the families in the lane are there without permission and the council wants to refurbish the site, which it cannot do unless it clears the lane for access..
McCarthy and the others say they will go if they can continue to live together on one site. O’Connor says this is not possible. What is on offer is “standard local-authority housing”, he says. Space on an alternative halting site was offered, but he and the families agree this was rejected because the family living there already was not “compatible” with the McCarthys.
Mary says she could not bear to live in a standard settled housing, having lived in halting sites most of her life.
| — Hat tip: McR | [Return to headlines] |
CIA Arming Anti-American Terrorists? So What’s New?
According to a CNN report by Jake Tapper the CIA and the U.S. State Department may have been trying to supply Syrian jihadists with Libyan arms from Benghazi when the operation blew up in their face last September.
The UK Telegraph summed it up best: “The CIA has been subjecting operatives to monthly polygraph tests in an attempt to suppress details of a US arms smuggling operation in Benghazi that was ongoing when its ambassador was killed by a mob in the city last year, according to reports.”
“Same as it ever was,” say some Cuba-watchers. “Déja vu all over again say,” say others.
“Me and my staff were all Fidelistas,” boasted Robert Reynolds, the CIA’s “Caribbean Desk’s specialist on the Cuban Revolution” from 1957-1960. Reynolds was visiting Cuba and chumming it up with Fidel himself at the time of his boast, during a conference” in 2001.
“Everyone in the CIA and everyone at State was pro-Castro, except (Republican) ambassador Earl Smith.” (CIA operative in Santiago Cuba 1957’59, Robert Weicha.)
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
CIA Moves to Kill Real Benghazi Story: Al-Qaeda in Syria Arms Shipment Gone Bad (Video)
The CIA is attempting to control the Benghazi story by forcing agency employees to sign nondisclosure agreements. The five employees, Fox News reported on Friday, had already signed similar agreements prior to the attack on the embassy building in Benghazi, Libya, last September. The attack killed four Americans, including ambassador Christopher Stevens.
In addition to nondisclosures, CIA employees were subjected to polygraph examinations on a monthly basis.
On Thursday, CNN’s Jake Tapper reported that the network “uncovered exclusive new information about what is allegedly happening at the CIA,” including word that “dozens of people working for the CIA were on the ground that night, and that the agency is going to great lengths to make sure whatever it was doing, remains a secret.”
The CIA is doing all it can to make sure the truth never comes to light. CNN characterizes the effort as unprecedented…
During an interview with CNBC’s Larry Kudlow, radio talk show host John Baxter said the resignation of CIA Director David Petraeus had nothing to do with an extramarital affair with his biographer, reserve Army officer Paula Broadwell, but was related to U.S. policy in the Middle East, ongoing “color revolutions” in the region, and specifically the operation underway to arm al-Qaeda in Syria and overthrow the al-Assad regime.
“Benghazi is not about Libya, Benghazi is about the policy of the Obama administration to involve the United States without clarity to the American people, not only in Libya but throughout the whole of the Arab world now in turmoil,” Baxter told Kudlow. “Benghazi is about the NSC directing an operation that is perhaps shadowy, perhaps a presidential finding, perhaps doesn’t, that takes arms and men and puts them into Syria in the guise of the Free Syria Army.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Confirmed: Benghazi Was Cover-Up of Arms Transfer to Al-Qaeda
The corporate media is now forced to admit that the Benghazi attack was staged by a State Department hired jihadist security outfit in connection with an arms transfer to al-Qaeda mercenaries in Syria.
It has yet to point out, however, that the Obama administration attempted to cover-up the real reason for the murder of ambassador Stevens — U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice and the State Department initially pointing to a lame anti-Muslim video — and has consistently downplayed the incident and characterized it as a non-event not requiring congressional investigation and the impeachment of President Obama…
Part of the operation involving Stevens included sending surface-to-air missiles to al-Qaeda in Syria. “Speculation on Capitol Hill has included the possibility the U.S. agencies operating in Benghazi were secretly helping to move surface-to-air missiles out of Libya, through Turkey, and into the hands of Syrian rebels,” CNN reported late last week, months after Infowars.com and others reported the illicit arms shipment.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood Leaders to be Tried August 25
An Egyptian court on Sunday set an August 25 trial date for the Muslim Brotherhood’s supreme leader, Mohammed Badie, and five other members of the Islamist movement, over their alleged involvement in the deaths of protesters.
An Egyptian court Sunday set an August 25 trial date for the Muslim Brotherhood chief, his two deputies and three other group members for their alleged involvement in protesters’ deaths.
Supreme Guide Mohammed Badie, who is currently in hiding, and his two deputies — Khairat al-Shater and Rashad Bayoumi — who are being held in Cairo’s Tora prison, are accused of inciting violence against protesters outside the Islamist group’s headquarters on June 30.
The other members are accused of killing protesters, the official MENA news agency said.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Egypt Prosecution Orders Investigation Into Minya Sectarian Clashes
Christian property destroyed as sectarian clashes erupt in Minya late on Saturday; security forces use teargas to contain chaos
Egypt’s prosecution in Minya ordered on Sunday an investigation into Saturday’s sectarian clashes which left seventeen people injured, including one police officer and three conscripts.
Sectarian tension that erupted at a Coptic Christian’s cafeteria late on Saturday between supporters of ousted president Mohamed Morsi and residents of Minya’s Beni-Ahmed village escalated to both sides hurling stones and Molotov cocktails and firing shots at one another.
An eyewitness said that the confrontations led to the torching of seven residences, the destruction of five vehicles, a kiosk, a coffee shop, two supermarkets and a pharmacy.
All destroyed properties belonged to Coptic Christians who make up Egypt’s largest minority — estimated at about ten percent.
A security source said that police forces halted attempts of residents of a neighbouring village to join the confrontations.
Security efforts were enhanced in the governorate as Central Security Forces used teargas to disperse the clashes and contain the chaos.
Tens of Muslim assailants also attacked the Evangelical Church in the governorate and hurled stones at the residences of Coptic citizens following the spreading of a rumor that Coptic assailants torched a mosque in a neighboring village.
Eyewitnesses said that the front of the church was destroyed in the attack.
| — Hat tip: Vlad Tepes | [Return to headlines] |
Moroccans Protest at Pardon of Paedophile
Tens of thousands of Moroccans, outraged by King Mohammed VI’s royal pardon of a Spanish paedophile who was convicted of raping 11 children, are expected to converge outside the North African nation’s parliament Friday night.
Morocco’s king traditionally pardons prisoners as a part of festivities for the nation’s celebration of its monarchy, Throne Day, July 30, but this year, news of 62-year-old Daniel Galvan Vina’s released caused an uproar on social media.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Political Deadlock in Egypt Continues
Despite all diplomatic efforts, the situation in Egypt remains tense. Mursi supporters and military forces seem to be as hostile as ever toward each other. The legitimacy of the interim government is still questioned.
There’s no peace in sight for Egypt. A month after the military has overthrown elected president Mohammed Morsi, the country is still socially and politically divided. And it doesn’t look like Morsi supporters and those who favor the current interim government are heading for agreement any time soon.
While the streets were filled with Morsi’s opponents in the weeks before he was deposed, the picture today is a different one. Now there are large protests organized by the Muslim Brotherhood, Morsi’s party. They demand the immediate return of their president.
In Cairo, protesters have built up two large camps. The Muslim Brotherhood has built barricades of bricks and sandbags around them and strictly guards the entrance. Journalists report bad sanitary conditions; there are heaps of trash all around the camps. Many living in the vicinity of the shelters are reportedly annoyed.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Rare Interview With Egyptian Gen. Abdel Fatah Al-Sissi
In his first interview since the overthrow of President Mohamed Morsi last month, Egypt’s commanding general sharply criticized the U.S. response, accusing the Obama administration of disregarding the Egyptian popular will and of providing insufficient support amid threats of a civil war.
“You left the Egyptians. You turned your back on the Egyptians, and they won’t forget that,” said an indignant Gen. Abdel Fatah al-Sissi, speaking of the U.S. government. “Now you want to continue turning your backs on Egyptians?”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Capitol Hill Intelligence Committee Leaders: Terror Threat ‘Specific’ And ‘Serious, ‘ Included Dates
Capitol Hill lawmakers, including top-ranking members of intelligence committees, on Sunday described the terror threat that closed 22 U.S. embassies and consulates across the Muslim region as the most serious one since before the 9/11 attacks and related to specific act or plot.
Florida Republican Rep. Tom Rooney, a member of the House Intelligence Committee, told Fox News that U.S. intelligence agents detected a “very specific” threat and suggested they have known about it for at least several weeks.
He was among several congressional lawmakers Sunday who said the threat was gleaned from so-called “chatter” from phone lines, computer outlets, websites and other communication outlets.
Rooney also said the information is not what intelligence committee members “see on our regular briefings.”
The Obama administration’s decision Friday to close the U.S. outposts Sunday came the same day as the State Department issued a worldwide travel alert.
The State Department early Sunday evening said it has decide to keep closed several of the outposts and some additional ones “out of an abundance of caution” and because they were already going to be closed in accordance with local customs marking the end of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.
Posts in Abu Dhabi, Amman, Cairo, Riyadh, Dhahran, Jeddah, Doha, Dubai, Kuwait, Manama, Muscat, Sanaa, Tripoli, Antanarivo, Bujumbura, Djibouti, Khartoum, Kigali and Port Louis have been instructed to close for normal operations from Monday through Saturday, department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said.
Those authorized to reopen Monday are in Dhaka, Algiers, Nouakchott, Kabul, Herat, Mazar el Sharif, Baghdad, Basrah and Erbil.
Rooney suggested Sunday the travel warning will not be lifted soon.
“If I had plans to travel to certain places in the Middle East, I would probably go ahead and cancel them,” he said.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Iran’s new president Hasan Rouhani has accused the United States of seeking an excuse to confront the country over its nuclear programme.
The new leader reportedly made the claim during a meeting with North Korean official Kim Yong Nam, who is in the Iranian capital Tehran to see Mr Rouhani’s inauguration.
According to Iranian state TV, the president said: ‘We believe the United States and the Westerners are seeking an excuse to confront the countries that they do not consider friends.’
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Gigantic Pentagram Found in Kazakhstan — Can be Seen in Google Maps
A gigantic pentagram was found in Google Maps in an isolated region of Kazakhstan, West of the city of Lisakovsk (coordinates +52° 28’ 47.14”, +62° 11’ 8.38”). The circle’s circumference is over 1000 feet wide and contains a clearly defined, mathematically correct pentagram. The pentacle (a pentagram inside a circle) is used in ritualistic magic and the inverted pentagram is used in black magic.
A few days ago, when one would zoom into the pentagram with Google Maps, two strange locations would pop up, one named “Adam” and another “Lucifer”. However, since the story came out on the web, these locations disappeared and zooming into pentagram is now disabled…
This pentagram is not the only strange location in Kazakhstan. One of my first articles I’ve ever written was about Astana — a brand new city in Kazakhstan that was entire built on occult principles and might become a cultural/spiritual center in the New World Order (read the article here — – vigilantcitizen.com/sinistersites/sinister-sites-astana-khazakhstan/).
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Sinister Sites — Astana, Khazakhstan
Astana is the first capital being built in the 21st century and it perfectly represents where the world is headed. It is truly one man’s vision: Nursultan Nazarbayev, the president of Kazakhstan (yes Borat’s country, I know). Backed by billions of petrodollars, the city is being built from scratch in a remote and deserted area of the Asian steppes. The result is astonishing: a futuristic occult capital, embracing the New World Order while celebrating the most ancient religion known to man: Sun Worship. The city is still a huge construction site, but the buildings that are already completed already sum up Nazarbayev’s occult vision…
Conceived by Britain’s most prolific architect, Lord Norman Forster, this giant pyramid is an odd presence in the middle of the Asian Steppes. The building is dedicated to “the renunciation of violence” and “to bring together the world’s religions”. Norman Foster has said that the building has no recognizable religious symbols to permit the harmonious reunification of confessions. In reality, the pyramid is a temple for the occultist’s only TRUE religion: Sun worship. A journey inside this building is a truly symbolic one. It represents each human’s path to illumination. Let’s take the tour…
Right on top of the opera house is the central space of the pyramid. It acts as the meeting room for conferences reuniting religious leaders of the world. Take a minute and soak up the symbolism here. You have religious leaders from around the world sitting around a huge figure of the sun, discussing how to reconcile their differences for the coming New Age.
[Comment: Check out the photos of the city.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Sri Lanka Eyes South Asian Hub With Chinese Mega Port
COLOMBO (AFP) — A $500 million Chinese-built port opens Monday in Sri Lanka, giving Beijing a vital foothold on the world’s busiest international shipping lane as it seeks to secure maritime supply routes.
The massive terminal in Colombo is located mid-way on the lucrative east-west sea route and has facilities on a par with Singapore and Dubai.
The Colombo International Container Terminal (CICT), which is 85 percent owned by the state-run China Merchant Holdings International, is designed to handle mega ships — a first for Sri Lanka which is aiming to become the region’s shipping hub.
The involvement of such a large Chinese company appears to conform to a pattern by Beijing after it sealed a deal in January to acquire the Pakistani port of Gwadar at a time when it is also building a $14 million “dry port” in the Nepalese city of Larcha, near Tibet.
Chinese loans and expertise were also instrumental in the construction of a new $450 million deep-sea port at the southern Sri Lankan city of Hambantota which opened in June 2012.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Tearful Zimbabweans Hoard Eggs, Beer, As Mugabe Wins 7th Term
Put a Communist-backed terrorist in charge of a country. And this is what you get.
Back in the day, Western diplomats insisted that Mugabe, instead of Bishop Abel Muzorewa, should run Zimbabwe. They got their way. These are the wonderful fruits of the UK’s Lancaster House Agreement.
Why beer and eggs?
Under Mugabe, the price of an egg rose to 50 billion Zimbabwean dollars and a beer hit 150 billion dollars because Mugabe had the same idea of economics as Obama and Paul Krugman; just print more money.
Mugabe won his first term through illegal intimidation. He won his 7th term the same way. Raise a glass of beer to the Western diplomats and their great contribution to Rhodesia. Drink one for the Lancaster Agreement, the land seized from farmers and the eternal rule of Mugabe.
Drink well. Because no one in Zimbabwe has 150 billion dollars for a beer.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Malta Needs EU Help to Cope With Its Immigration Crisis
Malta receives the highest number of asylum applications in the world in relation to its population. Only EU help can alleviate a growing sense of despair
Earlier this week, a rubber dinghy overloaded with refugees attempting to flee Africa for the safety of Europe ran into difficulty. As the boat — travelling from Libya to the EU’s smallest state, Malta — began to sink, the Maltese army launched a 13-hour overnight operation to rescue the 112 passengers. Eight were airlifted to hospital for emergency treatment; the rest were suffering from exhaustion, dehydration and sunstroke.
This story is not unusual. Each week similar boats arrive on the country’s shores. Last month, the prime minister, Joseph Muscat, attempted to send two planeloads of Somali migrants back to Africa, without hearing their pleas for asylum — echoing recent suggestions of a “tow-back” policy in Australia — before the European court of human rights (ECHR) issued an interim ruling that this would be illegal. (Muscat has since said that he was never going to follow through with the push back; it was merely a stunt intended to provoke the EU into action).
Whether or not it was a stunt, the move reflects a government in despair. Before Malta joined the EU in 2004, immigration levels were negligible. Because it is located close to north Africa, it has now become a gateway for migrants seeking entry to Europe. In relation to its population, it receives the highest number of asylum applications in the world. This is partly because it’s so small — smaller than the Isle of Wight. The 17,000 undocumented migrants who have arrived in the last decade are equivalent to 2.7 million landing in Britain.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Your Congress Critter in Your District — Act Now or We’re Doomed
All 435 members of the House are up for reelection; 1/3rd of the counterfeit U.S. Senate. That’s why Rubio, McCain and Flake don’t give a damn. None of them are up for illegal reelection in 2014. Three vile members of the ‘gang of eight’ who worked tirelessly to sell us out to illegal aliens.
We cannot ignore the primaries because if the same incumbents get reelected to the Outlaw Congress, the only thing that will change is how much faster we slide down the razor blade to Hell. If you didn’t read my column, please do: If You Ignore the Upcoming Primaries, We’re Toast.
Conservatives have got to get out of denial. It is YOUR incumbent in Congress as well as mine that are destroying this country. Oh, sure, reps like Trey Goudy [R-SC] and Daryl Issa have been doing the right thing during the hearings about Benghazi, the IRs and so forth. But, they ALL violate their oaths of office every day. I call them Band Aid pushers. They never touch the solutions, they just keep treating the symptoms while the patient hemorrhages on the operating table.
Electing New Band Aid Pushers[url] Reelecting the Band Aid Brigade[url]
And, Americans did, again, in 2012. Almost 90%. How do conservatives think anything will change by reelecting the same incumbents over and over and over who don’t get the job done for the decade(s) they squat in Washington? Yes, it is YOUR incumbent and mine, not the “other” party. The only thing conservatives are conserving is the rot and corruption in DC. That’s the difference between conservatives and constitutionalists: We refuse to vote the same thieves back into office…
If Obama’s amnesty goes through, within 5 years, America is finished.
That is not hyperbole. It’s not an exaggeration. Amnesty for liars, cheats and thieves is Obama’s game and the stupid Republican “leadership” are going to flush our country down the toilet if we the people do not stop it.
Progressive Activists to Disrupt GOP Town Halls in August: “A progressive group will coordinate with liberal activists to disrupt Republican town halls during the August recess, when lawmakers will face questions about Obamacare and comprehensive immigration reform.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Re: Tawana Brawley
Al Sharpton was also fined for his part in the hoax.
“Sharpton, who led the race baiting, got off relatively easy. He only had to pay $66,000, part of which was paid by attorney Johnnie Cochran and other “benefactors,” according to The New York Post.
Will Reverend Al step up for Brawley, the way Cochran and others stepped up for him?
You would think that after aiding and abetting one of the cruelest hoaxes in American history, that Sharpton’s career would have been done after that 1988 grand jury investigation.
But Sharpton’s career took off. He portrayed himself as a bold crusader for civil rights and the defender of black folks across the land.
Today, he even has his own show on the MSNBC network, for which I suspect he’s getting paid a pretty darned good penny.”
I recall reading an article after the fines were imposed in which Sharpton claimed that he had no personal assets other than the watch on his wrist, not even the clothes on his back! At the time he had a limousine and a driver and his children went to private school in NYC. He claimed all of this was owned by his religious organization and hence, he was unable to pay the fine. I did not know that Johnnie Cochran and others paid the fine for him.